Evening Star Newspaper, August 1, 1926, Page 80

2 THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. O, AUGUST 1, 1926—PART 5. American Adventurers Join Hands With Ecuadorean Tribe in War’ As Painted Jivaro Indians They Aid in Forest Battle With Traditional Enemies of Their Allies—Powwow with a Chief—Matching - Wits—Un- canny Success Comes to a Rainmaker. Savage Lust for Battle—-Gathering Gruesome Emb]ems. “A _longing to penetrate the hid- den derths of nature, coupled with the sheer love of adventure for ad- venture's sake,” led Mr. Up de Qraff into the wilds of Ecuador, into the little-known forests of the Upper Amazon Basin. Here he spent seven years in prospect- ing for gold, in extracting. rubber from the forests and in living the iife of the jungle people. Privation, extreme hunger and serfous illness were at times his eompanions, and yet he declares the period embraced “some of the ost fascinating days of my life." Fortune threw in his path three other Americans — Jack Rouse, Edward Morse and Willlam Game ~—with whom he braved the dan- gers of the jungle. With hope as their guide, they had fought.the strong curreht of the Santiago River, when they met with the high joints of their adventures, re- counfed In this and a succeeding article. Other incidents of Mr. Up de QGraft's wanderings are related in “Head Hunters of the Amazon.” BY F. W. UP DE GRAFF. ARLY in the morning Jack and Ed went off in one of the canoes downstream to look for turties’ eggs on a sand pit a few hundred yards awa: Game and I were preparing to put off in the other to go upstream and Jook for indications of the Indians, or gold, or turtles, or anything of interest. Now Jack was not noted for dis- plays of emotion of any kind. 80 when we saw him jump to his feet dn the cance and begin waving his arms and shouting like a maniac we guessed there must be something rather unusual happening. A bend in the river hid from our view the reach below where they ‘were, 50 all we could see was a sin- #lé dugout making for the. island a8 hard as two apparent madmen could propel it, while at intervals the ocoupants would stop paddling, stana up and point their rifies menacingly 4t some pursuing power, which was for us a mystery. \ We jumped into our own craft and made for the island, so as to meet Jack and Ed. A few strokes across the current brought us there before they grounded. We turned to look downstream from this point. Sweep- along under the right bank came Jivaro canoes in single file, a huge ent moving with perfect rhythm. uhuimpui, which we soon learned “was the leader's name, landed on the int of the island, stuck his spear iead down in the sand, and advanced for a friendly powwow. His following shown a keen desire to overrun our refuge at his heels, but I had ordered him, at the first sign of such & movement taking place, to com- mand his party to retire to the main Bank and await the result of our pariey. ““We have heard that you have come searching for gold,” he began. ‘‘Here on this river are veéry many Huam- ‘bizas, evil men, who kill the Apaches and steal their women. You will be killed, 80 we have come here to take you back to safety. The Huambizas carry weapons stch as yours” (Indl- cating by signs and sound the firing of 4 rifle). “I have heard,” I replied, “‘of the great chief Tuhulmpul down river, and know him to be a friend of the white man. Clearly has he proven his friendship once mors by coming on this errand fraught with perils to give us his advice and protection. To our mutual regard, we must A% tonetnor.” The rum-barrel was produced, and « stiff drink handed out. “I would have you know,” I went om, “that we appreciate your offer, but that we fear no Huambizas nor any other; we come in peace, but if attacked we know how to defend our- ealves.” The chief retired to the water's edge, and called across to a fellow chiet to put over to the island to con- gult with him. I joined my comrades in the shelter and we discussed m§ imterpretation of the powwow. We aecided that we must try and get the whole war party to go upstream with their help would be invaluable. & few moments 1 was back talk- ing with Tuhuimpul, who had re- turned from the conference with his fellow chief. “We are a war party, come to kil t Huambizas.” Tuhuimpui turned with childlike simplicity to this new '%‘a will help you, then, for they are our common enemy,” I answered. ‘Let us join forces and push on to- gether.” 