The family of snakes called Boidae, including the Boas and Pythons are huge snakes confined to the hotter regions of the globe, and formidable from their vast strength and mode of attack. They lurk in ambush and dart upon their victim, which in an instant is seized and enveloped in their folds, and crushed to death or strangled. For their predatory habits they are admirably adapted; their teeth are terrible, and produce a dreadful wound; the neck is slender, the body increasing gradually to about the middle in diameter, and then decreasing. The tail is a grasping instrument, strongly prehensile, and aided by two hooklike claws, sheathed with horn, externally visible on each side, beneath, just anterior to the base of the tail. Though externally nothing beyond these spurs appear, internally is found a series of bones, representing those of the hinder limbs, but of course imperfectly developed; yet they are acted upon by powerful muscles, and can be so used as to form a sort of antagonist to the tail while grasping any object; they thus become a fulcrum giving additional force to the grasp, which secured thereby to a fixed point, giving double power to the animal's energy.
The emperor boa, or boa constrictor as well as all the others to which the name boa applies are, according to Cuvier, natives of America. The engraving represents one of these terrible snakes in the act of strangling a deer.
The Aboma (Boa cenchrea) has scaly plates on the muzzle, and pits or dimples upon the plates of the jaws.
Endowed with powers which in a semicivilized state of society must operate powerfully on the mind; at ease and freedom alike on the land, in the water, or among the trees; at once wily, daring, and irresistible in their attack, graceful in their movements, and splendid in their coloring—that such creatures, to be both dreaded and admired, should become the subject of superstitious reverence, is scarcely to be wondered at. The ancient Mexicans regarded the boa as sacred; they viewed its actions with religious horror; they crouched beneath the fiery glances of its eyes; they trembled as they listened to its long-drawn hiss, and from various signs and movements predicted the fate of tribes or individuals, or drew conclusions of guilt or innocence. The supreme idol was represented encircled and guarded by sculptured serpents, before which were offered human sacrifices.
"On a blue throne, with four huge silver snakes,As if the keepers of the sanctuary,Circled, with stretching necks and fangs display'd,Mexitli sate: another graven snakeBelted with scales of gold his monster bulk."
It is probably of the boa constrictor, the emperor, the devin, that Hernandez writes, under the name of Temacuilcahuilia, so called from its powers, the word meaning a fighter with five men. It attacks, he says, those it meets, and overpowers them with such force, that if it once coils itself around their necks it strangles and kills them, unless it bursts itself by the violence of its own efforts; and he states that the only way of avoiding the attack is for the man to manage in such a way as to oppose a tree to the animal's constriction, so that while the serpent supposes itself to be crushing the man, it may be torn asunder by its own act, and so die. We do not ask our readers for their implicit faith in this. He adds, that he has himself seen serpents as thick as a man's thigh, which had been taken young by the Indians and tamed; they were provided with a cask strewn with litter in the place of a cavern, where they lived, and were for the most part quiescent, except at meal-times, when they came forth, and amicably climbed about the couch or shoulders of their master, who placidly bore the serpent's embrace. They often coiled tip in folds, equalling a large sized cartwheel in size, and harmlessly received their food.
In most accounts current respecting the mode in which boas and pythons take their food, the snake, after crushing its prey, is described as licking the body with its tongue and lubricating it with its saliva, in order to facilitate the act of deglutition. It has been observed with justice that few worse instruments for such a purpose than the slender dark forked tongue of these snakes could have been contrived: and that, in fact, the saliva does not begin to be poured out abundantly till required to lubricate the jaws and throat of the animal straining to engulph the carcass. We have seen these snakes take their food, but they did not lubricate it, though the vibratory tongue often touched it; we must, therefore, withhold our credence from the common assertion.
The size attained by the boa is often very great, and larger individuals than any now seen occurred formerly, before their ancient haunts had been invaded by human colonization.
The Anaconda, (Boa Scytale), called by Linnaeus, Boa Murina, and by Prince Maximilian, Boa Aquatica, is of an enormous size, from twenty to thirty feet in length.
The boa cenchrea has scaly plates on the the muzzle; and dimples upon the plates at the sides of the jaws. His color is yellowish, with a row of large brown rings running the whole length of the back, and variable spots on the sides. These are generally dark, often containing a whitish semi-lunar mark. This species, according to Seba, who describes it as Mexican, is the Temacuilcahuilia (or Tamacuilla Huilia, as Seba writes the word) described by Hernandez. The species here described, according to Cuvier, grow nearly to the same size, and haunt the marshy parts of South America. There, adhering by the tail to some aquatic tree, they suffer the anterior part of the body to float upon the water, and patiently wait to seize upon the quadrupeds which come to drink.
Our engraving represents him in the attitude of watching for a deer which is seen, in the distance.
