ANIMALS IN AFRICA.*

MR. DRUMMOND'S volume is not a "mere illustrated game-book," as he aptly describes the majority of works which purport to deal with animal life in Africa, and though it might with advantage have had still less of resemblance to its predecessors, it is unreason- able to quarrel with the author because, his object being the kill. ing of the creatures of the great continent, he tells with considerable gusto how he did it. We ought to be content that he also tells something else,—that he observes the animals a great deal, in addi- tion to slaughtering them when he can, and that there is some pleasure to be got out of his book by those readers who do not care for minute descriptions of the "planting" of bullets, the splintering of back-bones, and the " breaking-up " of big game. Mr. Drummond offers to the imagination of his reader numerous pictures of the African continent, all but solitary in the sense of human occupation, with its brute denizens, some terrible and beautiful, others beautiful, graceful, and harmless as the fabled animals which dwelt in the earthly paradise. It is better written than sporting books in general, whose writers commonly spurn the literary graces, and it is creditably free from the element which is best known as "bounce." For that element we have always had indulgence, if not sympathy, in cases of this kind, where a man sentences himself to soli- tary exile in a trying climate, and devotes himself to the slaying of huge specimens of the brute creation. With only one field for his exertions and his imagination, and no one to control and compare his observations, it is not wonderful that he should magnify his powers and his achievements, investing them with all the dignity there is to be got out of danger with- out duty, and essaying to give a touch of the heroic to a coarse and prosaic pursuit. Mr. Drummond does not "bounce," however, and he admits the discomforts of camping-out on the war-path of his predilection. He gives us, on the whole, a less pleasant impression of the climate of the eastern coast of South Africa than we have derived from any other writer. He is a cool, praaised, and successful hand at the business of slaying wild beasts, and lucky in getting out of their way when he has fired at them-at very close quarters ; and he is a strong man, on whom the hardships of his self-imposed career do not tell. He is less interesting to us as a sportsman than as an observer of natural history ; he lays no claim to being considered a natural- ist, but such readers as resort to his work for precept and en- couragement will find a sliding scale of the risk they will have to encounter in taking to the pursuit, which reads very con- vincingly. Here is a passage about lions which is worth the attention of all readers ; of those who care for the sport because it is sound advice, of those who do not because it suggests a striking picture :— " It should always be recollected, before meddling w ith lions, that if you do come to close quarters with them death is the probable result. There are cases within my own knowledge where, single-handed, and armed only with a spear, a native has succeeded in killing a lion that has sprung upon him, without receiving in return anything but trifling injuries ; but these are only exceptions that prove the rule that where they strike they kill. Unlike other large game, they divide their attentions equally, springing from one to another, and fighting with tooth and claw in the most wonderful manner. It is a grand sight to see one charge a native regiment sent out after it. as they sometimes are, springing over the heads of the first lino right into the centre, flying about, knocking men down with every blow, until, a complete sieve of assegai-wounds, it dies fighting. Few hints can be given that can be of any service when the lion is once fairly charging, and your gun is empty. I'Vhen you have to take refuge in a tree, go up it as far as you can, for if none of its bones are broken the lion will generally have a try at you, though if the branches are thick there is little danger, even within distance of its spring. In a case whore a few seconds' delay may save your life, it is worth while to know that anything thrown down—a hat, coat, &c.—will first be torn up with a crunch of the tooth or a blow of the paw before your pursuer resumes the chase. It has, to my knowledge, saved more than one man at a pinch."

A lion who is a sieve of assegai-wounds ; a rhinoceros who is pierced by at least a thousand spears, and stamps with pain ; a

• The Large Game and Natural llistory of South and South-East Africa. From the Journals Of the Hon. W. H. Drummond. Edinburgh Edmonston and Douglas. a "rogue" buffalo, an unaccountably- "ill-tempered brute," which

its intestines are "rotten and most offensive" when at length it is lid' grass, often yid% to acknowledge that there is not in his pages the gloating and water, put it out of their power to decide of the harmless and valuable African elephant. On the other hand, he never seems to have foregone an opportunity of aiding that destruction, and the details of elephant-murder are of all his deseriptions the most monotonous.

