Animal Collecting Not Entirely 

 Adventure and Pith Helmets 



Reporter Finds Combination of Rough Sea, 

 Gravity and Irascible Beasts the Opposite 



Bearing gifts for South Amer- 

 ican zoos, Dr. William M. Mann, 

 director of the National Zoologi- 

 cal Park, is en route to points in 

 Brazil, Argentine and Uruguay 

 to collect birds, reptiles and ani- 

 mals. Among those on board his 

 ship is William H. Shippen, jr., 

 feature ivriter of The Star staff, 

 who here presents the second of 

 a series of articles aSSut^m. 

 Mann's expedition. ; n 



By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., 



Star Staff Correspondent. 

 ABOARD THE S. S. URUGUAY 

 (By airmail) .—Today, the third out 

 of New York, I learned, among 

 other things, that the life of an ani- 

 mal collector is 

 not all one grand 

 adventure. 



Even an ama- 

 teur, a volunteer 

 amateur, begins 

 to comprehend, 

 Once he pene- 

 trates the veil of 

 mystery, and 

 gets down to the 

 facts of life, that 

 a shovel, a pair 

 of overalls, and 

 a lot of elbow 

 grease can be 

 more useful un- 

 der certain cir- w * sh,ppen ' Jr * 

 cumstances than a pith helmet and 

 English-cut riding breeches. 



Carrying water in large buckets 

 down steep stairways that pitch 

 in more than one direction can be 

 as hard to learn as a whole book 

 on travel. The law of gravity oper- 

 ates in unexpected, ways on the 

 landlubber. Ask any seaman. 



And the male buffalo didn't seem 

 to care for what water I managed 

 to bring alongside his crate on a 

 work deck forward. In the salon 

 last night a lady passenger sug- 

 gested one buffalo be called "Buddy" 

 and the other "Sister." 



"Butty" would be a better name 

 for the male. Each time I got a 

 bucket inside the crate he butted 

 it over — never having drunk from a 

 bucket before. 



"Butty" selected the moments 

 when the ship rolled toward me. 

 Thus I got most of his drinking wa- 

 ter in my lap. The members of 

 the crew, lounging about the galley, 

 were too polite to laugh. They're 

 all good American seamen and a 

 few British tars — polite fellows, not 

 entirely minus a sense of humor, 

 but too sporting to indulge it at 

 the expense of an amateur deck 

 hand. 



Zoo Director William M. Mann, 

 despite the adventures of the day, 

 still will let me help a bit if I don't 

 overdo it. He has along only a few 

 animals, compared with other trips 

 he's taken, but is short-handed and 

 anxious to keep expenses down. 



The Texas wolves didn't seem to 

 take to the water I brought either. 

 One kept splashing his out of the 

 pan with his forepaws as fast as 

 poured. There was quite an audi- 

 ence. Passengers (including several 

 elderly ladies inclined to the critical 

 side) had come forward to see the 

 menagerie. 



Advice From a Woman. 



"Young man," said one old lady, 

 "can't you see that wolf doesn't want 

 to drink from such a dirty pan?" 

 I "Madam," I replied, "I've rinsed 

 that pan four times!" 



"Rinsed it," she exclaimed," — 

 that's just the trouble. You take 

 that pan and scrub it." 



The upshot was that, being a 

 timid soul, I did. 



The wolf took one look at his 

 bright and shining pan, sniffed con- 

 temptuously once, tipped it over and 

 then went off to lie down in the rear 

 corner of his cage. 



The wild geese, the prairie dogs 

 and the American bald eagles, how- 

 ever, are less difficult to please as 

 are the civet cats and the bear cat. 



As for the monitor, he may take 

 on a little nourishment when we get 

 to Buenos Aires, 15 days hence, or 

 he may conclude to wait a few weeks 

 longer. 



He can take it or leave it alone ! 



Tomorrow: A man who hunts tigers 

 with a spear. 



' Sasha A. Siemel shown with the spear he takes to the South 

 American wilds to hunt jaguars. —A. P. Wirephoto. 



"Se- 



ll. Shippen, Jr. 



Bearing gifts for South Amer- 

 ican zoos, Dr. William M. Mann, 

 director of the National Zoologi- j 

 cal Park, is en route to points in 

 Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay 

 to collect birds, reptiles and ani- 

 mals. Among those on board his 

 ship is William H. Shippen, jr., 

 feature writer of The Star staff, 

 who here presents ^^JMoL^ a 

 series of articles about ffl^tWann's 

 expedition. j / r r 



By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr. 



Star Staff Correspondent. 

 ABOARD THE S. S. URUGUAY 

 (by Airmail).— By the fourth day 

 out the passengers began to get 

 curious about him. 



He wore the only beard on board, 

 which made him ..... 

 conspicuous at 

 first, but scarcely 

 could account 

 for any sustain- 

 ed interest. Not 

 even a set of 

 Hollywood 

 whiskers could 

 do that. 



