Chapter XXV (2)

"We walked a short distance to the habitation of a friend of Alila's, who usually accompanied him on his piratical expeditions. A few words, in the same strain as those I had spoken to my future lieutenant, produced the same effect on his comrade, and decided him to accept the rank I offered him. We passed the day recruiting in the various huts, and before night we had got together, in cavalry, a guard of ten men, a number I did not wish to exceed. I took the command as captain.

"The next day I mustered the population of the peninsula, and, surrounded by my new guards, I selected a site for a village, and one for a house for myself. I gave orders to the fathers of families to build their cabins upon a line which I marked out, and I desired my lieutenant to employ all the hands he could procure in extracting stone, cutting timber, and preparing everything for my dwelling. My orders given, I set out for Manila, promising soon to return. On reaching home, I found my friends uneasy on my account; for, not having heard from me, they feared I had fallen victim to the caymans or the pirates. The narrative of my voyage, my description of Jala-Jala, far from making my wife averse to my project of living there, rendered her on the contrary impatient to visit our property, and to settle upon it."

Dr. de la Gironiere lived many years at Jala-Jala in the peninsula country. He relates many adventures in the primitive forests, one of which is as follows:

A BUFFALO HUNT IN JALA-JALA.

"THE Indians consider the pursuit of the buffalo the most dangerous of all hunts; and my guards told me they would rather place their naked breast at twenty paces from a rifle's muzzle than find themselves at the same distance from a wild buffalo. The difference is, they say, that a rifle bullet may only wound, whereas a buffalo's horn is sure to kill.

"Taking advantage of their fear of the buffalo, I one day informed them, with all the coolness I could assume, of my intention to hunt that animal. Thereupon they exerted all their eloquence to dissuade me from my project; they drew a most picturesque and intimidating sketch of the dangers and difficulties I should encounter; I, especially, as one unaccustomed to that sort of fight--for such a chase is in fact a life or death contest. I would not listen to them. I had declared my will; I would not discuss the subject, or attend to their advice.

"It was fortunate that I did not; for these affectionate counsels, these alarming pictures of the dangers I was about to run, were given and drawn by way of snare; they had agreed among themselves to estimate my courage accordingly as I accepted or avoided the combat. My only reply was an order to get everything in readiness for the hunt. I took care that my wife should know nothing of the expedition, and I set out, accompanied by a dozen Indians, almost all armed with guns.

"The buffalo is hunted differently in the plain and in the mountains. In the plain, all that is needed is a good horse, agility, and skill in throwing the lasso. In the mountains, an extraordinary degree of coolness is requisite. This is how the thing is done: The hunter takes a gun, upon which he is sure he can depend, and so places himself that the buffalo, on issuing from the forest, must perceive him. The very instant the brute sees you, he rushes upon you with his very utmost speed, breaking, crushing, trampling under foot, everything that impedes his progress. He thunders down upon you as though he would annihilate you; at a few paces distance, he pauses for a moment, and presents his sharp and menacing horns.

"It is during that brief pause that the hunter must take his shot, and send a bullet into the center of his enemy's brow. If unfortunately the gun misses fire, or if his hand trembles and his ball goes askew, he is lost--Providence alone can save him! Such, perhaps, was the fate that awaited me; but I was determined to run the chance. We reached the edge of a large wood, in which we felt sure that buffaloes were; and there we halted. I was sure of my gun; I thought myself tolerably sure of my coolness, and I desired that the hunt should take place as if I had been a common Indian. I stationed myself on a spot over which everything made it probable that the animal would pass, and I suffered no one to remain near me. I sent every man to his post, and remained alone on the open ground, two hundred paces from the edge of the forest, awaiting a foe who would assuredly show me no mercy if I missed him.

"That is certainly a solemn moment in which one finds himself placed thus between life and death, all depending on the goodness of a gun, and on the steadiness of the hand that grasps it. I quietly waited. When all had taken up their positions, two men entered the forest, having previously stripped off a part of their clothes, the better to climb the trees in case of need. They were armed only with cutlasses, and accompanied by dogs. For more than half an hour a mournful silence reigned. We listened with all our ears, but no sound was heard.

