Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-12-30
He CHOKEO A LEOPARD.
c. {. AksIsy Tails Of His Fight


Thrilling ster d Z Dy's Hunt ia On Al
rlcan Jungle That Ealsd With This Fisrc
md Nest Uncommon Struggle.
Men who can truthfully lay claim u
having killed a wild leopard In hand
to-claw encounter in the jungle are no
to be met in every street. c. E. AXE
ley, one of the members of Professo
Eliot's expedition to Africa for tn
Field Columbian museum, Is prObabl!
the only one. He did it and was pu
on the hospital list for a time in conse
quence. His story of the struggle will
this ferocious beast and Of the day!
jungle hunting that led up to 1t is on
of thrilling interest.
Mr.. Akeley is not only an intrepid
hunter but powerfully built and cour
ageous man. Were he not he never
could have killed this leopard, which
measured as much as he did, and thu
hunted, instead of the hunter, would
now have been telling the story.
Il wasn't looking for leopards wher
I met this one" says Mr.. Akeley. .
had been hunting ostricnes. and would
have much preferred to meet one. Oul
party was camped at Hessi-Barri, ir
Ogaden, down in the wilds of Africa
1t is an ostrich country, and l was an
xious to kill some. 1 found them aw-
fully hard game to get, however, fol
the reason that we could never get g
good, fair shot at them. On account
of the hostility OF the natives in thai
part of Africa, and because of the pres
ence of lions in the region, it is not
generally safe to hunt there without a
small sized army behind you. The
boys we had to take along as a guard
were always noisy, and the result was
that they always warned and brighten
ed the game. 1t was next to impossible
therefore to get within 500 yards of an
ostrich.
Perhaps it was because they were SO
hard to shoot that l was so determined
to get one" continued Mr.. Akeley.
Anyway, l started out one morning
with only one syse instead of taking a
number A syse is a native man who
takes care of horses or mules. We left
the camp at an early hour, and was
determined to get an ostrich before l
came back if it was a possible thing.
But didn't. got other game, but no
Ostriches.
FIRST KILLS A HYENA.
I'VE hadn't gone far down the river
from our camp before heard a crack
ing through the bushes across the
stream. In a moment out walked a
hyena on a dry place, along the bank
of the river. 1t was an easy shot. and
I killed him with the first fire. On ex-
animation, however. l found that the
hide was worthless. Hyenas are al
ways fighting, you know. They are al
ways being torn and bitten, and
every tear and every bite turns
into an ulcer. This old fellow had
been fighting a good deal, and his skin
was no good to me. So We went on and
left him.
We had not been out great while
before we came to sort of rise in the
ground where I stood for a time look
ing about to see if there was any of my
kind of game in sight. Suddenly I
hearo my boy raising great racket be-
hind me to attract my attention. When
lOOkcu dTOuIlu i saw IIilIl
wildly and pointing off toward my right
l looked over in the direction which he
indicated and saw there in the brush
an old boar or African wart hog. 1t
was easy enough to kill the old fellow,
but when I had done that l found he
would be Of no use to me then. Those
Samoli guides are all Mohammedans
and OF course will have nothing to do
with anything that has come into con-
tact in any way with pig. I couldn't
cut the boars tusks out because l
couldn't carry them and my syse
wouldn't and because he wouldn't
even carry my knives after
ward until they had been thoroughly
washed There was no water near by
in which to do that, so I went on and
left the boar where he had dropped.
ONE POOR SHOT AT AN OSTRICH
II walked many a long step farther. .
continued Mr.. Akeley, before l got
even a trace Of an ostrich, the game
was hunting particularly. did see one
at a great distance and fired at him
but missed. 1 had the sights on my CUR
set at 500 yards. would have done
better probably if I had set them al
800, for l believe I fired low on that
bird down between his legs. After that
l was out for a long time without ever
seeing anything and finally started
back toward camp. On the way l shot
a couple of beautiful little antelope
dickdicks they are called. They were as
pretty specimens as l ever saw, but
they were not ostriches, and l reached
the camp without any of the game
had gone out to shoot.
After supper and about half an houl
before shutdown I took boy with ms
and started off to get the tusks of the
boar had shot in the morning. l saw
a lot of vultures flying aroundthe spot
as 1 expected, believing that they
would eat the carcass and leave me the
head and tusks. But when we reached
the place there was no boar to be seer
nothing but few bones and a lot Of
tracks that showed some other beas1
had been there. While / was wonder
ing what had become of my game m,
boy cahed my attention to something
skuiking away through the brush. L
was big hyena, carrying away tn,
carcass Of my boar. He was takins