The family of snakes called Boidae, including the Boas and Pythons are
huge snakes confined to the hotter regions of the globe, and
formidable from their vast strength and mode of attack. They lurk in
ambush and dart upon their victim, which in an instant is seized and
enveloped in their folds, and crushed to death or strangled. For their
predatory habits they are admirably adapted; their teeth are terrible,
and produce a dreadful wound; the neck is slender, the body increasing
gradually to about the middle in diameter, and then decreasing. The
tail is a grasping instrument, strongly prehensile, and aided by two
hooklike claws, sheathed with horn, externally visible on each side,
beneath, just anterior to the base of the tail. Though externally
nothing beyond these spurs appear, internally is found a series of
bones, representing those of the hinder limbs, but of course
imperfectly developed; yet they are acted upon by powerful muscles,
and can be so used as to form a sort of antagonist to the tail while
grasping any object; they thus become a fulcrum giving additional
force to the grasp, which secured thereby to a fixed point, giving
double power to the animal's energy.
The emperor boa, or boa constrictor as well as all the others to which
the name boa applies are, according to Cuvier, natives of America. The
engraving represents one of these terrible snakes in the act of
strangling a deer.
The Aboma (_Boa cenchrea_) has scaly plates on the muzzle, and pits or
dimples upon the plates of the jaws.
Endowed with powers which in a semicivilized state of society must
operate powerfully on the mind; at ease and freedom alike on the land,
in the water, or among the trees; at once wily, daring, and
irresistible in their attack, graceful in their movements, and
splendid in their coloring--that such creatures, to be both dreaded
and admired, should become the subject of superstitious reverence, is
scarcely to be wondered at. The ancient Mexicans regarded the boa as
sacred; they viewed its actions with religious horror; they crouched
beneath the fiery glances of its eyes; they trembled as they listened
to its long-drawn hiss, and from various signs and movements predicted
the fate of tribes or individuals, or drew conclusions of guilt or
innocence. The supreme idol was represented encircled and guarded by
sculptured serpents, before which were offered human sacrifices.
"On a blue throne, with four huge silver snakes,
As if the keepers of the sanctuary,
Circled, with stretching necks and fangs display'd,
Mexitli sate: another graven snake
Belted with scales of gold his monster bulk."
It is probably of the boa constrictor, the emperor, the devin, that
Hernandez writes, under the name of Temacuilcahuilia, so called from
its powers, the word meaning a fighter with five men. It attacks, he
says, those it meets, and overpowers them with such force, that if it
once coils itself around their necks it strangles and kills them,
unless it bursts itself by the violence of its own efforts; and he
states that the only way of avoiding the attack is for the man to
manage in such a way as to oppose a tree to the animal's constriction,
so that while the serpent supposes itself to be crushing the man, it
may be torn asunder by its own act, and so die. We do not ask our
readers for their implicit faith in this. He adds, that he has himself
seen serpents as thick as a man's thigh, which had been taken young by
the Indians and tamed; they were provided with a cask strewn with
litter in the place of a cavern, where they lived, and were for the
most part quiescent, except at meal-times, when they came forth, and
amicably climbed about the couch or shoulders of their master, who
placidly bore the serpent's embrace. They often coiled tip in folds,
equalling a large sized cartwheel in size, and harmlessly received
their food.
In most accounts current respecting the mode in which boas and pythons
take their food, the snake, after crushing its prey, is described as
licking the body with its tongue and lubricating it with its saliva,
in order to facilitate the act of deglutition. It has been observed
with justice that few worse instruments for such a purpose than the
slender dark forked tongue of these snakes could have been contrived:
and that, in fact, the saliva does not begin to be poured out
abundantly till required to lubricate the jaws and throat of the
animal straining to engulph the carcass. We have seen these snakes
take their food, but they did not lubricate it, though the vibratory
tongue often touched it; we must, therefore, withhold our credence
from the common assertion.
The size attained by the boa is often very great, and larger
individuals than any now seen occurred formerly, before their ancient
haunts had been invaded by human colonization.
The Anaconda, (_Boa Scytale_), called by Linnaeus, Boa Murina, and by
Prince Maximilian, Boa Aquatica, is of an enormous size, from twenty
to thirty feet in length.
The boa cenchrea has scaly plates on the the muzzle; and dimples upon
the plates at the sides of the jaws. His color is yellowish, with a
row of large brown rings running the whole length of the back, and
variable spots on the sides. These are generally dark, often
containing a whitish semi-lunar mark. This species, according to Seba,
who describes it as Mexican, is the Temacuilcahuilia (or Tamacuilla
Huilia, as Seba writes the word) described by Hernandez. The species
here described, according to Cuvier, grow nearly to the same size, and
haunt the marshy parts of South America. There, adhering by the tail
to some aquatic tree, they suffer the anterior part of the body to
float upon the water, and patiently wait to seize upon the quadrupeds
which come to drink.
Our engraving represents him in the attitude of watching for a deer
which is seen, in the distance.
