Chapter XVII: Tracking, Hunting, and Trapping (1)

Most readers of works on travel must be familiar with the apparently wonderful power possessed by savages of following the tracks of men or animals, and yet this is in reality only a habit of closely observing effects, and referring them to their natural causes. On the roads of a populous country, passengers, animals, and vehicles succeed each other so rapidly that no continuous spoor of any one of them remains; but it is otherwise in the desert and the wilderness. There it is impossible for man or beast to efface the track that he has made. In countries such as Kafirland, where cattle thefts are common, no evidence is required but the track of the stolen animals entering a village, and the headman is considered responsible until he shows where the same track has gone out again. Kafirs have been known to sweep out the spoor with branches where they were about entering a river; but such a ruse, though it might prevent a farmer making oath to the exact place at which they crossed, would never actually deceive him, or prevent his finding the track on the other side.

Sometimes a number of men will tread in each other's footsteps, or they will walk backward for short distances, or will put on their shoes heel foremost; but a practised eye will soon detect the deceit, and be aroused to double vigilance. It may be thought that a man passing barefooted over a hard rock would leave no trace; and yet the fine dust of the road he left, caked by perspiration, has been sufficient to betray him. Sometimes, in a grassy country, the track is best seen by looking out ahead, when it appears as a continuous line, showing where the grass has been turned, although it is almost invisible at a short distance; and this is sometimes the case on plains of coarse sand or shingle. Very frequently, though no actual footprint may remain, stones or pebbles will have been turned so as to lie with that side uppermost which has for a long time rested on the ground, and an eye accustomed to observation detects this at once, and will sometimes see, by the condition of the upturned side, whether it has been moved so recently as not yet to be perfectly dried. If a shower has fallen, it will at once be seen whether the tracks were made before the rain, during it, or afterwards; in the same manner the morning or evening dew upon the tracks will furnish a test of time, as will the grass withering, if crushed in the heat of the day or partially restored if bent while the dew was on it.

If there has been wind, it may be known whether the tracks were made during its continuance, by the position of the grass, or by the sand or dust drifted from it; and if the wind has changed at a remembered time, it may be possible to tell exactly the point at which the track and change took place. If periodical or alternate winds blow, as, for instance, the land and sea breezes near the coast, it will be easy to tell during which of them the track was made.

Sleeping places, or halts for rest, for food, drink, or other purposes, should be carefully sought for. The condition of the grass cropped by an animal, and the fragments dropped from its mouth, must be examined, as also its dung, the comparative moisture or dryness of which is an unfailing index to the time that has elapsed since it was dropped.

If there are two or more tracks, and the time when one was made is known, that of the others may be inferred by looking sharply for any place where they cross, and ascertaining which overlies the other. We have been followed for many miles at night by a lion, but though we knew by the panic spreading among the oxen that something was disturbing them, we were not aware of the fact till our Hottentot went back next morning and reported the track of "a great man lion, step for step upon our horse's spoor."

Not only can the period of time at which tracks are made be very closely estimated, but various circumstances connected with the track will not unfrequently afford most important information. As, for instance, where the tracks of naked feet are investigated, it will generally be found that savages in walking turn their toes in, whilst Europeans turn theirs out; if the track is left by shod men, the description of foot gear will often tell a tale. A mocassin print with the toes turned out would indicate that a white man in Indian gear had passed. The army pattern boot or shoe, the native sandal, worn by aborigines of some countries, the shooting boot, and the light buck-skin shoe, all leave their well-marked and distinctive tracks. The particular manner in which a boot or shoe sole has been nailed or repaired will enable an experienced tracker to follow its print unerringly amongst fifty others; large or small, narrow or wide, the track will in almost all cases retain its individuality, except when cunning Europeans put on other men's boots for the purpose of crime.

