The San Francisco call. [volume], November 27, 1910, Page 3, Image 3

About The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913

Image provided by: University of California, Riverside; Riverside, CA

                
THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, NO VKMBER 27r 1910.—THK JUNIOR CALL
MAKING MOVING PICTURES OF SAVAGE WILD BEASTS
Cherry Ivearton, whose photographic
contributions to natural history science
during the past 20 years are so well
known, has returned from British Kast
Africa after an exciting expedition in
quest of "living pictures" of big game
In their native haunts. Mr. Kearton was
for a considerable part of the Journey
associated with the Roosevelt expedi
tion.
Mr. Kearton finds the new sport In
finitely more exhilarating than the old.
"Armed with a modern sporting rifle,'*
he told a newspaper man, "the hunter
can bring down his quarry at long
range; indeed, 'he counts himself lucky
If he gets within 200 yards — a distance
which puts the moving picture operator
out of court. AgairiTthe sportsman has
his numerous retinue of attendants
and is only handicapped by his gun,
whereas I had the '"burden of a big
camera and was denied even the com
forting possession of a rifle in case of
emergency. ,
"Prom the spectacular standpoint
there is nothing so fascinating as lion
spearing. It embraces all the thrill jot s
primitive sensationalism, and is accom
panied by savage rites which lend color
to the whole adventure. Oneof-the
first things to do- is to engage your
Masai, who are really the warriors of
the district. They" are expert spearmen,
• with peculiarities quite their own. Ex-"
ceptional cleanliness is one of •• their
outstanding virtues, although they have
a weakness for mud ornamentation. The
.clay is supposed to'add to the ferocity
of their appearance. It does give them
- anvuncanny. look, but I have an idea
that the lion is much more disconcerted
'by the businesslike point of their
spears than the ugliness of their, clay
masks. The i-Masai. pins much of his
faith in the moral effect of his facial
expression, and will go to the length
of screwing an ivory tusk into the
of his chin or sharpening his
teeth. \u0084
."Still, he is the embodiment of savage'"
gentlcmanliness. The one thing he will
not do is to enlist himself in your-serv
; ice if you insist on carry a gun. He
knows there is a temptation to shoot
when in a tight corner, and he realizes
'the element of danger to himself; so if
you want his services -you must rely
\u25a0\u25a0:, on his dexterity as a spearman.
PHOTOGRAPHING A SAVAGE BEAST
"I engaged IS warriors— about a
fourth ,of the usual number— and
started to look for lions at the 6egln
ning of the year. My plan of cam
• <paignhas always been to let the Masai
advance in semicircular "formation,
.driving the lion or lioness toward the
camera. As' this seems the line of
least resistance the lion rushes towards"
me with such ferocity that it. appears
any odds against the advance -being
stopped by the two spearmen who
stand at either elbow. I have known
the lion to ; come . within a fe\vv feet of
the camera, suddenly stop -as though
satisfied that danger, lay elsewhere,
turn around quickly,- spot the weak
point among- the advancing Masai and
charge ferociously. Spears rain in . from
every direction, and with t*uc'h unerring
precision do the warriors aim that in
the twinkling of an eye .'the lion re
sembles a sort of monster pincushion;
, "The presence of a single lion may
be discovered by the cli-dins? of birds of \
prey. TUey have located a lion making
ADDITIONAL COMPOSITIONS
AEROPLANE TO NORTH POLE
lIAROLDJKELLEY,
173 Aoilovrr Avenue. Denial Grnmmnr
School, 11 Sixth Grade. Age 12 Year*.
After sleeping for nearly three hours,
Jack woke me -up, He told me that he
was going in search of the north pole,
and asked me if I wanted to go with
him.
I assented, and in. half an hour was
ready to start on the long and perilous
journey, We-liad plenty of provisions
with us and started at 12:30 o'clock.
As we soared high In the air, 'mid
thunderous cheers, • 1 said: "Are wo
going to thejnorth pole in this?" (mean-
Ing the aeroplane). "Yen," answered
Ja<-lc. I said: "1 don't think we will
ever reach it." He responded by say
ing, "You wait and see."
While we were Hying over" the prov
ince of Quebec we suddenly went to the
ground; .here we were forced to. carry
our aeroplane on our backs. At last
we reached the St. Lawrence, where wo
found some logs and repaired our ship.
After traveling for three years wo
reached the pole^ Here we planted the
gtars and stripes and "Boost Bun Kran-
Cisco, 1915," We sang the "Star fcJpan
gled Banner."
We then left the pole and started
southward. We flew over to Denmark
and were guests of the king.
We landed in Sun Francisco in 1915.
