380 



THE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



December 



In So'kotra. 



The population of the island is madB 

 tip of several races. On the coast one 

 finds a mongrel blend of Arabs and ne- 

 groes. Among the mountains the vil- 

 lagers are Bedouin pure and simple, 

 with chocolate colored skins and hand- 

 some features. But, taken as a whole, 

 the inhabitants of Sokotra do not im- 

 press one favorably. They are extreme- 

 ly greedy, and "robeeah" is a word 

 scarcely ever out of their mouths. The 

 rupee has ousted the old Maria Theresa 

 dollar from this island, as from other 

 oriental countries, but the islanders are 

 not yet accustomed to the use of the 

 smaller Indian currency, and often look- 

 ed askance at the 2 anna pieces we of- 

 fered them for milk or butter. Only 

 once during our stay did we meet with 

 any real generosity or hospitality, and 

 that was from an alien, a merchant of 

 Muscat. 



Woe to the unhappy traveler whose 

 money gave out in Sokotra, or to the 

 still more hapless mariner cast upon 

 these shores without any possessions. 

 The sultan, it is true, receives £90 a 

 year from the British government and 

 is required by treaty to befriend Eng- 

 lishmen who maybewreck(d on this 

 coast, but the abominable treatment we 

 received at the hands of this mean and 

 avaricious ruler would not lead one to 

 expect much in the way of generosity 

 toward poor or penniless outcasts. When 

 we wished to leave the island before the 

 change of the mcntoon had cut off all 

 possibility of such a thing, the sultan 

 prevented any boat from making a bar- 

 gain with us, in order to force us to 

 emplry his ovrn dhow, for the hire cf 

 which he demanded the outrageous sum 

 of £120. We ultimately secured the 

 wretched buf.galow for £50, an extortion- 

 ate price. — Longman's Magazine. 



St. Andrew's by Wardrobe. 



The tiny .hurchyard of St. Andrews- 

 by-V\ardrol c has many associations. It 

 is even Shakosi^earean. In his last will 

 the poet left a house in the parish to his 

 daughter, Susannah Hall, "situate, ly- 

 ing and being in Blackfriars, in Lon- 

 don, uere the Wardrobe." "But why 

 Wardrobe?" will be asked by such as 

 xemember Betsy Trotwood's "Why 

 Rookerv':"" In a ualace built in the four- 



teenth century by Sir John Beauchamp, 

 the same whose tomb in St. Paul's 

 churchyard became the resort of the 

 dinnerless, who believed it to be that 

 of the good Duke Humphrey, Edward 

 III deposited all the old court clothes. 

 The exhibition was a sort of sartorial 

 library, as somebody has remarked. 

 Now its site over against the northeast 

 corner of the church is covered by 

 Wardrobe Chambers. In the churchyard 

 lie two of "Vandyke's men," and his 

 daughter was baptized there, so there 

 are artistic as well as poetic associa- 

 tions. Indeed, Faithom, the engraver, 

 was buried there. An old epitaph is 

 preserved in Maitland, but no trace of 

 it is now to be found : 



When God was pleased (the world unwilling 



yet) 

 Helias James to Nature paid his debt, 

 And here reposes: as he lived he dy'd. 

 The saying in him strongly verified. 

 Such life, such death, then a long truth to tell, 

 He lived a godly life and dy'd as well. 



Helias James was evidently of those 

 whose hand is subdued to what it works 

 in. — Westminster Gazette. 



Silas In Ne'w York. 



A figure that was for a time familiar 

 in up town streets has now appeared 

 down town. It is that of a man in the 

 garb of a countryman carrying an old 

 fashioned valise, upon which an adver- 

 tisement is painted. Uptown he return- 

 ed at intervals to the shore he came 

 from, looked up at the sign over the 

 door and then walked in, to start out 

 again presently on another round. 



Down town he carries two valises, a 

 small, flat valise cf the alligator mouth 

 kind, upon the side of which is marked 

 the name "Silas. " The other, a big, 

 square, glazed valise, bears the name 

 and announcement of a down town ho- 

 tel. 



Silas, wearing clothes from way 

 back, his trousers tucked in his boots, 

 and a red bandanna around his neck, 

 smooth faced and wearing spectacles, 

 and with a look of profound innocence 

 upon his countenance, wanders about 

 through the busy streets in the lower 

 part of the city. He attracts attention, 

 and that is his business. Incidentally 

 he adds one to the many odd, pictur- 

 esque and interesting features of the 

 city's vaiied shew. — New York Sun. 