3 Thus we struck a bargain. We were deceived as to what was the real object of our new allies. But all the same it suited us to avail _ourselves, of their help to penetrate further up-river, laden as we were with heavy stores. g * oK k% morning we started. All day we sat and watched the strokes of the paddles, escort evidently two partles which, finding each other bent on a common mission, joined hands. Day after day e pushed on up- stream, moving too quickly for Jack to get a chance of prospecting the likely spots. As regularly as. clock- work we “marched,” like @ compan: of troops; the discipline of the sav- ages, though of a rough-and-ready kind, was evident from the manner in which they obeyed their chiefs. We white men left them strictly alone; we felt like guests at a hunt- ing party. They knew the country, and had their own plans of attack, with which we must fall in if we wers to hope for success. Night after night we had to exer- clse the greatest care so as to foil, peacefully if possible, the - infinite variety of tricks by which the Jivaros attempted to obtain possession of our equipment. Our powers of diplomacy were strained to the utmost limit. It be. came more and mare obvious that what we carried with us were a greater attraction than anything the Huambizas could have. Our heads, too, would make just as fine a sét of trophies as any others. After many days of paddling. no sign of the Huambizas had yet been seen. During the morning of one day we were paddling along in the usual formation, Indian file, when suddenly a commotion started among the lead- ing canoes, followed by a ‘“trombone Something which had been picked up out of the water was being handed round for inspection. On pushing up to the front of the column, we found that the center of interest was indeed worthy of atten- tion.. It was a plece of charred wood. So at last we were in touch with the enemy. After a lot of talk it was decided that we should push on and try to find the probable point from which it had drifted. Paddling ahead for the remainder of the morning, we Halted on a very long sandbar for a midday rest. There was a feeling of war in the air. The Jivaro party seemed to have set- tled down at, last with & will to the prospect of attacking their long- standing enemies. There remained but one stepping stone to be crossed before they would reach a state of white-hot 2eal for the attack—the omens must be read. The meal over, the Indians disap- peared into the 'forest which came down to the edge of the sand. In a few moments they were back, each man carrying a branch from a tree which bears a small green berry. Some of the berries they stripped from the twigs, and the branches themselves they planted in the sand in a long, straight line paraliel with the river. Tuhuimpui strolled up to me un- concernedly. ‘“We are going to make it rain,” he said simply. *I hope you will not bring down enough to drench our cargo,” I sald with mock solemni. ty. “Never fear,’ came his grave answer, “only a light shower.” To- night it shall rain and thunder and blow, but before we summoen the Storm we shall build you a house.” I was taken aback, to say the least of it, for it seemed to me that he had very little hope of success, for all the effect a row of branches would have on a clear sky, the same sky which had smiled on us since we turned up the Santiago from the Maranon. In deference to his gravity, however, I said nothing more. The berries which they had pulled the Jivaros put into snails’ shells and threw into the river with a good deal of tomfoolery in the way of chant- s N ing and solemn gesture. And then we simply embarked in the canoes and left the playa to itself. oK k% WI‘I'HIN half an hour gentie rain fell. A light cloud had gathered. I know not whence, for the first time in three weeks. Now. it may be said that it was a pure colncidence, but it was at the same time very strange that Tuhuimpul’s "efforts should so strikingly produce a result after so many perfect days had passed. . Even down to the smallest detail the Aguaruna chiet was right. % The gentlest of sun showers’ fell that afternoon—enough to freshen us all up, but only enough. Morse and 1 discussed the process of rain-mak- ing with the Indians. We discovered that Tuhuimpui had been making a test 'of his favors with the god Yaci Mamam, the controller of rivers and rain, and that had he left the newly cut branches planted in the playa below to wither and die, our attack would never have been made. ‘Without the river god's help dis- aster would have® overtaken us; but this gentle shower to refresh the tokens planted for his favor was his answering sign of approval and