The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-10-14


 Hunter-Big Fish n Headwaters of
 the Nile.
 T regret that I cannot venture to name 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 rapid tour was so incomplete that it might be misleading to put it on record. will confine my self to saying that if were a younger man should certainly lose no time in making a sporting tour in East Af- rica,' 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 will add that I 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 steamer, to the Albert Lake is a 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 1 this march the traveller can proceed s,, e.<a ff,4f fteaiT
 .One of the temptations, at least it 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 mahser is very plentiful, and one was taken last year weighing 90 pounds. But the fish which gives the best sport is, so l 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 re- quires more skill and care to land.
 The sportsman will find another ad- vantage on this route. He may take out second license for shooting in the Uganda Protectorate under the same restrictions as in the East Africa Pro- tectorate, thus doubling the number of animals which he may kill, and as he has a better chance than elsewhere of meeting with male elephants with Exceptionally good tusks he may, if he is fortunate, obtain ivory of which the value will be materially more than the license fee of $50, And he will have obtained perhaphs some fairly 1 good tusks in the East Africa Protec- torate of which the price will, if he chooses to sell the ivory, make up the < whole Of the e1OO, leaving the only charges to be met the cost of shikaries, coolis and food. As far as could as- certain the charges for these are not excessive, provided that the tent car- Tried is light.
 As | have referred to the elephant, 1 it will not be out of place to mention ! that on board the lake steamer met an interesting character who had de- lvoted 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, I ulAu III n1llCIl llC oct1Q tllC hllCSI lNOIJ land the greatest abundance of ele- plants were to be found. The open season in the Congo States 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 \ the rate of six rupees a pound for a sum. which after paying to the Congo cent. which they require, left him with a net profit materially over G1 900.
 Tn answer to my inquiries whether The did not find 1t a dangerous occupa- tion he replied that there was very It. tie danger from the elephants, provided that the hunter takes care, which he should always be able to do, too keep Ito 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 Twas only once charged himself, but stepped the beast with a bullet in the l forehead. He had an 8-bore rifle but seldom used it, preferring much 40- bore with which, on this occasion he had killed nineteen tuskers. The worst danger which had to be encountered was, he said, from the rhinoceros, 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, T love the life, and nothing Would induce me now to take to any other trade
 I He mentioned by the way that the best elephant in East Africa were to be found in the neighborhood of Lake Rudolf, of which one shore forms part of the eastern boundry of the Uganda Protectorate, the lake itself lying ir l East Africa. It is, however, necessary to add that there may be a possibility of trouble in that quarter from the na- I tive tribes, who have not yet been brought under complete subjection Neyerthe one of my companions or the homeward voyage, who was ar Iof1cer of British cavalry regiment and who with two American associates lof the East Africa Syndicate, had just l been through the Lake Rudolf country on an exploring expedition, said that 4 only on one occasion had they mei