The nature of a footprint will, by its comparative depth and form, show whether the person who made it carried a burden, or was in light marching order; if in a hurry, or travelling leisurely; whether travelling willingly, or led as a captive; whether sober or intoxicated. In following horse tracks the pace at which the animal or animals were going can be judged by the impressions left on the ground. A stray horse walking leisurely away, feeding as it goes, will usually leave an irregular but well-marked track, causing but little disturbance of the surface of the ground; a sudden fright caused by the appearance of a wild animal or an attempt at capture will be shown by a scattering of earth, sand, or gravel, and probably by the casting out of the pellets which collect in the hollows of the feet. A frightened horse starting without a rider will usually leave the deep and disturbed tracks caused by ill-directed speed at the very commencement of the run, which will in most cases prove rather erratic. Had the same horse been galloped away by a rider, the man's track might be found, or if not, the first sixteen or twenty hoof strokes will vary in distance, depth, &c., from those farther on, where the animal had been caused to strike into his regular stride. Most hunters can identify the track of their own horse. A defect in either hoof, a broken shoe, and the mode of shoeing, are all matters to be well looked to. The horses of wild tribes, from not being shod, are to be distinguished from those belonging to Europeans, who either shoe "all round" or leave the hind feet bare, and only shoe the fore hoofs. Mule tracks are not of the same form as those of the wider and rounder footed horse, and can be instantly recognised. Tracking on snow is usually followed with much greater rapidity than when prosecuted on the uncovered ground; still no little experience is needed to successfully follow up partly obliterated and wholly filled up footsteps. The impressions left in snow by different animals require some study before the inexperienced hunter can with certainty distinguish one from another. The art of tracking can no more be taught without the aid of the forest and the plain to demonstrate in, than can a skilful cricketer be made without allowing him to play the game. The hints which are here given are merely intended to form a sort of groundwork, on which the experienced hunter must himself build. In traversing the woods and wilds let nothing escape the eye, and never allow the slightest deviation from the common order of things to pass without close scrutiny and the application to the case of a system of inductive reasoning. No living creature acts voluntarily without aim; and, although at times much mystery surrounds the doings of some furred or feathered inhabitants of the wilderness, depend on it a little close scrutiny will not fail to show both plan and purpose in that which at first appeared an enigma. The stranger to the wilds would feel no little compassion for the poor crippled lapwing plover, who, crying plaintively, totters on and struggles to escape from the hunter, until at length, on a good space of ground being travelled over in fruitless pursuit, the cunning bird wheels away aloft with a mocking whistle, and shortly rejoins her brood of mouse-like little ones among the moss hags. We once saw a hyena near our camp take a piece of old dry goat's hide in his mouth and perform a number of strange and uncouth movements, as if either lame or drunk; a second, however, crouched, partly concealed by some euphorbium bushes and stones. Their object was to lure away our dogs whilst they themselves remained at a safe distance, when the pair would have made short work of some of them. In tracking wounded game look out sharply for even the most minute blood specks or flakes of foam, these, where found, are great helps over hard ground. Dead or dying animals are discovered in an incredibly short space of time by birds of prey; and when they are seen curling and wheeling over any particular spot you may rest assured that food is the attraction. Nothing requires greater care and circumspection than the approach of the hunter to the lurking place of any animal capable of doing mischief when suffering from the effects of a wound. We have known even antelopes to use their horns freely when unable to escape. No large beast of prey should be approached, although apparently dead, until all doubt on the subject is removed by either a shot through the head or a pelting with stones.

Within the colonies, of course, roads are regularly made, but in the wild country beyond, and less important places within, the boundary the so-called roads are merely foot or bridle paths or waggon tracks. We have heard a farmer say, "I have made a new road round the mountain to-day," and we understood by this merely that he had driven his waggon by a fresh route, leaving others to follow his track if they thought it better than the old one. Sometimes the waggon is not employed upon this work, but the track having been first carefully estimated by the eye a thorn tree is cut down, dragged along it by the oxen, and the road is made. A waggon track across the country seems practically indelible, the wheels are almost sure to crush the side of an ant-hill here and there, and even if the insects repair the damage the new work will always show. If it passes during the rains, the clay kneaded by the feet of the oxen, or furrowed by the wheels, is baked so hard by the succeeding hot weather that ordinary vegetation for many seasons will not efface the marks. If in the dry season grasses are crushed down, the stumps of a tuft will show for a long time the passage of the wheels. More especially is this the case if a fire sweeps over the plain immediately after, or if the waggon passes during or after a prairie fire. We have known a fellow traveller recognise in this manner the tracks his waggon had made seven years before. The lines of charred stumps crushed short down remaining to indicate the passage of the wheels, though all other impressions had been obliterated by the rank annual growth of grass, fully 12ft. in height.

Often when waggons have passed for the first time across a grassy plain, the vegetation they have crushed down will be partially replaced or mingled with other kinds, either indigenous, and only waiting for this opportunity to spring up, or growing from undigested seeds from other localities deposited in the droppings of the oxen; or even it may be exactly the same vegetation simply rendered more luxuriant by being thus manured. We have seen a broad grassy plain looking like an immense corn field, but right across it the road was marked by a broad band of yellow flowers contrasting with the deep green around.

{Points of the compass.}

In many countries the prevailing winds leave unfailing indices of the direction of the points of the compass. Thus all the unsheltered trees on the road from Cape Town lean towards the north-west or north-north-west; and on the sub-tropical plains of South Africa and Australia we frequently noticed that the continued winds from the south-east had laid the grass towards the opposite point. The rising or setting sun is a useful guide, so is the moon, and also the stars; but the traveller must acquire for himself the habit of observing where any of the heavenly bodies are likely to be at a given time, by day or night, and this while he is upon known paths, and not in actual need of them, and then his knowledge will serve him if by accident he should lose the road. If the declination is the same as the latitude of the place, the sun will be vertical at noon, and therefore of no service as a guide for nearly a quarter of an hour, but by extemporising a plumb line, and observing whether its shadow shortens or lengthens, it may soon be found whether the sun is east or west of the meridian. In using stars select, if possible, those that are far north or south, and as low as possible; or, if the pole be far above the horizon--as it must be in all places far removed from the equator--take the star that is nearest to it, and that consequently revolves with the least possible change of position. In the north the constellation of the Great Bear will serve, but if the pole star can be seen, it is, of course, the best--the two stars called the Pointers will guide the eye to it. And in the south, when the southern cross is vertical, either above or below the pole, it is due south; and this may be ascertained by trying when the two stars of the longer beam coincide with a plumb line, but at any time the position of the pole may be estimated by remembering that it is half-way between the lower star of the cross and the little Magellan cloud.