A specimen apparently of the boa scytale called in Venezuela "La Culebra de Agua," or water serpent, and also "El Traga Venado," or deer-swallower, which measures nineteen feet and a half in length, was presented by Sir Robert Ker Porter to the United Service Museum. He states that "The flesh of this serpent is white and abundant in fat. The people of the plains never eat it, but make use of the fat as a remedy for rheumatic pains, ruptures, strains, &c."
"This serpent," says Sir B. K. Porter, "is not venomous nor known to injure man (at least not in this part of the New World;) however, the natives stand in great fear of it, never bathing in waters where it is known to exist. Its common haunt, or rather domicile, is invariably near lakes, swamps, and rivers; likewise close wet ravines produced by inundations of the periodical rains: hence, from its aquatic habits, its first appellation. Fish and those animals which repair there to drink, are the objects of its prey. The creature lurks watchfully under cover of the water, and, whilst the unsuspecting animal is drinking, suddenly makes a dash at the nose, and with a grip of its back-raclining double range of teeth never fails to secure the terrified beast beyond the power of escape."
It would appear that boas are apt to be carried out to sea by sudden floods, and are sometimes drifted alive on distant coasts. The Rev. Lansdown Guilding, writing in the Island of St. Vincent, says, "A noble specimen of the boa constrictor was lately conveyed to us by the currents, twisted round the trunk of a large sound cedar tree, which had probably been washed out of the bank, by the floods of some great South American river, while its huge folds hang on the branches as it waited for its prey. The monster was fortunately destroyed after killing a few sheep, and his skeleton now hangs before me in my study, putting me in mind how much reason I might have had to fear in my future rambles through St. Vincent, had this formidable animal been a pregnant female and escaped to a safe retreat."
The pythons closely resemble the true boas, but have the subcaudal plates double; the muzzle is sheathed with plates, and those covering the mouth of the jaws have pits. These snakes, which equal or exceed the boas in magnitude, are natives of India, Africa, and Australia.
Pliny speaks of snakes in India of such a size as to be capable of swallowing stags and bulls; and Valerius Maximus, quoting a lost portion of Pliny's work, narrates the alarm into which the troops under Regulus were thrown by a serpent which had its lair on the banks of the river Bagradas, between Utica and Carthage, and which intercepted the passage to the river. It resisted ordinary weapons, and killed many of the men; till at last it was destroyed by heavy stones thrown from military engines used in battering walls; its length is stated as a hundred and twenty feet. Regulus carried its skin and jaws to Rome, and deposited them in one of the temples, where they remained till the time of the Numantine war.
Diodorus Siculus relates the account of the capture of a serpent, not without loss of life, in Egypt, which measured thirty cubits long; it was taken to Alexandria. Suetonius speaks of a serpent exhibited at Rome in front of the Comitium, fifty cubits in length.
Though we do not refuse credit to these narratives, it must be added that in modern days we have not seen serpents of such magnitude; yet they may exist. Bontius observes that some of the Indian pythons exceed thirty-six feet in length, and says that they swallow wild boars, adding, "there are those alive who partook with General Peter Both, of a recently swallowed hog cut out of the belly of a serpent of this kind."
These snakes, he observes, are not poisonous, but strangle a man or other animal by powerful compression. The Ular Sawa, or great Python of the Sunda Isles, is said to exceed when full-grown, thirty feet in length; and it is narrated that a "Malay prow being anchored for the night under the Island of Celebes, one of the crew went ashore, in search of betel nut, and, as was supposed, fell asleep on the beach, on his return. In the dead of night, his companions on board were aroused by dreadful screams; they immediately went ashore, but they came too late, the cries had ceased—the man had breathed his last in the folds of an enormous serpent, which they killed. They cut off the head of the snake and carried it, together with the lifeless body of their comrade, to the vessel; the right wrists of the corpse bore the marks of the serpent's teeth, and the disfigured body showed that the man had been crushed by the constriction of the reptile round the head, neck, breast, and thigh."
Mr. McLeod, in his voyage of H.M.S. Alceste, after describing the mode in which a python on board, sixteen feet in length, crushed and gorged a goat, the distressing cries of which on being introduced into the serpent's cage, could not but excite compassion, goes on to say that during a captivity of some months at Whidah, in the kingdom of Dahomey, on the coast of Africa, he had opportunities of observing pythons of more than double that size, and which were capable of swallowing animals much larger that goats or sheep. "Governor Abson," he adds, "who had for thirty-seven years resided at Fort William, one of the African Company's settlements there, describes some desperate struggles which he had seen, or which had come to his knowledge, between the snakes and wild beasts as well as the smaller cattle, in which the former were always victorious. A negro herdsman belonging to Mr. Abson, and who afterwards limped for many years about the fort, had been seized by one of these monsters by the thigh; but from his situation in a wood the serpent in attempting to throw himself around him got entangled in a tree; and the man being thus preserved from a state of compression, which would instantly have rendered him quite powerless, had presence of mind enough to cut with a large knife which he carried about with him, deep gashes in the neck and throat of his antagonist, thereby killing him, and disengaging himself from his frightful situation. He never afterwards, however, recovered the use of his limb, which had sustained considerable injury from the fangs and mere force of his jaws."
