i

1

i

k>-

i

mm

i

1

B ^ SIB 3^^

m

^■^■^

'^\

„^^:^

'Sa

^:.m

^'^ -S& ■ ^^""i^

j

THE LIBRARY

OF

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

PRESENTED BY

PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND

MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE

WITH

GUN AND GUIDE

HE CAME WITH HEAD UP, A SUPERB SIGHT.

Hunting in the Jungle

WITH GUN AND GUIDE

AFTER LARGE GAME

ADAPTED FROM " LES ANIiMAUX SAUVAGES " BY

WARREN F. KELLOGG

ILLUSTRATED

BOSTON

ESTES AND LAURIAT

PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1888,
By Estes and Lauriat.

John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.

CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

I. Off for the Jungle = .... 11

II. I MEET Thursday 21

III. My First Gorilla 31

IV. Domesticating my Gorilla 57

V. Hunting Chimpanzees 72

VI. I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE OrANG-OuTANG . . 94

VII. Still in Borneo 126

VIII. Back to Africa ■ 143

IX. A Few Elephant Stories 179

X. Hunting the Rhinoceros 209

XI. Lions and Tigers 224

XII. A Letter from the Niger 250

XIII. Another of the Cat Family 267

XIV. An American's Adventures 279

XV. A Quick Trip through "the Bush" 312

ivi31 291 o

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

He came with Head up, a Superb Sight (see page 243) . Frontispiece
The Blinding Lightning, at Quick-recurring Intervals, disclosed the

"Wild Scene around 15

The Low Line of the African Shore 19

A Family of Gorillas 25

All Day long she grinds the Meal 29

A Monkey, some Fowls, and a Bunch of Bananas 32

An Enormous Gorilla rolling his Angry Eyes in every Direction . 37

She sprang from her Shelter holding a Little Gorilla 40

I aimed full at his Breast 43

This Gorilla builds a Rude Hut 47

The Guide, with a Triumphant Shout, seized the Little Gorilla by

the N'ape of the Neck 53

Hunting a Gorilla 59

A Struggle for Life 61

Poor Joseph, his Head on my Knees 67

I had the Body buried at the Foot of a Tree 70

At the Door of his Aerial House stands the Chimpanzee ... 75

It was mere Play for him to uncork a Bottle 84

lie helps himself to the Contents of the Natives' Calabashes . . 87

An Oraug-Outang 95

A Dyak of Borneo 97

They are very Careful of their Young 101

viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

He took Refuge between Two Branches of a Lofty Tree . . . . 103

The Chinamen's Camp 105

The Brute, although badly wounded, would have been more than

a Match for tlicm 109

I taught him to use a Spoon 112

We were travelling through the Edge of a Great Swamp . . , 114

"Crocodiles! Crocodiles!" 117

We covered our Heads with Marsh Plants 120

The Crocodile lay on his Side on a Little Island 123

The Gibbon, or Long-armed Ape 127

Gentle Creatures climbing over the Ruins 129

A Few Yards from the Tower a Magnificent Jaguar 133

Offering the Best Fruits of the Land 137

" I cannot afford to support them," he said 139

Macaque Apes 141

Searching for Elephants' Tusks in their Burial-Places 145

Elephants impressed into the English Service 147

Advance Guards, like Sentinels 151

The Elephants' Burial-Place 155

" It is a Female," whispered Thursday 159

The Advance Guard appeared on the Edge of the Clearing . . . 1G2

The Herd calmly turned their Backs and started for the Woods . 1G5

"Look!" 171

I seized the Branch, and began to crawl along it 175

Piling them with the Greatest Regularity LSI

He held out his Wounded Foot for me to see 183

Playing upon them like a Fire-Engine 187

He sprang upon his Adversary's Head and held with Claws and

Teeth 191

He was past Control 19G

Over Two Hundred Native Devotees threw themselves beneath

the White Elephant's Feet 199

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. ix

Page

He set out at a Tremendous Pace 201

The Elephant had an Inspiration 203

The Skeletons of his Ancestors 205

The Whalers often find them, coated with Ice 207

The One-horned Ehinoceros 210

Before he can turn the Hunter buries a Spear in his Heart . . . 213

The Ehinoceros fulfils the Mission of the Ox 215

On the Back of the Female rested a Young One, Uglier, if possible,

than its Fond Parents 217

The Frenchman was belaboring his Head with an Oar . . . . 221

Driving the Crocodiles into the Water . 223

He and his Suite applaud their Blood-thirsty Ferocity . . . . 225

Hippopotami 228

A Family of Tapirs 231

Near her stood her Lover, caressing her 235

We travelled at a Breakneck Pace 237

He entered the Houses, and killed right and left 241

In spite of their Struggles he carried One of them off ... . 245

The Tiger strained its Jaws on this Man of Iron 248

A Guepard, or Hunting Tiger 251

Their Favorite Method of Attack 253

Several sprang upon our Soldiers 257

Before and behind him marched an Innumerable Train .... 260

She fastened her Cruel Teeth and Claws deep in his Neck . . . 263

The Jaguar peacefully engaged in Fishing 268

One more Skilful than the Rest caught his Noose around his

Hind Quarters 271

Three Negroes lying in their Blood 275

Twenty Arrows laid the Thief low 277

The Bear in Captivity 280

Seizing Two by the Nape of the Neck, I dropped them into a Bag 283

Eating Stolen Sweets from my Host's Beehives 285

X LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page

I aimed over a Crotch, and fired 287

His Head wagging above them with Real Eloquence 291

This was the Lad's Regular Couch 293

My Hands trembled with Excitement 297

On a Eloating Cake of Ice, a Female and Two Stalwart Cubs . . 299

The Bear made a Wild Leap upon the Nearest Canoe ..... 303

His Claws deep buried in his Victim's Neck 305

jMounting the Specimens 307

A Glimpse into the Museum 309

Australian Kangaroos 315

By his Advice we left our Mustangs 318

It struggled to escape from my Hands 321

I was urging on my Nag with Spur and Voice 324

We prolonged our Lunch Hour 327

He swung him round his Head several Times 331

Quick as Thought he drew his Knife 335

Leaving him, like Mazeppa, at the Beast's Mercy 337

I found several Small Fish in his Stomach 339

V-l

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE

WITH GUN AND GUIDE.

CHAPTER I.

OFF FOR THE JUNGLE.

WAS young and fond of adventure, full of
spirits and good health ; and when my friend
the Captain offered me a bunk in his own
cabin for an African voyage, I promptly gave up my
desk and duties in a New York shipping-house, and
accepted the invitation at once. It was a long voyage,
but its tedium was relieved for me by an occasional
shot at some bird lost in the desert of waters, or by
the capture of an unwary shark or porpoise when a
long calm gave the men the leisure to think of such
sport. Then in the watches of the summer nights the
Captain and I would pace the deck for hours, while he
spun me yarns of shipwreck and adventure on every
coast. He had been in the English service, on this
very African station, when the energies of the Royal

12 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Navy were exerted against the slave-trade. His remi-
niscences of this revolting business furnished matter for
many exciting stories, of which " A Night on an
African Cruiser " is a fair example.

"We were cruising off the mouth of the Congo, looking
out for slavers, and as a pleasant change, in the middle of
the rainy season, the night was starlight. The cheering
cry of ' Sail ho ! ' aroused the slumbering watch of H. M.
Brig ^ Pantaloon,' of which I was first officer, and dispelled
my half-waking dreams. Sending word to the captain,
I made all sail on the ship, and in a few minutes our
spars were covered with canvas and the brig gliding
through the smooth water before the land-wind which
had just sprung up.

" Our men clustered forward eagerly trying to discover
the chase, which as yet was visible to no eyes except
those of the Krooman at the masthead who had first
reported the strange sail. As a colored man's power of
vision is generally superior at night to that of a white
man, the suspense was endured for nearly a quarter of
an hour, when the good faith of the lookout was verified,
the strange sail being plainly visible from deck on the
line of the horizon, and the distance between the ' Panta-
loon ' and her prey rapidly lessening.

" ' Clear away the gun forward, and give her a blank
cartridge ! ' was an order obeyed as soon as given. The
long thirty-two pounder bellowed forth, and the flash
lit up for a moment the excited faces grouped around.

OFF FOR THE JUNGLE. 13

As the report died away, all eyes were bent on the chase
to see if she obeyed that authoritative signal to * heave
to ; ' but her white sails still gleamed in the moonlight,
and she pursued her course regardless of the mandate.
This perseverance in attempting to escape gave good
assurance that we were in pursuit of a slave-ship. Many
of the crew began already in imagination to spend their
prize-money ; the Kroomen especially were chuckling
w4th delight, for the very day before, at their earnest
request, the figure-head of the ' Pantaloon ' had had his
spectacles repainted ' to make him see better.'

" The proverbial ' slip 'twixt the cup and the lip '
had, however, yet to be illustrated. The guns had been
reloaded, this time with shot, and the gunner was stand-
ing lanyard in hand awaiting the order to fire, when the
captain's attention was attracted by the flapping of the
sails — hitherto drawing full — against the masts. The
land-w^ind had suddenly subsided, and a hot stifling
calm succeeded. On looking round we discovered in one
quarter of the horizon the small cloud, literally ' like a
man's hand,' which to experienced eyes betokens the
quick approach of a tornado. If one of these awful
tropical storms should strike the ship while all sail was
set, nothing but the loss of her masts could save her.

" No time now to think of anything but the safety of
the ship. 'Hands shorten sail! Quick, men! quick,
for your lives ! ' shouted the captain. The crew, aware
of the danger, worked well. Sail after sail was taken in.

14 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

until, instead of a cloud of canvas, the cruiser showed
nothing aloft but the clear tracery of spars and rigging.
In time, and only just in time, was the work finished, the
ship made snug, and the men down from aloft.

" Meanwhile the cloud had rapidly increased in volume
until it overspread half the horizon, the remainder of the
heavens being still bright and clear. The dead silence
of expectation was broken by a low growl of thunder.
One breath of wind, cold as from an ice-cave, passed over
us ; a few big drops of rain splashed upon the deck ; then,
with a mighty roar, lashing the water into foam, the tor-
nado swept down upon us.

, " Notwithstanding all our precautions, the first shock
threw the ' Pantaloon ' nearly on her beam-ends. For a
full minute of painful suspense she remained in that
position, then, suddenly righting, — all her timbers groan-
ing,— she yielded to her helm and sped before the
hurricane.

" Immediate danger was now over, it being only neces-
sary to keep the ship before the wind until the storm had
passed over us. The officers, released from their deepest
anxiety, were able to note — some even to enjoy — the
magnificent spectacle of an African tornado. In that
roaring wind and deafening thunder no man could hear
his fellow speak, nor in the darkness see the rope to
which he clung or the deck on which he stood, save
when the blinding lightning at quick-recurring intervals
disclosed the wild scene around him.

THE BLINDING LIGHTNING AT QUICK-RECURRING INTERVALS DISCLOSED
THE WILD SCENE AROUND.

OFF FOR THE JUNGLE. 17

'• Two hours passed thus, and the fury of the gale began
to abate, when with a simultaneous crash of thunder the
lightning struck our foremast. On reaching the deck,
the electric fluid was first attracted by the chain cable,
along which it ran hissing, until reaching the quarter-
deck it leaped with a loud report to the nearest gun,
flashing from gun to gun until it plunged into the sea
astern, — the old helmsman, as it passed, ducking his
head as he would to an enemy's shot. Happily no
one was seriously hurt, although some men standing
around the mast were partially stunned. The thunder
now ceased, and the wind fell. Quitting my station on
the forecastle I joined the officers on the quarter-deck,
where we congratulated ourselves that the elements had
done their worst, and speculated on the chances of the
morning light gladdening our eyes with a view of the lost
slaver. In all probability, however, she had either been
capsized or driven far beyond our reach.

" In these southern latitudes no soft dawn intervenes
between the blackest night and glaring, broiling day. No
sooner did day break than all eyes were anxiously engaged
sweeping the horizon in hopes of encountering the lost
slaver. Fifty voices quickly exclaimed, ' There she is ! '
and there, indeed, not two miles off, lay the luckless vessel
that even the tornado had failed to save. The sea was
calm ; not a ripple disturbed its glassy smoothness as it
heaved gently in the long, low ground-swell. It was evi-
dent to the crew of the slave-ship that no chance of escape

18 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

remained ; al though armed they were no match for an
English cruiser. Soon a Brazilian ensign fluttered up to
her mast-head, waved there a moment, and then slowly
and reluctantly descended in token of surrender.

" Our boats, well manned and armed, pulled toward the
prize, passing through some dozens of empty wine-bottles
recently thrown overboard, showing that the slaver's crew
had begun to drown their sorrows in the good liquor the
cabin stores afforded, determined it should not be wasted
on their captors. Lazily floating close to the vessel, show-
ing too clearly the nature of her cargo, were several large
sharks. Attracted by the scent, these monsters of the
deep follow in the wake of slave-ships, accompanying them
across the Atlantic, and becoming the floating graves of
many a victim to the horrors of the voyage.

" On boarding the prize, she proved to be the ' Aven-
tureiro,' a fine yacht-like schooner carrying one long
swivel-gun amidships. There was small need to inquire
of her sullen commander whether the cargo was lawful or
contraband, and our sailors at once proceeded to open the
hatches. On removing the close coverings a dense steam-
ing mist of foul air ascended from the slave-deck below ;
and three hundred unhappy beings of both sexes were dis-
covered lying down, their feet manacled to long iron bars
placed fore and aft through the ship. From this piteous,
writhing mass of humanity arose strange cries and shouts
of joy when their irons were struck off, and the fact of
their deliverance began to dawn upon their minds. The

OFF FOR THE JUNGLE.

19

crew of the slaver, twenty-four all told, were transferred
to the ' Pantaloon,' and a lieutenant and prize crew were
detailed to convey the schooner to Sierra Leone. Before
parting company, however, an exciting scene of plunder
was enacted, officers and sailors keenly searching after
comestibles which — although articles of daily food on

THE LOW LINK OP THE AFRICAN SHORE.

shore — were luxuries to men shut up for months in an
African cruiser.

" Tins of preserved meats, sardines, potted salmon, and
lobster ; boxes .of sugar, raisins, butter, wine, and ale re-
warded the laughing plunderers, and were passed into
the ship under the very eyes of the slave-captain. Soon,
however, his face cleared up and he puffed his paper
cheroot with calmness, consoled, doubtless, by the recoh

20 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

lection of former snccessful trips ; for slave-traders con-
fess that if one vessel out of four escapes they are amply
repaid.

" And now, all arrangements being complete, the ' Aven-
tureiro,' with England's flag at the peak, bore away to the
westward, while the ' Pantaloon ' once more turned toward
her cruising ground."

With tales like this my friend the Captain beguiled the
voyage, so that I was almost sorry late one bright after-
noon to see the low line of the African shore, and later
to cast anchor in the harbor of Sierra Leone.

CHAPTER II.

I MEET THURSDAY.

HAD a letter of credit on a trader in the town,
and at onr first interview told him of m}^ in-
tention of passing five or six months in the
interior to complete my natural history collections. He
promised to get me a guide on whose faithfulness I
might rely. And sure enough, a few days later he sent
me a strapping great fellow as black as the ace of
spades. He bore the euphonious name of N'Otooue, and
agreed, for the modest sum of ten cents per day, to guide
me through forest, jungle, and swamp as far, if I liked,
as the Mozambique coast line ! Life was too short to
make use of a name like his ; and bearing in mind Robin-
son Crusoe's admirable example and the day on which
N'Otooue was presented to me, I nicknamed him Thurs-
day, — a title in which he learned to feel the greatest
pride after I had told him of great Thor's warlike attri-
butes. As Thursday, therefore, he will appear in future
in these pages. He talked English a little, and that was
a great thing for me, for it would allow me to enjoy the
stories he would be sure to tell, — his countrymen beino;

22 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

all natural raconteurs. Besides, I much preferred not to
be obliged to use the decidedly unsatisfactory language of
signs with a man with whom I was to live some months.

" He is everything desirable," my banker said. " I have
known him the last ten years, during which he has come
to barter ivory and skins with me, and he will not dare,
if only on business policy, to play you any very bad trick.
He is a liar, a thief, a bully, and a drunkard, like all of
them; but aside from that," with a smile, "you may
depend upon him."

The portrait of the illustrious Thursday is a simple
matter, for the trader had faithfully outlined his moral
nature in his "recommendation." Physically he was a
tall, well-built fellow with tightly curling hair, his teeth
filed to a point, which gave him a singularly ferocious
appearance closely resembling a shark. He was dressed
in a belt, from which in front hung a leopard's skin,
while across his back were slung a single-barrelled gun
and a great iron-wood bow over six feet long. ^.Through
his belt was stuck an English axe, of which he was very
proud, and in the use of which he was extremely clever.

He belonged to the cannibal race of Fans, which for
the last fifty years have little by little overrun the west
coast of Africa without any one knowing from what part
of the interior they come. Thursday pretended he had
become quite civilized by his intercourse with the whites,
and that he no longer ate human flesh, — leaving that, as
he said, " to the poor blacks who," with a superb ges-

/ MEET THURSDAY. 23

ture, " were not in the habit of living among the officers
and traders." If his own stories were to be believed he
was one of the most skilful elephant hunters in the neigh-
borhood, and, in fact, he had come almost daily to the
trading posts to barter ivory tusks.

Around his neck he wore a strino; of charms — tio-ers'
and alligators' teeth and bits of stags' antlers — to pre-
serve him from fever, accidents, bad luck, and the bite of
snakes. He offered me several, urging me especially to
accept one that would protect me from evil spirits. At
first I laughed at him, but finding this offended him I
took his panther's tooth and put it in my pocket, where-
upon he seemed satisfied.

His wife, who accompanied him, wore even less, if pos-
sible, than himself. She was a gentle, submissive crea-
ture, who carried our drinking water and, aided by her
son, a good-looking lad of ten or a dozen years of age,
prepared our meals.

As you see, our little caravan was lightly loaded and
few in numbers, which is, I think, the only way to travel
in equatorial Africa, where it is impossible to make two
negroes agree for more than a week, unless to rob and
abandon you some fine night in the midst of the forest.
I was not afraid of this fate myself, although it has hap-
pened to so many explorers, for I intended to go inland
not further than forty or fifty leagues. At that distance
the traders almost always ultimately learn the fate of
any missing European, and there are plenty of ways to

24 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

avenge their murder. The traders' own personal safety
demands that the white man's life shall not be at the
mercy of every black devil who covets his arms or his
blanket.

I had no desire to solve any knotty questions of physi-
cal geography, nor to cross the continent from sea to sea.
My wishes were much more modest, namely, — to collect
specimens of all the varieties of apes in the country, es-
pecially of the gorilla, shooting them myself.

The evening of the very day of our departure, when we
had pitched our camp in a little negro village, where the
chiefs had placed huts at our disposal, I told Thursday
my plan of hunting the " man-eater." He seemed a trifle
astonished, but casting a glance at my rifle, Avhich carries
an explosive ball whose terrible effect he had seen that
very afternoon on a hare that I had literally torn to
pieces, he replied that nothing was easier, and that he
would giiide me to their favorite haunts.

The chiefs of the village were seated in a circle around
us, and when my guide explained my project to them they
all began to jabber and gesticulate at a tremendous rate.
At my request, Thursday translated with great volubility
a series of adventures with this curious animal so remark-
able that only a negro imagination could invent such
tales. For instance, they believe that the " man-eater "
is not always an animal like other apes, but that he
is possessed by the spirit of some native who, for his
evil ways, is condemned to return to this world in the

A FAMILY OF GORILLAS.

/ MEET THURSDAY. 27

monster's body before being admitted to the happy hunt-
ing grounds. These ''haunted" gorillas, besides enor-
mous strength, have intelligence as great as man's. They
can neither be caught nor killed ; they are invulnerable,
even the balls from the white man's rifle flattening them-
selves upon them, — not because their hides are any
tougher than the others, but l^ecause they are protected
by a mysterious charm. According to these trustworthy
accounts some poor woman is compelled to act as com-
panion and servant to these fearful brutes. All day long
she grinds the meal, grates the cassava, and prepares the
food for her master. Should she endeavor to escape she
is immediately torn to pieces ; and that is the reason, so
these imperturbable liars assert, that not one of them has
ever been seen to come back.

I should never end were I to tell you all the stories I
heard that night, for, spurred on by Thursday, each man
present wished to add his experience with haunted goril-
las to the general testimony. T have told enough to show
the character of the people among whom I was. Given
two possible explanations of an occurrence, one simple
and the other of a marvellous nature, the negro will
choose the latter every time, not from a desire to deceive
but simply to gratify his Tivid imagination. So you see
a traveller must take their statements, even on subjects
pertaining to their own country, which they ought to
know best, with a very large grain of salt.

In spite of my wish to bring the conversation round to

28 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

the luibite. of the gorilla that I intended to hunt, on this
my iir.st niglit in camp I could not lead the negroes away
from the attractive subject of haunted gorillas, and the
lono- evenino; was filled with tales of them alone. Wearied
with my useless efforts, I threw myself on a mat in the
chief's hut and was soon fast asleep, lulled by the voices
of the natives, who continued their endless stories till
after midnight.

ALL DAY LONG SHE GKINDS THE MEAL.

CHAPTER III.

MY FIRST GORILLA.

]T daybreak Thursday aroused me, and after a
cup of black coffee, prepared by his wife, we
took up our march through a vast plain,
broken here and there by clumps of palms lifting their
tall heads amidst fields of maize and corn. Through
the foliage we caught glimpses of hazy mountains far
away on the horizon. My guide said they were wooded
hills, the haunt of gorillas and elephants, where he had
always found plenty of game.

Nothing can be more lovely than the African forests
early in the morning. We were threading narrow trails,
hardly disturbed by the bare feet of the native hunters,
between endless hedges of banana and young palm trees
covered with their golden and savory fruit ; while be-
tween their trunks we could see long stretches of green,
wavy grass, soft as velvet in the morning light.

Soon the cultivation ceased, and the land for miles was
covered with pepper-plant and flowering tulip, filled with
brilliant paroquets that flew away with sharp notes at
our approach. On all sides of us, and within a space a

32

HUNTING IN TJU'J JUNGLE.

few hundred yards square, were all the most singular
tropical varieties of the equatorial flora. If I had fol-
lowed shnply my tastes I should immediately have given

A MONKEY, SOME FOWLS, AND A BUNCH OF BANANAS.

up my plans for hunting and have remained in this bot-
anists' paradise adding to my herbarium. But — I was
equipped with rifles and cartridges, and it was too late to
alter the object of my journey.

MY FIRST GORILLA. 33

We camped that evening in another native village, and
the next morning really entered the unbroken forest. It
was now necessary to observe the greatest caution, as at
any moment we might meet a tiger, a panther, or a gorilla.

However, before night we arrived without adventure
of any kind at the Fan village whence Thursday came.
The chief, to whom he introduced me, shook hands with
me in the European fashion and asked me if I had not a
present for him ! This was a sure sign that civilization
had reached as far as this town, at least. I gave him an
old pistol, at which he seemed greatly pleased, and told
him I had come to shoot a "man-eater." He promised to
go with us the next morning, and then invited me to a
feast at which a monkey, some fowls, and a bunch of
bananas cooked in the ashes composed the bill of fare.
The monkey was not at all to my taste, and I confined
myself to the other dainties ; but the Fans devoured in
an instant all that I left.

We started early, the chief and Thursday leading us up
a narrow valley in which, they both agreed, gorillas were
sure to be found.

" Have you ever shot a gorilla ? " asked the chief, turn-
ing to me as we walked along.

" No, never," I replied.

