LIBRAR\ ANNEX ■■ ii.; '!ii(i!iiii:iiiiiiiiii!iii t I jll"il!!ililliiii!l;ili liiii'liiliifiiiliiiii ! CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM 'rs.O;;i, lllig-ns Cornell University Library SK 251.S33 1905a Flashlights in the jungle, a record of hu 3 1924 016 409 769 L^2 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924016409769 FLASHLIGHTS IN THE JUNGLE FLASHLIGHTS IN THE JUNGLE A RECORD OF HUNTING ADVENTURES AND OF STUDIES IN WILD LIFE IN EQUATORIAL EAST AFRICA BY C. G. SCHILLINGS TKANSLATED BY FREDERIC WHYTE WITH AN INTRODUCTION DY SIR H. H. JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B. ILLUSTRATED WITH 302 OF THE AUTHOR'S ' UNTOUCHED' PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY DAY AND NIGHT New York: DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1905 ^^s^ /^/)f77! ^ [printed in great BRITAIN] TO MY FRIEND HENRY SUERMONDT I DEDICATE THIS BOOK A BULL GIRAFFE ON THE <_;/ ("A i Author's Preface THE illustrations in this book, with a very few exceptions, which are indicated, have been repro- duced from the original photographs taken by myself Dr. Ludwig Heck, in the course of his appreciative introduction to the German edition, refers to these photographs as Naiururkttnden — certificated records, as it were, of the scenes from wild life therein depicted. And the fact that they are absolutely free from " re- touching" of any kind will be held to justify him in the use of that term. Absolutely the only photograph that has been worked up in any way is the one (on p. 393) of two lions attacking an ox. The negative of this was damaged while I was developing it. I have described elsewhere the feeling of satisfaction with which, six months afterwards, I received a telegram from the Fatherland to announce that it was gerettet — restored ! My pictures may be classified as (i) ordinary photo- graphs taken by daylight at varying ranges; (2) those taken with a telephoto-lens ; (3) those taken at night time by flashlight. ix Author's Preface -^ The telephoto pictures should not be held too close to the eye. To get them into focus, so to speak, the reader shc^M hold them at arm's length. ***** Conspicuous among those to whom I owe grateful acknowledgments for encouragement and a'ssistance in connection with my work are the following : Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg ; the Duke of Ratibor ; Prince Eulenberg ; Prince Franz Arenberg ; Freiherr von Richthofen ; Dr. Stiibel ; Count Gotzen ; Herr von Soden; Freiherr von Varnbiiler, Count von Hohenthal und Bergen ; Freiherr von Reischach ; Herr von Plato ; Count Bylandt-Rhendt ; my uncle Field-Marshal Ritter von Keil ; Dr. Moebius ; Dr. Thiel ; Major Thiel ; Professor Lampert ; Professor von Steindachner ; Hon. Walter Rothschild ; Dr. E. Hartert ; Dr. Ritter Lorenz von Liburnau ; Professor Volkens ; Professor Tornier ; Dr. Griinfeld ; Professor L. C. Neumann-Toulouse ; and Herr Oscar Neumann. Dr. A. Reichenow and Professor Matschie have supported me in the kindest and most friendly way for years past, and I must single them out for special thanks. Herr Goerz has also been intimately connected with my enterprise through his generosity in giving me facilities for perfecting my photographic equipment in his optical establishment. I am indebted also in an extreme degree to my friends Herr Henry Suermondt, Dr. Ludwig Heck, Dr. Kiinstler (who went through some bad times with me on my expeditions), and, finally, Captain Merker, who furthered my plans and assisted me in every way. -•s Author's Preface Without Captain Merker's valuable " expert " advice I should hardly have been able to carry out my journeys ; and during my severe illness in 1902 he took some capital photographs with my telephoto-lens, five of which are included in this work. Dr. Eggel, Dr. Groothufen, and Dr. Phillips, Herr Warnholtz and Herr Meyer, Professor Schweinfurth, Dr. Richard Kant, and Messrs. Louis Draemann, Felix Schiill, Alfred Kaiser, C. W. Hobley, and Tomkins (to whose great kindness I have referred on p. 672), and Captain von der Warwitz have also earned my gratitude in various ways. ***** In spite of my best endeavours, this work will be found to have many faults : I can only hope that my readers will be merciful to them. I find photographing lions an easier matter than writing books ! C. G. SCHILLINGS. GURZENICH BEI DUREN, GERMANY. Note. — Thanks are due from the translator to Mr. A\'. von Knoblanch, who has kindly read the proofs for him ; and to J\Ir. R. Lydekker, who has revised the spelling of all the zoological and geographical names. XI Introduction CONSCIOUSLY or unconsciously, Herr Schillings has followed in the footsteps of Mr. Edward Xorth Buxton, who was the first sportsman of repute having the courage to stand up before a snobbish public and proclaim that the best sport for a man of cultivated mind is the snapshotting with the camera (with or without the telephotographic lens), rather than the pumping of lead into elephants, rhinoceroses, antelopes, zebras, and many other harmless, beautiful, or rare beasts and birds. If any naturalist-explorer previously deprecated the frightful devastation which followed in the track of British sports- men, and a few American, Russian, German, or Hungarian imitators, it was thought that he did so because he was a bad shot, or lacked the necessary courage to fire at a dangerous beast. Mr. Buxton, however, had proved his manhood (so to speak) in the many sporting adventures which preceded his conversion. Therefore people have listened to him, and the way has been paved for such a work as that of Herr Schillings. xiii Introduction -* This is the sportsmanship of the future. The present writer does not mean to say that he or any other explorer, when and if they visited Africa, would not still use every opportunity of obtaining good specimens of rare wild beasts, birds, and reptiles for our museums, and most of all for the information of zoologists, who must perforce carry on many of their studies within the pale of civilisation. Neither does the writer of this Introduction condemn the killing of leopards, lions, hyeenas, jackals, hippopotamuses, or elephants — at any rate in moderation — where they become really dangerous to human beings, to the keeping of domestic animals, or to the maintenance of cultivated crops. But these concessions do not cover, excuse, or indem- nify the ravages of European and American sportsmen, which are still one of the greatest blots on our twentieth- century civilisation. Herr Schillings refers to the case of the late Dr. Kolb, a German who came out to British East Africa in con- nection with a Utopian undertaking called " Freeland," and who, when his political scheme became impossible, applied himself to the reckless slaughter of the big game of British East Africa. In the course of two or three years he had slain — for no useful purpose whatever' — one hundred and fifty rhinoceroses (a companion killed one hundred and forty more), each one being a far more interesting mammal than himself. At the end of this career of slaughter, a rhinoceros killed him — perhajDs appropriately. xiv -9i Introduction In spite of game regulations and the creation of game-reserves (to which admission can generally be obtained through the exercise of special influence, some- times rightly exercised in the cause of science), one has only to look through the columns of "Society" infor- mation in the London weekly and daily press to realise that this work of wanton destruction of the big game of tropical Africa is still going on at a considerable rate. It seems to be still the accepted panacea in British or Continental society that a young or a middle-aged man, who has been crossed in love, or has figured in the Divorce Court, or in some way requires to faire peait neuve, must go out to Africa and kill big game. Make a note of the names mentioned if you will, and inquire twelve months afterwards what has become of the creatures thus destroyed. Many of the trophies, after the carriers of the expedition had feasted on the flesh of the slain, were ultimately abandoned on the line of march as being too heavy to carry. Even those that reached the home of the sportsman were ultimately relegated to obscurity, and did not add to our zoological information. In short, there is very little set-off in gain to the world's knowledge for the destruction of one of Africa's most valuable assets — its marvellous Mammalian fauna. A Schillings, a Lord Delamere, a Major Powell Cotton, a Delm^ Radcliffe, a Sydney Hinde, or a Carlos d'Erlanger may kill a relatively large number of beasts and birds in their sporting ad- ventures ; but — if one may put it thus — every shot tells. All the persons named — to say nothing of Mr. E. N. XV Introduction '^ Buxton and others recently at work in Northern Nigeria — have killed with discretion and strict moderation, and with the definite obiect of increasing our store of know- ledge and enriching the national collections, while they have accompanied their cautious toll of the African fauna by valuable studies — generally photographic — of the animals' life-habits. It is not against the actions of such men as these that Herr Schillings or the writer of this Introduction raises any protest ; it is against the idea that the destruction of the African fauna is part of a fashionable man's education, against the damage done by a hundred obscure shooters . that the protest is necessary. For this reason public opinion should strengthen as far as possible the wise action of Governments in protecting, the world's fauna all the world over, wherever the creatures thus protected do not come into too dangerous competition with the welfare of human beings. Moreover, it is for the welfare of humanity in general that this plea is entered. The world will become very uninteresting if man and his few domestic animals, together with the rat, mouse, and sparrow, are its only inhabitants amongst the land vertebrates. Man's interests must come first, but those very interests demand food for the intellect. yEsthetically, the egret, toucan, bird of paradise, grebe, sable, chinchilla, and fur-seal are as important as the well-dressed woman. The viper, lion, tiger, crocodile, wolf, vulture, and rhinoceros have all their places to fill in our world-picture. They are amazingly interesting, and therefore their destruction xvi -♦i Introduction should only be carried out to the degree of keeping them in their proper sphere. This lesson that we are learning in Africa applies also at home, where we should learn to value the natural beauties of our home scenery, especially its own in- dividuality. It should be made illegal to carry on the worship of the pheasant (a toothsome and a beautiful bird, but not a true native) at the expense of the lives of owls and stoats and weasels that are true British subjects, and without which our landscapes lose part of their national character. The otter is quite as valuable as the salmon ; the fox is not more worthy of encourage- ment than the wild swan. A nice balance must be struck ; and our clergy must inveigh against the national sin of scattering greasy paper over the loveliest nooks of English scenery. We have not yet reached the greasy-paper outrage in the African wilderness ; but, as Herr .Schillings points out, the African fauna is rapidly disappearing before the uncontrolled attacks of man. He is quite right to lay stress on this important fact, that all the wrong-doing does not rest with the white man. The Negro or the Negroid, armed with the white man's weapons, is carrying on an even more senseless work of devastation. The present writer has witnessed in East Africa troops of uncontrolled Somali adventurers, and Swahilis from the coast, led by Goanese, invading the wilder districts of East Africa, and slaughtering beasts by hundreds and even thousands for their meat, horns, tusks, and, above all, their hides. It is an irony which has entered into xvii b Introduction -^ the soul of Major Powell Cotton, that, while the institu- tion of the game-reserve rigidly excludes the cautious European naturalist from the killing of one " protected " bird or beast, in and out of that reserve African natives or half-castes apparently pursue their game-destruction unchecked. The reason of this is want of money to pay for close supervision and gamekeeping. These African Protectorates and Colonies, under no matter what flag, are poor. They yield as yet a local revenue which leaves a considerable gap when compared with their narrowest expenditure. To maintain an efficient control over these vast game-reserves needs the expenditure, not of a few hundreds of pounds annually, but of a few thousands. Yet this control over these future National Parks could be maintained efficiently for a relatively small sum of money. Will not the growth of education, the dawning sesthetic sense amongst the governing authorities in Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Egypt, Spain, and Liberia bring about the provision of sufficient funds to preserve for the delight and wonderment of our descendants the vestiges of the Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene fauna of Africa ? It may be said without exaggeration that only one other such work of real African natural history, as that in which Herr Schillings describes the wild life of Eastern Equatorial Africa, has hitherto been presented to the stay-at-home reader, and that is Mr. J. G. Millais' Breath from the Veldt. The writer of this Introduction subscribes with pleasure to the remarkable accuracy of xviii -♦l Introduction Herr Schillings' observations on the habits of the birds and beasts he mentions and illustrates. With Herr Schillings it is an illustration of the old nursery story of Eyes and No Eyes. It gives one somewhat of a feeling of shame to think that this quite young man should in some seven years have learnt and recorded more that was true and new about the wild life of East Africa than has been accomplished by officials, traders, and explorers, both German and British, of twenty, fifteen, and ten years' acquaintance with this part of Africa. His book is a real " Natural History," in the true sense of the words. What we require nowadays is the work of the biologist, the anatomist who can examine and describe minutely and accurately the physical characteristics of living forms. Then, in addition, we want the natural historian, the individual who can as faithfully and minutely record the life-habits of the same creatures — a study quite as important as that of their anatomy, and a study in which there is an enormous leeway to make up. As Herr Schillings points out, until, say, ten years ago, there was a great inaccuracy and sparsity in the information given (very often copied by one author from another) of the life-habits of wild beasts and birds in Africa. Either these were not thought worth studying, or the writer, the explorer, deemed it sufficient to repeat stories told him by the natives, or rash conclusions at which he had himself arrived after very little evidence. It is interesting to listen to all that natives can record of the habits of birds and beasts ; and yet, although xix Introduction -*> they can tell one many a true detail, they will mix up the true and the false, the mythical and the fabulous, as readily as did our forefathers in these British Islands, who could repeat in one natural-history book after another the ridiculous story that barnacle-geese were produced by bivalve molluscs, or that swallows hibernated at the bottoms of ponds, or that toads were found alive after being embedded in the rocks for countless centuries. The natural historian of to-day must be an educated man, not jumping too rashly at conclusions, and not even trusting his own eyes and ears too implicitly, but checking his information over and over again before he gives it to the world. The writer of this Introduction has travelled more widely and extensively in Africa — even in East Africa — than Herr Schillings ; but his time and attention have often been occupied by many other matters than natural history. In his observations, therefore, on the life-habits of these East African birds and beasts he willingly retires into the background, a nd would in almost all cases subscribe without cavil to the correctness and value of Schillings' descriptions. He has, however, here and there ventured to correct his spelling of East African words, where this, through oversight or mishearing, has been incorrectly rendered. Herr Schillings has not been able to excel in every branch of African research, and has evidently not studied to any extent the structure of the Masai language (a Nilotic Negro tongue), or he would attach no im- portance to the theory of Captain Merker that the Masai are a branch of the Hebrew race. The writer of this XX -* Introduction Introduction had hoped that at last the lost ten tribes of Israel had been allowed to rest in peace, and it is a matter (to him) of much regret that Captain Merker, who has written such valuable studies on the folklore and customs of the Masai, should have again revived this hobby of the nineteenth century by deducing from his observations that the Masai — an ancient mixture of Negro and Gala — are a people of Semitic origin. The linguistic evidence to support this theory is valueless, if a careful study is made of the other idioms of the Nilotic Negro peoples. The slight non- Negro element in the Masai tongue is akin to Somali and Gala, and has either been borrowed direct from contact with those peoples of Hamitic (Caucasian) stock, or may have arisen from the ancient fusion of the two races on the Negro borderland. The Somali and Gala languages belong to the Hamitico- Libyan family, which possibly included the ancient Egyptian speech ; and this group has an extremely distant con- nection in its most remote origin with the Semitic languages, of which Hebrew is one of the many dialects. The customs of the Masai, which Captain Merker deems to be particularly Hebrew, are met with in other groups of Nile Negroes, amongst Hamite peoples. South Arabians, and ancient Egyptians. In venturing to express, very humbly, his deep appreciation of Herr Schillings' natural- history studies, the writer of this Introduction does not wish at the same time to endorse the theories attributed to Captain Merker. These, however, form no essential part of the most beautiful, accurate, and complete picture of the East African wilderness which has yet been given to xxi Introduction -* us by any writer. This book is equivalent, in the case of the stay-at-home reader, to a sojourn of six months amongst the wild animals of the Ethiopian region ; while it is bound to produce nostalgia in the minds of returned veterans. H. H. JOHNSTON. xxn Contents PAGE I I. THE TRAGEDY OF CIVILISATION II. INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS OF WILD LIFE 1 6 III. THE MINDS OF ANIMALS .... 32 IV. MASAI-NYIKA ... . . 42 V. TO KILIMANJARO WITH PRINCE LOWENSTEIN . 59 VI. BY THE NJIRI LAKES ..... 90 VII. EVENING ON THE MARSHES . . . .112 VIII. BY THE STREAM . . . . . 1 20 IX. THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT . . . . 14I X. ELEPHANT-HUNTING . . . . . 1 68 XL RHINOCEROSES . .... 204 XII. CATCHING A YOUNG RHINOCEROS . . . 244 xxiii Contents -* XIII. THE HIPPOPOTAMUS . . . . . XIV. BUFFALOES AND CROCODILES XV. GIRAFFES ....... XVI. ZEBRAS ....... XVII. LIONS ........ XVni. A LION-HUNT ...... XIX. MORE LION-HUNTING EXPERIENCES XX. LEOPARDS ....... XXI. THE HY/ENA-DOG, THE LYNX, THE WILD CAT, AND THE OTTER ..... XXII. THE ANT-BEAR, THE PORCUPINE, THE WILD BOAR, AND SMALLER MAMMALS XXIII. HY/ENAS AND JACKALS . XXIV. THE ANTELOPES OF EAST AFRICA . XXV. GAZELLES AND DWARF ANTELOPES XXVI. APES AND MONKEYS XXVII. STALKING EXPEDITIONS IN THE NYIKA XXVIII. NIGHT-SHOOTS .... XXIX. VELT CONFLAGRATIONS xxiv 261 282 326 343 355 377 397 413 427 439 470 516 537 557 627 635 -* Contents PAGE XXX. HOSTILE FORCES ...... 645 XXXI. THE PRESERVATION OF AFRICAN GAME . . 704 XXXII. A RACE OF WARLIKE SHEPHERDS: THE MASAI 716 ENVOI ......... 729 APPENDIX A. A FEW WORDS ABOUT HERR C. G. schillings' COLLECTION OF EAST AFRICAN MAMMALS ...... 735 APPENDIX B. A SYNOPSIS OF HERR SCHILLINGS' COLLECTION OF BIRDS .... 747 XXV List of Illustrations Frontispiece : Portrait of the Author A Bull Giraffe on the qui vive Euphorbia-tree . Gnus roaming over the Velt Candelabra Euphorbia-trees Skeleton of a Rhinoceros Some Remarkable Specimens of Ele phant-tusks and Rhinoceros-horns Elephant Skull and Bones . Egyptian Geese on the Wing One of niy Cameras Orgeich setting the Men to Work Lioness stealing upon an Ox My Photographic Equipment The Effect of the Flashlight Storks wintering in Masai-Nyika "Fatima," - Voung Rhinoceros, and her Messmate, the Goat . Marabous with the Cook Tame Birds wandering about the Camp Marabous and Vultures A Long Line of Waterspouts Scene on the Rufu River , Look-out over Nyika . Drinking-places in the Rocky Districts of the Velt Typical Bit of Succulent Velt Vegeta- tion in the Rainy Season Kilimanjaro, with the Kaiser Wilhelm Peak Bit of the Succulent Velt with Pyren- acantha malvifoHa ... Bit of the so-called Thorny " Fruit ix Garden" Velt xii White-ant Hill on the Velt near the I Coast . . 3 Thorn-bush on the Velt 5 Arab Dhows Cape Guardafui 7 Askaris being put through their Exer 1 1 cises at Tanga . 15 Prince Johannes Lowenstein and the 17 Author . , . . 20 A Flock of White Storks . 23, 24 Storks taking to Flight . 26 Mire-drums and Black-headed Herons 28 A Pair of Thomson's Gazelles . • 32 Darters Herons .... 34 A Big Haul of Fish . 36 Oryx Antelopes . 38 Vultures on the \^'ing . 40 Tantulus Ibises in a Swamp 42 The Military Station at Moshi 43 Egyptian Geese on the Swamps 45 The Velt in the Rainy Season Flamingoes on the Wing . 47 A Pelican .... The Caravan on the March 49 Cormorants Egyptian Geese . 51 Vultures .... Tropical Vegetation near the Coast 53 Two Huge Pythons . 55 56 57 59 60 61 64 67 69 71 73 75 77 79 81 S3 S5 87 90 9' 92 94 95 97 99 J03 105 106 XXVIl List of Illustrations -* Marching through Inundated Swamps Vultures .... Zebras drinking at Night . Vultures and Marabous frateriiising Kingfishers looking out for Small Fish Marabous and White Storks A Large Flock of Guinea-fowl Crested Cranes in Flight . Old Bulls acting as Sentries to Herds of Gnus The Author in his Tent Bustard in Flight Vultures .... Waterbuck grazing in the Open A Pair of Large Vultures Zebras .... Velt Vegetation in the Rainy Season A Lioness and her Prey Candelabra Euphorbia- trees Two Large Bull Elephants . A Wonderful Elephant-tusk Armed Natives (" Fundi'') A Caravan Load of Elephant-tusks Removing the Skin of an Elephant Distant View of Kilimanjaro Orgeich and the Carriers preparing an Elephant-skin Herd of Elephants Mimosa-trees broken down by Ele phants . . . Another Instance of a Broken Mimosa tree A Dried-up Stream . Elephant Skull and Bones . A Huge Dead Elephant Scraping the Bed of a Dried-up Stream for Water Elephant-tusks . . . . Young Elephant . . . . Tmo Bull Elephants and a Bull Giraffe Skull of an Elephant . View on the Njiri Swamps during the Inundations . , . Rhinoceroses bathing . . . 206, Remains of a Rhinoceros . Rhinoceros photographed at a Distance of 120 Paces ... Rhinoceros settling down . PAGE PAGE 107 Rhinoceros with Birds on its Back . 219 108 Rhinoceroses charging . . . 221 109 Two Dead Rhinoceroses . . . 225 112 Rhinoceros throwing up its Head . 229 113 Cow Rhinoceros with her Young . 231 115 Four Photographs of Rhinoceroses 117 under a Tree .... 234, 235 118 Dead Cow Rhinoceros . . . 237 Dead Bull Rhinoceros . . . 239 120 Acacia Velt 241 121 .Stormy Weather in the Nyika Country 244 125 YoungRhinocerosdrinkingina Swamp 245 127 Dead Bull Rhinoceros . . . 249 129 Young Rhinoceros taking his Milk . 251 131 Another Photograph of the Above .255 135 Young Rhinoceros, with Goats and 138 Mbega Monkey . 257 139 Dead Cow Rhinoceros with her Young 141 One beside her . . 259 143 Snow-white Herons and Black-and- 145 White Ibises . . .261 151 Old Bull Hippopotamus . . . 263 157 Mawenzi Mountain and Kilimanjaro . 265 165 Young Cow Hippopotamus . 269 168 Dragging the Body of a Hippopotamus out of a Pond ... . 273 171 Hippopotamuses at Home . . 275 175 A Newly Discovered Vulture on the Skull of a Hippopotamus . 277 177 A Crocodile-infested Stream . 282 Buffaloes 283 iSi The Rufu River . . .287 183 A Flock of Flamingoes . . .291 187 Vultures on a Dead Buffalo 295 189 Skull of a Buffalo . . . .301 Flocks of Marabous on the Merker 193 Lakes . . . .305 197 Giraffes ambling away . . 307 199 Schillings' Giraffe . . . 309 201 Bull and Cow Giraffe . . .313 203 Giraffes taking to flight among Flute- Acacia Trees . . . . .315 204 Bull Giraffe 317 207 Giraffes taken with Telephoto Lens 319 211 A Wounded Bull Giraffe at Close Quarters 323 215 Female Zebras and a Foal . .323 219 A Halt on the Waterless Velt . . 326 xxviii -^ List of Illustrations A Herd of Gnus and Zebras . 327 Remarkable Colour-blending of Zebras with their Surroundings . 329 A Herd of Zebras .... 331 Zebras approaching a Drinking-place . 333 Zebras drinking ..... 337 View near the Kitumbin Volcano . 343 A Frightened Lioness . . 347 On the Gilei Volcanic Mountain . 351 A Bull Gnu, a Thomson's Gazelle, and a Gerenuk Gazelle . . . 355 Three Full-grown Lionesses . . 357 Male Ostrich near its Nest . . 363 An Ostrich's Nest . . . 363 The Author questioning an 01 Morani concerning the Habits of Ostriches . 367 Orgeich superintending the Transport of a Young Lion into Camp . 371 The Skins of Three Lions shot by the Author . . . .373 ^'ultures feeding on the Remains of a Lion 377 Lioness about to spring upon a Donkey 379 My First Lioness . . . 383 Lioness photographed at a Distance of only about Three Yards . . 387 Lioness killing an Ox . 393 The Camp . . . 397 Spotted Hyaena about to spring on a Donkey .... 399 A Full-grown Leopard . 405 William Orgeich . . 409 Prince Lowenstein at Work . 413 Spotted Hysena making off with the Body of an Ass .... 415 A Good Example of Protective Re- semblance . .417 Scene on the Bank of the Pangani River 419 A Tree-badger's Home . . 421 Hundreds of Vultures and some Mara- bous and Jackals . . . 422 Spotted Hysena and Jackals feeding on a Carcase . . . 423 The Lafitti Mountains . 427 View on the Rufu River near the Hohnel Rapids . . 429 Our Camp at Sunset . 435 Elands .... . 439 PAGE Vultures looking out for Food . . 440 A Black-backed Jackal disturbed while drinking . . . 442 Striped Hyrena making off -with a Zebra's Head . . . . 443 Striped Hyjenas . . . 448, 449 Black-backed Jackals . . . .454 Jackal making off with the Leg of an Antelope . . . 455 A "Fissi" trying to drag away the Carcase of an Ass . . 460 Spotted Hya;na . . 461 Remains of a Rhinoceros . 463 Spotted HyEEna feeding On the Carcase of a Alule . • 466 Spotted Hycena making for a Goat 467 Herd of Fringe-eared Antelopes 470 A Lesser Kudu Skin . . .471 Herd of Elands . 473 Wounded Bull Gnu . . 475 Three Tame White-bearded Gnus . 477 Gnus . . . 481 Herd of Gnus . 483 White-bearded Gnus .... 483 Bull Gnu pausing before drinking 485 Zebras and Gnus .... 489 A Pair of White-bearded Gnus in the Enclosure at Weiherhof Gurzenich . 493 Fringe-eared Oryx . 495 Grant's Gazelles andFringe-eared Oryx 497 A Party of Impallas . . 501 .\ Female Waterbuck . 503 Hartebeests . 5°5 Female Gerenuk Gazelle . . 507 Kongoni, or Coke's Hartebeests . 509 A Concourse of Zebras, Gnus, Harte- beests, and Gazelles . . ■ 5'.i Wild Animals at a Salt-pool . 516 Grant's Gazelles . . 517,519,521 Grant's Gazelles in the High Grass 525 Musk-antelopes '. . 527 The Strange Gerenuk Gazelle 531 Mountain-reedbuck . . . 533 A Herd of Female Grant's Gazelles . 535 Raphia and other Palms, Tamarinds, and Baobabs . . . 537 " Mbega " Monkey, or White-tailed Guereza 5.19 XXIX List of Illustrations A Troop of Baboons out on the Velt . Baboons ... . . The Baboon at the Moshl Station and its Playmate . Capturing a Galago , Papyrus . : A Cock Masai Ostrich and Two Hens A Bird's-eye View of Masai-Nyika Snow-capped Kilimanjaro . The Kaiser Wilhelm Peak . Nests of White-billed Weaver-birds in "Umbrella" Acacia-trees A Great Bull Eland Gnus and Zebras on the Salt-encrusted Plains near Lake Natron Some Specimens of Schillings' Giraffe Egrets Crested Cranes . While-bearded Gnus White-bearded Gnus, Hartebeests, and Zebras A Flock of Sacred Ibises A White-headed Sea- eagle Vultures Orgeich preparing Ornithological Specimens Preparing Giraffe-skins Preparing the Hide of the First Buffalo I shot A Pool of Yellow Water . Carriers indulging in a Wash Meerkats .... A Secretary-bird on the Velt Waterbuck . Oryx Antelopes . Vultures on the Wing Papyrus- woods to the West of Njiri Swamps . . . Haunt of Elephants and Rhinoceroses 617 Herd of Zebras . Klipspringers Filling up a Native Pit-fall "Fori" . .... A Curious Photograph of a Maned Lion and an Ox Female Grant's Gazelles taking to flight . .... PAGE . 641 545 Vultures . 549 One of my Guides Grant's Gazelles . 551 Grant's Gazelles moving out into the 555 Open . 557 The Pick of my Askaris, in charge of 559 our Flag . 561 Provisions . 563 A Rocky Pass . 565 A Party of Natives . My Carriers 567 A Tame Baboon riding on a Mule 569 Crossing a Stream A Native Drawbridge 571 A Carrier sunk up to the Armpits in 575 the Sodden Grass .... 579 A Velt March . 579 The Ruins of the Masinde Fort . 581 A Drinking-place .... An Impenetrable Thicket . 585 A Thorn-thicket 589 A Forsaken Village 591 Wandorobo .... 593 The Cook at his Avocations Wandorobo marching ahead of the 595 Caravan . 597 Wives of Carriers Wandorobo .... 601 Tawny Eagle and Kori Bustard 605 A Scene on the Route 607 A Maned Lion 609 Masai 716 611 A Stately Specimen of the Ol Morani 717 613 Masai Women .... 614 A Beehive 615 A Native Dance . Masai Ol Morani with Spears and 617 Shields . A Masai and his Ox . 619 Masai Women 623 Thomson's Gazelles 625 A Native Gateway 627 01 Dorobo . The " Stonehouse" NyumbayaMawe 735 629 Hollow Trunk of a Gigantic Fig-tree . 739 Three Species of Birds discovered by 635 Author ... . 746 643 647 . 651 657 661 663 667 . 669 . 671 675 677 679 681 683 687 689 691 593 695 697 699 701 704 709 719 720 721 723 725 727 729 731 732 XXX Book I EUPHORBIA-TREE ^iPP^-'m^i^f GNUS WERE TO BE SEEN IN THOUSANDS ROAMING OVER THE VELT With Flashlight and Rifle The Tragedy of Civilisation IN the course of his strenuous career of conquest, civilised man has succeeded during the last hundred years or so in bringing the entire globe more and more under his dominion. Modern inventions have enabled him to make his way into its remotest extremities. A glittering network of iron rails carries us into lands which it would have taken us months and years to get to a short time ago ; and ever fleeter vessels bear us in a few weeks to the most distant coasts. Wherever he goes, the pioneer of civilisation manages to open up for himself new resources, even in regions where they are only to be wrested from Nature with the utmost difficulty; and he strives untiringly to create new assets and to make ready the path of progress. But, side by side with this same progress, much is being destroyed that hitherto has lived undisturbed, working out its evolution in harmony with its environment. Far VOL. I. 1 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ from the smoky centres of civilisation, with their rush and turmoil and the unceasing throb and rattle of their machinery, there is at this present moment being enacted a grave and moving and unique tragedy. As the explorer ruthlessly pursues his victory in every direction, he destroys directly and indirectly everything that stands in his way. The original inhabitants of entire countries have to go under when they cannot hit it off with the invader. With them disappears a rich and splendid fauna, which for thousands of years has made existence possible for the natives, but which now in a few years is recklessly slaughtered. Never before in the history of the world have whole hordes of animals — the larger and stronger animals especially — been killed off so speedily by man. The flora follows the fauna. Primeval forests are "destroyed, or at least injured, and wooded districts ■often changed into artificial deserts. With the colonist, who drives out the aborigines, there come in other animals which help to drive out the aboriginal fauna ; and in the ■same way the vegetable world also is supplanted. Kitchen gardens and weeds spread everywhere, imprinting a new stamp upon the flora. Those who are familiar v.'ith all these circumstances cannot be in doubt as to what is bound to follow. The result must indubitably be this : that the colonist, forcing everything under his rule, will destroy everything that is useless to him or in his way, and will seek only to have such fauna and flora as answer to his needs or his tastes. Examples of this state of things are to be found in 2 •* The Tragedy of Civilisation all parts of the world. The Indians of North America and many branches of the Polynesian race may be instanced : their scattered remnants are hastening towards complete disappearance. For centuries past civilised < . -itR .& 'AtiMrHkh^ THE CANDELABKA EUPHORBIA TREES ARE A DIS- TINCTIVE FEATURE OF THE NYIKA COUNTRY colonists have been waging a war of extinction in the Arctic regions against those animals which provide us with furs and blubber. The Hudson Bay Company has made heavy inroads on the number of fur-bearing animals in its own region. 3 With Flashlight and Rifle -^. The fur of a sea-otter is now worth over ^loo; but a complete skin of this animal, such as could be exhibited in a museum, has for years past been unobtainable ! War to the knife was long declared against whales — the largest mammals of our time, (The popular notion that they are fish seems, by the way, almost ineradicable.) But for long they were able to escape complete annihila- tion in Arctic regions, their capture involving the death of so many determined men engaged in the struggle. Now, however, that the harpoon is no longer slung by the experienced whaler, but is shot into the whale's body out of a cannon ; now that whaling has become a science, carried out with the most elaborate and highly finished implements, the last whale will very soon have dis- appeared. " Very soon " ; for what are a few centuries, when we think of the long ages which were needed for the evolution of the whale to its present form ? Large "schools" of whales are still to be seen in the Arctic regions, and still redden the waters, year in, year out, with their blood, shed in a futile conflict with an over- powering enemy. But soon all this will belong to the realm of legend and tradition, and in future times man will stand in wonder before the scanty specimens to be found in the museums, preserved therein thanks to the foresight of a few. It is shocking and distressing to realise the number of instances of the same kind of slaughter among horned animals. A few decades ago millions of American bisons [Bison biron) roamed over their wide prairies, 4 -^ The Tragedy of Ci\ilisation To-day these millions have gone the same way as the vanished Indian tribes that once lived side by side with them. It was feared that the buffaloes, as they are called in America, would damage the Pacific Railway, as Heck has pointed out in his book Das Tierreich. So buffaloes in their myriads had to make way for the steam-engine. The number of buffalo-skins dealt in by traders during IPP^ /":3 ^^^^Bl i^S^^^^^^k ' mm T^.r.< '"i^ap fc-^-^' i?*^*:.;'^'"' ■ ■ . ■ ^- A SKELETON OF A RHINOCEROS, PROBABLY KILLED BY THE " FUNDIS " — NATIVES LICENSED TO CARRY FIREARMS AND HUNT BIG GAME the last seventy years of the preceding century is almost beyond belief Only a few hundreds are now in existence ! Soon a long list of other noble specimens of the American fauna will follow them. President Roosevelt himself is not blind to this prospect, and he favours everything which seems calculated to stave off this inevit- able calamity. Through the introduction of barbed-wire With Flashlight and Rifle -^ fencing many kinds of deer, for instance, have been ex- terminated in America. In Australia the kangaroos fall victims to the snares of the farmers. In Asia the annihila- tion of many kinds of wild beasts proceeds apace. The Indian rhinoceros, wild goats, wild horses, and wild sheep of the Asiatic hill countries of the interior are being recklessly exterminated. In Germany the aurochs, which figures so largely in our old legends, has long disappeared. It is scarcely possible now to form a clear idea of this splendid animal, so scanty is the material at hand for the purpose. The bison {Bison bonassus), its power- ful cousin, only exists now in small herds, which are degenerating through breeding-in. The steinbock has been exterminated in the Alps, only a small number surviving in the valleys of the Aosta, and that under royal protection. The elk (A/ces alces) disappeared from Germany long ago, and is now to be found only in small numbers under royal protection, like the bison, and like the beaver also in the Elbe district. But the way in which wild life is annihilated nowadays in South Africa is simply terrible. A short time ago there were countless herds of splendid animals in Cape Colony. The Boers, trekking into the interior, had to fight their way step by step by slaughtering the animals they found grazing in their path. Civilisation brought about only the checking of the growth of the native races, not their extermination like the American Indians. And the natives applied them- selves to the work of destroying the wild life with the help of the arms brought in by the Europeans, and on 6 -^ The Tra;^^edv of Civilisation behalf of the white traders who equipped them tor the purpose. Thus disappeared the white-tailed gnu {Connoduetes gnu), the bontebok (Damalisciis /j^iir^rusi. the blesbok • DaviahscKS albifrons), the true quagga (Equus gjiag^^a^^. the mountain zebra (Eqttus zebra), the splendid roan ante'ope {Hippotragui kiicophccui). the Cape bufifalo {Bubali'.s caffir). the elephant, the so-called white rhino- ceros (/?//.; .:t;\ simies). the black rhinoceros {R. bi- £ornis), the giraffe, the hippopotamus, and the ostrich — except for a few preserved individuals in the case ot the first three ; completely in the case of all the others. The number of animals still tj be found there in the last third of the previous century was immense, but it is hard to realise the dense crowds of them that must have existed there a hundred years before that. And side by side with them from earliest tin.es lived the coloured races. Like the American Indians, they levied their toll upon the animal kingdom '.sith'ut im- pairing it. It was left to the reckless and purposeless slaughtering indulged in by civilised man to achieve the seemmgiy impossible, and turn this thickiy inhabited region into a desert. To my mind there is a groundwork of truth under- lying the myth of a Paradise, in which the animal world lived all together in harmony. Trustworthy observers have told us that in the Arctic regions the sea-lions — creatures of exceptional intelligence — and seals and rein- deer and birds do not budge an inch on the approach of men, and show no trace of fear. This must have 9 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ been true of the entire world before the beginning of the supremacy of Homo sapiens. What was found, indeed, in those polar regions uninhabited by man, I myself have often observed in that land of blinding sunshine which goes by the. name of the Dark Continent! Enormous herds of harmless animals, as well as beasts of prey, forming one general community, are to be found together at certain times in desert places. Where the natives do not hunt, wild animals are to be found on alrnbst as friendly terms with them as singing birds and other such pets are with us, or as storks, swans, squirrels, and all the other naturally wild animals- that have come under our protection, and have come to^ trust us. Thus it is that in the wild regions of Equatorial -Africa we find the animal kingdom flourishing almost to the same extent as was once the case in the south. ^' I say " almost," because it must be allowed that the herds of elephants in the interior have been thinned and the herds of buffaloes decimated by the rinderpest. ' introduced by Europeans into Africa. At certain times of the year, however, for weeks and months at a time, I have seen such numbers and such a variety of animals as simply cannot be imagined, and I am able thus to form a notion of what things must have been like in the south. I can give no adequate notion of the extraordinary profusion of wild life there is still in Equatorial Africa, and I would fain raise my voice in order to induce xo si -, ■ ,' ' 1 ,/ M ^•W^ \ ^> .i »-', ■ HiW- ' '■ ^ Hi -* The Tragedy of Civilisation all those who have influence in the matter to save and maintain what can still be saved. By this 1 mean, not merely the maintenance so far as is possible of the present state of things, but also the getting together of an immediate and comprehensive col- lection of specimens of all the different species for our museums. To-day tlicre is still time m the case of many species. In a few vears it will be too late. I could bring forward the names of many men, famous in the world of geography and natural history, such as those of von Richthofen, Schweinfurth, Ludwig Heck, Paul Matschie, Wilhelm Bolsche, and Professor Lampert, who agree with me on this point. It is a regrettable fa.ct that we Germans know \ery little of the animal life of our colonial possessions. By means of comprehensive collections of large series of skins, skulls, skeletons, etc., I myself have done some- thing towards providing our museums with zoological specimens, many of which were hitherto unfamiliar. As I had to do this out of my private means, and without any help from the State, this meant very considerable personal sacrifices. I maintained rigorously the principle of keeping my caravan (in which I had never less than 130 men) upon a vegetable diet for the most part, allowing them meat only to a very small extent, and then merely as an adjunct to their meals. In the famine year of 1899 my provisions cost me more than 20,000 marks, which might have been brought down to a trifling sum had I taken heavier toll of the game, as the natives were 13 With Flashlight and Rifle -») always ready to barter vegetables for animals I had killed. In addition to pecuniary sacrifices, I had, more- over, to face the envy and disfavour with which all private travellers are apt to be regarded in our German colonies. Where an unexplored region full of wild life is in question, the interests of the explorer and collector should always be put before those of the sportsman. It is infinitely easier to slaughter whole hosts of big game with the help of Askaris than it is to prepare a single giraffe-skin and convey it in safety to Europe. This is a laborious task, needing much personal supervision and involving several days' work — work that at times goes on all night. The lack of careful handling and expert knowledge in the preparation of skins is the reason why serviceable zoological specimens hardly ever reach us in Europe. The recognition I have been accorded by the authorities in the field of zoology enables me to treat the slanderous reports of some of our colonial traders with the contempt they deserve. It has been a great satisfaction to me to find " my animals " restored by expert taxidermists in German museums — from the smallest dwarf antelope to the giraffe, from the rock badger to the rhinoceros and the elephant. These stuffed specimens are the only possible substitute for the reality for those who can never see with their own eyes the life and growth of the animal kingdom in foreign climes. 14 -* The Tragedy of Ci\'ilisation Already a great number of the inmates of our zoological museums have been struck out of the book of living things, though they existed in millions in the time of our fathers. The work of destruction entered upon by civilised man goes on vi^ith terrible swiftness. May this cry of warning be of some use ! U EGYPTIAN GEESE ON THE WliNG 15 11 Instantaneous Photographs of Wild Life INSTANTANEOUS photographs of Hving wild animals ! An every-day matter, surely ! And yet I venture to maintain that until the recent successful photo- graphing of American wild life,' and a few similar photographs taken subsequently by Englishmen, all the ostensible pictures of this kind we have seen have been of animals not in absolute freedom and not in their natural surroundings. Photographs taken in zoological gardens and closed preserves, or photographs of animals in captivity, sur- rounded by stage properties specially arranged for the purpose — photographs which, in addition, have been more or less retouched afterwards — pass current, and are often taken for representations of actual wild life. Anschiitz. rendered great services in Germany in the field of animal photography, and produced some beautiful pictures Zoological works continued, however, to be illustrated 1 Camera Shots at Big Game, by A. G. Wallihan, contains a number of very successful photographs of different kinds ofjdeer. The photographs- of pumas and bears are interesting, too; but the pumas had been hunted with dogs, and the bears had been caught by means of traps. \6 i ^> f VOL. I. -* Instantaneous Photographs of Wild Life chiefly by drawings which, for good reasons, failed in many respects to interpret the character of the animal world correctly. For not only had the artists no oppor- tunity of studying the animals from the life, but they were frequently dependent upon ill-mounted museum specimens as models from which to produce life-like sketches. A few artists were in the position to make studies from life and on the spot, and to these we owe some valuable pictures ; often, however, the animal pictures presented to us were stiff and wooden, and calculated to give quite wrong impressions. Incredible things were perpetrated in this branch of art. Zoological works and works of travel were illustrated with "cuts" which were simply ridiculous to any one with any special knowledge of the subject. We find, indeed, even in publications of to-day, not merely photo- graphs of single stuffed animals, but photographs of whole groups of them, passed off as studies of wild beasts taken in their wild state ; and certain excellent photographs by Anschlitz of caged lions are constantly to be met with served up in all manner of forms — various kinds of vegetation and other accessories being introduced at different times ! This kind of thing can only be de- scribed as a fraud upon the reader, and only too often it is in keeping with the accompanying text, in which people, who in their own country are scarcely capable of killing a hare, describe the most wonderful adventures they experienced, and lay down the law with the greatest assurance upon the most difficult zoological questions. 19 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ An agreeable contrast to such publications Is offered by quite a number of volumes by English writers, the illustra- tions to which are remarkable both for their artistic merit and for their accuracy from a naturalist's point of view. I may instance especially Lord Delamere's photographs of elephants, giraffes, and zebras in The Great and Small Game of Africa. ORGEICH, MY TAXIDERMIST, SETTING OUR MEN — " FUNDI " — TO WORK AT THE PREPARATION OF SOME SKINS President Roosevelt remarks very rightly, in his preface to Wallihan's Camera Shots at Big Game, that it would be extremely ridiculous if people who could not themselves face the hardships and fatigue of shooting expeditions, or who lacked the training essential, were to decorate their rooms with rare trophies not secured by themselves. Many people, however, would seem not to realise this. 20 ! <^ o 2' -* Instantaneous Photographs of \\'ild Life Hunting by proxy — in the persons of guides or Askaris — unfortunately plays too big a role in East Africa. The " sportsman " then describes his own adventures, relying on information supplied by the natives and adducing the trophies in his possession as documentary evidence. We are still very much in the dark over many biological questions regarding our own wild animals, and we lack reallv good photographs of most of the animals of our country in their natural surroundings. Here is a wide field for artistic endeavour, and it would be a matter for great satisfaction if it were cultivated as soon as possible. The same is true still more of wild beasts in foreign lands. Even the slightest item of original observation is really valuable. Photographs taken in complete freedom, how- ever, are biological documents of the highest importance in the opinion of my friends Professor Matschie and Dr. Ludwig Heck, and in that of Wilhelm Bolsche, who has referred to my pictures in most gratifying terms in his work IJ'cltblick. I am tempted here (if only to encourage other sportsmen to combine photography with shooting in the same way) to quote the words in which yet another zoological authority, Professor Lambert, of Stuttgart, has alluded to my work in this field. " These pictures," he declares, " are of the greatest importance. In them, the wild animals of Africa will live on long after they have been sacrificed to the needs of advancing civilisation." It was in 1896 that I had my first opportunity of getting to know the velt of the interior of Africa ; and it was 25 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ then the great desire arose in me in some manner or other to seize on all these wonderful phenomena from the animal world, and to make them common property and accessible to all. This, desire grew in me side by side with the conviction that there was here a wide field for valuable work to be accompHshed without delay ; for the East African fauna was rapidly disappearing before the continued MY PHOTOGRAPHIC EQUIPMENT advance of civilisation. But good advice was hard to get. The faculty of depicting the animal world with the artist's pencil was denied me ; I possessed, only in a small measure, the ability to describe in tolerable clearness this beautiful, virgin, primeval world. Since the days when the unfortunate Richard Bohm was seized with a malignant fever on the far Upemba Lake in 1884, and 26 -* Instantaneous Photographs of \\'ild Life since those of Kuhnert, who was for a short time at Kilimanjaro, no artist has had an opportunity of famih'arising himself with the animal world of West Africa. The artist or painter, however, who attempts to put before the eyes of tfie public the wonders of the animal kingdom of inmost Africa would undoubtedly be received with incredulity. How could those accustomed to the zoological conditions of over-populated Europe believe such an animal kingdom possible ? The only feasible and desirable records seemed to be trustworthy photographs, which could not deceive. Here were, however, many difficulties to be overcome with but limited means. In the mutual exchange of my ideas with Ludwig Heck, who was never tired of strengthening me in my resolutions, we always came back to this point. We always said to ourselves that a way must be found to render the highly developed technique of photography serviceable for the object I had in view — for work in the wilderness. What a seductive aim — to put on a photographic plate those wild herds in such marvellously picturesque assemblage — unique and rare inhabitants of the jungle, little known, if known at all ! The only way to achieve this object was to work hard for long and weary years. We always seemed to be encountering new difficulties. Occasionally our flashlight experiments failed ; the explosive compound smashed our apparatus, so much so that the iron parts of it, which were nearly a third of an inch thick, were torn and bent. Some hindrance always seemed to be cropping up and thwarting our plans. So we studied 27 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ and planned, and after a vast amount of preparatory THE EFFECT OF THE FLASHLIGHT labour I started out a second time, extensively equipped, for Equatorial Africa. 28 -*> Instantaneous Photographs of Wild Life I spent a whole year there acquiring experience, and failures and trials taught me daily something new. Again, on my return to Europe, lengthy experiments were made. This time Kommerzienrat Goerz, proprietor of the well-known optician's establishment in Friedenau, placed at our disposal one of his laboratories to further this scientific work. Owing to his kindness we found it possible to devise more suitable apparatus for photograph- ing by night, and thus I was enabled to reproduce on the plate the most secret habits of animal life. After this I started afresh for Africa with an extensive equipment. This time I was accompanied by my friend Dr. Ktinster, and set out from Tanga for the interior with a party of 130 people. Things proved very different in practice from what we had worked out in theory. Hard days of disillusionment, aggravated by the difficulties of the climate, fell to our lot. After three months' suffering from acute heart disease and from malaria, I was obliged to throw up the whole expedition and to find my way home. At that time the doctors thought it more than questionable whether I should ever reach home alive, so much had the malaria, in conjunction with the heart trouble, pulled me down. But these troubles also were overcome : my tough constitution withstood all assaults. Afterwards I recommenced my studies, turning my experiences to account, and for the fourth time, after experiencing many disappointments, I started out to try to achieve, at least partially, the purpose on which I had set my heart. In a tropical country that is constantly 29 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ being tabooed for private individuals — in a country where the climate is so unfavourable to the European — there are many hindrances and difficulties to overcome. A naturalist travelling on his own account encounters almost insuperable obstacles. A passport which would have ensured the holder thereof respectful treatment in any other part of the world was of no avail here on German territory to save us from long hours of Customs vexations in the hot rays of a burning sun. I experienced later in the year 1899 a still greater annoyance. With infinite trouble I had secretly made my plans to explore on English territory the distant and virgin land Korromoeyo, lying round about Rudolf Lake. I had obtained the permission from the English Government by means of the kind intercession of influential friends ; and I had provided the necessary credentials. Then suddenly, just as I was about to start from Kilimanjaro, the permission, after all my long preparations, was withheld. According to rumour, some influential English gentlemen had been refused permission to travel in German East Africa. What wonder, then, that like to like should be repaid ! All my plans were nipped in the bud. But, in spite of all, [ would not have missed all these hardships and difficulties ! — not even the hours, the days, and the weeks which Dr. Kunster — who had accompanied me on my third expedition as friend and physician — and I passed during my illness on the borders of the -*> Instantaneous Photographs of Wild Life silent Rufu River. Were it not for his zealous nursing, and that of the staff-physician, Dr. Groothufen, as well as of my friend Captain Alerker, I should have died. But I look upon those days of suffering and strenuous work, in that far-off wilderness as the right inauguration for my project. OUR FRIENDS THE STORKS WINTERING IN MASAI-NYIKA III The Minds of Animals WHAT Brehm has put on record so admirably in- telling of his sojourn in the Sudan, concerning" the way in which his feathered and four-footed friends, there displayed their trust in him and feeling of comrade- ship with him in times of illness or distress, I also am able to give as my experience during my sojourn in Equatorial Africa. Any one who makes his way through that unexplored' and unfamiliar region^ — not bent solely on making money, but lingering here and there and giving himself time for the purpose — will find so much to win his sym- pathies in the intelligence of the animals, so much to- fascinate him in the study of their life, that he will not often catch himself yearning for the civilised existence of home. A thousand questions call for answering, a thousand problems await solution, but the observer who would cope with them must hasten, for many members, of the African fauna are doomed to speedy destruction 32 -^ The Minds of Animals at the hands of the invader. And he must be able to enter into the soul and heart of the individual animal he would study, coming to the task sympathetically and with a desire to understand and appreciate. No one wonders nowadays at the way in which the Indian elephant, born in the wilderness and captured in maturity, enters in a few weeks into friendly, if dependent, relations with man, and learns to be an excellent instrument in his hands. I am indebted to the Prince of Pless for the inform.ation that the "mahouts" or keepers of the Indian elephants, understand about a hundred distinct utterances — words, practically — used by the elephants, and that they, in turn, may be said to follow every word used by the " mahouts." The weaker brain gives way naturally to the stronger, with animals as with ourselves. But we find a number of species among them which come quickly into entirely unselfish relationship with men. For nearly twenty years no one had succeeded in bringing a young African rhinoceros alive to Europe. It seemed to me that the cause of so many of the young animals pining away when brought home without a mother must lie in the neglect of what I may call a spiritual need. In all cases the mothers had been killed. In the case of my young rhinoceros, I replaced the mother by a she-goat. After a few days the young " rhino " had made such friends with her, without being suckled by her, that he followed her about everywhere, and even now, in captivity, is not to be parted from her and the kid she has since produced. VOL. I. 33 3 With Flashlight and Rifle '* The massive young rhinoceros consorting with these two East African goats is a curious sight ! The public — that is to say, the public which frequents our Zoological Gardens on a Sunday — does not know what to make of them. " Look, children," you may hear pater- 'FATIMA, MY YOUNG RHINOCEROS, AND HER MESSMATE, THE GOAT. THIS GOAT STILL KEEPS HER COMPANY IN THE BERLIN ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS familias remark ; " look at the rhinoceros and the poor little goats. Isn't it sad ? He will eat them up." It does not enter the good man's head that an unselfish feeling of friendship, a crying need of companionship, can find a place in the heart of this uncouth denizen of the wilderness. You will look in vain for any under- standing of the great thick-skinned exile in the minds of the thousands of human visitors who imagine themselves,. quite wrongly, so infinitely his superior. 34 -* The Minds of Animals But this dictum of our paterfamilias is often surpassed by that of the visitor who, seeing above the cage the words " East African Rhinoceros," jumps at once to the conclusion that it is a case of two small rhinoceroses with their old mother ! There is no reason for this observer to suppose that a young rhinoceros does not look like a goat ! Whoever may doubt the truth of this should convince himself by questioning the keeper of the rhinoceros in the Zoological Gardens in Berlin. You will generally gather from books that the rhinoceros is a dull and unintelligent animal. Dull and unintelligent he is undoubtedly from a merely human standpoint ; but he should, of course, be regarded in quite another light, and would then be found to be gifted with a specially directed intelligence of a very highly developed kind. These animals cannot, of course, make deductions and draw conclusions from their past experiences like men, who inherit these intellectual treasures from remote ages, transmitted in an enriched form from one generation to another by means of the gift of speech. But, on the other hand, if a century ago every rhinoceros had been endowed merely with the intelligence of an average civilised man, and thus endowed had been the prey of reckless unsparing sportsmen, not a single one of them would now be alive. In just the same way must it be accounted for something that elephants have mastered so important a piece of knowledge during the last few decades as how to save themselves from the deadly fire of modern rifles. It is a great mistake to 35 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ attempt to judge animals' brains by our own. We have to remember that many animals have senses which we are without, and that other senses which we have in common are much more highly developed in them than in ourselves. I can only say that this young rhinoceros attached himself to me in a very few weeks, and got to dis- MY MARABOUS MADE GREAT FRIENDS WITH OUR COOK tinguish quite clearly between the large number of men who came into touch with him, bearing himself quite differently with different individuals, just as he still singles me out from all the thousands who approach him now in the Gardens. If a zoologist were to ask me to explain the incredible topographical instinct of rhinoceroses, I should reply that these animals are enabled, out of the treasure of experience 36 -^ The Minds of Animals and knowledge stored up in their brains, to recognise in detail the topography of the velt, and to find their way with ease about the surrounding country. Herein lies the explanation of the fact that I was able very frequently to take up a rhinoceros track which led me in the driest season in a direct easterly course after four hours to a dried-up ditch which led due south to a small pool which still held water. I have noticed this kind of thing hundreds of times in the vicinity of the velt, where only intermittent showers of rain fill the pools temporarily with water. How helplessly and hopelessly lost does the educated man feel himself to be in that wilderness! In what a masterly and wonderful manner does the rhinoceros find his way ! The friendship between my rhinoceros and the two goats was founded on an absolutely unselfish basis. It arose from purely spiritual needs. Of this I am positive. Many other animals in this distant black country were to us a real source of enjoyment and consolation. Take, for example, my young elephant, who loved me with child- like simplicity, till I unfortunately lost him for want of a foster-mother : also my tame baboon, who used to be almost mad with joy when he saw me, a mere speck on the horizon, returning to the camp from one of my excursions — his sight is infinitely keener than ours. From earliest times we have heard tell of an unusually wise bird that our ancestors nicknamed the " philosopher." This is the marabou-stork, specimens of which I have come across whose wisdom and fondness for human companionship would scarcely be credited. 37 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ Storks and marabouts, which perhaps have hved a man's lifetime or more in the distant velt, have attached themselves to me in the friendliest manner, albeit caught after many difficulties and by strategy. A specimen, well on in years, which I brought with me to Berlin still singles '•i i*«»Lt5«^;;-itc(k,fc-iASfaB«rs«r"*fc*w«ip"j»'«i. MY TAME BIRDS USED TO WANDER IN AND OUT ALL OVER THE CAMP me out from all the other visitors by peculiar marks of affection ! Of course it means many a hard struggle, and it is not easy to win the friendship of such old and peculiarly obstinate birds. For weeks and months one must feed them by force with pieces of meat before they make up their minds to feed themselves. One must tend them oneself, wait on them constantly, and occupy oneself with their needs. Then, one day, quite suddenly, all mistrust -*> The Minds of Animals and fear are overcome, and one is repaid a thousandfold for all one's trouble by making a genuine friend of the bird. It must be remembered that I am not speaking of young birds reared by men from infancy, but of birds caught perhaps at the age of thirty or forty years, or even older. For marabous attain a very great age, like large ravens or vultures, one of which lived in captivity under favourable conditions for a hundred years. My marabous moved about in the camp free and unrestrained. They built their nests, and did not try to fly away. They greeted me on my return with joyful cacklings ; they planted them- selves close to my tent as sentinels, and caressed me with their powerful and dangerous bills. For a long time my black cook had taken on the duty of feeding them, and their affection for me was not at all the result of my giving them dainties, but of my just and intelligent conception of their habits. I could write a gfreat deal more about the sagfacious deeds of these birds. I must, however, restrict myself, and will only mention that Dr. Ludwig Heck, to whom thousands of wild animals were attached, could not help remarking, on the steamer near Naples, the affection my marabous showed me. " There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy," Dr. Heck wrote at that time in an essay on his own observations. Hamlet's phrase often recurs to me, also, in this connection. I am convinced by what I have myself seen of animals that their minds are highly developed, though we have been unable to discover how they work. With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Is it, then, so difficult to watch with sympathetic eyes the tragedy that is to-day being unfolded ? I speak of the annihilation of a powerful and mighty race that has done hurt to no man — of the African elephant, an animal that, whenever and wherever tamed, evinces for man the most lively sympathy. Here, as in many other realms of natural science, there are unfortunately great difficulties that can only be over- THE MARABOUS AND THE VULTURES GOT ON TOGETHER VERY WELL come with much labour. When we become fully alive to the importance of the matter, it may be too late to subject many of the highly developed kinds of animals to careful study ; for they may have been exterminated on our planet and struck off the roll of life. I am alluding now to the infinite difficulty that every man will encounter when he undertakes the study of foreign races and their 40 -* The Minds of Animals peculiar habits, if he wishes thoroughly to investigate in a truly critical spirit their psychological emotions. Only he who has for many, many years lived in the midst of a foreign people and has given himself up to his task with heartfelt zeal, and who possesses an innate aptitude for the subject, can undertake such a work. It appears that certain kinds of animals remain, as a whole, unchanged for long periods of time. It also seems to me that the mind acts according to certain inherited tendencies ; this is called instinct. When carefully ex- amined, however, it will be found that these so-called instincts resolve themselves often into more or less deliberate actions, although it may be that these actions are committed within very narrow limits and in accordance with sharply defined rules. I call as witnesses those thousands and thousands of dog-owners and sportsmen who are convinced of the fact that their own animals, which have been with them in many a tight corner, under- stand them and love them. This may seem to others, in many cases, hard to understand, and appear at times exaggerated. These lack the long and sympathetic study of the finest differences of the animal minds in question — ■ There are more things in heaven and earth . . . 4i j'ATA morgana: a strange effect as of a long line of bluish water-spouts ON THE horizon IV Masai'Nyifca WITH what an ever changing beauty did the Masai- Nyika break upon our view ! The mountain ranges as viewed from the velt seemed almost near enough to be touched, in spite of their distance and vastness. The clear, dustless atmosphere deceived our eyesight. In the old days this never-ending velt, with its inhabitants, seemed to the newcomer to be an insoluble conundrum. But to-day, after millions and millions of footsteps have been imprinted on velt and on mountain, in swamp and in forest, the wanderer has mastered its speech, thus finding new and rich pleasures in the illimitable solitude. The velt does not indeed betray its secrets wholesale. Those who would unravel them must be prepared to search and study. They will succeed only by the sweat of their brow-; and they must, above all, be fearless of consequences. Thirst, hunger, and the dread of malaria have to be faced in the long run, whether willingly or not. 42 C. G. Schillings, phot.. SCENE ON THE RUFU RIVER -*) Masai-Nyika So it is not presumption when the sportsman or the •explorer, who has done all this, says to himself that he has acquired a certain right to interpret what he has seen and struggled with. No one could possibly do this without taking upon himself endless labour and trouble. The velt is a book difficult to decipher ; actually we find the various tracks and trails of the animal world I LOOK OUT OVER KYIKA recorded as though wath a pencil in the loose, moving sand of the velt, in clammy clay, and in swamps : a book which is always full of charm, and in the study of which not a single weary hour would be spent. And there, where the giants of the animal kingdom have left imprints of their tremendous strength on trees and brushwood, in swamps and marshes, we find, as it were, punctuation-marks to its pages. 45 With Flashlight and Rifle -»> Right and left on our path, trees of vast strength are to be seen broken like bits of straw, showing where a herd of elephants have made their way. Large holes in the ground are come upon, which have been made by the elephants in the wet season, and which remain visible for a year or more. There is not a little danger of falling into- these, because of the thick grass. Wherever the explorer sets his foot he always finds something new, something full of meaning. The rhinoceros, too, leaves his mark. For many miles- long tracks, which cross and recross, are found leading to- watering-places. These tracks are especially noticeable in the vicinity of the pools and streams, and gradually get lost in the distance. And like the elephant,, the rhinoceros levies toll upon the shrubs and thorn- bushes. The East African wilderness varies in its formation. It is sometimes flat,- so.metimes undulating, or sharply broken by more or less high hills, steep rocks, mounds, and inclines. In the volcanic region of the great mountain Kilimanjaro a whole range of mountains rises from the plateau. The highest point of Kilimanjaro, the Kibo- peak, reaches over 6,000 metres. This peak is perpetually covered with snow and ice, whilst Mawenzi, which comes next to it in height, is only covered intermittently. Its summit, which rises sharply in the air, is connected with Kibo by a ridge 5, 000 metres high. Less than sixty years ago, when the missionary Rebmann brought the first news of this glacier-world under the equatorial sun, the learned declared it to be a product of his imagination. Ice and 46 -♦ Masai-Xyika snow at the Equator ! Nowadays we are more exactly informed about the " genesis " of these great volcanoes Professor Hans Meyer has done much by his wonderful explorations to open up the matter. It is chiefly from his works that we derive our information as to the geologica conditions of this district. The formation of the district is the outcome of volcanic A TYPICAL BIT Of bUt.cljl,EM V£L1 VEGETATION IN THE RAINY SEASON. CARALLl.VA CODOXOIDES IN THE FOREGROUND causes, and my friend Merker justly observes that this is peculiarly remarkable on Kilimanjaro, Meru, and 01 Doinyo I'Eng ai. In the neighbourhood of the last, which is an active volcano, hill after hill is found between the steep descent of the Mutiek Plateau and the Gilei and Timbati Mountains, each of which has the remains of a crater. The whole scenery is of the kind we are familiar with in photographs of the moon. VOL. I. 49 4 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Some two days' journey distant from Kilimanjaro- rises the neighbouring sinister-looking Mount Meru, nearly 5,000 metres high, and still further away, in the direction of the Victoria Nyanza, several separate hills and volcanoes are ranged. In the midst of this world of mountains there extends before us in the. bright sunshine an immeasurable plateau, the " High Velts," at an elevation of some thousands of feet above the level of the sea. According to the season — whether in the Masika, the season of heavy rain, or the drought — Nyika is to be seen garbed in a green shimmer of young grass and adorned for miles by separate rain-water streams like silver threads, or looking brown and grim under a desert of decayed vegetation. In the latter case our eyes find resting-places here and there in the valleys in which acacias, the ever-green Terminalia, or other flowers and shrubs, find moist ground whereby to preserve their freshness. It would be difficult for any but a botanist to describe the character of this plant world. Professor Volkens has done so, in his work on Kilimanjaro, in a masterly manner. Later we come across vast open spaces flooded in rainy seasons, but in the time of drought covered with a white, salty incrustation which only permits of the sparsest vegetable life, with now and again patches of green or sun-scorched grass. We may find acacia-bushes, which stretch for immeasurable distances, or thorn-trees that look like fruit-trees, and indeed cause the name of " fruit gardens " to be given to the velt where they grow. The acacia sometimes has the appearance of a tree, sometimes, especially when young, of a bush. Other 50 -* Masai-Nyika bushes and shrubs of various kinds spring up amidst the grass which, after the rainy season, grows as high as a man ; and there is often an undergrowth of thorny plants of all kinds. Many kinds of euphorbias give the whole a tropical aspect. But shrubs and thorn-bushes of rare kinds — -grey-green BIT OF THE SUCCULENT VELT WITH PyjUi.wlC.IXTH.I MALVIFOLIA — GREAT HEAVY BOULDERS UPON WHICH WILD GROWTHS SPRING UP IN THE RAINY SEASON clumps many feet across, seemingly lying loose on the ground — go to form another style of velt vegetation. During the rainy season they shoot out prickles and creepers, whilst during the drought they appear absolutely dead. A certain group of plants called succulents, peculiarly adapted to the climate of the velt, which live through With Flashlight and Rifle -* several years of drought, is to be found in great abundance. In the Nyika one constantly comes across large white- ant heaps, several feet high and of considerable width. During the night the tiny builders are untiringly active in raising and building their fortresses, which are very strongly put together. At the approach of the rainy season the ants, which by this time are winged, arise from the ground in swarms to set out on their long wedding journey in the air to lay the foundations of new colonies elsewhere. Most of them know perfectly how to use their little white pinions, although it is the first and only time in their lives that they rise from the dark depths of the ground in the damp evening atm.osphere. Some, however, flutter to the ground in a piteous plight, with their wings broken. They will never undertake the striven-for journey. But what does it matter, since there are myriads left to fulfil their vocation ? Here and there the steppes are adorned with the well-known monkey-bread tree {Adansonia digitate). Covered with a shining bright grey bark, this tree often attains a circumference of many yards, and, in spite of its grotesqueness, charms us with its primeval appear- ance. The traveller soon learns to value it, for often rich stores of water lie hidden in the hollow trunk— stores that have been supplied by the rainy season — which may be the only water to be found in the district for several days' journey. Sometimes one comes across deep ravines and gullies that cut through the landscape. For months and years 54 -»» Masai-Nyika they remain hard and dry, when suddenly a mighty fall of rain transforms them into rushing torrents, which the caravan will most probably find an insuperable obstacle to its progress. When these desert regions lie in bright and beautiful sunlight, and the eye can see a vast stretch of country. A BIT OF THE SO-CALLED THORNY IRUH GARDEN VELT the traveller is seized with a great sense of freedom, and a longing to explore and investigate. Even the experienced eye is easily deceived with regard to distance in this riot of dazzling light. Thus I found that, where Oskar Baumann pointed out the Kiniarok Lake in the Nyika, there was only barren desert, and I had to retrace my steps hastily, in order to save my people and myself from perishing of thirst. . . . But 55 With Flashlight and Rifle -»> at the time of the Masika the country round about would be covered with water for miles. It is not difficult to travel in the Masai-Nyika during the rainy season when water is abundant, apart from the simple difficulty of finding one's way between the thorns and the bushes and extricating oneself from the long rank grass, often as high as a man. It is very different A WHITE-ANT HILL ON THE VELT NEAR THE COAST during the drought. Unless one has reliable knowledge beforehand, one is never sure where the next drinking- place will be found. Even if information is obtained with regard to some spot where water was found only a short time before, it is not to be relied on, for in the fiery breath of the sun and the wind of the plains it will evaporate in a few days ! We have often been obliged to travel back more than twenty miles to find water, and 56 -»> Masai-Nyika this with bearers who have carried burdens weighing 60 lb. on their heads since the early morning ; or we have been obliged to make a so-called " Telekesa " march, following a very old and practical method. After midday the caravan decamps and journeys towards its destination until the evening. At the approach of darkness the camp is pitched at a spot where there is no water. In A THORN-BUSH ON THE VELT all probability the day has been hot, the burden has lain heavily on our heads, and a sudden whirlwind has made the sand of the plain dance and fly in all directions ; but every man squats down by his burden, so as to be ready to start again in the early morning, or even by moonlvght if the way lies clear, and so as to reach the longed-for drinking-place as quickly as possible. Very often it is not until the evening that this can be done. 57 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Under ordinary conditions carriers will never throw up the sponge ; their traditions forbid them to do this. I have often known them to fall beneath a heavy load, but I have- scarcely ever known them abandon it to go and seek for water. On the contrary, it is the custom (dasturi) for those who arrive first at the camp to carry the replenished cala- bash back to revive their friends {rafiki) left behind, it maybe over an hour's journey away. In the generous dis- tribution of food among themselves the carriers are most brotherly and helpful to one another. And under what- ever conditions they find themselves, wet or dry, the blacks know better than any how to find the best spots on the velt, or to discover hidden sources of water, to spy out the rare berry-bearing shrubs, to find wood for fuel where ap- parently no wood is to be seen, to light their camp-fires quickly, and to contrive sheltered nooks for themselves- out of their own cloths and wraps. They know, too, how to keep off vermin by certain herbs, whose strong smell ■our European nerves can hardly stand. Alfred Brehm once said of the Tundra, the Asiatic counterpart of Masai-Nyika, after he had experienced many hardships there: " I shall never go back to the Tundra!" I also have a great dread of the Nyika. No northerner will ever live there for long. Yet those who have learnt to know it are apt to hear it calling to them again and again ! .^8 THE LITTLE ARAB DHOWS WHICH BROUGHT US TO ZANZIBAR. V To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein 1"*HE mail-steamer Bzl7'-^^er>>!cis/cr brought us to Tanga in the first days of February. For the fourth time I set foot upon the East Coast of Africa ; for the third time I set out from it for Germany's highest mountain, the gigantic ice-covered and snow-clad volcano, Kilimanjaro. Prince Johannes Lowenstein-Rosenberg and I had taken seven mules on board at Naples in the expectation that these wiry beasts, accustomed in Southern Italy to every kind of hardship, would be admirably fitted for our riding. The transport was carried out all right, but the mules unfortunately got the Acarus mange on the way. A dog — a "Great Dane" — which had been despatched from Hamburg to Dar-es-Salaam for scientific purposes, and which had been inoculated experimentally against infection by the tsetse-fly, had given them the disease. Being familiar with the treatment of this kind of mange, I took the dog in hand when on board ; but, in spite of all 59 With Flashlight and Rifle -* my efforts, the mules became infected after they had lost their winter coats of long hair, with very damaging effects upon their skin. So for several weeks we had the task of subjecting the rather obstinate and troublesome beasts twice daily to a thorough good wash — a process finally crowned by success. Thanks to my previous experiences and to our relations OiNCK MOKK I SAW CAPE GUAKDAFUI BEFORt. ME, OUTSTRETCHED LIKE A RESTING LION. IT WAS THE EIGHTH TIME I HAD VOYAGED THIS WAY with the officials of the German East African Company, our ca,ravan of 170 bearers, Askaris and others, under the supervision of my tried and trusty headman, Mniam- para Maftar, was organised in a few days, and the railway took us to Korogwe, at that time its terminus. This saved' us a wearisome two-days' march along the ■coast. We made our way Over Mombo, where the experimental cotton-plantations had unfortunately bfeen 60 -* To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein ■destroyed by the heavy rains, and where we were genially entertained by Herr \'eith, the ven- friendly and helpful manager of the plantaticns ; then across ^Nlasinde, leaving the caravan road upon the right ; and finally across Mkomasi, now greatly swollen, and along the Rufu Ri\er towards our provisional destination, Kilimanjaro. Rain had been falling in unusual quantities, and we found the vegetable world in great luxuriance. It was my seventh journey through—this -district, but it was only the second time that 1 had found the vegetation in this state ; I had generally known it in the dry season. Far and wide the land was now covered with grass ; the remarkable succulent plants were in full life, and the grotesque monkey-bread trees adorned with leaves. Butter- flies and hordes of other insects were to be seen in every direction. It would be hard for a newcomer to realise that all this organic life must disappear in a very short time, and that the velt would spread out round us a barren, withered plain. As the result of the rains, the health of the Europeans was, as usual, very bad. All the resident officials of the German East African Company had been obliged, turn by turn, to go to the hospital. The temperature reached 32 Celsius in the shade, never falling below 21° at night, when the south-easterly wind blew per- sistently. We purchased large stores of provisions, sent about eighty donkey-loads of maize on ahead, and continued our march for some days up-stream. The animal world, 6; With Flashlight and Rifle -* finding food and drink everywhere now, was scattered over the whole region. Prince Lowenstein brought down some Grant's gazelles iyGazella granti), but our chief interest was centred in the immense number of storks {Ciconia alba), which were preparing to set forth on their flight to Europe, PRINCE JOHANNES LOWENSTEIN {TO THE KIGHT) AND THE AUTHOR and were now lying in wait for the locusts. Rising high in the air in flocks of thousands, these storks went through the most wonderful evolutions. The weaver-birds, which here fix their hanging nests upon the trees in great numbers, were also extraordinarily full of life just now, and their nests full of eggs anc: young. While the old birds fed their young only a few 64 -* To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein days out of the shell with locusts, the slightly bigger ones found their nourishment in ripe grass-seeds. The weaver-bird which I myself discovered in 1899 {Ploceus schillingsi) was now mating ; and the prince collected a number of specimens of this handsome bird, of which the males when old are coloured a beautifully gleaming gold, and which always builds its nest right over the water, either in bushes or among reeds. A female ostrich which I shot, and of which I pre- sented the contents of the stomach to the Berlin Museum, had been eating nothing but grass-seed in enormous quantities and had produced an &^^ out of season. But for this one egg the ovaries were completely inactive. The natives told me that when the grass grows so suddenly ostriches lay single eggs not in- frequently, out of the breeding-season, when straying on the velt. We moved our camp down-stream for some days, and, while Prince Lowenstein had the good luck to bring down a fine rhinoceros running close to me, we suddenly came upon a herd of buffaloes out in the open on the same day — more than sixty of them — enjoying their siesta in the shade of some acacia-trees, side by side with water-buck [Codus aff. ellipsiprymnus) and Grant's gazelles {Gazella grand). Most unfortunately I did not succeed in photographing them, either standing still or running ; I had not got my apparatus yet into complete working order, and the light, moreover, was unfavourable. Out of this herd the prince and I shot one bull and VOL. I. 65 5 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ one cow. Our joy was intense over this piece of rare luck, and we camped near the river in order to undertake the preparation of the skins. By putting forth all our efforts we succeeded, in spite of the burning sun, in making really valuable zoological specimens of them, and thus saving them for science. The cow was pregnant, the young being of a dark coffee-colour. We were able to treat its skin successfully also. These operations called forth the best efforts of every one in the caravan ; and it was a matter for great satisfaction that they were crowned with success. Here I may give the measurements of the bull. The length of the skin from the muzzle was 4 metres ; the greatest girth, round the belly, 3'6o ; the skull weighed 25 kilos ; that of the cow, 15. As rain set in, we had to salt the skins. The animals were, as usual, covered with ticks {Rhipicephalus appen- diculatus), those pests of the African buffalo. So, by good luck, I had at last seen a herd of buffaloes by daylight out in the open ! Until then I had never beheld a buffalo except in thickets or among reeds. We reflected mournfully on the time when, before the devastations of the rinderpest, such a sight was to be encountered daily in these regions of East Africa. Two days later the Prince brought down a male giraffe, but we did not succeed in preparing the skin. Like all males, it had five projections from its forehead. Its measurements were as follows : Length of line from nose to the longest of these forehead projections, 88 centimetres; length of projections, 22 centimetres ; circumference of 66 -*> To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein head above the eyes, i metre 6 centimetres ; circumference of the projections at their bases, 25 centimetres, up above, 22 centimetres. Weight of head, with about 30 centi- metres of neck attached, 40 kilos. During the next few days we made several excursions on the velt, in the course of which I got some guinea- fowl and a corncrake {Crex crex), so well known in ^V^ STORKS TAKING TO FLIGHT our meadows at home, and also came upon a great number of giraffe-tracks. Upon the little island in the river were to be found the nests of mire-drums [Bubitlciis ibis) and of herons of other kinds, whose eggs I was able to get. Here also were still larger colonies of my weaver-bird iyPloceus schillingsi). A golden cuckoo {Chrxsococcyx citpreus), had chosen the nest of one of these birds for hatching her 69 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ eggs, and her young birds had ejected their foster- companions into the river, therein to be drowned ! Having by this time familiarised myself with the telephoto apparatus, I succeeded in taking a number of excellent photographs of some antelopes i^Oryx callotis). This entailed a very interesting but fatiguing pursuit, as the antelopes, whose young ones had put in an appearance only a few weeks before, were very shy. In the course of an expedition together one day Prince Lowenstein and I were suddenly surprised by a discharge of guns, which caused us to fire off ours, so as not to run further into danger. The discharge came from the Askaris of a heliograph detachment, which was on its way coastwards from Kilimanjaro, and which, having left the caravan-track, was relying for provisions upon the big game they got en route. Most of our people soon went back with great stores of maize which we had laid in at Ruroto for the pro- visioning of our caravan, and as zebras were to be met with as well as antelopes, ostriches, and other big game, we proceeded slowly upstream in order to give the Prince his wished-for chance of sport, while I busied myself with my photography. The heat affected us more and more. The grass dried up, and the ground split in the river-bed from the dryness. Locusts of various kinds belonging to the genera Schistocerca and Pachytylus made their appearance in immense quantities, marabous lying in wait for them in long rows on the velt, often with storks to keep them company, 70 -^ To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein As we made our way through the high grass, the long caravan starting up clouds of locusts at every step, a hundred or more hawks of small size came round us from every direction, seizing the insects with their beaks and eating them in full flight. These were the beautiful night-hawk and a graceful species of kestrel hawk {Cerchneis vespertinus and Cerchneis naiimanni), and it DURING MARCH THE MIRE-DRUMS AND THE BLACK-HEADED HERON WERE HATCHING THEIR EGGS ON THE ISLETS OF THE RUFU RIVER was beautiful to see them winging their way through the air, sometimes coming to within a few feet of us In their eager pursuit. Suddenly, just as I was about to get on my mule, the Prince and I caught sight of three lions disappearing in a thicket of thorns. There was no possibility of a shot then, so we pitched camp in the neighbourhood with a 71 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ view to getting at them later. This, unfortunately, we did not succeed in doing. Our halt, however, gave us a wonderful opportunity for ornithological research in this river-side region. Shordy before sundown a Cape stone-curlew {^CEdic- neinus capensis) flys past over the dark waters of the stream with whirring wings and a curiously shrill whistle, which sounds like Vee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee ! getting quicker and sharper with each repetition, the last of all being so shrill and piercing that it impresses itself un- forgettably upon the ear. The bird is breeding just now, and only a few minutes before sundown — but then all the oftener and more strenuously — it gives out its song of joy and love over this mournful river-side, from sandbank to sandbank. It knows well how to keep out of the way of its dreaded neighbour the crocodile, as does also the Egyptian goose {Ckenalopex csgyptiacus) now sitting on the sandbank. Suddenly there emerges in mid-stream, silently and only just perceptibly, the head of a crocodile more than four yards in length. The goose has espied him, and, raising herself, gives out a quick cry of warning. The crocodile remains motionless, but the goose keeps her weather eye open. Kingfishers {Ceryle rudis) make use of this twilight hour for diving into the water and snatching at the small fish. The water splashes up in the light of the setting sun, and drops fall from the feathers of the bird, which takes up its place again upon a dry branch above the stream, ready to pounce down again next moment. Now 72 '£» To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein flit past a number of those very remarkable birds aptly termed clapperrbills (^Anastoinus lainelligeriis). Ibises and herons alight from their slow flights upon neighbouring islands ; the sun has gone below the horizon, and a species of goat-sucker {^Caprimidgus fossei) begins its monotonous song hard by our camp. Far off the velt is reddened by a fire. Darkness comes on DARTERS, WITH THEIR SNAKE-LIKE NECKS, WERE ON THE WATCH. WE FOUND THEIR BLUISH EGGS, COVERED BY WHITE CHALKY STUFF, IN THE ACACIA-BUSHES ON THE ISLANDS quickly. The camp-fires flame up, and African camp- life is to be witnessed in all its romance. Then follow often hours of photographic work and experiment in the stifling atmosphere of a hermetically closed tent. After which, when fever is not on us, sleep demands its turn, and the weary body finds in slumber new stores of strength for the efforts of the coming day. 75 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ At a distance of some miles from the camp I found a large pond in the bed of a dried-up river. Put upon the alert by seeing a vociferous sea-eagle i^Halidetiis vocifer\ I found in the pool great quantities of fish, which were doomed to destruction by the unexpectedly quick drying up of the stream. They had left it at spawning time, and been cut off My men took over three hundred kilos of much-needed fish this day, and the news of their big h^ul gave much joy in the camp. By this pond a pair of Egyptian geese had hatched their eggs. The young birds that still lived were about three weeks old ; others had been swallowed by two small crocodiles, which were caught by my men when they were dravying in the fish. In one of these crocodiles, only about a yard in length, one of the goslings was found almost whole and entire ! Next day I was to come near meeting the same fate as this young gosling. Crossing the rivein a fragile boat, two blacks and I got entangled in a thicket, lost an oar, and with it all control of our course. Next moment we were being swept along as swift as an arrow by the current in mid-stream. Below was a deep, quiet pool, in which a great number of big crocodiles lay in wait for their prey. Fortunately our boat came suddenly upon a rock and capsized. We owed our salvation to the fact that both my men and myself were accustomed to the water, and that we were all of tall stature. This enabled us, standing upon the rocks in the water, to hold on to the upturned boat, without, however, being able to move away, 76 -* To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein as the deep rushing water on each side of us made this impossible. All this happened quite close to our camp. As quick as lightning, our soldiers and carriers were aroused and the former opened fire from their Mauser rifles in order to keep the crocodiles from attacking us. While the bullets whizzed round our heads, Prince HERONS Mad made their home in the branches of the trees OVERHANGING THE STREAM Lowenstein, without losing a moment, jumped into the river to try and save us. This action on his part deserves the warmest praise, though of course it was not possible for him to secure our safety by himself Our rescue needed the combined efforts of a large number of our men, who, roped together, drew near to us and brought us to land under the continued fire of the Askaris. However, we owed our rescue from a very tight corner chiefly to the With Flashlight and Rifle -») initiative of the Prince. In such moments one gets to know and appreciate one's comrades better than one might in years of companionship at home. We gave up all hope of coming again upon the lions we had observed. When we sighted them they had just been tearing a hen-ostrich to pieces (as I found the day after), but they did not return to its carcase. My ornithological collection had . been appreciably expanding, and now included a considerable number of prepared skins and eggs. Slowly following the course of the stream, we gradually drew closer to Kilimanjaro. Now, towards the end of March, the approaching rainy season — the " Masika mkubwa " — gave signs of its coming. We came in for a tremendous storm one night, which deluged our camp In a few minutes and filled our tent with water. The thunder crashed above us, the atmosphere was charged with electricity. No one who has not experienced a tropical storm in the desert can form any impression of this marvellous phenomenon. A series of forced marches over the now sodden marsh- land brought us to the Kahe district, a small oasis of cultivation in the midst of the velt at the foot of Kilimanjaro. My old friend of former years, the chief, had been murdered. His successor did not seem to me to have much authority. On arriving at the station of Moshi on Kilimanjaro, we found that my friend Captain Merker, who received us most cordially, was just on the point of going back to 78 -* To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein Europe on leave after seven years' uninterrupted residence. One needs a rare degree of energy to survive seven years' residence in the unhealthy climate of East Africa without a break ! The rains now came on and kept us at Moshi. Prince Lowenstein, who is an ardent climber and who J- (r>«4„'r jf- ^raS' ^' X,-, .i-**:-5 A BIG HAUL : MY MEN RETURNING TO CAMP LADEN WITH SEVERAL HUNDREDWEIGHT OF FISH had purposed making his way up to the heights of Kilimanjaro for collecting purposes, suddenly received news which obliged him to alter his plans and depart for South Africa. He went off to the coast with Captain Merker, and I pursued my journey alone. The departure of the Prince deprived me of a first- rate comrade. The loss came home to me doubly because many hardships and difficulties had taught me to appreciate 79 With Flashlight and Rifle -»> a true and sympathetic companion in good times and bad, a man with his heart in the right place, and with a faculty for coping with the hardships of life in the wilderness not easily equalled. Unfortunately a number of deaths had occurred among the asses at Moshi, which to my mind is just as unhealthy as any other such place in East Africa. The Greek merchant Meimarides, who lives there, had lost more than a hundred of his native Masai asses. This did not surprise me very much, as I had long known that domestic animals were apt to sicken in this neighbourhood. Asses — especially the superior breed of Muscat asses and mules — soon die there, lasting only two or three years under the most favour- able circumstances ; horned animals are kept by the Wadshagga in closed sheds by stall-feeding, cattle allowed to graze in the open invariably dying very quickly. This stall-feeding is not due to fear of the Masai, but to the knowledge that the animals can only be kept alive in these sheds of the Wadschagga, which smoke protects from the gadflies. It was interesting to me to find here at the beginning of April the species of genet {Geneiia suahelicd) which I myself had discovered. One of these black genets was killed at night by a shepherd just as it was about to fall on a kid belonging to my herd of goats. This black colouring is not infrequently met with among carnivora in East Africa. It is reported from Abyssinia that it has long been a practice of the Negus to bestow a black leopard's skin 80 -* To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein as a mark of rare distinction upon persons whom he wishes to honour. It would seem that the black leopard is sometimes to be met with in these regions — a counter- part to the black leopard of the Malay countries so well known in our Zoological Gardens. Similarly the serval was known in its black variety to the Kilimanjaro people, and I myself had succeeded WE HAD TO TAKE SPECIAL PRECAUTIONS WHEN WE WENT AFTER THE TIMID ORYX ANTELOPES in bagging specimens. Lions have never been seen with entirely black skins, though they have been known to have black manes. The black genets were new to zoologists when I found them at Moshi in April 1903. I found two young Coke's hartebeest {Bndalis cokei) and a young zebra in the possession of the Moshi station. Unfortunately it proved impossible VOL. I. 81 6 With Flashlight and Rifle -c^ to bring them up, as was the case also with a number of other animals procured for the station by the natives, who were under orders to hand over the young of all animals taken by them. Captain Merker had three splendid specimens of the white-tailed guereza {Colobus cadahis) caught for me by natives. We wanted to see whether I could not bring them back to Europe alive. Unfortunately I did not succeed in this. The guereza which I myself got hold of in 1900, a male, and which I presented to the Zoological Gardens at Berlin, is still the only living specimen in Europe. At last, after continual downpours, there came a really fine day soon after the departure of the Prince and Captain Merker, and I availed myself of it to set forth from Moshi on my march to the Njiri swamps, intending to pitch my camp by the Himo River. On the same day the natives told me of two large bull-elephants which had been observed for some days past in the neighbourhood of the station. I did not like to interfere in any way with the elephant-hunt which the acting commandant of the station had at once organised ; but I should have been glad to seize the opportunity both of photographing the elephants in such bright, sunny weather, and also of securing one of them for a museum. This could only be done in the neighbour- hood of a station. So big an undertaking would fail out in the open for lack of facilities. Unfortunately both elephants were shot in such a way (as was also an immense bull-elephant, which fell to the rifle of 82 -^ To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein a Greek dealer) that the skins could not be prepared for zoological purposes. The Governor, Count Gotzen, has now, it is very gratifying to state, started a preserve for elephants within the confines of the station, in response to representations made to him by Captain Merker and myself ; so it is to be hoped that, instead of being decimated as they VULTURES ON THE WING have been of late, they will find a haven of refuge in this district. This is all the more satisfactory in that it is only near the station that regular elephant-hunts are practicable. Out in the velt there is, of course, no means of controlling the shooting of big game. It is well that the station officials should set a good example. Stringent rules regarding big-game shooting are in force in British East Africa in the neighbourhood of the Uganda 83 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Railway, with the result that great herds of wild animals may be seen quite near the railway lines. On this day, to my delight, I succeeded in getting some good pictures of zebras and hartebeest antelopes, taken at a distance. I was the more pleased because, owing to the complete lack of control over the shooting by Askaris in the neighbourhood of Moshi, the whole district had been practically denuded of wild life. In this Moshi region, where one of the first commandants, Herr von Eltz, had killed as many as sixty rhinoceroses, nowadays even a single rhinoceros is seldom seen. You no longer see herds of a hundred zebras, such as Professor Hans Meyer found here years ago. It is not to the rifles of sportsmen, however, that they have fallen. They mainly owe their destruction to the un- checked shooting of the black soldiers, who had the ammunition stores at their disposal. In 1896 I myself came very near to being shot by these gentry. The fable about " slaughterings " by sportsmen — ■ especially English sportsmen — being the cause of the disappearance of the fauna in lands like East Africa seems impossible to root out of people's minds. In German East Africa, and in other unhealthy and fever- infested countries, very few sportsmen, good or bad, have been at work up to the present. The great expense of sporting expeditions is enough in itself to keep them away. But millions of bullets from the rifles of Europeans of all descriptions, of Askaris, and, last but not least, of the natives, have been whistling over the fields of German 84 '•) To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein East Africa for the last twenty-five years. I know of one case in which a detachment of Askaris shot down twelve elephants at one go. What countless thousands of wild animals have been destroyed by cattle-dealers and other travellers of all kinds ! What thousands must be put down to the account of the so-called Ostrich Farming Company of Kilimanjaro, the former directors TANTALUS IBISES IX A SWAMP of which and their officials have reduced the wild life of the district by one-half in seven years ! In regard to so important a matter, a frank word is not out of place. Next day we marched in a heavy downpour to Marangu, where I was much interested in inspecting the ostrich farm of Sergeant Merkel, who entertained me 85 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ there. This enterprising man had reared an iniposing stock of birds in one year, and had achieved much more in this short period than the Ostrich Farm- ing Company, which, owing to bad management, has no profits to show for all these years, with large means at their disposal. A long march brought our caravan next to the Rombo plantation, the scene of the murder of Dr. Lent and Dr. Kretschmer in 1894. How long will it be before numbers of other such calamities, here and everywhere in our colonies, bring it home to us that it is only possible to establish a civilised administration, in our sense of the term, over such regions, when we can sup- port it by an adequate number of troops and police, maintained in every corner of it at a correspondingly enormous expense ? From Rombo we proceeded through dense banana groves, by narrow shady paths, to Useri, where the Mangi (chief) Mambua generously provided me with beans, and where we had to strike camp in the middle of a banana plantation. This Useri district, with its winding, intricate, densely shaded paths and banana-plantations, is still little known. Its inhabitants are shy and retiring, and water is so scanty here that they can only get it from the banana stalks. More long marches followed now. We crossed the Ngare-Rongai (of which the water was icy cold and most excellent), and presently I got to the Njiri swamps by way of the watering-place Marago-Kanga. These swamps are called Ngare-O'Siram by the Masai, 86 -* To Kilimanjaro with Prince Lowenstein because the lesser kudu {Strepsiceros iniberbis), in their language, o'siram, used to frequent them. I had been the first European to describe these marshes and their surroundings in 1.899, the year of the rising. In spite of the unhealthiness of the region I pitched my camp here for a lengthy stay, so that I might be able to take plenty of photographs of animals, and make a careful study of the whole neighbourhood. Only the western Njiri marshes have as yet been described thoroughly in the works of the Austrian Count Wicken- burg ; they are, however, by no means of the extent and importance indicated upon the maps hitherto e.xecuted, though naturally their extent is much greater in the wet season than in the dry. They seem to me to have been formerly more extensive than they are now, as is the case with most of the other marshes and inland seas throughout East Africa. 