TRACKING, HUNTING, AND TRAPPING.
Most readers of works on travel must be familiar with the apparently
wonderful power possessed by savages of following the tracks of men or
animals, and yet this is in reality only a habit of closely observing
effects, and referring them to their natural causes. On the roads of a
populous country, passengers, animals, and vehicles succeed each other
so rapidly that no continuous spoor of any one of them remains; but it
is otherwise in the desert and the wilderness. There it is impossible
for man or beast to efface the track that he has made. In countries
such as Kafirland, where cattle thefts are common, no evidence is
required but the track of the stolen animals entering a village, and
the headman is considered responsible until he shows where the same
track has gone out again. Kafirs have been known to sweep out the spoor
with branches where they were about entering a river; but such a ruse,
though it might prevent a farmer making oath to the exact place at
which they crossed, would never actually deceive him, or prevent his
finding the track on the other side.
Sometimes a number of men will tread in each other's footsteps, or they
will walk backward for short distances, or will put on their shoes
heel foremost; but a practised eye will soon detect the deceit, and
be aroused to double vigilance. It may be thought that a man passing
barefooted over a hard rock would leave no trace; and yet the fine dust
of the road he left, caked by perspiration, has been sufficient to
betray him. Sometimes, in a grassy country, the track is best seen by
looking out ahead, when it appears as a continuous line, showing where
the grass has been turned, although it is almost invisible at a short
distance; and this is sometimes the case on plains of coarse sand or
shingle. Very frequently, though no actual footprint may remain, stones
or pebbles will have been turned so as to lie with that side uppermost
which has for a long time rested on the ground, and an eye accustomed
to observation detects this at once, and will sometimes see, by the
condition of the upturned side, whether it has been moved so recently
as not yet to be perfectly dried. If a shower has fallen, it will at
once be seen whether the tracks were made before the rain, during it,
or afterwards; in the same manner the morning or evening dew upon the
tracks will furnish a test of time, as will the grass withering, if
crushed in the heat of the day or partially restored if bent while the
dew was on it.
If there has been wind, it may be known whether the tracks were made
during its continuance, by the position of the grass, or by the sand
or dust drifted from it; and if the wind has changed at a remembered
time, it may be possible to tell exactly the point at which the track
and change took place. If periodical or alternate winds blow, as, for
instance, the land and sea breezes near the coast, it will be easy to
tell during which of them the track was made.
Sleeping places, or halts for rest, for food, drink, or other purposes,
should be carefully sought for. The condition of the grass cropped by
an animal, and the fragments dropped from its mouth, must be examined,
as also its dung, the comparative moisture or dryness of which is an
unfailing index to the time that has elapsed since it was dropped.
If there are two or more tracks, and the time when one was made is
known, that of the others may be inferred by looking sharply for any
place where they cross, and ascertaining which overlies the other.
We have been followed for many miles at night by a lion, but though
we knew by the panic spreading among the oxen that something was
disturbing them, we were not aware of the fact till our Hottentot went
back next morning and reported the track of "a great man lion, step for
step upon our horse's spoor."
Not only can the period of time at which tracks are made be very
closely estimated, but various circumstances connected with the track
will not unfrequently afford most important information. As, for
instance, where the tracks of naked feet are investigated, it will
generally be found that savages in walking turn their toes in, whilst
Europeans turn theirs out; if the track is left by shod men, the
description of foot gear will often tell a tale. A mocassin print with
the toes turned out would indicate that a white man in Indian gear
had passed. The army pattern boot or shoe, the native sandal, worn
by aborigines of some countries, the shooting boot, and the light
buck-skin shoe, all leave their well-marked and distinctive tracks.
The particular manner in which a boot or shoe sole has been nailed
or repaired will enable an experienced tracker to follow its print
unerringly amongst fifty others; large or small, narrow or wide, the
track will in almost all cases retain its individuality, except when
cunning Europeans put on other men's boots for the purpose of crime.
The nature of a footprint will, by its comparative depth and form,
show whether the person who made it carried a burden, or was in
light marching order; if in a hurry, or travelling leisurely;
whether travelling willingly, or led as a captive; whether sober or
intoxicated. In following horse tracks the pace at which the animal
or animals were going can be judged by the impressions left on the
ground. A stray horse walking leisurely away, feeding as it goes, will
usually leave an irregular but well-marked track, causing but little
disturbance of the surface of the ground; a sudden fright caused by the
appearance of a wild animal or an attempt at capture will be shown by a
scattering of earth, sand, or gravel, and probably by the casting out
of the pellets which collect in the hollows of the feet. A frightened
horse starting without a rider will usually leave the deep and
disturbed tracks caused by ill-directed speed at the very commencement
of the run, which will in most cases prove rather erratic. Had the
same horse been galloped away by a rider, the man's track might be
found, or if not, the first sixteen or twenty hoof strokes will vary in
distance, depth, &c., from those farther on, where the animal had been
caused to strike into his regular stride. Most hunters can identify
the track of their own horse. A defect in either hoof, a broken shoe,
and the mode of shoeing, are all matters to be well looked to. The
horses of wild tribes, from not being shod, are to be distinguished
from those belonging to Europeans, who either shoe "all round" or leave
the hind feet bare, and only shoe the fore hoofs. Mule tracks are not
of the same form as those of the wider and rounder footed horse, and
can be instantly recognised. Tracking on snow is usually followed with
much greater rapidity than when prosecuted on the uncovered ground;
still no little experience is needed to successfully follow up partly
obliterated and wholly filled up footsteps. The impressions left in
snow by different animals require some study before the inexperienced
hunter can with certainty distinguish one from another. The art of
tracking can no more be taught without the aid of the forest and the
plain to demonstrate in, than can a skilful cricketer be made without
allowing him to play the game. The hints which are here given are
merely intended to form a sort of groundwork, on which the experienced
hunter must himself build. In traversing the woods and wilds let
nothing escape the eye, and never allow the slightest deviation from
the common order of things to pass without close scrutiny and the
application to the case of a system of inductive reasoning. No living
creature acts voluntarily without aim; and, although at times much
mystery surrounds the doings of some furred or feathered inhabitants
of the wilderness, depend on it a little close scrutiny will not fail
to show both plan and purpose in that which at first appeared an
enigma. The stranger to the wilds would feel no little compassion for
the poor crippled lapwing plover, who, crying plaintively, totters on
and struggles to escape from the hunter, until at length, on a good
space of ground being travelled over in fruitless pursuit, the cunning
bird wheels away aloft with a mocking whistle, and shortly rejoins her
brood of mouse-like little ones among the moss hags. We once saw a
hyena near our camp take a piece of old dry goat's hide in his mouth
and perform a number of strange and uncouth movements, as if either
lame or drunk; a second, however, crouched, partly concealed by some
euphorbium bushes and stones. Their object was to lure away our dogs
whilst they themselves remained at a safe distance, when the pair would
have made short work of some of them. In tracking wounded game look
out sharply for even the most minute blood specks or flakes of foam,
these, where found, are great helps over hard ground. Dead or dying
animals are discovered in an incredibly short space of time by birds of
prey; and when they are seen curling and wheeling over any particular
spot you may rest assured that food is the attraction. Nothing requires
greater care and circumspection than the approach of the hunter to the
lurking place of any animal capable of doing mischief when suffering
from the effects of a wound. We have known even antelopes to use their
horns freely when unable to escape. No large beast of prey should be
approached, although apparently dead, until all doubt on the subject is
removed by either a shot through the head or a pelting with stones.
Within the colonies, of course, roads are regularly made, but in the
wild country beyond, and less important places within, the boundary
the so-called roads are merely foot or bridle paths or waggon tracks.
We have heard a farmer say, "I have made a new road round the mountain
to-day," and we understood by this merely that he had driven his waggon
by a fresh route, leaving others to follow his track if they thought
it better than the old one. Sometimes the waggon is not employed upon
this work, but the track having been first carefully estimated by the
eye a thorn tree is cut down, dragged along it by the oxen, and the
road is made. A waggon track across the country seems practically
indelible, the wheels are almost sure to crush the side of an ant-hill
here and there, and even if the insects repair the damage the new work
will always show. If it passes during the rains, the clay kneaded by
the feet of the oxen, or furrowed by the wheels, is baked so hard by
the succeeding hot weather that ordinary vegetation for many seasons
will not efface the marks. If in the dry season grasses are crushed
down, the stumps of a tuft will show for a long time the passage of
the wheels. More especially is this the case if a fire sweeps over the
plain immediately after, or if the waggon passes during or after a
prairie fire. We have known a fellow traveller recognise in this manner
the tracks his waggon had made seven years before. The lines of charred
stumps crushed short down remaining to indicate the passage of the
wheels, though all other impressions had been obliterated by the rank
annual growth of grass, fully 12ft. in height.
Often when waggons have passed for the first time across a grassy
plain, the vegetation they have crushed down will be partially replaced
or mingled with other kinds, either indigenous, and only waiting for
this opportunity to spring up, or growing from undigested seeds from
other localities deposited in the droppings of the oxen; or even it may
be exactly the same vegetation simply rendered more luxuriant by being
thus manured. We have seen a broad grassy plain looking like an immense
corn field, but right across it the road was marked by a broad band of
yellow flowers contrasting with the deep green around.
{Points of the compass.}
In many countries the prevailing winds leave unfailing indices of
the direction of the points of the compass. Thus all the unsheltered
trees on the road from Cape Town lean towards the north-west or
north-north-west; and on the sub-tropical plains of South Africa and
Australia we frequently noticed that the continued winds from the
south-east had laid the grass towards the opposite point. The rising
or setting sun is a useful guide, so is the moon, and also the stars;
but the traveller must acquire for himself the habit of observing where
any of the heavenly bodies are likely to be at a given time, by day or
night, and this while he is upon known paths, and not in actual need of
them, and then his knowledge will serve him if by accident he should
lose the road. If the declination is the same as the latitude of the
place, the sun will be vertical at noon, and therefore of no service as
a guide for nearly a quarter of an hour, but by extemporising a plumb
line, and observing whether its shadow shortens or lengthens, it may
soon be found whether the sun is east or west of the meridian. In using
stars select, if possible, those that are far north or south, and as
low as possible; or, if the pole be far above the horizon--as it must
be in all places far removed from the equator--take the star that is
nearest to it, and that consequently revolves with the least possible
change of position. In the north the constellation of the Great Bear
will serve, but if the pole star can be seen, it is, of course, the
best--the two stars called the Pointers will guide the eye to it. And
in the south, when the southern cross is vertical, either above or
below the pole, it is due south; and this may be ascertained by trying
when the two stars of the longer beam coincide with a plumb line, but
at any time the position of the pole may be estimated by remembering
that it is half-way between the lower star of the cross and the little
Magellan cloud.
In travelling with a waggon from almost any civilised colony, it will
generally be found that traders and hunters have penetrated so far,
that for perhaps 1500 or 2000 miles there is nothing to be done but
to let the waggon driver follow their tracks, which will generally be
in every respect the best that could be selected, while the traveller
hunts or explores on either side the path, or gains experience as to
the slope a waggon can climb, descend, or travel on without capsizing;
the average size of trees under the branches of which it can pass, and
the density of the grove in which it can continue a gently meandering
course between the trees without the absolute necessity of cutting
a road, which, of course, he avoids if possible by making even a
considerable détour, for the labour is excessive and severe.
{Hunting.}
The professional hunters in South Africa, and indeed most of the
amateurs who are ardent in the pursuit of game, not only follow the
wild animals by day, but as they become shy, or few in number, lie in
wait for them at the waters at which they come to drink by night; for
the less dangerous animals they merely throw up a circular wall of
loose stones, 2ft. or 3ft. high, to hide the hunter from the view of
the approaching animals; and not unfrequently an experienced hand will
even watch in these for the lion, the rhinoceros, or the elephant,
trusting for security to a quick eye and ear, and to skill in handling
the two or three spare guns which are kept ready loaded within easy
reach.
[Illustration: SOUTH AFRICAN "SCHERM," OR RIFLE PIT.]