" Then I will give you a bit of advice," said he. " Which
gun are you going to use ? "

"This" — pointing to my rifle — "is my favorite, for
although the other is double-barrelled, this one is much

3

34 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

more effective, for it carries an explosive ball. A wound
from it is always fatal."

'"' The white man is helped by the Great Spirit, who
shows him new ways of killing."

" I will show you its merits at the first opportunity," I
said.

'' Ever}' white man has his fetich who aids him to do
wonders; but he can do nothing against the 'man-eater'
unless the black men help him."

'"' Quite true," I said ; " we could do nothing without
you."

The chief, at these words, threw back his head and
glanced Mdtli pride at his followers, for his vanity was
pleased.

'• Listen," he said after a moment. " As you have
never hunted the gorilla, I will speak words of wisdom
to you."

" Believe me, I will give it my best attention, chief."

" It is not difficult to kill a gorilla. One bullet in his
breast, and he is dead."

" So I have already heard ; but I am very glad to have
this confirmation of it from an authority and a great
chief."

The old man looked at me with intense satisfaction.
With these few words I had made a friend forever.

" But you must not miss him," he continued, " for he
will not give you a second chance."

"That's so," said my guide, as he translated this.

MY FIRST GORILLA. 35

"You could not get your second gun from the boy before
he would be upon you, and you would be crushed to a

jelly."

At that moment the whole line, as if instinctively,
came to a halt. The native guide leading us gave a
simial as ag;reed.

'•In which direction?" the chief signed.

The guide pointed ahead of us, a little to the right,
toward a clump of tall trees.

"Wait for me here," said the chief, with that sharp
tone of command which he knew so well how to assume
toward his men. Then, turning to me, —

" Let the white captain follow me."

No sooner had my interpreter translated this to me
than the chief dropped on all fours and began to crawl
in the direction the scout had indicated. I followed suit,
feeling that I was on the eve of a new and exciting
experience.

For five minutes, that seemed an age, I saw the chief
moving slowly without the least noise, parting the under-
brush with his hands, and holding it one side until I too
had passed. Suddenly he stopped, half raised himself,
and seemed to centre all his attention on a point in space
beyond the close curtain of foliage in front of us. My
heart beat in great throbs. Finally he made me a sign to
approach, and I, in turn, cast a rapid glance through the
forest. I felt my hair stand on end as, at the end of a
little clearing, I saw seated on a leafy hut an enormous

36 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

gorilla, sniffing the air and rolling his angry eyes in
every direction.

It was my first sight of this curious and terrible
animal, — the main cause of my journey and explorations.
You would have said that he scented the danger, for
his eyes searched the leafy screen behind which we were
crouching with a singularly ferocious glance that clearly
showed he did not for an instant mistake the direction
from which his enemy was coming.

The old chief, used as he was to this sight, took it
coolly enough ; but a profound astonishment, coupled
with a certain kind of terror, literally transfixed me
to the spot. I did not expect to see an animal of
such terrible proportions and ferocity, and it was one
of the rarest experiences of my long life of travel
and adventure to find the reality far exceed my wildest
imagination.

Erect, his head thrust forward, beating his chest with
his long arms, he gave three mighty roars, in which that
tone peculiar to wild beasts was curiously mingled with a
human cry that might have come from one of our own
throats. Then he uttered a series of growls, deep and
heavy, louder at first, running down the scale, and dimin-
ishing in volume like a clap of thunder rolling away in
the distance.

Suddenly the shrill note of a paroquet sounded near
us. The gorilla stopped short in astonishment. Instinc-
tively I raised my head to see on which branch this daring

AX ENORMOUS GORILLA, ROLLING HIS ANGKY EYES IN EVERY DIRECTION.

MY FIRST GORILLA. 30

bird was perched, I saw nothing ; but when the note
was repeated, I realized that I had been deceived by an
admirable imitation, and that the old chief had used this
signal to call his hunters around us again.

However skilful the Fan chief was in cheating me, he
evidently had not deceived the gorilla, for his fury re-
doubled. At this instant the natives joined us, crawling
through the dense undergrowth as we had done.

"Chief," said Thursday, in a whisper so low it hardly
reached me, " the brute has already detected us."

" How do you know that ? " said I, softly.

"Look!" he replied; "his nostrils quiver with anger
as he scents us, and his cruel eye never leaves our
shelter."

"Then why does he not attack us ? Is he afraid?"

"Fear! The man-eater? You'll not believe that
Ions;."

"Why does he wait, either to run or fight?" As I
whispered these words the old chief made me a sign,
urging me to silence. The furious cries and roars of the
gorilla grew louder and fiercer. It was plain, even to so
inexperienced a hunter as myself, that something unusual
was about to happen. The monster gnashed his tremen-
dous teeth, shaking with rage, but did not leave his
hut-roof. For the twentieth time I asked myself the
double question, " Why do we not give him a shot, or
why does he not get away from us?" A dozen times I
raised my rifle, — the one carrying the explosive ball, —

40

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

and a dozen times tlie chief tlirew up the barrel. I did
not have to wait long for a solution of the mystery. As
I was watching our enemy with the closest attention.

SHE SPRAXG FROM HER SHELTER HOLDING A LITTLE GORILLA.

faschiated by the strange sight, Thursday made me a
sign to look lower. I obeyed mechanically, and saw, with
a shudder of horror, a second gorilla's head emerging
from the foliage which shaded the hut.

MY FIRST GORILLA. 41

" That is the female," said Thursday. " Now you see
why the gorilla did not attack us. He is in a tremen-
dous rage because, in spite of his repeated calls, he cannot
make his companion listen."

•• What does he want ? "

" He wants to see her safe in the forest, and then he
will come and settle his account with us. But she is
undoubtedly suckling her young, and does not wish to
come from her retreat, especially without knowing exactly
which way to turn to put her offspring in safety."

In a few moments she seemed to decide, for with a
single bound she sprang from her shelter holding a little
gorilla, hardly more than a few days old, in her arms.
Evidently the little animal had been the cause of her hesi-
tation and delay. Her remarkable intelligence showed
her almost instantly on which side the danger lay, and
facing round, she sprang into the forest without a cry.

Her departure was saluted by a roar from the male
more terrible even than its predecessors. I felt my hair
stand on end, as it well might before so remarkable a
sisfht.

At a word from the chief, Thursday said, "Do you
want to kill him ? "

I made a quick gesture of assent.

" Then," said he, with a glance at the chief, " we must
show ourselves at once, or he will escape."

We stepped quickly out into the clearing toward the
brute, who stopped on seeing us coming.

42 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" Don't shoot until I give the word/' Avhispered the
chief. It was not a time to dispute such a singuhir com-
mand, so I merely waited with my gun ready.

The monster was about fifty paces in front of us, and I
could easily have shot him where he stood, but resisted
the temptation. Whenever I have hunted in Africa with
the native chiefs I have always made it a rule to follow
their suggestions implicitly, — with due regard, of course,
to my own personal safety. You can be prett}' sure that
these men, used as they are to the wild beasts in their
forests, will not give unnecessary advice ; and I have
always found it paid in the end.

The gorilla had dropped upon all fours, — the attitude
in which he travels most easily, — but sight of us re-
newed liis fury in an instant. He stood erect on his long
limbs, and with a roar that shook the forest, advanced
slowly, but without hesitation, toward us, beating his
breast with his arms. This seemed a favorite gesture
with him, for in the ten minutes we had been watching
him he had three times made use of it. I cannot better
describe the noise accompanying it than to compare it to
the native tam-tams, as played in the funeral processions.
He struck his chest tremendous blows in a rhythmical way,
broken by perfect roulades of roars, and his eyes flashed
fire. The chief made me a courteous sign that he gave
me the first shot ; and Thursday, translating, said :
" Wait until he has passed the trunk of that palm ; and
above all, do not miss him ! "

MY FIRST GORILLA.

43

The tree he meant was not more than twenty paces
from ns. I raised my rifle carefully ; the gorilla was
approaching us. I aimed full at his breast ; he had

I AIMED FULL AT HIS BREAST.

hardly crossed the line when my rifle-shot rang through
the forest, and the huge brute fell without a cry.
The report had been deafening. I sprang forward to

44 HUNTING IN TIIIC JUNGLE.

see the effect of the explosive ball, but Thursday held me
back.

" Look out," he cried ; '' he may yet have some life in
him ; and one blow from his talon-like fingers would lay
you open like a squirrel."

The advice was too good to be disregarded, though
from my experience in shooting with this terrible form of
ammunition I felt sure he was dead; for I never have
seen an animal live if the ball once reaches him. And
indeed this case proved no exception ; the gorilla was
dead.

When the natives saw the terrible wound which he had
received, they looked at my rifle with frightened glances,
and began to whisper together.

" What do they say ? " I asked Thursday.

^' That they would give twelve slaves for such an arm."

Such envy did not please me at all. How many trav-
ellers have been killed in Central Africa precisely on
account of their too tempting fire-arms ! I immediately
hit upon a device to protect at once my rifle and myself.
I happened to have in my belt a line of empty cartridges
to be used for small game, and to be loaded with what-
ever charge of powder and ball the animal I was after re-
quired. I loaded my rifle rather ostentatiously with one
of these cartridges, capped only, and handing it to the
chief himself, I stepped about a yard from the end of the
barrel and asked him to fire at me, aiming at my heart.
As he hesitated, I said to him : " Do as I bid, for the rifle

MY FIRST GORILLA. 45

cannot harm me ; it is a fetich, and only kills in my
hands."

I fancy Thursday translated this literally, for the old
chief raised the rifle at once and pulled the trigger.
There was the faint report of the cap, and that was all.
M'Yenga returned the rifle hastily; and he and the other
natives, as if fearful lest some of its evil influence should
affect them, moved off to a respectful distance. Super-
stition has such a hold on this people that not one of
them would have accepted as a gift the gun that a mo-
ment before they all coveted. I was safe on that score.

On measuring the gorilla, we found his waist nearly
two yards in circumference, proving him to be one of the
largest of his species. I asked Thursday why the chief
had not allowed me to shoot the female, leaving the
hunters to fire simultaneously upon the male, so that
we might take the little one alive and try to bring
it up on cow's milk and make our first experiment in
domesticating the gorilla. Of course I said nothing to
them about the scientific interest in such an experiment,
for science was a dead letter to them ; but I promised a
liberal reward to any one who should bring me a young
gorilla alive. They all assured me that that was easy
enough, but that without its mother it could not live
more than three or four days ; that the leopard or tiger
could be tamed, but never the gorilla, etc. ; but it all
seemed hearsay, and not one of the hunters spoke from
personal experience. Thursday explained that if I had

4C) HUNTING IN THE JUNdLE.

aimed at and missed the female we should have had two
irorillas instead of one to ti^ht, and that there would
have certainly been a loss of life ; and that he could get
me a young gorilla imniediately . He failed to fulfil this
promise, however, for it is not at all easy to get one of
these young animals, whom the parents defend fiercely
with their lives. Chance, often more to be depended on
than the most persistent efforts, brought about my wish,
but long after this first hunt, which proved conclusively
that this species of gorilla builds a rude hut, and that the
male, when it shelters his offspring, sits like a sentinel
upon its roof to watch over his young. It also seemed
settled beyond a doubt, from what I was told and had
myself seen, that the gorilla attacks man without hesita-
tion at sight and without waiting to be wounded, while
the female attends entirely to the safety of her yoinig
without a thought of fighting.

We camped a whole day here for me to preserve and
mount the gorilla's head. The natives divided the flesh
among themselves, broiling it over the hot coals and
eating it half raw. Try as I would, for I should have
been glad to learn the taste of this singular meat, I could
not overcome my repugnance to this half-human flesh.
The brain was not eaten, but carefully wrapped in banana
leaf and sent back to the medicine-men of the village, who
make from it, the old chief informed me, a magic oint-
ment of most marvellous virtue to protect from all evil,
especially from the evil influence of the man-eater. I

THIS GORILLA BUILDS A KUDE HUT.

MY FIRST GORILLA. 49

looked him square in the face. The old hypocrite never
winced, and ended his remarks with a fresh demand for
rum, of which I gave him a very modest amount, dividing
what was left in my flask between him and Thursday.

The first gorilla had fallen ; the chief had fulfilled his
promise ; and nothing remained but to return to the vil-
lage and end the chase. I made the chief the presents
I had agreed to, adding a little keg of rum for the other
natives who had accompanied me, and I stayed with
them a week. When I had made up my mind to depart
the chiefs collected to bid me farewell ; and then came a
ceremony which, among the Fans, celebrates the adop-
tion of a stranger by the tribe. The old chief held my
arm, and pricking it lightly with a thorn, drew a drop
of blood. He then did the same to his own ; whereupon
another chief took these two drops of blood upon two
little reeds and transferred them, his to mine and mine
to his arm. " Now," said the chief, "■ you are their
white brother, for you have become my son. Wherever
you may travel among the Fan tribes you will be re-
ceived as one of us." Among all peoples of a rude de-
gree of civilization this queer custom of adoption exists,
with different ceremonies but the same general idea; and
it appears even later among more civilized races in the
gift of the freedom of the city. There is no longer an
interchange of blood, but it is still the adoption of a
stranger. I have already alluded to the fact that, dur-
ing my stay in the village, although all the hunters

50 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

endeavored to obtain my offered reward, not one was
able to catch a young gorilla for me, and that it was to
chance I finally owed the possession of one.

On leaving my Fan friends I had told Thursday of my
plan to travel toward the river Rembo, striking it about
the spot where, making a sudden turn at right angles, it
flows swiftly northward and, fifty or sixty miles away,
plunges into the sea. I had been told that this country
was full of gorillas and every variety of monkey. As the
neighborhood of the coast was unhealthy, because of the
large number of marshes there, we turned east and jour-
neyed through higher wooded lands. These forests are
the haunts of numerous small game, — deer, hare, and
wild fowl, — in such numbers that it precluded the danger
of hunger.

Five days after my departure we had struck the light
tent that I always used in the woods, — for nothing is more
unhealthy than the night dews in the African forests, —
and I was walking ahead talking with Thursday ; behind
us came his wife and boy, and, behind them, my five
porters, humming an air in their nasal tones in time to
their step, like sailors w^io join in a refrain as they
stamp round the capstan. Suddenly Thursday stopped,
making us a sign to do the same. I was carrying my
rifle on my shoulder, but as quick as thought I dropped
the barrel into my left hand and stood ready. It does
not do ever to be surprised in these woods, and a second's
hesitation often costs dear.

MY FIRST GORILLA. 51

" What is it ? " said I, quickly.

" Did you not hear that cry ? "

''Well?"

" It was that of a young gorilla calling its dam."

'' Are you sure ? "

" Perfectly. Be ready to shoot. Either the old gorilla
is too far away to hear, or she does not suspect our
presence. I hear no rustling of the leaves. Come, but
be careful." We two had advanced hardly breathing. A
second cry, a little ahead of us, pierced the silence of the
forest. I was so excited that it seemed as though my
heart beat audibly. Thursday still preceded me. Sud-
denly I heard him pronounce the two words, '' Look
out ! " and I saw him raise his gun quickly and fire,
and before I had time to turn round, a shiny black.
mass covered with blood hurled itself upon my guide.
Quick as thought I drew my revolver and blew the
gorilla's brains out at the instant when he was about to
garrote poor Thursday.

The guide, who was not hurt, with the exception of a
few scratches on his shoulder, had sprung up and, with a
triumphant shout, seized a little gorilla by the nape of
the neck and handed it to me. Imagine my pleasure, for
I had almost given up hope of ever getting a really young
gorilla alive. I could not resist reproving Thursday,
however, telling him that he had run a great risk ; for had
I not been within five feet of him I could never have
made my prompt shot before the gorilla would have

52 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

twisted his neck for him. I was so excited that I should
have quite forgotten to thank Thursday for having thus
in cold blood risked his life to satisfy a wish which to
him must have seemed a mere whim, when he recalled
me to the situation l)y saying quietly, —

" The white captain is good ; he will give his slave the
reward, as agreed."

" What reward ? " cried I, in astonishment.

" Did not the captain promise the Fans that he would
give a double-barrelled hunting-gun and a keg of rum to
any one of them bringing him. a young man-eater ? "

"Yes."

" Well, Thursday is a Fan, and has brought you such a
prize."

" And 3'OU ask me to pay you, therefore — "

" What you promised."

"All right, so be it. I prefer a business view of it
mj'Self. Here are the gun and proper ammunition, for of
course they go together ; but I do not propose to give
you all the rum at once."

" The white chief is generous and great, but why
not?"

" Because you are in my service, engaged for the entire
trip, and I don't propose to have you drunk or your
faculties muddled for the next week or so, as you know
you would be. If you like, however, I will give you a
glass every day until you have had the whole keg. 'If
you don't like this plan, I will, instead, give you the

THE GUIDE, WITH A TKIUMPIIANT SHOUT, SEIZED THE LITTLE GORILLA BV
THE NAPE OF THE NECK.

MV FIRST GORILLA. 55

entire keg when we reach Cape Lopez at the end of the
trip.

"■ I prefer the latter," he decided.

I was afraid for a moment that this might set discon-
tent at work in the African's head. But I was mistaken,
quite. The African does nothing for nothing. He has
no idea of devotion in putting himself into danger ; he
simply wishes to get a keg of fire-water upon which to
become drunk at his leisure ; and Thursday appreciated
my right to his entire energy and wit to guide our
little caravan through a country where danger is the
rule.

At last I had my young gorilla ; and I began at once his
education by whipping him gently with a bit of banyan
wood, which frightened him so that he left off biting at
me immediately !

I could not carry out my experiments while we were on
the march, so I decided to camp a few days in the first
village we came to, which happened to be Stromb}-, a
rather important town twenty-five or thirty kilometres
east of Rembo. The king of the country had already
met a number of white traders who had come thither
for ivory ; and he received me in a most friendly manner,
and announced to his subjects assembled that I was " his
brother " and was to be respected as such. This done, he
gave me his hand, which is a sign not to be misunder-
stood, as it stands for the same thing in every countr}' of
whatever deo-ree of civilization under the sun.

56 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

I presented liim with ;i revolver and a music-box, and
although lie was pleased with the former, the latter de-
lighted his soul. Tying it round his neck he went up
and down through the village turning the crank and
followed by a wondering crowd of his subjects of both
sexes, uttering cries of astonishment and pleasure. Hav-
ing thus assured my position and treatment in the village
I could turn my attention to attempts at civilizing my
ugly pet.

CHAPTER IV.

DOMESTICATING MY GORILLA.

HAD my men build a strong cage of bamboo,
and in it I put the little beggar on a bed of
dried leaves. This was no easy job, for, his
first fright over, the fierce little brute distributed right
and left cuffs and bites, until the ingenious Thursday
hit on a way of somewhat disarming him. While two
men held him down and a third pinioned his head in
a crotch, Thursday cut his claws short. His teeth were
now his only weapons of attack ; but of these he made
right good use, as many of the men's legs and arms can
testify.

Thursday thinking it necessary to name him, I selected
"Joseph," by antithesis ; for the great men in history who
have borne this name have been models of gentleness, and
my young friend could hardly be said to follow their illus-
trious example. During the first days of his captivity I
gave him the purest water, the finest bananas, fragrant
leaves, and pineapples. But in vain ; he would touch
nothing. But one fine morning I found that his supply
of food had been materially reduced and that his water-
butt was empty. Hunger had evidently got the better

58 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

of his obstinacy, and I thought it an opportune moment
to begin to accustom him to my presence and voice.

When he saw me he drew back into the furthest corner
of his cage growling and showing his teeth ; and when
I went round the outside of his prison, every time that I
came near him he would spring across to the other side,
and if I put my hand between the bars to stroke him he
darted with open mouth at it, and I had just time to
withdraw it quickly to avoid his terrible fangs.

In spite of his youth his set of teeth was complete, and
he only lacked strength of jaw to be dangerous. One
morning, while trying to escape, — an attempt which he
made whenever the cage was opened, — he bit a piece out
of a man's shoulder, wounding him severely.

He never ate except at night ; and finding I was ac-
complishing nothing, and not wishing to end my days at
Stromby, I decided to change my tactics and try starva-
tion. When I saw he was growing thin with hunger I
again approached him with bits of wild sugar-cane and
young pineapple plants, of which I had noticed he was
exceedingly fond. He watched me, growling as before,
but I noticed he glanced with a certain longing at the
fruit I offered him, and I felt confident of final success.
Sure enough, after several hours of repeating this offer
Joseph came softly to the end of the cage where I stood,
put his arm outside, and grabbed a piece of sugar-cane,
retiring immediately to the other side, where he ate it.
The next day he satisfied his hunger, taking everything

DOMESTICATING MY GORILLA.

59

that I offered him direct from my hand, but not allowing
me to touch him any more than on the previous days.
Wishing to pass my hand along the tawny hair of his

yy- i

HUNTING A GORILLA.

back, he made a vicious bite at my hand which I only just
escaped. And this was all I could obtain. As long as I
had food for him he would remain near, but when I had

60 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

notliing further to offer liiin he drew back growlmg and
making fearful faces.

One day, while they were changing his bed, he sprang
upon the negro as he opened the cage, bit liini cruelly,
and darted out. I saw it all, but it happened so quickly
that I had no time to interfere, while Joseph made tracks
for the woods. I set up a shout ; and the natives, armed
with stones and javelins, arranged themselves in line
across his way. When he saw he could not get through,
he made a dash for a lofty tree Avhich shot its straight
trunk ninety feet into the air, and began to climb it, —
with less agility than he would have displayed if Thursday
had not cut his claws, but still quickly enough to be out of
reach before the natives could get to the foot of the tree.
I watched him go up, not without a certain amount of
curiosity, as from time to time he stopped to growl at us
and then, with a defiant glance, go on. When he reached
the top of the tree he hid in the clump of foliage that
crowned it, and gave no sign of life. One of the natives
offered, for a small reward, to go up after him ; and as I
had not yet given up all hope of success, I promised "it
him. The negro began to climb, slowly enougli, the slip-
pery trunk, and all went well for the first half of the way.
Round his waist he carried one of my fish-nets, which,
when he reached the top, he thought he could easily
throw over the gorilla, and catch him without serious
risk to himself. When he had climbed a little over half
way up, we saw tlie young gorilla come out of his hiding-

A STKLGGLK lOK LIFJE.

DOMESTICATING MY GORILLA. 63

place, and leaning far out and holding on by a branch,
watch the movements of his advancing enemy. The
sight was an odd one, and, as I heard Joseph's furiously
rumbling growls T began to see that the negro had un-
dertaken no easy task. At a given moment he received
about his head and shoulders all the fruit that master
Joseph could pluck from the tree, which in a few mo-
ments he had completely despoiled, leaving himself with-
out further ammunition. The native had dodged a large
part of the missiles by circling the tree, and as most of
the fruit was overripe, he suffered but little damage.
When the gorilla could find nothing further to throw he
again took refuge in the leafy top, uttering cries of rage
which promised a warm reception to his pursuer when
the latter should come within reach of his sharp teeth.
The native moved cautiously upward, for he was within
a few feet of the swaying top, and the gorilla had shown
no sign. It was at once exciting and amusing. The
gorilla might spring upon his enemy, who, under the
shock and pain from a bite, might lose his hold and come
toppling down a hundred feet or so upon the ground.
Luckily there was no such tragic ending. At the very
moment when the hunter cast the net over the topmost
branch, upon which Joseph had perched, the latter with
the quickness of thought slid down the trunk on the
other side, and amid a shout of laughter from the crowd
beneath, hung a few yards below his pursuer. It took
the poor fellow fully half an hour to disentangle his net

64 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

caught in the multifarious branches, while the gorilla
watched him coolly. When the former began to descend
the latter did the same.

'' We have him," cried 1. malting signs to the men to
silentl}^ surround the base of the tree.