Ludolph states that enormous snakes exist in Ethiopia: and Bosman informs us that entire men have been found in the gullet of serpents on the Gold coast. In the "Oriental Annual" is the following narrative, explanatory of a well-known picture by W. Daniell: "A few years before our visit to Calcutta," says the writer, "the captain of a country ship while passing the Sunderbunds sent a boat into one of the creeks to obtain some fresh fruits, which are cultivated by the few miserable inhabitants of this inhospitable region. Having reached the shore the crew moored the boat under a bank, and left one of their party to take care of her."
During their absence, the lascar who remained in charge of the boat, overcome by heat, lay down under the seats and fell asleep. While he was in this happy state of unconsciousness an enormous boa, python, emerged from the jungle, reached the boat, had already coiled its huge body round the sleeper, and was in the very act of crushing him to death, when his companions fortunately returned at this auspicious moment, and attacking the monster, severed a portion of its tail, which so disabled it that it no longer retained the power of doing mischief. The snake was then easily despatched, and was found to measure, as stated, sixty-two feet and some inches in length. It is hardly probable that the snake had fairly entwined round the man, for the sudden compression of the chest, had the snake exerted its strength, would have been instantly fatal.
In March, 1841, a singular circumstance occurred at the gardens of the Zoological Society, which at the time caused no little surprise. A python, eleven or twelve feet long, and one about nine feet long, were kept together in a well-secured cage; both had been fed one evening, the larger one with three guinea pigs and a rabbit; but, as it would appear, his appetite was unsatiated. The next morning, when the keeper came to look into the cage, the smaller python was missing—its escape was impossible—and the question was what had become of it?
The truth was evident—its larger companion had swallowed it. There it lay torpid, and bloated to double its ordinary dimensions. How it accomplished the act is not known, but we may imagine a fearful struggle to have taken place, as wreathing round each other they battled for the mastery; unless, indeed, the victim was itself torpid and incapable of resistance.
The Tiger Python, (Python, tigris), is a native of India and Java, and is often brought over to England for exhibition. It was, we believe, from one of these species that Mr. Cops, the keeper of the lion office was in imminent danger, as narrated by Mr. Broderip.
The animal was near shedding its skin, and consequently nearly blind, for the skin of the eye, which is shed with the rest of the slough, becomes then opaque, when Mr. Cops, wishing it to feed, held a fowl to its head. The snake darted at the bird, but missed it, seizing the keeper by the left thumb, and coiled round his arm and neck in a moment. Mr. Cops, who was alone, did not lose his presence of mind, and immediately attempted to relieve himself of the powerful constriction by getting at the snake's head. But the serpent had so knotted himself on his own head, that Mr. Cops could not reach it, and had thrown himself on the floor in order to grapple with a better chance of success, when two other keepers coming in broke the teeth of the serpent, and with some difficulty relieved Mr. Cops from his perilous situation. Two broken teeth were extracted from the thumb, which soon healed, and no material inconvenience was the result of this frightful adventure.
Mr. Cumming, to whose exploits we have so frequently referred, gives the following account of a day's adventures, one of which was an amusing affair with a large python.
On the 26th, I rose at earliest dawn to inspect the heads of the three old buffaloes, they were all enormous old bulls, and one of them carried a most splendid head. The lions had cleaned out all his entrails; their spoor [Footnote: Spoor,i.e.,track] was immense. Having taken some buffalo breast and liver for breakfast, I despatched Ruyter to the wagons to call the natives to remove the carcasses, while I and Kleinboy held through the hills to see what game might be in the next glen which contained water. On my way thither, we started a fine old buck koodoo, which I shot, putting both barrels into him at one hundred yards. As I was examining the spoor of the game by the fountain, I suddenly detected an enormous old rock-snake stealing in beside a mass of rock beside me. He was truly an enormous snake, and, having never before dealt with this species of game, I did not exactly know how to set about capturing him. Being very anxious to preserve his skin entire, and not wishing to have recourse to my rifle, I cut a stout and tough stick about eight feet long, and having lightened myself of my shooting-belt, I commenced the attack. Seizing him by the tail, I tried to get him out of his place of refuge; but I hauled in vain; he only drew his large folds firmer together; I could not move him. At length I got a rheim round one of his folds about the middle of his body, and Kleinboy and I commenced hauling away in good earnest.
