Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1880 — The Trade in Wild Animals. [ARTICLE]

The Trade in Wild Animals.

been in his to r rea*s, and bare Usgsi the ropea in Nubia quite weU. Africa only a part ot mA] * the rainy araaoc which occoptea »»• whole of the tonnw mootha.. TTu* time la oanallr ntihsed in bringing to Mew York the resaits of their ye«*« wor . A peculiarity of the übianaia thaf they will accept w> m<*ey They aeem to know nothing else and refose gold. In religion they ainMahoxand altboogb tk ej fID iwl k wife for a cow or several goals, they In rar.able punish infidelity by instant decap It might be suppoaed that a great deal of expense would be entailed in the capture of wild animals, but this is not tr«t in Mr. Seiche's case. He simply tarnish es as many natives as he wants with little Arabian horses, which are quite plentiful and che*p and ammunition. The gladly give their services tor the rernuneration that they will raerivw tiom the ivory ol the elephants killed and the AIM of other animaia. which it may be

Be S»v!ng '*furLUhtd f the natives with horse and ammunition, the hunters go into the Jangle and begin war upon the wild beasts, for nooe but yjung animals ran be taken and cared for, and in order, to capture the young the old ones must be killed. A herd ol elephants is found and a charge is at once made, the natives being very snxieos to kill the old ooes for their tusks. Belche’a men Interest than selves only in catching the little fellows which are unable to keep up with the herd. If a cow be caught out with a calf, the mother is at once killed and the calf taken Into camp, where h is nursed until it becomes quite tame The same rule applies to all anlmala. As all the captured animals were so young, it was soon found that the same special preparation would have to be made to tarnish them with food. In order to do this, Reiche stocked his farm with gouts, and thus was abls to give the little elephsu, lions, tigers, giriffs, sod s’J others plenty of milk. By this means they are nurtured until they can eat more solid foot. When the time comes for transporting their captives, the men engage from ISO to 900 camels, for from their hunting grounds to Suakim, the nearest approach to civilization, it is from 40 to 45 days’ Journey through the desert. In order to carry their animals, long poles are laid across two camels, and the little fellows are put in baskets suspended from the poles. It took lour camels to carry a young hippopotamus in this manner, and they had a pretty tough Job of it then. A herd of goats is taken along on each of these trips to tarnish food lor the captives. Wenevsr the goats become dry they are killed and fed to the natives and carnivorsus beasts. The only difficulty encountered in this Journey is the scarcity of water. Suakim once reached, however, and the transportation to New York is an easy matter. For this Jonmey of torty-flve days through the desert, any number of men will give their services and furnish a camel for $lO each. Of all the animals ever captured by Seiche’s men—and they have captured all kinds, the hippopotamus has proved the most difficult. The mother is extremely fierce and will not abandon her offspring while life lasts, and when in the water it is’a a very hard matter to kill her. Reiche imported the first hippopotamus ever brought to this country, and his men captured it by killing its mother as soon as it had been born. The little fellow was then reared from s bottle.' Reiche sold animals to Barnum for $11,500, although the latter advertised that he had imported it himself si a cost ot $25,000. Lions, elephants and tigers are prettv hard to capture, but giraffes and ostriches are easily taken on account of their silliness. The flesh of the giraffe is considered a great dainty by the nbians. Mr Reiche’s motive in importing these animals is, of coarse, trade, and he regulates his importations by the demand of the market All the big circus and showmen are his customers, as are also the different soological gardens in this country. He obtains from these different institutions some ides ot what they want and send* orders to his men accordingly. If he ordered more than the demand, or in other words, flooded the market, he says these rare animals would be of no more value than so many donkeys.