New-York tribune., 1900-07-29
HUNTING THE GIANT SLOTH
MIR HBSKETH PRICHARD'S EXPEDITION
TO CAPTURE THE MYLODON HITLER
TO SUPPOSED TO BE EXTINCT.

| TO CAPTURE THE MYLODON. HITLER
TO SUPPOSED TO BE EXTINCT
From The London News
You may seek it with thimbles and seek II
You may hunt it with forks and hope,
You may threaten its life with a railway share.
lou may charm 1T with smiles and soap.
-(Ihe Hunting of the Shark
That these lines should ring all through
Iuncheon as l sat and talked with Mr.. Hesketh
Fflchard was inevitable Their appropriate-
| ness borders perilOusly upon the obyious Mr.
Hesketh, who as all the world knows starts in
about month for Patagonia on a pilgrimage
OF search for the sOth, is just the man for such
an expedition. An Old Fettesian, as the bows
OF FetteS School in Scotland are called an on
dcrd honor man, first rate athlete. standing
feet t inches in his socks, full of enthusiasm
and energy, and only twenty-sfx years of age
What better could you ask? He and Sir John
Mlllals-himself one of our leading naturaIists
and one of the most superb SHOTS that TrngIand
has ever seen-and l sat long over coffee and
cigars. discussing the probabilities and pos,
5ibllliles that lie in front of Mr.. Hesketh ant
fis gallant band
Il hope, if it can be arranged" said he. "to
take an expedition of sixty across the con-
SHleht' that Includes of course large num-
per OF natives. l have every hope of discovering
the sloth though Mas shakes his head Pro-
lessor Ray Lankester is very keen on the mat
ter. He became so at once on hearing of Dr
MorinOs discoveries in the cave And only two
years ago DR.. Haughel found more remains
which are now in the British Museum. You can
n,
actually upon it, Men had evidently kept il
alIye IN walled caves and fed it with chopped
LARGE EXPEDITION.
We read an account of this recentIv. and
Z. Arthur Pearson mentioned it to me and
asked if would care to go out and see what |
could discover. Ny idea is to take large ex-
peulti9h II the country can bear it, if it can
provide Us with sufficient food J B. Scrfy-
ener, an oxford Nj. \. and a first-rate natural
ist and geologst will undertake the scientific
work of the expedition. on the very day tba
article appeared in The Daily Express we were
inundated with kilograms and letters from neo-
pie anxious To join us"
sloth first, Mr.. Prichard?"
"Probably the west coast You see in the
interior the giant natives of Lower Patagonia
live entirely by hunting-the guanaco a wild
form Of llama, is their chief quarry This they
ma in whole herds, which they Kill wholesale
with holas-leathern thongs with iron balls
Now, the chances are that in such country \
slow running beast like the s}Oth would ne
tracked and killed at once. And then again our
chances will he increased by the fact that the
west coast is uneXpl0red."
1t will be rather difficult to tackle an animal
thirty feet high" | remarked.
NO; the mylodon is an animal with no powers
of defence except its claws. 1t is one of the few
representatives of the creatures that SURVIVE a
the post-glacial period though nowadays YOU
sun ma the reindeer musk OK and the saiga OF
Russia We shall land at Santa Cruz and then
go five hundred miles across country CARRYING
our collapslble boat with us and accompanied by
natives and, L hope, an escort provided by the
Argentine Government. which is greatly inter-
ested in our scheme and has promised us all the
help in its power We shall then reach a chair
of lakes, which we shall traverse in our boat
until we come to the great unexplored glacier
Here [ trust. we shall come across the traces OF
our friend. If not there shall go south AMI
search for him in the lonely regions surround
ing Last Hope Inlet. The country is. # course
practically antarctic. and | am arranging for
sleeping bags, arctic tents, etc.
Shall you so in for any other sport or re-
search?' said l.
OTHER ANIMALS SOUGHT.
"We hope to get pumas, and we shall try in
the lakes for fishes which have never been caught
by mortal man. We shall look out for a new
deer, called the guemal of which there is only
one skin preserved
And if You get the sloth, what on earth will
you do with it?' | asked. with visions Of a wear
led party returning home over hill and dale
land and water. by steam road and rail- with a
gigantic and Disguised sloth stalking dejectedIy
in the rear.
I'VE shall bring it back at all hazards. once
we get on its tracks there Will be no mistaking
hem. and, indeed, they have been seen they say
locally quite recently. At all events. whatever
happens. we mean to make a success of failure.
We shall get there during the height of the
summer, and if we return slothless.
We shall at least, hope, have cleared up many
geographical puzzles and solved one or two