89 ^?-. : "^o^,;^:pff.-|^i..f:.^^ , ,.. ^ EGYPTIAN GEESE ON THE SWAMPS VI By the Njiri Lakes TH E time of the great rains came to an end that year as quickly and suddenly as it had set in. In the course of three weeks immense expanses of water had spread over the parched velt, and pools and lakes had filled. The scorched and blackened soil had become covered as though by magic with rich green. Trees and bushes had been awakened into life out of their winter sleep, and swollen streams took the place, for a brief period, of empty river-beds. In the deep valley to the west of Kilimanjaro, the lowest declivities of which form the west and east Njiri swamps, the masses of water coming together formed one great lake. For weeks the greater portion of the animal world had roamed at large over the watered and grass-grown steppes. The remotest regions had been made accessible to man and beast. Elephants, rhinoceroses, and antelopes wandered everywhere, so scattered in every direction that 90 '•■ By the Njiri Lakes it was hard for the native hunter to bao- much ofame. But with startHng rapidity all this ephemeral vegetation withered. The waters dried up, the green faded away, and once again the animals went back to the oases which they make their winter quarters during the long periods of drought. The swamp-frequenting birds found a- feast spread out for them, however, upon the Xjiri Lakes, now slowly subsiding IN THE RAINY SEASON THE VELT WAS FLOODED and leavinof behind them a wealth of floating and seed- bearing plants. Immense flocks of geese and ducks covered the surface of the lakes. On the banks were clustered thousands of gnus and zebras ; and, come hither from the furthest limits of the velt, rhinoceroses found their way into their accustomed drinking-places among the reeds ; while waterbuck, hartebeests, gazelles, and a few buffaloes had 91 With Flashlight and Rifle -* returned to the vicinity ' of the swamps, or actually to the swamps' themselves.- It was fascinating for a sportsman — fascinating even for a mere observer — to be able again to see and study these animals and their ways. But like conscientious warders of the wilds, myriads of fever- bringing mosquitoes lurked among the reeds and thickets of papyrus. However, fever need not frighten the sportsman and FLAMINGOES ON THE WING PRESENT A SUPERB SPECTACLE, THEIR ROSE- HUED FEATHERS CONTRASTING BEAUTIFULLY WITH THE BLUE OF THE SKY observer in those regions. He is aware that here, far away from human habitations, the mosquitoes are less dangerous, less harmful than in inhabited districts or near caravan routes, where the slightest uncleanliness gives the fever-germs their chance. So I moved my camp into the midst of the treeless and bushless plain, salt- 92 -»! By the Xjiri Lakes encrusted and glittering^ in its whiteness, surrounded by the sedgy lakes and lagoons, leaving behind me everything I could do without, especially the asses and cattle, which would have been fly-bitten to death. Wood for burning and. fresh water had to be fetched by day. The ground was only covered here and there by scanty grass growing in plots, broken by patches of quite bare soil. The sand was blown into dune-like hills by the wind, and small isolated ponds, quite without vegetation, lay scattered all round the camp. From the reeds of the regular marshes upon the brink of which the camp-tents were pitched, clouds of flies swarmed every night in search of their prey. Hundreds of them were to be found in the tent itself, and were not easy to scare away. These flies, and the ibises enlivening the neighbouring air with their soft call, are unfailing accessories to this lonely life upon the marshes. Photographic work, here particularly troublesome, begins in the evening and entails the wearing of clothes more suited to the Arctic regions. One's body thus saved from the stings of the bloodthirsty insects, one has to protect one's face and hands as best one may. Even so, one must be prepared to be stung dozens of times in the course of an evening. My blacks, although stretched out at their ease in the smoke of the sn^puldering camp-fire, were not able to close an eye during the night. During the day they made up for this by sleeping in the blazing sunshine upon some bare sandy spot. In such circumstances carpe dietu is a good motto. 93 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ But for all disadvantages there was ample compensation in the wonderful opportunities one had for observatian-during the daytime. In places where the receding water had allowed fresh grass to spring up, were deep holes dug out by the natives to serve as hiding-places in which they crouched, and from which they took their toll with poisoned arrows from the herds of gnus and zebras coming down A PELICAN to drink. In the numerous holes they had made they could conceal themselves according to their need and the direction of the wind, and thus they were able, working together in small groups, to kill even rhinoceroses by the light of the moon. The whitened skulls of these animals shining in the sunshine near these holes as we passed them during the day told their own story. Now, however, no Ndorobo, no Mkamba was to be 94 -♦ By the Xjiri Lakes seen, and the wild animals came down to quench their thirst in no way disturbed by my presence. For days together I occupied myself exclusively with photography, getting any number of pictures and so managing that hundreds and hundreds of gnus and zebras hung round my camp almost like tame deer. Here they grazed along with flocks of the beautiful crested cranes and Egyptian geese : CORMORANTS (^PHALACROCORAX AFRICAXiS, Gil.) DRYING THEIR FEATHERS IN THE SON hundreds of Thomson's gazelle grazed like sheep among them, and wherever the eye turned it saw the rough, dark, strongly marked forms of the old gnu-bulls as they grazed apart, cut off from the herds. For miles there are no shallows in these lakes. Where currents issuing from the velt flow to the regular marshes, the water reached up to our waists. Thickets of reeds border the banks far and wide, and the water is full VOL. I. 97 7 With Flashlight and Rifle -•> of the European floating plant Potamoyeton, first dis- covered by myself in German East Africa ; but only the seed-pods are to be seen, barely perceptible above the surface. Often I and my men wandered for miles over this world of water, seeing wherever we looked the beautiful great white egret, the black-and-white sacred ibises, black-headed weaver-birds, the small white mire- drums, and hundreds and thousands of Egyptian geese and great black-and-white spurred-geese ; while in the far distance flocks of beautiful flamingoes flashed about on the banks. The duck known as Nyroca capensis, many other kinds of ducks, beautiful whydah-birds, waterhens, grebes, long- legged plovers (^Himantopus nimantopzir) and countless other kinds of birds moved about before our eyes, while every now and again some splendid vociferous sea-eagle would swing past above us, emitting its shrill whistle. On the banks plovers flew hither and thither — stragglers perhaps from flocks of these winter guests from the far North ; while the white-winged black tern {Hydrochelidon leucoptera) swooped down upon the water. Now, however, our gaze is arrested by the sight of a bird which is not often seen, and to which our presence is a matter of very keen anxiety. This is the beautiful avocet, black and white [Recurvirostra avocettd), a bird which used once to nest on the German sea-coast, but is now to be seen there no more. This is the first time I have found it breeding in German East Africa. It has brought up its young upon these salt and alkaline 98 I ■^ By the Njiri Lakes marshes and its bearing is very curious and interesting when it knows them or its nest to be in danger. With lively, constantly repeated cries it flies high above our heads hither and thither, drops down to the water, stoops its head down on to the surface, and in that position goes from one cluster of weeds to another, and then as far out into the open as the depth of water permits. Thus it infallibly betrays the position of its young. Very interesting it is then to see these swift-winged black-and- white birds, full of anxiety for their offspring, flit from the sand to the cloudless sky or on to the dirty-grey water, made muddy by the flocks of living things. The way in which their long legs hang down adds to the quaint - ness of their appearance. Now the sharp tones of the avocet, have produced commotion in the entire world of birds and a beautiful spur-winged lapwing (//(y!>/c7//^r?^j speciosus) decides to make off What a wealth of dazzling light, of majestic isolation, of boundless distance and endless space ! Numbers of young avocets not yet able to fly we now see running along inland to save themselves, almost hiding their black-and-white feathers as they scamper over the ground with outstretched necks and beaks ! How white the land here under its coating of salt, as though covered by newly fallen snow ! Where the broad gleaming ponds merge in the deeper waters of the permanent marshes, and clusters of reeds stand up at first sparsely, but gradually become denser and denser, we see every inch of water covered by birds. Among the reeds the notes of small warblers and the curious little marsh-hens lOI With Flashlight and Rifle ^ {Limnocorax niger) are to be heard chirping away, the quarrelsome crested coot {Fulica cristata) wings its way over the surface, numbers of moorhens {Gallimila chloropiLs), single dwarf 'waterhens {Orlygometra piisilla obscurd) and the long-legged parra {AciopMlus africanus) display themselves before our eyes. The sun hangs heavily over the expanse of water, covered by its carpet of plants, and the atmosphere is stifling. These plants are delusive in their island-like aspect, and it is with difficulty that we make our way through them cautiously step by step. Here and there, upon islands upon which acacia-bushes grow, flocks of cormorants have settled and are drying their feathers with their wings outstretched ; but these enemies of fish, backed up by all the other members of the world of beasts and birds, have never been able to decimate the in- habitants of these lakes which swarm with fish. Wherever we turn our steps, we see in front of us little eddies and whirlpools which tell us of fish pursuing their prey. 'I'hrow a line, and in half an hour you have caught such a number of fish weighing five pounds and more that four men will find it difficult to carry the burden back to camp. Up to the arms in water, hidden by the reeds, it is very enjoyable to remain here watching the birds. If it were not for the mosquitoes and another kind of small fly, which creeps into the eyes and nose and ears and stings viciously, one could remain thus occupied for days together. A wonderfully beautiful little bird glides suddenly on I02 -»! By the Njiri Lakes to the water. Is it a young parra ? No, apparently not ; and to my delight I recognise for the first time the dwarf parra (^Microparra africana capensis). The extraordinarily long feet of these tiny birds make it intelligible how they manage to run over the surface of the water and with them they are enabled TROPICAL VEGETATION NEAR THE COAST to utilise as footholds the smallest morsels of floating vegetation. Round us go whistling and twittering countless numbers of small warblers, now coming towards us inquisitively, then flyincr right away. Suddenly a shrew-mouse makes its appearance right at our feet in the midst of this watery world — that tiny beast of prey with a bite so terrible for its size ; and by way of contrast to this pigmy there resounds the tremendous roar of the greatest of all the 105 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ inhabitants of this neighbourhood, the hippopotamus. To be sure, it is not always that one is left in such complete tranquillity in these hours of observation. The neighbourhood was, I knew, free from crocodiles ; which is a curious fact, as the permanent marshes contain fresh drinkable water and it is only the periodical floods that are salty. At the beginning of my stay I was making my way .^m I CAME UPON TWO HUGE PYTHONS through one of these temporary lakes when, suddenly, while I was still some distance from the bank, there was a violent commotion in the water just in front of me. Waves broke in every direction and my men fled back in the greatest confusion, leaving me in the lurch and calling out " Mamba! Mamba!" I myself thought I saw two crocodiles making for me, 1 06 -* By the Njiri Lakes and, not knowing how many others there might be to deal with, I also took to flight. As may be imagined, flight was no easy thing, either for my men or for myself, waist-deep in water. When we got to a shallower part I tried to rally my men, but failed completely, so great was their alarm. On the bank, however, I took counsel with some of my Masai, and WE MARCHED FOR HOUR AFTER HOUR THROUGH THE INUNDATED SWAMPS presently came to the conclusion that it was not crocodiles that had frightened us, but huge snakes. Again I approached the spot where we had encountered them, and by dint of much exertion succeeded in killing three pythons — for such they were — of extraordinary size. They had been after the eggs of the marsh-birds and the birds themselves. Here it was very enjoyable to take up one's position of 107 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ an evening on the small islands of these lakes. Lying flat on the ground I watched and listened to the birds of all kinds that flitted and fluttered all round me. There was an added spice of suspense in the possibility always of a hippopotamus coming upon one suddenly — a very ugly customer to meet in such surroundings. During the day they kept always in the deeper waters of the marsh. VULTURES but at sunset they would sometimes come to these shallower lakes. If the twilight — far too brief, alas ! in the tropics — provided rich enjoyment, dawn, hastening up, offered the most enchanting pictures of the magnificent plovers. Their, wonderfully picturesque flight and their lively call are things no traveller can forget. The days passed away thus in studying the birds and taking photo- graphs. Hunting for a time was put aside. I had no mind for it, so fascinated was I by these scenes which I have tried to describe. io8 L'iiifc^t!>v -^ By the Njiri Lakes Often during the nights there were also new and exciting matters to hold our attention. One dark, cloudy night it would be lions that provided our lullaby ; another night perhaps it would be a rhinoceros or two. The sight of these gigantic brutes standing out in the moonshine on the glistening snow-white velt is still vivid in my memory. . . In the far distance the glacier-bound Kaiser VYilhelm peak of stupendous Kili- manjaro soared above our heads in lonely majesty, as seen through the flood of moonbeams. I 1 I VULTURES AND MARABOUS FRATERNISING TOGETHER VII Evening on the Marshes EVENING on the marshes in Equatorial Africa is a r marvellous thing. To the northerner the sudden disappearance of the sun below the horizon is an ever new surprise. With the coming of night, thousands of glow-worms — the Kimurri-murri of the natives — make their appearance, and grasshoppers mingle their chorus with the curiously wooden, monotonous croaking of the frogs. Then there is the buzzing of the mosquitoes also, which infest these localities in myriads, swarming out of the papyrus-beds in their bloodthirsty search for prey. It would not be possible to remain here at all without some protection against their attacks. The mosquito-nets we have with us enable us to hold to our posts, though we do not escape some very painful stings through our clothes. Livelier and busier they become ; their buzzing, louder and louder, mingling now with the voices of the marsh- birds, which are most active during the night. There is 112 -♦> Evening on the Marshes a quick succession of curious twitterings. It is a blue water-hen that joins in the general chorus. During the daytime also its mysterious notes may be heard. " It is conversing with the fish," one of my men tells me, and the others back up his opinion. There is, of course, no truth in this, but these bird-calls are certainlv full of the character of the swamp. The circumstance that BEAUTIFULLY COLOURED KINGFISHERS WERE LOOKING OUT FOR THE SMALL FISH IN THE LAKES a fish gives out a somewhat similar sound when caught causes the natives to have this notion about an under- standing between fish and bird. Now there is a sudden outbreak of many voices, from the hoarse croaking of the night-heron {Nycticorax leuconotus), to the monotonous song of the little warblers, and the loud warning cry of the waterfowL My camp-fires flicker in the distance, the pale crescent VOL. I. I I ^ 8 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of the moon comes out from behind the clouds, and there resounds and reverberates throughout the marshy wilder- ness a voice of which the, Bible makes mention — so Brehm reminds us — as one of the mightiest voices of animals in days of old. " And when Rehoboth lifts up his voice. . . ." Yes, when Rehoboth lifts up his voice, the whole world seems to tremble. The sound is so tre- mendous that its effect the first time you hear it is startling in the extreme. At long intervals the old bull hippopotamus thunders out in this way over his kingdom, and the effect is magical — all the more so for the mournful aspect of the landscape. It means that he is emerging from his trodden, almost tunnelled paths and haunts, and betaking himself to some spot up on the dry land to graze. Shortly before sunset yet another fascinating picture, full of life, is o0ered to our gaze. Hundreds of thousands of finch-like birds and weavers fly hot-haste to the swamp for their evening drink, before betaking themselves for the night to the security of the papyrus-thickets. Hither they have hurried in wave-like throngs, rising and falling, keeping a serpentine course along the level of the papyrus — looking indeed like some monstrous serpent seen afar off in the twilight. A kind of mighty humming noise accompanies their flight, so strong and loud that the stranger is apt to be frightened by it at first. It is extraordinary how exactly they keep to certain distinct courses in their flight every evening. On previous occasions I haji been struck by the way in which the individual birds kept together in their 114 ■^ Evening on the Marshes compact flocks — I was now almost convinced that they have signs imperceptible to human eyes and ears, by which they communicate with each other and are enabled to carry out like automata all the elaborate evolutions which their leader in these flights shows them he thinks necessary. Countless pigeons of various kinds now appear upon the water, flitting to and fro nervously and cautiously. After drinking they also betake themselves to the swamp for their night's rest. Then come great flocks of guinea- A LARGE FLOCK OF GUINEA-FOWL PERCHED ON A TREE NEAR ME fowl. Setding on a tree close by, they are silhouetted sharply against the violet-hued horizon. Yet another picture follows. A flock of tall crested cranes lyBalearica regtdorum gibbericeps), standing out like ghosts against the indescribably beautiful tints of the equatorial sunset, draws near with slowly flapping wings to seek secure sleeping-places on the small islands in the swamp. Evening after evening these beautiful birds come here at exactly the same minute. A creaking noise like 117 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ that of unoiled wheels accompanies their flight. It is one of the strangest sounds I have ever heard given forth by birds, and may often be noticed on a clear moonlight night for hours together. Now they have settled down on the tree-branches for their night's rest, and their imposing outlines form a superb accessory to the ornithological mise-en-scene . The darkness grows apace, once the sun has set. Great flocks of geese and ducks have already taken flight, CRESTED CRANES WINGED THEIR WAY TO THEIR SECURE NIGHT- RESORTS — THE ACACIA-TREES ON THE ISLANDS IN THE SWAMPS but strange sounds betray the presence still of many feathered inmates of the marsh, and the whizzing of the numerous night-herons is now more audible than ever. If we are in luck, we shall perhaps hear now a long- drawn, reverberating roar. The king of beasts is getting ready for the chase, and for a few minutes his mighty voice lends to the tropical evening its greatest magic. Wherever the eye turns it sees the gleaming lights of the fire-flies swaying hither and thither, up and down' ii8 -* Evening on the Marshes like fairy lanterns emitting their bright, clear radiance over the otherwise jet-black marshland. Deep stillness alternates with the varied sounds from all the innumer- able throats. It is time to return to camp. One of the striped hysenas, that seem but now to come to life, is howling somewhere near. Two jackals answer back. On our road, straight in front of us, almost at our feet, starts up some wild creature, only to disappear in terrified flight among the reeds. From the panting sounds given forth we are able to recognise a reedbuck {Cervicapra). Through the marsh — water welling up round our feet — our path leads out of the night and the wilderness to the security of our camp, with its numerous fires flashing out like beacons to show us the way home. 119 OLD BULLS STAND APART FROM THE HERDS OF GNUS AS SENTRIES VIII By the Stream THE extraordinary number and variety of animals that assemble during the season of drought in the neighbourhood of the drinking-places defies all description. If they should be disturbed, or have reason to suspect an enemy — whether man or beast — these wild herds immediately seek another drinking-place, shunning perhaps a certain one by night, to seek it out next day at noon. I shall never forget the immense assemblies of tropical animals which I observed whilst on my fourth expedition in East Africa during the autumn of 1903. I encamped in the neighbourhood of a stream that meandered between steep rocks and after a few miles suddenly dried up. During its course between these sharp precipices it was barely accessible to the wild animals, but there were countless trodden passes which I discovered, all leading to the stream. Numbers of lions roamed among the thorn-bushes, tall grass, and reeds which flourished round about the river. At the point where it had commenced to dry up there were considerable tracts 120 -»! By the Stream of swampy ground covered with sedge-weed. These reedy marshes afifbrded resting-places during the day to both lions and rhinoceroses, but at night the bed of the stream was alive with thirsty animals of all kinds, as well as the prey they were pursuing. Early in the morning large coveys of sand-grouse lead the procession of thirsty animals from the arid velt. These gorgeous birds are represented by three beautifully coloured species [Pteroc/es guttnralis, decoratns, and exustiis). During the daytime they frequent the driest parts of the Xyika. With the swiftness of an arrow the first kind fly to the water after sunrise, their coveys numbering about thirty or more. With lively and far-reaching cries which sound like gle-gle-gle-la-gak-gle-gle-gle-la-gak, the beautiful birds fly quickly past. Their manner of flying resembles that of the woodcock. Quickly and suddenly they descend to the water. With the large flights of these sand-grouse single speci- mens of the Pterocles exnstns often come too. These latter have lancet-shaped tail-feathers, and are smaller altogether. The Ft. gittturalis reach the ground before arriving at the water, and then run to it. The smallest kind, the Pt. decoratus, on the contrary, mostly swoop straight down on to the water. They satisfy their thirst in a quick and hurried manner, and soon rise in the air to regain their resting-places. Sand-grouse are not really trustful birds, and at the approach of man they rise with a clatter of wings and fly away. Every morning this same glorious spectacle takes place 123 With Flashlight and Rifle -* at the same spot. Noiselessly the strange umbretta {^Scopus iimbrettd) makes its appearance. It never fails to put in an appearance at every large pool or drinking-place. This bird builds its extraordinarily large nest, composed of three compartments, always fairly close to the water, in the fork-like branches of an acacia. Here it lays three white eggs. We were constantly coming across this bird by the pools and lakes and river-sides as we journeyed. Although we once robbed a bird of two eggs it did not seem inclined to forsake its nest. Sometimes it flies up from almost beneath one's feet to find its way in a crouching attitude to some gnarled branch in the vicinity of the water, reminding one of the night-heron in its manner. Single specimens of the Egyptian goose {Chenalopex ■cegyptiacus) are to be seen scattered about in every ■direction. Vultures and marabous keep to special resorts of their own. Here and there we saw marvellously coloured shrikes, and amongst them the great grey shrike {Dryoscopus Junebris), in large numbers. These birds associate and sing in pairs. The male will begin a harmonious note, to be answered so exactly by his spouse that it gives the impression of one bird singing. The song of these beautiful birds sounds like the chiming of glass bells among the thick river-side growth ; while from the summit ■of an acacia-tree comes the quaintly jubilant note of the shrike-like tschagra ( Tekphomis senegalus) — Too-ri-ay, Too-ri-ay, Too-ri-ay ! The impalla antelopes (^y^pyceros melampus) are almost the only mammals that visit the water during 124 By the Stream WITH A HEAVY FLAPPING OF WINGS THE BUSTARD RISES FOE. ANOTHER SHORT FLIGHT IN THE AIR the day, the other and larger species coming to drink at night time. The native hunters make g-ood use of these drinking-- places, and put together shelters of reeds and undergrowth from which they shoot their poisoned arrows at the wild 125 With Flashlight and Rifle -* herds. The impalla antelopes are fond of eating the fresh grass sprouting chiefly in the little hollows near the water. About this season of the year one finds herd& of from fifty to a hundred heads of both sexes. Later the pregnant females betake themselves to the dense under- wood and high grass, there to give birth to their young. At the approach of man the impallas take to flight in a series of the most wonderful leaps and bounds. They sometimes jump as high as three yards above the ground. Their cries when alarmed remind one of those of our roebucks. Both sexes give out the same kind of cry. Towards evening we come upon some of Kiell's dwarf antelopes {Madoqua kirki). Their colouring blends to such an extent with their surroundings that the eye needs long training before it can make them out. I myself, in spite of my experience with the fauna of the North of Europe, could not see one of these dwarf ante- lopes in the brushwood, not more than twenty paces from where I stood, although a black pointed him out. These beautiful creatures live, singly or in twos or threes, in the midst of prickly brushwood, a few bounds bringing them Into safety in their Inaccessible retreat. One of my greatest pleasures was to observe the habits and customs of these animals in their hiding-places when- ever I could get well Into hiding for the purpose. With their fine sensitive snouts sniffing attentively on all sides hither and thither, these large-eyed, gracious creatures present a wonderful sight for the animal-lover. The same may be said of Neumann's steinbok {Rapkiceros neumanni), which frequents similar places 126 -»> By the Stream in the somewhat more open grass velt, and, owing to its brown colouring, is more easily seen than some of the other small antelopes. As the sun sinks further and further in the west the neighbourhood is more and more enlivened by the arrivals from the animal world. My above-mentioned friends, the wise storks, have, in company with vultures of various VaLl'UKES sorts, alighted on the branches of high trees close at hand. Here and there also an eagle puts in an appear- ance. Long chains of guinea-fowl run into the under- wood ; in the glow of the evening sun the wonderfully coloured "rollers" fly busily here and there. They have to complete their hunt for insects before night sets in. The clear song of the little wood francolins {Franco- linus granli) makes itself heard, with now and again 12: With Flashlight and Rifle ^ the hoarse cry of the rarer Hildebrandt's francolirt [Francoliiuis hildebrandli). Loud and clear, by contrast, sounds the call of the common large golden francolin {Plernisies leucoscepus- infuscatus) from the velt. Over the neighbouring chain of undulating hills, from, which many beaten passes lead to the watering-places,, come groups of zebras, under the leadership of an ex- perienced old stallion. They have stopped grazing, and approach the drinking-place warily, seeking out a spot: on the stream which is sheltered from the wind, and' then slowly and carefully assuring themselves by nose and eyes that no enemy lies hidden. The leaders give- a quick look round, then their burning thirst overcomes their fears, and with long gulps they begin to drink.. Feeling themselves safe, the last members of the herdl come up, and the bed of the stream is crowded with about a hundred of these grand creatures — an incomparable scene. Sometimes in their company, sometimes a little later in separate herds, come the white-bearded gnus {Coniiochcsies- albojubaius). These also come across long tracts from the velt. Now and again small companies of Thomson's, gazelle {Gazella thomsoni) show themselves. The sun sinks further and further to rest. ■~"^„ The last rays of the sun setting on a misty horizon' light up the charming and striking scene that I have sO' often gazed upon. Some of the zebras begin to paw the water with their front hoofs ; another pressing up too- near a gnu, the latter with a shake of its head pushes- it on one side, but without hurting. 128 I VOL. I. -* By the Stream Two grotesque secretary-birds and a thirsty bustard had sought out the water long before the arrival of the zebra herds and then flown heavily away. Now the dead branches of mighty fig-trees are besieged by numbers of vultures ; their dark forms silhouetted against the flaming red evening sky. Zebras and gnus have now quenched their thirsty A PAIR OF LARGE VULTURES BUILT THEIR SSST NEAR MY CAMP when from the hills comes a breeze. It touches me gently as I stand. The leader of the herd utters a loud call ; in the same moment the water splashes high in the air, and with a noise as of thunder the whole herd gains the river- bank. Covered with a cloud of dust they clatter wildly over the velt, their peculiar neigh growing fainter and fainter in the distance. From different points of the velt an answering With Flashlight and Rifle -* neigh shows that several other herds of these beautiful animals are in the neighbourhood. Away they gallop over the hard ground of the velt to a distant place of refuge. Darkness has now set in and obliges me to relinquish my post of observation. As I return to the camp the darkness of night has fallen. It Is not long, however, before it is quite clear, and a most beautiful moon shines magically over the sleeping steppes. Jackals give out their querulous call and the hyeena's unlovely laugh Is to be heard. Now I hear the Impallas whinnying. A leopard roars not far from the camp. Then for several minutes all is still again. Once more the neighing of the zebras Is heard as they resume their wild scamper ; but at present we wait in vain for the most thrilling concert that human ear can wish for. It Is scarcely ever to be heard before midnight. By the tracks and trails I had discovered I knew that at least thirty lions must have taken up their nightly quarters somewhere In the neighbourhood. Owing to the nature of the ground and the very thick undergrowth in this region I had not yet had an encounter with the king of beasts. But I waited patiently, for I wanted more than the passing view the hunter considers himself lucky to get. It was my Intention to photograph His Majesty at night time. To do this I had to wait patiently and learn the customs and haunts of the animals in this spot. It was not without reason that the herds of wild beast roamed round and about during the night. I knew 132 -♦) By the Stream that the hartebeests, and perhaps also the shy oryx and huge elands, had come to the water. But all these animals feared their arch-enemy, the lion, who lay hiding among the reeds in waiting for their arrival. The rays of the moon glimmered softly, reflecting here and there the white blocks of quartz that were to be found among the rocks in the vicinity of the camp. More and more animated became the life and movement of the animal crowds in the neighbourhood of the stream ; I seemed to have a foreboding — I might almost say I felt what was about to happen. There ! What was that ? We were not deceived. It was the earth-shaking, inde- scribably impressive roar of the lion ! Almost immediately several other lions join in the chorus ! As if reverberating from the very bowels of the earth the mighty sound swells stronger and fuller, sinking at last into a weird low rumble that strikes the soul of man with terror. He who has listened night after night, as I have, in a fragile tent to whole herds of lions roaring with all the power of their great lungs, will not fail to admit that it is an experience not easily surpassed ! For one moment the whole night-world seemed to listen to the voice of its lord ; then, all around, one heard again the sound of animals betaking themselves in terror to the velt. Later, tortured by thirst, they returned once more to the stream to find some other drinking-place. I have never seen more than seven lions together. Here by the river I could tell by the sound that there were as many, for they gave their grand nightly concert from 133 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ quite different directions. Free from the every-day levelling influences of the outer world, experiencing such things on a tropical moonlit night — a night almost as bright as day — it is not difficult to imagine the life of our ancestors, the troglodytes of the ice-world, who must have had the same experience every night ! Thus the lonely man in a little camp spins out his thoughts ; the wings of fancy carry him home ; he sinks imperceptibly from consciousness into sleep and dreams. But it is not for long ; loud roars soon waken him again. This time the roaring sounds threateningly near ; black sleepy figures take courage and poke the camp- fires into a blaze. Those who are taking their rest by the confines of the camp come in to find greater safety, and the watchful Askari doubles his attention. . . . Next morning, only a few steps from the spot where some carriers had slumbered, we find the imprints of huge paws. Had I not ordered a thorn-hedge to be piled up on this side of the camp — who knows what would have happened ? I was lucky in having such a number of lions near my camp, but I had to use all my wits to persuade them to come within reasonable distance of my apparatus at night time. My attempts were at first without satis- factory results, until at last I hit upon a method that brought me to the desired goal. As my photographs indicate, lions when possible creep along the ground towards their prey. Further, it appears that the lioness is always the aggressive party. The pictures give only single lions, but in reality there 134 -•> By the Stream were several others in close proximity. They had gradually surrounded their prey and approached it from different sides. The illustration in which a lion and lioness are making an attack together was unluckily spoilt by myself whilst " developing," but it was put all right at home. In the desert after many months a laconic telegram reached me from home with the word " Saved ! " There may seem to be something gruesome about sacrificing oxen and donkeys in this way ; but they would otherwise fall victims probably to the tsetse fly — a horribly painful death ; whereas lions kill very quickly and surely ; they just give one bite in the neck, and do not torture their prey. I can vouch for this myself from having witnessed the sight repeatedly from my thorny hiding-place. Death was instantaneous in every case ; and so stealthily does the lion creep up to its prey that it is only at the last moment that the latter tries to break away. Deep stillness lies over the velt, in the dark night ; a gentle rustling is heard now and again in the thick foliage and branches. Suddenly a roaring, mighty some- thing strikes the ear and a heavy thud follows as the prey is captured. There are never more than a few scratches to be found on the booty ; a crunching bite in the neck is always the cause of death. Many men killed in this manner have never even uttered a cry. INlany other witnesses bear me out in this. It is impossible to describe the joy with which we watched, some nights later, the forms of the great world of booty and rapine appear truly and accurately mirrored 137 With Flashlight and Rifle -* on the little glass plate. Even the not too intelligent niggers were overjoyed, and for a long while it was the subject of their talk at the camp-fire. I never once came withm range or sight of a lion by day at that time. As soon as I laid my snares for them, however, I succeeded in bagging quite a number, including one unbroken series of seven big-maned specimens. VELT VEGETATION IN THE RAINY SEASON Some lions look with disdain on oxen ; they approach until within a few paces, but keep night after night to their accustomed prey — the wild herds of the velt. Days and weeks pass thus until rain-clouds appear on the distant horizon, and, as with one stroke, the mighty concourse of animal life at the pools vanishes. Their fine instinct tells them that rain-pools and fresh grass are now to be found on the velt. 138 li^s^*-^ CANDELABRA EUPHORBIA TREES IX The African Elephant OUR knowledge of the ways of the African elephant is very scanty. We know that from the days •of Scipio man began to break him in to service like his Indian cousin, but there is little to be learnt about him during the intervening centuries, beyond that he continued to flourish in his hundreds and thousands all over the vast regions in which he dwelt. So it was until, with the arrival of the European traders, ivory became all at once a much-coveted article. The supply of elephants' tusks appeared inexhaustible. In the west of Africa, especially, there were undoubtedly large treasure- stores of ivory, accumulated by native chiefs. The invention of the modern rifle made the slaughtering of elephants an easy matter. It would be difficult to calculate the tremendous numbers of elephants that were killed. The natives, seeing the gain to be got, took part zealously in the annihilation with their primitive weapons. 141 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Immense quantities of ivory have been exported in recent years. In the last ten years the Antwerp ivory market has taken on an average the tusks of 18,500 elephants yearly ; from 1888 to 1902 it took 3,212,700 kilos of ivory, each tusk weighing on an average about 8J kilos ; nearly the whole was taken from the Congo district. It is just the same with regard to the other ivory-markets in the world, and the above figures give a very true, if sad, picture of the destruction of the noble animal. Soon, when the elephants are all destroyed, dealers will put up prices, and then ivory will become an article of fashion, obtainable only at a fancy figure. All these elephants are killed merely on account of their ivory. It does not say much for the highly developed science of our day that it has not been able to produce a substitute. Fortunately the Indian elephant has a happier fate in store, for the females carry but little ivory, and even the bulls do not grow very large tusks compared with those of their African cousins. The female elephants in Africa have tusks weighing from 10 lb. to 30 lb. each — sometimes, but very seldom, as much as 40 lb. The males have extraordinarily large tusks. But they vary very much in size, and an average of about half a hundredweight would come near the truth. At any rate, the English officers in British East Africa considered a tusk weighing one and a half hundredweight a suitable wedding-present for the Prince of Wales. This was far from being a record weight. In 1898 some native hunters shot a very old bull with tusks weigh- ing together more than 450 lb. Both tusks were for sale in 142 -»> The African Elephant the Zanzibar market. Unfortunately I was unable to procure them for a museum at home, although I had been commissioned to offer a large sum for them. They were sent to America, and my repeated efforts to obtain them only resulted in a wire demanding 21,000 marks. Later one of these tusks found its way to the British Museum in London. I think I may safely .say that these A WONDERFUL ELEPHANT-TUSK. ONE OF A PAIR WEIGHING TOGETHER MORE THAN 450 POUNDS. THE ELEPHANT, A VERY OLD ONE, WAi KILLED NEAR KILIMANJARO IN 1899 ' were the largest tusks seen anywhere in Africa for some time. They made a great sensation among the commercial world of the East African coast. No such tusks had ever been seen there. The accompanying illus- tration shows the size of one of the pair. This reminds me that unfortunately up to the present time not a single museum in the world has secured one VOL. I. 145 10 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of these huge African male elephants, for reasons I have stated in another place. Tusks weighing over loo pounds are not often met with. The size of the tusks does not always depend on .the age and size of the elephant ; it depends more -on the race, although even single families have tusks •varying in size. It seems also that in South Africa the tusks are not as large as in Equatorial Africa. So far as we know, the weight and size of the heaviest .and longest elephant-tusks as known in the whole world .are as follows ^ : Greatest Circumference. in. 195 24? 23I 'Si I7I The so-called solitary elephants, big old bulls, with very large tusks, are not generally more to be feared than ordinary ones, though on account of their size and tremendous heads they are much more difficult to kill. Among the herds tuskless cows are sometimes to be found, but not often ; tuskless bulls are still rarer. Both are known to be very ferocious and dangerous. Elephant- hunters tell us that it sometimes requires a tremendous 1 These figures are taken from the book by Rowland Ward entitled Re(ords of Big Game. 146 • Weight, lb. Length ft. African Elephant {Elephas africanus) 247 226i '75 9.10 1 0.2| 8-5 Indian Elephant {Elephas maximus) Mammoth {Elephas prhnigenius) . 109 106 100 81 6.1 6.11 6 8.9 T I '•) The African Elephant number of shots — fifty or more — to kill a large old bull. It is a well-known fact, too, that whereas, in districts where nature is favourable to them, elephants have sound and undamaged tusks, in hilly neighbourhoods they are often broken. There are various theories to account for this. It is doubtless caused chiefly by the way in which they tear up the roots of trees. Following herds in narrow passes, I have often come upon large numbers of big pieces of tusks broken off in steep and rocky places. I have preserved several such pieces in my collection. The elephant uses his tusks with great skill in tearing off the bark from trees. He chews this bark or sucks out the sap and then throws it away. He chiefly attacks trees of which he can detach the bark with one prod of his tusk without stopping. I could often follow the track of the herds for miles by the help of these marks on the tree-trunks. It set me thinking of Robinson Crusoe, who records the same thing. One often finds, too, smaller trees which have been quite trodden down or snapped in two. I fancy that the rending off of the bark and the breaking of the trees helps to develop the tusks, apart from the exercise obtained by the fighting of the bulls amongst themselves. In some cases the branches of the trees seemed to be broken off without any desire for food on the part of the animal which made the onslaught. The tracks of the elephants are often extraordinarily deep in the " Masika " — the rainy season. In the dry sand of the velt during the drought one can tell whether the track is a recent one or not by the foot- 147 With Flashlight and Rifle -*> prints being sharply defined or somewhat blurred. The bulls are recognised by the long and narrow tracks of the hind feet. Those of the cows are more round and uniform. I have assured myself of the fact that in West Africa the food of elephants consists exclusively of the branches, bark, and fruit of trees, and of all kinds of grasses. Pro- fessor Volckens, who on several occasions examined the elephants' dung in the Kilimanjaro district (some 6,000 and 9,000 feet high), found traces of Panicum and Cyperus as well as sedge-grasses. All the best authorities on this matter are of the same opinion as myself. On the other hand, I have often found that the elephant eats many kinds of "bow-string" hemp {Sanseviera cylindricd), but that he drops the chewed stalks, which are bleached by the sun and can be seen for a great distance around on the velt. These chewed bundles, of which I have some specimens in my collection, are of a large size. It seems that a certain quantity of this hemp gets retained in the stomach in the same way as in that known hemp- eater, the lesser kudu {Strepsiceros imberbis). It must be remembered that this hemp has a great power of retaining water, and in the very arid velt it is for the elephant a much- needed aid. The usual abode of the elephant in East Equatorial Africa is not, as might be imagined, the cool and shady virgin forests, but rather those places where he knows himself less likely to be followed : in the wooded districts in the rainy season, and at other times in the tall grass or by the reed-grown river-side and in the thick under- 148 -* The African Elephant growth which is found on a certain level on the mountain- side, and which forms a shady and inaccessible retreat. These districts which are patronised by the elephant are generally at such a height as secures them rain more or less during the whole of the year. They are distin- guished by the word " subzigo" in the Masai and Wando- robo districts. From these the elephant often roams far afield during the rainy season. The cunning old bulls, at any rate, only leave the great mountain forests, at this time impenetrable. These districts are often of such an impassable nature that they can only be explored by means of the tracks trodden by the elephants and rhinoceroses. While our thick-skinned friend knows how to traverse with ease these luxuriant tracts, man has to make his way slowly and with much trouble. When wounded or ferocious elephants are in pursuit, the hunter's flight is hindered at every step, whilst the elephant and rhinoceros easily overcome all these obstacles, and may be very dangerous to the hunter. The haunts of the elephant are usually confined within restricted areas, and as in regions where he is hunted he only emerges from them at night time, it often happens that Europeans pass many years without obtain- ing a sight of him. The former commander of a fort in the Kilimanjaro district told me that, in spite of numerous expeditions he made, it was seven years before he saw an elephant. Most Europeans have had similar ex- periences, whatever may be said to the contrary. Even careful observers have been misled in estimating the number of elephants in certain districts by the fact that 149 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ the same animals are constantly reappearing. Elephants are very active, climb mountains easily, and keep continually on the move. Thus Hans Meyer, in his wonderful work The Kili- wiandjaro, talks of the abundance of elephants on this mountain and of the large quantities of ivory to be secured there. He said this at a time when elephant-shooting was a monopoly of traders and the supply was already nearly exhausted. By " exhausted " I mean in this case a reduction to about a thousand heads in the whole district of Kilimanjaro — an immensely vast region, bounded on one side by a line which, beginning at the English boundary, skirts Nguruman, Eyasi Lake, and Umbugwe until it reaches English territory again by way of the Pare Mountains. In this territory there was a supply of many thousands of elephants some years ago. To-day not more than 250 or 300 elephants could be found. I am able to state this for a fact with the greatest confidence, and have therefore never been able to under- stand why the Insane custom was introduced of compelling the native chiefs, by way of punishment, to deliver a certain amount of ivory to the officials of the Govern- ment. It would seem almost as though they wished to induce the natives to destroy the few remaining elephants. In South Africa the authorities have since 1830 succeeded In retaining some large herds of elephants In Cape Colony, In the ZItzI Kamma and Knysna forests. Should this, then, be Impossible In the case of natural elephant-haunts like the forests of Kilimanjaro ? One must bear In mind that the largest portion of 150 -* The African Elephant the mountain is enveloped in rain-clouds, and could never be colonised by either natives or Europeans, while the possibilities of existence for Europeans there, as all over East Africa, seem up to the present day to be nil. In former days an elephant-hunt was very different from what it is now. A few mounted men would fasten ' FUNDI," ARMED NATIVES PERMITTED TO HLNT BIG GAME. THESE GENTRY HAD BEEN AFTER ELEPHANTS AND RHINOCEROSES. THEY CAME TO ME TO BEG FOR POWDER, HA\ ING RUN SHORT, BUT THEY HAD TO DO WITHOUT I on the heels of the herd, and when the elephants bore down upon them other riders would divert them from the object of the attack. By these methods whole herds were often destroyed. The elephant has now almost disappeared trom South Africa, with the exception of a few small herds in verj- unheal thv spots and a number of protected individuals in 151 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ the neighbourhood of Cape Town. To the former wealth of elephants in East Africa the accounts of the blacks testify. It is but a short while since these blacks travelled in caravans, consisting of hundreds of men, laden with quan- tities of exchange goods to barter for ivory. In German East Africa these caravans started from Pangani, the emporium of the slave traffic, to travel to Masailand by way of Arusha Chini and Arusha Ju. For a year or more they journeyed through the country between the coast and Lake Victoria, exchanging their wares for ivory, which they derived chiefly from the Wandorobo, an offshoot of the Masai. Later, however, having their attention drawn to the value of ivory,, the Masai-El Moran. themselves went in for elephant-hunting, and sold the coveted article to coast caravans. The coast-people passed their nights in camps surrounded by thorn-hedges, by which they protected themselves against the attacks of the Masai warriors, who often sought to plunder them. Great bartering and haggling went on by day.. Patience was needed for this kind of trading, for it often took days and even weeks to buy a few tusks. At last the caravan would be laden with ivory, and would return to the coast to deliver up hundreds of tusks. Many pre- cautions had to be taken. Oscar Baumann informs us that no caravan dared take a tusk over a beanfield, for that would be unlucky.. Many of those who went with the caravan succumbed to the fatigues of the journey, or lost their lives in fighting against the Masai. Every man was armed with a muzzle-loader. These caravans were organised by Arabs or Indians on the coast, who 152 -^ The African Elephant paid their men in advance, but kept the lion's share of the profits for themselves. Thus vi^as the desert scoured in all directions, with the result that by the end of last century it was denuded entirely of ivory and elephants. The transport of ivory was undertaken in combination with the slave-trade, slaves being made to carry the valuable goods to the coast on their shoulders. And the chief purpose of all this was to provide the billiard-players of the world with material for their balls — the beautiful soft ivory obtained from the African female elephant ! Nowadays the conditions are quite different. Smaller caravans, fitted out for this trade, still travel over the country ; but very few larger expeditions of this kind are undertaken by the blacks, now that they would be obliged to penetrate very far into the interior. Some years ago I came across one such caravan comprising about four hundred men. Their goal was the country between Lake Rudolf and the Nile, a district then very little known, but which still hides a large store of elephants. I was naturally much astonished to find this comjDany in j^ossession of breech-loaders. The leader informed me with pride that for months — -nay, years — the caravan had lived entirely on the flesh of wild animals, and that no bullet left their ?\Iausers in vain ! Soon the ivory-trade will be a thing of the past. Already the European visitor laughs incredulously when he is told how matters stood formerly. It is easier for me to realise it, remembering as I do the vast numbers of rhinoceroses I have come across, and comparing them ^53 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ with the elephants, whose fate they will undoubtedly share — and that indeed more quickly now, for the value of their horns is increasing. The way in which the " Tembo," as the Waswahili call the elephant, adapts himself to the altered conditions of to-day is very remarkable. According to the accounts of reliable witnesses, in days long gone by the elephant hardly feared man at all. Tn the rainy season the elephants disperse over the green, well-watered plains, whilst during the drought they hide in thick, inaccessible places. In South Africa the few remaining herds live in this manner. The finding of a new elephant-track is not a guarantee to the hunter that he will reach the herd. Elephants move with great swiftness, in many cases outstripping a fast runner, until the next bit of cover, the next marsh or hill, or until they reach some spot a tremendous distance away. When a herd becomes suspicious, it is possible to follow it for hours through the Nyika without being able to discover of how many individuals it is composed. One animal steps in almost exactly the same footprints as the other, and this is done until they feel safer, when they walk further apart. Elephants can go for a long time, too, without resting, and change their haunts so quickly that it is impossible to catch them up. They have an extra- ordinary faculty for foretelling rain when it is still some days off They disappear suddenly, and remain in the neighbourhood of the pools on the plains until these dry up or other animals come to disturb them. I will leave it to others to decide whether they are capable of 154 -♦ The African Elephant deducing things correctly from past observations and recurring experiences, thus learning to know when and where to find water. It goes without saying that one comes now and again upon elephants suddenly, sometimes even right in one's path. Indeed, I have observed that certain cunning beasts, finding themselves disturbed by the hunters in their own quarters, often take refuge in the proximity of native colonies, and hide there for days and weeks, knowing well by experience that this would be the last place in which they would be looked for. In this way a Greek trader of ten years' experience trapped, in the vicinity of Moshi, a bull which had been there for days, and had been pointed out to him by natives. It is interesting to notice how the sporting fever has seized those Europeans who at home would hardly touch a gun, yet here have had no peace until they have joined with others to try the effects of their small-bore rifles on the great beasts, and then have immortalised them- selves as skilful elephant-hunters by being photographed on the spot. It is just in the neighbourhood of the stations and of the railways that it is possible to protect the remains of the animal fauna. If protection is not adopted there, how can we expect to exercise any control over either European or native away in the heart of the desert ? It has happened that whole parties of Askaris under European leadership have together opened fire on elephant-herds. Lately these conditions have been changed, because in place of the vague and confused directions of earlier years the Governor, 155 With Flashlight and Rifle -*> Count Gotzen, has instituted special rules and regulations, which secure the immunity of the elephants in the neigh- bourhood of the Moshi station. This is a matter for rejoicing, and will, it is to be hoped, do away with the existing abuses, upon which Dr. Ludwig Heck comments severely in his book The Animal Kingdom ; and will put an end to those ^'tall stories" of elephant-hunting, which he holds up to ridicule. If this is sad information about the disappearance of the African elephant, it is a fitting conclusion to the " elaborate " fables of those persons who tell us in the sporting papers that they propose to go for the rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses when they return to the colony. Un- fortunately, such persons are more numerous than might be supposed. For instance, I heard the remark made that German East Africa could only develop commercially when all the wild animals were destroyed. Germans must indeed learn how to colonise ! I admit this openly, without shame ! The rate at which elephants move, especially when attacked or fleeing, is extraordinary. They go at a quick trot, and not at a gallop. This trot is perfectly noiseless in the rainy season, and enables the mighty beasts to travel at night time in an almost ghostly manner, like the rhinoceros and the hippopotamus. In the dry season, however, the moving herd makes a thundering noise on the hard ground. Elephants climb steep m^ountains, and, like the rhinoceros, tread deep paths among the rocks of the highest peaks. They go over the steepest ranges, and 156 -* The African Elephant come down in a half-sitting posture, as if they were tobogganing — very much as we have seen them in hippo- dromes and circuses at home. One must have seen how a thirty-seven-year-old gigantic Indian male elephant gets- through the tiny door of a special railway truck ta From a photograph procured by the author at Tanga. A CARAVAN LOAD OF EIGHTY LARGE AND HUNDREDS OF SMALL ELEPHANT- TUSKS, BROUGHT BY A TRADING CARAVAN TO THE COAST understand how skilfully these heavy creatures know how to move about. According to my experience, the elephant's method of attack is to approach very swiftly with widely flapping ears, and with a piercing, trumpet-like cry. On two occasions, however, no sound was made. Trustworthy natives, whom I had known for many years, have related how in some cases the elephant has seized hold of the black ivory-hunter, thrown him down, and bored him 157 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ with his tusks. Once an old bull ripped a hunter to pieces by putting its foot on the man's head, and slashing his body with its tusk as if it had been using a knife. There are many similar stories told of fatalities with elephants; one of the :saddest was the death of Prince Ruspoli in Somaliland. When flight is necessary, it is best made sideways ; for the elephant makes his attack, as a rule, straight in front of him. This is all the more to be recommended because it is by an extraordinarily developed sense of smell that the elephant finds his way, and not by his weak ■eyes. His hearing also is excellent. Observers who -doubt this fact do not know that in most cases the elephant is aware of the approach of an enemy solely by his sense of smell long before his hearing can come into activity ; -also that elephants are so accustomed to the noise of the snapping of branches, when they are in the herd, that they would not notice the sounds made by a hunter. Solitary -elephants, however, are agitated by the slightest suspicious rustle. From some vantage-point I have often watched these animals in the valley beneath, and have had ■excellent opportunities of noticing how, with the help of their trunks lifted high over their heads, they were able to recognise the ever-changing breezes of the hillside, and to watch over their own safety and that of the herd. Personally I am quite convinced that either the •animals have a sense unknown to us, or that, by a quite unsuspected highly developed acuteness of known senses, they are able to understand one another to some extent. Moreover, they have a much keener and surer suscepti- bility to sound than man. 158 -* The African Elephant Once I found two elephants keeping company with an old male giraffe. For about eight days I was able to watch the three friends together. The services they rendered one another for their mutual safety were quite patent, and proved completely the theory that the elephant depends for safety on his sense of smell and the giraffe on his hearing. As far as I know, this is the first cited case of the elephant and giraffe making friends, whilst the English hunter, A. H. Neumann, found elephants and Gravy's zebras and Grant's gazelles together, as he tells us in his admirable book Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Afi'ica. I do not consider it merely a matter of chance that the elephant prefers to stay in the mountainous districts, for the direction of the wind varies according to the sun's altitude, and he is dependent for his safety on his sense of smell. When the elephant thinks himself secure, or by night, his movements are quite free and easy, but during the day, and in places where danger lurks, he is very shy and careful. Moving noiselessly, remaining the whole day in a small space, standing for hours under the shadow of the trees, he makes no sound except the unavoidable noises of digestion. Should an elephant utter a cry it would be a sure sign of approaching danger. But he cannot avoid the noises made by his digestive organs, for, of course, the enormous quantities of branches and leaves which are required to sustain such an immense body can hardly be expected to work noiselessly in that mighty laboratory — his stomach ! This fact is valuable to the hunter, for it enables him to discover the whereabouts of single elephants. Another reason which influences the elephant in his 159 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ choice of a refuge is the arrival of parasites, especially the Oestriden of the genus Cobolldia, which annoy and tease him exceedingly, and to be rid of which he retires helplessly into the jungle. The blacks say that when the elephant discovers a man-track he tests it with his trunk, even if it be hours old, and then for safety's sake takes himself miles away from his momentary resting-place. This does not seem improbable when one considers the habit these animals have of taking up earth and sand with their trunk. I have not been able to prove this statement for myself, but know it to be true that the slightest suspicion causes them to seek safety in flight. I remember once getting a bird's-eye view of a whole herd suddenly taking to flight as the leading cow reached a track which had been trodden by myself and some blacks two days earlier. The extraordinary skill with which elephants draw conclusions from unfortunate experiences has been known for a long while. Even the cleverest trainer could not succeed in making an elephant mount again on a stage of which he had once broken through the boards. In the same way a wild elephant avoids for a lifetime a place where he has discovered a pit-hole. It appears that in the Masai highlands several small herds are in the habit of grouping themselves together in larger ones about the month of October. But every herd keeps independent. At this time, too, the herds which are composed of middle-aged bulls join these bands. The larger herds 1 60 -^ The African Elephant also make a division of sexes ; especially when the elephants settle down under the trees durine the dav. Lately the herds in Masai-land, which have been so much thinned, have not been able to keep up so strictly the order and division into separate age-classes as when there was a good supply of elephants. It is a much-debated question whether the old bulls which go about alone or in couples attach themselves at times to the herds for breeding purposes. Personally I do not believe this, but am of opinion that the stronger herd-bulls with tusks weighing about 50 lb. are those which are the principal propagators, whilst in most cases the quite old solitary bulls are more or less incapable specimens of their kind. It is a remarkable fact that an elephant calf whose mother is dead is immediately adopted and cared for by other cows, but, of course, only if it is big enough to join in an escape. This fact, which I am positive of, testifies to the close social union in which the herds live and to their strongly developed family feeling. The lactation period extends itself over several years, as is the case with rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses. As with the Indian elephant, the time of gestation lasts about twenty-two months. I do not think that the females are capable of conception before the age of fifteen years, while the males develop their generative power some- what earlier. At twenty-five a male elephant has reached his prime, although he sometimes attains a very great age. I repeatedly found small herds composed of what appeared to be very old females with sucklings and five VOL. I. 161 II With Flashlight and Rifle ^ or six young calves of the most varied sizes. I am inclined to believe, in common with the natives, that the younger beasts are all brothers and sisters, and offspring of the old females, and, I believe also, that a female elephant under favourable circumstances is capable of conceiving every six or seven years. Although one very seldom 'finds ticks in their skins, elephants are greatly given to rolling themselves in the mire, bestrewing themselves with sand and earth, and rubbing their skin against trees, the so-called "sign- post " trees. From this cause, like rhinoceroses, they are often variously coloured, according to the colour of the earth of the locality. In the highland woods, through which they wander nightly, one finds hundreds of trees against which they have rubbed their bodies. Such rubbing-places indicate the size of the animals. On July 23rd, 1903, I found such a mark 15 ft. high. Crooked trees are used by preference, so that the elephant can lean against them slanting-wise and with all his weight. If elephants come upon open places in the forest, or go away into the plains, they make use of the same strong trees over and over again, until the bark is completely worn away. Many gigantic trees bear witness to the fact of their having been thus visited nightly during the course of some hundred years. The thirst for ivory has for many years been the cause of the formation of armed hordes in German East Africa. These hordes either pursue the elephants with powder and shot on their own account or are hired by native agents. They often travel through wide districts, 162 -*! The African Elephant clearing the place entirely of elephants. They are exceptionally well armed with rifles, and are accustomed to hunt large elephants in bands of three or more. They hunt them in their customary refuges — in the dense jungle, and only fire when quite close. They take flight after a few shots, as the animal often makes a rush towards the dense clouds of smoke. Often they follow the wounded beasts for several days. Every rifleman marks his own particular shot with a peculiar sign in order that it may be ascertained who gave the death-wound. These so-called " trustworthy Fundi," as they were euphemistically christened some years ago, know how to keep their secrets, and always give rosy reports to the authorities with regard to their doings. They always report upon a number of herds of which they know. As to the destruction of these herds, they are as innocent as new-born children! In reality they play a shameful part. Only he who tracks them for years is aware of their tricks and artifices. There is no doubt about the fact that they are exterminating the elephants in the same way as, in the middle of the last century, the musket-armed negro-traders were commissioned by white men to destroy every trace of elephant and rhinoceros. These hunters wear amulets, to which they trust for protection ; and in firm belief in their magic spell they often approach elephants without fear. Naturally this gives them a certain advantage over the cautious European. After killing a number of elephants (fortified always by their witchcraft) they give themselves out as qualified 163 With Flashlight and Rifle -* hunters, and organise shooting expeditions, but keep in the background, having learnt wisdom by unfortunate experiences. It is noteworthy that in the neighbourhood especially known to me, they never dared to take any women when the hunt promised to be a very successful one. They are accustomed on approaching the elephants to take off nearly every particle of clothing, and carefully rub the whole body, especially under the armpits, with earth. In this they follow the example of the prey they pursue. There is no doubt that the elephant and rhinoceros wallow in the mire, and put sand on their bodies, for the same reason that the Masai people rub themselves with ochre and grease, namely, to keep off parasites. These hunters possess a large store of knowledge about the habits of the animals they hunt, but it is exceedingly difficult to get them to disclose any of their secrets. This they will only do when one manages to be regarded as their colleague. Otherwise they prefer to give currency to the most incredible fables. About the year i8g6 the native "political agent" of the station at Moshi, who hailed from Kavirondo, and was named Schundi, unfortunately had the monopoly of the elephant-shooting in the Kilimanjaro. His people traversed the whole district in large bands. The less practised and trustworthy people of the company provided the caravans with wild game of all kinds, the best shots devoting themselves to the elephants. At some springs I found dozens and dozens of rhinoceroses, murdered by these " Makua." They also succeeded in destroying numbers of giraffes, much sought after on account of their 164 -*> The African Elephant hides. Tlie same reports were heard about other parts of the country at the same time. Happily these abuses have in a great measure been remedied by the wise restrictions instituted by the Governor, Count Gotzen. It is worthy of remark that the elephant, when at large, appears scarcely ever to lie down. If there are exceptions to this rule, I believe it to be those cases WE HAD TO OVERTURN THE ELEPHANT IN ORDER TO KEMOVE HIS bKIN where the animals have been shot and are ill. Ele- phant-hunters have a superstition that whoever meets an elephant lying down will soon die. I cannot say if these conditions are the same in countries where the elephant is not so much sought after as on the Masai plains. Pitfalls, formerly common in the Kilimanjaro dis- trict, but not so often met with nowadays, are often avoided with much skill by the elephant. Still, as they 165 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ are cunningly covered and well placed, they often fulfil their aim. These traps do more than anything else to drive away all manner of game, especially elephants. The Wandorobo, especially the Wakamba, shoot the elephants with poisoned arrows. The wounded beasts have often to be followed for days. The animals are very seldom lost, as the natives are very clever at finding the dead bodies, guided by the vultures and marabous. Some Wandorobo races are wont to use poisoned spears, though only poisoned arrows are used in the neighbour- hood of the Kilimanjaro. Twice whilst following herds which had just been chased by the Wakamba I have found broken arrow-shafts. There can be no doubt that the African elephant can be tamed in the same way as his Indian cousin. Still, I agree with English authorities, that in Equatorial Africa such tamed elephants would be useless, as in the dry season there are no visible means of sustenance on the plains. In any case, the conditions are so totally different in the two countries that it is impossible to draw any conclusion from what is done in India as to the em- ployment of the elephant in West Africa. The taming, in the hands of expert natives from India, ought to present no insuperable difficulties, although our keepers have observed that the Indian elephant is easier to handle than the African. Experiments of this kind, however, would need a great deal of capital, and would have to be undertaken speedily, in view of the rapid disappearance of the elephant. What a change can come about in little more than 1 66 -»: The African Elephant fifty years ! Fifty years ago elephants and rhinoceroses were still to be found in the districts now called German South-West Africa ; earlier, both animals were to be found in great numbers up to the coasts by W'alfisch Bay. " In those times, " wrote the famous hunter \V. Cotton Oswell : " \'ardon was the most enthusiastic rhinoceros- hunter ; he filled his waggon with horns as I did mine with ivory ; he used to shoot four or five every day. " Those were the times when Oswell and others month after month and day after day decimated the elephant- herds in South Africa, and when the Boers penetrated farther and farther into the heart of the country and effected such a destruction of game as only can be realised by those who, like myself have had opportunities of forming a mental picture of the condition of things in the primeval forests. What happened fifty years ago in South Africa is now happening under the Equator ; about that there is no doubt. Nowadays we unfortunately see black hunters in the German Cameroons slaughtering elephants with breech-loaders and with the sanction of the Government. We. can but delav the work of annihilation ; we cannot stop it. The day is not far distant when it will be asked : ''Quid novi ex Africa?" And the reply will be: "The last African elephant has been killed." 