With the larger animals it is, however, more advisable to dig a pit
about 10ft. long, 3ft. deep, and 30in. wide, and to roof in 5ft. or
6ft. of the central part of this with stout logs, that an elephant
would not break were he to tread on them in passing over; the ends are
left open, and a bank of earth is left in each, large enough for the
hunter to sit upon, with nothing but his head showing above the edge of
the "scherm." Generally two men lie in each pit, one watching whilst
the other sleeps. The pit should be made in a spot carefully chosen to
leeward of the path by which the elephants or other animals are likely
to come, and great care must be taken to cover any signs of human work
about it. The cut ends of the logs placed across it must especially be
hidden, and if chips have been made in the vicinity, they ought to be
removed, and everything reduced as nearly as possible to its natural
appearance and condition. Most hunters carry a pick and one or two
spades for this and similar purposes, but we have found a worn-out
adze exceedingly handy and much liked by native servants. The work
should be commenced early in the day, so that it may be finished by a
little after noon, and left to recover its natural quiet, and the air
to purify itself from the taint of man, for even though the elephant
may not be so early on the watch, smaller animals, disregarded by the
hunter, are sure to be about him, and any alarm among them will most
assuredly spread itself, until a general sense of danger pervades the
wilderness; and if this extends to the keen senses of the elephants,
they will not approach till they have assured themselves by every
possible precaution that all is safe.
We have seen the path marked for a considerable distance by the
serpentine track of the extended proboscis, sometimes actually
touching the ground, and at others moving so closely in contact that
the breathing would disturb the dust, as the leader of the herd
deliberately tested the scent for every inch of the way. And the change
of elephantine tactics since rifle pits were introduced sufficiently
proves that what we call instinct is in reality an intelligence capable
of receiving new ideas and guiding its possessors in meeting novel
dangers. A few years since, when all the elephants had to fear was the
pitfall of the Bushmen, with its sharpened stakes at the bottom, they
would come fearlessly on, trusting to their leader, as with extended
trunk as above mentioned, would literally feel the ground inch by inch,
and, having once detected a frail deceitful covering that masked the
pitfall, would toss aside the sticks and grass, and the whole herd
would follow in contemptuous security along the very edge of the now
undreaded snare. Far differently do they now act; if they but suspect
the presence of a pit they will not approach until, by making a careful
circuit far to leeward, they have assured themselves that their chief
enemy man, and especially the white man, has not recently been near the
water.
If a taint remains upon the air they act with the extremest caution;
for hours they will remain motionless, waiting till their keen senses
detect the recently tainted breeze, or their huge expanded ears catch
the crackling of a twig or the slightest sound made by the incautious
hunter. If their fears preponderate, they may not only refrain from
drinking, but even desert the locality, and travel 50 or 100 miles
during the night to another water, but thirst may overcome their
prudence, and they may approach and enter the water; the hunter must
then, in perfect quietude, make himself acquainted with the individuals
of the herd, selecting the male that carries the heaviest ivory, and
wait patiently until he comes near enough and exposes his shoulder,
then, aiming upwards, at the lower part of the after lobe of the huge
ear, he reckons either to cripple the animal by breaking its shoulder
bone, or to kill it by sending his bullet to the heart; then, judging
at once the effect of his shot, he catches up his spare gun and either
fires again at the same elephant or selects another, and endeavours to
cripple him also.
If two hunters are together, they can agree beforehand whether they
shall fire together at the word given by one, or whether one man shall
fire both guns. In the latter case at the word, or rather at the sign
signifying "be ready," both set the hair triggers of their rifles, and
the man who is to fire being assured that his comrade is prepared,
waits a favourable moment and fires; the other does not consciously
pull the trigger, but, with his gun carefully aligned upon the vital
part and his forefinger hardly touching the trigger, waits patiently
till either the concussion of the air or the slight nervous action
induced by the report of his friend's gun causes his finger to contract
upon the trigger, and his gun is fired.
In elephant shooting it is always well that two men should be together,
for though it is not probable, it is at the same time possible that
an elephant may attack the scherm. An attack of this kind occurred to
the brothers Green, the well-known African travellers and hunters; the
enraged elephant began tearing off the beams and earth that roofed
the scherm, and in a few moments more would have dragged forth his
victim, when the brother fired with deliberate aim and killed the
enraged animal. We have already said that the favourite place for the
death shot is behind the lobe of the ear, just where it overlaps the
shoulder, but if the shot can penetrate about 1ft. below any part of
the spine it may cut the large blood vessels there; or if fired from
behind, and striking about 1ft. below the insertion of the tail, it may
pass through to the vital organs in the chest, and prove fatal.
If an elephant is walking or running in such a manner that the death
spot ("dood plek") behind the shoulder is exposed the shot should be
delivered, if possible, so as to strike when his leg is thrown forward
and the thinnest part of the skin is tightly stretched; if the leg is
backward, the skin will hang in loose yielding folds, and the shot will
most likely fail to enter. African hunters seldom fire at the head of
an elephant unless he is charging and they must check him--he seldom
fails to swerve from his course on receiving the bullet--but this rule
is not infallible; we have hit an elephant as fairly as possible in the
forehead without effecting this.
Another rule is to run from the elephant the moment you have fired,
and then look round to see if he is giving chase; if he is, you can
increase your speed, if not, you can easily stop and get another shot;
but if you wait for him to charge before you run you give him the
chance of diminishing the distance very materially before you can get
up the requisite speed. Wahlberg, the eminent Swedish naturalist, held
that a man ought to stand like a rock, and the elephant would be sure
to swerve before he reached him; sometimes the boldest course is the
safest, but in his case at length it failed, the elephant came right
on, and the career of the brave naturalist was closed for ever.
Sir Samuel Baker, although he has personally killed African elephants
by shots in their head, found that he could by no means depend upon
being able to do so, and remarks that the man who stands to meet the
charge of an elephant by a shot in the head cannot feel the proper
amount of confidence that his shot will be effective; indeed, the
probability is that it will decidedly fail to kill.
Captain Faulkner, who volunteered to accompany Mr. E. D. Young in
his search for Dr. Livingstone, told us that he determined to prove
experimentally whether an African elephant could be killed by a head
shot, and that he, by walking close up to them, killed several in
that manner. It must, however, be remembered that he travelled in a
new district, where never white hunter had been before, and that the
elephants there were ignorant of their danger, and not prepared to meet
or avoid it like those frequenting the old hunting grounds.
In hunting the elephant the favourite shot of the hunter in India
is that in the head; but in Africa this is seldom successful. It is
related in the early history of Natal that a party of sailors (Lieut.
Farewell's, we think) were challenged to go out with the Zulus to kill
an elephant, chiefly with the desire that their defective weapons or
want of skill would render them objects of ridicule to the natives.
Neither their courage nor their good fortune, however, failed them;
they formed front as the elephant came on, fired at the head, and
killed it.
In Africa, as we have before stated, the "dood plek," or death spot,
of all the animals of the chase is considered to be behind or in
the shoulder; and in the case of the elephant this is marked by the
posterior and lower edge of the ear, which is so large that in a male
10ft. 9in. high at the shoulder the ear measured 5ft. 3in. in depth and
3ft. 9in. from front to rear. The African elephant is much larger than
the Indian, which does not average more than 10ft.; while one shot by a
friend measured 11ft. 8in. at the shoulder, and probably between 12ft.
and 13ft. at the highest part of the back. Mr. Petherick also tells of
one 12ft. 4in. at the shoulder, with a pair of tusks weighing 140lb.;
and of another of 15ft. at the shoulder, whose pair weighed 100lb.
In general a bull's tusk will weigh from 501b. to 90lb., and a cow's
not more than 30lb. The largest we have ever seen weighed, one 153lb.
and the other 163lb.--100lb. Dutch being equal to 108lb. English.
The native methods of killing the elephant seem to alarm the survivors
but little, and would probably never drive them from the country; but
since the introduction of firearms they have gradually been forced so
far towards the interior that it is difficult to believe that herds of
them had once browsed on the slopes of Table Mountain. A few are left
in the dense forests of the Kuysna, where they may not be shot without
special permission, and some in the Addo and Sundays River Bush,
between Algoa Bay and Grahamstown, and it will be long ere they are
thoroughly extirpated from the country to the northward of Natal; but
in the district of Lake Ngami they are becoming scarce, and the hunters
from Walvisch Bay have to go yearly much farther to the northward, and
follow them to new districts. Under these circumstances the waggons
of the hunters have to be fitted out for the season's journey like
ships for a long voyage. Groceries and meal must be purchased before
starting. If bread should be desired, corn may in general be bought for
beads, and flesh will be supplied by spare cattle, sheep, or goats,
driven with the waggons, or by the hunter's rifle. Of working oxen
there must be a sufficient number to replace those that die from the
deadly sting of the tsetse, or other causes; and the stud should also
be numerous enough to allow for the ravages of the horse sickness, for
exhaustion, and for casualties in the field. A "salted" horse--_i.e._,
one that has recovered from the sickness, and is, therefore, supposed
not to be liable to it again--is worth any money; but this depends
much on the locality, for if a horse that has passed the ordeal in a
district where the sickness is in a mild form be taken to one where it
is more severe he is liable again to disease and death.
The Western negroes are very ingenious and clever in hunting elephants.
The herds are watched for weeks, their haunts are ascertained, their
paths carefully traced, and the possibility of catching them in, or
driving them to, the thickest parts of the forest debated on; then
the bush vines, monkey ropes, lianas, or bindweed are cut, so as not
quite to fall, but to hang loosely from the branches. Some of the
paths are blocked by trees felled across them; others are left open as
entrances and others as escapes; and in these last, where two stout
trees, with conveniently forked branches, narrow the pass between
them, a heavy beam, pierced with several holes, into which spear-heads
are inserted and tightly wedged, is raised, so as to hang as high as
possible directly across the path; a stout rope at each end of the
beam is looped over the short thick end of a pole, which rests on a
forked branch, and of which the longer end is held down by another rope
attached to a peg stuck into the ground at the foot of the tree, the
immense leverage afforded by the longer arm making it easy for a small
strain to keep it down, and the shorter end pointed up, so that the
loop cannot slip off. When all is ready another line, about 16in. from
the ground, is stretched from peg to peg across the path.
The forest is then surrounded, the elephants disturbed with loud
noises, driven from their favourite haunts, and forced to take refuge
in the thickest forest; and here men, previously stationed in the
trees, cut the remaining bush vines, and let the tangle fall like a
boarding netting among and around the elephants; spears and assegais
are also hurled down on them at every opportunity. This is, however,
a service of great danger, for the persecuted animal, with his
far-reaching trunk, may seize the nearest hunter and dash him to jelly
against a tree, or trample him to death. But while thus engaged, the
others cut and let fall more tangle, and drive down upon him their
broad-bladed spears until he sinks exhausted; while others that break
away are driven with loud shouts into the openings that gradually
narrow as the paths approach the beam falls (contrivances much like
those used in the capture of the hippopotamus), where at the next step
the elephant must trip the horizontal line, draw out or break the pegs,
release the lever ends of the long triggers, and the next moment,
with wounded body and disabled spine, lie writhing in the power of
his enemies, some of whom, if they approach too closely his powerful
wide-sweeping trunk, may yet, however, pay dearly for their victory.
It is fortunate, perhaps, that nearly all occupations necessary for
the obtainment of animal food in a wild country not only entail the
necessity for the expenditure of sufficient physical force to serve as
healthful exercise, but also afford enjoyment enough to induce men to
engage in them. It might be shown that even the daily labour of the
mechanic is not always the exception to this rule. But for the present
purpose it is enough that the chase, besides supplying food and raiment
to savages and semi-barbarous tribes from the remotest antiquity till
now, has always possessed such charms for the vigorous and healthy man
rejoicing in his strength, and proud of the opportunity of displaying
it, that not only the savage, confident in his personal address, and
the support of his fellow-hunters, exults in open battle with the
fiercest animals; in trials of speed and endurance with the fleetest;
or of patience and watchful skill in ensnaring the most wary. But
our own countrymen, led by the love of adventure and excitement, will
leave behind the luxuries of civilised life, and cheerfully endure
the privations of a toilsome journey for the mere chance of engaging
single-handed with some fierce creature which, with their inferior
weapons, a whole tribe of natives would find it difficult to subdue.
