The Portland daily press., 1900-11-02
A CHICAGO NAN IN AFRICA.
story OF Young Cherry, who Has Been
Tramptng in the Dark Continent for
-Four Years.

Inc chicago 1riends OF hllhhH SenAnPs
Cherry received word Of his arrival In
Paris from the Congo Free State. This
Is the second visit he has made to tropical
Africa and he has lived there now seven
years, though he is only ~ years OF age.
He mas had more adventures than often
fall TO the lot OF young men. He seems
to be born for the sort OF work he has
been doing in Africa, and his story is
interesting and almost unique.
Early in the last decade Cherry decided
to 20 to Africa for while and sec the
country ana its people for himself. he
took passage for the Congo without a
great deal Of money and not so much as
letter of introduction to anybody In
Africa. He had good health, he wanted
advent ure and was willing to rough 1t
and SO he simply took his chances.
AS luck would have 1t, be speedily OBJ
tained employment In the service of the
big Dutch trading company on the upper
Congo and for nearly three years he was
engaged In travelling mp and down the
trihl, -ss Of the river buying ivory and
rubber for his company. He spent a
great deal OF his time on the Sanga river,
which joins the Congo from the north
and is one OF Its largest efiluents.
A remarkable thing about Cherry was
that all the time he was in Africa he had
scarcely single days Illness. In fact.
he enjoyed excellent health. He took
no medicine at all, though he lived In
region VIII ere white men dose themselves
with quinine and arsenic to kill fever
germs; and what Is more. he lived chiefly
on native food and liked it, Man loo
bananas, maize, chickens and goats were
his staple articles Of food. 1t 10 great
advantage to be able to dispense, as
Cherry has done, with nearly all civilized
comforts and ways Of living. II he
could not have done this he would not
have been able to live in Africa for
seven years, where he saw little but the
wholly unreclaimed wilderness AMI it's
barbarous Inhabitants.
In the last week In May, 1896, Cherry
started from New York for his second
| sojourn in Africa, from which he has just
returned as far as Paris on his way home.
The night before he sailed be spent an
hour with member Of The suns staff
and unfolded very interesting scheme.
~ know how to deal with the natives, :"
he said, land believe could go through
Africa almost alone and In safety. l am
going back to the upper Sanga river and
| my main purpose is to live there until
have thoroughly solved the question OF
the demonstration OF the African ele-
plant. II this animal, which is still very
numerous In the Congo basin, can be
/ trained for transport and draught pur-
| poses, like the Indian elephant, 1t will be
a great boon to white enterprises In
Africa, There are men of much African
| experience who believe this can be done.
am of this opinion also. But the ex-
| pertinent has never been tried by white
men in way that promised success. L
propose to employ the methods of the
Sanga river natives in catching elephants,
l shall attempt to tame and train them,
and shall keep up my experiments I'm.
til have succeeded or convinced myself
that success is impossible.
~ am not taking very much capital
with me, ana do not need great deal,
l shall have q boat fitted for sails and
oars, ana when travel shall have ten
| or twelve men in my party. l shall live
wholly on native food, and my expenses
will be very small. My equipment in the
way OF trade goods will ba somewhat
unique. 1t consists chiefly OF spring
traps, some of them large and powerful
| know they will be very highly priced
by the natives in their pursuit of game.
can dispose Of them to the best advant-
age.
"a friend is going out with me. 1
have told him as fully as possible all the
hard conditions he will meet, and
shall take small supply of food for his
use until he has accustomed himself to the
native diet; then hs will have to rough
it, as l shall do. do not expect to come
back until l have solved the question, to
my own satisfaction at least. whether or
not the elephant can be made useful to
white men for anything except his
ivory"
1t is to be hoped that Cherry has had
an excellent opportunity to solve this
question. What his success has been may
not be known until he returns home.
1t IL already known that he spent a long
time on the Sanga river besides making
q trip to Fashoda on the Nile as the lead
ar of one Of the French expeditions that
followed Marchand down the Nile. He
returned later to the Congo State and is
said to have added largely to the collec-
ton of ourios which he made ON his first
trip and to thave taken great many
photographs OF the natives. This was
also part Of the plan which hi. described
to The sun man.
81 wish, he said, "to make an eth
biological study of the natives and bring
home recollections In natural history
and photographic reproductions of the
native speech, and also faithful record
of my impressions of the country, the
natives, the influence of the white men
and their methods Of dealing with the
aborigines."
1t Is probable that Mr.. Cherry will
have many interesting things to tell
about his last visit to Africa. The friend
whom he took out with him, Charles II.
McClintook, of Chicago, died OF African
the Congo region.