167 A DISTANT VIEW OF KILIMANJARO X Elephant'Hunting FOR months I had been trying in vain to get some good photographs of elephants with my telephoto lens, and also to get hold of a young elephant alive. My many disappointments were more than made up for, however, one September morning. Troubled apparently by the poisoned arrows discharged at them by the Wakamba, a large herd of elephants had made their way down from the mountains and paid a visit during the night to the stream by my camp. They had destroyed the scares, fashioned out of sheets of white paper, which I had left on the water with a view to frightening the animals away to other drinking- places, where I could photograph them conveniendy. With the exception of lions, I had found that all animals fought shy of these scares, but in the bright moonlight they seem, on the contrary, to have attracted the elephants ; for, to my astonishment, I found that my 168 -»> Elephant-Hunting nocturnal visitors had taken possession of them, pulled them to pieces, and stamped them under-foot in the mire. This bore out what I had often heard from native hunters about the aggressive character of the elephants of this part of Africa at night. The herd had crossed and recrossed the stream ■several times and had then come up about three hundred yards towards the camp. Though I felt almost certain they must have gone back to the security of their moun- tains, I followed their tracks as usual, just to see what I could make of them. To my surprise I found, after about half an hour, that they had suddenly formed themselves in a more or less distinct line and set out in the direction of the desert. This suggested two possibilities. Either, after drinking their fill, they had started for the next watering-place, two days' journey away — and this seemed to me the more likely alternative — or else they were taking up their quarters for a day or two on the dry plains, so as to keep out of reach of the Wakamba and their arrows. In either case I had to look sharp. Returning to the camp, I -got ready for the march in a very few minutes, and set ■out with some of my best men and about forty carriers. I saw that they brought with them in their calabashes -as much water as they could carry and a good supply of rope. It was clear from the tracks that there were young elephants in the herd, and 1 made up my mind to direct all my efforts towards capturing one of these, though 1 fully realised the danger involved. in the attempt, •considering the number of animals I had to.deal with, and 169 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ that I would probably have to conduct my operations out in the open. We reckoned the herd as numbering about twenty in all, of which a number were very large females. The bulls were distinguishable by the long and compara- tively narrow shape of their hind-feet. Before us, in any case, was a march of several hours. It was worth while to make every effort to catch up the elephants before sunset, probably resting under some cluster of trees upon the velt. We should then have to spend the night out on the desert — without any fresh supply of water, of course — returning next day to camp. After following the tracks for about an hour, we found that there must be more than twenty elephants in the herd, for here and there, when they had come to difficult places — certain dried-up river-beds, for instance — they had made their way out of them one by one, some to the right, others to the left, and this enabled us to reckon up their numbers more precisely. Here and there as we went I found a bundle of chewed bowstring hemp, out of which the sap had been sucked, and a piece of chewed bark torn from a tree by the elephants' tusks. But the herd had evidently made no halt, and had con- tin-ued on their way without loitering to eat. The sun was scorching, and it was necessary to put out all our energy, and to place our trustiest men in the rear in order to keep the long column together at the rate at which we had to go. There was something very fascinating in this almost silent march of ours over the glistening plains hour after hour, our eyes fixed upon 170 -* Elephant-Hunting" the tracks, a whispered word exchanged between us now and again. Though he may not count upon getting at his quarry for six or eight hours, yet every hour in such cases as this intensifies the hunter's suspense. Perhaps the elephants, feeling themselves safe, will have stopped to feed. In that case it will be possible to get at them by midday! There are always such possibilities. la ORGEICH, MY T.iXIDERMIST, AND ALL THE CARRIERS AT WORK PREPARING AN ELEPHANT-SKIN our case, however, this did not happen, and the herd' kept on its way. Hour after hour goes by, the arid, barren desert, without a sign of life on it, unrolling: itself monotonously before us in its unchanging line — hill after hill rising before us in the distance only to disappear again behind us as we move on and on. The dreariness and loneliness of Nyika combine with the intense heat to sap the energy of even the most strenuous ; but we- 171 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ move forward like autoinatous, adding thousand after thousand of footsteps to the thousands we have left behind. Suddenly our eyes note a black speck rising in the vicinity of a group of lofty acacia-trees. My excellent field-glass discloses to us that it is a bull giraffe which has taken up this solitary position. Nearer and nearer we come to him, until, eyeing us curiously and anxiously, he takes to flight and ambles away unmolested. We have now to get over an unusually deep river-bed, -dried up since the rains. Reaching the opposite bank at the head of my men, I suddenly espy in front of me, about sixty steps away, a dark mass under a rather tall salvadora-bush. At once I sinlc noiselessly on my knee, my men doing the like, acting in unison like clockwork. At the same moment a number of twittering rhinoceros- birds fly away from the dark mass to a bush hard by, while the mass itself, in which we now recognise a rhinoceros, quickly assumes a sitting position, and a young rhinoceros appears suddenly beside it, as though put of the ground. At a sign from me, my camera, always l<;ept in readiness, passes into my hands from the hands of the bearer told off to carry it. Unluckily, just at this moment the sun goes behind some clouds. After a few minutes of anxious suspense, however, I am able to take a photograph, and then my rifle rings out like the crack of a whip ; it is worth while to get hold alive of that much-sought-after prey, a young living rhinoceros. While the mother goes raging about in a circle, snorting and spitting, in a cloud of dust, looking for its foe, I get 172 -* Elephant-Hunting" my chance of laying her low with a second bullet, giving the word at the same moment in a low voice to my men to spread themselves out, on hands and feet, over the ground in order to catch the young one. But the little animal proves itself too strong and dangerous. It makes for the men nearest to it, and they take to their heels. My own efforts fail too, and off it goes with its tail raised high in the air. INIuch disappointed at seeing the little beast disappear over the velt, I find myself wishing again for a good horse — a very vain wish in these regions — so that I could go after it and catch it. Failing a horse, there is no way of getting hold of it, so, leaving three men behind us to convey to camp the big horns of the old rhinoc- eros, we must proceed again on our chase after the elephants. Hour after hour now passes without further break. At last, towards four o'clock in the afternoon, all hope is almost lost, and I begin to feel sure that the elephants, which have kept in a bee-line all the time, have gone right ahead to the next drinking-place. We halt for a brief space. The countenances of my men denote exhaustion and discouragement. Their thoughts are of the fleshpots of the well-watered camp. As so often happens, however, their simple dispositions are untroubled by some of the circumstances of the situation that are most vexing to me. We hold a small " council of war," with the result that we decide to go- on for a few more hours and then spend the night upon the velt. I /o With Flashlight and Rifle ^ I notice now two small owls of a rare species {Pisorhma capensis) not yet included in my ornithological ■collection, and I am tempted to bring them down with my flintlock, which I have always handy. By this time I have myself given up all hope of getting at the -elephants — we have a long streak of the rising country ahead of us in view. This calls down on me the reproach of my trusty old Almasi, who regards the owl as a bird of evil omen, the killing of which will bring us misfortune. And the prophecy — though I laughed at it at the time — came very near fulfilment. In the course of the next half-hour my chief guide and I became aware of a strong scent of elephants, and almost immediately afterwards we espied, about a mile and a quarter ahead of us, on a hill, clearly de- fined in the bright tropical light, two dark groups of elephants quietly at rest. It was again a case for quick action. Most of my men would have to remain behind while the three most trusty of them and two Masai and myself went on near the elephants. Much to my anxiety, the very slight breeze until then blowing behind us became stronger, and I had almost given up hope as I lay concealed in the grass, when, suddenly changing round, it began to come towards us from the elephants. The plains were here very bare, with little on them except withered acacias. I succeeded, however, in getting to within two hundred paces of the elephants, and in taking several photographs of them at this distance. I had to exercise all my will-power to hold the camera steady, but 174 -*- Elephant-Hunting I did so, and although the light was not very favourable, the results were a success. My field-glass showed me that the elephants were ranged in two great groups— males one side, females the other ; pressing close up to their mothers were three young elephants, keeping as quiet as the old ones. The only movement they all made was a flapping to and fro of THE ENTIRE HERD OF ELEPHANTS, OVER TWENTY IN ALL, HAD'^^PACKED THEMSELVES TOGETHER UNDER THE MIMOSA-TREES. ONE STRONG BULL FACED ME, DISPLAYING HIS LONG WHITE TUSKS their heavy ears. Most of them stood with their heads turned towards me. — in the direction of the wind therefore, and thus protecting themselves from the wind as much as possible. The absolute stillness of the huge mass of monsters had something about it at once impressive and uncanny. The nature of the ground seemed to forbid all hope 175 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ of photographing the elephants again in the act of taking- flight, so I packed away my camera carefully in its case in expectation of exciting events to come. Then I took up my rifle and, as a nearer approach could not be made for lack of cover, shot the largest bull elephant that was nearest to me high up on the trunk. I had fired kneeling. The elephant showed that he was hit by taking three or four steps forward, swinging up his trunk, and moving his great ears about like a fan. Simultaneously the whole mass of elephants began to show signs of animation.. I was reminded of the disturbing of a bee-hive or of an ants' nest by the way in which, with surprising quickness, they all, old and young, swarmed out of their resting- place, spreading out their ears and swinging or rolling up their trunks, as they searched all round them for their enemy. From my kneeling position (my men were lying- flat on the ground beside me) I now sent two more bullets at the elephant I had already shot ; then the whole herd, led by an old cow with trunk rolled up, set off suddenly in full flight, as though at a word of command, and not in the direction of the velt, as I had expected, or for the hills behind them, but sideways to the right. It was a real delight — the grand spectacle of these five- and-twenty elephants a hundred and fifty yards off charging past me ! On they went with extraordinary speed — almost without a sound, in spite of their tremendous weight. The wounded bull elephant was a little to one side, nearer me, and jumping up I was able to get another bullet into his shoulder. My shot, however, had this result, that the whole herd suddenly stopped, with the 176 -* Elephant-Hunting young ones in the middle, and stood still a moment looking round for their hidden foe. Here I should recall the fact that, as I have mentioned before, most of the older elephants in East Africa have in one way or another made acquaintance with powder and shot. I had been thoughtless enough to jump up, the wind veered round again that moment a little, and the MIMOSA-TREES BROKEN' DOWN BY ELEPHANTS elephants had spotted me. In another second the whole herd, led by two old cows, were coming full tilt in my direction. 1 came to the conclusion at once that I was done for ! However, with a rapidity I find it hard now to realise, I fired off six shots with my second rifle at the elephants leading, and then flew to one side ; my men, who had already started off, and who had called to me to do so, going in the same direction. I recall now VOL. I. 177 12 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ quite dearly that I experienced at this moment no feeling of anxiety, but merely one of intense suspense and curiosity as to what my fate would be. A thousand thoughts seemed to flash simultaneously through my mind and then make way for a sort of apathetic sense of resignation, coupled with the reflection that the elephants were well within their rights in wreaking vengeance upon their attackers ! In front of me ran my men, who had thrown everything aside, and as I ran, clasping my rifle in my right hand, I felt instinctively for cartridges in the left-hand pocket of my breeches, saying to myself as I did so that a few more bullets more or less counted for nothing against so great a number of animals. We had fled to one side, as I have mentioned, because this is the way to escape a charging elephant, owing to his defective eyesight. Just as I felt that they must be upon us, I heard in the midst of rhe muffled thunder of their stampede a terrible trumpeting, and in the same moment one of my men, now far ahfiad, called out to me : " They are running away, master ! " Turning round I find that the bull I shot has fallen to the ground, and that all the others have taken flight to the side in the direction in which they had originally started. Seeing this, my best men hurry up, and I succeed in getting a bullet into the shoulder of a very large but apparently ailing cow, which is bringing up the rear — for, there being now no longer any danger of death, my anxiety to get hold of a young elephant has come back to me. Before I could reload, the entire herd 178 -^ Elephant-Hunting was out of range, and I could but marvel at the rate they went at. I turned now to the fallen bull, not yet quite dead. In a few moments my camera was in position, and I was able to take several photographs of the animal. There was now no time to lose. While I saw that all the others of my party came up, I gave orders for the head of the elephant to be skinned and his teeth got out ; and then chose six of the strongest of my men to continue the hunt with me. The others I ordered to remain near the dead elephant and next day to carry the skin of its head and its teeth to camp, regretting much that, owing to the distance and the scanty number of my men, it was not practicable to prepare the entire skin. The small amount of water now available I required for my six followers, and I set out a few moments later — somewhat too hurriedly, for all the ropes were left behind, an oversight we had to pay dearly for the same day. W'e followed now on the new elephant-tracks. Both the cows that had been shot bled profusely, but kept on their way with the others, and after pursuing them for about an hour and a half 1 came upon them all again shortly before sunset, grouped in an imposing mass, the males and females apart as before, underneath acacia-trees, on a part of the velt offering practically no cover. Motionless, but for the swinging of their ears to and fro, they stood there— a great solid, impressive mass, coloured a reddish-brown by their mud-baths and sand- baths. In the glow of the sunset they presented just the same picture they had in the morning. I was able to get to within J50 paces of them ; on this 179 With Flashlight and Rifle ^^ occasion, however, I had to exert all my authority to prevent my carriers from running away. I, too, lost nerve for a single moment, but recovered myself, and, after I had examined the animals individually with my glass, I found that two of the largest cows, which had each a calf and which stood out by themselves, had been badly hit. I gave them another bullet each, but this time from a lying position, taught wisdom by my experience in the morning. By a violent flapping of their ears they gave signs that the shots had grazed their shoulders. To my great satisfaction in one respect, but much to my disappointment in another, my shots had the result that the bulk of the herd took flight to the left, while- the two wounded cows, without making any other sign, made off to the right. At a very slow, shambling sort of trot they disappeared in a depression of the ground, followed by their young ones. After the rest of the herd, including three other young ones, had got out of sight I followed the wounded cows with my six men, now very tired, and came upon them again ten minutes later, taking note that one of them was in a very bad way and that the young ones, both close on four years old, were following the other cow ahead. After firing nearly twenty shots without result from behind I succeeded in bringing down first the hindmost cow by a shot in the ear at six paces, and then the one in front, which had the young ones with it, and which stood still for a few moments undecided, bleeding heavily. As usual, the young animals — both of them bulls, i8o -* Elephant-Hunting between five and six feet in height, and with tusks already of the length of a hand — remained close to their dead mothers. We at once set about trying to catch them ; but the bigger of the two went for us so fiercely and alarmingly that I was obliged to shoot it, just as it had thrown one of my men on the ground, and was about to gore him to death with its tusks. I killed it with a shot in the head at a distance of onlv a few feet. Then A.NOrHI.l; INSTANCE OF A BROKEN MIMOSA-TREE I tackled the second one myself — a very rash proceeding — and in a tew seconds I managed, thanks to my size, in securing a hold of it before it became dangerous like the other, throwing one arm round its neck and grasping one of its ears with the other hand, yelling out at the same moment to my men to fasten its legs with ropes. Looking back on it all to-day, I marvel that I escaped from the encounter with my life. i8i With Flashlight and Rifle -^ The young animal, with its greater strength, was able to drag me about all over the place ; but I clung tight to him, and, with my considerable weight of 180 pounds, I succeeded in holding on to him for over ten minutes. My men seized hold of his tail ; but I could not get them to hold on to his other ear, and it only now came home to me that all the ropes had been left behind, and that there was no possibility therefore of tying the animal's legs, as I had done with another young elephant in the year 1900. After about a quarter of an hour my strength gave way and I let go, and I hterally sank down on the ground in a state of hopeless collapse, utterly blown and unable to utter a sound, my tongue cleaving to the roof of my mouth. My men also lay all round me, panting. One is glad to have such moments over and done with ! All our trouble and exertions were in vain. We made efforts to tie his legs with bits of our clothing, but this did not succeed, as he got excited in the process, changing his mood suddenly as elephants do, and assuming the offensive vigorously. My men were not to be induced to go near him now, so, as nothing would have induced me to shoot him, I was relieved presently when he took flight in the direction in which the herd had disappeared. Not to weary the reader further, I will just add that, tired to death and utterly discouraged, we now lit a fire in the neighbourhood, and got together some dry wood in the dust to keep it burning. But our torturing thirst would not let us sleep. It became so terrible that at last we had to make our way 182 -* Elephant-Hunting in the darkness to the body of the last-killed elephant, in order to open its stomach and drink the indescribably stinking liquid inside. Then we lay down again in our camp, suddenly to be awakened at about nine o'clock by my experienced old " Fundi " springing up and giving out the cry, in low tones, " Tembo, Bwana! Tembo ! " And, sure enough, there were the twenty-one remaining -s*-,;. ^ THE ELEPHANTS, OVER TWENTY IN NUMBER, HAD MADE THEIR WAY ACROSS THE BED OF A STREAM, NOW DRIED UP elephants, looking like monstrous ghosts in the moonlight, moving past us with their noiseless trot in the direction of the hills they had left ! The elephants were clearly striving to make their way as quickly as possible to their mountain thickets. My men had sprung up at once, and exerted themselves as quick as lightning to extinguish our small fire by tearing out the burning pieces of wood, knowing by experience 183 With Flashlight and Rifle -* that elephants, especially when they have been excited, are incited to attack by the sight of a fire. I myself had in mind a case of this kind. A number of large elephants had made for a camp-fire, and for nearly a quarter of an hour trampled over it, and over everything they found near it belonging to the black hunters. The six men who were encamped beside it found safety in flight. Naturally we spent some minutes of keen anxiety as the elephants passed — anxiety due in large measure to the strange circumstance that the elephants should have chosen a route so near our camp. But the danger passed, and the silent, illimitable velt lay steeped in the moonlight. I took the first hours of the watch, and then, after my men had rested, took my turn of sleep. When I woke up suddenly at dawn, I found the camp-fire almost extinguished and the watch snoring ; it was their snoring that had awakened me. So com- pletely do the results of extreme physical exertion prevail over all thought or fear of wild animals ! Now came a very difficult and wearying seven-hours' march over broken ground full of holes made by rodents, to our distant camp, in scorching sunlight. I am doubtful whether we should ever have reached it but for our good fortune in coming upon some water after long digging in a dried-up river-bed. It is not easy to give an idea of the effect such experiences have upon the men who live through them. Arrived safely in camp, I despatched some men next day to bring back the teeth of both the cow elephants last 184 -^ Elephant-Hunting killed. The larger of the two had only one tusk, which weighed 28 lb. — a somewhat considerable weight for a cow — and which was already far gone through decay. The elephant would soon have lost this tusk also. My men found in the animal two iron bullets such as natives use, one of which was embedded in the outer coating of its stomach — an indication of the great vitality of elephants. I long experienced very keen regret at the failure of this hunt. I had come so near my desired object of bringing to Europe the first East African elephant from German or British East Africa — an undertaking no one has yet achieved, despite the construction since then of the great Uganda Railway in the heart of the higher regions of the Xile. This indicates the difficulty of all such enterprises in a country in which the presence of the tsetse fly and other such hindrances prevent the use of camels, horses, or mounts of any kind. Not a single young elephant has been brought home to our Zoological Gardens from German East Africa. The elephant brought home by Herr Dominik, Ober-lieutenant in the colonial police, which had been captured by a large number of natives, is from the Cameroons. With the help of Askaris who were at his disposal, and of some elephant-hunters, he succeeded in killing a herd of elephants which had been hemmed in and watched day and night, and to capture all the young animals — very small specimens. Most of them died, and only one young 185 With Flashlight and Rifle -* bull reached Berlin, where he has been in the Zoological Gardens for some years. Herr Dominik has given a lucid account of his hunt in his book, entitled The Cmneroons, and it was not without a certain feeling of envy that I read those interesting pages. How well fitted out these colonial police officers always are for the carrying through of such an expe- dition, and how scanty by comparison the resources of a private individual! It is to be hoped that the next attempt of this kind may be successful, but there seems little prospect of this just at present. But what I regretted, perhaps even more than my failure to capture the young animal, was my having been unable to take a photograph of those five-and-twenty elephants rushing towards me. Willingly would I have ■given a finger of my hand to have been able to take a really good picture of those mighty, infuriated animals in the middle of their onrush. In December 1900 I had a somewhat similar ex- perience. After about eight days of fruitless endeavour upon a part of the velt which was already covered with green, I came upon a small herd of elephants, out of which, after killing his mother, I managed to capture a small bull about a year and a half old. It was only with the greatest trouble that I secured him — he had no tusks, fortunately — by getting right in front of him and over- throwing him, and thus giving my Wandorobo an oppor- •tunity of fastening his hind-legs with thongs of leather. With immense difficulty we got the animal back to camp ; but for lack of enough milk I did not succeed in keeping 186 ^ Elephant- Hunting" him alive, though he seemed to get on all right on my treatment of him for the first few days. He was on the friendliest terms with me within forty-eight hours, and used to caress my beard and face with his little trunk in the drollest way. It was a thousand pities that the animal soon died. Thus ended both my efforts. Another very serious mishap fell to my lot quite Jt-f-... - ^r>* ELEPHANT SKULL AND BONES unexpectedly in November 1903. My caravan was making a long and difficult march from hill to hill towards the next drinking-place, and I, as usual, was at the head of it. After we had been about four hours afoot, 1 brought down two female antelopes. While some of my men were busy cutting them up, having put down their burden (many of them, however, were still straggling behind), I went 187 With Flashlight and Rifle -* back a hundred paces or so, and took up my position- upon a rock, with a black beside me carrying my rifle. Lost in thought and humming a tune to myself,. I suddenly seemed to hear something approaching me- from behind — I couldn't hear well, however, as there- was a strong wind blowing from the opposite direction. I turned round and saw, thirty paces off, a huge bull elephant advancing towards me at full trot, in the- uncannily quick and noiseless fashion of his kind. I rolledi over quickly to one side, as did also my man, who now observed the elephant for the first time. I gripped my rifle, saying to myself, however, that it was too late to think of shooting, and that next moment we should be crushed; to death. I also realised suddenly that my rifle was loaded with lead-headed steel-bullets which are quite useless with a bulL elephant. In this terrifying moment, the elephant, taking fright apparently at our sudden appearance almost from under his feet, gave out a resounding snort, and shaking his huge ears, swerved off to the left, almost touching us- as he passed. Up we sprang now, and ^unloading my rifle with all! possible haste I reloaded, and succeeded in getting two- shots into the animal's shoulder from behind. After- following it for half an hour and noting from the way in which his tracks were narrowing that he must have: been badly wounded, we found him standing under some acacia-trees, and I was able to bring him down with two. effective shots in the head before he could make any attempt to get at me. i88 i*^i^'.. r- JiV*!', 'tip':- s '.«•/ I >m^^^'^- :^ •>».' ^ ■^ Elephant-Hunting It turned out that a small herd to which this elephant belonged had come down to the now sodden velt, and having got wind of my people had come upon the advanced guard of the long-drawn-out caravan. Thus it happened that by a most curious chance I came upon- the bull in a spot where I should never have expected to find an elephant at that time of year. Less perilous perhaps, yet full of excitement in its own way, was a hunt in the course of which I came upon- a herd in a thicket in a ravine on the side of the Ngaptu Mountain. I had been going after elephants for weeks on the north side of the mountain fruitlessly. One day I had' been unable to resist the temptation of shooting a rare kind of thrush {Turdits decksui) on the top of the mountain. The noise of my shot resounding through the ravine was answered almost at once by the loud trumpeting of an elephant On another day I was making a nine-hours' march round one part of the mountain, and although I was- sufifering at the time rather badly from dysentery, I pressed forward to the place which, as I had found out accidentally,- the elephants frequented. I thought it very doubtful whether they were still to be found there, but nowadays- one must lose no chance of any kind of getting at elephants in those regions, even when journeys of days are entailed. A more or less steady wind enabled me to approach the herd, and at last I found myself only a few paces away from two fairly large bulls. They were standing, however, in such an unfavourable position that I could not make up my mind to shoot. After 191 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ a wait of about three-quarters of an hour, however, they moved suddenly and gave me my opportunity, and I brought down one of them with a shot between ear and eye, and the other, just as he made for me, with two shots through the shoulder into the heart. I found afterwards that this herd, which consisted of about a dozen elephants, had sought refuge in the thicket on the mountain, having been startled by my shot at the thrush, and that they had been keeping very quiet up there, making no noise whatever beyond what was •caused by the munching of quite small twigs. Thus, waiting one's chance in the neighbourhood of a herd of -elephants, the sportsman lives in a continual state of sus- pense. One needs to remain absolutely quiet and to ■exercise the utmost patience in such circumstances, ready -always to act promptly and with energy when the moment ■comes. Generally speaking I am in favour of small-calibre rifles, on account of their precision and penetrating force ; but for elephants and rhinceroses I would recommend the English '577 express calibre with steel bullets, or else an 8- or 4-calibre elephant-rifle when the shooting will be at close range, as is likely in thickly wooded regions. In this I agree with most experienced sportsmen, and I would recommend the new-comer especially to use a heavy and safe gun, although they have some great disadvan- tages, such as their weight and unwieldiness and their uncertainty of aim except at quite short range, especially in the case of the last-mentioned large-calibre rifles. Moreover they kick so heavily that only a strong man 192 -* Elephant-Hunting can use them, and with the black powder which is used they make tremendous clouds of smoke. The elephant often takes these clouds of smoke for the enemy, but this may be a source of safety to the sportsman, for he can slip away to one side, leaving the infuriated animal to make for the smoke. In hunting African elephants there are in practice AFTER MUCH SCRAPING AWAY IN THE BED OF A DRIED-UP STREAM, WE CAME UPON SOME WATER only two correct shots. First, the shot from the side between ear and eye, so as to get into the brain ; secondly, the shot lodged in the shoulder, also from the side. From in front you can get at the brain only by a shot high up on the trunk. I would hold out a warning, however, against shots which go too high up on the great long protuberances of the elephant's head, as these are likely to prove very dangerous to the sportsman. VOL. I. 193 13 With Flashlight and Rifle -* A large elephant may sometimes be brought down by another shot, as for instance a shot which breaks a bone of the leg, but this is only possible at very close range with a rifle of very heavy calibre. The most experienced hunters are agreed that the smack of a heavy-calibre bullet is more apt to make an elephant lake to flight when not mortally wounded than is the stab of the small calibre, though this may be more deadly in its after-effect. But in the hunting of big game of this kind, above all in the case of elephants, luck plays a very conspicuous role. In several cases the deadly effect of shots I myself have fired has only shown itself when the animals have almost come near enough to kill me. Many" have been the elephant-hunters who have been killed by the Tembo they themselves have been hunting ! The more one comes into touch with African elephants the more one is on one's guard. The hunter can never know what an elephant may not be up to the next moment — a fact with which trainers and keepers of Zoological Gardens also have to reckon. I shall never forget how for days together I waited on the top of a hill watching elephants, and waiting in vain for the sunshine without which I could not get good photographs of them. As soon as I had succeeded in this the moment seemed at last to have come when I might kill the two bull elephants in question. I had had several tempting chances already that I had resisted. Leaving the hills, accompanied by some of the most resolute of my men, I crept down by some narrow. 194 -* Elephant-Hunting rhinoceros-paths into the sodden jungle, which I reached in about three-quarters of an hour. After crossing a great number of deep ravines, which ■we did with much difficulty, our clothes almost torn off" us and covered all over with mud, we succeeded in getting near the bulls, which were slowly making for the thickets up above. Coming upon the tracks of one of these, we followed them breathlessly, expecting every moment to come upon him. At last I saw him standing in the shade of some tall trees. But so dense was the jungle that I could not make out very distinctly the reddish grey body of the animal at the distance of fifty paces or so and could not count upon hitting him effectively. All torn and scratched by the thorns, there I waited for several anxious minutes in suspense. Presently the huge -animal disappears to the left, and, followed by my two men with my reserve rifles, I make after him to the right, hoping in this way to come upon him suddenly. In front ■of him lies a deep ravine, through which we hasten. As we emerge from it on the other side we hear a gentle rustling. " Tembo, bwana ! " (" The elephant, master ") whispers one of my men. "Hapana! Nyama ndogo ! " ("No, small animal!") I answer. That moment the big bushes growing amid the tall grass (more than ten feet high) went asunder right and left, the slender trunks splitting and cracking as they -came down upon us and forced us on to the ground, and :in another second the elephant rushed past us barely a 195 With Flashlight and Rifle -* foot away, intent on flight, and most fortunately paying us no attention. Count Thiele-Winckler tells me of an exactly similar incident which occurred in India. Moments such as these are hard to realise in safety and comfort here at home. Brief though they be, they live ever afterwards in the memory, and have a charm all their own. To appreciate their delight to the full a man must be able to enter into the spirit of the sur- roundings, and must be sensitive to the marvellous and majestic scenery in which they are met with- But not the most skilled of pens could succeed in bringing home their magical fascination to the mind of the reader who has not himself experienced anything of the kind. Even the man who has gone through them can only recall them in their details when his memory is at its best. I am apt to look at the elephants in the Zoological Gardens very differently now, almost with a feeling of awe and reverence, and I feel ashamed of the foolish gapers who seek to exercise their wit at the expense of the caged giant. How they would take to their heels if they met him in the wilderness and he bore down upon them ! Two days later, to my great surprise, both the bull elephants had sought their favourite haunt again, but at sunset they vanished just as heavy masses of clouds began to come down over the wood, with a wonderfully impressive effect. They went in the direction of a thick girdle of trees. The wind was favourable. 196 Elephant-Hunting With my feet in indiarubber-soled shoes, and accom- panied on this occasion (quite exceptionally) by my European taxidermist, Orgeich, in addition to a few of my men, I took up the animal's pursuit, hoping to get possession of its skin, whole or entire, for preparation for a specimen. Bathed in sweat, owing to the oppressive heat of the thicket, after about three-quarters of an hour THE TUSKS OF BOTH THE ELEPHANTS WEIGHED TOGETHER ONLY ABOUT 120 ENGLISH POUNDS we lost the tracks for a few minutes, confused with those of other animals that must have passed this way during the night. However, we found them again, and five minutes later we came to a deep ravine with a pool of mud at the bottom of it. To my dismay I saw both elephants emerge from this and disappear into the dense thicket on the opposite slope, about thirty paces away, and as they forced their way through it I could see the 197 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ trees and bushes quivering this way and that. It was heart-breaking ! One instant sooner and both elephants would have been lying dead in the mud. Animals with tusks weighing two hundred pounds ! Elephants such as have hardly fallen to any European hunter in the whole length and breadth of Africa ! The wind now going down, and the trees ceasing to quiver, I slid down the ravine and made my way up the opposite slope, all covered with mud and slime from the branches through which the elephants had forced their way, and got up on the top just as they entered the thicket, through which they would probably continue their flight lor some hours. This supposition was only too well founded, as I discovered after an indescribably long pursuit without results. Hardly ever in all my life had I been so covered in slime and so unrecognisable as after this incident. And the slime smelt of elephant to an unimaginable degree ! Forcing my way along in the undergrowth, with my arms in front of me to protect my face, I got into such a condition of dirt and breathlessness and utter disgust over my failure as I had only once in my life experienced before. That was at Munster, in the "Old Westphalian " steeplechase — that most delightful of all German steeple- chases — as they used to be run over the old difficult course^ and when knee-deep in mud I had almost won, yet lost ! I leave it to the reader to imagine my feelings. For weeks I had been after these elephants in the hope of photographing them. Then came this long pursuit which 198 Elephant-Hunting had failed so wretchedly ! For now both the animals had taken themselves off for ever so long. On one other occasion I succeeded in getting near some huge bull elephants in the bush. I had seen them from a hill. I stationed some men there, whom I could discern from time to time through my field-glasses, and who guided my steps by waving a small white cloth in THE YOUNG ELEPHANT DRAGGED US HITHER AND THITHER BETWEEN THE BODIES OF THE OLD ANIMALS. THEN, AT LAST, IT MADE UP ITS MIND TO FOLLOW US TO THE CAMP, WHICH WAS FIVE HOURS' MARCH AWAY the direction the elephants were taking in the thicket. After endless difficulties at last I got near them. In another moment I must see them. To my delight there were here some small open spaces in the thicket. But there was yet another gorge to get over. Suddenly a number of large doves {Columba arquatrix), very similar to our own ringdoves, clattered off from 199 With Flashlight and Rifle -* the shady tops of some vangueria-bushes. As though spell-bound, we remained where we stood, breathless. We knew that the elephants would have been put on their guard by the noise. Twenty more paces to the left, and we must be able to see over the next bit of open ground. In front of me, three or four yards ahead, is the trunk of a dead tree. An active native glides ahead to it with me behind him, and next moment makes a sign to me that the elephants are in front. Quick as lightning he slips aside and lets me take his place, as I can only see them from this spot. There they are, sure enough, a bull right in front of me, with tusks, weighing i8o lb. or 190 lb. apiece, almost crossing each other, and beside him another bull with his back turned towards me. Unable to shoot them as they stand, I slip down from, the tree-trunk and try cautiously to make a way for myself through the adjacent bushes ; but there is a sudden crashing, and the elephants are gone. Breaking away in different directions, they come together soon, and for five hours we follow in their track without seeing them again. Our pursuit of them has this result only, that our legs were badly stung by nettles and other such growths, often met with in these shady spots. Again all our trouble went for nothing. On one occasion my companions came in for very unfortunate experiences while we were in pursuit of a big herd of elephants. Starting with only my most trust- worthy followers, loaded only with ropes, axes, and other light utensils, each man carrying burdens of only 6 lb. 200 -* Elephant-Hunting or 8 lb. weight, I had set out over a waterless region of the velt. They had all drunk their fill before starting and taken water with them in big vessels. In order to come up with the herd as soon as possible we had to go at a quick pace. The ass I had at one time used for riding had long ago succumbed to the stings of tsetse flies, so I was afoot myself The heat became so terrible, A CURIOUS TRIO— TWO BULL ELEPHANTS AND A BULL GIRAFFE. THE LATTER MAY BE SEEN HIGH UP ON THE LEFT OF THE PHOTO, WHICH WAS TAKEN AT A DISTANCE OF ABOUT 45O YARDS however (it was in the month of November), that at four in the afternoon we had to give up the pursuit in order to get back to the water, as several of my men were quite knocked up. Two of them refused to move, and wanted, in the state of apathy into which they had got, to remain lying down where they were. I had to drive them on in front of me ; but even so I managed to get only one 201 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of them to our destination by the time darkness came on. The other remained lying out on the velt. With difficulty we got to the water late in the night, chiefly by dint of setting fire to the dried-up velt several times on the way, and thus managing to see where we were going. Next morning, when succour was sent to the man left behind, it arrived too late. The unfortunate fellow had been killed by rhinoceroses during' the night, and then been entirely torn to pieces by lions. So we gathered from their tracks. His body lay on a deeply trodden rhinoceros-path. It should be borne in mind that at this time all my carriers were good experienced men, carefully selected. In spite of this, here was a mish?ip which it was quite- impossible for me to ward off On other occasions it has often happened that men from my caravan, having lost their way, have had to sleep out in the open, either up in trees or upon the ground, but without coming to any harm. No sportsman who has hunted the elephant much in Africa has got through without some serious misadven- tures ; many have been trampled upon and have paid for their boldness with their lives. The hunting of the African elephant, when undertaken by oneself and under sportsman-like conditions, is an enter- prise to which in the long run only a few men are equal. Many elephants have been killed — not in this way, but with the help of the Askaris. I have seen photographs- representing a number of young elephants — quite small, some of them — slaughtered in this way, with a group 202 -* Elephant-Hunting of the sportsmen in the midst, thus perpetuating their valour. Such sportsmen, however, can have no notion of the wonderful experience of the man who hunts alone. The natives who take part in the hunt are often. of the belief that after you have killed fifteen elephants successfully, luck turns against you. From this on they prefer to devote themselves to the making of elephant-charms, and let others hunt in their place. I believe they are not far wrong. THE PREPARATION OF THIS ELEPHANT-SKULL, AND THE HIDE OF THE BEAST, LASTED A WEEK VIEW ON THE NJIRI SWAMPS DURING THE INUNDATIONS XI Rhinoceroses "\ ^ 7"HEN you have spent a year travelling over Masai- V V Nyika, and have thus seen for yourself the number of rhinoceroses still existing in that region, you are able to form some notion of the extent to which elephants must have flourished on its plains and in its forests before the days when they began to be hunted systematically by traders. Rhinoceroses did not offer the traders an adequate equivalent in their horns for the trouble and danger of hunting them, so they were not much troubled about until recently,' when the supply of elephants began to run short. It is only during the last few years that their numbers have been decimated. In the course of the year I spent there I saw about six hundred rhinoceroses with my own eyes, and found the tracks of thousands. It is astonishing how numerous they are in this region. Travellers who merely pass through the country by the caravan-routes would marvel if in the dry weather they found themselves on the top of a hill 7,oco feet high, and could see the huge crowds 204 C G. Schillings, phot. AS THE WIND WAS COMING FROM THE HILL, AND I KNEW I COULD COUNT UPON ITS NOT CHANGING AT THAT HOUR OF THE DAY, I WAS ABLE TO GET WITHIN FIFTEEN PACES OF THE RHINOCEROSES -*! Rhinoceroses of these animals in their special haunts. An idea of their numbers can best be got from the records of certain well-known travellers. In the course of the famous exploring expedition of Count Teleki and Herr von Hohnel, which led to the discovery of Lake Rudolph and Lake Stephanie, these sportsmen killed 99 rhinoceroses, the flesh of which had to serve exclusively as food for their men. According to trustworthy accounts Dr. Kolb killed 150 rhinoceroses before a " faru " got at him and killed him. Herr von Bastineller, who accompanied him for a long time, killed 140. Herr von Eltz, the first com- mandant of the Moshi fort, killed about 60 in the region lying between Moshi and Kahe. In recent years I have been told by colonial police officers of records which have beaten these. A number of English sports- men have also brought down great numbers. These striking figures are more eloquent than long disquisitions. They give some notion of the immense numbers of rhino- ceroses there are in German East Africa, and forbid any attempt at prophecy as to when the species will be exter- minated. It is a curious thinor about rhinoceroses that thev often break into the midst of passing caravans, causing much alarm and practically inciting the travellers to shoot them down. What with the perfection of our modern rifles, and the ample target provided by their own huge bodies, they are apt in these cases to rush to their own destruction. Without venturing upon a more precise forecast we may perhaps conclude that, if the white rhinoceros was wiped VOL. 1. 209 14 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ out in South Africa in the course of a few decades by comparatively primitive weapons, we ought certainly to see the extinction of the black rhinoceros in a much shorter time with the help of the small-calibre long-range rifle of to-day. Hunting the rhinoceros, as I understand it, when it is carried out by the sportsman alone and in a sportsman- like manner, must always be one of the most dangerous sports possible. It is difficult to decide whether it is most dangerous to hunt the lion, leopard, buffalo, elephant, or rhinoceros. Everything depends, on the circumstances and surroundings in which these animals are encountered.. Even when armed with the most trustworthy weapons,, stalking the African rhinoceros must always be an ex- tremely dangerous undertaking, if it is done, as in my case,, alone and unaccompanied by other "guns." The English traveller Thomson very graphically describes the feelings of a hunter when he comes upon rhinoceroses in the grass,, and knows that his life depends entirely on his skill. It is a puzzle to me how any one can assert that he has jumped calmly to one side when charged by a rhino- ceros, and that he has then given it the well-known death-shot through the shoulder. I can say with con- fidence, from my own experience, that this is absolutely impossible. A rhinoceros that was really charging down on a man would get at his opponent under any circum- stances and spit him on his horns. If this does not happen, either the animal has been killed just at the last moment, or the hunter has managed to climb a tree, a white-ant hill, or a rock, or else the 2IO -♦ Rhinoceroses animal had not really intended to charge but only to run away, and had unintentionally come in the direction of the hunter ! In the great expedition which I joined in 1896, not a single Askari or armed native ever accompanied the hunt. In this particular the natives were under strict supervision. I treated my own people in 1 899-1900 REMAINS OF A RHINOCEROS without exception in a similar manner ; only my European taxidermist occasionally brought down a waterbuck or other antelope. But I have never been protected by "guns" on a dangerous hunting expedition. " Rely on yourself" is, in mv opinion, the right motto in this case. I have heard many strange tales from Askaris who have carried guns on other occasions, and, wonderful to relate, it was always the white lord, the " bwana kubwa," 2T I With Flashlight and Rifle -* who delivered the fatal shot and brought down the game. It is a very different matter, and far more dignified, to go on a hunting expedition unassisted. It frequendy happens that a rhinoceros scents, the position of several of the armed natives ; fire is opened on him, and at the last moment the animal, already mortally wounded, finds he is incapable of attacking any of the marksmen, and so rushes snorting past them, to be finished off sooner or later. Such situations give rise to the fairy tales of those wonderful sidewise leaps — a feat of which I could well imagine a toreador to be capable on the flat sanded ground of the arena, even when attacked by a rhinoceros, but which I shall never see performed by a European unless he has been practised in bullfights. I have often heard of men being gored and tossed into the air by these animals. The list of deaths under such circumstances is a long one, and quite a number of Europeans in the districts traversed by me lost their lives in this manner. A few years ago I met an English medical officer who had been hastily called to a case of serious illness. Shortly before our meeting one of his Askari, a Sudanese, had been gored and tossed by a rhinoceros (which had been shot at by. the whole of the little caravan). The animal's horn had penetrated deep into the unfortunate man's abdomen. The wound was terrible, and the state of the patient seemed as hopeless to the doctor as it did to a mere layman like myself. As I intended to encamp for some time near by, the doctor earnestly entreated me 212 -*> Rhinoceroses to take the wounded man into my camp for three days, as he could not arrange for his transport farther. So, whether I Hked it or not, I had to undertake the care of him, with the certainty that a speedy death would release the man from his agony. To my surprise, he was still alive the next day, but towards evening his agony became so great that his sobs and groans were almost unbearable. He begged, he entreated, for help ; and so, although at that time I was only provided with absolute necessaries, I gave him my whole store of opium, assuming that he would by this means find relief and never wake again. But there is no reckoning on the constitution of a black man. After another twenty-four hours he was still alive ; and now the effects of my dose of opium began to show themselves in an alarming manner. Again he besought me to help him. But I was altogether at a loss. My small stock of medicines, that I might have employed to counteract the opium, had been used up long ago. At last it occurred to me to administer a bottle of salad oil that was still in my possession. I was successful. The next day the man was taken away, and, as I heard later, recovered from the terrible injury, contrary to all expectations. Similar cases do not always turn out so fortunately, and frequently end in the death of the person in question. Sometimes the rhinoceros only tosses his victim once in the air, at the same time piercing him with his horns. At other times he returns to his enemy and renews the attack. I myself have been pressed to the last extremity 213 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ by rhinoceroses, and even when not at such close quarters an encounter with them is often dangerous and exciting. My first encounter with the "e'muny" of the Masai happened towards evening, in the middle of a charred and blackened plain, that had been on fire that very day. Never shall I forget the impression made on me by this uncouth animal mass, .standing in its rugged clumsiness in the midst of that gloomy landscape, illuminated by the slanting and uncertain rays of the setting sun. With its head high: in the air (the monster had already become aware of our approach), its mighty horns pointing upwards, and its gigantic outline showing against the red of the evening sky, it seemed to be merged , in the black ground on which it stood. My heart beat frantically, and my hand was not steady as, partially screened by a thorn-bush, half of which had been spared by the fire, I let off my elephant-gun from a distance of a hundred paces. At my shot the "Faru" came snorting towards me, and it was only at my second shot, when he was very close indeed, that he turned to the left, and, snorting loudly, took to flight across the plain. My servants seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. The scene was enacted in such a short space of time, and made such a powerful impression on me — the apparent uselessness of my weapon against the great animal was so crushing, the swiftness and agility that he had displayed at the last so astonishing — that from that moment the picture I had had in my mind of this animal for so many years was totally changed. 214 -^ Rhinoceroses While all this was happening, we had lying in the camp a man who had twice been thrown into the air by a rhinoceros the day before, and who was only by a miracle recovering from his injuries. Many notions acquired by us at school are soon dissipated when we find ourselves in Africa. On this occasion it was brought home to me very effectively that I had to do with an extraordinarily active and agile brute, very different from the unwieldy and slow-moving degenerate rhinoceros one was accustomed to seeing in the Zoological Gardens. This was to be borne in upon me by other glimpses of the animals in the distance, and to be driven in still more by my next encounter with one. With my fowling-piece in my hand — dismounting from my donkey, which had not yet fallen a victim to the tsetse fly — I hasten into a gorge thick with tall grass, in the midst of which I had seen guinea-fowl alight. As usual, they have run away from the spot where they went in. I follow them quickly, hoping to make them break co\'er. Suddenly a brownish-black mass arises right in my path and takes up a sitting position for a second, and my still somewhat unaccustomed eyes recog- nise the huge proportions of a rhinoceros. The brain has to work quickly in such moments. I lie down flat upon the ground. Grunting and snorting the rhinoceros rushes past me a foot away, raising clouds of dust as he goes, towards the caravan, and right past my friend, Alfred Kaiser. Kaiser, who had twice been spitted by a rhinoceros, and had made miraculous recoveries on both occasions 217 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ after months upon his back, seems to have exercised a wonderful fascination for the species. Wherever he went, there rhinoceroses were sure to spring up ! But in the •course of his long sojoura among- the Bedouins of Sinai, he had acquired a stoical habit of calm, and now he lets the brute dash through the caravan and bluster away into the distance. . AH he did was to send after it an inde- scribably; strong, Arabic oath as it disappeared in a storm of dust. I: had, to congratulate myself upon "a narrow ■escape" — illustrating that English expression once again. On the same day I saw four other rhinoceroses, among them a mother with her young. Soon afterwards a deeply trodden track leading to a rocky pool in the driest part ■of the velt tempted me to go in for a night's shooting. In these regions the nights get very cold. Accompanied by some of my men, and provided with a few woollen •coverings, lanterns,, etc., I decided to take my stand by the edge of the gorge. However, we had not taken into •account' sufficiently the suddenness with which the sun sets in these parts. We got belated en route, lost our way, and soon found ourselves plunged in absolute dark- ness, with some hours to wait before the appearance of the moon. Scattered rocks and troublesome long grass made it difficult for us to make any progress, so there seemed to be nothing for . it but to turn back to our camp. That also prqved impossible, so I decided to wait where we were until the moon should appear, at nine o'clock, and enable us to retrace our .steps. There we stayed, therefore, among the bits of rock which had cut our knees and the sharp briars and dense tough grass, prisoners 218 ^Jtf^^- -* Rhinoceroses 1 IT WAS QUITE A LONG TIME BEFORE THE RHINOCEROS SETTLED DOWN 4.^- j^^^^ HP^^It^^^ \ p^t *^^***^ ' ^ \ . ^ i jr., ,-• 1 AS sOUN A-^ IT DID bO — ITS IMMENSE HORN, A YARD LONG, WAVING ABOUT IN THE AIR LIKE A BRANCH OF A TREE — THE RHINOCEROS- BIRDS ALIGHTED AGAIN ON ITS BACK With Flashlight and Rifle ^ for the night. Our eyes growing accustomed to the darkness, we were able presently to discern the whitish trunks and branches of aCacia-bushes. After a long wait, suddenly we heard a quick snort. My men threw to the ground everything they had in their hands and climbed up two rather tall trees hard by with indescribable agility. Only my rifle-bearer, who carried my heavy elephant-rifle, waited a moment to give give me the warning, " Faru, bwana " — " A rhinoceros, master ! " My hair stood up on my head, but I had my heavy rifle ready in my hand. Now gradually my eyes made out the shapeless mass of the rhinoceros in the uncertain radiance cast down from the stars. A few yards behind me gaped a deep gorge. Escape in any direction was made impossible by the rocks and thorn-bushes and grass. Up on the trees my men remained hidden, holding their breath. A few yards off the rhinoceros moyed about snorting. I waited until I could see his horn silhouetted against the starry sky, advanced towards the great black bulk, and fired. The report rang out violently over the rocky gorge and broke into reverberating echoes. The kick of the great rifle had sent me back a pace, and I had sunk upon one knee. Quickly I cocked the left second trigger — with guns of such calibre you must not have both cocked at once, for fear both barrels should go off together — and awaited the animal's coming. But, snorting and stamping, off he went down the hill in the darkness. A deep silence fell over the scene again, and we all waited, motionless, breathless. After a while we started upon our march back to the camp, my men 220 -* Rhinoceroses shouting and singing so as to prevent any such encounter happening to us again. The following morning we found the rhinoceros — a big, powerful bull — lying dead sixty paces or so from the spot where I had shot him. The lead-tipped steel bullet had penetrated his shoulder, and was to be found on the other side under the skin. Nocturnal meetinsfs with rhinoceroses are not always THE RHINOCEROSES GOT UP AND CAME FOR ME FULL TILT so fortunate in their results — sometimes they are most dangerous in these circumstances. As a general rule, however, when a rhinoceros gets to know of the vicinity of a man at night time he gives him a wide berth. This was to be my own experience on other occasions. In the upper regions of the watershed between the Masai country and Mctoria Xyanza 1 had numerous 221 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ opportunities of observing the rhinoceroses, not only in the wooded parts of this plateau, but also out on the open plains, where they were to be seen both singly and in herds. ,About this time my repeating rifle began to get out of order. Nothing is more calculated to make a man lose his nerve than his weapon's becoming useless at a critical moment, when his very life depends upon it. I was therefore much excited one day when I sighted a pair of sleeping rhinoceroses out on the bare open velt. In this instance I was lucky enough to kill one of the animals at the distance of a hundred yards after an hour's approach to it on all fours in the broiling sun. The second took to flight. Becoming gradually used to their ways, I was fortunate also in subsequent encounters with them. I may here relate a few episodes from my own ex- perience illustrating the habits of the rhinoceros. They will serve to give the reader a true picture of his character. I shall never forget the day I brought down a very old bull rhinoceros in British East Africa, not far from Kibwezi. It was a very windy morning, and I had just killed a male Grant's gazelle, with only one large horn— I had .missed it with my first shot. Just as I had done for it I happened to look over the plain to the left, and observed a- great black mass -about two hundred yards away. I thought at first it was the stump of a tree, but looking, again a few minutes later I found that it had vanished. My field-glasses brought home to me the fact that it was a rhinoceros, for there he was sitting in the animal's favourite position, but now farther away. The very strong wind 222 -♦ Rhinoceroses that was blowing enabled me to approach within fifteen yards of him, where a small thorn-bush served as cover for me. I aimed carefullv at his ear, but with a miorhtv jerk he wheeled round on his hind-legs, thus affording me a better aim. 'Sly second bullet, discharged at so short a distance from behind, brought him down. He was killed on the spot. The appearance of this earth-coloured monster, so deceptively like a tree-stump sticking out of the storm-swept velt, often comes back to my memory, especially when I am seized with a fresh longing for the Masai-Nyika life and the velt calls to me again. Some years later, when I had made it a rule to shoot only big specimens, I brought down an extraordinarily large old bull rhinoceros, which had taken to flight on receiving an ineffective shot on the shoulder, but which made for me on getting- a second shot — as rhinoceroses often- do — and fell dead only some ten paces from where I stood. There was a cow rhinoceros quite near the bull when I first hit the latter, and both animals charged at each other head-down, the bull imagining that it was the cow that had damaged him. The agility and quickness- w ith which the huge beast moved I shall never forget. In the hunting of big game, as in all other dangerous- occupations, confidence grows steadily in proportion to the perils one has already coped with successfully. Sooner or later, however, a mishap is certain to be encountered and the more experience one has in pursuing lions, buffaloes,, elephants, and rhinoceroses the more careful one becomes. \\ hile stalking kudus once on the shores of the Jipe Lake I was startled byi the sudden appearance of a With Flashlight and Rifle -♦) rhinoceros, which emerged from a mud-bath on its way through a thicket and stood all covered by the reddish mire in the slanting rays of the setting sun. I felt instinctively that the animal would go for me, and go for me he did almost at once, after swaying his great head about two or three times, sniffing out my exact position. At this critical moment my rifle went off before I intended. The bullet went too high, but fortunately was well enough placed to make the rhinoceros turn aside just as he had got to me. Springing into a thick thorn- bush. I just managed to save myself. Quick as lightning it chased one of my men twice round an acacia-bush hard by, and then disappeared among the thorns. As my men had taken refuge behind trees and bushes to left and right — I was accompanied by about ten of the men — I could not attempt another shot at him, so he escaped. Next morning I found myself down with a sharp touch of fever, which kept me in bed for two days, so I was not able to pursue the animal. In rhinoceros-hunting it is all important to keep note carefully of the wind. You can do this very well by lighting a match. Failing that, the dropping of some sand will answer the purpose, or holding up a moistened finger. In addition to noting the direction of the wind, you have to look carefully to .see whether the rhinoceros has his feathered satellites; the xhinoceros- birds {Buphaga erythrorhyncha) on him or not. When resting, he often resigns himself to the care of these small feathered friends of his, which not merely free. him 224 ''fcSv.S VOL. I. 15 -* Rhinoceroses from parasites, but which, by a sudden outburst of twitter- ing and a clattering of their wings, warn him of impending danger. Thus put on the alert, he rises up quickly or assumes his well-known sitting position, ready to take to flight if need be, but lying down again if there seems to him to be no enemy near. If the hunter is favoured by the wind and able to conceal himself after this first alarm, and the rhinoceros lies down again, the birds — varying in number from a very few to a couple of dozen — settle down again upon his hospitable body. But the moment they become aware of your near approach, they leave it again, arousing the animal once more. It is a case of a partnership between an animal with a very keen sense of smell and birds with very keen eyes. To what extent these birds are responsible for a small wound of about the size of a five-shilling piece, which I have found on almost all the rhinoceroses I have shot, I am uncertain. The natives declare that it is caused by the birds. I have brought home specimens of skins with these wounds on them, so that they may be investigated. They are generally on the left side of the paunch. In any case, I have found only one rhinoceros without this " dundo," to use the native word. In this respect rhinoceroses are different from elephants, of which the skins are smooth and uninjured. In spite of the activity of these rhinoceros-birds, which are sometimes helped by ravens, we find the black rhinoceros infested by great numbers of ticks (some of them extraordinarily big), especially in the region of the 227 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ belly, which the birds cannot get at easily. I have found various species of these parasites upon them, and, among others, Amblyoma a^lre^l.m, Ambl. hebrceum, Ambl. devium, and, in very considerable numbers, Dermacentor rhinocerotis. Very probably the rhinoceros is infested also by another kind of tick, unknown until discovered by myself Of all these that I have named, however, the Dermacentor rhinocerotis is the only one that is peculiar to the rhinoceros. I have never actually encountered more than four rhinoceroses at a time, though I have often seen as many as eight together. The manner in which they find their way to their drinking-places, often involving a journey of several hours, is wonderful. They select several spots on which to drop their dung, which they then scatter about with their hind-legs. In this fashion it is they set about making their wide pathways over the velt. Doubtless these heaps of dung serve as marks, which help them to find their way back in the direction from which they have come. The shape of rhinoceros-horns varies greatly. The horns of the cows are long, and always thinner than those of the bulls. Sometimes the horns are flat, like swords. You find this sometimes even in those regions in which round-shaped horns are the general rule. Now and again the horns of very old cow rhinoceroses grow to the length of nearly five feet. In a very few rare cases more than two, sometimes as many as five, horns are to be found on the African 228 -* Rhinoceroses rhinoceros. On the other hand, sometimes rhinoceroses lose their horns, and are to be found without any. The very old ones do not renew their horns, I believe, when lost. I am led to this opinion by the case of a very old hornless specimen which I shot, as well as by what I have heard from native hunters, though their statements are always to be taken with caution. The size to which rhinoceros-horns sometimes develop WHEN MV BULLET HIT IT, THE RHINOCEROS THREW UP ITS HEAD SEVERAL TIMES may be gauged by the following measurements of some of the longest and most fully developed that are known : Localit)'. East Africa Black Rhinoceros {R. bicornis). Owner. Dr. C. H. Orman . S. L. Hinde . Imperial Museum, Vienna 229 Length. 532 in- 47 ,. 443 » With Flashlight and Rifle ^ The white rhinoceros, practically exterminated from South Africa in recent years, and now almost extinct — it still exists near Lado — had still longer horns. Here are two measurements taken, like the foregoing, from Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game : White Rhinoceros (i?. simus). Owner. Locality. Length. Col. W. Gordon Gumming . South Africa 62 1 in. British Museum ... „ ,, s6j ,, The white rhinoceros is the largest mammal after the elephant to be found on any part of the earth. Scarce half a century ago the species was still so numerous that Anderson, the English sportsman, was able to kill about sixty of them in the course of a few months in the neighbourhood of the Orange River and the Zambesi. I myself secured one rhinoceros-horn in Zanzibar which is about ftfty-four inches long, and the horns of four rhinoceroses which I shot measure 86, 76, 72, 62^ centimetres ; the others are much shorter. The rhinoceros is particularly dangerous in dense brushwood, whether on the velt among the sueda- bushes, which grow so thickly, or on the high plateaux amidst the most impenetrable vegetation, which grows up in the clearings and ridges, in between the long, lichen-grown trunks of the trees in the woods. The animal is in the habit of making any number of homes for itself used alternately, upon the smaller hills of about 6,000 feet high, in the dense thickets. He chooses generally those formed by the shrubs, into which 230 ^9" Rhinoceroses it is most difficult for men to make their way, such as jessamine, smilax, pterolobium, toddalia, and blackberry bushes. In dry weather these regions provide for all the wants of both the elephant and the rhinoceros, and they keep to them for the most part. They render all incursion into these strongholds of theirs a very perilous undertaking. However, if the wind tells them of our approach, or if we make the slightest noise, they generally either clatter away from us down-hill, or else they remain absolutely still and motionless in their basin-like haunts, which we come upon every hundred yards or so. If the wind be favourable, we may reckon upon encountering them at short range and under risky conditions, especially if we meet several of them together. Even the Wandorobo and Wakamba are not keen about venturing into these rhinoceros-strongholds, and I must admit that, after several exciting experiences in such regions, I have no great desire to make my way into them again. This is not, indeed, the place for the hunter who relies entirely upon his own gun, as I always did, and who has not a body- guard of natives around him ready to blaze away when necessary. In these circumstances, too, you have to shoot anything in the shape of a rhinoceros you see, old or young, male or female, if you care about your own safety. And this is not a pleasant kind of sport. But even when you allow your men to shoot in these pathless thickets — in which you have to grope forward one by one, ^mable to see where you are going — there is apt to be ^reat danger of their shooting each other. With Flashlight and Rifle ^ THE TWO RHINOCEROSES SETTLED DOWN UNDER A TREE THE COW SUDDENLY GOT UP Fortunately, these hillsides will remain available for their inmates for many years to come. They will only 234 Rhinoceroses *■ THE BULL GOT UP IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARDS AXD, THE WIND SHIFTING A LITTLE, THEY BOTH TURNED IN MY DIRECTION' cease to be a refuge when European traders in their greediness begin to mal<;e tiie natives invade them. 235 With Flashlight and Rifle ♦ Governor Count Gotzen has provisionally interdicted any such enterprise — a very praiseworthy action on his part. Though put into so many tight corners in my rhinoceros- hunts — tight corners out of which I often got by sheer luck — I never deliberately took the worst risks except when I set about taking photographs. It was not the easiest of tasks. Like so many other wild beasts, the rhinoceros is most active when the sky is overclouded — just when the camera is no good. The photographer has the animal in a certain position, well lit by the sun, and not too far off — conditions that it is extremely difficult to bring about. Then he must have complete control over his nerves. His hands must not shake, or the picture will be spoilt. Malaria and the imbibing of quinine are not things to fit you for such work ! When once you have experimented in this kind of photography, without a bodyguard of armed Askaris to protect you, you are not disposed to make light of its dangers and difficulties. However, in spite of all obstacles, I had some success ; and how delighted I used to be of a night, as I busied myself with the development of my negatives and saw gradually come into being the pictures made for me by that magician, the sun ! For magical and nothing less, they seemed to my men — these minute pictures of which their master makes his records of the day's events. There is no end to the head-shaking that goes on over them. " Daua ! " — "Magic! " — is their word for everything that passes their comprehension. 236 -»> Rhinoceroses In common with the best-known English authorities, ^Ir. F C. Selous, Mr. F. G. Jackson, and others, I have found the rhinoceros ahvays nervous, easily excited, and very capricious in his ways and hard to reckon on. He is particularly nervous when alone. In a rhinoceros-hunt, you never know what will happen next. As an illustration of this, I may describe my experiences one day in THE COW RHIXOCEROS. ITS HORN WAS MORE THAN" A YARD IN LENGTH November 1903, on my fourth and last expedition, when I succeeded in taking an excellent photograph of two rhinoceroses. I had been trying all the morning to get a photograph of a herd of giraffes, but they were so shy I had had no luck. Tired and parched, I was making my way back to the camp, which was still about four hours' march away, when the two rhinoceroses came in sight, to my surprise 237 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ rather, for it was a hot day for them to be out on the velt. They were about i,ooo yards away. There was unusually little wind, but that little was unfavourable, so r made a wide ddtour and had the satisfaction, after about half an hour, of seeing the animals settle down together under a tree. Accompanied now by only two of my bearers and two Masai, I succeeded in approaching warily within 1 20 yards of them — it happened, contrary to the general rule, that they had no rhinoceros-birds on them — taking up my position finally behind a fairly thick brier-bush growing out of a low ant-hill. I had taken several pictures successfully with my telephoto-lens, when suddenly for some reason the animals stood up quickly, both together as is their wont. Almost simultaneously, the farther of the two, an old cow, began moving the front part of her body to and fro, and then, followed by the bull with head high in the air, came straight for me full gallop. I had instinctively felt what would happen, and in a moment my rifle was in my hands and my camera passed to my bearers. I fired six shots and succeeded in bringing down both animals twice as they rushed towards me — great furrows in the sand of the velt showed where they fell. My final shot I fired in the absolute certainty that my last hour had come. It hit the cow on the nape of the neck and at the same moment 1 sprang to the right, to the other side of the brier-bush. My two men had taken to flight by this time, but one of the Masai ran across my path at this critical moment and sprang right into the bush. He had evidently waited in the expectation 238 -*■ Rhinoceroses of seeing the rhinoceros fall dead at the last moment, as he had so often seen happen before. With astounding agility the rhinoceroses followed me, and half way round the bush I found myself between the two animals. It seems incredible now that I tell the tale in cold blood, but in that same instant THE BLLL RHINOCEROS. ITS SKIN IS NOW IN THE IMPERIAL NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM AT BERLIN. (l AM SCARCELY RECOGNISABLE WITH MY BEARD '.) my shots took effect mortally, and both rhinoceroses collapsed. I had made awa)" from the bush about twenty paces when a frantic cr}- coming simultaneously from my men in the distance and the Masai in the bush made me turn round. A very singular sight greeted my eyes. There was the Masai, trembling all over, his face distorted with terror, backing for all he was worth inside the bush, while 239 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ the cow rhinoceros, streaming with blood, stood literalljr leaning up against it, and the bull, almost touching, lay- dying on the ground, its mighty head beating repeatedly in its death-agony against the hard red soil of the velt. The cry the men gave out, as is the case always with these natives, was pitched in a soprano key curiously incongruous with the aspect of these warriors. As quickly as possible I reloaded, and with three- final shots made an end of both animals. In spite of my well-placed bullets and loss of blood they had all but done for me. It was indeed a very narrow escape. It left an impression on my mind which will not be easily erased. Even now in fancy I sometimes live those moments over again. It was interesting to note the complete calm and placidity displayed by my men a few minutes after it- was all over, though at the time they had been absolutely panic-stricken, above all the Masai imprisoned in the bush. Their whole attention was now absorbed in the- cutting up of the bodies and iri'' the picking out of the best pieces of the flesh, quarrelling among themselves in their usual way over the specially relished bonnes bottches. I had many other experiences similar to this one, if not quite so exciting. I may tell, perhaps, of two adventures which I had with rhinoceroses at night time — adventures in the full sense of the word, and of a kind met with by other well-known travellers. In remarkable: 240 -* Rhinoceroses contrast to their usual timidity and cautiousness is tlie way in which at night they seem to put off all fear of men. I had been obliged to encamp in a hollow thickly grown with thorn-bushes, and my men, being tired out, had sunk to sleep after their evening meal. Suddenly during the night I was awakened by one of my boys with the warning : " Bwana, tembo ! " whispered excitedly in my ear, while at the same moment several of my men rushed into my tent to tell me the same thing — that an elephant was somewhere about. I sprang up, ACACIA VELX seized one of my rifles, and made ready for the supposed elephant, when- in came a number of other carriers, wild with excitement, and pointing frantically out of the tent towards a great dark object about forty paces away. In the motionless mass standing there like a great shapeless rock I at once recognised a rhinoceros.. There he stood among the small tents of my men, clearly astounded at finding his wonted feeding-place full of men. Within a few seconds almost all my carriers had sought shelter behind me, and 1 could not help feeling pleased at the wonderful VOL. I. 241 16 With Flashlight and Rifle -* discipline evinced — my strict orders that not a shot should be fired by any of them at night time under such critical conditions being strictly obeyed. There was a brief pause, the rhinoceros still l Rhinoceroses all right for me, but there were other occasions on which I narrowly escaped with my life. These great regions of the velt still support hundreds of thousands of rhinoceroses. None can say how soon it will be before the last " faru " shall be slain by man ; but that that day is not far distant, that it will come within a few decades, seems to me certain. 243 IN STORMY WEATHER THE NYIKA COUNTRY OFTEN REMINDED ME OF WILD REGIONS IN NORTH GERMANY XII Catching a Young Rhinoceros THEN some one will succeed, It is to be hoped, in bringing back alive a young rhinoceros from German East Africa. That will be a red-letter day for our Zoological Gardens " — thus wrote my friend Dr. L. Heck in 1896, in his book The Animal Kingdom. In the same year I trod African soil for the first time. Many illusions, derived from the too optimistic tone of our colonial literature, were soon to be dispelled there, not the least of them being notions about the practicability of getting hold of living specimens of the wild life of the region. Many efforts have been made, both in German and British East Africa, to bring back alive to Europe either a young rhinoceros or a young elephant. While no one has yet succeeded in the latter enterprise, I succeeded in the former, but only on my fourth expedition — the third 244 -^ Catching a Young Rhinoceros on which I had gone into the interior with my own caravan. I am reliably informed that the so-called Ostrich Farming Company at Kilimanjaro has lost fourteen young rhinos through not knowing how to bring them up. The Uganda railway now affords facilities for the transport of heavy animals to the coast, but so far has not been the means of enriching our Zoological Gardens. Clearly there must be some good reason for this state of things. The explanation lies in the great difficulty, first of all, in catching the young rhinoceros, and secondly, in the difficulty of providing milk for him, owing to the lack of horned cattle, when he has to be transported from one spot to another. Partly from the same cause it has not been possible to bring home alive to Europe a number of other splendid animals met with in East Africa. No elephant, no giraffe, no eland or oryx or roan antelope, no specimen of the beautiful Grant's gazelle, or impalla, or waterbuck, or hartebeest, or kudu — not to mention many other of the smaller inhabitants of the country — has yet been conveyed home to any of the German Zoological Gardens. This is due to the unfavourable conditions, climatic and otherwise, under which one has to work. No systematic importation of living animals to Europe has yet been managed from either German East Africa or German South or West Africa. This has been carried out in the case of Somaliland — a country unmatched for its salubrity, where camels and horses thrive — through the initiative of the well-known dealer, Menges, but in these colonies of ours it has never been set about properly. 247 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Under competent and trustworthy management and with adequate capital to draw upon, it could undoubtedly be carried out most advantageously ; and if the interests of science were kept in mind, such an enterprise would be in the national interest and worthy of universal support. In May 1903, while staying on the west side of Kilimanjaro, I decided to make a fresh attempt to get hold of a young rhinoceros. This involved acquiring a herd of cows and keeping a look-out for a cow rhinoceros with a young one of suitable age. In the middle of a dense thicket, more impenetrable than ever owing to the rank vegetation following the rainy season, I at last saw what I wanted, after looking about me for a long time in vain. The old cow rhinoceros had already got wind of me, and any moment might see her disappear into the jungle, so I was obliged to shoot at her. She turned round as quick as lightning, and, followed by her young one, went crashing and clattering into the brushwood. My bullet had not been well placed ; the slight extent to which she had bled showed that. Now follows an exciting and indescribably wearying pursuit, my men and I winding our way in among the thorn-bushes as best we can. Soon my clothes are in shreds and my face and hands all torn and bleeding. Every moment I expect to run up against the wounded and infuriated animal. My men have crept up an ant-hill in order to see what lies ahead. .Suddenly — what's that ? One of them seems to have espied our quarry ! Quickly I clamber up the ant-hill myself, only to dis- cover that it is a different rhinoceros — a bull, judging by 248 -♦) Catching a Young Rhinoceros its short, thick horn. He must not tempt us away. Luckily he scents us and takes to flight. Breathless and perspiring, we return to the tracks of the cow, which often interminsfle with those of other rhinoceroses that must have passed this way in the night, and which are therefore by no means easy to follow. The suspense grows with every moment. The vege- tation would afford us no protection against the onrush -tfc*i ' |;.^^- -■""^4 - '■J^'^] ' V. .^- ^^ li-iJtl-i^ ONE OF THE BULL RHIXOCEROSEb of a rhinoceros, nor would it impede him in any way — the branches would break before him like matchwood. Now it is midday and the heat has reached its worst, and still we keep up our chase, making all the pace we can. Taught by experience, my hands grasp my rifle — ready to shoot at any moment. Hour after hour goes by without a break in our advance. Little hope remains of catching up with our coveted prey, when we come to a pool of rain-water, in which clearly she must have just been wallowing and freshening 249 With Flashlight and Rifle -* herself up with her young one. The water — dark, loamy, evil-smelling though it be — -revives us also. And now we are able to take our bearings, and we realise that the rhinoceros must have made a wide circuit and doubled back towards the camp. The finding of this water enables me to keep up the pursuit until nightfall. There is not much joy in the prospect of a night out on the velt with so many rhinoceroses roaming about. At last, in a small clump of acacias I spot the' motionless form of the old cow straight in front of me, and before she can stir from where she stands a bullet in the ear brings her dying to the ground. The young one gives out a piercing cry, comes some paces towards me, then takes to flight. The old animal now rolls about in her death-agony. I give her two more shots, calling out at the same time to my men to throw themselves upon the young one. The young one, however, takes the initiative and makes straight for us with a snort. Next moment my arms are round him and he and I are rolling together on the ground, and my men, each of whom is provided with a rope, ha^e made fast his legs. At first he follows me willingly as I hold out a piece of his mother's skin in front of him, but by-and-by he begins to squeak and refuses to move. I decide quickly to leave four men with him and send post-haste to the camp for others. Late in the evening he is brought in triumph to the camp. Now begin the most serious difhculties of my under- taking. For one thing I must get hold of a number of cows. However, he gets used to a goat, and I myself see 250 iii-JiM ■^ Catching a Young Rhinoceros so thoroughly to his nourishment and general well-being that he thrives splendidly, and eventually reaches the goal — the Zoological Gardens in Berlin. There he con- tinues to flourish, still in company with his friend the goat. When I had fed up my capti\e and got him into good condition. Sergeant A. D. Merkel, now a colonist at Kilimanjaro, rendered me the great service of allowing my men into one of his cattle-kraals with the little animal, while I myself proceeded to the velt. His transport to the coast, too, which had to be effected on foot, was attended with difficulties. At the period of the greatest heat I was obliged often to march beside him during the night, and I owe a bad attack of fever to spending one night in this way upon a very unhealthy section of the caravan route without any mosquito-net. Naples we reached ail right. Dr. Heck was there to meet us, and had engaged a special waggon from Chiasso. He was highly delighted to welcome the long- desired stranger in so thriving a condition. The officials at the Zoological Gardens at Naples, who were brought to see him by Professor Dohrn, were also very keenly interested. After careful consideration we decided to go on to Germany by sea. The overland journev seemed to us undesirable in January, on account of the climatic con- ditions chiefly, although the Italian authorities, whose good offices had been bespoken for us by Caiint Lanza, the Italian Ambassador at Berlin, were most friendly and obliging. The passage went off all right, in spite of our going through a mistral, which provided us with the 253 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ experience of a hurricane on the high seas which lasted nearly two days. " Force of wind " and " Ship pitched heavily " were recorded in the ship's log : the 6,000-ton vessel leant over to the side at an angle of 45°. However, the young animal stood the voyage well in spite of everything, and at Hamburg Herr Hagenbeck had, in the most friendly way, done everything to ensure our speedy transit to Berlin — a service for which I am most grateful. So at last we are able to study this very interesting animal in captivity, and to note its growth and develop- ment. It differs from its clumsy-looking Indian cousin in its activity, in the length of its two horns, and also in its relative good looks ! I got hold of two other young rhinoceroses later, but I was not so successful in rearing them as I was in this instance. In one case I found the tracks of a cow rhinoceros and her young at a drinking-place. Accompanied for once by my taxidermist, Orgeich, I undertook their pur- suit, which was to prove very long and very difficult, over stony and hilly ground. As I got near her, she took to flight, given the alarm by rhinoceros-birds. From the hill on which I was I could see her and her young one making off over the velt. On we went again, and presently we espied her once more, in the middle of a large meadow of grass with a few trees on it here and there. She was standing still under an acacia, evidently disquieted by our pursuit. I shot at her from a distance of about one hundred paces. My bullet passed through a thick branch 254 -». Catching a Young Rhinoceros of the tree, but nevertheless hit her, kilHng her on the spot. I waited until my men (about fifty in all), who were creeping up towards me cautiously, had come near enough, and then sent them ahead to right and left to secure the young animal. However, it was no good. The calf broke through the ranks of the hunters and disappeared over the velt. A five-hours' march took AT FIRST THE YOUNG KIHXOS DIET CONSISTED ENTIRELY OF MILK us back to camp. Next day we returned to where the dead rhinoceros was lying. The following morning the young animal had come back to its m6ther ; but although I had a hundred men with me the same thing happened as before. So this attempted capture was a failure. In another case, after a seven-hours' continuous pur- suit of a cow rhinoceros with her young, we at last 255 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ sighted her a considerable distance from us out on the thorn-desert. She was hit by my first shot, but made off I ran after her, however, for some time, and at last brought her down with a second. Immediately we all rushed forward to capture the young one, which was of a fairly large size. We had no. luck, however. I myself waited by the body of the old one, on the chance of the young one returning to it. My men, stirred into eagerness by the promise of reward, continued their chase. It was already dusk when they came back to me. Dispirited by our failure we made our way to the camp. Nothing could be more depressing than the thought that we had got so near our goal only to fail at last, and that we had killed the mother uselessly. Once again a whole day's wearing work had come to nothing. Next morning, followed by all my men except the few I left on guard, I returned a second time to the same spot, in the same hope. But now hundreds of vultures and some marabous had flocked thither, drawn by the carcase. So I ordered my men to take out the horns and bring to camp the parts of the flesh that could be eaten. With three carriers I made my way on to a deep gorge, where I had noticed some rare birds on ' the previous evening. Just as we got there out rushed the young rhinoceros, almost from under my feet. Covered as he was by the red mire of the velt, neither I nor my men had distinguished him from his surroundings until that moment. 256 -*> Catching a Young Rhinoceros Cut off from flight by the gorge, the young animal, with a tremendous snort, made a rush at me, lowering his head. I managed to grip hold of him, however, by the neck, saving myself from his small horn, and clinging on to it. He and I rolled over on the ground, I getting some bad bruises in the process. Now my three men threw themselves upon the animal- WHILE THE YOUNG RHINO WAS WITH ME, I MADE A I'OINT OF MARCHINC, BY MOONLIGHT DURING THE HOT WEATHER. BY DAY IT WAS ABLE TO SLEEP QUIETLY IN THE CAMP IN COMPANY WITH MY GOATS AND MY MBEGA MONKEY and a great tussle took place. A few moments later all the others rushed up from where I had left them just in time to tie up his legs, and on an improvised stretcher he was carried into camp. He throve all right for several days. Then, however, a tumour made its appearance on his lower jaw, and VOL. I. 257 17 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ gradually got worse. He died a few days later. It was bad luck to lose him, especially when all promised so well at first. On yet another occasion fortune seemed to smile on me when I succeeded in shooting a cow rhinoceros with her young one beside her ; but in this case we did not even get hold of the young one. The spot where we encountered them was a long way from the camp, and we had to go back to it at nightfall, returning in the morning. On approaching the body of the old one I looked round carefully with my field-glasses, but the young animal was nowhere to be seen. Presently the sharp eye of one of my natives detects a movement in the bushes some distance away. With the help of my glasses I discover that it is the young rhinoceros, who has got up on his feet, and is standing there motionless on the alert. After a time he lies down again, and is completely hidden by the bush. Favoured by the wind, we are able to approach within a few steps of him, when suddenly, with a snort, out he plunges. To my joy he comes straight in my direction, and I quite count upon bringing off once again my now practised neck-grip, when off he slips to my left. The men nearest whom he passes dare not catch hold of him, and a wild chase, in which my whole following takes part, ensues over the velt. A swift-footed carrier, a Uganda man, almost overtakes him, and makes a grasp at his uplifted tail. Then hunted and hunters disappear from my sight among the thorn-bushes of the Pori. Two 258 ^ Catching a Young Rhinoceros hours later my men come back empty-handed, parched, and worn out. This kind of thing is, of course, a frequent experience in. such regions, where the sportsman is handicapped by having no horse to ride. Under such conditions a hunt of this kind may very well have a tragic outcome. When at a height of about 6,000 feet up a hill WHEX I HAD SHOT THE MOTHER, THE YOUXi; RHINO ASSUMED SO THREATENING A DEMEANOUR THAT MY MEN TOOK TO THEIR HEELS INSTEAD OF ATTEMPTING TO CAPTURE HIM ! in the Masai-Nyika country, I saw in the^^rays of the setting sun a cow rhinoceros ^half hidden by bushes, with a young one, apparently of suitable size for capture. I'-' had to give the old one several shots, as she caught sight of me and made for me fiercely. The young one took to flight. Some of my men followed him stupidly with loud cries, one man especially 259 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ distinguishing himself in this way, his sudden display of valour being in quaint contrast with his usual peaceful avocation — -that of looking after the donkeys ! I had unfortunately not noticed in time that the young animal was of considerable size, and provided with correspondingly large horns. Suddenly it turned round. The pursuers became the pursued ! With screams and yells they took to flight. It looks as though Hamis, the donkey-boy, must be horned by " ol munj " in another second — he gives out a piercing shriek for help. He is now nearing me. With a shot on the nape of the neck I am just in time to kill the infuriated young animal — not in time to prevent it from crashing down upon the native. Fortunately, however, he escapes, without any serious injury. From all the foregoing narratives it will have been gathered that one must be favoured by circumstances in many particulars if one is to catch and rear a young rhinoceros. It is to be hoped that in the next few years these favourable conditions will be met with and that some other specimens may be brought home alive to Europe. On about forty other occasions I came upon rhino- ceroses with young ; but either the young ones were too strong to permit of capture or I was too far away from camp, or there were other hindrances, so of course I did not shoot. Generally speaking, rhinoceroses keep under dense cover when their young ones are quite small, so that the capture of these is very difficult and dangerous. 