"The buffalo is often very long before giving sign of life. At last the reiterated barking of the dogs, and the cries of the prickers, warned us that the beast was afoot. Soon I heard the cracking of the branches and young trees, which broke before him as he threaded the forest with frightful rapidity. The noise of his headlong career was to be compared only to the gallop of several horses, or to the rush of some monstrous and fantastical creature; it was like the approach of an avalanche. At that moment, I confess, my emotion was so great that my heart beat with extraordinary rapidity. Was it death, a terrible death, that thus approached me? Suddenly the buffalo appeared. He stood for a moment, glared wildly about him, snuffed the air of the plain, and then, his nostrils elevated, his horns thrown back upon his shoulders, charged down upon me with terrible fury.

"The decisive moment had come. A victim there must be--either the buffalo or myself--and we were both disposed to defend ourselves stoutly. I should be puzzled to describe what passed within me during the short time the animal took to traverse the interval between us. My heart, which had beat so violently when I heard him tearing through the forest, no longer throbbed. My eyes were fixed upon his forehead with such intensity that I saw nothing else. There was a sort of deep silence within me. I was too much absorbed to hear anything--even the baying of the dogs as they followed their prey at a short distance.

"At last the buffalo stopped, lowered his head, and presented his horns; just as he gave a spring I fired. My bullet pierced his skull--I was half saved. He fell to the ground, just a pace in front of me, with the ponderous noise of a mass of rock. I put my foot between his horns and was about to fire my second barrel, when a hollow and prolonged roar informed me that my victory was complete. The buffalo was dead. My Indians came up. Their joy turned to admiration; they were delighted; I was all that they wished me to be.

"Their doubts had been dissipated with the smoke of my gun; I was brave, I had proved it, and they had now entire confidence in me. My victim was cut up, and carried in triumph to the village. In right of conquest I took his horns; they were six feet in length; I have since deposited them in the Nantes museum. The Indians, those lovers of metaphor, those givers of surnames, thenceforward called me _Malamit Oulou_--Tagal words, signifying 'cool head.'"

The traveler describes the cayman, which is of enormous size--the whale of the oozy lagoon. He relates the following adventure with a boa:

THE BOA OF LUZON.

"THE other monster of which I have promised a description, the boa, is common in the Philippines, but it is rare to meet with a very large specimen. It is possible, even probable, that centuries (?) are necessary for this reptile to attain its largest size; and to such an age the various accidents to which animals are exposed rarely suffer it to attain. Full-sized boas are met with only in the gloomiest, most remote, and most solitary forests.

"I have seen many boas of ordinary size, such as are found in our European collections. There were some, indeed, that inhabited my house; and one night I found one, two yards long, in possession of my bed.

"Several times, passing through the woods with my Indians, I heard the piercing cries of a wild boar. On approaching the spot whence they proceeded we almost invariably found a wild boar, about whose body a boa had twisted its folds, and was gradually hoisting him up into the tree round which it had coiled itself. (See book for illustration.)

"When the wild boar had reached a certain height the snake pressed him against the tree with a force that crushed his bones and stifled him. Then the boa let its prey fall, descended the tree, and prepared to swallow what it had slain. This last operation was much too lengthy for us to await its end.

"To simplify matters, I sent a ball into the boa's head. Then my Indian took the flesh to dry (bucanier) it, and the skin for dagger sheaths. It is unnecessary to say that the wild boar was not forgotten. It was a prey that had cost us little pains.

"One day an Indian surprised one of these reptiles asleep, after it had swallowed an enormous doe deer. Its size was such that a buffalo cart would have been required to transport it to the village.

"The Indian cut it in pieces, and contented himself with as much as he could carry off. I sent for the remainder. They brought me a piece about eight feet long, and so large that the skin, when dried, enveloped the tallest man like a cloak. I gave it to my friend Lindsay.

"I had not yet seen one of the full-grown reptiles, of which the Indians spoke to me so much (always with some exaggeration), when one afternoon, crossing the mountains with two shepherds, our attention was attracted by the sustained barking of my dogs, who seemed assailing some animal that stood upon its defense. We at first thought it was a buffalo which they had brought to bay, and approached the spot with precaution.

"My dogs were dispersed along the brink of a deep ravine, in which was an enormous boa. The monster raised his head to a height, of five or six feet, directing it from one edge to the other of the ravine, and menacing his assailants with his forked tongue; but the dogs, more active than he was, easily avoided his attacks. My first impulse was to shoot him, but then it occurred to me to take him alive and send him to France. Assuredly he would have been the most monstrous boa that had ever been seen there. To carry out my design, we manufactured nooses of cane, strong enough to resist the most powerful wild buffalo. With great precaution we succeeded in passing one of our nooses round the boa's neck; then we tied him tightly to a tree, in such a manner as to keep its head at its usual height--about six feet from the ground.

