JARDIN DES PL ANTES, PARIS 5 



its boundaries ; most of the glass-houses were battered 

 to ruiits, and a great number of the animals were, by 

 the direction of the authorities, handed over to the 

 butchers, killed and sold at fabulous prices. Lion, 

 bear, girafie and hippopotamus flesh realized 25 francs 

 per pound during the last few months, and was very- 

 difficult to obtain even at that price. 



This Garden, which runs close by the side of the 

 Seine bank, is open free to the public. It is somewhat 

 of a bewildering place to find one's way about in. Its 

 collection of animals is very fine, and contains two or 

 three especially good things. There are some pretty 

 spots in it, and plenty of trees and shade. A fine 

 lion house of no less than twenty-two cages contains a 

 good collection of the big cats and bears, a number of 

 the latter coming from Tonquin. Besides these bears, 

 there are others in old but well-built bear-pits in 

 another part of the Garden. Again, we find a pair 

 of hartebeests, so seldom seen in captivity.* Deer 

 and antelopes, sheep and goats, are very well repre- 

 sented in the Jardin des Plantes. 



I was busily engaged in taking photographs, when 

 I was pounced upon by the inevitable gendarme, and 

 was obliged to ' box up ' in front of a large and sympa- 

 thizing crowd. The elephant house contained three 

 Indian elephants and one African, which is the largest 

 to be found in captivity. Unfortunately, he has only 

 stumps of tusks, and is, in consequence, not half such 

 an imposing animal as the magnificent African elephant 

 at Berlin. There was quite a number of zebras, in- 

 * A hartebeest has lateh^ been added to the London Zoo. 



