SEARCH FOR IVORY

Evening Star, Issue 20586, 11 September 1930, Page 7

SEARCH FOR IVORY

■ + THROUGH AFRICAN JUNGLES TRADER’S ADVENTURES After having spent thirty years in tropical Africa, Mr F. H. Clark arrived in Sydney the other day on holiday. During ins first ten years in Africa he was ah ivory dealer, and faced death on many of his journeys through the dense jungles. Although the country teemed with game, said Mr Clark, and several of his men were killed by lions, he remained Untouched until quite recently, when he was attacked by a buffalo. He was deserted by his only companion at the time, a gun-bearer, who ran to a tree, where, safe in the branches, ho watched his master tossed twice in the air and stamped upon. When tho animal was satisfied that he was dead it left him, and the gun-bearer was able to summon the porters, who. had been left in camp. ■ Mr Clark was carried eighty miles to an outpost, where he spent five months in bed. On another occasion one of his porters was seized by a party of Wnmbuti* pigmies, who were searching for a meal. When the native was found again there was nothing but a few bones and his arms. Mr Clark said that the old system of trading with goods carried by porters had practically died out. As early as 1910 a boundary commission was appointed by the British and Belgian Governments to fix the boundaries between their colonies. At the same time they laid down laws about ivory trading,. which generally was declared illegal. Illicit trading was eliminated, and tho traders had to seek other activities. After trading for some years, Mr Clark said, he was appointed a warden to preserve the game in Kenya Colony. Beyond its borders, where shooting was allowed, lions and other large animals had become scarce. Much damage was done to settlors’ stock by the animals, and this had ci’eated an interesting situation. As the game drew numbers of wealthy tourists the settlers benefited, so they were torn between a desire to protect wild life and to destroy it. J . The animal to bo feared most was the rhinoceros. Nobody could tell what it would do from one moment to the next. The beast would charge men, fires, and tents without discrimination, and travellers were as likely to find it rushing through their camp by night as by day. Mr Clark said that the post, of game warden was not an arduous one now, and his charges were in little danger ol dying out. Public opinion did not favour wanton killing for a huge haul of trophies, and many sportsmen satisfied themselves with securing photographs of game at close range, reserving their rifles tor protection or to obtain a few specimens. The greatest difficulty was the natives. They could never see why tho animals should not be killed, ana hunted them with arrows with impunity.