Evening star., 1901-04-17
HUN NTlNG THE GIRAFFE E
PRIMITIVE WAY WAS TO DIG PIT
FALLS IN THE EARTH.
Natives Still Kill Them With Tiny
Bows and Poisoned Arrows-Are
Difficult to Stalk.
From tie Pittsburg Dispatch.

Difficult to Stalk.
From tie Pittsburg Dispatch.
Until toward the end of the first quarter
of the past century giraffes and giraffe
hunting were almost unknown to European
| sportsmen. Even down to so recent a pc
riod as the year 1777, when Major Gordon
a Scottish officer commanding the Dutch
forces at the Cape, shot a giraffe on the
northern bank of the orange river, these
strange animals had been practically un-
known for centuries. 1t is true that sin
gle captive specimen was maintained at
Florence, in Italy, by Lorenzo de Medic In
the hfteenth century, and that cameio-
pards. brought doubtless from North Afri-
ca, We're exhibited by the Roman emperors
IN the arena of the great gladia torial spec
tacles and at triumphs. But until Major
Gordon, in company with Lieutenant Pater-
son, a British officer, slew his first giraffe
Just beyond the Orange river. in the coun-
try of the Namaquas, in 1871, this animal
was looked upon by most as fabulous, a
mere chimera to be relegated to the regions
of fiction.
SIN Exist Along Orange River.
Gordons giraffe, the skin of which was
sent to Europe, and still, l believe, exists
in the museum of Leyden, proved conclu
siVely that these animals really existed, and
among naturalists and sportsmen much in
terest began at once to be taken in what
was looked upon as new and wonderful
species of the African fauna. LIE Valiant,
the French ornithOogiSt and traveller, fol-
lowed Gordon at an interval of about six
years. He found and shot. so he says, the
giraffe beyond the Orange river, and de-
ScrlbeS IN the most ecStatic terms the chase
OF TINS animal. Unfortunately there is
strong reason to believe that the lively but
imaginative Frenchman never crossed the
orange river al all. An old Boer lady, who
lived toward the Orange and knew LIE
valiant well, and who survived far into
TINS century, always stoutly declared that
the trenchman neither crossed the river
nor Shot giraffe. AS these animals were
never in modern times found south of the
Orange, ii is clear hat if lie valiant never
crossed the river. he could never have shot
a camelopard. He has been convicted of
deliberate untruthS and gross taking" in
regard to his birds and birdskins and his
own evidence on giraffe hunting is there
fore, scarcely to be received without cor
roboratlon, which it entirely lacks. 1t is a
pity Tor lie Valiant could write well and is
always amusing.
How the Natives Hunted Giraffe
There can be no doubt that by means of
pitfalls and other contrivances. African
hunters in various parts of the dark conti-
heht have for ages been in the habit Of
pursuing and Staying Siraffes. Even down
TO the present time the Masarwa bushmen
OF the kalaharf desert manage to kill these
gigantic and extremely thiCk-sknned ami
maiS by means of bows and poisoned ar
rows 10 effect the downfall of one of
these creatures. the Masarwa has. howev-
er, to exercise infinite patience. He knows
lile hablts and ways of this game. as of all
other beasts of the veldt, by heart; it is
TO him the main business of his life He
lies in ambush. or, with the greatest care
and stealth, stalks up to the giraffe, and,
when close at hand, discharges his little
bone-tlpped arrow, well smeared with n
deadiy poison, into the Softest part of the
giraffe s skin, usually the under parts OF
the animal or between the legs On So hugo
a frame-a giraffe stands eighteen feet high
and weighs a ton-the poison takes son1n
time to do its work; but presently il be-
gins to tell. Hour after hour sometimes
for day or two the bushman follows on
the spoor of his prey, until at length he
mas it dead or dying and with his s,,oar
hastens its last moments Then cnsl1ns q
gut OF flesh, and the MasarVa and his
family and friends are for DAYS in a sey
enth heaven of delight.
Chase On Horseback
Not until the time of CORVALLIS Harris
the l1rst of that great line of British hunt
ers VINO nave exploited South Africa. do
we ma the modern chase OF the giraffe on
horseback, one of the most glorious and
exciting of all forms of hunting, properlv
n
unsuccessful attempt in which he and his
horse were left behind, soon discovered
Ihat the secret of giraffe hunting is to
ioTce the animals beyond their pace to
rae right up TO them and, firing from the
saddle bring them down a close quarters
10 do this one must urge ones horse to ito
highest speed and as the wonderful troops
oI lohs-necked creatures go sailing away in
front suck to them until the pace tells and
they begin gradually to come back to the
morse, an animal naturally more ADAPTED
for long and fatisuing gallop at IA ire
mendous pace. These tactics told and
presently, after a number of DISCHARGES
firearms were but feeble weapons in 1S37-
Captain Harris brought down his first gi-
rafe. Bowing his graceful head from the
Skies says the hunter, his proud form
was PROSTATE in the dust. Never shall [
forget the tingling excitement Of that mo-
ment Alone in the wild wood l hurrahed
with bursting exultation and, unsaddling
my Steed, sank exhausted beside the noble
prize that L had Won
The Sport of the World,
All South African hunters agree as to the
extreme pleasure and excitement Of a run
up to a troop of giraffes. There is nothing
quite like it in the world. The extraordi-
nary aspect of the tall quadrupeds, shut
fling at an immense pace away in front
their strange labored gait reminding one Of
the rocking of a tall ship in a rolling swell,
their thick wiry, black tails twisted up
over lHeif DackS ana WnlSk1nS round and
round in most curious fashion, their long
necks rising and falling in pendulum
like rhythm, their splendid dappled forms
bulking enormous to the eyes; all these
things, combined with the pace at which
ones good horse, excited by the chase and
urged with the spur, carries one, tend to
make giraffe hunt on horseback one of
the most thrilling of all the varied sensa-
tions that a sportsman can hope to expe-
rience. /, for one, although l have tasted
the delights of many forms of sport fox
hunting included, can affirm that nothing
to my mind equals the maddening delight