The Press., 1888-03-29
A MENAGERIE AT SEA.


 Masimba to Cape Town we put in at -Quili- mane for water, some of our casks having been stove. We had scarcely made fast at & wharf when a German came aboard to offer us some queer freight. He was an agent of great wild animal firm at Ham, burg, and had just come down to the coast with rare lot. There was black two horned rhinoceros, or borele three lions, two partners and three monstrous serpents. He had expected to find the firms ship at this port, but through some misunderstanding she had not shown up. He wanted to get the animals to Cape Town soon as possible, and was willing to give us 8 good price to take them We were chock full below matches, and the idea of taking the cages on deck was far from pleasant.
 The agent was 8 persistent fellow and g. good talker, and before we had our water in the captain had decided on taking the freight. A couple of natives were to go along to care for them, and there would be no expense to the brig. We looked over the cages and found them apparently strong and secure and when the work of loading began we had very little trouble The rhinoceros was transferred to pen of wood and iron. which gave him very little room to spare, and he behaved himself like a gentleman while we were getting him aboard. Indeed, the whole collection seemed to be under 0 spell The lions acted like frightened dogs and the partners never uttered snarl, while the big serpents seemed to sleep through it. all We made our ofing about sunset, and darkness had no sooner settled down and the brig got her motion in the seas than we found ourselves treated to--a concert which made every mans hair stand on end. It may be that the animals were seasick, or that the motion of the ship frightened them. They broke out with howls and roars and yelps and screams, and nothing would quiet them
 The rhinoceros didn't propose to stand neu- tral i'll that affair, and he uttered such shorts and 'woofs, '" and made such efforts to break out of his pen that some of the men were ready to make for the crosstrees. It came on a darkish night, with the wind blowing in gusts, and not a man aboard that brig closed his eyes in sleep. When the lions were not roaring the partners were screaming, and about once in five minutes the borele would utter a loud "woofm and made an attack on his pen. It did no good to throw feed to the brutes; hunger had nothing to do with their conduct Each one had been captured singly, and each was full grown and dangerous The near presence of men, the sight of each other and the rough motion of the brig conspired to thoroughly excite each and every one The Serpents were wide awake and vengeful, and the rhinoceros was mad clear through. A more dangerous and vindictive creature than the black rhinoceros cannot be found on earth. He is afraid of nothing under the sum-
 He is boiling over with the sulks twenty three out of the twenty-four hours each day in the week. Odds is the difference to him whether he charges an elephant or lion. The first thing which comes in sight sets him off on a mad charge, and he will never cool down while there is a show to wreak ven geance-
 The fellow We had on deck was a piece of ugliness weighing from 1 200 to l, 400 pounds. He had been caught in pit, and there had been no end of trouble to get him down to the coast While he was in close quarters and had little show to smash things, it was evident from his actions that he would do the best he could. He kept raking his great horn back and forth across the bars of his pen, and whenever any one went near him he exhibited his anger in a dozen ways
 The night wore away at last, and when daylight came the beasts ceased their racket. They were less noisy on the second night, and on the third we had no trouble at all. On the fourth morning after leaving Quilimane, having had a good breeze all the time, we were to the south of the lower end of Mada- gascar, and well into the Indian ocean. Soon after breakfast the breeze died away, and by 9 o'clock we were in dead calm, and it was
 
 seams. Every sign indicated that we had lost the wind for some hours The surface of the ocean was like glass, with only ground swell running, and we had scarcely lost steerage way when we were surrounded by sharks. l believe that fully 100 of the mon- sters came prowling about us, and as we had little or nothing to do the captain readily granted us permission to bait them. We threw over the shark hook, baited with a. 1 IL | l. the water winch fifteen foot shark ran away with it. We tailed on to the line and hauled him alongside ill order to get 8 moose over
 his head to lift on, and we were about ready | to heave and haul when there was great crash on deck behind us.
 The captain and first mate were below, and 1 the second mate, who had the watch on deck, l was bossing the job of hauling in our cap l tive. We were all aft on theeport quarter, ] and for few minutes the animals had been left to themselves The cause of the smash
 was the rhinoceros breaking out of his pen. I The beast worked it in a cute way. He leaned
 his whole weight on one side, and by and by, | as the brig lifted and then went down heav- l ily in the next hollow, the great jar, added l to his dead weight. broke the fastenings of | the bars. AS we turned he was just emerg- 1 ing from the pen, and at the same moment | the lions and partners began to roar and scream. They knew the ugly nature of the
 beast, and they probably suspected what was | coming The natives rushed forward, shout ing and gesturing, and hoping to drive the
 borele back, but he was not to be intimidated. | His eyes began to snap and his tail to switch, | and all of sudden he lowered his head and | charged at us. Being e small craft, the space between the cabin roof and the bull l warks was not wide enough to admit of the l body of the borele, but he made several de- 1 termined attempts to come at us before he l turned away. =
 You would have thought the rise and fall of the brig would have thrown him down, l or at least made him careful how he moved about but he never minded it, and his legs l were as firm under him an old sailors. l We were after ropes to lasso him when be drew back, wheeled around, and charged
 forward. The first thing he came to was the
 cage containing the, serpents. 1t had a com 1 partment for each. He struck it on end,
 gave it a toss in the air, and as it came down the three big snakes, hissing like geese, glided | in different directions. One ran under the
 cages containing the partners, @ second cut | on the bowsprit, and the third darted into the forecastle. The natives called to us to look 1 out, as the borele would attack the other
 cages, and while some of the men sprang
 down the companionway into the cabin, the 1 others ran up the mainnnast shrouds was one of the latter, there being four of us, and