The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-03
HUNTING ELEPHANTS.
How the Natives Get Big Game on
the White Nile.

Bordering the White Nile, some three
hundred miles south of Khartoum and
extending some 200 miles further south
/ to near Fashoda. is as fine a big game
country as is to be found in Africa. The
following species abound on either bank
of the river: Elephant, giraffe, buffalo,
| lion, leopard, cheetah, sewal, roam ante
| lope Waterbuck, tora hartebeeSt, bestard
! hartebeest, white cared cob, reedbuck,
gazelle, ostrich, hippopotamus, warthog,
etc. The pursuit of game in this district,
as also in the rest of the Soudan, is
closely restricted by the Soudan game
laws, which are everywhere rigidly en-
forced. The killing of elephant and buff
J falo with large bore rifles, though doubt
| less exciting sport, does not compare
with the method practiced by the Selim
! Baggara Arabs. who hunt them ON
horseback armed only with their broad
headed spears.
In this sport the white man is prac-
tically precluded from taking an active
part, owing to the nature of the bush
and cotton soil Their plan is as fol-
| lows: Parties of from four to ten men,
riding about nine to ten stone. mounted
on Is hand AbySSinian ponies, price 80
to 40 sheep ii. e., &2 to "a, for the price
of sheep here averages about 2s), ac-
companied by their women and donkeys,
encamp near some spot known to be the
drinking place of the elephants. These,
however, only drink about every third
night, and pass the interim some 20
miles OF more III Q6ISO anu WdLGllCSS
jungle. The hunters having settled their
camp on the river leave their women in
charge and themselves sleep the night
some eight or ten miles inland and to
| leeward of the numerous elephant
tracks leading to the river.
If in luck they will probably hear the
| herd trumpeting during the night, and
in any case, at the first break of dawn,
every man will be in the saddle, ana
| they at once proceed to draw up wind
/ he here
marked their toilet is not extensive.
their hunting kit being little more than
nature gave them, as practically all
| clothes are dispensed with in order to
facilitate passage through the holding
/ "Wait-a- Bit or "kitr' bush. Occasion
ally the elephants are met returning
| leisurely from their hbations. which
simplifies matters considerably but
ten miles from the river. and by dawn
are we'll on their way to their home in
the thickest bush. as a rule twenty
miles from the river.
If the latter be the case, on hitting
off the spoor the Arabs at once dash off
with wild hoorooshes in headlong pur-
suit along the plainly visible track, ana
continue with top speed, with here and
there a momentary check regardless OF
all obstacles. such as fallen trees.
branches, deep baked elephant tracks
bulhnches of 'wait-a-bit" bush, and the
worst of cotton soil, until they come up
to the herd or mark them to ground
after perhaps a ten-mile point in the
impeneuable kitr bush, which serves
as a sanctuary for them. On nearing
the elephants the cows often turn and
challenge their pursuers before being
actually molested; however, in any case
battle royal is shortly begun The
Arabs, one by one, thrusting dexter
ously with their keen, broad laded
spears at the headquarters of the Sc
/ lected elephant. are each in turn pur-
sued. but only to return and renew the
attack afresh.
/ Eventually the mighty pachyderm
subsidies, weak from the loss of blood
from many wound, and is then at the
mercy of his wildly vociferating assail-
ants Now and again a fall at critical
moment leaves an Arab an easy victim
to the Infatuated beast; but so nimble
are these hard and why men that
/ fatal or even serious accidents are rare.
/ On the fall of the elephant messengers
are at once dispatched to the camp on
the Nile, now, perhaps, twenty miles
J distant to inform the women, who has
| tily collect all available donkeys and
waterskins and forthwith set out for the
scene of the kill to bring home the meat
and the much priced hide and ivory.
| The ponies meanwhile have probably
| been without water since the previous
afternoon, ard will now have long jog
back to the river, which they may posi-
J bly, reach about p. m, by which time