Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-25
TELLS PER|LS OF
ROOSE vELTS' HUNT
]. Alden Loring Lectures on Trip
Through the WiIdS
of Africa
ANIMALS MENACE TRAVELLERS
Kermit Declared to Be a Persist
ent Sportsman and Good
Companion
ANIMALS MENACE TRAVELLERS

WAVERLY, N. Y, Aug. 24,-J. Alden
Loring of Owego, N. Y, one of the
field naturalists that accompanied the
Roosevelt African expedition, delivered
his first lecture, Through Africa with
Roosevelt" here tonight as one of the
attractions of the Old Home Week
celebration. Mr. Loring covered the
entire trip from Mombasa, BRUSH East
Africa, to Gondokoro on the Nile,
where the big game hunting practically
ceased. After describing the habits OF
the natives and game and relating
many interesting experiences that be-
fell various members of the party, the
speaker said:
Col Roosevelt and Kermit are two
of the finest men TO be with in camp
that I have met. Their whole interest
was for the good of the expedition and
they added many rare animals to the
collection simply because they were
determined to make it as complete and
valuable as possible. Although handi-
capped by poor eyesight the colonel Is
a good marksman. Like all sportsmen,
he made many good shots and he made
many poor ones, but as whole his
shooting was above the average and
lie frequently brought down many fly
ing birds, such as herons, cranes and
bustards. In hunting dangerous game,
such as buffaloes, elephants, rhinocer-
oses and lions, he exhibited the cour-
age of veteran big game hunter ana
the quickness with which he mastered
the situation when in dangerous places
and the accuracy of his shooting
showed that he never got excited.
DANGERS OF TRIP
"I do not think that the colonel gives
his readers a fair impression of the
very great danger that he and Kermit
were so often placed in. After we had
said good by to four or five settlers
with whom we had become acquainted
and met them again several weeks
later we found one with a badly in
jured arm, chewed by a leopard, a
second in the hospital at the point of
death from lion mauling and third
who exhibited rent in shirt made
by the tusks of a charging elephant
that killed his gun-bearer; and after
we had dined with a missionary one
noon andlearned of his death from
fever the next day we began to realize
that hunting African big game was not
altogether a one-sided affair"
Mr.. Loring spoke of Kermit as being
one of the most persistent sportsmen
he has ever met; cool in the presence
of danger and so enduring that when
he pursued a wounded animal he sell
dom failed to get it, and in the chase
the swiftest porters.
NOT A SLAUGHTER
In substance Mr.. Loring denied that
the expedition was one of slaughter.
He said that it was purely scientific;
sent out by the Smithsonian Institu-
tion for the purpose of enriching our
knowledge of science and to collect
specimens of African animals. Ten
times the amount of game could have
been killed. Already over twenty-five
animals new to science have been de-
scribed, and when the entire collection
has been worked up many more will
have been found. Not infrequently the
government is compelled to close to
travellers sections of the country where
man-eating lions have suddenly ap-
peared and are killing the natives or
where a rogue rhinoceros or buffaloes
toss them with their horns. These
animals have to be killed before the
region is again safe for travellers.
Game is so abundant that barbed wire
fences are broken down by zebras,
wild beasts and hartebeests and crops
seriously damaged. The settlers en-
courage hunters, and if they had their
own way in a short time the vast
herds of game that now roam over the
plains would be greatly decreased.
A large number of colored lantern
slides made from photographs taken
by Col. Roosevelt and Kermit Roosevelt
were shown. They depicted herds of
wild elephants, rhinoceroses, giraffes
and other African animals.