4 
Dr. William M. Mann, '05 
o> 
St 
mm. 
H 
Si 
£»S 
*11 
; >* SS: - .&1 
&*■ m.; 
ip* 
s «ji 
mm 
Hfe 
■,v!*.*»V>X/ 
Dr. Wm. M. Mann, 05 
Prominent Zoologist 
Returns From Africa 
Dr. William M. Mann, ’05, Director of 
the National Zoological Park in Wash¬ 
ington, D. C, made an interesting trip 
during the past year to collect live ani¬ 
mals for the Park. The trip was financed 
by the Firestone Tire and Rubber C om- 
pany. 
In the November number of “Scientific 
Monthly/’ Dr. Mann and his wife write 
most interestingly of their trip and, be¬ 
cause what they say is more interesting 
than anything we could write, excerpts 
are printed verbatim. 
“We sailed in February for Monro¬ 
via, via Dakar, Conakry and Freetown. 
George Seybold’s plantation 4 remained 
our headquarters during our stay of tour, 
and a half months in the country. j 
“We spent a large portion of our time on 
five different trips into the interior, liv¬ 
ing in native villages and getting the 
bush natives to collect live animals. 
“Because of food requirements for our 
caravan boys, it wa* necessary always to 
camp in native villages, where comfort-; 
able mud huts were furnished us. All 
our bush trips were similar. On one we 
camped for a week at the base ot the 
sacred mountain in the Gibi count r\ but 
were unable to secure permission to col¬ 
lect at any altitude there, as the natives 
consider the forest holy and have never 
allowed any outsiders, white or black, to 
enter. We did collect some specimens on 
a similar mountain eight miles to tne 
north from our camp. 
“A side trip was made to the Ameri¬ 
can Episcopal Mission at Bromley on 
the St. Paul River, where an cmpknee 
of the Mission who was also a member 
of the secret Snake Society secured some 
specimens for us, and we fished a near¬ 
by stream. 
“From Cape Mount near the Sierra 
Leone frontier we went into the Gola 
country at Bendaja. a two-days’ journey, 
traveling by launch, dug-out canoe, on 
foot, and when the path permitted, in 
rickshas devised by the missionaries there, 
and made of cane chairs mounted on 
bicycle tires. Our camera boy, Pepe, 
would run alongside the ricksha and now 
and then stoop and grab a beetle, the 
forty-pound load on his head being of no 
inconvenience at all. 
“One lot of animals was sent home in 
May in charge of Mr. Jennier, and spent 
the summer at the Firestone exposition 
at the World’s Fair in New York, 
j “The collection which we brought home 
in August on the S. S. West Irmo oi 
the Barber Steamship Line, after a 21- 
days’ run from Monrovia to Norfolk, 
included six duiker antelope of three 
species, four water chevrotains, a rat el 
and a water civet, crested eagles and 
other species new to the national collec¬ 
tion. In addition some thousands of al¬ 
coholic and dried specimens were collect¬ 
ed for the National Museum, where they 
are being assorted for study.” 
-o- 