pro- tection in their v.m““l"wul P power " grin- nally, Suddenly his Gravoly- he - gave CUR FROM HIM A WIFE.” utterance to the sentiment which lies closest to the heart of every Jivaro. “Now indeed we shall return with many heads. But in a moment he was boasting again. “This 18 nothing to what will fall tonight,” he sald mysterlously. “It will thunder, there will be light- ning; a great wind will blow; a storm will rage; Yacu-Mamam will smile on me." By 6 o'clock that evening we had found what the Jivaros had been look- ing for since we picked up the piece of charconl. We discovered the mouth of a stream which ran into the San- tiago, covered so effectually with heavy undergrowth that it was invis. ible from the center of the main river. Why, 1 do not know, but the Antl- pas and Aguarunas who gulded our destiny decided at once that this was where the enmey was to be found. So a scouting party of four picked meh was told off to take a canoe and spy out the land. They slid off noiselessly and disappeared in the gloom of the forest vault, moving with the cat-like stealth of ‘men who know that detec- tion means death. The chiefs signed to the rest of us to make for the bank of the Santiago opposite the mouth of the stream. Here we left the cdnoes, climbing ashore with great care on logs which had fallen over the bank, so as to leave no trall. Tuhuimpul was very particular that we should land in this way, himself supervising the opera- tion. Next, a party of Jivaros collected all the canoces, moored them to the trees with bejuca strands, and half- filled them with mud dug from the water's edge. They sank from sight one hy one, nntil of all that gallant array of craft there was no sign ‘left. The Antipas withdrew in the tracks of the main party which had moved into the forests, and any one passing Y 720\ \§ ‘\:\': N | = \}.\\ “WITH A HIDEOUS YELL THE VAN OF ATTACKERS LEAP- ED FROM COVER.” |the spot in dugouts five minutes later could never have suspected the pres- ence of a war party. * % % tion for the storm which was due to rise, ordered the building of shelters for all his men, and a specially well- built one for his white allies. In an hour the camp was pitched—one-half for the Aguarunas, the other for the :nilm‘u. our own shelter in the mid- le. ‘We lit fires round our shelter, as the Jivaros themselves had done, and sat up many an hour, spectators of the {weirdest scene I have ever witnessed. Tuhuimpul arrived at our shelter with a great gourd full of what look- ed for all the world like chutney sauce. “We are all going to paint,” he an- nounced.. A short interrogation suf- ficed to satisfy myself that this was huito, a kind of glant walnut, of which the outer shell contains a stain or dye, in just the same way as a butternut or A black walnut. | The thorny root of a palm is used as a grater to reduce the outer shell to pulp. . With this the skin can be dyed jet black -l:.flly by rubbll: 1t in ‘wet state. the Jivaro tribes it to paat- fot Dattle, . “SOMETIMES A SOLITARY WOULD PRANCE AND YELL, UTTERING AND VOWING VENGEANCE ON THE HUAMBIZAS WHO HAD STOLEN JDUSK was gathering by this time. | Tuhuimpw, in solemn prepara-; ENTHUSIAST and are {ndeed loath to attack without doing so, It may be that they want a distin- quishing sign so that in the excite- ment and confusion of thd fight in close country a giance will suffice to tell friend from foe. I think, how- ever, that this is a very unlikely ex- planation of the custom. It is more probably a part of the usual panoply of war in which all savage tribes im dulge. We all readily agreed to paint up in preparation for the attack on the morrow. We determined to do the thing thoroughly, and each saw to it that his companions did not overlook any odd corners. Even Jack's bald spot did not escape atten- tion. . The effect of the application of this dye is not immadiately apparent. So it was not till morning that we no- ticed any change in our appearance. The rising sun, however, revealed to us the full possibilities of huito. Not only our skin, but even our hair and eyes seemed to have changed color overnight. We laughed till we were nearly sick. The Jivaros, hearing the up- roar, thought we were having a war dance of our own. Tuhulmpui came over and Inspected us, surveying with a face unmoved a scene the ab- surdity of which no white man could have resisted. But to return to the night's vigil. A moment after Tuhuimpui left us, he returned to tell us of the safe ar. rival of the scouting party. The en- emy had been located. The scouts had approached to within