HUNTING IN SOUTH AFRICA.* Tama who look upon hunting of
all descriptions as a noble occupation will be delighted with a book which gives such a picture of one " to the manner born " as does the work of Mr. Selous, who, at the age of nineteen, gathered together his small resources and penetrated into the wilds of Central-South Africa, determined to become nothing less than a professional elephant- hunter. To succeed in such an attempt, a man must not only have a special vocation, but he must be sure of possessing also both a strong will and great powers of endurance, for without these the love of adventure and the pleasure of leading a free- and-easy life, which are, no doubt, great incitements, will not be able to carry him very far ; and it is not surprising that King Lobengula, on seeing such a stripling before him, demanding permission to hunt in his dominions, should have asked the young aspirant if it was not steinbucks he came to kill, con- temptuously telling him that the elephants would soon drive him out of the country, but he might go and see what he could do, and travel wherever he liked, as he was only a boy.
The "boy," however, did not miscalculate his own strength,
for when, three months later, he paid the King a second visit, to pay him the price of the hunting, he had, by shooting and trading, made a clear profit of £300, and quite established his reputation in the eyes of the swarthy monarch, who, on this occasion, de- clared him to be a man; and quite fit to take a wife. It is difficult for those in whom the instincts of tenderness are strongly developed, or who have no natural taste for wild sport, to comprehend the choice of a means of living which necessarily entails the destruction of so many noble animals, numbers of which are as harmless as they are beautiful ; but as the force natures must be conquered before the countries over which they range can be made fit for human occupation, and as it is probable that large portions of Central Africa may ultimately be found suitable for colonization, it is, perhaps, well that pioneers, in the shape of hunters, should not be wanting, especially when they are of the type so often met with by Mr. Selous,—" men who keep up the name of Englishmen amongst the natives for all that is upright and honest."
At any rate, it can be said of this writer that he did not kill
for mere amusement. In his search for ivory he was, of course, accompanied by many Kaffirs, who either shot for him "on halves," or were his paid attendants ; and besides these, he often fell in with hungry natives, who also had to be catered for, and frequently regrets the necessity of having to shoot antelopes and other fauna to provide them with food. Mr. Selous has also in his explorations added materially to our knowledge of natural history, and has, .more than once, furnished valu- able information to the Geographical Society, having pene- trated into some regions hitherto unvisited by Europeans. The papers upon the rhinoceroses and antelopes of Central-South Africa, which were read before the Zoological Society in June last year, have been incorporated into the present volume and are of considerable interest, as the conclusions arrived at in them differ in some respects from those of other writers, and yet appear to be well borne out. But the special raison, d'are of Mr. Selous's book is, as he tells us, to supply to others that information which he himself found so greatly wanting at the beginning of his career, since the work of Baldwin is now too much out of date to be of material assistance to the African hunter.
The book gives a detailed account of eight years' wanderings,.
separated, however, into two distinct expeditions by one year spent at home, the period embraced being from the spring of 1872 to that of 1881. Starting from the diamond fields, and trekking in the first instance towards Kuruman, Mr. Selous„ with two companions, made the best of his way towards the Matabele country, passing through Bamangwato, and keeping to the usual waggon-track, except when this was deviated from by individual members of the party in quest of game. On one of these occasions Mr. Selous came exceedingly near losing his life, for, missing his way during a long gallop after giraffes, and
having no recognisable landmarks to guide him, he wandered for four days and three nights without being able either to rejoin his companions or to fall in with a human being, and his sufferings from cold and thirst were very extreme. The hunger he describes as more bearable, although his delight may be con- • A Hunter's Wanderings in Af ice. By Frederick Courtenay London : B.ichard Bentley and Son. ceived when, at last coming up with some Bushmen, he obtained a large gourd of milk, a small piece of steinbuck, and a night's rest beside a fire. On the fifth evening he reached camp and his friends, who, after an ineffectual search for their companion, had been deceived by a lying story, invented by one of the Kaffirs, that he had, for some inexplicable reason, gone back to Bamangwato.
The author's first start at elephant-hunting was made from the Jomani River, in company with a Hottentot named Cigar, a slight-built, active fellow, possessed of wonderful powers of endur- ance, besides plenty of courage. This man was also a good game shot, and Mr. Selous remarks that he does not think he could have had a more skilful or a kinder preceptor, for he often allowed him to have the first shot, while the elephants were still standing, and never in any way tried to overreach. Sin- gularly enough, Cigar, when first taken out elephant-hunt- ing by his former master, bad had the greatest dread of the huge beasts, and never was able to kill any ; while, at the time the author met with him, his bravery was remark- able, and it would have been difficult to find his equal as a foot-hunter. This expedition was carried out in very rough- and-ready fashion, and consisted of Mr. Selons, Cigar, two Kaffirs who were hunting for him, and four boys to carry blankets, Kaffir corn and fresh meat, for each man shouldered his own gun and ammunition, that is to say, powder and four-mince round bullets. The costume for foot-hunting, when the game has been sighted, is, it appears, of the slightest, con- sisting merely of a cotton shirt, no trousers, a hat and shoes ; speed and dexterity, with a sure aim, being absolute requi- sites. Mr. Selous seems to have been successful from the first, and to have enjoyed the sport with the keenest zest. His first elephant was one to rejoice a hunter, having long, white, and perfect tusks, weighing 58 lbs. and 61 lbs. respectively, and the heart, roasted on a forked stick over the ashes of the evening fire, is said to have furnished a delicious meal.
