The St. Louis Republic., 1901-10-20

LION HUNTING WITH RAILROAD BUILDING. O


pend all sorts OF queer and ponderous
| things. including empty cans and jam pots.
"Of all the tribes with whom the builders
| Of the railway have come into contact none
| is queerer than the Nasal. They disdain
| fruit as food. and live entirely on meat,
| while their only drinks are milk and blood
| Their King is a crafty. old character, who
| keeps the ~upperhand OF them partly through
silrewdness and partly by working on their
supersttions.
| Every once in awhile he publicly takes
F, d copioGs dose of a certain drug. which tho
1 Eatfves call royal medicine and believe
| would kill any one else. The only effect
! which 1t has on. the King. however is to
| throw him into a trance In which he makes
| startling communications regarding both
! t1ture events and what is happening In dis
| tant parts Of the country. This he is en-
/ apled 10 DO by maintaining. unknown to his
! people, surprisingly perfect secret service
| OF runners, who scour his domain from end
| to end. Thus when the King announces in
| MS trance that enemy is approaching
| from The west and the warriors 90 forth to
| meet him the fact that the foe Is discov-
| cred just where the King foretold he would
be naturally impresses them not little.
In dealing with the natives the Indian
| code generally is used and the native In
| depreciation of some OF its phrases are oc-
| casionally startling Four men had killed
4
admitted guilt Through a tecnnicality.
| however, they could not be punished
/ From this unexpected acquittal thsy
made their own deduction: The white
mans law requires cne life for one life
! We four killed one. Therefore. We cannot
lie punished Whereupon still another OBJ
, served: There must always be one life
taken for one life. II one man kills four
| other men he cannot be punished
native is going 10 take you. In Uganda
a white Bishop died. and through court
esy the nearest native King was invited to
his funeral. He talked over the invitation
with his head men, and all agreed that 1t
could mean only one thing: The King was
TO be buried with the churchman in order
that when the Bishop reached the heavenly
realms he could produce the King al Q con-
vert.
The King. In spite OF his terror. felt that
this was perfectly natural thing for the
Bishops countrymen to demand, and % he
appeared at the funeral with his teeth
chatteriug. When 1t was all over Il Is q
question whether his relief at being still
above ground was as great as his surprise
thereat and he returned to his equally as
tonished subjects shaking his head and de-
ciaring that there was no UNDERSTANDING
the white mans ways.
ut was because the natives refused To
help In building the Uganda road that the
British Government brought practically all
the working force from India These msn,
who number about 2o.000 are capable Of
standing the suns rays. and work cheer
fully and hard sixteen hours Q day for q
little more than a handful Of rica
"There Is no lack Of wild beasts in
Uganda even now; and q ride over the
part Of the line now in operation - Ike
travelling through an immense zoo. Ante
lopes. llama and xebras. with now and
then rhinoceros, gnu or Q little knot
OF sirafres or jaekals. are - common
sights as herd Of cattle or . dock Of
sheep would be on Q railroad In America,
but it is no longer the custom, - II was
for while. to stop the train or organize
an impromptu hunt whenever . particu-
larly attractive lot Of game was dlscov.
cred.
while the train Is passing the shore
of Lake Navista whole herds Of hippo
potami can be seen and 1t the different
stations ostriches feed with the barnyard
fowl Every once In q while. too. q troop
OF elephants will pay visit TO . station.
and more than once they have invaded the
ticket office and stripped 1t bare Of both
furniture and ticketa Take It all together.
the elephant Is persona non grata with the
railway people. He waits until, after days
Of work, they have dug their way through
thick forest. throwing up . high bank Of
earth on each side, and then comes In force
and has fun with the work, trampling al
over it and making 1t necessary to turn to
and do the whole job over again.
when the British Government went
about building the Uganda Railway it
was calculated that it would cost about
15.o0o.0co. and Parliament voted that
amount. but an expert who has Just In
spected the work gives as his opinion that
when finished 1t will have cost $75000.0o0
The line will probably be finished some time
in 1908. At present about 800 miles are open
for business. the passengers being principal
ly merchants and coolies, caravan porteTs
and British soldiers and officials The ma
tives themselves have not yet taken to rid
ing on the railroad.
1.-THE project has not been carried out
without American assistance. OF the
locomotives in use on the railroad more
than half are of American make, the
Government having been unable 70 per-
suade English manufacturers to build ~
heavy a type OF engine A. was needed
for the literally uphill" work. and the
large riy.rs which the remainder Of the
line will cross are now being spanned by
American bridges"