Peter Matthiessen - The Tree Where Man Was Born (Penguin Classics)

PENGUIN CLASSICS

THE TREE WHERE MAN WAS BORN

PETER MATTHIESSEN (19272014) is the only writer who has ever won the National Book Award in both fiction and nonfiction. His travels as a naturalist and explorer resulted in more than a dozen books on natural history and the environment, including The Snow Leopard, his first NBA winner. Matthiessens equally important career in fiction produced a collection of stories and ten novels, among them At Play in the Fields of the Lord (an NBA finalist) and the Everglades trilogy (Killing Mister Watson, Lost Mans River, and Bone by Bone), which, rewritten and distilled, were published in one volume in 2008 under the title Shadow Country, winner of the NBA in fiction. Shadow Country was also the 2010 recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal, given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for the most distinguished American novel published during the previous five years. Matthiessen was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His final novel, In Paradise, was published just after his death in 2014.

JANE GOODALL is a pioneering primatologist who is best known for her ongoing study of the social and family life of the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Her books include The Chimpanzees of Gombe, Through a Window, and Hope for the Animals and Their World.

ALSO BY PETER MATTHIESSEN

NONFICTION

Wildlife in America

The Cloud Forest

Under the Mountain Wall

Sal Si Puedes

The Wind Birds

Blue Meridian

The Tree Where Man Was Born

Sand Rivers

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

Indian Country

Nine-Headed Dragon River

Mens Lives

African Silences

East of Lo Monthang

The Birds of Heaven

Tigers in the Snow

End of the Earth

FICTION

Race Rock

Partisans

Raditzer

At Play in the Fields of the Lord

Far Tortuga

On the River Styx and Other Stories

Killing Mister Watson

Lost Mans River

Bone by Bone

Shadow Country

In Paradise

PETER MATTHIESSEN

The Tree Where Man
Was Born

Introduction by
JANE GOODALL

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First published in the United States of America by E.P. Dutton Inc., 1972

Published in Penguin Books 1995

Copyright 1972 by The New Yorker

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Portions of this text originally appeared, in somewhat different form, in The New Yorker.

eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-66319-6

CIP Data available

In Memoriam

DEBORAH
LOVE
MATTHIESSEN

in love
and
gratitude

For encouraging the making of this book I am particularly grateful to Dr. John S. Owen, director of the Tanzania National Park, whose vision and dedication in a crucial time helped to save African wildlife for the future.

I thank Martha Gellhorn and Truman Capote for recommending me so generously to Dr. Owen, and also William Shawn of The New Yorker magazine for the unfailing support that has made my travels possible for years.

Frank Minot and his staff at the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation in Nairobi (a branch of the Conservation Foundation in Washington, dedicated to the vital task of turning young Africans toward conservation), and also his wife, Mary, were helpful in innumerable ways that made an important contribution, not least of which was the warmth and hospitality of their lovely house in Langata. Other good friends who took me in with unfailing hospitality were Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Manyara), Peter Enderlein (Yaida Chini), Nancy and Lewis Hurxthal (Embakasi), Patricia and John Owen (Arusha), Ruth and Hugh Russell (Arusha), and Desmond Vesey-FitzGerald (Momela). At Seronera, where I had my own quarters, the parks staff and the scientists of the Serengeti Research Institute were most hospitable, in particular Kay and George Schaller and Kay and Myles Turner. Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan kindly invited me to join his safari in the Ngorongoro Crater in 1970, and another safari there later that year was greatly assisted by the generosity of Mr. Solomon Ole Saibull, then conservator of the Crater, who made available his private tent.

In gratitude for kindnesses, information, and assistance, I mention the following in the knowledge that the names of others no less helpful will occur to me when it is too late; those I thank, too, with my apologies:

Terence Adamson (Samburu)

Jock Anderson (NFD)

Ir. Hubert Braun (SRI)

M. K. Chauhar (Magadi)

Mervyn Cowie (Nairobi) (1961)

Dr. Harvey Croze (SRI)

Mme. Leo dErlanger (Seronera)

Reggie Destro (Ngorongoro)

Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Ndala)

Badru Eboo (Nairobi)

Dr. G. Eckhart (Njombe)

Ulla Ekblad (Nairobi) (1961)

Peter Enderlein (Yaida Chini)

Luis Fernandes (Nairobi)

P. A. G. Sandy Field (Seronera)

Martha Gellhorn (Naivasha)

J. B. Gillett (East African Herbarium)

Giga (Gidabembe)

Gimbe (Gidabembe)

Aleicester Graham (Langata)

Dr. Peter Greenway, O. B. E. (East African Herbarium)

Dr. Bernhard Grzimek (Seronera)

Patrick Hemingway (Arusha) (1961)

Jane and Hillary Hook (Kiganjo)

Nancy and Lewis Hurxthal (EmbakasiNgurumans)

Dr. Alan Jacobs (Inst. African StudiesNairobi)

E. P. K. Kayu (East African Herbarium)

Kessi (Frank) (Mt. MeruOl Doinyo Lengai)

Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (Ngorongoro)

Kimunginye (Derati)

Dr. Hans Kruuk (SRI)

John Kufunguo (Ngorongoro)

Dr. Hugh Lamprey (SRI)

Richard Leakey (National Museum)

Leite (Gol Mountains)

Adrian Luckhurst (NFD)

Sir Malcolm MacDonald (Seronera)

Magandula (Gidabembe)

Martin ole Mengoriki (Embagai)

Mary and Frank Minot (Langata)

Jonathan Muhanga (Manyara)

M. Nawaz (Seronera)

Perez Olindo (Nairobi)

Patricia and John Owen (Arusha)

David Ommaney (Nairobi)

Ian S. C. Parker (Nairobi)

Eliot Porter (NFD)

Sandy Price (National Museum)

Robert Reitnauer (Ngurumans)

Mary Richards (Momela)

Oria Rocco (Ndala)

Alan Root (Nairobi)

Hilary and Monty Ruben (Nairobi)

Ruth and Hugh Russell (Arusha)

Solomon ole Saibull (Ngorongoro)

Yvonne and John Savidge (Ruaha)

Kay and George Schaller (Seronera)

Serekieli (Mt. MeruNgurdoto)

David Stevens (Manyara)

Smon Trevor (Nairobi)