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The Southern Israelite
Page 5
SEARCHING THE JUNGLE IN THE
Back from Africa, where her ad
ventures included narrow escapes
from a charging rhinoceros and a
he rd of elephants, Mrs. Oscar S.
Straus, widow of the former United
States Ambassador to Turkey, had
hardly set foot on shore from the
steamer lie de France when she de
clared that she hopes next year to go
hack again.
From her luxurious home in the
venter of Manhattan, surrounded by
friends and relatives, to the heart of
the African jungle, a small group of
tents clustered around a campfire, the
call of lions, mercifully not hungry,
re-echoing across the lighted space,
is a long way—15,000 miles by water,
rail and motor.
Not content with financing the ex
pedition, Mrs. Straus, who is sixty-
eight, accompanied the scientests who
went to seek much-needed bird speci
mens for the American Museum of
Natural History, rode with the party
along roads which had to be built as
they went, slept in a tent when camp
was pitched for the night and person
ally directed the taking of many of
the photographs of the animals in
their native haunts. Mrs. Straus’
grandson, Edward Schafer, Jr., of
New York, was the party’s official
photographer and Mrs. Straus prefers
to let him tell of their adventures.
Part of the expeditions “quarry” is
5,000 feet of film depicting incidents
in the African jungle, moving pic
tures, lions, zebra, giraffes and rare
tropical birds. Two hundred and fifty
birds, shot during the day and stuffed
at night around the campfire, were
brought back. Altogether, 2,000 spec
imens will result from the expedition.
A collection of 2,000 specimens of in
sects was also made by one of the
Party, Mrs. Rudyard Boulton, as well
as a collection of unique native musi
cal instruments.
Mrs. Straus was in perfect health
all the time and was greatly inter
ested in all the activities of the party.
An example of her sportsmanship
was apparant on the very first night
that the expedition was in camp. Ar
riving in camp at about 7 o’clock in
the evening, the group sat down to a
dinner served not as if it were in the
heart of the African jungle but in
some Adirondack summer home. After
the evening meal the party gathered
around the campfire, discussing future
plans. When they had been sitting
quietly for perhaps ten minutes, a
lion started to roar.
Ho you want to see the lions?”
■' Straus was asked by the Hon.
Fineh-Hatton, noted British
u nter who had joined the expedition
at Nairobi.
th^ rS *^ raUS re P^ e d that as she was
etc for that purpose she might as
e ‘ >tart right in. Quickly Mrs.
rails and other members of the par-
j lk0 ^ automobiles and drove
I <h! • ? ^ rus ^' Soon, the spotlight
j an n on a charing among the trees
e n j e * et * a famil y of lions, a lion-
, n , f 0Ur cubs. The mother was
inp ! ^ e in ^ truct ing her young, teach-
ar . em . tbe on ly lesson young lions
p re . U i, aire< * to know—how to stalk
upor th ° Ueh the brigbt light played
with u e £ r °up, the lioness went on
autom.qvi eSS ° n wbiIe tbe group in the
1 es sat quietly watching.
OF SCIENCE
Mrs. Oscar S. Straus Returns From
Expedition to Heart of Africa; The
Things They Sought and What
They Brought to the Museum
of Natural History
By Emily Nathan
Suddenly it was noticed that out
side the rim of light, the father lion
watched, alert. “We put our lights on
him and he started a tus. We started
the cars and left. That night two
groups of lions called to each other
across the campfire. When the lions
are hungry they will come into the
camp, regardless of the fire. They
have been known to go right into the
tents and take people out. That night,
all we could do was hope that the
lions were not hungry.”
Of greatest interest to Mrs. Straus
was how the animals live. She ob
served the habits of the babboons, the
antelopes and the zebra which must
always be on the move to protect
themselves from the lions.
Although Mrs. Straus had not been
interested in photography before, she
found that “camera hunting” was
more fascinating than any other kind
of hunting and more dangerous, for
it is necessary to come much closer
to the animals to photograph them
than to shoot them. Lions, to employ
a phrase from the moving picture in
dustry, “screen well.” They are not
afraid of the camera as are the ele
phants. Photographing elephants was
one of the most difficult tasks of the
expedition. The elephants are very
wiley and are difficult to locate. They
travel in herds and cover about 25 or
JO miles a day. None of the party
spoke the language of the native
guides, and few of the native guides
PREACHED AT THE JEWISH INSTITUTE
OF RELIGION BACCALAUREATE
SER VICE
By the President, I)r. Stephen S. Wise,
The equipment of a man for the
Jewish ministry must be two-fold. He
must be prepared for the calling which
has chosen him by a sense of utter
dedication to the service upon which
he is about to enter. The equipment
must be gained through such earnest
academic preparation as has been
vouchsafed to you, the members of the
Graduating Class, during the past
four years.
