32 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 70 



eral management was to be placed in the hands of Mr. R. L. Garner, 

 well known by his previous studies of chimpanzees and gorillas in 

 the same region. Mr. Robert Aschemeier. an assistant taxidermist 

 on the Museum force, was detailed to accompany the party. It was 

 decided that the expedition should be known as the " Collins- 

 Garner Congo Expedition, in the Interests of the Smithsonian 

 Institution." 



Mr. Aschemeier and Mr. Garner sailed from New York for Bor- 

 deaux about the middle of December, 1916, Mr. Collins then expect- 

 ing to follow a few months later. War conditions, however, greatly 

 delayed the arrival of the first members of the party in Africa and 

 have entirely prevented Mr. Collins, now Major Collins, from 

 joining them. 



After many difiiculties had been overcome, largely through the 

 extreme courtesy of the Governor General at Brazzaville, the 

 Lieutenant Governor, and the Administrateur des Colonies at Fernan 

 Vaz, Mr. Garner and Mr. Aschemeier finally established permanent 

 headquarters. The following passages from a letter from Mr. Garner 

 to Dr. Hrdlicka give an idea of their surroundings : 



" Fernan Vaz, July 7, 1918. 



" Our domicile is located on the edge of a vast plain, traversed 

 here and there by belts and spurs of forest. In those plots of bush 

 live great numbers of chimpanzees, and for the first time in my long 

 experience among them I have seen whole families of them out on the 

 open plain. Frequently they cross the plain from one belt of bush 

 to another, in some places a mile or so in width and not a tree or 

 bush in that distance to shelter them from attack. They often come 

 within 200 to 300 yards of my house and sometimes manifest deep 

 interest in trying to find out what this new thing is, set up in their 

 midst. I have seen as many as four or five dififerent groups of them 

 in the same day. and one of these contained 11 members. One very 

 old man has come, on two occasions, within 100 yards of me and 

 scrutinized me very closely, while his wife (as I took his companion 

 to be) appeared to be very uneasy and suspicious. On several 

 occasions I have seen the young ones romping and tumbling about on 

 the grass, chasing and scuftling with each other, exactly as you see 

 human children do. A school of them slept, a few nights ago, within 

 less than 100 yards of my house, in a very small clump of bush, not 

 more than a hectare in extent, on one side of which is Lake Fernan 

 Vaz and all around the rest of it an open plain, with the quarters of 



