Matto Grosso Rigors

In the high, wild Matto Grosso country of Brazil, Capt. Vladimir ("Vovo") Perfilieff's expedition (TIME, Aug. 25) continued last week in quest of live wild animals for U. S. zoos and the Chicago Fair. But after a month at the base camp, their radio had no major news to report except accidents.

Fortnight ago their dogs held a jaguar at bay on the far side of a river. Animal catchers Alexander Siemel and David Newell started to wade to the dogs. An alligator seized Siemel's foot, lacerating it so badly that, though he insisted on finishing that hunt, he had to be shipped by dugout to the nearest hospital, 250 miles away at Corumba. Last week he was reported improving, should rejoin the expedition this week.

Meantime, Newell and an Indian tried to capture a large Anaconda boa constrictor. It had been Siemel's idea that one of these monsters, which reach a length of 30 ft., could be taken alive by loop-ended poles in the hands of a half-dozen men. Newell and the Indian sought to make a capture alone, but their snake writhed and lashed so powerfully that, in order to protect their own lives, they had to kill it.

John Newell, sound engineer of the expedition, whose plan it was to put the jungle noises "on the air" by radio, having installed his apparatus, announced that he found the climate too rigorous, would return to the U. S.

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