Nor is this love of excitement and adventure to be classed with the
cold-blooded cruelty so often attributed to hunters. The _battue_
system, by which herds of timid, helpless animals are driven from all
quarters into an inclosure before some potentate--who sits in safety
in his gallery with ready-loaded rifles, handed to him by obsequious
attendants, who score off the hundreds he has slain--we surrender
freely to the reproach and reprobation it deserves. There may be
enjoyment in wholesale slaughter, but the spirit that could find it is
not of the sort which urged a young military friend of ours to chase
four lions across the plains near Bloem Fontein, and to regret only
that his horse failed to bring him to close quarters before they gained
the shelter of the broken rocky hills.
Of course there are "butchers" who, when animals happen to be plentiful
and easy of approach, will kill for the mere pleasure of boasting of
the numbers they have shot; but the true sportsman would turn disgusted
from such facile slaughter. Some exercise of skill, endurance, and more
or less personal risk, is necessary to his enjoyment; and when to his
ardour for the chase he adds the accomplishments of the artist, the
naturalist, and the geographer, he deserves the praise instead of the
reproach of those who sit at home at ease, and cannot enter into the
enthusiasm which alone has enabled him to endure privation and conquer
difficulty, instead of turning weary and defeated from the hardships
of travel. All travellers, and many missionaries in Africa, are from
choice or necessity hunters--and those who do not desire in some way to
improve the opportunities cast in their way are few in number--and if
they enjoy the task of killing savage animals which, in the interests
of humanity, had better be thinned off, the cattle farmers, the
agriculturists, or the hungry natives, as they satisfy their cravings
for animal food, will thank them, and hail the hunters as friends in
need.
The Cape farmer, whether English or Dutch, is seldom so spiritless as
not to enjoy the hunting of his own lions, and the avenging with his
own hand the depredations on his cattle. With game more worthy of his
lead, the Dutch colonist works more methodically; and though in general
he exhibits but little of the dash and recklessness characteristic
of the British officer, he lacks not courage or determination when
occasion calls it forth.
{Lion hunting.}
When it becomes known that a lion has established himself in the
vicinity, and his depredations become annoying to the cattle owners,
his "spoor" or trail is taken up and followed as far as prudent towards
his lair; this ascertained, a council is held as to the best means
of dislodging him and bringing him into position to receive the fire
of the hunters. If there be natural shelter so much the better; if
not, the horses are fastened together in line, and, held by the after
riders or Hottentot servants, are backed down so near as to afford
the marksman an opportunity of a fair shot; one or more, who can be
implicitly relied on for certainty of aim and steadiness of hand in
the moment of peril, are chosen to reserve their fire in case the rest
should miss, and the others are told off to fire in regular order. The
marksman, edging a little clear of the shelter of the horses, sits
down, rests his elbows on his knees, and, grasping his ramrod as an
additional support, takes as deliberate an aim as circumstances permit
at the lion, aiming to hit him, if possible, in the breast; for it is
seldom that the animal, when thus bearded in his den, refuses to face
his foe, or expose his shoulders to the deadly missile. Possibly, he
lies with head extended forward, so that it would be useless to fire
at the sloping skull; and it is likely also that the fore-paws so
cover the chest that there is the chance, by breaking one of them, of
somewhat crippling, but at the same time provoking him to a headlong
charge, in the fury of which even the loss of a fore-paw would be
unheeded, and would diminish but little his power of doing mischief.
Suppose him irritated by a painful wound, with a roar like thunder
he bounds forward, and the inexperienced hands, if any such there
be, discharge their guns as he comes on; but there are always some
cool-headed fellows who know that within about five and twenty yards
he will stop and gather his energies for a final spring. Deliberate as
the Dutchman is, he knows when time is precious; the heavy roer is
steadily aligned, and, if the aim be true, the monarch of the forest
falls dead upon the spot, or, collecting his last energies, springs
upon the horses. Now is the time for the reserve. At a glance he takes
in the exigencies of the situation, he steps aside for a clear view,
his bullet crushes through skull or shoulder, and the fierce animal
falls helpless to the ground.
The restless steeds are brought again to quietude, the visitors gather
round the prostrate foe, examine the perforations, and adjudge to each
the merit of his respective shot.
Not always, however, is the affair so happily ended. In 1850, while
passing through the Orange River Sovereignty, now the Free State, on
our way to Vaal River, we heard of a contest that had nearly proved
fatal to a brave old boer and his no less gallant nephew; and as we
soon after became acquainted with many of the witnesses and actors in
the scene, and saw the horses deeply scored by five sharp talons on
either quarter, we have no hesitation in relating it. The lion, after
receiving the fire of the uncle, had sprung upon him, knocked him down,
and lay upon him, glaring defiance at his enemies. The young man,
confident of his skill and steadiness of hand, boldly advanced close up
to him, set his "Sneider" or hair trigger, and aimed deliberately at
the forehead; one gentle touch of the forefinger, and instead of the
expected death shot, the hammer fell into half-cock. Again he proved
the edge of his flint, set his hair trigger, and again and again it
failed him. The lion was growing restless; his trusted weapon was
useless in his hand. What wonder that his courage failed, and, dashing
it to the earth, he turned and fled. In an instant the lion was upon
him, and he in his turn lay helpless beneath the monster's weight.
For some time he waited patiently, expecting his comrades to fire;
but only one of them raised his gun, and that barrel wavered, so that
the rest begged him not to fire. The uncle rose, and catching up his
gun hastened to the rescue, but it had been discharged; and with his
broken arm he attempted in vain to load it. The young man advised his
comrades, and then entreated them to come on and shoot the lion while
he was yet quiet enough to give them a good chance; but they came not.
He cursed them for a set of cowards. Next he cursed the lion, and
in the recklessness of despair he kicked him. The astonished beast
turned round and seized the left knee, but this was a false move, for
the young boer now drove his right foot so vigorously and rapidly into
the exposed flank that the lion stared around him in bewilderment,
and finally walked off, leaving the young fellow lamed only for a
time. About the same time we became acquainted with a young boer,
who, while lying in the power of the lion, had been so mangled that
there was not sufficient muscle left upon his right arm to enable him
to raise it without the assistance of his left. No one could see him
advance to give his hand without a feeling of pity, yet his grip was
as hearty as ever; and when his fingers closed upon the gunstock, the
needful strength to raise it to the shoulder seemed to return. And
notwithstanding his misfortune no man was readier or bolder in the
hunting field.
Of the method adopted by English hunters, so many illustrative
anecdotes are before the public, that in our limited range it is
difficult to select one that shall be new and, at the same time,
sufficiently striking to arrest attention. Generally, if the country
is tolerably open, two or three gentlemen, with their native servants,
and perhaps a few dogs, to distract the attention of the lion, will
ride up, and one, checking his horse as he passes, will fire from the
saddle, starting forward if the lion springs, and trusting to his
comrades to relieve him.
Among the Bushmen the lion is not much hunted; in fact, some of them
seem to look upon him as an involuntary benefactor, who, after he has
killed his prey, will certainly let some remain for them, and may,
perhaps, be scared from his repast, so as to leave them all. Sometimes,
perhaps, they venture, if annoyed by one of men-eating propensities, to
track him to his lair, and as he lies in dreamy enjoyment after a full
meal, to lodge a poisoned arrow in his side.
But in general they prefer to enlist the white man in their cause,
partly because they know his weapons to be more instantaneously
effective, and partly because they are sure he will reward them for
showing him the sport. The feat of Gordon Cumming delivering a village
from the persecution of a pair of man-eaters, by killing them both with
two shots from his double-barrel gun was still talked of by the natives
when we were in the Sovereignty. The general introduction of firearms
among the half-castes and the native tribes has rendered obsolete many
of their customs, and it is now rare even in Africa to see some of the
weapons they formerly used; such, for instance, as the long spears with
which the Kafirs attacked the hippopotamus or elephant. But a lion hunt
on fair and open ground, by a tribe of savage warriors, must have been
an exciting scene. With them the preparatory tracking up and gathering
of information essential to the English hunter are needless; the haunts
and habits of the lion they intend to hunt have long been too familiar
to them. The hunters with their naked bodies fresh anointed, and lithe
and well-turned limbs, assemble around with light assegais or javelins,
and with long sticks tufted with black ostrich feathers. A few feints
and false attacks are made, and the lion is drawn or driven from his
covers to the open plain. Now the fight begins. Encircled by the active
warriors the lion stands at bay, perplexed and baffled by their rapid
change of place, and perhaps somewhat confused by shouts from every
quarter. At length the irritated beast exposes himself to the attack.
Some bold warrior rushes past and darts his assegai, escaping if he
can, while the manoeuvre is repeated by the next. Not all are thus
successful. The wounded animal charges furiously, but in the moment
of extreme peril the native strikes his plumed staff into the ground,
and, before even the quick eye of the lion can detect the cheat, darts
off in another direction, driving home, perhaps, another assegai as
he passes. Many, perhaps, are wounded; but unless he does it at a
stroke the lion has no time to kill, for he is already bristling like a
porcupine with spears, and one moment of inaction would expose him to
the fatal shower that would pour in upon him from every side. His fate
sooner or later is sealed; whatever way he charges his foes elude him;
wound after wound exhausts his strength, till, bleeding and helpless,
he sinks upon the ground, and his skin and paws are borne in triumph
to the chief; while the women of the kraal, with clapping of hands and
extemporary songs of triumph, welcome and congratulate the victors.
The elephant, unfortunately for his love of ease and indolence, or
perhaps rather quiet and undisturbed enjoyment, is endowed with
many qualities which offer peculiar temptations to his apparently
contemptible, yet in reality formidable, enemies. To savage tribes
the amount of flesh acquired by the destruction of an elephant is a
sufficient inducement for a small tribe to labour in digging pitfalls,
or unite in the attempt to weary out and irritate him almost to death
by numberless light javelins, till some one, bolder or more fortunate
than the rest, is able to approach and drive the larger spear with
skill and strength sufficient to give a deadly wound. To the ardent
sportsman, who is also a clever artist and lover of nature, the mere
act of engaging with and conquering single-handed this gigantic animal,
affords an almost delirious excitement.
But beyond all other considerations, the paramount inducement to
traders, hunters, and even to natives among whom white men have already
penetrated, is that, like the greatest of marine animals, the whale,
he carries about him that which may be made profitable in a commercial
point of view, and thus repay the hunter for the labour of destroying
him. Of course, in the case of the elephant this inducement is the
ivory, with which in Africa both males and females are provided; while
in India the hunters find the females without tusks, and the males
so frequently so that profit from this source rarely enters into the
sportsman's calculations, nevertheless, great numbers are annually
killed in Ceylon and other parts of the Indian Empire. It requires a
knowledge of the immense damage a single elephant is capable of doing
among the cane or grain fields of the natives to induce those who
cannot enter into the enthusiasm of the sportsman, to return a verdict
of justifiable elephanticide.
Tigers, panthers, leopards, pumas, &c., are taken in various ways.
The former animals, as we have before stated, are captured in large
cage traps fitted with drop doors and trigger levers, which are thrown
out of gear when the animal seizes a bait suspended from them. The
Malays are very skilful in setting traps of this description. The
systems adopted in shooting the large animals of prey just mentioned
in the jungles of the far East are too well known to need description
here. They may be said mainly to consist in shooting from a howdah
placed on an elephant's back; shooting on foot, aided by beaters;
watching a live or dead bait from a "meechaum" or scaffolding erected
in a tree; or shooting at night from the rifle pit, after the manner
already described. To hunt antelopes by the aid of tamed leopards, or
to take deer with the bearcoot, or hunting eagle, it is necessary to
secure the services of a regular staff of native hunters, keepers,
and trackers--in fact, a retinue which few mere travellers could
support. Sword hunting, as practised by the inhabitants of the
Abyssinian borders, is a pursuit requiring more than ordinary skill and
adroitness--in short, almost a lifetime may be passed in fruitlessly
endeavouring to successfully imitate the feats of the "Aggageers."
There are, however, many weapons and hunting appliances used in wild
countries which the traveller will do well to familiarise himself with.
The spear, the bow and arrow, the sling, the lasso, the bolas, the
sumpitan or blow pipe, and the club, may as makeshifts stand him in
good stead. A knowledge of the use of the boomerang would be extremely
valuable; but we have never known a white man who could throw it even
passably well. The spear, as cast from the womera, or throwing stick,
is another weapon marvellously accurate, long-ranged, and deadly in
the hands of the black fellow, but resolves itself into a mere sharp
pointed stick when the European attempts to use it. It is much the
same with the Kafir assegai. Very few Englishmen learn to use it well,
whilst the natives hurl it with astonishing force and precision. There
are calls, too, which are successfully used by the natives of many
countries for attracting game to the lurking place of the sportsman.