260 SNOW-WHITE HERONS AND BLACK AND WHITE IBISES FLASHED OUT FROM THE MONOTONOUS GREEN OF THE REEDS XIII The Hippopotamus THE hippopotamus will survive both the elephant and the rhinoceros in Africa, not only because it is hunted less, but also because one of its chief haunts, the immense swamps of West Africa, is very- inaccessible. It is long now since hippopotamuses were plentiful in the north of Africa. They used to be called the Nile- horse, because of the numbers to be seen, not merely in the river, but on its delta. Nowadays, not only the hippopotamus, but also to a great extent the crocodile, have disappeared from the Nile, or are to be found in it only above Khartum. Quite recently there has been discovered in the Nile Valley, bones of swine-like extinct animals in which palaeontologists recognise forbears of the hippopotamus. Professor Fraas of Stuttgart it was who found them, and he is now engaged in examining them. 261 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ But even in the inland lake-districts such as that of the Victoria Nyanza, the days of this great water- hog seem to be numbered. It is true that on the English side of the lake there is a decree in force to prevent the complete extermination of the species, but in spite of this the " kiboko " is bound to disappear from these regions, just as it has from the Nile Valley. Of very great interest was the discovery a good many years ago of a species of dwarf hippopotamus on the West Coast, in Liberia. These little animals, according to the scanty knowledge we as yet have of them, would .seem to live in the streams of the primeval forests. The ordinary hippopotamus would be found probably, on closer investigation, to be divisible into various races ; I myself have noticed differences in size, appear- ance, and habits between the hippopotamuses I have met with in the neighbourhood of different streams. Herodotus tells us that in his time already the hippo- potamus was found to have rents on his skin, and he makes the suggestion that these were made by sharp sedge-grass. These rents I too have noticed ; but as I have found them also on rhinoceros-skins — never on those of elephants — I am inclined to believe that they must be caused by something else. We have had many accounts of the hippopotamus from travellers of all sorts, from the days of Herodotus down to our own, and they all agree in describing the animal as ill-tempered and dangerous, and a very ugly customer to deal with. The last testimony to this was given by Brehm, who, however, had to deal for the 262 -^ The Hippopotamus most part with hippopotamuses which had already been shot at more than once. It is only natural that so big and easy a target should be in general favour with travellers who are not genuine sportsmen, especially in the dry weather, when the animals are forced to resort to the small lakes or to ggj|jig^_^jjat'ifc.»^-«'^'^^ THE MAWEN'ZI MOUNTAIN' AND KILIMANJARO the deep pools in rivers, thus offering a welcome oppor- tunity to such gentry. As hippopotamuses which have been mortally hit go under at once, to rise again to the surface in an hour and a half or two hours, according to the warmth of the water, through the action of the decomposing gases inside them, a far greater number of them are killed than even the dond fide sportsman often supposes. An officer in the East African colonial police, who 265 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ had had considerable experience as a sportsman in Europe, and who has contributed much to the study of African wild life, told me that when he first came upon a lake frequented by hippopotamuses he killed more than thirty of them in a short time without realising that he had done so. He would see several monsters rise to the surface and shoot at them, apparently without result — seemingly because he missed his aim or because the bullets did not get at a vulnerable point. The animals he had shot at always rose again to the surface, until at last he had used up all his ammunition, apparently in vain. Some hours later the carcasses of thirty hippopotamuses were floating about on the surface of the water ! This of course could only happen to the new-comer. But it is bound to happen constantly with the kind of inexperienced sportsmen continually arriving in our colonies. This evidence from a trustworthy source throws a flood of light upon the cause of the exter- mination of many species of wild life. In the small lakes between Kilimanjaro and Meru Mountain, discovered by Captain Merker, I found a great number of "viboko" (the plural of "kiboko") in 1899 — about 150 probably. In the autumn of 1903 their numbers had dwindled almost to nothing. I had killed only four myself for preservation as specimens — I could have killed almost the whole lot with ease had I chosen. In the driest season they were confined to the deepest parts of the quite small lakes, where they were always liable to be shot. It is true 266 -^ The Hippopotamus that for hours together they found safety by keeping under the water, only stretching out their nostrils for a second above the surface every now and again. Under such conditions you must wait for a time until they are rash enough to show their eyes and ears. Only then can you get a shot at them that will kill. It is most remarkable how long they can remain without showing more than their nostrils above the surface — all the rest of them invisible to the sportsman waiting barely twenty paces away. A snort and squirting up of water are the only signs of their existence. They can hold out for a long time with a minimum of air. On the occasion of my last visit to the Merker Lakes I succeeded in taking several photographs of hippo- potamuses in the water. I had a shot, too, at a very old bull "by special permission," and killed him with a single bullet in the ear. I found, however, a man named De Wet (believed to be a Boer) engaged on behalf of a Greek merchant in slaughtering the rest of the animals in order to secure their teeth and their skins, which are cut into strips, for trading purposes. Though quite without means, according to his own account of him.self, this man had nevertheless been allowed to cross the frontier, equipped for shooting, and to pass through the Moshi station to the lakes ; and, extraordinary to relate, he seems to have been let off the regular shooting-tax imposed in the case of marabous, on the ground that he declared he was able to catch these birds and set them free again after despoiling 267 With Flashlight and Rifle -*. them of their feathers ! As a matter of fact, what he really did was to kill the marabous he found on the corpses of the hippopotamuses he had himself shot. On my reporting this at the station the man, who had been going about all over Africa for seven years, without having any kind of credentials on him, was arrested and brought up for trial by order of Capt. Merker, who had just come back from leave. His employers paid the money due for the shooting-taxes. This incident shows how undesirable it is to allow foreigners, well equipped with ammunition but without credentials, to journey in the interior, where there can be no control over their actions. In this connection I may remark that the capture of an old marabou in an unimpaired condition is a feat I have had before me for rnany years. It is an extraordinarily difficult undertaking, very seldorn carried out successfully. The teeth of the hippopotamus are much harder than ivory, and for a long time were used for the manufacture of false teeth. Science has now found a better means of producing the latter, though it has yet to discover a substitute for ivory in the making of billiard-balls. Old Le Vaillant remarks in his book of travels, published a hundred years ago : " It as not surprising that Europeans, especially Frenchmen, should make an article of commerce out of the teeth of the hippopotamus, for with the help of science they are made to replace our own, and we may see them flashing delightfully in the mouth of a pretty woman." 268 -* The Hippopotamus In 1896 I found the natives on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza inlets in a state of great excitement over the vast numbers of hippopotamuses, and not at all afraid of them. It was very curious to see these natives on their rafts busy fishing, while the hippopotamuses kept coming up to the surface of the water all around them, and great numbers of huge crocodiles lay basking on the sand-banks in the sun. I was pleased to discover for myself here what I have often observed elsewhere, and which Dr. R. Kandt had assured me was the case in certain parts of Gentral Africa, namely that these animals are only ill-tempered and aggressive when they have been pursued by men and several times wounded. In one book of travel I find it stated that the Askaris in Government service were obliged to keep firing off their guns at night to protect a camp from hippopotamuses. It is curious that I myself have never had any cause for alarm in regard to these animals. Many of my encamp- ments were situated in the midst of swamps and on river- banks, and within a few paces of my tent hippopotamuses would come sniffing all round inquisitively in the water, yet none of my men bothered about them, seeing their master did not. In two cases, indeed, a hippopotamus walked right into my camp at night time between my men's tents without doing harm to any one. On one other occasion my sentries did fire at a hippopotamus which (as I satisfied myself afterwards) was actually rubbing its nose inquisitively against the canvas of my tent. In this instance I had had my own tent set up only a few 271 With Flashlight and Rifle -* yards from where the monsters made their way up from the water, while my men's tents were farther away. I can understand of course that travellers who give their men orders to fire at any animal showing itself at night will report differently. As I punished my sentries most severely if they fired a single shot without per- mission, even at night, I am able to speak positively upon this matter. I was travelling with the sole object of studying the life of the animals, and could not allow myself to become a prey to groundless and ignorant fears about their attacking me. No doubt it sounds fine to hear how the camp had to be defended at night against the attacks of these monsters from the deep. I myself, to my regret, have never experienced any- thing of the kind, and I am inclined to believe, therefore, that it must generally have been a case of precipitate blazing away rather than of real danger. I was much astonished to see my Wandorobo set to work calmly dragging out of a quite small pool a hippopotamus which I had shot, although there were two other "makaita" in the pool at the time. They had to go within about three yards of the spot, and almost touched the two living hippopotamuses which had not been shot by me, and which came up snorting about every two minutes. This experience — and 1 had many such — ■ will perhaps help also to modify the impression derived from fanciful accounts given by certain other travellers. The attitude of the hippopotamus towards the croco- dile is very interesting to note. The two animals live side by side on the best of terms, the quite young 272 -* The Hippopotamus hippos being so well guarded from their dangerous neighbour that they seem to be hidden away altogether. It is a different matter when you have killed a hippopotamus and the keen-scented crocodiles imme- diately swim towards it upstream. I have seen this happen on several occasions. One particularly interesting case comes back to my memory. I had shot an old hippopotamus, which was at once DRAGGING THE BODY OF A HIPPOPOTAMUS OUT OF A I'O.NI) IN WHICH I HAD SHOT IT carried down against a sand-bank bv the force of the O stream, and forced up on it so that it was visible out of the water. I sent the two men who were with me back to the camp, which was half an hour's journey away, to get heljD and ropes. I remained behind myself on the bank hidden behind a tree, with only a few yards of rushing water between me and my quarry. VOL. I. 273 18 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ The great rounded mass of flesh lay motionless upon the sand-bank. The dark stream must have carried down some particles of the animal's blood, for soon I saw a crocodile's snout pop up, then several others, above the smooth surface lower down where the water was deeper, and then disappear again. In a surprisingly short time a large crocodile, more than four yards in length, came into sight, gave a look round, disappeared again in the water, and then scrambled up alongside the body of the hippopotamus. The danger- ous-looking beast coming right out of the rushing stream presented a sinister sight. But now I involuntarily took a step back as I saw his terrible jaws open wide and begin to tear eagerly at the hippopotamus's flesh. I kept myself hidden, however, and was thus enabled to witness the wonderful spectacle of more than twenty crocodiles, all nearly the same size, emerging from the water a few yards away from me and begin tugging the hippopotamus this way and that. They could not bite through the hard impenetrable skin. They got away an ear and part of the snout and the tail — that was all. Not until putrefaction began to set in, as it does so astonishingly quickly in the tropics, did their bites begin to take effect. These huge brutes, fighting and tumbling over each other in their lust for the prey, were a sight not easily to be forgotten. But they were gradually dragging the hippopotamus down, .and I began to fear it might be swept away by the stream, and thus be lost to me. There is no object in shooting hippopotamuses in a big 274 •^ The Hippopotamus stream unless there be sand-banks, not too far below the spot where you see them, or else shallow rapids, upon which the bodies carried down sideways may be stranded ; otherwise the animals would be carried, right away and lost to the hunter. Therefore I raised my rifle and began to fire, remaining well hidden all the time. When my men arrived about half an hour later I had killed about HIPPOPOTAMUSES AT HOME fifteen crocodiles, and could have killed at least ten more had I been better provided with ammunition. The speed to which " kiboko " is able to attain on land is as surprising as that of the rhinoceros and the elephant, and seems incongruous with its unwieldy shape. Twice only have I seen hippopotamuses take to flight on land. Each time I was astonished by their activity. Once also I was very hard pressed by a hippopotamus in these circumstances, and only just escaped with my life. I had encountered the animal on land towards evening. Contrary to my expectation, after receiving a 275 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ shot which was not immediately fatal, he made for a small lake behind me instead of a far larger one in front of me. On he came in my direction at an alarmingly quick gallop. I owed my escape only to the second shot which I fired, and which made him turn aside and then stumble and fall dead, for with my third shot my rifle missed fire! In another case a hippopotamus I shot on land at a few yards' distance stood up, opened wide his mouth, literally bristling with teeth, and sank down with a flop, dead — a sight. I should have liked to photograph if only I had had my camera available at the moment. The curiosity displayed by hippopotamuses is remarkable. The natives often attract the animals to the shore by playing upon this weakness of theirs. Captain Merker told me that the natives are in the habit of calling out to them " Makau ! Makau ! " on hearingf which whole ' ' schools " of hippopotamuses come swimming up. I myself have witnessed scenes of this kind on the Merker Lakes. "Makau" (plural "El Makaunin ") the Masai name for the hippopotamus, is a clear indication, as Captain Merker writes me, of the Masai having wandered over the Nile valley. Merker .says he could find no similar word among the names given to animals in any of the still living Semitic languages known to him. At last he found a key to its origin in the Assyrian word ma-ak-ka-nu-ii, "beast of Southern Egypt." I cannot deny that in my attempts at navigating African lakes and rivers in fragile canvas-boats I experienced a good deal of nervousness in regard to 276 -•> The Hippopotamus the propensity shown both by hippopotamuses and croco- diles to overturning them. Never shall I forget the feeling with which I once saw two great hippopotamus- heads emerge from the water a few feet only from my fragile little vessel in midstream. Only once have croco- diles seized hold of my boat and overturned it, while hippopotamuses have never even attempted to do so. I have had many encounters with " viboko " on the Rufu River, which for years I had known to be impractic- able for boats, before the fact was authoritatively stated. I was one of the first European hunters to go through the woods along its banks. The animals are fond of sleeping upon islands in rivers and lakes. You often find sleeping-places on these islands which seem to have been thus in use for ages. Hippopotamuses manage to clamber up even quite steep banks. Often you see, leading down to the river, deep grooves worn by them out of the soft stony soil in the course of countless years. At such spots on the rivers flowing into the Victoria Xyanza I found heavy snares set up by the natives, in passing which the animals would be stabbed in the back by poisoned wooden stakes. Quickly succumbing to the poison, their dead bodies would soon rise to the surface of the river, in which they had sought refuge. \'ery curious is the habit the "el makaunin " have of whisking their dung up on bushes with their bristly tails. The bushes thus covered serve as landmarks (as in the case of other mammals) and enable individual animals, especially males and females, to find each other. 279 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ In 1896 hippopotamuses were still plentiful in the Nzoia River and the Athi River in British East Africa ; they were to be found, too, all along the coast between Dar-es- Salaam and Pangani. 1 saw them on several occasions in the surf, and shall never forget my astonishment once, on getting out of a clump of cocoa-palms, to see what I had imagined to be an uprooted tree-trunk out on the sands suddenly change into a hippopotamus and make its way out into the sea. Hippopotamuses travel by sea to get from one estuary to another, no doubt ridding themselves at the same time of certain parasites in the salt water. On the river deltas along the coast efforts have been made to capture young hippopotamuses — one of our best- known dealers in wild animals lost his son through an attack of fever brought on by one such attempt. Eight years ago I saw in the harbour of Dar-es-Saalam some hippopotamuses which were left unmolested there ; and one nocturnal expedition on which I went out in the company of the acting Governor, Herr von Benningsen — it was my first experience of the tropics — I saw a hippopotamus quite close at hand. As it was wild boar we were after, I was naturally much surprised at coming upon one of the giants of African life in this way. The capture of young hippopotamuses is a considerably easier undertaking than that of young rhinoceroses or elephants. Nevertheless, very few specimens have as yet been secured. Some years ago a European resident in Portuguese territory tried to catch a full-grown hippopotamus in a 280 -* The Hippopotamus trap-hole with a view to bringing it home alive — the trap-hole was quite near the coast. The attempt mis- carried owing to the animal upsetting the transport cage, into which he had been driven successfully, and coming to grief. The ancients surpassed us all in such matters. They knew how to capture, not hippopotamuses alone, but full- grown specimens of all the other species of African animals, with a view to making them take part in the fights in the arena. The intelligence of the hippopotamus is of an extra- ordinarily high order, considering its kinship with the pig. To what a remarkable degree its scent is developed only became known to me fully when I sought to photo- graph the animals at night time. Unless I took the utmost precautions they always got wind of me and moved out of range of my camera, choosing a different egress from the water. 2S1 HERE AND THERE THE HEADS OF IMMENSE CROCODILES EMERGED FROM THE STREAM XIV Buffaloes and Crocodiles IN the autumn of the year 1899 I encamped on the banks of the Pangani River, about midway up its course. My taxidermist and I were busy preserving and packing the zoological specimens we had collected, and for a period of about a fortnight there had been so much work that I had hardly been able to leave the camp. For some time I had been sending out reliable scouts to track buffaloes. Since the rinderpest broke out in the Kilimanjaro district these animals had been very scarce, and I was about the first European hunter to visit the unhealthy swamps of the Pangani. For weeks my people had been making fruitless journeys. Nowhere could they find the buffalo-haunts, Suddenly they found, some distance from my camp on the bank of the river, two natives, Waseguhas, who had built themselves a little hut there, and had planted a little field with maize, living 282 -* Buffaloes and Crocodiles besides on the fish they caught. They were evidently there to hunt the buffaloes, and to watch their move- ments by taking up their position in trees, whence they could spy out their extraordinarily well-hidden refuges, which during the drought were chiefly in the marshes. The heads and horns of the buffalo are valuable PHOTOGRAPHING THESE BUFFALOES WAS A TICKLISH BUSINESS goods, as they are much coveted by Europeans as " shooting trophies ! " One of these natives was brought to my camp. At first nothing could be got out of him, but after a great deal of parley he decided to give me some information. He told me that a short while before six blacks armed with breech-loading rifles had waylaid some buffaloes in the vicinity of his little plantation. These men had informed him that they had been sent from the next station, Rusotto, 283 With Flashlight and Rifle -♦ to kill buffaloes. So far their efforts had been in vain. As soon as they saw the buffaloes appear they sought safety by climbing up trees. Still, they managed to kill between them three rhinoceroses, and then disappeared, taking the horns with them. These statements turned out to be untrue, as I was to learn from the district commissioner at Rusotto, Herr Meyer, who made every endeavour to preserve the wild game. Information came presently from the Mseguha that: a large herd of buffalo was just then to be found in the almost inaccessible marshes of the Pangani River. I im- mediately decided to move my camp to this neighbourhood, in order to kill a buffalo at last, cost what it might. On September 2nd I started off in the early morning with a large number of my people, to camp again after- a six-hours' march in the direction of the Lafitti Mountains. During the march I managed to obtain two beautiful eagle-owls [Btibo lacteus). Large herds of waterbuck, comprising some 150 or 200 head, flitted in and out through the beautiful river-forests, but I could not stop to shoot any. My camp was connected with a very large island in the: river by an indescribable break-neck bridge that could only be crossed with bare feet. This island merged in the wide and impenetrable marsh beyond. The next day was passed in reconnoitring the island. Waterbuck in thousands sped hither and thither over the surrounding " gambo " as well as the island. I had wisely resolved not to fire a shot, so as not to disturb more than was necessary the extra- ordinarily shy buffaloes. So I had to give up all idea of 284 -* Buffaloes and Crocodiles ■venison. My caravan was amply provided with Indian rice, which is so easy to carry, and I was just expecting a subsidiary caravan with over loo packets of the same from the coast. There was a famine at the time, and it was an exceedingly dear and almost unattainable article of food. I was sorely tempted to fire at two rhinoceroses, which nearly ran me down at a moment when I was following a honey-pointer. The cheerful cry of the honey-guides [Indicator sparrmani, I. major, and /. minor) one follows whenever possible, to be guided in all probability to a hive. The fatigue of the pursuit is often richly repaid by priceless stores of honey, a delicacy much prized in the lonely wilderness. I soon found that the buffaloes made this spot their nightly haunt. A great number of the grass-patches on the island were hot and scorched. Only at the fringe of the marsh fresh green grass was sprouting just where the water rippled and made the ground wet and damp and black. The marshy bits between the grass-patches, although still filled with turbid water, were in the act of drying, and were, like the surrounding ground, well trodden by buffaloes. It is difficult for any one to form any conception of the unhealthy district these animals had chosen as their place of refuge. The water oozed out of the stagnant, swampy ground at every step. A very varied marsh vegetation grew everywhere. Over the desert wastes, or on the edge of the marsh, hundreds of softly twittering pratincoles hopped about {Glareola fusca), and at night the mosquitoes swarmed in myriads. A rich variety of birds was to be found there, but 285 With Flashlight and Rifle * among mammals only a few baboons and loug-tailed monkeys, besides the, big herds of waterbuck. The apes had once found a bridge to the island in a gigantic tree which had fallen across the stream, but soon the rush of the flowing water at the Masika time had broken this temporary bridge, and thus they were cut off from the mainland. The waterbuck had crossed at shallow and narrow spots. Waterbuck and buffaloes have no fear of the numerous crocodiles, always managing to give them a wide berth. This fact was very interesting to me. No other wild animal that I know of, with the exception of the hippopotamus, eludes the crocodile in the same way. I could find no trace of the reedbuck, which I had expected to see on the island, although they were often on the mainland close by. I presume from this that they were not so clever as the above-mentioned animals in escaping the jaws of the crocodiles. During nearly the whole of the day, but more especially at night time, the voices of the hippopotamuses resounded from the marshes, intermingling with the numberless cries of the birds. Save for this, there was silence. All along the bank of the river I found that the island was very well guarded against intruders. Everywhere I could see the pointed snouts of gigantic crocodiles popping up out of the water and slowly moving with the stream. Here in a deep part of the river a more than usually large collection of them was assembled. As they approached most cautiously that part of the river- bed where long stretches of sand-bank glistened in the sunshine, I found dozens of these immense creatures 286 -»> Buffaloes and Crocodiles sunning themselves. Near them numbers of Egyptian geese and other marsh-birds had arranged themselves on the sand-banks. They were wise enough to stay near the shallow parts of the river, and did not go close to those deeper portions where the crocodiles are wont to make their sudden attacks. Though, for that matter, I am inclined to believe a certain degree of friendliness exists THE RUFU RIVER between the crocodiles and the birds. In the Sudan we know that a small kind of plover lives in close harmony with the great animal ; but the sagacious ducks and geese one never sees swimming about in the deep waters fre- quented by crocodiles. Several days passed in a fruitless search after buffaloes. In order to find out their haunts, I dived into the marshy swamps by means of the almost impenetrable tunnel-like 287 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ paths trodden by the hippopotamuses. However, I soon returned with lacerated hands, and horribly bitten by mosquitoes, with the conviction that the beasts had no certain resting-place, and that they forsook the marsh at night to return thither at dawn of day. Neither on the marshes could I find trace of them. With much trouble I climbed several very tall acacia-trees that grew on sundry dry spots. Thence I could get a better point of view, and was able to make out the places where the buffaloes were lying. Hundreds of egrets swarmed above them. They served to draw attention to the buffaloes, to which they attach themselves always, and which they free from vermin without disturbing them. The region swarmed with vermin. Knowing the extraordinary timidity of the buffalo, I had given strict instructions to my people to remain Tvithin the camp. Wood for burning had to be fetched only from quite close at hand, and no one went farther than the path which connected us with the mainland. 0|ar grain was sent by this path from my chief •camp. • The place of encampment itself was carefully cleared of grass and bushes, a needful precaution. Countless millions of tiny ticks {^Rhipicephalus sanguineus and R. appendiadatus, as well as R. pulchelbis) covered the grass and bushes of the island just where the water- buck were usually to be seen, and especially at the haunts and feeding-places of the buffaloes. It was im- possible to pass through the island without immediately being covered by hundreds of these ticks. On returning to the camp my natives used to remove 288 -^ Buffaloes and Crocodiles these tiresome vermin with the greatest equanimity, or else did not bother about them at all. But it was quite another matter with Orgeich and myself. My own efforts to rid myself of them only made things worse. Horrible inflammation was the result. I immediately flew to sublimate baths in my indiarubber tub ; but without result. The only means of getting rid of these pests was to undress completely and to allow the natives to make a thorough search lasting half an hour. Visitors to the Zoological Gardens will be familiar with the sight of the monkeys rendering one another mutual assistance in this respect, and they will form some idea of the scene which was daily enacted with regard to myself when a haul of from 50 to 100 tiny almost invisible insects was taken from me ! These little bloodsuckers managed to produce rather serious swellings in the region of my stomach. So small were the tiny fiends that I at first ascribed the evil to other causes. For the following weeks and months I had troublesome sores, which refused to yield to remedies, and did not heal until I reached the highlands some time later. Painful days and sleepless nights — my colleague Orgeich suffered just as much as I — marked our stay upon this island, which I had called Heck Island in honour of my friend Dr. Ludwig Heck, whose life-work it has been to secure the preservation of big game. The little island was an ideal natural preserve for buffaloes and waterbuck, and kept them out of the range of the rinderpest then ravaging the Dark Continent. There was no getting at the buffaloes. Whenever VOL. I. 289 19 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ I attempted to penetrate into the marshes I was soon hindered by channels traversing the morass. The only possibility seemed to be to seek out the herds in the very early morning before they had returned to their swampy haunts. Many times I seemed on the point of succeeding ; it was but a question of minutes, and each time I came a few minutes too late. The shyness of these animals seemed to be unconquerable, and with the breaking light of dawn they had already returned to their hiding-places — a striking example of the sagacious habits necessary to their conditions. One would think that such a powerful beast as the African buffalo would have no cause to fear molestation of any kind ! Yet, whether alone or in herds, these animals had taken in the altered conditions of things and feared the flash of the European firearms as much as the / noiseless and swift poisoned arrows of the natives. Thus passed day after day, but I was determined to persevere. Only thus can the hunter — at least in the tropics — hope to attain his end. One man after another sickened with the malaria, and we Europeans strengthened our doses of quinine to be more sure of ourselves. During the evenings and nights we went in for catching crocodiles for a change. After long days of work my men had felled two huge trees, which, falling into- the river from each bank, just met in the middle, and thus formed a primitive bridge over ;o the right bank. About and under this river-bar large crocodiles assembled. With the aid of some hooks for shark-fishing which had come from London, I endeavoured to get hold of 2QO in -»i Buffaloes and Crocodiles some of these beasts, but I could not at first succeed. I hit at last, however, upon a plan which brought me to the desired end. A piece of flesh with bones was attached to the hook with some string, and the line was thrown into the water at night and by moonlight. If it was seized by a crocodile, I let out some fifty or more yards of a tight, strong rope, such as is used in pike-fishing ; then the crocodile began to take a hold, but was in every case far too knowing actually to swallow the hook. Carefully hidden in the bushes some ten to twenty men pulled in the prey, often weighing more than a thousand pounds. As it came near it beat and splashed the water violently with its powerful tail. Now was the time to lodge a quick bullet in its head by the light of the moon. A shot from a small-calibre rifle cripples the monster absolutely, if only it is hit somewhere near the head. It hangs motionless on to the line without opening its terrible jaws in death, but giving out an unbearable stench. With the help of a very strong and thick rope fastened round its body, one now succeeds in bringing it to land. A kind of barbed harp:)on, fastened on to a long pole, is very effective at this stage. Working by night on these lines we generally caught six or more crocodiles, twelve or thirteen feet in length. Of course there were many failures. On these occasions I learnt to know and fear the tremendous strength of the blows that can be given by their tails. One of my men was very keen on this sport, having once been seized hold of and nearly drawn under the water by a crocodile ! For hours he watched the 293 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ line I had thrown, ready to prompt me at the critical moment. He had sworn vengeance on " mamba," and danced with glee every time I managed to catch or kill one of the beasts. The contents of the stomachs usually consisted of bones from mammals and fishes. Besides, there was in every stomach a large number of pieces of quartz, which had either been ground quite round before swallowing or had undergone this operation in the stomach. In any case they were necessary for the complete process of digestion. These pieces of quartz were sometimes quite large — about the size of an apple. In one of the animals I found a vulture, whole and entire, which had been swallowed unmasticated. As the: bird's skin was ■spoilt I threw it into the river. Crocodiles are capable of swallowing immense objects in this way. In 1900, during the time of drought and famine, I killed crocodiles whose stomachs contained human bones swallowed almost uncrushed. It is most interesting but very difficult to watch the real life of the crocodile, about which unfortunately so little is yet known. Even the younger ones are extremely shy and cautious. Should they happen to have scrambled on to the branches overhanging the water they dive at once and remain out of sight. The older they grow the shyer they become. They keep in such deep water that they are able to seize their prey without exposing themselves to view. I have often found crocodiles lurking near the drinking-places of the wild herds, lying in wait for them. 294 ■-^ist % -♦) Buffaloes and Crocodiles I remember very vividly one case in which I was a witness of a crocodile's way with its victim. My thirsty herd of cows had hastened down to the river to drink after a long march without water. But no, they would not drink ! They sniffed at the water here and there doubtfully, plainly scenting danger. Not until some of my men threw stones into the water so as to scare away their unseen enemy would they quench their thirst, proceeding then to graze by the river-bank. Some of the stragglers from my camp now appeared on the scene with more cattle. A beautiful large coal- black ox that I had long spared death on account of his size approached the water. His sense of smell told him he could drink there without danger ; besides^ had not the whole herd, knee-deep in the ooze, refreshed themselves at the same spot ? The huge body of the beast sank deep into the mud. Hardly, however, had he dipped his nose when I saw a tremendous crocodile slowly rise from the turbid water, and in the self-same moment the bull, caught by the snout, disappeared below the surface. The slippery nature of the slanting bank made him an easy prey. The whole proceeding took place so quickly before my eyes that for an instant I stood there bewildered, not knowing what to do. Quickly, however, recovering my presence of mind I hurried to the edge of the bank but could see nothing but a few bubbles on the surface of the muddy stream. There was nothing to be done. Still, we hurriedly followed the stream for a little way, and saw right in front of us, close to the opposite bank,. 297 With Flashlight and Rifle -* the body of the bull floating on the water. It was being- torn t& shreds by numbers of crocodiles, who kept reaching their heads out of the water to bite at it. We fired in their direction, but did not disturb the rapacious animals in the least, and were obliged to leave them in possession of their booty. I lost several cows in the same way at other times. Men were sometimes seized in a similar manner, and I was once witness of this. On the return journey to the coast after a successful termination to my 1899- 1900 -expedition, a native fell off the foot-plank which bridged the Pangani River near Korogwe. He was immediately seized by crocodiles, and disappeared before our eyes — a victim to the sweet palm-wine of which he had drunk too freely ! Often I have been seized with a lively feeling of -dread when we have had to wade through the water shoulder-high in order to get across a river. On these occasions the natives make themselves a strong crocodile charm, a " Daua." My " Daua " was simply to fire a number of shots into the water above and below the fords ! I have seen a great number of natives seized by ■crocodiles, many of them escaping in cases where the crocodiles were small. My method of fishing . for crocodiles was only feasible at night time, or on a very cloudy day, as is often the case with line-fishing. One absolutely necessary precaution was the careful hiding of the angler behind a covert on the river-bank. The new-comer may often be deceived as to the number 298 -* Buffaloes and Crocodiles of crocodiles in the rivers, as the snouts and nostrils of the animals, which just reach the surface of the water, are very often nearly invisible. Crocodiles notice everything that goes on in their vicinity ; their eyesight is extraordinary. If the reptiles happen to be lying on sand-banks or low- lying places by the bank, they suddenly disappear into the water at the least sign of danger. I have often surprised gigantic crocodiles by coming out from the covert on the bank. Then it sometimes seemed as if the ground under my feet suddenly became alive, or as if some moss-covered tree-trunk in the water had come to life. Young ones just out of the broken eggs I used to find in March. Even these showed themselves inclined to bite. Some old animals that I have caught used to emit at times a peculiar deep, indescribable half-growling sound, of a savageness hard to describe ; a sound which 1 have now and again heard them make when at liberty, especially at rutting-time. The quite young crocodiles when caught gave a loud and lively cry. A bullet from a small-calibre rifle (even a common lead bullet) will kill the reptile on the spot, if it strikes the head in the region of the spine. It seems to set working a kind of convulsive motion in the whole vascular system of the animal. I have killed a great number of crocodiles which could not move an inch after having been hit by a ball, and which lay as if struck by lightning. My friend Captain Merker once had a very interesting experience with young crocodiles. He found some crocodile eggs near the volcanic Lake Chala, in December, and took them back with him to Port Moshi. 299 With Flashlight and Rifle -* About eight days after, something squeaked in the cigar- box in his room where he had put the eggs. At first he believed it to be some mice, but he soon discovered that several crocodiles had broken out of their eggs,, having managed, to do without sunlight during the last days of the hatching period. We have very little information about the breeding of crocodiles, especially of the African species. This- is easily explained by the great shyness of the animals. They are shyer in some regions than in others. They are sometimes much less so, for instance, in a large lake like Victoria Nyanza. In the large bays to the south of this lake I found numbers of them on the sand-banks. They and the hippopotamuses lived there seemingly on a. friendly footing with the native fishermen. If by night the fishing for crocodiles afforded us so much diversion, the days passed uneventfully in the Buffalo Camp. I made several shooting excursions along the. right bank of the river, towards the hills on the Nyika frontier. From the plentiful supply of waterbuck I secured some unusually fine specimens. It seemed as if I were never going to meet with the- buffaloes. At last my Wandorobo saw a herd of about thirty head at daybreak, and were able to notice how they had lain down in some small swamps very far from my camp. In two hours' time I was on the spot. The wind was very strong, in one direction, and altogether favourable. Once again I attempted to approach the buffalo herd. Still in vain ! I was up to my knees in the soft black ooze of the swamp. Cautiously I strove 300 -^ Buffaloes and Crocodiles to penetrate the sea of reeds. These reeds were so thick and high and impenetrable that I found it impossible to reach the animals. Only grass-green, luxuriant reeds grew in the marsh. There was not a single tree-trunk anywhere near the buffaloes. At last I managed to get to a spot pointed out to me by a Wandorobo who had nimbly climbed a high tree to my rear. Then I saw WE CAME UPON HUNDREDS OF SKULLS OF BUFFALOES— PROOFS OF THE IMMENSE NUMBERS THAT FELL VICTIMS TO THE RINDERPEST that only a close shot would be of any avail, but such an attempt would be sheer suicide. After much hesita- tion 1 returned to my men, and myself climbed a high acacia-tree. But even from here I could not clearly make out the whereabouts of the buffaloes. 1 decided then to startle them with a shot in the air. Then began an indescribable tumult among the reeds, a great swaying 301 With Flashlight and Rifle -•> and waving of the green stems ; but even from my high look-out I could only now and again get a momentary glance at one or other of the immense horns of the black beasts. Soon they had disappeared. I now saw that it would be impossible to hunt them in such a place. With difficulty I climbed down from the high tree. It is no fun to climb a tropical thorn-tree. A very short stay among its branches gives a very unpleasant close acquaint- ance with all kinds of ants, whose bites do not have much effect on the leathern skin of the black, but have a very serious one on the tender skin of the European. Two more days passed in patient waiting. At least the buffaloes left fresh traces every morning, and did not change their haunts as I had feared. The plague of ticks was becoming daily more unbearable for us Europeans, and at night there was no sleep because of our wounded skins. At last, one very cloudy day at noon, we found a large herd grazing on a grass-patch just within the marsh, and only a few yards from the thick reeds. It meant wading through some of the swampy channels to reach them. There was no cover for us — nothing but the reeds. There were some moments of the greatest suspense as, on nearing the herd, I had the opportunity of observing the imposing picture made by some sixty head of these wild cattle, now, unluckily, so rare. Tame cattle I was inclined to characterise them, despite their ferocious appearance. The thick mass of the black, closely packed forms as they zealously cropped just in front of me had something grand and impressive about it. But now I had to decide on my shot, and, with a beating heart — I acknow- q02 -♦i Buffaloes and Crocodiles ledge it — I selected one bull that was grazing alone somewhat away from the herd. The distance was about 1 20 paces. As I fired it shrank back, tossing up its head and flapping its tail. A second bullet sent it falling forwards, the whole herd taking flight instantly, disappear- ing into the high sedges with lightning speed. The bull rose again, but a third shot did for it. So at last I had killed a buffklo ! The skinning of the animal and the carrying of the heavy skin through the marsh into the camp, and then the various processes of preparing it, entailed much labour ; but the joy at the result of my perseverance was great indeed. Eight more days on "Heck Island" did not bring me another chance of a shot. Buffalo-hunting in East Africa, it will be seen, is no easy matter. It was otherwise before the year 1890. From this time onward the rinderpest began its ravages in German and British East Africa. The epidemic was spread fast and wide by the tame cattle, and the fine East African buffaloes were nearly all laid low. An English official and friend of mine found on one day in that year about a hundred sick buffaloes in various stages of dissolution. I myself found their bleached horns at that sad time in great numbers all over the place. In 1887 Count Teleki shot 55 buffaloes in three months on the Nguaso-Niyuki ; and Richard Bohm relates that in mountainous and damp Kawenda he met quantities of herds comprised of hundreds of buffaloes, and that their lowing could be heard by the passing 303 With Flashlight and Rifle -* traveller. Those days are gone. The merciless rinder- pest nearly struck the buffalo out of the list of the East African animal world. It struck at them just as it struck at the Masai race. If the investigations of my friend Captain Merker are well grounded, it is thousands of years since this race of nomads, one of the oldest of all the Hebrew races, made their way over the East African plains, there to roam at large, with their countless herds of cattle. With one blow their power was annihilated by the pest that came from Europe, that scourge of the cattle-breeder. 1 often found circular collections of bones of cattle. One could see them from the far distance on the velt shining white in the sun. Intermingled with them were numerous human skulls. These were the camping-places of the Masai in the year 1890. Over and over again the self-same drama was enacted. The cattle sickened and died. Remedies and charms availed nought. In a few days the camp was pest-ridden, and men, women, and children, helpless and without food, died in agony. Only scanty remnants now survive of the once great Masai people. In their days of need their women and children were sent out or sold as agricultural slaves to more prosperous races. The buffalo-herds disappeared almost entirely at that time, and in German and Britisii East Africa only a few survive. And as it happened here to. the Masai people and the buffalo-herds, so did it happen to; the Indians and bison in America. The progress of civilisation is indeed cruel and merciless. Mankind must spread over 304 -* Buffaloes and Crocodiles the face of the world in millions, everything else must give way, fast or slowly, to the higher merciless law. Few indeed are the buffaloes that remain in the parts of the Masai-Nyika that are known to me. In the Pan- gani marshes I know a herd of a few solitary old bulls. In the neighbourhood of Lake Manjara there is another. Near Nguruman a small number may be found. On the TOWARDS EVENING GREAT FLOCKS OF MARABOUS ASSEMBLED ON THE MERKER LAKES high plateau of Mau, in British East Africa, I sighted five heads, and a few others in the Njiri marshes. Here and there a few other small herds may make their haunts. In the whole of northern German East Africa these are all that remain of the former abundance. But wherever these scanty remnants are found they are mercilessly hunted. A European known to me killed five in one day, as he managed to find them close together. VOL. I. 305 20 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Some armed natives killed as many in one single day about two years ago on the lower Pangani River. I have known some curious pretexts put forward for the killing of . buffaloes by Askaris, pretexts designed to evade the already existing protection-laws. A non- commissioned officer informed me, for instance, that a buffalo of which the horns had been brought him by an Askari had a.ttacked a village, and had therefore had to he killed. And in another case I was actually told that a buffalo, whose horns I saw at a station, had been found drowned by the Askari who had brought him. Well, I suppose it is not to be expected that regulations can be easily enforced in a far-off land. In any case, the days of the beautiful wild buffalo are numbered in East Africa, and soon he will be on the list of the species that have died out. 306 iiitiigliiiiiiiii ■iiiii a SWINGING THEIR TAILS, THE GIRAFFES AMBLED AWAY XV Giraffes AINIOXG the rarest and most singular of the large mammals still existing to-day is undoubtedly the giraffe, various forms of which are to be found in different parts of Africa. The extraordinary appearance of giraffes makes us think of them as strange survivals from a prehistoric past — as the last representatives of a fauna long dead and gone. Next to the okapi [Ocapia johnsioni), which was discovered in 1901 by Sir Harry Johnston and Air. L. Eriksson in the forests of Central Africa, and whose nearest relatives became extinct thousands of years ago, the giraffe is certainly the strangest-looking animal to be seen in Africa. " In the country of Ererait lived the nomad cattle- breeders El Kamasia. . . . Their name for God was Em Ba, and they made themselves images of Him in the form of a giraffe with a hornless head." So Captain Merker tells us in his account of the origin of the Masai. Perhaps this hornless giraffe was the okapi, which may 307 With Flashlight and Rifle -* have thriven at one time in more northern regions. The animal-cult of the Egyptians may well have influenced the Masai for a time. There is nothing attractive about giraffes, so far as we know them from pictures, or from having seen them in captivity. But it is quite otherwise with them as met with in the wilderness. Zebras, leopards, and giraffes are so strikingly coloured that one would expect to find them conspicuous figures in their own haunts. But, as I have already remarked, these three kinds of animals have really a special protection in their colouring. It harmonises so perfectly with their surroundings that they are blended in the background, so to speak, and can easily be overlooked. It must be explained that one does not often see the animals close at hand. In certain lights, indeed, according to the position of the sun, zebras, leopards, and giraffes are so merged in the harmony of their surroundings that even when they are quite near the eye of man can easily be deceived. It is not only in the very dry season, when the plant-world stretches out before us in every hue from dirty brown to bright, gold, that the giraffe harmonises with its surroundings in this way ; you sometimes cannot distinguish its outline when backed by the green boughs of the trees in the shade. The colouring of giraffes varies very much, even in the same herd. I have seen herds of forty-five or more heads, and from close quarters I have ascertained that some were striped quite darkly and some very lightly- All bulls are coloured more or less darkly. 308 -* Giraffes Giraffes dwell chiefly on the plains. About seven- tenths of German East Africa represent an El Dorado for giraffes. Here they find all the conditions of life necessary to them. They can travel a long way from water, as they can do without it for several days at a time. During the rains they get as much water as they want from the moist leaves. Their food consists chiefly of foliage and of the thin branches of the different acacia- trees, as well as the leaves and twigs of many other trees. So far as I myself have been able to observe, the giraffe never eats grass of any kind. Its anatomy and build are not suggestive of a graminivorous animal. When in captivity, of course, giraffes are fed on hay and fresh grass and clover, as are also elephants, rhinoceroses, and other animals, as it is hard, unfortunately, to find branches of trees and foliage in sufficient quantity for them. It is astonishing that, in spite of all this, such animals are able to live so many years in captivity ; but I have never found them so well nourished in Europe as in their native haunts. The particularly well-nourished " twigga " which can be seen in my photographs became quite thin and meagre in captivity, so that the neck vertebrae pro- truded more and more. Their thriving to the extent they do under such different conditions is a sign of great adaptability. Very many of the large mammals are unable to reconcile themselves to the altered food. It is with the greatest difficulty that a large kudu is kept alive. I have had much trouble in convincing even zoological experts that giraffes In their free state were so shapely 31' With Flashlight and Rifle -* and well nourished. My photographs have helped to prove this fact. Giraffes do not dwell exclusively on the plains. At certain seasons of the year they find a refuge in the mountain woods, up to a height of 7,000 feet. This generally happens at the beginning of the drought. They do not, however, frequent the primeval forests. One of my most interesting photographs is undoubtedly that of an old giraffe bull, in company with two aged male elephants. For weeks I observed this trio in the forests of the west Kilimanjaro district, anxious for the moment when a ray of sunlight would enable me to take a snapshot. But the usual rain-clouds of this period — I am speaking of the month of June — prevents the sun's rays from reaching the west side of the mountains. Only at night time do they disappear ; early in the morning they are always hanging over the mountainous district. After a long wait in the cold mist-like rain, and without a fire, I was at last rewarded by a few minutes of sunshine. This enabled me to take several snapshots, but only from a distance of at least 400 paces. Of course it was necessary to seize the opportunity just at the moment when both the elephants and the giraffe were visible among the high vegetation. At any moment the clouds might return and the sun disappear. Other giraffes also had at this time found a halting- ground in the thick and luxurious growth of the forest. These herds would often remain for hours in close proximity to the elephants. The three animals in question chose out a place where the grass had grown so tall 312 -* Giraffes that a man could not see over it. Later, under similar circumstances, I met with several herds of giraffes, especially of old bulls, in company sometimes with elands which had made their way high up into the mountains, so that I am in a position to state that the giraffe frequents the forests as well as the plains. They are intelligent enough, especially the experienced old bulls, A BULL AM) A COW GIRAFFE. THE BULL IS DISTINGUISHABLE BY ITS THICKER NECK to seek safety in these woods from hunters, thus ridding themselves also of ticks and other parasites. One of my most delightful experiences in Africa was the observing of these unique animals living their own natural lives in liberty. I had been informed that then (in 1896), in consequence of the rinderpest, the giraffe had almost disappeared, and was only to be found rarely and in out-of-the-way places. I do not deny that the 313 With Flashlight and Rifle -*> giraffes may have been attacked by the riaderpest, but I have seen no absolute proof of this. The giraffe has suffered more in any case from other enemies. The European and the Askari have been much more destruc- tive. According as the hunting of elephants in East Africa has become more difficult, and the pursuit of the rhinoceros more dangerous, that of so easy a prey as the giraffe has grown in popularity. Every European hankers after the killing of at least one, if not several, specimens. There have been districts, too, where the Askari have literally used the giraffes for target-practice. So long as it was an understood thing that the black soldiers might practise their rifle-shooting on the big game, so as to make themselves marksmen in the event of war, and so long as the "preservation of wild life" was a dead letter, so long did it seem that there was no hope. of the girafies escaping speedy annihilation. Much, howeyer, has been done by the Protection of Game Conference in London, and especially by the regulations of Count Gdtzen, for German East Africa. Muhammadans do not eat giraffe-flesh, or else the Sudanese Askari would probably have made still greater ravages among the animals. Even the natives hunt them. Poisoned arrows are made use of, and more particularly pit-holes. They are well hidden, and the giraffes cannot easily detect them, as they depend more on their eyesight than their sense of smell. Thus these " eye-animals," as Dr. Zells calls them, find great danger in the pitfalls, unlike the rhinoceroses and elephants, which are "nose-animals." 314 -* Giraffes In South Africa giraffes have been for long years a thing of the past. They fell too easy a prey when followed on horseback, and their skin was sought after tor the manufacture of the long whips used by the Boers in driving their oxen. It is a regrettable fact that of late years a large number of giraffe-skins cut up into thongs have been exported to South Africa from GIRAFFES TAKING TO FLIGHT AMONG FLUTE-ACACIA TREES German East Africa. The newspaper which comes out in Tanga remarked some while ago on the market price of this rare article per frasila (35 lb.) ! It was possible to bring the skins safely in this way to the coast for exportation in bundles weighing about 60 lb. Now that the Protection of Game Conference has decided that the giraffe is to be preserved, it is to be hoped that a check will be put upon this kind of trade, in view of 315 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ the comparatively small number of giraffes still remaining. Of course the Customs officials may be outwitted, if the thongs are cut very thin, by false declarations as to their nature. As with all animals, we find the giraffe either shy or trusting according to its experience of men. Far out on the desert, where men are never seen, I found them so free from timidity that I was able to approach to within about two hundred paces of them. I succeeded, too, in discovering them by day in their haunts in the woods, and in getting quite close. But usually their timidity and caution do not allow of such liberties. Their keen eyes, as a rule, spot a man a great way off A char- acteristic whisking of the long bushy tails, and a moving forward of the leader, whether bull or cow, from' out of the shade of the tree under which the herd are taking their siesta, are the heralds of immediate flight. In spite of their awkward and clumsy-looking gait, they soon distance the unmounted hunter, and are lost to sight. After much trouble I once succeeded in photo- graphing a herd of giraffes going full-trot. Generally speaking, giraffes are more difficult to photograph than any other animal. Even when the giraffes are to be seen out in the open and the light is good, the photographer must get quite close to the herd to bp able to take a picture. In the midst of jungle it is in most cases only possible to obtain photographs of a few single specimens that have somewhat separated from the herd. I had made many vain endeavours before I at last succeeded in 316 -* Giraffes- getting good pictures of several giraffes. The way in which the colouring of the animals blends with the sur- roundings offers one of the greatest difficulties to the photographer. This is especially the case with regard to the species of giraffe which I was fortunate enough to discover. This Giraffa schillingsi has a shirt of an extraordinarjr \ BULL GIRAFFE WATCHING MF, ANXIOUSLY undecided colour that photographs very indistinctly, unlike that of the northern species, which is sharp and pro- nounced. Skins of this kind of giraffe were brought home from South Somaliland, after his last dangerous- journey, by my friend the late Baron Carlo Erlanger,. the great explorer and traveller. The sight of a herd in flight is very interesting. They clatter in straight lines over the hard rough ground With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of the plains. The whole unwieldy bodies of the animals swing backwards and forwards, their necks swaying like masts on a moving sea. They whisk their tails backwards and forwards when fleeing, or when their suspicion is f * "* 15,. r^ - VIEW NEAR THE KITL'MBIM VOLCANO XVII Lions EQUATORIAL East Africa is without doubt as rich in lions as any other part of the continent. Xevertheless, the prospect of encountering them is, from many causes, slighter than used to be the case in South Africa, and still is in other regions in which horses can live. In Somaliland, for instance, the lion is hunted on horse- back, so that he can be followed until he is tired out, and can then be shot. In South Africa they used to hunt lions with dogs. Neither practice is possible in Equatorial East Africa, as horses cannot live there, and the dogs are useless for this purpose. The hunter has therefore to depend upon being favoured by circumstances — often to find himself unarmed just when his chance has come ! Or else he must have recourse to nocturnal expeditions — a method which, gene- rally speaking, is not to m}- taste. On these night " shoots " you either fire from some eminence or out of o4o With Flashlight and Rifle -^ a thorn-bush, and there is no doubt that they are often fruitful enough. In this'^way it was that Count Couden- hove some years ago in Somaliland shot seven lions in one night on the dead body of an elephant. He describes the incident lucidly in the account of his travels. I think highly of his description. It seems to me absolutely con- vincing, and without exaggeration of any kind. Count Coudenhove tells us how he was gradually bewildered by the way in which lion after lion kept turning up continually quite near him during the night, and thus went through a by no means enviable experience. I have myself had similar experiences on such occasions. They have given me many interesting opportunities of studying the habits of animals at night time, but I must say that I don't think much of the shooting of lions at short range from the security of a thorn-bush as a sport. The darkness necessitates your shooting more or less by guesswork ; sleep, so essential to you in these unhealthy climates, is interfered with, and your day's work is entirely upset. I consider every other kind of lion-hunting prefer- able to these night-shoots, even the iron-plate trap method, which often has very dangerous and exciting consequences owing to the lion breaking away with the iron. The Hon leads a nocturnal existence generally speaking, and rests under trees and in bushes during the day. r3y day, therefore, he is very seldom to be seen. Even when you do sight him, he has generally sighted you first, and disappears into the thicket before you can get a shot at him. So far back as 1896 I ventured to 344 -^ Lions state, on the strength of my own observations, that lions live sometimes in herds. iMost of our knowledge of lions is derived from the north of Africa, from regions in which, as far back as we can trace, their numbers have always been decimated by the inhabitants. Un- doubtedly lions used occasionally to live in herds at one time everywhere. The greatest number I have ever seen in a herd was seventeen. An eminent English observer has seen as many as twenty-seven on one occasion. Sometimes two or three lionesses with cubs join forces in search of prey. Similarly you will find several male lions together, and male lions with two lionesses ; old lionesses and very old lions — often with defective teeth — going about alone. It all depends, seemingly, on the time of the year and the mating-season. It may be laid down as a general rule that lions that have had their fill are not disposed to attack. In Africa, where wild life is so plentiful, they are seldom at a loss for food. In other countries, in which there is a scarcity of wild life, they prey upon cattle and give much more trouble to man. In Africa, by leaving unfinished the prey they have killed, they often put the native in the way of a meal, the vultures serving as unwitting sign-posts, pointing out to the native where the meal is to be found. From all this it will be evident that it is no easy matter to study the habits of the animal. Many travellers of note, some of the most famous African explorers amongst them, have never come in sight of a lion at all. Very few have succeeded in bringing down a lion single- handed. 345 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Mr. Wallihan, my American fellow-sportsman, says in his Camera Shots at Big Game that in thirty years of hunting he has only come once face to face with a puma, the lion of America. He has killed several, and taken excellent photographs of still more, but all these were started by dogs. This reminds me of the fact that 1 only once saw the hysena which I myself dis- covered {Hycena schiUingsi) in a state of freedom by day> though I have accounted for about ninety on various occasions, and have photographed a great number of them by night. One of my most trustworthy soldiers, who had long been in the service of the Government as an Askari, never succeeded in getting a shot at a lion, although, in accordance with the practice at that time (since then very properly abandoned by order of the Governor, Count Gotzen), he was given for many years the exclusive right of shooting the wild animals in the neighbourhood, and had brought down thousands of all kinds — a fine way of turning all the old cartridges in the magazine to account ! Among travellers and sportsmen who have been fortunate in British East Africa I may mention the Duke A. F. von Mecklenburg and Prince Lichtenstein. It was in South Africa that the unrivalled sportsman F. C. Selous made his mark a good many years ago. In some instances young lions of only about ten months old are to be found in search of prey on their own account, apart from their mothers. The young lions which I have had opportunities of observing, or which I have brought home to Europe, were all strongly marked with 346 -») Lions spots ; and I remember an experienced African traveller, who knew a good deal about lions, declaring in conse- quence that they were leopards. It is noteworthy that the East African lions, as a rule, have not such strongly developed manes as those in captivity, or as those from Xorth and South Africa. The A LIONESS FRIGHTENED FROM A CARCASE BY THE FLASHLIGHT causes of the differences in the growth of the manes have not yet been established. You see many full-grown male lions in East Africa entirely without manes — I have shot some myself — and a really strong mane seems to be nearly always the outcome of captivity. It is said that lions have small manes generally in very thorny regions. This, however, does not accord with my observations. 347 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ In those parts of Africa in which I have travelled' the lion's favourite prey is the zebra, and in this liking for zebra- flesh he is of one mind with the caravan-carriers, wha also prefer it to any other. Full-grown rhinoceroses and hippopotamuses, and of course elephants, are not molested by him ; but their young ones are preyed upon, as well as all other animals down to the small antelopes. Trust- worthy observers tell also of his encounters with porcu- pines, in which he often sustains damage. Lions often hunt in combination, driving their prey towards each other. This I have ascertained beyond dispute- by studying their tracks and by watching them at night. They seem to communicate with each other by their roars. In pouncing upon their prey, especially when drinking, they make astounding springs ; I have measured some which covered twenty-four feet. Their favourite plan is to take up their position on some high 'spot, on the steep bank of a river, say, and spring down sideways from this spot upon their quarry. Unlike leopards, they are unable to climb trees. In the dry season great numbers of lions are to be- seen together at the drinking-places. By the stream alongside which I took my best lion-photos I have seen a group of over thirty lions of all sizes and ages. In the early morning I could ascertain by studying their tracks that they were moving about in herds. When the rainy season came along .these herds broke up, and the lions spread about over a wide area in pursuit of prey, each on his own account. I cannot test the accuracy of the well-known narratives- 348 -* Lions of the famous lion-hunter Jules Gerard, as they have to do with the lions of Xorth Africa, which are now so reduced in number. His lions were certainly quite different animals from those which have come under my observation. He killed about forty, some of them from secure hiding-places, it must be noted, and was considered a hero in Algiers in his day. Gerard was undoubtedly 3. man of extraordinary courage, but it must be admitted that many of his stories are so fanciful th;it they lack the impress of truth. His story, for instance, of how he saw two lions fighting for a lioness who managed to set them both at another very powerful male, and how the latter killed the two original rivals, is very ridiculous ; but I agree with every line of what he says elsewhere : "He who has not seen a full-grown lion in his savage state, dead or alive, may well believe in the possibility of single combat, sword only in hand, with this beast. But he who /ms knows that in an encounter with a lion a man is like a mouse in the claws of a cat." The lion has always had a kind of glamour over him, and has come to be known as the King of Beasts. In common with many experienced observers, I hold that this title should be given rather to the African elephant. Lions, as a matter of fact, display widely different qualities in different regions and under different conditions, as is the case with other animals. Some of the old and experienced individuals develop into hunters of men, corre- sponding with the man-eating tigers of India. Then there is a great difference between the lion sated and the lion hungry. The latter — lionesses with 349 With Flashlight and Rifle -♦) cubs especially — are quick to attack, and consequently dangerous. I always prefer to shoot the lioness first, the lion afterwards — as the former is apt sometimes to spring on you while you are aiming at her mate. In this she compares very advantageously with him, for he shows no such gallantry. Natives have often told me the same thing. Lions that are not hungry almost always avoid an encounter with men. Of course there are exceptions, as will ,be gathered from my own account of a lion-hunt on the heights of Kikuyu. Keepers in zoological gardens have observed the same thing. Lions, they say, show every degree of good-humour or ill-temper according to their age and the way they have been reared and looked after. What can be done by careful treatment is shown by the almost proverbial methods of the trainer Have- mann, who moves in and out among his animal pupils in the Berlin Zoological Gardens in the friendliest manner, without ever having to use force with them, simply as the result of the excellent way in which he looks after them. Although it is often asserted that lions are given, like leopards, to making their way into houses at night time and carrying off human beings from inside, I have come across few authentic cases of this kind. While the Uganda railway was in course of construction, two officials connected with it were spending the night in a railway waggon, the door of which was left open on account of the heat. Awakened by a noise, one of them, who was sleeping upon a high bed-contrivance, looked down to 350 -♦i Lions where his companion had been lying on the floor, and saw him being dragged away by a lion. The lion would seem to have killed the sleeper instantaneously with a bite on the nape of the neck, according to its habit. This event caused a great sensation throughout East Africa a few years ago. Before this, it should be noted, lions had killed about forty of the Indians who were 0.\ THE GILEI VOIXAMC MOUNTAIN employed on the railway, and who frequently slept in the open air, and the animals had developed in this way into regular man-eaters. At night the lion always displays great indifference and freedom from fear with regard to men ; nor is he much frightened by the lighting of fires, though these do afford the hunter a certain amount of protection. I have known several cases in which the natives near my '' .'' T With Flashlight and Rifle -* camp have been preyed upon by lions in spite of their having their camp-fires lit — though possibly gone down somewhat and only smouldering — while my own camp was left unmolested. Lions have, however, sometimes approached within three or four paces of my camp, and even of my own tent. One dark night a large male lion nearly brushed ■against my tent on its way down to the stream by which it stood. He could have got to the water, either to the right or to the left, without finding any obstacle in his path. After drinking he returned the same way to the velt, and some twenty paces from my tent he stopped to inspect carefully a large bone, whitened by the sun, which had been lying there some time. This was ascertained next morning from his tracks. I set out after him next morning, but had to break off my pursuit after about four hours of it, as he had turned aside on to a stony part of the velt, where his tracks could not be discerned. The same indifference is shown by lions during the night-shoots. They pay no attention to the hunter waiting inside the thorn-bush when they are making for the ass or steer tied up as a bait for them three or four paces off, and they can be shot therefore quite easily. From my own observations — made at night time, while I was engaged in photographing the animals — the lion does not make a great spring upon his prey, but creeps up towards it, stretching out its mighty body, and then is upon it like a lightning flash and kills it with a bite on the back of the neck. 352 -»> Lions In 1900 I witnessed a very interesting spectacle. I had been for several hours following up the tracks of some lions when I came suddenly upon an ostrich's nest, with some young ostriches in it only just out of their shells, and with some eggs within a few hours of hatching. To my astonishment the lions seemed to have disdained the young birds. On examining the tracks more care- fully, however, I learnt better. The old ostriches had evidently espied the lions in good time in the clear moonlight, and, as the tracks indicated unmistakably, had enticed them away from the nest by effecting a speedy retreat. The lions had followed the ostriches for about a hundred yards with long springs, but had then, seeing the pursuit was hopeless, fallen back into their ordinary stride. In this way the ostriches succeeded in saving their threatened brood. It was intensely interesting thus to learn how clever these great birds are in evading the attack of their dangerous enemies. What the natives say about lionesses being more aggressive and dangerous than male lions is quite borne out by my photographs, the lioness in every case being the first to pounce on the prey, and the lions always coming second into action. Here I would repeat that lions as a rule hunt only at night, never during the daytime, except at the coolest time of the year. During the hot season and in the middle of the day they rest in the shade. In captivity also lions show their sensitive- ness to heat, and lion- trainers always find that on hot summer days their pupils are but little disposed to show off their accomplishments. TOL. I. 353 23 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ This reminds me that lions were probably to be found in Greece not so very long ago, as they still are in Asia, though in very small numbers. These lions show themselves capable of bearing quite high degrees of cold, if they do not go so far north as their near kin the tiger. The Siberian tiger, a recognised species of the genus, lives in the midst of snow and ice, protected against the coldest season by a thick winter coat. The pair of splendid Siberian tigers in the Berlin Zoological Gardens show by the way they thrive and breed that, living as they do the whole year in the open air, they are excellently suited in our climate, as is the corresponding species of lion from North-Eastern Asia. The tempera- ture goes down almost to freezing-point also on the uplands of East Africa, and on cold nights the roar of the lion resounds far and wide over the velt. 354 A TRIO I SAW TOGETHER OX SEVERAL OCCASIONS : A GNU BULL, A Thomson's gazelle, and a gerenuk gazelle XVIII A Lioii'Hunt AT the end of January 1897 I arrived in Kikuyu with a small caravan. I had come from Victoria Nyanza, where I had been down with malaria for several months. Alone and helpless, I had a hard tussle for my life, but thanks entirely to the untiring care given me by two officers, Mr. C. W. Hobley and Mr. Tompkins, stationed at Fort Mumia, I succeeded, against all probability, in shaking off the fever. In May 1896 the exploring expedition, which I had been able to join, had set out from the German Coast with about 420 men, and, after traversing some entirely unknown regions, had reached Victoria Nyanza. I cannot here enter upon the story of the varied and in some cases very interesting experiences met with on this stage of the expedition. Here I propose to recount only what happened to me on January 25th, when on my way to the coast of Kikuyu. I was traversing for the first time that recently explored country in order to 355 With Flashlight and Rifle -»> get back to the sea and to Europe, for, in view of my weak condition after thie fever, this was my intention at the time. Down to the time of my illness I had had all kinds of hunting experiences, but on my journey to Kikuyu I had few opportunities of sport, and I was in any case too feeble to undertake much in the way of exertion. After we had attained the higher uplands my strength began to come back to me — astonishingly quickly,, indeed — and with this sudden improvement in my health came back naturally all my zest and keenness for sport. Upon the desolate plateau of the Mau primeval forests, with their endless bamboo-thickets, or in the woods between the Naiwasha Lake and Fort Smith in Kikuyu,. I had not come across much in the way of wild life. My rifle kept silence for days together. On January 24th I enjoyed the hospitality of the commander of the English station, who (as is always the pleasant custom in English colonies) not only in his private capacity, but also officially, showed every possible consideration for me and my caravan, lending us milking cows, providing us with donkeys and provisions, and doing everything in his power to help us and further our plans. Mr. Hall, the commander of Fort Smith in Kikuyu, a man of most attractive personality, is one of the most experienced of African hunters, and is a sportsman of the right sort. We soon got talking of the one great theme out there — -big-game shooting. 356 -♦. A Lion-Hunt Shortly before our arrival Mr. Hall had been tossed three times by a bull rhinoceros at which he had shot. Three of his ribs had been broken, and for months he had been obliged to keep to his bed. After his recovery from this he had an encounter with a leopard, which he had also shot and wounded. One of his Askaris saved him by a timely bullet from this dangerous assailant, which left him an undesirable memento, however, in the shape of several wounds and a long-continued stiffness of one leg. These mishaps were not to keep him from hunting again now as much as he could. Previously, indeed, he had been shooting big game year after year without any kind of Ill-luck. Our talk was most interesting. We " swapped " experiences, and Mr. Hall said that lions were to be met with In plenty a few miles from the fort on the Athi plain, which is always rich in wild life. Corporal Ellis (of D Company of the Royal Engineers) confirmed this, and suggested that I should break my journey, and, after a day's rest in the fort, spend a night In his camp, five hours' journey away, and go out thence with him on a lion-hunt. He himself had shot a lioness right in front of his camp a fortnight before. I had already made a number of fruitless efforts to get a shot at a Hon, and had not much confidence in succeeding now. I decided, however, to accept this friendly invitation. Taking farewell cordially of Mr. Hall, I set off with Corporal Ellis, and after a march of several hours we reached the camp. He was in charge of a cattle-station 359 With Flashlight and Rifle -*> there, and had a large number of Askaris under his command. I was interested in examining the skin of the lioness, and we agreed to set forth on our shoot early next morning. This we did. On crossing a small stream, quite an insignificant one in the dry season, after we had been several hours on our way towards Mount Nairobi, I pitched camp and ordered some of the men to bring firewood. The getting of this took about four hours, as none is to be got on the grassy Athi plains. Corporal Ellis was against our halting here, for, in his opinion, we should be in danger from the lions during the night. I held firmly to my decision, however, confessedly still sceptical as to so many lions really being forthcoming. Ellis, five men of our following, and I now made a little detour to follow the course of the stream, the upper part of which was covered for some miles by scanty growth. On the plain we saw a number of gnus {Connockcstes albojubatus), Grant's gazelle {Gazella grantt), Coke's harte- beest {Bitbalis cokei), Thomson's gazelle {Gazella thomsoni), zebras, and ostriches ; but they were all very shy. When we turned back towards camp, still following the river — with an unfavourable wind blowing — I must say I was not sanguine of our having any sport ; but we had been only a quarter of an hour on the way, two of our party on one side of the stream, we ourselves on the other, when suddenly a cry, " Simba ! Simba ! — Simba Bwana ! Kubwa Sana!" ("A lion, master! A big lion ! ") rang in our ears. The men on the other bank, •^60 -^ A Lion-Hunt starting back in alarm, pointed with wild gestures towards a small clump of reeds in the water. To hear and to bolt was the work of an instant, even for my reserve carrier Ramadan, a great strong Swahili, who had stood the test on other occasions. Obeying a first impulse I followed him ten paces, seized him by the neck, and ordered him to remain. He turned round, his whole body trembling, and went back with me, and we now sougfht to make out the lion amonof the reeds, from which a pool of about five yards' breadth divided us. We could not do so, however, though the men on the other side still motioned to us excitedly that a big lion was there. In another moment something moved among the reeds in Corporal Ellis's direction — his Martini- Henry rang out, and a large lioness, showing that she had been grazed, came for us with a sudden spring. For a second her head offered me a fair mark, and with a lucky shot at seven or eight paces I brought her down dead. The bullet, a ^/5 steel one as usual, settled side- ways in the nape of the neck, killing immediately, as always happens with such shots. I have preserved it in my collection of 8-millimetre bullets as a souvenir of the occasion. Mv joy was intense ! The corporal congratulated me heartilv, and our return was heralded by all the men with shouts of glee. Twelve men carried our booty back to the camp. In the stomach we found the remains of a zebra. After a quick breakfast we set out again to shoot .^6 1 With Flashlight and Rifle -* something for our dinner. Ellis, who went ahead, tried on some long shots at hartebeests, but did not bring any of them down. Meanwhile I became conscious of the symptoms of an attack of dysentery, which I may men- tion parenthetically I got rid of in a few days by dint of drastic treatment. When I had been following Ellis for about half an hour, I saw to my right, at not too long range, a male Thomson's- gazelle which I resolved to get. Motioning to my men to remain where they were, I advanced cautiously as best I could. Soon I had got to a distance of -300 yards- from my three Askaris, and out of sight of them by reason of several slight swellings of the ground in between. Just as I was on the point of firing at the gazelle, from- a distance of about seventy-five paces, my eye was caught by something yellow a hundred paces beyond it which I at once saw to be a lion's head. At the same moment I heard a well-known sound to my right, and turning round quickly saw a large dark-maned, growling lion,, standing still in the grass a hundred to a hundred and twenty paces away. To all appearance, he had espied' or scented the stalking hunter, and it was lucky he had not come nearer, as he might so easily have done, for all my attention had been centred on the gazelle. I stood like a man benumbed ! Two lions before me! It was a large order in the then state of my nerves- after my long illness. It was by no means an agreeable situation for me, conscious as I was of my comparative helplessness. I could reckon on only one shot. For subsequent shots I should have to reload, and in spite- 362 ■^- A Lion-Hunt THE MALE OSTRICH WAS TO B2 SEEN NEAR THE NEST AX OSTRICH S NEST. I OFTE.N CAML LPO-N THEM IN THE AUTUMN With Flashlight and Rifle -* of long practice, I should find it difficult to shoot again if either of the lions came for me.^ There I stood, then, with my rifle raised, face to face with the nearer of my two adversaries — shall I call them ? — the old dark-maned lion. A moment passed thus — a moment that seemed like eternity, and that yet, looked back upon now, seems a moment of ecstasy. The old lion eyed me, still growling away, but remaining quite still, with his head up and his tail to the ground. The other animal, a lioness apparently, remained lying half-concealed in a clump of tall grass. The gazelle had ■got to within twenty paces of me and had then fled away at full speed. I experienced a not unnatural desire for the appearance ■of my men upon the scene, and this now happened, as I gathered from a shout they gave me — I did not dare to look round. They were calling out to me what sounded like " Simba ile kali sana!" ("That lion is a very dan- gerous one ! "). I retired backwards step by step, keeping ready to fire at any moment, until at last I found myself again near my men. I beckoned to them, but they were not to be induced to advance the seventy paces or so that divided us until I ordered them in the most peremptory way to do so. As soon as I had by me my " Baruti Boy," who held ^ The mechanism of the millimetre magazine-rifle a kvf years ago ■was unreliable according to my experience and that of many sportsmen. Therefore I preferred the single-loader. A check through the jamming of the cartridge occasionally made the rifle useless, and it took some time to get it right. 364 '•> A Lion-Hunt in readiness a -450 double-barrelled rifle, and my two other Askaris, " Baruti bin Ans " and " Ramadan," one of whom carried a 12-bore fowling-piece loaded with slug, for a final shot at close quarters, I could restrain myself no longer, and, against the wishes of my followers, I sent a bullet after the slowly receding lion, which only grazed him. It was with difificulty now that I controlled my excite- ment. I loaded again, however, and got in another shot at the lion, which was now moving to one side. This shot also was not well aimed, hitting high up on one of his hind-paws. At once the lion turned round as quick as lightning, but did not yet attack me. Instead, roaring terribly, he whirled himself round ten or a dozen times, biting in mad fury at his damaged paw. He reminded me exactly of a plucky fo.x or jackal, badly wounded. This exhibition, however, afforded me the best of opportunities for further shots. I fired three times, two of my shots doing good execution. Soon he collapsed completely. When we came up to him, approaching with all the caution due in the case of such an animal, he was- al ready dead. The lioness meanwhile had taken to flight. Our joy was without bounds. Corporal Ellis, who had come up to within about 200 paces of us while I was firing my last three shots, and had been a witness of the entire scene, congratulated me heartily, adding that he had not expected to see such marksmanship. I must admit he was right about the number of lions which infested that neighbourhood, and also that it was 365 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ very incautious of me to tackle two lions without waiting for him. Next morning I sent two messengers with the news to Mr. Hall at Fort Smith, and two others with a letter for transmission to the leader of the expedition which was presently to pass over the same route. I told him of the chance he would have of getting some lion-shooting, and afterwards I learnt that he saw eight lions together on the same spot where I had shot mine, and that he had fired at them at long range without result. My second lion was also a large old black-maned animal, whose scarred and seamed skin told of many a struggle with his own kind. It is noteworthy that, whereas the lions in certain other regions of Africa — those for instance to be met with upstream in the Rufu Valley — often have no manes, but are quite smooth like lionesses, these lions which live in Kikuyu, which is a relatively cold district and lies high, are provided with abundant manes of a dark colour. Now ensued a triumphal march to the camp, followed by a careful skinning of this second lion and the pre- paration of both skins. Corporal Ellis thought it was time for him to return to his own camp, as he did not wish to traverse the plain towards evening. Merely for the purpose of bringing down some game by way of provisions, I set out again about two hours before sunset and succeeded in getting several Thomson's gazelles. I stalked a hartebeest buck for a long dis- tance, which I bad wounded, but could get no chance of killing him. 366 ■^- A Lion-Hunt While thus engaged, I had again got out of sight ot my men, and now again I heard the same warning growls just as I had at midday ! Looking to one side I saw first one, then a second, then a third, then a fourth lion — all with manes ! There was a distance of only about one hundred and twenty-five paces between me and the nearest of them. This time I lost my nerve. I tried to retreat, with the result that the nearest lion made two springs forward and then began to creep slowly towards me. I remained standing motionless. The lion remained stretched out watching me. Minutes passed thus — ten long minutes at least — and now my men were to be seen some distance away. As soon as they came in sight of the lions and took in my position, my trusty " Baruti Boy" — no Swahili, but a member of a branch of the Manyema race suspected of cannibalism — was the first to come up to me, with my ■450-rifle in his hands. The others followed him slowly, but they did not dare to come Aery far, and were not to be induced to come right up to me. The lions were now getting much disquieted, and began to growl. They made a majestic and unique picture, standing out in sharp outline against the velt in the rays of the setting sun, the undulating ground behind them blending with the far horizon in the quivering, glistening twilight. As the warning growls and the whole demeanour of the animals were very different from those of the lion I had shot in the morning, I came to the conclusion that they were hungry, and therefore would prove dangerous to deal with ; and having no reserve VOL. I. 369 24 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ rifle, as already mentioned, I backed cautiously to where my men were. Now followed a " Schauri " — a conference — with them, in which I endeavoured to make them come on with me, but in vain. At last I sent back two carriers, who had returned from securing the two antelopes I had shot, to the camp for reinforcements. Without waiting for their arrival, however, I determined, being now myself again, and having at last induced my men to approach within two hundred paces of the lions, to manage the thing single- handed. I fired at the nearest of them, but missed. At once he came springing towards us, but at about the twentieth spring he stopped, roared, and then wheeled round slowly. Upon this all the lions made off walking at first, then at a trot, and finally at an awkward kind of a gallop — going two by two. Later they parted company, still in pairs. Thus began one of the most interesting and exciting adventures of my whole journey. We followed the hindmost of the two pairs for about half an hour over the plain, always in the direction of the setting sun. We ran uninterruptedly, except when the lions stood still and eyed us ; then we walked. We gasped for breath presently, only two of my men keeping up with me. But I had become so set on bagging these two lions that I achieved what was probably the quickest and longest run of my life — and I have memories of many wagers won over long runs ! I was determined to get a shot at him, coAte gite coilte ! Soon their distance from us was narrowed to about 400 paces — then it went up to 500 again, and 600. 