nt the walls, in company with those of
the native buffalo and the wide-reaching horns of the Cape oxen, of which
fourteen or sixteen yoke are sometimes hitched to the ponderous Dutch
wagons. Hippopotamus-teeth and ostrich-feathers indicate clearly enough
the section we are in. Maize has been fully acclimated in Africa, and mush
and milk now form the principal food of the whole Kaffir nation. It has
spread nearly all over Africa, but some central portions yet depend
entirely for farinaceous food upon the seed of the sorghum and dourra. On
the Zambesi corn in all stages of growth may be seen at all seasons of the
year.

The United States section, after all its troubles in getting under
weigh--the very appropriation itself not having been made until after the
English exhibit had all been selected, arranged on the plan and the
catalogue printed--is a collection to be proud of. The arrangement is
good, except for a little crowding. The space in the Palais is forty
thousand square feet, with thirty thousand additional in an outside
building. The latter has the agricultural implements, mills, scales,
wagons and engines, with the displays of oak and hickory in the forms of
wheels, spokes and tool-handles, which are exciting so much interest in
Europe at the present time. There is no good substitute for hickory to be
found in Europe, and it is the difference between American hickory and
English ash which causes the great disparity between the proportions of
American and English carriage-wheels. That we should copy the latter for
the sake of a fashion is marvellous.

It is not to be denied that the ingenuity and versatility of Americans
have caused them to excel other nations in many lines of manufacture. The
public opinion of Europe regards their triumphs in agricultural implements
as the most remarkable; but the nation which made the machine-tools for
the government manufactories of small-arms both of England and Germany has
established its right to the first rank in that class of work also. The
system of making by rule and gauge the separate parts, which are afterward
fitted, has come to be known as the "American system," and is exemplified
in the magnificent collection of the American Watch Company of Waltham;
the Wheeler & Wilson sewing-machine, which is the only sewing-machine with
interchangeable parts at the Exposition; the Remington rifle and shot-gun,
and the Colt revolvers.

[Illustration: INDIANS MAKING KASHMIR SHAW