a few vards of a small settlement and had actually counted the warriors. Having palnted themselves from head to foot, the Indians began to prepare themselves for the war dance. Each camp buliit a huge fire and sup- plies of fuel for the long night were stacked beside the shelters. At a given signal every man leapt to his feet, grabbed his spear, and all joined in a great.capering throng about the blazing fires; with raucous yells they danced and danced'and danced, two bounding, swaying circles careering rounid the blase, spears shaken in grim emphasis of the threats they hurled at their unsuspecting enemies. Now the whole crowd would be scampering around the flames, now a few tireless warriors who had out- classed their fellows. Sometimes 2 solitary enthusiast would prance and yell to the delight of the squatting on- lookers, uttering curses and vowing vengeance on the Huambizas who had stolen from him a wife. LI SUDDENLY _with a clap of thunder the promised storm broke on the scene. Here was everything that Tuhuimpui had predicted—one of those Summer storms of great in- tensity but short duration which oc- cur in the tropics alone. Once more the necromancer's spell had worked. Even as he had said, the wind raged and the rain fell in sheets to the accompaniment of the thunder and the vivid lightning. So great was the fury of the elements that we had to post a sentry outside our shelter to warn us of falling' limbs. All around the cave they came crashing down—any one of them enough to obliterate us and our puny cover. In half an hour the storm had passed, and we. were out again, un- covering the fire and restoring it to lifa, while the dylng wind swept the last drops of molsture from the forest roof. Tt had passed, but left behind in every Jivro heart an undying faith in_the prowess of their chief. Bure of their victory now, the sav- ages bounded to the dance with re- doubled energy, cavorting and pi- rouetting in a mad frenzy of hatred and battle-lust. All night long they kept it up, a pack of tireless demons. We on our part had no_ recourse but to sit with our rifies 1t hand and wait for dawn. for us while that waking deliriuta pos. sessed the Indlans, fanned to white heat by the.splendid augury of the storm. It is useless for me to attempt an explanation of the prodigious success with which Tuhuimpul met that day. I cannot allow that it was merely a casé of coincidence. The correctness in detail ‘of his prognostications may suffice to confound that theory. No; either he knew by some sixth sense which many animals possess that there was rain somewhere near (a thing almost unbelievable, since there was apparently no difference in the barometric conditions of that day and the preceding day) or else he was able to detect the coming of the rain by a minute observation of the move- ments ‘of certain animals, or even in- sects, signs which would mean noth- ing to any but the most highly trained child of the woods. With the coming of dawn, groups of weary savages were to he seen ly- ing about and preparing lelsurely for the fight. Exhausted by the night's revelry, they seemed but poorly fitted for the trials of battle. But our .deas of battle differ very markedly from theirs. The long strain of a modern engagement is a thing undreamed of by these lovers of cunning and sur- P For us it may be a matter of or weeks, for it is one of Here and thers they strelled yound Sleep had no charus | b il W | z“/'///'/’/f/ i the dying embers, busy with rouge- pots, feathers and loin-cloths, black from head to foot with the huito which had taken effect during the night hours, their black pointed teeth bared (] 17 /%7, 9 i u;//y P y 7) Tt in a grin of anticipation—a band of veritable demons straight from hell But grouped round the fire which still burned before the central shelter of the camp was a company of crea- |rest of us in hideousness. tures which fell not far behind’them. Tousled, bewhiskered, stained the same ebony black, we sat and cooked our breakfast. Game, it was agreed, outstripped the With hia mop of sandy hair, a three-month-old ginger beard, biue eyes, great, thick set body half clothed in ragged shirt | and pants, every inch of skin as black as night, he was, indeed, a fearsome | creature. * ¥ k ¥ REAKFAST over—for the Jivaros a drink of glamanchi sufficed—we | all moved off to the water's edge. The | moment had come for the attack. The | savages with their. new loin cloths, rouged faces, tufts of lumbiqui fea- thers (red and yellow balls of fluff) in their ears, locked a formidable com- pany. Quietly