Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1888-08-23
HOW ANIMALS ARE CAUGHT.
Talk With Mighty Hunter Who
Supplies Menageries.

world over with wild animals. He
started in life as an attendant Mt the
Reiches' establishment in Alfeld. Ger
many. Sixteen years ago he was put
IN charge OF their German expeditions,
and this is how he conducts one, SO he
told an interviewer: II pick out two or
three Germans" he began, "and start
out about November. We take g1O, 900
In silver with us in old Austrian money.
the Maria Theresa dollars. We go to
Trieste, thence through the Suez Canal
to Suez. There we take an Egyptian
steamer and go to Suakin. At Suakin
we have to buy dozen or more camels
to carry the baggage, ammunition,
rifles, etc., and we have to hire drivers
also 1t takes four camels to carry the
silver. Camels used for carrying pur-
poses cost f10 each, while riding camels
are worth e25 each.
From Sualcinwe journey across the
Nubian Desert, u trip of Is or 20 days.
We travel only in the night on account
OF the fierce heat, in the daytime making
shelter for ourselves ag inst the sun S
blasting rays. Sometimes we encounter a
sirocco, terrific whirlwind that sweeps
the sand before it in binding blasts.
There are twelve military stations along
the route garrisoned with soldiers who
protect the telegraph Our destination
is Kassala. an old Egyptian post of
10000 inhabitants. There we purchase
an extra supply of 20 OF thirty camels,
some lumber Tor crates, and takes in q
new supply of provisions. The game
has long ago been shot off the desert and
we have to live on preserved meats.
Next we strike out toward the east, and
after journeying five or six days we ar
rive at the district of Homrahan on the
Settle River, our final destination.
Here is where the work of the year
begins, The country is owned by
eheikhs, each district being governed
by sheikh, and Lohse has to purchase
permission from the sheikh of Homra-
han to work there. L,ohse brings with
his dusky friends. He has silks, cloths,
calicoes, rifles, revolvers, ammunition,
swoetmeats and beads. Lohse is foxy,
and he has no difficulty in working on
the affections Of his dark brothers with
beads and sweetmeats. The sheikh is
the big gun, and he readily gives Lohse
100 acres for mn encampment, and fur
nishes him with 100 men to hunt and
help on with the work. First the I'M
derbrush is burned off the land, and
then the cleared space is encircled with
thorn fence eight feet high to protect
the "serifla from the attacks of wild
animals at night. 1t is a terrible piece
OF work to construct this fence, but once
up it serves for seven months.
Next Lohse must buy horses for his
native hunters. The natives have sew
eral pecnliarities They won't do any
thing for themselves. Lohse they call
s'Touil,' OF "The long man, that
is why they look up to him, so to
speak, for he must know about every
thing. The natives follow the traditions
of Adam and Eve, and are too lazy to
cultivate the soil, though it is rich and
fertile. About all they are good for is
hunting, so Lohse has to set their
machinery going by sending to Abys-
sinia for horses. No native is too poor
to own q slave, and Lohse is forced
sometimes to go to Abyssinia for his
horses. 1t takes a day to go from this
part Of Nubia to Abyssinia. The horses
are bought for f4 to 95 apiece, and then
the hun ting expeditions are at once or
gained.
Lohse talks as If elephant hunts were
not particularly exciting, a mere matter
OF killing mosquitoes. He takes 10. or
20 horsemcn With him and number of
footmen. "Four of the horsemen,
Lohse explained, "are to tease the ele-
phants-a necessary feature of the hunt,
nc, non will Ub.A ala,,hor,tc hard
tifties and sixties and live in the in
terror during the daytime. At night
they come to the river, sometimes re-
manning in the water all night. We
trace the herd from the river, and when
we find them the teasers, who are the
most courageous of the hunters, begin to
tease the leaders of the herd. The bulls
soon become angry and excited and give
chase to the teasers. Each leader is
followed by his family, relatives, and
friends, and soon the herd is strung out
just what we want. Then the hunters
ride up and hamstring the males, letting
the females go, for they have but little
ivory. All is confusion, and the ele-
plants are flying hither and thither.
After the hamstringing is over, the hun
tiers jump from their horses on to the
backs Of the baby elephants, lasso them,
and twist ropes around their feet and
soon trip them up, when they are tied
to a tree. The baby bucks tremendous
ly when it feels hunter on its back,
but the hunters are agile and the ele-
plants ears big and the hunters hang
ON to them. The baby elephants are
left tied to trees for few days until
they are sufficiently subdued to be led
to camp. The carcasses ire not used.
Only in rare cases is the meat eaten.
Sometimes it is cut off. dried and eaten.
The hide is used for shields.
Toward June Lohss begins to get
ready for the home trip. He divides
his procession into dozen or SO compan-
les. There is cook for each company,
and they cook OF rather make ''durah,
sort OF tourney cake" Of corn. Each
big giraffe has one rider and two or
three men to lead it. The elephants re-
quire the same number of attendants. |
The ostriches have their legs shackled
SO that they can take only extremely
short steps. They 60 along with their
old friends the goats. The other ami
mails are boxed up and the patient camels
tug them along on rude carts. There
are from 800 to 400 men and from so to
n I.