A specimen apparently of the boa scytale called in Venezuela "La
Culebra de Agua," or water serpent, and also "El Traga Venado," or
deer-swallower, which measures nineteen feet and a half in length, was
presented by Sir Robert Ker Porter to the United Service Museum. He
states that "The flesh of this serpent is white and abundant in fat.
The people of the plains never eat it, but make use of the fat as a
remedy for rheumatic pains, ruptures, strains, &c."
"This serpent," says Sir B. K. Porter, "is not venomous nor known to
injure man (at least not in this part of the New World;) however, the
natives stand in great fear of it, never bathing in waters where it is
known to exist. Its common haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably
near lakes, swamps, and rivers; likewise close wet ravines produced by
inundations of the periodical rains: hence, from its aquatic habits,
its first appellation. Fish and those animals which repair there to
drink, are the objects of its prey. The creature lurks watchfully
under cover of the water, and, whilst the unsuspecting animal is
drinking, suddenly makes a dash at the nose, and with a grip of its
back-raclining double range of teeth never fails to secure the
terrified beast beyond the power of escape."
It would appear that boas are apt to be carried out to sea by sudden
floods, and are sometimes drifted alive on distant coasts. The Rev.
Lansdown Guilding, writing in the Island of St. Vincent, says, "A
noble specimen of the boa constrictor was lately conveyed to us by the
currents, twisted round the trunk of a large sound cedar tree, which
had probably been washed out of the bank, by the floods of some great
South American river, while its huge folds hang on the branches as it
waited for its prey. The monster was fortunately destroyed after
killing a few sheep, and his skeleton now hangs before me in my study,
putting me in mind how much reason I might have had to fear in my
future rambles through St. Vincent, had this formidable animal been a
pregnant female and escaped to a safe retreat."
The pythons closely resemble the true boas, but have the subcaudal
plates double; the muzzle is sheathed with plates, and those covering
the mouth of the jaws have pits. These snakes, which equal or exceed
the boas in magnitude, are natives of India, Africa, and Australia.
Pliny speaks of snakes in India of such a size as to be capable of
swallowing stags and bulls; and Valerius Maximus, quoting a lost
portion of Pliny's work, narrates the alarm into which the troops
under Regulus were thrown by a serpent which had its lair on the banks
of the river Bagradas, between Utica and Carthage, and which
intercepted the passage to the river. It resisted ordinary weapons,
and killed many of the men; till at last it was destroyed by heavy
stones thrown from military engines used in battering walls; its
length is stated as a hundred and twenty feet. Regulus carried its
skin and jaws to Rome, and deposited them in one of the temples, where
they remained till the time of the Numantine war.
Diodorus Siculus relates the account of the capture of a serpent, not
without loss of life, in Egypt, which measured thirty cubits long; it
was taken to Alexandria. Suetonius speaks of a serpent exhibited at
Rome in front of the Comitium, fifty cubits in length.
Though we do not refuse credit to these narratives, it must be added
that in modern days we have not seen serpents of such magnitude; yet
they may exist. Bontius observes that some of the Indian pythons
exceed thirty-six feet in length, and says that they swallow wild
boars, adding, "there are those alive who partook with General Peter
Both, of a recently swallowed hog cut out of the belly of a serpent of
this kind."
These snakes, he observes, are not poisonous, but strangle a man or
other animal by powerful compression. The Ular Sawa, or great Python
of the Sunda Isles, is said to exceed when full-grown, thirty feet in
length; and it is narrated that a "Malay prow being anchored for the
night under the Island of Celebes, one of the crew went ashore, in
search of betel nut, and, as was supposed, fell asleep on the beach,
on his return. In the dead of night, his companions on board were
aroused by dreadful screams; they immediately went ashore, but they
came too late, the cries had ceased--the man had breathed his last in
the folds of an enormous serpent, which they killed. They cut off the
head of the snake and carried it, together with the lifeless body of
their comrade, to the vessel; the right wrists of the corpse bore the
marks of the serpent's teeth, and the disfigured body showed that the
man had been crushed by the constriction of the reptile round the
head, neck, breast, and thigh."
Mr. McLeod, in his voyage of H.M.S. Alceste, after describing the mode
in which a python on board, sixteen feet in length, crushed and gorged
a goat, the distressing cries of which on being introduced into the
serpent's cage, could not but excite compassion, goes on to say that
during a captivity of some months at Whidah, in the kingdom of
Dahomey, on the coast of Africa, he had opportunities of observing
pythons of more than double that size, and which were capable of
swallowing animals much larger that goats or sheep. "Governor Abson,"
he adds, "who had for thirty-seven years resided at Fort William, one
of the African Company's settlements there, describes some desperate
struggles which he had seen, or which had come to his knowledge,
between the snakes and wild beasts as well as the smaller cattle, in
which the former were always victorious. A negro herdsman belonging to
Mr. Abson, and who afterwards limped for many years about the fort,
had been seized by one of these monsters by the thigh; but from his
situation in a wood the serpent in attempting to throw himself around
him got entangled in a tree; and the man being thus preserved from a
state of compression, which would instantly have rendered him quite
powerless, had presence of mind enough to cut with a large knife which
he carried about with him, deep gashes in the neck and throat of his
antagonist, thereby killing him, and disengaging himself from his
frightful situation. He never afterwards, however, recovered the use
of his limb, which had sustained considerable injury from the fangs
and mere force of his jaws."