we raised the dugouts and | made across to a sand pit which ex- tended from the mouth of the streem, up which we, were to go, 10 a point some 200 yards downstream, an ex- cellent base for the day's operations. Led up by the scouts who had coms in the night before in a long single file, we made our way into the forest and moved up the left bank of the stream. According to plan, the sav- ages split up into two parties, the Antipas making off; into the jungle on a detour, to take as their ohjective the farther of the two settlements which had been selected for the raid, while the Aguarunas clung to the bank of the stream, moving on the nearer. We (black) white men brought up the rear of this latter eolumn under the personal supervision of Tuhuim- pul, who lived in fear and trembling of our clumsy movements. At last it was 100 much for our chief. He stop- ped us. We were to wait till the at- k had begun. t‘CND sooner had we halted than there came to our ears the whang-whang of a machete on wood. So Wwe were actually within earshot of a settle- ment at last. 8o we sat and listened to that single distant clanging of steel on wood, the only sign of human life in all that vast forest into which a moment ago 200 men had melted. Whang-whang qame the sharp-cut noise of the blade falling on a paddle which was never to_be finished. With a hideous yell the van of the attackers leaped from cover, & bare 10 yards from the nearest of their prey. We jumped to our feet at a word from Tuhuimpul, and in a mo- ment were rushing to the scene of the slaughter. ‘arrived at We nover fired a shot, elther in at- tack or defense that day. When we the scene of action, we the settlement, a mere handful of savages, male and femals, had been rushed. The game was up. Those of the Huambizas, then, who had been fortunate enough to escape from the spears of the raiders had fled to the shelter of the largest of the little group of houses which had been attacked. There could not have been more than 10 or 15 of them shut up within its walls, but the Aguarunas had ngt the spirit to attack them now that they were aroused. That is the Jivaro way. The enemy having left their dead and dying behind them in their flight, the victors dashed forward to seize the most highly treasured of the spoils of battle—the heads of the enemy slain. With stone-axes and &plit bamboo knives, sharpened clam- shells (rubbed to a keen edge on sand stone), and chanta-wood machetes, they went from body to body, gather- ing and stringing their gruesome em- blems of victory. The party then set to work to loot the houses from which the occupants had been driven. Nothing escaped the raiders. 1 was there in one of the houses with them, and well remember the motley collection of things that we found. There were Peruvian cofns, china cups and saucers, a butcher's knife, a number of red bandana handker. chiefs, all evidently looted from Bar- ranca (the nearest city),’a Jizaro hand- loom with a half-finished piece of cloth on it, an fron spearhead, and a_num- ber of small Jivaro household objects which are to be found in any settle ment. Nothing was too small to escape the Aguarunas' attention. They cleaned out the house from end to end, every man_ keeping for himself all he could lay hands on. Then they fired the roof, and in a moment the whole house was ablaze. In single file the whole party re- treated tbrough the forest to the mouth of the creek where the canoes had been left, hurling threats at. the Huambiazas and admonitions not to follow, as certain death at the hands of the riflebearing Christianos await- ed them—all this the merest bluff, it must be sald, for in reality they feared an onslaught by thefr infur- iated enemies who wers beiieved to possess some form of firearms stolen from Barranca. To strike further terror found that to the | hearts of the Huambizas, each man of our party indulged in a series of imitations of the human voice guaran- teed to give the impression that he was at least six men. And thus ended an inglorious adventure. (Copyright. 