ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



1379 



other trips to Africa^ as I had in hand certain 

 discoveries of mineral and other resources that 

 I felt sure would attract attention^ so that he 

 could go back again if he wished. 



Ota's experience in New York is well known. 

 It resulted first in a sensational story about 

 putting him in a monkey-cage as an exhibit, 

 and later on in an effort to give him an educa- 

 tion. The Zoological Park simply gave him 

 temporary employment in feeding the anthro- 

 poid apes, and a safe and comfortable home for 

 a short time, while I was engaged in private 

 affairs which needed my attention after these 

 years of absence in Africa. 



After Ota started on his school course, he 

 became interested in it and so attached to his 

 friends in the work, that when I offered him a 

 chance to return to Africa with me on my next 

 expedition he would not go. Later on I offered 

 him an opportunity to work here on the Pan- 

 ama Canal, but he still stood firm on his first 

 position. 



I never thoroughly understood his mental at- 

 titude, but he was one of the most determined 

 little fellows that ever breathed. Possibly he 

 was trying to prove all the time that he was 

 not a pygmy, as that term, even in Africa, al- 

 ways conveys the idea of difference from and 

 inferiority to other people. I never addressed 

 him as one. To me he was very human ; a 

 brave, shrewd, even smart little man, who pre- 

 ferred to match himself against civilization 

 than to be a slave to the Baschilele. All hon- 

 or to him, even though he died in the attempt ! 



His manner of going was an aj)parent con- 

 fession of defeat; but Hannibal and Marc An- 

 tony were big souls that succumbed in the same 

 way after they saw that they had undertaken 

 the impossible. I wish I had been near Ota 

 Benga, with an opportunity to try to cheer up 

 his spirit; but doubtless his friends there did 

 all they could. He left Africa because he 

 would not be a slave, and he preferred to die 

 in America rather than endure a confinement 

 against which his spirit rebelled. The chains 

 of civilization still were chains to him. 



I never believed that the sort of education 

 which seems to be the standard to-day was suit- 

 ed to him; nor did I encourage that educational 

 experiment. At the same time I was not will- 

 ing to combat his chance along that line, espe- 

 cially since his other friends sincerely believed 

 it wise. Even had he gone back to Africa, he 

 might have fared no better. His country is 

 now torn by war made by the white men among 

 themselves, and a war far more terrible than 

 any the pygmies ever waged. In fact, I have 

 lately heard that Ndombe's peaceful kingdom 



was utterly broken up by the Belgians just be- 

 fore King Albert came to the throne, and that 

 Ndombe's son was put in prison on some trivial 

 charge. 



Between the impossible conditions of Ota 

 Benga's own land, and those which he could not 

 surmount on ours, the homeless pygmy found no 

 abiding-place. Can we wonder that he gave up 

 liis life as an unsolvable problem? It was no 

 less a man than Alfred Russell Wallace who 

 wrote me a short time before he died, and be- 

 fore the European war started: "The human 

 race has not made much real progress in five 

 thousand vears." 



STATUS OF THE ALLIGATOR IN 1916. 

 By Raymond L. Ditmars. 



DURING a collecting trip in April and 

 May covering a considerable area of the 

 low-grounds along the Savannah River, 

 the writer had excellent opportunities for study- 

 ing the jii'esent status of the alligator. The 

 observations made are particularly interesting 

 when compared with conditions noted on the 

 same ground fifteen years ago, during which 

 period there has been much alligator hunting, 

 and the crafty reptiles have adopted tactics for 

 self preservation that are foreign to their form- 

 er habits. 



Like many other wild creatures threatened 

 with extinction, the alligator is fighting hard 

 for its life. In its battle for existence it has 

 certain advantages over other animals. Its 

 ability to recover from gun-shot wounds, unless 

 wounded in a vital j)art, and its habit of remain- 

 ing close to sheltering, muddy water constitute 

 important factors in self preservation. 



Despite the alleged low mentality of reptiles, 

 the alligator appears to have developed a fear 

 of man and of guns equivalent to the sagacity 

 of the modern bear. Throughout the greater 

 part of its former distribution, the big reptile 

 has retreated from the rivers and from expos- 

 ure to hostile observations from boats, and has 

 taken up its abode in swamps that are remote 

 and little disturbed. 



Fifteen years ago the writer spent some 

 weeks collecting reptiles about thirt^y miles in- 

 land from Savannah, in the extensive low 

 grounds on the South Carolina side of the 

 Savannah River. At that time alligators were 

 yet fairly common in the river, and frequently 

 were seen in the big open lakes that connect 

 with the river during freshets. Back in the 

 cypress low-grounds, which are thick, difficult 