Ludolph states that enormous snakes exist in Ethiopia: and Bosman
informs us that entire men have been found in the gullet of serpents
on the Gold coast. In the "Oriental Annual" is the following
narrative, explanatory of a well-known picture by W. Daniell: "A few
years before our visit to Calcutta," says the writer, "the captain of
a country ship while passing the Sunderbunds sent a boat into one of
the creeks to obtain some fresh fruits, which are cultivated by the
few miserable inhabitants of this inhospitable region. Having reached
the shore the crew moored the boat under a bank, and left one of their
party to take care of her."
During their absence, the lascar who remained in charge of the boat,
overcome by heat, lay down under the seats and fell asleep. While he
was in this happy state of unconsciousness an enormous boa, python,
emerged from the jungle, reached the boat, had already coiled its huge
body round the sleeper, and was in the very act of crushing him to
death, when his companions fortunately returned at this auspicious
moment, and attacking the monster, severed a portion of its tail,
which so disabled it that it no longer retained the power of doing
mischief. The snake was then easily despatched, and was found to
measure, as stated, sixty-two feet and some inches in length. It is
hardly probable that the snake had fairly entwined round the man, for
the sudden compression of the chest, had the snake exerted its
strength, would have been instantly fatal.
In March, 1841, a singular circumstance occurred at the gardens of the
Zoological Society, which at the time caused no little surprise. A
python, eleven or twelve feet long, and one about nine feet long, were
kept together in a well-secured cage; both had been fed one evening,
the larger one with three guinea pigs and a rabbit; but, as it would
appear, his appetite was unsatiated. The next morning, when the keeper
came to look into the cage, the smaller python was missing--its escape
was impossible--and the question was what had become of it?
The truth was evident--its larger companion had swallowed it. There it
lay torpid, and bloated to double its ordinary dimensions. How it
accomplished the act is not known, but we may imagine a fearful
struggle to have taken place, as wreathing round each other they
battled for the mastery; unless, indeed, the victim was itself torpid
and incapable of resistance.
The Tiger Python, (_Python, tigris_), is a native of India and Java,
and is often brought over to England for exhibition. It was, we
believe, from one of these species that Mr. Cops, the keeper of the
lion office was in imminent danger, as narrated by Mr. Broderip.
The animal was near shedding its skin, and consequently nearly blind,
for the skin of the eye, which is shed with the rest of the slough,
becomes then opaque, when Mr. Cops, wishing it to feed, held a fowl to
its head. The snake darted at the bird, but missed it, seizing the
keeper by the left thumb, and coiled round his arm and neck in a
moment. Mr. Cops, who was alone, did not lose his presence of mind,
and immediately attempted to relieve himself of the powerful
constriction by getting at the snake's head. But the serpent had so
knotted himself on his own head, that Mr. Cops could not reach it, and
had thrown himself on the floor in order to grapple with a better
chance of success, when two other keepers coming in broke the teeth of
the serpent, and with some difficulty relieved Mr. Cops from his
perilous situation. Two broken teeth were extracted from the thumb,
which soon healed, and no material inconvenience was the result of
this frightful adventure.
Mr. Cumming, to whose exploits we have so frequently referred, gives
the following account of a day's adventures, one of which was an
amusing affair with a large python.
On the 26th, I rose at earliest dawn to inspect the heads of the three
old buffaloes, they were all enormous old bulls, and one of them
carried a most splendid head. The lions had cleaned out all his
entrails; their spoor [Footnote: Spoor, _i.e.,_ track] was immense.
Having taken some buffalo breast and liver for breakfast, I despatched
Ruyter to the wagons to call the natives to remove the carcasses,
while I and Kleinboy held through the hills to see what game might be
in the next glen which contained water. On my way thither, we started
a fine old buck koodoo, which I shot, putting both barrels into him at
one hundred yards. As I was examining the spoor of the game by the
fountain, I suddenly detected an enormous old rock-snake stealing in
beside a mass of rock beside me. He was truly an enormous snake, and,
having never before dealt with this species of game, I did not exactly
know how to set about capturing him. Being very anxious to preserve
his skin entire, and not wishing to have recourse to my rifle, I cut a
stout and tough stick about eight feet long, and having lightened
myself of my shooting-belt, I commenced the attack. Seizing him by the
tail, I tried to get him out of his place of refuge; but I hauled in
vain; he only drew his large folds firmer together; I could not move
him. At length I got a rheim round one of his folds about the middle
of his body, and Kleinboy and I commenced hauling away in good
earnest.
