Omaha daily bee., 1919-08-31
SMITHSONIAN
EXPEDITION IS
DUE IN AFRICA
Will Supplement RooseveIt's
Collection for National
Museum, According to
Present Plans.

Washington, Aug. 80 The
Smithsonian African expedition,
which sailed from this country July
IS, is due at Capetown, South
Africa, at which city final arrange
ments will be made for the plunge
into the heart of the dark CONT
nent.'
! The expedition under the direc-
lion of Edmund Heller. will collect
animals, plants and other material
for uses of comparison in working
tip the collections made in Africa
/ by Gel. Theodore Roosevelt, already
in the National museum. Rcpresen-
tatives of the Universal Film Man
ufacturing company will accompany
the expedition, and the first movies
Of life in the mysterious interior of
Africa will be shown to the public
The expedition will explore the
jungles, deserts, lakes and rivers
of this little unknown continent
and will be out at least year.
The itinerary as it has been ten
tatively laid out, contemplates a
certain amount of exploration in
various parts of the Cape region,
after which the expedition will pro-
coed northward to the great Vic
tora falls of the Zambesi river and
thence north through western
Rhodesia. The intention is, if no
unforeseen obstacles arise, to cross
over from the Zambesi basin to
the sources of the Congo in Belgian
Congo, following this river a con-
siderable distance and then turning
east toward Lake Tanganjika. 1t
is hoped to follow up to some ex-
tent the trails of Livingston and
Stanley in this region. The town of
Ujiji on the eastern shore of the lake
will be headquarters for a while.
The lake district will be explored,
from which excursions into the for
mer German East Africa and the
Uganda protectorate, especially the
Ryvenzori mountain region will be
undertaken. The further progress
of the expedition has not been def
nitely settled, as yet.
As far as the Smithsonian insti-
tuition is concerned the primary
object of the expedition is to supple
ment the collections of African
animals and plants and ethnograph-
ical specimens already in the
National museum, particularly the
magnificent collections brought
home by the Smithsonian expedition
lder Colonel Roosevelt.
These are now being worked up
for monographs reports. It has
been found, in order to do this In
diligently and satisfactorily, that
material from other parts of Africa,
especially from the regions which
the present expedition is going to
traverse, must be had for eompari-
son. While the National museum
has considerable collections from
various points on the west coast of
the black continent, it is singularly
deficient in specimens from the
interior and from South Africa.
The opportunity to take = series
of scientifically exact and truthful
moving pictures of the animals and
the primitive peoples before they
give way before the approaching
civilization will be taken advantage
of. Altogether, the expedition
under the tried leadership of Mr..
Edmund Heller and the cooperation
of such experienced explorers and
collectors as Mr.. H. c. Raven and
D.. H. L. Shantx promises to be
one of the greatest importance in
bringing to light and of solving
many Of the problems which puzzled
scientists az well as laymen for
long time.