The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-21
Big GAME In LUXURY
A TRAIN DE LUKE WILL TAKE you
INTO THE HEART OF AFRICA.

WI VI 1thtktC
and shoot Rhinocorescs and Antelope
From the windows-0ne Result or Cectl
RhOdcsS Dream OF tho Cape 60 Cairo.
A visit to south and central Africa will
o why great game has been thinnei
out 90 alarmingly that elephant and giraffe
are now rarely seen south Of the zambesi IL
is mainly due TO q dozen marvels OF railroad
enterprise that are being pushed In order
that Cecil Rhodes's dream Of 5000 miles OF
track between Cape Town and Cairo should
be realized.
One may nov enter 4 train Of palace cars
at Cape Town and travel 2 1000 miles straight
TO the great Zambesi River that divides the
Dark Continent in two. Not even tho mighty
falls stay b transoontinental road. IL In
carried across the gorge zoo fest deep by
steel bridge. and a little beyond the traveller
is amazed to find the magnificent Ave storied
Grand Hotel, with a hundred bedrooms,
electric lights and elevators and fans
dumped down amid savage scenery. From
the windows Of this strangest Of hotels one
may shoot rhinooeros and giraffe. lion NC
leopard and hippo, not TO mention twenty
different kinds Of antelope. from the i'm
kudu down to the little hartsbesst
and impala.
1t 10 the famous and costly Big Game
Limited that whirls one into the savage
heart Of Africa. Little more than ffteen
years & the $50. 900 square miles Of Rho
desia had nota mile Of railroad. Then came
that fatal cattle plague known a. the rim
derpest, which denuded the country Of
even the most primitive means Of transport.
and on top Of this the Matabele rebellion
- IQ0A -L.-A .z.-Is-l l. 40
OF the whites.
These two causes led 10 great activity Of
railroad building in the vast territory 10
which Cecil Rhodes gave his name. and the
last 22s miles, from Palapye to Buluwayo.
were laid in the incredibly short q Of
four and a half months. Then II was that
the old Coaching days in this part Of Africa
passed away forever.
II is not until Buluwayo 10 reached that
even the larger antelopes are seen from the
car windows. Within a few miles Of this
boom town Of the veldt are the wild, rocky
Nlatoppo Hills. where eleven years ago
Cecil Rhodes went unarmed and alnnost
alone to talk over the MIatabele savages TO
peace. Here. too, imbedded in tho solid
granite lies Cecil Rhodes's body. the tomb
facing a grand panorama Of central African
scenery which the empire builder himself
called The View Of theIWorld."
II was in 1903 that Rhodes formulated
a scheme for the extension Of the main
trunk line from Buluwayo by way Of Gweio
TO the Zambes and thence onward to Lake
Tanganyika. His restless ambition hoped
that meanwhile the British Government
would he pushing south through the svAmps
and forests Of h upper Nile and thus
gradually a Cape to Cairo railway, all
British, would be completed.
II is worth noting hat the $50 miles from
Salisbury to Gwelo traversed by the Big
Game Limited were laid while the Bosr
war was actually raging on RhodesA's
borders, 30 that the contractors had an
other formidable enemy added to those
existing. which ranged from man
eating lions, who terrorized their laborers,
to the destructive white ants. which bored
through and destroyed all the timber.
Without fuss. however. the pioneers
.persevered, and to-day the Cape Gov
eminent railroads issue circular tourist
into the haunts of the wild elephants
and into lion ridden jungles.
One novel feature OF the Rhodesian SEQ
ton is that magnificent saloon cars are
lIONiNpu pthNaVC hlIcs 1nO bcEm muuJ
he at least one month. and the charge in
cludes all catering. Surely here is a novelty
"a magnificent palace on wheels, lit with
light. sumptuously carpeted. with
table service and card rooms. draw
ing rooms, luxurious beds fitted with cleo o.
fans at the side. miniature Kitchens :
with Portuguese chefs. a library. showsr
baths. n even a ~stcnographer TO take
down notes II the big game hunter oon.
templates a book! r'
There is no roughing it in hunting ions
Ind elephants in this style. The train
Dr. private car Ia used as a base camp. IL -
8 shunted into jungle sidings as may be
required. and tents taken forward for the
trip. Local chiefs provide traokers
md heaters, and the necessary money
chiefly cotton cloth, brass wire and cowrie
'hells is carried in the wonderful train. -
II required the Rhodesian Railroads,
will send an expert taxidermist \
With the party, so that lion and antelope
may be set up literally while you
wait INC exceptionally flint tusks mounted
m fancy lands Just such a trip va un-
recently by Sir Edmund and Lady
Iechmere and also by Mr.. and Mrs. Alan -
iardner. Both couples are well known a
zig game hunters.
How one Of the old time shots like r. C.
must marvel at such changed con-
litions! In his day. only twenty years
Igo. there were no railroads in this part
u Africa at all and 10 had 20 trek up coun-
ny for five or six months by OF wagon
the shooting grounds were reached.
IN the other hand game was infinitely more
.bundant in those days. Selous was q pro-
ivory hunter, and his record Ia no
in a single month.
Many Of the wayside stations just south
4 the Zambesi recall fierce and bloody
memories. Thus at little Norton eight or
en- years ago the weak kneed Mashona
ribes. instigated by the warlike Matabeie.
ose in rebellion and slaughtered Admin
strator Norton and Mrs. Norton, their
and the English nurse.
Just beyond Norton the Big Game Linn
ed runs through an oddly contorted forest
mahogany. teak and mopani wood. The
runks were twisted into strange fantastic e
years & through having been
orn and tranpled upon a. saplings by the 4,
asst herds Of elephant that roamed over all
his district.