" Not yet, massa," replied the less sanguine Thursday,
whose doubt was justified Ijy wdly Joseph, wdio, seeing the
unfriendly circle immediately below him, went rapidly up
the tree again, avoiding the would-be captor's net, and,
in fact, climbing directly over his body witliout wasting
time to bite him as he went, and again taking up his old
quarters in the very top of the tree. The native renewed
his pursuit, and the same comedy was repeated several
times, until, from sheer exhaustion, the chase had to be
abandoned.

The king, however, suggested a stratagem which
proved successful. Guarding the tree till night we
stretched our net around the base of the tree, with a man
in hiding holding its lines. Joseph, thinking the field
clear, came down from his perch, was forthwith captured,
thrashed, and put back into his cage. Thursday confided
to me that this wretched little monster must be bewitched
by an evil spirit and that I could never tame it. What-
ever the cause, his conclusion was certainly correct. In
spite of all my care and watchfulness I could do nothing
with his savage habits. Indeed, captivity seemed to add
each day to his intractability and ferocity. He had come
to know me, and wdien he saw me going by and was

I

DOMESTICATING MY GORILLA. 65

hungry he called me with a cry pitched to a special key
which he used for me alone. But woe to me if I hap-
pened to get too near him ! He would make a quick
snatch at my arm or leg, and I nearly always left a piece
of my clothing in his possession. I saw clearly that
these coverings were not what he was really after, and
that he would gladly have buried his teeth in my flesh, —
an end which I took precious good care he should not
accomplish.

Every day the king repeated to me his certainty that
I could do nothing with the brute, and that, as had been
proved time and again by the natives, he was sure to die
within a month. On the twenty-first day of his captivity
Joseph refused all food, crouching in one corner of his
cage, his eyes dull and mournful, seeming to regard
everything that went on round him without the least
interest. He seemed to be suffering from a violent fever,
for every few minutes he would dart to his water-butt
and drain it to the last drop. Now I could touch him
without his trying to bite me. It even looked as if he
regarded me, from his dim, half-closed eyes, with less
fierceness, and I felt a kind of remorse at having deprived
the poor fellow of his free forest life. I took him out of
his cage and laid him on a bed of moss and leaves in the
sunlight, and he allowed me to do so, like a child, without
making any attempt to escape or bite. It was the fifth
day of his sickness when he began to toss about rest-
lessly, and every now and then was seized with a fit of

66 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

choking which left him without strength or motion on his
bed of pain. The natives advised me to get rid of him at
once, several even offering themselves to kill him for me ;
but I declined. He was too human in his sufferings. In
spite of his weakness, he had kept in the highest degree
his instinct of self-preservation ; and at the slightest move-
ment near him his eye would suddenly flash again, as it
used when any one approached him. He seemed, curi-
ously enough, to fear the blacks much more than me.
I surrounded him with every care and attention I could
think of, convinced that if he recovered he would never
resume toward me his natural ferocity. But it was of
no use ; he sank hour by hour, and on the ninth day his
death-agony began. I shall never forget the painful last
half-hour. Poor Joseph, his head on my knees, trem-
bling with cold, although the temperature was eighty,
began to show those signs of approaching death which,
once seen, can never be forgotten. The silence and
solitude around me, only one of my race within many
miles, and the night of the black forests of southern
x\frica no doubt all contributed to give more importance
than it deserved to this pathetic sight. I had lived in
India and other countries where they believe in metemp-
sychosis, so many years, — countries where the right of ani-
mals to live is almost as much respected as that of man,
— that it may have had a great effect on my thoughts and
ideas. But I could not help wondering, as this poor
animal, so human in his death-throes, lay in my arms.

f

DOMESTICATING MY GORILLA. 69

whether man, who cannot create a spear of grass, has the
right to destroy life in all its forms around him, more
often to satisfy his whim than his necessity ; and whether
it really is his role here below to be continually breaking
those infinitel}^ fine links of the chain of destiny which
binds together all beings, all spheres, and all worlds.

The next day I had the body buried at the foot of a
great tree, and made my preparations for departure,
thinking all the while, in spite of myself, of certain
theories of modern anthropologists, and wondering if I
had interrupted the development of a primate into a
human being. After a few hours' march I laughed at the
idea, but still I have always retained a singular recollec-
tion of Joseph's death, so like that of a young child.

Aside from all question of sentiment, and to return to
the more healthy one of science, I may say, after due
inquiry and experiment, that I do not believe the gorilla
can be domesticated. There is such a wild strain of
ferocity in his nature that man's mind can have no in-
fluence on it. I tried a similar experiment on an older
gorilla which, so far as results went, proved the same as
the one I have already described, except that the subject
finally escaped. What might be the effect of confining a
pair of gorillas and bringing up their offspring in the cage
with them, I cannot say. After several generations had
been brought up in bondage there might be something
accomplished. But I consider it a fact beyond question
that the young gorilla cannot be tamed, and as for cap-

70

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

turing him alive when older it is as impossible as to lay
violent hands on the Bengal tiger or the African lion ;
to the latter, indeed, he may fairly be compared. It is

I HAD THE BODY BURIED AT THE FOOT OF A TREE.

an undoubted fact that the lion, so common in other
parts of Africa, is very rarely found where the gorilla is.
They are no match for these terrible enemies, and they

DOMESTICATING MY GORILLA. 71

run to cover and hide wlien his roars re-echo through the
forests. Even the elephant gets such blows and bites
from him that, the natives say, although he is able to
cope with him, he prefers not to fight. In the order of
primates and even in his own family of anthropoids, the
gorilla occupies a place apart and seems to deserve a
special family for himself. We have finished with this
interesting and mysterious animal, which, looking only
at his physical structure, is the being, in nature, nearest
like man.

CHAPTER V.

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES.

N this same family of anthropoids the chimpan-
zee, after the gorilla, is the monkey most re-
sembling man. He climbs with much greater
ease than the gorilla, and can stand as straight as he ; but
when he wishes to move he is obliged to fall on all fours,
where the gorilla usually walks in an upright position.
Although of a savage enough nature, especially when full
grown, the chimpanzee is readily tamed, and in this way
more than makes up for his physical inferiority to the
gorilla. He is as intelligent, gentle, and social in his
instincts as the other is stupidly fierce. And where the
latter is more like man in stature and build, the former
resembles him even more in the quickness of his intelli-
gence and the gentleness of his ways, after domestica-
tion. When wild he is very industrious, building stout
shelters for himself in tall trees twenty-five or thirty feet
from the ground, and never on it like the gorilla. And,
different again from the latter, he is fond of climbing,
and his gymnastic exercises would make a professional
acrobat jealous. On my voyage up the Niger and on the
shores of Guinea I saw crowds of these animals, and

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 73

nearly always hanging from the top branches of the high-
est trees, whence they watched me with wonder mingled
with fear. At the slightest movement on my part they
fled headlong, making dizzy leaps from branch to branch,
ending in running to cover in their huts, from which noth-
ing would tempt them. These shelters are usually in tlie
crotch between two branches, and are made of bamboo,
interwoven, and bound together and to the tree very
cleverly with withes. The roof is rounded like those of
the natives' huts, which, indeed, in all respects, it is not
unlike. One curious thing that I have often noticed is
that they choose a tree at a little distance from its neigh-
bors, so that no animal can use the branches of other trees
as drawbridges to the chimpanzee's fortress. The ap-
proach can be made only by the trunk of the very tree
in which the hut is built ; and there is no funnier sight
than to see a family of chimpanzees surprised a little way
from home, and making for it on the double-quick. Up
goes the mother first, one or two of her youngest clinging
to her neck; if there is a young one say two or three
years old, he follows next, slowly and uttering cries of
distress, until, as his strength nearly gives out and he
begins to slip back, his mother throws one of her long
arms back and grasps him, places him on her shoulder,
where he hangs in desperation, and she continues her
ascent with this addition to her precious burden. Mean-
while the male has remained at the base of the tree to
defend his family on their retreat, showing his teeth at

74 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

all comers in a way meant to be terrifying, but which is
only comic. As soon as his mate is in safety he takes
his turn in climbing the tree, at a tremendous pace, and
hiding in his hut. Now keep perfectly quiet, and you
will soon see a most charming sight. Hearing nothing
further, the male soon sticks out his naturally surprised-
looking phiz and looks around with an inquisitive glance.
Nothing to be seen — evidently the enemy has departed ;
the soft breeze gently waves the palra leaves, the gray
squirrels bound from branch to branch, and the great
white herons fan the air with heavy, silent wings; the
danger has passed, and the moment for enjoyment has
come. At the door of his aerial house stands the chimpan-
zee uttering little encouraging calls to his family ; then,
with the grace of a gymnast and an unequalled strength,
he seizes the end of the nearest branch and swings him-
self off, as on a trapeze, hanging by one hand, and with
a leap is in the top of the tree, where his mate and such
of the young as are strong enough promptly join him.
Then the party indulges in the wildest gambols and the
forest resounds with their joyful cries.

Our climate is not favorable to the chimpanzee, and it
is with great difficulty that they are kept alive in our
menageries. They always succumb sooner or later to a
trouble of the stomach. Although so easily taught when
young, they seem as they grow older to lose this char-
acteristic, and become cross and unsociable, so much so
that they often have to be killed. I saw one once be-

AT THE DOOR OF UlS AERIAL HOUSE STANDS THE CHIMPANZEE.

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 'J'J

longing to a trader of Formosa that really was remark-
ably well taught and intelligent. After that fatal voyage
lip the Niger, when I left two thirds of my party buried
on its banks, I spent nearly two months with this trader,
a Swiss by birth, who had spent years on the African
coast. It was here that I made the acquaintance of
Master Jack, a fine specimen of his race, — tall, with,
silky black hair, dashed with a little white on his belly,
and with a bare, shiny face that seemed always well
shaven. Although the chimpanzee generally finds an
upright position uncomfortable and seldom indulges in
it. Jack had acquired the accomplishment of standing
and walking ; and his spinal column had finally devel-
oped on that axis until he preferred a vertical position
to that usually assumed by his race. His ears were large
but well formed, his forehead arched and high, and his
hands very like a man's, and with nails carefully trimmed
by his native keeper, who was at once his original cap-
tor and teacher. Like all well brought-up chimpanzees,
Master Jack had several domestic accomplishments. He
waited at table like a born butler, would pour you wine
or water at a word, carry the empty plates away, and
all with an amusing, evident enjoyment of his work
and an address and silence that most of the heavy-footed
native waiters would have done well to imitate.

There was one duty, however, that it would not do
to trust to him, — that of bringing in the fruit at dessert.
His training had rather added to than diminished his

78 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

natural gluttony, and once when he had been called upon
for this service he was still gorging himself with the
rarest grapes as he brought in his master's fruit-dish
filled with pineapples and bananas from which he had
stolen them. Sometimes, indeed, when he was not being
watched, he would walk off with the whole dish, hiding
it in his bamboo hut that had been built for him in the
court-yard, and coming back into the dining-room, now
and then licking his chops over some of his plunder.
This ceased to be amusing when, instead of taking native
fruits that could be easily replaced, he stole a magnificent
basket of apples and pears that had been sent his master
from France for a dinner party. The loss was not discov-
ered till the day after the fruit's arrival, when only an
empty basket remained in the hut to prove the thief.
I suffered myself from the rascal's gluttony, in a way
which did his cleverness so much credit that I must
tell it. I was in the habit of taking every morning at
daybreak a cup of very strong black coffee and a sand-
wich, which my own favorite man always laid on a table
at the head of my bed, and then turning over for another
nap in the cool of the morning, which, in that climate,
follows the oppressive heat of the night. I always heard
m}'- faithful Thursday, who was still with me, come in
and leave the cup where I could reach it, and I had
become so used to the operation that, without opening
my eyes, I would after a little while stretch out my
hand mechanically and get the fragrant draught, almost

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 79

without disturbing my rest. When I did not eat the
Scandwich, as was often the case, I would save it for
Master Jack.

One fine morning I put out my hand as usual, but no
coffee was there, although I had certainly heard Thursday
bring it in a few minutes before. I forgot to speak to
him about it during the day, and the next morning the
same thing occurred. Thursday came at his regular hour,
and two minutes later the coffee had disappeared. I
suspected a little darky who brought me my morning
bath, and resolved to surprise him in the act and teach
him a lesson. The following day when Thursday brought
in my tray, he woke me as I had instructed him, and I
lay with half-closed eyes ready to jump up at the slightest
sound. At the end of five minutes, hearing nothing, T
ventured a glance at the bamboo stand, when what was
my astonishment to see the cup was empty ! And I had
heard and seen no one ! I called Thursday.

''Where is Tom?" said I. That was the little darky's
name.

" I saw him just now in the kitchen, massa."

"You did not see him come upstairs?"

" No, massa. Has Tom taken anything belonging to
you?"

" Look," said I, pointing to the table. " You see, my
coffee is gone ! "

Thursday did not grasp the situation. " Has not massa
taken his coffee this morning ? " he inquired blandly.

80 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" No, nor yesterday, nor the day before."

His great eyes open, his lower jaw dropped, Thursday
stood thunderstruck.

" You see," I added, " there is no one in the house
beside Tom to do such a thing."

Recovering a little from his surprise, the kindly fellow
shook his head slowly and said, —

" No, it can't be Tom, for he went at four o'clock
with the cook to get the fish, and is but just returned.
He had not taken off his basket when massa called me."

This seemed proof conclusive of his innocence ; but who
could be the sly thief ?

" Would massa like to know who has played him this
trick ? " Thursday whispered, making the strangest faces
and gestures. "It is the mafoucs ! "

"Who the deuce are they?"

" They are the evil spirits of the Niger, who are furious
at not having been able to kill the white chief who in-
vaded their shores, and have come to revenge themselves
here."

I could not help laughing at his superstitious fears.

"My good Thursday," I said, "that I am not buried
in their marshes is due to your devotion and my own
capital constitution. As for these mafoucs — "

" Speak no evil of them, sir," he urged, with real
terror; and I concluded to let the matter rest until I
could catch the thief unaided. At dinner I told the
story to my host, who smiled in a knowing way, and.

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 81

to my question as to whether he could solve the mystery,
laughmgly replied, " I think so. It must be Jack."

'' Your chimpanzee ? "

" None other."

" I can't believe it."

" Well, all you have to do is never to lose sight of the
cup of coffee to-morrow after it is set on the table."

I resolved to follow his suggestion.

At the usual hour Thursday brought my coffee, and
I lay with half-closed eyes watching the cup intently.
I had to wait but a few moments before the superstitions
of my servant seemed about to be justified. The cup and
saucer began to move from the centre toward the edge
of the table without any apparent cause ! I sat up
quickly, and the mysterious agent and his methods were
revealed to my astonished eyes. Crouching behind the
table, which hid him as the cup did his hand, was Jack,
who must have stolen in on all fours, so that I should
not see him, with an expression of prospective delight
on his greedy face that was comic. He was so intent
on his errand that he did not notice me at first, until
I uttered an exclamation of pleasure at catching the ras-
cal red-handed. Then, seeing Thursday blocking the
door at which he had entered, he sprang to a ventilator,
always open in this sultry climate, and with the greatest
ease and agility swung himself out on to the eaves, and
so into a neighboring tree. Safe in his improvised for-
tress, he hurled down upon us all the branches he could

82 HUNTING IN THE JLNULE.

reach and break oft", chattering and making faces at us as
only a chimpanzee can. The voice of his owner brought
him down at hist, and we soon became fast friends.

The most surprising part of the whole thing was
Jack's remarkable quickness of apprehension, and his
choice of alternatives — always hitting the better — in
reaching a desired end. In fact, one cannot conceive of
a trick or clever ruse that he could not fathom and make
use of, as was further shown in his strange partnersliip
with a great mastiff of rare strain preserved only in
London, from which city one of my host's correspondents
had sent him. This animal w\as a great curiosity in these
latitudes, where European dogs seldom live long on ac-
count of the heat and especially the diseased food which
they find everywhere, and which he had so far avoided
by being carefully confined in a large enclosure built for
the purpose.

Jack, the rascal, took a fancy to the brute, and finding
his taste for the forbidden food, undertook to supply him
with bones stolen from the kitchen. In return for this,
the mastiff devoted whole days to serving the chimpanzee
in the capacity of a pillow ; and the latter enjoyed nothing
so much as lying at full length on a mat, with his head
on his friend's big back.

As I said before. Jack, when found out m his theft,
fearing the thrashing he deserved, took refuge in a tree,
and was brought to terms only by the sight of his master,
who exercised a real fascination over him, and before

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 83

whom he always acted upon his best behavior. This was
because my host had never played with him, nor, although
speaking gently to him, petted him. At the same time
he never refused him anything to eat which he seemed
to want, and this attitude had produced in Jack a certain
feeling of respect and fear, mingled with a strong, affec-
tionate attachment.

Beside his fondness for every kitchen dainty, he was
also a lover of the cellar and its contents, and an open
bottle could not be left anywhere unguarded, without his
quick eye observing, and iiis thirsty lips draining, it.
Under the influence of the liquor he would commit the
most absurd follies, throwing off all control whatever,
and breaking his dishes and belongings, all the time
making the most frightful faces and chatterings. Like
all tipsy people, he had fixed ideas that nothing would
influence, — a favorite one being to climb up the roof of
his hut to a pole at the ridge. When this idea seized
him, he would creep slowly w]) the bamboo walls of his
hut, clinging by the swellings here and there, until, half-
way up, he would lose his grip and go tumbling down
upon the ground, to the great amusement of any lookers-
on. This he would keep up until, at length, he could
reach the top, where, with his arms round the pole, he
slept until his brain became clearer of the fumes of wine.
Sometimes these bouts had less happy endings. Bottled
wines fall an easy prey to the thievish negro servants,
and Jack, to satisfy his cravings for liquor, had no

84

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

scruples in stealing from the thieves any broken cases he
could lay his hands on. It was mere play for him to
uncork a bottle as well as the butler himself could do it,

IT WAS MERE PLAY FOR IIIM TO UNCORK A BOTTLE.

and one morning while I was there he found a hidden
treasure, and by eight o'clock was as drunk as a lord.
My host was at his office, the ladies not yet risen, and

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 85

the monkey was at liberty to perform his wildest antics.
I was writing at my window, which commanded the
court, and looking up, was surprised to see no Jack, but
the natives all craning their necks up in my direction.
Leaning out of the window, I saw the chimpanzee climb-
ing leisurely up an immense tree and carrying Tom, the
little darky, jauntily under his arm. The poor boy, in
spite of his friends' advice, shouted up from below, was
struggling and weeping, to Jack's evident amusement
and delight as he continued his upward course, making
the queerest grimaces. Wild with terror, the boy caught
at a stout branch, and held on so firmly that the chim-
panzee was compelled to stop. This he did, shaking Tom
by the heels with his head down, until he was glad to let
go and be carried in that position to the topmost branches
of the tree. The shouts of the negroes and myself were
of no avail ; and it was not until I had sent for my friend
and he had arrived at the base of the tree, that Jack would
bring his prize back to earth and his anxious friends.

A few days later my host said to me at dinner, —

" I am going to make a trip up the Rouyme ; don't
you want to join me?"

" Why, you know I am only just back from the Niger,
and am still chattering with the ague. Could I stand
this fatigue so soon?"

" Yes, you have nothing to fear at this season from a
new attack, and the fatigue will be slight, as we shall go
in a small launch."

86 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" Then I caccept with pleasure."

"Although I wanted you to go with me very much,
still I should not have urged the trip upon you, except
that I knew you were always glad to add to your knowl-
edge of monkeys, and that the country through which
this river flows is filled with them in great variety.
Two days' sail from here is a forest densely grown with
palm and tulip trees festooned with flowering vines,
where they love to resort ; so much so, indeed, that it is
called the Forest of the Monkeys."

" My dear host," I said, "my only anxiety is, when do
we start ? "

" To-morrow, at daybreak."

I summoned my faithful Thursday and told him to
get everything ready ; for although a short visit to one
of his rubber depots was all that my friend had planned,
still any journey in Africa means considerable prepara-
tion. One must have arms and ammunition, a pocket
pharmacopoeia, — to preserve at once the health and the
skins of game, — and a lot of smaller things that only
an old traveller remembers to get beforehand. Long
before daylight I was astir, looking over my servant's
preparations, and seeing my goods and chattels stowed
on board the " Jenny," — an able little launch, named
after my host's charming daughter. The first two days
taught us her comforts, as we steamed between the rather
monotonous banks, lined w^ith their luxuriant vegetation,
and alive with water-rats, vipers, and adders. The trees

HE HELPS HIMSELF TO THE CONTENTS OF THE NATIVES' CALABASHES.

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 89

were nearly all the so-called wine-palm, from which the
natives get their favorite drink, by tapping, much as we
tap sugar-maples. This liquor when drawn off at once
is sweet and mild, and not at all disagreeable to a Euro-
pean palate ; but after an hour or two of fermentation
it becomes absolutely repulsive to all but a negro's taste.
From the fruit of this tree a similar, though less valued,
drink is obtained, that is very prompt in its effect on
the wits of the drinker. This is called the chimpanzee's
tree, and it is well named, for the chimpanzee often
disputes with man for its possession, and it is in its
branches that he builds his clever home. The natives
even go so far as to accuse him of helping himself to the
contents of their calabashes, hung to catch the " fire-
water."

In fact, their stories in relation to this animal, although
less savage in their nature than those concerning the
gorilla, are no less curious and full of superstition. The
native mothers bring up their children on stories like
this : — • -

" One day a chimpanzee met the king's officer. ' Good
morning, dealer in slaves,' said he ; ' where are you going,
and by what right do you pass through my forest ? ' 'I
am going to your majesty's brother, the Sultan Haoussa,
who is to sell me two hundred slaves ; if your majesty
will permit me to pass, I will give you, on my return, six
pairs of slaves.' ' All men are liars and cheats,' said the
chimpanzee ; ' therefore leave with me your son as hostage.'

90 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Then the officer, standmg in great fear of him, left his
son and journeyed on. But when he reached the sul-
tan, he said, ' Give me, I pray you, a guard to protect
me from the chimpanzee, for I fear lest he may not let
me pass again through the forest in safety/ Now,
when the animal saw him returning with a large guard,
he was very angry, but he hid liis w^rath and invited
them all to eat and drink, and plied them wdth wine
till they were all drunk. Then, taking their lances,
he pierced the heart of each soldier, and pinned tliem
all to the ground, and released the slaves. When the
officer awoke, the chimpanzee said to him, ' Where
are now your guard ? ' and in revenge for their dis-
trust, he held the officer and his son in slavery ever
after."

Of course this is a very shnple and naive fairy-story,
but it is interesting as showing the native appreciation
of the chimpanzee's intelligence and quite human sense
of justice. Indeed, they consider him a man, condemned
for his evil deeds to wander for a time under this form,
until he shall have expiated his faults.

The second night was upon us in all its impenetrable
blackness before we came to anchor. My friend insisted
upon mv turning in under cover of the cabin, to avoid
the damp mists of the river, while he prepared a little
theatrical surprise — as he expressed it — for my morning ,
awakening.

"And the scenery?" said I, laughing.

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 91

" You will see later. Do not be worried at our absence,
and we will come back for you at the proper moment.
Thursday shall stay with you, in case you should want
anything."

A plank was thrown ashore, and I heard my friend
give his orders in the native tongue, and then leave
the boat, followed by his servants. There was nothing
left for me but to roll myself in a blanket and turn in
on the cabin lounge. It was still as dark as Egypt wdien
I was aroused by my host's gentle touch, who said
smilingly, " I am sorry to disturb you, but the time has
come. It will be day in an hour."

