The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-06-30

plants have ever been known to travel
Is about fifteen miles an hour. the
maximum length of their stride being
from six and a half to seven feet.
Stalking n or two particular ami.
mails from a herd (the herds in Ugan.
da number from ten to fifty members)
is a task requiring consummate hunt.
ing skill. The herds travel with the
females in front and the bulls in the
rear, and herds are usually attack.
ed from either the side or the
rear. Solitary bulls, called "rogue'
elephants, generally wildly vicious
even before attacked, also present in
teresting problems. The natives have
developed great aptitude in following
and interpreting the footprints (spoor)
Of the quarry, whether lions, ele-
plants, antelopes or other game. If it
is old the edges have crumbled and
they are filed, or partly SO, with drift
sand and bits Of leaves. Wounded ele-
plants are also tracked by the blood
stains on the elephant grass through
which they pass, and by the height Of
the stains on the grass It can be esti.
mated how dangerous the wound is.
In ION Safari" Abel Chapman tells
Of an attack by a bull elephant that
almost cost him his life. He Y
"Archer and I approached to within
thirty yards Of the animal (near the
shore Of Lake Baringo, British East
Africa) and hoped to get a good shot
without detection beforehand. Sudden
~ the wind shifted, and the elephant
caught u scent. 1nstantaneously he
was all alert. Suddenly he disappeared
in the Jungle brake, and while trying
to spy him a heavy crashing heard d.
rectly before US told us he was COM
ing. At once a big square forehead
appeared directly above us in the tall
grass (ten or twelve feet high only a
few yards away, resembling the hoary
gray tower Of some old village church.
II placed a 3O3 bullet in his temple
at the point described by experts, half
way between the eye and the orifce of
the ear though his a was as big as
a barn door. Archer, in front, tried
the effective forehead shot, aiming at
the base Of the trunk. The beast
swerved from sight under these blows, |
but quickly reappeared again just as !
had reloaded. He crashed at us Vi
ciously from our right, and we each
put bullets into his head from the side,
his ear almost touching our rifle muz.
zles, Archer hitting him with a 40
and l with two more 3O3, following
with two lead slugs from a As black
powder rifle. But these total seven
shots in vital parts had no apparent
effect, and the beast headed into a
heavy thorn jungle. We followed. but
for miles he outsped us, and we re-
luctantly gave up the chase, marveling
that any animal could live, much less
travel, so far and so fast with seven
ordinarily deadly bullets in his skull.
Our natives continued the pursuit
twenty miles and gave up. Later the
beast was found dead at a point about
forty miles distant, his great tusks,
weighing ninety pounds apiece, having
been taken by a native ivory trader.
"This elephant was estimated to
weigh almost $4,000 pounds, the great
est weight known being $4,000 pounds,
and this latter animal stood practical
ly twelve feet high, the record height
for the modern pachyderm."
The elephant carcass is a choice
prize for the natives. They climb
upon it's side and cut a large hole
straight down into the interior, just
as a mining shaft is sunk, and the ma
tives climb down out of sight in the
shaft" to hunt about for choice NOR
sells. A coating of elephant fat and
blood is a popular substitute for cloth
ing among certain Uganda savages,
who believe that no people should
wear clothes until after marriage.
Elephant hunters in Uganda find ant
hills Il valuable aid as observatories.
These hills tower to a considerable
height, and many Of them can be
easily climbed. Others rise sharply
like smokestacks, and, being hollow,
holes are frequently dug in their sides
and fires built for cooking. A perfect
draft is produced by the hollow in.
terror, and the smoke is carried off at
the top. So numerous are these hills |
tnat tney are a distinctive, a typical,
feature Of the country. Cases are
known where hunters have saved their
lives from charging elephants by dodg- |
ing behind convenient ant hills.
The charge of an aroused elephant
herd Is, by the way, a sight never to
be forgotten if the object Of it escapes
with his life. A writer in the Geo.
graphical Magazine describes such an
assault by African elephants near Lake
Rudolph, as follows:
I'VE entered a patch Of dense Afri.
can jungle. Huge prickly aloes, enor-
nous cactuses with long sharp points
and a tall feathery plant like privet
made up a safe asylum from ordinary
mortals. Very few minutes suf1ced to
turn hunters into hunted. No. /, a
COW. charged down on us. Jumping |
aside, I killed her Is she rushed on my
0nn cQrrier MT fo,Vr foot <~oco him