The Albert N'Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile - Samuel White Baker (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📗
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result that would astonish an English workman, considering the rough
nature of their tools, which are confined to a hammer, anvil, and tongs;
the latter formed of a cleft-stick of green wood, while the two former
are stones of various sizes. Their bellows consist of two pots about a
foot deep; from the bottom of each is an earthenware pipe about two feet
long, the points of which are inserted in a charcoal fire. The mouths of
the pots are covered with very pliable leather, loose and well greased;
in the centre of each leather covering is an upright stick about four
feet long, and the bellows-blower works these rapidly with a
perpendicular motion, thus producing a strong blast. The natives are
exceedingly particular in the shape of their molotes, and invariably
prove them by balancing them on their heads and ringing them by a blow
with the finger.
The Latookas being much engaged in preparing for cultivation, I had some
difficulty in arranging a hunting party; my men abhorred the idea of
elephant hunting, or of anything else that required hard work and
included danger. However, I succeeded in engaging Adda, the third chief
of Latooka, and several natives, to act as my guides, and I made my
arrangements for a stated day.
On the 17th of April I started at 5 A.M. with my three horses and two
camels, the latter carrying water and food. After a march of two or
three hours through the beautiful hunting-grounds formed by the valley
of Latooka, with its alternate prairies and jungles, I came upon the
tracks of rhinoceros, giraffes, and elephants, and shortly moved a
rhinoceros, but could get no shot, owing to the thick bush in which he
started and disappeared quicker than I could dismount. After a short
circuit in search of the rhinoceros, we came upon a large herd of
buffaloes, but at the same moment we heard elephants trumpeting at the
foot of the mountains. Not wishing to fire, lest the great game should
be disturbed, I contented myself with riding after the buffaloes,
wonderfully followed on foot by Adda, who ran like a deer, and almost
kept up with my horse, hurling his three lances successively at the
buffaloes, but without success. I had left the camels in an open plain,
and returning from the gallop after the buffaloes, I saw the men on the
camels beckoning to me in great excitement.
Cantering towards them, they explained that a herd of bull elephants had
just crossed an open space, and had passed into the jungle beyond. There
was evidently abundance of game; and calling my men together, I told
them to keep close to me with the spare horses and rifles, while I sent
the Latookas ahead to look out for the elephants: we followed at a short
distance.
In about ten minutes we saw the Latookas hurrying towards us, and almost
immediately after, I saw two enormous bull elephants with splendid tusks
about a hundred yards from us, apparently the leaders of an approaching
herd. The ground was exceedingly favourable, being tolerably open, and
yet with sufficient bush to afford a slight cover. Presently, several
elephants appeared and joined the two leaders—there was evidently a
considerable number in the herd, and I was on the point of dismounting
to take the first shot on foot, when the Latookas, too eager, approached
the herd: their red and blue helmets at once attracted the attention of
the elephants, and a tremendous rush took place, the whole herd closing
together and tearing off at full speed. “Follow me!” I hallooed to my
men, and touching my horse with the spur, I intended to dash into the
midst of the herd. Just at that instant, in his start, my horse slipped
and fell suddenly upon his side, falling upon my right leg and thus
pinning me to the ground. He was not up to my weight, and releasing
myself, I immediately mounted my old Abyssinian hunter, “Tetel,” and
followed the tracks of the elephants at full speed, accompanied by two
of the Latookas, who ran like hounds. Galloping through the green but
thornless bush, I soon came in sight of a grand bull elephant, steaming
along like a locomotive engine straight before me.
Digging in the spurs, I was soon within twenty yards of him; but the
ground was so unfavourable, being full of buffalo holes, that I could
not pass him. In about a quarter of an hour, after a careful chase over
deep ruts and gullies concealed in high grass, I arrived at a level
space, and shooting ahead, I gave him a shoulder shot with the Reilly
No. 10 rifle. I saw the wound in a good place, but the bull rushed along
all the quicker, and again we came into bad ground that made it unwise
to close. However, on the first opportunity I made a dash by him, and
fired my left-hand barrel at full gallop. He slackened his speed, but I
could not halt to reload, lest I should lose sight of him in the high
grass and bush.
Not a man was with me to hand a spare rifle. My cowardly fellows,
although light-weights and well mounted, were nowhere; the natives were
outrun, as of course was Richarn, who, not being a good rider, had
preferred to hunt on foot. In vain I shouted for the men; and I followed
the elephant with an empty rifle for about ten minutes, until he
suddenly turned round, and stood facing me in an open spot in grass
about nine or ten feet high. “Tetel” was a grand horse for elephants,
not having the slightest fear, and standing fire like a rock, never even
starting under the discharge of the heaviest charge of powder. I now
commenced reloading, when presently one of my men, Yaseen, came up upon
“Filfil.” Taking a spare gun from him, I rode rapidly past the elephant,
and suddenly reining up, I made a good shot exactly behind the
bladebone. With a shrill scream, the elephant charged down upon me like
a steam-engine. In went the spurs. “Tetel” knew his work, and away he
went over the ruts and gullies, the high dry grass whistling in my ears
as we shot along at full speed, closely followed by the enraged bull for
about two hundred yards.