Thursday had already prepared our tea and buttered
toast, and we made a hurried meal before starting for
the Forest of Monkeys. We tramped along in the dark-
ness, feeling our way with great caution, for fully half
an hour. Suddenly the file came to a full stop.

" Here we are," said our guide. '' Take my hand."

He led me to the base of a ladder, which he proceeded
to climb, and I after him. Soon I came to the end of the
rounds, and could feel nothing above.

"Where the devil are you taking me ? " said I.

" Don't be afraid, but move this way," he replied.

Following his example, I advanced cautiously until I
found myself very comfortably ensconced against a great
limb of a banyan, with firm footing beneath me.

'• How high from the ground are we ? "

" Oh, not more than ten feet," replied my friend, who

92 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

had followed me up the ladder, and now sat down
beside me.

"When will you ring up the curtain?" laughed I.

" In a few minutes. Is every one in position ? "

" Yes, massa ; yes, massa," came from a dozen differ-
ent branches higher up in the tree.

" All right. Now silence all ! "

Day ends and begins in the tropics almost without any
twilight, and with the rapidity of a change of scenery at
the theatre. Hardly five minutes had elapsed before a
pale light struggled through the forest, and in an instant
the sun filled the trees with its golden rays, and the day
had come.

At a glance I took in the whole remarkable scene. We
were perched in the heart of a banyan, sheltered from
observation by a screen of palm-leaves, woven together
with tough vines and tendrils, yet w^ith an unobstructed
view of what was going on around us. At the first light
of day, a cry of joy, in a hundred different keys and notes,
went up from the innumerable little huts hanging, like
grapes in cluster, from every tree in the forest. Each of
these huts sheltered its family of chimpanzees, and old
and young came bounding out, uttering piercing cries, to
join in a grand romp. Thousands of the agile animals
sprang from branch to branch of the highest trees, bal-
ancing, swinging, leaping, sliding, and making a w^eird
scene to my eyes, unaccustomed to see so large a number
of monkeys at once. We stayed nearly two hours,

HUNTING CHIMPANZEES. 93

watching their play, and we were so completely hidden
that none of them suspected our presence. After seeing
them in this way, I became convinced that the natives'
opinion of their intelligence, and their obedience to the
recognized chiefs of their strange communities, is justi-
fied by the facts. This city of theirs proves their social
instinct, and its very existence makes certain tacit rules .j;

of conduct probable. It is this social life that especially }

distinguishes the chimpanzee from the gorilla, who lives
only with his family and never in connnunities.

CHAPTER VT.

I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF THE ORANG-OUTANG.

H

T was not till some months after the incidents
mentioned in the last chapter that I found
an opportunity to study another species of the
animal most nearly resembling man, — the orang-outang.

This monkey is found in Borneo, and thither Thursday
— now grown more civilized and more indispensable —
and I turned our faces. We took passage on a craft
going out with Chinese laborers, and a hard voyage we
had of it, with head winds and a heavy sea. But at last,
ten days late, we arrived at Saraouak, and immediately
inquired of the native hunters where we could best find
the game for which we were in search. They advised
the Sadong River, running to the east from Saraouak,
and bordered its entire length with dense forests. I hired
a Dyak porter to carry our provisions, and we set out.
Two days later we were floating on the river, and my
ardent desire was about to be gratified.

Orang-outang is a word meaning in Borneo '' Man-of-
the-Forest," and is applied to what is now a species of
small stature, rarely five feet high, but of stalwart build,

THE OUANG-OUTANG.

95

the body being often in circumference two thirds of the
height. His arms are a quarter longer than his legs, so
that when travelling on all fours his attitude is half up-

AN ORANG-OUTANG.

right; but he never really stands on his legs like a man,
popular belief to the contrary notwithstanding. When
young his color is tawny, but he grows black with years.

96 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

The orangs live in couples in the most secluded parts
of the forest, and are never active, like the chimpanzees,
but sit all day with their legs round a branch, their heads
forward in the most uncomfortable attitude, occasionally
uttering mournful sounds. When pursued they climb
slowly up a tree, and at night sleep in the huts built to
cover their young, of which they are very careful, and
whose wants they supply Avith almost human tenderness
and devotion. When taken young they are susceptible
of taming and domesticating, like the chimpanzee, but
as they grow older they become cross and violent, and,
curiously enough, the forehead — prominent in the adult
— becomes retreating in later years.

After waiting some days without seeing any orangs,
my native guide advised our going away from the river,
deeper into the unbroken forest ; and this we did, a two
days' march. . One morning, just as I had killed and was
examining a queer wild pig, I heard a rustling in the
leaves over my head, and looking up, was paralyzed with
surprise to see, some twenty-five or thirty feet above me,
an enormous orang-outang quietly seated on a tamarind
branch, watching me and grinding his teeth. My porter
was making me elaborate signals of distress, which Thurs-
day translated into advice to shoot the beast, who was old
and fully grown, with my explosive-ball rifle.

" He says he is an evil one," added Thursday, " and
that the old orangs are very dangerous and will attack a
man at sight."

OV^^K*^^'^'

A DYAK OF BORNEO.

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 99

"All right," I replied. "If he offers to attack us, I
will stop him promptly with a bullet."

It is true that one of my most ardent desires was to
obtain a skeleton of a fully developed orang-outang, but
I decided to postpone the gratification of it until I should
have watched the animal's movements in a state of ab-
solute freedom. I told my men to clap their hands and
shout, to scare him, but all he did was to sit and grind
his teeth ; and I was almost persuaded to try my Dyak's
advice, when the orang-outang coolly grasped a branch
hanging near, and swung himself slowly from tree to
tree without any apparent effort, about as fast as we
could walk beneath. We followed him until the dense
undergrowth made the path impracticable. An athlete
would have performed this trapeze act with, perhaps,
more grace, but nothing could surpass the indolent ease
with which he left us behind.

This was my first interview with this peculiar animal ;
and the superstitious Dyak assured Thursday, relating
numerous parallel cases, that as I had not killed the
orang, the orang would certainly kill me. He said he
had know^n a great many travellers who had been at-
tacked by them and killed, and that I would soon join
their number, although he confessed that he had never
himself been present at such a misfortune.

One morning, as I was returning from a long walk
through the woods in search of insects, one of my
boys came running toward me, shouting with excite-

100 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

ment, " Quick, take your gun I a large orang, a large
orang ! "

He had only breath enough left to tell me the animal
was up the path toward the Chinaman's camp, and I
hurried in that direction, followed by two Dyaks. One
barrel of my gun was loaded with ball, and I sent Charley
— the boy — back to camp for more ammunition, in case
I should find the game had kindly waited for me. We
walked carefully, making almost no noise, stopping ever}'
now and then to look round ourselves, until Charley
rejoined us at the spot where he had seen the orang, and
I put ball in the other barrel and waited, sure that we
were near the game. In a moment or two I heard a
heavy body moving from tree to tree, but the foliage was
so thick we could see nothing. Finally, fearing I might
lose him entirely, I fired at guess into a tree in which we
thought he must be. For so large an animal he moved
with remarkable swiftness and silence, but I felt sure, if
we could follow his general course, we should eventually
catch sight of him in some more open bit of forest. And
so it proved. Just at the spot where he had first been
seen by Charley, and to which we had now got back, his
tawny side and black head appeared for an instant, long
enough for me to give him both barrels ; and while I was
reloading I saw him cross the path, dragging one leg as
if it had been broken by my shot. At any rate, he could
not use it, and he took refuge between two branches
of a lofty tulip-tree, sheltered from sight by the thick

TIIKY ARE VERV CAREFUL OF THEIR YOUNG.

THE ORANG-OUTANG.

103

growth of glossy leaves. I was afraid he would die up
there, and 1 should never get him or his skeleton. It
was no use trying to get the Dyaks to climb the tree and

HE TOOK REFUGE BETWEEN TWO BRANCHES OF A LOFTY TREE.

cut the branch from under him ; they were afraid, and
said so. We tried to dislodge him with all sorts of mis-
siles, but in vain. Finally we started to cut down the

104 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

tree ; but when the trunk was severed the tree only
leaned over, and was held in that position by innumerable
tough vines running to a dozen neighboring trees. It
would take us all night to cut them all down ; still, we
began the work, which almost immediately gave the tree
such a shaking that down came the gigantic orang with
a tremendous thud. When we came to measure him, we
found him a giant indeed, stretching from hand to hand
over six feet. He was horribly wounded, — both his legs
broken, a bullet in his neck, another in his jaw, and a
whole joint shot away from the base of his spinal column.
And yet he was alive I When he fell the Chinamen
lashed him to a litter and carried him into camp, where
it took Charley and myself all day to clean his skin and
boil the flesh from his skeleton. From this and many
similar experiences I have become convinced that, in
spite of stories to the contrary, the orang-outang never
attacks man. His policy is always flight, and to my own
testimony is added that of all the Chinese wood-cutters
whom I met in Borneo ; and the island is full of them.

The next day, while looking for material to make
myself a table for natural history specimens, Thursday
and I ran across an old camp of some of these Chinese
lumbermen, where fragments of plank and scantling w^ere
lolenty. While we were gathering these I chanced to
look up in the tree above us, and into the eyes of a very
large orang-outang whose head only was visible. Re-
membering the skeleton I wanted, I raised my rifle

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 107

immediately and fired where I knew the body must be.
The animal, wounded but not killed, fell heavily to the
ground, but almost at once started toward a neighboring
tree, from which Thursday and a Dyak headed him off.
Although badly wounded, the brute would have been more
than a match for them both, had not a second shot from
me ended the struggle.

It proved to be a fully grown female, and a tiny young
one was clinging to her in terror. Had I known this cir-
cumstance I should not have harmed her, but it was too
late then to make any difference. The little fellow trem-
bled in every limb when Thursday brought him to me,
and, in spite of my caresses, would not be reassured. But
the more difficult it seemed to do anything with him, the
more I resolved to succeed, and remembering my expe-
rience with the young gorilla, I set about devising some
way of feeding him. I started the Dyak off in search
of a goat, and told him not to return until he found one.
Meanwhile I mixed sugar, bread, and water together, and,
although at first he declined it energetically, he soon
sucked it from my finger with a decided gusto. It
proved, however, too strong food for so young a stomach,
and I was just beginning to think he would die on my
hands, when the Dyak, followed by a Chinaman and a
goat, came into camp. The Chinaman should have been
a Jew, so sharp was he at trading ; but finally, after pre-
tending that I cared nothing whatever about his goat, and
after long haggling on his part, starting at one hundred

108 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

rupees (twelve dollars and fifty cents) and coming down
to five, the goat became mine, and the little orang-outang
obtained a step-mother that soon rivalled its own mother
in tenderness. She nursed it and caressed it exactly as if it
had been her own, and a very pretty sight it was. He
soon grew large enough to travel on his own stm^dy legs,
at any sudden alarm running quickly back to his nurse
and clinging to her with his sinewy fingers.

When he strayed away out of her sight in the woods,
it was really pathetic to hear her bleatings and his
answering cries. He had gradually come to know me,
and he treated us all with the greatest gentleness. When
he was three months old I began to give him bananas,
of which he was very fond, and he afterward became
accustomed to other fruits ; but nothing ever pleased him
like the goat's milk. He learned very quickly, and at
five months knew all objects in my tent by name,
bringing to me anything I called for, which was certainly
more than many children of two or even three years
could have done. But with the latter, development pro-
gresses with giant strides after that age, while with an
orang it ceases. What an animal is at one year of age
he always remains.

One morning a Chinaman came to offer for sale a tiny
monkey which he had partially tamed. This little ani-
mal looked like a pygmy beside my young orang, but
he could do a variety of things, like feeding himself, etc.,
that the larger was not yet up to. So I bought him,

THE ORANG-OUTANG. Ill

and put them in the same hut, where they soon became
fast friends ; the monkey, on account of his more perfectly
developed faculties, being easily master.

When he wanted to sleep nothing would do but that the
orang must lie down too, and let him pillow his head on
him. But there was another side to this; for the orang-
outang looked upon him as a kind of doll, invented for
his particular enjoyment, and when he felt in playful
mood, he would seize the monkey by the ear or the neck
or the tail, and swing him round and hold him in any
uncomfortable position at his own sweet will. The mon-
key would rage and even weep, but only interference on
our part would stop this rough treatment. He learned
early, as all animals do, to distinguish the members of
our party and their relations, and, as master, he always
treated me with respectful obedience. I taught him to
eat rice boiled in milk, and to use a spoon and bowl like
his little friend, who, by the way, was fond of stealing
from him all he safely could. They were both gluttons,
and nothing amused Thursday more than to set them
quarrelling over some bit of choice fruit. As tlie orang's
teeth grew, his temper and character became more pro-
nounced, and, like an ill brought-up child, he wished all
round him to give way to his whims. He had no consid-
eration whatever for the Dyak, who washed and tended
him with the greatest patience, but tried to pull his hair
and bite him whenever the mood seized him. I named
him Joseph and the monkey Jack, — after my chimpanzee

112

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

friend, — and they answered promptly to their names
when called, without mistake. 1 was proud of them and
their accomplishments, and tempted to send them home

I TAUGHT IIIM TO USE A SPOON.

to some naturalist, but chance prevented. You should
have seen them, — Jack, a napkin round his neck, seated
at a corner of the table eating slowly with fork and spoon,

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 113

like any well-taught child ; Joseph, with a napkin over
his arm, waiting upon him as solemnly as an English
butler. To be sure, they stole the best fruit — but then,
no one is perfect ! It was with a real pang that I left
these little fellows behind with a friend, to whom I gave
them on my departure from Borneo.

Perhaps this is the only case on record of the growth
in captivity of a young orang-outang, and it is interesting
to note in what ways he resembled a child. When very
young he lay nearly always on his back, with his legs in
the air, and when he wanted anything he simply put his
head back and howled till he got it. When he first began
to walk it was with the same timid hesitation that a child
does, and when he succeeded in taking a few steps with-
out falling, he glanced at us with a very human look of
triumph. The appearance of the goat always caused him
a high degree of satisfaction, expressed, again like a child
on the entrance of its mother, by little sighs of content-
ment. I may say, indeed, that up to the age of four or
five months I saw nothing different in him from what
I have remarked in a child except that difference of
development mentioned before.

My stay in Borneo was coming to an end when one
morning I set out on a hunting trip which proved well-
nigh my last. I carried my smooth twenty-four bore
and, in deference to the Dyaks' urgent appeals, my rifle
with its explosive ammunition.

"It is a dangerous neighborhood," one of them said,

8

114

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

'' and we are liable to meet a tiger." This caution proved
my safety, and without it I should not now be reeling off
these veracious experiences, although we met no tigers.

^.•>>j^^^^ ^_,^^<^^^

WE WERE TRAVELLING THROUGH THE EDGE OF A GREAT SWAMP.

Up the Sadong we paddled for nearly an hour, until the
trees along its banks began to grow thinner and a decided
change in the character of the shores became apparent.

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 115

We were travelling through the edge of a great swamp
where peat pits and stagnant pools alternated strangely
with little oases of clustered trees, contrasting sharply
with the surrounding level and looking for all the world
like floating islands.

We landed and began a careful march across the quak-
ing ground toward one of the larger islands. The soft
mud sliowed recent tracks of orang-outangs, some of them
evidently of the largest size. It was a long and difficult
tramp, and my heart began to misgive me that the Dyaks
had misled me in promising good sport before night-fall,
when the leader of our file stopped suddenly in the
greatest apparent excitement and terror.

"What is it?" said I to Thursday, sternly. "Let us
have no nonsense."

" He says he has made a mistake, and that the tide is
risino;."

" Well, what of it ? There is n't tide enough here to
drown a dog. Tell him to go on."

And on we went, to the Dyak's intense disgust and
soon to our own apprehension ; for, although the tide rises
but little, it soon covered our path, raised but little from
the surrounding marsh, and made advance or retreat at
first dangerous and then impossible ! I was very angry
with the rascal, but decided to take it out of him later,
when we should be out of our unpleasant predicament,
and to bear the discomfort of standing in water up to
the knees for a few hours with what philosophy I could

116 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

muster. Suddenly the scene, which had its comic side,
assumed a tragic one. I was trying to distinguish, along
the horizon, the point where the ocean began, when I
heard an exclamation of horror from the natives, who,
with eyes starting from their sockets, pointed eastward
toward the nearer tree clumps.

"What is it?" said I, straining my eyes in the same
direction, but in vain.

" Crocodiles ! Crocodiles ! "

I repeated the word mechanically, my heart sinking
within me as I, too, began to distinguish the black points
which indicated to the Dyaks' quick eyes the approaching
enemy,

"Are you sure?" I whispered hoarsely, the cold sweat
pouring off my forehead.

"Yes, Sahib, certain; and there are four of them."

I had only six explosive-ball cartridges, and, in spite
of their terrible effectiveness, I could but remember that
the crocodile in the water is well-nigh invulnerable, with
only his armor-plated back exposed. However, the terri-
ble foe was still some way off, and I should not myself
have detected them but for the Dyaks' quick instinct.
There was nothing left us but to try, at any cost, to
reach the nearest of the tree islands, avoiding by guess
the bottomless mud-holes that beset the path.

The unfortunate Dyak who was responsible for our
position headed the line again, sounding to right and
left, as he advanced, with his spear. It is impossible to

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 119

describe this adventure, — marching through the water,
pursued by crocodiles, not daring to put down one's foot
until assured by sounding that it would reach something
solid. Although the island grew perceptibly nearer, our
hungr}' neighbors did too, and at an increasing pace.
Still we were distancing them, — for over many of the
shoals they could not swim, and wading, for a crocodile,
is a slow process, — when, without warning, and as quick
as lightning, we felt the ground sink beneath our feet,
and we were all four precipitated simultaneously into the
swamp. Instinctively, Thursday and I raised our weapons
and ammunition high over our heads, for when we touched
bottom — that is, a fairly solid layer of vegetable matter
— the water reached our arm-pits.

"We might as well give up," said I, in despair; "this
time we are lost ! "

" Oh, don't give up yet. Sahib. We are so low that,
with this head wind, the crocodiles cannot see us and will
perhaps be unable to find us at all. Let us cover our
heads with these marsh grasses and leaves and ' lie low.' "

His advice was so evidently good that instead of a vain
attempt to reach the firm land with its inevitable ex-
posure to the hungry eyes of our terrible pursuers, we
acquiesced at once. After several minutes of suspense,
the Dyak raised himself slightly on a hummock, and
glanced cautiously toward the spot where we had last
seen them. His face cleared at once, and he cheered us
with, —

120

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" They have lost us, and have separated to search for us.
Three are going ahnost directly away from this place, and
one only knows enough to keep on in the first course."

WE COVERED OUR UEADS WITU MARSU-PLANTS.

" And he is headed for us ? "

" In a straight line ! "

" Then do not lose sight of him for an instant. With

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 121

one enemy we may be able to cope, and then there is a
chance that he may lose the scent."

When I asked him again where the animal was, — for
I dared not raise my own head to look, — he replied that
he was still coming straight toward us, and 1 saw that
a meeting was inevitable and made my preparations
accordingly.

I took my rifle from Thursday and loaded it with an
explosive ball, and gave him my hunting-piece instead.

"Now then, Thursday," said I, "listen to my instruc-
tions. The Dyak says the crocodile is sure to find us.
I shall let him get within ten yards of us, and then I
shall fire at whatever vulnerable part I can, — his eye or
his belly. Of course I may miss him, or the bullet may
glance off his back without wounding him."

The black's eyes rolled with horror.

" Then, without an instant's hesitation and yet without
haste, you, who must stand just behind me, must take
my rifle and hand me my other gun for a second shot.
Do yon understand?"

"Perfectly."

"And I can depend on you?"

"Till death."

" We will try to make it less bad than that, and your
courage shall meet its reward."

I knew what he said was true, for the fellow had been de-
voted to me ever since I saved his life in the jungle when
the gorilla grappled him, and I felt I could rely upon him.

122 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Raising myself as high as I could, I took a good look
at the slowly approaching monster, and, I confess, a shud-
der of horror ran through me at his immense size. He
was farther off than I had expected, and evidently quite
unconscious of our neighborhood, into which he had come
by chance, following the raised path on which we o\u'-
selves had been travelling when the tide overtook us. I
immediately changed my plan of attacli. I oi'dered
Thursday to wade off to the left so that the smoke from
his trrni should not blow across me, and told him to fire
at the crocodile and try to wound him, if only slightly.
As this would make the latter raise his head and look
round, I hoped to get a shot at some very vulnerable spot,
and land an explosive ball wdiere it would do most good.
I had hardly taken up my position, with rifle lifted, when
Thursday's gun cracked sharp and clear, and I saw blood
fly from the eye of the crocodile, whose advance ceased
immediately. I could hardly restrain a cry of joy, but
catching sight of a yellow bit of neck, I fired at it and
shut my eyes. A great splash and the shouts of triumph
of the Dyaks encouraged me to open them, and 1 found
the success of the shot greater than I could have hoped.

The crocodile lay on his side on a little island with his
neck blown open the entire length of the jaw, while the
Dyaks, who had made a l^reak for land without regard
to Thursday or myself, capered round him. I called
them, and they helped me on shore to where the animal
lay in his last agony, — for these brutes die as hard as a

THE ORANG-OUTANG. 125

snake. He was a very large specimen, with a head twice
as long as it was broad, his eyes set close together above
his long snout, of which only the under jaw was movable.
His front feet had five toes armed with claws, and his
liind feet but four, and webbed to allow him to swim
easily. His whole body was shingled with plates of a
shell-like membrane that made him a fine coat of mail
nearly bullet-proof. Green on the back, his color gradu-
ally shaded off into yellow, and he was a terrible foe to
meet in the water, where we should not have come oft" so
well had not our good luck stood by us just as it did.

I was duly thankful to regain the bank, which I had
never expected to touch again, and had not tlie heart to
blame the Dyak who was responsible for our narrow
escape ; but I resolved to place less reliance on the natives
in future.

On the way back, Thursday had the satisfaction of
shooting a fine full-grown orang-outang, without injuring
a bone, and I prepared the skeleton for mounting in an
ingeniously easy way suggested by him. Cutting off the
meat roughly from the frame, we placed the carcass near
a large ant-hill, and surrounded both with a plank fence.
In a week the ants had left it for me clean and white as
ivory. This satisfied me, as far as orang-outangs went,
and I turned next to a lower species of monkey, — the
long-armed ape, or gibbon.

CHAPTER VII.

STILL IN BORXEO.

TRUST the reader will not object to prolong-
ing his stay in Borneo with me, to make the
acquaintance of this curious family of apes,
owing their name to the unusual proportion of their arms
to their legs, as is shown in our picture. The}^ are of a
gentle nature and easily tamed, and although less intelli-
gent than their cousins, the chimpanzees and orang-
outangs, they are much more agreeable to have anything
to do with. As they grow older they seem even more
sociable and good-tempered, — quite the opposite, as you
see, from the others. They are very common in the
forests of India, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, where they
live in large communities under recognized leaders, at
wdiose call they meet at sunrise and sunset, with a fearful
din and chattering that must be heard to l)e appreciated.
Even when confined alone, these monkeys retain this
habit of greeting the orb of day with a harsh, monot-
onous cry, repeated when the night comes on, and gaining
in intensity and sendinfj power — as singers say — through
a pocket connected with the larynx in which they can
store up air.

STILL IN BORNEO.

12"

A point in which the long-armed ape differs from all
other monkeys, and which therefore must not be forgotten
of them, is their extraordinary care in removing their

THE GIBBON, OR LONG-ARMED APE.

dead far from their homes. They do this invariably, and
one cannot be long in the vicinity of one of their commu
nities without seeing them engaged in this almost human

128 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

errand ; four bearers, one for each limb, currying a dead
body toward some quiet spot in the forest.