The snake, finding the ground too hot for him, relaxed his coils, and,
suddenly bringing round his head to the front, he sprang out at us
like an arrow, with his immense and hideous mouth opened to its
largest dimensions, and before I could get out of the way he was clean
out of his hole, and made a second spring, throwing himself forward
about eight or ten feet, and snapping his horrid fangs within a foot
of my legs. I sprang out of his way, and, getting hold of the green
bough I had cut, returned to the charge. The snake was now gliding
along at top speed: he knew the ground well, and was making for a mass
of broken rocks, where he would have been beyond my reach, but before
he could gain this place of refuge I caught him two or three
tremendous whacks on the head. He, however, held on, and gained a pool
of muddy water, which he was rapidly crossing, when I again belabored
him, and at length reduced his pace to a stand. We then hanged him by
the neck to a bough of a tree, and in about fifteen minutes he seemed
dead, but he again became very troublesome during the operation of
skinning, twisting his body in all manner of ways. This serpent
measured fourteen feet.
Adventure with Buffalo and Elephant.
The Cape Buffalo we have already described, and we now refer to him
again only for the purpose of quoting Mr. Cumming's account of a
spirited fight with one. He thus relates the affair.
On the evening of the next day I had a glorious row with an old bull
buffalo: he was the only large bull in a fine herd of cows. I found
their spoor while walking ahead of the wagon, and following it up, I
came upon a part of the herd feeding quietly in a dense part of the
forest. I fired my first shot at a cow, which I wounded. The other
half of the herd then came up right in my face, within six yards of
me. They would have trampled on me if I had not sung out in their
faces and turned them. I selected the old bull and sent a bullet into
his shoulder. The herd then crashed along through the jungle to my
right, but he at once broke away from them and took to my left. On
examining his spoor, I found it bloody. I then went to meet my wagons,
which I heard coming on, and, ordering the men to outspan, I took all
my dogs to the spoor. They ran it up in fine style, and in a few
minutes the silence of the forest was disturbed by a tremendous bay.
On running towards the sound I met the old fellow coming on towards
the wagons, with all my dogs after him. I saluted him with a second
ball in the shoulder; he held on and took up a position in the thicket
within forty yards of the wagons, where I finished him. He carried a
most splendid head.
In another part of his narrative, Mr. Cumming thus describes a
desperate battle with an elephant.
On the 27th I cast loose my horses at earliest dawn of day, and then I
lay half asleep for two hours, when I arose to consume coffee and
rhinoceros. Having breakfasted, I started with a party of natives to
search for elephants in a southerly direction. We held along the
gravelly bed of a periodical river, in which were abundance of holes
excavated by the elephants in quest of water. Here the spoor of
rhinoceros was extremely plentiful, and in every hole where they had
drunk the print of the horn was visible. We soon found the spoor of an
old bull elephant, which led us into a dense forest, where the ground
was particularly unfavorable for spooring; we, however, threaded it
out for a considerable distance, when it joined the spoor of other
bulls.
The natives now requested me to halt, while the men went off in
different directions to reconnoitre. In the mean time a tremendous
conflagration was roaring and crackling close to windward of us. It
was caused by the Bakalahari burning the old dry grass to enable the
young to spring up with greater facility, whereby they retained the
game in their dominions. The fire stretched away for many miles on
either side of us, darkening the forest far to leeward with a dense
and impenetrable canopy of smoke. Here we remained for about half an
hour, when one of the men returned, reporting that he had discovered
elephants. This I could scarcely credit, for I fancied that the
extensive fire which raged so fearfully must have driven, not only
elephants, but every living creature out of the district, The native,
however, pointed to his eye, repeating the word "Klow," and signed to
me to follow him.
My guide led me about a mile through dense forest, when we reached a
little wellwood hill, to whose summit we ascended, whence a view might
have been obtained of the surrounding country, had not volumes of
smoke obscured the scenery far and wide, as though issuing from the
funnels of a thousand steamboats. Here, to my astonishment, my guide
halted, and pointed to the thicket close beneath me, when I instantly
perceived the colossal backs of a herd of bull elephants. There they
stood quietly browsing on the lee side of the hill, while the fire in
its might was raging to windward within two hundred yards of them.
I directed Johannus to choose an elephant, and promised to reward him
should he prove successful. Galloping furiously down the hill, I
started the elephants with an unearthly yell, and instantly selected
the finest in the herd. Placing myself alongside, I fired both barrels
behind his shoulder, when he instantly turned upon me, and in his
impetuous career charged head foremost against a large bushy tree
which he sent flying before him high in the air with tremendous force,
coming down at the same moment violently on his knees. He then met the
raging fire, when, altering his course, he wheeled to the right-about
As I galloped after him I perceived another noble elephant meeting us
in an opposite direction, and presently the gallant Johannus hove in
sight, following his quarry at a respectful distance. Both elephants
held on together, so I shouted to Johannus, "I will give your elephant
a shot in the shoulder and you must try to finish him." Spurring my
horse, I rode close alongside, and gave the fresh elephant two balls
immediately behind the shoulder, when he parted from mine, Johannus
following; but before many minutes had elapsed that mighty Nimrod
reappeared, having fired one shot and lost his prey.
