Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-08-20
Elephant Hunting In Africa.

he says:
About two months ago wrote you fror
the banks of the Omaruru river, acquaintin
you with the unfortunate termination of m
late journey, my future plans, &c. You wi
remember that my wagon was to proceed
Otimbinaue (RitcherfeldtO to be repaired
while myself slowly wended my way to tn
river, Cor rather watershed) from which nov
address you, with the view of seeing some un
explored country, and for the purpose of hunt
ing elephants, and have to some extent ac
complished both these objects.
| encountered very considerable numbc
of elephants, but unfortunately chiefly cow
with their young, which are both dangerous
and Improbable. have had some perlou
adventures with these animals, and have beer
taught some severe lessons, which am no
likely to forget and if have not great dea
OF ivory, have gained great deal of expert
ence and some interesting insight into the nat
ural history of the African elephant How
ever, besides some female elephants | have
killed several truly noble bulls.
The more see of these stupcndous animals
the more l am surprised. | should very
much like to know the real strenth of full
grown male; it must be something almost in.
credible. Nothing gives person better
idea of their stupendOus powers than days
walk through one Of their tavorite haunts.-
There may be seens&xhole tracts of forost laid
PROSTATE, and such treest sometimes The
trees, which are for the most part of brittle
nature, are usually broken short off by the
beasts but when they meet with tree that
seems to them too tough to snap at once, up
it goes, root and all. If they can do this in
mere play, or for the sake of feeding on the
branches, &C., of the PROSTATE trees, what
will they not effect in a paroxysm of rage?
The other day, after very many hours ia
tiguing tracking was closing with very
large troop of elephants, consisting chiefly of
females, when to my left suddenly spied an
other troop of what took to be males. | at
once left the first troop and proceeded to at
tack the second. l I"stalked'' unperceived to
within twenty-five PAGES of the heard, when
to my annoyance found that they were also
mostly cows and calves. There were. how
ever, a couple of fine bulls among them, one
evidently acting the part of pater familias to
the herd /; this beasts position was unfavora-
bic, and was waiting for him to present bet
ter mark, when suddenly they all made off.
AS they were disappearing among the brush
wood, | fired at one of the hindmost-a male
as imagi gined. In an instant the herd wheeled
about, and with terrific rush came crashing
through the bushes nearly in direct line to-
ward me; but after running for about sixty
or seventy PAGES, they stopped short, evident
ly disappointed at not finding the enemy
felt very much Inclined to take to my heels,
but moments reflection convinced me that
safety lay in keeping close and it is we'll
did so, for in few moments the pater fam
ilias made an Oblique rush through the Jungle
with such force as actually to send whole
tree that he had uprootcd in his headlong
course, spinning in the air; huge branch
remained fixed to one Of, his tusks. His head
he carried aloft, his huge ears spread to the.
full, while with his trunk he snuffed the air.
impatiently. In this position, and when with
in less than dozen PAGES Of me, he remained
should say about half minute think it
was the most thrilling and stpkng sporting
see scene eth that eyer saw ny sailant looked
l have had several other Interesting ems
counters with elephants, but have no time for
particulars. At present these animals have
all left my neighborhood, but l hope to find
them again ahead of me, and to do some ex-
ecutiOn among them.
use a heavy rifle, carrying a conical steel
pointed bullet, (three to the pound, and 10
to II drachms Of the best English rifle pow
der. With this charge sometimes send the
ball clean through an elephant Once fired
at huge cow the bullet entered her hind
quarters, and obliquely traversing the entire
length of her body, passed out at the shoul-
der! The only objection | have to the gun is
that it kicks frightiully, and l dare not now
fire it without previously placing thick wad
on my shoulder. 1t is by Powell, the maker
of my old rifle, mentioned in Lake Manu.
with which killed vast quantity of game
Besides elephants, l have also shot many
giraffes, alands, gnus, hartbeests, loodoas,
and, indeed, had wished to kill merely for
killings sake, ! might have shown first rate
"bag," but made point Of not destroying
unless absolutely in want of meat to feed ei.
ther my own party or the hundreds of poor
wretches constantly following in my track
Mr.. Anderson's second letter is dated,
" The Interior, Lake Omanboude, Zen route
R. Cuene,) Oct 80, 1855" He says:
Elephants, until quite lately, have largely
resorted here, and, with some considerable
danger, fatigue and patience, have succeeded
in bagging a number Of splendid bulls. I
have had the most extraordinary run of bad
luck as well as of good luck At first lost
every elephant fired at, but all at once the
tables turned in my favor, and have lately
killed eight bulls without losing single one,
The other day, indeed, brought two at ,two
successive shots.
But elephant hunting on foot at this sea-
son Of the year is tremendous work. 1t is
rarely that / can succeed in tracking, stalk
ing and killing my elephant and return to
camp in less than twelve hours, and more
frequently it takes me twelve, fourteen. and
even sixteen hours to accomplish the feat
OF course it would be nothing in a temperate
climate; but here, where the air is like q
draught of strongly heated furnace,
it is most trying to the consti tuition
SO severe is the labor, indeed, that l am OBJ
liged to divide my native attendants into two
sets, making use of the one set one day, and
the other the next.
Elephant hunting on foot is also exceeding
ly dangerous work. The fact is, every time
go in search of these animals consider my
life in peril. 1t was only few days ago that
was suddenly and Unexpectedly charged
by an elephant, and that by one not previ-
ously wounded. Before was aware of the
brute, he was so close upon me that found
escape by running impossible Poor Wahl-
bergs sad fate flashed across my mind
However, as good luck would have it, broke
one OF his forelegs. which at once brought
MN on his head. He was not above three
tunes the length of my rifle from me when he
,lus ien. But this is only one of the hair
oreadth escapes that might be mentioned.
-, - nave also had some dangerous encounters
Win otner ANIMALS. One fine moonlight night,
whlle watching for elephants, encountered a
troop of lions, and without any kind of mo-
lestation on my part, was suddenly attacked
by the leader, a magnificent male. Fortl,.
nately well directed bullet from NV ele.
phant rifle put him at once hors du combat. -
The next morning finished him under yerv
exciting circumstances. 10 -..-- =
1t so happened that my party was accom-
panied by large trading caravan, composed
of Demarras, destined for Oramboland, and
as the scene occurred in full view ofmy camp
nearly the whole of these people were in al
the death of the lion. More than 200 jave
Inns were poised in the air at the same mo
ment, ready to strike the PROSTATE beast
! Uhilo a IL 100