Here be monsters
I am a part-time Archive Assistant for the History of Advertising Trust Ltd. Something caught my eye in Harmsworth’s Children’s Encyclopedia from circa 1910/1911. In this issue’s ‘The Little Book of Nature’ (a regular feature), the topic was “unknown animals”.
The first part of the article delt with a mysterious creature, a possible survivor from the Age of the Dinosaurs, living in an African swamp: “The story was first heard from natives in Africa a good many years ago, by a trustworthy traveller named Menges. It came up again a few years ago when Mr. Carl Hagenbeck, the greatest importer of wild animals in the world, received two different reports to the same effect. One of his own hunters, who had been in Rhodesia in search of animals, heard of it; and an English traveller, who had entered and left Rhodesia by a different route from that taken by Mr. Hagenbeck’s representative, also heard of it. The natives describe it as a huge monster, ‘half elephant, and half dragon’, dwelling in the great swamps in the interior, which are hundreds of square miles in extent. There are drawings of such an animal in certain caves in Rhodesia; which suggest that the natives have wonderful imaginations, or have actually seen such a creature.”
It seems that Hagenbeck did try to find the creature: “Mr. Hagenbeck firmly believes that such an animal as this monster does exist to-day in the great and silent swamps of Rhodesia, and he sent an expedition to hunt for it. The hunt failed, for the men were laid low with terrible fevers, and attacked by bloodthirsty savages. Although he failed on this occasion, Mr. Hagenbeck, in a book that he has written called ‘Beasts and Men’, says that he hopes yet to prove that this animal does exist. He thinks that it must be like the extinct brontosaurus.”
There is an accompanying illustration of the creature along with a map, which puts the creature’s location as somewhere north of the Lunga and Kafue rivers, and not far from the Congolese border – which begs the question, did Mokele-M’Bembe migrate northwards, or are we looking at a related creature?
Another creature mentioned in the same article is the Giant Ground Sloth (Megatherium or Mylodon). The article speculates why these impressive creatures became extinct – it puts the blame on Guanacos [close realtives of the llama], theorising that “by constantly biting off the young shoots of trees, [they] killed all the forests in which the sloths lived.” However, it then points out: “If we grant that, however, it does not account for the disappearance of the horse. There were at one time myriads of horse-like animals in South America, but when the first white man landed there, there was not a horse in the entire continent. These are mysteries for which we cannot account.”
“Anyhow, naturalists sent out an expedition, fully believing that somewhere in the remote part of South America, the giant sloth still exists. The expedition was not successful; but we know that the great monsters lived in caves with men, and that men and women and children made pets of them; for after all these ages we find the very grass which the men cut for sloths turned into withered hay, in the caverns where they and their vast pets lived.”
“Fancy having for a pet animal a creature 14 feet [4.3m] feet high, and strong enough to pull down an oak tree! The giant sloth has not been found alive; probably it never will; possibly the last one died ages and ages ago. Still, the naturalist, when he gives himself over to dreams, likes to think the thing possible.”
Again, there is an illustration, with the caption: “A few years ago a band of British hunters went in search for this monster in Patagonia, but were unable to find it.”
The article continues with: “Scientists wisely refuse to believe anything until they see it before them,” and that “men still go wearily seeking the moa, the giant bird of New Zealand, fully believing that the natives are right when they say that here and there, in the heart of the New Zealand mountains, these feathered giants still live.”
For the final part, an Asian ungulate (and real-life animal), the Takin, is mentioned, “but because its home is mysterious Tibet, a land into which it has been too dangerous for Europeans to go, it has been regarded as having no existence.”
Making such finds is why I love my job!
Leslie Hurn
Norwich, Norfolk
This morning [22 Nov 2022], I went for a walk in Maidstone Cemetery in the glorious autumn sunshine, and it prompted a memory.
A couple of summers ago I was taking a similar walk, enjoying the peace of my nearest green space, and dawdling among the stones within sight of the Pheasant Lane gate (there are three entrances). From the corner of my eye I noticed movement and, turning, saw a middle-aged couple wandering up the path towards the gate. They were flanked by a pair of large dogs (I forget what breeds – two different ones), that sauntered about, sniffing as dogs do. I thought nothing of it; the place is a common dog-walking area, and I observed the group with little interest. The dogs slipped behind a large shrub, out of sight, and the couple, on reaching the open gate, walked through without pause. They
didn’t stop and look back, or call to their pets, or give any sign of being aware of their presence. They just left. After a while, I went to the path in search of the dogs. There were none, and a thorough search revealed no sign of any, or of anyone else who might have been their owner. The couple never once left my sight until they’d passed through the gate, and the dogs had disappeared. Arthur Burton
Maidstone, Kent