"This done, we crossed to the other side of the ravine and threw another noose over him, which we secured like the first. When he felt himself thus fixed at both ends, he coiled and writhed, and grappled several little trees which grew within his reach along the edge of the ravine. Unluckily for him, everything yielded to his efforts; he tore up the young trees by the roots, broke off the branches, and dislodged enormous stones, round which he sought in vain to obtain the hold or point of resistance he needed. The nooses were strong, and withstood his most furious efforts. To convey an animal like this several buffaloes and a whole system of cordage was necessary. Night approached; confident in our nooses we left the place, proposing to return next morning and complete the capture--but we reckoned without our host. In the night the boa changed his tactics, got his body round some huge blocks of basalt, and finally succeeded in breaking his bonds and getting clear off. I was greatly disappointed, for I doubted whether I should ever have another chance.

"Human beings rarely fall victims to these huge reptiles. I was able to verify but one instance. A criminal hid from justice in a cavern. His father, who alone knew of his hiding place, went sometimes to see him and to take him rice. One day he found, instead of his son, an enormous boa asleep. He killed it, and found his son's body in its stomach. The priest of the village, who went to give the body Christian burial, and who saw the remains of the boa, described it to me as of almost incredible size."

AN ADVENTURE WITH A MONSTER CAYMAN.

"At the period at which I first occupied my habitation and began to colonize the village of Jala-Jala, caymans abounded upon that side of the lake. From my windows I daily saw them gamboling in the water, and waylaying and snapping at the dogs that ventured too near the brink. One day a female servant of my wife's having been so imprudent as to bathe at the edge of the lake was surprised by one of them, a monster of enormous size. One of my guards came up at the very moment she was being carried off; he fired his carbine at the brute and hit it under the fore-leg (the armpit), which is the only vulnerable place. But the wound was insufficient to check the cayman's progress, and it disappeared with its prey. Nevertheless, this little bullet-hole was the cause of its death; and here it is to be noted that the slightest wound received by the cayman is incurable. The shrimps, which abound in the lake, get into the hurt; little by little their number increases, until at last they penetrate deep into the solid flesh and into the very interior of the body. This is what happened to the one which devoured my wife's maid. A month after the accident the monster was found dead upon the bank five or six leagues from my house. Indians brought me back the unfortunate woman's earrings, which they had found in its stomach.

"Upon another occasion a Chinese was riding with me. We reached a river, and I let him go on alone in order to ascertain whether the river was very deep or not. On a sudden three or four caymans, which lay in waiting under the water, threw themselves upon him; horse and Chinese disappeared, and for some minutes the water was tinged with blood.

"I was very curious to obtain a near sight of one of these voracious monsters. At the time that they frequented the vicinity of my house I made several attempts to attain that end. One night I baited a huge hook, secured by a chain and strong cord, with an entire sheep. Next morning sheep and chain had disappeared. I lay in wait for the creatures with my gun, but the bullets rebounded from their scales. A large dog, of a race peculiar to the Philippines and exceeding any European dog in size, happening to die, I had his carcase dragged to the shore of the lake; I then hid myself in a little thicket and waited, with my gun in readiness, the coming of a cayman. But presently I fell asleep, and when I awoke the dog had disappeared. It was fortunate the cayman had not taken the wrong prey.