In travelling with a waggon from almost any civilised colony, it will generally be found that traders and hunters have penetrated so far, that for perhaps 1500 or 2000 miles there is nothing to be done but to let the waggon driver follow their tracks, which will generally be in every respect the best that could be selected, while the traveller hunts or explores on either side the path, or gains experience as to the slope a waggon can climb, descend, or travel on without capsizing; the average size of trees under the branches of which it can pass, and the density of the grove in which it can continue a gently meandering course between the trees without the absolute necessity of cutting a road, which, of course, he avoids if possible by making even a considerable détour, for the labour is excessive and severe.

{Hunting.}

The professional hunters in South Africa, and indeed most of the amateurs who are ardent in the pursuit of game, not only follow the wild animals by day, but as they become shy, or few in number, lie in wait for them at the waters at which they come to drink by night; for the less dangerous animals they merely throw up a circular wall of loose stones, 2ft. or 3ft. high, to hide the hunter from the view of the approaching animals; and not unfrequently an experienced hand will even watch in these for the lion, the rhinoceros, or the elephant, trusting for security to a quick eye and ear, and to skill in handling the two or three spare guns which are kept ready loaded within easy reach.

With the larger animals it is, however, more advisable to dig a pit about 10ft. long, 3ft. deep, and 30in. wide, and to roof in 5ft. or 6ft. of the central part of this with stout logs, that an elephant would not break were he to tread on them in passing over; the ends are left open, and a bank of earth is left in each, large enough for the hunter to sit upon, with nothing but his head showing above the edge of the "scherm." Generally two men lie in each pit, one watching whilst the other sleeps. The pit should be made in a spot carefully chosen to leeward of the path by which the elephants or other animals are likely to come, and great care must be taken to cover any signs of human work about it. The cut ends of the logs placed across it must especially be hidden, and if chips have been made in the vicinity, they ought to be removed, and everything reduced as nearly as possible to its natural appearance and condition. Most hunters carry a pick and one or two spades for this and similar purposes, but we have found a worn-out adze exceedingly handy and much liked by native servants. The work should be commenced early in the day, so that it may be finished by a little after noon, and left to recover its natural quiet, and the air to purify itself from the taint of man, for even though the elephant may not be so early on the watch, smaller animals, disregarded by the hunter, are sure to be about him, and any alarm among them will most assuredly spread itself, until a general sense of danger pervades the wilderness; and if this extends to the keen senses of the elephants, they will not approach till they have assured themselves by every possible precaution that all is safe.

We have seen the path marked for a considerable distance by the serpentine track of the extended proboscis, sometimes actually touching the ground, and at others moving so closely in contact that the breathing would disturb the dust, as the leader of the herd deliberately tested the scent for every inch of the way. And the change of elephantine tactics since rifle pits were introduced sufficiently proves that what we call instinct is in reality an intelligence capable of receiving new ideas and guiding its possessors in meeting novel dangers. A few years since, when all the elephants had to fear was the pitfall of the Bushmen, with its sharpened stakes at the bottom, they would come fearlessly on, trusting to their leader, as with extended trunk as above mentioned, would literally feel the ground inch by inch, and, having once detected a frail deceitful covering that masked the pitfall, would toss aside the sticks and grass, and the whole herd would follow in contemptuous security along the very edge of the now undreaded snare. Far differently do they now act; if they but suspect the presence of a pit they will not approach until, by making a careful circuit far to leeward, they have assured themselves that their chief enemy man, and especially the white man, has not recently been near the water.

If a taint remains upon the air they act with the extremest caution; for hours they will remain motionless, waiting till their keen senses detect the recently tainted breeze, or their huge expanded ears catch the crackling of a twig or the slightest sound made by the incautious hunter. If their fears preponderate, they may not only refrain from drinking, but even desert the locality, and travel 50 or 100 miles during the night to another water, but thirst may overcome their prudence, and they may approach and enter the water; the hunter must then, in perfect quietude, make himself acquainted with the individuals of the herd, selecting the male that carries the heaviest ivory, and wait patiently until he comes near enough and exposes his shoulder, then, aiming upwards, at the lower part of the after lobe of the huge ear, he reckons either to cripple the animal by breaking its shoulder bone, or to kill it by sending his bullet to the heart; then, judging at once the effect of his shot, he catches up his spare gun and either fires again at the same elephant or selects another, and endeavours to cripple him also.