1926.) Photographic Puzzles Are Being Solved By Cameramen in Government Service XPERT photographers who work for Uncle Sam are engaged constantly in solving many of the technical and scientific puzzles connected with picture making for the United States Govern- ment. These specialists have to face photographic problems such as never develop in the average commercial studio. They make pictures of most extraordinary things in most curious ways. ‘They have effectualized inter- esting means, measures and methods of answering novel riddles. For example, in its remarkable map-making activities, which even- tually will reproduce every square inch of Jand surface in this country in carefully prepared map form, the United - States Geological Survey needed o mammoth camera such as the photographic world had never previously used. The deslgners, in- ventors and machinists of that branch of the Government Service wentto work and produced such a camera. It is the modern Gollath of picture- enlarging activities. It weighs sev- eral tons and is largér than a small automobile. The U. 8. Navy has tackled many perplexities of aerial and maritime photography. Its experts have made a succeas of investigational operations which the commercial photographic world called “impossi- ble. Its photographers were ploneers in making pictures from above the clouds. They alded markedly in the perfection of the aviation mapping cameras now in use. The Corps of Engineers, the Signal Corps, the Bureau of Standards, Bu- reau of Mines, Coast and Geodetic Survey, the Forgst Service and many other Natlonal departments and bureaus have contributed to the for- ward march of our research pho- tographic achlevements. The De- partment of Agricuiture, on account of the many educational exhibits and demonstrational displays which it makes in all sections of this countty as well as abroad, harnessed the all- seeing eye of the modern camera fof most novel service. The agricultural phot hers do more large-scale work and confront and conquer more picture-making difficulties than any other Natlonal agency. The photographers of farming, for example, make between 5,000 and 6,000 bromide enlargements of agri- cultural pictures annually, as well as . peveral thousand solar or map- line prints and 200 or more color transparencies. For the first time in the history of American photography, bromide enlargements are being made directly from diminutive motion-ple- ture film. The Department of Agriculture maintains a complete motion-picture laboratory and anually distributes many million feet of educational film to our leading farming districts. For educational displays and in order to, secure essential press publicity for the Government “movies” it {s often necessary to make '‘still” pictures of outstanding sights and scenes in the various plays and displays. These pictures can now be printed directly from the “movie” fiim. Enlargements 11 by 14 inches have been made from the motion picture negatives, one inch by three-fourths of an inch in size. The distribution of the tubes in the mercury vapor lamps used in thie rocess results in the even diffusion of light over an opal glass screen. The uniform light diffusion breaks up and eliminates the minute silver grains so that they do not show in the enlargement. Heretofore, these objectionable silver grains have pre- vented the production of bromide en- largements from motlon-picture fllm. After the silver grains are eradicated, the negative image is projected the same as in ordinary bromide enlarge- ment work. More than 500 enlarge: ments from motfon-picture film have been made during the last year. The bromide’ pictures of farming scenes, live. stock, road building and forest fires are made in sizes that range from 5 by 7 inches up to large poster and ‘exhibit pictures 33 feet wide and 10 feet long. A special en- larging camera has been designed &nd made for this work. The lamp house of this large outfit is 7 by 2% by 6 feet in dimensions. The lamp house is equipped with four mercury-vapor tubes which produce the diffused light effects necessary for such work. The lamp house, camera and projetion easel are all portable. In enlarging a negative the princl- ple of projection is followed. There ts a slide hole In the side of the lamp house so that the negative to be en- larged can be placed between the source of light and the lens. The pie- S, P T8 0 e g wi it 8 size the camera is-locked Ints posi- 3 GOVERNMENT CAMERA WHICH TEACHES FARMING IN PICTURES. tion, the bromide paper is cut ana placed over the easel or screen. TH® projected negative s then exposed on the bromide paper for five seconds to five minutes, as'conditions may re- quire. After the essential exposure the bromide paper is developed, washed and fixed. Small bromides are mounted on cloth, while the large ones are pasted securely to plywood frames. Figures of men or animals can be enlarged to life size, mounted on plywood and then cut out with a bandsaw and used as effigies in ed: cationial exhibits. The problems associated with mak ing each