The snake, finding the ground too hot for him, relaxed his coils, and, suddenly bringing round his head to the front, he sprang out at us like an arrow, with his immense and hideous mouth opened to its largest dimensions, and before I could get out of the way he was clean out of his hole, and made a second spring, throwing himself forward about eight or ten feet, and snapping his horrid fangs within a foot of my legs. I sprang out of his way, and, getting hold of the green bough I had cut, returned to the charge. The snake was now gliding along at top speed: he knew the ground well, and was making for a mass of broken rocks, where he would have been beyond my reach, but before he could gain this place of refuge I caught him two or three tremendous whacks on the head. He, however, held on, and gained a pool of muddy water, which he was rapidly crossing, when I again belabored him, and at length reduced his pace to a stand. We then hanged him by the neck to a bough of a tree, and in about fifteen minutes he seemed dead, but he again became very troublesome during the operation of skinning, twisting his body in all manner of ways. This serpent measured fourteen feet.
The Cape Buffalo we have already described, and we now refer to him again only for the purpose of quoting Mr. Cumming's account of a spirited fight with one. He thus relates the affair.
On the evening of the next day I had a glorious row with an old bull buffalo: he was the only large bull in a fine herd of cows. I found their spoor while walking ahead of the wagon, and following it up, I came upon a part of the herd feeding quietly in a dense part of the forest. I fired my first shot at a cow, which I wounded. The other half of the herd then came up right in my face, within six yards of me. They would have trampled on me if I had not sung out in their faces and turned them. I selected the old bull and sent a bullet into his shoulder. The herd then crashed along through the jungle to my right, but he at once broke away from them and took to my left. On examining his spoor, I found it bloody. I then went to meet my wagons, which I heard coming on, and, ordering the men to outspan, I took all my dogs to the spoor. They ran it up in fine style, and in a few minutes the silence of the forest was disturbed by a tremendous bay. On running towards the sound I met the old fellow coming on towards the wagons, with all my dogs after him. I saluted him with a second ball in the shoulder; he held on and took up a position in the thicket within forty yards of the wagons, where I finished him. He carried a most splendid head.
In another part of his narrative, Mr. Cumming thus describes a desperate battle with an elephant.
On the 27th I cast loose my horses at earliest dawn of day, and then I lay half asleep for two hours, when I arose to consume coffee and rhinoceros. Having breakfasted, I started with a party of natives to search for elephants in a southerly direction. We held along the gravelly bed of a periodical river, in which were abundance of holes excavated by the elephants in quest of water. Here the spoor of rhinoceros was extremely plentiful, and in every hole where they had drunk the print of the horn was visible. We soon found the spoor of an old bull elephant, which led us into a dense forest, where the ground was particularly unfavorable for spooring; we, however, threaded it out for a considerable distance, when it joined the spoor of other bulls.
The natives now requested me to halt, while the men went off in different directions to reconnoitre. In the mean time a tremendous conflagration was roaring and crackling close to windward of us. It was caused by the Bakalahari burning the old dry grass to enable the young to spring up with greater facility, whereby they retained the game in their dominions. The fire stretched away for many miles on either side of us, darkening the forest far to leeward with a dense and impenetrable canopy of smoke. Here we remained for about half an hour, when one of the men returned, reporting that he had discovered elephants. This I could scarcely credit, for I fancied that the extensive fire which raged so fearfully must have driven, not only elephants, but every living creature out of the district, The native, however, pointed to his eye, repeating the word "Klow," and signed to me to follow him.
My guide led me about a mile through dense forest, when we reached a little wellwood hill, to whose summit we ascended, whence a view might have been obtained of the surrounding country, had not volumes of smoke obscured the scenery far and wide, as though issuing from the funnels of a thousand steamboats. Here, to my astonishment, my guide halted, and pointed to the thicket close beneath me, when I instantly perceived the colossal backs of a herd of bull elephants. There they stood quietly browsing on the lee side of the hill, while the fire in its might was raging to windward within two hundred yards of them.
I directed Johannus to choose an elephant, and promised to reward him should he prove successful. Galloping furiously down the hill, I started the elephants with an unearthly yell, and instantly selected the finest in the herd. Placing myself alongside, I fired both barrels behind his shoulder, when he instantly turned upon me, and in his impetuous career charged head foremost against a large bushy tree which he sent flying before him high in the air with tremendous force, coming down at the same moment violently on his knees. He then met the raging fire, when, altering his course, he wheeled to the right-about As I galloped after him I perceived another noble elephant meeting us in an opposite direction, and presently the gallant Johannus hove in sight, following his quarry at a respectful distance. Both elephants held on together, so I shouted to Johannus, "I will give your elephant a shot in the shoulder and you must try to finish him." Spurring my horse, I rode close alongside, and gave the fresh elephant two balls immediately behind the shoulder, when he parted from mine, Johannus following; but before many minutes had elapsed that mighty Nimrod reappeared, having fired one shot and lost his prey.