"When the colony of Jala-Jala had been a few years founded, the caymans disappeared from its neighborhood. I was out one morning with my shepherds, at a few leagues from my house, when we came to a river which must be swum across. One of them advised me to ascend it to a narrower place, for that it was full of caymans, and I was about to do so when another Indian, more imprudent than his companions, spurred his horse into the stream. 'I do not fear the caymans!' he exclaimed. But he was scarcely halfway cross when we saw a cayman of monstrous size advancing toward him. We uttered a shout of warning; he at once perceived the danger, and, to avoid it, got off his horse at the opposite side to that upon which the cayman was approaching, and swam with all his strength toward the bank. On reaching it, he paused behind a fallen tree trunk, where he had water to his knees, and where, believing himself in perfect safety, he drew his cutlass and waited. Meanwhile the cayman reared his enormous head out of the water, threw himself upon the horse, and seized him by the saddle. The horse made an effort, the girths broke, and, while the cayman crunched the leather, the steed reached dry land. Perceiving that the saddle was not what he wanted, the cayman dropped it and advanced upon the Indian. We shouted to him to run. The poor fellow would not stir, but waited calmly, cutlass in hand, and, on the alligator's near approach, dealt him a blow upon the head. He might as well have tapped upon an anvil. The next instant he was writhing in the monster's jaws. For more than a minute we beheld him dragged in the direction of the lake, his body erect above the surface of the water (the cayman had seized him by the thigh), his hands joined, his eyes turned to heaven, in the attitude of a man imploring divine mercy. Soon he disappeared. The drama was over, the cayman's stomach was his tomb.

"During this agonizing moment we had all remained silent, but no sooner had my poor shepherd disappeared than we vowed we would avenge his death.

"I had three nets made of strong cord, each net large enough to form a complete barrier across the river. I also had a hut built, and put an Indian to live in it, whose duty was to keep constant watch and to let me know as soon as the cayman returned to the river. He watched in vain for upward of two months; but at the end of that time he came and told me that the monster had seized a horse and dragged it into the river to devour it at leisure. I immediately repaired to the spot, accompanied by my guards, by my priest, who positively would see a cayman hunt, and by an American friend of mine, Mr. Russell, of the house of Russell and Sturgis, who was then staying with me. I had the nets spread at intervals, so that the cayman could not escape back into the lake. This operation was not effected without some acts of imprudence; thus, for instance, when the nets were arranged, an Indian dived to make sure that they reached the bottom, and that our enemy could not escape by passing below them. But it might very well have happened that the cayman was in the interval between the nets, and so have gobbled up my Indian. Fortunately everything passed as we wished. When all was ready, I launched three pirogues, strongly fastened together side by side, with some Indians in the center, armed with lances, and with tall bamboos with which they could touch bottom. At last, all measures having been taken to attain my end without any risk or accident, my Indians began to explore the river with their long bamboos.

"An animal of such formidable size as the one we sought can not very easily hide himself, and soon we beheld him upon the surface of the river, lashing the water with his long tail, snapping and clattering with his jaws, and endeavoring to get at those who dared disturb him in his retreat. A universal shout of joy greeted his appearance; the Indians in the pirogues hurled their lances at him, while we, upon either shore of the river, fired a volley. The bullets rebounded from the monster's scales, which they were unable to penetrate; the keener lances made their way between the scales and entered the cayman's body some eight or ten inches. Thereupon he disappeared, swimming with incredible rapidity, and reached the first net.

"The resistance it opposed turned him; he reascended the river, and again appeared on the top of the water. This violent movement broke the staves of the lances which the Indians had stuck into him, and the iron alone remained in the wounds. Each time that he reappeared the firing recommenced, and fresh lances were plunged into his enormous body. Perceiving, however, how ineffectual firearms were to pierce his cuirass of invulnerable scales, I excited him by my shouts and gestures; and when he came to the edge of the water, opening his enormous jaws all ready to devour me, I approached the muzzle of my gun to within a few inches and fired both barrels, in the hope that the bullets would find something softer than scales in the interior of that formidable cavern, and that they would penetrate to his brain. All was in vain. The jaws closed with a terrible noise, seizing only the fire and smoke that issued from my gun, and the balls flattened against his bones without injuring them. The animal, which had now become furious, made inconceivable efforts to seize one of his enemies; his strength seemed to increase instead of diminishing, while our resources were nearly exhausted. Almost all our lances were sticking in his body, and our ammunition drew to an end. The fight had lasted more than six hours, without any result that could make us hope its speedy termination, when an Indian struck the cayman, while at the bottom of the water, with a lance of unusual strength and size.

"Another Indian struck two vigorous blows with a mace upon the butt end of the lance; the iron entered deep into the animal's body, and immediately, with a movement as swift as lightning, he darted toward the nets and disappeared. The lance-pole, detached from the iron head, returned to the surface of the water; for some minutes we waited in vain for the monster's reappearance; we thought that his last effort had enabled him to reach the lake, and that our chase was perfectly fruitless. We hauled in the first net, a large hole in which convinced us that our supposition was correct. The second net was in the same condition as the first. Disheartened by our failure, we were hauling in the third when we felt a strong resistance. Several Indians began to drag it toward the bank, and presently, to our great joy, we saw the cayman upon the surface of the water, expiring.

