Lexington gazette. [volume] (Lexington, Va.) 1871-1962, 1910-10-19
EXPLORER SEEKS
BIC DIPLODOCUS
Mammals Still Inhdbit African
SWampS, He Hears.
ASKS GREAT BRITAIN'S AID.

Charles 4rooas Wants to Head Expe-
dition Into Northern Rhodesia, Whore
Elephants Look Like Cats and Uni
eorns and Dragons Abound, Accord
Ing to Native Guides-
IL Charles Brooks. explorer. travel
er, scientist and hunter OF Johannes
burg. South Africa. is not an apostle
Of the late Baron Munchausen or OF
DIR. Lemuel CULVER. ships surgeon
and late captain Of many ships" the
diplodocus. the pterOdnctyl and other
prehistoric animals or their descend
ants still may he roaming the earth
Mr. Brooks has written the British
government asking that an expedition
explore the Rhodesian swaInps along
the southern borders OF the Sahara
desert. where. he Is convinced, ami
mails are yet alive that are the de
scendantS of those now known to nat
ural:sts only as fossils; also. he says.
strange tribe of copper colored
people inhabt the interior of the
desert
Brooks tells OF reports regarding
great animals which inhabit the
swamps, which never have been ex-
plored by Europeans and are Stunned
by the natives. The latter. however,
have seen or thought they saw vast
/ animals beside which the elephant
looks like small cat"
Natives Tell Of Monsters.
Having seen the picture Of the
eighty foot diplodocus now in the Paris
Museum of Natural History" says
the letter, lit brings back To my mind
many stories l heard from natives and
pygmies while hunting on the southern
border of the great Sahara desert re-
garding monsters which are still In
existence: also of a copper cOlored race
of people who are living in the interior
of the desert near large lake.
The animals were described as be-
ing so large that ! ridiculed the idea
and put II down TO a stretch OF the
imagination or a desire to induce me
to go In search OF both animals and
people. Since seeing Carl Hagenbecks
report of what he had heard from the
same source | am convinced that the
monsters described are still in exist
ence, and IT has proved an incentive to
me to renew my acquaintance with the
interior.
THE desert may still prove of I'M
mense value to whichever nation has
sufficient 20 to get there first and spend
money exploring It, think Hagen
beck was rather misinformed us tC
the region occupied by the monsters
referred to with the exception OF one
as | have been all over northern Rho
desia. My own information. with tn,
one exception. pointed TO the creature:
being inhabitants Of or of the sur
roundings OF the lakes OF the interior
OF the desert That the RhodesiaI
! swamps exist there is ample proof.
Unieorns and Dragons Too.
= The descriptions | received diffe
} slightly from those given to Hagen
= beck, but this may be due TO my be
ing able TO speak and understand tn
native languages. There is absolutel,
no doubt about the bloodthirsty saw
! ages, as i have been in contact wit
I them myself, and the only marvel
= how We ever managed to escape wit
o our lives.
A The animals described TO me are
q first, one like an elephant, but OF enOl
n nous size. the elephant appearing Xix
t a small cat by the side OF the Other
/ the second corresponds In every deta
n to the pictures one sees In the Busl
f mems caves throughout Africa of tn
a unicorn and the third what we conce civ
the dragon to be like.
q This latter was IN the swamps {
10 what is now northern Rhodesia or q
O the southeastern border of the KOngo
\. Brooks declares lie Is very anxior
o. to explore the country and to prove ii
truth or otherwise of the stories whic
10 he has heard and which also have bee
AZ reported by other hunters and eXplo
in eEEA>