The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-03-06
ANIMALS AT SEA.
The Queer Antics Of Menagerie
on Water.

Masmba TO Cape Town, we put ia 1t Quilt
name for water some Of our casks having
been stove. We had scarcely mad; fast at Il
wharf when a German came aboard to oiier us
some queer freight. lie was an agent Of a
great wild animal firm at Hamburg. and had
Just como down 10 the coast with rare lot.
There was black two-horned rhinoceros, or
boree, three lions, two painters, and three
INDUSTRIOUS serpents. lie 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 10 Cape Town as
soon as possible, and was willing to give us
good price TO take them. We were chock fun
below matches, and the idea of taking the cages
on deck was far from pleasant.
The agent was persistent fellow ard
good talker, and before we had our water in
the captain had decided on taking the freight.
a couple Of natIyc5 were to 20 along 60 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 sc had very
little trouble. The rhnoCeros was transferred
to a pen Of wood and iron, which gave him
very little room to spare, and he behaved him
self like gentleman while we were getting
him aboard. Indeed, the whole collection
seemed to be under a spell.
The lions acted like frightened
dogs aud the panthers never uttered a
snarl, while the big serpent3 seemed to sleep
through it all We made Our olting 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.
1t may be that the animals were Seasick, or
that tho motion Of the ship frightened them.
They broke out with bowls and roars and
yelps and screams, and nothing would quiet
them.
The rhinoceros didn't propose to stand neu-
a.. lt,s l..
and "woofs,, and made such efforts to break
out Of his pen, that some OF the men were
ready TO make for the crosstrees. 1t came On
n darksh 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 panthers were
screaming and about once in five min
utcs the borele would utter loud
"woJf," and make an attack on his pen. 1t
did no good to throw feed to tho brutes hun
ger had nothing to do with their conduct.
Each one had been captured singly, and each
was full grown and dangerous. The near pre-
ence Of men, the sight of each other and the
rough motion of tho brig conspred TO thor
oughly excite each and every one. The ser
penis were wide awake and vengeful, and tie
rhnoceros was mad clear through. A more
dangerous and vindictive creature than the
black rhinoceros cannot be found ON earth.
Flo IL afraid OF nothing under the sun. He is
boiling over with the sulks twenty-threc 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 III sight sets him off ON
mad charge, and lie will never cool down
while there is a show to wreak vengeance.
The fellow we had on deck was a piece of
uglincss weighing from / ,2G0 to 1,400 pounds.
He had been caught III 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
acroas the bars of his pen, and whenever any
one went near him he exhibited his anger in
Oxen ways.
The night wore away at last, and when day
light 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 Quilmane, having had
II good breeze all the time, we were to the south
of the lower end of Madagascar, and we'll into
the Indian ocean. Soon after breakfast the
breeze died away, and by o'clock we were in
a dead calm, and it was hot enough ON deck to
start the pitch in the seams Every sign ndi-
Gated 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 storage way when we were sur
rounded 10y sharks, | believe that fully one
hundred OF the monsters came proWling about
us, and MS we had little or nothing TO do the
captain willingly granted us permission to bait
thcm. We threw over the shark hook, baited
with piece of salt beef, and IL had scarcely
touched the water when tifteen-foot shark
ran away with it. We tailed on to the line
ana haulCd him along side in order to to get
moose over his head to lift on, and we were
about ready to hcavC and haul when there was
great crash on deck behind us.
The captain and first mate were below, and
the second mate, who had the watch On the
deck was bos,ing the Job of hauling in our
captive. We wcrcall aft on the port quarter,
and for n few minutes the animals had been
left 20 Themselves Tho cause OF the smash
Wns the rliuoce}os lrcakicg out of his pen.
The beast worked it in a cute way He
leaned his whole weight on one side, and by
and Ivy, as the brig. lifted and then went down
heavily III the next hollow, the great lar,
added to his dead weight, broke the faSteniugs
of the bars. rs we turned he was Just emcrg-
ing from the pen, and nj the same moment the
lions and pauthers began 60 roar and scream.
They knew the ugly nature of the
beast and they probably suspected
forward, shouting and gesturiug, and
hoping 10 dlvo the borele back, but he was not
to he intimidated, His eyes began to snap and
his tail TO switch, and all of sudden he low
cred his head and charged at US. Being
small craft the space between the cabin roof
and she bulwarkS was not wide enough to adj
nit ot the body of the borele, but he made sew
cr3l determined attempts TO come at us before
hc 'uyncd away.
/ Y "a would have thought the rise and fall of
E II,
I least made him careful how he moved about
/ but he never minded IL, aud his legs wcrc as
/ firm under him As an old sailors. We were
after ropes to lasSo him when he drew back
! wheeled around, and charged forward. The
first thing he came 10 was the cage containing
the serpents. II had q compartment for each
lie struck il on end gave it a toss in the air,
and rs il came down lhe three big snakes, hiss
! ING like geese, glided in different directions One
ran under the cages containing the panthers n
second ont ON the h0wsprit, and the third dart
| ed into the ioteCastle The natives called to
us To look out, rs the boreio would attack the
I other cages, and while some OF the men Sprang
+ down The companionway into the cabin, the
others ran M the mainmoSt ShrOudS l was
one Of the latter, there being four of us, and
I when about hall way TO the crosstrees we
4 paused 10 watch the further actions OF the
rhmoceroS The lions and panthers We're
raising an awful racket and the confusion
WAS deatoning The big beast cleared his
horn of portion Of the cage hanging
7 10 II, and then struck that con-
tanning the pantherg. The beasts were lber-
ated la a moment, and rs they ran about the
deck tine lions reared and rayed until We had
/ 10 stop our ears. One Of the panthets ran aft
and leaped into the yawl boat az the GavitS and
+ crooJched under thwGrt. and the other hid
under the bedding we had brought up 10 air
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