Overloaded Ark

203 Pages·2001·0.84 MB·English

by  Gerald Durrell

The story of a six months’ collecting trip made by Gerald Durrell and John
Yealland to the great rain forests of the Cameroons in West Africa to bring back
alive some of the fascinating animals, birds, and reptiles of the region and to see
one of the few parts of Africa that remained as it had been when the continent
was first discovered.

“. . . a book of immense charm. The author handles English prose with the same
firmness and discretion that he used to dispense towards the pangolins and
lemuroids that fell to his snares and huntsmen in the Cameroons. How seldom it
is that books of this kind are written by those who can write! . . . a genuinely
amusing writer.” — Time and Tide

“. . . I hail a happy book out of Africa . . . and one amusing in its own right . . . I
can think of no more wholesomely escapist experience than travelling for an all-
too-brief spell in Mr Durrell’s overloaded ark. No wonder it is a Book Society
choice.” — Daily Telegraph

“. . . He has a gift both of enjoyment and of description, and writes vividly and
well.” — The Times

Cover illustration by Paxton Chadwick

For a complete list of books available please write to Penguin Books whose
address can be found on the back of the title page

PENGUIN BOOKS

1228

THE OVERLOADED ARK

GERALD DURRELL

And they went in unto Noah
into the ark, two and two of all flesh,
wherein is the breath of life.
GENESIS VII, 15
GERALD M. DURRELL

THE OVERLOADED ARK

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY

Sabine Baur

PENGUIN BOOKS

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

FABER AND FABER

Penguin Books Ltd., Harmondsworth, Middlesex

AUSTRALIA: Penguin Books Pty Ltd, 762 Whitehorse Road.
Mitcham, Victoria
—

First published by Faber and Faber 1953

Published in Penguin Books 1957

Made and printed in Great Britain
by Purnell and Sons, Ltd.
Paulton (Somerset) and London

FOR

JOHN YEALLAND

In memory of birth and beasts and
the beef that no fit die
CONTENTS

A Word in Advance
Prelude

PART ONE: ESHOBI

1. The Forest by Day
2. Smoke and Small Beef
3. Bigger Beef
4. The Forest by Night
5. The Fossil that Bites
6. Beef and the Bringers of Beef
7. Drills, Dances and Drums

PART TWO: BAKEBE & BEYOND

8. Snakes and Sunbirds
9. Arctocebus Ahoy!
10. N’da Ali
11. The Ju-ju that Worked
12. The Life and Death of Cholmondeley
13. The Village in the Lake
14. The Ark Departs
Finale

INDEX
AUTHOR’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BOTH John Yealland and I would like to thank the following people, who, while
we were in the Cameroons, helped and advised us in many ways.

Of the United Africa Company: Mr Baker and Mr Milsome of Mamfe, and Mr
Coon at Victoria, who dealt with the many problems of supplies and transport.

The Elders and Fyffes representatives at both Victoria and Tiko who helped us to
secure return passages for ourselves and our animals, and the Captain and crew
of the ship we travelled back on, who did their utmost to make our voyage easy.

To the various District Officers in the Cameroons who helped us in many ways,
and in particular Mr Robins, District Officer for the Mamfe Division, who did
much to smooth our difficulties for us.
We are deeply indebted to the Reverend Paul Schibler and his wife, of the Basle
Mission in Kumba, who perhaps did more than anyone else in helping us in our
work when we stayed with them at Kumba.

We would also like to thank all those Africans — personal staff, hunters, guides,
and carriers — without whose work and help we should have achieved very
little.

Finally, I would like to thank Miss Sabine Baur for the trouble and care she has
taken over the illustrations for this book, and my wife, who helped in the
preparation of the manuscript and who bravely undertook the dangerous task of
criticizing my work.

ARTIST’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I MUST first of all thank Mr Durrell for his very helpful sketches and
photographs.

Dr L. Forcart and Dr E. Sutter, members of the staff of the Museum of Natural
History of Basle, very kindly sought out much useful material for me; and I am
particularly indebted to Dr A. Portmann for his criticisms and suggestions and
for his most valuable help in producing the necessary documents for my
drawings.
A WORD IN ADVANCE

THIS is the chronicle of a six months’ collecting trip that my companion and
myself made to the great rain forests of the Cameroons, in West Africa. Our
reasons for going on this trip were twofold: firstly, we wanted to collect and
bring back alive some of the fascinating animals, birds, and reptiles that inhabit
this region; secondly, we had both long cherished a dream to see Africa: not the
white man’s Africa, with its macadam roads, its cocktail bars, its express trains
roaring through a landscape denuded of its flora and fauna by the beneficial
influences of civilization. We wanted to see one of those few remaining parts of
the continent that had escaped this fate and remained more or less as it was when
Africa was first discovered.

This was to be our first collecting trip. John Yealland’s interest lay with birds,
while mine lay with mammals and reptiles. Together we had planned and
financed the trip; for a venture such as this you need a great deal of capital, as
you are not financed by the zoos you collect for. However, they help you in
every way they can, and supply you with lists of the specimens they would like
from the area you are going to, so you know before you start which animals you
particularly want.

There has been quite a bit written about the collecting of wild animals, and most
of it gives a very untrue picture. You do not spend your time on a trip risking
death twenty times a day from hostile tribes or savage animals; on the other hand
you do not sit in a chair all day and let the “blacks” do all the work for you.
Naturally, doing this sort of work, you are bound to run certain risks, but they
have been greatly exaggerated: nine times out often any dangers you encounter
are of your own making. Without the help of the natives you would stand little
chance of catching the animals you want, for they know the forest, having been
born in it; once the animal is caught, however, it is your job to keep it alive and
well. If you left this part of it to the natives you would get precious little back
alive. Ninety per cent of your time is spent tending your captures, and the rest of
your time in tramping miles through the forest in pursuit of some creature that