bromide enlargement are different from a photographic stand- point. Some negatives are heavy, others are thin; some are shrouded in shadows, others are clear cut and distinct. BEadh negative demands distinet and different treatment. It is considerable of an art to develop and fix the bromide enlargements. The devaloping tank is only 45 by 34 by 5 Inches in dimensions, yet bro- mides 10 feet long and one-third as wide are handled in that small re- ceptacle. With skill, the photographer folds and manipulates the bromides in these cramped quarters. The largest washing tank is 3 by 7 feet in surface. It is a simple matter to wash the largest bromides in this con- tainer for from one-half an hour to one hour, as the tase may he. They are then dried on a special drying rack covered with cheesecloth. This arrangement results in the completed picture being perfctly flat and free from any curls. The transparencies are made for edu- cational use in exhibits at Stabe, coun- ty and national fairs and expositions. Ordinarily they are displayed in front of artificlal light boxes or against windows through which bright light streams. In’ preparing such trans parencies three negatives are first made of the subject through red, blue and green color separation screens. These screens, in each instance, are placed directly in front of the camera lens. Only still objects can be pho- tographed in this manner. Daylight 1s essential, as flash powders are not satisfactory in such colored picture production. . Three transparencies on flim are made from the three original ex- posures. These transparencles are then bleached with special chemical solutions. Eventually they are dyed with & complementary color to that used in the original exposure screen. That is to say, if the screen was green, the complementary color would be red. ‘The complementary color of blue is yellow and of red is blue. Subsequent to the dyeing process the silver image on each negative is removed, leaving only the dre image on the fiim. Then the three films are superimposed one on another, with the result that the natural colors of the completed transparency are produced. Considerable time is now consumed in the making of transparencies. The photographic experimenters ,of the United States Department of Agricul- ture are now seeking to perfect new methods which will speed up the work. The effective exhibition of bromid enlargements, transparenc and enlarged 0" views ha aided wonderfully in spreading ' the doctrines of improved agricultural practices. In this day of remarkable visual educational methods the camera is important in carrying object lessons to those who learn by seeing. Many of our people are too busy to do much reading. They can spare a few min- utes, however, to look at pictures— still or motion—to view exhibits and to gaze in amazement at naturally colored transparencies. Thus the camera and its products serve as effi- cient teachers of agriculture, indus- try, commerce, national defense meth- ods and whatnot in this confusion of modern life. il gy e, Flat Megaphone. "THE cheerleader’s paradise is here. A new megaphone, which spreads the sound out over a wider area, has been devised by Prof. Watson of the University of lllinols. The peculiar thing about thé instrument is that it has a length of only one and a half feet and ends in a narrow rectangular opening. The megaphone is thus almost flat in appearance, and is used In a horizontal position with the rectangular opening in a vertical plane. Construction of the megaphone is based on the sound diffraction theory that sound passing through a,narrow aperture spreads out. The ordi; megaphone differs from Prof. Wat- son’s in that sound passing through it tends to travel only along the axes of the megaphone and not sideways. It permits only the people in front of the announcer to hear. Sounds issued through the narrow opening of the new megaphone spread out in a wide area, The commonly- used megaphone can be made only to direct sound audibly along one plane. Prof. Watson conceived the of the invention more than 10 years ago when he began his .research in acoustics. He developed it this year upon request of Illinois athletie of- ficlals who became concerned as to how cheering could be better con- ducted in the large Illinols Memorial Stadium and the Illinois basket ball gymnasium. Since the announcement of the in- vention Prof. Watson has received many requests concerning information about its construction. He is interested in ha the instrument adopted and will willingly answer any questlons.