in delivering merchandise thereto. I inclose a translation of a blank bill of lading, together with the original, which is in German because it is intended for a German port. This is a through bill of lading which the Mihanovich Company gives for goods shipped to Germany.*

Many of the shippers here inform me that if they could get through bills of lading to New York they would be willing both to ship and receive goods to and from the United States. In this manner the shipper in the United States could give a through bill of lading with his draft attached, which could be presented by the steamboat company here to be honored or accepted before the merchandise was delivered. It seems to me that this could be arranged by some of the steamship companies plying between New York and Buenos Ayres with some of the river boat companies, viz, either the Mihanovich Company, which has its headquarters in Buenos Ayres, or the Lloyd Brazilian Company, whose headquarters are in Rio de Janeiro.

ASUNCION, PARAGUAY, June 18, 1903.

JOHN N. RUFFIN,

Consul.

THE ZEBRULA VS. THE MULE.

German papers say the mule will probably be replaced in the twentieth century by a more efficient animal, as it has been demonstrated that the mule, the cross between horse and donkey, is inferior to the cross between horse and zebra.

Formerly the opinion prevailed that the zebra was almost extinct. The opening up of Africa, particularly the eastern part, reveals these fine animals in large numbers.

Compared with horses and cattle, they possess peculiar advantages, as they are immune against the very dangerous horse disease of Africa and also against the deadly "tsetse" fly. The question. was therefore raised whether the zebra could not take the place of the mule, commonly used in the Tropics. The greatest credit with reference to the solution of this problem is due to Prof. Cossar Ewart, who has been trying since 1895 to produce crosses between. horses and zebras, with a view to developing an animal superior in every respect to the mule.

Three species of zebras still exist in Africa: the so-called "Grevy" zebra, on the high plateaus of Schoa; the common or mountain zebra, formerly found everywhere in South Africa; and the "Burchell" zebra, still frequently found.

* The bill of lading is on file in the Bureau of Statistics, Department of Commerce and Labor.

Professor Ewart produced crosses from mares of different breeds and zebra stallions of the Burchell kind. The offspring is called zebrula, and on account of its form and general bodily condition— especially the hardness of the hoofs-is specially adapted for all transport work heretofore performed by mules. The zebrula is much livelier than the mule and at least as intelligent.

The Indian government has already experimented with zebrulas for transporting mountain artillery at Quetta.

In Germany much interest in this animal is manifested. The well-known Hagenbeck is experimenting in this direction and intends to introduce the zebrula into Germany and America. The zoological garden at Berlin possesses some very fine specimens. The zebra stripes are often well preserved, while the undertone of the skin is generally that of the mother. A full-grown zebrula is 14 hands high and the girdle circumference about 160 centimeters (63 inches).

The experiments so far have been so successful that it is predicted that the zebrula during the present century will completely supersede the mule.

FRANKFORT, GERMANY, July 18, 1903.

RICHARD GUENTHER,

Consul-General.

HAITIEN EXPORTS OF COFFEE PICKINGS.

I transmit herewith a translation of a law promulgated on the 7th instant, fixing the export duty on coffee pickings at $2 ($1.96 United States) per 100 pounds. The law went into immediate effect, but will cease to be operative on September 30 next, when coffee pickings will again become subject to the regular coffee export duty of $3 ($2.895 United States) per 100 pounds.

ALEXANDER BATTISTE,

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI, July 15, 1903.

Deputy Consul-General.

EXTRACTS FROM THE LAW.

Nord Alexis, President of the Republic, considering that the bad preparation of our coffee is the principal cause of the lowering of its price on the foreign markets, that it is incumbent on the public authorities to remedy a state of affairs as prejudicial to the producers as to the fiscal interest; considering that the means the least fit to attain this result, as much on account of the fraud that it favors as by the encouragement it gives tacitly to the producers, is the liberty to the latter to deliver this product to commerce in whatever condition it pleases them, with black, broken, or bleached beans, and even with stones; considering that if a certain class of

financial embarrassments and the necessity to promptly relieve it can in default of more efficacious measures cause to permit the exportation of these remainders of coffee, it is of importance nevertheless to restrain that permission as much as possible, in the interest of the State and of the producer himself, has proposed, and the legislative corps has voted, the following law:

ARTICLE I. The fragments of coffee and the bad grains of that bean, thrown aside as inferior at the time of the preparation and in which is to be found mixed not more than 5 or 10 per cent of good beans, shall pay on and after the promulgation of the present law the sole export duty of $2 per 100 pounds.