"We threw over him several lassos of strong cords, and when he was well secured we drew him to land. It was no easy matter to haul him up on the bank; the strength of forty Indians hardly sufficed. When at last we had got him completely out of the water, and had him before our eyes, we stood stupefied with astonishment; for a very different thing was it to see his body thus, and to see him swimming when he was fighting against us. Mr. Russell, a very competent person, was charged with his measurement. From the extremity of the nostrils to the tip of the tail he was found to be _twenty-seven feet_ long, and his circumference was eleven feet, measured under the armpits. His belly was much more voluminous, but we thought it useless to measure him there, judging that the horse upon which he had breakfasted must considerably have increased his bulk."

SWIFTS.

The edible swallows' nests are found in most of the islands of the Eastern archipelago.

A traveler, Mr. H. Pryer, who made a visit to one of the swifts' caves in Borneo, thus describes the coming and the going of the dusky birds:

"At a quarter past six in the evening the swifts began to return to the caves of their nests; a few had been flying in and out all day long, but now they began to pour in, at first in tens and then in hundreds, until the sound of their wings was like a strong gale of wind whistling through the rigging of a ship.

"They continued flying until after midnight. As long as it remained light I found it impossible to catch any with my butterfly net, but after dark I found it only necessary to wave my net to secure as many as I wanted.

"They must possess wonderful powers of sight to fly about in the dark of the recesses of their caves and to return to their nests, which are often built in places where no light penetrates."

The edible nests are a luxury in China, where they are used in soups. The bird makes her nest of saliva, and plasters it on to the rocks inside of caves. The nests are collected by means of boats, ropes, and ladders, and bring in the Chinese market from L2 to L7 per pound. There have been imported to Canton more than eight million nests in a single year.

Such are some views of life inside of the vast possession of the sea which Magellan discovered for Spain, but which has fallen under the folds of the flag of the Republic of the West.

THE END.

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addition to the series of illustrated foreign classics in which D.
Appleton and Co. have published "The Story of Colette," "An Attic
Philosopher in Paris," and "Picciola." No more sympathetic
illustrator than Leloir could be found, and his treatment of this
masterpiece of French literature invests it with a peculiar value.

_PICCIOLA._ By X. B. SAINTINE. With 130 Illustrations by J. F.
GUELDRY. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50.

"Saintine's 'Picciola,' the pathetic tale of the prisoner who
raised a flower between the cracks of the flagging of his dungeon,
has passed definitely into the list of classic books.... It has
never been more beautifully housed than in this edition, with its
fine typography, binding, and sympathetic
illustrations."--_Philadelphia Telegraph._

"The binding is both unique and tasteful, and the book commends
itself strongly as one that should meet with general favor in the
season of gift-making."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette._

"Most beautiful in its clear type, cream-laid paper, many
attractive illustrations, and holiday binding."--_New York
Observer._

_AN ATTIC PHILOSOPHER IN PARIS; or, A Peep at the World from a
Garret._ Being the Journal of a Happy Man. By EMILE SOUVESTRE. With
numerous Illustrations. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50.

"A suitable holiday gift for a friend who appreciates refined
literature."--_Boston Times._

"The influence of the book is wholly good. The volume is a
particularly handsome one."--_Philadelphia Telegraph._

"It is a classic. It has found an appropriate reliquary. Faithfully
translated, charmingly illustrated by Jean Claude with full-page
pictures, vignettes in the text, and head and tail pieces, printed
in graceful type on handsome paper, and bound with an art worthy of
Matthews, in half-cloth, ornamented on the cover, it is an
exemplary book, fit to be 'a treasure for aye.'"--_New York Times._

_THE STORY OF COLETTE._ A new large-paper edition. With 36
Illustrations. 8vo. Cloth, gilt top, $1.50.

"One of the handsomest of the books of fiction for the holiday
season."--_Philadelphia Bulletin._

"One of the gems of the season.... It is the story of the life of
young womanhood in France, dramatically told, with the light and
shade and coloring of the genuine artist, and is utterly free from
that which mars too many French novels. In its literary finish it
is well-nigh perfect, indicating the hand of the master."--_Boston
Traveller._

New York: D. APPELTON AND CO., 72, Fifth Avenue.

