Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 309, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 December 1910 — Page 2

a ARA VAN life In Africa is a healthy Ufa. ovine to the constant outdoor exercise and the necessary frugal fare. It is an ideal life for, a man able to rough it, satisfied with leading a more •or lees solitary existence, fond of -aport, and capable qf culling pleasure from the gifts of Nature which a bountiful Providence strews along his path. If, in addition, the traveler has a good ■outfit and a well-arranged transport service, he will find the few troubles he is likely to encounter reduced to a minimum. With each journey one gains some new experience, and in iproportion learns to adapt oneself better to the altered circumstances of such a life. Of course, what suits one .man does not suit everybody. As a simple illustration routine of meals. Some travelers can stow •away a very hearty breakfast in the •early morning just before they march. 1, for one, am unable to partake of a heavy meal at a very early hour; a plate of porridge is all I require, and it suits me best. I do not hold that a caravan should be driven, as if it were an express train or a slave gang, with scarcely a pause on to the next camping ground. I prefer to treat them as human beings carrying heavy loads and doing hard work; I therefore always give them half an hour's rest ■during the march, if possible near -some running water where they can refresh themselves. The break in the march I utilize by having a sort of breakfast and lqnch combined. This midday meal-consists of the cold remains of last night’s dinner, a saving labor to the cook who has to march along with the caravan like the rest of ns. Sometimes the halt occurs at a spot like a shady bower in a leafy avenue. Then again, there are some men who cannot stand either sun or heat, and vho require a mid-day siesta on arrival at camp. For them it is important to get the march over as early as possible, and they do not mind marching when the dew lies heavy on the grass, and perhaps is still falling. I Tor my part, can stand dry heat a :great deal better than the chilling dew; and those who have had fever, know how- easily a chill may bring on an attack. It is, therefore, impossible to lay down hard and fast rules applicable to everybody under all circumstances. With perfect weather, running streamlets at intervals along the march, a good road, no illness in the caravan, and a good supply of previsions, the march is the very opposite of a hardship; it is purely and simply a pleasure-trip. And there are many Much days on the journey.

“Shooting for the Pot” Shooting "for the pot" adds additional zest to the day’s enjoyment. Partridges and guinea-fowls are pretty frequently met with, and a very delicious and acceptable addition to one’s fare. The very last one shot—and meat or no meat for dinner depended on it—were a partridge and a brate of guinea-fowls. I got them on the wing with No. 5 shot, which is a good all-round article, when one has not the means of carrying a variety <of cartridges like No. 4 for guineaSowls or No. 8 for snipe. The different ••species of partridges are very interesting. It is worth while to skin the bird and to preserve the skin; one may thus collect some very rare specimens. The bird certainly tastes better with the skin on; but it is a mistake to imagine that the bird is not fit for food because it has been skinned. On Christmas eve, I shot a partridge at Mondo in Uganda. The bird 1 had for my Christmas dinner. The skin I sent home to England; it turned out to be a very rare species and only the second specimen of the sort ever sent home. A similar thing happened with a very handsome partridge I shot one day near the Sarnia hills in Kavironda. The skin is now at the South Kensington museum, and the second one there of another rare species the first of which was shot near Mount Elgon. At Campi-ya-Simba I shot sand-grouse, and at Kikuyu spur-fowl. But the wild guinea-fowl is the bird for the traveler's table. It is surprising what varieties of wild guinea-fowl are met with along the caravan route, to mention but three; the “horned,” the crested, and the vulturine. This bird gives the best return for the shot expended on it; there is a good deal of meat on it and what there is is good. Snipe and quail are very tasty, but yield so little that very few. travelers can afford to waste a shot on them. Egyptian goose fills a big dish, but, as a rule, it is tough and therefore not a favorite. Warning of Lion’s Approach At Kariandus the guinea-fowl—it was on my third journey—gave us once a useful warning of the approach of a man-eating lion which infested the neighborhood at the time and had carried off more than one porter from some of the other caravans. The scream of the frightened birds attracted our attention to the spot, some four hundred yards off, on the slope of the hill. I only caught a glimpse of a huge tawtiy animal disappearing with a bound behind some bushes whilst a few more of the frightened birds flew up out of the grass’into the trees. All my men declared it a Hon. We did not stop to investigate; as it was getting dusk, we hurried off to get within the protecting circle o' the camp-fires. Swahili cotters are very fond of cebra meat. Seme travelers have c , natural rrejudice to eating an animal r~ to tie equine species; but