One night when 1 was in India I saw a crowd of these gen-
tle creatures climbing over the ruins of an ancient temple,
and a weird sight it was. We were passing the night in
one of those old brick towei's built by the rajahs, at regular
distances, to shelter travellers. Imagine a kind of turret
twenty or twenty-five feet high, divided into three stories,
each of one room surrounded l)y a low ledge on which
travellers might sleep, and crowned with a platform from
which they could safely enjoy the comparative coolness
of the nights and listen to the strange concert of sounds
that arose from the forest round its base. That night the
tigers, attracted by our horses that we had stabled in the
lower story, prowled round our shelter uttering their pen-
etrating cries, sometimes in a deeper tone that rolled and
reverberated like thunder through the tree-tops. To these
notes was added the occasional cry of a panther, stealing
up to our ill-fastened door to find himself disappointed of
his prey. My hunting companion fired his revolver toward
several pairs of lurid eyes which, at the report, disappeared
into the blackness of the surrounding undergrowth, only
to reappear after a few minutes as hungry as ever. A
tiger, by the way, is nearly always hungry ; for living as
he does on the flesh of deer and other swift-footed game,
he is often unable to catch them for days together.

One of my friend's shots was followed by an unusually
sharp and loud cry.

GENTLE CREATURES CLIAIBING OVER THE RUINS.

i

i

STILL IN BORNEO. 131

"Touched," said he.

'• Do you think so ?"

•• Yes, Hsten."

AVe could hear the irregular and painful breathing of
the beast growing fainter, and in the morning found a
few yards from the tower a magnificent specimen of the
jaguar with my friend's bullet just back of his shoulder,
where death must have followed promptly. On the way
back from this very trip we managed to capture a fine,
well-grown entellus, that closely resembled the sacred
monkey so common in India, especially in Bengal. For
this animal the Indians have so deep a veneration that
they allow him to enter their gardens and help himself
to all the fruit he wants without the least remonstrance.
As the animals always travel in companies, this privilege
results in absolute starvation to the farmer who is visited.
You may go to bed w4th a superb garden filled with
bananas, guavas, and all the delicate tropical fruits, ripe
and luscious: the next morning you wake up to find —
nothing. At dawn a band of sacred apes has fallen
like a blight on your garden ; and there the thieves are,
eating the plunder under your very nose. The servants
refuse to toucli the intruders, and if you try to shoot
them yourself leave your service, and your house is
soon tabooed, for they have the countenance and sup-
port of all the superstitious natives from Cape Com-
orin to the Himalayas and from the Persian Gulf to
Calcutta.

132 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

The legend from which all this reverence obtains its
authority is as follows : —

THE LEGEND OF RAMA AND THE APE
ANNOUMA.

Once upon a time Rama, or Vishnu incarnated under that
name, lived in Aodya, passing his youth in the silence of the
forests, engaged in meditation and prayer. Djamadogny, King
of Militta, having seen some of his Avonderful deeds, proposed
that he should try to bend an enormous bow, once the property
of Siva, the god of war, offering him as reward, if he succeeded,
the bow and his beautiful daughter Sita. The latter was so
marvellously lovely that all the princes of India had tried to
bend the bow, hoping to win her hand, but not one of them
could even start it. Rama, without any apparent effort, bent
the bow, strung it, and drew the cord an arrow's length, and
drove the shaft through the jialace walls with such force that it
wounded a Brahman's wife within, and so seriously that her life
was in danger. Her husband, furious at the accident, by virtue
of spells and sorceries uttered a curse that condemned Rama,
although a god, to a life in which he should never be wholly
successful in anything he undertook, nor perfectly happy. This
power is common to all Brahmans, and is irresistible for mortals
and gods alike; and poor Rama saw all his undertakings blighted
in the bud by this unhappy curse. He had hardly returned with
his lovely bride to his own home, Avhere he was now king, Avhen
his late father's second wife came to him to beg him to abdicate
in favor of her son, alleging that the gods, through the oracle,
had declared that to be their wish.

A FEW YARDS FROM THE TOWER A MAGNIFICENT JAGUAR.

ijyil

SriLL IN BORNEO. 135

Seeing in this another attack from his unhappy fate, Rama
hiid aside his crown and retired to the forest with his wife Sita
and her brother Latchoumana.

One day while the latter was out hunting, he cut off the ears
from the six heads of Sauparna, sister of the ten-headed giant
Havana, King of Ceylon. This monarch took his revenge by
carrying off Sita one fine afternoon, when her husband and
brother were not near to protect her, and immuring her in a
dismal dungeon.

Rama was inconsolable at this climax to his misfortunes, and
could think of nothing but how he should rescue his beloved
Avife. To do this an army was necessary, and he applied for aid
to the young man in whose favor he had given up his throne,
but in vain.

it was now that the apes came to the rescue. Their chief,
Annouma, called them together, and put it to vote whether Rama,
the incarnation of Yishnu, deserted by gods and men, was not a
fit object for sympathy and assistance from them. There was but
one sentiment in the meeting, and a messenger was despatched
to Ceylon to see what had become of Sita. The extraordinary
agility and strength of the ape made him a peculiarly suitable
spy, and he succeeded in finding the imprisoned lady, when
most men would undoubtedly have failed. When he liad reached
the castle in which she was confined, he climbed to the top of a
tree near her dungeon, and when he saw the fair Sita come on
to the terrace to enjoy the fresh evening air, he began to sing
her this song : —

" Of what is the lovely Sita thinkiug,
When she looks afar, across the forest, —
She, the daughter of the Earth and Plutus,
Towards the country of the Sunlight?"

136 HUNTING IN THE .ir'NOLE.

And Sita replied : —

"I am listening to the breezes
J'roni the country of the Sunlight,
Bringing words of bitter anguish
From my Rama, well-beloved," etc.,

like all the nursery ballads of every people, running on to a
great many verses.

The messenger returned to Rama with the assurance that Sita
was waiting patiently for his coming with the friendly apes, to
free her from the tyrant Ravana. Then Annouma and his allies
raised a mighty army of apes, and began to build a bridge of
stone over to Ceylon ; and while his soldiers brought stone,
Annouma uprooted trees and carried rocks, " more than the
hairs upon his body." Wliile the bridge was building the bears
sent a regiment of their best warriors to reinforce their friends
the apes, and together they marched across the bridge toward
the centre of Ravana's kingdom.

But he, knowing of their coming, had prepared endless ob-
structions and legions of opponents. First they were obliged
to conquer thousands of crocodiles from the island marshes;
then flooded river-beds and mountain torrents opposed them ;
then came fire, — whole forests sacrificed to the flame. But the
brave apes and bears were sworn to win or die ; and they con-
quered each obstacle in turn, and finally arrived before the castle,
wliere they thraslied Ravana in several well-fought battles, in
wliich Annouma was always in the thickest of the fight, and
drove him into his citadel, — his last resort. The siege lasted
ten years, with varying fortune ; and before it was over, all the
gods and goddesses had taken sides, — some for Rama and some
for Ravana, — and were helping their favorites with every means

■

STILL IN BORNEO.

137

in their power. At last Ravana was slain in single combat by
his adversary, and Sita was restored to her liusband's arms, and
the King of Militta punished for his refusal to help him. In
leaving Ceylon, Rama placed a giant ally on the throne, promis-

OFFERING THE BEST FRUITS OF THE LAND.

ing him that it should l^e his while Annouma and his race should
be honored and respected ; and that this should be " as long as
the world remains held in space by the hand of its god ; as long
as the sun-ffod hurls his radiant darts throuah the ether, and the

138 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

wind-god whistles from nortli to south and from east to west,
carrying the clouds on their errands ; as long as the stars shine
in the heavens, and the rising and falling sea makes a line of
foam round the earth, and the lotus flower, like the spirit of
creation, floats thereon. Curses upon him who fails in his
worship of you, or in offering you the best fruits of his land, as
he would to any god. Curses upon him who shall despise or
maltreat you ; for I, Rama, incarnation of Vishnu, pronounce you
and your offspring sacred upon the earth, even until the ages
shall bring again the return of Brahma and the last day for
gods and men and every living thing."

The worship of Annouma has spread through the whole
of India, and, although the followers of Vishnu especially
reverence him, no sect refuses to honor him with offerings
of fruit and flesh. Where these sacred apes are most
common, the poor natives not only let them help them-
selves to anything in the garden, but actually prepare
great platters of sweetened rice, which they carry piously
to some one of their favorite haunts. Perhaps no people
show a stranger form and object of worship than they,
nor one more difficult of explanation. I once said to a
Brahman with whom I was on terms of the greatest frank-
ness, which allowed the remark, —

" You are far too intelligent to believe this story of
Rama and Annouma."

"They are stories for children," he replied.

" Then how do you explain the universal credence given
them?"

I

"l CANXOT AFFORD TO SUPPORT THEM," HE SAID.

STILL IN BORNEO.

141

" Simply that they have been invented to explain a
feeling of indebtedness to the apes that owes its origin
to their having given warning by their cries of an

i?

MACAQUE APES.

approaching tidal wave and flood, and tliereb}- saving
whole communities, who heeded them and fled to the
hill-tops."

142 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" And bow do you, who own farms and gardens, treat
them when they come to devastate them?"

Smilingly he replied, '' I cannot afford to support them,
and so drive them oft' with a stick, — but I have to do it
myself and at night."

During the great war in Ceylon, the warrior apes of
Annouma are reported to have taken, as servants and
camp followers, numerous macaques, which differ in several
ways from their reputed masters. Their most interesting
characteristic is their imitativeness, and it is unwise to do
anything in their presence that you are unwilling they
should repeat. I saw one of them imitate his mistress,
whom he had watched plucking and boiling fowls, by
pulling out the feathers of a pet paroquet_, in spite of
the latter's beak and claws, and putting him alive into
the teakettle, where he was afterward found by the
cook!

CHAPTER VIII.

BACK TO AFRICA.

HURSDAY and I returned to Africa laden with
the spoils of our hunting trips in Borneo, and
he, at least, well pleased to find himself once
more in the African jungle. One night, as we were
returning to camp from a hard tramp after a gorilla
through swamp and forest, my guide, himself so weary
that he leaned upon his bow, using it like a cane, stopped
short, and motioned me to do the same.

" Listen," said he.

I could hear the distant calls of jackals and the usual
thousand noises of forest life, but nothing else, and I felt
that he must hear something that my duller ears could
not. After a few moments of silence, during which
Thursday's face expressed a growing astonishment, he
condescended to explain.

" There are a number of elephants in front of us, — in
fact, a whole kraal."

Kraal means '' village " and, by wider usage, " tribe."

" How ca-n you tell ? I hear nothing."

" But I hear their cries. Let us advance quietly so as
not to attract their attention."

144 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

I followed his advice, literally hardly breathing, al-
though for several iiiinutes I could distinguish nothing
to suggest the presence of the huge animal. Then, how-
ever, at last I detected the curious note which character-
izes them, and which grew more distinct as we moved
forward toward a large clearing, filled with the bones
and tusks of elephants, and from which arose a horrible
stench as from decaying flesli.

"What place is this?" I asked the guide.

"An elepliants' burial-place," he answered mysteriously
in a whisper. " Hist ! Look ! " The cries redoubled.
" They are bringing one of their number to the charnel-
house." They were no longer cries, but prolonged and
plaintive shrieks and ho\yls at unequal intervals, rever-
beratino; throuii;h the forest. We hid in a ditch, and this
is the strange sight we saw.

A dozen elephants suddenly appeared at the other side
of the clearing, surrounding and supporting an enormous
patriarch enfeebled with age and sickness. To hasten his
tottering steps, they all belabored him with their trunks,
urg-iniT him forward to the tomb of his ancestors, among
whose bleaching bones he was coming to lay his own.
The convoy having supported him to a convenient spot,
stood one side, and over he went upon his side with a
mournful cry that startled the birds and monkeys from
the neighboring trees, and drove them, a noisy band, farther
into the forest to join the jackals, whose impatience could
hardly brook any delay in the giant's death, and were

BACK TO AFRICA.

145

already hungry for his carcass. Just as the elephants
were retiring into the dusky edges of the woods, Thurs-
day made a movement that attracted their attention, and

SEARCHING FOK ELEPHANTS TCSKS IN THEIK BUKIAL-PLACES.

they turned and charged upon us ! The African was
brave enough wdien his game was caught in a pitfall,
and all he had to do was to shoot poisoned arrows into

10

146 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

his defenceless body ; but twelve active elephants on the
aggressive was a different story, and he turned tail and
ran for his life.

All I could think of, left in this predicament, was to
fire at the leader and climb a tree. I had no sooner done
the former, than, wheeling quickly, the troop made off
into the jungle at right angles to where they had come
ii: IVhen he saw that the danger was over, Thursday
returned in a most penitent state of mind, and tried to
make me believe that he had fled out of consideration for
me, as, if the elephants had recognized him — their great-
est dread — nothing could have stopped them ! On our
way into camp, Thursday assured me that all communi-
ties of elephants have their burial-place, and if one of
their number dies suddenly, they drag him thither that his
huge carcass may not infect their haunts. He was full
of stories, and interesting ones, that would fill a volume,
about this royal beast ; and I am very glad to have the
opportunity to say a few words that may do some justice
to this much-maligned brute, who should, much more than
the lion, be called the king of beasts.

There is no living creature, even man himself aided by
all the devices of civilization, that can force an elephant
to do anything contrary to his wish ; nor is there cage,
nor prison, nor fetter, that will hold him without his
consent. Man can kill him with the weapons of warfare,
l)ut can never tame him, like other animals, by starvation
and hard treatment, but simply by an exercise of reason.

BACK TO AFRICA. 149

The elephant, when once domesticated, no longer thinks
of the jungles where he grew up, nor does he have mo-
ments of fury when all his savage nature returns to him.
If left unconfined lie does not spring upon his keeper,
slay him, and escape to the wilderness, like most wild
beasts ; for man attracts him, and he becomes his faithful
friend and the sharer of his labors. I have seen him in
Ceylon ; on the long roads, deep in dust, of Hindostan ;
in the market-places of Benares ; in the jungles of Bur-
mah and Indo-China ; in the vast wildernesses of Southern
Africa ; and everywhere I have found him better than the
men who use him, asking only, in return for his strength
and his kind willingness, a little affection and good treat-
ment. There is only one thing to be afraid of in him,
and that is a madness very like that to which the human
brain is subject. In this rare case he knows neither him-
self nor others, and, as one can do nothing with him forci-
bly, it is often necessary to shoot him. Sometimes this
madness displays itself in an intense depression of spirits,
when the elephant retires to some corner of his quarters,
and refuses all food imtil he dies — as the natives say —
of a broken heart.

This remarkable animal remembers, understands, rea-
sons, associates ideas, and even accomplishes two of the
mental processes — comparison and judgment — which
are at the root of intelligence ; so that, whether in point
of animal or of intellectual strength, the lion makes little
show before such an adversary. Indeed, his courage is

150 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

nothing but unreasoning ferocity, and his generosity
only a fable of certain naturalists, while his intelligence
is far below that of the panther and tiger. The ele-
phant, on the other hand, comes nearest man in point of
intellect, as do the anthropoid apes in point of physical
qualities.

Elephants live in communities, under chiefs to whom
strict obedience is observed, and in accordance with
recognized laws. The labor of obtaining food is shared
among them systematically, and fruits and roots are
collected for the young, their mothers, and the weak
and old in regular order.

It has been urged against these animals as a proof
of lack of intelligence, that the mother cannot recog-
nize, in a herd, her own offspring from among the young
of others, for they are brought up together. I am
confident, from much observation, that this is not so,
and that it is simply their custom to nurse any young
elephant of the herd if their own are satisfied. Take
a child five or six hours old away from its mother,
and ask her, a few days later, to pick it out of a room-
ful of children of the same age. It does not prove,
because she cannot, that she is unintelligent.

At any alarm of danger the chiefs utter a signal,
easily remembered. Immediately the younger ones,
guided by the females, place themselves together in
the centre, with the females around them, and the
males outside them. In this form they meet the attacks

BACK TO AFRICA.

151

of their enemies, or of others of their own race. In the
latter case the struggle is terrific, and the forest re-
sounds with the cries of the wounded, while the trees

ADVANCE GUARDS, LIKE SENTINELS.

bend like reeds in the wind. Any of the conquered
males left alive take flight, and the victors adopt
children and wives of the vanquished in good old
heathen fashion.

152 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Punishment is administered by the chiefs for acts of
insubordination ; and it is not uncommon to see an
offender seized by older elephants, and dealt resound-
mu: blows from their trunks. When they are on the
march, changing their locality, they camp each night
in the form of the hollow square I have described,
posting, beside, advance guards, like sentinels, to watch
that no enemy steal upon them unaware.

Ever since Thursday had entered my service he had
continually urged me to go on a hunt especially for
elephants, assuring me that it was the most exciting
and interesting sport possible. One night soon after
this last adventure, he was speaking again on the same
subject, and I at length consented, on one condition, —
that having enjoyed all the excitement of the chase,
we should not kill the elephant. Even Thursday's
greed for pay, and consequent rum, would not have
accepted this condition had I not promised him double
wages for the whole time we were out. This brought
him to terms; and he proceeded to hire four other
natives as his assistants, and one fine morning we set
out for elephant-land.

The five negroes were armed with shovel and pick,
for we were simply going to hunt our game in am-
buscade, — that is, take an elephant by tempting him
into a pit covered over with l)ranches and leaves. To
make the pit, and cover it so that the elephant would
not notice it, was easy enough ; b^it what I was moro

BACK TO AFRICA. 153

anxious to see was how they would attract the game
away from his herd, and draw him into the trap. We
were fully sixty leagues from the coast, and all around
us stretched an unbroken forest, where both good feed-
ing-places and cool shadows, which the elephant loves,
promised plenty of sport. Thursday felt confident that
the very herd from which he had obtained ivory a year
or more before would still have remained in sncli
a favorable locality, Avhere there was everything to
tempt them to a long stay. That night we camped
on the edge of the forest, and were careful to make
as little noise as possible, and even went without a
fire for cooking, to avoid any smoke that might warn
the herd of our approach. We supped on maize and
cassava cakes, made the day before by Thursday's wife,
and on canned sardines, which I shared with my men,
to their intense delight. Indeed, there is no surer pass-
port to the hearts or greed of the blacks tlian a tin box
of these oily fish, and they have often stood me in good
stead among unfriendly natives.

If we had been scented b}^ the elephants, they would
either have attacked us or left the country for several
days ; for although they fear neither animal nor man,
still, the latter has an entirely different effect on them
from the most savage of the former. When, for in-
stance, he suspects the presence of his deadly foe, the
rhinoceros, he shakes with rage, and hastens to meet
the enemy in a combat from which he almost always

154 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

comes out victor ; l)ut if man approaches him lie retires,
if possible, into the deepest solitudes of the woods, unless
he once sees him, when he charges upon hiui furiously.
So it was important to take all precautions that he
should not guess our presence ; and Ave therefore, as I
said, went without hre, which in Africa, surrounded as
you are with wild animals, is very dangerous. Thurs-
day chose our camp wisely, in a little half-clearing
where we could see in all directions a dozen yards
around us, so as to avoid surprises, and away from
the river we had Ijeen following, that we might not
interfere with the drin king-place of any lions or pan-
thers in the neighborhood. My hammock was swung
on a tamarind branch at a dizzy height, and I had to
reach it by an athletic exhibition worthy of a chim-
panzee. Fifteen feet raised me from the clutches of
prowling beasts, Init laid me open to the danger of
breaking a limb if my sleep were at all uneasy, so
with a bit of line I laced myself in, and lay secure,
but sleepless. What nights these African days bring!
Through the pathless forest roam wild beasts in search
of food, ready to follow the first scent that promises
them their prey ; ravenous — except on those rare days
when they have run across a buffalo strayed from his
herd — and quick to take advantage of any unwary
wanderer. Lions, panthers, elephants, and gorillas are
here, and before the terror of their coming fly all the
smaller game of the forest around.

BACK TO AFRICA. 157

Thursday had not been mistaken in his locality, for
several times during the night we heard elephants
trumpeting in the neighborhood. iVt dawn he began
his trap, — that is, he and his men set out to clean and
rebuild one he had made and used the year before, —
and in two hours it was done and cleverly covered in. We
then, from a perch in a neighboring tree, saw him and
one of his men disappear into the forest ; and I was left
with his wife and the other men, who could none of them
imderstand a word of my language, nor I of theirs.

After several hours of uncomfortable waiting and listen-
ing, I heard, evidently coming toward us, the distressed
cry of a young elephant and, farther off, the answer-
ing calls of his friends in the herd. Five minutes later
the sounds w^ere repeated, nearer still ; and soon I saw, to
my intense surprise, that the first cry proceeded from
Thursday, who made use of a reed to alter the pitch of his
voice, and that he was certainly drawing on after him a
male and female, in search of their supposed offspring.
Thursday soon joined us in the tree, and, in reply to my
compliments on his powers of imitation, said that was
easy enough, but that the difficulty lay later when the
elephants were near, looking for their young one.

"Why, how is that?"

" You see, then I must change the note to one of joy,
as if he were pleased at the approach of help, for the
elephant is bright enough to know that his young would
not continue distressed when he saw his family coming ;

158 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

and," added he, with conscious pride, " there are not three
men in tlie business beside myself who can do tliis." He
turned and addressed a word or two of caution to the
natives, and the silence was unbroken afterward, save by
the calls and answers from the elephants at intervals of
a few minutes, the latter rapidly approaching our tree.
At last we began to hear them breaking their waj-
through the foliage, with occasional pauses to place the
direction, evidently, from which Thursday's cries proceeded.
It was one of those black nights when the darkness is so
intense it seems as though daylight could never pierce it
again ; and this and my strange surroundings — clinging
to a tree with a handful of savages, in the midst of an
almost untracked wilderness, filled with wild beasts of
which so royal an example was now^ nearing us — gave
me, for a moment, a sensation of dizziness that proved
Thursday's wisdom in lashing us to the branch. Suddenly
the elephant's steps ceased, and two of my guide's best-
feigned cries of distress- remained unanswered. I began
to fear lest our scent should have reached the game. I
could hear the uneven, restless breathing that indicated
disquietude ; and Thursday, too, evidently thought it time
to change his tactics, for he uttered a much shriller and
longer cry than before, to which the elephant replied by
a soft and more agreeable note, almost like a mother's
call.

" It is a female," whispered Thursday, rapidly, and,
without waiting for reply, he continued his quicker cries,

BACK TO AFRICA.

159

with a climax of great distress, as if the Httle elephant
had suddenly been the victim of some fresh violence. To
each reply he had a new note, pitched to marvellous

" IT IS A FEMALE," WHISPERED THURSDAY.

agreement with the female's mood. His last call ended
our long waiting ; for, with a threatening note, the huge
animal charged forward to the rescue, breaking down all
obstacles en route, until crash she went into the pitfall.

160 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

"We have her," shouted Thursday, and with his native
friends, began indulging in expressions of extravagant
delight. It would have broken your heart to hear her
piteous notes when these unaccustomed sounds reached
her, trapped through her love for her young, and, in spite
of frantic efforts, unable to get out of Thursday's cleverly
arranged trap. The latter was ungenerous enough to
utter again some of the cries of distress that had first
deceived her, until I ordered liim sharj^ly to desist. Pity
for a vanquished enemy is something that never enters a
negro's head, and sympathy with a wounded or suffering
animal strikes him as superlatively ridiculous, and I was
compelled to repeat my order angrily to obtain obedience.

