Wild Beasts and Their Ways - Sir Samuel White Baker (best romantic novels in english txt) 📗

a very exceptional hunt, and a friend who was present declared he had never seen anything to equal it, although he had been all his life in India.

We had several courses, but nothing equalled this exciting hunt. On one occasion the cheetah was slipped at too great a distance, the herd being at least 350 yards ahead. The animal, after a vain effort, was well aware of the impossibility; it accordingly ran up a solitary tree with the agility of a monkey.

From this height the cheetah surveyed the retreating herd of antelopes, and refused to descend when summoned. It was necessary for the attendant to mount the tree, but the difficulty was increased by the cheetah making unamiable faces as the man approached his perch. The wooden ladle was now produced as a lure, and after some hesitation the animal followed the man as he descended; the hood was adjusted over the eyes, and the cheetah was replaced within its cage.

From the description given of the various classes of leopards, the destruction committed by these animals may be easily imagined; fortunately they do not breed like our domestic cats, but they seldom have more than two, or at the most three cubs at a birth. I have always been of opinion that the Government should cease to offer a reward for the destruction of tigers (50 rupees), but that an increased reward should be given for the death of every leopard (25 rupees). The tigers will be always killed by Europeans who do not require the inducement of a bonus, and the sum of 25 rupees would incite the natives to trap and destroy a common pest and scourge (the leopard), which seldom or never affords the hunter a chance of sport.

The cheetah (Felis jubata) should be exempted from this decree, as it seldom attacks domestic animals, but confines its attention to the beasts of the plains and forests.


CHAPTER IX

THE LION (FELIS LEO)

I have left this grand example of the genus Felis to conclude the species, as the tiger is so closely associated with the elephant that I was forced to accord it a place in direct sequence.

In the early days of the world's history the lion occupied a very extensive area; it was common in Mesopotamia, and in Syria, in Persia, and throughout the whole of India. It is now confined to a limited number in Guzerat, and a few in Persia. Beyond these localities it has ceased to exist in Asia. There can be little doubt that, unless specially protected, it will become extinct in Asia within the next hundred years.

Africa is the only portion of the globe where the lion remains lord of the forest, as the king of beasts. The question has frequently been discussed, "Why should the lion have vanished from the scene where in ancient days he reigned in all his glory?" The answer is simple, the lions have been exterminated.

There is a nobility in the character of a lion which differs entirely from the slinking habits of tigers, leopards, and the feline race in general. Although the lion is fond of dense retreats, he exposes himself in many ways, which the tiger seldom or never does, unless compelled by a line of beaters. This exposure, or carelessness of concealment, renders his destruction comparatively easy.

On the other hand, the lioness brings forth a numerous family, generally five or six at a birth, which should keep up the number of the race; in spite of this prolific nature, the lion having from time immemorial been an attraction to the mighty hunter, man has proved too much for him.

The Indian species is considerably smaller than the African variety, and the mane is seldom so dark in colour, or so shaggy. tiger, as the animals differ in form and muscular development. I have never weighed a lion, but I feel convinced that a fine specimen would be heavier than an equally well selected example of a tiger, as the former is immensely massive, especially about the chest and shoulders. The head and neck are larger, although, when boiled and cleaned, the skull does not exceed in size that of an ordinary tiger. It may be safely stated that a lion which measures 9 ft. 8 inches in length would weigh heavier than a tiger of the same dimensions. I have already described that the tiger when springing to the attack does not strike a crushing blow, but merely seizes with its claws. A lion, on the contrary, strikes with terrible strength, at the same time that it fixes its claws upon its victim. The force of this blow is terrific, and many a man has been killed outright as though struck with a sledge-hammer. An instance of this fatal onset deprived me of a most intelligent and excellent German, with whom I was associated during a hunting season in the Soudan.

Florian was a Bavarian who came to Khartoum in the service of the Austrian Mission, employed as a mason. This man had a natural aptitude for mechanical contrivances, and quickly abandoning the Jesuit Mission, after the completion of the extensive convent at the junction of the two Niles, he and a carpenter of the same nation formed a partnership of hunters and traders, establishing themselves at Sofi on the frontier of Abyssinia. They built a couple of circular huts of neatly squared stones, and not only shot hippopotami in the Atbara river, but manufactured extremely good whips from their skins. These were very superior in finish to the ordinary "courbatch" of the Arabs, and they met with a ready sale. Florian excelled as a carpenter, although a mason by profession; he made exquisite camel saddles for the Arab sheiks; these (moghaloufa) were cut from the heart of a tough wood which never warped (Rhamnus Lotus), and were highly prized by the experienced Arabs of the desert. The rainy season was industriously employed in such useful manufactures, and when the dry months arrived, these two excellent men started upon hunting expeditions, and combined business with pleasure.