The Morning Call said, "Discoverers of
North Pole Reach Ban Francisco."
his meal and whirl round and round in
the confident hope that when, he has
had his , fill he will want to rest, and
that then they will get their chance. A
situation like this gives an opportunity
for my dog Simba.tfie most remarkable,
fox terrier in the world. Simba was
bought a year or.two ago from the ;
dogs' home at Baifrersea, England, for .*
four shillings,, arid he has the distinc
tion of being the only dog that ; will :
tackle a-lion singly. How. he manages
to tweak a , lion's tail, -and even" hang
on for awhile, without getting killed,
amazes, every one.
!'As soon as. the; quarry is started,
providing. l have not got my apparatus
ready, the horsemen,- by crossing; and
recrossing'its path,; will entice, the lion
first here and then' there, much -as
the bull fighter does in. the bull ring.
When all is ready, the warriors, appear ;
on the scene "and press the lion toward
the camera."/ Without exception the lion
advances in the way already described,
and usually meets 'with" the same -fate.
Occasionally .-some ; members of \the J
Masai get wounded, but, even with
such a small, band as I worked with,
the lion has no chance of escape."
"One of the singular features,.- of the
bohavior of the is that they
never make a sound until Rafter the
killing,, is over. Then the ; tip J of the
tail Is claimed by the man who is first
up and; general rejoicings ensue. I
have seldom known a warrior waver in
the course of an attack on a lion. The
WENT IN AN AIRSHIP
A 1.1 CIS CAMERON,
407 Twenty-Ninth Street, San Kran
vinco. Sixth (<rnil<\ I'niriiiuuiit
School. Arc 11 Years
*• Every summer we went away for a
vacation, but this summer we did not
know where to go, Some friends of
ours were going to the north polo in
an ait-Hhip and we thought about taking
a like trip, but our friends 'invited us
to go with them, so we did.
My mother and my- sister made our
furs and in two weeks we were ready
to bo. "*,
We started on May 1, 1910, and we
did not set to the north pole. for many
months. Coming naar the pole It got
very cold and there were many eagles
in the air. One alighted on the top of
our airship and broke our gas bag. Be
fore we could fix it, it went to the
ground.
My father and Mr, Brown, our friend,
got out to nx it. May Brown and I
were 'Watching -them when we saw
something white walking up and down.
We then ran up to it to see what it
was. It was a polar bear, and my
brother shot it. An we went farther
north It got "bo cold we had to return.
We had not gone far when oiir food
gave out. Then we went down to an
Eskimo camp and they gave us plenty
of food. We gave them some money
and it few furs,
Wfe stayed two or three days with
the Eskimos, ihen we started for home.
We enjoyed coming home much better
than going to the north pole.
Masai code of honor demands unflinch
ing courage,, and the- man who fails
never - sees next day's sunrise. * The v
method of execution; is- a secret, but it
is said-to be very terrible. w
.', "Getting a good picture of an ele*
phant hunt provides' exciting, episodes, -
but it lacks therpicturesqueness of a
rhinoceros chase. In one of my adven- ',
tures a couple "of rhinoceroses— mother
and .daughter— suddenly appeared ; on
the scene; and a general scamper fol
lowed, j I bowled .over the; youngster
with/the first shot,' but. the mother dis
appeared" in ; the thicket. At any mo
ment she might'have come full tilt'into
me, so -I made: for* the rnearest; tree.
Singularly enough^ we were" both travel
ing, toward the/sanie point and almost
in the same direction, .with- the ; result
thaty we' got to the -tree together.; I
caromed off the rhinoceros, and for the
moment that , ended it. 1, . of" course,
stopped jShort. The rhinoceros, "- thankv
goodness,^ ls notoriously short-sighted,
and passed; on without knowing that I
was there. \u0084'.; \u25a0:'\u25a0;.':;\u25a0-• •\u25a0• .-.. ' \u25a0'\u25a0 '- ' \u25a0\u25a0\u25a0;\u25a0 \u25a0"\u25a0\u25a0'^' \u25a0'\u25a0'.'\u25a0\u25a0'
"Later on she had very.good reason
for learning of my presence. After
hours of trouble; we^lassoed her round
one of the hind legs and she kept us
busy for about; five hours. "
THE UNKNOWN MONSTER ;
"I believel anvthe only man who has
ever succeeded irii getting moving/pic
tures of the: stirring. events, encounters
with big game can provide, but I am
bent on doing even better yet. My next
A HARD TIME REACHING
THE POLE
CHANT MERRILL,
Redwood City, Cal. Redwood City
Grammar School, Fifth Grade.
Age 11 Years
Starting from Redwood creek, we
sailed up the San Francisco bay and
went through the Golden- gate into the
Pacific ocean. We sailed on for five
days, stopping^at small harbors. Soon
after we came to Sltka. where we
stayed over night, and in the morning
wore ready to go on. We started off
this time at C o'clock and sailed on
past the main points of Alaska, spend
ing three days < visiting the glaciers.
