Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1904-12-09
ELEPHANT AND LION HUNTING.
Chances Of Finding Big Game In East
Africa.

Chances Of Finding Big Game In East
Africa.
II regret that cannot venture to
name the locality where the best
shooting Is to be had, for although /
was told Of some places which were
better than others, the information
which was able to pick up on rap
i'd tour was so incomplete that 1t
might be misleading to put 1t on rec
ord. I will confine myself to saying
that IL I were younger man I should
certainly lose no time in making
sporting tour in East Africa" says Sir
Edward Buck in the Englishman.
"The country has not been overshot
yet, but every year will tend to make
the game more shy. And I will add
that should be tempted to push on
through Uganda to the Albert Lake
and thence down the Nile to Egypt
thus avoiding the long sea journey
round by the Red Sea- The road from
Entebbe, at which place the traveller
is landed by the Victoria Lake steam
er, to the Albert Lake Is very good
one, and the journey takes about eight
days. At the lake boat Is procurable
which takes passengers through the
lake down the upper reaches Of the
Nile. Then a weeks journey by land
Is made imperative by rapids which
render the river unnavigable. After
this march the traveller can proceed in
a steamer direct to Cairo.
Zone Of the temptations, at least 1t
would be so to me, on this route Is the
fishing on Lake Albert and in some Of
the reaches Of the Nile. A fish which
appears to behave very like the NAH
seer Is very plentiful, and one was TAX
en- last year weighing 80 pounds. But
the fish which gives the best sport is,
80 I was told by an official who had
caught mahseer in the Himalayas, the
tiger fish, which, though smaller in
size, running only to ten pounds, Is
much more active than the mahseer
and requires more skill and care to
land.
"The sportsman will find another ad-
vantage on this route. He may take
out a second license for shooting in
the Uganda Protectorate under the
same restrictions as In the East Afri-
ca Protectorate, thus doubling the
number Of animals which he may kill,
and as he has a better chance than
elsewhere Of meeting with male ele-
plants with exceptionally good tusks
he may, II he is fortunate. obtain
ivory Of which the value will be mater
tally more than the license fee Of ESQ.
And he will have obtained perhaps
some fairly good tusks in the East
Africa Protectorate Of which the price
will, II he chooses to sell the ivory,
make up the whole Of the 9100, leav-
ing the only charges to be met the
far as I could ascertain the charges
for these are not excessive, provided
that the tent carried is light.
"As I have referred to the elephant,
1t will not be out Of place to mention
that on board the lake steamer met
an interesting character who had de-
voted the last ten years Of his life to
elephant hunting. He was then re-
turning from the Congo forests, which
lie beyond the Uganda Protectorate,
and lin which he said the finest ivory
and the greatest abundance Of ele-
plants were to be found. The open
season in the Congo State Is six
months, Of which he had only had time
for the last two but in that period he
had shot nineteen males. Naturally
the tusks were exceptionally good and
he had sold the ivory at Entebbe at
the rate Of six rupees a pound, for
sum, which after paying to the Congo
authorities the percentage Of 20 per
cent, which they require, left him with
net profit materially over $1,000.
I'm answer to my inquiries whether
he did not find 1t a dangerous occupa-
ton. he replied that there was very lit
tie danger from the elephant, provided
that the hunter takes care, which he
should always be able to do, to keep
to the leeward Of the animal. But the
slightest breath Of air on the wind
ward side will carry the scent to the
elephant, who will at once be alarmed
and may possibly turn and charge.
He was only once charged himself, but
stopped the beast with a bullet in the
forehead. He had an Shore rifle. but
seldom used 1t, preferring much 40
bore with which, on this occasion he
had killed his nineteen tuskers. The
worst danger which had to be encoun-
tered was. he said, from the rhino-
ceros, which, lurking in the thick
grass, would charge him as he was
stalking the elephant, and from them
he had one or two narrow escapes.
But he added. I love the life. and
nothing would induce me now to take
to any other trade.
He mentioned by the way that the
be found in the neighborhood Of Lake
Rudolf, of which one shore forms part
Of the eastern boundary Of the Uganda
Protectorate, the lake itself lying In
East Africa. 1t is, however, necessary
to add that there may be possibility
Of trouble in that quarter from the
native tribes, who have not yet been
brought under complete subsection.
Nevertheless, one Of my companions
on the homeward voyage, who was an
and who, with two American asso-
ciates Of the East Africa syndicate, had
Just been through the Lake Rudolf