In the mean time I was loading and firing as fast as could be,
sometimes at the head, sometimes behind the shoulder, until my
elephant's fore-quarters were a mass of gore, notwithstanding which he
continued to hold stoutly on, leaving the grass and branches of the
forest scarlet in his wake.
On one occasion he endeavored to escape by charging desperately amid
the thickest of the flames; but this did not avail, and I was soon
once more alongside. I blazed away at this elephant, until I began to
think that he was proof against my weapons. Having fired thirty-five
rounds with my two-grooved rifle, I opened fire upon him with the
Dutch six-pounder; and when forty bullets had perforated his hide, he
began for the first time to evince signs of a dilapidated
constitution. He took up a position in a grove; and as the dogs kept
barking round him, he backed stern foremost amongst the trees, which
yielded before his gigantic strength. Poor old fellow! he had long
braved my deadly shafts, but I plainly saw that it was all over with
him; so I resolved to expend no further ammunition, but hold him in
view until he died. Throughout the chase this elephant repeatedly
cooled his person with large quantities of water, which he ejected
from his trunk over his back and sides; and just as the pangs of death
came over him, he stood trembling violently beside a thorny tree, and
kept pouring water into his bloody mouth until he died, when he
pitched heavily forward, with the whole weight of his fore-quarters
resting on the points of his tusks.
A most singular occurrence now took place. He lay in this posture for
several seconds, but the amazing pressure of the carcase was more than
the head was able to support. He had fallen with his head so short
under him that the tusks received little assistance from his legs.
Something must give way. The strain on the mighty tusks was fair; they
did not, therefore, yield; but the portion of his head in which his
trunk was imbedded, extending a long way above the eye, yielded and
burst with a muffled crash. The tusk was thus free, and turned right
round in his head, so that a man could draw it out, and the carcase
fell over and rested on its side. This was a very first-rate elephant,
and the tusks he carried were long and perfect.
Hunting the Orix and the Lion.
Mr. Cumming was extremely desirous to fall in with an oryx, and carry
off his fine head with its splendid long horns as a trophy. He thus
describes a long but successful chase for one.
At at early hour on the morning of the 16th, Paterson and I took the
field, accompanied by our three after-riders, and having ridden
several miles in a northerly direction, we started an oryx, to which
Paterson and his after-rider immediately gave chase. I then rode in an
easterly direction, and shortly fell in with a fine old cow oryx,
which we instantly charged. She stole away at a killing pace, her
black tail streaming in the wind, and her long, sharp horns laid well
back over her shoulders. Aware of her danger, and anxious to gain the
desert, she put forth her utmost speed and strained across the bushy
plain. She led us a tearing chase of upwards of five miles in a
northerly course, Cobus sticking well into her, and I falling far
behind. After a sharp burst of about three miles, Cobus and the grey
disappeared over a ridge about half a mile ahead of me. I mounted a
fresh horse, which had been led by Jacob, and followed. On gaming the
ridge, I perceived the grey disappearing over another ridge, a
fearfully long way ahead. When I reached this point I commanded an
extremely extensive prospect, but no living object was visible on the
desolate plain.
Whilst deliberating in which direction to ride, I suddenly heard a
pistol-shot, some distance to my left, which I knew to be Cobus's
signal that the oryx was at bay. Having ridden half a mile, I
discovered Cobus dismounted in a hollow, and no oryx in view. He had
succeeded in riding the quarry to a stand, and, I not immediately
appearing, he very injudiciously had at once lost sight of the buck
and left it.
Having upbraided Cobus in no measured terms for his stupidity, I
sought to retrieve the fortunes of the day by riding in the direction
in which he had left the oryx. The ground here was uneven and
interspersed with low hillocks. We extended our front and rode on up
wind, and, having crossed two or three ridges, I discovered a troop of
bucks a long way ahead. Having made for these, they turned out to be
hartebeests. At this moment I perceived three magnificent oryx a short
distance to my left. On observing us, they cantered along the ridge
towards a fourth oryx, which I at once perceived to be "embossed with
foam and dark with soil," and knew to be the antelope sought for. Once
more we charged her. Our horses had now considerably recovered their
wind, but the poor oryx was much distressed; and after a chase of half
a mile I jumped off my horse and sent a bullet through her ribs, which
brought her to a stand, when I finished her with the other barrel. She
proved a fine old cow with very handsome horns; the spot on which she
fell being so sterile that we could not even obtain the smallest
bushes with which to conceal her from the vultures, we covered her
with my after-rider's saddle-cloth, which consisted of a large
blanket. The head, on which I placed great value, we cut off and bore
along with us.
