night they will attack cattle inside strong zerebas in spite of fires,
shouts and shots. When they take to man-eating they do it thoroughly,
as, for instance, the two or three old lions which terrorised the coolie
camps at Tsavo during the construction of the Uganda Railway. These
accounted for some scores of victims in spite of colossal thorn zerebas,
fires and armed guards. Their doings are recounted in the “Man Eaters
of Tsavo,” and I will only add to that able account the doings of an
old Sikh ex-soldier and his son. It was when the Government had offered
a large reward for every lion killed within a mile on either side of
the railway. Fired with the prospect of immediate wealth, this old man
obtained a Rigby-Mauser ·275, and he and his son took to hunting lions.
There were then in East Africa troops of lions sometimes over twenty
strong. Knowing from the permanent-way gangs of coolies the likeliest
spots, the hunters began their operations. These consisted of building
shelters from which to fire by night, and they were generally situated
close to reed beds known to be used by lions. At first the shelters were
quite elaborate affairs affording considerable protection. Familiarity
taught them that no protection was necessary, and latterly the cache
was merely a ring of boulders over which one could fire from the prone
position. The old man could imitate a goat or a cow to perfection, but
whether it was desire on the part of the lions to eat goat or cow, or
merely curiosity to find out what the strange noise was, must remain a
mystery. Certain it is, though, that the Sikhs’ cache was a sure draw.
The young fellow shot straight and true, and lion after lion succumbed.
In nine months these two men claimed the reward on some ninety skins. On
about forty-five the reward was actually paid, there being some doubt as
to whether the remainder were killed within the mile limit.
As East Africa became better known, sportsmen came in greater numbers for
big game, and many lions were killed. At this period some extraordinary
bags were made. The hunting was done entirely on foot, and it was not
until later that the use of ponies and dogs for hunting lions became
common. Sometimes the natives could be induced to drive them out of their
strongholds, the great reed beds of the Stony Athy. To do this armed only
with spears requires some nerve, as most men who have entered these reed
beds will admit, even when armed with modern rifles. The reeds are not
the little short things we know in this country, but great high strong
grass well over a man’s head.
[Illustration: DRIVEN OUT OF THE REED BEDS.
_As a game animal the lion affords first-class sport, and sportsmen will
be glad that some protection has been given lions in East Africa. This,
combined with the large stock in the game reserves, should ensure good
sport for many years to come._]
[Illustration: “A MAGNIFICENT MALE DELIBERATELY TURNED AND STOOD FACING
ME.”]
[Illustration: CHASING OFF AN INTRUDER.]
[Illustration: SPOTTED!]
This hunting of lions by men who were novices at the game was attended by
many casualties. I was told that in one year out of about forty visiting
sportsmen who devoted themselves seriously to lion hunting, twenty were
mauled. Of these twenty, more than half were killed or died from the
effects of wounds. The lions of that period were extraordinarily bold
and courageous. In the early morning on those huge plains I have walked
steadily towards a troop of lions numbering a score. Just as steadily
walked away the troop—no hurry or fear of man. When I ran, a magnificent
male deliberately turned and stood facing me. As I approached he
advanced quietly towards me, while the others idled along in the opposite
direction. One could hardly imagine a finer sight than this great bold
fellow facing the rising sun on the dead open plain. But it was futile
swagger on his part, for he was not a man-eater. He had killed and eaten
to repletion like all the lions on those plains. And yet, there he was,
deliberately advancing without cause or reason. This is the only instance
in my experience of a lion, as it were, meeting one; more often they are
off to cover, although when pursued and pressed they will sometimes turn.
The reason of the high mortality among those who hunt lions casually is,
I think, the simple one of not holding straight enough. Buck-fever or
excitement, coupled with anxiety lest the animal should slip away, is
probably the cause of much of the erratic shooting done at lions. This
frequently results in flesh wounds or stomach wounds, which very often
cause the lion to make a determined charge; and there are a great many
things easier to hit than a charging lion. Great care should be taken
to plant the bullet right. The calibre does not matter, I am convinced,
provided the bullet is in the right place. Speaking personally, I have
killed sixteen lions with ·256 and ·275 solid bullets, and, as far as I
can recollect, none of them required a second shot. One showed no sign
of having been hit. This was a lioness which galloped across my front. I
was carrying a Mannlicher-Schonauer ·256 loaded with solids. I let drive
at her and she carried on as if untouched. I thought that I had missed
her clean, until I found her some way further on, stone dead. Search as I
would, nowhere could I find either entrance or exit bullet hole, and it
was not until she was skinned that I found the tiny wound channel through
the kidneys. This lioness had had a companion lioness, and in the evening
as I was pottering about I was astonished to see her walking round the
flayed carcase of her dead friend: both of them were very old. When lions
have cubs and are disturbed they will sometimes show fight. I have seen
a native severely chased in one direction while the cubs scuttled away
in the other. I do not think that the lioness really meant business, as
it would have been an easy matter for her to have caught the native.