In the mean time I was loading and firing as fast as could be, sometimes at the head, sometimes behind the shoulder, until my elephant's fore-quarters were a mass of gore, notwithstanding which he continued to hold stoutly on, leaving the grass and branches of the forest scarlet in his wake.
On one occasion he endeavored to escape by charging desperately amid the thickest of the flames; but this did not avail, and I was soon once more alongside. I blazed away at this elephant, until I began to think that he was proof against my weapons. Having fired thirty-five rounds with my two-grooved rifle, I opened fire upon him with the Dutch six-pounder; and when forty bullets had perforated his hide, he began for the first time to evince signs of a dilapidated constitution. He took up a position in a grove; and as the dogs kept barking round him, he backed stern foremost amongst the trees, which yielded before his gigantic strength. Poor old fellow! he had long braved my deadly shafts, but I plainly saw that it was all over with him; so I resolved to expend no further ammunition, but hold him in view until he died. Throughout the chase this elephant repeatedly cooled his person with large quantities of water, which he ejected from his trunk over his back and sides; and just as the pangs of death came over him, he stood trembling violently beside a thorny tree, and kept pouring water into his bloody mouth until he died, when he pitched heavily forward, with the whole weight of his fore-quarters resting on the points of his tusks.
A most singular occurrence now took place. He lay in this posture for several seconds, but the amazing pressure of the carcase was more than the head was able to support. He had fallen with his head so short under him that the tusks received little assistance from his legs. Something must give way. The strain on the mighty tusks was fair; they did not, therefore, yield; but the portion of his head in which his trunk was imbedded, extending a long way above the eye, yielded and burst with a muffled crash. The tusk was thus free, and turned right round in his head, so that a man could draw it out, and the carcase fell over and rested on its side. This was a very first-rate elephant, and the tusks he carried were long and perfect.
Mr. Cumming was extremely desirous to fall in with an oryx, and carry off his fine head with its splendid long horns as a trophy. He thus describes a long but successful chase for one.
At at early hour on the morning of the 16th, Paterson and I took the field, accompanied by our three after-riders, and having ridden several miles in a northerly direction, we started an oryx, to which Paterson and his after-rider immediately gave chase. I then rode in an easterly direction, and shortly fell in with a fine old cow oryx, which we instantly charged. She stole away at a killing pace, her black tail streaming in the wind, and her long, sharp horns laid well back over her shoulders. Aware of her danger, and anxious to gain the desert, she put forth her utmost speed and strained across the bushy plain. She led us a tearing chase of upwards of five miles in a northerly course, Cobus sticking well into her, and I falling far behind. After a sharp burst of about three miles, Cobus and the grey disappeared over a ridge about half a mile ahead of me. I mounted a fresh horse, which had been led by Jacob, and followed. On gaming the ridge, I perceived the grey disappearing over another ridge, a fearfully long way ahead. When I reached this point I commanded an extremely extensive prospect, but no living object was visible on the desolate plain.
Whilst deliberating in which direction to ride, I suddenly heard a pistol-shot, some distance to my left, which I knew to be Cobus's signal that the oryx was at bay. Having ridden half a mile, I discovered Cobus dismounted in a hollow, and no oryx in view. He had succeeded in riding the quarry to a stand, and, I not immediately appearing, he very injudiciously had at once lost sight of the buck and left it.
Having upbraided Cobus in no measured terms for his stupidity, I sought to retrieve the fortunes of the day by riding in the direction in which he had left the oryx. The ground here was uneven and interspersed with low hillocks. We extended our front and rode on up wind, and, having crossed two or three ridges, I discovered a troop of bucks a long way ahead. Having made for these, they turned out to be hartebeests. At this moment I perceived three magnificent oryx a short distance to my left. On observing us, they cantered along the ridge towards a fourth oryx, which I at once perceived to be "embossed with foam and dark with soil," and knew to be the antelope sought for. Once more we charged her. Our horses had now considerably recovered their wind, but the poor oryx was much distressed; and after a chase of half a mile I jumped off my horse and sent a bullet through her ribs, which brought her to a stand, when I finished her with the other barrel. She proved a fine old cow with very handsome horns; the spot on which she fell being so sterile that we could not even obtain the smallest bushes with which to conceal her from the vultures, we covered her with my after-rider's saddle-cloth, which consisted of a large blanket. The head, on which I placed great value, we cut off and bore along with us.
On my way home I come across Pater-son's after-rider, "jaging" a troop of gemsboks, but fearfully to leeward, his illustrious master being nowhere in sight. An hour after I reached the camp Paterson came in, in a towering rage, having been unlucky in both his chases. I now despatched one of my wagons to bring home my oryx. It returned about twelve o'clock that night, carrying the skin of my gemsbok and also a magnificent old blue wildebeest (the brindled gnoo,) which the Hottentots had obtained in an extraordinary manner. He was found with one of his fore legs caught over his horn, so that he could not run, and they hamstrung him and cut his throat. He had probably managed to get himself into this awkward attitude while fighting with some of his fellows. The vultures had consumed all the flesh of the oryx, and likewise torn my blanket with which I had covered her.