There was 

 something about 

 the way he han- 

 dled himself, 

 walking a deck 

 that could never 

 catch him off 

 balance, or 

 swimming in the ship's pool. In 

 trunks he showed a muscular devel- 

 opment surprising to those who had 

 seen him in a dinner jacket. Then 

 he seemed a rather small man, 

 studious and thoughtful— a clergy- 

 man on vacation perhaps. 



"You know him, Bill," said Dr. 

 William M. Mann today. "He's the 

 fellow who lectured for the National 

 Geographic Society in Washington 

 recently. He makes his living killing 

 jaguars with a spear in the Matto 

 Grasso. He's an old friend of mine. 

 Perhaps hell join us in a beer." 

 Sunset Fantasy. 

 Sasha A. Siemel presently joined 

 us. "Us" included Mrs. Mann, who 

 had heard Mr. Siemel lecture in 

 Washington, and Dr. Walter Swin- 

 gle, the Department of Agriculture 

 horticulturist who, among other 

 things, imported an improved date 

 jjjD^lm to California, and Egyptian 

 cotton to the Southwest. Dr. Swingle 

 —on "loan" to the Brazilian govern- 

 ment—was, like Mr. Siemel, bound 

 for Rio. 



"What a way to make a living," 

 somebody said to Mr. Siemel. "Just 

 how does a young man get started in 

 a business like that?" 



The Russian grinned and spread 

 his hands. His blue eyes were ani- 

 mated. 



"That is a long story," he said. 

 "Now that sunset out there ... it 

 is more of interest, yes?" 



We looked out over the ocean. 

 Huge clouds were piled on the west- 

 ern rim, reaching an incredible 

 height. Haiti lay over that way, 

 about 500 miles west, maybe a little 

 north of west now. The sun spread 

 fiery colors through the cloud bat- 



tlements and tReliTpSnnieted 

 low the horizon. 



The purple clouds greyed, and sud- 

 denly it was dusk. 



"When I Was Little . . ." 

 "Sometimes, in the back country," 

 said the Russian, "I see sights like 

 that— maybe in the spring, with the 

 trees blooming, and I laugh and 

 shout. My dopey Indians . . . they 

 think I am crazy, yes?" 



I think they are wrong," said 

 Df. Swingle, "... But how did you 

 become a jaguar hunter?" 



"When I was little," the Russian 

 said, "my parents say to me, as 

 parents say to you, and you — 'Chil- 

 dren should be seen and not heard.* 

 I run away because I could not be 

 heard. That was 1906. I was 16. 



"I go to Germany a stowaway. I 

 work my way to New York as a 

 ship's steward. Two passages I 

 work, saving a little, then in New 

 York I duck out. I catch the train 

 for Chicago. They are not too 

 strict about immigration in those 

 days. 



"In Chicago I get a job— my life 

 ambition ! I am a candy salesman! 

 Never could I get enough candy. I 

 eat and eat. They say, 'The boy 

 will get too much soon,' but they 

 were wrong! For eight months I 

 eat candy. Then I get fired. I don't 

 blame them. The profits were going. 

 I still like candy. 



I Cook, I Chop, I Farm. 

 "Then I go to New York. I work 

 my way to Rio as second cook. I 

 couldn't cook, but I peel potatoes 

 and boil water. From Rio I go to 

 the back country. I learn to swing 

 an ax, with a 5 -foot handle. 



"The first day the skin is off my 

 hands. The next, when I caught the 

 ax, electric shocks ran to my shoul- 

 ders. 



"I worked on roads. 

 "Then I took some wild land to 

 farm. I chopped bushes, I chopped 

 small trees, I pulled them together, 

 I burned them. I girdled big trees. 

 I planted something and I harvested. 

 Then I quit farming. I wanted no 

 more work so heavy, so stupid, so 

 dulLI Jhad a ..wa&.^rtth macMnery. 



"Always in the back country there 

 is a ranchhouse with a broken sew- 

 ing machine, a phonograph. I travel 

 in the back country. I like the 

 wilds. I began to hunt jaguars. 

 Only down there they are not 

 jaguars, they are 'tigers/ Try to 

 tell those people they are not tigers! 



"Sometimes I kill a bad one. The 

 rancher gives me a horse, a cow. I 

 sell the skins. Then I see the Indian 

 kill a tiger with a spear. I say I can 

 do anything Indian can. If he can 

 learn why not me? So we go to- 

 gether. The first tiger I hunt with 

 a spear would have killed me but for 

 the Indian. 



"Only I wouldn't been there with- 

 out the Indian." 



"What if you trip when the tiger 

 charges?" Dr. Swingle was asked. 

 The Russian's laugh boomed forth. 

 "What if you fall overboard, doc- 

 tor?" he said. 



It was getting along toward the 

 dinner hour. The party was break- 

 : ing up. 



"Will you tell us more tomorrow? 

 j j asked. 



1 "if I do not bore you too much." 