She merely scared the wits out of the lad by bounding leisurely along,
growling and snarling in an alarming manner.
Lions in their encounters with game frequently come by nasty wounds, as
almost any old lion skin will show. They are often bested by buffalo,
and this is not surprising when one considers the weight and strength
of an adult Cape buffalo. The surprising thing is that an animal
weighing 300 lb. to 400 lb. should ever be capable of overcoming such a
powerful, active and heavy one as the buffalo. But, probably—as Selous
observed—lions attack buffaloes _en masse_ and not singly.
The oryx, with their scimitar-like horns, occasionally kill lions
outright. These beautiful antelope are extraordinarily dexterous in
getting their 3-ft. horns down from the normal position, where they
almost sweep their backs, until the points are presented almost straight
in front. This movement is so quick as to be scarcely visible. Lions have
been found pierced from side to side.
In country where game is very plentiful lions are distinctly casual in
their hunting. I have seen one rush at a zebra, stop when within about
ten paces of it, and turn indifferently away. When I first saw him he was
about thirty or forty paces from the zebra, and he covered the twenty or
so yards at terrific speed.
As a game animal the lion affords first-class sport, and sportsmen will
be glad that some protection has been given lions in East Africa. This,
combined with the large stock in the game reserves, should ensure good
sport for many years to come.
XV
RIFLES
The question of which rifles to use for big-game hunting is for each
individual to settle for himself. If the novice starts off with, say,
three rifles: one heavy, say a double ·577; one medium, say a ·318 or a
·350; and one light, say a ·256 or a ·240 or a ·276, then he cannot fail
to develop a preference for one or other of them.
For the style of killing which appeals to me most the light calibres are
undoubtedly superior to the heavy. In this style you keep perfectly cool
and are never in a hurry. You never fire unless you can clearly see your
way to place the bullet in a vital spot. That done the calibre of the
bullet makes no difference. But to some men of different temperament this
style is not suited. They cannot or will not control the desire to shoot
almost on sight if close to the game. For these the largest bores are
none too big. If I belonged to this school I would have had built a much
more powerful weapon than the ·600 bores.
Speaking personally, my greatest successes have been obtained with the
7 mm. Rigby-Mauser or ·276, with the old round-nosed solid, weighing, I
believe, 200 grs. It seemed to show a remarkable aptitude for finding the
brain of an elephant. This holding of a true course I think is due to
the moderate velocity, 2,300 ft., and to the fact that the proportion of
diameter to length of bullet seems to be the ideal combination. For when
you come below ·276 to ·256 or 6·5 mm., I found a bending of the bullet
took place when fired into heavy bones.
Then, again, the ballistics of the ·275 cartridge, as loaded in Germany
at any rate, are such as to make for the very greatest reliability.
In spite of the pressures being high, the cartridge construction is so
excellent that trouble from blowbacks and split cases and loose caps in
the mechanism are entirely obviated. Why the caps should be so reliable
in this particular cartridge I have never understood. But the fact
remains that, although I have used almost every kind of rifle, the only
one which never let me down was a ·276 with German (D.W.M.) ammunition. I
never had one single hang-fire even. Nor a stuck case, nor a split one,
nor a blowback, nor a miss-fire. All of these I had with other rifles.
I often had the opportunity of testing this extraordinary little weapon
on other animals than elephant. Once, to relate one of the less bloody of
its killings, I met at close range, in high grass, three bull buffalo.
Having at the moment a large native following more or less on the verge
of starvation, as the country was rather gameless, I had no hesitation
about getting all three. One stood with head up about 10 yds. away and
facing me, while the others appeared as rustles in the grass behind him.
Instantly ready as I always was, carrying my own rifle, I placed a ·276
solid in his chest. He fell away in a forward lurch, disclosing another
immediately behind him and in a similar posture. He also received a ·276,
falling on his nose and knees. The third now became visible through the
commotion, affording a chance at his neck as he barged across my front.