On my way home I come across Pater-son's after-rider, "jaging" a troop
of gemsboks, but fearfully to leeward, his illustrious master being
nowhere in sight. An hour after I reached the camp Paterson came in,
in a towering rage, having been unlucky in both his chases. I now
despatched one of my wagons to bring home my oryx. It returned about
twelve o'clock that night, carrying the skin of my gemsbok and also a
magnificent old blue wildebeest (the brindled gnoo,) which the
Hottentots had obtained in an extraordinary manner. He was found with
one of his fore legs caught over his horn, so that he could not run,
and they hamstrung him and cut his throat. He had probably managed to
get himself into this awkward attitude while fighting with some of his
fellows. The vultures had consumed all the flesh of the oryx, and
likewise torn my blanket with which I had covered her.
Mr. Gumming thus describes an innumerable herd of blesboks which he
encountered in the plains of Africa.
The game became plentiful in about ten days after we left Colesberg,
but when we came to the Vet River I beheld with astonishment and
delight decidedly one of the most wonderful displays which I had
witnessed during my varied sporting career in Southern Africa. On my
right and left the plain exhibited one purple mass of graceful
blesboks, which extended without a break as far as my eyes could
strain: the depth of their vast legions covered a breadth of about six
hundred yards. On pressing upon them, they cantered along before me,
not exhibiting much alarm, taking care, however, not to allow me to
ride within six hundred yards of them. On, on I rode, intensely
excited with the wondrous scene before me, and hoped at length to get
to windward of at least some portion of the endless living mass which
darkened the plain, but in vain. Like squadrons of dragoons, the
entire breadth of this countless herd held on their forward course as
if aware of my intention, and resolved not to allow one to weather
them.
At length I determined to play upon their ranks, and, pressing my
horse to his utmost speed, I dashed forward, and, suddenly halting,
sprang from the saddle, and, giving my rifle at least two feet of
elevation, red right and left into one of their darkest masses. A
noble buck dropped to the right barrel, and the second shot told
loudly; no buck however, fell, and, after lying for half a minute the
prostrate blesbok rose, and was quickly lost sight of amongst the
retreating herd.
In half a minute I was again loaded, and after galloping a few hundred
yards let drive into them, but was still unsuccessful. Excited, and
annoyed at my want of luck, I resolved to follow them up, and blaze
away while a shot remained in the locker, which I did; until, after
riding about eight or ten miles, I found my ammunition expended, and
not a single blesbok bagged, although at least a dozen must have been
wounded. It was now high time to retrace my steps and seek my wagons.
I accordingly took a point, and rode across the trackless country in
the direction for which they were steering.
I very soon once more fell in with fresh herds of thousands of
blesboks. As it was late in the day, and I being on the right side for
the wind, the blesboks were very tame, and allowed me to ride along
within rifle-shot of them, and those which ran barged resolutely past
me up the wind in long-continued streams. I took a lucky course for
the wagons, and came right upon them, after they had outspanned on the
bank of the Vet River. I could willingly have devoted a month to
blesbok-shooting in this hunter's elysium.
The following is one of Mr. Cumming's most remarkable lion hunts.
We trecked up along the banks of the river for the Mariqua, and a
little before sundown fell in with two enormous herds of buffaloes,
one of which, consisting chiefly of bulls, stood under the shady trees
on one side of the bank, whilst the other, composed chiefly of cows
and calves, stood on the opposite side, a little higher up the river.
In all there were at least three hundred. Thinking it probable that if
I hunted them I might kill some old bull with a head perhaps worthy of
my collection, I ordered my men to outspan, and, having saddled
steeds, I gave chase to the herd of bulls, accompanied by Booi and my
dogs. After a short burst they took through the river, whereby I lost
sight of an old bull which carried the finest head in the herd. My
dogs, however, brought a cow to bay as they crossed the river, which I
shot standing in the water, but not before she had killed a
particularly favorite bull-dog, named Pompey.
I then continued the chase, and again came up with the herd, which was
now considerably scattered: and after a sharp chase, part of which was
through a wait-a-bit thorn cover, I brought eight or nine fine bulls
to bay in lofty reeds at the river's margin, exactly opposite to my
camp; of these I singled out the two best heads, one of which I shot
with five balls, and wounded the other badly, but he made off while I
was engaged with his comrade.
In the morning I instructed four of my people to cross the river, and
bring over a supply of buffalo meat. These men were very reluctant to
go, fearing a lion might have taken possession of the carcase. On
proceeding to reconnoitre from our side, they beheld the majestic
beast they dreaded walk slowly up the opposite bank from the dead
buffalo, and take up a position on the top of the bank under some
shady thorn-trees. I resolved to give him battle, and rode forth with
my double-barrelled Westly Richards rifle, followed by men leading the
dogs. Present, who was one of the party, carried his _roer_, no doubt
to perform wonders. The wind blew up the river; I accordingly held up
to seek a drift, and crossed a short distance above where the buffalo
lay. As we drew near the spot, I observed the lion sitting on the top
of the bank, exactly where he had been seen last by my people.
