The Dickinson press., 1897-10-30
HUNTING IN eEcnuANALAhp

HUNTING IN eEcHuANALANp
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Tho following tslS.a anI y q tls ttEs from
. letter to fri ri 4 u F16,vt u, 3 1edSse
dated at Johann esbnrg, south AZ
rica:
On the day that my letter left On
the mail train ! started out with
two American friends On d; hunting
trip in Bechuanaland. We took the
train at s:26 in the morning for
Mafeking and arrived there the next
day. Basuto ponieA guns, ammu-
milton, Scotch cart, guide and mig
ger were hired there; and the next
day we started on our trip, and let
me tell you it was cleaner. I
was too weak to ride my horse all
day and had to get OF and stay in
the cart the first two days; then I
got a little stronger and stuck It out
with the rest. Boys, it was a treat
sleeping out in the open air 5000
feet above the ocean, eating bread
and game twice day, riding about
ten miles each day, outside Of the
chase. l tell you, it put new life
into me, and.it is there yet. Well,
the second day out we struck the
first antelope and springbok That
meant fresh meat; no more canned
goods after that. In all we shot two
leopards, one ant bear, four porcu-
pines, three buffaloes, any number
Of wild pigs and springbok and an
telope. We had more than we
needed. found that I could shoot
better than I expected.
Just let me tell you something
about our guide. He was an Irish
Afrikander, reckless and without
fear and one of the bravest men I
have ever seen. His name was
Beane. As we were riding along one
day toward evening looking for a
camp our three dogs started up
something which we thought was a
wild pig: The grass was about 10
feet high, and we couldn't see, so
we started after them, following the
bark, and when we came there was
q leopard up three yards on a big
gum tree, and one Of the dogs had
him by the neck, bit fast, and he
couldn't go any farther. What do
you suppose the Irishman didS He
jumps off his horse, takes the leop.
ard by the tail, pulls him off the
tree, the other two dogs take hold
Of him, and he kicks the leopard in
sensible. Igot d rock afterward and
knocked his brains out. e
One day as we were out looking
for bucks we heard roar, nothing
like had ever heard before. It was
the roar Of lion, the only one we
met in the two weeks we were out,
an unearthly sound Saunders and
myself lodged behind tree very
suddenly and then waited. He came
within 7b yards Of us; and then he
smelled a rat, turned tail and skip.
ped. He had business elsewhere;
was more scared than we were. We
banged at him, but he only went so
much faster. That is the liking Of
beastsi" Nonsensei I do not fbelieve
In him any more. y We shot a5lot Of
other stuff, too, but all the big game,
as elephants, giraffes, ETC., .sis nearly
wiped out You must go up as far
as the Zambezi. to find it, which /
hope to do some day.
The only thing that is dangerous
about here is snakes + don't mean
the snakes that you are thinking Of,
but real live snakes. Oh, what a
lot you find herei At night we put
buffalo manure, alIt dried on tho
fire inorder to Keep It b,nrning, aahd
then we would meal aRaytfrom it
about 40 or 80 yiSipd6 t.sYhd dcTeepers
go where III isWarm, a,;i1 a,n;id15,vie +:si ware
pretty nearly safe Harry Saunders,
Boston chap, shook a snake out Of
his boot one morning. I have been
shaking my boots ever since, al
though there are no snakes about
One day got a nasty fall on5ac-
count Of one of the big ones hanging
In tree. I didn't see it, but the
horse did. He takes a very sudden
jump, of I go, and away goes the
horse. When I picked myself up,
and had look about, I spied the
sucker. He was Watching me, 80
concluded to look after the horse
instead; Of the snake aBeana 5Ithe
guide, says to me-. Why don't you
60 and wiring his oks"-Provi.
denoe Journal %a NJ. s $ss