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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
147
In
somewhat
modern
times
the
best
birds
were
said
to
be
those
of
Aleppo,
which
served
as
couriers
at
Alexandretta
and
Bagdad;
but
many
years
ago
their
services
in
this
line
had
to
be
given
up,
owing
to
the
Kurd
robbers
killing
the
pigeons
in
the
course
of
their
journey.
It
does
not
appear,
however,
that,
until
quite
recent
times,
any
great
use
has
been
made
of
these
birds
by
Western
nations,
at
any
rate
under
any
extended
scheme
for
commercial
or
peaceful
ends.
Yet,
by
what
may
seem
an
incongruity,
the
dove,
which
is
par
excellence
the
emblem
of
love
and
peace,
has
of
late
years
been
trained
for
purposes
of
war
by
the
great
Continental
States;
and
it
is
impossible
to
predict
how
far
the
fate
of
nations
may
be
determined
hereafter
by
the
performances
of
these
naturally
harmless
creatures.
The
following
particulars
from
one
of
the
annual
reports
on
the
Post-office
will
show
to
what
extent
service
was
rendered
by
carrier-pigeons
in
keeping
up
postal
communication
with
Paris
when
that
city
was
invested
during
the
Franco-German
war
of
1870-71:--
"As
the
war
proceeded
and
the
hostile
forces
approached
Paris,
the
risk
of
interruption
to
our
Indian
mails
became
more
and
more
imminent,
and
caused
serious
uneasiness
to
the
Post-office.
This
feeling,
which
was
not
long
in
communicating
itself
to
the
public,
the
subsequent
investment
of
the
capital
served
to
enhance.
The
mails
had
now
to
branch
off
at
Amiens,
and
go
round
by
Rouen
and
Tours,
at
a
cost,
in
point
of
time,
of
from
thirty
to
forty
hours;
but
even
this
circuitous
route
could
not
long
be
depended
upon,
and
nothing
remained
but
to
abandon
Marseilles
altogether
as
the
line
of
communication
for
our
Indian
mails.
There
was
only
one
alternative--to
send
them
through
Belgium
and
Germany
by
the
Brenner
Pass
to
Brindisi,
and
thence
by
Italian
packets
to
Alexandria.
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