Charles Howard-Bury was a British soldier, explorer, climber, and politician. He is perhaps best known for leading the first expedition to Everest, in 1921; however he also travelled extensively in India, Kashmir, Europe and Russia, even travelling overland from Siberia to western China. During World War I he spent four years on the front, before being captured in 1918 and spending several months as a prisoner of war. In addition, he was ‘a brilliant writer, a fine photographer, a keen and accomplished naturalist’ and fluent in 27 languages. [1]
On the Everest expedition, near Lhakpa La, at an altitude of about 22,000 feet, he came across tracks in the snow that looked very much like those that would be made by bare human feet. He later reported them as probably belonging to a large wolf, but his porters declared them to be tracks of the Metohkangmi, a creature that came to be known in the Western media as the Abominable Snowman. [2]
As this recently discovered diary shows, Howard-Bury had a deep interest in cryptozoology. Some of the illustrations in the volume appear to be drawn by others, or based on verbal accounts. There are frequent references to his colleagues and the events of the 1921 Everest expedition, suggesting it dates from this journey. Unfortunately many of the pages have been torn out and much of the text is incomplete.
Davis, Wade, 2012. Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest. London: Vintage Books, p. 103.
Ibid. p. 353.
Haggis, Manchurian Miniature Water Buffalo and Jackalope [with banjo] by Zoe Vogels. Skyvader, Jackalope [mounted specimen] and Wolpertinger by Katie Kitchen. Hodag by Albertine Hamilton. Photographic evidence of the Jackalope by Noni Zachri. Words by Alice Cannon.
Zoe Vogels is a vet living in country Victoria who enjoys drawing. She is on Twitter @SaidHanrahan.
Katie Kitchen is an Adelaide artist.
Albertine Hamilton is a paper conservator and artist (albertine.hamilton@gmail.com).
Noni Zachri is a conservator of paper and photographs, martial arts fan, and amateur photographer.
Alice Cannon (@pinknantucket) is a conservator of paper and photographs and editor/publisher of pinknantucket press.
This piece appeared in Materiality: FAKE. Would you like to download it as a cute little A5 booklet? (For a small fee). Go to our shop to download Materiality: FAKE, Part III.