The birch bark calling trumpet of the American and Canadian moose
hunter is an example of these; but practice alone will enable the
traveller to use it successfully.
{Pitfalls.}
The natives of South Africa excel in the construction of pitfalls, and
there is scarcely a tribe, with the exception of the pastoral Kafirs on
the frontier, or the half-castes, who possess firearms, that does not
more or less supply itself with wild flesh in this manner.
The tools used in sinking pitfalls resemble chisels, perhaps a hand
breadth broad, and 8in. or 1ft. long; these are set in stout handles
6ft. or more in length, and used in a manner that may be understood
after a glance at the beautiful group of Michael overthrowing Satan.
The pits will be 10ft. or 12ft. long, 2ft. or 3ft. wide, and more than
8ft. deep, but they taper wedge-like towards the bottom, which is only
a few inches wide, the intention being that an antelope or other animal
shall jam his body immovably between the sides before he can touch the
bottom with his feet. About the centre the pit is crossed by a wall of
the hard soil, reaching about half-way to the top, and left standing
for the purpose of catching any animal that, having once fallen in, is
able to spring forward, and of holding him helplessly suspended by the
belly.
The top is carefully covered with small sticks, over which reeds
or grass are laid, and earth dusted over the whole as naturally as
possible. A little water is then sprinkled over all to equalise the
surface. Of course this has to be very artistically done to deceive
the timid game; therefore there is no wonder that a mounted hunter, or
even a traveller on foot, should occasionally fall in. Sometimes, to
insure the capture of the animal, a small hole, also carefully covered,
is made just before one end of the pit, and the creature stumbling in
this, leaps forward and precipitates itself into the true snare.
We have on three occasions fallen into such pits (unprovided with the
little hole last mentioned, which might have proved a warning to a
man, who, if possible, would instinctively step backward), and once
had considerable difficulty in getting out, because, owing to the
wedge-shaped form, our hips were tightly jammed between the sides,
while our feet could not reach the bottom; but, by vigorously sticking
our elbows into the sides above, we at length extricated our lower
extremities.
A fellow hunter had a more dangerous adventure than this; for the one
that he fell into had three stakes, that would certainly have impaled
an antelope, fixed upright in it; but fortunately a man goes straight
down feet foremost, and seldom or never falls lengthwise. These pits
for single animals, however, are but petty affairs compared with the
extensive hopo or tellekello fences, built for the purpose of inclosing
large herds of game, that are either driven during the day by extended
lines of men from all quarters into the wide entrance, or suddenly
find themselves forced into it when they come by night to drink at the
water; in either case the space between the fences narrows rapidly,
funnelwise, the fences themselves being made stronger in proportion to
the diminution of the space between them, until this becomes little
more than a narrow lane, and the fences assume the proportions of
palisades, high and strong enough to prevent the escape even of the
large animals that crowd into it. At the end of this passage is a low
fence, partially concealing from view the yawning pit beyond, the
apparent size of which is diminished by beams and poles so laid as
to cover a considerable portion of each side, and thus rendering it
impossible for any animal attempting to spring out to make his escape.
We have often seen these fences; but the Bushmen will very seldom get
up a drive when white hunters are in the vicinity, preferring, very
naturally, to eat game which, with very little trouble to themselves,
has been shot by the European or the colonist, rather than to assemble
their tribe and be on watch all night at the tellekello.
On occasions such as we have referred to, the widest opening of the
fences is kept as near as possible to the pool or river where the
wild game comes to drink, without encroaching so far as to interfere
with their free access to the water. The Bushmen dig holes outside
the fence, make in them large fires of hard wood, and cover the still
glowing embers with dry earth, which absorbs a great amount of heat,
and gives it out gradually during the night to those who come to sleep,
or at least to lie down and watch beside it. In addition to this,
they fashion a number of torches of some dry light wood, preferring
that of a dead baobab; and at night, when the herds come down to
quench their thirst, they draw their cordon round in rear of them,
light their torches, and, waving them in the air, rush forward with
wild gesticulations and loud outcries. Sometimes the larger animals,
such as the black rhinoceros, or others, instead of submitting to be
driven, will endeavour to break through the fence, but the active
Bushmen swarm along the outside, and meet every attempt by waving
their blazing torches, or throwing them in the faces of the animals;
at length the herd crowded together comes to the narrowing neck of the
funnel. The height and strength of the palisade forbids all hope of
escape; the natives, wild with delight, are shouting and pressing on
their rear, they rush thundering on to the narrowest part, the slight
fence which hides the pit from view is easily leaped, others follow,
blindly pushed on by the crowd in the rear, until at length the pit is
filled with perhaps one or two hundred animals, writhing, struggling,
and suffocating, and moreover bruised and stunned by the hoofs of those
which rush madly on, seeking to escape over them. The Bushmen now
assemble near the pass and stab with their assegais, as many as they
can, but these are few in comparison; and when the pit is once filled,
the escape of the majority of those that remain is tolerably certain.
{Tsetse fly.}
The most serious impediment which stands in the African hunter's road
to success is the tsetse fly, which haunts the forests and the banks
of streams in many parts of southern and subtropical Africa. Horses
and dogs are also liable to be fatally affected; but men, mules, and
donkeys, as well as sheep or goats and wild animals, are not injured.
When cattle are "bitten" by "the fly," as this dreaded pest is called,
_par eminence_, they begin to lose condition, the coat ceases to be
sleek and glossy, and in a period, proportioned to the severity or
number of the bites, generally from twelve hours to a fortnight or
three weeks, or even a month, the animals die.
If the tsetse infested district is not large, it is much better to make
the circuit of it, or to pass through it in the night. We have seen a
horse thus taken through the belt on the shores of the Zambesi as a
present for Tekalatu. He would be towed by a canoe across the broad
river, and hurried on to a place of security before the morning. The
fly, as may be supposed from these remarks, is very local. One of the
Transvaal republicans told us that a mimosa tree, with bright yellow
bark (probably the sweet gum), was one tolerably certain indication
of its habitat; but it is best to inquire of the natives what are
its particular limits, and especially to learn whether the tribes in
advance keep cattle or dogs, and if they do not, to ask why so. Have
they possessed cattle, and been plundered of them, or can they not keep
them because of the proximity of the fly? If this is the case, the oxen
must be kept beyond the bounds; but mules or donkeys may be used with
safety.
The boundaries of this pest are well defined; and we have heard the
Dutch colonists speak of "De Kant van de Vleigen," or the "edge of
the flies," with as much precision as a municipal officer in defining
the boundary of his parish. Frequently one side of a waggon road will
be spoken of as infested, while the other is safe; and sometimes the
hunters speak of riding up to the "edge of the fly," and going in
on foot to shoot game. Whether the rather more than half-reasoning
elephants know that the fly kills horses or not, we cannot undertake to
say; but they certainly connect the idea of comparative security with
the "fly country," just as an Australian horse knows that the stockyard
is the only place in which he is never flogged, and retreats to it
whenever he hears the cracking of the dreaded stock whip.
That the fly is local there can be no doubt; and the only chance,
so far as we have heard, of this pest being found out of its proper
district, is that a herd of buffaloes or other game may be chased to
some distance, and carry the fly with them; but if they remain long the
insect will leave them and return to its proper range.
[Illustration: 1, 2]
The fly, a little more than half an inch long and more slender in
proportion than a common house fly (the illustrations given below,
Figs. 1 and 2, give the true size and an enlarged view of the insect),
hovers steadily over the devoted cattle with a peculiarly rapid motion
of the wings. To speak either of its bite or its sting would convey an
erroneous idea; it seems to pierce the skin, and dilute the blood it
wishes to drink by the injection of a fluid, just as the mosquito does;
the surplus liquid mingles fatally with the blood. We believe neither
goats nor sheep are injured by the virus. The piercing apparatus must
be of considerable length, as the insect will penetrate a pilot coat
and full suit of underclothing; the puncture leaves no subsequent pain
like that of a mosquito, but is startling enough at the moment. The
description of the fly may be thus summed up: The abdomen is marked
with transverse stripes of yellow and dark chesnut, fading towards
the back, and imparting the appearance of a longitudinal stripe of
yellow down the centre of the back. The belly is a livid white; dusky
glassy-brown wings folding over each other; eyes, brownish purple. It
has six long legs. Its proboscis is about one-sixth of an inch long. It
has tufts of hair on the body, which are dingiest about the mouth, on
the back, and near the tail. It is keen of smell, quick of sight, and
its flight is rapid and straight.
It is said that a peculiar breed of dogs, known as the "Moscoba,"
or Bàylyè dogs, remain exempt from injury, from having from time
immemorial been reared in the fly district, and escaped a cow-milk diet
_as the natives say_. It has no injurious effect upon game whatsoever.
The Cape Colony, the Free State, Kafirland, Natal, and most of the
Transvaal Republic, as well as Namaqua and Damara land--the Kalihari
Desert and the desert between the B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] and Zambesi
rivers--may be regarded (speaking generally) as clear of the fly, but
the hunters on the various tributaries of the Limpopo suffered very
heavy losses; and Mr. Coqui and party, who travelled from Origstadt
to Delagoa Bay, lost all their cattle, we believe, from the tsetse,
not far from the last-named place. When travellers first began to
find their way to Lake Ngami many, for want of local knowledge, lost
sometimes half their cattle. At Tette, and the other Portuguese
possessions on the Zambesi, very few cattle and no horses are kept, but
Senhor Pascoal possessed a few donkeys. The natives in the vicinity
have no cattle. We do not remember that we saw the tsetse there, but
possibly this may have originally prevented their introduction, and
the fly may have died out in places where the wild animals have been
destroyed. When we travelled from Walwisch Bay, we fell in with no fly
all the way to Lake Ngami, but turning thence to the north-west we
feared to push too far to the northward, as the banks of the Teoughe,
and probably the woods some distance from it, were known to be infested.
From the lake eastward we travelled in comparative safety along the
B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] River, and turned north over the elevated riverless
plain towards the Zambesi. In the valley of that great river system we
first felt ourselves in actual proximity to the fly. At D[=a]ká, the
cattle grazed in safety; but a servant, who was sent to outspan, ten
or twenty miles to the west, had to return because he had got into an
infested locality; and when we started with one waggon only to visit
the Falls, we found that patches of mimosa and other forests on the
banks of the Matietsie River were also frequented by these little
pests.
We tried to save the oxen by rushing them past whenever the edge of
the bush approached too closely to the river; but an accidental delay
exposed the cattle to the fatal influence of the tsetse. At the Anyati,
or Buffalo River, we had to leave the waggon and cattle as the long bed
or sand hill covered with mopani and other trees, between it and the
Falls, was known to be infested.
Mr. Baldwin also on his way to the Victoria Falls, from Natal, left
his waggons in Moselekatses country, on account of the fly in the
intervening districts, and made his way on foot. A fellow traveller of
ours had a safe camp for several months with cattle at Boana; and at
Logier Hill on the Zambesi (lat. 18° 4´ 58" S.; long. approx. 26° 38´
E.) we do not remember to have seen any, though we resided there from
September to the following February, in 1862-63.
In the parts about Chobè the fly is found near rivers only, in or near
rich soils, and marshy spots--generally in mimosa or mopani forests.
It sometimes shifts its position, and has been known to leave a spot
which has been greatly hunted with guns--probably because the game had
diminished or left.
The following are the first symptoms in oxen of being bitten: A
swelling under the throat, which, if lanced, emits a yellowish fluid;
the hair stands on end or reversed; they become debilitated, and
though the herbage is ever so luxuriant, refuse to fill themselves and
become very thin; their eyes water, and at length, when their end is
approaching, a continual rattling in the throat or chest may be heard
a few paces off. Sometimes one out of the number recovers, but very
rarely, and only when it has no work to perform after being bitten.
Horses generally swell about the eyes, nostrils, and testacles, where,
probably, the bites are most numerous; the hair becomes reversed, and
pining gradually away, they die. Both cattle and horses live from a
fortnight to six months after being bitten, but generally all die
shortly after the first rain falls.
