The Topeka state journal., 1909-03-22

the Smithsonian African expedition
| will soon begin the search for speci-
| mems for the national museum at
Washington, there is a variety of big
game and smaller mammals that
makes this the most wonderful shoot
ing ground in the world.
Hours before the American party
reach the Ju-Ja ranch, score of miles
north of Nairobi, where the expedition
will make its headquarters, game will
be sighted as the train makes its tor
tuous way along the Uganda railroad.
There is no shooting allowed within a
herds of graceful mpala antelope or the
massive Gland grazing along the line
within few miles of the coast, serves
to whet the appetite for the "safari," or
hunt, to come in the interior.
1t is to the north of Ju-Ja ranch,
though, that all kinds of big game
abound. A flock of vultures, soaring
in the air, tells of a lion roaming
pick the bones Of the lions kill. The
country is alive with lions, but few
fear them, as they give man a wide
berth at all times. Only when wound
of beasts show fight. All through the
night the cry of the lion may be heard
in this territory. The lion prefers the
plain, where his yellow hide does not
contrast with the brush and under
growth.
The Buffalo Scares the Natives.
In point of danger the natives of
this territory regard the buffalo herds
as the most dangerous to encounter.
Where a travelling party of porters
scarcely will notice the roars of a
lion, the sounds of a buffalo herd will
send them into panic. This much
dreaded beast is tricky and brave, and
a huntsman needs all his skill to make
his kill. Wounded. the buffalo, re-
sorts to a ruse of retreating into the
brush, tempting the huntsman to fol-
low him. Wheeling suddenly about,
the wounded animal charges the on
coming hunter, who, unless he sends
a bullet into the brain of the beast,
is most likely to be gored and
trampled to death under the animals
hoofs. In hunting the buffalo it is
customary for the hunter to post his
shikaris in the tree tops to inform him
of the trail of the beast.
Modern Rifles Help.
The hunting of elephants is much
restricted in the territory which the
Roosevelt party will cover and the
killing of these mammoths is regarded
as little less than slaughter. Modern
rifles make the killing of elephants
easy to accomplish, and without much
danger to the hunter. Hunting for
hippopotamuses is also limited, as the
animal is hard to locate and only
found in remote places along the
rivers and lakes. The hippo is tinid
and not considered dangerous unless
is wounded.
The hunt for the rhinoceros in this
region is no mean venture, for not in
frequently the hunter is hunted and
the angered beast breaks up a whole
"safari" party with one of his terrible
charges. The "rhino" is very near
sighted but is possessed with re-
markable sense of smell and acute
hearing; in fact, his attack is entirely
guided by these senses. Seeming dan
ger from afar, the infuriated animal
charges in a straight line, trampling
down underbrush and small trees in
his path as If he were making trail
through nothing more than a flower
garden Caught in the whirlwind
rush. native hunters sometimes stand
still. hoping the animal will mistake
them for a tree and pass on, which
the beast not infrequently does. The
charging animal can only be halted
with a well directed bullet through the
eye or heart.
The Coveted White RhinoceFos.
1t is expected that the American
party will make every effort to bag the
much discussed white rhinoceros,
which has been killed off from his
original range in British East Africa.
Besides "rninos,' buffalos and other
large animals, the hunting game in
cludes gfraffes, leopards, zebras and
anteiopes The antelopes of Africa
are most interesting from hunts