Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-07-30
LION HUNTING.

North Africa tne seat OF the once .'lplty
empire Of Carthage-the resting place Of the
Vandals and cradle Of the Moors-remnins
terra incognita to the rank and file OF the
great army Of modern travellers. Quaint
notions still prevail as to the fauna of that
vast expanse Of country stretching north
ward from the Sahara to the shores Of the
Mediterranean
At the risk of being regarded as prosaic.
We will be truthful and eschew all fiction.
We have encountered no wild elephants, the
giraffe and rhinoceros are strangers to u.s.
beyond seeing them in cantivity The larger
beasts of pray met bY us with anything like
frequency were only hyenas and lackals
The hyena 50 called by the Greeks from Its
swine like appearance, is that bristly maned
dog like animal frequently seen in menag
cries Of which once heard the show
man saw THIS is the savage hyena,
he prowls about Gravey ards at night HI
digs up the corpses and eats them alive AS
to the tackal. he is but a wild, gregarious
sort Of dog When seen Mt menageries half
mad with hunger. or stirred up by the long
pole Of the keeper into fits OF impotent
ferocity. growing and snarling at you and
at each other over the scanty meal OF bones
flung TO them-these noxious creatures may
have produced in some of us the pleasant
sensation OF being terrified in perfect safety
No doubt many a visitor has come away from
such shows firmly convinced that hyenas and
iackals are animals Of the most dangerous
description ugly customers to meet outside
their iron cages Such notions will be
quickly dispeled by a holiday tour through
Algeria Moors or Arabs mind them no
more than we do rats Hyenas and jackals
ARE to the aiorigines Of North Africa mere
,ermin. and as such not objects Of fear, but
only Of loathinG and contempt No kabyie
would teniean himself by stalking the like,
His long gun. cimeter or yataghan is much
too good for them They are fit only for his
cudgel. and with it he Stays them indiscrim
inately whenever they cross his path. In
the eyes OF the European sportsman they
soon become more contemplate even than
the rat, for It is a plurky animal, and will
sometimes turn upon its foe and die game.
but the tackal never Even when wounded.
or with their young their only resource is to
sneak away iclluminiotsly In short master
jackal is an arrant coward and humhug,
known as such by every child in Algeria
Nor can It be said Of the more powerful
hyeaa that he is much drawer We have
seen mere lad with stick chase them by
1Ht, anu even Mt night wien tutN ttutk up
courage and core forth from their hiding
places In large numbers to ply their oath
some task as s,aveugers Of the desert. an On
counter with tlein is deemed by no means
formidable Only the most verdant novice.
freshly imported from Europe, would bring
a breech loader to bear upon them.
Whore. then, in broad Algeria, may the
brave son Of Nimrod find game worthy of his
rif and Of his k.,ar and praeficad
eye which have been the death OF many a
hare and wild fowl on the moors Of merry
Eta. and and Wales and bonnie Scotlandi IF
he is sans puer ct sans reproche, and, more
over, patient. much endnrin.-and with
plenty Of time at bis disposal-we can prom
Use him the grandest and nobiest sport OF all
The kilia, Of beasts in his finest development
is still 70 tie found in North Africa Among
the mirTosa bushes Of yonder sandy plains be
rears his ma ieStic crest Those rocky heights
know h!s presence From bovlder to bowl
der he leaps with mighty bounds, and al
night his awful voice rt-erhoc-. rolling like
thunder along the gruun,l and cpsying all na
trre into silence No other North African
country contains many hens a. Algeria
but even there they are growing scarcer
from year to year Gerard, the first famous
Algerian lion killer, upwards Of thirty years
ago estimated them only one hundred and
twenty ia number. and they have certainly
not increased since A sslccesSful lion hunt
has thus hscnFae enc Of the rarest of rare
events We have known riany fashionable
chasses an lion to be organized No stranger
Of note who visits the country can well
leave it without INDUCING in enc or
mere of them. They are pic
turesque hut costly Kind of pageantry
always shown OF in bread daylight, and for
so.1th on horseback Small matter to these
amateur sportsman that lions habitually
sleep BY day in their almost Inaccessible
mountain fastntSsss, and that the proximity
Of q large posse of men and horses intiIn-
idates them Tie native guides know well
what they are about A lion hunt has been
ordered regardless Of expense. and vast
preparations are set on foot forthwith
At dawn Of the appointed day giitfering
cavalcsde isslies from the gates 1t is hailed |
by the acclaElation Of motley crowd Of
natives eager for backsheesh hose expecea- |
tious are ahslndantly gratified, owing to the |
hest Of humors engeiderei by the prospect |
Of such noble sport A truly magnificent