CROCODILE SLAUGHTER

Taranaki Daily News, 1 November 1929, Page 10

CROCODILE SLAUGHTER

OVER 300. KILLED. There is no mercy for the crocodile in Africa. It is killed ruthlessly, by natives, or shot by white men, because it:is the most deadly reptile that infests African waters. There is one white man who claims to have shot over three hundred crocodiles. ' 'lie is Captain Louis Patrick Bowler, and he tells the story in “African Nights.” " - - I have a great hatred for crocodiles (he writes), and I think it is because on one occasion, while crossing the Zambesi, my hunter was killed by a crocodile.

We had been hunting on the opposite bank to where my camp was stationed, and, reaching the river after dark, we were faced with tlie choice of staying all night in the lion-infested bush, or crossing the river and risking the crocodiles. No native will cross this river after dark in a canoe if he can help it. for fear of hippos and crocodiles. But ; Chevia, my hunter, shared my opinion, and we both preferred to venture the crossing rather. than stay among the lions. So, getting into the canoe, we paddled off quietly, Chevia sat in the?stern, about six:inches from

the water, and took long, quiet strokes to avoid attracting the hippopotami. 'I >:■« |in v< <i to lie a mistake. The crafty crocodile, missing the- usual spktsii wnica scares them 'away, crept up, and seeing his opportunity, charged and caught, poor Chevia, at the same time upsetting the canoe and flinging us both into the water.

When I came up I swam like one possessed for the bank, expecting every second to be grabbed by the legs and pulled under, for this river literally swarms with crocodiles.

Fortunately for me, the boys at the cam]) heard Chevia cry out, and anticipated what had happened. They rushed to tiie bank with firebrands, and whether it was the flash of the fire on tiie bank or the indecision of the brutes that followed me, I do not know, but one or the other, saved my life. Poor Chevia was never seen again. 1 .determined to revenge his death, and set to work to destroy crocodiles, never missing an opportunity while on the Zambesi River.

I shot over three hundred. Luckily, 1 had a number of Chin.viiiga- natives with me, who were passionately fond of the flesh, so that killing crocodiles served both for revenge and food.

I discovered that one could shoot half the head off a crocodile and, if the body were within a few feet of the water, the spasmodic working of his tail muscles would propel the body into the river. I had a brainwave, however, and one day, just after leaving Sena, I saw a monster sprawled out on a flat rock and let him have a steeltipped bullet just where the tail joins the body about the hind legs. The brute just raised himself on his front legs, but his tail was paralysed, and all he could do was to snap his jaws, helpless. In a moment my boys were ashore on the rocks with hatchets and knobkerries, bashing the brains out.