After death the heart of an ox is encased in a yellowish and glutinous
substance, which might be mistaken for fat. The flesh is full of
little bladders of water, and the blood is half water at heart, which,
on cooling, becomes congealed into a yellow glutinous substance. The
vitals are of a livid colour.
We do not believe that the flesh is rendered unfit for food if the
animal be killed in the early stages, but when the poison has made
much progress in the blood, and the creature becomes much out of
condition, it must of course be greatly deteriorated. We do not know
of any remedy, and no certain preventive; it would be a great boon to
travellers if any composition, disgusting to the insect, innoxious to
the animal, and easy of carriage and application, could be discovered.
We have heard a hunter propose to tar his horse, and then ride "into
the fly," and shoot elephants; and it is supposed that the anointing
of cattle with their own excrement mixed with milk will save them from
being bitten, but both these expedients, beside being annoying to the
animals, would be liable to lose their efficacy in a short time.
{Catching cattle.}
The vang-stock is generally used to slip the noose over the hind leg
of an ox unwilling to be caught. If a turn can be got round the other
leg so much the better; another noose is thrown over his horns; men
catch him by the tail, another seizes him by the horns, using them as
levers, and, with all his members thus pushed and hauled in contrary
directions, down he must go. If he is meant for a waggon ox the yoke is
put upon his neck, and once fast in the middle of a dozen well-drilled
yokefellows his struggles are unavailing, and he soon begins to feel
the necessity of taking kindly to his work.
If he is wanted for a pack ox, a hole is bored through the cartilage
of the nose, and a small stick 4in. or 6in. long, with a fork at one
end like a =Y= pushed through; this serves as a bit, to which his
halter is made fast; a long reim is passed very tightly, with many
turns, round his body, some old skins are tied upon his back, and he
is forced to stand or walk with these for several hours. Next day
heavier packages are put on, and he is thus exercised till he is well
accustomed to carry a load. The Kafirs very frequently tie packages
upon the horns of their oxen. For riding oxen, those that seem of a
less gregarious or dependent temper, and go most freely alone, are
selected, as they give less trouble to the rider. Many of the most
highly valued have loose, pendent horns, swinging, like locks of
hair, with every motion of the head. We believe this is malformation,
and is produced by beating and breaking the core of the horn while
still young. In riding, the reim is carried from the nose-bit over
the forehead, and thus the nose can be jerked up into the air at the
rider's pleasure, or the animal guided by a gentle pull from side to
side.
{Riding oxen.}
Among completely uncivilised Kafirs or Hottentots the ox is ridden
with only a few skins lashed on his back, but after communication
with Europeans they generally improvise some sort of saddle, perhaps
a couple of pads connected by strips of skin, or a piece of skin with
the ends turned up towards the middle and stitched, so as to form two
bags, which may be filled either with grass or with any soft articles
that have to be carried. We have ridden oxen very comfortably with an
English saddle, and have used spurs, which are well enough for gentle
admonition, but the sambok, or hide whip, must be at hand as a more
convincing argument.
The armament of a hunter is expensive. A couple of hundred pounds may
very easily be spent upon his rifles, without subjecting him to the
imputation of extravagance. He must have his good, stout, plain gun
(smooth-bored) for general purposes--double-barrel, of eleven gauge;
then his rifles, carrying bullets of from 2oz. to 6oz. each; and most
probably one or more smooth bores, of still heavier metal, for night
shooting at close quarters, when extreme accuracy of aim is not of much
importance, and where the shock to the nervous system by the concussion
of a large round bullet which bruises the parts around, instead of
merely penetrating them like the sharp pointed cylindro-conical, is
much more likely to bring down the animal before he has had time to
wander very far from the place where he was shot.
Powder is required in large quantities, for, besides being always
liable to waste or injury from damp, the loading of guns, with from
6drs. to 10drs. to a charge, the number of shots fired for practice at
ant-hills, ineffectively in the chase, or shot away by native servants,
counts for something. A liberal stock of shot of various sizes, caps,
wadding, and gun requisites should be laid in.
Of course there must be a proportionate amount of mercury, tin, or type
metal, to harden the bullets, till they can just be indented between
the teeth, when they are supposed to be hard enough, without losing too
much of their weight.
{Spring guns.}
When engaged in hunting in the forests during the day, the hunter will
not unfrequently find it convenient to set either gun or bow traps for
the purpose of destroying mischievous and roving night prowlers. Almost
any old gun or musket, provided that it will go off when the trigger
is pulled, and will not burst from the effects of a good heavy charge,
will answer the purpose. The most convenient form of gun trap we have
ever used is formed by lashing a piece of horn, bone, or polished
wood, to the back of the trigger guard with waxed thread, as shown in
the annexed illustration. [Illustration] The trigger string is then
brought back, passed through behind it, and led forward through the
ramrod hoops. The gun, when heavily loaded, is lashed fast to some tree
or post at a convenient height from the ground. A stout forked stick
placed in the ground, about 18in. from the muzzle, will, according to
its length, serve to regulate the line of fire to the height of the
animal the trap is intended for. The trap is baited either by attaching
a piece of meat of suitable size to the end of the trigger string in
such a way that, as the food is seized and dragged away, the trigger
may be drawn, and the gun exploded. Where jackals or other small
animals of prey are abundant, they are very apt to spring your trap and
waste your ammunition. In order to prevent them from doing so, it is
well to form a sort of pass or road up to a large bait staked to the
earth with crook posts or pegs, and then carry your trigger line at a
slight strain high enough for a jackal to go under it, but low enough
to be struck on the advance of a larger animal. The outer end must
now be tied fast to a tree or post, as shown in the engraving on the
opposite page. [Illustration] Some hunters we have known adjust their
trigger lines on the lever principle, as shown in the accompanying
illustration. The plan is a good one for drawing a trigger with a heavy
pull; but we prefer our own plan, because it is always available. The
bit of horn need never be taken from the guard when once properly
secured there. A very good porcupine trap is made from the barrel of
an old cavalry pistol, stapled to a block of wood, and exploded by the
fall of a piece of old spring. A little bone peg or setting pin rests
on the top of the barrel, and supports the spring until the string
which is fastened to the middle of the setting pin is drawn. The least
pull on the string causes the lower end of the pin to slip off the
barrel, and allows the spring to fly sharply down on the crown of the
nipple.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: PORCUPINE TRAP.]
{Arrow traps.}
Bow and arrow traps are in use in many parts of the world. The Chinese
and Tartars are very clever at constructing them. Very large and
powerful cross-bows, charged with poisoned arrows, and set much after
the manner of a gun-trap are often used for the destruction of tigers
and other animals.
Large and very strong bamboo bows, charged with a number of arrows
placed in a row, are set with a line stretched across the run of the
animals in such a manner that a set of trigger sticks, shown in the
annexed illustration, may be acted on when the line is drawn on.
[Illustration]
There is an arrow trap, the "Elg-Led," used for the destruction of elk
in the forests of northern Europe. No bow is used in the construction
of this engine. The hunter, when about to set an elg-led, seeks for
a regularly used elk track. Each side of this, when found, he plants
a post about 4ft. in height, like the posts of a gate. At about 6ft.
from one of the posts he plants another in the same line, and on the
tops of the two uprights he fixes by pins a fir-pole chopped flat, just
as a hand rail of a bridge is made. He then cuts a long tough spring
pole, and lashes its large end fast to two more uprights in such a way
that, when forcibly bent back like a spring, its small end may sweep
the whole length of the hand-rail, as we will call it. On the top of
this hand rail a deep groove is cut, and in it rests a heavy-headed
arrow. When the spring pole is drawn back to its full extent, it is
held in place by a hard wood pin, set at a slope in a notch cut in the
top of the hand rail. To the bottom or heel of this pin is attached one
end of a stout copper wire, whilst the other end is carried across the
elk track and made fast to the other gate post. Brushwood skilfully
disposed on either side of the track keeps the elk in the direct road,
whilst fresh young branches and "elk food lichen" scattered freely here
and there serve to so attract the attention of the advancing animal
that the first intimation he receives of anything being amiss is the
passage of the massive steel-pointed shaft through his body. We were
first shown how to set an elg-led by an old Norse skipper, who as a
warning informed us that the best cow he ever possessed, or was ever
likely to possess again, was found dead within ten yards of the first
elg-led he ever constructed. Whilst on the subject of traps of this
kind, it may not be amiss to caution our readers against placing any of
them in situations where either domestic animals or human beings are
likely to stray. When you set gun or bow traps near camp, warn all your
followers that you have done so. In setting a gun trap be sure that the
cocking of the gun and putting on the cap are the last two operations
performed. In the case of arrow traps never lay in your arrow until
every detail of your arrangements have been completed. Never cross in
front of a set trap, or you may pay dearly for doing so.
In situations where it is not convenient or profitable to construct
arrow traps, deer are often taken in considerable numbers by first
forming a rough fence of tree trunks and branches, and then making
openings just large enough for the animals to pass through at
intervals. In these pass ways nooses of strong cord are suspended in
such a way that, as the deer endeavours to force its way through, the
slip knot tightens round his neck and holds him fast until dispatched.
Tough, elastic young trees are not unfrequently made to do duty as deer
traps, by bending them down until their tops are a few feet from the
earth; a running loop of strong cord is then made fast to the extreme
end of the natural spring, which is held down by a line, peg, and
trigger arrangement set in the deer path. As the animal, in straying
onward, catches his leg in the line, the trigger sets the bow free,
the noose runs home, and the captive swings aloft. Some of the jungle
tribes of India make use of an ingenious hook arrangement for deer and
antelope catching, which is thus prepared: A pebble from the river bed,
a stout, sharp, hook-shaped thorn and a short piece of twisted hide or
grass rope are used to make the trap. The pebble has a hole made in one
of its ends, through this one end of the rope is looped, whilst the
other end is securely lashed to the thick end of the hooked thorn,
as shown in the annexed illustration. This contrivance is baited by
placing a small round jungle fruit, of which deer are very fond, on
the hook, which is, with its cord and pebble, laid in the path which
the animals follow in going to and from water. On the bait being taken
into the mouth, the hook quickly becomes embedded in the loose skin
below the tongue. The deer, being unable to get rid of it, strikes
impatiently upwards with one of its fore-feet, stamping furiously, like
an enraged sheep; in doing this, the cleft between the two hoof-tips,
being open, receives the cord, the pebble runs up to the back of the
pastern, into the hollow of the heel, holds fast there, and so compels
the deluded beast to caper about on three legs, when a well-directed
arrow soon settles the matter. On the American Continent a sport known
as fire-hunting is much followed. This mode of hunting is prosecuted
at night. The hunter provides himself with a rifle, an old frying-pan,
fastened to the end of a pole, and a good supply of resinous pine
knots. These he ignites in the pan, and as the bright flame leaps
up, he watches carefully for the gleam from the eyes of the deer
amongst the dark shadows of the forest. When the two glowing orbs are
perceived a ball is directed immediately between them. Canoes are not
unfrequently used in fire-hunting, when the deer are lily-root hunting
on the borders of lakes and rivers. Salt-licks or saline incrustations
are powerful attractions to deer, who will travel long distances at
night to indulge their fondness for salt, when they can be often shot
in great numbers by the aid of fire kindled near the lick. Trappers and
squatters at times manufacture artificial salt-licks by boring a great
number of auger-holes in prostrate tree trunks; these, when tightly
rammed with salt, seldom fail to attract such deer as may be in the
vicinity. Care must, however, be taken that domestic cattle are not
shot at the lick in mistake, as the salt is much relished by them.
