And The Huntsman Blows His Horn

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 297, 14 December 1940, Page 3 (Supplement)

And The Huntsman Blows His Horn

ANIMALS OF THE CHASE. 'T'Hh.Hb are many animals that liave never l>ecn domesticated and yet have a close connection with inun. They are the animals of the chase, but tliey are not nearly so important now as they were in the days when families and villages were dependent upon what the hunters brought home. There are still races of the huntsman class living in remote places —natives in jungle lands like those of tropical South America, Central Africa. Malaya and Borneo. 1 lie nature of their country is such that tilling the soil is impossible. There people live mainly upon the game they can kill or snare. Hunting- has been the sport of the wealthy from earliest times. Ancient Assyrian, Minoan and <.!recian art depict scenes of hunters and their quarry. In the mythology of every nation hunters have imjHjrtant and honoured places. The goddess J>iana was a Jiuntress. 'Whenever a ruler or a nobleman wished to pay resj>ect to his guests he arranged a hunt as part wf their entertainment.

In this short article we shall m i deal with tiiose animals familiar to us, but with the wild creatures of strange lands, and t lie methods by which they are hunted. The Barbary sheep is a large wild sheep of the Northern African highlands. The rams are goatlike in upi>earance, with a long flowing mane and large horns. In tlie isolated and burning rocks which jut up into the divert they are found, living on "round which seems destitute of water, grass, or vegetation. During the heat of the day they repose on some shelf of rock, where they exactly match the colour of the stone. The ground is among the most difficult in which hunting lias been attempted, except perhaps in chamois stalking. Yet the native hunters will pursue the sheep all day, prostrating theiu-.-elves in prayer as the eun sinks (they are Mohammedan), then rising once more to resume the chase. The kids are easily tamed. The stupid hippopotamus is much sought by the Africans, and many barbarous methods are used to el feet its capture. By Europeans these animals are invariably killed in the daytime, when they are shot through the brain as they raise their heads above the water. But the native prefers to fence

in a herd of liippojK>tamuses and spesjr them to death. When a herd is found renting for the day in a pool, the whole village collect and build strong fence* frotia the shallows at each end. At night large fires blaxe round th« pool, and prevent the beast* from escaping. Platforms are built to command the pool, and from these vantage points the j>oor clumsy animaJs are speared to death. The elk or moose, largest of all the numerous tribe of deer, is found in Northern Europe, Siberia and Northern China. Jt« NewWorld brother lives from the mouth of the MacKenzie River to the St. Lawrence. The build of the elk is clumsy, and the mighty beast entirely lacks the grace usually associated with deer. In Scandinavia elk are hunted in two ways, by driving, or with a trained dog held in leash. These titanic deer are extremely shy and suspicious creatures. In Canada moose are often shot by "calling," a horn of birch bark l<cinnr used with which the hunter simulates the weiVd hoarse roar of the animals. Tracking, or spooring, as it would be called in South Africa, is another and fatiguing method, while yet another mode of hunting is that practised by Indian hunter* in winter, when, tin* sportsman being equipped with suowslioes, the

moose ig followed, run into and ► hot in deep snow. In this sport the hunter has much the better of it.. The moose, with its vast weight and sharp hoofs, plunges through the snow-crust, over which tlie snowshoes carry tii4 liunter easily enough. The peculiar sloth of South America, lar<_'e-eyed snub-nosed und earless, moves from bough tw bough with its legs up in th« air and its back towards th® ground. In the sleeping positioa tlie sloth bears a striking resemblance to the i^tuinp of a lichencovered bou<rh.To help out this resemblance Nature has equipj>ed tlie animal's hair with a green parasite, a sort of vegetable growth. The sloth is much sought after bv the natives, and the llcsh is gupjwfted to be quite palatable. A curious ] thing about the ground-sloths of prehistoric times, which sometimes rivalled the elephant in size, is that isolated specimens ap;>ear to be still alive. In a cave in Patagonia in 1900 a skull and a large piece of hide, bearing- blood and sinews, were found. . That the hide was removed by human hand« there can he no doubt, for it was rolled up and turned inside out. Perhaps some day a scientific expedition will find a live specimen of this strange sluggish race whi, It existed so many thousands ut years ago.