The rest of the night passed in comparative quiet, al-
though the elephant never ceased to struggle to escape ;
and my conscience reproached me that I should have been
the cause of sacrificing her to her maternal instincts. As
dawn came her struggles seemed to cease, for we no lon-
ger heard her frantic movements, which, we inferred, had
wearied her. Thursday and I climbed down, when it
was light, and approached our captive. What was our
astonishment to see her, with the aid of her tusks, digging
into the bank and trampling down the earth to aid her
escape ! This accounted for the silence of the last fev/
hours, and had we given her a few more she would have
succeeded easily. The animal was so intent on her work
that she did not at first notice us, but when she did, she
associated us at once with her misfortunes, and began to

BACK TO AFRICA. 161

utter terrible cries, waving her trunk back and forth as
if to threaten us.

"Don't go too near," Thursday cautioned me. " See ! "
As he spoke he hekl out toward the angry beast a
bamboo rod, which she grasped, almost dragging him with,
it, and broke into a thousand pieces, which she threw back
at us with greater force than accuracy. This was followed
by small stones and lumps of earth, her fury seeming to
increase each moment, and her cries growing louder and
more penetrating.

" We shall have the whole herd down upon us, if this
goes on," muttered my guide, and, as if to confirm his
statement, the distant trumpetings of many elephants
could be heard answering their companion. Evidently
the safest thing to do was to retreat as quickly as possi-
ble ; but we had hardly reached our tree of refuge before
the advance guard appeared on the edge of the clearing,
and behind, hundreds of trunks and mighty heads were
visible among the branches ; the former like great ser-
pents in motion, winding round and uprooting any trees
in the way of the herd's advance. It was a terrible and
inspiring sight to see this army of faithful friends hurry-
ing to the assistance of their comrade, whose cries were
now of joy. In an instant two of the animals laid hold
upon her and freed her from the pit, and surrounding
her, the herd testified to their joy at finding her, in
almost human caresses. All this lasted but a few mo-
ments, and they turned for revenge upon those who had

11

162 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

invaded their solitude. With unerring accuracy in placing
us and our refuge, they surrounded the tree and menaced

THE ADVANCE GUARD Al'PEARED ON THE EDGE OF THE CLEARING.

US with upraised trunlvs, while cries of fury resounded
through the forest.

Fortunately the tree in which we were sheltered was
a safe refuge from an}- attack, on account of its enor-

BACK TO AFRICA. 163

mous size and strength. From one of these gigantic
trunks, as a parent centre, the banyan reaches out its
arms, that droop until they touch the ground, take
root, and add new trees to the old. In this way I
have seen a whole forest grow fi'om three or four
banyan trunks, enlarging on the circumference, until
the circle reaches some insurmountable obstacle like a
lake, or river, or sandy waste. And so this banyan
that we were in had its offshoots in all directions, and
some twenty of them in the immediate neighborhood
almost as large as itself. The elephants soon recog-
nized their impotence in reaching us, and at a call
from their leader, drew off to consult. That they can
comnnmicate their ideas is certain, and was again
proved in this case, for after a time most of the herd
calmly turned their backs and started for the same
woods from which they had come.

•' We are saved I " shouted I, joyfully.

"Not yet. Sahib."

"What do you mean ? They are giving it up."

" But they leave eight guards to prison us here, until
we drop, from hunger and exhaustion, into their clutches !
We are likely to end our days here."

A shiver ran down my back as I saw his prophecy
fulfilled by eight great animals still lingering around
the tree, feeding on the clumps of fresh pasture and
green buds from the branches. Every now and then
they came nearer, and raising their trunks in anger

104 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

tried to reach us where we sat, and coming high enough
to fan us with their hot breatli.

" Come, Thursday," said I, '' you cannot have been so
skilful a hunter all these years without having found
some way out of this predicament, in which you nuist
have been placed before."

I saw my man was thoroughly frightened, and I
resolved to try this flattery on him ; it produced a
favorable effect, although he replied sadly enough, —

'" Yes, once. I took refuge in a similar tree to the
one we are now in."

'- Well ? "

'' Well, the elephants, as now, placed sentinels, and
I remained three days without food or drink, until I
could hardly hold on to my branch. My wife, luckily,
had been able to escape the first night of our captivity,
and she ran by forced stages to the nearest village of
our tribe. All the warriors armed themselves and came
to the rescue."

'' You mean to say that they dare to fight the elephant
at close quarters ? "

" Oh, no I They came several thousand strong, shout-
ing, beating the tam-tam, and making a tremendous
noise, for that is what the elephant dislikes, and off
they went."

" And does not your experience suggest any means
of escape ? "

After reflecting, he replied, —

BACK TO AFRICA. 167

"Yes, there are two, — but both dangerous. We might
set fire to the forest and dry underbrush around us. The
trees would burn last, and there would be a chance —
perhaps one in ten — of our escaping alive, as the ele-
phants would be driven off" immediately by the burning
undergrowth."

" But how would you set the fire, when we cannot
leave this branch ? "

" By lighting my cotton drawers, and throwing them
down among those dry leaves there ! " he replied with
a triumphant smile.

"Well,'* said I, laughing at the fellow's ingenuity,
and glad to see his confidence returning, '' if your second
idea is less practicable, we will try this one. But let 's
hear it."

Just as he started to tell me, one of the elephants
came nearer the tree, and standing close beside it,
watching us with angry eyes, he raised his flexible
trunk as far as he could, trying to reach us. His hot
breath fanned us violently, and it gave me a dizzy feel-
ing to see within how few feet he came of his prey.
Seeing his inability to quite reach us, the animal uttered
the most terrible noises, and his companions joined him
in the assault, hurling their ponderous bodies against
the tree, and shaking us as if it were a sapling. One
of the elephants raised himself so high that he lost his
balance and went over with a crash; before he could
recover himself, one of the others stepped upon his

1G8 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

huge side, as if it were a hassock, and his trunk
waved in our very faces. Thursday and I, instinctively,
had thrown ourselves back, or one of us would have
been taken and crushed. Quick as thought, Thursday
buried his lance in the enemy's trunk, and the ele-
phant dropped upon the ground uttering piercing cries
of pain.

''How foolish of you!" I cried; "you will only add
to their fury."

" You are mistaken, massa. Thursday is not foolish.
The intelligent animals, having discovered by accident
the way to reach our place of refuge, would in five
minutes all be making use of this means, and we should
be driven higher, to a less comfortable spot."

He was evidently right, for though the wound he had
inflicted could hardly have been deej), still, this one of
our sentinels departed into the forest, whining like a
whipped child. For the elephant, in spite of his great
mass and thick hide, is very sensitive to physical pain
when his blood is not up in a fight.

"Now we have only seven guards," said I, triumphantly.
''If we could only get rid of them all in the same way!"

" Don't be too sure, massa ; the substitute for this one
will not be long in putting in an appearance."

" Do you think so ? "

'* I am sure of it. I know these animals only too
well."

" Then let us hear your alternative method of escape."

BACK TO AFRICA. 169

" Its danger lies in our number. Were you and I
alone, we might easily make use of it. You see these
almost horizontal branches, running oft' to the different
tree trunks ? "

"Yes. Well?"

" Well, at night we might, if alone, creep silently
along these, holding our breath, until we reached the
nearest clearing, perhaps a hundred yards away, and
then drop to the ground and run for our lives."

" That does not sound very difficult. What is your
objection to it ?"

" Because, although he does not see at night so well
as the lion or the tiger, still, the elephant discerns
objects well enough to guide himself in the dark, and
his hearing is very acute ; so that at the least noise on
our part, the guards would follow us from tree to tree
to crush us when we dropped to their reach."

" Never mind, this is our onl}^ chance, and we mui^t try
it to-night, before we grow weak from lack of food."

" All right, but it will be wise to separate in couples.
I will take you first, then my wife and child, and the
two guides last, by themselves."

'•Wouldn't it be a good idea for those left behind to
make as nuicli noise as possible, to draw the attention
of the elephants, and cover our retreat?"

•' Yes, and I should not have thought of it," acknowl-
edged my guide; "it will double our chances."

'• Then you think there is a chance ? "

170 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" Yes, for the first at least ; and I am at your orders."

At this instant we heard a distant trumpeting.

"Here comes the substitute for the wounded elephant,"
said Thursday.

" Are you sure ? "

"Look!"

A hundred yards away a black mass bent aside the
tall plants and young trees in its way, disdaining to
uproot them. It was really an elephant ; and although
at first I could hardly believe he came in place of his
wounded companion, I saw from his reception that he
was an old acquaintance, and, after greetings like those
I have before mentioned, he went quietly to his station
" on guard." The lesson, however, had been learned, and
the elephants tried no further assault on our citadel.

At the foot of our tree, exactly under us, lay a
provision box containing the food we had brought for
breakfast after the hunt, which in our sudden retreat
we had forgotten to take with us. We should have
been glad to have it at this moment, for as the sun
rose higher in the heavens, our hunger grew upon us ;
and so tantalizingly near were some two pounds of pilot
bread, several boxes of canned meats, and half-a-dozen
bottles of wine and rum.

" How can we get that box ? " said I to Thursday for
the tenth time. " We can't go all day without food."

" It is almost impossible to get it up here, ]Dut it might
be done."

BACK TO AFRICA.

171

''I'll give you a bottle of rum if you can." Thurs-
day's eyes sparkled at the mere thought, as he answered,
•'I will drop to the ground, and before the elephants

LOOK !

can reach the tree from where they are now grazing, Avill
fasten my girdle to the box, so that you can draw it up,
and get back again in safety."

172 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" You would do better to have one of your companions
go.

"•No, I want all the rum for myself."

" As you like."

"While he was speaking he began to unwind the coco
fibre girdle that he wore, and handed it to me, watching
our captors grazing at a little distance. I tied a slip
noose in the other end, and the two natives stood
ready to heave on the line when it should be attached
to the coveted prize. Success seemed possible, though
uncertain, as he gently slid down the trunk, on the side
farthest from the enemy. I stood breathless, watching
the latter, and ready to give the signal that his move-
ments were noticed. Everything went well until he
touched the ground, when the whole herd caught sight
of him simultaneously, and charged upon him with
surprising speed.

'• Back, quick ! " I shouted, " or you are lost ! "

Without listening to my caution he reached the box at
a bound, raised it, passed the cord around it, and the
natives drew it up in an instant. Then the guide turned
to escape, but too late! The furious brutes were not
ten paces from him, and would have pulled him down
had he started to ascend. He was lost! We shouted
and yelled to distract the elephants' attention, and the
woman and her child uttered heart-rending screams, but
in vain.

The African stood firm, his back ao:ainst the tree, with-

BACK TO AFRICA. 173

out arms, awaiting his fate. He had not an instant to
Hve, when — shall I ever forget it? — with an agilitj and
strength that were marvellous, he sprang between the
approaching giants, and in a dozen bounds was at the foot
of one of the auxiliary trunks of our banyan and half
way up it I

He had counted upon the difficulty these huge bodies
have in turning quickly, and not in vain, for their very
number impeded them ; and as they tried to turn, closel}*
packed together, they gave Thursday the few seconds
necessary to make good his escape, and rejoin us who
had given him up as lost.

This exploit raised my guide immensely in my opinion,
for he had shown address, coolness, and strength such as
few men possess, and I could not help pressing his hand
with real emotion, as he stood once more beside me.

''I hope 1 have earned my rum," was his first very
practical thought and speech I

I handed it to him, and presented the rest of the party
also with a bottle to drink his health. The result of the
adventure was that the elephants never left us the rest
of the day, and that we made a hearty breakfast that
raised our spirits beyond caring for them or their anger.
— such is the close relation between the stomach and
courao;e. As the natives finished their rum. thev hurled
the bottles down on the elephants with all kinds of curses
and taunts. It seemed as though the day would never
end. But at last the sim befi:an its downward eoui^se. and

174 nrxTixG l\ the ji:x<;le.

we took rapid counsel in regard to our attempted escape.
When the moment arrived Thursday said simply, —

'' Give me your rifle, that you may be unmcumbered,
and follow me."

Although I had observed with care the route over
which I knew we were to go, still, at night, I found I
was helpless except as Thursday led me like a child.

Our companions began to sing and clap their hands to
drown any sound of our movements, and, as it was black
as Egypt, not even an owl could have seen us. The noise
was infernal, and the elephants replied with heavy, deep
grunts.

I seized the branch, and began to crawl along it as
quietly as I could behind my guide. With the woods-
man's instinct he assisted me from tree to tree five times,
and then we rested to see if we had been followed. You
never heard such a racket as those negroes kept up, but
we felt confident from the elephants' replies that they
had not yet suspected our absence, and we renewed our
line of march over branches growing slighter and slighter,
until we felt that safety demanded our quitting them for
firmer footing. As we dropped to the ground, we knew
from the fainter sounds that we were at quite a respecta-
ble distance from our starting-point, even should the ele-
phants undertake to follow us. Cautiously we threaded
the dense forest, in darkness so complete I could hardly
see the indistinct outline of my guide two paces ahead of
me. After an hour's march we came at last to the edge

BACK TO AFRICA. 177

of the forest and might reasonably consider ourselves out
of danger. Thursday assured me of this joyful fact,
adding. —

•' And now I must return."

'•And leave me?"

" Thursday must go back after his wife and child."

"True; I had forgotten. And I?"

" Travel straight toward the south, keeping that star
always on your left hand, and at daybreak you will
reach the stream we crossed yesterday and have nothing
further to fear from wild beasts. It will then, and not
till then, be safe to sleep."

-All right."

'• I will join you at our last camp with everything left
behind us in the jungle."

" I shall not soon forget your devotion to my interests,
Thursday, and — "

My guide grasped my arm and drew me behind a bush.

'• I heard a twig snap," whispered he. " We are
followed ! "

•' By elephants ?"

'• Oh, no ; we should hear them fast enough, without
any difficulty." As he said this he imitated the note of
a bird, clear and delicious. The same note was echoed
by a voice not far distant, and in a moment we had the
very welcome sight of Thursday's wife and boy coming
out of the trees' shadow and approaching us. This, of
course, altered our plans ; and we took up our march in

12

178 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

single file toward camp, well pleased at our fortunate
escape from this dangerous locality, where we had seen
the African elephant in his most terrible mood.

The two natives also got ott' scot-free, and reported
later at camp, where we celebrated our escape by the best
feast our supplies ali'orded.

CHAPTER IX.

A FEW ELEPHANT STOKIES.

E have seen one side of the elephant's nature in
his wild state, but it is only fair to remember
his gentleness and friendliness in captivity,
which is really voluntary, because he might with a blow
of his trunk annihilate his keepers and escape to his
native jungle. In his long life he often changes his
master, but his allegiance goes too ; and he is devoted to
each, and figures alike as porter, wood-cutter, errand-boy,
hunter, gladiator in fights with tigers, and artillery-man.
I have seen, in India, elephants let out by their owners
as choppers, working like day-laborers and returning at
night to sleep at home, — that is, at their master's. These
intelligent animals, armed with long axes, the use of
which they have been taught, cut, at otherwise perfectly
impracticable heights, the gigantic trees which are used
in the keels of vessels, carry them to the nearest port, and
deliver them to other elephants to pile, — a feat which
they accomplish with the greatest regularity and with a
strengtli that no number of men can equal. They work
alone, too, without any special oversight on the part of
the keeper, who often comes but once a day to note their

180 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

progress ; and yet there is not a case on record where one
of them has attempted to return to his free life in the
forest, or rejoin his former companions enjoying them-
selves in the neighboring ravines, while he is working
hard on the hills above. Indeed, they grow to hate their
untamed cousins, and fight them — and usually success-
fully — at every opportunity, bearing them away in
bondage to their masters.

The English have made use of their enormous strength
in all the wars in India and, more recently, in Africa,
where without them the troops would have been helpless
to move the artillery, even the lighter j^ieces, which these
dumb allies carried bravely into action on their backs,
while their courage under fire has been attested by special
mention in reports from the English officers. One of
them says : —

" In our marches across Bengal we used elephants in the
baggage train, so well disposed to us that, without waiting
for a command from the keeper, if a wagon stuck, one of
them would hurry up, put his mighty shoulder to the
wheel, and never rest till it was rolling on smoothly again.
Then he would return to his own proper place and duty
in the line again. One morning, in the press of wagons
and animals, one of the elephants was hurt by the heavy
wheel of a cart running over his foot. I happened to be
near, and bound it up with a towel dipped in camphorated
brandy, and tightened the bandage as well as I could, and
off he limped to his stable. In the afternoon I went to

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES.

183

see how lie was getting on. He was lying on a bed of
straw ; he recognized me at once, and held out his wounded
foot for nie to see. I renewed the bandage each day ; and

HE HELD OUT HIS WOUNDED FOOT FOR ME TO SEE.

after that the grateful animal never passed my tent with-
out a peculiar cry which he used for that occasion alone,
and when he met me he always gently rubbed my back

184 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

or slioulders with his trunk, uttering little sniffs of
pleasure."

Major vSkinner, of the English Army, vouches for the
following story, which shows on the part of the elephant
intelligence, memory, comparison, judgment, and good-
nature.

Riding along a very narrow trail near Kandy, in
Ceylon, where he happened to be stationed, he heard the
heavy tread of an apjoroaching elephant, uttering discon-
tented grunts which frightened his rather nervous horse,
and made him rear and plunge. He says : —

'' I soon saw whence these sounds proceeded. A tame
elephant had undertaken the difficult task of transporting
a long girder, resting on his tusks, over the narrow road.
Between the trees on either side there was not room for
this to pass, and he could only advance by turning his
head from side to side and avoiding each tree as he went.
It was a slow business, and no wonder he complained ; but
on seeing how his trumpetings frightened my horse, he
ceased instantly, threw down his load, and pressed his
huge body close up against the trees on one side of the
road to allow us to pass. My horse trembled all over,
and refused to move, seeing which, the elephant drew
still farther back and tried to encourage the coward by
a gentler note.

" Finally the latter plucked up enough heart to dash
by on his way, when the faithful elephant resumed the
laborious errand in which we had found him engaged.

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES. 185

'' This elephant had, before the caiiipaign, been used
as a watchman by his owner, whose estates bordered
on a river. Marauders would drop down the stream
in their craft, and rob the gardens and orchards, and
lie off again without leaving any other trace of their
coming than the empty trees and ravaged beds. Tired
of losing the fruits of his labor, the owner had trained
this elephant to perform sentinel duty along the bank ;
and, when danger threatened, the animal would growd
like a dog, and filling his huge trunk with water from
the stream, would play upon the rascals like a fire-
engine, drowning them out of their boat like rats,
until they were glad to hoist sail and make off to
the best of their ability."

The art of hunting the elephant, although of most
ancient origin, is practised to-day on a larger scale than
ever before, because of the services Avhich the Ena-lish
have found he can perform for them. As long as ele-
phants were used simply to add splendor to the suite
of a rajah, or dignity to one of the religious proces-
sions, it sufficed to hunt single animals, capturing them
by a decoy elephant ridden by a native, wdio provoked
and held the attention of the game, wdiile another ran
up behind and cleverly passed a chain around one of
his legs. Bound in this way the elephant was sure,
under the influence of starvation, and the example of
his former companions, to yield eventually to his captors.
Now the country is divided into " preserves," over which

186 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

a royal officer is appointed, and immense hunting par-
ties are made up, and whole herds captured at once ;
although it is no easy thing to take alive and un-
wounded an animal that has at once such strength and
such intelligence as the elephant. It could not he done
without the aid of other elephants, who bring their
attachment to their masters to this high point, and
having assisted in the capture, go still fartlier and in-
struct the captives in their future duties. The trait of
obedience is, however, rather the result of affection than
fear, and in this regard the elephant's docility is more
like that of the dog than of the horse. It even leads
them to bear the pain of the worst surgical operations,
like the l3urning; out with a hot iron of tumors or ulcers,
or the taking of the most bitter medicines at the hands
of their "approved good masters."

The only way in which the male's gentle temper can
be spoiled is by a course of special diet of certain kinds
of food ; and this is the means resorted to by their less
gentle masters when they wish them to tight, — either
one another, or their feudal enemy, the tiger. In India
I was once invited by a Rajah to attend his celebration
of the Feast of Moharem, where the principal attraction
is the display of elephants. I accepted, of course.

The Feast began by a tiger fight. A space some fifty
feet square had been fenced off near the river, and we
occupied a special " box," protected, in case of accident,
by a bamboo network strong enough to keep the tiger

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES. 189

out should the fancy strike him to turn to us for sport.
He was loosed into the arena, around which he circled
several times, and at last stopped directl}' in front of us
and stood looking at us in a way that made me bless
the foresight that had built the screen. But immedi-
ately a buffalo was driven into the circle, and advanced
slowly toward the crouching tiger, who was ready for a
spring. Seeing this he stopped short, his horns low,
snorting with anger. But the tiger paid no attention
to him, nor to five more buffaloes which were let loose
one after the other, treating them with sublime disdain,
as foemen unworthy of his steel. A curious incident
happened just then : a small dog fell into the arena
from one of the seats, and toward him ^vith stately
steps the tiger stalked, without, however, any appear-
ance of anger. The dog, frightened, ran whining round
the edge of the enclosure, and after him the tiger,
faster and faster. Finally, seeing he could not escape,
and that one or two more leaps would be his last, he
turned and with real grit showed his teeth to his pur-
suer. We supposed he would be crushed at a blow ;
but not at all. At the instant the tiger was about to
spring upon him, the brute seemed to change his mind,
and, like a cat after a mouse, crouched watching and
playing with him. Then the Nabob ordered them to
let in the elephant.

The crowd were hushed in silence. Either the tiger
must fight or be killed ingloriously. A gate opened, and

100 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

the elephant, his keeper on his back, advanced into the
arena. At the sight of the huge animal the tiger nttered
a long howl, which was most evidently one of terror,
for he sprang against the palisade several times, and
did his best to break it down and escape. At sight of
him the elephant became madly excited, and made
straight at him, blocking his wild efforts at flight,
and almost trampling him under foot, before he real-
ized that fight was the only alternative. Then, and
only then, he sprang upon the head of his adversary
and endeavored to maintain his hold with claws and
teeth. But the elephant wound his enormous trunk
around the tiger's body, lifted hi in in the air, and hurled
him, bruised and broken, down upon the ground twenty
feet away. The tiger was half dead, and wholly help-
less, and lay where he fell in a stupor. This exploit
accomplished, the victor did not deign to push his
triumph farther, but turned and saluted the Nabob in
our box as respectfully as would a slave, and peaceably
departed through the door by which he had entered,
without paying any attention to the applause and cheers
that followed him.

The remaining festivities were then postponed until
the next day, when, after breakfast in the garden of the
Nabob, we adjourned to a tent on the river-bank at a
favorite bathing-place of the elephants, where we were
to see a fight between two of the largest of them. The
plain was covered with a dense crowd of people, and a

I

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES.

191

regiment of soldiers and a squad of cavalry had been
ordered out to do us honor, and hold the crowd back.
The interpreter explained to us that it was not properly

HE SPRANG UPON HIS ADVERSARY'S HEAD AND HELD WITH CLAWS AND TEETH.

a fight that we were about to witness, but rather a joust,
in which the combatants would not try to injure each
other seriously, but simply display their strength and

192 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

skill. The two elephants were led m by their native
keepers, and were by all odds the finest specimens I
had ever seen. Of unusual size, with black, shining
coats, eyes full of fire, tusks long and perfect, they
advanced with an air of assurance that promised a
tremendous struggle. At first they approached each
other at a rapid pace until within a few feet, when
they stopped and, at the command of their riders,
saluted in good Marquis of Queensbury style. This
done, their keepers lay dow^i upon their respective
elephant's backs, and held tightly to the girdle while
the fight began.