[Illustration]
When a deer is killed by the hunter at some distance from camp, he
either protects it from the attacks of animals or birds of prey until
it can be conveniently removed, or proceeds to prepare it for packing
at once on his horse, pony, or mule. In countries where there are no
vultures, animals of medium size may be kept in safety by attaching
them to a spring-pole, or "riser." This is made by bending down a
tough, elastic young tree until the crown fork is reached; trim this
in such a way with your hunting knife that a sort of hooked crutch is
formed. Now lock the hind legs of your animal together by making a slit
behind one back tendon, and running the opposite leg through until
the hough joint prevents its return; place the loop thus formed over
your hook-crutch, and then let the tree spring back to its original
erect position, and your game will be safe from ground pilferers. The
pole will be too small for bears to climb. Birds and wild cats are
scared away by attaching a few bits of coloured rag, or a fluttering
pocket handkerchief to the prong. Large red deer or moose can be cut
up before suspension. When large animals have to be left whole and
unskinned in the woods, lay them longways against the side of a fallen
log; cover them with thorn bushes, and then proceed to cut some long
thin wands, or small branches; strip the bark from them, in order that
the white stick may show. Plant the ends in the earth, and bend the
upper portions of the rods over the thorn bushes, amongst which they
can be wattled. Few wolves will face this arrangement, as it looks
too much like a trap to be safely ventured on. To prepare a deer for
packing on a horse which has to carry the hunter as well, proceed as
follows:--First make an incision directly behind the back of the head,
above what is called the pithing spot, or joint between the _atlas_ and
_dentata_ of anatomists; cut round the neck until the muscles, &c., are
all divided; then twist the head round, using the antlers as a pair of
levers; divide the attachment between the two bones just mentioned, and
the head is separated from the neck. Cut the neck from the body just at
the last neck joint, which lays in front of and above the shoulders.
Cut off all the feet at the pastern joints. Now pass your knife
directly in through the front line of the breast bone, and cut forward
and back until the brisket is completely divided. Then in the same line
carry your cut straight down the centre of the belly until the point
of your knife rests on the root of the tail. Feel for the arch bone
of the pelvis, skin back the tissues from it, place your knife on its
centre with the heel of the blade close to the border of the bone. If
the knife is a powerful one, and in good order, a little dexterity in
its use will suffice to divide the arch at once. When this has been
done, return to the brisket, force open the cut made in it, insert the
two hands, and pull right and left until you can bring your knee to
bear in flattening out the two sides by the giving way of the heads of
the ribs. Take the two thighs and spread them open in the same manner.
When this is done seek for the end of the windpipe; when found make a
hole through it and pass in a short stick for a cross handle to hold on
by, pull it upwards and backwards, cutting away right and left above it
such adhesions as will be found, turn out all the intestines by freeing
them in the same manner, taking care not to puncture them during the
operation. If the work has been properly done nothing but the kidneys
will remain in the body of the deer, which can be easily lashed fast to
the Ds behind the saddle. The liver and heart can be made a separate
package of, as they are well worth taking home.
{Fall-traps.}
A great number of forms of the fall-trap, as it is called, are to be
found in different parts of the world, and trappers of fur-bearing
animals avail themselves extensively of the use of engines of this
description. From the largest bear to the tiny ermine the drop or
deadfall produces death, just as we see the common slide-door cage
successfully used in taking alive either the royal Bengal tiger or
the pilfering kitchen mouse. Deadfall traps are especially valuable
to the northern trapper, who, with axe, knife, and rifle, penetrates
vast solitudes in search of furs. The materials for his traps cost him
merely the trouble of cutting them from the surrounding forest; but no
little ingenuity, forethought, and deep calculation are needed to so
arrange the tree-trunks, pegs, sticks, and baits, as to successfully
impose on creatures so richly endowed with instinct as the fur-coated
inhabitants of the wilds.
[Illustration: FIGURE OF FOUR TRAP, SET AND DIVIDED.]
[Illustration: BEAR TRAP.]
[Illustration: SQUIRREL TRAP.]
The martin trap is a contrivance much used for taking small animals of
the weasel tribe, is generally useful, and is made as follows: When you
have reason to suspect the presence of the animals you are in search
of, either from having seen their tracks or noted their movements,
proceed to build your pound wall, as it is called. This is a horse-shoe
or half-tower arrangement, about 4ft. in height, built up with heavy
stones and pieces of hard compact turf. Through the centre of the back
of your half tower pass a stout, rounded, smooth stick, about the size
of a common broom handle, sharpen the end which comes to the front,
and adjust it so that, when the wall is completed, it may project at
about 2ft. 6in. from the ground, and 4in. within the line of the two
side walls. Now, with your axe, fell a good heavy straight young log,
long enough to lay well across the front of your pound when brought
up almost in contact with the stones forming the ends. Now, with your
knife, make your "figure of four," the principle of which is shown in
the above illustration. When this is completed make your loop-line.
This is a stout strand of twisted cedar bark, with a smoothly-tied loop
at one end. This loop is run on the projecting stick in the centre of
the pound, and pushed back until the loop touches the back wall. The
other end of the line is made fast, about 4in. from the ground to the
bait, which must be perfectly fresh, clean, sweet, and uncontaminated,
to be of any use. Any small pieces of bird or squirrel will do. When
the bait is attached, the figure of four is brought into use. The main
stem or king post rests on the sharpened end of the centre projecting
stick which holds the loop and bait, whilst the drop log rests on the
crown point at a slant. Immediately on the animal taking the bait,
he walks backward with it, draws the loop along the stick until it
draws the king post away, when down drops the fall log across his back
and instantly kills him, without injuring his skin. In the North of
Europe a variety of modifications of the "figure of four" are used for
destroying bears, gluttons, and other animals. The woodcuts given on
this and the previous page will serve to explain the nature of three of
them.
[Illustration: PLANK FALL-TRAP.]
Great numbers of foxes are taken by the Swedish hunters by the use of a
contrivance known as a "tana." This is usually made from the stump end
of a small tree, chopped with the axe to a sloping or wedge-like form.
Two cuts are then made, one on each side the centre or highest point,
on which the bait, usually a cat's head, or any piece of offal, is
fixed. In performing a series of leaps to get at the bait, the fox gets
one of his fore-paws in a slit, as shown in the annexed illustration,
when he remains a prisoner until dispatched by the hunter.
[Illustration]
The fox hook is another contrivance for the capture of foxes and
wolves. The illustration on the following page shows the hook when set
and before baiting. The body or slip of the contrivance is made by
pinning two hard wood sheaves or trucks to a block-piece of any tough
wood; a tough young tree is bent down to form the spring; a loop, or
bellying of the line, which must be of strong cord, is placed between
the trucks, and a small wedge inserted to keep it there. The hook,
which is best made from bone or horn, is next baited with a piece of
meat, and placed on the ground. When a fox or wolf seizes the bait, the
first determined tug he gives draws out the wedge. The block-piece,
with its trucks, remains attached to a stump, whilst the pole-spring
flies violently up, and carries with it the prowler, who hangs like
some fur-jacketed and odd-looking fish. Assafoetida, when rubbed
against stumps and logs, is said to attract wolves.
[Illustration]
The professional trapper, who derives his livelihood from the sale of
the skins which good fortune and skill combined may cast in his way,
avails himself largely of the use of the steel trap or gin for the
capture of animals of all kinds and descriptions; and in no country
in the world has the manufacture and use of this valuable contrivance
reached such perfection as in the United States of America. The steel
traps manufactured at Oneida, on the Newhouse principle, are admirable,
and range from the "0" size, adapted for musk-rat, to No. 6, or "the
great bear tamer," represented in the annexed illustration.
[Illustration]
When large traps, such as that just described, are used, there will not
unfrequently be some risk and danger in setting them. Mr. Newhouse,
the maker of the Oneida trap, gives the following hints on the subject
in his valuable work on American trapping: "All that is necessary to
be carried into the woods to do this is four strong leathern straps
furnished with buckles. When you wish to set a trap, cut four levers
of a size and length proportioned to the size of the trap, take two
of them; make a loop of one of the straps and slip it over one end of
each, then bring the trap spring between them, press them together,
and adjust a loop over the other ends of the levers. Serve the other
spring in the same way. Now spread the jaws, adjust the dog and pan,
loosen the levers, and your trap is set. The straps weigh only a few
ounces, and are easily carried." He also gives us a valuable hint or
two on the use of so-called "sliding poles," which are contrivances
much used by trappers, and astutely remarks as follows: "Animals of
aquatic habits, when caught in traps, invariably plunge at once into
deep water, and it is the object of the trapper, availing himself of
this plunge, to drown his captive as soon as possible, in order to
avoid his violence, and keep him out of the reach of other animals. The
weight of the trap and chain is usually sufficient for this purpose in
the case of the musk rat. But in taking the larger amphibious animals,
such as the beaver, the trapper uses a contrivance which is called
the 'sliding pole.' It is prepared in the following manner: Cut a
pole 10ft. or 12ft. long, leaving branches enough on the small end to
prevent the ring of the chain from slipping off; place this pole near
where you set your trap in an inclined position, with its small end
reaching into the deepest part of the stream, and its large end secured
at the bank by a hook driven into the ground; slip the ring of your
chain on to this, and see that it is free to traverse down the length
of the pole. When the animal is taken, it plunges desperately into the
region towards which the pole leads. The ring slides down to the end of
the pole at the bottom of the stream, and, with a short chain, prevents
the victim from rising to the surface or returning to the shore."
Whilst on the subject of steel traps, it may be well to observe that
the bait, whatever it may be, should never be placed on the plate of
the trap. Hang it up on a stick; strew it round about; lay it before
or behind the trap in a run, or set the trap without bait, but do not
bait the trap itself, as doing so with wild forest animals is next
to useless. Do not secure your trap chain to a fixed object, as the
animal will probably get free. When setting your traps, cut clogs for
them; these clogs are merely short lengths of pole, of weight and size
proportioned to the size of the trap. Do not fasten the clog so that it
may drag crosswise, or it will become fixed amongst the undergrowth.
To make it travel end-on place the ring of the chain over the end of
the clog, which should be large enough to fit it moderately tight,
then with your tomahawk (which should always be at your side whilst
trapping) split the clog end, insert a stout flat wedge, and drive it
home; this will effectually keep the ring on and prevent crossing.
Traps should be rendered perfectly sweet before setting by putting
them in the camp fire and heating them up to a point just below that
which would tend to injure the springs. Boiling hot water and wood
ashes are sometimes used for the same purpose. Sheepskin gloves with
the wool on may be used to handle the traps with in order that no
taint from the trapper may remain about them. Many baits are prepared
by trappers for luring animals to the trap. The much-lauded beaver
medicine, or castor bait, is a white creamy secretion found in the
neighbourhood of a set of glands near the scrotum of the male beaver.
Foxes are often attracted by laying down some earth taken from a fox
den, or by scattering small pieces of fried meat dressed with honey
about the neighbourhood of the traps. Mr. Newhouse strongly recommends
as a fox bait the following preparation: Obtain from the female of the
dog-fox, or wolf, the matrix in the season of coition, and preserve
it in a quart of alcohol tightly corked; leave a small portion of
this preparation on something near the trap, and then, putting some
of it on the bottoms of your boots from time to time, strike large
circles in two different directions leading round the trap. A very
attractive baiting oil for mink and other fish-eating animals may be
made by cutting any kind of fish into small pieces, leaving them in an
unstoppered bottle, and allowing them to be exposed to the sun and air;
putrefaction soon takes place, and a thick strong oil is formed, the
smell of which is a great attraction.
Musk rats, which abound in many of the shallow lakes and river bottoms
of America, are either speared through the walls of their winter houses
by trappers who travel over the ice in pursuit of them, or captured
in steel traps of the description already spoken of. A musk-rat spear
is made by mounting a smooth polished rod of highly-tempered steel
in a 3ft. or 4ft. handle, just as a chisel is fitted. The blade or
tine should be about a yard long and a little under half an inch in
diameter. The point should be as sharp as a needle. In using this
instrument, the hunter looks out sharply for a spot of white or hoar
frost on the dome of the musk rat house; through this he plunges his
spear, knowing that the sleeping family is beneath it. The heat given
off by the animals causes a partial thaw, which leads to the tell-tale
white incrustation. On the rats being transfixed, a hole is cut with a
tomahawk through which to take them out, when a steel trap is set for
the capture of such fugitives as may have escaped the pointed steel.
{Catching birds.}
The explorer's larder will not unfrequently depend for a supply on
such feathered game, large or small, as good fortune may place at his
disposal. In many regions animals of the chase, properly so called, do
not exist; in others, they are so thinly scattered over a large extent
of country that their capture is at the best precarious and uncertain.
Few routes, however, which the traveller could select on the face of
the habitable globe will be found destitute of feathered inhabitants of
some kind. We know of no bird which could not, under the pressure of
hunger, be turned to account. Vultures are, perhaps, the most repulsive
feathered creatures in creation, and yet instances are not wanting in
which starving men have fed on them. Our space will not admit of our
entering on a description of the various and complex net arrangements
made use of in the capture of wildfowl in decoys by the continental
sportsman. We shall deal only with such contrivances as may be turned
out of hand by the exercise of a little ingenuity and the use of simple
tools and common appliances. Ostrich catching--the ostrich being the
largest known bird--perhaps deserves the first place in our list.