Mr. Gumming thus describes an innumerable herd of blesboks which he encountered in the plains of Africa.
The game became plentiful in about ten days after we left Colesberg, but when we came to the Vet River I beheld with astonishment and delight decidedly one of the most wonderful displays which I had witnessed during my varied sporting career in Southern Africa. On my right and left the plain exhibited one purple mass of graceful blesboks, which extended without a break as far as my eyes could strain: the depth of their vast legions covered a breadth of about six hundred yards. On pressing upon them, they cantered along before me, not exhibiting much alarm, taking care, however, not to allow me to ride within six hundred yards of them. On, on I rode, intensely excited with the wondrous scene before me, and hoped at length to get to windward of at least some portion of the endless living mass which darkened the plain, but in vain. Like squadrons of dragoons, the entire breadth of this countless herd held on their forward course as if aware of my intention, and resolved not to allow one to weather them.
At length I determined to play upon their ranks, and, pressing my horse to his utmost speed, I dashed forward, and, suddenly halting, sprang from the saddle, and, giving my rifle at least two feet of elevation, red right and left into one of their darkest masses. A noble buck dropped to the right barrel, and the second shot told loudly; no buck however, fell, and, after lying for half a minute the prostrate blesbok rose, and was quickly lost sight of amongst the retreating herd.
In half a minute I was again loaded, and after galloping a few hundred yards let drive into them, but was still unsuccessful. Excited, and annoyed at my want of luck, I resolved to follow them up, and blaze away while a shot remained in the locker, which I did; until, after riding about eight or ten miles, I found my ammunition expended, and not a single blesbok bagged, although at least a dozen must have been wounded. It was now high time to retrace my steps and seek my wagons. I accordingly took a point, and rode across the trackless country in the direction for which they were steering.
I very soon once more fell in with fresh herds of thousands of blesboks. As it was late in the day, and I being on the right side for the wind, the blesboks were very tame, and allowed me to ride along within rifle-shot of them, and those which ran barged resolutely past me up the wind in long-continued streams. I took a lucky course for the wagons, and came right upon them, after they had outspanned on the bank of the Vet River. I could willingly have devoted a month to blesbok-shooting in this hunter's elysium.
The following is one of Mr. Cumming's most remarkable lion hunts.
We trecked up along the banks of the river for the Mariqua, and a little before sundown fell in with two enormous herds of buffaloes, one of which, consisting chiefly of bulls, stood under the shady trees on one side of the bank, whilst the other, composed chiefly of cows and calves, stood on the opposite side, a little higher up the river. In all there were at least three hundred. Thinking it probable that if I hunted them I might kill some old bull with a head perhaps worthy of my collection, I ordered my men to outspan, and, having saddled steeds, I gave chase to the herd of bulls, accompanied by Booi and my dogs. After a short burst they took through the river, whereby I lost sight of an old bull which carried the finest head in the herd. My dogs, however, brought a cow to bay as they crossed the river, which I shot standing in the water, but not before she had killed a particularly favorite bull-dog, named Pompey.
I then continued the chase, and again came up with the herd, which was now considerably scattered: and after a sharp chase, part of which was through a wait-a-bit thorn cover, I brought eight or nine fine bulls to bay in lofty reeds at the river's margin, exactly opposite to my camp; of these I singled out the two best heads, one of which I shot with five balls, and wounded the other badly, but he made off while I was engaged with his comrade.
In the morning I instructed four of my people to cross the river, and bring over a supply of buffalo meat. These men were very reluctant to go, fearing a lion might have taken possession of the carcase. On proceeding to reconnoitre from our side, they beheld the majestic beast they dreaded walk slowly up the opposite bank from the dead buffalo, and take up a position on the top of the bank under some shady thorn-trees. I resolved to give him battle, and rode forth with my double-barrelled Westly Richards rifle, followed by men leading the dogs. Present, who was one of the party, carried hisroer, no doubt to perform wonders. The wind blew up the river; I accordingly held up to seek a drift, and crossed a short distance above where the buffalo lay. As we drew near the spot, I observed the lion sitting on the top of the bank, exactly where he had been seen last by my people.
On my right and within two hundred yards of me, was a very extensive troop of pallahs, which antelope invariably manage to be in the way when it is not wanted. On this occasion, however, I succeeded in preventing my dogs from observing them. When the lion saw us coming, he overhauled us for a moment, and then slunk back for concealment; being well to leeward of him I ordered the dogs to be slipped, and galloped forward. On finding that he was attacked, the lion at first made a most determined bolt for it, followed by all the dogs at a racing pace; and when they came up with him he would not bay, but continued his course down the bank of the river, keeping close in beside the reeds, growling terribly at the dogs, which kept up an incessant angry barking.