On my right and within two hundred yards of me, was a very extensive
troop of pallahs, which antelope invariably manage to be in the way
when it is not wanted. On this occasion, however, I succeeded in
preventing my dogs from observing them. When the lion saw us coming,
he overhauled us for a moment, and then slunk back for concealment;
being well to leeward of him I ordered the dogs to be slipped, and
galloped forward. On finding that he was attacked, the lion at first
made a most determined bolt for it, followed by all the dogs at a
racing pace; and when they came up with him he would not bay, but
continued his course down the bank of the river, keeping close in
beside the reeds, growling terribly at the dogs, which kept up an
incessant angry barking.
The bank of the river was intersected by deep watercourses, and the
ground being extremely slippery from the rain which had fallen during
the night, I was unable to overtake him until he came to bay in a
patch of lofty dense reeds which grew on the lower bank, immediately
adjacent to the river's margin. I had brought out eleven of my dogs,
and before I could come up three of them were killed. On reaching the
spot I found it impossible to obtain the slightest glimpse of the
lion, although the ground favored me, I having the upper bank to stand
upon; so, dismounting from my horse, I tried to guess, from his horrid
growling, his exact position, and fired several shots on chance, but
none of these hit him. I then commenced pelting him with lumps of
earth and sticks, there being no stones at hand. This had the effect
of making him change his position, but he still kept in the densest
part of the reeds, where I could do nothing with him.
Presently my followers came up, who, as a matter of course, at once
established themselves safely in the tops of thorn trees. After about
ten minutes' bullying, the lion seemed to consider his quarters too
hot for him, and suddenly made a rush to escape from his persecutors,
continuing his course down along the edge of the river. The dogs,
however, again gave him chase, and soon brought him to bay in another
dense patch of reeds, just as bad as the last.
Out of this in a few minutes I managed to start him, when he bolted up
the river, and came to bay in a narrow strip of reeds. Here he lay so
close that for a long time I could not ascertain his whereabouts; at
length, however, he made a charge among the dogs, and, coming forward,
took up a position near the outside of the reeds, where for the first
time I was enabled to give him a shot. My ball entered his body a
little behind the shoulder. On receiving it he charged growling after
the dogs, but not farther than the edge of the reeds, out of which he
was extremely reluctant to move I gave him a second shot, firing for
his head; my ball entered at the edge of his eye, and passed through
the back of the roof of his mouth.
The lion then sprang up, and, facing about, dashed through the reeds,
and plunged into the river, across he swam, dyeing the waters with his
blood; one black dog, named "Schwart," alone pursued him. A huge
crocodile, attracted by the blood, followed in their wake, but
fortunately did not take my dog, which I much feared he would do.
Present fired at the lion as he swam, and missed him; both my barrels
were empty. Before, however, the lion could reach the opposite bank, I
had one loaded without patch, and just as his feet gained the ground I
made a fine shot at him neck, and turned him over dead on the spot.
Present, Carollus, and Adonis then swam in and brought him through. We
landed him by an old hippopotamus footpath, and the day being damp and
cold, we kindled a fire, beside which we skinned him.
While this was going forward I had a painful duty to perform, viz. to
load one barrel, and blow out Rascality's brains, whom the lion had
utterly disabled in his after-quarters. Thus ended this protracted and
all but unsuccessful hunt; for when I at length managed to shoot him,
the dogs were quite tired of it, and, the reeds being green, I could
not have set them on fire to force him out.
The lion proved to be a first-rate one; he was in the prime of life,
and had an exquisitely beautiful coat of hair. His mane was not very
rank; his awful teeth were quite perfect, a thing which in lions of
his age is rather unusual; and he had the finest tuft of hair on the
end of his tail that I had ever seen in a lion.
In the chase, my after-rider, who fortunately did not carry my rifle,
got a tremendous capsize from bad riding, a common occurrence with
most after-riders who have been employed in my service. The afternoon
was spent in drying the mane of the wet lion, skinning out the feet,
and preserving the skin with alum and arsenical soap.
Hunting the Giraffe.
Mr. Cumming thus describes the giraffe. These gigantic and exquisitely
beautiful animals, which are admirably formed by nature to adorn the
fair forests that clothe the boundless plains of the interior, are
widely distributed throughout the interior of Southern Africa, but are
nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In countries unmolested by
the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found generally in herds
varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not unfrequently met with
herds containing thirty individuals, and on one occasion I counted
forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen
may be reckoned as the average number of a herd. These herds are
composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe of nine
or ten feet in height, to the dark chestnut-colored old bull of the
herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally
attaining a height of upwards of eighteen feet. The females are of
lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height
averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet.
Some writers have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the
giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the most strikingly
beautiful animals in the creation; and when a herd of them is seen
scattered through a grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias
which adorn their native plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they
are enabled to browse by the colossal height with which nature has so
admirably endowed them, he must indeed be slow of conception who fails
to discover both grace and dignity in all their movements.
On the 24th, at the dawn of day, we inspanned, and trekked about five
hours in a northeasterly course, through a boundless open country,
sparingly adorned with dwarfish old tree. In the distance the
long-sought mountains of Bamangwato at length loomed blue before me. We
halted beside a glorious fountain, which at once made me forget all
the cares and difficulties I had encountered in reaching it.
The name of this fountain was Massouey, but I at once christened it
"the Elephant's own Fountain." This was a very remarkable spot on the
southern borders of endless elephant forests, at which I had at length
arrived. The fountain was deep and strong, situated in a hollow at the
eastern extremity of an extensive vley, and its margin was surrounded
by a level stratum of solid old red sandstone. Here and there lay a
thick layer of soil upon a rock, and this was packed flat with the
fresh spoors of elephants. Around the water's edge the very rock was
worn down by the gigantic feet which for ages had trodden there.
The soil of the surrounding country was white and yellow sand, but
grass, trees, and bushes were abundant. From the borders of the
fountain a hundred well-trodden elephant foot-paths led away in every
direction, like the radii of a circle. The breadth of the paths was
about three feet; those leading to the northward and east was most
frequented, the country in those directions being well wooded.
We drew up the wagons on a hillock on the eastern side of the water.
This position commanded a good view of any game that might approach to
drink. I had just cooked my breakfast, and commenced to feed when I
heard my men exclaim, "Almatig keek de ghroote clomp cameel;" and
raising my eyes from my sassayby stew, I beheld a truly beautiful and
very unusual scene. From the margin of the fountain there extended an
open level vley, without tree or bush, that stretched away about a
mile to the northward, where it was bounded by extensive grooves of
wide-spreading mimosas. Up the middle of this vley stalked a troop of
ten colossal giraffes, flanked by two large herds of blue wildebeests
and zebras, with an advance guard of pallahs. They were all coming to
the fountain to drink, and would be within rifle-shot of the wagons
before I could finish my breakfast. I, however, continued to swallow
my food with the utmost expedition, having directed my men to catch
and saddle Colesberg.
In a few minutes the giraffes were slowly advancing within two hundred
yards, stretching their graceful necks, and gazing in wonder at the
unwonted wagons. Grasping my rifle, I now mounted Colesberg, and rode
slowly toward them. They continued gazing at the wagons until I was
within one hundred yards of them, when, whisking their long tails over
their rumps, they made off at an easy canter. As I pressed upon them
they increased their pace; but Colesberg had much the speed of them,
and before we had proceeded half a mile I was riding by the shoulder
of the dark chestnut old bull, whose head towered above the rest.
Letting fly at the gallop, I wounded him behind the shoulder; soon
after which I broke him from the herd, and presently going ahead of
him, he came to a stand. I then gave him a second bullet, somewhere
near the first. These two shots had taken effect, and he was now in my
power, but I would not lay him low so far from camp; so having waited
until he had regained his breath I drove him half way back toward the
wagons. Here he became obstreperous; so loading one barrel, and
pointing my rifle toward the clouds, I shot him in the throat, when,
rearing high, he fell backward and expired.
This was a magnificent specimen of the giraffe, measuring upwards of
eighteen feet in height. I stood for nearly half an hour engrossed in
the contemplation of his extreme beauty and gigantic proportions; and
if there had been no elephants, I could have exclaimed, like Duke
Alexander of Gordon, when he killed the famous old stag with seventeen
tine, "Now I can die happy." But I longed for an encounter with the
noble elephants, and I thought little more of the giraffe than if I
had killed a gemsbok or an eland.
There are various modes of capturing giraffes. The Americans, who seek
them for their menageries, have the Mexican lasso, a long cord which
is thrown over the animal's head; and by casting him to the ground and
surrounding him by a large force of hunters, he is then captured
without difficulty.
Mr. Cumming thus notices the pitfalls used by the natives of Africa
for taking the giraffe and other animals:--Starvation was written in
the faces of these inhabitants of the forest. In their miserable
villages were a few small gardens, containing watermelons and a little
corn. Occasionally they have the luck to capture some large animal in
a pitfall, when for a season they live in plenty. But as they do not
possess salt, the flesh soon spoils, when they are compelled once more
to roam the forests in quest of fruits and roots, on which, along with
locusts, they in a great measure subsist. In districts where game is
abundant, they often construct their pits on a large scale, and erect
hedges in the form of a crescent, extending to nearly a mile on either
side of the pit. By this means, the game may easily be driven into the
pitfalls which are easily covered over with thin sticks and dry grass;
and thus whole herds of zebras and wildebeests are massacred at once,
which capture is followed by the most disgusting banquets, the poor
starving savages gorging and surfeiting in a manner worthy only of the
vulture or hyæna. They possess no cattle, and, if they did, the
nearest chief would immediately rob them. All parts of the country
abounded with pitfalls made by these and others of the Bakalahari.
Many of these had been dug expressly for the giraffe, and were
generally three feet wide, and ten long; their depth was from nine to
ten feet. They were placed in the path of the giraffe, and in the
vicinity of several of these we detected the bones of giraffes,
indicating the success that had attended their formation.