370 -»■ A Lion-Hunt But on we went, still gasping, over the plain. Pre- sently it looked as though all our efiforts were to go for nothing — the distance between us was growing crreater. Suddenly I came to a quick decision. Perhaps by a miracle 1 might bring off a hit. even at such long range ! I fired, and could distinctly see where the bullet struck, about ten paces behind one of the lions. He took it ORGEICH SLPEkiM t.Nii.NG THE TRANSPORT OF A YOUNG LION INTO CAMP in very bad part! He turned round, remained standing where he was and roared, beating violently with his tail. The further lion also stopped in his flight. I fired a second shot — then a third, this one at the fijrther lion. He showed his anger in the same way — standing still, roaring and beating with his tail. There ! The fourth or fifiih bullet has found its billet ! The lion hit comes rushing at us with long 371 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ springs. Suddenly he breaks down — then three or four more staggering crooked springs, and suddenly he col- lapses — growling rather than roaring in his fury. I -cannot explain how it came about, but I now put aside all caution and common sense. I ran on to within 1 20 paces of the wounded animal, fired — and missed! Now came the critical moment. On he came again with a succession of frenzied springs. I knelt to my next shot so as to manage it quietly and make dead certain of it. Again he collapsed. Now for it ! One more shot at a hundred paces, and my third lion springs into the air, tumbles over backwards, and falls dead. In the madness of our delight we rushed up to where he lay, spoilt by this success and forgetting all caution. However, it was all right. He was quite dead — an even finer specimen than the one killed at midday, and with a still darker mane. We skinned him quickly, as soon as our rear-guard came up to us, about ten minutes ilater. Head and paws were left unsevered from the rest -of the skin. In the stomach we found nothing — in con- trast with the lion shot in the early morning, whose •stomach we had found full of zebra-flesh and great pieces ■of skin. This explained how this third lion came to be -so much more full of fight. Now something occurred which is rare indeed in .-Africa with the native. My men lost the way, and -as we started on our return journey just as the sun was setting we soon strayed. Six men were told ■off to carry the heavy skin — in relays of three — and our [progress was made under very unsatisfactory conditions 372 A Lion-Hunt owing to the anxiety of my men to get out of the " Plain of Lions," and to the way in which they hung together Hke sheep. Within fifteen minutes, as is the way in the tropics, it was quite dark, and two hours went bv before we reached camp, half owing to a lucky chance. I had to march at the head of my little caravan all the time. When at last, howe\er, we reached our goal all our troubles were forgotten, and we gave wa)' to our feelings of joy. By the light of the camp-fire the skin was spread out, to be cleaned ne.Kt morning. Four sentries kept watch all that night, but although lions were to be heard roaring in the distance, nothing happened of any im- portance. Xe.xt morning a deputation ot my men came to salute me and christen me with pomp and ceremony. I was dubbed " Bwana Sinba " ("The Lion-Lord "), instead of " Bwana ndege " ("The Bird-Lord"), which appellation I had acquired on the coast, because I shot birds (often on the wing, to the astonishment of the natives) and collected their skins. On the stock of ni)- trusty rifle, supplied, like all my weapons, by Altmeister Reeb of Bonn, I inscribed the words, " Three lions, 25 Jan. 97." Fresh messages went now to Fort Smith. To Mr. Hall I wrote again, now recommending him in my turn to come and himt lions in this neighbourhood ; and as I intended to remain for a few days, some additional provisions w ere forwarded from Port Smith for my carriers. ]Mr. Hall himself was unable to avail himself of my 375 With Flashlight and Rifle -* invitation, as he was expecting Mr. Barclay from Uganda that day. I got to know Mr. Barclay later at Kibwezi, and was able to show him my trophies, of which he had heard a good deal. Eight more days I spent upon the plain without getting another shot at a lion. We had to content our- selves with hearing the roaring of lions at night, by way of lullaby. The tremendous effect of this roaring as heard in the stillness of the African night is indescribable. The flesh of all my three lions was devoured the same night by hysenas, and the bones as well. There was nothing left of them. Hysenas are in great force in Kikuyu, because the " Wakikuyu " — the natives — give their dead to them to devour instead of burying them. The 25th of January, 1897, will always remain a red-letter day in my memory, and would do so even if I had not my three fine lion-skins, prepared by the cunning hand of Robert Banzer, to serve as decorations to my room of African trophies. n^ *^ ■5«*^J Jm^f^^ ^i** V ^_J^ VULTURES FEEDING OX THE REMAIN'S OF A LION XIX More Lion^Hunting Experiences THE narrative just i;iven I have reproduced from the pages of Der IVeidiiiatui {The Sportsrnan) just as I wrote it at the time. I thought it better not to alter it in any way, as the events were still fresh in mv mind when I set to work at it. In the course of the following years other tra\ellers had opportunities of showing similar prowess as sportsmen on the Kikuyu tableland. In one case I was excelled in the number of lions killed in a single day. All these were cases of first-rate Austrian and English sportsmen with excellent weapons at their disposal. Had I possessed similar rifles instead of the obsolete single-barrelled one of unsatisfactory make I could have made a bigger bag. Under such difficult conditions, handicapped by so many unfavourable circumstances, weakened by fever, and with poor weapons, I have reason,. I think, to be satisfied with what I did. Such a success^ as I have alreadv said, never came mv wav asfain. I had a very exciting experience with an old maned lion in the autumn of 1899, on the right bank of the 377 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Pangfani River. Lions had been showingf themselves for some days in the vicinity of the camp. Almost every night I had heard them roaring, chiefly at certain spots by the river. I had succeeded in getting a number of the striped hyaenas which I had myself discovered. I had set traps — small, but strong, Weber's iron traps — in order to catch " kinguguas," as the natives call hyaenas and jackals. It happened that an old lion stepped upon one of these and caught him.self by one of the claws of the front paw, breaking the iron chain, of course, at once. Evidently he had not got the iron off his paw, his efforts to do so probably causing him too much pain. So he had taken himself off with the iron clinging to him, dragging his leg, step by step, for a couple of hours, probably into the thorn-thicket bordering upon the steep declivity of the Nyika. Little by little he had succeeded in almost destroying the snare with his teeth, but the spring and guard still clattered round his claw. Early next morning we looked for his tracks, and followed them up through the thorn-thicket with great diffi- culty, expecting every moment to come upon the slipped- off snare. Suddenly I heard, straight in front of me, the deep growling of the infuriated lion, and at the same moment the beast started off afresh with the snare dangling beside him. I was surprised that the powerful beast could not shake it off it was so small. Following him, always with the utmost caution, through the extraordinarily dense underwood, I got quite close to him five or six times, but each time he made away before I could get a shot at him. Several times I actually caught sight of him straight 378 -* More Lion-Hunting Experiences in front of me. but so indistinctly that I could not make sure of my shot. To shoot at a venture in such circum- stances would have been suicide. Xow. aofain, I hear him growling angrily. Every ner\'e is tense ; the outlines of things seem to quiver in the shimmering sunlight re- flected from the sand of the velt : the thorn, becoming denser and denser, made progress almost impossible. There ! — another angry growl — the trap is heard to clatter several times agrainst the grround, and, with a mighty stamping, the lion once again has made off. But this time, with a shake of his paw, he has thrown oH the trap upon the sand, and our pursuit is in vain. My clever Wandorobo, however, managed to make out his tracks as he went off, first with great leaps and bounds, then falling into a kind of ambling trot. Imme- diately I take up the pursuit afresh. Dripping with sweat, I keep on for about a quarter of an hour : then on again for as long, until at last I see the lion, still raging and growling, evidently in great pain from its wound, starting again on its flight, growling and stamping. Xo one who has not heard it can form any notion of the way a full-grown lion simply thunders along over the hard ground of the velt. I follow him as speedily as I can, with all my pulses beating ; several times I come within sight of him. .At last I have him distinctly before me in a small glade. He turns his head towards me. My rifle rings out, and he falls, as though struck by lightning, with a dull thud and a dying growl. A second shot, fired for safety's sake, assures me of my coveted prey. ?ily joy and satisfaction o\er my hard-won trophy know no bounds. 381 With Flashlight and Rifle -9) Now we realise, for the first time, that our pursuit has taken us nearly six hours, and that our throats are parched ; but we bear up cheerfully. The thought of the royal booty we have captured against our expectations gives us new stores of strength, and enables us to forget our thirst and the scars and scratches we have got on face and hands from the thorns. Once again I had killed a big lion, and under exceptional conditions. It has happened to me — only too often, unfortunately — to have merely come in sight of lions, whether single specimens or several of them together. Either I have seen them for a second only, and they have been out of range, or in high grass at close quarters when I have not beien ready to fire, or just at the moment of their disappearing into a thicket. Thus it was once I came upon a lioness standing near a zebra she had been tearing to pieces. Numbers of vultures, drawn by the lioness's prey and settling upon the acacia-bushes all round, attracted my steps to the place, where the lioness had taken up her position in the early morning under the shad6 of a bush. But by the time I had got within two hundred paces she had taken cover and had made off over the side of the hill. In very similar circumstances I happened once upon a lion and two lionesses in high grass, also without being able to fire a shot. On another occasion I followed a lion-trail. The lion had killed a young zebra during the night, and had dragged it a long way over the velt to one of those rivulet-beds that dry up after the rainy season, there to devour it at -»; More Lion-Hunting Experiences leisure. I had followed the tracks for some time, and was looking for a good way down into the gorge, when suddenly I saw the animal — a lioness it proved to be — in the distance. In another moment it had disappeared. Late in the afternoon, one day in December 1900, coming back from a fruitless search after elephants, I observed a great number of vultures on the branches of a MV FIRST UONESS leafless tree. Presently I saw a big-maned lion thunder- ing along over a glade about four hundred paces away. A hasty shot missed its mark, its only effect being to make the lion increase its speed. The wind at the time was unfavourable. On this occasion 1 happened to be accompanied by my taxidermist Orgeich, and 1 decided, although we were both very tired already after a ten- hours' march, to pursue the lion. We set out after it at With Flashlight and Rifle '♦i once, and succeeded in tracking it. Curious to relate, the lion led us round and round almost in a circle for two hours or more ! Often I came quite near him, but each time he would rush off again, then once more slow ■down to a walking-pace. At last I was obliged to give up the chase, as the tracks could no longer be made out — they crossed and re-crossed so often. With just a little better luck I might have succeeded in getting a shot, .as the lion let us come so near him sometimes in the thicket. In contrast with the other lion which I had killed, this one gave out no sound all the time we were following him. The other growled chiefly, no doubt, on account of the pain he was suffering. I had unusual luck in an adventure with lions which I met with on November loth, 1903, between Meru Mountain and Kilimanjaro. We had been obliged to ■encamp out on the velt without water, and the following morning my caravan had to move forward to the nearest watering-place, seven hours' march away. Shortly before reaching this — a small swamp with a pool of muddy water in it — I noticed a great gathering of wild animals of all. kinds, which, however, I left unmolested. Herds of oryx, zebras, and Grant's gazelles stood quite near us to right and left, and a great herd of giraffes. The splendid animals had come quite close before they saw me, and pounded away again in full flight. As usual, I was marching at the head of my caravan, followed, as always, by my guide and carriers. Suddenly one of my Wando- robo pointed to a spot to our left, among a lot of stinging- 384 -^ More Lion-Hunting Experiences nettles and tall dry grass, and exclaimed in low tones : " Lungatun ! " I snatched my rifle out of the hands of my bearer, realising suddenly as I did so that it was not loaded with the proper cartridges, as I had no intention of doing anv shooting that da)-. However, there was no room for delay. The negro and I rushed to the spot w here the lions had disappeared. With frightened face the Xdorobo pointed to where he had seen them. All this happened so quickly that there was no time to think of changing cartridges ; all I could hope for was a snapshot at long range. In front of us to the left rose some rocky hills. In between was a thicket of impenetrable thorn -bushes and bowstring hemp. Making my way breathlessly up the rocks, I suddenly saw in front of me, barely fifteen paces away, a large lioness standing broadside to me, her expressive head turned in my direction, and her glittering eyes fixed upon me. She was a magnificent sight. Instincti\ ely, and as quick as lightning, my eye darted in every direction all round her, to see if there were any other lions by, then in the fraction of a second I pointed my rifle at her head ; but before I could pull the trigger she made an immense spring forward, high in the air with outstretched paws, and disappeared into the thicket. Pull the trigger, however, I did, and the report rang out while she was in the air. It was an exciting moment for me, for it was probable that the animal, unless mortallv wounded, would come for me. Only with lead-tipped bullets can you hope to eft'ect a mortal wound under such conditions ? Wounded lions VOL. I. 385 25 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ are apt to be dangerous. But this time I was in luck ; fifty paces away the lioness lay dead, killed by the neatest snap-shot that i ever achieved, right through the shoulder. The male lion, which the Wandorobo had seen at the same time, had unfortunately disappeared in the meantime. My taxidermist, who came up now with my men, and whom I now told of my success, went searching all over the place for the body. His delight was almost as great as my own when at last he saw the beautiful lioness stretched out before him. By way of contrast to these experiences of mine, I shall quote here the description of a lion-hunt which took place in the year 1813, from the" pen of John Campbell. Those were the times in which elephants, rhinoceroses, and giraffes were still to be found in those regions in South- West Africa now belonging to Germany, before the numbers of all the other wild animals had begun to be thinned. In those days the sentries on the ramparts of Cape Town were still treated to nocturnal concerts by the lions. In South Africa lions were still numerous at this time, and in the neighbourhood of Graaf Reynet this John Campbell, a clergyman in the service of an English missionary society, met two lions one day in the course of his travels. Here, in his own words, the quaint simplicity of which I leave absolutely unaltered, is his description of how he killed one of them. "When approaching a fountain of water, where we intended to halt, two of the horsemen came galloping towards our wagons, on which my wagon-driver told me they had seen a lion. On reaching us they informed us .-.86 -^ More Lion-Hunting Experiences that two lions were crouching among the reeds below. All the wagons immediately drew up on an ascent opposite the place where they lay, with their wheels firmly chained, lest the roaring or appearing of the lions should terrify the oxen and make them run off with the wagons, which frequently happens on such occasions. Thirteen men then drew up, about fifty yards from the LIONESS PHOTOGRAPHED AT A DISTANCE OF ONLY ABOUT THREE YARDS lions, with their loaded muskets ; and such as were only to be spectators stood upon heap of rocks, about fifty yards beyond them, guarded by three armed men, lest the lions should not be wounded, or only slightly, and be able to rush upon us. When all this was in readiness, the men below poured a volley of bullets towards the animals, when one of them, the male, made off, seemingly slightly wounded ; but the other was disabled, so that it 387 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ remained in the same position. The dogs ran towards her, malcing a great noise, but ventured no nearer than five or six yards. On the second fire she was shot dead. A bullet was found under the skin, which she must have received long before, as the wound Wcis completely healed. She had received many wounds from our people, especially a severe one in the mouth." Thus was carried out a lion-hunt in South Africa a hundred years ago. Elsewhere the missionary enlarged frequently on the habits and customs of lions — from hearsay, naturally — and states, amongst other things, that a lion will carry away an ox upon his back and a sheep in his mouth. He bases this statement upon the difference in the weights of the two animals. If it must be admitted that the killing of lions in those days, with the primitive guns then in use, was a much more dangerous undertaking than it is in these days of perfected rifles, there is yet no reason to be surprised that these animals were so quickly exterminated wherever the" colonists settled down. We have a picture presented to us here of a body of Europeans with about thirteen muskets setting out cautiously upon their warlike enter- prise. How far less courage is involved in this kind of thing than in the hunting of lions with sword and spear, as was the custom of the natives in those clays. The lion's knell had sounded already then. Now he is disappearing quickly. Pere Guilleme, a missionary, who was stationed for many years at Tanganyika, tells me that the "white fathers" there have killed thirty-seven lions in the course of only four years — for the most part by the ■^ More Lion-Hunting Experiences use of strychnine, with which they have poisoned the remains of animals killed by lions. In 1900 I had an encounter with three lions, which might easily have proved fatal to me. After a march of nearly ten hours in the driest season, my caravan had come to the foot of a hill and my tired men had pitched camp. Following the course of a stream, I went out for a short walk round the camp, armed, contrary to my usual custom, with only a fowling-piece. A number of bald fruit-pigeons [I'inago calva nudit'osti'is) presently caught my attention, and I went after several, which were perched upon the branches of a lot of fruit-trees in the thick brushwood of the river-banks. Thus occupied I had strayed about a thousand paces from the camp, which was now out of sight. The pigeons were very .shy. Suddenly I came upon the tracks of several lions. Almost involuntarily I followed these for a couple of hundred yards or so, and was just about to make my way down into the dried-up bed of a freshet, which acts as a tributary to the stream in the rainy season, when I became conscious of a shadow to my left. Turning round, I beheld a lioness twenty-five paces off, eyeing me quietly. She stood in a small glade in the thorn-thicket, and I concluded that she had made a resting-place for herself among the dense green grass by the side of the stream. Almost simul- taneously I .saw, six or eight paces from her, two other lions moving forward, half covered by the grass. All three formed a most impressive sight, witnessed thus from so near. For several seconds neither I nor the lions made a move — I bitterly regretting that I had brought only my 389 With Flashlight and Rifle -♦i fowling-piece, loaded with No. 8 cartridges, the only cart- ridges I had with me. But the lioness presently turned away from me quite calmly, took several steps along the border of the gorge, and then disappeared suddenly among the bushes. The others disappeared simultaneously. I waited motionless for a minute where I was, then hastened back to the camp to equip myself properly for a pursuit, when on returning I found that the tracks of the lioness could not be made out. I at once erected a trap for her, tying up a white steer as a bait. Shortly after ten o'clock that night I heard an angry roar, and early the next morning I found a large lion with a heavy mane caught in the trap, which he had dragged away into the thorn-thicket several hundred yards. He had not hurt himself in the least with the chain or iron. While I was taking a photograph of him he made a startlingly quick and determined rush at me, in spite of his encumbrances ; but I brought him down with a single shot. Next night two lionesses were entrapped. And as after this good haul no other lions were to be seen or heard near the stream, 1 concluded that these must have been the three lions I had met. Here I may observe that lions and all other, cats scarcely injure themselves at all when caught by the paw in these traps, unlike hyaenas, jackals, foxes, and other animals. I attribute this to the comparatively quiet bearing of the cat tribe when they find themselves in such difficulties. I have said that lions are not often to be met with by daylight in the wilderness ; but there have been other occasions, of course, during my years in Africa, when 390 -* More Lion-Hunting Experiences their unexpected appearance has put me in a tight corner. One lioness I can still see standing a few paces away from me, outlined clearly against the dun-coloured, sun-scorched velt, her yellow eyes gleaming as they watch me. But the traveller may have to wait years and years for such an experience. Among sportsmen who have been lucky in this respect may be mentioned Duke Adolf Fried- rich von Mecklenburg, who shot a fine lion on his very first hunt in German East Africa. This is a record feat. Never shall I forget the exciting hours I spent one day in 1899 following up the tracks of a party of no less than fourteen lions. Five hours it took me to get within sight of them, in a thorny jungle with an undergrowth of bowstring hemp. I had never come across so large a party before. The tracks of their mighty paws stood out clearly in the fine dust of the velt. There is an extraordinary fascination in following up tracks of wild animals in this way, more or less hap- hazard. As you move forward your imagination goes ahead of you, picturing in a hundred different fashions the wav in which you vi^ill at last come upon your quarry. In this case — perhaps it was just as well for me — the lions became aware of me as they lay in the shade of some acacia-trees, just as I was scrambling up a hill, and in a moment they had all disappeared. When I got to the spot where they had been lying, I was just in time to catch a last glimpse of them disappear- ing into a thicket at the bottom of the hill. A strong smell of lions was there to reinforce the tracks and prove to my senses that 1 was not the victim of an illusion. Such 391 With Flashlight and Rifle -* experiences are exasperating to the hunter, but it is some- thing for the mere observer to have had the monopoly of so wonderful a spectacle. The same kind of thing, on a lesser scale, happened to me often in East Africa. I was particularly unlucky on one occasion when I encountered the finest and oldest lion I have ever seen. It was while I was stalking waterbuck that he came intO' sight. Half-hidden as he was in the bush, I could not at first make out what kind of animal he was. In another second he came into full view, only to turn round immediately and make off. My bullet was too late ; but a scanty streak of blood showed me that it had not completely missed him. Great were my annoyance and disappointment about a fort- night later to learn that the remains of a large-maned liom had been found near this spot. They were lying in so' dense a thicket that even the vultures had not been able tO' get at him. The flesh had been completely devoured by maggots ; but from the extraordinary number of long hairs I could see that it must have had a wonderful mane,, almost black." However, I ■ got possession of its mighty skull, from which some teeth were missing, proving that it must have been of considerable age. I cannot say abso- lutely that this must have been the lion at which I had shot, but it certainly seems most probable. Among the thirty-seven lions which I caught by means of the iron trap manufactured by R. Weber, there were several strong, old specimens which had dragged away the traps for several miles. The killing of them entailed very difficult and dangerous pursuits, as in these circum- stances they almost always made for cover. 392 -♦> More Lion-Hunting Experiences Among my donkeys and cattle there was always some animal available as bait for the lions, owing to the ravages- of the tsetse-fly. When one of them had been attacked by this scourge, instant death from a bite by a lion was a real release from the lingering agony of death by blood- poisoning. Often the lions would have so covered themselves over with reeds and grass that even at a distance of ten paces I could hardly make them out, and had to climb a tree to get a shot at them. INIy most notable exploit, as regards the capturing of lions, was the bagging of a party of nine, consisting of three old lionesses and six others, of which four were full-grown young ones. Three had appeared one night, four the next,, and the following night the last two. This was the onl)^ time I have known an old lioness to be tempted successfully by a goat. I had, however, so placed the trap and the goat that the lioness, so soon as she had seized the latter,- was able to get off unhurt, and make her way again into a sedgy swamp hard by. There she kept so quiet that one of my men wandering past stick in hand, ignorant of his danger, almost knocked up against her. Fortunately he escaped. He took to his heels and never stopped until he got safe back to camp. It is astonishing how quickly lions, and even leopards and hyaenas, are able to drag these heavy traps, which weigh about thirty kilograms, and which have anchors stuck in the ground. Some branches of the Wanyamwesi people are very fond of lion-flesh for food. They believe that it makes them strong and brave ; they are particularly fond of the fat parts. The nine lions- 395 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ taken by me in the three nights all made their way into the stomachs of my Wanyamwesi, although their chief man declared to me, when the seventh Hon was finished, that he thought he would like some other sort of vension for a change ! A new case of toujotirs perdrix ! We brought away with us in gourds, however, a supply of the surplus fat from the lions, and it served for quite a long time as a much relished delicacy. Almost on the same spot where I had killed the nine lions, I tried a year later to get hold of an old lioness accompanied by several small cubs ; judging by the tracks on three successive nights, the whole family visited the neighbourhood of my traps without, however, paying any attention to the bait. It was long my keen desire to bring back to Europe a full-grown lion alive, and the Berlin Zoological Gardens had been good enough to place at my disposal for this purpose several transportable cases, capable of being taken to pieces ; however, the impossibility of getting bearers to carry an iron chest itself weighing 500 lb. all the way from the wilderness to the coast, obliged me to give up all hope of this. Since the days of the Romans this feat has never been achieved. All the lions that have been brought to Europe have been caught young, and have been brought up in captivity, including the so-called forest-bred lions and those presented as gifts by Oriental rulers. So far as I know, we are without information as to the means by which the ancients got possession of the great number of lions which made their appearance in the arena. Hundreds of lions were sometimes killed in the arena in a single show, though a good many of these may have been young ones. 396 THE CAMP XX Leopards THE leopard undoubtedly plays the principal role among all the beasts of prey to be found in East Africa. Unlike the lion, he is to be found every- where. The colouring of the leopard, so distinct and conspicuous when seen in a cage, blends so curiously with the animal's natural surroundings as to become almost imperceptible. So much so that, even by day, he is able to pass close to you without being observed. Leopards have no special predilection for settled haunts, though they are chiefly to be found in rocky mountain-passes where there is plenty of cover. They are fine climbers, and often pass the day in the airy and shady heights of a tree-top. I know of a case of a leopard springing upon a negro, who was up a mango- tree, and killing him instantly with a bite on the throat ; and I have heard of several other such occurrences. It is difficult to give an idea of the lightning speed VOL. II. 397 I With Flashlight and Rifle -*> with which leopards move, either when attacking or in full flight. Curious to relate, although these animals are so common, I find, from my diary, that I only met them at close quarters twelve times — not counting the numbers I have trapped. These encounters were always sudden and unforeseen. Of peculiar interest was an encounter I had with a leopard near the town of Pangani, on the very day of my setting out on my great expedition of 1899. Ac- companied by only one man, I had returned to the town to obtain some more reserve carriers. At the head of these I was hurrying in the evening back to my camp, when I suddenly became aware of the continuous shrieking of a troop of baboons. From the cries and shrieks of the apes I concluded that a leopard had chased them, and, as some old and large male baboons peered from a monkey-bread-tree into the underwood close to our path, with signs of rage and cries of alarm, I attempted to get nearer, my gun ready in my hand. The underwood was almost impenetrable, and it seemed to me as if the leopard must be busy tearing a baboon to pieces under a baobab-tree. After a few steps in the direction of the monkeys, I heard something make off in the jungle, and at the same time the baboons clambered after it, whatever it was, screaming and chattering, up in the safe altitudes of the tree-tops. As the thicket grew less dense I was able to get along more quickly, and, just as I was descending a glen, I noticed to the left, some thirty paces off, a powerful leopard, which had killed a young baboon, and 398 ", -« J, i'-f 5f !U -* Leopards Avas dragging it along by the neck. The animal noticed me the moment that I, hindered by some branches, lifted up my rifle to shoot, and it disappeared with a lightning-like flash, leaving the monkey behind. The whole troop of them followed him high up in the branches. Unfortunately I had to make up for lost time and to hurry back to camp, and so was unable to seek out the leopard and to kill him. \'ery likely the " chui " was opportunely chased and devoured by lions ; I know that this happened in two other such cases. I have several times come in contact with leopards in various parts of the velt, especially when 1 have approached their haunts, which, during the midday hour, are generally in the tall grass. Once 1 nearly trod on a leopard. It was out in the open, and he slipped out from between some bushes so suddenly that I involuntarily started back. 1 missed my first shot at him, and although my second wounded him I did not bring him down. To shoot a leopard in full flight with a rifle is a most difficult teat. You have reason to rejoice if you miss completely, and do not merely graze him, for a wounded leopard is a most dangerous opponent. At first 1 could not forbear shooting at a leopard whenever I came upon one, but I learnt b\' experience to become more cautious. How dangerous a leopard can be was brought home to me by one.e.xperience I had. I had discovered a track in the sand made by a leopard trailing some booty after him. Cautiously I approached a gully made by the rain to which the track led me. I had soon made the circuit 401 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of this, and ascertained that the animal could not yet have left it. Then suddenly 1 spotted the leopard, who was lying on top of a small antelope under the root of a tree which had been washed down by the rain. Man and beast espied each other at the same moment. Serpent-like the leopard crept, leaving his prey in the recess, to a corner of the gully, intending to take flight f Quick as lightning I fired, but aimed too far back and only wounded him. Almost at the same moment the shouts of my people, who had stayed behind at the entrance to the gully, told me that they had seen the leopard. The animal was bleeding profusely. Cautiously, step by step, I crept after him, until I saw him crouching again where I had fired at him first, and half hidden by some roots. The distance between us was about five-and-twenty paces. The sides of the gully were steep and hard to climb. The moment I raised my rifle again to shoot, the leopard sprang towards me. The next instant he seemed to touch me ! Then in another instant he was gone. He had sprung right back again and disappeared in the gully ! It had all happened in the fraction of a second, and I had not time to fire again. It must have been the way we involuntarily drew back — I and the two men who were with me — that caused the beast suddenly to take to flight. I shall never forget this situation, nor the sharp, short snarls uttered by the leopard. Afterwards I found several drops of blood in the sand, only a few inches from where I had stood, and my gaiters also were be- 402 -* Leopards spattered — a proof of how close the animal had been. A few minutes later I came upon the leopard again, and this time a well-placed bullet did for him. But I attribute this to good luck rather than to my own skill. Such attacks by leopards may easily terminate fatally. Mr. Hall, my host in Fort Smith at Kikuyu, related to me, among other stories, the evening before I shot my three lions in that vicinity, that whilst hunting antelopes near the Nayasha Lake he met with a mishap because he had incautiously shot at a " chui." He was only convalescent at the time, in fact just risen from a sick- bed (after an unlucky encounter with a rhinoceros), and was hunting again for the first time, accompanied by an Askari, when he went after some impallas. A leopard had the same end in view, but was speedily shot at by Mr. Hall. Quick as lightning the beast sprang on the hunter and hugged him tight ; undoubtedly the leopard would have killed him, had not the Askari shot the animal while actually on his master. Mr. Hall was injured for a very long time and was permanently lamed, the sinews of one leg being torn. On two other occasions I have been attacked by wounded leopards, but happily I was able to kill the enraged beasts in time. I can only advise the greatest caution when hunting these animals. The natives declare that leopards have a pronounced taste for human flesh, like the man-eating tigers of India. I have not been able to obtain positive evidence of the truth of this, but I will not deny that certain old leopards distinguish 403 With Flashlight and Rifle -* themselves in this direction ! On occasions, certainly, leopards attack men in a very desperate manner. A very remarkable case was related to me by Herr von Gordon, who, in the company of his brother and the late Herr von Tippelskirch, met with the following ex- perience in German East Africa. They were sitting smoking by the camp-fire, when suddenly a little fox- terrier running about near them gave out a feeble yap and disappeared ! Like a flash a leopard had seized it from its master's feet. A general hue-and-cry led to nothing. The dog was lost. The astonishing part of the story, however, is that next evening the very same leopard stole a negress from the camp, but let her fall about eighty paces away. The previous experience had made every one more ready with their arms, and a quick fire had frightened the animal so that he had let fall his unfortunate prey — but dead from a bite on the throat. The chief food of leopards consists usually of apes and small antelopes and gazelles. In mountain woods they prey upon badgers, in rocky districts upon rock- badgers. The night-cries of the impallas and bush- bucks, and especially the weird shrieks of the baboons, herding in high trees, are caused, to my thinking, by the sudden attacks of leopards. At night time attacks on the sleeping apes are more practicable, for a full-grown male baboon when awake is no despicable foe. The teeth ^of . such an ape are longer than those of the leopard. The character of the leopard is a remarkable contrast to that of the lion. He is notable for his savageness, even 404 '^. Leopards when quite young. Young leopards were brought to me in the month of February ; and in Zanzibar I obtained at the same time two cubs, which I brought with me to Europe. The call of the leopard is a peculiar, snarling, mewing, characteristically cat-like cry. and is often to be heard at evening and during the night ; I have sometimes heard it in the afternoon. Many authors declare that leopards seldom, if ever, touch a carcase as their prey, but rather seek some live animal to drink its blood. I have met with no evidence in proof of this statement, so often made as if from personal observation. As a matter of fact, I have caught about forty leopards, and they were almost all secured by traps skilfully baited with dead game, whereas traps which were on certain occasions baited with live goats attracted the leopards less than the others. I have learnt, too, that my method of capture became much appreciated in East Africa after I had obtained such e.xcellent results. Naturally manv hundreds of my carriers have given descriptions of it all over the country. For two reasons these results which I obtained are perfectly comprehensible. Firstly leopards, according to several observations I have made, are accustomed to hang up the remnants of their prey on the branches of trees or bushes, sometimes quite high up, after they have devoured the heart and liver and buried the entrails. In this way the leopard unquestionably helps another of^ his kind to a meal that he has not been able to obtain for himself. In consequence of this habit the attention 407 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of the leopard is drawn to any remains of flesh that he may happen to find. Leopards are endowed with a good share of slyness and cunning — qualities which often make them avoid the snares laid for them. A well-set trap, baited with carcase, arouses their suspicion less than a wooden trap provided with a live goat. When I caught a leopard in an iron trap I was almost sure to get his mate a night or two after. I have caught and shot male leopards that weighed 145 lb. ; the females weigh considerably less. The leopard is a most dangerous animal when ensnared. It is an indication of his savage nature that on the approach of man he always tries to get as near as possible, raging, growling, and snarling the while. Should he manage to free himself from the iron, he is sure to make a violent attack on any one near. He climbs up the tree as far as the chains of the snare will allow. One morning I was informed that a leopard had been caught in a small trap which Orgeich, my taxidermist, had set the night before. " It is well set," he said briefly, " he will be caught fast!" This assurance strengthened my belief that the trap, as usual, had been fastened on to a tree- trunk by means of a chain. My belief soon proved to be an error. As I approached the place where the trap had been set, a little bushy spot in the Pori, I saw the leopard making for me some hundred and fifty paces off", trailing after him quite easily the iron chain and a wooden stake attached. This all happened so quickly that I had barely time to spring behind a little thorn-bush, whence I killed the enraged beast with a well-aimed shot. 408 -^ Leopards Another time, at the beginning of my severe illness in 1902, on the banks of the Pangani River, an old and very powerful leopard had taken flight with the trap and grapnel and gone some distance in the sedge-grass, where I found him after following his track for some time. The reedy swamp, then dried up, was almost impassable, and it seemed marvellous to me how the animal, hampered with trap, chain, and staple, was able to get there at all. At each step we expected to come upon the leopard. We — that is. Captain JMerker and myself — followed the track of the trap, in company with some blacks. Our companions soon found the situation unbearable, and only the trustiest of them remained with us. On we went in the seething heat, carefully looking round us, and poking in the thick undergrowth with long poles from time to time. Suddenly a snarling and a clanking •of chains were distinctly heard. Now was the time ! Mean- while we two " Wasungu " (Europeans) pushed our way cautiously in the marsh. Now and again we heard the ominous snarl — the clank of the chain. The ground being so exceedingly dry it was impossible to make out a track ; we thought for some time that it was not with a full-grown leopard that we had to do. We pushed forward further and further. Suddenly a deep growl made the natives take to their heels, calling out that they had clearly seen the head of a male lion ! They stuck to their assertion. Slowly we sought, inch by inch, to find a freer outlook in the marsh, by beating down the reeds with our poles ; Captain Merker and I, holding our rifles well up and expecting to see the beast 411 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of prey appear at every moment or rustle ! But, wonderful to relate, in spite of the continuous snarling we found it impossible to locate the exact spot where the beast was hiding, and could get no further on account of the increasing thickness of the reeds. So we decided to fire several shots in the unexplored direction to kill the supposed lion. As appeared later the leopard was well hidden in a hippopotamus-haunt. I cannot say how much ammunition we had to expend. At last one of us must have managed to give the leopard his death-wound, judging by the silence which followed. Even then it was quite a long time before we managed to make our way inch by inch to the dead beast, when we saw a fine specimen of an old male leopard. In the Masai district hunting-leopards [Cyncehtms guttatus) are very rare, and I have only seen two individuals, and then learnt nothing about them. But the "chui" of the Waswahili, the " ol ugaru geri " of the Masai, and the " mellila " of the Wandorobo is to be found in countless thousands nightly throughout the Nyika. He will long survive the last lion. 412 PRINCE LOWENSTEIX USED TO TAKE HIS SHARE OF THE WORK OF PREPARING THE ORNITHOLOGICAL SPECIMENS XXI The HycBna'Dog, the Lynx, the Wild Cat, and the Otter THE sight of a pack of hyaena-dogs {Lycaon put us) after their prey is one not easily forgotten. For the most part I have had only fleeting glimpses of them, whether on the plains or on the caravan-roads by the coast, or by the marshes, as they rushed after their quarry in long springs, two or three close on the track, the others following close behind, so as to cut off the retreat if necessary. The wonderful picture of this chase passes quickly under a whirlwind of dust, and is more divined than perceived, only the heads of the prey and pursuers rising now and again above the reeds in the marsh. It passes before one like a phantom. I have found the hyaena-dog very rare in those districts through which I have travelled. This has been the experi- ence also of trustworthy observers in British East Africa. All kinds of game, even the strongest antelopes, fall VOL. II. 41; With Flashlight and Rifle ^ a prey to these hyeena-dogs. Close to the railway-station at Korogwe I once saw them after a waterbuck, which, however, was shot by an official of the line before they could get at it. On another occasion I saw a herd of fourteen hyccna-dogs hunting the gigantic eland, and I have seen them after small antelopes as well. In the year 1899 1 had been following for nearly four hours the blood-tracks of a bull eland that I had shot, when, suddenly, still hastening forward, I saw to one side of me. a troop of hy£ena-dogs taking their noon- tide siesta under the shade of an acacia. The moment they saw me they slid off in all directions with their tails between their legs. Then they reassembled, halting for a moment in their flight and barking at me in strangely high-pitched tones — they were regular dog-like barks. With their ears pointed they came forward now like tame dogs in my direction until they got to within five-and- twenty yards, when they took to flight again to one side, and the whole game began afresh. I was so engrossed in this rare sight that I did not shoot, but remained quietly crouching with my men. This encouraged the dogs to come nearer. This settled for me the question as to whether or, not hyaena-dogs attack men. The natives say they often go for unarmed men. I do not know how long- this might ha.ve gone on, but after about ten minutes the dogs seemed to have satisfied their curiosity, and some disappeared in the dry. grass. I thought it time now to bring down two specimens with a double shot, whereat all the others took to flight. 414 ft -%j , - ^ a- ^ - ^^^^^^K:' 1 ■ 1 ^^^^^^^^^^ i° li ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HB -5^ P^V 'J-. 1 :* ^ ;k%. j> " m^^ = 49^ 2 -* f" v^pT J^swfc* A 1^- •■**»-::-y>.^- ^^1 K -'. ^c^'' J^^Hi'^ I'M Ht^ ^H^E - --'^^4 '"*' ' 9 .»i-. I^^Bu - IK' K ' ^Sw'Jr < V' ja' ^^"'^ r ^^^^r ^H^B X - 1 Sty fey ' 'T*'. - ^^p f £ (E.*'...JS -^- ---^ .^ y C=: ■ = Li-2- ^ -^ ' ? ^^Z3 ' ^i-'^^^B < C S. *iy if^.^^ ■■ ^^m (. najr > w > z -: ■.' * \ n > s. The Tree-Badger of the tiny creatures there. Like elves these tree- badgers play about on the trunks of the trees, and the whole night they are coming and going over our heads. I have heard them, too, in wooded ravines on the plains, when I have been after elephants. In the branches of leafy trees they could be heard the whole night, their cries mingling with that of a cuckoo {Centropus siipcrciliosus) that often uttered its call in the early morning hours. " Tippu-tippu " the coast-people call this cuckoo. Tree-badgers are often visible by daylight. You may be making your way into the gloomy recesses of the forest, where the thick foliage shuts out the light of day, and the whole place seems void of any sign of animal life. Suddenly a shrill cry of warning seems to rise from the red-footed francolin at your feet, and, terrified by its own cry, the rabbit-like little creatures run skilfully up the juniper and other high trees, to quickly disappear in the holes and crannies of the branches. These are the tree-badgers, the peldle of the natives, the fur of which is made into coats and is much prized by the Europeans, who have lately taken to exporting it. The natives catch the pe Idles in snares, and immense numbers of these little beasts have been taken of late years. The pursuit of the tree-badger is carried on with great zest, like that of the Bega monkey, so that the animal is rapidly decreasing in numbers. The hut-tax imposed on the natives has the effect ot inciting them to a much greater destruction of the animals than they would under- 00 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ take of their own accord, as they can raise money by selling the skins to the trader. Immense quantities of skins find their way now to the trade-centres. In Aden and Marseilles, for instance, thousands and thousands of antelope-skins are sometimes to be found. It is an open secret that the greater number of these skins are procured by armed native hunters for the agents of European firms. The British Government has long hampered the once thriving trade in antelope- hides, by a very severe tax on the steamers running to Aden, and this seems to be the only means of protecting game. Even so, hundreds of thousands of antelope- skins are exported as cow-hides ! This I have seen for myself Formerly they used to be sent off quite openly and only tied up ; nowadays they are covered with canvas mats. The same thing happens in East Africa with smaller animals — with the peUle, for instance, and the Bega monkey. While those regions of the north of Africa which adjoin the Mediterranean possess a species of wild boar similar to our own in form, we find south of the Sahara quite another kind distributed over a wide area. In the Masai country a singularly unpleasing kind is found — the wart-hog, whose name suggests that it is not very beautiful ! It has a head covered all over with warts and protuberances that give it a very grotesque and ugly appearance. A second species, the river-hog, is found more in the neighbourhood of populous districts, and for this reason I seldom came across it. The wart-hog, however, 434 -* The Wild Boar is frequently found in the Kilimanjaro region, and the big old boars afford the hunter good sport as well as fine trophies with tremendous tusks. Wild boars are \'ery harmful in Africa, as everywhere else, in the plantations and fields, and are particularly hard to keep off the native plantations at night time. But the wart-hog is enabled, by its powerfully developed tusks, to wander over the unpeopled velt, and to find itself food by grubbing and ferreting. It is fond of flesh when it can find any. Swine are endowed with very fine senses of hearing and smelling, but their sight is very weak. Big old boars have a deceptive resemblance to male lions when taking flight, on account of their mane, especially in the tall grass and with a bad light. More than once my carriers alarmed me with the cry that they had seen a lion taking flight when it was really a boar. One peculiarity of the wart-hog is that it frequently stays in the haunts of the ant-bear, especially during a period of great heat. One often finds several at a time in these burrows. Wounded wart-hogs strike hard with their tusks, and great caution is necessary in hunting them. Owing to their uniformly grey colouring they are almost indis- tinguishable from the ground of the velt. Sometimes, even in the midst of thick cover, they burrow right under the ground. The wild boar will survive longer than most other members of the East African fauna, in spite of its being hunted. Even in the over-populated Germany of to-day 437 With Flashlight and Rifle -*! there are plenty of black wild boars. In the fever- haunted countries of East Africa they may yet dwell for many a century. Since the above lines were written, it appears that a hitherto unknown species of wild boar has been discovered — somewhat intermediate between a wart-hog and a river-hog. 438 CHAPTER XXIII Hyienas and Jackals WHILE the striped hyaena is rarely to be seen and is notable for its timidity, the spotted hyaena is to be met with all over East Africa. In con- junction with the vultures and marabous, they act as scavengers. They rarely leave a mammal of any size to rot. Wherever there is a dead body, whether it be of man or beast, the hyeena is always to the fore. The animal-world of Africa is spread over immense areas, and the animals vary their haunts, much as do the nomadic races, according to the seasons. Thus it is that hyaenas are to be found now in one region, now in another. They congregate in great numbers wherever there is a famine, whether it be the result of drought or of war. The larger beasts of prey — lions and leopards, for instance — provide a large proportion of the hya;na's food. The hyaena's keen scent draws him quickly to the spot where the huge cats have left the remains of their prey. Hysnas make away with even the largest carcases at an extraordinary rate ; they can swallow immense 439 With Flashlight and Rifle -* quantities of flesh and bones, and can break bones of great thickness with their powerful teeth. Their habits are nocturnal. They do not like the heat of the sun ; young and tamed specimens are not able to stay with the caravan on the sun-scorched -velt, even when they are full grown. When the sky is cloudy one sometimes sees hyaenas in search of prey in the late VULTURES REMAINED NEAR THE CAMP DAY AFTER DAY IN THE HOPE OF FOOD afternoon, but generally they pass their day in the shade of the bushes or in caves and under rocks. I found young ones on several occasions during the spring months. There are generally three or four in a litter. The vicinity of the fox-like earths is trodden quite flat by the young ones. Quantities of skulls and bones lie round about, and vultures sit close to the young hyaenas in the early morning hours — a sign that they 440 -* Hysenas and Jackals pass the night on the trees close to the earth. I have often found a number of cinereous vultures, griffon- vultures, and king-vultures forming an amicable addition to the household of the young and old hycenas. During the day, too, I have often seen hya;nas tearing away at carcases, undisturbed by the hundreds of vultures, marabous, and jackals all around. Xone of these three species had any fear of the others. All were engrossed in satisfying their hunger as fast as possible. The jackals as well as the hysenas like to bury themselves in the stomachs of the larger mammals. As darkness drew nigh, the hyaenas would surround the camp, howling dismally ; they were not in the least afraid of visiting our premises by night to steal flesh, or even unappetising morsels such as skins or pieces of leather. The photographs I took by night show the greed with which hyaenas pounce on a carcase. Their strength is astonishing. A spotted hyaena can easily run off with an ass, as the reader will see for himself from the accom- panying illustration. Bohm saw them steal a human corpse and gallop oft with it. I found the hycenas timid and cautious when I tried to photograph them feeding by night. As Bohm remarks, they keep at a distance so long as the hunter is within range, but the moment he goes out of sight, if only for a few moments, the hyaenas are back again at the carcase. They are never taken by surprise, being possessed of very sensitive nostrils. Young hyarnas are distincdy marked ; when old they lose their marks more or less, and their colouring becomes VOL. II. 445 4 With Flashlight and Rifle -* more uniform. They are often mangy. During the famine-year, when hyaenas feasted upon human corpses, I killed some very fat specimens. Like the European fox, the hysena — the " fissi " of the Waswahili, " twiti" of the Wanyamivesi, " ol egodjine" of the Masai, an " arvijet" of the Wandorobo — adapts itself to different localities and different conditions. Sometimes they are very shy, sometimes extraordinarily impudent. In some regions they are satisfied with carrion, in others they seem to crave for cattle and human flesh. They seized a number of my donkeys. One has most to fear from their attacks on dark, rainy nights. The reader may be surprised to hear that until 1899 one of the most disputed questions with regard to the fauna of British and German East Africa was whether there was such a thing in existence as a striped hysena. Professor Matschie long held the opinion, for want of proof to the contrary, that either the aard-wolf {Proteles cristahi,s) was the only species to be found in these countries, or that if there was a striped species of hyaena to be met with it must be one new to zoology.^ There had been other conjectures as to the existence of the striped species, but proof was not forthcoming to such distinguished observers as Richard Bohm, Hunter, and others. Captain Waldemar Werter believed he had found a striped hyaena, but there was a doubt as to whether he had confused what he saw with the aard- wolf. Personally, I believe he did actually see a striped hyaena. 1 Paul Matschie, The Mammals of German East Africa. 446 -♦ Hyaenas and Jackals Oscar Xeumann's stay of nearly three years in German and British East Africa seemed to have finally established the fact that only the spotted hycena was to be found in those regions. He stated, however, that, according to the natives, a beast of prey similar to the hy.ena was to be found in pairs, and lived on the coast and ate fish. In the autumn of 1S96 I baited a trap one evening with a heron on the banks of Lake Natron, between Kilimanjaro and Mctoria Xyanza. Next morning I found a striped hysena in the trap. Alfred Kaiser, who was well acquainted with the species on account of his four years' sojourn on Sinai, declared this animal to be identical with the one he knew in Arabia. This seemed to dispose of the idea of confusion with the aard-wolf, but the slight differences between this specimen and the striped hysena already known were not to be discerned without adequate materials tor comparison. The information I had so far collected still left doubts in the minds of experts : unfortunately I could not back up my theor\" by scientific proofs. These were still to seek, and could not be found in British East Africa, even by such keen observers as F. G. Jackson, A. H. Xeum.ann, Lord Delamere. and others. This was reserved for the great journey through Masai--land which I undertook tor collecting purposes in the spring of 1899. By setting traps for hyaenas systematically I was able to procure sixty-six skins and skulls, as well as entire skeletons. Xow, at last, all doubt was at an end ! A letter from Professor Matschie informed me that a spotted 451 With Flashlieht and Rifle -s^ species named the HycB7ia schillingsi had been definitely included in the category of the animal species of East Africa known to science. What I now state clearly proves the tremendous difficulty of the investigation of an unknown fauna. You would say that such a common beast of prey as the hyaena would have come into constant contact with the sportsman, or even the non-sportsman, especially by nightly ravages, and that, above all, the natives would have known it well. In the same way so distinguished an observer as Stuhl- mann was unable, during his stay on the Semliki, to obtain information of the okapi, which later became so famous, or of certain antelopes, as, for example, Hunter's hartebeest [Damaliscus hunteri) or the bongo {Boocerats euryceros), which had been seen by Europeans not long before. Of course, after my absolute proofs and those given by Professor Matschie, it was constantly stated by this or that person that they had long been acquainted with the animal in question. Such statements are easily made ! In an English work. Great and Small Game of Africa, published in 1899, the striped hyaena is said to be found only in Somaliland. The great whale-head {BalcBiiiceps rex), which has become so celebrated, was for years after its discovery in the marshes of the Nile the unattainable desire of ornithological collectors ! How seldom does the European spy out a fox in pass- ing through woods and fields ! How proud I was in my younger days in the Eifel Mountains at home over having 452 -»; Hyaenas and Jackals seen the wild cat on six occasions, and having killed three specimens ! Although I have made four sojourns in East Africa, only once have I seen the striped hyaena by day. At night I have noticed it twice, and I have trapped it 121 times. All natives who are at all acquainted with the animal world know the "kingugua' well. If you show them one that has been trapped they recognise it at once ; but if you question them about it, though its appearance is so distinctive and easily recognised, you are confronted with the most astonishing ignorance and that lack of desire to know which is a trait of the natives of East Africa. The " kingugua " is much more feared than the spotted hyaena ; it is said to be much more rapacious and aggres- sive. I cannot say how this may be. Perhaps the very wildness of the animal has been the cause of unjust sus- picions with regard to its savage nature. I know that on several occasions the natives laid the blame of certain cattle ravages and fatalities on " my hysena" when leopards were unquestionably the real culprits ! In captivity both striped and spotted hyjcnas are very confiding. In the Berlin Zoological Gardens I can call one away from its meal of flesh ! The animal prefers a caress to the satisfaction of its hunger. In 1902 I managed with great trouble to bring home to Europe in an iron cage a hysena (^H. schillingsi), caught in the Lafitti INIountains. It is still living. Its transport to the coast on the shoulders of forty coolies would never have been carried out but tor the energy of my most 457 With Flashlight and Rifle -* excellent attendant, Ombasha Ramadan, for I was very- ill at the time. I have established the fact that the striped hyaena is as commonly found as the spotted hyaena in some districts. In these cases the animals were much less rapacious than their spotted cousins. When caught in traps they always tried to hide their heads by pressing them against the earth in a very curious manner, as if playing at being ostriches — very different from the behaviour of the spotted hyaena, which snarls and struggles. Whilst following the course of the Pangani River, in the Kilimanjaro district, on Meru Mountain, Ngaptuk, Donje- Erok, the Njiri marshes, in the Matiom Mountains, by the Kibaya-Masai, Lake Natron, the Kitumbin,Gilei,and Donje I'Eng-ai volcanoes on Lake Natron, in Ukambani, in the Pare Mountains, and in the districte watered by the Umba River— everywhere I have found the striped hyaena,' and sometimes twice as often as the spotted hyaena. Ubiquitous throughout the desert are the jackals, whose habits are chiefly, but not entirely, nocturnal. The beautifully coloured silver-jackal is common every- where ; but I found a second and larger species in the hilly districts {Canis kohibi). At night time silence reigns over the velt but for the howling of the , hyaenas and the plaintive cry of the jackals, which are still on the move in the early morning, hours after the hya;nas have sought their hiding-places. ' I had the pleasure of presenting a specimen of my hysena to the British Museum. VOL. II. -♦ Hyasnas and Jackals There is the greatest companionship between jackals and U*/ '■- REMAINS OF ONE OF THE MANY RHINOCEROSES SHOT BY THE "FIXDI hyjtnas, and sometimes jackals are at their ease in the company of the lion ; but lions, and leopards also, are apt to 463 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ prey upon them. I have found the fresh remains of jackals lying about after the lion's feeding-time. A too bold companion of the monarch had evidently fallen a victim to his venturesomeness. Generally speaking, however, jackals roam about the velt alone in search of their food, the steady breezes of equatorial Africa helping them to scent out a carcase at an immense distance. If I laid out a bait in a certain place, it was sure not to be very long before one or more jackals came peering very cautiously out of the darkness. Nothing gives a more vivid impression of the quickly changing life in the equatorial velt than the rapid decomposition of the gigantic carcase of an elephant. One day the great beast lies before us in all its huge size ; the next its body is changed out of all recognition. And the hyaenas and jackals will have already made their raid in the nigfht. Hundreds of vultures will have settled on the neighbouring trees, or have begun to feast on the carcase. Round about the grass is trodden under, and all whitened with their droppings. During the following night almost the whole of the gigantic carcase will have been consumed by the united forces of the hysenas and jackals. It is in the early morning hours that the vultures are most busy. In a very short time nothing remains but the scabby hide and the huge skeleton* The next rainy season softens the remains of the hide, so that it can be consumed entirely by hyaenas and jackals. Now only the broken bones remain on the ground. A velt conflagration, perhaps, and the gradual 464 1 ' '"'' '"'^^ -^ Hyaenas and Jackals influence of the tropical sun soften the bones, and they fall to bits ; the tusks alone withstand the influence of the weather for a number of years. Then new life always springs from the ruins. I have discovered birds' nests in the huge bleached skulls, or perhaps carefully built nests of mice that had found a refuge from their enemies in the tusk-sockets. Then, in the course of a few years, the skull also falls to pieces ; and thus ends the drama which has been played. . . . One often encounters jackals by daylight. Their ubiquity makes them play a great rok in the legends and tales of the velt-population. In Germany the fox is the poetical personification of cunning and practical acute- ness in the fight for life. In East Africa this ro/c is played by the " umbua witu " of the W'aswahili, the " endere " of the Masai, or " eeloande " of the Wandorobo. The opportunities I had of watching a large carcase beset by hundreds of vultures, innumerable marabous, some spotted hyaenas, and a number of jackals, all clamouring for the booty, were among the most interest- ing of my African experiences. Unfortunately, bad light generally stood in the way of successful photographs at these times. By some sort of fatality the light was generally bad when I wanted it most. 1 trust that others may be more lucky in this respect. 1 hope that the man who follows in my footsteps will succeed far better than I have done. It is not enough to be keen and expert and well-equipped ; one must have good luck as well. 469 filt S -4 .i A HERD OF FRINGE-EARED ORYX XXIV The Antelopes of East Africa LUDWIG HECK lays it down in his book Das Tierreich, that the word "antelope" embraces all horned animals except goats, sheep, and cattle. We may safely apply it, therefore, to most of the different kinds of ruminants met with on the East African plains. Amongst the various species there are two that are notable for their size and strength ; these are the greater kudu i^Strepsiceros strepsiceros) which the Masai call " ormalu " ; and the eland ( TaiiTotragus livingstonei) called by the Masai " o'ssirwa," and by the natives of the coast "mpofu." The kudu, the males of which carry larger and stronger horns than any other African antelope, dwells in mountainous districts, and seldom makes its way into the Masai country. In Unyamwesi it is frequently to be met with, and I possess a pair of huge horns — "record" horns — which were stated to have come from the Useguha hinterland. According to Oscar Neumann the kudu was to be found among the Pare Mountains in 1893, though 470 The Antelopes of East Africa •not in great numbers. In 1899 I made a journey from the Pangani River to the Pare Mountain range, and encamped at the foot of the middle hill in order to stalk these antelopes. I found them very scanty in numbers, and very wild upon the slopes of the hill, which was ■covered with the candelabra-euphorbia trees. It was only after several unsuccessful attempts that I succeeded ALL MY ATTEMPTS AT GETTING A GOOD PHOTOGRAPH OF A LESSER KUDU WERE FRUITLESS in coming upon a small herd of four kudus, including one buck, which I brought down. During the daytime the kudus conceal themselves under the euphorbia-trees upon the spurs of the hill, and it was only very early in the morning that I got a sight of them grazing on the glades over which they roamed. It was in the early spring, the hottest time of the year, and the hillsides were scorched and bare. Here 471 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ and there light showers of rain had brought out patches of new grass and new leaves upon the trees, and these the kudus sought out. The blazing sunlight, the rough and stony ground, and the thorny vegetation make the stalking of the animals a very difficult job. I was sorry to find muzzle-loaders in the huts of all the natives. They had been hunting this valuable prey until it had been almost exterminated. I have never seen the greater kudu in the Masai country, except in the neighbourhood of the Gilei volcano. It must, however, appear sometimes in the steep declivity going down towards the Natron Lake — " the great ditch,"' as it is called — as the natives of Nguruman possess numerous signalling-horns made out of the horns of these animals. In the south of German East Africa also the g-reater kudu would seem to be numerous ; a well-known officer in our colonial police brought me to the Coast a great number of kudu-horns secured by Askaris in the Tabora neighbourhood . My experience of the greater kudu was comparatively slight, but I was glad to come across great numbers of the much weaker species called the lesser kudu iyStrepsiceros imberbis). This wonderful little animal is sometimes to be seen in the Masai country, but only here and there and in small numbers. The Masai gave them the name " o'ssiram," while the Wandorobo designate them "njaigo." The beautiful white-maned, dark-skinned bucks and the hornless does, whose skins are of a still darker brown, present a wonderful picture when you come upon 472 -^ The Antelopes of East Africa them suddenly. The white stripes upon their bodies have the effect of malving them part and parcel of their environ- ment, as is the case with zebras ; they produce the illusion of rays of the sun falling through twigs and branches. The extraordinarily large and sensitive ears of these animals enable them to become aware of the slightest suspicious noise. There is something very dignified and imposing A HERD OF ELANDS in the demeanour of the bucks, especially when they raise their heads for a moment at the hunter's approach. Formerly the lesser kudu must have been as numerous on the East Njiri swamps as in other parts ■of Masai-Nyika. The Masai still call them sometimes " ngare o'ssiram " (ngare-water), but their numbers were unfortunately thinned by the rinderpest. My friend Mr. Hobley found a great number of bodies of lesser kudus 473 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ in British East Africa which had succumbed to this terrible plague in 1891, as Mr. F. G. Jackson records in the Badminton Library. Lesser Rudus are to be found in small herds, consisting of a single buck and a few females. During the day they rest, going out to graze in the morning and in the evening. Often they will allow you to come right up to them, and then, taking to flight, make off at a tremendous pace, and you will never see them again. I spent a long time trying to get a good picture of these antelopes, but the only good one which I took was spoilt through a succession of mishaps. As they generally take up their stand in the shade of the trees and bushes, and are seldom to be seen out in the sun, it is very difficult to photograph them. On one occasion, when I came upon a fine specimen of a lesser kudu buck raising his head proudly about eighty paces away from me, my hand shook, and the picture which I took with my telephoto-lens was spoilt. The kudu which made its appearance upon the negative presented only a very blurred resemblance to the original. I found that the horns of the old bucks were very much broken and decayed ; you would think they had been lying out for quite a long time on the desert when found. The lesser kudu very often falls a victim to leopards ; I have seen bits of them hanging upon trees. In the driest seasons kudus feed largely upon " bowstring " hemp ; I have sometimes found their stomachs completely filled with the long fibres of these plants. The largest and most powerful antelope of all in Africa, the eland {Taurotragiis livingstonei), has something 474 -^ The Antelopes of East Africa of the appearance of cattle in its shape and bearing. This is especially the case with the bulls of larger size, some- times weighing as much as 2,000 pounds, and with neck and shoulders strongly developed. I found that while the females were always striped, the old bulls some- times lost their stripes altogether ; and, while I never noticed anything exceptional about the horns of the bulls. WOUNDED BULL GNU those of the cows varied greatly in length and shape,, sometimes being all twisted, sometimes quite flat. It was long believed that these elands, like the buffaloes, had been practically exterminated by the rinder- pest. I am glad to say that I found this was not the case. I found the biggest herd of all in the Kikuyu country ; it was a herd of forty-seven head, and I saw them grazing upon the bare-looking plain in company 475 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ with a lot of ostriches, but I could not get near them. It was by the Natron Lake that I brought down my first eland. I killed two others near Kibwezi, on British territory. Since then I have come across hundreds of solitary bulls in the autumn, and herds of various sizes, made up both of bulls and females, at all times of the year. The eland is a wonderful hill-climber. Hans Meyer and Captain Merker have seen them at a height of 16,000 or 17,000 feet on the plateau of Kilimanjaro. Professor Meyer is of the opinion that they form a separate species of mountain antelope, living always on the heights and entirely avoiding the plains ; but until he can support this theory by specimens distinguishable from those which I, have met with upon the plain, I must disagree with him on this point. According to my observations the eland, like so many other African mammals, leads a wandering life, moving about from place to place according to the season, and only ascending the mountains during the dry season; they keep moving about over a tremendous expanse of country, seeking out fresh grazing-places, and are often to be met with right on the coast of the Indian Ocean, in the Umba-Nyika country. Bull Elands sometimes attain a weight approaching to that of a large ox, and the largest specimens are some- times as much as five feet in height. It is an exciting moment for the hunter when he comes in sight of these animals for the first time. At the approach of danger the " singoita," as the Wandorobo call them, begin by rushing together from the different parts 476 VOL. II. -* The Antelopes of East Africa of the plain where they are grazing ; then, taking to flight, they break at first into a trot, which develops presently into a heavy but rapid gallop. Before they actually make off, however, they always indulge in a series of high jumps, to the astonishment of the observer, who would not believe them capable of such agility. I often found these elands at a great distance from water. They are able to go without water for several days ; they do not feed exclusively upon grass, but also upon stalks and the small branches of trees, but their favourite grazing is upon the .slopes of certain hills. Although I knew that elands were hill-climbers, I was quite startled the first time I saw them just as they were starting up the side of a mountain. The spot where I saw them was 6,000 or 7,000 feet high, in the thick of an impenetrable jungle, made up of jessamine, vernonia, and smilax thickets. I came upon them again, afterwards, up above the forest-belt, in the region of the shrubs. I often found them on the grass-covered open glades which the rhinoceroses have a liking for also, as well as in the dense woods high up on the different hills of the Masai country at altitudes varying from 7,000 to 8,000 feet. As at this time I rarely found them upon the plains, I have come to the conclusion, as I have said already, that they resort to the hills in the dry season. I saw some quite young ones in the month of November ; in most cases the elands did not mix with other antelopes, and the very old bulls were almost always alone. So far as I could judge, they did not seem at all nervous ; even the bulls that had been shot at did not seem to stand on their guard. 479 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Their, horns ' were in some cases shattered in quite a remarkable way, whether - throu'gh knocking' up against the trunks of the trees or through' fights with other bufls^' !■ cannot say. While- the white stripes are very clearly marked in- the case of the young animals, they -become less and less marked with age, and are barely perceptible on the old bulls; these bulls become darker and darker, until' at last their skins get to be a sort of bluish-black. The flesh - of ' elands,' especially of the yoiing- animal during the rainy season, is regarded as among the greatest delicacies in those regions. The skins of the bulls entail very troublesorrie preparation, as they are infested by a peculiar kirid' of tick,- especially- about the neck, and are very - apt to go'- bad. ' Another very' notable type of African antelope is to be- found in- the- gnus,- the " njumbo porrini " of the W'aswahili/the " aingat '-'of- the Masai, -an d-^ the " ngaita '' of the' Wandorobo. ' •- : l . ^ . . , . . . i _, ' If the" white-t^'iled gnii - {CbnnochcBtes ■ gnti), now Surviving ■ only in- -those regions of South Africa — the country of' its -o-rigin — in -which it is "preserved, is more bizarre, and has -its characteristics more-sti^ongly n-iarked, than either -the' brindled gnu or the white-bearded gnu, the ' latter can- be claimed 'it least as a' very distinctive feature of the fauna of the "Masai region' and the salt district.' 'Bigger and- 'stronger -than -the South African gnu, its appearance-is much more like that of a buffalo, especially when seen' from afar. The first sight of a bull gnu, as it riioves 'along- in its trustful, untroubled way, almost always-gives the -European the idea that he is face 480 ^ 1^ The Antelopes of East Africa ^7 •""p .^'^3^1^ A HERD OF G-NUS 1*1 ¥« H ■j § 4* - WHITE-BEARDED GNUS to face with a buffalo, unless he has come across the African buffalo in its native wilds. 483 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ At the, time of my first journey the question was still undecided what kind of gnus were to be found in the Masai country ; we Icnow now that only the white-bearded gnu flourishes there. It wanders about all over the place, according to the rains, is very gregarious, and is almost always to be found in company with zebras, ostriches, and other, animals. For weeks together I have watched a curious trio, consisting of an old bull gnu, a female gerenuk- gazelle, and a male Thomson's gazelle, and succeeded once in photographing them. GnuSj like zebras, are often able to go for a long time with water containing salt, which other animals cannot drink ; in the dry season they are to be found for months together in the neighbourhood of the Natron Lakes, where they graze upon the short new grass which springs up when the lakes periodically go dry. It is not difficult to get within shooting distance of these gnus in regions where they have not yet been hunted by Europeans ; the old bulls allow the hunter to come within two hundred paces, even on quite open spaces, before they take to flight (the herds being several hundred paces further away), so it is not hard to bring them down. Very old bulls keep apart from the herd, either alone or in twos and threes. These very old animals are found sometimes with the hair on their heads almost entirely white. When the gnus get wind of the hunter they begin snorting and go through extraordinary evolutions, springing about continually in all kinds of ways' before taking to flight. They are apt to go through these antics 484 -* The Antelopes of East Africa sometimes in captivity. This habit of theirs is not to be ascribed to the irritation caused by the parasites from which, Hke so many other antelopes, they suffer. The specimens which I have brought to Europe have played and gambolled about in this way, and an examination of their bodies after death showed that they were completely free from these parasites. I myself have discovered a species of parasite which seems very common on the white-bearded gnus, and which has not yet been given any scientific designation. All keepers of Zoological Gardens are familiar with the way these gnus jump about. The Suuth African gnu, is most conspicuous of all in this respect — it is a character- istic not to be found amongst other ruminating animals. J. G. }tlillais has given us an excellent picture of the white-tailed gnu indulging in these gambols. This leaping' habit is connected to a great extent with the fights that frequently take place between the bulls. Gnus, as was found out in the early days in Cape Colony, are to be classed among those animals which it is not easy to overtake on horseback, their powers of endurance and vitality being remarkable. In its free state the gnu always shows itself nervous in the presence of man. If it were to make use of its strength and its formidable horns, it would doubtless prove as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than the buffalo, especially as it has very good sight. It only shows its temper in captivity, when it is a more dangerous animal to deal with than most other antelopes. I was fortunate enough to be able to bring living 487 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ white-bearded gnus to Europe in the year 1900 for the first time. Through the friendly offices of Captain Merker, I succeeded in British East Africa in getting hold of two bulls and a cow aged about two years, Tn the company of two cows these gnus followed my caravan to the coast, and I succeeded in gettiffg them safely to Germany. It was not easy to get them across the river; they had to be driven in by force, and manoeuvred across with the help of ropes. One of the bulls I presented to the Berlin Zoological Gardens, and it was my hope to use the other two animals for breeding purposes. They used at first to run about quite freely over the paddock in Weiherhof. I had had the dagger-like horns of the bull somewhat shortened on taking him out of the cage in which, we had brought him over, and which I had fashioned, with the help of my taxidermist, out of some old fencing-wood that we had bought at Pangani. A well-known horse-trainer willingly took charge of these queer strangers. Judging them naturally from a utili- tarian point of view, he exclaimed : " These are good little beasts," but he very soon changed his mind as to the character of the animals. One day he absolutely refused to go within the enclosure in which his charges were kept, which was part of his duties. "I'll never call them good little beasts again," he said. "They are devils. The wife is good enough, but the husband is the very devil himself." I had been away for several days, but I thought now I would deal with the animals myself Armed with a long whip I undertook to drive back the bull, which was 488 -* The Antelopes of East Africa disposed to make a rush at me. In a moment I was hurled several feet into the air. It was only by a miracle that I escaped very serious injury, if not death. It took three or four active men, armed like myself, with whips, to drive the beasts off In a week, however, the bull began to show its contempt for even the heaviest whips, and at last it had to be enclosed with its companion in a smaller piece of ground, fenced in with strong stakes. Its temper gradually got worse there, and at last it became astonishingly wild. The bull in the Zoological Gardens behaved in a very similar way. A short time afterwards all three animals died of tuberculosis. Hitherto no other white-bearded gnus have, 1 think, been brought to Europe, but it is to be hoped that this will be achieved later. Gnus are fonder than any other antelope of the open vek, upon which they are usually to be found. Before us there spreads, in the burning sunlight, the vast extent of the bright-hued, reddish, glimmering laterite soil ; and hundreds of animals, thronging together, enliven its arid stretches with colours that vary in the varying lights. When the oft-seen mirage rises from the plain in the midday glow — giving the illusion of bluish water- surfaces — the gnus and zebras look as if they were moving about in water. About midday isolated groups of gnus take their siesta under the scattered, meagre thorn-bushes of Salvadora persica and other trees ; but during the rest of the day the herds are to be seen dispersed over the plain. It is very evident that here, as everywhere, life in the 491 With Flashlight and Rifle -* animal world has its underlying recognised law ; for the young males in this herd of gnus are plainly united — those who are in their prime, that is^in fighting off the old bulls and keeping them away from the herd. The old bulls remain like scouts, some hundred paces from the rest. In the famine years of 1899-1900 I was often able to get a bird's-eye view of a kind of serious " war- game " going on between the gnus and the natives, in the dust-swept desert between Kilimanjaro and the Meru Mountains. But no matter how the natives, making use of every inch of covert, tried to approach the herd of gnus, the latter were always able to evade their enemies ; for they were warned by their scouts, the old bulls, who flanked -the herd everywhere. In those parts of the velt through which the British Uganda railway takes the traveller to Victoria Nyanza, one often sees large herds of gnus' and many other ■ antelopes ■ close to the permanent way. The British authorities .have siicceeded, by-meansof very strict regulations, in creating a game-preserve - here, in the middle of the great trade-track. The authorities carried out this scheme with iron- resolution,- and the first trans- g-r-ess6r of the regulations^a highly ' placed English official — was, according to general belief, mulcted in very heavy- damages. Such' a. thoroughly practical mode of procedure is worthy of all acknowledgment in a district where control is possible. It differs considerably from our "Game Protection System "^ — a system of regulations which may certainly be promulgated, but which cannot be carried out in the far-distant parts of the velt, 492 VOL. II. -♦ The Antelopes of East Africa while in the proximity of the stations the game is. extirpated. The wild-animal fauna, which I was there enabled to investigate long before a railroad connected the Indian Ocean with the largest of Central African lakes, has thus been for the most part kept intact, and gives a plain indication of what may be accomplished also in the FRIXGE-EARED ORYX proximity of the projected raihvays in German East Africa by means of the same judicious administration. Besides the three species already mentioned, some giants of the antelope kind inhabit many parts of German East Africa. These are the large roan and sable antelopes [Hippotragiis equiiuis and Hippotragiis iiiger), both called by the Wasvvahili " palla halla." O. Neumann has pointed out a third species in the South Masai country. In the 495 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Masai highlands proper the first kind is not to be found ; on the contrary, a strip of coast-line, stretching barely one hundred kilometres inland, along the Mombasa-Tanga- Pangani-Sadaani boundary, is the chief habitat of this splendid antelope. We find kindred types in the south of the country, in riverless districts. I have found quantities of fresh horns among the dealers in Zanzibar, all, according to their account, coming from German territory ; and, more authentically, it seems to be established by the experiences of various travellers, that the sable antelope does not seldom occur in the coast districts. In the Kilimanjaro country the " palla halla" is entirely missing. It was in the Ngare-Dobash district that I first saw the kindred roan antelope i^Hippotragus equiniLs), which, later on, I had again the opportunity of observing not far from the Kikumbulia provinces. I do not believe it is the case that the hartebeest was to be found in the Kilimanjaro country before the time of the rinderpest ; at any race, it can only have occurred there in very small numbers. To obtain photographs of these glorious roan ante- lopes in their native freedom would be an enterprise worthy of any amount of endurance. Unfortunately I was not able to undertake it. But, in compensation, I cannot say how many times I came upon a type as beautiful as it is timid — the fringe- eared oryx {Oijx callotis), which inhabits chiefly the driest parts of the desert, as far as possible from water. This type, numerously represented in Africa and Arabia, reaches its highest development in the gemsbok i^Oryx 496 2 Pi 5 ip\ nu:.-^ r - a- 1 4-;' -* The Antelopes of East Africa gazella) of the Cape, an animal which, according to the latest reports from German South-West Africa, has been decimated within recent years. In this species, moreover, the splendid horns are at their finest and lonu^est. These horns are always stronger, compacter, and shorter in the males than in the females. A cow which I killed in 1900 had only one horn; the other had been broken off. This antelope reminded me curiously of the English heraldic animal, the unicorn. The prevailing species of oryx in German East Africa is the tuft-eared kind. This antelope is known to the Waswahili under the name of • chiroa." to the Masai as " ol' gamassarok," and to the Wandorobo as ■ songori.'' In the rainy season these big antelopes art extraordinarily fat. Before I hunted orjx in the Masai country, little was known of them there : but I found them extremely numerous, living in herds of as many as sixty, but more often in smaller groups, and, as with m.ost antelopes, the old big bucks isolated. Their coloration, which matches that of the velt most wonderfully, and their peculiar habit of living far away in solitary places, are the causes of the comparatively rare observation and destruction of them by Europeans. And even such a distinguished hunter as F. C. Selous spent, as I am told, several fruitless weeks, some years ago, trying to bag the "chiroa" in British East Africa. These antelopes often live for weeks at a time away from any water, the night-dew and the water-retaining plants sometimes being sufficient for them. It is only at the height of the dry season that they go to the water. 