Life — April 15, 1909 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The Tall Timber" This cartoon depicts a hunter armed with a rifle at the base of tall trees in what appears to be a jungle or forest setting. Multiple monkeys or apes swing and climb throughout the canopy above him. The title "The Tall Timber" is a period phrase meaning remote, wild country. The cartoon appears to be satirizing big-game hunting or colonial exploration in exotic locales—popular leisure activities for wealthy Americans and Europeans in the early 20th century. The hunter's vulnerable position beneath the agile creatures suggests the satirist's commentary on human presumption: that despite weaponry and civilization, man remains at a disadvantage in nature's domain, outnumbered and outmaneuvered by the indigenous inhabitants.