IK AFRICAN. WILDS,

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13235, 21 July 1906, Page 5 (Supplement)

IK AFRICAN. WILDS,

LORD HIXDLIP'S ADVENTURES WITH

BIG GAME. To the true enjoyment of a book that tells how lions, orphans, rhinoceroses, giraffes, and antelopes were bid low, it is essential., that the author should be » genuine sportsman, not a mere killer. Happily, that may bo said without reserve of Lord Hindlip. ;';■ la '■'"'British.Eaet Africa: Fast, Present, ■ and Future," he dealt 'practically; with the question of game extermination {his remarks are reprinted in this volume), and his 'narrative) shows that his practice-'as good as his preaching. ; He Wants specimens for his collection, ; and on travel in Africa meat must be got but he doe* not kill 'for killing's sake. Consequently there is nothing to mar the pleasure of , this attractive record of one sporting trip in. Abyssinia and two in East Africa; on the second of which he was accompanied by Lady Hindlip. SHOOTING BIG GAME. We can aooreemte the genuineness of his remorse for the unintentional enormilv committed ;in killing his first elephant. ; A Somali shikari, sent up a tree to spy on the herd, reported the presence of one good -bull.:;.;'; ■'..'■ . '.\ - "We had to be very careful of the wind while .-approaching,',- but managed to get within about thirty yards. The supposed big tusker, whoso head was hidden behind a bush, was pointed out, and a right and left from the .450 on the shoulder had the desired effect, while wo lay down in the long grass, hoping that the remainder of the herd would run away. ; With one ex-'! ception they did as we expected, but not very quietly. ■;;. The exception ran screaming up to the dying animal, and then lumbered in our direction. Unfortunately, at this juncture one of my boys did not lay doggo, but got up and bolted a few yards where - upon the beast winded and saw him as he; ran, and then charged, Aidid and I were between the bey and the elephant, and had no alternative- but to protect ourselves. My first .150 caught it at the top of the trunk, shutting it up after the fashion of a telescope, while another in the same place and a couple of .40's from Aid id laid the animal out dead within a verv few yards of where we stood. Then, and" not till then, did I discover the enormity I had committed. Both were cow*. ... .The fate of the first was my fault. I had no business to take for granted my boy's word that it was a fine bull. ... I cut off the tails and returned to camp, sick and ashamed of myself for having been an idiot, and for the second time in my short shooting career having killed a female of a species badly in need of protection."

The disappointment must have been all the greater because Lord Hindlip did hob find it too easy to get a chance at elephants. In the course of his Abyssinian trip he had an opportunity to observe the honours that await some fort unite elephant slayers. At a place called Jauasi, among the Giillas, he found " great doings in progress"':. ,

"A local magnate had lately, with the help of many friends, succeeded' in shooting a small elephant. In honour of the feat a dance was being held in one of the huts. This seemed to consist solely 'of clapping of hands, singing, and yelling, while to help matters someone occasionally fired a gun through the roof. This performance, wo were told, lasted for eight days. The wife of the hero wore round her left ankle and right wrist rings with star-shaped edges cut out of the animal's hide. The herb himself did not turn up till the following day, when, ho appeared clad in green silk, and was preceded by a large crowd singing, dancing, and firing rifles to herald his triumphant return." .

Tho most exciting incident on this trip was an encounter with ill-disposed and menacing Abyss mums, with whom it nearly came to shooting, though they were successfully bluffed, and tho turning of a camera upon the chief man among them put him to flight, yelling at the top of his voice, Lord Hindlip has no good to say of tho Abyssinians, whom he regards as a cruel, snobbish, and dangerous people, abominable bullies of the Gall as, whom they-make do all their work for them, and a coming danger, after Mcnelik is gone, to the European Powers in Africa, who have unwisely :mstlo much of them, A LION SHOOTING INCIDENT. But when we come to tho East African expeditions there is no lack of stirring adventures with the wild beasts. Of many lion Incidents the most exciting is that of the lioness that nearly turned the tables: " Hurrying to the spot indicated we -came in sight of the Somalia on their ponies shouting and irritating tho lion, which we could hear growling savagely in. the long grass. • Having made out more or less where the animal was we carefully went forward and got on a low ant-heap, from the top of which I had a fair view of the beast, which turned out to be-a lioness. We were only about sixty yards or less ' distant from our quarry, but probably owing to the excitement, and to the fact that I was blown from my walk, my first shot missed clean. My second, better aimed, caught the lioness in the lungs, whereupon she began running round and round in a circle, biting at her flanks and growling' and snarling Furiously. At the critical moment Owad and Darod foolishly let drive, and, as was to be expected, missed. Then she saw us and promptly charged. It was a fine sight to see her lithe body, with head and tail out, and lips drawn back from the teeth, charging through the long grass, while we three fools solemnlv missed her; Matters had now become decidedly serious, for the Somalis' rifles were empty, and mine was not a, very heavy one for the work in hand. Waiting till I felt I could not miss the mark I let drive at the shoulder of the advancing animal. As I pulled the trigger I jumped to my left, and at. that moment the lioness passed between Owad and myself,' sending us spinning in different directions. I found myself sitting up facing the animal in her death throes, a. dozen yards away, while an inch of dirt had plugged up the muzzle of my. rifle." -'.j- ■;>

It is an instance of the interesting political and miscellaneous matter with which Lord Hindlip's record of sport is diversified that this adventure took place in a region which he describes as at present a country where game is abundant, especially lions, but where the perfect climate and generally favourable conditions shall some day result in a thriving colony of Britons. - Yet, to his disgust, he found afterwards that the Foreign Office had offered this prospective land of milk : and honey, not to our own countrymen or fellow-subjects, but to the Zionists. •

Readers must go to the book itself to learn the rousing joys of a wild-neck rido after giraffes, and for much more that cannot he touched on here.