499 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Extraordinarily short and thick-set in appearance, these antelopes are possessed of desperately dangerous weapons in their horns, so that they have nothing whatever to fear, even from leopards. They care as little for the mountains as the gnu does — and, indeed, are essentially animals of the plains. Of a timid disposition, they avoid inhabited regions as far as possible. I found quite matured calves in December. Their mothers cleverly keep the rest of the herd at a distance from themselves and the youngsters, as I once was able to observe, when the handsome creatures are playing a kind of war-game with each other, in which the isolated animals parry the playful thrusts of their comrades with their pointed and formidable horns. Like the gnus, they show a marked partiality for the society of zebras. Quite often I found these oryx, especially solitary bulls, resting in the daytime on little open spaces in the midst of spreading sueda-bushes. All the oryx are likewise among the toughest of wild animals; only a very well-placed shot will dispose of one of them. The beautiful gemsbok has never, so far as I know, reached Europe alive. Antler-bearing ruminating animals are entirely unknown in Africa, with the sole exception of two species of deer at the extreme north of the continent. Some kinds of water buck [Codus) are strikingly like the' deer tribe in their habits, demeanour, and general conduct, the females especially bearing a marked resemblance to the red- deer. The male water-bucks carry a stately head-ornament 500 -^ The Antelopes of East Africa in the shape of lyre-shaped, curving horns. As a general rule I found the " euro " of the Waswahili in the proximity of water and marshy places ; but it also goes right out into the velt, and during the dry season will even with- draw into the mountain-forests, finding good cover there, and protection from flies. The scientific name of the waterbuck inhabiting A FEMALE WATERBUCK the jNIasai district is Cobus ellipsipryiiimts ; the Masai tongue gives it as " ol' emaingo," and the Wandorobo as " ndoi." By the coast, waterbuck particularly delight in the proximity of the salt-water creeks. I found them extra- ordinarily numerous near marshy river-banks, where I often observed several hundred in one day. Like all antelopes, waterbuck divide themselves into herds of different sexes ; 503 With Flashlight and Rifle -* but one sometimes finds a few isolated bucks among the large herds of hinds. The waterbuck dearly loves an island in a river, to which he can make his way by shallow channels, untroubled by the fear of crocodiles. The water- buck has a very peculiar smell, which is overpoweringly strong near its especial habitat, and can even be perceived at a great distance. This odour, which is something like that of tar, pervades the flesh of the animal, so that it is not much relished as food by Europeans. The females are particularly timid and watchful, and always give the first signal for flight. The buck or bucks which happen to be with them always, on such occasions, form the rear-guard of the fugitive troop. The vitality and tenacity of these antelopes are as remarkable as in. most African horn-bearing animals. In the March of 1897 I went alone with a small caravan from Kilimanjaro to the coast, following } the left bank of the Rufu. Amongst my tame cattle there was a black-and-white cow. Suddenly I noticed something black and white about two hundred jaaces in front of me, and supposed it was my cow which was being driven ia front with the goats. But immediately at'terwards I saw that it was a male ostrich, which had been taking a midday sand-bath, and was now running away from us. Scarcely an hour afterwards I saw, to my intense surprise (I was marching at this time in front of the caravan), something white glimmering again through the bushes. Amazed, I took the glasses to ascertain what it really was, when, to my delighted astonishment, the white "something " defined itself as a snow-white female water- 504 -*> The Antelopes of East Africa buck. But, most disappointingly, I missed it, owing to the great distance and my pardonable excitement. I stayed three days at that place, vainly searching for the rare creature ; I never saw it again. About a year later it was, I was informed, again fruitlessly chased by two Europeans at the same place. Curiously enough, white waterbuck were not unknown HARIEBEESTS SOMETIMES LOOK QUITE WHITE IN THE SUNLIGHT to mv old caravan-guide. Years ago he had seen " white game" (\ya??ia nyaiipc) near the same spot, and so had the people who were then with him. The so-called hartebeest antelopes are widely represented by many different species throughout Africa. Despite the obvious family likeness always existing, they really differ a good deal in colouring, and especially in horn-formation. My Wanyamwesi carriers called them "punju"; 505 With Flashlight and Rifle * the coast-folk give them the name of " kongoni " ; the Masai, " logoandi," and in the older idiom^ " lojuludjula." I found " roboht " to be the Wandoroba name for them. In the Masai desert region the "kongoni" of the coast-folk [Bubalis cokei) is found — a brown animal, and, like all hartebeests, remarkably top-heavy. It is a frequenter of the plains, where, once put to flight, it displays extraordinary staying power. If the old leader of a herd, whether a buck or a hind, be slain, it is not difficult to kill some other members of the party. This antelope, which at first sight is so quaint and' ugly, can move over the uneven ground of the desert with wonderful agility. The legs, as hard as tempered steel, seem to carry the creature over the ground as if he flew on feathered pinions. In some cases the flight begins with a most characteristic trotting — a kind of thrusting trot, in which the fore-legs are thrown far forward. If they are put to very hurried flight, they carry their heads very low and well in front of them. The vitality and tenacity of this wild animal — which feeds exclusively on grasses — are, in my opinion, superior to that of all other African antelopes. I have often had to follow old bucks, which had four or more mortal wounds, for a very long time before I could administer the finishing shot. The coat of this antelope sometimes, especially at night, looks of a shimmering whitish colour, as is strikingly shown in one of the illustrations, to this book. 506 -* The Antelopes of East Africa In open declivities, sparsely grown over with acacia salvadora and terminalia, as well as in the open plain, we find the " kongoni " specially frequent, often in company with ostriches, zebras, gnus, and Grant's gazelles or other wild animals. Youn^^ specimens of these ante- lopes, only a few days old. which I have come across, principally in March or April, scamper off just as nimbly f ' J W^ ./^0 -»p^-» A FEMALE GERENUK GAZELLE as their elders. One of these week-old creatures, which I was trying to tire out, was the principal cause (of course, in conjunction with severe malarial fever) of a painful heart-trouble, which brought my third African tour to a premature end. To the hartebeests (as well as to many other species of antelope) are peculiar both the characteristic lachrymal glands and another kind of gland, of which 507 With Flashlight and Rifle -* the particular character has not as yet, to my knowledge, been at all thoroughly investigated. These glands fulfil the purpose of secreting a certain scent, which makes it easier for the animals to find one another in the wilderness. This antelope does not offer any particular temptation to the sportsman, for its flat horns form no very coveted trophy. The hartebeests can live for a long time without water, and the remark- able power that many African ruminants have of exist- ing with very little liquid food is thus again strikingly exemplified. In the districts drained by the Victoria Nyanza I became acquainted, some years ago, with two other beautiful species of hartebeests — namely, the tiang {^Dama- liscus jiineld) and Jackson's hartebeest i^Bubalis jacksoni). In 1897 I also succeeded in shooting in British East Africa a type of hartebeest {Bitbalis neumanni) which was then known by only two or three examples. At that time, alas ! I had not conceived my plan of taking photographs of African wild beasts. The beautiful and graceful impalla-antelope (the " swalla " of the caravan-carriers), the male specimens of which carry fine lyre-shaped, wide-spreading horns, is found in small groups, and also in large herds of as many as two hundred, about the bushy, thinly wooded districts, but never on the plain. The lovely wild, creatures, if shot at, alter their course over and over again with great rapidity, so that they are continually meeting, passing, crossing one another — a vision of enchanting grace in the sun-drenched landscape ! Agility, grace, 508 VOL. II. -♦ The Antelopes of East Africa steely elasticity, wonderfully vigorous beauty — all are here combined in one small compass. Timid and pretty, the impalla-antelopes are extremely cautious also, and the alarm-note of the bucks is heard as often by day as by night. I found young impalla- antelopes in December ; their mothers remained near the large herd. The impallas like particularly the freshly sprung young grass, and manage to discover this even from great distances. They frequently alter their habitat. During the driest part of the year they keep in the closest proximity to the streams and brooks, where they may always be found in the hollows where fresh grass is growing. The natives know this, so they burn little tracts of the velt in order that the young grass may spring up on them. The antelopes will come hurrying to these from afar, and many of the pretty creatures are shot in this way amongst the half-charred solanum- bushes upon the blackly burnt soil of the velt. In the autumn of the year 1899 I observed, in the middle of a herd of about two hundred impallas, by the Mto-Nyaki at Kilimanjaro, a perfectly white female specimen. I succeeded, to my great delight, in killing this specimen, after much stalking, rendered especially difficult by the watchfulness and numbers of the others. The following-up was made laborious by the almost impenetrable " bowstring " hemp thickets which cover the low-lying land near this stream. It was only after the third bullet that I actually got hold of the longed-for animal, and then I saw that she was pregnant with a male young 511 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ one, which was absolutely normal in colour. The slain antelope was no true albino, but had normal-coloured eyes.. A long time ' ago, -according to report, a native hunter succeeded in killing a s;Imilar 'white a'ntelope, which was- brought to Europe;- I - ■ ; ; • A group- set up for me by Robert Banzer at .Oehririgen. (Wiirtemberg) shows this rare animal surprised by;; a, black . servah cat which I caught:, and two other serv'als, and makes a most pleasing " contrast group " of my African- spoils. ; ■ . Of the number of species of- bushbuck in :Westera Africa which are peculiarly well adapted for. life in the marshes by reason of their fine, large, extraordinarily, elongated ho.ofs, the - handsome species known as Tragel- aphus ^ masaicus, calied by ' theV WaswahiH, ".m'bawara,"' in Kumasi, "sarga," and by the Wakamba-m'en, " nsoiaj" is the only one forthcoming ,in Northern East Africa. This type, although confined to watery, jjlaces, as is evident from the forriiatioh of.the hojofs, is by nO: means a marsh-animal, but lives also in high4ying moun- tain-forests; and was limited; in its origin,, to very well- defined covert-giving localities. ; . : i I found r the bushbuck not. only, near the .coiast in jujigly: places, but also by. rivers and on the mountains of the Masai, country at two thousand, feet .high. This antelope^ which utters a peculiar alarm-note, audible afar, often lets the hunter come quite close in the daytime, before it takes- to flight, and goes in. the early mornings and! evenings to -the clearings for food. Under every conditiori of its life it prefers a very close, upstanding bush as a resort- 512 -* The Antelopes of East Africa The old bucks gradually lose the beautiful brown colouring and the white markings, and grow darker and darker as they increase in age. The natives maintain that this antelope, when wounded, sometimes shows itself aggres- sive and dangerous. I found sometimes that mortally wounded bushbucks uttered a deep moan like a roebuck. Some of the tribes disdain the bushbuck as food. In March, near Arusha Chini, I noticed these antelopes with tiny calves. On account of their very dense haunts, I unfortunately failed to obtain a useful negative. An abundance of splendid antelope types entices the huntsman to delightful stalking expeditions in the Dark Continent. But unquestionably that most coveted trophy of the German sportsman, the antlers of the chief stag of the herd, is for ever denied him here ! However, he is indemnified for this by the number of horn-bearing animals that he will find ; and even in these days there are many marsh and desert trophies worth trying for ; and there is no knowing but he may come upon some strange denizen of the primeval forest the very existence of which is unsuspected ! 5'0 XXV Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes THE two species of gazelles met- with most frequently -in Masai-Nyika are Grant's gazelle {Gaze/la granti)\dind Thomson's gazelle {Gazella thomsom), the latter of which is very similar in colouring to the former, but much smaller. ' , ■ • The large and beautiful Grant's gazelle, whose bucks have wonderful -tails and whose -females ■ have beautiful long- horns, was discovered arid- made known in -i ^6 by Speke and Grant on their -w-a-y to the -Victoria Nyanza, then discovered by them. Thomson's- gazelle (the " goilin " of the Masai) owes its discovery in 1883 to the English traveller of that name. The stately Grant's gazelle is found everywhere in Masai-land in large herds, very seldom alone. Sometimes the herds are composed of only females or only bucks, sometimes of a number of females with only one or a few bucks. In the summer months I often found single female Grant's gazelles on large grass-jDastures, and I was then 516 -* Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes sometimes able to light on their calves, which were hidden not far off. When these are sufficiently grown, the mother takes them with her to the herd. These gazelles shun the forest, but are found in the lighter brush-woods. They do not eat grass exclusively, but also leaves and some kinds of tree-fruits, especially the fruit of a large solanumart. The horns of the bucks very often curve outwards in grant's gazelles a remarkable way, but sometimes they are set quite close together. I found both kinds in the one district, and have made a large collection of the two. This species of antelope has one peculiarity — the way it doubles like the hare when chased. One notices this especially with regard to the females, which always take the lead in the flight, while the buck or bucks of the herd keep 517 With Flashlight and Rifle -* to the rear. The bucks have a particularly solemn appearance as they slowly swerve round to eye one, holding their necks very stiffly under the great weight of their horns. The smaller females, however, are the embodiment of graceful motion itself, and know well how to circumvent the stratagems of the hunter. During the spring months Grant's gazelle is much harassed by a species of parasite discovered by myself, and also by a new species of gadfly which I found on it. The larvs of the first-mentioned parasite pierce through the skin of the animals, causing much pain ; the effect, is very bad on the venison. This gazelle is not dependent on water, and is often found far out on the velt a good distance from the watering-places. I once came very near being done for by a female Grant's gazelle, furnished with a pair of stately horns with very sharp points. My friend Alfred Kaiser had taken a walk with me in the direction of the Merui Mountains on the occasion of my first visit to East Africa. We were resting close by a pitfall made by the natives, in which a rhinoceros had been captured the night before, when we suddenly noticed a solitary Grant's gazelle on a hill some distance off Armed with my friend's rifle, with which I was unfamiliar, I got nearer to the gazelle, and took aim when about three hundred paces off, using a large-bore cartridge. The wounded gazelle immediately came running down the hill and made for me, bleating loudly. Her young was evidently hidden in the grass not far from where I stood. At first I could not believe my eyes ; but at the last moment I 518 -* Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes realised the seriousness of my situation, and managed to fire a second shot just in time, which made the animal turn a somersault but a few paces off Had I not succeeded in this, it would undoubtedly have pierced me with its horns. The smaller Thomson's gazelles dwell out upon the prairies. They seem to be found in the Masai country GRANT S GAZELLES exclusively. They are not only much smaller than the Grant's gazelles, but also less beautiful, and far inferior in every way. Thomson's gazelle has, I might say, something of the sheep about it. Those which have not previously been shot at allow you to get within about one hundred and twenty paces of them, and only then move slowly away. They show their stupidity in their whole bearing. They 5^9 With -Flashlight and Rifle -* Feed exclusively on grass. Unlike the Grant's bucks, 'the bucks: of ^ Thomson's crazelle- ai-e. sometimes found alone. They- have,' as . a rule, very, strong and long -antlers,' the points of which- are sometimes very .close: together, and never curved far apart, as is the case with many Grant's gazelles. It is very noticeable- that the'Temale. Thomson's gazelles^almost .witho-Ut: exception^ — have crooked.', and ill-formed horns. One frequently ''¥bmes across striking malformations. I have never found deformities among the horns of bucks. When these gazelles are taking to flight they carry themselves in a very stiff and straight manner. When in full flight, however, like the ha!rte- beests, they keep the head low down, so that the whole body of the animal seems flat and outstretched. When trotting they hold their heads somewhat higher, this being true especially of the bucks. One often sees Thomson's gazelles feeding contentedly among the herds of cows, and still more among the herds of goats belonging to the Masai. All kinds of game are confiding with the Masai people, who never consume the flesh of wild anirnals.^ Sometimes I found bucks fighting so intently that ;L could .; almost, touch thern with- my hands. These little ■gazelles. .have .a .peculiar characteristic that'll have.never seen mentioned by other authors. Wherever .and when- ever one may happen to sight them, they whisk their tails .violently backwards and forwards, especially, when they become suspicious of any one- approaching them, or when they take to flight They can always be recognised by this whisking of the tail. 520 -* Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes Xow and again one finds them living amicably and sociably with other kinds of animals. For days I have observed a single buck in company with a female gerenuk gazelle and an old bull. I have never noticed these dwarf gazelles on the left bank of the Pangani River, but have frequently found them elsewhere. Xear Xakuro and Elmenteita Lake, in the British district, I have seen them in thousands. In August I found newly born calves, and at the same time very small embryos. The dwarf gazelles are a great ornament to the Salt and Natron districts in the far Xyika. It is to be hoped that the velt will long aflbrd a refuge both to them and to the beautiful Grant's gazelle. There are two other similar kinds of gazelle found in Africa, which are among the most remarkable of the species to be seen in these desert places. Imagine an extremely slender and graceful miniature horned giraffe, coloured a uniform brown, given to raising itself on its hind-legs like a goat, so as to eat the leaves of bushes and trees. The males are adorned with peculiarly shaped horns ; the females are without. One kind, Clarke's gazelle (Ammordorcas clarkci), has so far only been found in quite confined portions of Somaliland. The other species, which is very similar, the gerenuk gazelle {Lithocranhis walleri,), has a far more extensive range, and, according to my own observations, is to be found far away in the velt of German East Africa. This gazelle, known by the Waswahili under the name of nj*3o&o-nyogga, by the Masai as nanjab, and the W'^ando- robo as moile, was first definitely located by me in With Flashlight and Rifle -^ German East Africa in the year 1S96. Both Count Teleki and Hohnel speak in their works of a long-necked gazelle which they had killed near the Pangani, whilst on their wonderful journey of discovery to the Rudolf and Stephanie lakes ; but they give no other particulars. I am of opinion that they had. found; a gerenuk gazelle,' a species unknown to them. It was in the neighbourhood of the Buiko, at the foot of the South Pare Mountains, at sunset, that I came suddenly upon one of these beautiful gazelles just as it was in the act of raising itself on its hind-legs to pluck the scanty leaves of a, mimosa, for it was during the dry season. , For: a moment I imagined it to be a giraffe ! However, I immediately saw my error, I knew the appearance of the gerenuk gazelle from pictures, and I joyfully thought to myself that I had here ■ found, a species of gazelle quite unsuspected in these . parts:. Great was my desire to!get hold of the animal; but' I. failed, because of the :uncertain evening light. I fired twice, but missed, each time.. Next , morning, however,^ another European succeeded' in- killing a ; female of . this species. Thus to my great joy my observations vvere. confirmed;, for great doubt had been expressed, in the' camp, the evening before as to. their accuracy. This was a most striking illustration of our superficial knowledge about East African animals. Soon I was able to ascertain that the gerenuk gazelle is widely, distributed and is frequently to be met with, but that it is game only for the skilful hunter. They lie in the midst of the thickest thorn-wildernesses, far from the water. They can exist in waterless places, nourishing themselves. 524 VOL. II. -* Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes on twigs and leaves. These gerenuk gazelles are well off in the hungriest deserts in the midst of a vegetation consisting of Euphorbia, Cissus qiiadrangtilaris, Sanseviera cylindrica, Sanseviera volksenii. and shrub-acacias. I have found no confirmation of Hunter's theory that they live chiefly on dried grass in the neighbourhood of the rain- stream beds. Although these gazelles are very \\idely dis- .\I U -K- ANTLLOPES •■ ^>^'f*''i tributed, thev are confined to a quite distinct type of the velt flora, which is easier learnt by experience than de- scribed. They are found not infrequently on the broad acacia-covered plains, and also in hilly districts : but they shun luxuriant vegetation as well as forests. Towards early morning and at evening time they are most lively. The rest of the day is spent in the shade of the acacia-bushes. At the approach of danger they stand erect, as though 3^/ With Flashlight and Rifle ^ moulded in bronze, with their abnormally long necks stretched out stiff and straight. If the gazelle is assured of the direction whence the approaching enemy comes, it makes for the nearest cover, its neck still outstretched right in front of it, and moving with noiseless tread like a shadow. The sportsman is apt to be quite stupefied by their sudden disappearance. This peculiarity of theirs, and their colouring, which blends so well with their surroundings, together with their alertness and caution, explain why they have eluded so many early travellers. In the hot season I used to like to hunt them at noontide. To follow the chase of these animals a hunter must not mind the fearful heat. How numerous they are in the north of German East Africa may be gathered from the fact that within a few hours I once shot five bucks and saw (but did not shoot) about fourteen females near the Kitumbin volcanoes ! This kind of hunting is very fatiguing. It is very tiring to get across the thorny places as quietly as possible, and yet not too slowly, so that the game may not take flight before one is near enough to take good aim. If the search is too long drawn out, they are often up and away before the hunter can sight them. It is a charming sight to see these gazelles, singly or in small herds of about eight, as they seek their food towards eventide, raising themselves every now and again on their hind-legs. This, however, is not often possible ; and when it is so, it is generally in the dry season, when these gazelles have to be pretty 528 » Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes quick in finding sufficient fresh vegetation to satisfy their appetites. So far it has been found impossible to keep this animal in captivity, even in Africa, much less to con\ey it as far as Europe. Like the wonderful Kilimanjaro white- tailed guereza {Colobtis caudatus), this gazelle seems to be unable to thrive except in surroundings for which no kind of efficient substitute can be devised. Menges. a great expert in this kind of thing, tried to preserve it in Somaliland, but in vain. Personally, I attribute the failure of all attempts at keeping gerenuk gazelles in captivity above all things to unsatisfied longings for com- panionship. It would be well first of all to provide friends for these prisoners in the shape of goats. Among antelopes similar in size to the gerenuk gazelles we find the reedbuck, which are widely distributed. Reedbuck have two very different haunts — the marshy plains and the hills, and they vary accordingly ; but a bald spot and a gland under the ear are common to all types. A very beautiful inhabitant of the hilly districts is the Masai mountain-reedbuck ( Cervicatra chanleri), which is absolutely different, both as regards appearance and habits, from the reedbuck found lower down. About the time of my first visit to Africa the American traveller Chanler found a long-haired grey reedbuck in British East Africa whose habitat was on the mountains. The first to find and bring home this beautiful species from German East Africa was myself It is a near relative of the South African red reedbuck {Cervuapra 529 With Flashlight and Rifle --^ fulvorufula) , and is one of the most curious objects to be found in our museums. I have found this reedbuck exclusively in hilly districts. I must say, indeed, that the name is hardly suitable, for it does not live among the reeds, but partly in the midst of fairly high shrubs and bushes, and partly on the knolls and mounds in the mountainous districts. It abounds in small herds of about five on the western slopes of the Kilimanjaro, and on all the hills of the Masai district. I am surprised that earlier observers have not noticed them. Chanler's reedbuck is not tied to the water, and is found on dry and grassy heights. In such a neighbourhood, not far from Lake Rudolf, it was later found and killed by Lord Delamere. In a great part of Africa we find one reedbuck that lives on the plains and another on the hills. Chanler's reedbuck is the kind that lives on the hills. This species is distinguished by a peculiarly long tail of the pretty isabelline-grey colour, white underneath. Although this animal may appear variously coloured according to the light, it is always to be recognised by the long and conspicuous tail. The hill reedbuck, with the bushbuck ( Tragelaphus masaicus) and the klipspringer [Oreotragus schillingsi), together form attractive objects amid the hills and heights, and all three furnish good material for the hunter and observer who is equal to making expeditions under an equatorial sun. Towards the evening one can, if cautious, come across little parties of these reedbuck as they graze ; but during the daytime they are as 530 -*> Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes prone to take flight as the ordinary^ reedbuck. The horns of these antelopes are never so strongly developed as those of the dwellers in the reedy plains and marshes, their colouring affording them ample protection in its rocky and stony haunts. A near relative is Ward's reedbuck {Cervicapra wardi), found in Masai-land, as well as in manv other j^ ■ • w' ••>./ -i^' iW IT WAS AT A HEIGHT OF ABOUT lO.OOO tt-tl OX THE VOLCANIC iMOUNTAIN GILEI, IN THE MIDST OF A WOOD, THAT I GOT THIS PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MOUNTAIN-REEDBUCK parts of Africa. It is very much smaller than the South African reedbuck, and its finest horns cannot be com- pared with those of its southern cousin. One can find it every morning and evening, alone or in small herds, on the grassy expanses near the water, where it also takes its customary rest during the remainder of the day. This reedbuck allows one to approach very near, and 533 With Flashlight and Rifle -* then it suddenly takes to flight in quick leaps and bounds. More than once has it startled me, making me think some dangerous wild animal was upon me. It is always difficult to kill it in the act of flight, for it doubles like a hare, and in the high grass it is scarcely possible to hit it with a bullet. A fowling-piece will easily bring it down, but it must be ready cocked to hand. In the Pangani Valley I once spent a whole day trying to capture a fine male reedbuck before I succeeded in hitting it in full flight. I particularly wanted this specimen to complete a reedbuck group in the same season's coat for a museum. The real abode of the reedbuck is to be found where burning heat lies heavily on the reed morasses, which, broken only by a few sedges, stretch before one on the river-banks. In August I found the females were pregnant, but the bucks were extraordinarily shy, and only after considerable •difficulty was I able to kill a fine specimen. On the whole the chase is best pursued during the morning and evening hours. One has to remember the fact that these reedbuck warn one another of the approach of the foe by a piping tone. This warning is also recognised by the waterbuck ; the birds also pay attention to it. When this cry resounds through the sedge-reeds, frightened marsh-birds and herons fly up suddenly into the air. Wounded reedbuck usually seek out very thick sedge- beds, and are thus very hard to find. The reedbuck seems to have a long future before it, in spite of the inroads of civilisation, because of its peculiar 534 -») Gazelles and Dwarf Antelopes haunts and habits. It loves to find a refuge in thick covert, and thus has a better chance than the animals virhich live out on the steppes. Unfortunately that excellent work Great and Small Game of Africa informs us that the once common reed- buck is becoming very rare in Xatal, Zululand, Bechuana- land, the Transvaal, and Swaziland. Among the mountains of the Xyika lives a wonderful A HERD OF FEMALK GRANT S GAZELLES miniature antelope, the klipspringer, of which 1 discovered a new species {Oreotragus schillhigsi.) This graceful creature, covered with thick grey-greenish hair, and adorned with a white beard, springs from crag to crag like a feather ball, uttering a shrill cry of warning. So far as I could ascertain, the klipspringer is called " n'gossoiru " by the Masai. 1 found this beautiful 535 With Flashlight and Rifle -*> mountain antelope everywhere — in the riverless districts of the mountain slopes, as well as on the stony, crags of the Masai highlands. The low woods and lighter forests are alive with attractive dwarf antelopes : Harvey's duiker {Cephalolophus karveyi), the eyed duiker {Sylvicapra omlaris), the dik-dik antelope [Madoqua kirki), the musk-antelope {^Nesotragus moschatus), and other kinds of little dwarf antelopes, all of which I have often killed and collected for our museums. But it was nearly always impossible to photograph them, as the proper light was wanting in their special haunts. Dot I*-'-"'-* fe-,^ ^^JB ^^%4 -^1^, t. »- - w ^|iJW^f^^^H ^ ^' ' RAPHIA AND OTHER PALM^, TAMARINDS, AND BAOBABS GREW BY THE RIVER-SIDE. IN IHE BACKGROUND OF THIS VIEW MAY BE SEEN A SPLR OF THE INNSHORN GARE MOUNTAINS XXVI Apes and Monkeys TWO anthropoid apes, the gorilla and the chimpanzee, formerly known only on the West Coast of Africa, have recently been found also on the western boundaries of the German East African forests. Pere Guilleme, who lived for many years on Lake Tanganyika, and who, after seeing all his missionary comrades succumb to the deadly climate, started out again with about twenty "White Fathers," told me, as long ago as 1899, that the chimpanzee known as " soko " was to be found to the west of Tanganyika on the forest-covered Mzana Mountains at a height of about 6,000 feet. These caricatures of humanity were met with later on the boundaries of German East Africa, and the German East African gorilla {Gorilla beringei) has lately been found by Captain von Beringe on Lake Kivn, and 537 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ has been called after its discoverer by Prof. Matschie. Prof, von Hansemann assures me that this species differs in the shape of its skull from the gorillas of the East African coast-lands hitherto known. Visitors to the German Horn and Antler Exhibition in 1900 will remember the colossal gorilla exhibited there, which had been killed in a West African forest. Very probably it did not show the full size attained by these gigantic man-apes, the terror of the primeval forests. In early works on Africa we are furnished with many fantastic and highly coloured tales about these apes. It is to a German — von Koppenfels — that we owe much of our knowledge about them, and we should perhaps have been able to learn much more about their habits and ways if he had not died from a wound received from a buffalo. I look forward eagerly to deriving some trust- worthy information concerning them from the traveller Zenker. Chimpanzees and gorillas are not to be found in the greater part of German East Africa, nor in the Masai highlands which I traversed. These regions harbour, however, several species of a very interesting, peculiarly shaped ape, very shy and retiring, which lives on high trees in the forests and feeds almost entirely on leaves. These are the guerezas (Colobtts) — silky haired, with bushy tails, coloured black and white, and with serious, bearded faces; the finest species of them, the "mbega" of the natives [Colobus caudahis), is to be found in the forests of Kilimanjaro and the Meru Mountains. The mbegas are thumbless, and have a curiously ^hasty and 538 ^'^^^ f ^ C. G. Schillings, phot. MY "mEEGA" monkey OR WHITE-TAILED GUEREZA, WHICH LIVED FOR TWO IN THE BERLIN ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, AND WAS THE ONLY SPECIMEN SPECIES EVER SEEN THERE YEARS- OF HIS- -^- Apes and Monkevs impetuous way of tearing the leaves from the branches and putting them in their mouths. Frequent eructa- tions interrupt their meal, which they make only in the morning and in the evening. Captive specimens never try to bite any one until they have gripped him with their hands and drawn him close to their mouth. These melancholy animals, so wonderfiilly adapted to their haunts, live high up in the gigantic forest trees, sometimes in large, sometimes in small Li;roups, jumping from bough to bough and tree-top to tree-top. Their bushy white tails hang low, and, as they jump, the hair of their bodies spreads out, giving the.m quite a unique appearance, like lichen suddenly come to life. The mbega hardly ever comes down to the ground. It finds enough water to drink in the cavities of the old trees, and, on account of its long legs, it can only move forward on the ground with great difficulty, looking very helpless. On occasions I found the mbega very inquisi- tive, and not particularly timid. Unfortunately, like so many other animals, these monkeys have much to fear from the progress of civilisation, for their fur is greatly coveted. Already their numbers have been much thinned by fire- arms and by the poisoned arrows of the natives. This is the more to be lamented as, unlike baboons and meer- kats, the mbega is not hurtful. The guereza has something in common with those savage races that melt away as civilisation advances, and which prefer to go under rather than make any concessions. A free and independent dweller of the forests, finding VOL. II. 541 10 With Flashlight and Rifle -♦) food in plenty in the foliage of the tree where it lives, this animal, like so many others — like the elk of the northern forests, for example — has become settled in its habits, and won't alter them the least little bit. Its huge stomach, which never seems to leave off digesting, requires an incredible quantity of aromatic leaves of various kinds, for only now and again does the mbega consume fruits. It seems to dislike any other form of nourish- ment, although it may sometimes seek birds' eggs or young birds. Towards morning, and even during the day, these monkeys indulge in a peculiar kind of chorus, which is hard to describe — a kind of humming and buzzing that the uninitiated would never suppose came from an monkey. Early in the morning, when a thick mist lies on the forests and a saturating dew hangs in heavy drops on leaves and branches, and everywhere silence still prevails, this chorus of the monkeys, beginning softly, swells into a mighty sound, then dies away, only to begin afresh. This enables the hunter to find the " ob goroi " of the Masai very easily. He has but to look up to the great summits of the Juniperus procera and other forest giants to see the quaint minstrels as, with tremendous leaps, they take to flight. Besides this chanting, the mbega frequently gives out a short grunting noise. In the autumn of 1899 I was first able to ascertain that the guereza monkeys are snow-white when born, and that their colouring comes gradually afterwards. I discovered, too, that' they were much tortured by a kind of tick {Ixodes > schi/lingsi) in some forests. These 542 »■ Apes and Monkeys ticks fasten exclusively on to the eyelids, and cause bad festering sores. Many years ago 1 found a large number of nibegas in the Kahe and Aruscha-Chini oases, which are connected with the Kilimnniaro highlands by permanent water- courses and high trees. But, as Prof. Hans Mever remarked, they are distinguished from the guerezas of the mountains by their shorter hair. I was informed that these monkeys were not hunted by the natives, as they were considered sacred. But in 1896 the hunting Askaris of the Moshi station were not long able to withhold their rifles from this harmless animal. They went out on monkey-hunting expeditions lasting tor several days. Xow the animal is a rarity — if any are to be found at all. In 1900 I shot three mbegas ot the Kahe oasis, taking three days to do it, for the Berlin Museum. Xot only here, but evervwhere on the mountains a rigorous pursuit has lately been organised. 1 frequently found traders, Greeks as well as Indians, with many hundred ot mbega-skins ready to be sent to Europe. A missionary amused him- self in his spare time by bringing down good specimens of this monkey, worth seven shillings apiece. He told me he managed to kill as many as eighty in one month ! A monkev very similar to the white-tailed guereza is found in West Africa, which some years ago was much in vogue, and of which, according to official reports, several hundred thousands were exported. It will not be long before the supplies in the isolated and not over-extensive forests of Kilimanjaro and the Meru Mountains are 543 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ exhausted in the same way. A tax has lately been levied on every monkey killed. This is very commendable, but who will enforce the regulation ? During my expeditions through the mountain-forests, I often found poisoned arrows as thin as knitting-needles. They had been used by the natives in hunting the mbega, and had been lost. It was merely for the monetary value of these monkeys that the natives killed them. Before the European invasion the natives only killed the mbega to use its fur as a foot-ornament for the Masai 01 Morani. In former years people often made attempts to secure the young of these beautiful monkeys and to convey them to Europe. However, all these efforts were in vain — the sensitive character of this solitary monkey made them impossible. The young did not grow to their proper size, and if they got as far as the sea, or at best to the European coast, it was but to die. For these reasons I determined to procure an old animal. I succeeded, none too easily, in getting hold of an old male by means of a shot which grazed its head ; but now my troubles began in earnest. The monkey resolutely refused any kind of food. The care of the wound in its head was by no means pleasant. The animal kept trying to get its arms round the attendant, grunting angrily and biting fiercely at him the while. Later the doctor of the station helped me to dress this wound, and at length it healed. Meanwhile I had managed to get the animal some fagara leaves and tendrils which I knew were its chief food. Whenever these leaves were at all withered, the 544 -*^ Apes and Monkeys mbega rejected them vehemently, and I had to get fresh ones — often no easy task. It always tried to tear off the leaves of the branch held out to it, as it was wont to do during its days of liberty, being much handicapped in this by the want of a thumb. I accustomed it gradually to bananas. The strongest and most herculean nigger of my assembled caravan was appointed keeper of the animal during the march. This man was a member of the Wadigo tribe. In his youth he had been taken to the velt by the Masai, before the days of the rinderpest, and when they made their cattle-stealing expeditions as far as Tanga on the sea-coast. He had learnt thus how to tend cattle and animals of all kinds. It was a comical sight to see this black, six feet high, with his good-natured child s face, holding up a primitive sunshade over the mbega, carefully wrapped up, and bound to him by a leathern thong. The mbega was alwavs trying to bite the black, and one could not help laughing at the sight of their struggles. It was always amidst the amicable jeers of the other carriers that peace would be restored and that " Feradji Bili " would at length be able to go on his wa\- with his ward. But there were continually fresh difficulties to be overcome. On the march to the coast it was with the greatest trouble that we procured creeping plants in sufficient quantity to nourish the monkey, for the fagara did not grow here. Ihen, too, the mbega developed symptoms of fever, which I sought to ward off by quinine. But at last it arrived at the coast, and was transported to Europe, where it has now lived for two years, in the Berlin Zoological 547 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Gardens, under the care of my friend Dr. Heck. It is the only living specimen which has so far been brought to Europe. Later Captain Merker managed to procure three full- grown specimens. These I tried to bring to Europe on my fourth journey home, but failed, in spite of every effort, chiefly because the monkeys, although long accus- tomed to one another, suddenly began fighting in the narrow hold, and seriously hurt themselves. Thus only one of them, a female, reached the Berlin Gardens, and she died three days later. Mbegas in captivity refuse all food offered them and pine for their beloved mountain-forests. This is unlike the habits of the baboon and other monkeys, and also unlike the anthropoid apes, which become extraordinarily attached to their keepers. The behaviour of the mbega has nothing monkey-like or comical about it, but is rather always earnest, steady, and reserved. To me it always seems a kind of reflection of its sombre haunts. It is extraordinary how differently baboons behave, whether in freedom or in captivity ! Baboons do not live, as many people seem to believe, in the branches of the trees in tropical lands. They are dwellers either on the plains, which they explore thoroughly, or on the mountains. A confirmed plains-dweller is the yellow baboon, scien- tifically known as Papio ibeaniis, but called " njani " by the inhabitants of the coast, " ol'dolal," by the Masai, and " kireije " by the Wandorobo. This monkey, which lives in large herds united by the strongest social ties, 548 -»■ Apes and Monkeys sleeps on a tree, but during the day it traverses the thickets and ri\-er-side woods in search of food. This consists largely of grasses, and also of tree-fruits, leaves, grass-seeds, all sorts of insects, besides young birds and any eg^gs it may happen to come across. I have never been able to confirm the statement that baboons hunt full-grown dwarf antelopes, but I do not doubt that there fi. :6i^il&Mi>.%.^^.i are times when they kill quite young or newly born animals of this kind and devour them. It is very interesting to note the way in which the biggest baboons in a herd keep watch against the onslaughts of leopards, their greatest enemy, and other beasts ot prey. Three or four e.xperienced leaders take their stand on a fallen tree-trunk some few feet above the ground, and act as sentries. The herd feels perfectly safe under their guardianship. The enormous old males, whose teeth are longer and stronger than those of the leopard, as well as the smaller females with their young of various sizes, all 549 With Flashlight and Rifle -* go carelessly into the woods, plucking the grasses, picking up stones, chasing locusts or other insects, or indulging in various antics. I have sometimes noticed in the midst of these herds, or only a few feet away, impalla antelopes, dwarf ante- lopes, and even waterbuck and ostriches. Especially during- the noontide hours are these animals thus accus- tomed to disport themselves. Suddenly the scene changes. One of the animals has either seen me or got wind of me. A honey- guide flutters around me suddenly with a cry ; another bird betrays my position through its croaking ; and, like lightning, the whole concourse of animals flee in all directions amidst clouds of dust. The troop of monkeys has been given the alarm by a kind of squeak of warning. Those keeping watch on the tree-trunk come down, and the females and younger ones begin to take flight. At length, with flowing manes and tails erect, the stout old valiant fathers of families gallop off quickly, but keeping on the alert the whole time. This alertness during flight, and without stopping at all, is a characteristic peculiar to baboons and spotted hyeenas. I have never noticed it in any other animal. To me it seems a fact, about which there can be no doubt, that baboons have a language of their own, and that in danger the old animals give their commands by means of some simple method of speech. During flight it is easy to notice the workings of their social organisation. The older monkeys dragoon the younger and more inex- perienced into batches, regardless of thumps and cuffs, 550 -* Apes and Monkeys and help them on their way. Presently we see some of them clambering up trees to get a better view of their foe, and then again a great cloud of dust informs us that all have sought safety in further flight. The eyesight of the baboon must be extraordinarily keen — much more so than that of the natives. The baboon which I kept prisoner in my camp recognised me at an incredible distance when I was returning from my expeditions. It is most interesting to watch the troops of baboons as they go to drink of an afternoon between four and five o'clock, and to note how cautiously they quench their thirst. Their great object is to avoid the crocodile. Baboons never drink without having the water watched and guarded by some experienced old members of their troop, either from a tree or from the shore. The moment a crocodile is sighted the alarm is given. Like lightning the whole troop tear up into the trees for safety, and give vent to their anger by a chorus of grunts and squeaks. From their high watch-towers the experienced old baboons keep an eye on every movement of the crocodile, and it is only after the most cautious survey that they at length decide once more to approach the water to drink, or make for some shallower spot, where the crocodile could not so easily get at them. In the riverless regions of the Masai country one comes across quite another kind of baboon, which is of a dark green colour {Papio neumanni). It was discovered by Oscar Neumann in the beginning of the year 1890. These monkeys live in large herds on the mountain slopes. 553 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ They seem to prefer sleeping on steep and inaccessible rocky spots, so as to keep out of the way of the leopard. Shivering with cold in the early mornings, they huddle together on the rocks, and it is not until the sun's rays have had plenty of time to warm them that they are awakened to new vivacity, for baboons are lovers of sun and light. With a good glass one can watch their goings-on for hours together. It seems, then, as if the hillsides were peopled by a primitive race of men. The old leaders of the troop -survey one critically from their craggy watch-towers, whilst the females and young retire into the background in great crowds. The killing of monkeys or apes is not one of the pleasures of tropical hunting. Their death is so human that the hunter can only make up his mind to pull the trigger on the creatures in the interest of zoology. Death softens the original savage expression on the countenance of dying baboons, and you see a look of intense agony in the fixed stare of their eyes. I remember especially a most painful moment I ex- perienced after I had shot a powerful old baboon and followed him into a rocky cavern, where I found him dying, with his hands pressed to the death-wound. On another occasion I reached a mountain stream, after a twelve-hours' march at the head of my caravan, when we were all nearly dead with thirst. There were no signs ■of human beings about the surrounding craggy world of rocks, when suddenly one of my people called out in a tone of fear, " Mtua Bwana," "A man, master!" as a human-looking face appeared, looking from behind a 554 -»> Apes and Monkeys boulder about a hundred yards away in the grey evening light. But it was only a very old baboon, which was survey- ing us, and which had all the appearance of a man, both to the beaters and myself. It was covering the retreat of the herd. Unlike meerkats, of which there are three kinds in the Masai lands, and, unlike other kinds of monkeys, CAPTURING A GALAGO baboons are notable for their sociability. In captivity they become most attached to their masters, or to other people they come in contact with ; but they divine at once where there is no sympathy, and hate accordingly. A specimen I possessed was extremely fond of me, but refused all the advances of an expert animal-tamer, who had subjugated numerous other animals to his will. For many years, in Moshi, another baboon was kept 555 With Flashlight and Rifle -». prisoner, chained before the gates of the fort. A most intimate friendship had sprung up between this great, dangerous-looking baboon and a little native child about eighteen months old. From some hut in the vicinity the little one crawled on all-fours to the monkey, and played fearlessly with his huge friend for many hours every day in a very droll and amusing fashion. On Christmas Eve in 1899, when we were all within the: walls of the fort expecting an attack by the natives, all the inhabitants of the station suddenly poured in like a flock of sheep about nine o'clock. The baboon, stricken with fear, managed somehow to break loose, and. joined the rush into the fort. 556 XXVII Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika I HAVE had many hundred fruitful stalking expeditions in the Masai-Nyika, but also many hundred fruitless ones. I now request the reader to follow me in spirit on some such expeditions, which I will select in such a way as to give as exact as possible a picture of my experiences. With the break of day I leave the camp, accompanied by about thirty carriers. Each man brings with him a calabash of water, and no more. Noiselessly, in a row, they follow me and the Wandorobo guides. Immediately behind me come the bearers of my photographic apparatus, and my rifle-carriers. All the men are accustomed to fall at once to the ground, upon a gesture from me, making themselves, as nearly as may be, invisible. This, of course, demands much patient practice. On departure from the camp it is impossible to tell whether it may not be necessary to spend the night far VOL. II. 557 II With Flashlight and Rifle -•> off somewhere on the velt ; matches are therefore brought along In a small pouch. If, by any chance, the matches (called by the bearers "Kiberiti") are not forthcoming, we are simply obliged to let the Masai and the Wandorobo men generate fire in their own primitive fashion. A wooden stave is twirled between both hands until its tip takes fire through friction with a second stick which is being violently brandished round and round ; on being brought into contact with some light inflammable dry grass or leaves, it sends up immediately a glowing blaze. A bearer carries my coat ; others have charge of some small axes and ropes. I never wear a coat during the day ; an earth-coloured, raw silk shirt, wide open and with the sleeves rolled up, suits me best under the Equator. V^ery broad, strong, heavy, sharp-nailed strap-shoes of the best workmanship ; two pairs of stockings, one drawn over the other so as to keep off the heat as much as possible ; soft leather gaiters, earth-coloured trousers, and a very broad-brimmed and well-ventilated hat of double felt, complete my extremely simple outfit. I have very rarely worn a tropical helmet in the interior. The scorching glare of the sun soon fades all gar- ments to the same hue. Tant mieux ! The more earth-like they become in colour, the nearer I get to that "mimicry" of nature which is so much to be desired. The less noticeable the hunter is, the better. All regard for appearances has to be got rid of. One's spectacles, which are an essential, and a long, square beard, do 558 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika not add to the beauty of one's outer man to any great extent ! It would be pleasant to have the natives imbued with respect for a white skin for itself, and not merely when it is dressed up in uniform. But I have observed, alas ! that now the negro, if he has come a good dea in contact with Europeans, has already learnt to dis- A COCK MASAI OSTRICH AND TWO HENS criminate in this way. This is particularly marked on the coast, but even in the interior there are symptoms of it. In British East Africa the Askaris have orders to salute any white man who is a guest at the Fort. In German East Africa, according to my experience, this would be out of the question. My spectacles, framed in the best gold, were certainly a source of inconvenience when they became clouded 559 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ from the effects of perspiration. So I was obliged frequently to manage without them. Fortunately, my eyesight is very nearly equal to that of the natives. Water for my own use I have for years been accus- tomed to carry with me, in bags of double linen ; and this method I can most confidently recommend. If it is at all possible, I have the water boiled ; but of course I have often been obliged to put up with the contents of some muddy marsh-pool. Neither I nor my taxidermist have ever brought with us or tasted any spirituous drinks of any kind what- ever, except in small quantities for cases of sickness : and with the profoundest conviction I can recommend this abstinence, which unfortunately is practised only by a very few. Even the little that I have had with me has generally been given away to others in cases of sick- ness. It is certainly because of this abstinence that I have survived some bad weeks, when wine had a magical effect upon me, owing to my being unused to it. and was, in conjunction with incredible doses of strophanthus and digitalis, the only thing that could possibly have saved my life. The round disc of the sun has risen in the vaporous distance ; brief, as always in the tropics, but gloriously beautiful, is the spectacle of sunrise. Sharply outlined against the horizon there lies before us, open and cloud- less, the mighty mountain-tract of Kilimanjaro. At its feet there are already gathering single small clouds, then clouds in thicker masses ; soon a sea of vapour 560 mm -r Stalking Expeditions in the \vika will hide it from our sight. Beside it we see the Mawenzi — a dark, threatening, desolate dome of rocks. As we move forward over the scattered blocks of lava we are reminded that this rocky rcL,non was once the scene of some tremendous volcano's display of power — a primeval convulsion to whose forces, according to Hans Mever, is to be attributed the foundation in course of SNOW-CAPPED KII.IM.\NJARO. THE M'-llNTAl.N IS OFTEN HIDDEN FROM VIEW FOR MONTHS .\T A TIME BV MISTS AND CLOUDS time of the "Great Rift \'alley — the choked-up tract over which we are now ranging. According to the same author, Kilimanjaro no longer harbours northerlv types of mammals (as do the Abyssinian mountains), because the "wave of boreal life' in the Diluvial Period was unable to penetrate so far as the Equator. The fire-breathing gullys of the Kilimanjaro at one time strewed masses of lava all around like sand. To our right, in a deep hollow of the ground, there stretch papyrus-grown marshes — the westerly Xjiri 563 With Flashlight and Rifle '■9i marshes. The declivities of Kilimanjaro send them down great floods in the rainy season, turning the country, for many miles around, into a lake. The natives maintain that subterranean tributaries from the mountain plateau feed the marshes. The " Mologh " brook, which I discovered in the volcanic rock, and which had evidently dried up suddenly, gives colour to this theory ; the permanent tributary to the easterly Njiri marsh, rising perhaps subterraneously in the bed of the crystal-clear and icy current of the " Ngara Rongai," still further supporting it. The whole north and north-east side of the chain of mountains is uninhabited, unvisited of man, and, in the dry season, completely waterless ; the rain comes down always on the other side, and it is consequently there that the native tribes make their homes. But, in my opinion, the total number of natives on Kilimanjaro has been for years considerably over-estimated. Over grassy plains glistening from an incrustation of salt, my way leads me to the border of the fen. Immense papyrus-forests tower there, where the never-failing water in the deep bog-streams affords the necessary conditions for life, and provides as well some extremely luxuriant forms of bog-flora. The peculiar /*?>//« stratiotes—'' ]un§^Q-]ung&" of the Waswahili — is especially abundant here, while Cerato- phyllum and the northerly floating-plant (my own dis- covery) Pothomageton are to be found in every direction. Already this latter has plainly annihilated some sister- forms of flora. 564 -^ talking P^xpeditions in the Xvika The bird-world has been awake tor a long time. In the thicket ot an acacia grove my e ir catches the well-known measured cadence of a gorgeously coloured shrike (■ wurger"), very clever at keeping it-ei: hidden in the branches. Over and over again the bird repeats its ringing cadence ; it ha-, four notes, which increase evenly in volume, '■ Kutu titit; I ' Red-beaked hornhil.s {J^cpiicccrcs THE KAISER WILHELM PEAK ^ryt/vorhxnchiis) fly from tree to tree at a safe distance in front of us. watching with curiosity the strange new- comers. A harrier {C/'/rus rank'oriis) glides over the boor ; wondrous-hued rollers sweep screaming here and there. A bustard {Eiipudo/is gindiana) rises, with its curious vacillating, skilful flight, and disappears in the direction of the velt with a loud " raga-garaka-raga- garaka!" This bustard can perform the oddest feats of ;6.- With Flashlight and Rifle -* flight ; it turns somersaults in the air, like a tumbler- pigeon, wheels about and up and down, and seems to turn the act of flight into a game of play, as no other member of the bird-world that I am acquainted with can do ! In spite of the early hour, a brooding warmth lies over the landscape at the border of this marsh. An abundance of bird-life displays itself with every step we take ; but the ground in the proximity of the marsh-land is alive with young frogs {RanO, madagos cmdensis). A curious worm-like serpent — it looks' like a blindworm — {Melanoseps ater) is added to the collection and sent back to camp ; and in another moment we have cut off the retreat of a huge pythoness, about five yards long, trying to escape from us into the thicket. It is killed and forthwith skinned. My little caravan goes forward with vigorous strides. Now, suddenly plunging forth from a little fen-lake, overgrown with rushes, there comes running towards the velt a herd of wart-hogs, which we have disturbed at their morning bath. My rifle is handed me ; I take aim, fire, and succeed in laying low a straggler which had almost reached the sheltering .sueda-thicket in his hasty flight. We now proceed without a halt. Numerous hippo- potamus-tracks cross the marshy ground in all directions ; some are freshly made, and point to the passing of an old beast, with its still quite tiny young ones. These huge marsh-dwellers have, however, betaken themselves long since — with the earliest grey of morning, indeed — to the safe depths of the water. A clear, shrill bird-note breaks joyously over the marsh 566 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika just above our heads. It is the white-headed sea-eagle {Halidctiis vocifer). A second eagle, perched not far ofif upon a leafless tree, is bold enough to let us come quite close up to it before it flies off. " Xyama Bwana! " now whispers my rifle-carrier. And he is right ; a reedbuck is to be seen some distance away, WHITE-BILLED WEAVER-BIRDS (JH-XTOR ALBIROSTRIS JXTEKVEDILi)^ AND OTHER WEAVERS BUILD THEIR NESTS IN THE SPREADING BRANCHES OF THESE GREAT "UMBRELLA" ACACIA-TREES feeding upon an open grassy plot. As yet the beautiful tawny antelope, as large as a deer, has not seen us ; and for some minutes I am able to observe it, cropping the young grass that sprouts from the fen-pools, and every now and then bethinking itself anxiously of the question of safety. It is a female, so I leave it alone. We proceed, and the antelope, bounding high into the air, disappears in a few leaps. 567 With Flashlig-ht and Rifle -») The salt-plain becomes wilder and more desolate, and poorer in forms of animal life. Only some " crying lapwings " follow us with their jerky flight, giving out as they go their strange, soft, melancholy call. We march on for another hour, penetrating further and further into the desert by the banks of the marsh ; suddenly, close in front, there peers at us one of the magnificent, vividly tinted saddle-billed storks {Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis) , which almost instantly seeks salvation in flight. Just where the stork's powerful pinions have landed it in safety, two little gazelles are frightened away from the water ; they bound several times to right and left, and then set off slowly, with measured pace, into the desert, swaying lightly to and fro. These are Thomson's gazelles {Gasella tkomsoni). They glance inquisitively over at me ; from time to time they bend their heads as if to eat, only to lift them quickly again. We can now discern in the background, on the wide, level ground, a greater number of these lovely brown creatures, with the pretty black markings on their haunches. They let us get much nearer them, but then, with their heads stiffly raised, they move off, very soon breaking into a trot. Called to attention by the fugitive Thomson's gazelles — the " goilin " of the Masai — there are now eyeing us a number of their near relatives, the splendid Grant's gazelles. Several females are grouped round a magnificent buck, which is decked with lyre-shaped, spreading horns a foot and a half long. These animals take flight, too, and, changing their direction frequently, form suddenly into a half-circle round me and my company, so as to 568 -^ Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika inspect closely from behind, and with a good scent, these strange visitors. A dark object, immovable in a certain part of the velt about three-quarters of a mile away from us, has been recognised by me for some time as an old, solitary bull gnu {Connochcetes albojubatiis). Its horns well forward, its powerful head turned towards us, the gnu SSL ;srs A GREAT Bl'LL ELANll tries to discover what is approaching him, but only a violent slashing to and fro of his bushv tail betrays his curiosity. Suddenly, after first darting about the ground in our vicinitv, five or six spur-winged plovers {Slephanibyx coronatus) rise above our heads. These birds are the detestation of every sportsman. As is their custom, they sweep, howling and scolding, from side to side, and thus serve as a warning to the animal- world of 569 With Flashlight and Rifle -* approaching danger. The bull gnu lingers on, however, curious Still, rather than nervous. We approach ever closer, but apparently heading off to the right of him ; and I give orders that none of my people glance in his direction^ But the plovers will not leave us ; by degrees the gnu takes warning, and moves off, with head stiffly bent, in leaps which look short, but which carry it over the ground at a good rate. From time to time it halts, and turns round with a sudden, violent movement, lashing its tail furiously and peering in our direction. The tiresome plovers have left us at last, and slowly 1 make another attempt to get up to the bull, this time in a lateral direction. I succeed at last in this, and am able to get a shot at the great beast — sharply defined against the clear desert background — two hundred yards away. The gnu shivers through all his body, and turns straight towards me, but then rushes off on three legs. My bullet has hit too far back. Instantly I follow up its track among the acacia-bushes. In this part of Africa, where neither horse nor dog can stand the unhealthy climate, there is only one way of reaching your game, when you have only wounded. You must follow it at once, as you do when shooting elk. For with even the shortest delay, the heat of the sun dries up the blood-tracks unrecognisably ; other animals cross the dry trail, and vultures and jackals will have torn to pieces the decaying carcase before the hunter can be on the spot. So I follow the blood-tracks for half an hour. By using the tracks of hippopotamuses and waterbuck, the gnu 570 -♦ Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika has tound its way into a shallow bog, through which we have to wade knee-deep in water. Presently we see him in flight again upon a large, level bit ot ground which stands out of the water and is covered with thick vege- tation. I could not possibly get an aim at him. and I perceive that this pursuit is going to be a lengthy business. Gnus, even when wounded, are among the most GXDS AND ZEBRAS OX THE 5ALT-INCRCSTED PLAIN? NEAR LAKE NATRON tenacious of the wild beasts of Africa ; their endurance is extraordinary. The endurance and insensibility to pain of most African wild creatures are simply astounding. This fact is acknowledged by all experienced hunters, without exception. The vitality of African wild animals is ever so much greater than of those we have in Europe. It is to be e.xplained, I suppose, by the degeneration of 0/ With Flashlight and Rifle ^ the latter, among which "natural selection" has for so long been more or less repressed. The African native, too, displays incredible powers of recuperation, and after the severest wounds he produces " sound flesh " at a rate which must be the envy of every European and the admiration of the surgeon ! In the further pursuit of the gnu we come at every step upoa fresh representatives of the ornithology of the marsh ; the curious umbrettes {Scopus timdreiia) fly lightly about us. Pretty little black marsh-fowl {Ortygometra piisilla obscura) slip in and out of the sedge-growth at our feet quickly hiding themselves from observation. Splendid snow-white egrets investigate the strange looks of their human visitors, and then instantly retire into safety. With a warning cackle, some Egyptian geese {Chenalopex (Sgyptiacus) fly off to the open water ; the strangely shaped little parra flutters up between the reeds, visible for a moment only. But in the drier parts our steps are haunted continually by little male birds belonging to that beautiful species the black-and-white "crying lapwing." Each couple of this particular kind of lapwing rules at this season over a certain well-defined district, its own little kingdom, from which it jealously drives away all rivals. Every- where within this tiny realm the little hens are hatching their prettily spotted eggs. This accounts for the anxiety and suspicion of the cocks. Now, again, the dry desert receives us, and going through plantations of salvadora, acacia, and terminalia, we reach a part of the velt which, here and there at least, affords a little covert. But the gnu, which has 572 -► Stalking- Expeditions in the Xyika already once covered his blood-tracks, has likewise been eoine forward, thoucrh still on three le.a"s. Long ago I made it a rule to myself alwavs, even here in Africa, to tollow upon a trail which has been once entered upon, so long as it holds and pursuit is possible. So we go on tor another league into the desert, when at last the sharp ey<^s of mv bearer catch sight, he thinks, ot our quarr\-, moving forward slowly about a mile or so in front of us. And he is not mistaken. As we proceed I note several places where the hunted animal has made a hak, and lost a good deal of blood ; two splinters of bone are also found. Xow begins a monotonous tract of sueda-bushes ; covered by them, and leaving my people far behind, I succeed in gettmg up very quickly to the gnu and delivering a well-placed finishing-shot. My carriers hasten up. A number of them, under my direction, cautiously skin the dead animal ; the skin and head, with the horns, are taken back to the camp, there to be carefully dressed and preserved. Other carriers are sent home with the flesh. Round the remains ot the gnu, after we have withdrawn a little distance, a number ot vultures and marabous soon crather. Alreadv, for a loner time, a fork-tailed kite {M:/:iis (rgyplins) has been hovering over us, con- tinually approaching within a tew yards. These birds follow one constantly, knowing that they may count upon coming bv some booty in this way. Presently two others make their appearance, and as the\ swoop to the ground and begin to pick up little bits of meat, there is a rushing sound in the air, and, down from the clouds, VOL. II. 5 73 12 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ there whizzes obliquely a dark-winged object that settles on the remains of the gnu. It is only when at a little distance from, the ground that the vulture spreads out his wings, at the same time stretching forth his talons, thus mitigating the force of his fall. Greedily, with un- gainly hops, he hurries towards the remnants of my booty. From different directions he is followed by others and again others of his kindred. Marabous let themselves down to the vultures without a movement of the wings, like para- chutes, their long legs stuck quaintly forward. But they never by any chance land upon the carcase ; they reach the ground at some distance from it. Vulture upon vulture now comes whizzing down : the little carrion-vulture {^Neophron monachus), picking out scattered morsels with its weak bill and pulling timidly at the larger fragments ; the stately Riippell's vulture, in its simple, sand-coloured plumage ; the gaily coloured hooded vulture {Lophogyps occipitalis) ; the grey-headed vulture, my own discovery [Psezidogyps africamis schillingsi), and the " sociable " vulture {Otogyps auricularis), the largest and most im- posing of all its tribe, whose occurrence in German East Africa I was the first to establish. With incredible rapidity the assembled birds gobble down the fragments. Into the midst of their quarrelling and the flapping of their wings the smaller birds tumble cleverly down ; they catch up the morsels of flesh that are flying about in the tumult, tear them asunder in the air with their claws, and swallow them. In the same way the preying storks ensure themselves their share of the booty. In an incredibly short time the troop of birds 574 ^ - J rz ■ ^ * .-Sjt-/' c^ ^^Mn Hk •»,_ ^ '^5^/' 2 §^ K^ C«. %jP^^HS i ? J|^^^^^H^>^^^H >MSK^; •■.*^1 c iittaM »V^V 5^ ^^HV '«^- (1 w ^m^B^^^^i ^^ /m^> s ff^^^bt !' ""■^'^ - .^^^t^t/j^'^^^T^^^^^ >WBmr- ? iHdi^^ S^ ^1 -^ Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika have devoured the whole, while the wind carries over to us the noise of their scoldingrs and hissing-s. Those which are sated run aside with short, hopping- steps, and then rise in the air, to seek, with heavy Hi^^ht and well-filled crops, the neighbouring trees, there to give themselves up quietly to the business of digestion. The short rest came just at the right time for us ; after about a quarter of an hour I set forth again into the desert. Xow there stretches before us a lon!^' and arid plain, whose surface appears to be undermined and hollowed ever\-- where. Over our heads there hovers a pair of the beautiful ju;:;'gVmg-ea.g\es {/fe/ofc7rsi/s eca//da//ts}. the most wonderful fliers I know. Xeiir the poverty-stricken bushes and shrubs there peep out here and there the marmot-iike ij^round-squirrels, long-tailed, slender, and nimble, resembling in their colouring the reddish desert-ground. Raising themselves on their hind-legs, they look round at us anxiously, then disappear in the deep undergrowth. It is by no means easy to bag these animals, although they are far from rare, and in some places are extraordinarily numerous. Many kinds prefer to inhabit deserted white-ant hills. When once they have withdrawn into this chosen fortress of theirs, you have to wait a long time before you see them again. Only when the wind favours you is there any chance of getting a shot at them. Often they put only their heads out of their refuge, keeping them there quite a long time, on the look-out. If shot at thus the wounded animal disappears entirely into the 577 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ depths of the ant-hill, and therein, owing to the extraordi- nary solidity of ant-architecture, is lost for ever to the hunter. As I expected, crowds of the bigger mammals are now visible which in the daytime keep far away from the water. In the hilly country we come from time to time upon grassy prairies, very different from the arid velt. , Little herds of Grant's gazelles {Gazella granti), are to be met with. They show themselves confiding, go slowly in front of us, and, once put to flight, cut most characteristic capers, for ever changing in direction. But this apparently aimless beginning brings them soon, in a wide half-circle, below our wind, and I take this behaviour therefore to be a manoeuvre peculiar to themselves and carefully planned out by them. When a herd of these Grant's gazelles move on ahead of us, the bucks are wont to bring up the rear, with stiffly-held heads and very dignified steps. Their heavy, wide-spreading horns, upon their ej(traordinarily strong, short necks, give them a sort of dignity. The females of this species are more than usually cautious and timid. So far as I can see, they have young ones with them all the year through. These young ones are suckled by the mother, hidden in the long grass ; but when the herd takes to flight the young ones accompany their elders. In one of the deeper-lying parts of the velt we now find a herd of big tawny antelopes. They are harte- beests {Bubahs co^ez)— that remarkable, overgrown, ugly type which surpasses even the gnu in vitality and insensi- bility to gunshot wounds. 578 -♦ Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika The hartebeest antelopes of this region have a special interest for me, since we are not vet familiar with the THE jXOW-WHITE feathers OF THE EGRETS t M \% CRESTED CRANES (baLEARICA KEGULORUM C/BBERICEPS) differentiation of the local types ; therefore I determine to make a careful study of them. Gliding snake-wise over With Flashlight and Rifle '•^ the ground, I approach the herd. In this direct contact with the glowing, burning soil, one's kn,ees and hands can scarcely endure the heat. My own hands are not precisely pampered — they have long since been hardened, though it is true that they have got cracked in the course of photographic manipulations. My hands, my constantly exposed arms, and the upper part of my body, which except in the hottest hours of the day is often entirely bare and exposed to the effects of the sun — these all have acquired a brownish hue ; so much so that on my return from the Dark Continent, it has often amazed even old and well-tanned seafarers. It takes me a good half-hour to get near them ; the scouts of the herd of antelopes peer more and more curiously at the place, less than a mile off, where my people have remained behind in the shadow of a euphorbia. In the course of my crawlings I startle two small hares from their warrens, and they seek safety in flight. At last I am within range, and a brace rewards my labour. In long, even-measured flight, their heads sunk close to the earth, and wrapped in a cloud of dust, the surviving ten antelopes disappear in the distance. This time, by a lucky chance, I have succeeded in killing the two animals with one bullet. In isolated places I find several deeply trodden rhinoceros-tracks, all leading to the Njiri marshes ; they gleam in the sunlight, for the grasses which have been trodden down are more completely withered by the sun than the darker yellowish grasses of the velt. These paths I follow now for a league further, and then 580 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika come upon the fresh trail of an exceptionally large rhinoceros. The beast has left the track, and probaby has settled down at a distance of not less than three, and perhaps of five or more leagues, in the desert. After sending back the different servants into camp, there remain with me now only those picked carriers who can stand any amount of fatigue and upon whom I can rely most thoroughly for everything. I believe my observation to be accurate in this, that the power of enduring thirst is quite differently developed in the various races and tribes, according to whether they are indigenous to well-watered, or waterless, regions. Trustworthy observers have told me that, when in good condition, the Arab horse can endure thirst for three days and do its work. This would be impossible for any European breed, and for this reason I consider the employment of European horses in South-West Africa, for instance, to be most injudicious. My Wanyamwesi men, in other respects most useful and valuable servants, who are inhabitants of the relatively well-peopled and well-watered country of Unyamwezi, could not endure thirst anything like so long as the Masai 01 Morani and Wandorobo men, who are a hardy folk, used to all kinds of deprivations. I myself, of course, could not compare with any of the natives in this respect. It is noteworthy that the native, even when enduring the agony of thirst, is able to get sleep at night, while 583 With Flashlight and Rifle "Ti the thirsting European is incapable of driving away the obsession of the thought of water. Water ! I feel clearly how difficult it is to depict real, serious, burning, terrible thirst to those who, like most Europeans, have never felt it. The pangs increase as the temperature rises, for the scorching sun and the dry warmth cause the body to perspire and thus lose what it has of moisture. Quietly encamped in the shade, one can, of course, endure thirst for much longer than when on the march. But we have a proverb, " Staying in camp finds no water," and so thirsty men' have often to keep on the march. It is said that the Mahdi did his enemies to death by starving them, but not depriving them of water. Under normal conditions, it appears that with this treat- ment the death-agonies do not set in until the seventeenth day. From thaL day onward the Mahdi, with his suite, used to appear in the cells, so as to amuse himself with the last agonies of his opponents. Thirst can kill, though, according to iconditions of temperature, in two, or at the most, three days, as I have unfortunately proved by experience. Under un- favourable conditions, indeed, a single very hot day may suffice to bring even an unladen native to the end of his tether. Three times have I suffered really badly from want of water. The first time, the caravan had been delayed in the neighbourhood of Nguruman and Nguaso-Nyiro for some days, on account of warlike operations. I had spent the whole day on the velt, hunting and making 584 ■^ Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika observations, in the scorching heat of the sun, and sending a number of booty-laden carriers back into camp. At about ten o'clock a.m. my thirsty throat had been refreshed by the last drop of boiling-hot water from the big hunting-flask, so that now I had to go thirsty until evening, when I was sure of finding water in the distant camp. Hour after hour went by ; all I saw enthralled me — I was then a new-comer in the El Dorado of the African zoology — and made me forget my thirst. On our return the unusual mishap befell me of my two remaining guides losing their way ; in the fast-coming darkness we plunged into the myriad labyrinths of a thorn-thicket, and by nightfall, scratched and torn by the thorns, it was impossible to get any farther. We had lost our bearings, had ended by wandering round in a circle, and now it became quite clear to me that we should be obliged to spend the night amidst the prickly pears. So we crouched down on a bare place a few feet broad, and as my foot knocked against a hard object, I looked and found it to be the half- mouldered skull of a buffalo, evidently a victim of the rinderpest. In the hope of being heard in camp, I foolishly fired away almost all my cartridges, but in vain ; there was no answer. Dead-tired, my tongue literally cleaving to the roof of my mouth, I now crouched down under a clump of trees grown over by creepers, my gun beside me with my four remaining cartridges. A monkey uttered his piercing yell ; an owl replied. Listening, with strained ears, in the absolute darkness, 587 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ we heard all around us a crackling and rustling in the leaves and dry branches. There were no trees that one could climb ; it was impossible to take a step forward in the prickly thicket. Seated together, we wore through minute upon minute ; the hours stretched out interminably. Suddenly, to our terror, not farther than ten steps from us, there breaks out suddenly the howl of a hyaena. I lift my gun at once, but then the thought comes to me that I may perhaps need my few cart-ridges for sterner foes. We manage to drive the brute away by shouting and by throwing- at it bits of earth and fragments broken from the bufifalo- skull. But the "fissi" does. not go far. It keeps circling round, howling for hours, kept at a distance by our shouting — a strange dialogue between beast of prey and human being in the lonely wilderness ! The hyeena's getting so near has reminded me of how noiselessly lions and leopards could steal upon us, and vividly does the -inia:ginary picture paint itself over and over again in my mind's eye. But once more the pangs of thirst overpower every other feeling. My temples throb, my heart beats quickly and violently. Amongst the thousand thoughts and fancies that crowd feverishly through my brain, one thought is ever foremost : water ! water ! What would I not give for a glass of water ! I feel I would willingly give a third part of all my only worldly goods for a draught of water ! More than that — the half! No, the whole! Unconditionally! Cool, rushing streams, water-nymphs, and a thousand such apparitions does the tortured brain conjure up for itself. But all is in vain, 588 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika and I must thirst on — thirst on, Hke my black companions, who brood upon it all in dull resignation. . . . The pulse-beats grow ever weaker, less perceptible, and faster ; more agonising grows the thirst ; we ourselves more lethargic. . . . The only useful possession at this midnight hour is one's weapon, and the knowledge that in these circum- A FLOCK OF SACRED IBISES FLEW RIGHT OVER MY HIDING-PLACE Stances one must crush down one's feeling — must set the coloured men an example of patient endurance of thirst, although their sufferings are not nearly so great as mine. Thus drag and linger the slow hours. The hyaena remains on, but in the end we scarcely notice it is there. As if everything had conspired against us, the sky, here in the proximity of the mountain-range, remains clouded and dark. The temperature keeps hot and VOL. II. 589 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ sultry ; the burning heat, which the soil has absorbed during the day, is undiminished — there is no dispersal of it through the atmosphere. Ah ! there at last sounds a well-known voice from the throat of a bird ; a little flying minstrel greets the coming morn with soft twitterings. Darkness goes at last, and at last (though still without an idea of the right direction) we can move onward ! After hours of this, after climbing trees to try to get our bearings, we at last find a dried-up river-bed which leads to our camp. Breathlessly we follow its course upwards, and the first little drop of water that we come to in the brook-bed affords us at last the longed-for refreshment. To resume, the rhinoceros-track leads me now into an entirely arid part of the desert, apparently devoid of any of the higher forms of animal life, and takes me, hour by hour, further from the camp. Sometimes the rhino has taken its toll from the thorn-bushes Salvadora persica and the taparidal, and has also rooted up some prickly aloes ; but apparently it was already fully fed when it took itself into the wilderness, and was chiefly occupied with the thought of its safety. There are a dozen places on the way where I might come across it — where the ranker plants grow in the torrent-bed, or in those oases where the Vernoma and " mpele-mpele " bushes grow ... it may appear close before me, snorting, at any moment. The wind is still favourable ; I do not abandon the pursuit ; a trail does not often last so well and yield so much possibility ! 590 -♦ Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika Now we come upon two sand-grouse [PterocLes exustus) which rise far from the water in front of us, but soon phmge in again not far off with a splash. But where has the long-sought pachyderm got to ? The sun's rays have already begun to slope westward when suddenly, on a very open space under a little acacia-tree, the rhino becomes visible. It has settled down, according to its custom, with A WHITE-HEADKD SEA-EAGLE its hinder parts close against the trunk, and its head forward. Now for a test of nerves ! Accompanied only by my most trustworthy followers I approach the beast as cautiously as possible, and as it happens, for a wonder, not to be beset by ox-peckers, I succeed in getting up to within sixty paces. If at such moments one looks behind to give the gun-carrier a whispered order of any sort, it is intensely interesting to observe his staring, excited face, which has 591 With Flashlight and Rifle -* all the greater effect upon a European because, in such- circumstances, the white of the eyes stands out in the most extraordinary way against the dark skin. The rhinoceros slumbers on without a suspicion of danger. The novice might take it for a white-ant hill, and the powerful horns for broken, dry branches. The colour- ing of the animal, which has rolled itself several times in the dust of the desert during its journey, is perfectly toned to its environment ; the pointed ears keep shaking off the persistent little flies, and thus betray the fact that the colossal creature is alive. The animal is usually tormented by a very small, stinging blow-fly (which probably represents a new genus, most closely related to Lyperosia) discovered by me in the year 1903. In the year 1899 ^ had already found the Mto-Nairobi rhinoceroses terribly tormented by ox-fly larvee, which, in the form of a hitherto unknown species [Gyrosiigma conjungens), accomplished their metamorphosis to the number of several hundreds in the stomach of the beast they infested. When one remembers that these disgusting parasites grow to an inch and a quarter long and half an inch broad, one can understand how much the rhinoceroses must suffer. My rhinoceros has not yet noticed the approaching enemy. I take another look at my rifle ; it has long been loaded and in order ; and nothing has come between the sight. Lit by the oblique rays of the sun, the great wild beast affords me an easy aim ; but it must not be able to reach us for any kind of attack before falling dead, since we 592 ^ O S ■^ o t3 2 O B G g « O O w i. 1^ O s \> £ ^ ',-14 •i Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika hiLve no covert of any description. On the other hand, it shall not be murdered in its sleep, so there rings out a short, loud cry from me. How unfamiliar sounds my own voice to me in this tremendous solitude ! As if struck by lightning, the rhinoceros leaps up with incredible rapidity, his ears pointed sharply forward, and offering me, half- obliquely, a good aim. My shot rings out ! Puffing and snorting like a steam- ORGEICH BU'iV TREPARING ORNITHOLOGICAL SPECIMENS — NO EASY TASK, VERY OFTEN engine, the beast flings himself round twice in a circle, seeking for his foe. But already my rifle has spoken for the second time, and simultaneously with the sound the mighty beast succumbs ; in the death-struggle the heavy head falls with a thud once or twice upon the stony ground of the desert. Cautiously I approach my fallen prey ; the little, blinking eyes induce me to administer a 595 With Flashlight and Rifle -* death-shot in the ear, and feeble signs of the life which is still present are betrayed, as I expected, by this means. I have the skin of the head drawn ofif^ but the horns have to be detached, a task in which my axe and side-arms do good service. At the least, an hour is required for the detaching in correct style of the two long horns, which are very thick at the base. The carriers load themselves anew with the best bits of flesh, and then the march back to camp is begun. This is reached some time after midnight ; my pedometer testifies to some 72,000 paces — a good per- formance in view of the climate, and only possible for those who have been in the country some months. ' In the dawn of an October day I once more leave the camp with a number of my men to ascend the higher tracts of the Donje-Erok in its southerly division. For some time I have been encamped at " Ngara na Lalla," in the Masai district of Matumbato. We follow the brook for a long time. Then a pathless road leads through the slowly ascending foot-hills, intersected by dried-up torrent-beds, to the foot of the hills which lie to the south of the gloomy Donje-Erok. There are numerous tracks and traces of animals which have watered at the brook during the night, and now have retreated again into the wide desert. Little herds of Grant's gazelles, Thomson's gazelles, and impalla antelopes run off here and there ; and I also come upon two or three pretty red-coloured antelopes. These are steinbok {Raphiceros neumanni), which, exactly match- ing the red soil of the district in their colouring, let us come up very close to them before, cutting many capers, 596 -»> Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika they suddenly take to flight, soon to disappear in the dry desert grass. The firmament is clothed in cloudless blue ; the day will undoubtedly prove oppressively hot. The animal world is awake all around us, and especially near the brook. We turn out a pair of the immense ground- hornbill {Bucorvus caffer), the " ol munguk " of the Masai people, then a crowd of francolins, and also two large coveys of guinea-fowl. In rising, these latter utter their indescribable, peculiarly metallic cry. The wise creatures soon plunge into the depths again and run off into safe quarters with surprising rapidity. The rest of the bird-world is also most actively busy ; the air is thick with doves of different kinds ; the gurgle of the turtle-dove, called "ndurgulju" by the Masai people, fills the air ; strong coveys of sand-grouse fly very quickly over our heads to their drinking-places, or, already having drunk their fill, go back into the desert. The bushes near the brook are alive with the humming and chirping of legions of little red Kaffir finches, which find here lots of water and a generous feast of ripe grasses. My attention is now aroused by some curious birds, which turn out to be wood-hoopoes [Irrisor senegalensis soina/iettsis), the " el gononi " of the Masai people, whose shrill laughter, resounding through the bush, is answered by the characteristic note of the yellow hornbill {Shizorhis leucogaster). At a distance of two hundred paces we now perceive three of the great Kori bustards {Eupodotis kori). They peer at us timidly and cautiously, making off with slow, measured pace, and with peculiarly 599 With Flashlight and Rifle -* stiff bearing. But when, hastening our steps, we get quite near to them, they take to flight. They begin by runnings along the ground, but then, despite their heaviness, they sail through the air on their mighty pinions with surprising- lightness, and get quickly into shelter. But none of these creatures can arrest me in my march to-day. Only here and there do I delay a few minutes tO' observe some animal which particularly interests me. Thus- my attention is caught now and then by pretty dik-dik antelopes {Madocpia kirki) gathered together by twos or threes. After two hours of wandering and the negotiation of a great many steep torrent-beds, often more than thirty-five feet deep, there suddenly appear in the rocky and thorny ground belonging to the hills which fringe the mountain-shelves, two greenish-grey antelopes, whose aspect forms a striking- contrast to that of their fellows of the plain. These are the pretty little mountain antelopes, which take the place of the chamois in Africa — the klipspringer, called by the Masai " n' gnossoiru." The only European form of the antelope — the chamois — is not found in Africa ; the, beautiful ibex, moreover, has only two representatives in the north of the continent. But widely dispersed over the Dark Continent is the hill- climbing klipspringer, with its curious hard-grained, stiff- haired pelt. The klipspringer demands most strenuous stalking from the hunter, and therefore fascinates him. This peculiar animal is found in many phases, and as those brought me from the Masai desert proved to be unknown to science,. 600 -» Stalking Expeditions in the \vika Oscar Neumann has described them, and named them Oreotragus sckillingsi. These dwarf antelopes live in little parties of from six to eight, and also in pairs, both on the rugged mountain- slopes and sometimes in the caves of the high desert, and anywhere that heaps of rocks and stones, and even lava blocks, make suitable countn" for them. In jAbyssinia klipspringers have been found at elevations- of 10,000 ft. How high they climb in the East African mountain-chain I cannot sav ; but wherever rugged heights are interrupted by steep valleys, and wherever a meagre thorny flora grows amid rocks and stones, there is the home of the klipspringer. Like india-rubber balls, apparently flying rather than springing, the graceful creatures move from rock to rock, now stopping still for some time with closely -gathered limbs, anon disappearing like shadows into their mountain strongholds with a clear whistle of warning, soon to emerge again on a fresh post of observation, to watch the disturber of their mountain peace. By a curious chapter of accidents my photographs of these lovely animals were all damaged except a tew which may serve to give some idea ot the pretty creatures. To-day the klipspringers are particularly shy, and elude me continually in the dry grass. Only one buck, in its flight from my men mounting up from below, suddenly comes my way, and, while it peers down on me a moment from its rock, gives me the chance of a shot. Mv bullet hits it at a distance of almost two hundred yards across the valley. 