The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-02-09

in central Africa. Phil Robinson, the
famous hunter. describes the ''sokO'
as the terror of beasts Of the ape pat
tern. II stands on two legs like a man,
is as large as a giant. has long lion
-EolOred hair and all the wickedness of
a bad man. 1t carries a stick or club,
often an immense branch Of a tree and
exhibits a cunning that seems astCUnd-
ing. 1t mingled with the hunters one
evening, and when a panther approach
ed 10 kill a native gun bearer, the sOko
ran into the forest. Mr. Robinson
thought it was one OF his own men. and
not unit: they called the roll and proved
that none OF them were missing was
he convinced that the strange beast
had been among them.
A little later, while hunting for the
sOkO, Mr.. Robinson heard q strange
sound, and what seemed a man. COW
cred with hair, bearing an enormous
club, burst from the thickeJs and ap
peared before him. He saw its white
teeth flashing heard a deep-chested
suffering, and leapiug from his donkey
which he was riding. Mr.. Robinson ran
at great speed for the camp. The sOkO
stopped TO kill the donkey. then pur-
sued the hunter. He turned and saw
this terrible monster rapidly Overtak-
ing him, though 1t scarcely seemed to
move.
In his fright he stumbled, the sOko
fell upon him, and when he attempted
to use his knife he could not reach the
animals body beCadse its arms were
50 much longer than his. With but an
apparent touch Of its bOny claws it al
most crushed his shoulder, and then
he felt long hairy fingers on his throat.
At that instant voices We're heard,
burning brands appeared, and a dozen
men came leaPing to the rescue, as the
sokO vanished Ike a shadow into the
dusk of the jungle.
Now such a beast as this UP in the
Adirondack woods would be more Of a
curiosity than any presidential candt-
date seeking rest and meditation.
% 9 q
A popularity of this terrible sOkO is
7 that when Mr.. RobinsOn's men killed
one a week later il exhibited all the
traits Of a repentant criminal. It tried
to rise, but was so badly wounded 1t
could not stand. Two Of the hunters
flung it to the ground, but Mr.. Robin
son ordered ii TO be assisted, and when
the men stood the dying soko upright
it put one of its terrible arms atfec-
tionately around his neck, caressed his
face with its hand. and with the other
! placed the hunters hand over its own
hutteriug heart. Into Mr.. Rouinson's
eyes the dying sOlIO looked appealingiy-
He held out his hand, and the Door
sONO squeezed it gently, caressed it,
turned its eyes mOuTnIuIly upon the
hunters, gasped, sank back and died.
AS man, being last made by tae Al
mighty, is but 'P. s. to creation, he
would be benefited by such an eXpOsi-
ton of extinct monsters, saying moth
ing of the. educating influence they
might have on the living big game.
in time, under the influence Of daily
! association with the restored images OF
/ their ancestors, the females of the big
I game might be induced to revive the
/ breed Of ancient animals of the prehls-
tOTic ages-fOr instance, the good Old
mastodon, the woody rhinOceros, the diff
! ferent varieties of the gigantic dinOSaur
I (bTOntosaurUs excelsUs). the hooted
/ sivatherium. the giant ground slOth,
I as large as an omnibus; the HyIng liz
1 ard, the terrible sea scorpion, the fear
| ful ichthyOsaurus, the undomesticated
I megalosaurus, the colossochelys tor
I toise the gigantic armadillO that could
carry twenty barrels of whisky on mis-
( back without cracking his smell, To say
nothing of the elephant-footed moa tdi-
nornis) and the famous Irish deer Ger
/ vus giganteUs) that was the wonder OF
/ its day when out of food and angry.
( Then the big dragons, with wings
I forty feet long. a single nap strong
/ enough To crush an elephant, and claws
I like q pitchfork; those ancient kan
/ CARGO chaps, as big as trolley car and
almost as dangerous; giant birds with
/ scorpion attachments and flying ser
7 rents that could sing like a canary OF
! ErowI like q tiger-these dear friends
/ all calculated to inspire wonder and re-
] spect for whatever it was that killed
/ them off. leaving modern science to
/ again restore them to nature and man.
hood.