Adventures in the Hunter’s Paradise

By Dr. W. J. Ansorge, M. A., LL.D., M. R. C. S., L. R. C. P.

the first zebra-steak I tasted I thought rather nfte; perhaps the animal I had shot was not a particularly old one. A tough old stallion is certainly not a very inviting dish. I once saw on the Athl plains a herd of zebras, which-must have numbered a hundred thousand; for, as far as the eye could reach, they presented a dense unbroken phalanx, with young ones by the hundred amongst them. I have never come across any other species but the one known as Burchell’s zebra. There* is no greater risk of exterminating the zebra by shooting one now and again for caravan or personal need, than there is of wiping off the haftebeest antelope by occasionally bagging one. But I once came across a Eurasian on his way to the coast, who shot a zebra apparently for no other purpose but to brag that he had shot one. I asked him whether he required the meat for food for himself or his caravan. He answered, "no;” and when I said “Perhaps you wanted it for its hide?” he again, replied, “No.” Such men must have a very callous conscience. The zebra has a peculiar cry which sounds like “Yap, yap, yap;” it has neither the horse’s neigh nor the donkey’s bray. The hide makes a handsome mat; but I found in London that, next to the giraffe hide, it is the most expensive to dress and mount. One moonlight night at Campiya-Simba it was almost impossible to get any sleep, owing to the incessant call of the zebras,

broken every now and then by the muffled growl of some lion; the lions were evidently chasing them. Once on the Athi plfeuns I came upon a dead xebra with two hyenas devouring it. The Foolish Hyaena The “hoo-yee-hoo” of the hyena every traveler is sure to hear along the greater part of the .caravan route. I heard it already on Mombasa island close to the hospital. Swahili porters hate the brute, and not infrequently they dread it quite as much as a lion. The hyena has very powerful jaws and can inflict a most severe wound. Occasionally it is bold enough to venture within the caravan lines and to seixe one of the sleeping porters. More than one of my men has thus been dragged along, but owing to his screams and the general hubbub has been relinquished by the brute. It seems more than a coincidence, that the men thus seized have invariably been the most infirm and emaciated in the caravan. I have a personal grievance against hyenas, besides the one of wounding some of my porters. Three and a half years ago I shot at Gilgil a magnificent bustard, quite different to the common great bustard so constantly met with between Machahos and Muani. I might mention here that the great bustard as a culinary delicacy-has been greatly overrated, nor is it such a very difficult bird to shoot. Of course a rifle has to be used. The lesser bustard or pao is a somewhat better bird, to eat; it is much smaller, and a shot gun is preferably used for it The huge bustard I shot at Gilgil must have been a rare bird, as I have never met with another specimen like it It has an enormous reddish ruff around the neck, and, next to the ostrich, it was the largest bird I have seen. I got it with a Martini bullet by a lucky shot through the neck, at 200 yards. The skin from tip of beak to tip of toe was nearly twice