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D. APPLETON AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.

_THE FARMER'S BOY._ By CLIFTON JOHNSON, author of "The Country
School in New England," etc. With 64 Illustrations by the Author.
8vo. Cloth, $2.50.

"One of the handsomest and most elaborate juvenile works lately
published."--_Philadelphia Item._

"Mr. Johnson's style is almost rhythmical, and one lays down the
book with the sensation of having read a poem and that saddest of
all longings, the longing for vanished youth."--_Boston Commercial
Bulletin._

"As a triumph of the realistic photographer's art it deserves warm
praise quite aside from its worth as a sterling book on the
subjects its title indicates.... It is a most praiseworthy book,
and the more such that are published the better."--_New York Mail
and Express._

"The book is beautiful and amusing, well studied, well written,
redolent of the wood, the field, and the stream, and full of those
delightful reminders of a boy's country home which touch the
heart."--_New York Independent._

"One of the finest books of the kind that have ever been put
out."--_Cleveland World._

"A book on whose pages many a gray-haired man would dwell with
retrospective enjoyment."--_St. Paul Pioneer Press._

"The illustrations are admirable, and the book will appeal to every
one who has had a taste of life on a New England farm."--_Boston
Transcript._

_THE COUNTRY SCHOOL IN NEW ENGLAND._ By CLIFTON JOHNSON. With 60
Illustrations from Photographs and Drawings made by the Author.
Square 8vo. Cloth, gilt edges, $2.50.

"An admirable undertaking, carried out in an admirable way.... Mr.
Johnson's descriptions are vivid and lifelike and are full of
humor, and the illustrations, mostly after photographs, give a
solid effect of realism to the whole work, and are superbly
reproduced.... The definitions at the close of this volume are
very, very funny, and yet they are not stupid; they are usually the
result of deficient logic."--_Boston Beacon._

"A charmingly written account of the rural schools in this section
of the country. It speaks of the old-fashioned school days of the
early quarter of this century, of the mid-century schools, of the
country school of to-day, and of how scholars think and write. The
style is animated and picturesque.... It is handsomely printed, and
is interesting from its pretty cover to its very last
page."--_Boston Saturday Evening Gazette._

"A unique piece of book-making that deserves to be popular....
Prettily and serviceably bound, and well illustrated."--_The
Churchman._

"The readers who turn the leaves of this handsome book will unite
in saying the author has 'been there.' It is no fancy sketch, but
text and illustrations are both a reality."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

"No one who is familiar with the little red schoolhouse can look at
these pictures and read these chapters without having the mind
recall the boyhood experiences, and the memory is pretty sure to be
a pleasant one."--_Chicago Times._

"A superbly prepared volume, which by its reading matter and its
beautiful illustrations, so natural and finished, pleasantly and
profitably recalls memories and associations connected with the
very foundations of our national greatness."--_N. Y. Observer._

New York: D. APPELTON AND CO., 72, Fifth Avenue.

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D. APPLETON AND CO.'S PUBLICATIONS.

_UNCLE REMUS. His Songs and his Sayings._ By JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS.
With new Preface and Revisions, and 112 Illustrations by A. B.
Frost. Library Edition. 12mo. Buckram, gilt top, uncut, $2.00.
Also, _Edition de luxe_ of the above, limited to 250 copies, each
signed by the author, with the full-page cuts mounted on India
paper. 8vo. White vellum, gilt top, $10.00.

"The old tales of the plantation have never been told as Mr. Harris
has told them. Each narrative is to the point, and so swift in its
action upon the risibilities of the reader that one almost loses
consciousness of the printed page, and fancies it is the voice of
the lovable old darky himself that steals across the senses and
brings mirth inextinguishable as it comes; ... and Mr. Frost's
drawings are so superlatively good, so inexpressibly funny, that
they promise to make this the standard edition of a standard
book."--_New York Tribune._

"An exquisite volume, full of good illustrations, and if there is
anybody in this country who doesn't know Mr. Harris, here is an
opportunity to make his acquaintance and have many a good
laugh."--_New York Herald._

"There is but one 'Uncle Remus,' and he will never grow old.... It
was a happy thought, that of marrying the work of Harris and
Frost."--_New York Mail and Express._

