COLE'S CIRCUS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 239, 30 November 1880, Page 4

COLE'S CIRCUS.

r sPhe z Auckland :&&*:. "thus describee a visit to this mamoth exhibition :-(-;. S throrigh.a broad eniirdfice' we come suddenly, into -the- colossal lii^pp- ; Srome, with ample, accommodation i for 6,000 persons, and illuminated hf 8 stea^dily buriiing eleptric light with s ' w brfliiatfcy sd'startlingHhat fora moment •wefdrj#tKatlt'i6 uigii^%nd imagine that the sunis ehiningin^all : the glorious effulgence of a summer's „mid-iay. Ail '"tfie'vaWencl'p'Suire there ?s,b ' "seaof eager faces, while hundreds more are rapidly po.ur ing in, and are swiftly 1 jan'd courteously 'ushered to their s^atE by a corps of attendants. There is| an . excellent band discoursing, sweet music — - in fact, the best travelling band that has ..ever visited the colony—and, a = ' generalhush of expectation falls upoo an assemblage of some 5,000 spectators as a brilliant cavalcade of splendully t . 1 .mounted i armoured knights, aud gorgeously .. attired ladies,, with camels dud elephants, file into the. hippodrome, and proceed to perform a variety of evcilu- . tions displaying the perfect training! oi / ' their hPrses, and dazzling the eyes jby ihe kaleidoscopic changes of colojur. Thef applaiise has hardly died away - "When two elephants enter the arena, and go. through aperies of astonishing r feats; : at tfie; commandYol!' their trainer, Mr George Coiiklin, which ought i to for ever^belie.the phrase " clumsy asjan elephant." The proboscideans waltz' to music, -lieidownafethe; direction of Mr • CJpn^lin, stand pa, thair hin4 r Hegs, i ; satairtJe themselvfi on a pedestal and roll an enormous cylinder across the •• «irena. T\^o beaiitifulpbriies , "Hujmtoldt" and ""Hindoo" are next intj-o^ duced by Mr William Organ, and- pjerform a s number :of;fe)its. v Exeunt the ' ponie^itdVf l^ l6^ 6^ seven bat'totite leapers, whp execute .clean ; somersaults ! ; pver six camelsand ail elephant: platjed ' side by side, the grand ; sensational climax-being -a- somersault over the eame'iiumber of Animals, with, the ele- . - - .- p^t "perched on aj- pedestal, by ]jlf .^tfarles' Campbell, a inah whose frame ■V^meUT^ ..to Resemble, an.^ indja-^ubo'er t)afe 0? The ? a'sl;ofinding pjrfprmtance. py, „ th^slxT performing stalii&QS~:?rmce, 4 ibukiy Emperor,. ( General,, f SultaiT/^and 1 '*oßSi^/ ; remmdß ? one r of Swift's: Houyh- :- nhums^^^llDoii^tJie.^liole,; ..the be-i : ftnimals^waso so fordert.^lyva^dsTational^ >q acute ;and r j iidicious ;niihat-ra^la'st^^cdnciuded that they, must needs be magipians, whp.h^d r thus me- «; *&nio^hosedHhe^Sei|e4"^T^ Jjje^e ;six sjjalliQns^drijt like" soldiers, sit on • s^u^BLa.Jcircie, cdme^-singlv to_ the " front at Mr Organ>,-cbmmaiid^ Jand finally<ma'rch v put on. tneir^hind legs |is 3 alone ! worth -the price of adjnittanOe. -rPuringairthis s'ucceisipn of surprises, the risible iaculties of- the audience arc excited to the -utmost by. the clowns " far-fetched stereotyped and palpably *r jhearfgdjokesfwith. 1 which we havebecm familiar from childhood are not heard taneous and original;" sAfter a cam?l race, the grand climax r , comes when,, an immense cage^ i'is'^ drawn into'ihe hippo- -■ J '4r6«ne, tji(e;?;ides^ are let down, and Mr , OpJQ l k.lin ; ; leaps -' into i the : .i lions' den, Amidst : intense' .excitement; the " liojn ? coi\querorf '' /proceeds tp.act in a. manner whtchrfecalhjthcda^ of Vain .^imbjrgjr : Lion. Queen" an|d "" Massafti. :. ; Itlis safe to- say that' among ttie;sQOOspectatorsswbo witnessed his - 'nmT=veilouß -control over the king elf isiynotjone. who is as cool "^iidfei^^ 6 '<o*Mr^.Conklin himself and tb

the majority it jj a relief when the sensa. tipnispyer. Hemakes the fierce-looking. i : brutes jgambol atjout the'den like trained; spaniels, jump oy.er his back, lie down >" an& fawn upon him, puts his heaa in; 1 their^mbuthsV feeds ißem With raw jbeef .? after audaciously -tantalising them, by i, withdrawing the tempttng.morsels from t .their_very : jaws in a way'which a man i would hardly dare to 'dp with chained ,' dogsj and, finally,, -after rapidly ;dis-: i charging., a revolver in- their m^dst, bounds out of the cage, makes his bow I and, -retires. -This, dare-devil per-. / fprmance brings the entertainment in- , the hippodrome to a close, and there is 5 a rush for'the museum, where thousajnds i ; pay their shilling to behpld the group . of Appache' lndians — chief, squaw, and £; -braves—^got up for the war path ; | the t two comical dwarfs, Baron' Littlefinjger , and ,Count Rosebud, each ,31 inches , high, aged 31 and 33 years, and weighr ing 51 and 62 lbs respectively* famous linguists, musicians, and swordsmen ; [•' Dr. Granville, " the living skeletPn," I a man of the ordinary height, wo weighs only 601b5. . having a natural p head, but arms and legs . like brqom ) handles ; tlie . educated pig, Bismaijke, who' is an accomplished arithmetician ! and inveterate card sharper ; and the great boa constrictor who could swallow the ! w.hole museum without winking an eye. M V£e had tlie honor of an introduction |. to an Appache chief,; smoked the (ialrV ,:• umet of peace with thai distinguished , warrior, examined his mocassins, warn,,, jpumbelt,; and scalps, T and; recalled I to mind the romances of Wnimore GPopjßr; ' Shook the idainty little hauds of the twb" ,- miniature Italian^ ,npblemen, invested a [ shilling in their photographs; examined the doctor's bpnes, ! and learned a few interesting biographical facts about his , having been a promising youth and the, [ idol of his fond parents up to* 15 years., , of age when he suddenly began to lpse !; flesh dnd to pine away into a shadbwjin a,: manner -rwliich: baffled iof , America ; and generally waltzed round amid r the -gay and festive 'scene and in zoological, ahatomical,,rejptilian, aboriginal, apd musical intoxica- .. Hipn "wptil a gentleman in black politely^ ' dismissed us -to pur- virtu.pus. couch" '•; (; tq?dj;ea!m..rpyer : the wonders') of Cob's | D icjrcus,! menagerie; >-; and museum, aid to conjure up "a grand phastasmagoria 3 of litingo'Bkeletonsy Appache Indians, negroes, and ; vh'e entif^' anifiijil l cr-eatipn squirming 1 abdWi^/a' J'un^ie of bjo% ■ Constrictors 'and blazing hoops. o< ; ' i