the length of any 'chop-box in my possession/ it was left, therefore, for the night on the top of the boxes under the awning of my tent/ I woke up in the night, hearing a crimbling noise close to me, but too late; some hyenas had carried off my bird, although a night-watchman was on duty a few yards off. It was no comfort to know that the hyaena must have made its last meal; as I had freely used arsenical soan in preparing the-skln. My third hippo was a Dull; I shot it in Lake Albert. On a subsequent visit to Fajao I got my fourth hippo, a female, and exceedingly fat. I wasted a number of cartridges, missing time after time; but at last, one successful shot below the eye sent the huge animal splashing and struggling, with its feet in the air. The hippo sank mid-stream; after three hours the body rose from the bottom of the river and floated. The current carried it more than a mile beyond where we expected it. Owing to the serpentine curves the river makes at this pot, we should have lost our prize, had it not been for a friendly native who happened to be fishing lower down the river at the time. He saw the body float past and stopped it for us. There was a convenient inlet at hand, where we succeeded in rolling the huge body on to the grassy bank, as seen in tne illustration. Some of the hippo-fat, melted down and strained, I filled into two large gourds, holding a gallon or two. This

I EVEN SHOWED HIM HOW I TOOK AIM.

I kept for my private use. It came very handy later on, when I ran out of soap for washing my clothes. My little Wahima servant knew how to manufacture native soap, and as I promised him for his own private use one cake, or rather ball, of soap out of every ten he manufactured, he was keen to be entrusted with my soap boiling venture. He certainly produced some excellent hippo soap, but I shoqld be afraid to recommend it for the complexion! On my second Journey I caught, with my hands, a young Thomsinnii gazelle alive. It was at Lanjora. I had shot a zebra and it was getting dusk, when, on my way back to the camp, I nearly trod on the little creature cosily curled up for sleep. I dropped at once on the top of it-and seized it. Next morning we reached Machakos, and I bought a she goat for eight rupees, equivalent at the rate of ten shillings. The goat had a kid of about the same size as the young Thomsinnii, and she made no difficulty in letting the stranger share with her own young one, provided we just held one of her legs. The young Jhomslnnii did not relish the first sip of goat milk, but, being hungry, it came back for more and after that took it most naturally. On the march I had the Thomsinnii carried; but before we started on the march, and immediately on arrival at camp, and whenever the caravan stopped to rest on the road, I saw to it myself that the Thompsinnii was brought to the goat and fed. It had already become quite tgme and a pet with my m£n, when, on a sudden at Kibwezi it was seized with convulsions and died, whether it had eaten some poisonous plant or some one had hurt it, I do slot know. At Lake Nakuru I wounded a Grant!! buck in the leg. This led to a tedious pursuit; for the wounded animal would frequently stop, but never let

nje get nearer than a quarter of a rocky hill; I followed, when suddenly it descended again to the plain, leavmile. Finally it went up a steep and ing me exhausted and out of breath about half way up the hill, I gazed down at the Orantii with a feeling of disappointment at losing it after all my energetic perseverance, when a novel and unexpected scene was enacted before my eyes. If I had been ill the plain, I should not have seen this scene, but owing to my position half way up the hill, I had a capital view of the plain and of what was taking place at the foqt of the hill. A Curious Incident with a Hyaena The Granii had paused, and was so engrossed with looking up in my direction, that it did not observe the danger threatening it from quite a different quarter. I became aware of a large brown animal moving along the foot of the hill towards the Grantii. Neither animal sfispected as yet the presence of the other, and neither could see the other, owing to the scattered boulders of rock. Of a sudden the new comer stopped, raised its head and sniffed the air. The next moment it rushed forward with astonishing speed. The wind blew towards it and it must have scented that a wounded animal was not far off. The attention of the Grant!! was attracted by the noise; it gave but one look, and seemed to know that now indeed it was a race for life.

