AFRICAN GAME.

Otago Witness, Issue 2051, 15 June 1893, Page 41

AFRICAN GAME.

An Englishman Who Has Explored out-of the-way places.— his klrst Experience with an African Lion. —An Enraged Elephant.— A Trip Across the Desert. Among the strangers at present sojourning in thiß city is Ralph J. de Mayne, a younger son of one of the noble families^of England. When Mr de Mayne is spoken of as a younger son it is not meant that he is young in years, for the gentleman in question is well on the shady side of 50, although he carries His age much easier than many men 20 years his junior. He is, however, several degrees removed from the heirship of his ancestral home in England, which is presided over by one of the sons of his eldest brother. This fact doeß not trouble Mr de Mayne in the least, for from his earliest days he has been a wanderer upon the face of the earth, rarely visiting his native country. la fact he prefers the wildest regions en the face of the globe, and while equally well at home beneath the torrid sun of the equator and the midnight sun of the Arctic circle, prefers the former on account of the larger game to be found there. In speaking tbe other evening of his experience?, the gentleman said that ever since he was a boy he had been fond of roaming, and still remembers the thrashing he received for staying out all night when about 12 years old snaring hares with some poachers on his father's grounds. Since then he has shot elephants, lions, buffalo, and other large game in Africa, tigers and elephants in India, buffalo on the plains of America, and grizzlies in the Rocky Mountains. AMONG THE SAVAGES OF AFRICA. When asked for a brief account of his exploits in the field, Mr de Mayne demurred,

but later, during the course of conversation, told several interesting stories of his experiences among the savage tribes of Africa. At present he is on his way to India, whence he expects to visit Australia, and from there journey to Cape Town, whence in all probability he will once more travel into the wilds of the Dark Continent. " Every trip I make," said he, " I intend to be my last, but no sooner do I get comfortably settled in England than the old longing comes over me, and I must be up and away. In fact, I can hardly say that I ever do get camfortably settled, for I have passed so much of my life among uncivilised people that I have become more or less of a wild man myself. When I reached England six months ago, it was with tte intention of never travelling again ; but hero I am already half way around the world, and it may be years before I again set eyes on my relatives. In fact, I have a premonition that when I die it will te far away from the haunts of civilised man, and that until the last day my bones will rest in some out-of-the-way ppot where civilisation will never force its way. " Indeed, I have been near death many times already, but that does not prevent me from going back to the same places and taking the same risks again. There must be a good deal of the savage in my compositioD, for I know of no greater joy than to be aware that some mighty animal that lies dead before me was brought down through my own skill. DANGEROUS BEASTS. "What animal do I consider the most dangerous ? Well that would be hard to say. With the American grizzly I was very fortunate, for the three I encouutered had no opportunity of showing me how dangerous they could be when wounded. It is years ago that I shot them — before the railroad spanned the continent. Bat all wounded animals are dangerous — even a pig. I would just as soon stand before a lion as before a rcgae elephant, a wounded buffalo, or a crazy rhinoceros. In fact, a lion is not as dangerous as he is reported to be. " My first experience with a lion was decidedly in my favour, and I have never since had as high a regard for the * king of beasts ' as I have for some other animals that occuoy the same haunts with him. I was a young man at the time, and after a brief sojourn in India hunting tigers, went to Africa in search of larger game. The Africa of those days differed considerably from the Africa of to-day, and Egypt was not the j Mecca of tourists, who are ' personally conducted.' Tnere were but two white men in the party when we left Cairo and started up the Nile for the interior of Africa. The river trip was disagreeably hot, but pleasant compared with the experiences •that lay before us. Every inch of the river bank was cultivated, and we were in a land of plenty. " After nearly four weeks on the Nile we landed just above the second cataract and started across the Nubian Desert. Our party had been augmented by several Arabs, my companion having been in the country before, and knowing several of the sheiks, while in addition we had a firman from the Khedive. Live as long as I may, I will never forget that trip on camels across the desert. Water, of course, was scarce, and twice the goatskins in which we carried it ran dry. On those occasions I thought I should go crazy, a 8 my throat grew parched and my tongue thickened and grew black. But even the dreariest day has its ending, and finally we sighted the banks of the Nile again. WHAT AFRICAN GAME IS LIKE. "But I forgot that I started out to tell you regarding my first experience with an African lion. It was shortly after we had crossed the desert that I was cut with one of the Arabs for antelope. We were just entering a small glade, when stretched near it ofl the sand I espied a tawny lion. As he sprang up • I fired, but in my haste and anxiety f simply wounded him, and he crouched out of sight behind some brush. "The Arab who was with ma jumped forward at this time, gun in hand, but the lion slunk away and disappeared. Since then I have seen many that would show fight as soon as they saw a man, but my first experience with a lion gave me more or less contempt for the whole family. Nevertheless I have once or twice been in a perilous predicament from over-confidenca regarding them. On the whole, I believe the females are worse than the males. " Now, an old rogue elephant is a different thing, and is dangerous at all times, and in all conditions. I well remember stalking a herd of these beasts one day, accompanied only by three of my force of bearers. We had made a circuit of about a mile, and I was forcicg my way as best I could on my hands and knees through the kittar bush, when I heard the flap of an elephant's ears. At about the same time the animals detected my presence and for a rmmsnt I w.is decidedly anxious, as I feared the herd would break in my direction. If they had, I should in all probability have bean trampled to d- ath. CHARGED BY AN ELEPHANT. "Luckily, however, they tore tff in the opposite direction, andhurr^irg after them I was able to get a shot at an unusually large bull on the extreme flank of the herd. Like 1 a flash he turned, and with a scream of rage rushed down upon us. I quickly dodged behind a tree, and with its immense ears cocked the infuriated animal dashed past me and took after one of my attendants. One of the other men thrust a heavy double-barrelled rifle into my hands, but before I could use it the elephant had overtaken the object of its pursuit and dashed him to the ground, after which it deliberately trampled upon the bedy. " A shrill whistle from me caused the brute to desist, and then to see where the noise came from. As it did so my third assistant shot it in the left flank, but the bullet seemed only to further infuriate the animal. As it caught sight of me it charged agairj, ecreaming shrilly, while its little pig-eyes fairly sparkled with rage. Waiticg until the brute lowered its head when about 10yds from me I fired at the centre of the forehead, ju3t where the trunk starts. The effect was instantaneous. The wild rush was instantly checked, and the elephant topple i over stone dead. When we reached my unfortunate bearer he was little more than a mass of mangled flesh and bones. " Almost any wild animal will turn and show fight when wounded, and the obarge of '

an elephant, buffalo, or rhinoceros is particularly dangerous. When the hunted turns hunter the sportsman requires a cool nerve and presence of mind to save his own life. It is possible that I myself will eventually go down before the charge of some animal that I have wounded and failed to ki 1 outright."—San Francisco Bulletin.