The bank of the river was intersected by deep watercourses, and the ground being extremely slippery from the rain which had fallen during the night, I was unable to overtake him until he came to bay in a patch of lofty dense reeds which grew on the lower bank, immediately adjacent to the river's margin. I had brought out eleven of my dogs, and before I could come up three of them were killed. On reaching the spot I found it impossible to obtain the slightest glimpse of the lion, although the ground favored me, I having the upper bank to stand upon; so, dismounting from my horse, I tried to guess, from his horrid growling, his exact position, and fired several shots on chance, but none of these hit him. I then commenced pelting him with lumps of earth and sticks, there being no stones at hand. This had the effect of making him change his position, but he still kept in the densest part of the reeds, where I could do nothing with him.
Presently my followers came up, who, as a matter of course, at once established themselves safely in the tops of thorn trees. After about ten minutes' bullying, the lion seemed to consider his quarters too hot for him, and suddenly made a rush to escape from his persecutors, continuing his course down along the edge of the river. The dogs, however, again gave him chase, and soon brought him to bay in another dense patch of reeds, just as bad as the last.
Out of this in a few minutes I managed to start him, when he bolted up the river, and came to bay in a narrow strip of reeds. Here he lay so close that for a long time I could not ascertain his whereabouts; at length, however, he made a charge among the dogs, and, coming forward, took up a position near the outside of the reeds, where for the first time I was enabled to give him a shot. My ball entered his body a little behind the shoulder. On receiving it he charged growling after the dogs, but not farther than the edge of the reeds, out of which he was extremely reluctant to move I gave him a second shot, firing for his head; my ball entered at the edge of his eye, and passed through the back of the roof of his mouth.
The lion then sprang up, and, facing about, dashed through the reeds, and plunged into the river, across he swam, dyeing the waters with his blood; one black dog, named "Schwart," alone pursued him. A huge crocodile, attracted by the blood, followed in their wake, but fortunately did not take my dog, which I much feared he would do. Present fired at the lion as he swam, and missed him; both my barrels were empty. Before, however, the lion could reach the opposite bank, I had one loaded without patch, and just as his feet gained the ground I made a fine shot at him neck, and turned him over dead on the spot. Present, Carollus, and Adonis then swam in and brought him through. We landed him by an old hippopotamus footpath, and the day being damp and cold, we kindled a fire, beside which we skinned him.
While this was going forward I had a painful duty to perform, viz. to load one barrel, and blow out Rascality's brains, whom the lion had utterly disabled in his after-quarters. Thus ended this protracted and all but unsuccessful hunt; for when I at length managed to shoot him, the dogs were quite tired of it, and, the reeds being green, I could not have set them on fire to force him out.
The lion proved to be a first-rate one; he was in the prime of life, and had an exquisitely beautiful coat of hair. His mane was not very rank; his awful teeth were quite perfect, a thing which in lions of his age is rather unusual; and he had the finest tuft of hair on the end of his tail that I had ever seen in a lion.
In the chase, my after-rider, who fortunately did not carry my rifle, got a tremendous capsize from bad riding, a common occurrence with most after-riders who have been employed in my service. The afternoon was spent in drying the mane of the wet lion, skinning out the feet, and preserving the skin with alum and arsenical soap.
Mr. Cumming thus describes the giraffe. These gigantic and exquisitely beautiful animals, which are admirably formed by nature to adorn the fair forests that clothe the boundless plains of the interior, are widely distributed throughout the interior of Southern Africa, but are nowhere to be met with in great numbers. In countries unmolested by the intrusive foot of man, the giraffe is found generally in herds varying from twelve to sixteen; but I have not unfrequently met with herds containing thirty individuals, and on one occasion I counted forty together; this, however, was owing to chance, and about sixteen may be reckoned as the average number of a herd. These herds are composed of giraffes of various sizes, from the young giraffe of nine or ten feet in height, to the dark chestnut-colored old bull of the herd, whose exalted head towers above his companions, generally attaining a height of upwards of eighteen feet. The females are of lower stature and more delicately formed than the males, their height averaging from sixteen to seventeen feet.
Some writers have discovered ugliness and a want of grace in the giraffe, but I consider that he is one of the most strikingly beautiful animals in the creation; and when a herd of them is seen scattered through a grove of the picturesque parasol-topped acacias which adorn their native plains, and on whose uppermost shoots they are enabled to browse by the colossal height with which nature has so admirably endowed them, he must indeed be slow of conception who fails to discover both grace and dignity in all their movements.
