Evening star., 1926-10-12
MANN TELLS HOW HE CAUGHT
GIRAFFE FOR D. C. CHILDREN
Letter, Months on Way, Details How New
Zoo Guest Was Trapped by Natives
and Fed to Keep 1t Alive.

not to arrive too late in the season
shall have to start home very soon
now.
Incidental to the giraffe drive
there was much excitement. once
we got a whole troop of Wart hogs
into the circle and drove them into
the net. The big ones got through,
but we caught some of the half-grown
ones and got them into camp, where
they are thriving and keeping us
busy trying to get enough food for
them. Once a half-grOwn one got
tangled in the net. Goss jumped on 1t
and at the same time one that we had
not seen, a huge. full-grown one, hit
the net, wrapping itself and Goss and
the young one all up in a struggling
mass together. 1t was exciting for
a moment, but all three got out un-
hurt.
"As wart hogs can give terrible
gashes with their tusks, my heart was
in my mouth. I could not shoot the
big one, as in the struggling mass
composed of GoSS and the big and lit
tie wart hogs, surrounded and OBJ
Scured by the net, 1t was impossible
to tell which was which. One of
our natives did get a bad bump and
q cash from a boar.
ImpaIla Rounded Up.
another time a herd of impalla
was surrounded. The impalla is
easily the most graceful antelope in
Africa and it is treat to see them
leap and run. They headed toward
the net and most Of them simply
sailed across, but five jumped short
and we have them in a corral now.
"One evening we circled a field of
tall cane to see what would come out
of it. For q, few moments the drive
went along all right. Then a lion
grunted right in the center Of our
circle. You should have seen the boys
cluster in black knots and wave their
spears and shout nightly. We did
not blame them, for walking in a
regular line 10 feet from the nearest
man in grass more than two feet
higher than our head and armed
only with a spear makes you sud
denly feel very lonely when you hear
q lion.
"A near.tragedy happened at the
same time. A buffalo charged one of
the men, hit him square with the tip
of the horn, knocking him over. and
dashed away. Luckily the tip Of the
horn struck a rib, which it did not
break. Half an inch higher or lower
would have been fatal. That would
have been no casualties among the
boys.
Trip Called Success.
"Excepting for my failure with the
rhino the trip is a great success so
far as the collection is concerned.
New things worthy of mention since
my last letter are fennecs, two fine
greater koodoo calves, more leopards
and hyenas, 14-foot python, and
hunting dog. The hunting dog was
an animal 1 especially wanted. 1t is
a beautiful animal. 1 have seen them
in the field twice. They hunt in zig
Zags and scour the country for game.
They are a scourge to the antelope.
The ones we saw were in tall grass
and kept jumping up and looking at
us and barking hOarsely.
II was advised against returning
by way of the Cape of Good Hope be-
cause all the ships take a long time
to get there, stopping in some cases
week in each port, so that the food
question would be a serious one. Also
the cold weather off the cape would
add to the difficulties. In going up
the coast to the Red Sea we might
pick up some additional animals, but
then 1t would not be possible to full
fill the quarantine regulations. The
best way seems to be by way of Co
lombo, Ceylon. There is no stop be-
tween here and Colombo, so that the
trip is short. We transfer there to a
boat direct to New York.
when we get aboard the boat I
shall tell the fellows that now that
they have had nice four months va
cation they must get to work.