The elephant then halted; and turning the horse’s head, I again faced
him and reloaded. I thought he was dying, as he stood with trunk
drooping, and ears closely pressed back upon his neck. Just at this
moment I heard the rush of elephants advancing through the green bush
upon the rising ground above the hollow formed by the open space of high
withered grass in which we were standing facing each other. My man
Yaseen had bolted with his fleet horse at the first charge, and was not
to be seen. Presently, the rushing sound increased, and the heads of a
closely packed herd of about eighteen elephants showed above the low
bushes, and they broke cover, bearing down directly upon me, both I and
my horse being unobserved in the high grass. I never saw a more lovely
sight; they were all bulls with immense tusks. Waiting until they were
within twenty yards of me, I galloped straight at them, giving a yell
that turned them. Away they rushed up the hill, but at so great a pace,
that upon the rutty and broken ground I could not overtake them, and
they completely distanced me. Tetel, although a wonderfully steady
hunter, was an uncommonly slow horse, but upon this day he appeared to
be slower than usual, and I was not at the time aware that he was
seriously ill. By following three elephants separated from the herd I
came up to them by a short cut, and singling out a fellow with enormous
tusks, I rode straight at him. Finding himself overhauled, he charged me
with such quickness and followed me up so far, that it was with the
greatest difficulty that I cleared him. When he turned, I at once
returned to the attack; but he entered a thick thorny jungle through
which no horse could follow, and I failed to obtain a shot.
I was looking for a path through which I could penetrate the bush, when
I suddenly heard natives shouting in the direction where I had left the
wounded bull. Galloping towards the spot, I met a few scattered natives;
among others, Adda. After shouting for some time, at length Yaseen
appeared upon my horse Filfil; he had fled as usual when he saw the
troop of elephants advancing, and no one knows how far he had ridden
before he thought it safe to look behind him. With two mounted gun-bearers and five others on foot I had been entirely deserted through the
cowardice of my men. The elephant that I had left as dying, was gone.
One of the Latookas had followed upon his tracks, and we heard this
fellow shouting in the distance. I soon overtook him, and he led rapidly
upon the track through thick bushes and high grass. In about a quarter
of an hour we came up with the elephant; he was standing in bush, facing
us at about fifty yards’ distance, and immediately perceiving us, he
gave a saucy jerk with his head, and charged most determinedly. It was
exceedingly difficult to escape, owing to the bushes which impeded the
horse, while the elephant crushed them like cobwebs: however, by turning
my horse sharp round a tree, I managed to evade him after a chase of
about a hundred and fifty yards. Disappearing in the jungle after his
charge, I immediately followed him. The ground was hard, and so trodden
by elephants that it was difficult to single out the track. There was no
blood upon the ground, but only on the trees every now and then, where
he had rubbed past them in his retreat. After nearly two hours passed in
slowly following upon his path, we suddenly broke cover and saw him
travelling very quietly through an extensive plain of high grass. The
ground was gently inclining upwards on either side the plain, but the
level was a mass of deep, hardened ruts, over which no horse could
gallop. Knowing my friend’s character, I rode up the rising ground to
reconnoitre: I found it tolerably clear of holes, and far superior to
the rutty bottom. My two mounted gun-bearers had now joined me, and far
from enjoying the sport, they were almost green with fright, when I
ordered them to keep close to me and to advance.
I wanted them to attract the elephant’s attention, so as to enable me to
obtain a good shoulder shot. Riding along the open plain, I at length
arrived within about fifty yards of the bull, when he slowly turned.
Reining “Tetel” up, I immediately fired a steady shot at the shoulder
with the Reilly No. 10:—for a moment he fell upon his knees, but,
recovering with wonderful quickness, he was in full charge upon me.
Fortunately I had inspected my ground previous to the attack, and away I
went up the inclination to my right, the spurs hard at work, and the
elephant screaming with rage, GAINING on me. My horse felt as though
made of wood, and clumsily rolled along in a sort of cow-gallop;—in
vain I dug the spurs into his flanks, and urged him by rein and voice;
not an extra stride could I get out of him, and he reeled along as
though thoroughly exhausted, plunging in and out of the buffalo holes
instead of jumping them. Hamed was on my horse “Mouse,” who went three
to “Tetel’s” one, and instead of endeavouring to divert the elephant’s
attention, he shot
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