1 send two trusty carriers back into the camp with the booty ; and there 603 With Flashlight and Rifle -* the skin has to be prepared with the greatest care, for the hairs grow so loosely that, with the least inattention, they are sure to come out. Now we have to work up the mountain-slope, often painfully in the burning sun, on hands and feet. The rocks are already quite hot. Lizards and geckos eye us curiously, instantly disappearing in the grass or in holes. The higher we climb the more plants and grasses we find that are not entirely withered by the sun. The eye of the hunter soon perceives among the rocks great accumulations of dung, the nature of which tells of the presence of numerous rock-badgers. And, in truth, this mountain wilderness is thickly inhabited by those miniature hoofed animals of which the Bible speaks, and which zoology has, oddly enough, to class as relatives of the mighty rhinoceros. . . . Fate has arranged things very differently for these incongruous cousins. Thanks to their size and strength, the rhinoceroses ruled their broad lands for hundreds and thousands of years ; no foe of equal girth challenged them in the struggle for existence. But at first, with the help of the poisoned arrow, and nowadays with the help of little bits of metal only some few millimetres in size, which are landed in the body of the beast from a long distance, man has succeeded in well-nigh decimating this leviathan ; and soon he will have annihilated him ! And thus the poor relations of the rhinoceroses, the rock-badgers, who live in inaccessible rocky deserts, have had a better destiny. Living like rabbits, multiplying endlessly, timid and cautious — the old ones, at any rate, 604 -*-. Stalking Expeditions in the Xyika putting the sportsman's patience to the hardest proof — thev will survi\e for long ages the last rhinoceros on earth — perhaps even the human race. . . . This small game is not particularly interesting to the hunter, unless he tries a shot at one of the old fellows warming himself in the morning sun. If in the pursuit of a zoological collection, one wishes to obtain a larcre A WELCOME POOL OF YELLOW WATER WHICH WE REACHED AFTER COIN'; TU ENTY-FOIR HOLRS WITHOUT A DRINK number of specimens of various ages, then, armed with an ordinary shot-gun, one must be ready to sit still for hours — for hours may indeed elapse before the experienced old animals will leave their hiding-places and expose them- selves to the gun. And when the game is hit, it must be dispatched before it can reach its rocky lair, for otherwise it is irretrievably lost to the hunter. Thus the hunting of rock-badgers seems to me to VOL. II. 605 14 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ have many points in common with marmot-hunting in the Alps. Like marmots, the rock-badgers seek the more low-lying parts of the desert in the rainy season. In the dry season of the year they return to their moun- tain-haunts, where they then always find some nourish- ment, even though it be meagre, in the grasses, leaves, and bushes. The rock-badger pays great heed to the warning whistle of the klipspringer, and one sometimes sees the two species living in the closest proximity, and evidently in friendly relations. I have constantly noticed how the tawny eagles {Aqtnla rapax) make war upon the young rock-badgers. On the appearance of one of these eagles, which haunt the slopes of the mountains, the rock-badgers disappear as quick as lightning, and stay a long time in their warrens. They have also certain hiding-places in the rocks which offer complete security, and into these they retire in numbers at the approach of danger. Farther and farther upwards does my way lead me. The heat grows ever more intense, and very wearisome it is to make one's way up the mountain through the thorn-wooded valleys. But at last we have reached the ridge of the first chain of hills, and already a wonderful prospect is opening over the vast wilderness. At our feet, in the middle of the ash-coloured velt, lies a long green strip — it is the course of the stream near which I have pitched my camp. Far in the distance, in the direction of its lower course, the presence of those periodic swamps — formed by the streams in the rainy season — is indicated by the reed-thickets, now yellowish and dry, 606 '* Stalking' Expeditions in the Xvika which occur in a long, deep depression of the desert surface. Over them, near them — everywhere, indeed, that the eye can reach — the infinite desert shimmers in the throbbing light. The whole vast region lies in a dazzling glow, intensified by the hot wa\'es of air that ascend from it. Over and over again experience and common-sense have MY CARRIERS INDULGE IX A WAsH to be called in to correct the delusions of the eye, which constantly deceives itself with regard to the perspective. For instance, while the eye supposes itself capable of seeing herds of game down there, as a matter of fact, we can scarcelv make out with the naked eve the bio^ surfaces of our tents below us in the camp — we can only see them with the glasses. It is important that the tents should stand out well from their surroundings, so they 607 With Flashlight and Rifle -* are stained with green oxide of copper. A herd of elephants would barely be visible in their neighbourhood. How small and helpless does man appear in the midst of such stupendous manifestations of nature ! Never have I known a peace more deep and sacred, never have I felt so intimately the beauty and the essential harmony of nature, as on the mountain-heights of the Masai-Nyika solitudes. Certainly I did not see in these forests the ororgreous violet-coloured beds of flowers which o o I found in the woods that girdle Kilimanjaro ; but, on the other hand, the trees, all overgrown and hung, as they were, with ferns {^HynienophyllacecB), mosses, and garlands, presented a spectacle quite as remarkable. Next to the impenetrable bamboo-forests of another part of Africa, I have not been so impressed by anything as by these groves of trees, with their garlands of whitish, spectre-like lichens. Volkens declares that these parasites in many cases kill the supporting tree. . . . But we may not long indulge in reflection. We are now on the ridge of the foremost mountains, and our next business is to penetrate into the actual gloomy mountain- tracts — more practicable from here on account of the elephant and rhinoceros tracks — of the Donje-Erok, which is two thousand feet high. So it is a question of straining every muscle. Streams of sweat must flow before the goal is reached. No other European has sought these silent mountain-forests before me ; only Count Teleki and von Hohnel, long years ago, encamped at the foot of the mountain on their memorable journey to the Rudolf and Stephanie Lakes. Doubly attractive, there- 608 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Xyika fore, doubly desirable and full of promise, does an exploration of this mountain-world, and its secrets, appear to me. On our rigrht there stretch out lonur, ofrass-erown chains ot hills, broken by steeply cut, dried-up stream- courses. Ayain we come upon a species of antelope which is not found in the desert. First one, then two. MEERKATS and now a fourth specimen, are put to flight by us. All four antelopes were feeding openly^ in the valley when our appearance there surprised them. These were the handsome, curiously coloured mountain-reedbuck ( Ccrzi- lapra c/iaii/cri). a species distinguished by unusually long tails, and in full sunlight looking almost white — a type of antelope whose discovery in East Africa by myself was anticipated only by the American traveller Chanler. 609 With Flashlight and Rifle -* A brace, consisting of a buck and a hind, adds two splendid specimens to my collection. Scarcely a single European museum has hitherto been able to boast of the possession of one of these antelopes, though in certain high-lying parts of the East African mountain-country they are by no means uncommon. Again I detach two carriers from my caravan for the transport of the game. With the others I now proceed south, in the direction of the highest peak of the mountain-chain. After half an hour my eye discovers beneath our look- out, in a depression of the valley, some living creatures standing out plainly from the grassy ground, and I soon recognise them as elands ; but these fine antelopes would take me too much out of my way. So we go forward, often coming again upon klipspringers and mountain-reedbuck ; and in one of the valleys that we scramble through we perceive for an instant two fugitive bushbuck among the thickets. As soon as we have obtained a view-point on one of the commanding, lofty, naked, rocky ridges, we see the Donje-Erok's own ridges stretching out before our eyes, falling steeply towards the velt on the south, but in the north-west descending in a series of gradually lower hills, furrowed all over with valleys, and with many well-wooded heights. Two streams flow down to north and east — ^both soon to disappear in the desert at the foot of the mountain. The traveller must clamber over the mountains for weeks before he can get any sort of idea of their actual conformation. As, following the mountain-ridges, we stride through 6io -* Stalking Expeditions in the >,yika close, tall underwood, we come at every step, as 1 had expected, upon the haunts of the rhinoceroses. Suddenly some huge animals rush off suddenly, to mv utter amazement, through the thicket close by ; and my rifle- bearer calls out behind me : '■ Umbogo, Bwana ! " (" Buffalo, sir ! ") But they are not buffaloes (although in similar high A SECRETARY-BIRD ON THE VELT regions on other hills of the desert I have found quite fresh buffalo-skulls) ; they are again elands. This time I succeed in slaying a fine bull out of a herd of several. On receiving my shot he springs into the air from all four feet, but succumbs after running a few- paces, and gives us the opportunity of adding to our commissariat a liberal provision of excellent venison. Eight carriers are chosen to take the skin and the 6ii With Flashlight and Rifle -*> horns back to camp. I have quite enough carriers — about twelve men — left with whom to continue my march and the exploration of the peak-forest, so that I need not burden myself with the kill. But, strangely enough, I now come — while marching at the head of my servants and carefully picking my way through bush and branches — almost directly, and quite unexpectedly, upon the first rhinoceros, a bull, rising from his lair about thirty paces in front of me ! I can only see the head and horns. The animal is standing motionless, trying to investigate the approaching foes, for the wind is in our favour. I did not expect to put up a " faru " so imme- diately after my shot at the antelope ! Of course it was lying in a hollow, and the thicket surrounding us may well have entirely deadened the sound of the gun, or else the rhinoceros mistook it for thunder. Instinctively my people stand as still as pillars of salt, for I make no movement, except the lightning-quick snatch at my rifle. Then the " faru " flings round ; it escapes to the mountain-slope with a clatter, and we see it no more. I had no intention of killinsf it, nor did its very ordinary pair of horns especially tempt me. But more carefully now we take our way, step by step, through the thicket, looking out most cautiously, and straining our ears to the utmost. Soon we come upon a whole lot of fresh rhinoceros- lairs, hollowed out from the ground like ostrich-nests, and often showing traces of recent use. Most rhino- ceros-lairs are found under shade-giving bushes, but 612 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika some are quite in the open ; these latter are used chiefly when the sky is clouded and the temperature cool. Xovv we have to be \ery careful with each step we take. Every animal that gets up before us now — bush- huck are tolerably frequent here — of course makes us AN EARLY MdRNI.N'G PHOTOGRAPH OF WATERliUCK, CURIOUSLY LIKE EUROPEAN RED DEER AT A DISTANCE Stand still with bated breath, until we are sure that it is not a rhinoceros. When the undergroAth thins a little, we can proceed with less caution. But we come again and again, on these mojntain-rid^es, upon thickets in which, as I have said, any number of rhinoceros-lairs are to be found. The thickets are much grrown over with the woodbine {Clematis sunensis) — called bv the Masai ■" ol orianene " — whose feathery, white-flowering standards 6i; With Flashlight and Rifle -*> are to be seen everywhere. Very frequent also are some dififerent kinds of Composites, much liked by elephants, and a leguminous plant, beloved of tree-badgers, called by the Wandorobo " mukuna." Wherever there is an open outlook we can see the silent, mighty desert, glowing in the sun's rays, at our feet. Above our heads the tall trees arch, decked C Jf* fantastically with those long, waving, white garlands of lichens. Rest and holy calm prevail in these dark mountain-forests. Even the bird-world is but sparsely represented, and,, besides bushbuck, it is only now and again that we see anything of the antelope family — such as those quaint dwarf members of it, the duikers, mostly belonging to. Sylvicapra ocularis, with their (fabulously long ears,. 614 -•> Stalking Expeditions in the Xyika Standing motionless, they peer for a moment from the undergrowth at the intruders, and then disappear in the thick scrub. Xow we hear a snorting beneath us in an open space in the valley. Two rhinoceroses, which have evidently marked our approach for some time, but have lingered to- investigate us thoroughly by means of their sense of smelk VILTORES OX THE WING break out, snorting like steam-engines, and at first make directly for me, but then suddenly swerve, so that they go crosswise over our path, and disappear in the valley at the other side. Both monsters go raging thus over a perfectly open, clearing, not further than fifty paces from me, lifting up their heads, which are ornamented with two enormous horns, and tossing them continually from side to side. 615 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Rifle full-cocked, I await their onset, while my people seek -covert right and left behind the tree-trunks. But I rejoice to say that no attack is made. Crashing, stumbling, and snorting, we can hear them for quite a long while making their way down the mountain-side, and then, with more caution than ever, I set forward again. But does fate intend me to come right on top of rhinoceroses every two hours, or will the animals have remarked our proximity and made their escape before we reach their resting-places ? Climbing one of the highest rocks, I give myself up for half an hour to the joy of admiring the glorious, far-stretching prospect of the vast desert. When we move on a little way towards the second peak, we suddenly find ourselves in the midst of such an indescribably dense bush that we are unable to see more than a few feet in front of us. Keeping our bearings with difficulty, we wind along through the thicket. Just as I am creeping on my hands and knees through a maze of branches, there comes a snorting to right and left of me, quite close, and the branches crackle and break. An enormous rhinoceros is coming at me ! With unheard-of good luck I succeed in sending a bullet almost straight into its ear, killing the huge beast on the spot. At the same moment two other rhinoceroses come thundering by, quite close to me ; they suddenly, however, stand stock still in the thicket, snorting violently, on the alert. A few yards to the left the first leviathan lies in the throes of death. I hold the gun directed straight 6i6 Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika VAPYRUS-WOOn^ TO THE WEsT OF THE NJIRI SWAMPS A HACNT OF ELEPHANTS AND RHIXOCERO^E-, WHICH FREQl E.NTLV ASCEND THE M'.UNTAINS at his head, not sure that a final shot mav not be necessary ; at the same time I keep a watch upon the 617 With Flashlight and Rifle -* other two creatures ! Some seconds thus elapse, in the most terrible suspense. Again there is a crashing noise in the thicket before me, but neither of the two monsters ■attempts a fresh onset ; on the contrary, both of them ■clatter away to the right into the valley. A number of my men, despite the dense undergrowth, had vanished, as if swallowed up by the ground. Now they come creeping back from all directions, consternation on every face, and they try to persuade me that it is impossible to go on, since even the Wandorobo and Wakamba dare not penetrate farther into the. bush. But I persist in my intention, and we press forward as soon as the horns of the dead rhinoceros have been ■detached. The rhinoceros family evidently consists of a cow, an already well-grown youngster, and the bull that I have slain. I now attempt another method of pursuing my way ■unmolested. I try to keep away the rhinoceroses, firing rifle-shots here and there into the bush. This ■succeeds for a while, but in such circumstances every •cartridge is priceless. Moreover, I am attacked again, -after two more hours, by three rhinoceroses, and this time in a most unpleasant fashion. The beasts, which had already come out of their lairs, allowed us to approach almost within touching distance. And I ■certainly must attribute my salvation solely to the fact that the wind was most favourable to us, so that I succeeded at the last moment in stretching two of the brutes on the ground, with a shot in their necks, while the third, by great good luck, was put to flight. 6i8 -*> Stalking Expeditions in the Xvika But this time I could not prevent the four armed Askaris who were with me from likewise firingf off their rifles in their terror, and after that my people would not stir a step further with me. Curiously enough, I was able to point out to them distinctly, on the carcases of the rhi- noceroses, that their Mauser bullets had entirely missed their aim ; only one had hit, but too far back, and not on a vital part. I frankly confess that my own nerves somewhat ga\ e way, and that a certain fury against the pachyderms took hold of me. These feelings were coupled with one of distress at being obliged to slay so uselessly, and therefore I sought in one of the wooded, brook-threaded valleys a place to sleep for the night. To my surprise, clouds had been gathering for some time — for even in the dry season this lofty chain of mountains can condense a certain quantity of moisture. Suddenly there splashed down from the gloomy pile a short but heavy local shower, which did not, of course, fall upon the thirsty velt, but only on the high peaks of this mountain-region. As suddenly as the rain began it has ceased. A big fire is kindled from a lot of dry twigs, and I enjoy a refreshing bath in a pool formed by a forest-stream, and shaped like the arena of a circus. But the first thing to be done is to destroy in different ways the rhinoceros- tracks, which cross each other from every side of the valley. This is achieved to within some hundred paces of our encampment, and everywhere around the Wando- robo who are with me cast their spells, to keep away rhinoceroses and other animals at night. VOL. II. 621 15 With Flashlight and Rifle -* A frugal supper, which tastes very good after all the exertions of the day, is prepared from the flesh of the eland roasted on the spit ; and refreshing sleep soon embraces myself and the men who are not keeping- watch. Up here, in the pure air of the mountain-forest — very different from that of my camp on the fever-breeding velt — one sleeps doubly well. But not less than three times in the night we are all awakened suddenly by the snorting of rhinoceroses in our proximity. We spring up, and a long time elapses before the angry pachyderms disappear, still uttering snorts that echo hideously through the forest. The next morning sees me returning to the camp by a different path. This time we climb down to the valley by the southern declivities of the mouptain-chain. Rock- badgers and klipspringers are visible, also two huge herds of baboons ; and now that I have no longer any desire to shoot antelope, the birds afford me many a- fine specimen for my collection. Gorgeously coloured turacos, in par- ticular, scuffling in the foliage, are soon added to my spoils. When, half-way to a rocky plateau, I halt and investi- gate the desert below me with a Goerz-Trialder glass, 1 perceive numerous little dots, which prove to be large herds of wild animals. When we come some hundred yards nearer to the foot of the mountain, great crowds of gnus, zebras, and impalla antelopes come out for the midday drink, and allow me, now that I am not hunting them, to pass within a few hundred paces. More than once I have made incursions into the higher regions of the Donje-Erok la Matumbato, but 622 -* Stalking Expeditions in the Nyika at last I have abjured it. It is too painful for the sportsman to have to proceed like a murderer for the sake of his own safety, yet if he did not he would unquestionably go to his certain death in these thickets ! Elephants enjoy a kind of indirect protection, which even the expert would not suspect. It happens in this way. The rhinoceroses — which, according to all the I GOT MY MEN TO FILL UP WITH THORN-BRANCHES AND TWIGS MANY OF THE MURDEROUS PIT-FALLS IN WHICH THE NATIVES ENTRAP THE ANIMALS natives, are by no means friendly towards elephants — continually baffle the elephant-stalker by their frequent presence in mountain-forests of the desert. For a single shot thunders through the hills and breaks into manifold echoes, and this is enough to set the wily elephants moving about noiselessly in all directions and setting many miles between themselves and their pursuers. 625 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ In the rainy season you will scarcely come across a single rhinoceros on the mountain-plateau ; they are then scattered about the velt. But in the dry season it is almost impossible to penetrate into the thickets of that hill country, as the description of this stalking exjDedition of mine shows very plainly. I should never have dreamt that it was such a veritable rhinoceros-preserve ; but for well-read zoologists this information will not be in the least surprising, for they are all conversant with the descriptions of Thomson, Count Teleki, Chanler, Donald- son-Smith, and, to close the list, von Hohnel (who was attacked by a rhinoceros and badly injured). These and many other travellers came across almost incredible numbers of rhinoceroses in certain districts. Everything here recounted by me of the Donje-Erok applies to all the corresponding mountain-ranges of the Masai-Nyika and Ndasekera, and the Donje-Erok la Matumbato is by no means especially rich in " faros." How quickly, though, these conditions may alter is most strikingly exhibited by the fact that so keen an observer as Professor Volkens never came in contact with a rhinoceros, in a stay of almost two years on Kilimanjaro, although his botanical excursions took him all round the mountain.^ Some years before his time the first com- mandant of Moshi, Mr. Eltz, had killed two-horned rhinoceroses by scores. And since then the Government Askaris had snared this great wild beast for years in their hunting expeditions. ^ Volkens, Der Kilimandjaro. 626 XXVIII Night-Shoots IN an earlier chapter I have already given some reasons why night-shoots in Equatorial Africa have in them much to deter the hunter, enticing as they may seem in Europe. In many cases it is not possible to arrange a "raised ambush " in trees, and many wild animals — sometimes even lions — are too timid to approach closely an " ambush " which is right down on the ground ; so that the sports- man is altogether too dependent on the way the wind is blowing. The attacks of insects of various kinds, above all of ants, are another horrible nuisance. Nothing in the tropics is more weakening to the body, and more likely to expose it to the attacks of fever, than the loss of one's most necessary night's rest. All the same, I advise every one who is entering upon the study of animal life, to undergo once or twice the infinite hard- ships of a night-shoot, for the sake of its fascination. 627 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Yes, such an adventure has, indeed, an indescribable fascination. Far from the camp, in the moonlit, solitary wilderness, to dare await the manifestations of the life of these wild denizens of the forest — -to what sportsman, just beginning his career, would not this present an irresistible attraction? I have several times attempted the "raised artibush," as well as the ambush in a thorn-thicket. And I have been rewarded for all my troubles, less by the hunting trophies I have secured than by the wealth of observations that 1 have been einabled to make. I will refer the reader to the most veracious and highly graphic descriptions by Count Coudenhove of his night-ambushes for lions in Somaliland.^ As he confesses, in simple, straightforward words : "I then learnt what fear really was." That was my experience. Will the reader, then, follow me and my tried and trusty black companion into my carefully arranged thorn- ambush, the entrance to which is closed behind us by some other servants by means of thorn-branches, and in which we are finally left alone ? Three loopholes in three different directions give me openings for my shots. With the coverings we have brought along, we make ourselves as comfortable as may be. I have selected my position so that I can count upon seeing lions as well as wild beasts of other kinds, even rhinoceroses, going to the water. After a while — the sun is already setting — there appear before us in the dry grass, their heads held very high, three fine, yellow-throated francolins ; but the wily birds have ^ Count Hoyos, Z« den Aulihans. 628 -^ Xight-Shoots already espied us, and vanish in a second. Doves, which have come in crowds to roost over the water, flutter ceaselessly here and there, seeking suitable covert in the thorny branches. Now resounds the cry of a little pearl screech-owl ; its cadence, almost exactly following the scale, rings out clearly over the now moonlit landscape. Unfortunately the moon is not at the full. Never- theless, it lights up the surroundings, in the clear tropical atmosphere, in a way that would only be possible for the full moon in our home latitudes. The uncertain glimmer of a moonlight night dances amid the trees and branches ; nocturnal insects hum around ; the leaves and dry wood rustle everywhere. There breaks out over our heads the laughter of a family of galagos {Otolemur crassicaudatiis) suddenly awakened. The tops of a little cluster of trees make an abode for these lemurs for many weeks at a time, and their extraordinary screarning resounds the whole night through. So time goes by and we wait in strained attention. The big ox, which is tied up quite close to us, has now grown accustomed to its environment ; it begins to munch the grass thrown near it, evidently reassured by our proximity. At first it tried several times, with much snorting, to get free. If it had succeeded in this it would have made a bee-line for the camp (which is not far off) and its comrades left behind there ; but instinctive sagacity causes it to suppress any lowing and calling to them. An hour has gone by. At the water a herd of ante- 631 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ lopes appears in blurred outline against the dark background of the sedge-thicket. They seem to be waterbuck, coming from their hiding-places on to the open level for food, and they soon disappear in the background. I begin to experience a certain fatigue, but I struggle against it. Nor do I permit any sleep to my companion ; the inevitable snoring of the fiegro (for that matter, even too heavy breathing) might be audible to sharp ears. Another hour has passed. Suddenly I perceive on my right, not far from me, a large dark object which I had not noticed before, and which is lightly and noiselessly approaching my ambush and the watering-place. Without a halt the dark, mighty mass comes nearer and still nearer. Now I can plainly see that there are two objects, one in front of the other. They stand opposite me, not more than one hundred and fifty paces off They are rhinoceroses, full-grown ones, coming here to drink. How gigantic they look by moonlight ! An old childish memory suddenly comes back to me : how my father's keeper, when he missed some sitting hares, apologised by saying that he always saw them too big ! — as big as camels ! Moving along obliquely to the water, they have now come to a spot at most a hundred paces away, and stop still once more, listening — then they go up to the brink, instantly to vanish in the sedge and the marsh-vegetation. For a while I can hear them splashing about ; then there is no further sound. It is not surprising to me, but to the new-comer it would be astounding, to observe the perfect silence in which these mighty pachyderms contrive to 632 -* Night-Shoots move on tem-a firma ; the acutest ear could not have detected their approach. The vague outHnes of a small animal, probably a jackal, rise not long afterwards from the ground near the water ; and after some time a mournful yelp in the same direction confirms my conjecture. . . . Evidently the anticipated antelope-herd has found out another drinking-place this evening. . . . Hours go by, broken only by the sound of the ox, imperturbably chewing its grass. . . . Suddenly it snorts twice very quickly, as if terrified ; a big grey object darts at it quick as an arrow, with a loud clatter, and ox and lion — for that is what it is — are rolling together before my eyes next minute in a cloud of dust ! I have an idea that another lion has, from the other side, joined in the brief tussle. Then there is a rattling and a groaning . . . the ox is lying on the ground, and over it are the two beasts of prey, which instantly begfin their meal. But, as if a wizard were meddling with the affair, the moon now darkens over suddenly. All is darkness ; and the only sound is the cracking of bones, the tearing and rending of flesh between teeth. The stillness of the night still reigns all around. Untroubled by the drama being played out down here, a galago breaks out again, yelling and laughing. What does he care, safe in the shelter of his tree-tops, for the struggle on the ground ! Mosquitoes, humming and buzzing, are besieging me now ; their stings become unbearable. The lions proceed with their meal undis- turbed. I am possessed by a peculiar, complication of 633 With Flashlight an d Rifle -* feelings, compounded of curiosity, suspense, and a thousand confused fancies. So minute after minute goes by. At last the moon comes out again ; and now, since I can make no more new observations, I seize the opportunity of firing on one of the lions. But 1 have no luck to-day. With the report both lions vanish in the darkness, and I, much depressed, remain in my ambush. The next hours of waiting are in vain ; nothing more happens. Even ^ the usually ubiquitous hyaenas seem to be absent to-night, and when the morning breaks I return to the camp, feeling as if broken to pieces, stung all over by mosquitoes, and with that peculiar sensation which unmistakably heralds an attack of fever. I was not deceived, and for two days I am confined to camp by a bad attack of malaria. On the third day is found the skeleton of a lioness — which I had hit — a long way from the camp. Everything but the bones had already been consumed by the vultures and hyaenas. . . . Many and many a night-ambush in the tropics will be just like this one; and attractive as they may appear to the sportsman at home, he will find he cannot go in for them much in the African wilderness. Certainly I have obtained in this way many an interesting and important glimpse of the nocturnal habits of wild creatures ; but shooting at a few paces, from the safe shelter of an ambush, is not a thing which appeals to me much. 634 FEMALE grant's GAZELLES TAKING TO FLIGHT XXIX Velt Conflagrations E\'ERY year a large portion of the East African velt is devastated by great conflagrations. Coal- black tree-trunks are seen where the rainy season had left all fresh and green. Everything has been quickly burnt by the whirlwind of flames that has rushed through the district. At the commencement of the drought you see at nightfall a spot of fire here and there in the distance. The small red o-low increases until the whole horizon is ablaze. These are conflagrations in places where the grass is already dried up, perhaps on the slopes of distant hills, which burn night after night like huge bonfires, lighting up the country for miles. Wherever prairies are in Africa this state of things is found. My friend Dr. Richard Kandt, the discoverer of the sources of the Nile, has the same thing to tell us about Central Africa in his remarkable book Caput Xili. When the dryness has become general, the native himself as well as the traveller will often light a fire, so 635 With Flashlight and Rifle -* as to find a way more easily through the destroyed grass. Directly the first sudden rain falls, fresh green pastures appear very quickly. It is not the case that fires burn with such extra- ordiaary rapidity that neither man nor beast has time to escape, as one often hears related in descriptions of travels. But for hours, days — even weeks — the mighty conflagra- tion will progress, destroying all in its way, whether grass or shrubs ; sometimes even bringing giant trees to the ground by the persistent licking of its tongues of flame. When a great tree has been treated like this it will He on the hard, dry ground ready for the next year's conflagration. A few days later, if the wind has not been too strong, -the traveller will see a complete- sketch, so to speak, of the tree and its branches outlined by the ashes on the ground — a strange memento mori\ The next wind will sweep all away, and no sign of the great fall will rerftain. When the fire burns for hours at a stretch across the plains, then comes the great feast-day for all kinds of animals. And marabous, storks, cranes, birds of prey of all kinds, especially kites, swoop down on the half-burnt locusts or grasshoppers and other small creatures, which now fall to their lot. You see other birds, too, such as the gaily coloured rollers, various kinds of swallows, the black " birds of sorrow," snatch their booty from the, midst of the hissing flames with extraordinary dexterity. These creatures all know by experience that the fire is nothing very dreadful, 636 VOL. 11. i6 -») \"elt Conflagrations but quite an ordinary occurrence, from which much good is to be got. The mammals of the velt flee hurriedly from the flames, to come back after a short while to the same ONE OF MY GUIDES, WHO HALi A Wi.AK.Nh.bs fOR EMBELLISHING HIS COUNTENANCE WITH PAINT spot, where they find fresh-springing grass, or they burrow in the ground, and let the flames pass harmlessly over them. It was with the greatest interest that I observed how this African animal world, like Mephistopheles, looked 639 With Flashlight ^nd Rifle -*> on the sea of flames as a " friendly element "' ! For example, the herds of baboons troubled themselves but little with the conflagrations ; and 1 can quite believe that in prehistoric times the anthropoid apes were able to make friends with fire. This must have been so in the vicinity of volcanoes,, when, more frequently than nowadays, they belched forth from the inmost recesses of the earth their burning ashes and glowing flames. Captain von Beringe observed gorillas in the neighbourhood of the barren slopes of the Kirunga volcano, and I know that the " soko,"^ or chimpanzee, makes its home preferably in similar desert spots. Even within the period during which they have been under the control of man, these fires have destroyed the forests throughout large districts of East Africa, and doubtless many harmful animals and germs of disease therewith. The Government made efforts to prevent them, but the steps taken in this direction were in- effectual. To my mind. Professor Volkens under-estimates the havoc wrought by these conflagrations, which have much the same results in the tropics as they have in Europe. With a httle foresight the traveller has nothing to fear from the fire. When he sees it approaching he has but to ignite the grass all round his camp in advance, so that when the great flames arrive they may find no fuel. Once, through imprudence, I was caught in one of these fires and nearly suffocated. Owing to the smoke 6^0 ■^ \"elt Conflagrations I was obliged to shut my eyes, and so lost my bearings. I got off with a fright, however, and with nothing worse than singed shoes and garments. Another time, just as we were hurriedly pitching our tent in the evening, a sudden and violent fire broke out among some dried sedge-weed in the neighbourhood, and it was with the greatest difficulty that we were able to save ourselves and the camp. I lost a large number of specimens which could never be replaced. And it grant's GAZELLts so happened into the bargain that, having started our march back to the coast in that time of commotion, I had, for safety's sake, to throw away several hundreds of cartridges. The fire soon got at these and they began to explode ! I often saw single trunks of trees which for more than a week had been smouldering by day, while at night time they burned so brightly that they lit up the darkness like giant lamps. 641 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Often one's face and hands as well as clothes become as black as the branches, stalks, and shrubs, and remain so as a souvenir of the wanderer's journey through the burnt velt, especially when water is scarce and precious, as is often the case. Whoever has seen Vesuvius in eruption at night can form some idea of the awful and wonderful sight a gigantic conflagration presents from a distance. If you see it from a hill some miles away and watch it as it moves zigzag fashion, burning more brightly here, there obscured by clouds of smoke, you might almost imagine that you were in Europe and that the flashes of light came from some huge railway station. I can see now before my eyes the picture of a mighty fire that raged for days on a hillside, rushing through the gorges and ravines of the high Longido Mountain,, some 6,000 feet high, and lighting up by night as clearly as day my camp, which was pitched at the foot of the mountain. The steep westerly slopes of the hill make a beautiful picture of wild scenery at all times ; when to this view is added the sight of the leaping flames by night time, to the accompaniment of the cries of frightened animals, the whole forms a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle of the African wilderness — the African wilderness, which here, as in other places, at times has such a look of Northern Europe that the wanderer might almost believe himself at home. . . . The mountain seems alive, and in the wild tumult fantastic ghosdy appearances, formed by the clouds of 642 \e\t Conflagrations mist, form an angry-looking circle above. So the flames rage, now hissing, now sighing, as they race swiftlv to devour the tall grass. Immense clouds of smoke hide the mountain's summit ; but these are suddenly dispersed by great tongues of tlame shooting up to the sky, lighting up the whole and making the sharply defined mountain- GRANT 3 GAZELLES MOVING OUT INTO THE OPEN peak stand clear, towering and majestic against night's black horizon. . . . The giants of the animal world come to drink at the neighbouring pools undisturbed by the sea of flames ; and only a short distance from my camp, dark, halt- naked warriors' forms crouch, armed with shield, spear, and sword, as in the old-world battle-songs. That was the " fire magic " of our dreams, and night after night the lines from "The \'alkyrie " rang through 645 With Flashlight and Rifle -* my brain — "At thy command let magical fire-flame spring forth ! " While the flames raged up above in the moun- tain-regions, my soul was haunted for long hours by the figures of the old northern sagas which Richard Wagner, that impersonation of the old German spirit of heroism, has awakened to new life. 644 Jagdschein zur borufemtiosigon Jagd auf Elefanten und Nashorne Gultig vom ..../.y^- '^li^rrt;^ i8.(^.^bis -^'=" Der Kaiserliche GebUhf^SOO ^^ftOO^ ^^^-800 ^^ ' "Sen .><'«" ..d^^-^ ^^ff Verboten ist die Jagd auf: Alles Jungwild, Kalber, Fohlen, auf junge Elefanlen. soweit sie zahnlos sind oder das Gewicht des einzelnen Zahnes 3 kg nicht erieicht, und auf weibliches Wild, soweit es als solches erkennbar ist. Schussgelder sind zu zahlen: 100 Rp. fur jeden ersten und 250 Rp. fur jeden ferneren erlegten Elefanten. 50 Rp fiir jedes erste und zweite und 150 Rp. fur iedes femere er- legte Nashorn. 1 iRupie = 1 9Karf 43 iMennici. XXX Hostile Forces THE untravelled European must find it difficult to realise how natural it appears after a time to have all one's baggage carried for one on the shoulders of human bearers. Most travellers of any experience, indeed, when undertaking long scientific expeditions in East Africa, laden with multifarious and complicated baggage, would prefer this method of transport to the 645 With Flashlight and Rifle -* use of camels. The carrier system is far preferable cer- tainly in the regions over which I travelled, where I found my men zealous and devoted. Each carried his load of sixty pounds or more. There are endless difficulties and an endless amount of detail connected with a caravan of pack-camels. Few have had so comprehensive an experience with regard to the conveyance of caravan-loads by camels and mules as the late Baron Carlo Erlanger (whose early death is a matter for deep regret) ; his bold expedition through the south of Somaliland will maintain a place of honour in the history of African exploration ; or as Oscar Neu- mann, during his journey ot two years in Abyssinia and Somaliland. And these two travellers found -that, apart from all the trouble involved in the loading of this kind of caravan, the way the animals suffered from varieties of climate was a strong argument in favour of carrier caravans. The camel is an ideal means of transport over the arid desert, but not in countries where the climate varies. Human carriers I found, when properly taken care of, were always ready for the road in the shortest possible time — were willing, unexacting, and, above all, extra- ordinarily reasonable. Travellers will always be obliged to depend largely upon this institution, for the character of the arid desert country must prove an insuperable obstacle to the railway projects already In progress. The traveller is soon at ease in his mind as to the capability of these natives. Either they themselves know the caravan- routes exactly, or they learn them en route, and manage 646 -*> Hostile Forces to arrive at their destination on the very day appointed, even after journeys of weeks and months. Of course, my kind of expedition was a different matter. We went into unknown and uninhabited parts of the velt. My most difficult problem was that of our food-supply. Besides his sixty-pound load, his cooking- utensils, and his few personal possessions, a man cannot carry more vegetable food than will last for a fortnight or three weeks. In practice he will generally ha\e none of it left after twelve or fourteen days. Therefore all the arrangements for the journey must be made in such a way that food is always obtainable. Water must, of course, be come upon daily, or at least every forty- eight hours ; for the carrier's capability for work depends very much on the temperature, and in hot weather a man cannot carry his load farther than a day's journey without water. In the good old times people went, according to report, right through the desert depending solely upon the game they killed for food. The servants, camp once reached, swarmed in all directions through the desert in pursuit of antelopes and other game. But though I, too. gave my servants a certain quantity of meat, I nevertheless most sternly insisted that every man should daily receive a corresponding quantity of vegetable food. This — often with the greatest difficulty and expense — 1 somehow always managed to accomplish. Unfortunately it is not always done by caravan-leaders ; but instead, the game is. shot down in the most irresponsible fashion. . . . In the famine year of 1899- 1900 this method of mine 649 With Flashlight and Rifle -») involved considerable outlay ; for far and near there were no means of nourishment to be had, and I was therefore forced to rely solely on rice — which meant getting Indian rice, at a great expense, a long way up from the coast. This kind of thing makes expeditions terribly difficult for private people. If, on the contrary, harvests have been good, it is not difficult to barter for maize or beans, and so forth, with the natives, and thus to keep the caravan-servants fed. The equipment and arrangement of a caravan of about one hundred and twenty carriers always means several days of most strenuous labour. The loads must be parcelled out ; to every man must be given his set task ; the Askaris have to be clothed, drilled, and tested in every way. So day after day goes by, till at last all is apparently ready The least negligence in the equipment of a caravan will sooner or later avenge itself on the road, probably far from all human help. My complicated and multifarious photo- graphic equipment — the chemicals, instruments, and many other things — demanded a most careful disposition of the most trifling details. In many cases I had to carry double supplies,, in case a load should be lost in the fording of a river, or in any other way. Now at last, however, the "Safari" starts forth into the desert — at first by short marches, so as to accustom the carriers, but gradually increasing to thirty kilometres and more in the day. Many troubles have still to be gone through. A certain number of carriers always, during the first few days of the expedition, lay down their loads upon the caravan-road and dash into the bush with 650 -* Hostile Forces the earnest- money which they have already received. These " wapagazi " have to be replaced — but, if possible, the fugitives should, for discipline's sake, be pursued. At last, however, there emerges from the gross number of recruits a body of servants w^ho are useful and trustvvorth\- in every respect, and who prove themsehes equal to the manifold hardships of the expedition. The traveller now comes daily into closer and closer relation with, and soon dominates, a number of men who are devoted to him and obedient to his slightest gesture. It was a matter of much satisfaction to me that I was often able to re-eneag-e a number of my old servants, whom I always found willing and ready to come with me. One of the chief difficulties of a zoological collecting- expedition lies in the troublesome task of taxidermv, especially in the case of the larger specimens. Often the entire camp has to spend several days in the preparation of the skins of buffaloes and giraffes, elephants and rhinoceroses. When at last sufficient material has been stored, it has to be packed in loads with the most anxious care, ticketed, and finally — after very serious consideration of the probability of a wet spell occurring on the wa)- — sent to the coast. Laden with reserve stores and supple- mentary loads the carriers then return to the velt — but often not for weeks and months. In all these matters one must go to work with one's own hands. The carriers, even in little secondary matters, need constant control and encouragement. But, granted this, they work — of course, with the strictest limitation to their own special duties — in the most satisfactory fashion. VOL. II. 653 17 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ The reverses of fortune, for which every traveller must be prepared, will now perhaps begin to come about. The tsetse-fly stings and kills the animals which have been brought along for riding, and a number of the pack-mules ; they and the cattle succumb to all sorts of epidemics. But it is even worse when we are obliged to traverse regions in which small-pox, for example, has followed in the wake of famine. In the year 1899 I was obliged to go through localities in which thej " ndui " had reigned. About three weeks afterwards, I noticed one day in camp that there was on my left hand a little dark ulcer — an inflammation, I was sure, which had been caused by some arsenic-like quality in the stuff used for taxidermy. I showed it to my taxidermist, Orgeich. " I will tell the Herr what that is. That's the black pock." When I asked him why he thought so, he told me without circum- locution that for some days a carrier, very ill indeed with small-pox, had been in camp. " I would not frighten the Herr," he told me laconically; and that was his only reason for having made no communication to me about this sickness ! This announcement — made in the Rhenish dialect — was anything but agreeable to me. I then ascertained that there really was a native covered all over with small-pox. Of course I had him isolated and put in a thorn-enclosure by the river, impenetrable to beasts of prey ; and, surprisingly enough, there was no other appearance of the disease in the caravan. When a doctor, later on, examined the patient (who was then cured), he confirmed my diagnosis. 654 -* Hostile Forces But I had worse experiences — dysentery, for Instance, breaking out badly among the natives. It is terrible when this frightful disease spreads through a camp. It appears quite suddenly, perhaps through some infected water which has been too unrestrictedly used ; and even Euro- peans can only partially protect themselves from it through careful boiling of their drinking-water. Twice have I myself suffered from dysentery, and know from experience how difficult it is to achieve a radical cure, and how hard it is for any one to avoid errors of diet during the convalescent period. Dysentery is justly more dreaded than malaria. If the disease breaks out among the natives, it may, in certain circumstances, endanger the whole expedition. For weeks one has to do without the services of one's most useful men, and there are deaths within a few days. " Amekufa, Bwana ! " (" He is dead, master! ") announces the caravan-guide ; a grave is shovelled out in the vicinity, and there is a hasty burial — haste is imperatively demanded by the conditions of temperature. In one instance I was only able to check an epidemic of this frightful disease by altering in all haste my whole plan of campaign, and seeking for new watering- places. I have seen some remarkable recoveries. While two doctors, who happened to be staying in my camp, were treating one of my most useful servants, he got no better ; at last he refused all European medicines, and got well, after having lived for fourteen days on nothing but weak tea ! Malaria is another great hindrance. Near the caravan- 655 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ routes, and in the vicinity of the populated neighbour- hoods, my people suffered much oftener and more severely from malaria than on the velt, although this latter is very unhealthy for Europeans and for inhabitants of the mountain-regions. At certain camping-places, ten, twenty, or even rnore, among my servants would suddenly fall sick with malaria, which, however, they usually got over in a fairly short time. The opinion is wide-spread in Europe that the natives do not suffer from malaria. This is not only not the case, but the dwellers in the mountain-regions are liable to very severe attacks when they go down into the plains. I have seen the greater number of a band of Wadshaga men who were sent down to the plains for lime-burning, suffer quite unusually badly from malaria when they returned home again after some days' stay in the lowlands, and a great number of them succumbed within a few days. In the famine-year of 1899, I could not obtain Wapare, inhabitants of the Pare mountain-chain, at any price, to carry my zoological specimens to the coast, although the people were eager to earn something. They even declared themselves only prepared to take my loads to a certain point near the coast ; the sight of the sea, they said, would mean death to them ! This fancy was not without a certain foundation in fact, for everywhere the highlanders are liable, as has been said, to frequent and severe attacks of fever when once they descend to the plains. Injuries of various kinds, feet-troubles especially, 656 .^^^^ ^■pp'w^ ^ W q It' v- *€: ^*iv.*.— ^ J?. -. ■" ""1^LI^53IIr'^ 1^3 ■f^ V'^'i^ Ltttii C. G. Schiliings, phot. A ROCKY PASS -♦) Hostile Forces hurts of any sort on the shins, disable the carriers from time to time. But, in general, wounds heal well and quickly with them, when properly treated, owing to their extraordinary capacity for making " new flesh." Corrosions with carbolic acid prove specially efifective for the ulcers in the lower part of the thigh which frequently occur among the Masai men ; though these when treated by the native " medicine men," and covered with bark, often have a very alarming aspect. \\ hen the caravan had made a halt and camp was pitched, there constantly arrived a number of patients to ask for my assistance. I cannot remember ever having sent away a single man, although the patience of the traveller, when he is fatigued or ailing, is often put to a very hard test in this way. " Bwana, kubwa, nakata daua ! " '• Master, I should like some medicine ! " Over and over again one hears it. And then it is a question of giving aloes to one, and pills to another, castor-oil, ipecacuanha, eye-salve or bandages or something else to a third, while a vessel with antiseptic is always ready for the treatment of wounds and other injuries. Another dreadful scourge are the sand-flies {Sar- copsylla penetrans), which have only recently penetrated to the coasts of East Africa. These parasites were brought some decades ago from South America to the West Coast of Africa. Following the caravan-routes, they gradually spread to the Central African lakes, where I found them in great numbers in the year 1896. The tiny little sand-fly penetrates, at first unnoticed, 659 With Flashlight and Rifle -»! into the toes or fingers, gradually swells to the size of a pea, and propagates itself, if not removed in time, in great numbers, till at last the limbs which have been attacked putrefy and fall off. In every region where the sand-fly occurs, many natives are to be seen who have lost a toe, or perhaps all their toes, and have to go about on crutches. It is astonishing how little one notices sand-flies at first, and how quickly, when they have been removed, all traces of the hollows they made in the toes disappear. The " Fundi ya funza" (in English, " Sand-fly doctors") are very clever at removing them almost painlessly by means of little sticks. The sand-fly settles not only on human beings, but also on monkeys, dogs, and other beasts. It appears to me worth investigation whether the parasite, when once spread all over the country, may not have a fatal effect upon the existence of many wild animals. Even my young rhinoceros was attacked by sand-flies, and it required no little patience to keep it free from the dangerous parasites during its siesta. Since the year 1896 the sand-fly has extended its operations with alarming rapidity, and it is now to be found everywhere on the East Coast, and not seldom in the interior. Camping-places, where my caravan stayed for any length of time, often became infested to such an extent that I had to quit them on this account. I continually hear the opinion expressed that Europeans can protect themselves against sand-flies by wearing 660 -»■ Hostile Forces high-legged boots. As if these tiny pests could not easily crawl into the boots from above ! Here and there, in spite of all my precautions, 1 have found them on mv own body. But my worst experience of them was when I was confined to bed for a long time after a heavy attack of fever ; no less than seven sand-flies, as large A PARTY OF NATIVES as peas, were remo\ ed from my toes by one of my black boys ! Dogs and monkeys in captivity are very skilful in relieving themselves of these odious pests ; but they always get infested again. During my many years of African travelling I have never had much trouble from flies — with the e.xception of the tsetse-fly — and never found the fly-pest in any way so distressing as in some places on the Somali Coast. 66i With Flashlight and Rifle -* Certain kinds of stinging-flies are very prevalent during their swarming season. The flies and dragon- flies of East Africa have, for the most part, been but little investigated. From my last tour alone, I was able to bring home two new kinds of stinging-flies, hitherto entirely unknown. Undoubtedly the most distressing for human beings is the tsetse-fly, which is positively fatal to horses, mules, and asses, and which appears at a certain time of the year. I cannot confirm the idea that certain parts of the velt are free from the tsetse-fly. Though the high plains are free from it, I found the tsetse remarkably prevalent in localities where it had not hitherto been suspected, especially by the Pangani River in March and April. A traveller whom I know told me that he once slept in his tent in the daytime with an open wound in his arm, and the day after found fly-maggots in it — an -experience, certainly, that I have never had myself Troublesome and somewhat frequent visitors to the tent are scorpions. Their virulence is much exaggerated, though their sting always has some disagreeable results. One of my carriers delighted in putting big scorpions, which he used to catch, upon his shaven head, and letting them move about there for some time, amidst the laughter of his comrades ! The traveller often suffers much inconvenience from white ants. If I happened to stay in a camping-place for any length of time, I often found that, even after a few ■days, the bottoms of my travelling-cases would be destroyed by white ants ! Once, ants ate away in this fashion a 662 -* Hostile Forces whole row of the tickets on my heaps of zoological preparations — and that in a single night ! — causing me much loss and vexation. Xocturnal attacks of ants are \er\- disaoreeable. They occasionally attack the sleeper in his tent, gnawing through the mosquito-nets. The wife of a district-bailiff known to me was almost killed bv ants MY CARRIERS some years ago. On hearing her screams, the blacks snatched her out of bed, tore off her nightdress, and, bv rollinLT her in the sfrass, freed the unfortunate lady from the rapacious insects, which had bitten by thousands into her head and, indeed, her whole body. " Siafu ! " So, on the march, sounds frequently the warning cry of the caravan-leaders, thus advising the carriers who follow them of the traces of the large driver- 66.^, With Flashlight and Rifle -»i ants, which, especially in well-peopled, moist neighbour- hoods, have taken their course along the caravan-path. The scourge of snakes also seems to me, in most cases, to be very much exaggerated. In the daily press we are accustomed, every year, to read accounts of a great number of human beings who have been killed by snakes and tigers in India. I have been informed that the premium-system, which prevails there, has caused these numbers to swell far beyond the actual facts, by reason of the venality of the native subordinate officials. During my African journeys I have lost only two servants through the bites of puff-adders. Naturally, how- ever, the natives who work on the plantations are far more exposed to virulent snakes than are the travelling carriers. Of the sometimes quite terrible scourge of ticks, I have spoken in the chapter on buffaloes ; in certain unhealthy regions these ticks make any kind of halt impossible for Europeans. Amongst all the hindrances which contend against a lasting stay and against the work of the European in these countries, malaria must always take the first place. Even the uninitiated person knows that only a few favoured constitutions can spend any length of time there without having to get through severe attacks of malaria. The great majority of Europeans undergo violent attacks from time to time. The quinine treatment, namely, the taking of regularly increasing doses of quinine, has undoubtedly a highly injurious effect upon the nervous system, already much affected by the manifold influences of the tropical climate. 664 -* Hostile Forces Such being the case, it is incomprehensible to me how people can advocate an immigration of German colonists. Germans are usually hard-working people. And even if they settled in neighbourhoods which were relatively free from fever, they would be obliged constantly to come down into the plains, where the great majority would be certain to become infected by fever-germs, even after a short stay. German women, in my opinion, are especially unfit for East Africa, under any conditions, as thiny^s are there at present. Many sad instances confirm me in this view. Vet, in spite of everything, I myself would not erase from my life even the worst of those hours lived through in Tropical Africa — not even those worst of all. the hours of sickness ! On the contrar)-, though I have had to struggle against virulent fever, when already on the brink of the grave — more than once, in solitude, well-nigh despair- ing of recovery — it seems to me that by these ver}" sacrifices I have been bound more closely to that land of mystery than by those other hours that I lived through there, when all was indolent delight in its charms. Mysteriously, magically, that dark continent attracts us — men of the most varied views, dispositions, degrees of culture ! The hours of yearning and longing for the return to Africa assail us all ; we want to cut ourselves free from the wearinesses, the multifarious petty claims which our latter-day civilisation imposes on us in daily increasing number ; we want to get back into a state of life more 665 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ simple and more natural — a state of life which gives freer play to the native forces of individuality. The thousandfold dangers and hardships draw us after a time with an irresistible magic. May they draw many and many another proved and tried man back to them, that we may labour on the one hand at the development of the country which, despite many errors, is slowly but surely progressing ; on the other, at the saving of many of those treasures out of all the kingdoms of nature which are fast disappearing beneath the wave of civilisation ! But to accomplish all this one needs an iron will and a body steeled for every emergency. How quickly, alas! can both be disabled by the recurrent attacks of malaria [ The consequences of malaria are evident, above all, in the great diminution of the red corpuscles of the blood. Hand in hand with that goes a rapid decrease in bodily strength. Hans Meyer depicts most admirably the immense bodily exertions which are demanded by the. climbing of tropical mountains, and supports his graphic descriptions by a series of exact calculations of the number of heart- beats and respirations. Both of these symptoms — the almost innumerable heart-beats and the fleeting breath — I have observed hundreds and hundreds of times in myself and my companions ; but then, again, I have always noted with amazement what extraordinary feats of endurance one is capable of Exacting claims upon bodily strength are inad- visable at the beginning of a stay in the tropics. It is only slowly and gradually that the organism can submit to such requirements ; and even then, it will all too easily 666 ^ Hostile Forces rebel, as I had occasion to prove in most painful fashion in the year 1902. To the hindrances and fatigfues which have been here touched upon, there may be added what is perhaps the greatest of them all, the want of water — a bitter want, from which the European will suffer over and over again. Elsewhere I have described in detail the pangs of thirst. MV TAME BABOON BIDING ONE OF MY BEST MULES and said that these can scarcely be realised at all by Northerners, to whom water is a mere matter of course. One finds that the most widespread and multifarious fallacies prevail about travels in the more or less unexplored parts of Africa. Even in the days of complete ignorance about this country it was clearly impossible for its dis- coverers to follow the compass at random into the unknown. If guides were less readily forthcoming, people 667 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ kept to the river-courses, and so were always sure of water. Long before our greatest explorers crossed Africa, the Arabs had traversed the continent with slave-caravans ; and thus traditional caravan-roads had been established for a long time when Europeans first began to penetrate into the interior. These roads have been largely utilised in the course of such expeditions. One often finds natives who know by heart every single halting-place on the caravan-route from the east coast to the Congo! They know what kinds of nourish- ment the different districts -and tribes will be able to afford ; they know where to find water and the peculiarities and difficulties of the ground ; in short, everthing that needs to be known, down to the smallest detail. On questioning them more closely one discovers, to one's great surprise, that these folk have already gone every step of the way long years ago with Arab traders or in some other fashion. To wander at random into the country is only possible in well-watered regions, and during the rainy season. At any other time, especially during the seasons of great drought, to do such a thing would mean certain and speedy destruction to the entire caravan. Even if a single expected watering-place be found to be dried up, the greatest distress may ensue ; in the briefest period a number of the carriers, or, for that .matter, the whole caravan, may succumb to the pains of thirst. It is, therefore, necessary always to provide one's self with native guides, and, in any case, to make the most searching investigation into the water-question. And in 668 -»> Hostile Forces this respect it sliould be carefully borne in mind that, at times of great heat, water-pools will be dried up with quite astounding rapidity. Or again, for example, if a herd of elephants should suddenly visit a big pool, they may not only drink the greater part of it, but may turn it in one night into a miniature bog, whose scanty liquid contents will quickly disappear before the rays of the sun. CROSSING A STREAM In expeditions like mine, however, one will get into difficulties about water in spite of all precautions. I cannot too urgently impress upon every traveller the need for the greatest care in this respect. Among the disagreeable reminiscences of my African travels are the thunderstorms at night in the high mountain- regions. They are the carriers' worst foe. The com- bination of furious gales, floods, and cold, with the VOL. II. 669 18 With Flashlight and Rifle -* indescribably violent electric manifestations, soon strikes terror into the camp, and does great injury in a very short space of time. No matter how often it is endured, this particular experience never loses its terror — the threatening bank of rain-clouds that comes with the falling of darkness ; the flashes of lightning and sudden gusts of wind ; the roaring torrents of rain that flood the camp, drowning in a trice all our poultry and the young animals of the herds we have brought with us; the shivering and half-benumbed men, scarcely sheltered by their meagre tents, cowering miserably on the ground ! I remember one such night of tropical storm in British East Africa. It was on the watershed between the Victoria Nyanza and the country which drains into the Indian Ocean ; therefore at a considerable height above the sea. And that time there was combined with the fury of the unchained elements the anxiety which is awakened in the traveller by a precarious situation in a hostile neighbourhood. A revolt of the hill-folk was endangering the caravan-road, which, since those days, has been replaced by railways. The British Government was then, as now, concerned only with the security of this caravan-road, and, naturally enough, took little notice of what was happening else- where in the country round about — a sage measure, since the maintenance of order, in the European sense of the word, would require innumerable soldiers and officials ! The officer commanding the fort of Nandi could only allow me from there eight Sudanese Askaris as a 670 -* Hostile Forces bodyguard for the dangerous bit of road. Ever expecting an attack, I was encamped with only a few people. And in this position I had the experience of seeing the camp flooded in the space of a kw minutes, and losing the calves that had been brought with my cows, besides a large number of other things, in the inundation. My half-benumbed servants sought refuge in the camp so far THE CENTRE OF THIS BRIDGE WAS WITHDRAWN AT NIGHT SO AS TO KEEP MEN AND BEASTS FROM CROSSING OVER TO THE ISLAND as they could ; but that night laid the foundation of many illnesses, which soon claimed their victims. In a trice my tent was torn down, I myself buried under the wet canvas, and all the zoological objects I had brought with me were either carried away or completely ruined. The violence of the electric manifestations was beyond descrip- tion : flash upon flash, and fearful peals of thunder •alternated with terrible rapidity. 671 With Flashlight and Rifle -* But barely recovered from a severe attack of fever, I had just succeeded by great diplomacy (and the surrender of any of my personal possessions that I could do without) in exchanging- some old clothes for a few cows, with a chief in Mumia, on the Victoria Nyanza.* It was only by these inducements that I had been able to get the chief to part with his cows. The loss of the calves now meant as well the drying-up of the cows'-milk, for the zebu cattle, which have gradually got acclimatised in Africa — there are no cattle indigenous to Africa ; only buffaloes are native, and the so-called African cattle really come from India — only give milk after the calf has first drunk for some time. The direct flow of malk which we are accustomed to in our own cattle is only an adaptation to environment. And then, after these icy, rainy nights, the day has to be spent in traversing tracts of country where the grass grows tall and remains wet through and through with * I should not now be alive to write all this but for the most friendly and unselfish care and attention I received at the hands of two English ofificers — Mr. C. VV. Hobley and Mr. Tomkins — on this occasion, in 1896. Those were difficult times in Uganda and Kavirondo. The railway from Mombasa to the Victoria Nyanza had only just been begun, and the pohtical situation in the neighbourhood was full of anxiety. The small and primitive fort of which Mr. Hobley and Mr. Tomkins were in charge dominated the last stage of the caravan-road to the lake. I really have no clear remembrance as to how it came about that I was brought into the fort itself out of my tent, which was pitched close by. I only know that I had been struggling for all I was worth against the fever, and that while in a delirium I rushed out of it, and was with difficulty got under control by my men. It took weeks of careful nursing at the hands of my hosts to set me right again, and their hands were full at the time of the most important Government business. The Sudanese sentries on the 672 -♦i Hostile Forces dew and rain ; the cheering sunbeams cannot penetrate the rain-clouds, and if there are many successive days like this, all necessary articles that the traveller has with him become mouldy, and are ruined by being grown over by fungi. Hence one has the sensation of sinking in an endless sea of grass, whose dripping spikes swing together above the heads of the carriers, while every- thing, down to the very smallest article, is dripping with water. In such circumstances the traveller, for whole weeks at a time, comes in contact with nothing but wet clothes, wet beds, wet everything ; and now, if fever-germs are brooding in our bodies, is their time for development — the inordinate daily and nightly hardships will be sure to prove favourable to them. How extraordinarily difficult it is sometimes to obtain trustworthy accounts from the natives of the habits of animals was proved by a small expedition which I under- took in June 1899, from Pangani, in search of buffaloes in Useguha. 1 had been told so much about them : they ought surely to be easy to find in the hinterland of Useguha. But my undertaking was unpropitious (as indeed were all my journeys that year) by reason of the great famine. ramparts were on the alert every night, expecting an attack. Shortly after my departure the outbreak occurred, a number of Europeans losing their lives in it. I feel it incumbent upon me to make this acknowledgment of my deep gratitude to my English friends — I venture so to style them — for their kindness to me. 673 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ The distress then was something terrible. In Pangani alone a great many more than a thousand blacks had succumbed ; the feeding of the numbers who streamed there from all directions with rice (which had to be imported from India) was very costly. Nowhere were any means of nourishment to be bought, and rice formed, therefore, the staple food for my camp. Still, before starting on my great journey into the interior I wanted above all things to be thoroughly informed as to the condition of the buffaloes, which had been so glowingly described to me. On June 22nd I left Pangani, crossing the southern river-bank to Mbueni, with thirty loads of rice, two Muscat asses, a number of pack-asses, seventy-eight carriers, and several private soldiers, in all ninety-five men, and marched three and a half hours along the sea-shore. Not far from the town, and near my camping-place for the night, Uschongo, some putrefied corpses betrayed the lamentable state of things. Even the cocoa-palms had been all stripped of their fans by locusts. I shall now transcribe almost literally the short notes from my diary, which are well calculated to give the reader an idea of this march : — '' Jtme 24. — Early morning start ; march of eight hours. Over Great — and Little — Kipumbui to Ngnaia. ''June 25. — Along the sea-coast. Six-hour march. "June 26. — March to Paramakara ; then to Java; way lost. Everywhere we met with dead Mouma palms, which had been tapped for palm-wine by the 674 -^ Hostile Forces natives. Some of these latter take to flight ; guide not available. "June 27. — Start at 4 a.m. March to Ouabigo ; way lost. Camp, 4 p.m. Everything wet through, road through uncleared forest and \-ery tall sedge ; the whole day, a fine mist-like rain ; some Wasegna planta- tions in which Indian millet was ripening. Many huts DURING THE RAINY SEASON THE CARRIERS OFTEN SANK UP TO THEIR ARMPITS IN THE SODDEN GRASS deserted. Locusts have laid waste all the vegetation some time ago. "June 28-30. — March to a rocky hill through very tall sedge. Wet through ; fine mist-like rain. Tracks of buffalo and elephant about fourteen days old. Grass already far too high. The game has sought other quarters ; till to-day seen only a guereza and a reedbuck — nothing else. Almost incessant rain. 675 With Flashlight and Rifle -* "■July 1. — March to Muega through wet reed -grass. After eight and a half hours, camp In Quoamadi. All the huts ruined — empty ; some survivors tell us that here alone seventy-eight have died of hunger. Pouring rain. ''July 2. — March to Gambo. Received by the village chief, Maka bin Ali. Camp in Simbieri. The inhabitants are very glad to trade for rice with different articles ; amongst others, beautiful dance-aprons ("kissambo) " made of reed-grass, hunting-nets, and such-like things. Here I am at last able to buy a goat, after having lived almost entirely upon rice until now. "July 4. — From Simbirri to Mseko ; very cold, wet march. The guide escapes, in the course of it, into the high grass ; we lose our way. In the forest-track we find a lately murdered young Mseguha. March till 3 p.m. I reach Pangani with some of my people, but the carriers do not arrive till July 5th, in the evening." The undertaking thus resulted in nothing, in spite of great trouble, and my tents and utensils were ruined by mould on account of the wet weather. For hunting in grassy Useguha, quite special seasons must be chosen ; and one must have native guides, who are very difficult to procure. . . . Apart from all these inconveniences, the traveller Is of course threatened by the always possible — though really quite unusual — sudden revolts of the natives, or else attacks by them. / believe, after many years experience of leading the larger kind of private expeditions, that one can travel 676 -* Hostile Forces as a private individual in East Africa with an a7'med force and yet get on excellently ivith the natives. I have not had any kind of direct personal trouble with them, and I always punished looting on the part of A VELT MARCH my men so severely that they soon ceased to have any desire to transgress in this way. Nevertheless I have been twice attacked at night by Masai, who were after my cattle ! Before I give a description of this incident, I should like to say that private travellers and their caravans, are naturally, in view of such events, placed in a far more dangerous position than the commanders of colonial police, for these are of course always equipped for war- fare. Private travellers may easily find themselves in danger, since the attacks of the natives always take 677 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ place very suddenly and at nfght, just at the moment when the caravan is least expecting anything of the sort. At one time it was not easy for a private traveller to procure, in East Africa, the grant of a sufficient number of armed followers. It was maintained that one could travel safely through East Africa with a walking- stick for weapon. To a gentleman who expressed him- self to me in that fashion, I answered that though I was- firmly convinced that my death would be avenged, I should prefer to keep alive if I could. The latest incidents in South-West Africa make one feel still more strongly on this point. The Government must of course have the right to refuse access to the interior to armed forces of dubious character, or at any rate to deprive them of their arms ; it should even be empowered to turn them out of the country. But for experienced travellers, who are able to give personal guarantees, to be refused the proper armed escort, I considered, and consider still, to be a most grave error of judgment. Events in South-West Africa have shown how cunningly the natives contrive to hide their plans from the officials, and I found it just the same, in the year 1896, in East Africa. My thoughts often go back to the warlike events in which I participated there. In the summer of that year the natives near Kili- manjaro seemed quiet and peaceable ; the idea of a sudden revolt or an attack on the station at Moshi was scouted by the Europeans. In September the large and well-armed expedition which I had been able to joia 678 -^ Hostile Forces was encamped at the Meru Hills, some days' journey from Kilimanjaro, in the midst of banana-groves — an un- questionably poor strategic position, but chosen for want of a better. I cannot say that the natives had shown a particu- larly friendly disposition. The men especially, when they came, armed with spears, into camp during the daytime. THE RUINS OF THE MASINDE FORT, A VERY UNHEALTHY STATION, NOW ABANDONED showed themselves shy and hostile ; when I spoke to them, they turned away and disappeared among the bananas, while the women bartered their field-produce, as the custom is, among the carriers. In the absence of the leader of the expedition, I found myself alone in the camp with my dear friend Alfred Kaiser — a man who has spent many years of his life amongst the Bedouin Arabs, and at Sinai — 679 With Flashlight and Rifle -* when towards evening a deputation of old men, led by the then chief (?) at Moshi (a negro named Schundi) came into camp and begged for an interview. This " schauri " was of course granted them, and in picturesque groups the people squatted down in Kaiser's tent, he conducting the conversation in Arabic (for we were not then masters of the Swahili language) through an interpreter. Kaiser and I remember every little incident of that evening. When the natives proposed to send into our camp a great number of their young " spear-warriors," so as to defend this, in conjunction with our own armed men, against an eventual attack of the Loita- Masai, we most decisively refused to consider the idea at all. The real intention, that it was these Masai themselves who pro- posed to attack us, seemed to us too transparent, We both saw in it a ruse of the chief, who for some time had not been very friendly to us, and of whose double-dealing that night we, later on, had full proof Kaiser was strengthened in his instant decision by his varied knowledge and experience of native races ; and for my part, my suspicions were immediately awakened by a number of little things I had noticed. The night went by uneventfully, no doubt principally because Kaiser and I had ordered the sentries to fire instantly at any native they saw, and because, on their departure, we had taken care to inform the old men of this command. Many months later, it was evident to us both that our lives had hung by a thread that night. 680 -•i Hostile Forces A short time after these occurrences, the Commandant of Fort Moshi arrived at the Meru Mountain, accom- panied by several regiments of Askaris, to select a settlement for two missionaries of the Leipsic Mission, Messrs. Ovis and Seeg-ebrock. Towards evening, a chief and an old woman warned the Europeans that there was danger in dela\-. Their A DRIN KING-PLACE warning was scouted — but not by the Sudanese Askaris, who, without having been ordered to do so, spent the night without sleep, their loaded weapons under their hands. In the early-morning hours these warlike men hear a rustling in the surrounding banana-grove. It is clear to them that something is going on there. Without hesitation they open fire. Then there is a clashing of weapons, and a rush of warriors in the darkness. The 68 1 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ foes had already got close to the camp in such numbers that, next morning, over thirty dead warriors were seen in its immediate vicinity. One or two shots were heard simultaneously in the camp of the missionaries, only a few minutes' distance from us. A courageous black volunteered, when the attack had been repulsed, to creep into the mission-camp over the stream which divided it from us, so as to see what had happened there. Presently he came back, with the news that every one in the other camp had been killed ; both missionaries pierced by numerous spear- wounds, and their possessions demolished, down to the tiniest article. Then there was a great punitive expedition ; and for a long time after that peace seemed to prevail. About three years later I went again to Kilimanjaro, and found everything there in a state of apparently pro- found tranquillity. The missionaries knew nothing of any new designs on the part of the hill-folk. I may as well take this opportunity of mentioning that the Kilimanjaro district has been endowed with a some- what regrettable medley of missionaries. Catholics and Evangelicals dividing the sparsely populated hillsides in alternate streaks. This cannot have a beneficial influence upon the natives. In Europe very optimistic views of the economical future of this district are beginning to prevail, based on most doubtful authority. The well-founded though pessimistic verdict given by Professor Volkens, in his 682 * Hostile Forces work Der Kilimandjaro, seems not to be taken at its proper value, although confirmed by so great an expert as Professor Hans Mever. A short time after my departure from Moshi I experienced a night-alarm. I had spent the evening as the guest of the Catholic Mission, and had been, as always, most cordially and hospitably entertained. Returned to camp, I had scarcely fallen asleep when I was roughly awakened. ... It appeared that a great number of natives had suddenly and stealthily penetrated into my^ camp, but had instantly, on the alarm-signal being given, vanished into the darkness. Months went by without incident, except that some side-arms were stolen from mv servants, whom I had stationed at some days' distance from myself for the purpose of buying vegetable food — and these weapons were never recovered. But when, at the end of my expedition in the year 1S99, I came again to Fort Moshi from the Xjiri Marshes, I. never dreamed that I was to pass suddenly from the profoundest tranquillity to a state of something like war. The \ery night before my arrival the natives had actually attempted an attack upon the fort. The orarrison had fired about five hundred shots. We now spent, rifles in hand, some anxious days and still more anxious nights, during which my entire company of armed men was consigned to the yard of the Fort and placed at the disposition of Captain Merker, who was then Deputy-Commandant. He had, in the absence ot his chief, provided with the utmost forethought for all VOL. II. 685 19 With Flashlight and Rifle -* emergencies, and was in a i^osition to repulse any further night-attacks. Well, on Christmas night, about nine o'clock, there fled to the protecting walls of the so-called "Fort" the whole population of the settlement, with the women and children. The fort, in my opinion, is neither advan- tageously situated, nor particularly adapted for defence against a well-directed attack ; and, above all, in case of serious need, is almost waterless. But this time it did not get so far as an attack by night ; for the natives had not, on this occasion, been able to keep their plans secret. The subsequent punitive expedition ; the carrying of war into the camp of the besiegers ; the execution of nineteen chiefs on one day as a warning example, will sufficiently prove the gravity of the situation. . . . To my great regret I was not permitted to take part in the campaign, although I had offered my services in any capacity, even that of nurse ! Never will that Christmas night fade from my memory. Now I perceived what the nocturnal scene had meant which I had gone through in Kibosho on my march out. Evidently the natives had even then had treacherous intentions, which had been frustrated by the watchfulness of my people. Certainly at that time, as I have already shown, the authorities did not anticipate any attacks of that kind. It seems to me typical of the esprit de corps of the natives and their reserve towards Europeans, that none of the missionaries at the mountain had been warned by their pupils. A Catholic missionary, who had a close 686 -'^v? ♦H^ •^.^>' ♦ Hostile Forces knowledge of the surrounding inhabitants, told me that, on the contrary, it was actually to the Christian natives that had been assigned the most prominent roles in the assassination of the missionaries, which was to be under- taken as soon as the fort was conquered. And later it was made plain that all the Europeans were to have been "•^^^^J ^1^«i*^ A FORSAKEN VILLAGE. IN THE FAMINE YEAR I CAME U PO.N SEVERAL SnCH assassinated, provided the surprise of the fort turned out completely successful. Be that as it may. in my opinion an execution of native princes, especially to such a number as nineteen, is a serious mistake, which unquestionably will one day bring its own punishment. I consider the policy ot intimidation by means of the execution of native princes to be thoroughly false in principle. It is much more likely to sow the seeds of a terrible hatred. 689 With Flashlight and Rifle -* In the punitive expedition undertaken by the colonial police, who had been strongly reinforced from the coast, some most remarkable individual cases of heroism were shown by the rebels. A warrior of the Meru Hills, when asked : "Did he not fear to struggle in vain against the all - powerful European arms ? " answered laconically, " I know no Europeans ; I know only myself, my spears, my wives, and my cattle." And one of the chiefs who were executed, named Meli, would not allow himself to be pushed down by the Askari from the plank to the gallows, but sprang, with the rope round his neck, to his death, calling out with his last breath to the Commandant, " Kwaheri Bwana ! '' . . . Four years later, in the autumn of 1903, I once more found rnyself on the other side of Kilimanjaro, far out in the desert, with my caravan of about one hundred and twenty men, with perhaps thirty armed. It was not unknown to me that Masai 01 Morani about a year before then had massacred at night, not far from my camping-place, a caravan consisting of three Greek traders and a number of blacks, and had stolen all the cattle belonging to it. Only one of these Greeks, an old man, who had had the presence of mind to feign death on getting a spear-wound in the thigh, escaped. In a trice the Masai had driven off the cattle into the dark night. After some time the wounded man, hearing nothing more, crept up to one of the camp-fires, warmed himself as well as he could in the cold night, and. next morning was carried to the fort at Meru Hill by some 690 -*■ Hostile Forces of the blacks who had also mana^^ed to escape the slaughter. In any case we needed to be \"er\" careful, as we were close to the English border, and this gave the hostile Masai an opportunity of getting off scot-free. It was perhaps too confiding in me to afford shelter in my camp for weeks to an increasing number of Masai WAXDOROBO warriors. I had very much desired the presence of some of these strange people, for purposes of study. But when their numbers swelled beyond all reason, I intimated to them that I would not allow more than ten men, in addition to those already there, to remain in my pro.ximity. On this they suddenly dispersed in every direction, and only two of the old folk came to me afterwards. 691 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ Some most difficult and lengthy marches now awaited me. We had to make forced marches, so as to get past the waterless parts. On August 20th I had started at i p.m., and after a forced march had, towards evening, pitched camp in a hilly part of the velt, sparsely grown with terminalias and acacias. The loads were laid down, and my cattle — about ninety head — were shut into a hastily contrived thorn -barricade, called a "boma." All around lay the wearied carriers, who soon, despite , their thirst, fell into a deep slumber. My taxidermist's and my own tent had been hastily put up, and had no sun-blinds. As usual, my armed men slept together by one of the camp fires, and a sentry was patrolling the camp. Even we Europeans were fast asleep, when in the middle of the night the Masai, who had followed us into the desert, suddenly attacked us. The aggressors, some of whom had -already got into the camp, were, however, repulsed, and quick as lightning volley followed volley into the darkness. Then, with a clashing of arms, the foe took to flight. All my unarmed people had thrown themselves upon the ground, as they were taught by me to do, while we Europeans formed a square with the armed men. Now followed some hours of suspense in total darkness, only interrupted by shots here and there, wherever a rustling noise might be supposed to betray the presence of the enemy. We strained all our senses to the uttermost, and strangely did the utter stillness of the men crouching 692 -* Hostile Forces on the ground contrast with the lowing of the frightened cattle and the crackling of the volleys. The camp-fires, which even at the beginning of the attack were burning very low (we were short of fuel), had now completely gone out. Then we all heard again plainly, not far from the camp, a clatter like the knocking of spears against stones. ilY COOK AT HIS AVOCATIONS Instantly some shots were fired in that direction. And so the niofht went bv. This much is certain : it was entirely to the very quick and successful alarm that we owed our safety. During the writing of these lines, almost exactly a year after that incident, there comes grave news from the Masai countries ; much trouble is brewing in the dififerent regions under the 01 Morani, and even in British East Africa .several additional Indian regiments have been 693 With Flashlight and Rifle -* stationed. So it does not seem at all unlikely that my little inciden-t was the beginning of this hostile move- ment — a movement as to which nobody can tell what day it may break out, or to what extent it may spread ! On the next day several Masai were perceived at a. good distance from the marching caravan; they were watching us, but after some shots from us they took to flight. It is a proof of the cunning of the Masai Ol Morani that precisely that night was chosen for the attack when neither I nor my people could have expected any such thing, i^' since that part of the velt, being waterless,, could not be supposed to contain human beings. At; any rate we had the most narrow escape from suffering' the same fate that the massacred caravan had suffered the year before. And our luck in escaping was the more extraordinary in that it was a pitch-dark night, which gave the spear-armed 01 Morani a great advantage at close quarters with our scanty firearms. In some cases known to me the Masai had always tried to drive off the cattle quite noiselessly, and in this- they showed astonishing cleverness. It was on the first hint of resistance that they had made use of their spears, and had struck down all living, creatures instantly. Only my quite extraordinarily quick and successful alarm could have saved us; and so I stick to my system of always- sleeping surrounded by repeating rifles and Mauser pistols,, ready for use at a moment's notice. From that time- forward I was, of course, even more cautious than before, and a greater number of Mauser rifles — begged for from 694 -* Hostile Forces MANY OF MY CARRIERS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY' THEIR WIVES the fort, and delivered with the necessary ammunition — ensured greater safety to my caravan for the future. I must confess that such attacks, in blackest darkness,. 