Mr. Drummond's hunting-ground is on the east coast of South Africa, near the Bombo Mountains and the Nkwavuma River, and his "bags" include lions, panthers, leopards, hyenas (called

"wolves"), eland, rhinoceros, elephants, wild boar, antelope, and several varieties of the beautiful and stately African birds. He was not the only hunter in the place ; he describes some exciting "runs" by packs of wild dogs, and a fight between a nkouka (antelope) and a leopard, which gives one a terrible notion of brute strength and tenacity. In intervals of hunting, he has leisure To feel the beauty of the scenes through which he passes, of the

park-like country, and the living creatures who are let live. Here is the prettiest picture in the book, which opens with a sketch of the author's hunting-camp, near the Nukornati, in the far interior of Eastern Africa :— " I soon found myself on the top of a precipitous bank, clothed with evergreens, and overhanging the river, which hero formed a vast horse- shoe of calm, still water, in whiclA several small sand-banks showed themselves above the surface. Widening circles marked where the disturbed crocodiles had plunged in, while a keen eye could distinguish a few of their log-like forms still resting on the more distant shoals. Opposite lay a peninsula formed by the river, the monotonous hue of the long, waving grass, relieved by the flat-crowned mimosas, and here and there by the more striking shape of the green cactus-like euphorbia, while nearer in, and bordering the river, were a number of immense white-stemmed wild fig-trees, crowded with paroquets and turtle-doves feeding on half-ripe fruit. Half a mile off was the narrow, rock-guarded defile, which the river, by the unceasing toil of centuries, had worn through these mountains, which, otherwise without a break, raised themselves wall-like and impenetrable from tho level plain, and stretched away on either aide into the dim distance, and now and then the booming call of the baboons, which inhabit the masses of dense bush that chase every hollow and fissure in them, would be heard answering to the shouts below, while over all and above all was shed the glorious sunshine of the tropics."

The most dangerous of African animals to hunt, according to Mr. Drummond, and therefore, we suppose, the most glorious to destroy, is the rhinoceros. He tells us a good deal that is inter-

esting about the different kinds of rhinoceros, besides how to take them, and relates a very exciting story of how his camp was charged by a big one of the "black" species, which sent him and his native hunters flying, overturned everything, and stamped out the fire, squealing with rage all the time. Mr. Drummond believes that there are four varieties of this extraordinary crea- ture, but says it is a mistake to define them as two " black " and two "white," for they are all :dike in colour, brown, tinged with red. Of these four, the common "white" rhinoceros, remarkable for the length of its front horn and for its gentle and inoffensive disposition, is the largest ; and R. bicornis (an unaccountable appellation, all the African varieties being two-horned), is the smallest and the most savage. For the "white" rhinoceros Mr. Drummond claims something approaching to good looks, at least,

he says it has the characteristics of its kind in their least unpleasing form, and is certainly a noble animal when seen grazing among the tropical vegetation, with a flock of rhinoceros-birds—they invariably accompany the huge creature—perched upon its back.

The upetyana, as the rhinoceroses is called in Africa, is only man's enemy, it is harmless and fearless towards all other animals, and will go down to the water in company with wild beasts of every description. Mr. Drummond has seen a troop of lions walk past an old bull with his mouth buried in the pool, and laying them- selves down, commence to lap the water within a few yards of him; and a herd of beautiful koodoos, having sprung away, alarmed by the heavy footfall of the great beast, return to the water when it came in sight, and take no notice as it walked past them into the pool. We can sympathise with Mr. Drummond's pleasure in watching the water-holes, on moonlight spring evenings, which showed him wonderful herds of mixed game converging from all points of the compass to the drinking-place, perhaps the only one within a radius of twenty miles, forming such a spectacle as the following:— frantic and screaming elephant dashing through the jungle in agony ; I "Among the antelopes and zebra there is always a timid suspicion

