THE BAFUT BEAGLES

by Gerald M. Durrell ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1954

The Overloaded Ark made a special contribution to natural history as the young English collector portrayed the brightest and best of the expedition's adventures in the Cameroons. He continues his pictorially satisfying descriptions here with the account of his stay in the grasslands of West Africa under the warm and gay friendship of the Fon of Bafut whose hunters for the wanted ""beef"" became the Bafut Beagles. Liquor loving, the Fon contributes many of the book's high spirited episodes -- the conga during a local ceremony, the benign boozing whose aftermaths were not always desirable, the acquisition of the fairy-tale galagos and of the desperately needed golden cat; the Bengles and their techniques for getting their quarry and their exuberance, natural courtesy and good manners add to the unusual picture. And, of course, there are the animals themselves -- the troublesome black eared squirrel (who almost ruined the trip home aboard ship), the entertaining babies, the naughty chimps, the Iduirus which did not live to reach port, the frogs, toads, owls, mice, snakes, lizards, the rock hyrax-- all contributing to another distinctive book from this humorous and human naturalist. Good.

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION