Sportsmen, However,
Would Not Now Find An Equal Number, For As Guns Are Introduced
Among The Tribes All These Fine
Animals melt away like snow in spring.
In the more remote districts, where fire-arms have not yet been introduced,
With the single exception of the rhinoceros, the game is to be found
in numbers much greater than Mr. Cumming ever saw. The tsetse is, however,
an insuperable barrier to hunting with horses there, and Europeans
can do nothing on foot. The step of the elephant when charging the hunter,
though apparently not quick, is so long that the pace equals
the speed of a good horse at a canter. A young sportsman, no matter how great
among pheasants, foxes, and hounds, would do well to pause before resolving
to brave fever for the excitement of risking such a terrific charge;
the scream or trumpeting of this enormous brute when infuriated
is more like what the shriek of a French steam-whistle would be to a man
standing on the dangerous part of a rail-road than any other earthly sound:
a horse unused to it will sometimes stand shivering instead of taking
his rider out of danger. It has happened often that the poor animal's legs
do their duty so badly that he falls and causes his rider
to be trodden into a mummy; or, losing his presence of mind,
the rider may allow the horse to dash under a tree and crack his cranium
against a branch. As one charge from an elephant has made embryo Nimrods
bid a final adieu to the chase, incipient Gordon Cummings
might try their nerves by standing on railways till the engines were within
a few yards of them. Hunting elephants on foot would be not less dangerous,*
unless the Ceylon mode of killing them by one shot could be followed:
it has never been tried in Africa.
-
* Since writing the above statement, it has received confirmation
in the reported death of Mr. Wahlberg while hunting elephants on foot
at Lake Ngami.
-
Advancing to some wells beyond Letloche, at a spot named Kanne,
we found them carefully hedged round by the people of a Bakalahari village
situated near the spot. We had then sixty miles of country in front
without water, and very distressing for the oxen, as it is generally
deep soft sand. There is one sucking-place, around which were congregated
great numbers of Bushwomen with their egg-shells and reeds.
Mathuluane now contained no water, and Motlatsa only a small supply,
so we sent the oxen across the country to the deep well Nkauane,
and half were lost on the way. When found at last they had been
five whole days without water. Very large numbers of elands
were met with as usual, though they seldom can get a sip of drink.
Many of the plains here have large expanses of grass without trees,
but you seldom see a treeless horizon. The ostrich is generally seen
quietly feeding on some spot where no one can approach him
without being detected by his wary eye.
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