Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-08-15

the great wild men of the forest. the
gorilla chimpanzee. and the naidrli.
besides the haboon. that is the scourge o.
south Africa ard the most destructive
and Gey.lish of all the monkey race. In
truth, il seems 10 Dc gifted with all Inc
vices ,. humanity. without any OF us
rtlcemins virtues. The Beers have "aScu
var on these animals since the sixteenth
century and they are Still one OF the
Numerous curses Of the country. for =
troop OF balloons will destroy a farmer $
crops and every growing thing Ill one
night So numerous are they that dur
ing the Hoer war troop of them as
cended a kopje which was occupied by
British regiment in such numbers that
the soldiers took them for an attacking
force Of Beers and without firing a shot,
~ ha!!eneins the advancing enemy, they
turned and fled. The next morning the
newspapers of thu world ran. with an
other Boer victory. for the news Of the
Bitish disaster bied To america
hy William Dinwidiie. tic famous War
turfcSrontcnt who was attached to the
British army This will give an iaea of
the numbers Of la boors that live OF the
veldt, which is their habitat.
~ the present time. when the nations
are taking such an interest in natural his
tory and zoology. and nearly every city
worthy tho name has a museum or ZOO
logical garden. there is a small. regular
demand for living and dead monkeys of
all species The fJrs of some species
which innahit the high attitudes. have
been used Of recent years by European
flrriers for the lining and trimming of
garments
Human beings prey very little on the
monkeys lhoir chief enemies being the
zoopiia 2oliS animals and these do not do
them any great damage. az they are too
roll No, VOLT
The monkeys. therefore. arc not decrcas
ing in number
Although | consider myself thoroughly
hardened To scenes nf blood and cruelty.
which necessarily fail to the lot of a
hunter or explorer. | must confess | never
did like killing a monkey. even when
forced 10 Go So by the direst hunger
There is something so pathetically hui
man in them. they are so defenseless
against rife and So harmless that
sometimes a pang of regret seized my
heart when | was forced to turn my
rifle on them. ! felt like man shooting
idiot children. and 10 wound one. instead
Of shooting il dead. saddened me for
days. The little brown eyes full of tears
and fear can give one a look that is not
easily forgotten.
one OF the saddest experiences I ever
had in monkey shooting-an experience
that seems to be fixed deep in my recol-
lection. and always comes back To me
in vivid tableau when my thoughts
bark back To the wild. primeval forests OF
the great central continent-was when l
hunting with Carl Block. the Ger
man naturalist. who was later killed by
gorilla during our expedition into East
Africa.
We were two weeks march east of Lake
Tansanyika. hacking our way through the
almost impassa forests. when we ran
short of bltong dried meat. and the
natives, well ourselves, meat hum
CRY. for meat is the great necessity in
Central Africa, and is the only thing that
sustains one in the frightful climate.
The country We passed through had re-
Gently been visited by the fighting ants
which had driven all of the game away.
Monkeys. although they might be driven
away today. will return tomorrow We
therefore set out in search of monkeys
which We found after couple of hours
hunt. in d bayou tree. I raised my Rem
ington and fired at a money which had
its back to me. My shot was bad. for
/ only wounded the animal and it hung
on the limb for second and then fell
to the ground. crying pitifully, all the
time protecting a little one that chung 10
its breast. The mother was badly wound
ed. but. notwithstanding that. she turned
on me with great fury. and. before
realized it, sprang at my throat holding
to my bandolier with her feet I was
afraid that the animal would tear my