The tw^o elephants sprang upon each other with a shock
that threw them on their hind legs, their trunks up and
intertwined, swaying back and forth in, for the riders at
least, a most luipleasant way. The plucky fellows clung
fast, however, and encouraged their favorites with voice
and hand. The tactics of the pair seemed to be to try
to force the weaker, or the less adroit, backward into
the river, and after an hour of intense effort and strug-
gle, one of the elephants had so far lost ground that he
was compelled to jump into the river to avoid being
throw^n in. This was supposed to end the combat ; but
his adversary insisted on following him across the river,
in spite of the united efforts of the Nabob's servants
and tamers. The conflict was evidently to be renewed
on the other bank, where the first animal had taken a
favorable position, from which for fully thirty minutes

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES. 193

he prevented the other from landing, thrusting him back,
at every attempt, into the water. The fight was de-
clared a draw, and the prize — a load of sugar-cane, of
which they are very fond — was divided between them.

There were several other combats of a like nature, in
one of wliicJi the elephants indulged in spouting immense
streams of water at each other, but not different in the
main from the one I have described. In the evening,
when the crowd had departed, we were invited to watch
a curious fishing in the river, with otters. These ani-
mals, as clever as dogs, dive into the water, and, as
they are taught, either drive the fish toward the nets, or
help bring the latter ashore, handling the fish with their
jaws without hurting them, or breaking them at all.

The whole performance, lighted up by the flaring
torches, is most picturesque. On leaving him the next
day, the Nabob presented me with two beautiful ele-
phants, and upon one or the other of them I rode
many miles through the jungle. Of one of these fine
animals he told me an interesting story.

He was originally the property of an old Indian, rich
in gold and in a young and lovely wife. The elephant
was a great favorite of the latter, and, if one can use the
term of so large a beast, was a family pet. Now the old
Brahman died soon after his marriage, and the priests of
his religion endeavored to convince his widow that she
must sacrifice her life on the funeral pyre, in accordance
with the dreadful practice of their church. They held

13

194 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

up before her bright eyes the extraordinary rewards that
she would receive in the next world, and the divine pleas-
ures that awaited her in the halls of Brahma. Besides
this, she had the surety of a sad life did she refuse to
offer herself a willing victim to her belief ; for a widow can-
not remarry in India, and she lives with her own family
in the greatest poverty and distress, because there is a
superstition that the house is unlucky where a widow
dwells, and her relatives give her barely enougli to keep
body and soul together. For this same reason they are
nearly always as anxious to have their widowed relative
burned as are the fanatic priests themselves. But in
spite of the pressure brought to bear upon her, this girl
refused to commit sntttj, as it is called ; and the priests
were forced to use druo;s in her food, under the influence
of which she was induced to yield her consent. When
she returned to herself she found the priests rejoicing over
a consent of whicli she remembered nothing, and saw
with horror their preparations for the funeral procession
and pyre. Suddenly an idea occurred to her ; and she
assumed a willing and inspired air, even offering to grace
the procession with her husband's stately elephants, on
one of which, arrayed in her most gorgeous dress and
jewels, she would ride. This pretended conversion was
announced to the people as a new miracle and sign of
Brahma's approval, and the young widow, from being
scorned and insulted, became the heroine of the hour.
As the moment for the last ceremonies approached, she

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES. 195

liad her favorite elepliaiit trapped in all the splendor she
could muster, decorating him with the silks and jewels
she herself could not wear, and caressing his silky trunk
until he whinnied with pleasure. Mounted on his back,
she led the procession, followed by the corpse in the
funeral palanquin and the paid mourners weeping and
rending- the air with mock lamentations.

Children threw flowers along the road, and nautch girls
sang and danced beside it. The coolies had piled high the
fiery couch, and added quantities of oil to make it burn
brighter and hotter around the withered old flesh and the
fresh, warm life that were to be consigned to it together.
As soon as the cortege reached the pyre, the musicians
began their doleful playing, and the priests came for-
ward to receive the victim. The moment had come !

As she did not descend from her seat, the priests made
a sign to the keeper, who ordered his elephant to kneel,
and then offered Mariana his hand to help her down.
But she declined in toto, clinging to the elephant's girdle
and uttering the most piercing shrieks and praying my
elephant to save her.

When the priests saw they had been tricked, they
rushed toward Mariana furiously, fearing to lose their
victim ; but it was too late. The elephant seized the
Brahman leading the wretches, lifted him into the air
with his trunk, and dashed him down senseless. In vain
the keeper called him in tones of entreaty and command.
He was past control, and knew only that his beloved

196

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

mistress was in peril. Springing to his feet, he opened
a passage through the crowd with tremendous blows of
his trunk, before which one or two Brahmans fell at each

HE WAS PAST CONTROL.

stroke, crushed and injin^ed. It became a perfect rout.
Thirty or more were killed or wounded, and many more
trodden under foot. Mariana was saved !

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES. 197

As soon as she reached the open country she took the
road to the nearest English settlement, and my Nabob's
was the first house where she rested in her flight. In
gratitude for his immense kindness to her, she gave him
her protector, the elephant ; and he, with the faithfulness
I have described, transferred his allegiance to his new
master and then to me. Mariana, meanwhile, reached
the district magistrate, a hundred miles farther on, in
whose family she remained and with whom she returned
to England. This is the only case I know, by the way,
of a Brahman voluntarily going into exile.

The elephant plays an important part in other native
festivals besides this one of the Moharem, and I have seen,
in a sacred procession in India at the feast of Juggernaut,
over two hundred of the native devotees called fakirs
throw themselves down beneath the white elephants,
where they were sure of being crushed under their
ponderous feet.

I have already spoken of the intelligence and memorj'
of the elephant. In Ceylon I once saw a fine herd of
fifteen elephants, used by the chief magistrate as his
hunting stud, lying under the spreading trees around his
house, as is their custom. A sudden thunder-storm came
up, with the vivid flashes and tremendous claps of thunder
of that latitude ; when the elephants, instead of taking
refuge still closer under the trees, at the first flash moved
quickly out into the open away from shelter, stood stoi-
cally through the down-pour, and as soon as the rain was

198 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

over returned to tlie shade. I was greatly surprised,
knowing how the animals disliked cold rain-water, but
my friend the judge quickly enlightened me. Several
years before, one of his hunting elephants had been struck
by lightning while standing under a tree in the park, and
ever since the herd had gone through the tactics I had
observed, at the first indications of a thunder-storm, and
had taught all the new-comers the same habit of safety.
This faculty of communicating ideas is well established.
I remember once trying to cross a stream on the back of
a favorite elephant, when he and all the others in the
party, but he first, absolutely refused to put foot into the
water. After reasoning with hini and punishing him,
and all hi vain, my driver grumbling all the while at the
impossibility of altering his mind, I recalled that a year
before at this very ford he had hurt his foot on a sharp
stone in the river-bed. That lie should have remembered
it was very singular, but more so that he could make
his companions share his fear of repeating the accident ;
but that both these things happened is certain, for by
riding a few hundred yards down the stream to another
ford, we had no difficulty in getting them to carry us
over without special urging.

In the Indian colonies, especially on the coast of Mala-
bar, where one travels days through unbroken forest and
jungle meeting only wild beasts, the postal service is done
by a native mounted on the most intelligent and fastest
travelling elephant obtainable. Many of the stories told

A FEW ELEPHANT STORIES.

201

of these mail-carriers sound too remarkable to believe ;
but I remember, when the cholera was prevalent one
year, that the rider mounted on one of these government

HE SET OUT AT A TREMENDOUS PACE.

despatch animals died e?i route at a miserable little vil-
lage a day's journey and more from his destination. The
chief of the village, recognizing from the badge on the
forehead of the elephant that he was in the government

202 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

service, tried to get him to accept one of liis own riders
in place of the dead man, but he could not accomplish
it, for if any one even approached the body or the de-
spatches he broke into uncontrollable fury, and effectually
prevented any interference with them.

Seeing that his efforts were of .no use. the chief let him
have his own way, and simply ordered two mounted
soldiers to follow him. Taking his former rider and .the
mail-bags across his neck, he set out at a tremendous
pace for his original destination, wdiere he arrived without
stop in twelve hours, leaving the horsemen far behind,
ride as they might.

Later this same faithful animal was attacked by an
ophthalmia which was pronoimced incurable by the Eng-
lish veterinary surgeons, and sold to the Brahman priests
of a rich monastery near by. These skilful men cured
him so quickly as to suggest the idea of a conspiracy to
aid them in getting so A'-aluable an acquisition at a low
price. At any rate, they made capital use of him, sending
him far and near within a radius of thirty leagues with
a bag hung at his neck, into which he put everything
given him, like a good mendicant friar ; and what he
received he knew well how to protect from all comers.

One day I saw him pumping water into the trough at
which the animals belonsrinai; to the friars drank, — for this
w^as one of his regular duties, — but in an unusually impa-
tient way that attracted my attention to the cause. And
no wonder, for some mischievous rascal had put a large

A FEW ELEPHANT ii TORIES.

205

log under the end of the trough, and as fast as the water
flowed m at one end it flowed out at the other! He
seemed greatly pleased to see me, probably thinking I

THE SKELETONS OF HIS ANCESTORS.

could solve his difficulty ; but I preferred to stand by and
see him get out of it as best he could by himself. After
several attempts to fill the inclined trough, and an equal
number of pauses for reflection and grunting, he had an

206 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

inspiration. Winding his trunk around the trough at
the raised end, he hfted it still higher, and with his foot
pushed the log from under, replacing the trough at its
proper angle in triumph and pumping it full with evident
satisfaction.

Indeed, this animal only lacked speech to he quite
human. The same fellow who played this unhandsome
trick, from which my friend had come out with such flying
colors, was always bothering the elephant, and finally this
bad treatment grew to such proportions that even this
gentle animal's patience came to an end. Although he
might easily have killed the offender with a blow from
his mighty trunk, he preferred to take revenge in practical
jokes, like crowding the man into a marsh when dressed
in his best, or drenching him to the skin with a torrent
of muddy water spouted from the creek, or dropping him
gently into the centre of a cactus-plant ! His ingenuity
in planning and success in executing these little annoy-
ances were so great that the unhappy man was actually
driven from the monastery, and sought employment
elsewhere.

It is singular how widely distributed the elephant has
been, and in how very few countries he can now be found.
The skeletons of his ancestors are preserved in many of
our museums, and their bones are whitening almost within
the polar circle, where the whalers often find them, coated
with ice, their tusks adding to the poor sailors' prize-
money.

CHAPTER X.

HUNTING THE RHINOCEROS.

FTER the elephant, the rhinoceros is the largest
animal on the globe ; and I have followed him
along the great rivers, through the marshes
and dense forests of Southern Africa, India, Java, and
Sumatra, where alone he is now found, although, like
the elephant, he was once much more common. There
are two varieties living, — one with one horn, the other
with two ; and it is to the latter class that the African
rhinoceros belongs. His eyes are small and deep-set;
his horns — one in front of the other — are of different
size and conical in shape, and not attached to the bone
of the nose, but simply to the skin, which is almost
hairless except at the tail, and along the ears. He
lives in the most untracked solitudes, near the large
rivers, and especially where a variety of acacia grows
of which he is very fond. Both classes of rhinoceros
are, like all vegetable-eating animals, fairly peaceable,
and he never attacks without provocation ; but w^hen
liis blood is up he becomes blindly furious, and his
strength and ferocity are without bounds. The deep
grunting noise which he makes ordinarily then becomes

14

210

HUNTING IN THE JUNdLE

a shrill, piercing note, and he rushes rapidly straight
ahead, overturning every obstacle, uprooting trees,
ploughing the ground with his terrible tusks, and vent-

THE ONE-HORNED IIUINOCEKOS.

ino- his raii;e on whatever he meets. Covered as he is
with a tough and little sensitive hide, he fears neither
the rifle-ball nor the claws of the tiger and lion, and
even has been said to attack the mighty elephant.

HUNTING THE RHINOCEROS. 211

disembowelling him with his tusk at a single blow. If,
however, his first attack is imsuccessful, the elephant
immediately crushes him w^ith his greater strength and
weight, and kills him before he can make a second
lunge.

Although of little intelligence, he is sometimes domes-
ticated and his unreasoning strength turned to use about
the farm.

The natives are very fond of rhinoceros flesh, and to
obtain it, take advantage of the animal's slowness in
turning, creeping silently into his lair, approaching him
from behind, and, before he can turn to gore them,
burying a spear in his heart. Should the blow miss
its aim, the hunters, who practise this dangerous sport
in couples, spring upon trained horses that they have
in readiness, and are off like the wind.

The animal's enormous appetite and thirst prevents
his staying long in any one spot, and only then, where
the food is very abundant, as he consumes two hun-
dred pounds a day. Besides the flesh, the horns are
greatly valued by the superstitious natives, and cups
made from them are supposed to render harmless any
liquor they may contain, and knives and swords with
horn handles are believed never to miss their man.
From the heart's blood is prepared a sacred philter cur-
ing fevers, serpent bites, and wounds received in battle ;
while from the teeth and nails are made rosaries which
protect from spirits, wizards, and even death itself. In

212 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Siam the horns are so highly prized that the king,
wishing to especially honor Louis XIV., sent him six,
as the rarest treasures he possessed.

There is one point on which naturalists cannot agree
in regard to him, and that is whether in Abyssinia he
is really used to replace the ox in field labor. How-
ever, this much I know, that there is a vast country
south of Egypt and bordering on the Nile, inhabited
by an ancient race which has clung to life through
all the vicissitudes that have visited this continent.
Driven back, first by the invaders from the South, and
then by the conquerors of Egypt, they owe their preser-
vation to the rocky deserts among which they retired,
and over the possession of which no one cared to dis-
pute. The}'j|iKJ^ between the first and second cataracts
of the Nile!B||P^ have preserved many of the charac-
teristics of the old Egyptian type. Their figures are
tall and elegant, their limbs well formed, but generally
slender, their coloring delicate, and the slight amount
of hair upon their faces is more than compensated for
by the bushy growth upon the top of their heads. This
silky covering is made an even greater protection against
the hot sun of their country by their habit of dressing
it heavily with a pomade in the shape with which the
old Egyptian monuments have made us familiar. Here
the rhinoceros certainly fulfils the mission of the ox, as
I can testify from actual observation in this home of
the lion, the panther, the giraffe, the bear, and the

HUNTING THE RHINOCEROS.

215

zebra, and so many other animals, besides reptiles
and birds, interesting to a naturalist. I had hired a
dahabieh at Cairo, and, with my faithful Thursday as

THE RHINOCEROS FULFILS THE MISSION OF THE OX.

servant, joined another boat bound up the Nile. I
planned to go at once as far as Assouan, where the
first cataract of the Nile is, and where the country

1^16 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

of the Barabras begins ; and that from that point I
would be governed by circumstances. It is seventy-
live leagues or so from Cairo to Assouan, and travel-
ling as we did, only by day, it took us a month, — one
of the pleasantest of my life. The shores are lined
with ruins, broken monuments, temples, and palaces of
the Pharaohs, that fill the most unimaginative with
delightful dreams of the past.

One day I was taking a nap in the comfortable cabin
of my craft, when I heard loud cries of native children
on the bank, and at the same mome]it Thursday came
running in to call me on deck.

" What 's ail this row about ? " grumbled I.

" Come and see the wicked beast with a tusk on the
end of his nose ! "

I left the boat by the plank that connected us with
shore, to find a rhinoceros led by a party of Abyssinians,
who made him perform antics like a trained dog. He
would stand on his hind legs, lie down, get up, and dance
at command, grunting with apparent admiration of his
own accomplishments. His keepers assured me, through
an interpreter, that it was not an uncommon sight in
their own country, and that they had put the rhinoceros
to all sorts of more useful employments.

It was on this trip that I had a narrow escape from
falling into the jaws of "the river horse," — hippopota-
mus, one of the laro^est of mammals. This animal can
never have been very common on the lower part of the

HUNTING THE RHINOCEROS. 219

river, for you do not see his easily recognized figure
among the hieroglyphics with which the temples are
filled, between the Delta and the first cataract. Nor
does Roman history often mention them in the games or
triumphs of the emperors, which is singular, when tigers,
lions, and elephants figure so often. But farther up the
river you meet him still, usually swimming very low in
the water, with simply his nose, eyes, and ears above
its surface, and followed by his mate, — for they travel
usually in couples. But on the day to which I refer,
this number was increased to three, — and huge speci-
mens they were, — sunning themselves on the left bank
of the river, and on the back' of the female rested a young
one, uglier, if possible, than its fond parents. We were
six of us, only one a native, rowing along the shore in a
skiff ; and one of my companions, a Frenchman, with the
careless thoughtlessness of his race, raised his rifle and let
drive at the youngster. There was a tremendous splash-
ing and racket, and the water for yards was stirred up
by the four mighty bodies diving into it simultaneously.
A cry of warning came from our guide, who began jab-
bering away in his own lingo at a great rate.

"What's the beggar raising all this row about?" asked
the Frenchman.

" Pull for 3^our life ! " shouted I. " You '11 have the
whole party round us in a minute."

The boat was a poor one for speed, and we were still
a long way from the nearest point of land when the

220 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

snouts of tlie hippopotami came to the surface within
pistol-shot of the stern. In a moment they were around
us, threatening to crush tlie tli warts of our craft and
make two moutlifuls of tlie wliole party. We dropped
our oars — for fliglit was out of tlie question — and seized
our guns. Placing my barrel almost against the eye of
the largest, I emptied both barrels into his head, and he
sank without a gurgle into the muddy water. Meanwhile
the other end of the boat had been less fortunate. The
remaining male had fastened his massive jaws in the
gunwale and was crunching it like paper, while the
Frenchman, the cause of all the danger, was ineffectually
belaboring his head with an oar, his empty gun being, of
course, useless.

Luckily for us. one of the party had a loaded rifle and
some presence of mind left, and to these hipi^opotamus
number two reluctantly yielded, and went to join his
friend at the bottom of the muddy river. It is really
curious how easily and quickly so huge an animal will
die under modern weapons, when you remember what
difficulty the ancients experienced in killing large game,
and how an entire army was needed to cope with an ele-
phant or hippopotamus. But to return to our still rathei
unpleasant predicament : before the female could reach
us, we were all reloaded and ready for her. She seemed
to realize this, for, without waiting for our cordial recep-
tion, she turned tail and made for the other shore, leaving
a wake behind her like a harbor steamboat. Reaching

HUNTING THE RHINOCEROS.

223

a long tongue of land near the farther bank, she waded
through the shallows and across it, disturbing the croco-

DRIVING THE CKOCODILES INTO THE WATER.

diles sunning thereon, and driving them into the water
beyond, into which she followed them and was lost to our
sight. And not one of the party seemed to care !

CHAPTER XI.

LIONS AND TIGERS.

NCE Hanno, Emperor of Carthage, on returning
from a campaign covered with the trophies of
victory, glittering in gold and silver, stood
before his captives. There were five hundred of them,
naked, chained together, bowed under the yokes which
ground into their shoulders, standing silent before their
master. Between him and them was a blazing brazier.
Other slaves, older in years of servitude, were heating
the irons with which the mark of slavery was to be
branded in the quivering ilesh of the captives.

"Stop!" said he, with an imperious gesture. "Let
half of the beasts stand on my right, and half on my
left. Now, let those on my left get together the ma-
terial and build me a palace more magnificent than
any in Carthage ; and those on my right, away with
them to the desert, and let them bring me home young
lions — scores of them, and quickly."

They were free ! — two hundred and fifty men. Under
guards they departed for the southern part of the prov-
ince, where they laid skilfully arranged traps for the
"King of the Desert." They lay in ambush, armed

LIONS AND TJGERS.

225

with spear and arrow ; and when the old lions fell into
the pitfalls, they rushed upon the young, and l)y heroic
struggles, Ijody to body and limb to limb, captured the

HE AND IIIS SUITE APPLAUD THEIR BLOOD-THIRSTY FEROCITY.

means to freedom. What feverishly anxious nights they
must have passed ! what long, hot days ! If one of the
lions only was taken, and the other returned while

15

226 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

they were fighting the young, the odds became terrible
against the would-be captors. A hundred were killed
and many more wounded ; but eighty young lions were
brought back to please the powerful emperor, who put
them in a magnificent cage he had had built especially
for his pets. Then, turning to the unfortunate slaves,
he said disdainfully, —

" Here is excellent food for my lions ! "

Not a day passed but he and his suite were present
at his favorites' feast on human flesh, to watch their
cat-like gracefulness, and applaud their blood-thirsty
ferocity. As they grew larger the emperor had their
teeth filed down and their claws cut, and the trainers
put into the cage to teacli them docility and prepare
them for his own royal coming. In a few weeKs he
was able to spend hours in the pleasure of their com-
pany, his own tastes and passions proving a bond of
sympathy with these fierce mates. More than this, in a
glistening chariot drawn by twenty of the handsomest
lions, he drove through tlie rich quarters of Carthage
carrying terror before him, and handling his curious
team with a firm rein, while he smiled to see his sub-
jects fly in fear at his approach. From these wild drives
he returned to his palace satisfied with such glory.

Meanwhile the Senate and people met, and, after brief
deliberation, decreed that Hanno should be exiled, under
the pretext that he who could subjugate the lion might
think of doing the same to the freeborn citizen.

LIOXS AND TIGERS. 227

Some 3'ears later, Mark Antony renewed the fancy
of the African monarch. He showed himself to the
Roman peojDle in a chariot drawn by Numidian lions.
Everything al^out this man Avas African, — his manners,
his table, his mistress, his death even. Once acclimated
in the Rome of the Ccesars, the king of the desert
was in con(2:enial smToundinfi:s, well lodored and well
fed. It was in the arena of the Circus Maximus, less
hot but more deadly than the African sands, that his
strength was in future to be employed. Pompey was
just made consul for the second time, and, in celebra-
tion of the event, he held a Venatio in that monster circus,
where four hundred thousand spectators could be com-
fortably accommodated. Pompey himself presides in his
private box, and at a signal from him, the gladiators,
in national costume, wearing simply a glaive, and carry-
ing a long spear, are introduced, to the sound of music.
With them come a crowd of augurs, extemporizing
on the good or evil fortunes in store for the warriors.
Meanwhile the long procession is moving around the
podium in honor of the twelve protecting deities. This
first ceremony having been duly accomplished, and the
customary salutes given the consul, as master of the
games, the cages are opened. Then, to the applause and
shouts of the people, fiercer, as Varro says, than the
animals themselves, six hundred lions rush from the ten
dens. They come with a confident air, sure of them-
selves and their reception, and divide, on opposite sides

228

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

of the arena, into two camps, nearly equal in number.
A shout like the roar of the sea, half smothered, is
uttered here and there by the more impatient gladia-

HIPPOPOTAMI.

tors, but most of them stand watching and taking the
measure of the opponent they have selected. The spec-
tators hang upon their every movement, with beating

LIONS AND TIGERS. 229

hearts and panting breath. The actors are holding their
audience spellbound in suspense !

Gradually the combatants approach, and, with a bound,
engage in a terrible struggle. At the first shock the
weakest bite the dust. Drunk with blood, the rest vent
their rage upon the nearest foe or friend. To see them
tear and bite, one would imagine they were revenging the
murder of a friend or dearly loved mate. They seize one
another by the throat ; every muscle strains as they rend
each other in pieces. It is frightful I It is one continued
roar, lit up, like a thunder-cloud, by the piercing cries of
the wounded and the mad shouts of encouragement from
the people. The dead bodies strew the arena, crimsoned
with blood and whitened with froth, while dying glances
are cast toward the pitiless benches, where every Roman
has selected his favorite to praise if he dies well, to curse
him if he does not.

