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The National Geographic Magazine 



giraffes, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, and ele- 

 phants, a great number of large ante- 

 lopes, and hundreds of hides and skins 

 and skeletons of every description, all 

 of them in such good condition that they 

 are suitable for exhibition in museums. 



"For days together I occupied myself 

 exclusively with photography, getting 

 any number of pictures and so managing 

 that hundreds and hundreds of gnus and 

 zebras hung around my camp almost 

 like tame deer. Here they grazed, along 

 with flocks of the beautiful crested cranes 

 and Egyptian geese. Hundreds of Thom- 

 son's gazelle grazed like sheep among 

 them, and wherever the eye turned it 

 saw the rough, dark, strongly marked 

 forms of the old gnu bulls as they grazed 

 apart, cut off from the herds." 



The chapter entitled "The Minds of 

 Animals"' contains some interesting ob- 

 servations. A young rhinoceros which 

 the author captured and forwarded to 

 Berlin "attached himself to me in a very 

 few weeks, and got to distinguish quite 

 clearly between the large number of men 

 who came into touch with him, bearing 

 himself quite differently with different 

 individuals, just as he still singles me 

 out from all the thousands who approach 

 him now in the gardens in Berlin." 



"Many other animals in this distant 

 black country were to us a real source 

 of enjoyment and consolation. Take, for 

 example, my young elephant, who loved 

 me with childlike simplicity, till I un- 

 fortunately lost him for want of a foster- 

 mother ; also my tame baboon, who used 

 to be almost mad with joy when he saw 

 me, a mere speck on the horizon, return- 

 ing to the camp from one of my excur- 

 sions — his sight is infinitely keener than 

 ours. 



"From earliest timiCS we have heard 

 tell of an unusually wise bird that our 

 ancestors nicknamed the 'philosopher.' 

 This is the marabou-stork, specimens of 

 which I have come across whose wisdom 

 and fondness for human companionship 

 would scarcely be credited. 



"Storks and marabous, which perhaps 

 have lived a man's lifetime or more in 



the distant velt, have attached themselves 

 to me in the friendliest manner, albeit 

 caught after many difficulties and by 

 strategy. A specimen, well on in years,, 

 which I brought with me to Berlin still 

 singles me out from all the other visitors 

 by peculiar marks of affection. 



"Of course it means a hard struggle, 

 and it is not easy to win the friendship 

 of such old and peculiarly obstinate birds. 

 For weeks and months one must feed 

 them by force with pieces of meat before 

 the)' make up their minds to feed them- 

 selves. One must tend them oneself, 

 wait on them constantly, and occupy one- 

 self with their needs. Then one day, 

 quite suddenly, all mistrust and fear are 

 overcome, and one is repaid a thousand- 

 fold for all one's trouble by making a 

 genuine friend of the bird. 



"It must be remembered that I am not 

 speaking of young birds reared by men 

 from infancy, but of birds caught perhaps 

 at the age of thirty or forty years or 

 even older; for marabous attain a very 

 great age, like large ravens or vultures, 

 one of which lived in captivity, under 

 favorable conditions, for a hundred years. 

 My marabous moved about in the camp 

 free and unrestrained. They built their 

 nests, and did not try to fly away. They 

 greeted me on my return with joyful 

 cacklings ; they planted themselves close 

 to my tent as sentinels, and caressed me 

 with their powerful and dangerous bills. 

 For a long time my black cook had taken 

 on the duty of feeding them, and their 

 affection for me was not at all the re- 

 sult, of my giving them dainties, but of 

 my just^,and intelligent conception of 

 their habits." 



The glories and wonders of the velt 

 are thus vividly portrayed : 



"In the Nyika one constantly comes 

 across large white-ant heaps, several feet 

 high and of considerable width. During 

 the night the tiny builders are untiringly 

 active in raising and building their for- 

 tresses, which are very strongly put to- 

 gether. At the approach of the rainy 

 season the ants, which by this time are 

 winged, arise from the ground in swarms 



