362 AFRICA SPEAKS 



up to tell me in broken English about a large quantity 

 of gasoline and Mobiloil which the Vacuum Oil Com- 

 pany had sent there for the expedition. These supplies 

 had come up the Congo River to Bangui and across 

 country to Buta. 



Returning to Api, I went immediately to the officer 

 in charge to see if it were possible to arrange for porters. 

 It was not I During our conversation I learned some- 

 tliing about their work with the elephants. They have 

 been capturmg young animals from the wild herds in 

 this district since 1900. The fourteen half-grown 

 elephants at this station were taken out every morning 

 for training, then driven to the river each evening, and, 

 after a good scrubbing, were returned to their feed 

 grounds, there to be chained for the night. Wliile 

 walking among these tethered animals, which seemed 

 as gentle as those found in a circus, we discussed the 

 widely circulated story, accepted by many as a fact, 

 that African elephants were untamable. These were 

 certainly the African species, for this was the heart of 

 the Dark Continent and within a few miles of their 

 birthplace I The officer's information was interesting 

 but of no great help in assisting me to get the pictures 

 I sought. 



Realizing that nothing could be accomplished by 

 depending on the authorities for help, I scouted around 

 until successful in securing a guide. Then, with my 

 own boys acting as porters and carrying a Hmited 

 amount of equipment, I hiked off into the jungle. 

 After some of the most arduous work of the expedi- 

 tion, I was able to secure a few motion-picture scenes 

 and some still photographs of the mammoth pachy- 

 derms that roam through the Congo forests. 



