MY LIFE IN THE ANIMAL TRADE II 
of travellers who have explored the wilder portions of every 
continent in the interests of my firm. 
The first lot of animals which Cassanova brought us from 
Nubia arrived in the July of the following year, and consisted 
of two elephants, several young lions, and a number of hyznas, 
panthers, antelopes, gazelles and ostriches. It will be seen 
from this that during the decade which had elapsed since the 
purchase of the little menagerie at Bremerhaven—quite an 
important event to us in its time—the scope of our business 
had considerably enlarged. The demand for wild beasts was 
continually growing, Zoological Gardens were springing up 
on all sides, and public interest in exotic animals was stimu- 
lated by the circuses and travelling menageries, which were 
now becoming numerous both in Europe and in America. 
Although we now began to send out travellers to all parts of 
the world—adventurous men who frequently explored regions 
where no European had ever been before—it was sometimes 
impossible for me to satisfy all the demands which I received. 
For instance, one of my chief customers was Phineas T. 
Barnum, the famous American circus owner. Barnum paid 
us his first visit in November, 1872, and on that. occasion 
purchased animals from us to the value of about 4 3,000. 
He was touring Europe, he told me, in search of new ideas, 
and as I was able to supply him with some such (among 
other things I told him about the racing elephants of 
(India, and of the use of ostriches as saddle animals) he paid 
_me the compliment of inviting me to join him in his enterprise, 
with a one-third share of the profits. I preferred, however, 
to remain in Hamburg and develop my own business. After 
this, Barnum obtained his animals exclusively from me, and 
his successor, Mr. Bailey, continued this arrangement until 
1907, when he disposed of his business. 
The largest consignment of African animals which I ever 
received arrived in 1870. On Whit-Monday of that year I 
heard from Cassanova and from another of my travellers, by 
name Migoletti, that they were both making their way out of 
the interior of Nubia with huge caravans of captured animals, 
