In 1904, American businessman and explorer Samuel Phillips Verner traveled to Africa, under contract from the St. Louis World Fair, to capture and bring back an assortment of pygmies to be part of an exhibition. Verner discovered Benga while en route to a Batwa pygmy village visited previously; he purchased Benga from the slave traders for a pound of salt and a bolt of cloth. Verner later claimed he had rescued Benga from cannibals.