Connecticut western news., 1885-12-23
THE ABODE OF BIG GAME.
A Hunters Paradise in the
 Wilds of Africa.
Elephants, Buffaloes and Other Large Ami
 mals Found in Abundance.

world is there game in such variety and abundance. t
 One morning about year ago Mr. W. Montagu Kerr of the New York Stock Exchange left camp. little south of Lake Nyassa, with the French explorer Giraud, and in six hours chase zebra, two buffaloes' five antelopes, and three wild hogs fell to their guns. They had glorious sports all along the Shire River, and this particular mornings work was by no means exceptional shooting. Elkins, Faulkner, and other fine hunters tell great stories of the fun they have had stalking elephants in the long grass on the banks of the Shire, chasing herds of buffaloes, antelopes or zebras, or shooting rhinoceroses or hippopota- mi. Elkins thought it wasn't bad sport when in an hour near the Zam- besi he dropped two hartbeests, an eland, a buffalo, and water buck. Further north on the reedy shores of Lake Nyassa, he and MT. Forbes killed three elephants in as many minutes. Anderson, the splendid sportsman and explorer, who spent many years in South Africa, killed thirty rhinoceroses within a few days, and one night in five hours he shot eight.
 No true sportsman likes to kill merely for the fun of shooting. He is not satisfied unless the fruits of the chase can be turned to some good ac- count. In Africa he has the satisfac- tion of knowing that hardly a scrap of the meat he kills will be wasted
 The natives welcome a fine hunter as a benefactor. Sir Samuel Baker tells bow the greedy blacks used to fight whenever he killed hippopotamus, each striving to get the largest DOT tion. Elton says that few hours after killing buffalo or an elephant there would be nothing left but the bones. Faulkner relates that when he brought down ny-big game the natives danced with glee, and some times they would not stop to cook the meat, but would eat it raw. Ander- son writes that he never killed game as fast as the natives were able and willing to dispose of it. Every pound of meat, including rhinoceroses, not required for his own party was de- vored by the natives. The meat that they do not require at once for food is dried and preserved.
 African travellers agree that ele- plant steaks are very tough. It took Faulkner half an hour to eat a square inch of elephant meat. Sir Samuel Baker also says the flesh of elephants it extremely coarse, but the foot and trunk are excellent eating if prop erly cooked. The flesh of the buffalo, he says, is very to1gh and coarse. Anderson thinks that water buck, one of Africa's numerous varieties of an- telopes, is very unsavory eating, but it saved him from starving once. Most African explorers have been compelled at times to rely almost wholly on their guns for subsistence. Gireau would probably have starved to death last year while passing through fam ine-stricken district of east Africa if he had not been a good hunter. Thom- sons caravan in Nasal Land some times had to depend entirely fol food upon the leader and his gun.
 Sportsmen in Africa have many re- markable and thrilling experiences Elephants, buffaloes, and rhinoceroses are fond of charging the enemy, and now and then hunter is badly hurt or killed outright. The African ele- phant is far more dangerous than the Indian species as it's brain cannot be reached by the forehead shot, and the hunter is seldom able to kill the frenzied animal when it is charging him. Elephants are regarded as the most formidable animal with which sportsmen have to contend in Africa Buffaloes are very dangerous and de- termined, but they are not so formida ble as either the elephant or the black rhinoceros. One hunter tells of meet. ing two lions who were stalking the same antelope he was after. It is ( wonder that more hunters are mol killed. Many of them bear to theil graves the marks of wounds they re. ceived in encounters with wild beasts Anderson, who perhaps tramped over the vast undulating plains of South Africa more years than any othel hunter, had many scars to remind him of his fights with the brute creation, ant his death was attributed to the effect; of some of the wounds he had received Dr. Livingstone told of man who while stealthiiy approaching rhinoc eros, happened to glance behind him, and found to his horror that !, lion was stalking him. He only es capped by springing up tree like cat Ostriches are among the widest game that the hunter encounters. Il , is difficult to get within gunshot o the bird, and when it discovers tht hunter it fees with such wonderful speed that keen eye and practiset hand are needed to bring it down lzuzlusuwwuwmu