If two hunters are together, they can agree beforehand whether they shall fire together at the word given by one, or whether one man shall fire both guns. In the latter case at the word, or rather at the sign signifying "be ready," both set the hair triggers of their rifles, and the man who is to fire being assured that his comrade is prepared, waits a favourable moment and fires; the other does not consciously pull the trigger, but, with his gun carefully aligned upon the vital part and his forefinger hardly touching the trigger, waits patiently till either the concussion of the air or the slight nervous action induced by the report of his friend's gun causes his finger to contract upon the trigger, and his gun is fired.

In elephant shooting it is always well that two men should be together, for though it is not probable, it is at the same time possible that an elephant may attack the scherm. An attack of this kind occurred to the brothers Green, the well-known African travellers and hunters; the enraged elephant began tearing off the beams and earth that roofed the scherm, and in a few moments more would have dragged forth his victim, when the brother fired with deliberate aim and killed the enraged animal. We have already said that the favourite place for the death shot is behind the lobe of the ear, just where it overlaps the shoulder, but if the shot can penetrate about 1ft. below any part of the spine it may cut the large blood vessels there; or if fired from behind, and striking about 1ft. below the insertion of the tail, it may pass through to the vital organs in the chest, and prove fatal.

If an elephant is walking or running in such a manner that the death spot ("dood plek") behind the shoulder is exposed the shot should be delivered, if possible, so as to strike when his leg is thrown forward and the thinnest part of the skin is tightly stretched; if the leg is backward, the skin will hang in loose yielding folds, and the shot will most likely fail to enter. African hunters seldom fire at the head of an elephant unless he is charging and they must check him--he seldom fails to swerve from his course on receiving the bullet--but this rule is not infallible; we have hit an elephant as fairly as possible in the forehead without effecting this.

Another rule is to run from the elephant the moment you have fired, and then look round to see if he is giving chase; if he is, you can increase your speed, if not, you can easily stop and get another shot; but if you wait for him to charge before you run you give him the chance of diminishing the distance very materially before you can get up the requisite speed. Wahlberg, the eminent Swedish naturalist, held that a man ought to stand like a rock, and the elephant would be sure to swerve before he reached him; sometimes the boldest course is the safest, but in his case at length it failed, the elephant came right on, and the career of the brave naturalist was closed for ever.

Sir Samuel Baker, although he has personally killed African elephants by shots in their head, found that he could by no means depend upon being able to do so, and remarks that the man who stands to meet the charge of an elephant by a shot in the head cannot feel the proper amount of confidence that his shot will be effective; indeed, the probability is that it will decidedly fail to kill.

Captain Faulkner, who volunteered to accompany Mr. E. D. Young in his search for Dr. Livingstone, told us that he determined to prove experimentally whether an African elephant could be killed by a head shot, and that he, by walking close up to them, killed several in that manner. It must, however, be remembered that he travelled in a new district, where never white hunter had been before, and that the elephants there were ignorant of their danger, and not prepared to meet or avoid it like those frequenting the old hunting grounds.

In hunting the elephant the favourite shot of the hunter in India is that in the head; but in Africa this is seldom successful. It is related in the early history of Natal that a party of sailors (Lieut. Farewell's, we think) were challenged to go out with the Zulus to kill an elephant, chiefly with the desire that their defective weapons or want of skill would render them objects of ridicule to the natives. Neither their courage nor their good fortune, however, failed them; they formed front as the elephant came on, fired at the head, and killed it.

In Africa, as we have before stated, the "dood plek," or death spot, of all the animals of the chase is considered to be behind or in the shoulder; and in the case of the elephant this is marked by the posterior and lower edge of the ear, which is so large that in a male 10ft. 9in. high at the shoulder the ear measured 5ft. 3in. in depth and 3ft. 9in. from front to rear. The African elephant is much larger than the Indian, which does not average more than 10ft.; while one shot by a friend measured 11ft. 8in. at the shoulder, and probably between 12ft. and 13ft. at the highest part of the back. Mr. Petherick also tells of one 12ft. 4in. at the shoulder, with a pair of tusks weighing 140lb.; and of another of 15ft. at the shoulder, whose pair weighed 100lb.

In general a bull's tusk will weigh from 501b. to 90lb., and a cow's not more than 30lb. The largest we have ever seen weighed, one 153lb. and the other 163lb.--100lb. Dutch being equal to 108lb. English.