flu-ink seena and be concealed near the spot, and I that their groat enemy the lion may dozen rhinocerosescome down to the water in succession, has carried a bullet (six to the pound) in its body for a mouth, so that species toconcealed, aflecedd waiting titnhe away wdaeyz eangyaianr ;d et the where Is killed ; innumerable immense creatures condemned to lingering for buffalo, and the others to seek their food among the dense ukakug misery by the bullets lodged in their great carcases,—these things thickets ; while great herds of gnu and zebra, with a sprinkling of eland, stood three are the blots upon the book. It is, however, due to Mr. Drtunthond approachingonreaforu h err teunledng redayathe wind, offin dblowing watched them, fearful of there wasdthanemgertointhane

boastful cruelty which secured for those of Mr. Gordon Cumming doing; and there they have stood, almost motionless, too thirsty to gaze, the tenacious remembrance of profound disgust, and that he

till near midnight, looking weird enough in the calm meonlight, till, their remonstrates strongly against the ruthless and wanton destruction halting everyconquering their prudence, they would come forward, r

y fifty yards, and even sometimes wheeling away in a panic that had originated with the gnu, till at last, as the foremost entered the water, those behind would quicken their pace, and jostling forward, the whole pool would be covered with them, the gurgling sound from hundreds of thirsty throats sounding strange in the stillness. Then the whole herd would retire, and when the grass was good, feed around me for hours, fresh troops arriving to quench their thirst, and sometimes the same returning a second time, before going off to the great flats where they would spend the day."

The image of a death-dealing man, in the grand, calm land- scape, among these peaceful, grazing, strange creatures is very dis- cordant; one does not grudge him to the earnivora. Mr. Drum- mond's lion stories are very interesting and curious, but they leave us undecided about the aggressiveness of the king of the beasts, as a general rule ; his ferocity seems to be admirably tempered by common-sense, and it is only reasonable that he should not "stand much bullying." Mr. Drummond says the lion does not deserve his title, as the elephant is more sagacious, and the 'black' rhinoceros more dangerous,—he is only the most noble-looking of all. He had several exciting adventures with lions, and saw one memorable picture in Zululand. It was at early dawn, and he was examining some buffalo-spoor, when he saw his gun-bearer running away at full speed, and knew that something must have frightened him :- "I did not shout, but went to where he had been standing, a few yards ahead, and there, not twenty yards off, were a pair of lions ; they were both full grown, and the male had an immense m,age. They formed as handsome a pair as I ever saw ; the lioness was rolling on her back, playfully striking out at her lord and master with her fore- paws like a kitten, while he stood gravely and majestically looking on. I stopped a moment to watch them, though the ground.wasAnite opens and they must have seen me if they looked round, and then I rushed off after my Kaffir to load."

We are glad to know that he did not make that lag; the beauti- ful pair had bounded away from the open by the time he had ex- tracted his gun-bearer from the top of a big tree and regained the spot. A story, too long for extract, of a native hunter who, found himself unawares in the midst of a lion family, is perhapa the most wonderful example of presence of mind and iron nerve given by any writer of sporting adventures with big game. Mr. Drummond confirms all one's notions of the grandeur and awe- producing effect of the lion's voice ; it is true that, "When he sends his roaring forth, Silence falls on all the earth."

The natives show to advantage in this work, as brave, handy, and amusing, especially when they sing their hunting songs and shout out their ancestors' names, as the inauguration of their hunting- days' work. The bird chapter is very interesting, and it is noticeable that Mr. Drummond does not profess to have shot any ostriches. He found the crocodiles a great drawback to his duck- shooting, having frequently sustained the mortification of seeing his wounded birds go down the throats of the insatiable brutes.