il2 THE ORIGIN OF THE ROOSEVELT EXPEDITION. 



It was planned that Col. Roosevelt and his son would kill the 

 big game. They were assisted and guarded from danger and pro- 

 tected when pursued by fierce lions and other animals, by the mem- 

 bers of the caravan, many of them expert hunters and accurate 

 shots. In case Col. Roosevelt or his son were being hotly pursued 

 by a wounded lion or a rhinoceros, the animal would be covered 

 from all sides by a number of expert riflemen and brought down if 

 necessary to save the Ex-President and his son from harm. 



The skins and skeletons captured by Col. Roosevelt were pre- 

 pared and shipped to the United States by members of the party, 

 some of them being taxidermists. Kermit Roosevelt was the official 

 photographer of the expedition. 



SPECIMENS FOR SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 



The officers of the Smithsonian Institution announced that the 

 National Collection were very deficient in Natural History mater- 

 ials from the Dark Continent and that it was the purpose of Col. 

 Roosevelt's expedition to gather general collections in Zoology and 

 Botany to supply some of its deficiencies; but the main effort was 

 made to collect the large and vanishing African animals. 



Mr. Cunninghame who assembled the materials for Col. Roose- 

 velt's use and organized a caravan was guide and manager of the 

 expedition. Mr. Cunninghame is said to be an expert in Natural 

 History specimens, having made collections for the British Museum 

 in Norway and Africa. He is an English fieldman, who has guided 

 numerous hunting parties in Africa and was the chief hunter for 

 the Field Columbian Exposition. 



Mr. Edmund Heller, a graduate of Stanford University, is a 

 thoroughly trained Naturalist, whose special vv'ork was the prepara- 

 tion and preservation of the specimens of large animals captured 

 by Col. Roosevelt. 



Before joining Col. Roosevelt's expedition, Mr. Heller had had 

 large experiences in animal collecting in Alaska, British Columbia. 

 United States, Mexico, Central America and South America. In 

 the year 1898 he made a collecting trip of eleven months to Gallo- 

 pagos Islands, starting from San Francisco. He is a born enthu- 