A bullet between neck and shoulder laid him flat. All three died without
further trouble, and the whole affair lasted perhaps four or five seconds.
Another point in favour of the ·276 is the _shortness_ of the motions
required to reload. This is most important in thick stuff. If one
develops the habit by constant practice of pushing the rifle forward
with the left hand while the right hand pulls back the bolt and then
vice versa draws the rifle towards one while closing it, the rapidity of
fire becomes quite extraordinary. With a long cartridge, necessitating
long bolt movements, there is a danger that on occasions requiring great
speed the bolt may not be drawn back quite sufficiently far to reject
the fired case, and it may become re-entered into the chamber. This
once happened to me with a ·350 Mauser at very close quarters with a
rhino. I did not want any rhino, but the villagers had complained about
this particular one upsetting their women while gathering firewood. We
tracked him back into high grass. I had foolishly allowed a number of
the villagers to come with me. When it was obvious that we were close to
our game these villagers began their African whispering, about as loud,
in the still bush, as a full-throated bass voice in a gramophone song.
Almost immediately the vicious old beast could be heard tearing through
the grass straight towards us. I meant to fire my first shot into the
movement as soon as it became visible, and to kill with my second as he
swerved. At a very few paces’ distance the grass showed where he was and
I fired into it, reloading almost instantaneously. At the shot he swerved
across, almost within kicking range, showing a wonderful chance at his
neck. I fired, but there was only a click. I opened the bolt and there
was my empty case.
I once lost a magnificent bull elephant through a ·256 Mannlicher going
wrong. I got up to him and pulled trigger on him, but click! a miss-fire.
He paid no attention and I softly opened the bolt. Out came the case,
spilling the flake powder into the mechanism and leaving the bullet
securely fast in the barrel lead. I tried to ram another cartridge in,
but could not do so. Here was a fix. How to get that bullet out. Calibre
·256 is very small when you come to try poking sticks down it. Finally
I got the bullet out, but then the barrel was full of short lengths
of sticks which could not be cleared out, as no stick could be found
sufficiently long, yet small enough. So I decided to chance it and fire
the whole lot into the old elephant, who, meanwhile, was feeding steadily
along. I did so from sufficiently close range, but what happened I cannot
say. Certainly that elephant got nothing of the charge except perhaps a
few bits of stick. That something had touched him up was evident from his
anxiety to get far away, for he never stopped during the hours I followed
him.
At one time I used a double ·450-·400. It was a beautiful weapon,
but heavy. Its drawbacks I found were: it was slow for the third and
succeeding shots; it was noisy; the cartridges weighed too much; the
strikers broke if a shade too hard or flattened and cut the cap if a
shade too soft; the caps of the cartridges were quite unreliable; and
finally, if any sand, grit or vegetation happened to fall on to the
breech faces as you tore along you were done; you could not close it.
Grit especially was liable to do this when following an elephant which
had had a mud bath, leaving the vegetation covered with it as he passed
along. This would soon dry and tumble off at the least touch.
I have never heard any explanation of the undoubted fact that our British
ammunition manufacturers cannot even yet produce a reliable rifle
cartridge head, anvil and cap, other than that of the service ·303. On
my last shoot in Africa two years ago, when W. and I went up the Bahr
Aouck, the very first time he fired at an elephant he had a miss-fire
and I had identically the same thing. We were using ·318’s with English
made cartridges. Then on the same shoot I nearly had my head blown off
and my thumb severely bruised by an English loaded ·256. There was no
miss-fire there. The cartridge appeared to me almost to detonate. More
vapour came from the breech end than from the other. I have since been
told by a great authority that it was probably due to a burst case, due
to weak head. On my return I complained about this and was supplied with
a new batch, said to be all right. But whenever I fire four or five
rounds I have a jamb, and on investigating invariably find a cap blown
out and lodging in the slots cut for the lugs of the bolt head. Luckily
these cartridges are wanting in force; at one time they used fairly to
blast me with gas from the wrong end. The fact that these faults are not
conspicuously apparent in this country may be traced to the small number
of rounds fired from sporting rifles, or, more probably, to the pressures
increasing in a tropical temperature.