Then we went through the Bering
strait into the Arctic ocean. When" we
had been in the Arctic ocean only a
day we were thrown upon a redf,
whero wo were kept for nearly a
month. We tore up the ship and made
three small boats, one for the freight,
one for the dogs and one for our
selves. Then we sailed on. The ice
was getting very thick, so wo had to
break up the small boats and make a
sled, to which we harnessed the dogs.
We traveled on slowly but steadily for
22 days. Then our food gave out und
we hud to go two days without any
thing to eat. One day one of our men
shot a seal. The next day we all went
out shooting. We got three seals and
one deer. We traveled on for eight
days. Then our compass started to-go
arounii, „\u25a0;<» we began to think we were
at the north pol«. We took out our
maps and looked at the stars und found
it true. We were in high glee. We
started south then and were home
again In a little more than a year from
the time we started.
enterprise will be'in India, ."and I shall
go back to British East Africa; and \ try
and: clear up the mystery , of a*, tribe of
forest people.; These quaint savages re
side in,-^ie* densest \ of/ forests,! and *if
ever you discover their haunts they im
mediately" migrate to another and \u25a0 more
inaccessiblei ble - spot: "i; They; are I scared Iby
the, presence of. fa, gorilla, but; they .will
tackle ,as herd of -elephants ; with
poisoned spears and- think nothing 'of it."
They compound a special kind of poison
which- sets; upi physical prostration;' but
leaves the^victim conscious' almost up
to the moment Vof death. :' \u25a0 ',
/''These; mysterious natives /declare
that a special typeof monster dwells In
the depths of Uhe, forest. It isunlikp
an^ other kind ;of .wild ibeast, sand that
is all they can' telicyou'about it. When 1
I go back toßritish'East/Africal shall
try and, lay that; monster by the heela
if I doynot get a chance ofy taking 'his
photograph, s 'v';.--, - .• ''*--,',' *-?-£
\u25a0;\;"Every,jyear: seea the army of snap
shotters - growing Vi alarmingly. ' They '
were the bane of Mr.' Roosevelt's. exist- '-*;
ence." 'Despite his endeavor ; to- confine
his party i to those !of._hls; own. selection, '
one (persistent photographer' journeyed*,
with i him" up' r country «and iwhenHhese-
rious^workjof the trip began , the , col- -
onel, ; addressing jj his unwelcome ", giiest, .
said: 'Now, it.iaquite.timeyou turnedt
back, ilf, you come- any, farther. I shall,
see that a shooting ..accident takes
place,' ; That .was .the last I saw of the
photographer.'' . "
IN AN AIRSHIP OV ICE
KENNETH DAY, '\u25a0 \ tf~>'4Z.
Aptoft, Cal. Ml. I. I). Itox :J3A. Oukdale
School, Fourth Grade.. Age • • '
V 10 Years > v > - -,\u25a0 '\u25a0;• \u25a0
One bright sunny morning In the
summer I rode down to the - pier to
board the ship which was to tuke me
on my hunt for the' north pole. A lot
of people came to say goodby. We
started off very happy and ; gay. The
sea' was still and tins winds were blow-
Ing, the right way. We, caught, a -good
many nice fish to eat. '•\u25a0• On v the twen- •
tleth day the men went out In a boat to
try tovklll a whale and they got one
about 20 feet long.-; It took us six
months and nine days v to get' to the
far north. The first thing we dld'waa to
get some dogs and some, aleda,- After*
traveling some distance we saw a num
ber of igloos and some men; watching',
us. We asked one of them for doga*
and v few sleds. He agreed to get .
them for us. - , ' \u25a0. ... ,
The next morning I got up and went*
,for a hunt. . I kept getting farther
and farther from my party without'
realizing it. Night came up so aud-.
denly I did not know what to do. I
decided to make 'an airship out of ice.
It took me a half hour to get it ready.'
I started up In the air when a big
piece fell off- and I had to go to the
ground to fix It. I Rot It fixed and
started up again. When It had gone
about a mile I thought I saw the north
pole. I jumped out of the airship and
fMI into a creek of cold water. Oh. how
r did holler! I thought I would surely
freeze, but I got out and climbed bank
Into the airship. Then I started for
home.
The first thing I hit was a high
peak, and I did not know. what to do,
I got down to the bottom and a grizzly
bear started to run after me. I hol
lered out, "Now,' I will break thu
world's record tor running." I ran so
fast that the grizzly did not chime tne
far. Then 1 saw a snake that started
to chase me, but I finally got home In
safety.
3