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European Correspondence

European Correspondence image
Parent Issue
Day
6
Month
July
Year
1883
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Ftodi our Regular Correspondent. Moscow, June 14, 1888. The scène at the opera house last night on the occasion of the visit of the Emperorand Kmpress. wasoneof extraordinary splendor. The brilliantly liglited theatre glittered with magnificent uniformi and beautiful costuincs, set off with a profusión of diamond and other jewels. Czar and Czarina entered the Imperial box at half past seveu, and were saluted by the audience, who had riten in a body, with a burst of fasering, which subsided while the National anthem was being pl.nyed, but broke out afresh as soon as the ïnusic ceased. The Czar, wlio was In the uniform of the Chevalier Guard, and the Empiess, whose brilliant toilette culminated in a dladem of extraordinary lustre, both wore the cordon of the order of St. Andrew. Amidst the profusión of precious stonesin all parts of the house, the parure of emeralds worn iby the Grand Duchess Valdiniir excited the most general admiration. Ou tbelr Majesties rising to Jeave at the conclusión of the performance the audience also rose, and turning to the Imperial box, cheered with such persistence that the Emperor and Empress, who had already retired, came back into the theatre and remained standing in their box in full view of the assemblage, white the orchestra played the National hymn. The truly and unaftectedly devout spirit of HolyRussia was maniiest throughout yesterday's rejoicings. A deep and abidIng sentiment of religión sanctifled the ceremonial, and animated those who took part in it, whether as actors or spectators. i iie peopie wlio had prayed in the churclies for the Bafety and welfare of tho reigning house looked on with awe as the Imperial faraily prostrated tliemselves before the the national shrines. A1I thoughts and aspirations turned to the Tlirone oí Grace, seeking the Divine blessing and favor. A1I pious and patriotic Russians gladly paid their duty to tlie elected of Heaven. On the very threshold of the city the municipal authorities offered suit service. Next carne the loyal address of the Boyards and the homage of the Senate ; all the while the presiding clergy bore alof t crosses and holy icons. From church to church and from shrine to shrine their Imperial Majesties passed la State, offering prayers and thanksgiving to the Most High, as the bells pealed and the cannons roared and the pcople along the route shouted themselves hoarse with cries of approving wclcome. The East and the West met and commingled in the streets of Moscow to do honor to tlie Monarch of that wide Empire. Fiom Bokhaia and Khiva, from Taslikent, froni Astrakhan and remóte Sarmakliand, eame chiefsaud leaders ofhalf savasre hordes to swell the triumph of their confessed lord, the master of niany legions. Nothing was wanting save tlie feeling of security, to make perfect a magnificent pageant- a semblanee of unparallelled power. All those lierce fighting men from Asiatic Kussia, and squadrons ot Cossacks, and deputations of the high nobility, came tocether to acknowledge the supremacy of one man. Mounted equerries, couriers, court-servants, huntsmen, pages, and masters of the ceremonies, all In spiendia uniforma and rich liveries, swelled the strange and dazzling spectacle. The Ambassadors and corresponden ts, used to the sights of warlike shows and civil pageantry, must have wondered at the strange and startling sight, in wliich civilization and semi-barbarism blended in an ever vu uw, me xiouse 01 Komanoft has deserved well of the great and diversified Russian nation. The Emperors ill-fated father was, at least during the early yeara of his checkered reign, a man of large-and liberal ideas; and, while he endeavored to carry out the natten al traditions abroad laid the foundations of future freedom at home. For the moment the universal gaze turns toward Moscow, and rests upon the one conspicuous aud central figure, within reach of whose outstretehed hand' Hes the Imperial crown of all the Russias. That he uiay be spared to set the glittering bauble upon his brow, and thereafter to reign justly and securely over a loyal people, is the sincere wish of all friends to order and the stable government of a nation in soie need of peace and nro"ress. ' " London. June 30, 1883. Numerous as are the attractions now being offered to the sight-seeing public at South Kensington, there is i)erhaps, no department of the Fisheries Exhibition more full of