The methods of service within the
ministry are two-fold. The teacher of
religion, whether in Israel or in any
other religious fellowship, teaches
alike by his word and by his works.
The mighty prophet of Israel has ut
tered an abiding truth herein—“He
that hath my word let him speak the
word faithfully.” No man can speak
the word faithfully unless his in truth
be unimpairable faith in the cause
which he has espoused. To speak the
word faithfully is to utter the word
that needs to be said, not blatantly
nor truculently, but with an under
standing of the sacredness of truth
and the unanswerable imperiousness
of its challenge, howsoever clamorous
be conflicting and diverting claims.
The supreme method of service for
a man in any and every ministry lies
in his works and life. No richness of
speech can make up for poverty of
life. No utterance, however glowing,
can light up the darkness of a man’s
life, if his ministry be self-centered
and without concern for the supreme
business of religion.
Touching a man’s word and works,
there are certain tests which men will
apply to every man, be he humble or
mighty, be he great or small. And
these tests are always of a man’s
religiousness. The man whose soul
cannot give assent to the fundamen
tal truths of religion owes it to him
self and to every standard of human
worth to withdraw. Not that a man
is to withdraw from Church or Syna
gogue every time he finds himself in
conflict with dogma or ordinance of
his religious organization or in col
lision with the more imperious mas
ters of the church, whether these be
lay or clerical! But no man can serve
with any degree of acceptance in the
ministry unless his soul be charged
with enthusiasm for those changeless
truths of religion which are the heart
of faith.
The test of a man in the ministry
lies in his will and capacity to serve
men, not men collectively nor congre-
gationally, but man—man as an in
dividual, the individual man, human
persons in the midst of their multi
form doubts and difficulties, prob
lems and temptations, fears and
griefs.
The purpose of a man in the Jewish
ministry, of necessity, is to bring the
ideal divine into the lives of those
whom he serves by the teaching of
his lips and the persuasion of his life.
The purpose of the Jewish minister
is to proclaim the validity of the
spiritual world, the reality of spiritual
truth. Even as evolution is a working
hypothesis, equally workable, upon the
basis of which a pragmatic scheme of
(Continued on Page 10)
INTEREST
spoke the language of the native
hunting tribes. Yet it was from these
hunting tribes that traces of the ele
phant herds had to be obtained. When
the party came upon a hunting tribe
they pitched camp on the spot, and
waited until the natives brought
word that they “had elephants”,
meaning that they knew where ele
phants could be found. The elephants
are located by tracking and the sound
of falling trees which they throw over
as the great, hulking animals go
crashing through the forest.
Immediately the party climbed into
motor cars and drove in the direction
indicated, until they came within a
hundred yards of the herd, when they
proceeded on foot.
One time when the party stood
watching the herd eating, the ele
phants sensed the presence of hu
mans and charged at the group. By
fleet running and hiding behind bush
es they were able to evade the infu
riated animals which had been dis
turbed at their dinner.
After spending three days looking
for rhinoceroses the party saw one
feeding on the opposite side of a nar
row river. The only way to cross was
to climb across a slippery log. Mrs.
Straus slipped and clung to the log.
The rhino, disturbed by the noise,
charged. The white hunter rushed
between Mrs. Straus and the rhino
and drove him off.
“I also encountered a big lion at
yery close quarters,” Mrs. Straus said,
“I did not know what I should do.
The white guide who was beside me
shot the animal through the head and
it fell dead twenty feet from where
we were standing.
“I saw as many as 150 ostriches
standing together at one time and
hundreds of all kinds of monkeys. We
killed leopards, cheetahs and many
other wild animals.”
Mrs. Straus said the most beautiful
bird she saw was a vulturine guinea
hen with blue-tipped wings, purple
breast and brown markings on the
back.
“We witnessed a fight in the air,”
she said, “between an eagle and one
of these lovely birds. One of our
hunters finally fired a shot and
scared the eagle away.”
Altogether the expedition covered
about 15,000 miles by land and sea in
four months.
The route taken led into the very
heart of the African jungle. Most of
the hunting was done; on the Seren-
getti Plain, where no human had been
for several years. The animals, never
having seen human beings, were una
fraid of them. The Plain, which is at
the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, 100
miles south of the Equator, abounds
in all kinds of wild life. The camp,
pitched at the foot of the beautiful,
snow-capped peak, looked out on a
scene unequalled anywhere in the
world.
Mrs. Straus was able to select her
own vension which one of the party
would go out and shoot. All other food
was taken along with them and they
dined off of tinned vegetables, dried
fruits and milk. Camp was always
pitched within two miles of a river *
and water brought by the natives.
It was dangerous to camp nearer the
(Continued on Page 10)