WILD MAN AND WILD BEAST IN AFRICA 



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Photo by Heller. Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons 

 CARRYING HEAD SKIN OF MERU BULX ELEPHANT TO CAMP 

 It required 20 men to carry each elephant's skull 



science — that I have had the keenest pos- 

 sible interest in what has been done by 

 this Society. 



My going to Africa as the head of a 

 scientific expedition was first suggested 

 to me by Dr. C. Hart Merriam. I then 

 got into communication with one or two 

 gentlemen connected with the scientific 

 work here in Washington, and they com- 

 municated with the Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian, Mr. Walcott, who was then 

 away from Washington. He instantly 

 wired me his cordial approval of the sug- 

 gestion, and said he hoped that I would 

 make the trip for the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution, and it was under Mr. Walcott, 

 with Mr. W T alcott as my superior officer, 

 that I made my trip in Africa. 



The success of the trip from a scien- 

 tific standpoint depended upon the char- 

 acter of the scientific men we had with 

 us. It would be quite impossible to over- 

 state the value of the services rendered 

 by Dr. Mearns, Mr. Heller, and Mr. 



Loring. I doubt whether three men 

 better equipped for their work and more 

 zealous in doing their work ever went on 

 such an expedition, and the labor fell en- 

 tirely on them. Really, I would be 

 ashamed of myself sometimes, for I felt 

 as if I had all the fun , I would kill the 

 rhinoceros or whatever it was, and then 

 they would go out and do the solid, hard 

 work of preparing it. They would spend 

 a day or two preserving the specimen, 

 while I would go and get something else. 

 At times I felt that it was a most unequal 

 division of labor — that I was having the 

 enjoyment, while the work of bringing' 

 practical results was being done by them, 

 and it was being done by them not 

 merely faithfully, but as a labor of love. 

 They did it so well because they would 

 rather have done it than to have done 

 anything else at all ; they would rather 

 have had that opportunity than to have 

 had any other opportunity that the world 

 that year gave, and naturally there was a 



