[Illustration:]

IV.

Its Internationality.


Wherever you go you find the stamp collector in evidence. The hobby
has its devotees in every civilised country. Its hold is, in fact,
international. In Dresden there is a society with over two thousand
members upon its books; in out-of-the-way countries like Finland there
are ardent collectors and flourishing philatelic societies. The Prince
of Siam has been an enthusiastic collector for many years, and even in
Korea there are followers of the hobby. Australia numbers its
collectors by the thousand, and many of its cities have their
philatelic societies, all keen searchers for the much-prized rarities
of the various States of the Commonwealth. In India, despite the
difficulty of preserving stamps from injury by moisture, there are
numbers of collectors; one of the best-known rajahs is collecting
stamps for a museum, recently founded in his State, and the Parsees
are keen dealers. There are collectors throughout South Africa, in
Rhodesia, and even in Uganda. Wherever a postage stamp is issued there
may be found a collector waiting for a copy for his album. In no part
of the world can an issue of stamps be made that is not at once
partially bought up for collectors. If any one of the Antarctic
expeditions were to reach the goal of its ambition, and were to
celebrate the event there and then by an issue of postage stamps, a