April 6, 1906.] 



SCIENCE. 



543 



the water courses, and tlie advancing growth 

 of new vegetation with unerring precision, 

 living among the clouds as readily as on the 

 ever-changing plains of the great velt. Says 

 Schillings : 



The velt is a book difficult to decipher, being 

 written all over with the tracks and trails of the 

 animal world. Right and left in our path, trees 

 of vast strength are to be seen broken like bits 

 of straw, showing where a herd of elephants have 

 made their way. Large holes in the ground are 

 come upon, which have been made by the elephants 

 in the wet season, and which remain visible for a 

 year or more. . . . The rhinoceros, too, leaves 

 his mark. For many miles long tracks, which 

 cross and recross, are found leading to the water- 

 ing places. . . . And like the elephant the rhi- 

 noceros levies toll upon the shrubs and thorn- 

 bushes. 



Herr Schillings's first expedition to East 

 Africa was made in 1896, when he determined 

 to study the velt, and to obtain specimens of 

 its representative animals, as well as photo- 

 graphs which should be transcripts from na- 

 ture, and really illustrative of zoology. His 

 last journey was undertaken in 1903. The sec- 

 ond expedition failed in photographic results, 

 owing to the unsuitable character of his appa- 

 ratus. Accordingly, he returned to Europe, 

 and after many trials succeeded in construct- 

 ing at the celebrated Goerz establishment at 

 Friedenau, a metallic camera and flashlight 

 apparatus, strong enough to stand not only 

 the strain of travel in tropical jungles, but 

 more especially the effect of the powerful ex- 

 plosives employed. 



Returning to Africa for the third time, he 

 started for the interior with a caravan of one 

 hundred and thirty people, but after an ill- 

 ness of three months from acute heart disease 

 and malaria, he was obliged to throw up 

 everything, and return again to Europe to 

 recover, if possible, his health. On his fourth 

 expedition to the dark continent he learned 

 that ' a naturalist traveling on his own ac- 

 count encounters almost insuperable difficul- 

 ties,' and his application to explore English 

 territory was refused apparently because an 

 Englishman had recently been debarred from 

 German East Africa. 



To appreciate the great advance in book 



illustration one has but to take from the shelf 

 some works of travel and exploration, like 

 those of Sir Samuel Baker of a half or even 

 a quarter of a century ago. How ridiculous 

 many of the pictures really are, and how they 

 shame the text! 



Since most of the large animals are noc- 

 turnal, Herr Schillings was obliged to resort 

 to the flashlight, and some of his night pic- 

 tures, obtained in spite of the greatest difficul- 

 ties and hazards, are remarkable. The tele- 

 photo lens seems to have proved useful also, 

 but he does not appear to have been equipped 

 with a reflex camera, although this is a Ger- 

 man invention, the improved forms of which 

 are now fifteen years old, while the principle 

 has been known for half a century. At least 

 the lack of such an instrument would seem 

 to account for so many of his moving objects, 

 like birds, being out of focus. The lack of 

 sharpness, on the other hand, lends to some 

 of his landscapes a peculiar attraction. Thus 

 some of his pictures of -gnus and gazelles sug- 

 gest the sentiment and poetry of a master like 

 Corot. As evidence of this the reader should 

 examine two charming pictures on pages 327 

 and 481 — a herd of gnus and zebras taking 

 flight from beneath the shade of a huge 

 monkey-bread tree, and another herd of seven 

 curious gnus all facing the camera and lighted 

 from behind. In both of them what looks 

 like a ' painted ' sky is really the steep slope 

 of a distant towering range of mountains. 



Some of the rhinoceros pictures, showing 

 these huge pachyderms feeding on the velt, 

 bathing in the jungle, coming to the stream- 

 courses and water pools at night, all most 

 hazardous to obtain, are among the best in 

 the book. The ' rhino ' is dull of sight, but 

 has keen ears, and a most phenomenal power 

 of scent. When aroused it is up in an in- 

 stant, swings quickly around, snorting loudly, 

 to get the scent. Now is the opportunity for 

 the photographer, but it lasts only a second, 

 and the hand which releases the camera must be 

 quick to seize the rifle. The animal is almost 

 sure to charge, and when it does so, it comes 

 with the speed of an express train; escape by 

 running or dodging is no more effective than 

 climbing imaginary trees or pulling oneself 