The native methods of killing the elephant seem to alarm the survivors but little, and would probably never drive them from the country; but since the introduction of firearms they have gradually been forced so far towards the interior that it is difficult to believe that herds of them had once browsed on the slopes of Table Mountain. A few are left in the dense forests of the Kuysna, where they may not be shot without special permission, and some in the Addo and Sundays River Bush, between Algoa Bay and Grahamstown, and it will be long ere they are thoroughly extirpated from the country to the northward of Natal; but in the district of Lake Ngami they are becoming scarce, and the hunters from Walvisch Bay have to go yearly much farther to the northward, and follow them to new districts. Under these circumstances the waggons of the hunters have to be fitted out for the season's journey like ships for a long voyage. Groceries and meal must be purchased before starting. If bread should be desired, corn may in general be bought for beads, and flesh will be supplied by spare cattle, sheep, or goats, driven with the waggons, or by the hunter's rifle. Of working oxen there must be a sufficient number to replace those that die from the deadly sting of the tsetse, or other causes; and the stud should also be numerous enough to allow for the ravages of the horse sickness, for exhaustion, and for casualties in the field. A "salted" horse--_i.e._, one that has recovered from the sickness, and is, therefore, supposed not to be liable to it again--is worth any money; but this depends much on the locality, for if a horse that has passed the ordeal in a district where the sickness is in a mild form be taken to one where it is more severe he is liable again to disease and death.

The Western negroes are very ingenious and clever in hunting elephants. The herds are watched for weeks, their haunts are ascertained, their paths carefully traced, and the possibility of catching them in, or driving them to, the thickest parts of the forest debated on; then the bush vines, monkey ropes, lianas, or bindweed are cut, so as not quite to fall, but to hang loosely from the branches. Some of the paths are blocked by trees felled across them; others are left open as entrances and others as escapes; and in these last, where two stout trees, with conveniently forked branches, narrow the pass between them, a heavy beam, pierced with several holes, into which spear-heads are inserted and tightly wedged, is raised, so as to hang as high as possible directly across the path; a stout rope at each end of the beam is looped over the short thick end of a pole, which rests on a forked branch, and of which the longer end is held down by another rope attached to a peg stuck into the ground at the foot of the tree, the immense leverage afforded by the longer arm making it easy for a small strain to keep it down, and the shorter end pointed up, so that the loop cannot slip off. When all is ready another line, about 16in. from the ground, is stretched from peg to peg across the path.

The forest is then surrounded, the elephants disturbed with loud noises, driven from their favourite haunts, and forced to take refuge in the thickest forest; and here men, previously stationed in the trees, cut the remaining bush vines, and let the tangle fall like a boarding netting among and around the elephants; spears and assegais are also hurled down on them at every opportunity. This is, however, a service of great danger, for the persecuted animal, with his far-reaching trunk, may seize the nearest hunter and dash him to jelly against a tree, or trample him to death. But while thus engaged, the others cut and let fall more tangle, and drive down upon him their broad-bladed spears until he sinks exhausted; while others that break away are driven with loud shouts into the openings that gradually narrow as the paths approach the beam falls (contrivances much like those used in the capture of the hippopotamus), where at the next step the elephant must trip the horizontal line, draw out or break the pegs, release the lever ends of the long triggers, and the next moment, with wounded body and disabled spine, lie writhing in the power of his enemies, some of whom, if they approach too closely his powerful wide-sweeping trunk, may yet, however, pay dearly for their victory.

It is fortunate, perhaps, that nearly all occupations necessary for the obtainment of animal food in a wild country not only entail the necessity for the expenditure of sufficient physical force to serve as healthful exercise, but also afford enjoyment enough to induce men to engage in them. It might be shown that even the daily labour of the mechanic is not always the exception to this rule. But for the present purpose it is enough that the chase, besides supplying food and raiment to savages and semi-barbarous tribes from the remotest antiquity till now, has always possessed such charms for the vigorous and healthy man rejoicing in his strength, and proud of the opportunity of displaying it, that not only the savage, confident in his personal address, and the support of his fellow-hunters, exults in open battle with the fiercest animals; in trials of speed and endurance with the fleetest; or of patience and watchful skill in ensnaring the most wary. But our own countrymen, led by the love of adventure and excitement, will leave behind the luxuries of civilised life, and cheerfully endure the privations of a toilsome journey for the mere chance of engaging single-handed with some fierce creature which, with their inferior weapons, a whole tribe of natives would find it difficult to subdue.

Nor is this love of excitement and adventure to be classed with the cold-blooded cruelty so often attributed to hunters. The _battue_ system, by which herds of timid, helpless animals are driven from all quarters into an inclosure before some potentate--who sits in safety in his gallery with ready-loaded rifles, handed to him by obsequious attendants, who score off the hundreds he has slain--we surrender freely to the reproach and reprobation it deserves. There may be enjoyment in wholesale slaughter, but the spirit that could find it is not of the sort which urged a young military friend of ours to chase four lions across the plains near Bloem Fontein, and to regret only that his horse failed to bring him to close quarters before they gained the shelter of the broken rocky hills.