697 With Flashlight and Rifle -* are not among the choicest deHghts of African travelling, especially as in the use of firearms under these conditions it is scarcely possible to avoid wounding, or even killing some of one's own people. Most of the attacks from the Masai went off in the same way, and almost without exception in the night time. But I have never witnessed the sight of a Masai warrior with his spear and shield boldly defying European firearms ,in open warfare. Earlier travellers had this experience before the time of the cattle-plague. Shortly before the night-attack I had an unpleasant encounter in rather odd circumstances with a large number of armed Masai warriors in full war-kit. At some little distance from my camp I had dug a pit, which I had covered with a roof, earth-coloured, and something like a tent in shape; I had laid a carcase near it, and then, completely alone, I had taken my place in this contrivance so as to get some photographs of vultures in their attack on the carcase. For some hours I had been waiting in my sun-baked, narrow,' uncomfortable habitation, when suddenly I had a strange experience. To my utter amazement 1 suddenly saw quite close to me a great number of Masai warriors in full war-paint, therefore on the war-path ; and, drawn by curiosity, approaching my lair, which they had espied with their sharp" eyes. So as not to expose myself to the danger of having my hiding-place pierced with a spear, I had intended to appear suddenly from the depths and go to meet the warriors, knowing that they would instantly take flight. But on looking back through an opening which had been made in my lair, I saw a lot of my soldiers 698 -* Hostile Forces hurrying towards me as fast as iDOssible. Evidently one of my men, growing uneasy at my long absence, had wished to inform himself ot my safety from a distance. Thus he had seen the warriors, and had instantly alarmed the camp. Unfortunately it was not possible, though we searched for hours, to find the 01 Morani, and enter into relations with them. ... It is difficult for a civilised man to form 'i/fJtt.^ ;aT'-- WANDOROBO any idea of the highly developed capability acquired by his desert-ranging brother of victoriously encountering all the obstacles of his inhospitable abiding-place, and of mastering and setting at naught all its terrors. The cleverness with which the Masai folk manage even the biggest droves of cattle, the skill and rapidity with which they drive them, were brought home to me by the following incident. 699 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ I was once, about midday, coming back into camp with quite a lot of niy servants when suddenly — it was on the right bank of the Pangani River — we perceived a large herd of cattle and a number of Masai. We thought they were most likely some Masai warriors who had made a successful cattle-raid in Useguha, which was quite near, and were now going home to the Sogonoi Hills. The distance between us and them was little less than a mile. I at once went off with my servants as quickly as possible in the opposite direction. We had to go through a hollow of the valley, which obstructed our view for some minutes. When we had got back again to a place whence we could see, the Masai and the cattle had totally disappeared, as if they had been swallowed by the earth ; and although we at once spread out in all directions along the river-bank — the bush, however, was tolerably thick there — we did not succeed in catching sight of them again. It was not until late in the afternoon that we discovered how the fugitives had driven off all our own cattle — one by one — in a direction that we had never thought of! Pursuit was then useless, for the stony ground which they had taken would betray no trace of their footsteps. In view of so many regrettable quarrels and conflicts between travellers and the native tribes, I cannot help expressing the opinion that many of these complications might have been avoided if the Europeans had so chosen. In the " good old times " it was undoubtedly easy to travel " on the cheap," equipped with lots of cartridges^ and nothing else ! Curiously enough, it was always the natives who, in those days, began hostilities : a treacherous arrow 700 VOL. II 20 -♦ Hostile Forces was shot at the approaching traveller, volleys were fired, the inhabitants of the localities took to flight, and all their provisions were instantly looted by the " conquerors I ' But if the traveller is inclined for peaceable barter- traffic, he must of course have with him a great quantity ot wares useful for that purpose, so as to keep up the food- supply of his men ; and in times of drought and high prices the natives naturally demand more for their field-produce than in normal seasons, for they themselves are wholly dependent on their gains from the fruits of the soil until the next harvest. To travel with East African carriers and keep on friendly terms with the natives is, for a time, at any rate, no \erv difficult achievement ; and if I look back upon anything with satisfaction it is upon the fact that 1, at any rate, have never knowingly been obliged to shed the blood of a black man. 703 A ECENE ON 'THE ROUTE XXXI The Preservation of African Game THE International Conference to which representatives of all the Great Powers with interests in Africa were invitecl for the discussion of the methods to te adopted for preserving African game, resulted in a number of regulations which are now being carried out in modified and amended forms and according to local conditions, in different parts of the continent. I must frankly state that personally I do not hold altogether with the prevailing views as to " useful " and " harmful " animals. It seems to me that we are far too- arbitrary in the way we deal with living creatures, disturbing modes and methods of existence which are the harmonious outcome of ages of evolution. We consider ourselves entitled to proscribe all kinds of animals as " harmful," thus annihilating whole sections of wild life in a way which has aroused the strong opposition of students and lovers of nature. 704 -* The Preserxation of African Game Already there is in existence in Germany a society for the preservation of the beauties of nature. The term should be held to include not merelv scenerv. but also the animal lite and plant life thereto belonging. The sportsman sits as ruler over the entire animal kingdom ; he gives out its laws, and has powers of life and death. Whatever he may decide is accepted without question. If Germany can boast of an old and honoured institution, in its confraternity of German sportsmen, such as you will hardly find in any other country, many Germans — I sav it clearlv and frankK" — arc a orreat deal too prone to destroy a number of beautiful species of the animal fauna, considering themselves warranted in exterminating, by means of traps and even ot poison, as well as by powder and shot, all those vermin, as they are designated, which prey upon our favourite forms of game. This interferes with the natural order of things, and degeneration of the species results inevitably. It is not only the man with the gun who arrogates to himself this right ; the angler is of the same wav of thinking, and to be logical we should sufter bee-keepers to kill off all our swallows and stand by while the vine- grower spreads destruction among thrushes and other singing-birds. There is scarcely any living creature against which some case might not be made out for damage done to some human industry. In the days when otters and herons and kingfishers and any number of other animals and birds were left free to prey upon the fish in German seas and lakes and 705 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ ponds and rivers, the supply of fish was always infinitely greater than it is now. The anglers' societies persist, however, in declaring war against all these enemies of fish — otters and herons and kingfishers, sea-gulls, cormor- ants, diving-birds and water-ousels, and all the rest. They imagine that with their special schemes they will succeed in refilling with fish the rivers they have allowed to become poisoned with chemical drains. The sportsman kills off foxes, martens, polecats, weasels, wild cats, badgers, otters, and " all birds of prey with talons and arched wings," as an old fore.ster once expressed it to me. Hand-in-hand with the fisherman, he wages war against the cormorant, the fishing-eagle, and any number of other birds and beasts. They both forget that the farmer might very well cherish similar feelings and wage war against other creatures in the same way. Fortunately there are exceptions to this rule, such as we find among the Mecklenburg sportsmen, who are satisfied to kill but few foxes rather than great numbers of hares, and among those English landed proprietors who leave its freedom even to the peregrine falcon, though fully conscious that, together with its mate, it levies its tribute daily upon the grouse. We feel strongly about the ruthless methods of the south of Europe. But can we afford to throw stones ? The singing-birds that nest in the north of Europe wing their way twice every year over the length of Italy, and their numbers are thinned always as they 706 -* The Preservation of African Game pass over the densely populated districts, the forces of electricity and other modern inventions being directed against them. This state of things is merely a survival from the days when mankind looked no further than the morrow, as is still the case with the negroes. We in Germany have learned at least to spare the singing-birds. German sentiment could not bear to see them injured. But, before we can venture to appeal to our southern neighbours to give them a free passage on their way to us, we must learn to be more merciful ourselves to the gradually diminishinsf ranks of our own wild birds and beasts. We destroy our woodcock now, both before and after their spring migration ; while the thrush, which in the autumn suddenly becomes transformed into the fieldfare, falls a victim at all times to those snares which are justly proscribed by sporting rules on German territory. In all cases in which we imagine that certain interests are being injured, we proceed, in entire disregard of the overwhelming world of non-sportsmen and in opposition to all lovers and students of nature, to rob our fauna of their greatest treasures. A pair of storks afford pleasure and interest to thousands ; yet, if a stork kills a few leverets, the sports- man punishes it with death, in entire disregard of the feelings of other people. So it is with sea-eagles, buzzards, kites, the beautiful kestrel, our fine owls, the splendid crested grebes (which allow you to come within a few yards of them in your boat), the herons, which thrive better on our lakes than 707 With Flashlight and Rifle -^ anywhere else — they all fall victims to the death-dealing bullet. So long as home-dwelling Germans (and other Europeans) allow themselves to be swayed by such short- sighted ideas, how can they expect better things from regions like East Africa, where Europeans have a hard struggle for existence. Our gameJaws are not enough in themselves even at home to keep our preserves free from poachers. We must always have keepers on the alert, day and night. How, then, can we hope to control reckless European adventurers in the heart of the African wilder- ness — men who know nothing either of sporting etiquette and traditions or of animal life, and who have no local responsibilities of any kind — especially in view of the immense comrnercial value of the animals out there ? If I seem to be drawing a somewhat pessimistic picture of what is in store for that fauna whose interests lie so near my heart, I must add that I welcome cor- dially the steps that have been taken of late, by both the British and German Governments, for staving off as long as possible the irfipending doom. It is being gradually realised that rules and regulations are of no avail. The English have given a useful object-lesson in the preserve which they have instituted all along their railway and in the neighbourhood of the railway stations, under the watch of the railway officials. This plan has had the best results for some years past. The wicked sportsman, of whom you read so much in books and newspapers, and who is really a good deal 708 m'^^^'^'^^i -* The Preservation of African Game of a myth, is now at least regarded no longer as the sole cause of the disappearance of the African fauna, the guilt having- been brought home at last to the chief — culprits the traders, pseudo-colonists, Boers, Askaris, armed natives, and all the other pioneers of civilisation. For many years a collector of natural-history speci- mens, who went out quite unselfishly on behalf of German museums and who spent ;^5,ooo in the colony, was regarded as a very undesirable and unwelcome visitor. Both in German and British East Africa the game was reserved for other kinds of sportsmen. When caravans reached the coast with a load of five hundred elephant- tusks, these were " merchandise "; but if a private traveller killed a few elephants he was a slaughterer of wild animals ! From the very nature of the case it is impossible to establish anything like complete control over the hunting of big game, but it is a matter for much satisfaction that the Governments have now taken the matter strenuously in hand. How difficult it is always to settle the question as to what constitutes " harmfulness " is shown in Ger- many by the great dispute carried on in regard to the utility of crows, in which the judgments of recognised authorities are so absolutely at variance, while the matter in dispute is probably one for the use of common sense. One of the most notable provisions enacted by the International Conference was that which forbade the 711 With Flashlight and Rifle -* exportation of elephant-tusks weighing less than ten pounds apiece. I was discussing this one day in Africa with a resident in the Congo State. '' On y mettra du J}lomb," he remarked ! The insertion of " a little lead " into the ivory would bring it up to the specified weight ! If the exportation of the tusks of female elephants ■could be prevented — they are easily recognised by the small cavities — there would be some hope of preserving the species effectively. It is not possible, however, for the hunter to judge the weight of the tusks of the elephants he comes across in the thickets. If he really wishes to spare all that have not marketable tusks, he must select only the very largest individuals. This is too much to demand of those who make their livincr out of it under very trying conditions, when they know that wily Greek arid Indian merchants will find a way of disposing of their illicit wares satisfactorily.^ With the spread of colonisation, and the setting apart of districts within which there should either be no shooting of wild animals or only of certain specified types, the question as to what animals are to be regarded as harmful has come more and more to the front. Elephants and hippopotamuses must be acknowledged to come under the category of harmful animals. Yet the 1 There is no export duty, unfortunatelj', in the German Cameroons, whence 452,100 kilos of tusks, chiefly from young elephants, have been ■exported during the past ten years. There are 10 to 15 per cent, duties in other African colonies. There is no import duty on ivory in Great Britain or in Germany. 712 -* The Preservation of African Game natives of India have contrived to live comfortably side by side with herds of elephants. Hippopotamuses are so apt to destroy plantations that they certainly have to be got rid of in all neighbourhoods in which Europeans settle down. Elephants also are often very destructive in the same way. The preservation of elephants is undoubtedly against the interests of European colonists ;; and indeed the preservation of any species of wild animal would seem to be against the interests of colonists. Baboons, which any one is free to kill, are also very harmful to plantations. Cultivators of millet and other grains have to employ watchmen to keep off both the apes and small birds from the crops during the very brief period when these are ripening. The natives erect sheds, raised up on four poles, and from these, with the help of ropes, which they fasten across their fields, and to which they attach feathers and other scares, they frighten away^ wild boars, which do a lot of damage to crops, and which are difficult to get rid of. Besides these animals and many rodents and meerkats, certain of the smaller antelopes occasionally are a nuisance to settlers. All other kinds of animals- avoid the neighbourhood of man, and keep away on the velt, where they can do no injury. Rhinoceroses- especially are very seldom known to come near inhabited districts, and the same may be said of giraffes and the larger antelopes I am anxious to insist upon this point, because both Prince Ldwenstein and myself were assured, greatly to our surprise, that the giraffe exceeds all other animals in the way it destroys the East African forests. 7^0 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Statements of this kind, made quite without knowledge, get too much credence at home. With certain exceptions, therefore, there is no pretext for the killing of African big game on the ground of their harmfulness. On the other hand, there is urgent need for the putting out of every effort to prevent the ravages of insects and reptiles, which play havoc with many forms of colonial enterprise. Coffee-plantations suffer, for instance, in an extreme degree. But it would be a great mistake if the fauna of the country were to be generally wiped out, as sometimes it has been locally, in the hope of thereby getting rid of ticks, which are known to communicate disease. Accord- ing to my information, the infectious diseases in question are to be met with in districts where wild animals have long been absolutely exterminated. For a long time past rewards have been given for the killing of lions and leopards, though it may be questioned whether this practice can justified by results. Assuredly, without rewards, no one would lose a chance of killing either lions or leopards whenever this might be practic- able ; while the rewards are not large enough in themselves to tempt any one to go in for this kind of shooting. Of late years the rewards have been lowered in value. Nor would they induce any one to set about the killing of crocodiles or poisonous snakes. Personally, I doubt very much whether the destruction of the crocodiles would have the result of increasing the supply of fish in African lakes and rivers. I cannot imagine a greater wealth of fish than I have seen out there. I remember 714 -^ The Preservation of African Game being impressed by this when looking on at Europeans securing catches of fish by the use of dynamite cartridges — an operation that was proliibited, but that it was not pos- sible to prevent. It is interesting and instructive to note that the swamps, lakes, and rivers most frequented by crocodiles, turtles, otters, and fish-eating birds of all kinds, are always alive with fish. It is often impossible to get water for one's bath that is free from fish. I used to find it difficult even to keep them out of the dishes in which I washed my negatives. To sum up, only those animals should be exterminated which are indisputably Injurious to man. For the most part, the beautiful wild animals of East Africa find ample nourishment on the wide velt, and do no harm to us whatever. 715 HIE IIASAIS WERE AMU'aED AT THE WAY I HELD ONE OF THEIR DANGEROUS SPEARS XXXII A Race of Warlike Shepherds : the Masai SO long ago as 1896 I found in conversation with my friend Merker, now captain in the imperial colonial police, that he and I were agreed in holding that the Masai, generally regarded until then. as belonging to the race of Ham, were quite curiously and unmistakably Semitic in their physiognomy. Since then my friend has published an imposing work,^ the outcome of many years of study, in which he has expounded his view that the Masai, long before the period of the oldest records we have of Egypt, had come from Arabia to Africa, there eventually to settle down upon the eastern velt. He has sought to demonstrate, moreover, that the Masai — adherents to a strictly monotheistical religion — were the descendants of that oldest branch of the Semitic family which was in possession of the Biblical 1 The Masai: an Ethnographical Study of an East African Semitic Race. Berlin 1904. Dietrich Riemer. 716 A Race of Warlike Shepherds : the Masai A STATELY SPECIMEN OF THE OL MORANI myths, before these myths found their way to Babylon. The Masai have finely cut features, tall, slim figures, and very often beautifully shaped feet and hands. VOL. II. 717 21 With Flashlight and Rifle -») Merker deals also in his work with the common error which assumes the Semites of old to have been identical with the Jews of to-day. As a matter of fact, the special characteristics of our modern Jews did not come into existence until after the Semites began to mix with the race of Heth. The Bible touches repeatedly upon the mingling of the two races, which began long before the Hebrews settled down. I cannot enter further into these matters here. I shall only say that, in Merker's book, we have before us the work of a man who has been able to enter into the soul of a people in a quite unique manner, and who has consecrated many years to his task. He has amassed an amount of material which cannot but arouse the admiration even of those students of the subject who may not be able always to subscribe to his conclusions. Before he entered ujaon his study, for which he was well qualified by his scientific training and his familiarity with this kind of work, our knowledge of the Masai was very scanty. No one else has ever undertaken so thorough an investigation into their language and habits and modes of thought. I think I am in a position to estimate the immense difficulties he had to cope with. This is not the place to discuss Merker's theories in detail. I must leave that to the experts. This much is certain, that the " ol Morani," the spear-wielding warriors of the race, have dominated the velt-land for thousands of years, roaming far and wide, and increasing their herds always by pillage and plunder among the other races settled in the country. Like the Indians of North 718 -»> A Race of Warlike Shepherds : the Masai America, they found their greatest happiness in untram- melled freedom. A warlike people, they scorned mere settlers and men of peace. Thus they lived their life until the coming of the white man. ISow their days of predominance are over. Soon, probably, they will have reached their downfall. It will be with them as it has '^W,^^ MASAI WOMEN been with the red man. In truth, their ways do not fit in with the spread of civilisation over the velt. But just as we all delighted as boys in the blood- curdling tales of the Red Man — there are many of us, indeed, well on in years, who still so delight — we cannot but feel a certain amount of sympathy with this picturesque and impressive people, who for so many thousands of years have lived their unchanging existence in the freedom of the velt, practising consistently the virile virtues of 719 With Flashlight and Rifle -* the fighting man and holding their peace-loving neighbours in disdain. And how closely in touch they are with the mother- earth of their Nyika! I remember once how a Masai child, barely six years old, having got lost somehow in my camp, made his way home to his parents' kraal two long days' journey away through a pathless jungle, in A BEE-HIVE which he slept the night, and arrived there safely. I could not have believed it had I not verified the fact for myself And now this race, together with their wild companions of the velt, must make way for a new and alien civilisation. Their swords and spears are of no avail against the deadly firearms of the invader. They owe their downfall, however, primarily to pestilence. The 720 -^ A Race of ^\'arlike Shepherds : the Masai rinderpest which swept over East Africa two decades aoQ exterminated their cattle, and in a few days man and woman and child died of famine. The survivors — some hundreds of thousands — must soon die oft. unable to adapt themselves to any ijther mode of life than that to which they were born and bred. We have here a striking illustration of the way in - «* f: ,>^ '> MAS.4I OL MORASI WITH SPEARS A.M> SHIELD? which an entire race can disappear from the face of the earth. Barely a centur)- a^fo the Masai enjoyed a period of great prosperity under their mighty chief Mbatyan, the hero of many le;4^ends. There is something inex- pressibly melancholy in the sight of the remnant ot this heroic people fighting desperately for their life. There is a world of difference between them and so many of the unsympathetic mongrel races to be met with in the With Flashlight and Rifle -* west and south-west of Africa, who have abandoned their ancient customs through the influence of civilisation. For days and weeks together I have lingered among the Masai, encamped in the vicinity of their kraals, and I have learnt to understand and appreciate them. Their habits and customs, their songs and dances, were to me an unfailing source of interest and enjoyment. Often, I remember, a feeling of melancholy would steal over me as I sat by the camp-fire gazing at these splendid fighting men, with their fine stature and noble bearing, as they sang their time-hallowed melodies or war-songs, shield and spear always in their hands. They lay or crouched all round me, their faces illumined by the flames. I often asked myself how I should fare, if I had to meet them in combat, supported by my followers [ Even when, as happened more than once, I found my caravan threatened by these Masai, I could feel no ill-will against them. They were but fighting for their ideals, as we Europeans have daily to do for ours. And they await with ardour the day (so Merker tells us), when their great chief Mbatyan shall come back to them and stand once again in their midst, to free them from the yoke of the stranger. The following incident illustrates the way in which the Masai cling to their traditional habits. A Masai boy had been several times to Germany with his master, a Government official, and had mastered our language, Berlin jargon and all, in an astonishing fashion. When he had grown to man's estate, and had quitted the service of this official, he was found one day by a European 724 -* A Race of \\^arlike Shepherds : the~]^Iasai who knew him, no longer in civilised garb, but smeared all over with red ochre, his hair grown long and worn in plaits with a sort of pigtail — " ol daiga," as they call it — dripping with grease, in company with another , Masai in full w^ar-paint. When the astonished spectator inquired A MASAI AND HIS OX what all this meant, he replied in the best Berlin German : " I have decided to go back and li\-e among my own people." I shall never forget the answer one of my ^lasai friends vouchsafed to one of my carriers, who was struck With Flashlight and Rifle ^ by the deft and fearless way he inserted his naked arm into an ant-hill, in which bees had hived, and drew out the honeycomb. While he was dividing this golden treasure among my men one of them asked him : " How is that the bees don't sting you ? " "It is your business to carry burdens," replied the Ol Morani ; "it is mine to roam over the velt. The bees sting you; me they love!" And he gave the carrier a glance of immeasurable scorn. The Masai have never had anything to do with the institution of slavery. Some two years ago two Masai men served under me for a twelvemonth, as guides. I paid them when we got back to the coast. They expended the entire sum on the release of an elderly Masai woman, who at that time was the slave of a negro at Pangani. She belonged to the tribe of my guides, and this sufficed to impel them to an action which was remarkable for its unselfishness and humanity. I need hardly add that I not only saw to it that they secured the freedom of their countrywoman at a very low figure, but I rewarded them also for their praiseworthy conduct. A very curious contrast to this incident comes to my mind. My old caravan-leader, " Maftar," a Swahili, refused the offer I made him, in recognition of his trustworthy service during four years, to buy him his freedom. He would not put his old Arab master to the grief of losing him ! Different races, different ideas ! I have heard many other instances of the fine feeling 726 -»■ A Race of Warlike Shepherds the Masai which characterises the Masai, from missionaries whose hospitahty I have enjoyed, and from others. An intimate friend of mine once declared to me with feeling that, if not himself, he would choose to be a Masai Ol Morani of the old stamp. .Merker's book on the Masai must constitute one of the most thorough and complete studies of an East MASAI WO-MEN African race vet published. By their conscientious and able investigations into our colonial affairs, men like Count Gotzen, Huhlmann, Merker, Richard Kandt, Fulleborn, Paul Reichard, Gassarge, and Krcemer will be found probably to have been of infinitely greater service than many of those who have striven after perfection through the medium of complex and often impracticable by-huvs and regulations. With Flashlight and Rifle ^ The first thing to be done is to learn something of the races we have to govern. In this way alone can we avoid terrible mistakes, involving us in desperate struggles, in which the lives of thousands of Europeans and of natives would be lost. But the system of changing about our ofiicials from post to post militates, and must always militate, against this. Men shotild be left as long as possible in localities to which they have become accustomed, and in which they have made their mark, quite irrespective of the rank they may hold. It is impossible to introduce our own habits and customs unchanged into foreign lands, and force them upon the natives. We must take account of their ozvii habits a7td customs before we attempt to rule them. Only in this zuay shall we learn how to deal zvisely with the natives of our African colonies and to turn them to good account. These regions for the most part must always remain closed to European immigration. Gradually to mould the inhabitants and to develop their capacities to the utmost — that is at once our only practicable policy and a high and noble ideal. 728 ^ w --r.'^'-*-' TKOMSOS'i GAZELLES 1 rLnvoi SLOWLY, but surely, the explorer makes his way to the uttermost ends of the earth. It is but a few- months since Tibet, that land of lecrends, hitherto un- known and impenetrable, had at last to open its gates to the invader. Asia, traversed for long ages past by the forces of civilisation, had been able to keep this one stronghold inviolate, though Africa, until recently the '" Dark Continent," no longer maintained any such refuge. Both continents surprised the world of zoological science by the disclosure of two large mammals, the ver)" existence of which had been unsuspected : Asia with the singular takin {Budorcas taxicolor) ; Africa with the okapi. If there be no longer any great riddles to solve in the Dark Continent, there still await investigation any number of very difficult questions in every- field of knowledge. To give an illustration : there are over two hundred kinds of birds still to be discovered there, 7^9 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ according to the surtnise of Professor Reichenow. And to give another, I may point out that as yet no success has been met with in the efforts to cope with the rinder- pest. For Germans there is a wide field for labour in Africa— a field which, with more experience, we shall learn to cultivate better. No one is in a better position to realise this than the wanderer who has spent years in the wilderness, striving strenuously to wring from velt and marsh and forest the seci'ets they have withheld from mortal eyes. If we ar6 to explore these regions and save their treasures for posterity, we must make haste ; for many races of nativefe with their ancient habits and customs, and with them the animal life, are dying away under the breath of civili^atioh all too speedily. Here I am moved to speak again of my trusty followers, who shai'ed my sufferings and my delights so many thousand^ of times. Hardly a single one of them did I ever find not eager at any time to set out with me on a new expedition into the interior, and in most of them 1 had devoted and grateful servants. I must give a thought to those also who lost their life in my service, and whose bones now lie bleaching beneath the equatorial sun. The years I spent out there come back to my memory as years ot interest, happiness, and enjoyment, drawing out all my powers to the utmost. The velt lies out- stretched before me — now flooded with sunlight, now bathed in the mystical radiance of the moon — alive with 730 -♦ Envoi the life of its wild denizens. The wanderer has perhaps, like so many before him, devoted the best of his life to this strange but witching land of Masai-Xyika. Its witchery draws us still when we are back at home. Hourly and daily we hear it calling tn us — this splendid, endless, unforgettable Masai-Xyika. -^ A NATIVE GMEWAY OL DOROBO IPPEXDICES VOL. II. 2 2 THE '■ 5TONEHOUSE' NVC\rBA YA MAWE, AN ISOLATED CRYSTALLINE BLOCK OF SCHIST-ROCK NEAR THE RUFC RIVER APPENDIX A A Few Words about Herr C. G- Schillings' Collection of East African Mammals BY PROFESSOR PAUL MATSCHIE Curator of the Royal ZooL^gital Musium, Berlin A MOXG those who have lived or who are now living, i.~~V in the German East African colony, there are a good many who are convinced that the gradual thinning of the wild life out there is the outcome principally of the expeditions of sportsmen and of collectors of natural- history specimens. They have heard of the immense quantities of antelope hides and horns which travellers of this class have amassed, and in all good faith they give expression to their astonishment that such people should be tolerated. Thus it has been with C. G. Schillings, because he has ventured to make his way from the interior to the 735 With Flashlight and Rifle -* coast, and thence home to Germany, with a large number of such trophies. People began to talk, quite erroneously, of his having helped to exterminate wild life in the regions which he had visited. Schillings is a first-rate shot, he is known in zoological circles as an authority upon the fauna of East Africa, and the collections of specimens which he has brought home have shown that he has worked throughout like an expert naturalist. A man who sets about his task in such real earnest is not likely to be guilty of such recklessness, or to kill more animals than he really needs for his purpose. Schillings has brought home some forty specimens of lions, about thirty-five leopards, as well as large numbers of hysenas, jackals, and other beasts of prey. These beasts of prey would have destroyed a greater number of antelopes and other wild life of the region than Schillings has killed for his entire collection. It is not to be denied that in many districts the stock of wild animals is decreasing to a regrettable extent ; but this is chiefly in districts which have been opened up by colonists. In the vicinity of all spots where Europeans have settled, wild animals inevitably become scarce, because they are deprived of their haunts and retreats, and find themselves in continual danger. The same thing is to be observed along the regular caravan-routes, especially at points where great numbers of antelopes have been shot and used as barter for vegetables. This kind of thing has now been put a stop to. A law for the protection of game has come into existence, and large regions have been marked off in which wild 72,^ -♦ Collection of East African Mammals life is preserved, and where no shooting is permitted. The law provides tor different kinds of " close times.' The breeding-seasons occur at ver}" different periods of the year in different parts of German East Atrica. From this it has come about that between Rowuma and Wami — between the coast and the great lakes — eight separate regions have had to be defined, each of which is different!- ated from the others by its climatic conditions, and each of which has its own special fauna. In each the buffalo. the giraffe, the elephant, and antelopes of every description are distinguished by certain peculiar characteristics. In the Masai region, for instance, all these animals differ in appearance from those to be met with in the south. It is possible to say for certain, from the shape of a buffalo- horn, whether the animal comes from Rowuma or Pangani, from the Masai country or Xyasa or Xyanza. Many kinds of antelopes are to be identified in the same wav, not merely by special characteristics as regards their colouring and the formation of their horns, but also by their entire build, the shape of their bones and of their skulls, as well as by their habits of life. He whose business it is to preserve wild life, and to maintain valuable animals for the benefit ot mankind, must first make sure what kinds of animals he is to preserv^e and what are their habits, it he wants to do his work efficaciously. To this end, zoologists have to busy themselves over the study of the animal world, and their researches have to be turned to account, so that the preservation of wild life may be carried out upon the With Flashlight and Rifle -* right lines. Studies of this kind can only be pursued in large museums, where it is possible to note the special characteristics of specimens brought together from distant countries and to compare large numbers of them from different regions with each other. Only in this way is it possible to determine over what area each species is distributed, what are its habits of life, and of what importance it is likely to be to man. Only in this way, too, is it possible to make out a systematic plan for the study of the fauna of various sections of the earth, with a view to filling up the gaps in our information. Schillings has placed his collection at the disposal of zoological experts in the most generous manner, and has made provision for the exhibition of most of his specimens in our large museums — chiefly the Berlin Museum. But the museums of Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna, Karlsruhe, and other cities have also been enriched by these very valuable gifts of specimens of the great African mammals. One can form no notion, from seeing a stuffed giraffe or rhinoceros in a museum, of the immense difficulties involved in the securing and preparing of such a specimen. When the animal has been shot and its skin carefully prepared — all the fat removed from it and every pre- caution taken against flaws, the skull and bones also having been cleaned separately — the collector has still to take immense pains about the transport to Europe. The weighty burden has to be carried on mens' shoulders to the coast, along dangerous tracks, often through marshes and almost pathless thickets, and across streams and rivers. 738 -* Collection of East African Mammals The ravages of insects and the damp atmosphere have to be fought against. There are long weeks of anxiety before the goal is reached. All this trouble, to say nothing of the considerable expense, is involved in the bringing home in good con- dition of a single such specimen; but Schillings has brought home quite a number of giraffes, buffaloes, rhinoceroses, HOLLOW TRUNK OK A GIGANTIC FIiJ-TREE and elephants, a great number of large antelopes, and hundreds of hides and skins and skeletons of every descrip- tion, all of them in such good condition that they are suitable for exhibition in museums. In this way he has made it possible to determine the fact that these great Ungulata differ essentially in various particulars from those to be found in other parts of Africa, and that all these families are divided into species confined 739 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ within certain regions, and each of them with distinct characteristics. I have been able to establish the fact that, even within the confines of German East Africa, there are two distinct species of giraffes, one living to the east of Kilimanjaro, the other in the Pangani region. Schillings' has brought home specimens of both species, one of which is now known as Giraffa schillingsi, in honour of its discoverer. The examination of these specimens has not yet been completed, but it has been made clear already that the animals killed in the Pangani region can all be distinguished from those secured in the Masai country. Between Kili- manjaro and the coast there are to be found quite different types of baboons, lions, zebras, and buffaloes from those in the Masai country. This fact is of great importance, and Herr Schillings, in enabling us to establish it, has rendered an important service to science. Thanks are also due to him for the careful way in which he has preserved for analysis the contents of the stomachs of animals, as well as the various parasites by which they are infested — ticks, lice, maggots, and the worms in their intestines. He has brought back with him also a j great number of very valuable embryos, which further our knowledge as to the development of the Ungulata, their breeding-time, etc. ; the more so that these specimens have been accompanied always by written particulars as to the date at which they were obtained and other relevant circumstances. We need only glance at the complete list of the 740 -* Collection of East African Mammals mammals brought home by Schillings to realise the importance of his collection. He has collect^^d a greater number of different species than any other traveller before him. He has secured three-fourths of the various species which were to be looked for in the districts through which he travelled. He has, moreover, discovered several species the e.xistence of which in or near German East Africa had not been suspected. Great interest was aroused, for instance, b\- his discovery of a striped hya;na, which other travellers imagined they had seen, but had not captured. This is the animal which I have designated Hytviia schillittgsi. The author killed one specimen in 1896, but this unfor- tunatelv was not preserved. Xow, however, the Berlin Natural History Museum contains quite a number of skins and skulls of this species, collected by Herr Schillings, in 1S99 and 1900, on the Masai highlands. A new species of hill-antelope, or the klipspringer, has also been discovered by him, w-hich Oscar .Neumann has designated Oreotragus schillingsi. Amon^ the Rodents there are also several new types, while there are several other species among the Ungulates which have still to be classified and named. Herr Schillings' collections, then, provide a fund of the most interesting revelations. I only wish that other such collections could be made in other parts of German East Africa, when our knowledge would be sufficiently complete to enable me to bring up to date my own book upon the mammals of the country, published nine years ago. 741 With Flashlight and Rifle LIST OF MAMMALS COLLECTED BY HERR C. G. SCHILLINGS. {_All luere killed or captured by Herr Schillings himself^ with the exception of Nos, 109 and 1x5. J Compiled bv PROFESSOR P. MATSCHIE, Custodian of the Royal Natural History Museum at Berlin. Apes 1. White-tailed guereza, Colobiis ccm- datus, Thos. 2. Angolan guereza, Colobns palliatus. 3 Green monkey, Cercopithecus eryihrarchus, Ptrs. 4. Patas monkey, Cercopithecus ru- foviridis, Is. Geoffr. 5. East African grivet monkey, Cerco- pithecus centralis, Neumann. 6. Coast baboon, Papio ibeanus, Thos. 7. Masai baboon, Papio neumamti, Mtsch. Lemurs -8. Dark, long-eared maki, Otolemur agisymbanus, Coqu. 9. White-tailed lemur, Otolemur lasiotiSj Ptrs. JO. Light-eared galago, Otogale kirki, Gray. 1 1 . Pigmy galago, Galago zanzibaricus, Mtsch. Bats .12. Flying-fox, Epomophorus stuhl- manni, Mtsch. 13. Large nycteris, Nyctcris macivtis, Gray. 14. Lesser nycteris, Nycteris Inteola, Thos. 15- 16. 17- 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23- 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. SC- Lyre-bat, Megadcrmafrons, Geoff. Falic vampire, Megaderma cor, Ptrs. Dwatf bat, Myotis nanus, Ptrs. TricolouTed iatj Myotis tricolor, Temm. Geoflroy's bat, Nycticejus borboni- cus, Geoffr. Somali bat, Vespertilio somaliais, Thos, Kirk's bat, Kerivoula nidicola, Kirk. Bulldog-bat, Nyctinomus pumilus, Cretzschm. Light-coloured bulldog-bat, Nycti- nomus limbactus, Ptrs. Insectivora Musk-rat, Petrodromus sultani, Thos. Jumping shrew, Rhynchocion usam- bara, Neumann. Elephant-shrew, Macroscelides ru- fescetts, Ptrs. Cinnamon shrew, Crociduia graci- lipes, Ptrs. Dark grey shrew, Crocidurafumosa, Thos. White-bellied shrew, Crocidura fischeri, Pagenst. Black shrew, Crocidura aff. nigro- fusca, Mtsch. Hedgehog, Erinaceus albiventris, Wagn. 742 Collection of East \frican Mammals 34. 33- 36. 39 40 41 42. 43 44 45' 4':>. 47. 49- 52. Beasts of Prey Spotted hjaena, Crocotta germi- nans, Mtsch. *Striped hyaena, Hyes/ia schillhigsi, Mtsch. Hyaena-dog, Lycaon pktit<. Temm. Long-eared fox. Otocyon megalotis, Desm. Afl. Black-backed or silver jackal, Thows schmidti, Xoatk. Stripedjackal, Caiiishohtbi, Lorenz. Masai lion, Uncia niasaica, Neum. Ukamba lion, Uncia somaliensis, Xoack. Small-spotted Sivaliili leopard, Leopardus siiaheliciis, Xeum. Large - spotted Masai leopard, Leopardus spec. Serval, ZibetJiailiirus capensis, Gm. Perhaps in two species. Me- lanistic specimens also. Wild cat, Fclis aff. libyoi, Oliv. Caracal, Caracal aff. niibicits, Fitz. Civet cat, I'hvrra ■in'iiita/is, Mtsch. Bush-genet, Gcnflta suahelica, Mtsch. Two black specimens also. Velt-genet, GeJtet/a neiunanni, Mtsch. Spotted genet, .\a)idhiia L^crjardi, Thos. Short-tailed ichneumon, Galera robusta, Gray. Great ichneumon, Herpesles aff. caffer., Gm. Ichneumon, Herpestes aff. hadius. A. Sm. White-tailed ichneumon. Ichneu- mon aff. alhicaudus, G. Ciiv. Dwarf ichneumon, Hclogah vari'a, Thos. Striped ichneumon, Crossarchiis fasciatus, Desm. Ratel, McUivora rate/, Sparrm. Rodents 5(1 Hare, Lepiis Z'ictt>yue, Thos. 5.7. Ground-squirrel. Xenis fusais, Huet. 58. Jackson's squirrel, Sriiiriisjiwtsoni, Thos. 59. Green squirrel, Soiurus ganana, Rhoads. 60. Tawny squirrel. Sdtirius ochracens, Huet. 61. Grey squirrel, Sciuriis aruscensis, Pagenst. 62. Johnston's dormouse, Grap/iiiiriis jo/mstoni, Thos. 63. Dwarf dormouse, Graphiiirus natius, True. 64. Blacked-headed tree-mouse, Den- dromys nigrifrons, True. 65. Masai striped mouse, Arvicantliis masaica, Pagenst. 66'. Neumann's striped mouse, Ar- vicatithis nciimanni, Mtsch. 67. Peters' striped mouse, Ari'icanthis fallax, Ptrs. 68. Grey mouse, Miis chrysophilus, Thos. 69. Grey rat, Mns hildcbrandti, Ptrs. 70. Red mouse, Mus dv/i:hurus, A. Sm. 71. Pigmy mouse, Miis minimus, Ptrs. 72. Bohm's gerbil, Tatara boehmi, Noack. 73. Peters' gerbil, Dipodillus viiinits. Ptrs. 74. Dwarf gerbil, Dipodillus pusillus, Ptrs. 75*Fat-tailed mouse, Stcalomys spec. noi.1. 76. Mole-rat, Georhychus johnstoni, Thos. 77. Elephant, Elephas knocheiiliaueri. Mtsch. 75. Tree-badger, Dendrohyrax vah'dits. True. * Species discovered by C. G, Schillings. 743 With Flashlight and Rifle 79. Neumann's tree-badger, Dendro- hyrax neumanni, Mtsch. 80. Matschie's rock-badger, Procavia matschiei, Neumann. 81. Dwarf rock-badger, Frocavia johii- stoni, Thos. 82. Mozambique rock-badger, Hetero- hyrax mosambicus, Ptrs. 83. Bolim's zebra, Hippotigris boehmi, Mtsch. 84. Grant's zebra, Hippotigris granti, De Winton. 85. Rhinoceros, Ceratorhinusaff.cucul- latus, Wagn. 86. Hippopotamus, Hippopotamus aff. abyssinicus, Less. 87. Wart-hog, Phacochmrus aff. cethio- picus, Schreb. 88.*Schillings giratfe, Giraffa schil- lingsi, Mtsch. 89. Tippelskirch's giraffe, Giraffa tippelskirchi, Mtsch. 90. Pangani hvi^z\o,Bvffehissuahelicus, Mtsch. (not yet named) (?). 91. White-bearded brindled gnu, Co««o- ch- on the Merker Lakes, Lake Xatron, and the Xjiri Lakes. \\ hile on the wing it gave out a curious whistling kind of cry. 6. Phalacrocoiax africanus 'Gm.). Bagam.oyo, VII. Seen everywhere frequently, in the coast region between Dar-es-Salaam and Tanga, as well as on rivers and lakes. 7. Anhmga riifa (Lacep. Daud.). Central Pangani, III. Brooding. This strange-looking bird with a snake-like neck I found nesting halfway up the Pangani River. Its nests were in the branches of acacia-trees stretching over the river, about 14 or 15 feet above the water. I found them only on small islands in the middle of the stream. The eggs are of a bluish <:olour and covered with a strong coating of chalk. Pelecanidae 8. Pelecanus ruseus Gm. On the Victoria Xyanza, the Merker Lakes, XI.; Lake Nayasha, I., frequently. On the ^jiri swamps, VI., seldom. VOL. II. 749 23 With Flashlight and Rifle -* Anatidae 9. Nyroca capensis ([Cuv.J Less.) Merker Lakes near Meru Mountain, XI. This beautiful diving-bird is not often found on the lakes in the Masai country. Fully grown young birds I found in July. 10. Spatula clypeata (L.). The Masai country, Eastern Njiri swamps, XII. Of the European shoveller, I have seen and shot only three specimens on the Eastern Njiri swamps. 1 1. Anas erythrorhyncha Gm. Njiri, II., VI. ; Merker Lakes, X. Fully grown young birds were to be met with frequently on the Njiri swamps in June and July. 12. Anas punctata Burch. Merker Lakes, XI. ; Njiri, II., VI. 13. Dendrocygna viduata (L.). Western Njiri, II. ; Lake Natron, X. ; Victoria Nyanza, X. Comparatively seldom found in the Masai district. 14. Nettopus auritus (Bodd.). Western Njiri, VII. These also I have had few opportunities of observing. 15. Sarcidiornis wielanotus (Fenn.). Victoria Nyanza, XL 16. Chenalopex aegyptiacus {\.^. Central Pangani, IV. Djinen- Junge. To be met with all over the Masai district on lakes and rivers of all sizes. Their warning cries, a sort of quack or gabble, draw attention to them, whether they are up on the drier branches of trees or on the wing. On August 27th, 1899, I found a pair of Egyptian geese near the Pangani River with young ones about a fortnight old. The goose allowed me to get within about fifteen paces of her before she flew away. They are very frequently to be met with on meadows adjoining the river, and they are not very timid. In the middle of July I came upon unfledged young birds. 17. Plectropterus gainbensis {\^.^. Pangani River, III. Great flocks of them in March 1903, halfway up the Rufu River, near the Lafitti Hills. To the south of Kilimanjaro, on small pools on the velt in September. Frequently on the Njiri sw/amps. Often 'fly away out of the swamps in the evening to the grassy plains sur dsung. ISO -♦s Collection of Birds Charadriidae t8. Glareola fusca (L.). The Masai country. Heck Island^ VIII. ; Njiri swamps, W. I found these very numerous on Heck Island in August 1899; also on the Xjiri swamps in July. At the beginning of August they brought stalks and blades of grass to the island in their bills. 19. Ciirsorius temmincki — Sw. Central Pangani, III. 20. Rliiiioptihis bisignatus (Hartl."'. Yumbe ya Mawe in Central Pangani, IV 21. Rhinoptilus ductus (Heugl.). Dcinje Erok, IX. 22. C/iaradn'us geoffroyi Wag]. The Masai country. 23. Charadrius asiaticns Pall. Merker Lakes, XI. 24. Charadrius inargiiiatus tcucllus Hartl. The Alasai country. 25. Cliaradniis variiis Vieill. Xjiri, II., VI.; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. 26. Charadrius tricollaris \'ieill. The ^lasai country, \T. One of a large flock which I came upon in the evening near Sadani on a sandy spot near the sea. 27. Sle/'ha?iiby.v coroiia/ns {^odd.). Xjiri, II., VI. Frequent everywhere upon the dr}- velt. It gives out its clear warning-cry on moonlight nights as at other times, and frequently when flying over the camp. 28. Hoplopterus speciosus {\]^cht^ W Rg\.). Xjiri, II., VI. Small spur-winged lapwings on June 12th, 1903 ; in pairs June — July to October. The call is curiously weak, and not audible far off. The bearing is very different from that of the species above mentioned, being quiet and melancholy. Mostly to be found in damp spots near water. 29. CEdiciiL'iiiHs capensis l^cht. Xjiri, II., VI. I frequently found this bird on the driest ^•elt under acacia- bushes, where he makes his escape at a run. I have killed a specimen on the road up to the Moshi station at a height of 1,600 metres. 30. OEdicuciiiiis veriiiiciihitus,Q?ih. Njiri, III. ; Moshi, VIII. 751 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ I found thicknees mating and breeding on the Rufu River at the end of February. Towards evening they flew over the waters, giving out their clear, recurring notes. Dromadidse 31. Dramas ardeola (Payk ). Sadani, Bagamoyo, the Coast, IV.. VI. I often found drab-plover together with different kinds of herons on the coast. Scolopacidae 32. Recurvirostra avocetta, L. Njiri, V., VI. ; younger ones on the Mcrker Lakes, XI. Avocets, now rarely seen breeding on the German seaboard, I found nesting in large numbers in June 1903 on the Western Njiri marshes. I found them also often on the salt and alkaline swamps all round. Their movements are very curious and interesting when their nests or young are in danger. They fly hither and thither with incessant clear cries, now plunging into the shallow water, now bending down over the surface and darting from one island of reeds to another ; then going out into the deeper water, then rising again into the air. The way their legs hang down is very peculiar. 33. Himantopus himantopus (L.). Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. ; Merker Lakes, XI. The black-winged stilt I had many opportunities of watching. I saw three specimens in July on the coast between Bagamoyo and Pangani. I saw numbers in October on the Natron Lake and Victoria Nyanza, in November on the Merker Lakes, and in January on Nakura Lake and on the Elmentaita and Nayasha Lakes. 34. PavoncelLipugna:- {L.). Merker Lakes, XI. 35. Totanus I'.ttoreus (L.). Yumbe ya Mawe, IX. ; Nguaso Nyiro, X. 36. Totanus ochropus (L.). Upper Pangani, V. ; Merker Lakes, XI. 37. Totanus glareo la (L.). The Masai country. -* Collection of Birds 1 have seen these only in the winter months on a few occasions. 38. Tringoides liypoleucus (L.). The Masai country, Kibaya Masai, III. I found these all the year round on every kind of water. 39. T ringa ferruginea (Briinn.). Njiri, VI. 40. Triiiga iiiinuta, Leisl. The Masai country, XI. One of these birds remained on a pool within my camp for a whole day in November. 41. Calidris arenaria (1^.). Tan ga, XII. 42. Nuvicuiiis arquatus (L.). On the coast near Pangani. Very shy and difficult to approach. 43. Gallinago media (Frisch.). The Kahe \elt, IV. I found these mating in April. 44. Gallinago nigripennis, Bp. Merker Lakes, XI. These snipe were so numerous in the autumn that I was able to kill twenty-six one evening, and watched hundreds of them. 45. Rostratula bciigakusis (L.). Njiri, IV.; Masimani velt, II. I only saw the painted snipe on a few occasions, chiefly upon small, e\"il-smelling pools in the swamp districts, surrounded by dense bushes. When startled they let themselves down quickly. Their flight is unsteady, and their legs dangle curiously. Otididas 46. Eiipudotis kori, Burch. Ngaptuk, XI. ; Donje Erok, IX. ; Donje Xgai, \TII. Kori bustards are found all o\er the dry plains. Easy to shoot at midday, but very shy in the morning and evening. When shot at they give out a deep, hoarse cry. At midday they rest in the shade of the bushes. 47. Eiipodotis canicollis, Rchw. Njiri, III. ; Donje Erok, IX. ; Ngaptuk, X. I found a newly laid egg of this bustard in July. It is of a pale yellowish-brown colour, with reddish brown and blue spots; it is spherical in shape, and measures 59 x 54 millimetres. 48. Eupodotis gindiana {0\is,i). Marago Kanga, V. 753 With Flashlight and Rifle -♦) A newly laid egg of this bustard was brought to me, measuring 52 X 44 millimetres. The evolutions of the bird on the wing arc very quaint and comical. Gruids 49. Balearica regulorum gibbericeps, Rchw. Merker Lake. I found this crane mating in July. In September and January I came upon great flocks of them on Kilimanjaro. I found many also in Kavirondo, on the Nguaso-Nyiro River, and on the Nayasha Lake. At night they utter a curiously grating kind of cry. Parridae 50. Actopkilus africanus{Gm.). Rufu River, VI. ; Njiri swamps, VIL, VIII. I found the floating nests of this jacana in July on the swamps, with its wonderfully coloured eggs not yet nearly hatched. 51. Microparra capensis (A. Sm.). Western Njiri swamps, VII. I brought down a pair on July 6th. At some distance from the river they were not very shy. Rallidae 52. Crex crex (y.?) Central Pangani, III. I have seldom been able to start corncrakes from out of the reeds. 53. Limnocorax niger (Gm.). Donje Erok, VIII. ; Rufu River, III. ; Njiri swamps, VII. ; Kibaya Masai, III. This bird gives out a very distinctive cry. 54. Ortygometra pusilla obscura (Neum.). Njiri swamps, VI. Seen three times ; killed once. 55. Gallinula chloropus (L.). Njiri swamps, VII. Moorhens I found also in large numbers on Lake Nayasha. 56. Fulica cristata, Gm. Lakes Nakuro and Nayasha and the western swamps, VII. Great flocks in January on Lake Nayasha. I cannot subscribe to O. Neumann's statement that these coots dislike warm waters. 754 -». Collection of Birds Turnicidae 57. Turnix Icpurana (A. Sm.). Xgaptuk, X. ; Njiri, VI. ' I found hemipodes breeding in ^lay ; young ones somewhat later. They have a curious whizzing kind of flight, the hen coming down again very soon in a strange upright position, with wings outstretched. They get wind of dogs very quickly. When started without dogs they are difficult to come upon again. Pteroclidae 58. Ptcrodes giittnralis satiiratior, Hart. Donje Erok, VIII. ; Xjiri, \' ; West of Kilimanjaro, \'I II. 59. Pterodcs dccoratiis. Cab. Xjiri, \^I. ; Vumbe ya Mavve, W . 60. Pteivcl/inis cxiistns (Tem.). Donje Erok, \TII. ; Xjiri, VI. These three species of sandgrouse are somewhat shy. In dry weather — July, August, and September — the>' came singly and in flocks, a little before sunrise, to certain special watering-places ; the flocks run to about thirt\- birds. They come down to the surface of the water from a great height, and with lively cries. Their flight is rapid. On the wing, all sandgrouse, but Ft. guttiiralis especialh', resemble woodcock to some extent. Ibididae 61. Ibis (Ethiopica (Lath.). Masimani, III.; Xguaso-Nyiro, X. I found the sacred ibis somewhat shy, and on the qui vivc. 62. TIieristicHS hagedasch (Lath.) Masimani, III. There is scarcely any , bird-note more distinctive to the Masai district than that of the hagedasch ; it gives out its ringing cry, " Haheia, hahcia, iiiackcia .'" mostly towards evening. 63. Piegadis a/it/iiinin/is (\\3.s-ie\(\.) \'ictoria Xx'anza, IX. Ciconiidae 64. Leptoptiloits cntmeuifer ([Cuv.] Less.). The Masai country. Marabous are found all over the district. They pass the night in flocks of as many as a hundred on large trees upon the banks 755 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ of rivers. Great concourses of them prey upon the locusts. Unfortunately they are killed in great numbers for their feathers. Even when caught fully grown they become surprisingly tame. 65. Abdiima abdiini (l^dht.). Pangani swamps, III. Found combining forces with storks to prey upon the locusts. 66. Tantalus ibis, L. A breeding-colony, Pangani River, VII. A large breeding-colony on the trees on an island in the Rufu River. Big young ones in July. The colony was broken up the year after. 67. Ciconia ciconia (L.). Pangani swamps, III. ; Kikuyu, I. White storks are to be found wintering in great numbers in Equatorial East Africa. In March, and at the beginning of April, I saw great flocks of them lying in wait for locusts. In January 1896 I saw over two hundred on Lake Nayasha. 68. Anastoinus lamelligeruSjTem. Pangani River, III. Found in 1896 and 1900 on the Rufu River, where Prince Johannes Lovvenstein killed some also in 1903. Frequently met with on the Manga Lakes. 169. Ephippiorhynchus senegaknsis (Shaw). Masai-land. I met with pairs on a few occasions. This saddle-billed stork has a beautiful action on the wing, floating along slowly. Found them mating in August. Phcenicopteridae 70. P hcenicopierus roseus, Pall. The velt between Kilimanjaro and Meru Mountain, XI. ; Nguaso-Nyiro, X. 71. Phosnicopterus minor, Geoff. The velt betweerl Kiliman- jaro and Meru Mountain, XI. ; Nguaso-Nyiro, X. Flamingoes are to be seen in thousands on Lake Natron. Both species frequent in November the small pools on the velt, alive with crabs. The old birds are distinguishable by their beautiful red colouring. Scopidae 72. Scopus umbretta, Gm. Masai country, X. I found the eggs of the umbrette in October, three at a time. 756 -») Collection of Birds Ardeidae y^. Nycticorax iiycticorax {1^}). Pangani swamps, III. I killed only one night-heron, on Heck Island. 74. Nycticorax kuconotus {V\-a.g\?j. Central Pangani, III. 75. Butorides atricapillus {Ah&\.). Central Pangani, III. 76. Ardetta sturiiii (Wagl.). Masangoleni, II. ; Kibaya Masai,. III. Tj. Bubulcus ibis (L.). Pangani. I found single specimens breeding by Pangani. 78. Ardea iiiclaJioccphala, \'ig. Childr. i\Iasimani, III. I found the eggs of this heron at the end of March. The nests are very like those of the European heron. 79. Ardea goliath,Q.xcX7JS,c\\tx\. Rufu River, Athi River, Kikuyu,. I., IV. I found giant herons comparatively seldom on rivers and lakes. 80. Melanoplwyx ardesiaca (Wagl.). Dar-es-Salaam, I\'. ; Tanga, W. 81. Herodias alba{L,^. Central Pangani, III. ; Xjiri, \'II. 82. Herodias gularis (^osc). Sadaani. Sea-coast, \'. 83. Herodias garrji'tla {y.,. Pangani River, \'. ; Xjiri, \"II. These egrets are comparatively shy and cautious. Thousands- of them on their breeding-place near Tanga were slaughtered by feather-hunters. Shooting regulations are much needed in regard to these birds. Columbidae 84. Vinago calz\i nudirostris, S\v. Donje Erok, X. ; Buiko, VI. I have seldom come across this species of dove, and found it shy. 85. Columba aquatrix, Tem. West of Kilimanjaro, VII. Half-grown young ones in nest. These beautiful large doves are very like our ringdoves. They were to be found (among other places) in the region west of Kilimanjaro in very large numbers in Jul)', at a height of about 7,000 ft. They were after the berries of a kind of Eudea tree, known to the Masai as " Leurien." I found With Flashlight and Rifle ^ young ones in the nests at this time. I have only once seen this dove on the plains. 86. Turtur senegalensis (L.). Njiri, VI. ; Ngaptuk, X. ; West of Kilimanjaro, VIII. 87. Turtur lugens (Riipp.). Njiri, VIII.; West of Kili- manjaro, VIH. 88. Turtur semitorquatus- (Riipp.). Moshi, IV., XII. ; West of^ KrInnarnjaFey VIIL 89. Turtur capicola tropica, Rchw. Nj'iri, VI 1 1. ; Ngaptuk, X. ; Moshi, XI. ; West of Kilimanjaro, VI 1 1. 90. Turtur ambiguus perspicillatus Fsch., Rchw. Njiri, V., VIIL; West of KiUmanjaro, VIII. This bird has a very peculiar call. 91. Tympanistria tympanistria (Tem.). Moshi, IV., XII. 92. Chalcopelia chalcospilos (Wagl.). Donje Erok, Ngaptuk, X. ; Moshi, XII. 93. Chalcopelia afra (L.). Moshi, XL, XII. 94. (Ena capensis (L.) The middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Ngaptuk, X. This long-tailed dwarf pigeon darts, like a badly directed arrow, hither and thither. Phasianidae 95. Numida reichenowi, Grant. Njiri, V. g6. Aery Ilium viilturinum (Hardw.) Pangani, III. Vulturine guinea-fowl : Njiri, V. ; Moshi, IV. These guinea-fowl are in the habit of scraping and scratching the soil to such an extent that in one case they caused me to lose track of a rhinoceros. The birds so rake up the velt for some distance near their drinking-place that it looks like a riding- school or drill-ground, as Reichenow has remarked in his work.* 97. Pternistes leucoscopus infuscatits,Ca.h. Pangani, VII.; Donje Erok, IX. ; Westerly range of Kilimanjaro, VII. ; Marango Kanga, V., IX. * Dr. Ant. Reichenow, The Birds of German East Africa {Die Vogel Deutsch Ost-Afrikas). -•i Collection of Birds About dawn the yellow-breasted francolin likes to perch on the branches of trees brought down to the ground by velt-fires. This bird hides itself in the thick grass as soon as a human being -approaches. So far as I have observed, the ver)' old cocks are ■of a rather dark colour. Their clear penetrating call sounds like "" ggrruaei ggrruaei djrruai.'' 98. Francoliiiiis schiltti, Cdih. Kilimanjaro, \T II. This gorgeously plumed francolin is addicted to the mountain- woods, especially near the smaller clearings or belts of the forest. I found very young ones, just hatched, at the beginning of June. ■Only once have I seen these birds on the wing on the tableland (about 5,000 feet above sea-level). Their startlingly clear call when taking flight sounds like " terrr." 99. Fraiicoliiuis hildebratidti. Cab. Donje Erok, IX. ; Xgap- tuk, X. This francolin does not live on the open velt. It is only met with in well-wooded, mountainous stretches of the countr\', which offer plenty of covert. 100. Francolinus itluciisis, Grant. Donje Erok, IX. ; Ngap- tuk, X.; westerly ranges of Kilimanjaro, \'II., VIII. This francolin is an inhabitant of the high African tableland. It is frequently met with on the grass\- slopes, and hilly and rock-strewn plains on the west of Kilimanjaro. According to my observations, this bird, in its appearance and habits, much resembles the common partridge. Its call is similar to that of Francolinus granti, but its rhythm differs, and the call of the African partridge sounds more like that of Pcrdix cimrea (European common partridge). Towards nightfall its penetrating call sounds something like " griidjitjidjidje, griitjitjidjidje, ' the notes well concentrated and not sharply accentuated. lOi. Francolinus granti, Hartl. Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Yumbe ya Alawe, IV. ; Kimishira, westerly ranges of Kiliman- jaro, Vn., VIII. The clear, sharp penetrating call of this small francolin sounds like " ku djidji, kij djidje, ku djidje." When the bird is startled and rising on the wing the call sounds like " kidjiredjiredjiredjire." 759 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ 102. Coturnix delegorguei, Deleg. Njiri II., VI. This quail is found in June near the sea-coast and is particularly common between the Pangani and Sadaani Rivers, a few miles- inland. The natives of Satiko have the birds on sale in little cages, made of reeds, with small shells as receptacles for water. Vulturidae 103. Otogyps auricularis (Daud.). Donje Erok, VII. In the year 1897 I was able to establish the fact for the first time that this large vulture is to be found in the Masai country. One or more specimens may be noticed among large gatherings of other vultures. 104. Lophogyps occipitalis (Burch). Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Njiri, VII. 105.* Pseudogyps africanus schillingsi, Erl. Donje Erok, VIII. ^ IX. ; Njiri, VII. This vulture was discovered by myself. My late and lamented friend Baron Carlo von Erlanger described and named this- species. I collected about ten specimens in the westerly ranges of Kilimanjaro, but I am sorry to say I lost all of them in a consignment sent to Europe, which went astray. This species mates at the beginning of May ; its eyries are to be found in the top branches of high acacia-trees. I secured some young ones, nearly fully fledged at the end of August. I also collected an egg, which presumabl}' belongs to this species,, in the westerly swamps of the Njiri. This egg is of a whitish colour, top and bottom are blunted ; its size size is 87 x 65 mm. 106. Gyps ruppe/li,'B'p. Njiri, VI, Riippell's vulture is frequently met with in the Njiri district. Very old birds may be distinguished by their light plumage, as Carlo von Erlanger states. 107. Neophron inonacJms, Tem. Njiri, V. This carrion vulture is met everywhere in these regions,, and feeds on human excrement. It appears in the early dawn,, * The species marked by an asterisk were discovered by the author. 760 Collection of Bird; bcfire the larger vultures gather, to feed on the carrion, and is a remarkably tame bird. icS. Xcopli.j-on pcraiopterus (L.). Masai-land IV., VII. : Ol Donje I'Engai, VIII. The Egyptian vulture or aasvogel is very rarely met with in these regions. Falconidse 109. Scrpcntariiis secretariiis (^liller The secretary-bird is extreme!}- clever at keeping out of tke range of a gun. Should the hunter approach too closely, it commences tc run with extreme rapidit\-. The gait is rather clumsy, and reminds one of the tret of mammals. The bird is rather rare in this district, but is r.ot easily overlcoked on account of his peculiar shape. 1 10. Mclicrax poliopterus,QBb. Masai-land. 111. Circus pyargus (L.^. Middle ranges of the Pangani Valley, III. Ver)- numerous in January on the plains of the lake-districts cf Xaivasha, Elmentaita, and Nakuro. 112. Cirais wacntnis {Gm.}. Ngaptuk, X. Kiaragua. 113. Circus ramvonis'X>Aud.). Between Kilimanjaro and Meru Mountain, XI. 114. As/ur iac/tiro (Daud.). Moshi, VIII. 115. Astur ?ite/aiioleucus (.\. Sm.. Aruja Djou, IX. 116. Accipiter nisiis L. . between Kilimanjaro and Meru ilountains, XI. The sparrow-hawk was never before traced so far south. 1 killed a female in November 1903. 117. Accipiter minullus tropicalis Rchw.). Donje Erok, IX. iiS. Kaiipifalco inonogrcmimiciis {Te.m. . Korogwe, VII. 119. Loplt actus cccipitalis D.ud.; Victoria Xyanza, XI. I fund this hawk between Sotika and Lumbwa and killed .a specimen. 120. Aqiiila rapax (Tern.,. [Masai-land, X. IX. XII. The tawny eagle, which feeds on carrion, is common. 761 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ 121. Haltdetus vocifer {TlcLud). Masai-land. This sea-eagle is to be seen everywhere on African rivers and lakes, and is easily recognised by its loud and clear call. 122. Pandion haliiietus (L.). Bagamo, VI. Ospreys occur nekr the sea coast. Not observed by myself inland. 123. Buteo desertorum (Daud). Nayasha Lake, I. 124. BuUo au£-ur 'Rupp. Donje Erok, XI. 125. Milvus cegyptius {Qsxa^. Masai-land. The Egyptian black kite is very tame when not molested, and swoops down on the meat thrown away near the camp, and some- times carries off meat offered to it. Its evolutions in flight are amusing to the weary and lonely traveller. Bird-skins spread out to dry have to be guarded against its attacks. 126. Helotarsus ecaudatus (Daud.). Masai-land, V., XI., XII. The bateleur eagle feeds only occasionally on carrion. I always found it to be a shy and cautious bird, and have observed it carry- ing serpents into mid-air. I nearly killed, with a stick, one bird which had fallen asleep and lay on the soil of the forest about midday. The bateleur eagle goes through wonderful evolutions in, its flight. 127. Falco biannicus (Tem.). Eldoma ravine, I., British East Africa. This falcon joined other birds of prey in their chase of locusts,, which were swarming in tremendous clouds across country. I shot one which had its stomach filled with a large number of locusts. 128. Falco nmtor (Bp.). Ngaptuk. A couple of these falcons were found near my camp on the Ngaptuku Mountain. All other birds were frightened when these falcons made their appearance. 129. Cerchneis vespertina (L.). Middle reaches of the Pangani,. III. ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. Large flocks of red-footed falcons and lesser kestrels made war upon locusts about April. 130. Cerchneis tinnunculus {'L.). Masai-land, Pangani River, I L I only killed one kestrel in February. 762 -* Collection of Birds 131. Cerchneis neumanni (Fleisch.;. Middle ranges of Pan- gani, III. Strigidae 132. Bubo last ens (Tern.). Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. ; Xjiri, W. I have met with this eagle-owl not more more than ten times during m\- travels. 133. Pisorhina capeusis { .\. ^m. Pare mountains, III. I found this owl in the middle of leafy shrub. A crowd of little birds molested it. When wounded it uttered a peculiar snarling, growling kind of sound. 134. Asio tiisitelia \T>^u"oung golden cuckoos, which had ousted the brood of the weaver-birds. 149. Chrysococcyx klaasi .Steph.Y ^Nloshi, IV., XII. Contrary to O. Neumann's experience, I met with the lesser golden cuckoo constantly in the neighbourhood of Moshi the whole year round. Neumann only found Ch. cupreus, and, later on, Ch. klaasi near the Victoria Nyanza. Indicatoridae 150. Indicator iiidicaror 'Gm.]. Donje Erok, IX. ; Ngaptuk, X. I have never been able to ascertain whether the honey-guide itself feeds on the honey or bees after guiding the traveller to the hive. 1 3 I. Indicator tnaj'or, Steph. Kilimanjaro, VIII. ; Gelei Volcano tableland, X. 152. Indicator minor, Steph. Merker Lakes, XI. Capitonids \ll. Lybius melanvptents (Ptrs.). Kiraragua, XL; Moshi, XI. 1 34. Triclwlcetna lacryntostim. Cab. Donje Erok, XI. ; Ngaptuk, X. ; Moshi, XII. 153. BuccanodoH kiiimense \i\\e\\.;. Kilimanjaro, XI. A young bird with a whitish beak, not known before in this State. VOL. II. 765 24 With Flashlight and Rifle -9i 156. Barbatula affinis, Rchw. Ngaptuk, X.; Matiom Moun- tains, X. 157. Trackyphonus erythrocephalus, C^h. Donje Erok, VIII. 158. Trachyphonus boeh7m,¥sch., Rchw. Mombo, IT. (eggs in a hollow) ; Donje Erok, IX. ; Djipe Lake. I found a nest of this bird in a mouse-hole in the middle of a caravan-road, about February. Picidae 159. Dendromus ckrysurus suahelicus,'Kc\\\w. Moshi, IV. 160. Dendromus nubicus (Gm.). Middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Ngaptuk, X. ; D5nje Erok, VIII. ; Moshi, IV. 161. Mesopicus spodocephalus rhodeogasier(Fschr:.,'Rchw.). Njiri, v., VI., VII.; Donje Erok, VIII.; middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Ol Donje I'Eng ai, X. 162. Mesopicus naniaquus (A. Leht.). Njiri, II. VI. 163. Dendropicus hartlaubi, Malh. Njiri, V. ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV.; Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Ngaptuk, X. ; Moshi, IV. ; westerly ranges of Kilimanjaro, VII. I have occasionally seen woodpeckers perched on branches, but I am sorry to say my notes got lost with a consignment of birdskins forwarded to Europe. Dendromus nubicus, Mesopicus spodocephalus, and Dendropicus hartlaubi were found by me in September, gathering in large . flocks round the hills of the white-ant. Coliidae 164. Colius leucotis affinis, Shell. Moshi, IV., XII., XIII. At starting colies fly in a buzzing manner, flapping their wings frequently ; they sail afterwards quickly along with extended wings, without any movements or strokes , but before perching on a shrub, they flap their wings again in a violent manner. They hide themselves in bushes or shrubs which are overgrown with creepers. 766 -^. Collection of Birds Trogonidae 165. Hetti-otrogon vittatiun (Shell.) \V. Kilimanjaro, VIII., at a height of about 5,000 feet. I met this beautiful man\--coloured trogon near the forest-belt. It was perched on a branch, and without fear whirled its wings in a peculiar manner, uttering all the while a low plaintive call. Coraciidse 166. Coracias garrulus,1^. Masai-land. 167. Coracias caudatus, L. Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Xgap- tuk, X. 168. Eurys/ot/ius (lUr (hdith.]. Moshi, XII. Bucerotidae 169. Bucorvus aifcv Schleg.). Pare ^Mountains, III.; easterly Xjiri swamps, \". 170. Bycamstes cristatus (Riipp.). Pare-ya-Pesa, III.; Meru Mountains, VIII. 171. Lopluteros melanokucus {^\. Leht. Masai-land. 172. Loplwceros eijtkor/iync/ms (Tern.). Xjiri, \'^III. ; Donje Erok, VIII. The hornbills are extremcK- wary and shy. Approaching the hunter, they change their direction at the last moment, so avoiding the gunshot. Captive birds are very tame and docile, and show surprising mental capacity. They are easiest to shoot from an ambush among fruit-trees. Alcedinidse 173. Ccryk riidis L.j. Pangani River, III. 174. Halcyon cheliaiti (Stanley). Korongo middle reaches of the Rufu), III.; Xgaptuk, X. 175. Halcyon albivetitris orientalis, Ptrs. Moshi, I\'. 767 With Flashlight and Rifle -») 176. Halcyon semicceruleus hyacinthinus, Rchw. Korongo, III. A kingfisher startled by myself one evening at the end of October, returned continually to a candelabra euphorbia-tree, but I could not discover its nest. 177. Ispidma picta {^odd.). Moshi, IV. Meropidae 178. Melittophagus meridionalis, Sharpe. Njiri, V. VIII. ; Donje Erok, VIII. 179. Melittophagus cyaiiostictus (Cab.). Ngaptuk, I. ; Gelei Volcano table-land, X. ; Moshi, IV. 180. Melittophagus bullockoides (A. Sm.). Kiraragua, XI. ; Nakuro Lake, I. 181. Merops albicollis (yie\\\.). Djipe Lake, XII. 182. Merops per sicus Pall. Masai-land. Bee-eaters very common. Upupidae 183. Upupa africana, Bchst. Middle reaches of the Pangani, III. 184. Irrisor senegalensis somaliensis. Grant. Njiri, VI. ; Matiom, XI. 185. Rhinopomastus cabanisi (Erl.). Ngaptuk, X. ; Kitumbin Volcano, IX. The tree-hoopoes are very shy birds. The mocking-hoopoes cling to the bark of large trees like woodpeckers. I have observed them hanging head downward. These birds have a strange shrill call and keep bowing their heads in a very peculiar way. Caprimulgidae 186. Caprimulgus frcenatus, Salvad. North-west Kilimanjaro, VIII. 187. Capri7nulgus/ossei (V err.) HB.rt\. Donje Erok, VIII. I found these nightjars breeding during March. Rising on their wings they utter a very low, hardly perceptible, call. Not ■quite fully fledged young ones were discovered by me in November, near the Meru Mountain. 768 -♦ Collection of Birds Macropterygidae i88. Apiis apus (L.). Donje Erok, XI. ; Kilimanjaro, XII. 189. Apus (Fquatorialis v. ]\liiller). Donje Erok, XI.; Pare, VIII. L nder certain atmospheric conditions these two species of swift glide swiftl}- across the velt. 190. Apus streubcli (Hartl.). Marangu, \'. 191. ^df/wj a^«zj (Gr. Hardw.). Alasai-Iand. 192. Tachornis parvus myochrous (Rchw.). !Mruasi Pangani, 22, VII. Hirundinidae 193. Riparia cincta (Bodd.). Masai-land. I observed these martins on the steep banks of a dry torrent- stream in December. 194. Riparia nifigula (Fschr., Rchw.). Xgaptuk, X. ; Donje Erok, IX. ; Kilimanjaro, \'II. 195. Hirundo griseopyga, Sund. Xjiri, VI. 196. Hirundo rustica, L. Upper reaches of the Pangani, W 197. Hirundo smit/ii. Leach. Mcshi, I\'^. 198. Hirundo puella, Tem., Schl. Masai-land. 199. Hirundo monteiri, Hartl. Xgaptuk, X. ; Donje Erok, IX. 200. Hirundo emini, Rchw. Xjiri, \'. ; Donje Erok, IX. ; Kilimanjaro. Large flocks of Hirundo monteiri, rustica, emini, and puella were hunting for food during the Xovember evenings at a height of 7,000 feet on the Xgaptuk Mountains. 201. Psalidoprocne kolome/cciui (Sund.). Donje Erok, IX. Masinde. Musicapida: 202. Bradornis pallidus murinus, Finsch, Hartl. Moshi, IV. This pretty flycatcher is extremely tame. 769 With Flashlight and Rifle -* 203. Bradornis griseus, Rchw. Njiri, VII.; Ngaptuk, X. ; Donje Erok, VIII. ; Kilimanjaro, VII. 204. Melmnornis ater tropicalis (Cab.). Njiri, VI. ; Moshi, IV. 205. Muscicapa grisola, L. Njiri, VII. ; Moshi, XII. 206. A/seonax m/u/a(us(Ha.rti.). Victoria Nyanza; Kitoto, XI. 207. A/seonax murmus,Fschr.,^ch.w. Donje Erok, IX. ; Moshi, IV. ; Kilimanjaro, VII. ; Nguaso Njiro, X. ; Gelel Volcano, X. 208. Chloropeta nataknsis masaica, Fschr., Rchw. Kiraragua, West Kilimanjaro. 209. Bias musicus (Vieilj.). Masai-land, Para ya Mabogo, III. 210. Batis puella, Rchw. Donje Erok, Ngaptuk, X.; Matiom, X. ; Gelei Volcano, X. ; Kilimanjaro, VII. ; Moshi, IV. 211. Tchitrea perspicillata suahelica (Rchw.). Marker Lakes, XI. ; Donje Erok, IX., XI. ; Moshi, IV., XII. Towards the evening these birds choose their resting-places in the high and dry branches of trees, standing in a thick and impenetrable pori-tree. Laniidae 212. Eitj'ocephalus ruppelli, Bp. Njiri, VI. ; middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Donje Erok, VIIL ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. This shrike is a very shy and wary bird. 213. Prionops tizlacoma, A. Sm. Moshi, IV., XII. 214. Nilaus afer minor, Sharpe. Njiri, VII.; Ngaptuk, X.; Donje Erok, VII., IX. 215. Pomatorhynchus australis minor (Rchw.). Njiri, VI.; Donje Erok ; Moshi, IV., XII. 2 1 6. Chlorophoneus quadricolor {Q.z.s?>.). Moshi, IV. 217. Chlorophoneus sulphureopectus chrysogaster {S>w^. Ngaptuk, X. ; Donje Erok, XI. This shrike's call is according to the chromatic scale c, d,g,g,g. The bird, hidden among the leaves of shrubs, repeats this call frequently. 218. Pelicinius- cathemagmenus (Rchw.). Donje Erok, IX. Yumbe ya Mawe IV. 770 -»■ Collection of Birds 219. Laniarius funebris (Hartl.). Xgaptuk, X. ; Kilimanjaro VII.; Moshi, IV. This shrike utters metallic bell-like calls. 220. LMniarius (Bthiopiais Gm. . Moshi, IV., XII. The sustained sweet notes uttered by this shrike always indicate the presence of water. 221. Dtyoscopus cubla liauiatns (Hartl.). Donje Erok, IX. ; Moshi. IV. 222. Urolestes mquatorialisyYichss-. Masai-land. 221. Laniiis luimeralis, Stanl. Moshi, IV., XII. 224. Laiiius caudatus. Cab. ^liddle reaches of the Pangani ; Xjiri, VI. 225. Laniits minor, Gm. Yumbe ya Mawe, I\'. ; Moshi, I\'. This European shrike I found in April. 226. Lanius collurio, L. Moshi, IV. ; Mumias, \'ictoria Xyanza, XII., 1. This red-backed shrike emigrates during the winter months verj'' far south. Mr. F. G. Jackson told me that numerous birds of this species had been obser\-ed near the Xayasha Lake, arriving there from more southern climes. 227. Sigmodits tricolor (Gray]. Arusha Djou, IX. These shrikes were mostl>" found on high trees near the clearings of high-timbered forests. Corvidae 22S. Co rvus scapulatus, D^xid. Donje Erok, XI. 229. Con'uliur albicollis (Lath.). Masai-land. 230. Heterocorax capoisis minor ''Heugl.;. INIumias, \'ictoria Xyanza, XII. This crow was frequently met with in January. Dicruridae 231. Dicrurus afer (A. Lcht.). Donje Erok ; Xgaptuk, X. ; Moshi, IV.; Kilimanjaro, \TI. 771 With Flashlight and Rifle Oriolidae 232. Oriolus oriolus (L.). Ngaptuk. I found the European oriole in all these regions during the winter months. 233. Oriolus larvatus rolleti, Sa\v3.d. D5nje Erok, IX.; Moshi, XII.; Kibwesi, II. The call is very much like that of the European oriole, but with a slight difference. Sturnidae 234. Buphagus erythrorhynchus (Stanl.). Donje Erok. This ox-pecker often alights on rhinoceroses, buffaloes, and tame cattle. The bird is very tame when the companion of domestic cattle, but rather shy and distrustful when the comrade of wild animals. 235. Perissornis carunculatus (Gm.). Njiri, V. ; Donje Erok, IX. ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. ; Lafitti Mountains, III. Very numerous flocks of these birds were found near the Victoria Nyanza in November ; they behaved very much like common starlings. In the company of other small birds they flitted round the pastures and meadows, sometimes perching on dead trees. 236. Spreo superbus (Riipp.). Njiri, V., VI., VIII. ; Donje Erok, IX. This starling is the faithful companion and associate oi Dinemellia dinemelli. The observation which Boehm has made on the comradeship of the great shrike and the weaver-bird mentioned, applies to the friendly companionship between Spreo superbus and Dinemellia. They chase one another like butterflies, perch side by side on trees, and show the greatest friendship for each other. 237. Cinnyricinelus verreauxi ([Boc] Finsch, Hartl.). Middle reaches of the Fangani, III. ; Moshi, IV., XII. 238. Stilbopsar stuhlmanni, Rchw. Western Kilimanjaro, II. 239. Cosmopsarus regius, Rchw. Pare Mountain, I. 772 Collection of Birds Ploceidae 240. Textor albirostris hitcnnciiins. Cab. Middle reaches of the Pangani, III.; Njiri, V.; Xgaptuk, X.; Donje Erok, IX.; Korongi, III.; Lafitte Mountains, III. In March I found these weaver-birds breeding. The whitish, or green-whitish, eggs have verj- fine grc}- or brown spots, and mea.'=ure 20 to 30 x 19 to 20 mm. 241. Dineinellia dinemelli ([Hcrt.] Riipp.). Xjiri, \ ., \'I. ; Donje Erok, \'III. ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. 242. Sporopipes frontalis fDaud.). Xjiri, \"I.: Donje Erok, IX. 243. Plocciis reichenoTvi Fschr.j. Moshi, I V , XII. 244. Ploceus tiulanuxanthus ,^Cab.). Middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Pare, II. ; Donje Erok, XI. 245. Ploceus oailarius croactiis Hartl.). Moshi, IV., XIII. 246. Ploceus rubiginosus, Riipp. Xjiri, VIII.; Donje Erok, IX.; Xgaptuk, X. ; Merker Lakes, XI. I found the weavers breeding February 28th. The eggs, not seen before, are light blue, and measure 12 to 14 x 5 to 6' 5 mm. 247. Ploceus nigriceps (Lay.). Campa ya Simba, XII.; Moshi, IV, XII. ; KiHmanjaro, VIII. I met with large colonies of these weaver-birds near Mason- goleni (near Kibwezi). They had just built their wonderful nests. The eggs were of a light bluish colour, with reddish-brown speckles. The nests without a tunnelled entrance were woven from the broader kind of sedge-grass ; the inside, or interior, was lined with the green leaves (now of course dried up) of the tall acacia- trees only. 248. Ploceus spekei (Vieu^.). Merker Lakes, XI. 249. Ploceus jacksoni. Shell. Campi ya Simba (Djipe Lake), XII. 2}.o. PloctHS cabanisi ('PiTs\ Masimani, III. 251. Ploceus aureoflavus, A. Sm. Masailand. 252.* Ploceus scMlzngsi,Rchw. Xjiri, VII., VIII.; Xgaptuk, X. ; middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Masimani (Middle Rufu), III. * Orn. Motsb., igo2, p. 158 ?) 773 With Flashlight and Rifle ^ This species of weaver-bird was discovered by the author : it is very much like P. bojeri. These birds have a golden brownish ring round the neck ; the body is much yellower, and not throughout of the golden hue of that of P bojeri. The forehead is real gold-coloured, but the nape of the neck is more of a golden brown. The wings on both sides are not of the washed-out yellowish tint, but more blackish-brown, and are marked by dis- tinctive broad bands of a light golden colour. Length, about 155 ; wings, about 75; tail, about 60; beak, about 16; height, about 22 mm. This beautiful weaver-bird builds its nest only over the water. I found a number of golden cuckoos [Chrysococcyx cupreus, Bodd.) in the nests during March. 253. Amb/Zospiza unicolor (Fschr., Kchw.). Moshi, XII. 254. Plocepasser nielanorhynchus (Riipp.). Nguaso Nyiro, X. The note of this bird bears some resemblance to the call of the chaffinch {Fringilla ccelebs). 255. Quelea sanguinirostris cethiopica (Sund.). Njiri, V.; Donje Erok, IX. ; Ngaptuk, XI. ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. ; Kiraragua, XI. 256. Pyromelana nigroventris (Cass.). Njiri. V. ; Singiwi, XII. 257. Euplectes xantkomelas, Riipp. Moshi, IV. ; Kilimanjaro, VIII. 258. Coliuspasser laticauda(l^c\\t). Donje Erok, IX. ; Kiraragua, XI. ; Moshi, IV. 259. Colmspasser albonotatus (Cass.). Donje Erok, IX. 260. Coliuspasser eques {Yi'ax^X}). Donje Erok, IX.; Ngaptuk, X. 261. Amadina fasciata (Gm.). Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Njiri, VI.; Ngaptuk, X. ; Kilimanjaro, VIII. 262. Spermestes nigriceps, Cass. Campi ya Simba, XII. ; Kili- manjaro, VII. 263. Spermestes caniceps (Rchw.). Donje Erok, VIII. ; Ngaptuk, VII. 264. Aidemosyne cantans orientalis, Lz. Hellm. Donje Erok, VIII. ; Kilimanjaro, VIII. 265. Pytilia iiielba (L.) Njiri, VI. ; D5nje Erok, IX. ; Kili- manjaro, VIII. ; Ngaptuk, X., XI. 774 -♦ Collection of Birds 266. Pseiidonigrita amaudi [(Puch.) Bp.]. Xiiri, \'. : Donje Erok, \'III., IX. : Marago Kanga V. The nests are closed at one end during the breeding-season ; at other times they are open on top and bottom. I found small clusters of them hung on young acacia-trees. 26~. Pseudonigrita cabanisi Fschr. Rchw. . Yumbe ya Mawe, IV.; Laffiti Mountains, III. 268. Estrclda estrelda minor (Cab.). Xjiri, VI., \'III. ; Campi ya Simba, XII. 269. Estrtlda rlwdopyga (Simd. . Xjiri, II. ; Donje Erok, VIII. ; Xgaptuk, X., I. ; Middle reaches of the Pagani, 1 1 1. 270. Estrelda erythronotits (\'ieilL . X'gaptuk, X. 271. Lagonosticta bnnuicets. Sharpe Donje Erok, IX. : Xgajv tuk, X., I. ; Moshi, IV., XII. 2-J2. Ortygospiza polyzoua ^T^m.) Kilimanjaro. VIII. 273. UrcEgintluis bengalus ( L. . Upper reaches of the Pangani, IV. 274. UnzgintliHs eyanocephaliis 'Richm. Xjiri, \'. ; Xgap- tuk, X. 275. Uraginthus ianthinogaster, Rchw. Donje Erok, VIII. ; Xgaptuk, X., XI. ; Kitumbin Volcano tableland, X. 276. Hjpoc/iera aJiiciitrjptinx,Sha.r^G. Moshi, XII. 277. Vidua hypoclu-rina, Verr. Xgaptuk, X. 2-'6. Vidua serena L ). Xjiri, W. ; Xgaptuk, X. ; Rombo, V. ; Kilimanjaro, VIII. ; Campi ya Simba, XII. Fringillidae 279. Passer gangonensis Oust. Xjiri. \'I., VIII. ; Xgaptuk, X. This large sparrow is often met with on the westerly ranges and plateaus of Kilimanjaro. Its call resembles ver>' much that of the house-sparrow. 280. Passer rufocinctus,Ysc\\x..'^\c\i\\-. Kilimanjaro, VIII. This bird, too, is ver\- like the house-sparrow. 281. Petronia pyrgita Heugl.). Donje Erok, VIII.; Kili- manjaro, \'III. 775 With Flashlight and Rifle '♦) 282. Auripasser emini (HartL). Ngaptuk, X. 283. Poliospiza striolata (Riipp.). Kiraragua, XL 284. Poliospiza reichenowi (Salvad.). North-west of Kilimanjaro, VII., VIII. 285. Seriniis dorsostriatus, Rchw. Donje Erok, XL 286. Serinus icterus inadardszi, Rchw. Masai-land. 287. Spinus citrinelloides hypostictus, Rchw. Masai-land. 288. Emberiza flaviventris, Steph. Ngaptuk, X. 289. Fringillaria tahapisi (A. Sm.). Donje Erok, XL ; Yumbe ya M^we, north-west of Kilimanjaro, VII., VIII. During the dry season the bird is often found near the rocky ravines of the tableland of the west Kilimanjaro, which are still then running with water. The bird is there very shy and cautious. Motacillidse 290. Anthus caffer, Simd. Donje Erok, VIII. , IX. This pipit is for the first time proved to occur in East Africa. 291. Anthus rufulus cinnamomeus, Riipp. Kiraragua, XL 292. Anthus nicholsoni, Sharpe. Kilimanjaro, VII. 293. Budytes flavus (L.). Kavirondo, XL ; Meru Mountain, X. ; Velt, XL In November I found the yellow wagtail in large flocks near Kavirondo on the Victoria-Nyanza ; in January between Lake Lake Victoria and the Kikuyu district. 294. Motacilla vidua, Sund. Masai-land, III., VI. 295. Macronyx croceus {\I\&)\}) Masai-land. The wonderfully yellow-coloured belly of this bird can only be distinguished in the open air, when the light is very favourable indeed. 296. Macronyx aurantigula, Rchw. Njiri, VI. ; Donje Erok, VIII. ; Ngaptuk, X.; Ngare Nyuki, XL; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. 297. Tmetothylacus tenellus (Cab.). Middle reaches of the Pangani, 11. ; Yumbe ya Mawe, IV. 776 ■^- Collection of Birds The beautiful male bird is black and yellow in colouring. At the mating time, in March, I saw it on the velt, near Pare ya ^Nlaboga, going through a most wonderful performance. It ascended high in the air, and after some extraordinarv' evolutions perched on a tree. I w£is reminded of a canary escaped from its cage. The green grass of the velt was then ver\- high and I myself in a great hurrj', and so I did not succeed in rinding its nest 1 suppose the birds only b^an building their nests about this time of the 3,-ear. The nearest water-hole was to be found at a distance C'f one hour and a half away from the place the birds frequented. Alaudidae 29S. Mirafra ptzcil sterna 1 Rchw.) Yumbe ya Mawe, II. 299. Mirafra iutercedens, Rchw. Njiri, \'I. ; Xgaptuk, X. : Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Matiom. XI. : Kilimanjaro, VIII. 300. Mirafra cantillans (Jerd.; Blyth. Gonga Plains, XII. 301. Mirafra albicauda, Rchw. Donje Erok, IX. 302. 3/iraf ra fisc/wri (Kchvt'.). Kahe, IV.; Mirwani Kibwezi, II. This lark produces a verj' peculiar rattling kind of noise which may be heard a long way off. I have heard it in Januar}-. Februarj-, and March. Even when 200 paces from the camp jou imagine when the bird commences the noise that it is quite near. This rattling is effected through a rapid movement of the wings; I ascertained this m\self for a fact. The bird onU" produces this rattle when it rises a few feet from the ground. This rattling resembles the noise created b\- beating a thin board with whale- bone rods. The bird often perches on dead branches. 303. Mirafra afriaina atlii, Hartl., Kiraragua Matiom, XI. ; Kilimanjaro, VIII. :;o4. Pyrrhilauda leiicotis 5:anL\ Kilimanjaro, VIII. ,0;. Pyrrlailauda leucopareia (^Fschr.}. Xjiri, V.; Yumbe ya Mawe, W . ; Kilimanjaro, \TII. 306. Calandrella athensis fSharpe\ Matiom, XI. With Flashlight and Rifle ^ Pycnonotidae 307. Phyllastrephus nigriceps (Shell.). West of Kilimanjaro, VII. 308. Phyllastrephus striifaciesi^dasN.'^e.ViVn^. Donje Erok, IX. 309. Andropadus insularis, Hartl. Middle reaches of the Pangani, VII. 310. Pycnonotus tricolor (Hartl.). Donje Erok, IX.;. Matiom, X.; Moshi, IV., XL, XII. 311. Pycnonotus layardi {Giirn.) Kilimanjaro. This bulbul is found everywhere, and in large flocks. Its well-known song of four notes is sometimes interrupted by a call- note at intervals. Zosteropidae 312. Zosterops flavilateralis, Rchw. Middle reaches of the Pangani, III. ; Donje Erok, VIII., IX. ; Meru Mountains. Nectariniidae 313. Anthreptes collaris hypodylus (GdiVd^. Moshi, IV. 314. Chalcomiira obscura ragazzii (SaXvaA.). Moshi, IV. 315. Chalcomitra kirki (SheW.). Moshi, IV., XII. 316. Chalcoinitra cequatorialis (Rchw.). Ngaptuk, X. ; Moshi, IV. 317. Cinnyris venustus falkensteini, Fschr., Rchw. Njiri, V., VII. ; Ngaptuk, X., XI. 318. Cinnyris mariquensis micro7'hynchus. Shell. Masai-land. 319. Nectarinia kilimensis, Shell. Moshi, I\'., XII. Paridae 320. Parisoma boehmi,'^c\iw. Donje Erok, VIII. ; Ngaptuk, X. 321. Parus fringillinus, Fschr., Rchw. Ngaptuk, X. One specimen of this tit was secured by Dr. Fischer on the Meru Mountain. Three specimens were collected by me on the Ngaptuk Mountain, where small flocks of them had gathered during the dry season. 322. Anthoscopus musculus (Hartl.) Njiri, VI. 778 Collection of Birds Timeliidae and Sylviidae 2'> 2 Crateropus jardinei kirki, Sharpe. Moshi. IV. 324. Crateropus hyfokucus. Cab. Donje Erok, IX. ; Rombo, V A few of these babblers, sitting on the same branch, joined in the loud and peculiar screaming started suddenly by one bird, which ends abruptly. This screaming is accompanied by tail- wagging and bowing. 325.* Erythropygia plebeia, Rchw. The third species discovered by the author. It resembles E. puna:. The upper side is more darkly coloured, and the back of the head and the back itself are brownish, nearly red-brown. The belly of this bird is rather darker than that of E. pcxna ; the crop and sides are of a muddy brown. The black stripe on the tail is much smaller than that of the E. p