Although Florian was clever with both head and hands, he was a bad shot; his guns were of a common and dangerous description, one of which burst, and blew his left thumb and forefinger off. After his recovery from this accident he still excelled in work, but he was exceedingly clumsy with his weapons, which were always going off by accident. Upon several occasions these unintentional explosions took place so close to my own head that I suggested it would be safer should he adopt solitary rambles instead of shooting in company.

One night he killed an elephant while watching by moonlight at a drinking-place. On the following morning he sent a trustworthy Tokroori native with an axe to cut out the tusks. The man presently returned with the news that a large lion had eaten a portion of the elephant, and was lying asleep close by, beneath a tree.

Florian immediately gave his man a single-barrelled rifle, and taking a double smooth-bore himself, the two proceeded together towards the spot. Upon arrival at the place where the body of the elephant was lying, the lion was immediately discovered beneath a leafless bush, where it had been seen by the Tokroori. The animal appeared to be thoroughly gorged with elephant's flesh, and, half asleep in the hot sun, it took very little notice of the two men, but remained crouched upon the bare ground, neither grass nor leaves at that dry season existing to form a cover for retreat.

Florian advanced boldly to within about 20 yards, the lion merely regarding him with sleepy astonishment, until he took aim and fired. He missed! The lion instantly assumed an attitude ready for a spring. Florian aimed between the eyes, and again fired. He missed again! The response was immediate: the lion gave a roar, and bounded forward; with a terrific blow upon the head it felled the unfortunate Florian to the ground, and seized him by the neck. Almost at the same moment the faithful Tokroori rushed forward to assist his master, and, afraid to fire lest he should hit him by mistake during the confusion of the struggle, he actually pushed the muzzle of the rifle into the lion's ear and pulled the trigger. The lion fell dead upon the lifeless body of Florian.

Dr. Ori, an Italian in the service of the Egyptian Dr. Ori, an Italian in the service of the Egyptian Government, was at that time purchasing wild animals of the Hamran Arab sword-hunters, and was in camp within a half-hour's march. The Tokroori brought the tragic news, and a party started for the fatal spot. Dr. Ori subsequently described to me the effect of the lion's blow. The skull, which had received its full force, was completely shattered, as if it had been a cocoa-nut struck with a hammer, and several of the lion's claws had penetrated through the bone, as though they had been driven like a nail.

If that had been the attack of a tiger, the skull would not have been injured, although the scalp would have been badly lacerated, and death would have been occasioned by the grip of the jaws upon the neck, not by the blow.

Another instance of the great force of a lion's blow was witnessed by my late friend, Monsieur Lafargue, whom I knew when he was a resident of Berber in the Soudan. This French gentleman was agent to Halim Pasha, the uncle of His Highness Ismail the Ex-Khedive. Halim Pasha was a man of great energy, and he was the first personage in the history of Egypt who sent a steamer from Cairo to ascend the cataracts of the Nile and reach Khartoum. This was accomplished after extreme difficulty in experimenting upon the course of nearly 1600 miles of river, the navigation of which was then unknown to others beyond the native owners of small vessels. Halim Pasha was the first to attempt the commercial development of the White Nile, and Monsieur Lafargue was an admirable representative of his august employer. The steamer arrived safely at Khartoum, and was engaged in the trade of the Blue Nile to Fazocle, and through the White Nile to the unknown, as in those days Khartoum was the southern boundary of Egypt.

Monsieur Lafargue was a charming man, highly educated, with a mind of a peculiar character, that enabled him to lead a happy life in the remote wilderness of the Soudan. It was difficult to understand, when conversing with him in his beautiful house at Berber, or sitting together in his garden on the extreme margin of the Nile, while the desert sands upon the east side of the wall showed the limit of civilisation and fertility, how any man of culture could endure to pass his entire existence in such a narrow boundary--the Nile, the fruitful source, upon one side, and the desert 200 yards beyond; sterile, only because the water could not reach its surface.

He had his books, all the monthly periodicals from Europe, and his newspapers; he also had his private affairs, his agency, which occupied his time; in addition, he had a wife, an Abyssinian lady of great beauty, and of gentle sympathetic disposition. To her husband she was as the moon is to the traveller upon an otherwise dark night. Her story was too romantic and sad to be lightly introduced, but her husband had given up his country, and his family in France, after having made his fortune in the Soudan, entirely upon her account. He described her to me as the "gazelle of the desert, that was contented and happy in its native sands, but would die in the atmosphere of conventional civilisation."

Monsieur Lafargue