NATURALIST IN AFRICA

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 829, 25 November 1929, Page 14

NATURALIST IN AFRICA

WILL SEEK RARE MOLE Buried in the core of the African bush of Tanganyika territory, particularly in the Uluguru Range and the Livingstone Mountains, for eight months, a Harvard naturalist will have only native safari bearers and a handful of trained native boys for company, says a United States exchange. Traces of animal life which show connections with the country farther north and the fauna of South Africa, and particularly rare specimens of reptiles and amphibians, will he the reasons for the collection trip, which is to be undertaken into the bush during the two most uncomfortable months of the year.

The man who will voluntarily isolate himself from the civilised world for eight months is Arthur Loveridge, assistant curator of reptiles and amphibians in the Harvard University department of comparative zoology. Ho is already familiar with the country, for as recently as 1926 he spent a year in East Africa, where he previously lived for nine years. Not only does the naturalist hope to collect thousands of specimens, but also to gather as much information as possible as to their life history, foes, and parasites. He will enter Africa at Ilar-es Salaam, from there going to Moregoro by rail. Upon arrival at Mount Lluguru, Loveridge hopes to find a rare mole, of which the only known specimen was obtained in 1926. At Iringa the real journey begins, where it will be necessary to travel by native safari hearers. Tile next point of call will be the Utsclihungwe Mountains, the home of three types of unusual chameleons, and a large tortoise, which sometimes attains a length of more than two feet, and is much valued by natives for food.

From that point the journey will have to be continued from village to village, stopping at each point while barters are made with the natives for fauna found in the vicinity. The Harvard naturalist learned front experience that trinkets and toys do not make satisfactory objects for trade. Instead, he hires two boys to carry a large box containing copper coins about the size of a penny, with a hole punched through, after the fashion of Chinese money. Psychology plays a large part in inducing the natives to join in the search for the desired specimens. A native boy goes ahead of the party, about a day in advance, and tells the chief of the village to be visited that a crazy European, with more money than he can use, is hunting for animals, and pays well for the labour. “If the party went directly into the village, the first day would be spent in idle wonder, the second in mild interest, and so on. It would be a week before any collecting would be begun.” Loveridge explained. , “By sending the boy on in advance, the natives are all excited, and work begins the day following our arrival in tile village."