Evening star., 1922-01-15


reality awaits a London boy
of sixteen, who is leaving England
In January on a journey Of 5000 miles
to West Africa. where he will tramp
the jungle alone.
The boy Is Guy Wernham, the son
Of Herbert Fuller wernham. D. Sc.
F. L. s.. an expert on tropical plants.
To get such a romantic story as this
real life one 1t is usual to turn to
| the pages of fiction. In fact, there is
a romance within a romance here, but
! it is best to give 1t in sequence. To
do that 1t is necessary to go back to
pre-war days.
Some ten years before hostilities
began. when the Cmeroons were in
| the occupation Of Germany, an
American citizen determined to settle
In West Africa, and worked his pas
sage out there. Making his way In
land from the port Of Duala. he pene-
| trated about $50 miles through the
Jungle and settled down at place
valley of the ia river. Here he built
| himself a shanty. His nearest white
neighbor was. and is, forty miles
away. 1t is an American Presbyterian
| mission.
THE American settler in this Ger
man colony-now French-was
George L. Bates. He started to plant
rubber. cocoa and oil-palm, and to
collect specimens of birds, butterflies.
moths and the small animals that
abound in West Africa. Mr.. Bates.
without having any scientific knowl-
edge or any particular education, was
deeply interested in nature.
He began to send some Of is speci-
| mems to the natural history depart
| ment of the British Museum. The
authorities there were surprised at
the number of rareties the specimens
included. They encouraged the
| stranger. though fearing that this
good fortune was something Of an
| accident. However. Mr.. Bates con-
| tinued to send, and the rich yield
of specimens continued. The pro-
fessors at the Natural History Mu-
scum came to the conclusion that
, the Cameroons is one of the richest
fields in the world for the natural
history collector.
They were delighted at the strange
| fate that had led this man to send
| them precious plants. skins. moths
and birds from such a far-off place.
Then the war came, and there was an
ominous silence. Their collector used
i to write from the Cameroons about
every three months. which was as
| often as the boats would allow.
| For some eighteen months or two
years nothing was heard of Mr.. Bates.
The worst was feared, for he was in
German territory. Then one day, to
| the astonishment and delight of the
| experts. more specimens arrived from
him.
| 1t seems the Germans had missed
! the house of Mr.. Bates. of the track.
| as 1t is. and hidden away in the bush.
The collector had left it and sought
! refuge at Rio Benito, in Spanish
Guinea. When the Cameroons were
! occupied by the allies and the Ger
| mans expelled. Mr.. Bates returned to
| his jungle home. and was agreeaply
| astonished to find it intact, and not
burned down.
| And SO he resumed his collecting
after a long interval.
Tn the meantime, the authorities at
the Natural History Museum had
been preparing, classifying and cata-
loguing the collection from the Cam
| eroons. most of which had been OBJ.
! tained under the noses Of the Ger
I mans They invited the American 10
| come and inspect it.
Mr.. Bates decided to do SO. He
paid his first visit to England and
saw the result of his twenty years
| work at South Kensington. In this
way he became acquainted with the
| distinguished botanist who had been
responsible for SO much Of the ex-
acting work in Identifying and cat
aloguing his specimens-Dr wern-
ham.
Deeply interested in West Africa
4
ham arranged to return with Mr..
| Bates for a six-month visit to the
Cameroons, but this had to be post
poned, and the settler had to return
alone. Later it proved an impossible
project for the professor. Mr.. Bates
was so informed.
His reply was to cable out the fare
for DR.. Wernham's son. How this
came about Is interesting. The two
the man Of fifty and the boy of
sixteen7-were thrown much together
during Mr. Bates visit to London,
and the collector greatly admired the
boy scientist.
One day, after the two had been
| inspecting the collection at South
Kensington, which is one of the most
wonderful of its kind ever got to-
gether, they went to the Chelsea
Physics Garden. established by Sir
Hans Sloane, where in the hothouses.
heated at various temperatures, are
! cultivated the tropical vegetations
most likely to be Of use to students.
In this garden. in the heart of a
great city, collated and classified, Is
a living botanical course that is per-
! haps the finest ever planted. Mr..
Bates was, Of course. deeply inter-
ested in it. He named the specimens,
as he recognized them, to Guy. and
expressed his regret that in youth
he had not had such opportunities Of
acquiring scientific knowledge as