BATTLE WITH BABOONS.

Mataura Ensign, 19 January 1910, Page 4

BATTLE WITH BABOONS.

MR HAGENBECK'S ADVENTURES. No living man knows more about animals than Mr Carl Hagenbeck, the great Uerman dealer, and it is dimcuU u> imagine a more absorbingly interesting took than lus ".beasts and Men," just issued. Of his own adventures in handling savage brutes Mr Hagenbeck scarcely says enoug.i, but among tho more exciting ho refers to one with an elephant named Lissy, whoso keeper taught lier to lift him (tho keeper) nigh above the ground with her trunk and then gently set him 011 his feet. Hagenbeck was seized with a desiro to experience this novel sensation. "I therefore went up to tho elephant," he says, "stroked and fed her, and taking hold of her trunk I called out the word of command, 'Lissy, apport.' Then followed one of the most vilely treacherous acts of which I have ever heard. Lissy began to obey the order, but I soon felt she was bent on mischief, for the embrace of her trunk was unpleasantly vigorous and I soared high into the air. But I was not quietly deposited once more upon my feet. Instead of this Lissy dashed me violently against the wooden barrier in front ot her stall and 1 went flying over into tlio menagerie." Dramatic stories of baboon hunting are told. A trap resembling a native nut, well baited with food, is employed ana the baboons are easily imprisoned by a trap-door device. Tne herd outsiue surround the prisoners and urge them to escape "On the approach of t.ieir captors," says Mr Hagenbeck, "iii../ show all the signs of extreme tcri.i' endeavor to force their heads i-ii jjgh the walls." tuu captured males are muzzled, liana* and feet are tied, and , their wl.ok- bodies are wrapped in cloth till they resemble great smoked sausages. Tho same individual when allowed te escape is often caught a second timo in the same trap. One was caught three times. TOen the captives are taken away their comrades do not desert them, but climb up the palm trees and howl out unintelligible words which are answered with mournful voices by the prisoners, when powerful Arabian baboons were the object of the hunt on one occasion, when the trap was sprung three thousand baboons hurled themselves savagely on tho hunters, who defended themselves with firearms and cudgels. The hunters were driven back by sheer force of numbers and the victorious baboons made short work of the cage and released their imprisoned friends.