Of course there are "butchers" who, when animals happen to be plentiful and easy of approach, will kill for the mere pleasure of boasting of the numbers they have shot; but the true sportsman would turn disgusted from such facile slaughter. Some exercise of skill, endurance, and more or less personal risk, is necessary to his enjoyment; and when to his ardour for the chase he adds the accomplishments of the artist, the naturalist, and the geographer, he deserves the praise instead of the reproach of those who sit at home at ease, and cannot enter into the enthusiasm which alone has enabled him to endure privation and conquer difficulty, instead of turning weary and defeated from the hardships of travel. All travellers, and many missionaries in Africa, are from choice or necessity hunters--and those who do not desire in some way to improve the opportunities cast in their way are few in number--and if they enjoy the task of killing savage animals which, in the interests of humanity, had better be thinned off, the cattle farmers, the agriculturists, or the hungry natives, as they satisfy their cravings for animal food, will thank them, and hail the hunters as friends in need.

The Cape farmer, whether English or Dutch, is seldom so spiritless as not to enjoy the hunting of his own lions, and the avenging with his own hand the depredations on his cattle. With game more worthy of his lead, the Dutch colonist works more methodically; and though in general he exhibits but little of the dash and recklessness characteristic of the British officer, he lacks not courage or determination when occasion calls it forth.

{Lion hunting.}

When it becomes known that a lion has established himself in the vicinity, and his depredations become annoying to the cattle owners, his "spoor" or trail is taken up and followed as far as prudent towards his lair; this ascertained, a council is held as to the best means of dislodging him and bringing him into position to receive the fire of the hunters. If there be natural shelter so much the better; if not, the horses are fastened together in line, and, held by the after riders or Hottentot servants, are backed down so near as to afford the marksman an opportunity of a fair shot; one or more, who can be implicitly relied on for certainty of aim and steadiness of hand in the moment of peril, are chosen to reserve their fire in case the rest should miss, and the others are told off to fire in regular order. The marksman, edging a little clear of the shelter of the horses, sits down, rests his elbows on his knees, and, grasping his ramrod as an additional support, takes as deliberate an aim as circumstances permit at the lion, aiming to hit him, if possible, in the breast; for it is seldom that the animal, when thus bearded in his den, refuses to face his foe, or expose his shoulders to the deadly missile. Possibly, he lies with head extended forward, so that it would be useless to fire at the sloping skull; and it is likely also that the fore-paws so cover the chest that there is the chance, by breaking one of them, of somewhat crippling, but at the same time provoking him to a headlong charge, in the fury of which even the loss of a fore-paw would be unheeded, and would diminish but little his power of doing mischief. Suppose him irritated by a painful wound, with a roar like thunder he bounds forward, and the inexperienced hands, if any such there be, discharge their guns as he comes on; but there are always some cool-headed fellows who know that within about five and twenty yards he will stop and gather his energies for a final spring. Deliberate as the Dutchman is, he knows when time is precious; the heavy roer is steadily aligned, and, if the aim be true, the monarch of the forest falls dead upon the spot, or, collecting his last energies, springs upon the horses. Now is the time for the reserve. At a glance he takes in the exigencies of the situation, he steps aside for a clear view, his bullet crushes through skull or shoulder, and the fierce animal falls helpless to the ground.

The restless steeds are brought again to quietude, the visitors gather round the prostrate foe, examine the perforations, and adjudge to each the merit of his respective shot.

Not always, however, is the affair so happily ended. In 1850, while passing through the Orange River Sovereignty, now the Free State, on our way to Vaal River, we heard of a contest that had nearly proved fatal to a brave old boer and his no less gallant nephew; and as we soon after became acquainted with many of the witnesses and actors in the scene, and saw the horses deeply scored by five sharp talons on either quarter, we have no hesitation in relating it. The lion, after receiving the fire of the uncle, had sprung upon him, knocked him down, and lay upon him, glaring defiance at his enemies. The young man, confident of his skill and steadiness of hand, boldly advanced close up to him, set his "Sneider" or hair trigger, and aimed deliberately at the forehead; one gentle touch of the forefinger, and instead of the expected death shot, the hammer fell into half-cock. Again he proved the edge of his flint, set his hair trigger, and again and again it failed him. The lion was growing restless; his trusted weapon was useless in his hand. What wonder that his courage failed, and, dashing it to the earth, he turned and fled. In an instant the lion was upon him, and he in his turn lay helpless beneath the monster's weight. For some time he waited patiently, expecting his comrades to fire; but only one of them raised his gun, and that barrel wavered, so that the rest begged him not to fire. The uncle rose, and catching up his gun hastened to the rescue, but it had been discharged; and with his broken arm he attempted in vain to load it. The young man advised his comrades, and then entreated them to come on and shoot the lion while he was yet quiet enough to give them a good chance; but they came not. He cursed them for a set of cowards. Next he cursed the lion, and in the recklessness of despair he kicked him. The astonished beast turned round and seized the left knee, but this was a false move, for the young boer now drove his right foot so vigorously and rapidly into the exposed flank that the lion stared around him in bewilderment, and finally walked off, leaving the young fellow lamed only for a time. About the same time we became acquainted with a young boer, who, while lying in the power of the lion, had been so mangled that there was not sufficient muscle left upon his right arm to enable him to raise it without the assistance of his left. No one could see him advance to give his hand without a feeling of pity, yet his grip was as hearty as ever; and when his fingers closed upon the gunstock, the needful strength to raise it to the shoulder seemed to return. And notwithstanding his misfortune no man was readier or bolder in the hunting field.

