The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-17
HUNTING IN THE JUNeLES.
CAsPAR WHITNEY TELLS OF HIS
TRIP.
His Experiences in search of Big
Game in Siam, Sumatra and the
Malay Peninsula.
From the New York Tribun

mas laNely returned from d huHliuS mp
in the far Fest, and in speaking of his
experiences, said:
From a sportsman's point Of view I
wanted to hunt in new country, and, as
India and Africa had been so thoroughly
shot over and repeatedly written up. there
was no novelty in going there. After cast
ing about for some time I chose the jun
giles of Siam, sumatra and the Malay pc
insula. I also, especially. wanted to see
these jungles, as they were said to differ
from those of India and Africa, especially
from those of the latter, where the coun-
try is comparatively open, with patches
of jungle here and there.
"On my way West 1 stayed at Chicago,
Kansas City, San Francisco, Seattle and
Tacoma, where for the last three or four
years sports have been booming, and
where mI-professional methods have had
a wide vogue. These methods am glad
to say, have to great extent disappeared
now, and sports are going on upon a
wholesome and healthy basis.
Il then sailed for Siam from Vancouver,
B. c., via China and Japan. in both of
which countries I made brief stays. In
Japan / found the natives had learned
base bali sufficiently to defeat nine made
up from the crew of one of our warships.
Upon my arrival in Siam I made the
acquaintance of Prince Maret, the Kings
brother, who was exceedingly kind to me.
In that country it is necessary to obtain
a permit before one can go on a hunting
expedition, and after this formalty was
attended to, through the courtesy and adj
vice of the prince, l joined forces with his
mead man. who has charge of the bound
airy line between Burmah and Siam. The
combined expedition amounted to thirty
five men and eleven bullock carts
"On the frontier line between these coun-
tries l had been advised there lived a no.
madic race OF people, called the Karens,
who had the reputation of being great
hunters, and We therefore made them our
objective point. Except to the northward
Siam is a very low country, which is al
most wholly covered with water during the
rainy season. When the dry season ar
riVes wild animals from the high country
come to the lowlands seeking water nd
these doughty hunters build platforms
near water pool and pot game from this
emineuce as it comes to drink. Nice and
sportsmanlike, isn't it
THE jungle differed from those of IN
da and Africa and changed my anthcioa-
tons to keen regret. The foliage was
completely interlaced with no open spaces,
the underbrush rising to a height of fiji
teen feet and, to complicate matters, rat
tan creepers depended from the trees above
and ntertwined with it. Then, almost all
the shrubbery was armed with long and
exceedingly sharp thOrns, which in many
cases bent backward. Thus you we're
compelled when once caught TO go back
and eXtricate yourself, as struggling only
entanged you the more. So dense was it
that l was always preceded by a jun
man, who. by cutting a creeper here and
there with his jungle knife, enabled me
to edge my way through.
81 stayed in Siam and Burmah six weeks
principally hunting buffalo. They are a
peculiar beast, resembling our domestic
OK, although much larger, as they FIRE.
quently stand seven feet at the shoulder
Should you wound one he will crash on
into the jungle out of sight, and will then
circle round until he gets you wind, when
he viii charge up it just as the rhinoce-
ros does. 1t must be borne in mind that
in these jungles a range of vision ton ac-
count of the thickness of the underbrush)
of twenty feet is extraordinary, and while
you hear the buffalo dashing about in their
runaways, 1t is seldom you can catch
sight of them. They are as likely as not
to get your wind, and then it's goodby
to that buffalo.
Il went out there a firm devotee of the
Winchester and light guns, as against the
elephant or heavy guns, but in that coun-
try give me the six to twelve bore ele-
plants, even if they do weigh fifteen
pounds and are load to carry. Up to
then had always said that a bullet from
a light gun in a vital spot was as effec-
tive as the bullet from a heavy gun, and
YOU didn't have TO wear yourself out car
rying around the extra weight. While
that rule may still be true in an open
country, where you can pick your shot, it
is a failure in those tropical jungles,
where you must shoot on the instant, and
il you land anywhere near the mark be
able to drop your game.
LAS a result of having only Winches-
ter got nothing in SIAM although wound
ing several animals, including an ele-
plant I managed TO crawl within twen-
tv feet of him and then pumped four shots
into him, three behind the shoulder and
one in front of the hips; but although I
followed him all that day and the next, I
lost him.
This discouraged me in my use Of the
Winchester and on my way down to
Burmah I borrowed an, eght-bore ele-
plant gun, and got a bison with 1t. I
had the luck to have the wind from the
sladang OLSON to me, which enabled me
to get within fifteen feet of him. I put
two shots from my Winchester into his
shoulder, but off he went showing that
his shoulder blades were unbroken, and
that the balls lacked penetratiye force.
Knowing he would charge me, / went on
till l came to a peculiar jungle tree,
whose roots formed sort of natural bull
wark. had just reached 1t when out he
came direct for me.
II mana ged to turn him with two more
Winchesters in the shoulder, but still did
not break the blade, although there We're
fifty grains of smokeless powder behind
each bullet / then waited for him with
the eight-bore, and on his next charge my
first shot broke both his shoulder-blades
and his spine.
81 also got a fish-tiger really a panth-
err, but with tigers markings. il lives
on fish, and hence its name.
From there 1 went to Sumatra, carry
ing the eight-bore, together with a twelve
bore which l had also picked up. l also
had high velocity rifle, one from which
the proiectile travels twenty-three hum
dred feet a second on leaving the muZzle
but l am not enthusiastic about them. I
came across a rhinOceros swimming a
stream, and, although ] put four high We
locity and three Winchester bullets into
him, he waddlod out on the other side
as IL nothing in particular had happened