APE-WOMAN FOUND IN AFRICAN WILDS

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6946, 27 June 1929, Page 4

APE-WOMAN FOUND IN AFRICAN WILDS

BLACK BABY BROUGHT UP AMONG APES... CLIMBED TREES WITH FOSTER PARENTS . . . WILL JUNGLE YIELD FURTHER STRANGE SECRETS?

HN elephant hunter is stated to have' shot at a herd of apes when hunting in the Cameroons, and later found

that one of the wounded proved to be not an ape but a negro woman, says the "World’s Pictorial News.” She was, to all appearances in the trees, just another of the ferocious animals, but closer investigation revealed her origin. It is supposed that the apes stole her when a baby, and brought her up with them in their nests or huts. As years went on she was as one of the apes, and climbed the trees with the facility of her foster-parents.. There is nothing strange in thus finding a human being living with the apes. In Africa, at the junction of the Übana River and the Great Congo, a tribe of “semi-humans” -were surprised by a boat’s crew, who had landed to try for a shot at the big game abounding in the neighbourhood of the rivers. As soon as the strange beings saw the sailors they assumed a threatening attitude, and after two or three shots, took to the forest with screams more like those of frightened women than fleeing apes. 111-fated Expedition

In connection with that report made by the captain when he returned to Antwerp, an expedition was formed to investigate. The River Übana takes a northern course from the confluence with the Congo, but the latter river flows into the wildest and most dangerous tract of all the African coast. It was at the town of Leopoldville, in the Belgian Congo, that the expedition was halted,, and from that centre set out to discover, if possible, the main body or headquarters of the semi-human apes. Captain Louis Vartilli, and his wife Anna, were the leaders of the expedition. Warnings were issued by the local officials, and every precaution was taken to make the strange quest as safe as possible. It was on a morning in May when the party set out The sun had not as yet made its appearance, for the hour was just 2 a.m.

Days passed without, any .word of the venturous party. Twenty carriers or “boys” were with, that expedition. None ever returned to the starting point, though it -was arranged that each day a runner would set out to give a detailed account of their progress and any discovery they might have made. The river ran in places under dark arches of thick foliage. Giant cobras, the fearful anaconda, the slim water snake, all had to be taken into account The banks were watched, for it was well understood. that the tribe of apes would not go far from the water. The Ape-Girl Six weeks after the expedition set out one of the boats was found sunk

in shallow water. All supplies were gone, and of the other boat there was no sign. Later it was discovered half burned in a little bay about ten miles from where the first boat had been found. That was the last of the expedition. No soul ever returned nor up to a short time ago was there any theory as to why the two white people had disappeared. Then came startling news:—

A native of the Congo, who had absconded into French territory, gave a vivid description of his wanderings. He had had to live in the depths of the forest, travel at night in the open where possible, and get what shelter he could from the broiling sun by day. ■ The trees were a safe place if one was sure they were not already in possession of a cobra, or other reptile. The ground was alive after dark with the things that kill, and knowing his woodcraft/this native sought out a colony of apes, for where they could live in safety a human being might manage to get through. The shrill chatter of the tribe of apes reached him one day as he made his way through the forest. He turned and made for the bank of the River Congo, and there, in a secluded grove, he saw the huts which he knew were those of the apes. Describing these huts the native said that they were built by the male, and, perched in the fork of a stout tree, the doorway was always facing south. How the brain of the ape determined the proper direction is not known, but it is a fact that all the openings into these huts are facing south.

The moon was at its full on this night as the native came within sight of the colony. He knew they were not dangerous if one did not try to get near the huts. The males are nearly always on the look-out for rivals and are a terribly jealous species, killing by strangulation their rivals or other enemies.

The native took up his post in the fork of a giant redwood tree, and was about to sleep when to his amazement he saw a girl drop to the ground from ■a hut on a near-by tree, and in a manner not at all like the female ape, make her way to the river. He followed, and saw her wash her face, and dry it with a leaf from the cactus tree. He looked at this strange being. He knew apes, monkeys of all kinds he was familiar with, but this being— The Fair Hair

Slowly he approached her. She was alone, and all the colony apparently unaware of her absence. The native was about to turn away when he saw the being look toward him, make no sign of being frightened or otherwise alarmed, and taking this as an invitation lie slowly came nearer and nearer expecting to hear a shrill scream and see the being in flight. Nothing of the sort happened. They both sat on the grass. The native advanced his hand timidly and was allowed to touch the flesh of the one by his side. It was smooth. No mass of sticky hair met his fingers, and looking into the face he saw that it was almost human —more like a human being’s face than his own! ' ■ He tried to talk in his own language. She whispered some words he did not understand, and after a futile effort to get an explanation from this strange creature he allowed her to return to her hut on the tree. Before she climbed to the hut she went to a mound by the river. ' The native went there after she had gone and found a roughly-formed grave. Fair hair lay on the top of the moist clay, but there was only the hair and the bones there. Was this the girl’s mother? She was not expecting to be a mother when she set out with her husband. It is how well established that the skeleton is that of Anna, the missing wife of the captain, and the fact that the human-looking being living in the trees knows of that lonely grave, and caresses the fair hair nightly, speaks with the force of human nature.

The shooting, by mistake, of an ape-woman by an elephant hunter in the Cameroons has a bearing upon the fate of Captain Louis Vartilli and his wife Anna, leaders of an expedition in that territory.