Evening star., 1901-04-17

| sportsman WISHES to secure his game he
must follow the tai beasts as they go
| plunging into these Businesses, dodg-
| ing trees and ducking their long, swan
! like necks under branches in way that is
| perfectly amazing when one remembers
their tall and apparently unmanagea cable
| figures.
Mighty Nimrod's Yarn.
| 1 shall never forget the sight of my
| hunting comrade at the conclusion of his
second gallop after girafres in the forest
country of the North Kalahari. Led by
| bUshman hunters we were spooring these
! animals mile or so apart. l heard my
| friends rife go twice. and made my way
| in his direction. / came upon him pres
| entity, in an open glade, standing over
| gigantic old bull giraffe which he had
| brought down. He himself had suffered
| frightfully from thorns; he had no coat on
| 1--WE usually rode in our flannel shirts. with
! the sleeves rolled up); his chest. shoulders
| and arms were bleeding from fifty deep
| thorn wounds; his torso practically
! naked, and his shirt hung about him in
| lamentable rags. Thanks to the excite
ment of that triumphant moment, how
| ever, he rocked little of his wounds. and as
! l rode up and dismounted gazed from me
| with pleasure to that gigantic dappled
| form stretched at his feet. His horse,
| knee-haltered and grazing close by, was
| also much punished by the cruel thorns
| No one who has not hunted in Africa can
! have any conception of the immense
| strength, sharpness and variety of the
! thorns with which the various acacia
! bushes and trees of that country are fur
niShed. The Beers classify them as wait
a-bit,' hook thorns, stick thorns and hook
| and stick thorns. The stick thorns are the
horrida, often three or four inches IN
| length and of terrible sharpness There
are other varieties.
Scotch Costume I'm the Bush
How Gordon Cumming could hunt, as he
undoubtedly did. in q kilt and bare knees
Is a matter of wonder to all South African
sportsmen. ] have seen old natives in Sc
chelis and khama's countries in the Be
chuanaland prCtectOrate, who we'll remem-
| bered that mighty nimrod. his kilt his red
hair and beard his courage and lis mar
Velous exploits. He had a glorious time,
| indeed. in "a country practically -irgin to
the white hunter. and in those days teeming
with same, country which never till then
| had heard the sound of a rifle We cur
selves, after suffering considerably from
| thorns in these headiong gailops after
giraffe, used to put on our cord coats when
we came on fresh spoor and expected to en-
counter a troop of these tall QuadrupadS.
In the old days. when South Africa had
| not been much exploited by the gunner,
glranes We're occasionally met with in
troops of from thirty to forty. l have heard
of seventy being seen in IA single herd-a
truly magnificent spectacle.
An Exciting Chase for Big Game.
Personally, l have never seen more than
nineteen giraffe in troop, number which,
nowadays may be looked upon as consider
ably more than the average. Few troops of
giraffe, in Southern Africa. at all events,
exceed from seven to twelve individuals. l
was hunting in the waterleSs forest region
of the North kalahari. about a days ride
south of the Botletli river, Ngamiand.
After sleeping out on the Spoor, with a na-
tive after-rider and some Bakurutse hunt
erS who had come out for meat, We spent a
long morning i'll search of giraffe, but with
out avail. The troop Of which were in
pursuit got our wind and escaped lis. Re
turning diSconSolately we emerged rom the
bush and forest. toward o clock, to find
to our ineXpreSSible delight. a herd of ntne-
teen tall giraffe feeding round two or three
Nameel-doorn trees q piece of rising
ground. AS we approached them in breath
less silence, and with the greatest caution,
we had the herd full in front of US. 1t was
a unique and most beautiful sight We
placed ourselves between the game and the
forest. and then advanced Our Bahurutse
spoorerS meanwhile stayed behind under
cover, watching the proceedings with in
tense excitement. The village from which
they came was badly in want of meat and
besides the prospect of sport, L was exceed
ingly anxious TO supply their wants.
Remorse of Giraffe Shooters
AS We advanced toward them the gil
raffes presently sighted us and headed
by huge old bull, made for the forest
heading obliquely across our front. We cut
off half the troop, drove them out into
fairly open country, and after a des-
perate chase managed to bring down two
apiece. Ny second giraffe a very large
dark-colored cow, led ME pretty dance
before l secured her. a nasty piece of
low hack thorn bush tore one stirrup and
leather from my saddle; / never saw them
again Thanks to an excellent hunting pony
l at length ranged close up to the stern
of my quarry, and, firing from the saddle
and breaking her shoulder. brought her
with the second shot to the ground. / am
bound to confess that, except for the en-
thralling rapture Of the run up, the actual
downfall of a giraffe is after the flush
of victory is over and the novelty has worn
off, not a form of shooting that commends
itself to the English sportsman. Except to
obtain good specimen or to provide nee
essary food supply few British hunters
would care to shoot ruthlessly giraffe after
giraffe. as Boer and native hunters do,
merely for the value of the skin. The hide
of a full-grown giraffe is at the present
time worth in South Africa about IS, and
for this paltry reward large numbers of
these splendid but defenseless creatures
are shot every year by hunters in that
country.
With horses these animals can, of course,
be killed pretty easily. Without those use
full aids the stalking Of a giraffe, one of
the shyest and most wary of all beasts of
chase in Africa, is by no means an easy
matter. and the foot hunter can only now
and again manage to approach and bag his
game.
Except in the Soudan regions and South
Africa giraffes, happily for themselves,
can, thanks to climatic conditions, only be
hunted foot, and their final downfall
steadily as they are vanishing before civil
izatiOn, must therefore be work of some
considerable time. In the regions south of
the Zambesi. with the exception of some
sanctuaries in the heart of the waterless
northern kalahar, they are, unhappily
fast disappearing before the rifle of the
relentless skin hunter.
MRS. McPHERSON'S WILL.
Grounds of Mrs. Muir's Contest to BE
Made known May 81.