On the 24th, at the dawn of day, we inspanned, and trekked about five hours in a northeasterly course, through a boundless open country, sparingly adorned with dwarfish old tree. In the distance the long-sought mountains of Bamangwato at length loomed blue before me. We halted beside a glorious fountain, which at once made me forget all the cares and difficulties I had encountered in reaching it.
The name of this fountain was Massouey, but I at once christened it "the Elephant's own Fountain." This was a very remarkable spot on the southern borders of endless elephant forests, at which I had at length arrived. The fountain was deep and strong, situated in a hollow at the eastern extremity of an extensive vley, and its margin was surrounded by a level stratum of solid old red sandstone. Here and there lay a thick layer of soil upon a rock, and this was packed flat with the fresh spoors of elephants. Around the water's edge the very rock was worn down by the gigantic feet which for ages had trodden there.
The soil of the surrounding country was white and yellow sand, but grass, trees, and bushes were abundant. From the borders of the fountain a hundred well-trodden elephant foot-paths led away in every direction, like the radii of a circle. The breadth of the paths was about three feet; those leading to the northward and east was most frequented, the country in those directions being well wooded.
We drew up the wagons on a hillock on the eastern side of the water. This position commanded a good view of any game that might approach to drink. I had just cooked my breakfast, and commenced to feed when I heard my men exclaim, "Almatig keek de ghroote clomp cameel;" and raising my eyes from my sassayby stew, I beheld a truly beautiful and very unusual scene. From the margin of the fountain there extended an open level vley, without tree or bush, that stretched away about a mile to the northward, where it was bounded by extensive grooves of wide-spreading mimosas. Up the middle of this vley stalked a troop of ten colossal giraffes, flanked by two large herds of blue wildebeests and zebras, with an advance guard of pallahs. They were all coming to the fountain to drink, and would be within rifle-shot of the wagons before I could finish my breakfast. I, however, continued to swallow my food with the utmost expedition, having directed my men to catch and saddle Colesberg.
In a few minutes the giraffes were slowly advancing within two hundred yards, stretching their graceful necks, and gazing in wonder at the unwonted wagons. Grasping my rifle, I now mounted Colesberg, and rode slowly toward them. They continued gazing at the wagons until I was within one hundred yards of them, when, whisking their long tails over their rumps, they made off at an easy canter. As I pressed upon them they increased their pace; but Colesberg had much the speed of them, and before we had proceeded half a mile I was riding by the shoulder of the dark chestnut old bull, whose head towered above the rest. Letting fly at the gallop, I wounded him behind the shoulder; soon after which I broke him from the herd, and presently going ahead of him, he came to a stand. I then gave him a second bullet, somewhere near the first. These two shots had taken effect, and he was now in my power, but I would not lay him low so far from camp; so having waited until he had regained his breath I drove him half way back toward the wagons. Here he became obstreperous; so loading one barrel, and pointing my rifle toward the clouds, I shot him in the throat, when, rearing high, he fell backward and expired.
This was a magnificent specimen of the giraffe, measuring upwards of eighteen feet in height. I stood for nearly half an hour engrossed in the contemplation of his extreme beauty and gigantic proportions; and if there had been no elephants, I could have exclaimed, like Duke Alexander of Gordon, when he killed the famous old stag with seventeen tine, "Now I can die happy." But I longed for an encounter with the noble elephants, and I thought little more of the giraffe than if I had killed a gemsbok or an eland.
There are various modes of capturing giraffes. The Americans, who seek them for their menageries, have the Mexican lasso, a long cord which is thrown over the animal's head; and by casting him to the ground and surrounding him by a large force of hunters, he is then captured without difficulty.
Mr. Cumming thus notices the pitfalls used by the natives of Africa for taking the giraffe and other animals:—Starvation was written in the faces of these inhabitants of the forest. In their miserable villages were a few small gardens, containing watermelons and a little corn. Occasionally they have the luck to capture some large animal in a pitfall, when for a season they live in plenty. But as they do not possess salt, the flesh soon spoils, when they are compelled once more to roam the forests in quest of fruits and roots, on which, along with locusts, they in a great measure subsist. In districts where game is abundant, they often construct their pits on a large scale, and erect hedges in the form of a crescent, extending to nearly a mile on either side of the pit. By this means, the game may easily be driven into the pitfalls which are easily covered over with thin sticks and dry grass; and thus whole herds of zebras and wildebeests are massacred at once, which capture is followed by the most disgusting banquets, the poor starving savages gorging and surfeiting in a manner worthy only of the vulture or hyæna. They possess no cattle, and, if they did, the nearest chief would immediately rob them. All parts of the country abounded with pitfalls made by these and others of the Bakalahari. Many of these had been dug expressly for the giraffe, and were generally three feet wide, and ten long; their depth was from nine to ten feet. They were placed in the path of the giraffe, and in the vicinity of several of these we detected the bones of giraffes, indicating the success that had attended their formation.