"Nobody could possibly have done this work better than Mr. Frost,
whose appreciation of negro life fitted him especially to be the
interpreter of 'Uncle Remus,' and whose sense of the humor in
animal life makes these drawings really illustrations in the
fullest sense. Mr. Harris's well-known work has become in a sense a
classic, and this may be accepted as the standard
edition."--_Philadelphia Times._

"A book which became a classic almost as soon as it was
published.... Mr. Frost has never done anything better in the way
of illustration, if indeed he has done anything as good."--_Boston
Advertiser._

"We pity the reader who has not yet made the acquaintance of 'Uncle
Remus' and his charming story.... Mr. Harris has made a real
addition to literature purely and strikingly American, and Mr.
Frost has aided in fixing the work indelibly on the consciousness
of the American reader."--_The Churchman._

"The old fancies of the old negro, dear as they may have been to us
these many years, seem to gain new life when they appear through
the medium of Mr. Frost's imagination."--_New York Home Journal._

"In his own peculiar field 'Uncle Remus' has no rival. The book has
become a classic, but the latest edition is the choice one. It is
rarely riven to an author to see his work accompanied by pictures
so closely in sympathy with his text."--_San Francisco Argonaut._

"We say it with the utmost faith that there is not an artist who
works in illustration that can catch the attitude and expression,
the slyness, the innate depravity, the eye of surprise, obstinacy,
the hang of the head or the kick of the heels of the mute and the
brute creation as Mr. Frost has shown to us here."--_Baltimore
Sun._

New York: D. APPELTON AND CO., 72, Fifth Avenue.

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D. APPLETON AND CO'S PUBLICATIONS.

_THE STORY OF WASHINGTON._ By ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE. Edited by
Dr. Edward Eggleston. With over 100 Illustrations by Allegra
Eggleston. A new volume in the "Delights of History" Series,
uniform with "The Story of Columbus." 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

"One of the best accounts of the incidents of Washington's life for
young people."--_New York Observer._

"The Washington described is not that of the demigod or hero of the
first half of this century, but the man Washington, with his
defects as well as his virtues, his unattractive traits as well as
his pleasing ones.... There is greater freedom from errors than in
more pretentious lives."--_Chicago Tribune._

"The illustrations are numerous, and actually illustrate, including
portraits and views, with an occasional map and minor pictures
suggestive of the habits and customs of the period. It is
altogether an attractive and useful book, and one that should find
many readers among American boys and girls."--_Philadelphia Times._

"A good piece of literary work presented in an attractive
shape."--_New York Tribune._

"Will be read with interest by young and old. It is told with good
taste and accuracy, and if the first President loses some of his
mythical goodness in this story, the real greatness of his natural
character stands out distinctly, and his example will be all the
more helpful to the boys and girls of this generation."--_New York
Churchman._

"The book is just what has been needed, the story of the life of
Washington, as well as of his public career, written in a manner so
interesting that one who begins it will finish, and so told that it
will leave not the memory of a few trivial anecdotes by which to
measure the man, but a just and complete estimate of him. The
illustrations are so excellent as to double the value of the book
as it would be without them."--_Chicago Times._

_THE STORY OF COLUMBUS._ By ELIZABETH EGGLESTON SEELYE. Edited by
Dr. Edward Eggleston. With 100 Illustrations by Allegra Eggleston.
"Delights of History" Series. 12mo. Cloth, $1.75.

"A brief, popular, interesting, and yet critical volume, just such
as we should wish to place in the hands of a young reader. The
authors of this volume have done their best to keep it on a high
plane of accuracy and conscientious work without losing sight of
their readers."--_New York Independent._

"In some respects altogether the best book that the Columbus year
has brought out."--_Rochester Post-Express._

"A simple story told in a natural fashion, and will be found far
more interesting than many of the more ambitions works on a similar
theme."--_New York Journal of Commerce._

"This is no ordinary work. It is pre-eminently a work of the
present time and of the future as well."--_Boston Traveller._

"Mrs. Seelye's book is pleasing in its general effect, and reveals
the results of painstaking and conscientious study."--_New York
Tribune._

"A very just account is given of Columbus, his failings being
neither concealed nor magnified, but his real greatness being made
plain."--_New York Examiner._

"The illustrations are particularly well chosen and neatly
executed, and they add to the general excellence of the
volume."--_New York Times._

New York: D. APPELTON AND CO., 72, Fifth Avenue.