The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-02
GAME LAW FOR LIONS.
There VIII soon BE n Shortage in
iOnSLin Mats.


Those who contemplate procuring their
lion skin mats direct from the producer in
Somaliland will need to hurry up, or they
will be too late. Time was when Somal-
land was huge game preserve for wealthy
sportsmen-t still is, in fact-but it has
been so devastated by these sDortsmen
and by native hunters that protective
measures are under consideration by the
Indian government.
Hitherto there has been a singular meth
cd of discrimination followed. To penetrate
into the British protectorate at all, for in
stance, the permission of the political res
ident at Alden had to be obtained. To this
was attached a proviso that certain hills
near the coast must not be shot over, as
they are reserved for the officers of the
Alden garrison. As the prohibited region
is the only one where the greater koodoo
is now to be found-eXcept for an OCCASION
al straggler-that excludes one of the
chief attractions to the big game shooter.
Then, again, the Britisher must not go
south of the eighth degree of latitude,
which is just the point where rhinoceros
and zebra begin to be plentiful. But any
foreigner can roam just where he likes,
and STAY a his own sweet will.
To what extent the slaughter goes on
may be gathered from the fact that of
the fOrty-five sportsmen who voyaged in
British Somaliland in 1885, twenty-nine
dlOHe DdSSeu 20 elepndntS - lions, ~ TnlI-
Oceros, 20 leopards, 3 panthers, 80 zebra,
) wild ass, "a hartebeest, 81 koodo, $50 oryx
many hundreds of gazelle, ostrich, and l
giraffe. All this without taking into ac-
count the numbers killed by Abyssnian
and Midgan hunters for the sake of the
horns and pelts. Within the last three
months some forty lions are known to
have been killed by some half-dozen Eu-
ropeans of various nationalities, and one
has to go well inland to find" to-day.
The last two visitors to the interior
Capt. Eustace, Fifth Dragon Guards, and
Capt. Glossop of the First Dragon
Guards-have just arrived here from Ber-
bera after a two months tour on their
way home from India. They had killed
seven lions, besides capturing two cubs,
two leopards, twenty-one oryx, one great
er, and one lesser koodoo, thirteen harte-
beest, the biggest wart hog on record.
(thirteen- and-a-half-inch tusks) twenty
one auol, one of which also beats the rec
ord for size. Capt. Glossop might have
| also secured a rhinoceros, but he was too
near to be able to lift his rifle in time
when he came on it, and had to jump
into a big thorn bush to escape it's charge.
And as it discreetly headed across the
protecting eighth degree line, he was, of
course, unable to follow.
Westward, or toward the Ogaden coun-
try on the south, there is still plenty of
game, but it is hardly advisable to go af-
| ter it, with the whole region overrun by
! AbySsinian warriors" Indeed, after the
| hostiiities between Abyssinia and Italy be-
| gan, and Ras Makonnen's former friend
| ship for England turned to open enmity,
| in consequence of rumors that leila was
! going to be coded by us to the Italians,
the Ras formally notified our residents
| that any British sportsmen discovered
! anywhere in the territory which he claim
| ed as Abyssinian would be attacked by his
| soldiers and he even sent orders to the
tribes around Berbera and Bulhar and
leila to oppose the entrance of any shoot
| ing parties.
Between this opposition to free passa ge
to the more remote regions, therefore, and
| the steady decline in the numbers of big
| game in such localities as are accessible,
| the sportsman of the future will find
Somaliand less of a happy hunting
| ground than it was. Already it has been
found necessary to prohibit the shooting
of elephants and to increase the area of
! the reserve" wherein game can find sane
| tuary. But 1t is time that some proper
| measures are adopted for the regulation of
! shooting-some restriction as to the num-
| Der of heads-as in the case of the moose,
! in Canada. At present there is nothing at
| all TO restrict senseless slaughter.
| Only the other day a Dutch sportsman"
| destroyed a whole herd of wild asses
which is very little better fun than pot
| ting a drove of Margate dOnkeys-and
slew hartebeest by the score, simply for
| Killings sake, for, by his own account,
neither the meat nor the hides were taken.
What is clearly needed is the division Of
| British Somaliland into three or more
parts, each of which, in turn. shall be
closed to sportsmen for, say, five years,
and so have an opportunity of becoming
restocked. Further, foreign sportsmen
should at least be put under the same re-
! strictions as British. Another improve
ment would be to remove all grounds for
| the present justifiable complaint that the
protectorate is one huge preserve for Alden
! officers first, and my lords and guards
men second and last. 1t is practically
barred to the sportsman who is not either
! somebody or wealthy, the excuse being
| that unless accompanied by a large and
expensive and useless Somali escort there
| is danger of massacre, and consequent
! trouble to the government, which is pure
! rubbish
However, it is satisfactory to know that
| the Bombay government is bestirring Itself
in the matter, to some extent at least.
Somaliland deserves a little more atten-
! ton than it has hitherto had