Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-06-01
THE WATERBURY EVENING DEMOCRAT. FRIDAY. JUNE
MENAGERIE SUPPLIES.

l MENAGERIE SUPPLIES.
 CATCHING WILD ANIMALS IN THE
 LUNCHES OF AFRICA.
 An Encampment on tho Setite River, in
 Nubia-Danger of Capturing Big Game.
 Elephants. Giranes, Lions, Hippopotami
 and Ostriches.
 Carl Lohse, of the Park row animal store, told some of his adventures the other day, and they give good idea of how menageries the world over are supplied with wild ani- mals.
 Fl pick out two or three Germans" he be- gan, 'and start out about November. We take $40, 1000 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 Suakim. At Suakim we have to buy dozen or more camels to carry the bag gage, ammunition, rifes etc., and we have to hire drivers also. It takes four camels to carry the silver.
 "From Suakim we Journey across the Nubian desert, a trip of eighteen or twenty days. We travel only in the night on ac- count of the fierce heat, in the day time l making a shelter for ourselves against the sun's blasting rays. Sometimes we encoun- ter sirocco, a terrific whirlwind that sweeps the sand before it in blind ing blasts. When a sirocco springs | the camels instinctively bury their 1 heads in the sand and we wrap ourselves in 1 blankets and curl up in holes in the sand that we have made, and wait until the storm has blown over There are twelve military sta l tions along the route garrisoned with sol diers who protect the telegraph. Our desti- nation is Cassala, an old Egyptian post of 10000 inhabitants. There we purchase an extra supply of twenty or thirty camels, some lumber for crates and take in new supply of provisions The game has long ago been shot off the deserts, and we have to i live on preserved meats. Next we strike out toward the east, and after journeying 1 five or six days we arrive at the district of Homrahan, on the Setite river, our final des- | tination."
 l Here is where the work of the year begins. The country is owned by sheiks, each dis trict being governed by sheik and Lohse has to purchase permission from the sheik of Homrahan to work there. The natives here, according to Lohse, are cross between the emigrated Egyptians and Nubians, and he l says that they are courageous and intelligent But from his methods of procedure one might | infer that the natives are first cousins to our .tLo, the poor Indian" Lohse brings with him presents with which to propitiate his l dusky friends. He has silks, cloths, calicoes, rifles, revolvers, ammunition, sweetmeats l and beads Lohse is foxy and he has no diff culty in working on the affections of his dark brothers with beads and sweetmeats. The sheik is the big gun and he readily gives 1 Lohse 100 acres for an encampment, and 1 furnishes him with 100 men to hunt and help on the work First the underbush is burned l off the land and then the cleared space is en- circled with thorn fence eight feet high to protect the '.serifa" from the attacks of wild animals at night. It is g terrible piece of work to construct this fence, but once up it 1 serves for seven months.
 | Next Lohse must buy horses for his native | hunters The natives have several peculiari- | ties They won't do anything for themselves. Lohse they call s'Touil" or s'the Long Man" that is why they look up to him, so to | speak, for he must do about everything. The horses are bought for SIS to $20 apiece, and then tho h11uttus, v4PoulL1U11s ure aJ | ganized. First Lohse divides his troops into elephans hunters. giraffe hunters, ostrich | hunters, rhinoceros hunters, etc. Lohse talks | as if elephant hunts were not particularly ex- l citing-a mere matter of killing mosquitoes. l He takes ten or twenty horsemen with him and Q number of footmen. "Four of the horsemen," Lohse explained, ''are to tease the elephants, a necessary feature of the hunt. The elephants herd in 6fties or sixties, and 1 live in the interior during the daytime. l At night they come to the river, sometimes remaining in the water all night"
 l While the elephant hunters have been at 1 work the giraffe hunters have not been idle. 'sIt takes only forty-six horses for giraffe hunt" said Lohse with 8 smile, ''and a dozen l footmen besides. The giraffes go in troops, l as many as one hundred in number. We start out in the hottest part of the day and find our long necked friends in thickets We them round and round until the young ones the giraffes that we want-fau down from 1 sheer exhaustion"
 The Setite river is long, and when it fol lows it's course it is shallow. In it's bends,
 however, are deep pools, and here the hippo potami are found. II have often counted twenty or thirty hippopotami in these pools,
 said Lohse Ut is possible to catch only the
 young ones. A rhinoceros is dangerous
 beast to hunt. You can dodge him, how.
 ever, for when he is wounded he runs in a pee llno ana OuCIS over any tn1u8
 Lions are not numerous enough in Nubia
 to send out an expedition there for lions
 alone The few there, however, are healthy
 vigorous and extremely patriotic. They re
 sent the approaches of civilization. Ar
 ostrich hunt Is not so exciting as it is interest
 ing; in fact there is little of hunt about it
 it's clear case of robbing the hen roost, and
 Lohse's dusky friends appear to have 'got il
 down to a fine art"
 Toward June Lohse begins to get ready fol
 the home trip. He divides his procession into
 dozen or so companies. There is cook fol
 each company, and they cook, or rather
 make .'durah," g sort of "journey cake," o1
 corn. Each big giraffe has one rider ane
 two or three men to lead it. The elephant
 require the same number of attendants. Tn.
 ostriches have their legs shackled so tha
 they can take only extremely short steps
 They go along with their old friends tn,
 goats. The other animals are boxed up ane
 the patient camels tug them along on rud'
 carts. There are from 800 to 400 men ane
 from 90 to 100 camels in procession, ane
 they have plenty of work to do.-New Yorl