New-York tribune., 1922-03-16
''1hat'll Keep Them Quiet,''
Says Martha Miller, Who
Finds Hunting in African
Wilds Just ''fnteresting''

pretty girl--a really pretty girl
sat at the head Of a polished mahop-
any table in the members room of tho
American Museum of Natural History
yesterday and told a group of news
paper men how it feels to sit for five
nights in a thorn hut in Central AZ
rica waiting for a chance to get a shot
at man-eating lion.
This by way of introducing Miss
Martha Miller, petite and twenty
three, who has just returned from an
expedition to the Relgian Congo.
where, in company with DR.. Carl +.
Akeley, she hunted the African gorilla
IN bis native lair
Miss Miller is New Yorker when
she isn't stalking elephants in the Afri-
can jungle; but she blames Texas for
her streak of wanderlust and the urge
of adventure which makes her prefer
Lake Kivu to Central Park West, and
to choose to visit with the giant chief
tsins of Watsui rather than with the
social celebrities of Palm Beach.
Six Brothers Her Early Trainers
Il was born and raised in Texas"
Miss Miller explained. 1--WE lived in
town, but we had a ranch. I have six
brothers. | rode and shot with them.
Now Two done something they never
did. I've got this much on them, at
least-lvc shot my lion and my ele-
phant. They were all III the war, and
I didn't get into that, but I guess this
will keep them quiet for time
This is the perfectly simple explana-
tion of the cosmic causes which lcd
Miss Miller to beg DR.. Akclcy, famous
elephant hunter, friend of Roosevelt,
and official representative of the Nat
ural History Museum, to take her with
him when be started OH his gorilla
hunting expedition last summer. Miss
Miller has been DIR. Akeley's secretary
for three years. She had immersed
herself IN Africa and the jungle lore
of that fascinating region, and she de-
| termined, when this latest expedition
was planned. that she would not be
| left in prosaic Now York. There was,
too, the vital necessity of showing sin
adventurous brothers that they did not
! hold lien on all the lion-like courage
in the Miller family.
The expedition sailed from New York
last July, went to Southampton, thence
to Capetown; and to Elizabethville over
party were DR.. Akeley, Miss Miller
Mr.. and Mrs. Herbert Bradley, of
Chicago; their daughter, Alice, six
years old and Miss Priscilla Hall
| Alice's protector and governess. The
party Travelled more than a thousand
miles on foot through the jungles,
encountered lions, elephants, countless
deer and antelope, studied the gorilla
at home, which was the primary OBJ
| iective Of the expedition, and finally on
| the way home participated in the res
cue of the passengers from burning
ship off the African coast, among them
| General Jan Christian SHUTS, Premier
I of South Africa.
To hear Miss Miller tell it, in a quiet,
|! low pitched undertone, the wide sleeves
| of canton crepe afternoon gown flow
ing around her wrists and ripping
when she gestured, you'd imagine that
stalking lions was som mcthing like auc-
| ton bridge, only just little more in
teresting. Moreover, to prove that her
| interest in the adventure is as much
scientific as it is personal, she ex
ploded yesterday several widely held
| theories regarding conditions in the
| jungle.
Nothing Scary About Gorillss
The gorilla" she said, "is big. but
he's not mean-looking. The tales which
have been told about gorilla fcrocity
are largely imaginative. They are
harmless, timid, inoffensive beasts, not
man hunters, living on vegetable
diet.
"The climate of Africa is not often
sively hot. In the part we visited the
nights are very cold, and the days are
less trying than they were in New York
last July, for instance. BY comparI-
son, should say that New York suf-
| fers more.
"The gorilla country is mountainous
and very cold. Nevertheless, vegeta-
ton Aourshes nightly, the junglos
are dense and wonderful flowers and
orchids are everywhere.
shooting gorillas is no sport at all.
DR.. Akeylle says that you might as we'll
go into hospital and shoot a blind
man. They apparently have had no ex-