[Illustration]
A variety of methods are adopted for the capture of the ostrich and emu
by the natives of the countries in which they are found. The Arabs and
Cabiles of Algeria organise regular ostrich hunts, for which the horses
are systematically trained by having their food gradually decreased
in bulk, and being ridden long distances daily in the full heat of
the sun. The ostriches, when found, are headed towards an ambuscade
of mounted hunters, who, when the birds approach within the required
distance, dash out from their concealment, and literally ride down the
game, which, when thoroughly exhausted, is knocked on the head with
short heavy sticks. The Bushmen of Africa lie carefully concealed,
with their bows and arrows, at a convenient distance from the nests of
the birds or the edge of a vley or pool to which they come to drink.
Stalking is an art the Bushman excels in; and, with a piece of ostrich
skin on his back, a stick roughly hewn into the form of the neck and
head of the bird, together with his short bow, in the left hand, and a
supply of arrows in his head band (as shown in the annexed woodcut),
the cunning hunter creeps up wind towards the feeding flock, and not
unfrequently succeeds in shooting down more than one before the alarm
is given. The Australian native, when emu hunting, provides himself
with a leaf-covered branch large enough to effectually conceal him
as he advances step by step up wind towards the birds as they stalk
forward and back on the plain in search of food. When within range the
native fits the hollow end of his long fire-hardened spear into the
tooth of his womera, or throwing stick, and sends it whistling on its
mission of death. In South America the ostrich is hunted by mounted
men, who capture it by the aid of the bolas, which consists of three
rounded pebbles sewn up in raw hide cases and attached to strips of
hide, which are united in the centre. In the use of this contrivance
the balls are made to whirl rapidly round the head of the hunter as he
gallops towards his prey, and diverge to the full extent of their thong
attachments. When sufficiently close to the object of pursuit, the
whole affair is launched forth with extraordinary force and precision,
entangling the legs, wings, or neck of the bird, and not unfrequently
inflicting a heavy stunning blow or two as well. In districts where
wheeled vehicles are employed by either settlers or natives, ostriches
or emus may be successfully approached by concealing yourself in one of
them as they go creaking and jolting slowly in a line with the flock.
By a little management the bullock team may be so guided as to edge
down until at very close quarters, when a heavy charge of buckshot
under the wing, or a well-directed bullet through the body, seldom
fails in bringing the game to bag. We have successfully approached
bustards in this manner, both in India and Tartary. Before commencing
your stalk, it is well to arrange some straw or reed in the cart,
waggon, or hackery in such a manner that it shall afford concealment
without preventing you, when within shot, from instantly starting, gun
in hand, to a kneeling posture, which we have found the best attitude
to shoot in when subjected to the irregular motion of a vehicle with
wheels out of circle, and travelling over a plain without roads. For
this description of shooting, a strong hard-shooting gun is needed. One
of the kind described at page 9 of this work will be found well adapted
for the purpose, and is identical in size of bore--viz., 11--weight,
&c., with one we always use. When about to commence bustard shooting,
it will be well, if you have no Ely's wire cartridges, which are of the
greatest value for all large fowl, to prepare some from old kid-glove
fingers, or oiled silk, as directed at pp. 235 and 236. It is seldom,
even when shooting with heavy charges of powder and cartridges, that
standing or running shots at bustards prove fatal. We have found it the
best plan to continue the approach steadily, until the bird, becoming
alarmed, makes a short rapid run, as it almost invariably will, and
then spreads its wide wings for flight. Then fire well to the front and
below the wing, and the chances are greatly in favour of the sportsman.
[Illustration: TRAPS FOR SMALL GAME.]
Wild turkeys are approached by the aid of a call made from a hollow
bone. Some skill and experience are needed both to make the call and
use it when made. Some hunters succeed in imitating the cluck, or
"yelp" as it is called, without the aid of the bone; but to do this
it is necessary to study the exact pitch and intonation of the bird's
voice, which can only be done by listening to it. Great numbers of wild
turkeys are taken in "cribbets," or pens, which are made much on the
same principle as the bird trap shown at the front of our full-page
illustration, only that, instead of sticks of ordinary size, poles are
made use of. The following directions for making a wild turkey pen or
trap are given by Audubon, and are thoroughly practical and to the
purpose: "Young trees of four or five inches in diameter are cut down
and divided into pieces of the length of twelve or fourteen feet. Two
of these are laid on the ground parallel to each other, at a distance
of ten or twelve feet. Two other pieces are laid across the ends of
these at right angles to them, and in this manner successive layers
are added until the fabric is raised to the height of four feet. It is
then covered with similar pieces of wood placed three or four inches
apart, and loaded with one or two heavy logs to render the whole firm.
This done, a trench about eighteen inches in depth and width is cut
under one side of the cage, into which it opens slantingly and rather
abruptly. It is continued on its outside to some distance, so as
gradually to attain the level of the surrounding ground. Over the part
of this trench within the pen, and close to the wall, some sticks are
placed so as to form a kind of bridge about a foot in breadth. The trap
being now finished, the owner places a quantity of Indian corn in its
centre as well as in the trench, and as he walks off drops here and
there a few grains in the woods, sometimes to the distance of a mile.
This is repeated at every visit to the trap after the turkeys have
found it. Sometimes two trenches are cut, in which case the trenches
enter on opposite sides of the trap, and are both strewn with corn. No
sooner has a turkey observed the train of corn than it communicates
the circumstance to the flock by a cluck, when all of them come up,
and, searching for the grains scattered about, at length come upon
the trench, which they follow, squeezing themselves one after another
through the passage under the bridge. In this manner the whole flock
sometimes enters, but more commonly six or seven only, as they are
alarmed by the least noise, even the cracking of a tree in frosty
weather. Those within, having gorged themselves, raise their heads and
try to press their way through the top or sides of the pen, passing
and repassing on the bridge, but never for a moment looking down or
attempting to escape through the passage by which they enter. Thus
they remain until the owner of the trap, arriving, closes the trench,
and secures his captives." Great numbers of both capercailzie and
blackcock are taken in the forests of northern Europe by the aid of
traps and snares. The former differ in form of construction with the
district in which they are used. Deadfalls are in common use. They are
either made in such a way as to allow one long heavy pole to fall on
the bird, or seven or eight stout poles are battened together as they
would be to form a door. A hole is cut in the upper end large enough
for the main post or setting stick to pass up through as the flap of
the trap falls. The figure-of-four form of release is that usually
made use of. The illustrations at page 663 will serve to show the
arrangement when put together and the mode of notching the separate
portions. Birch or beech wood makes excellent figure-of-four traps.
Cowberries and other forest fruits are used as baits to strew in and
about the traps. A very ingenious form of pen trap is also much used in
the North for blackcock capture; it is called the "orre tratt," and is
thus constructed: A young pine of about 12ft. high is selected as the
centre pole; all the branches are removed, and the top of a well-grown
young spruce fir tree lashed in a reversed position to the pole about
4ft. from the ground; a crutch or fork is now fastened with cord to
the head of the pole; within about 1ft. of the top in this crutch is
lashed the tip stick, which is so tied as to act as a scale-beam or
the see-saw used by boys; a bunch of wheat or other corn in the ear is
secured to the extreme end of the main pole. When these arrangements
have been made, a number of larch poles with the bark on are driven in
round the main pole in funnel form, much as young trees are defended
from the attacks of deer or rabbits in this country. The top of the
funnel should be about 4ft., and the bottom about 20in. across. A few
tough sticks or vines wattled in here and there give firmness and
compactness to the structure. When this is complete, plant a few poles,
with bunches of partly threshed oat or barley reed tied to their tops
in such a way that a good foothold may be afforded to birds on cross
branches left for the purpose, which should be near enough to the tip
stick of the main pole for a blackcock to hop easily off when attracted
by the bunch of wheat ears. The instant he settles on the tip stick it
gives way, and allows him to drop down into the pen on the fir-branch
frill in the centre, which instantly gives way under his weight, and
lets him down to the bottom. Should he attempt to rise, the barb-like
pine branches keep him down. The tip stick, having fallen back to its
original position, is ready for a fresh victim, who quickly descends
to join his fellow in the bottom of the pen, which has been known to
become well filled during a short winter's day.
[Illustration: A-F]
{Snares.}
Snares may be made of annealed brass or copper wire, or of several
strands of twisted horsehair. Twisted copper or brass wire makes
excellent snares, but it must be very soft and pliable. Iron wire,
when used as a makeshift for the two former descriptions of material,
should be annealed before use: this process, which adds greatly to
the pliability and tenacity of iron wire, is conducted as follows:
Double your wire into a hank or bundle of convenient size; twist a
loose rope made of dried grass or straw round it in all directions
until the coil is completely covered; ignite the straw or hay band,
and let it burn to ashes; let your wire cool gradually, and you will
find it almost as pliant as a thong. The snoods, or "grains" as they
are called, are best made from stout white horsehair, twisted by the
aid of a half-opened pocket knife, as at Fig. 1, page 598. Immense
numbers of these are made in some districts for the capture of snipes
and woodcocks, and are used in a kind of trap known as a "springle."
As a ground trap for birds, it is, perhaps, the most remunerative that
can be set; its form, when adjusted for use, is shown at the front of
the full-page illustration, "Traps for Small Game." Common hazel is the
best material to make all the woodwork of a springle from. The annexed
illustration shows the arrangement in a divided form. The parts consist
of the riser A, the "sweik" B, the bow C, the hookpost D, and the
button E. The riser line--a piece of stout twisted twine--the grains,
and the button in place are shown at F. The riser should be planted
so as to lay well back, in order that it may exercise its full power
when in action. When setting this description of trap for snipes or
woodcocks no bait is used. A convenient spot is chosen on the ground
in which they bore for food; and a roading is then made with small
bent twigs, as in the annexed illustration, in extended =V= form.
[Illustration] The sweik is set directly across the narrow pass, formed
by the convergence of the two twig walls or hedges. No woodcock or
snipe will ever pass out over the barrier formed by the bent twigs.
Feeding and running onwards, they merely touch their beaks against the
border hedge, work their way up the gradually narrowing passage, until
the sweik, with its surrounding of grains or snare, is reached, when
the head or feet of the bird, pressing down the former, releases the
button from its hold on the notch. The riser flies up, and the neck,
or some other portion of the body of the bird, is caught within the
noose, which holds the game firmly against the bow, until strangled or
taken out by the trapper. We have seen hundreds of springles set along
the lines formed by the wheels of a waggon across an open stretch of
plain or moorland. Water settling in these forms a sort of water road
for snipes to run in. Two or three twigs on each side are all that
will be needed at each trap, in such a favourable trapping ground as
this. On an open flat or marsh meadow, 14ft. or 15ft. of twig roading
will not be too much for each side or limb of the double or single
=V= arrangement. Springles set for birds, requiring a bait such
as fieldfares, blackbirds, missel thrushes, redwings, &c., should have
their sweiks placed over shallow oval pits; hawthorn, paracanthus or
cotoneaster berries, rotten apples, or ears of unthreshed wheat or
barley make good baits for springles. Vast numbers of migratory birds
of the thrush tribe are taken for the market on the Continent and in
the north of Europe by the use of various forms of the "dona." This
is a trap made by either bending into half-hoop form a stick either
growing or inserted in an auger hole bored in a tree. The string used
to bend the bow, and form a head line for the hair nooses or snares,
is usually made of bast obtained from the lime or linden tree; twine,
or any other cord-like material, will answer the same purpose. Several
forms of this kind of trap will be seen suspended from the trees in the
full-page illustration, representing "Traps for Small Game." A very
excellent form of spring bow trap is made by bending a strong pliant
hazel or other stick into the form shown in the annexed illustration.