I have never been able to appreciate “shock” as applied to killing big
game. It seems to me that you cannot hope to kill an elephant weighing
six tons by “shock” unless you hit him with a field gun. And yet nearly
all writers advocate the use of large bores as they “shock” the animal so
much more than the small bores. They undoubtedly “shock” the firer more,
but I fail to see the difference they are going to make to the recipient
of the bullet. If you expect to produce upon him by the use of big bores
the effect a handful of shot had upon the Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County, you will be disappointed. Wounded non-vitally he will go just as
far and be just as savage with 500 grains of lead as with 200. And 100
grains in the right place are as good as ten million.
The thing that did most for my rifle shooting was, I believe, the fact
that I always carried my own rifle. It weighed about 7 lb., and I
constantly aligned it at anything and everything. I was always playing
with it. Constant handling, constant aiming, constant Swedish drill with
it, and then when it was required there it was ready and pointing true.
XVI
AFRICAN ADMINISTRATIONS
My object in writing this is to contrast the different administrations
I have come in touch with during my hunting. I have made no deep study
of the matter and simply record the impressions I received. The French
system of administering native races in Africa appears to differ
fundamentally from the British. They look upon country they occupy as
conquered territory, and anyone may buy it or lease it who wishes;
whereas, in West Africa at any rate, the British consider the country as
belonging to the natives, and it is extremely difficult for a white man
to acquire land.
When the French take over a new country they occupy it most efficiently.
We frequently are contented to paint it red on the map, close it up to
trade and leave it simmering, as it were, in its own juice of savagery.
This appears to lead to considerable trouble ultimately, for firearms
are liable to find their way in, or the country gets raided white. When
the French have to deal with a new country a special force of military
character—Colonial Army it is called—takes it over by marching into it
and establishing posts. If this force encounters obstruction, so much
the sooner will the country be subjugated. Terrorise or kill the present
generation and educate the next generation, and in course of time you
have a race of black Frenchmen. In the fullness of time perfect equality
is given her black citizens, as anyone may see at Dakar in West Africa.
Here we have a modern town which might be anywhere in France. Remarkable
docks and landing arrangements strike one first. Then the houses and
_cafés_. French whites and French blacks apparently on perfect equality.
I was told that Dakar elected a black Deputy to send to France. Every
black speaks French—real French, not like our pidgin English. And their
blacks are so polite; perfect manners. Contrast this with the following;
it happened to me at Sierra Leone, one of our most “advanced” black
possessions:
I was travelling by tramp steamer—the only passenger. As we dropped
anchor I was leaning on the rail looking at the town and shipping, when,
directly below me, I saw a black stoker crawl slowly out of the coaling
port and coolly dive into the sea, when he struck out for the land. I
thought he was a stowaway and wished him luck and thought nothing more
about it. Some time after, the captain asked me if I had seen a boy jump
overboard, and I admitted I had. He then told me that that boy had been
to the magistrate, had sworn that he had been thrown overboard and much
more to the effect that he had been half murdered, etc. The magistrate
had summoned the captain and the chief engineer, and they asked me to go
as a witness. We went ashore at the appointed time, and never have I seen
natives so badly out of hand. At the landing place we were met by a mob
of sympathisers of the boy’s, or, in reality, a mob of natives actively
hostile to whites and not afraid to show it. In the Court House itself
there was more or less peace. At any rate, the howling was confined to
the outside of the building. I gave evidence to the effect that I had
seen the boy drop quietly into the water apparently of his own volition.
The result was given against the ship, whether justly or not I do not
pretend to judge. But when we three proceeded to leave the Court our
appearance was greeted in such a way by the mob outside as to send the
captain back in alarm. Under police escort we went, with perhaps two
hundred howling blacks baiting us the whole way. Now this scene would be
unthinkable under any other flag. It may be the result of even-handed
justice, but, I ask, what good does it do? Those blacks hated us and had
no respect for us or any other white man.
Lest from the above remarks on French administrative methods it be
thought that I am in favour of them, I would like to say that, on the
contrary, I think that all wild tribes suffer by contact with any
Western culture. All their old customs, many of which were good and all
binding, go, and in their place we substitute English or Indian law,
which is entirely unsuited to the African. But if we must go there, I
honestly think that the French method entails least suffering in the long
run.
