Dr. Mann and Animal Cargo 

 Are Due in New York Tomorrow 



New Specimens for Capital's Zoo Tax Deck 

 Capacity of Liner From South America 



By W. H. SHIPPEN, Jr., 



Star Staff Correspondent. 

 ABOARD THE S. S. BRAZIL, 

 June 24— This conveyor of the zoo- 

 logical good will party to the Argen- 

 tine nosed up the Atlantic Coast less 

 than 36 hours out of New York Har- 

 bor today, loaded to the gunwales 

 with new specimens for the Wash- 

 ington Zoo. 



Dr .William M. Mann, who shipped 

 to South America bearing a few 

 gilts for zoological parks of Argen- 

 tina, is returning with birds, beasts 

 and reptiles enough on the freight 

 deck forward to keep busy a trained 

 expeditionary force, not to mention 

 two lone veterans and a pair of 

 volunteers. 



Dr. and Mrs. Mann are the vet- 

 erans, Mrs. Shippen and myself the 

 volunteers. Oh, for a couple of 

 keepers from the Zoo! 

 We are expecting to steam into 



New York Monday morning, and al- 

 ready we are preparing the crated 

 specimens for unloading. 



Aboard is a double-barreled load. 

 We set sail from Buenos Aires with 

 what was considered a near-capacity 

 cargo for the limited animal-han- 

 dling personnel, but the stop at Rio 

 de Janeiro proved this assumption 

 extremely incorrect. i 



In Beunos Aires we took aboard 

 gunacos, llamas, condors, wild clogs, * 

 ostriches, Patagonian and otherwise; ' 

 oven birds, songsters, horned 

 screamers, Patagonian cavies, nu- 

 treas, pheasants and partridges, na- 

 tive weasels, black-necked swans, a ; 

 flock of flamingoes, a broad- nosed ; 

 caymen, a few native boas and va- ^ 

 rious turtles, frogs and toads. 



Apparently no two of the speci- ; 

 mens enjoys the same diet with the 

 exception of one item— wate r. They 

 (See MANN, Page A-5.) ( 



Mann 



(Continued Fr om First Page.) 



are packed in crates of many sizes 

 and shapes, with varied combina- 

 tions for the doors. The gates of 

 a whole farm community never 

 sported more complex, ingenious 

 and diverse latches. 



Couldn't Estimate Cargo. 

 Up until the finals hours before 

 the boat sailed, Dr. Mann could 

 not estimate his return cargo. The 

 zoos at Buenos Aires and La Plata 

 had submitted lists. Dr. Mann had 

 brought them gifts in the form of 

 buffalos, bald eagles, Texas wolves, 

 etc., and they, knowing the game, 

 reciprocated not only generously, but 

 well in advance of the sailing date. 



However, in six weeks of travel 

 about Argentina, to Cordoba, Bari- 

 loche, Patagonia, and various 

 points between, Dr. Mann made 

 many friends — fellow - scientists, 

 amateur collectors, politicians, police 

 officials, diplomats, travelers, execu- 

 tives of public parks, publishers and 

 owners of great estancias. 



Many, upon learning he was col- 

 lecting birds, beasts and reptiles 

 native to the Argentine, made veiled 

 allusions to surprises they might 

 send as a going-away present. Dr. 

 Mann, bound by courtesy not to be 

 too specific, nevertheless, talked 

 with enthusiasm about certain rare 

 species, which, he hoped, would ably 

 represent the Argentine at the 

 Washington Zoo. If he asked too 

 many questions, the prospective 

 donors said: 



"Ah, but please do not trouble 

 yourself with details— just leave 

 them to me!" 



Mass of Red Tape. 

 But there were export permits to 

 be obtained, diversified food to be 

 bought and loaded, along with 

 equipment for watering and feed- 

 ing. There were United States im- 

 port restrictions to think of; the 

 steamship company wanted an es- 

 timate in advance on what space 

 would be required. 



In the last hours, Dr. and Mrs. 