Later on, the author became associated with George Wood, one of the best English professional hunters ; and they hunted -together for two years to the westward of the river Gwai, to the north and west of Linquasi, and as far as the Victoria Falls, where they parted company, Mr. Selma, with Captain Garden and his brother, continuing along the Zambesi towards the Chobe, and making several circuits in its marshy flats, meeting with an astonishing number of buffaloes, as well as herds of pookoo antelopes, besides hippopotami, elephants, and lions. In sub- sequent expeditions, after his return from England in 1876, the author, after hunting a good deal in Mashuna Land, crossed the Zambesi and continued northward into the Manica country as far as the Lukanga river. This Manica country is described as very beautiful, consisting of rolling downs, covered with rich grass, intersected by ranges of low hills, with trees and shrubs, bearing sweet•scented blossoms, and wild-flowers everywhere in great abundance. The climate, too, was delicious. It is not, however, a good elephant country, but possesses a beautiful breed of very small, tame cattle, the largest cows not measur- ing more than three feet four inches at the wither, but being excellent milkers. In this place the lechwe antelope afforded -excellent hunting, but both Mr. Selous and his companion were struck down with fever, the latter so badly that he had to be carried for a long distance on the return journey, which was made so slowly on that account that their calico, which was the only circulating medium, being nearly exhausted, starvation stared them in the face, and there was nothing for it but for Mr. Selous to leave the greater part of it with Owen at Banyai, and to press forwards towards Inyati, a journey of ten days for a strong man, but which it took seventeen for the author to reach in his weakened condition. Indeed, it seems marvellous that he was able in such a plight to perform the journey, and to shoot a rhinoceros for his own subsistence. At Inyati, however, the German Missionaries not only took good care of him, but sent to Banyai for the sick man, who eventually recovered. Indeed, we have in this book plenty of examples of the hardships which a man has to endure who makes elephant-hunting his business, to say nothing of the narrow escapes which he often meets with, one of which is vividly portrayed in the frontispiece; but the terrible death of the Kaffir Qnabeet gives one the most forcible idea of the awful strength of the elephant, that unfortunate man having been literally wrenched into three pieces, the chest with head and arms attached being found in one place, one leg and thigh in another, and the remainder in a third. It is supposed that
Qnabeet was pursuing another elephant, and never saw the one which killed him until the infuriated beast was close upon him.
About lions, Mr. Selous has a great deal to say, as he had many encounters with them. And in the first place, contrary to received opinion, be believes that there is only one species in South Africa, and that the differences in colour, length of mane, &c., are merely individual peculiarities, in proof of which he instances having remarked these differences in cubs of the same litter. While denying the applica- bility of the word " majestic " to the lion in its wild state, he confesses that there is nothing in nature more awe-in- spiring than several of these animals roaring in unison on a dark night, although, as a matter of fact, it is precisely when they roar freely that they are the least dangerous, as they only do so after having satisfied their hunger, and when on the look-out for a meal are as silent as the grave. Lion's flesh is said to be very good eating and not at all unlike veal, having none of the disagreeable taste or odour that might be expected in that of a carnivorous animal by no means select in its choice of food. The lion appears to be much less tenacious of life than the antelope, yet the writer considers him a far more dangerous animal to meddle with than any other in South Africa, notwithstanding all that may have been said to the con- trary, but be remarks that you never hear of such a thing as a man-eating lion there, as you do with tigers in India, for if one or two people have been killed, the whole country is roused, and the beast is surrounded and put to death with assegais. Mr. Selous quite disproves Dr. Livingstone's story that the bite of a lion is not painful, for he was with Petrus Jacobs just after that veteran hunter had been most terribly mauled by one of these animals, and the old man told him, what may easily be believed, that each separate scrunch caused him the most acute anguish ; several Kaffirs also said the same thing. Fresh milk and castor oil are used with great success as a dressing for the wounds.
A curious incident is related of a sable antelope bull being chased and overhauled by a wild dog, which had already given it two bites in the hind quarters, when, becoming aware of enemies in the shape of the sportsmen, the pursuer relinquished its prey and made off, to save its own life. There is a plate representing this singular chase ; and we may mention that Mr. Selma' book is profusely and carefully illustrated, the different varieties of antelopes, in particular, being very well shown. The list of game shot during five years is really astonishing for its number and variety, game of course including such animals as the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the lion, and the elephant. In conclusion, we may mention that Mr. Selous is not sparing of his condemnation of our treatment of the Boers, and does not hesitate to designate as cruel, mean, and unmanly that policy which has relentlessly driven them from their homes to the wilderness, and caused them to hate the British Government with a bitterness that can only be comprehended by those who have seen what these unhappy people, as he considers them, have had to suffer.
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