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STILLIN ANTWERP 253
bears and polar bears were killed. They were driven out into
the summer cages and shot—the muzzles of the rifles were
thrust through the bars." He sighed, and no doubt he thought
that this was the most grievous loss the war had caused, for
both he and the other keepers of the wild beasts had become
attached to their protegés.
" But why, in the name of common-sense, were the poor
beasts shot ? Surely they were not suspected of espionage ?
"
asked Lieut. Hiitten,
" Indeed not," the keeper replied, " it was simply done by
order of a general. They feared lest the cages might be struck
by shells, when the beasts might have escaped and created
a panic in the streets. That’s why they were shot. But now
the bombardment is over, and the cages stand empty. Not
even a splinter has fallen in the Zoological Garden."
It would be interesting to know what kind of shell it could
be that would break a lion’s cage without killing the lion !
Lastly I took a snapshot of the combined Asiatic and
African landscape, in which my old friends, the Bactrian
camels and the Tibetan yaks, were associated with drome-
daries from Egypt. One might have imagined oneself far
away from the turmoil of the war of nations when standing
on the borders of their peaceful retreat !
But before reverting to the war, I will interpolate here a few
details gleaned in Antwerp as to what occurred in the town
just before and during the bombardment. Most of these I
obtained from a gentleman who on my return from the Zoologi-
cal Garden was awaiting me at the entrance to the Hotel
Terminus, and introduced himself as Harald Petri, Swedish
Consul in Antwerp. He was an uncommonly amiable, cour-
teous and hospitable man, and as he had stayed in the town
during those critical days, he could give me a great deal of
perfectly reliable information.
On Wednesday, the 7th of October, the Commanding
General had published through the press a proclamation
warning the inhabitants that the town might be bombarded
at any moment. In consequence of this warning one-half of
the population took flight The warnjng had come none too
soon, for the very same night at 11 p.m. the shells began to
burst. During the night and on Thursday morning further
crowds fled in a continuous stream. They went on foot, as no
cars and no horses were to be had. They took with them their
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