 Mann, aided by the Consular Serv- 

 ice, fretted over details while their 

 two assistants strolled about the 

 ship, exclaiming with pleasure at 

 each new addition to the growing 

 menagerie on the freight deck. 



The complications soon were 

 ironed out, however, and the Brazil 

 weighed anchor and pointed her 1 

 prow to the North. 



We rapidly became accustomed to 

 the routine of caring for the menag- 

 erie and, except for visceral discom- 

 flort occasioned by excessive rolling 

 4nd tossing of the vessel, everything 

 was shipshape— until the boat 

 clocked in Rio. 

 . Then I heard this conversation: 

 " "What, more animals?" 



"Only a few more— a couple of 

 tapirs, a giant ant-eater, a few wild 

 cats and curassows, some tree 

 ducks and . . 



"Wait a minute, please.' Dr. 

 Mann ran his hand over his brow. 

 At length he said, "Friend, have you 

 seen our collection out forward?" 

 Deck Space at Premium. 

 "No," replied Alexander Daveron, 

 "but have you seen mine on the 



deck out there? All crated and 

 ready to go home with you. There 

 are pygmy opossums, snakes, turtles 

 and a little eyra cat— one of the 

 rarest things in the Matto Grosso, 

 and there's . . 



"Wait, man, please wait! We have 

 twice as much stuff on board now 

 as we expected. Our deck space is 

 full. It was full when we left B. A. 

 I'm afraid the ship's crew won't 

 like it if we pack any more animals 

 on board. They're crowding up to 

 the fo'castle now. In addition, I've 

 only my wife and two volunteers to 

 help care for them. This trip never 

 started out to be an expedition— it 

 was just a voyage to Argentina to 

 collect a few, a very few, representa- 

 tive things!" 



"I realize that, doctor," replied Mr. 

 Daveron, "but I've brought these 

 animals from the Upper Xingu River 

 in the interior, more than a thou- 

 sand miles by oxcart, launch and 

 train. I knew you were down this 

 way collecting, and I didn't want 

 you to go home disappointed." 



The two were old friends. Mr. 

 Daveron, a former resident of Bal- 

 timore, with a flair for exploring, 

 medicine and plant chemistry, has 

 been living in one of the least- 

 known sections in the world for 

 years, writing, studying and working 

 for American firms interested in de- 

 veloping the plant resources of 

 Brazil. 



The conversation continued until 

 the time for our departure drew 

 near. 



"Well, what about them?" asked 

 Mr. Daveron, pointing to his collec- 

 tion on the dock. 



"Daveron," replied Dr. Mann, 

 "we'll have to hurry to get them 

 aboard ! " 



Coffee for Seasickness. 

 Those of us who were more sus- 

 ceptible to the rolling of the ship 

 already had learned that there's 

 nothing like coffee to settle her on 

 her ocean bed. 



In Santos the Brazil's empty 

 hatches had been filled to the brim 

 with thousands of bags of coffee 

 beans and by the time we steamed 

 into Rio we had enjoyed some 

 smooth sailing for a change. 

 There's nothing like coffee in the 

 hold to cure seasickness ! 



Sure remedies for that unfor- 

 tunate malady,*- incidentally, are 

 known to everybody except the un- 

 fortunates who need them most. 

 And these latter, poor devils, are 

 generally too weak to resist the sug- 

 gestions of their friends and advis- 

 ers—the sympathetic, if somewhat 

 smug people who never miss a meal 

 at sea. 



They've run the gamut of cures 

 aboard the Brazil. One woman was 

 advised to suck a lemon and blow 

 into a paper bag. She might have 

 been blowing. 



A young man who lost his appe- 

 tite, among other things, was told 

 to stuff his ears with cotton so 

 he couldn't hear the waves go 

 "Ssssswooosh!" He did, but he could 

 still see them. 



Gallops on Electric Horse. 

 The bartender aft has his own 

 remedy— alcohol, oddly enough. 

