Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1884-01-09

= AN OSTRICH HUNT IN AFRICA.-Thf
ostrich hunt was an exciting event Those
, who had charge of the camels, myseli
among the rest, followed after the horse
men, urging our 1eetfooted animals tc
their highest speed, had now an oppor
tunty of witnessing the extraordinary
fleetness of the Arabian horses. They
seemed to skim over the surface of the
desert. Our campls were hyino over the
ground at a rapid pace but we seemed to
be standing sill, so rapidly did they
increase their distance from US On they
went in straight line toward the south,
the birds some half mile ahead. In a
short time the horsemen disappeared
below the horizon, but we still continued
our rapid pace ia the direction in which
they had gone. The wind of the desert
died away, or rather we outran it; the
sun grew fiercely hot, and the occasional
stretches of sand that we passed over
threw clouds of the smallest particles into
the air under the disturb bance of the camels
feet, producing q choking thirst. Still we
keep on; for long time we travelled in
this rapid manner.
About four hours, az I judged it,,
after starting out on the chase the
forms of the horses once more loomed
against the horizon. We speedily
came up to them and found that the
chase had been successful. About
a dozen dead ostriches lay on the desert,
some of them with their beautiful pluma ge
bedahbled with gore. Red spots appeared
here and there, showing where the birds
had fallen and poured out their life blood
BY the time we reached the hunters he
horses had been rubbed down and their
trappings removed. They were now sup
posed to have been sufficiently brcathed,
and each animal was given rs much
water and camel's milk 10 drink from the
skins which we carried on the came!'s, AS
it wanted. The ostriches were hen packed
on the camels; the hunters, coch with his
halter OF skin in his hand CT attached to
his arm leading his horse, Vt Ounted their
camels and we set of ut rapid pace
toward the north, reaching tie tents short
ly after sunset.
In reply to questions rut to Mohamm ed
next day learned that the ofjoct of TAX
ing the camels to the hunting grounds and
leading the horses thilhor was to keep the
latter animals fresh for the race. In reply
to my question as to wby they chased the
the north, thus carrying them in Il direc-
ton away from their tents, he replied that
it was necessary to chase the ostriches
before the wnd--tlle desert wind usually |
blows from the north going before the
wind the birds lose their breath or they |
could not be captured With the wind in
its face a full grown ostrich could easily |
outrnn the best horse on the desert. In
the race every bird that turns ana gets
around the flanks of the pursuers with its
mead in an opposite direction is lost.
The speed ofthe bird is remarkable and |
its endurance something to wonder at.
Against the wind the ostrich can run from
sunrise to sunset without in the least
abating its speed, 4 asked him if the
ostrich when pursued ever stuck its head
into hole in the ground or into bush
and ceased to fly thinking itself sale. He
said he had no knowledge of any such
habit on the part OF the bird. If it would
TO that its capture would be easy. As it
was, however, the bird was difficult to
capture. Only the tleetest horses of the
desert were of any u,e in chasing it, and
its pursuit could not be continued regular
ly, because no horse had the endurance
necessary fer continuous ostrich chasing.
Once IN moon Wus sufficient for any
horse to be used in ostrich huJlng. The
object of hunting the bird WAS to procure
its feathers TO exchange with Arab mer-
chants for baiks, gunpowder, bullets,
beads, shells, etc, and its flesh for food
En9tjsh ShipnlaSter, IN Boston CONNER
ctaL Bulletin.