The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-10-12
HUNTING BEASTS IN AFRICA.

HUNTING BEASTS in AFRICA.
Who ever even thought of the lives
that have been lost, the suffering en-
dured, the great sums of money ex-
pended, and the perfect system directing
the workings of men and savages far be-
yond the limits of civilization, making
collections of wild animals for the me-
nageries9 Indeed, the business has been
so almost exclusively done by two very
quiet gentlemen, whose agencies cover
nearly half the globe, that beyond the
proprietors and managers of gardens and
shows only limited number have any
conception of the extent of their opera
tions, or of so much as their existence.
The head of the firm, and directing
spirit of its workings, is Mr.. Charles
Reiche, considerably this side of so, with
the comfortable bonhommie manner of
an educated, travelled gentleman. His
New York establishment, at 30 Chatham
street, is passed by unnoticed by hun
dreds daily; yet from it orders are sup
piled from almost every travelling show
in the United States, from the Geological
Garden in London, and others in Russia
Austria and elsewhere. His large sup
ply depot for this country is in Hoboken.
Henry Reiche, his brother and partner,
lives in Germany, where they have a
general supply farm for all the world,
with accommodations and appliances for
the keeping of almost every bird, beast
or reptile from any country or cline in
that part of the world which has been
explored. They are ready at any time
to fill an order for anything from single
canary through singing birds, display
birds or trick birds up to a flock of
ostriches, or from a field mouse to an
elephant.
Africa, the home of the greater num-
Der of fierce, voracious animals, is their
most extensive field of operations. In it
they have many stations, with sheikhs
or chiefs in their employ, and standing
inducements offered to natives for choice
specimens of rare birds or beasts. Dur
ing nine months of every year they have
a band of experienced white African
hunters travelling from station to station,
overseeing and directing the workings
of the natives, and catching elephants,
lions, leoparis, tigers, and such other
beasts as they may be instructed to OBJ
tain. The company usually composed
of four to six, and never more than eight,
under the command of Charles Lohse, a
veteran hunter and trapper, start from
Germany about the LIST of September.
and return from Africa early in June.
During the remaining three months of
the year, which they know as the "rainy
season" the climate is 80 severe that it
lis almost certain death for white man
to remain in Africa. A few have tried
it, but most of them died, and those who
survived suffered terribly from fever, and
were unable to accomplish ANYTHING.
The medical treatment is very limited.
and confined principally, in the language
of one OF the men, ito taking horse
doses of quinine until killed or cured;
and being cured by the quinine is worse
than being killed by the fever"
Starting from Germany the hunters
take complete outfit of clothing, fire.
arms, gifts for the chiefs, and from
$1,000 to So, 900 in drafts and letters OF
credit. They go to Trieste, thence to
Corfu, in Greece, thence to Alexandria,
and then by rail to Suez. There they
exchange all their money for Maria The
resa silver Austrian dollars, the only coin
known to the Arabs and Sheikhs
of Africa. A Bank of England note
lis valueless to them, and the
brightest specimen of a gold American
eagle would not buy the meanest ring
tailed monkey. They next take the
Turkish steamer to Jedda, and thence to
Sarachin, their last station before COM
mencing the long, tiresome and danger
y,ot.oh fhn Nul,aYo Il
They buy camels, water and provisions,
and hire such of the sheikhs and other
natives as they want, the latter being
cheap enough-$5, and occasionally as
nigh as 81 each for the trip across the
desert-and when the caravan gets to its
journeys end the poor fellows are left to
get back as best they can. In this man
ner they travel to Honjahir, the Reiche
Brothers principal station in Africa,
where the distinctions of caste are
strictly maintained. Every white man
has a mansion" which consists of
straw house about twenty feet wide by
thirty feet deep, and divided into two
rooms. In such houses they live, eat
and sleep, and in one of them they keep
the money that has been brought across
the desert in trunks, on the backs of
camels. No attempt to hide it is made,
nor is there any secrecy as to where it is
packed during the long journey. So
honest are the native blacks that in the
past six years not dollar has been lost
by carelessness. Frequently there has
been 10000 of these silver dollars in the
hut, with only one or two white men in
camp, surrounded by negroes, Arabs
and half-breeds yet no attempt
ut robbery has ever been made.
and the half-civilized natives, know.
ing that they are not entitled to a
dollar until they have earned it, never
try to get it in any other way. The
men sleep where and as they please, and