Of the method adopted by English hunters, so many illustrative anecdotes are before the public, that in our limited range it is difficult to select one that shall be new and, at the same time, sufficiently striking to arrest attention. Generally, if the country is tolerably open, two or three gentlemen, with their native servants, and perhaps a few dogs, to distract the attention of the lion, will ride up, and one, checking his horse as he passes, will fire from the saddle, starting forward if the lion springs, and trusting to his comrades to relieve him.

Among the Bushmen the lion is not much hunted; in fact, some of them seem to look upon him as an involuntary benefactor, who, after he has killed his prey, will certainly let some remain for them, and may, perhaps, be scared from his repast, so as to leave them all. Sometimes, perhaps, they venture, if annoyed by one of men-eating propensities, to track him to his lair, and as he lies in dreamy enjoyment after a full meal, to lodge a poisoned arrow in his side.

But in general they prefer to enlist the white man in their cause, partly because they know his weapons to be more instantaneously effective, and partly because they are sure he will reward them for showing him the sport. The feat of Gordon Cumming delivering a village from the persecution of a pair of man-eaters, by killing them both with two shots from his double-barrel gun was still talked of by the natives when we were in the Sovereignty. The general introduction of firearms among the half-castes and the native tribes has rendered obsolete many of their customs, and it is now rare even in Africa to see some of the weapons they formerly used; such, for instance, as the long spears with which the Kafirs attacked the hippopotamus or elephant. But a lion hunt on fair and open ground, by a tribe of savage warriors, must have been an exciting scene. With them the preparatory tracking up and gathering of information essential to the English hunter are needless; the haunts and habits of the lion they intend to hunt have long been too familiar to them. The hunters with their naked bodies fresh anointed, and lithe and well-turned limbs, assemble around with light assegais or javelins, and with long sticks tufted with black ostrich feathers. A few feints and false attacks are made, and the lion is drawn or driven from his covers to the open plain. Now the fight begins. Encircled by the active warriors the lion stands at bay, perplexed and baffled by their rapid change of place, and perhaps somewhat confused by shouts from every quarter. At length the irritated beast exposes himself to the attack. Some bold warrior rushes past and darts his assegai, escaping if he can, while the manoeuvre is repeated by the next. Not all are thus successful. The wounded animal charges furiously, but in the moment of extreme peril the native strikes his plumed staff into the ground, and, before even the quick eye of the lion can detect the cheat, darts off in another direction, driving home, perhaps, another assegai as he passes. Many, perhaps, are wounded; but unless he does it at a stroke the lion has no time to kill, for he is already bristling like a porcupine with spears, and one moment of inaction would expose him to the fatal shower that would pour in upon him from every side. His fate sooner or later is sealed; whatever way he charges his foes elude him; wound after wound exhausts his strength, till, bleeding and helpless, he sinks upon the ground, and his skin and paws are borne in triumph to the chief; while the women of the kraal, with clapping of hands and extemporary songs of triumph, welcome and congratulate the victors.

The elephant, unfortunately for his love of ease and indolence, or perhaps rather quiet and undisturbed enjoyment, is endowed with many qualities which offer peculiar temptations to his apparently contemptible, yet in reality formidable, enemies. To savage tribes the amount of flesh acquired by the destruction of an elephant is a sufficient inducement for a small tribe to labour in digging pitfalls, or unite in the attempt to weary out and irritate him almost to death by numberless light javelins, till some one, bolder or more fortunate than the rest, is able to approach and drive the larger spear with skill and strength sufficient to give a deadly wound. To the ardent sportsman, who is also a clever artist and lover of nature, the mere act of engaging with and conquering single-handed this gigantic animal, affords an almost delirious excitement.

But beyond all other considerations, the paramount inducement to traders, hunters, and even to natives among whom white men have already penetrated, is that, like the greatest of marine animals, the whale, he carries about him that which may be made profitable in a commercial point of view, and thus repay the hunter for the labour of destroying him. Of course, in the case of the elephant this inducement is the ivory, with which in Africa both males and females are provided; while in India the hunters find the females without tusks, and the males so frequently so that profit from this source rarely enters into the sportsman's calculations, nevertheless, great numbers are annually killed in Ceylon and other parts of the Indian Empire. It requires a knowledge of the immense damage a single elephant is capable of doing among the cane or grain fields of the natives to induce those who cannot enter into the enthusiasm of the sportsman, to return a verdict of justifiable elephanticide.