It made for the open plain, the pursuer after it. The pursuer gained steadily on it, when the Grantil doubled magnificently in the nick of time to escape the fatal bite. I believe if it had not been wounded and somewhat tired by my long pursuit, it could have escaped. But the pursuer again drew nigh, and though the Grantli staved off the fatal moment for a while it was seized at last by the flank. Both animals rolled over and over. The Grant!! having shaken itself free, once more dished across the plain. But its minutes were numbered and this exciting pursuit ended in the Grantil being torn down to the ground and lying helpless. Three of my Swahllles, who had accompanied me, declared that only, a lion could have captured the Grantii; and I felt inclined to think so too as the scene took place in full, bright daylight between 11 and 12 in the morning. I now hastened down hill to dispute with the lion, or whatever the animal might be, the Grantii which I considered mine. At the same time, there was the hope of bagging the other animal as well. As I drew near, I saw that it was not a lion, but a big brown hyaena which sneaked off when we advanced. As this hyaena had done me a good turn, I did not hurt it, but gave my attention to the Grantii which had its flank- ripped open and the intestines protruding. The poor beast staggered up and tried to show fight We seized its horns, threw it down, and saved it further suffering by cutting its throat. Chase of a Buck On my fifth journey I had an exciting chase after a buck at Campi-ya-simba. Time after time the watchful eyes of the does prevented my getting within range of the buck. 1 could have shot one of the does more than once, but I did not want to, and ns • •

often happens in such a case, it seeffied as if they knew it. At last I did succeed in giving the buck a bullet. It then left the herd, but it led me a fine chase over hill and dale, through bush and brake. More than once I got within range, and several times more it was hit. We followed it through a forest and up to a river. Owing to the reeds and bushes at the water’s edge, we only got a glimpse of it, as it plunged into the river and tried to swim across. But the opposite bank was very steep and as the buck swam along it, looking out for an open and convenient spot to land, we floundered through the reeds along our side of the river, trying to get a sight of the animal. As it swam, it only exposed its head and horns; even the neck was. immersed. I had two more shots. The first grazed one of the horns a\id struck off a splinter; the second went into the head. Instantly it sank head downwards, as if trying to stand on its bead, and the hind part of the body came for a second into “view. It took ■ome time before one of my men found a spot where we could cross over to the other bank, and then we had the further trouble of fishing the body out. The horns reached England safely, and are in my collection; but when I look at them the whole scene, as it happened'in the solitude of the African wilderness passes before me. Hitherto I had placed tfie utmost reliance on a native finding his way

about by a sort of instinct. I< was therefore taken aback when my boy could not discover, where the dead hartebeest lay. I began to be anxious about our finding our way back to the camp, when I noticed some birds at a distance alighting on the grass. My boy promptly pronounced them to be guinea fowls, but I felt convinced they must be gigantic guinea-fowls, to be seen at that distance. Then the thought flashed through my brain, that they might be vultures at the hartebeest. This proved to be the case and they had already pecked out one of the eyes devoured the tongue, ped open the abdomen, and* polished off most of the entrails. The empty water bottle, however, assured us that it was the hartebeest which I had shot.

My confidence In the native topographical instinct was restored, by seeing that we were after all so near the dead antelope, though we had discovered it by an accident. As we were both under the impression that the camp was pretty near, perhaps, at the utmost half an hour off, we held a short consultation and decided that he should hurry back to the camp with the hartebeest’s head and horns in order to guide a sufficient number of men to carry the meat to the camp. 1 was.to remain on guard vultures or hyaenas should quite devour the carcass. As my rifle was useless, except that in an emergency I could use it as a club, I told the boy to leave me the kitchen knife which, in the hurry of starting from camp, he had taken with him instead of my hunting knife. The boy went, and I was left alone. The broiling eun drove me to seek the shelter of the meager shadow cast by a thorn tree, while the vultures, a score or more, perched patiently a few yards off. At last the amount of shade barely sufficed to cover my head, while I lay stretched at full length on the ground. The vul-