Bore a hole through one end with a red-hot wire; draw the snare or
grains through the hole until the two ends of the bow closely approach
each other, then force the end of the tread-fork (A), which must be
cut to a truncated conical form, into the hole (B), until the grains
is held by it in such a way that the force of the bow cannot draw it
through the hole, and yet pressure on the tread-fork will displace
it, and set the grains free to be drawn through the hole, unless the
bird which has stepped on the fork is caught, in which case it is
held, as shown in the full-page illustration. Larks, quails, finches,
&c., are readily taken in snares, hung either from bows or stretched
lines adjusted so as to hang just above the ground; several of these
arrangements are shown in the full-page illustration. Chaff or grain
should be scattered about traps of this kind, which answer best when
snow is on the ground. A great number of both birds and small animals
are to be taken in "cribbets:" these are pyramidal-shaped pens, or
cages, built up by placing round, straight sticks, with the bark on,
one on the other, just as a log house is built, only that cribbet
sticks are not notched as logs are for building. When the cribbet is
built to the required size and height for the description of game to
be caught in it, a string at each corner, brought to the apex of the
trap, gathered together in a knot, and made tight by twisting round a
stick placed in the loop, makes all firm and compact. A piece of bent
vine or briar serves to set the trap, which is arranged as shown in the
full-page illustration.
[Illustration]
Wild geese, ducks, widgeon, teal, water rails, coots, &c. &c., are
taken readily by traps properly set for them. On the coasts of
Finland and Lapland great numbers of wild geese are taken by forming a
little fence or hurdle (which stands about breast high to a goose), on
projecting points or spits of land which stretch out into the bays or
harbours. Unbarked sticks, about the size of a common walking-stick,
are thrust firmly into the ground, at about 10ft. or 12ft. apart, and
then at every third or fourth stick a second is placed at about a foot
from the other, forming, so to speak, a pair of gate posts, and in
such a manner as to form an irregular line, completely surrounding the
sea-line of the spit. A string or wire is now stretched tightly from
stick to stick, only omitting the spaces left between the pairs of
posts. These are left unfenced, and are each provided with a running
noose, made of twisted hair or wire, which is secured to one of the
posts. When the arrangement is complete, barn refuse is scattered
inside the fence. The geese, coming in from the sea to feed, breast the
fence, until an opening, formed by one of the gates, is found. This
is quickly entered, and the noose, running in round the neck of the
intruder, holds him fast. A sort of trap raft frame is much used for
duck catching during winter in the north. Some short pieces of board
serve to form the side and end floats of the raft. An upright post is
set at each corner, and a top line is stretched round the heads of
the side and end posts, as shown in the annexed illustration. Hair or
wire nooses are set all round the duck raft, which is usually floated
in a hole made in the ice; a quantity of water plants, pulled up by
the roots, are thrown within the barriers. The ducks or other fowl,
in endeavouring to force their way through the loops, are hung by the
neck, and strangled.
[Illustration]
Wooden frames are also mounted with wire snares and cross strings, as
shown in the illustration on page 677, and prepared for sinking, by
the aid of stones, through holes in the ice, until they are about 3ft.
or 5ft. beneath the surface. The ducks congregate in these holes, and
in diving after food become entangled in the snares, and are drowned.
The frames are hauled up once or twice during the day, for the purpose
of removing the dead birds. Small-sized fish hooks, fastened to stout
line or twine, and baited with bits of unio, pond mussel, or other
fresh-water molluscs, removed from the shell, make good traps for
ducks. Herons, storks, egrets, and other wader birds, can be caught
by hooks baited with small fish. Sea-fowl are caught in considerable
numbers by baiting ordinary fishing hooks and lines with bits of pork
rind or fish offal.
[Illustration]
Ducks and other wildfowl are captured by the natives of Australia
by the aid of a long rod or wand, to which a fine strong noose of
twisted bark is attached. Furnished with this contrivance, the native
proceeds to make for himself a head dress or crown of river weeds,
and then, wand in hand, swims and wades out to where the unsuspecting
fowl are feeding and disporting themselves; here, with the rod
resting on the surface of the water, and pushed forward, duck after
duck is first noosed by the neck, and then drawn under the surface
to the duck-catcher, who quickly attaches the victims to his belt
by slip-loops fastened to it for the purpose. Both the Chinese and
Indians take wildfowl on ponds or lakes by the aid of a gourd shell
placed on the head. A few real gourds or pumpkins are first launched
well to windward, and allowed to float amongst the birds in order
to allay suspicion. The fowler then, with his gourd-shell cap (in
which two small peepholes are cut) on his head and neck, enters the
water at some spot where a clump of reeds or rushes can be found as
a concealment, and then swiftly swims or wades, as the depth of the
water may render necessary, out amongst the birds. Here he proceeds to
draw as many as he requires down by the feet, securing his game just
as the Australians fasten theirs. The shooting or trapping of wildfowl
by the white hunter or explorer is often much facilitated by the use
of false or decoy birds. These may be either solid blocks of carved
wood, painted so as to imitate the plumage of real birds (the heads
and necks of these should be made to take off), stuffed skins mounted
on wooden or bark floats, sheet metal, or gutta-percha models; many
of these are beautifully made, but are rather costly and troublesome
to carry. We prefer, when making use of a few decoys, to employ duck,
goose, or widgeon skins stuffed with bark chips, and balanced with
lead attached to a loop fastened to the breast. Bits of lead pipe make
good weights. Each decoy bird should have an anchor weight and cable
string attached to it, so that it may remain in its proper place until
picked up from the canoe by the aid of a long forked pole. Ambushes are
often made use of in marshes, on the borders of lakes, or the banks
of tidal rivers, for the purpose of concealing the sportsman from the
quick eyes of the passing fowl. A good sized cask sunk in the ooze, and
then well furnished with straw, makes a good lurking place. On flats,
where the tide flows, it is a good plan to plant four stout posts in
a square. Bore sets of auger holes up each post in such a way that
four stout iron or hard wood pins may be passed completely through the
holes in the posts, and project about six inches towards the interior
of the square. On these projecting ends a light platform or stage of
boards is fixed for the sportsman to stand on; a few bundles of marsh
reeds, fastened to the frame, are so spread out as to form an effectual
screen. A narrow board to sit on is supported on two bars run through
each pair of end posts. When shooting ducks on the marshes of Southern
Russia we used to form a sort of screen by cutting a bundle of marsh
reeds, fastening their tops together with a piece of twine, spreading
the lower ends out like a large extinguisher or the hat of a beehive,
and then placing the whole arrangement on the head. When seated thus
arrayed on a good thick pile of reeds, with your legs encased in
well-greased boots, and your gun placed well under cover, the ducks,
geese, widgeon, and other fowl, come fearlessly by on whistling wing,
and are knocked over and bagged accordingly. A contrivance, known as
the "crinoline stalker," may be used with advantage in approaching many
descriptions of wildfowl; this contrivance is made from four bars of
wood nailed together in a square, as a picture frame is made. At each
corner a leg is placed, about knee high. A string serves to sling the
arrangement over the shoulders of the sportsman, just as a falconer's
hawk stand used to be carried. A number of short lengths of cord
or ropeyarn attached to the frame serve as lashings for bundles of
reeds or long green branches, so that, when the stalker is adjusted
properly, the sportsman walks as though in a very large and high topped
crinoline. When he wishes to remain stationary, he drops his frame so
that the legs may rest on the ground. He can then sit down on the hind
bar and remain well concealed. The gun is usually carried slung until
required for use, in order that the hands may be free to manage the
crinoline.
{Calls.}
Calls of different kinds are generally made use of to attract deer,
wildfowl, rails, plover, and partridges. The moose deer is called with
a trumpet formed from birch bark. Duck and goose calls vary in form
with the locality in which they are used. The natural windpipe and
larynx, freshly stripped from the bird, are, in the hands of a skilled
performer, the best that can be devised. Landrails can be brought close
to the sportsman by the use of a small thin flat bone (beef-rib bone is
as good as any), cut into teeth, like those of a saw. Over these a thin
flat strip of bone is drawn sharply and repeatedly until the answering
bird is within shot. Partridge calls are made by stretching a bit of
stout parchment or moistened vellum over the mouth of a common bottle
neck, broken off short. When the stretched membrane is dry, a small pin
hole is made in its centre, and through this a knotted horsehair is
passed, until the knot is drawn against the inside of the drum-head.
A little powdered resin is placed on the fingers, and the hair is
drawn sharply through in such a way that the voice of the real bird is
closely imitated.
Woodpigeon, plover, and weasel calls can be purchased for a small sum
from any respectable gunmaker, and are far better than most amateurs
could hope to make. They occupy a small space, and can be easily stowed
away in the gun case. Much might be said on the subject of wildfowl
punts, sunk flats, fowling canoes, &c., but a consideration of such
appliances can be scarcely entered on in this work.
{Birdlime.}
The use of birdlime may be often had recourse to for the capture of a
great variety of birds, particularly such as assemble in large flocks
about the neighbourhood of springs or water holes. The most expeditious
and best mode of preparing birdlime is to place about a pint of linseed
oil in an earthen pot or other vessel, which should be set upright in
the hot ashes of the camp fire, and boiled slowly and steadily until
reduced to about a third in quantity, when, instead of oil, birdlime
will be left in the vessel. The inner bark of the holly, some kinds of
elm, a parasitical plant like a mistletoe which grows from the mango
tree, the straight upright shoots of the common elder, and several
creepers or vine-like plants found in tropical countries, produce
birdlime. To prepare it, the bark, after being scraped free from the
outer shell, must be boiled in rain-water for at least ten hours; throw
it then in a mass out on a cloth to drain; dig a pit in the earth in a
cool place, put a flat stone in the bottom of the pit, throw your bark
in on the stone, letting it rest as a pile or heap. Now place another
flat stone on the top of the pile, throw in grass round the edges to
keep any earth from getting in, fill up your pit with earth so as to
leave a slight depression in the middle; throw a little water into this
every other day for three weeks, when the bark will have become stringy
and tough. Lay it now little by little between two rough stones, and
grind it into a paste. Work the paste with clean hands in a clear
running stream, until all impurities and foreign substances are washed
away, and then place it in a clean earthen pot, covered with a tile or
flat stone for a week, when the lime will be fit for use. When intended
for the capture of small birds, it should be smeared on sets of twigs
or branches, so set that the birds may settle easily on them. When
used for crow catching, it is placed in a thick coat on the inside of
paper cones, which are made as though intended for silkworms to spin
in; each cone is baited by placing a piece of raw meat in its narrow
end, and then thrusting a thorn or sharp splinter of wood through both
it and the paper. The crow, in attempting to get at the bait, thrusts
its head into the cone, which remains fixed on like an extinguisher.
Birds thus caught either flap about helplessly or keep mounting in the
air until, becoming exhausted, they fall to the earth, and are easily
taken. On some of the islands of the Pacific vast quantities of dragon
flies are taken for food by boys, who, armed with long wands tipped
with birdlime, lightly touch the insect, which is at once secured, and
placed in a basket carried suspended from the shoulders.
{Poison.}
We have always a great aversion to the use of poison as an agent for
the destruction of animal life; and it is only in cases of absolute
necessity that recourse should be had to it. The skins of fur-bearing
animals so destroyed are very inferior to those obtained in the usual
way. The flesh of birds and animals poisoned by strychnine (the agent
commonly made use of by hunters and travellers for poisoning purposes)
is so intensely poisonous, that any creature partaking of it is almost
sure to perish. It is, therefore, the best plan, when it is considered
advisable to rid the vicinity of the camp of the presence of furred or
feathered carnivora, to destroy some suffering or worn-out baggage mule
or horse with strychnine, and then place its remains in a position in
which access to them is easy; but see that your own dogs are secured,
or they, with all the magpies, crows, vultures, wolves, wild dogs, &c.,
&c., in the district, will stand a fair chance of being destroyed.
We remember hearing of two settlers in Australia who, finding that
their crops were seriously damaged by cocatoos, tried all in their
power to shoot them, but to no purpose. They at length prepared a
quantity of corn with strychnine, and spread it about the clearings.
The cocatoos eagerly devoured the grain, fell dead in the forest, and
were in due time devoured by the "dingoes" or native wild dogs, who in
turn fell beneath the powers of the potent vomic nut. It is best to
take such strychnine as may be required from England. Apothecaries'
Hall is the best place to obtain it from. The best way to pack it for
travelling is in a stout glass-stoppered bottle, which has had a strong
tin case or jacket soldered over it. The tin cover or cap fitting
over all should have a skull conspicuously marked on it. (See "Box
markings.") Too much caution cannot be used in handling or dealing with
this most deadly and fearful poison.