Tigers, panthers, leopards, pumas, &c., are taken in various ways. The former animals, as we have before stated, are captured in large cage traps fitted with drop doors and trigger levers, which are thrown out of gear when the animal seizes a bait suspended from them. The Malays are very skilful in setting traps of this description. The systems adopted in shooting the large animals of prey just mentioned in the jungles of the far East are too well known to need description here. They may be said mainly to consist in shooting from a howdah placed on an elephant's back; shooting on foot, aided by beaters; watching a live or dead bait from a "meechaum" or scaffolding erected in a tree; or shooting at night from the rifle pit, after the manner already described. To hunt antelopes by the aid of tamed leopards, or to take deer with the bearcoot, or hunting eagle, it is necessary to secure the services of a regular staff of native hunters, keepers, and trackers--in fact, a retinue which few mere travellers could support. Sword hunting, as practised by the inhabitants of the Abyssinian borders, is a pursuit requiring more than ordinary skill and adroitness--in short, almost a lifetime may be passed in fruitlessly endeavouring to successfully imitate the feats of the "Aggageers." There are, however, many weapons and hunting appliances used in wild countries which the traveller will do well to familiarise himself with. The spear, the bow and arrow, the sling, the lasso, the bolas, the sumpitan or blow pipe, and the club, may as makeshifts stand him in good stead. A knowledge of the use of the boomerang would be extremely valuable; but we have never known a white man who could throw it even passably well. The spear, as cast from the womera, or throwing stick, is another weapon marvellously accurate, long-ranged, and deadly in the hands of the black fellow, but resolves itself into a mere sharp pointed stick when the European attempts to use it. It is much the same with the Kafir assegai. Very few Englishmen learn to use it well, whilst the natives hurl it with astonishing force and precision. There are calls, too, which are successfully used by the natives of many countries for attracting game to the lurking place of the sportsman. The birch bark calling trumpet of the American and Canadian moose hunter is an example of these; but practice alone will enable the traveller to use it successfully.

{Pitfalls.}

The natives of South Africa excel in the construction of pitfalls, and there is scarcely a tribe, with the exception of the pastoral Kafirs on the frontier, or the half-castes, who possess firearms, that does not more or less supply itself with wild flesh in this manner.

The tools used in sinking pitfalls resemble chisels, perhaps a hand breadth broad, and 8in. or 1ft. long; these are set in stout handles 6ft. or more in length, and used in a manner that may be understood after a glance at the beautiful group of Michael overthrowing Satan. The pits will be 10ft. or 12ft. long, 2ft. or 3ft. wide, and more than 8ft. deep, but they taper wedge-like towards the bottom, which is only a few inches wide, the intention being that an antelope or other animal shall jam his body immovably between the sides before he can touch the bottom with his feet. About the centre the pit is crossed by a wall of the hard soil, reaching about half-way to the top, and left standing for the purpose of catching any animal that, having once fallen in, is able to spring forward, and of holding him helplessly suspended by the belly.

The top is carefully covered with small sticks, over which reeds or grass are laid, and earth dusted over the whole as naturally as possible. A little water is then sprinkled over all to equalise the surface. Of course this has to be very artistically done to deceive the timid game; therefore there is no wonder that a mounted hunter, or even a traveller on foot, should occasionally fall in. Sometimes, to insure the capture of the animal, a small hole, also carefully covered, is made just before one end of the pit, and the creature stumbling in this, leaps forward and precipitates itself into the true snare.

We have on three occasions fallen into such pits (unprovided with the little hole last mentioned, which might have proved a warning to a man, who, if possible, would instinctively step backward), and once had considerable difficulty in getting out, because, owing to the wedge-shaped form, our hips were tightly jammed between the sides, while our feet could not reach the bottom; but, by vigorously sticking our elbows into the sides above, we at length extricated our lower extremities.

A fellow hunter had a more dangerous adventure than this; for the one that he fell into had three stakes, that would certainly have impaled an antelope, fixed upright in it; but fortunately a man goes straight down feet foremost, and seldom or never falls lengthwise. These pits for single animals, however, are but petty affairs compared with the extensive hopo or tellekello fences, built for the purpose of inclosing large herds of game, that are either driven during the day by extended lines of men from all quarters into the wide entrance, or suddenly find themselves forced into it when they come by night to drink at the water; in either case the space between the fences narrows rapidly, funnelwise, the fences themselves being made stronger in proportion to the diminution of the space between them, until this becomes little more than a narrow lane, and the fences assume the proportions of palisades, high and strong enough to prevent the escape even of the large animals that crowd into it. At the end of this passage is a low fence, partially concealing from view the yawning pit beyond, the apparent size of which is diminished by beams and poles so laid as to cover a considerable portion of each side, and thus rendering it impossible for any animal attempting to spring out to make his escape.

We have often seen these fences; but the Bushmen will very seldom get up a drive when white hunters are in the vicinity, preferring, very naturally, to eat game which, with very little trouble to themselves, has been shot by the European or the colonist, rather than to assemble their tribe and be on watch all night at the tellekello.