 He advises imported champagne, 

 ! and "Just sit quietly and watch 

 the bubbles. Then if you feel you 

 must, go ahead and drink it. It's 

 better to have good vintage, how- 

 ever, if you're going to taste it 

 twice." 



One woman played bingo as her 

 cure, and a gentleman galloped away 

 on the electric horse in the ship's 

 gymnasium when he felt a sicky 

 coming on. 



And, speaking of cures, it takes 

 more than a deckload of birds, 

 beasts and such to cure a sailor of 

 a weakness for pets. 



Bos'n Charley Bauer, among his 

 other duties, has had to worry about 

 shifting animal crates away from 

 the cargo hatch in port and help 

 feed, water and clean up at sea. 



In addition he has a personal 

 problem of his own— Oscar, a lion- 

 faced marmoset with a golden mane. 

 Oscar is small, but he manages to 

 get around. When he circulates too 

 rapidly he gets popped into the 

 brig on bread and water. 

 Bos'n Bauer used to have a 



black-faced ring -tailed monkey 

 named Poncho but sold him when . 

 Poncho got a little tipsy in a bar- 

 room one night and began tossing 

 whisky bottles— containing all the 

 better brands. That spree of Pon- 

 cho's cost the bos'n $48. 



Oscar, on the other hand, is not 

 given to imbibing in bottle de- 

 lights, but the bos'n is having trou- 

 ble housebreaking him. 



"I may have to let him go," he 

 said. "Do you think Dr. Mann 

 would be in the market for a rare, 

 lion-maned marmoset?" 



I said I thought so, as they made 

 fine exhibition animals and were 

 rare in collections. 



"I can take the money and buy a 

 young ringtail on the next voy- 

 age—one that won't drink in bars." 



"So you still like pets?" 



"Oh," said Bauer, "I'm a glutton 

 for punishment." 



Animals to Be Housed 

 In Second-Hand Homes 



Most of the cargo of South Amer- 

 ican birds, beasts and reptiles arriv- 

 ing in New York tomorrow in cus- 

 tody of Dr. William M. Mann will 

 be given room and board in second- 

 hand homes at the Zoo. 



"I think we will be able to take 

 care of practically all the newcom- 

 ers by making a few shifts and 

 dressing up several unoccupied 

 cages," Assistant Director Ernest P. 

 Walker said yesterday after check- 

 ing once more a two-day-old radio- 

 gram received from his sea -faring 

 superior. 



Shifts to make room for the in- 

 flux of "foreigners" will be made in 

 the small mammal, bird and reptile 

 houses. The collection is not ex- 

 pected to arrive here until Tuesday. 

 Will Be Hauled in Trucks. 



Most of tomorrow probably will 

 be taken up in shifting the crated 

 specimens from the decks of the 

 S. S. Brazil to express cars. 



They will be carted from the ex- 

 press station here to the Zoo in three 

 large trucks. Some recrating may be 

 necessary in New York before the 

 transfer for land travel is completed, 

 Mr. Walker commented. 



Visitors at the Zoo can't expect 

 much of a show from the new ar- 

 rivals for several days after they are 

 placed in their strange homes. 



"Animals, the same as human 

 beings, never look well after a long 

 journey," Mr. Walker explained. 

 "They will be tired out and dirty. 

 It will take them a week or more to 

 bathe themselves thoroughly and 

 press their suits. 



Insist on Best Appearance. 



"They are usually very proud and 

 won't put on their best show until 

 they have their appearance back in 

 the pink. They have little opportu- 

 nity to keep themselves well groomed 

 in those small, cramped crates they 

 are shipped in." 



None of the local Zoo personnel 

 will go to New York to aid in un- 

 loading the ship. All extra hands 

 necessary for the process will be 

 furnished by a New York animal 

 dealer, who has assisted Dr. Mann 

 several times before at the con- 

 clusion of zoological expeditions— 

 which this wasn't to be originally, 

 but rapidly became as the Brazil 

 steamed into ports northward from 

 the Argentine. 