interest than that which the exhibitors of the Celestial Empire have created in their galleries for the astonishmentaiuldeliglitoficthyologists. An or ginal method of capturing fish is that pu sued hy what are known at Swatow a "slipper boats." These craft are "ene ally 25 feet long, and 1G inches wide, and thy fish in couples moored side by sideon bnght moooUghtnlghta, their only imple ment of capturing being a white boar fastened along the outer slde of eich This board catehes the bi-ight rays of tli mooi), and the fish, whowould seem tob of a confidino: disposition in that portion of the Bmpire, are said to mistake it fo water, and to leap from their native element uto the slipper boats In hirge nuni bers. Innumerable devlces of this char acter peculiar to the country are here on show in the Chinese annex. This woulc eem to be a b ranch of the industry naturally commending itself to the minds of people who have been universally eredited with a more than ordinary amount of cunin;. 'i'heir flsh traps are, moreover, manfold and varied, and of the liighest workïanship and utility. In the British Isles tliis is a means of taking fisli practically unknown and uupractised, with the exeption of the stereotyped eel and lobster )ots; but tlie Chinese devote themselves argely to these strategie methods of fishng, and with au unvarying success that Othlng but the boundlessfertility of their vers and seas could explain or withstand. he day will perhaps come when western eas will penétrate snfflcicntly there to sure the nippraulon of wholesale fish oisoning and snch like fatal poaching rangements for the capture of small fiy are rather too candidly exhibited here; but at present we can only admire, perh:ips with a tinge of ilejection. the hundred and one devices employed in a country where, though every fonn of unsportsmanlike destruction is rampant, the fish supply seems to reinain as abundaut and accessible as ever. Cormorants are another means employed bv the Chinese on lakes and the sliallower sheets'of waterfor taking fish. This aquatic species of hawking is of very old date, and was known and practiced in England, whitlier it was doubtless imported from the East, two centimes ago. But it is followed with success only by the Chinese. The birds, which have to Uorgü a regular training uro taken oul !u a boat, and before the work commences ft strap or ring is placed round each corrnorant'8 throat sufficiently tiglit to prevent its swallowinjj any fisli it may caten in its strongly hooked-beak, but not so ti-íht as to prevent respiration. Thedark-winged tishermen then go ofl' and cater for their master with success and regularity, being rewarded with an occasional íish, whlch they are permitted to swallow when the strap has been removed. Above all tliings the Chinese are a frugal nation, making use of substances tliat would meet with culinary contempt n any other countr}-. The discarded shark represents to them a valuable form of food. The fins go to form the well-kuown soup, or are used in the preparation of gelatine; while the skin, after being prepared and cleaned, serves forcovering sword handles and for various other ornamental purposes. Even the cuttle fish, a croature repulsive tofishermen of most other nations is the object of careful pursuit witli nets and lines by the Chinese at a time wlien other work sslack; and carefully dried and packed in bales, coininaiids a ready sale all through the Flowery Land. The oj-ster also, and ils peur] bearing kindred, the Chinese musset, are nol merely looked upon as dainties. Tliough cultiyated with skill and science as such in the first place, their refuseshellsare bomt for lime, and while still living they are indijced to secrete the hard white substance wliich is so highly valued for its beauty and scarclty all over the World. Some of the shells containing artificially constructed pearls are shown 1 ere in one of the cases, and though they are no novelty to the divers alike of Chinii, Ceylon, and Panama, they will doubtless be nfw to many. It will beobserved that some of these are in the shapeof quaintlittle images adhering fast to the sliell. These metallic images have been inserted wliile the mussel lived, and linding itself ill at ease with this encumbrnncp, which it has been unable to eject, the bivalve has adopted the procesa which is the cause of all pearls, and has silently covered the irritating foreign substance with layer alter layer of the white material known in the perfect forui of pearls.

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Subjects
Ann Arbor Courier
Old News