tures seemed to know to a nicety, how tong I remained awake. Not one of them ventured near to my knowledge Then the heat and fatigue overpowered me. I fell asleep. Sleeping at Great Risk Some sense of approaching danger curiously enough, must have'entered into my dreams. I awoke witha start, looking for the enemy. So sure waa I, that I was not surprised to see some naked savages approaching and silently in the distance. Thly had not noticed me, being attracted b the dead hartebedst, which was belay devoured by scores of vultures The savages were well armed; they carried bows and arrows and long knives I certainly thought my fate was sealed 1 It seemed the best thing to play uti bravely, if the worst was to happen I jumped up and shouted, attracting at once their attention. I waybd my rifle, slapped the barrel, pointed triumphantly at the dead hartebeest and beckoned to them to hurry up r could see they hesitated. This rnndp me more friendly and pressing in mv invitation to them to join me. When they had grasped the fact that I did not intend to harm them they cautiously drew nearer. After a long parley, carried on in gesture dialogue, I got them to cut up the meat and to load themselves with it. The vultures, while I slept, had devoured heart, lungs and liver, and pfcked the bones of one hind quarter perfectly clean. lam sure, they would have polished off the whole .hartebeest at one sitting if left undisturbed. I never saw again such a variety of vultures and other carnivorous'birds. While the savages were cutting up •the meat, I kept reminding them of ; the presence of my rifle. I could not I divest my mind entirely of all fear of foul play on their part. This made me display my handful of five unless cartridges, and flourish the kitchen knife in my right hand. Fear of losing my life and determination to sell ft dearly were struggling for mastery.

Use of Strong Hand Effective. When they had shouldered the meat* I Insisted on their walking in single file in front of me. They evidently disliked this arrangement, being as much afraid -of me as I was of them. But when I urged them to take notice • of rifle and kitchen knife, they reluctantly complied. Unfortunately I had not the least idea in what direction my camp lay. I saw that they wanted to take a direction almost opposite to the one my boy had taken. Of course I protested in dumb show, and pointed out what I imagined to be the right one. They jabbered noisily, shook their heads, and pointed in the direction they wanted to take. I let them finally have their own choice. We walked for fully an hour. Then we steered for a large tree, where a crowd of similarly armed awaited me. Here my first set of savages down their burdens of meat, squatted down and entered into a noisy palaver with their comrades. I waited patiently for awhile. Then as no one seemed willing to make a move to accompany me a step farther, I decided to take the initiative by renewing our pant*»ilme gesture dialogue which had proved successful so’ far. I confess I was not at all sure but that the savages had already taken me miles and miles away from the caravan route. They might, for all I knew, be waiting to take me to one of their distant villages, and to disarm me whenever I fell asleep. How I blamed my stupidity in permitting my servant to leave me! What solemn resolutions I formed, as we probably all do when we realize the feebleness of our unaided intellect, if it should please Providence to help me safely out of this scrape. I felt convinced, that any sign of fear might end in my ruin. I approached the savage who was evidently the leader.

Won Out by Bluff - I *; i He remained sitting. Silent and sullen he only stared at me: I slapped him patronisingly on the shoulder. I professed to be most anxious to explain to him the mysteries of the deadly rifle. I even showed him how I took aim. This maneuver led to the younger savages making a precipitate movement to the side to get out of the line of aim. But the old sullen rascal remained unmoved. When I had done enough of this dumb crambo business, slapping his shoulder and -occasionally shaking him up, I assumed an authoritative tone, and hoisted one of the loads of meat on to his shoulders. This made him budge; and as he pointed out a younger man sitting near to him, I soon had all the meat shouldered again. Then we moved off in single file, leaving the other savages squatting under the tree. In about two hours we came upon my hartebeest’s head. I heard afterwards that my boy, having lost his way, became tired and nervous, and then chucked awgy the trophy. My friendlies, for ajAast I felt convinced 1 that my dealing honestly with me, lifted up the hartebeest head and carried it along. The sun was getting low when we entered ths caravan road. Then my boy us. He was accompanied by two or three of our caravan porters, and he brought my riding donkey. My friendlies carried the meat right into camp for me, where I shared it with them, they grinning with pleasure and satislactton. (Copyright, 1M», by Benj. B. Hampton.! .'.li". . . . / . -

Ataviem.

Mrs. Carr—l found out that that careless servant girl I discharged this morning had a grandfather who was *