AMONG THE KULU KAMBAS.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXXXI, Issue 10258, 29 January 1894, Page 2

AMONG THE KULU KAMBAS.

(Pall Mall Gazette.) There are two Eulu Kambaa in this country. They are at present at Liverpool, where they recently arrived from Africa with their owner. Professor E.. L. Garner. One of tbe Kulu Kambas is a male, the other is a female. Neither of them nosaesses a tail. Both are in their second year, early in it, though the exact date of their birth is unknown, and both are of the same height, about twenty inches. This is their height when they stand up, though it must be understood that a Kulu Kamba never stands erect as a man does, but invariably stands with the knees wide apart and the legs bent at the knee-joint. This, apparently, has always been their custom. The complexion 0 9. the two Eulu Kambas is like unto that of a mulatto, and their faces are just aa impoverished so far as hair is concerned. Their bodies are covered with a short, soft coat of black hair. The Kulu Kamba is more like a human being, according to Professor Garner, than any other animal. The principal difference between the physical organisation of a human being and a gorilla, according to the same authority, ia that the spine of the gorilla is not so regularly jointed as that of man, some of the joints having seemingly gone into partnership. The difference, or to put it more finely, tbe distinction, between the chimpanzee and the Kulu Kamba is still a matter of conjecture. Professor Garner says, aa he does not possess a skeleton of the Kulu Kamba. Skeletons of gorillas and chimpanzees are tbe eame to him as a varied collection of pipes are to some men, and ho expects to be just as well supplied with tbe

INANIMATE REMAINS OP KULU KAMBAS some day. Having been in Africa on scientific exploration bent, he naturally intends to go again. The African fever seldom leaves a man upon whom it has once taken a grip. Professor Garner ia an American. He is a man of medium height and strongly built. He is a man of the south, and has the black hair, the dark eyes, and warm complexion of a hot zone. He is an interesting talker, and tells so many curious things about his travels that it is difficult to pin him to a point. Like a* good many others he has long thought that the ape is the Jink between man and the brute creation, and for a good -while he has believed that the ape had a language, just as man has. He went to Africa more than a year ago in order to fortify himself upon this point. He took with him, among hia impedimenta, a steel cage. This cage measured six feet three inches each way and was a cube. It was strong, though light. It was calculated to withstand the attacks of lightweight animals, though it would Lave gone down before an elephant much as an eggobeli would under the foot of a policeman. Professor Garner said to a representative of the Pall Mall Gazette that his intention in going to Africa was to plant himself in the midst of a region abounding in apes, and to so live that he could observe their habits of life and satisfy himself whether or not they had a language. He added that he believed apes bad a language, and that it was a language that could be learned by man. He said that he knew more about this language than he did before ho went to Africa, and that ho was so well satisfied with his experience that he intended to return. He fancied that he would deliver a number of lectures here, write a few articles, also a book, and perhaps deliver some lectures in America on the subject of his studies before ho returned to Africa, but he could say nothing definitely regarding hia plans, except that he had promised to write a series of articles touching his recent trip to Africa. To one who has read nearly everything that has been written about Professor Garner’s knowledge of the linguistic

ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE APE FAMILY it does not seem, from all hehaa toaay, that he has made such strides in his task as one would have expected in fourteen months. He said yesterday that he know much more upon tbe subject than he did a year or more ago, but the character of this knowledge he kept to himself. It has been said that in his recent explorations he went where no white man went before. He did not say so yesterday. When asked to say whence he made his start in Africa, bow he travelled and where he pitched his steel cage, he said that he made his start from Cape Lopez, and travelled seven or eight days by canoe and five days overland. When asked how he travelled over!and ho said, "On my twin ponies.” By these he meant his feet—at least so he explained. After travelling for twelve or thirteen days he reached Pernacvaz Lake. The name, he said, is aho given to the country round the lake. He pitched his stesl cage in the woods come distance from the . lake. He was never troubled by large animals, and had no trouble worth mentioning with the natives. The only trouble ho had was through “dashing” them, which moans giving backsheesh. He had been warned that tho moment he gave a native anything above hia wages the native was spoiled. He found that this was true. In his opinion tho natives of the Eeyira country are absolutely void of gratitude. The moment he did a native a good turn that particular native .was of no further use to him. He had a boy once, a good boy. One night there was to be a dance near the lake. The boy asked permission to go. It was given, but Professor Garner, thinking to please the boy and add to the reputation of the white man generally, gave him a very fine scarlet loin cloth. To this he added a belt, a white under-vest, and a cap. The small nigger simply swelled to bursting. Ha strutted up and down several times ,

FOB THE EDIFICATION ON HIS MASTER, and then went to the ball. His master heard of him at different points afterwards, but he never saw him again. The boy whom Professor Garner took with him from the coast remained with him to the end. This boy was once badly scared. He had heard seven slaves plotting to kill his master. They.were doubtful on one point. Professor Garner had a Winchester rifle and a .Colt’s revolver. The blacks had often asked him to fire off the revolver. It was a “self-cocker,” and ito five chambers could be emptied in a couple of seconds. The blacks came to the conclusion that the professor could fire it off as many times as he pleased " without making powder”—their term for loading—so did not attack him. Professor Garner said that he lived ia hia steel cage for one hundred and one days. Of course, he did not spend all hia time in the cage, but roamed about the country during the day and night, when it suited his purpose. Once, on his rambles, he met a female gorilla. They looked at each other for a while. Finally, the professor cocked his gun. The gorilla heard the click, turned slowly, and trotted off, apparently not at all afraid. Professor Garner said that he took a kodak with him, and found it useless. He wanted to photograph a gorilla, so he put the kodak in a favourable spot, tied a string to the spring and baited the other end of the string. A gorilla came along, saw the bait, and began to chew it. During the operation tho kodak “ clicked.” The gorilla gave a start, but did not move away until it had eaten the bait. Three times this plan was tried, Professor Garner said, and each time it was successful, at least BO FAB AS THE GOBILLA WAS CONCERNED. But each time the plates refused to develop, one only showing a mere shade of a gorilla, though nobody could tell, the Professor said, that the animal was engaged in photographing himself. Professor Garner, when asked why he called the animals he had brought home Kulu Kambas, said it, was the name given to them by tho natives. “ Kulu ” signified sounds which the natives said the animals made, “ Kamba ” was a native word that meant “ to taik,”_ or “ tbe things which talks so that Kulu Kamba meant “ the animal which talks kulu.” The natives, he said, were satisfied that the gorillas talked a language of their own: As evidence of this, they told bow

a gorilla who was on the watch would, on di?cov«ring sn enemy, at once communicate to his companions, not only that there waa danger, but the direction whence it came, and that he would do this by sounds. Professor Garner maintains that no other species of the brute creation will do this. His contention is that his researches are made for the purpose of discovering the origin of speech, and that his object is just as praiseworthy, if not as important, as the aims of those who are physiologically inclined.