It was my lot to travel in the German Cameroons while still under German
rule. There every black was required to remove his hat when _any_ white
passed. This simple little law was undoubtedly good, at any rate for the
first few generations of contact; and the natives appeared to me to be
happier and much more contented in the Cameroons than anywhere else I
have been. We say that we do not tolerate the brutality which French and
German methods entail. And we do not do so directly. But under our system
of employing and paying native chiefs and kings to gather taxes and to
settle disputes we blind ourselves if we do not recognise that far worse
injustices and cruelties go on than could ever happen under direct white
administration, however corrupt.
In the Sudan I came in contact with, to me, quite a new idea of governing
native races. It happened thus: I and a companion had arrived from
Abyssinia by native dug-out. We came down the Gelo into the Pibor and
then down the Sobat until that river joined the Nile. Just before its
junction there was an American Mission Station. As we were floating
leisurely down towards this, the boy steering one of our canoes was
seized by a crocodile and pulled off the stern. The other occupant had a
gun and let fly in the air. The crocodile abandoned his victim, who swam
back and clambered on to the canoe. When we arrived we saw at once that
the boy was very badly mauled, and we paddled him down to the Mission
Station. There the doctor did what he could for him; but the poor fellow
died soon afterwards. The Mission people told us that if we wished to
dispose of our canoes they would gladly buy them, as wooden canoes were
almost priceless on the Nile. In return for their kindness we promised to
give them our canoes after we had unloaded them at Tewfikia Post.
We proceeded to Tewfikia and found it a large and well-laid-out military
post. One of the crack Sudanese regiments, picked officers, grand mess,
band; altogether a show place. Sentries on the bank, too. Well, we were
most hospitably received, and I hasten to add here that no one there was
to blame for the ridiculous thing that now happened. It was the fault
of the man or men who had evolved this unique and wonderful system of
governing native tribes.
We drew our flotilla of canoes up to the bank at a spot indicated, where
there was a sentry who would keep an eye on our gear, which was mostly
ivory. We off-loaded this, so that the canoes should be ready for our
friends of the Mission. As the band was playing in the evening the
natives came and stole all our canoes under the very noses of not only
the sentry, but numerous other people. They were certainly lying not more
than thirty yards from the mess.
The theft created a tremendous flutter, but no one seemed to know what
to do. All was utter chaos. Eventually someone was found who knew of a
chief, and he was sent for. He refused to come in. And then I heard that
the policy of the Government (_sic_) was to leave the natives alone. I
was told that this was carried out to the extent of allowing pitched
battles between tribes to be fought on the large plain opposite the post,
and the wounded of both sides were left to be tended in Tewfikia hospital.
We never heard that the canoes were recovered. This is the kind of thing
that makes for trouble in the future, in my humble opinion. Far better
clear out and let someone else have a try.
INDEX
Abyssinian slave raids, 79
Anatomy of elephant, 35
Antelope-hunting, 68
Belgian domestic arrangements, 88
Blood-brotherhood, ceremony of, 56
Body shot, 8
Boyd-Alexander, visit to Sudan chief, 140
Brain shot, advantages of, 6
disadvantages of, 7
Buba Gida, interview with, 133
autocratic government by, 136
Buffalo, sinister reputation, 170
difference in colour, 171
Bukora, trouble at, 44
Canoes, Canadian “freight type,” 150
Elephant cemeteries, 73
Fighting, forms of, among natives, 62
Foot-travelling, remarkable feat of, 59
Government of native races, new idea of, in Sudan, 186
Habashi methods of punishment, 67
Harmatan, 165
Hearing distances, getting within, 2
Honey-guides, dealing with plague of, 18
mead, drinking, 17
Humidity of atmosphere, effect on sound-carrying, 50
Imitative ways of natives, 54
Ivory trading at Karamojo, 32
raiders, 21
Karamojans, dealing with, 36
incitement to murder amongst, 37
Killing elephants, chances of success in, 4
most humane method of, 6
Lado, evacuation of, by Belgians, 98
Lakkas, absence of authority amongst, 141
Lion-hunting by novices, 176
Lions, African, courage of, 175
encounters with game, 178
high mortality amongst hunters of, 177
Marathon racing, 68
Medicine men, assistance to hunters, 13
power of, 12
Mumias, town of, 21
Murua Akipi country, 66
Native ignorance of firearms, 41
Ras Tasama, rule of, 79
Rifles, most suitable types of, 6
selection of, for big-game hunting, 179
Scorpion sting, effect of, 48
Smuggling in Liberia, 109
Snaring, art of, 33
Storks, marabou, 162
Swamp region, hunting in, 86