ART. 2. No shipment of the remainder of coffee called “pickings" can be made from a port of the Republic for a foreign port without the express authorization of the Secretary of State of Commerce.

Each bag of coffee shall be inspected and shall have in full and large letters the words "coffee pickings" thereon.

ART. 3. Shippers may be forbidden to ship of remainder or pickings of coffee more than 10 per cent of their shipments of coffee. In this case this 10 per cent shall not be counted in any one shipment, and, for the appreciation of same, account shall be taken of their anterior shipments made during the course of the fiscal year.

POULTRY TRADE OF HUNGARY.

The secretary of the Hungarian National Society for Poultry Rearing, Mr. Julius J. Patak, is making a tour of Hungary in the interest of an increased and centralized export of Hungarian poultry to foreign markets.

In a letter to the poultry raisers of the city of Kassa, he calls attention to the exports of 1902 and says that in the near future Hungary will export more poultry than grain.

Hungary exports turkeys, geese, ducks, and chickens to England, where they now compete more successfully than formerly with American poultry. The poultry culture of Hungary, says Mr. Patak, pays ten times as much to farmers as any other branch of agriculBeef is dear and pork has gone up in price, while thousands are making money in the export of eggs alone, and raisers of poultry are sure to find a good domestic, if not also a foreign, market.

ture.

Owing to its being a railroad center, the city of Kassa offers a splendid starting point for the export of north Hungarian poultry, and a poultry-rearing union will probably be organized there this year.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY, July 9, 1903.

FRANK DYER CHESTER,

Consul.

RUSSIAN ENTERPRISE IN THE ORIENT.

The Russian steamer Veliky Kinaz Alexander Michailovitch, with 2,000 tons of lumber for the Chinese Eastern Railway, arrived at Niuchwang a few days ago. This is the first of a new Russian line

of steamers entering into the coasting trade of Siberia, Japan, Korea, and China. The name of the company is the Pacific Steamship Company Energia, with head office at Vladivostock. The company

was organized in 1892 under the patronage of the Grand Duke Alexander Michailovitch, Minister of Commercial Navigation of Russia. This steamer is to be followed by several others very soon.

Many other lines of Russian steamers are now actively engaged in the Pacific traffic, and passengers who travel between Dalny and Japan and Dalny and Shanghai say the steamers Manchuria and Mongolia of the Chinese Eastern Railway are as well furnished, ast comfortable, and as well provided in every way as any steamers now on the Pacific Ocean, not excepting the new steamers of the Pacific Mail, Siberia and Korea.

Another feature to be noted in connection with the cargo of this new steamer from Vladivostock is the fact that it consisted of lumber from Siberia. This is the first lot of a large amount that is to be brought here for the Chinese Eastern Railway. I am not advised

as to the extent of the mills and forests of Siberia and am not prepared to say to what extent this new timber supply will cut into the Chinese market for American lumber, but I have been informed, in a general way, that the possibilities of development of the lumber industry in Siberia adjacent to the Pacific and on the island of Sakhalin are considerable. In a large contract for lumber for Dalny that was let recently, the American firms were beaten by Russian firms supplying the lumber from Siberia.

The Yalu Timber, Mining, and Development Company is entering very extensively into the timber business on the Yalu and is preparing to construct a sawmill on the Korean side of the river at the mouth of the Yalu. I am advised by the Japanese consul, who has recently visited that section, that the amount of timber being rafted down the Yalu by this company this year will be enormous. I am therefore of the opinion that Russian timber enterprises will bring severe competition, especially in North China, with lumber from the United States.

I have also to report that the Russo-Baltic Steamship Company of Riga is sending its steamer Sigrid to this port, to arrive in July, with 25,000 cases of kerosene. The principal trade of the United

States in Manchuria has consisted of cotton goods, kerosene, lumber, and flour. These items made up nineteen-twentieths of all our

imports.

Russia is actively engaged in an effort to secure the trade in each one of the lines indicated above. She is sending cotton goods from Moscow, kerosene from southern Russia, lumber from Siberia and. the Yalu, and flour from Harbin.

HENRY B. MILLER,

NIUCHWANG, CHINA, June 24, 1903.

Consul.