The applause dies away, and a rapt and concentrated at-
tention shows itself on every cruel face. But twenty lions
remain ! Suddenly from all quarters comes the cry, —

"The elephants! Bring in the elephants I "

Once more the sound of grating doors is heard, and the
new champions enter the lists, swinging their trunks, and
with angry eyes scanning the lower benches. Which
will conquer in this final strife ? The elephants crush In-
their simple weight ; the lions depend on their quicker
movements and sharp fangs. You hear the cracking of
broken bones, the spurting of blood, the sickening death-

230 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

rattle. The ground is piled with dead and dying. The
elephants can hardly stand, and the lions have retreated
into one corner.

Suddenly the leader of the elephants reopens the fight.
With a rush as irresistible as the tides, he charges upon
the largest lion, and seizing him around the middle with
his mighty trunk, he lifts him high as the tribunes' seats,
and hurls him down a lifeless mass among his friends
again. Instantly they leap at hazard upon the heads of
their foes, and fasten their teeth and claws in any soft
spot they can find, only to be crushed against the side
of the arena by the agonized elephants. And now, into
this nearly equal struggle, comes a third enemy — man!
A band of gladiators attack elephant and tiger alike with
their redoubtaljle swords, avoiding the maddened beasts,
and dealing deadly blows to right and left. The victory
evidently will be theirs, when suddenly the elephants,
wild with pain, turn, like bulls, upon the barriers which
protect the cruel spectators ! They wish to try their
strength with the cowards who have caused this needless
slaughter. A panic ensues. Even Pompey grows pale
as he sees the terrible vengeance with which his brutal
subjects are threatened by his less brutal brutes. Human
blood is evidently to run in the sands already dyed deep
in gore, when, at a fortunate moment, a handful of slaves
reinforces the gladiators, and the danger is past. A great
sigh of relief goes up from the circus, and the enjoyment
of the day is complete!

LIONS AND TIGERS. 233

These disgraceful spectacles lasted in Rome for four
hundred years, and resulted in the butchery of over
one hundred thousand lions, besides tigers and elephants
to an equal number. Persia, Asia Minor, and Arabia
were delivered from these dangerous wild animals, and
it is now very difficult to study the habits, especially of
the first, except in menageries and, wild, in the south of
India, Algeria, and Arabia. It was in the latter country
that I had an adventure that proved conclusively to my
mind the curious lack of maternal instinct in the lion,
in which respect, as in so many others, this overestimated
animal compares unfavorably with the elephant, — the
real king of beasts.

One fine September morning, before sunrise, I left the
charming village of Saida, a favorite resort of Arabians,
accompanied by two Arab horsemen devoted to my service.
We were mounted on superb horses, — types of those for
wdiich the country is famous, — and travelled at a break-
neck pace. The river, which flows from the high plateaus
toward which we were riding, makes a sudden turn
through the range of mountains just above the village
to which it gives its name, and flows deep below in a
gorge covered in with vines and laurel blooms. After
riding a regular steeple-chase for fully an hour, we were
obliged to proceed at a slower pace, as the soil became
more sandy and the sun hotter. At last we were brought
to a stand-still by the heat, and decided to rest in the
shade of one of the groups of trees that here and there

234 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

■ dotted the desert. One of my companions was telling
an interminable story worthy of the Arabian Nights,
when suddenly our horses ceased their pasture, tossing
their heads with distended nostrils, and showing by the
trembling of their muscles that some large enemy that
they feared was not far away.

In an instant we were in the saddle, ready for anything,
with our guns lying across the necks of our horses. We
rode them behind a group of rocks a little farther on, and
lay in ambush to see what was approaching. I stood up
in my stirrups, but could not discern a movement any-
where in the bushes ; but after an hour of tedious waiting
in the hot sun, a tremendous roar, followed by sharp
whines and angry growls, came from the little oasis we
had just left. Fifty paces from us appeared two lions,
a male and a female. It was more than we had hoped
for, and, in spite of a hunter's courage, I confess I felt
a not unwarranted nervousness. To be sure, we were
three to their two, but even that consolation was almost
immediately taken away from us ! The female lay on a
couch of leaves, and near her stood her lover, caressing
her in true feline style, when, with a roar like the ocean,
a tremendous male sprang from the thicket and stood
with quivering tail and angry eyes before his rival. He
was the stronger of the two, but the first did not hesitate ;
and at a kind of signal cry from the fair one, they fell
upon one another in fearful fashion. Each tried to throw
the other off his feet upon the ground to bite him. Their

LIONS AND TIGERS.

235

claws buried in each other's sides drew blood at every
blow. By a feint full of grace and agility the smaller
lion evaded the embrace of his enemy and sunk his fangs

NEAR HER STOOD HER LOVER, CARESSING HER.

deep in his flanks. Over and over they rolled, and each
movement brought them nearer us. We had all we could
do to hold our horses, and at last, at a given signal, three

236 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

rifles cracked, followed by terrible roars, and the two lions
fell side by side, dead. The female sprang to her feet to
the rescue of her lovers, but her second liound was her last,
and she too joined '' the greater number " and lay beside
her Romeo. My two Arabs proceeded to skin the prizes, —
all very fine specimens, and one of them of singularly
large size, — and to dress the favorite parts for supper. I
must confess, to my shame, that I never admired the
flavor or textvu'e of lion steaks, and I turned into the
thicket to find something more to my taste. Along the
river I shot a brace of ducks and a superb grebe which
I was carrying back toward camp, when, in a large fissure
in a calcareous rock, I saw three young lions on a bed of
leaves. They were lying across one another, like kittens,
and were evidently quite Avell grown. I climbed down
into the crevice, and. what was ni}^ astonishment, found
them all dead, — strangled, either by the mother, to
whom, in her new loves, they had proved an annoy-
ance, or by the father, in a sudden burst of anger.
We' carried them out of their nest, and their skins
added to the already large lor.d with which we set out
again for Saida the next morning.

The tiger, to wdiose rarity I have above referred, is
to my thinking a more royal beast than the lion, for
what he loses in size and brute strength, he more than
makes up in grace, agility, and address. That this is
generally accepted in countries where he lives is proved
by the adjective '' royal " which is always coupled with

LIONS AND TIGERS. 239

liis name ; but it is an adjective uttered with terror,
and not respect ; it is the royalty of the tyrant, and
not the king. To him women and children even are
not sacred, and he sacrifices them with truly Homeric
carnage. Like a wolf in the sheepfold he enters the
houses of some of the native villages, killing for
the mere pleasure of seeing and tasting warm blood,
like that king of old who killed two hundred chickens
that he might have a perfect soup ! Caring only for
the freshest-killed meat he disdains anything else, and
when hunger torments him again he rushes to new
hecatombs. Like all the cat family, he never thinks of
the morrow, but, in real Bohemian fashion, lives for
to-day only.

In one of these little Indian villages, where even yet
fire-arms are a cause of wonder and envy, a large man-
eating tiger — Doo-lu-Shad-uee, in their lingo — had for
several nights in succession visited the different houses,
and hardly a family but mourned the loss of some
member of its circle. The tiger carried his audacity
so far as to come in broad daylight, and, like a wolf
in the fold, entered the houses while the men were in
the fields, and killed right and left.

I was in the neighborhood, and hearing of it, took
Thursday and my two best rifles, and went to the na-
tives' aid. These poor devils had relied on their sor-
cerer's incantations to avert the evil spirit ; and he was
now at his wits' end, and glad to see us, you may be

240 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

sure. I hnve always respected a man's religious opin-
ions ; and 1 resolved, if possible, while ridding the coun-
try of a monster, to do it in such a way as to reflect
the greatest credit on the native beliefs, especially as
I saw that the priest's lack of success was appreciated
by the natives, and that they were evidently losing con-
fidence in superhuman aid, preferring to trust to our
rifle-barrels as a stronger staff in the difiiculty than the
reliorion in which every one should trust.

How to arrange it was the great question. The ani-
mal had tasted human blood, and was sure to return.
The very night before, while the incantations were going
on that were to free the village from his evil spirit, the
tiger had suddenly appeared in their very midst, fasten-
ing upon two of the chiefs at his first bound, and, in
spite of their struggles and their friends' spears, he had
carried one of them off, leaving the other disembowelled
on the ground.

At last an idea flashed upon me. I bought a fine,
healthy bull of one of the Indians, and at night, accom-
panied by my guide and the sorcerer, led him out to the
edge of the clearing, beyond the last hut of the village,
and tied him to a stout bamboo, on the side of the
road a dozen paces or less from one of the priest's
pools of hallowed water, with which at regular in-
tervals he had surrounded the village. Into this basin
I poured a few drops from a flask I carried, — it is
needless to say not of brandy, — and then drew my

LIONS AND TIGERS. 243

companions into a natural hiding-place behind a lot of
water plants not unlike sugar-cane. I gave Thursday-
two rounds of ammunition, but cautioned him under
no circumstances to fire without explicit orders from
me when and how to do so. We had lain nearly an
hour in this pleasant spot, drinking in malaria and
marsh fever, wdien the tiger appeared. It was a beau-
tiful moonlight night, and we could see him advancing
at a stately pace, his wide black bands moving rapidly
enough to give him the appearance of being entirely
brown, just as the quick turning of a colored disk
leaves only a white impression to the eye. He came
with head up, a superb sight (see frontispiece), and wdien
ten yards from us scented us, as well as the bull,
and paused, evidently torn with conflicting desires, and
uncertain how best to gratify his insatiable stomach,
gorged wdth human blood from over forty victims the
night before. His lips parted, showing a set of sharp,
ugly teeth ; his skin wrinkled, especially over his fore-
head ; his nostrils quivered, distending to their widest
at the prospect of such delicacies ; and his eyes gleamed
with cruel anticipation. It seemed, lying there within
one of his bounds, as though he took a long time to
decide. At length he crouched ready to spring, but
whether upon the bull or us it was impossible yet to
tell. My gun was at my shoulder, the barrel pointed
between those wicked eyes. There was a moment of
intense suspense. The poor bull tried to break away

244 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

from its chain, and failing miserably, uttered a heart-
rending sound, and lowered his horns toward the tiger
to ward off death for a little, at least. The tiger drew
himself together like a steel spring, and Ijounded upon
him with such force that he threw him upon his side ;
then, climbing upon his massive shoulders, the cruel
beast opened his throat with the precision of a butcher,
and then lay flat on his stomach, in the midst of his
feast. The bull made ineffectual efforts to roll over
and smother his assassin, l3ut the latter was not to be
shaken off. The blood poured into his thirsty throat
in great gulps ; it w^as frightful to see- The tiger
revelled in delight, and seemed to long to be able to
swallow more quickly. One cannot conceive such vo-
racity. He had opened the stomach of the now pas-
sive bull, and absolutely swam in blood, tearing off
bits of smoking flesh here and there, in a terrible
frenzy, drunk with pleasure, and fe\erish with a name-
less lust.

Once cold, the body lay neglected ; and the monster
turned to us ! Could he be hungry after such a feast
of Sardanapalus ? Probably not. In fact, we saw him
advancing slowl}', his tongue hanging out, his eyes
heavy, his gait almost staggering, toward the pool of
holy water, which, when he reached, he buried his hot
head and flanks in its refreshing water, wallowing like
a " river horse " in its coolness. I could not help laugh-
ing aloud at the success of my plan, and my companions

LIONS AND TIGERS. 247

looked at me in terror, thinking I had lost my senses
under the last half-hour's excitement.

As the poison I had poured into the pool began to
affect the beast, he uttered several piercing yet half-
strangled cries, and, with a few rapid contortions, fell
over dead.

The next morning the whole village assembled to do
us honor, and express their admiration of our prowess ;
but, finding our guns had not been discharged, and that
it was at the sacred pool that the " man-eater " fell,
they experienced that religious terror to which unedu-
cated races are so susceptible, and bowed before the
priest, whom they found mightier than the beasts of
the forest. This feeling was encouraged by my giving
him the skin and teeth of the tiy;er, — the former nieas-
uring four yards from nose to tail, — and we left them
performing one of their curious dances in honor of
their all-puissant deities.

They tell a queer story in India of an Englishman
who came out to add a tiger's head of a certain size
to his already large collection. He sought a district
renowned for its immense tigers, armed simply with a
long sharp dagger like those formerly carried in Venice,
and a curious-shaped travelling box. When the latter
was opened, it proved to contain a full suit of plate
armor !

Clothed in steel from head to foot, dao-o-er in hand,
this — to say the least — original hunter walked at night.

248 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

like Hamlet's father on the platform, along the shore
of a pond where game came to drink. On the second
night a huge tiger sprang upon him from behind, and

THE TIGER STKA.IXED ITS JAWS OX THIS MA.N OF IRON.

felled him at a blow. The cool Englishman lay per-
fectly still, feigning to be dead, while the tiger broke
its claws and strained its jaws on this man of iron !

LIONS AND TIGERS. 249

Finally, seeing just the right opportunity, the English-
man plunged his poisoned dagger deep into the tiger's
heart, and the latter fell without a sound. When re-
monstrated with for waiting so long in such a danger-
ous embrace, he calmly replied : '' I wanted to be sure
that his head was exactly the right size before killing
such a superb specimen, and having satisfied myself on
this point, I waited a moment to strike home without
injuring the part I was after ! "

CHAPTER XII.

A LETTER FEOM THE NIGER.

OTHING was too good for us in the eyes of
the priest, who felt that he owed us much for
the defence of his religious authority, and he
set his parishioners the example by placing everything
he owned at our disposal. Rice, tobacco, tea, and spices
were offered us ad libitum, and every house seemed to
wish the honor of lodging us.

Declining what we could without hurting their feel-
ings, we lived partly on these delicacies, and partly on
our own good stores, and continued on our way farther
inland ; for my hunting passion — like the tiger's thirst
for blood — had been whetted by the night's adventure,
and I longed for another sight of this terrible wild beast.
Before night I reached the home of a powerful rajah
whom I had before visited, and whose hospitality I had
been able, in slight way, to repay. He welcomed me
with the pomp of an Oriental reception. An army of
servants was immediately placed at my orders, and a
state hunt appointed for the next day. These gala cere-
monies are always offered to strangers whom the Indians
wish to honor, however short their visit may be.

A LETTER FROM THE NIGER.

251

At break of clay we set out in an imposing array.
Twelve elephants, brilliantly trapped, bore the rajah,
the principal officers of his suite, and your humble ser-

A GUEPARD, OR HUNTING TIGER.

vant, 13'ing, like the Romans at their feasts, on our
backs, under the howdahs. Beside us lay several good
rifles, and behind each of us, his eyes bandaged, a

252 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

guepard, or hunting tiger. This curious animal, half-
tiger, half-leopard, is famous for his extraordinary eye-
sight, his speed in running, and his courage in attack.
At the same time he is a thoroughly good-natured
and submissive companion, and makes a capital hunter
besides.

There were some hundred men in the party, besides
porters, servants, and cooks, and we journeyed by short
stages in really royal style. No one ever complains of
the sleepy slowness of an elephant's gait. You enjoy
the scenery, you are rocked by his gentle movement
into the happiest frame of mind, and you " get there."

After three days of this ideal travelling, one of our
advance couriers came in to say that a tiger was re-
ported in the neighborhood of one of the near villages,
and we all prepared for an exciting day. I had my
rifles cleaned and my ammunition and knives inspected,
and resolved to give a good account of myself. We
found that the tiger carried off daily a bull from the
fields, and escaped with it into a densely grown marsh
a few miles away. Hardly had we reached the locality
before the guepards gave unequivocal signs that they
detected the presence of our game. Armed with spears,
the men began to beat the bushes, much as if they
were simply after hares. Still, as they did not seem
to mind the danger, I could not see why I should worry
about them, though I sat ready with gun in rest on my
elephant's back.

A LETTER FROM THE yiGER.

25^

The plan was successful ; for two enormous tigers,
as large as the one I had " enchanted," bounded out of
the hioii underbrush like youno; cats. Our men's cries
and the general hubbub confused them and made them
lose their heads, and they ran back and forth without
any plan or method. Suddenly one of them sprang at
my elephant, full in the face, as is their favorite method
of attack. Before I could come to the rescue with my
rifle, the no-
ble beast had
calmly torn the
brute from its
hold, hurled
it upon the
ground, and
placed his pon-
der ous fore-
feet, one on its
flanks and one
on its head ! I felt a violent jerk and shock, and heard
the cracking of bones like the sound of a tree broken by
the force of the tempest ; and I saw the beast flattened
under the weight of the massive pacliyderui. The lat-
ter, proud of his deed, never lost his dignity or temper
for an instant, and I showered caresses and sugar upon
him in reward for his prompt courage. Meanwhile the
other tiger had not remained inactive. He had suc-
ceeded in bringing down a 3'oung elephant, on which

THEIK FAVORITE METHOD OF ATTACK.

254 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

was mounted a son of the rajah, now on his first hunt ;
the hitter, however, had the good sense to desert his
mount, and leave the poor thing to its fate.

Immediately we all let loose our guepards, which fell
upon the prey with their sharp teeth and indomitable
courage. The fight became general ; the wounded tiger
lield its own against the numerous foe, putting several
liors du combat, laying them open with its fearful claws.
or meeting its fangs in their throats. The struggle was
intense, and the rajah's enjoyment of it was too, for he
would not let me end it with a shot from my good rifle.
After some minutes of this kind of thing he gave his
men a siscnal, and thev surrounded the combatants and
with their spears put an end to the tiger, and drew off
the limping guepards.

On my return I found the following letter from an old
hunting companion in Africa : —

My dear Friend, — There are days when I envy you
your lot. In the immense plains of the Ganges you meet
only enemies that attack openly, and from whom you
fear no surprise ; but here everything is different. As you
know, we have to fight and watch constantly ; and it is
not the natives that annoy us the most, for a few shots
will drive them away. In fact, on the banks of the Niger
all is not roses. In the first place, there is the terrible
fever which you draw in at every breath, and to which the
strongest man succumbs in two days. You have had a

A LETTER FROM THE NIGER. 255

touch of it yourself, and will remember. There is besides
another foe — the leopard — with which the country is
infested ; and knowing your fondness for hunting adven-
tures, I will write you of this traitorous enemy, whom
you have met so often.

I started on an expedition last October, as I wrote you,
taking a thousand men, infantry and marines, from
several regiments stationed at St. Louis. Some native
tribes encamped between the Senegal and the Niger were
to be vigorously punished for having intercepted supplies
and insulted explorers of the upper Niger.

This delicate mission was confided to me, and I was not
sorry to get into active warfare again. We marched by
easy stages, carrying a month's provisions. One hundred
of my men had charge of a herd of cattle and sheep
which we took with us, and from which, each day, we
obtained our fresh meat. The very first day out, the
adjutant commanding this important four-footed division
came to me, pulling his mustache in consternation, to say
that ten head of sheep had disappeared, and that he could
not, for the life of him, tell where or how. The guard
had been posted and relieved as usual, and the men were
as much annoyed as their officer. I was puzzled over
this and subsequent daily thefts from our live-stock, both
cattle and sheep, by the dozen, and began to fear that
the crafty natives were following us and taking advantage
of the darkness and their knowledge of the forest to steal
our supplies ; and I resolved to surround our stock-yard

256 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

with an added number of guards. They had orders to
close in as soon as they saw the mysterious thief and
surround him. About midnight I was aroused by the
lieutenant calling into my tent, " It is a leopard ; shall
we fire ? " Hardly taking time to dress, I seized my rifle
and hurried 'out after him, to convince my rather sceptical
mind of his information. It was light enough to read,
and a superb moonlight night. We found the sentinels
at their posts, the cattle sleeping, and everything quiet !
I laughed at the lieutenant and his false alarm, which
made leopards out of shadows.

" No," said he, " I saw the leopards as clearly as I see
you. They run at the least noise, never wishing to risk
their spotted hides if they can help it ; and I know I was
not mistaken."

I felt sure the young man was at fault, but turned back
to my tent, simply cautioning him to keep on the alert
and report any further alarm at once. Just as I reached
my canvas home, an enormous body fell, without the least
warning, from the thick foliage above it, landing a few
feet away from me. It was a leopard ; and had it fallen
upon me, I should not now be describing the fact to you,
for he would have crushed me as flat as a pancake. I
called for help, and at the same time discharged my rifle,
aiming for his glowing eyes. The shot told, and he rolled
over dead. Several shots followed immediately from the
sentinels, and the whole camp ran out to see what was
up. In a moment we were on the field of action. A

A LETTER FROM THE NIGER. 259

dozen leopards, that had lain in ambush behind tree
trunks and branches like sharpshooters, had instinctively
betrayed themselves at the noise of shooting, and had
taken flight at hazard among the guards. When we
arrived the excitement was at its height. The leopards,
wounded, and held in a circle of gun-barrels that they
could not break, were using all their agility to get through
our lines. Several sprang upon our soldiers and tried to
strangle them. One corporal was completely laid open,
and we had the greatest difficulty in saving him from
his furious foe in this mangled condition. Two other
men saved themselves at close quarters by using their
revolvers, and one his sabre ; and my tent is now softly
carpeted with seven magnificent leopard skins, the results
of the fray.

My friend's letter reached me at an unfortunate time
for reply ; and I had arrived at Java — that country so rich
in archaeological remains and animal life — before I could
give it the attention it deserved. After matters of merely
personal interest, I described to him, in return for his
stories, an example of the curious veneration for some
animals felt by the superstitious islanders.

" The Prince of Djokjokarta, a kind of Javan sultan,
loved to surround himself with extravagant pomp. One
day he started from his palace to visit his subjects, accom-
panied by a superb escort all robed in white. He was
carried upon a magnificent dais, covered with gold and

260 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

precious stones. Four slaves waved perfumed fans of
ostrich feathers above his head, while others watched
his slightest beck and nod ; and before and behind him

BEFORE AND BEHIND UIM MARCUED AN INNUMERABLE TRAIN.

marched warriors, guides, and hunters, — an innumerable
train. The first night, as they were travelling through
the forest, they heard a dreadful noise above their heads
in the foliage of a large tree. It sounded like a panther ;

A LETTER FROM THE NIGER. 261

and they immediately formed a hollow square around
their sovereign to protect him from the dangerous beast,
while a noted hunter, named The Sun, advanced a few
steps to see what threatened them. His long lance witli
its silken and golden haudle was beside him, and he was
ready, if necessary, to die for his king. Suddenly disorder
ran through the ranks ; the torches were unexpectedly
extinguished ; every one cried out and gesticulated, and
fell upon the supposed enemy, and wounded one another,
until a terril^le shriek pierced the night, followed by
intense silence. Then The Sun relit his torch, and was
horrified to find, in a pool of blood, a sacred monkey,
dead and stiff ; and a laugh went up from all the
frightened men, but the Prince sat silent and grave.

"' Who has killed this inoffensive animal?' thundered
he.

'' ' It is I, great Prince ; I pierced him with mj- lance,
to protect you from danger.'

" ' Who autliorized you to shed blood ? '

"The Sun hung his head in silence ; and at a sign from
the despot, he was seized by the soldiers, and chained to
a cart that followed the procession. He knew that death
was the invarial^le penalty for wounding one of these
venerated animals, and although he was a great favorite
of the sultan, he could hope for no mere}'.

"When the journey was ended he was called before his
master, who said, —

"'If I give you your liberty, what will you do with it?'

262 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" And the abject Sun replied, —

" ' Light of the Day, I will devote it to adoring you.'

•' Now the next day was one of fete, and, to add to
its festivities, the judges of the people decided that The
Sun should undergo the proof from the black panther,
and if he got out of the unequal contest alive, he should
be reinstated in his honors as guiltless.

" The Prince approved this judgment, feeling confident
in his favorite minister's courage and strength, and left
the choice of arms to him. He selected the short Ceylon
poniard and a bit of wood shaped like a dumb-bell.

" Toward the end of the day, when its heat was some-
what spent, the amusements began in the court-yard of
the palace. A light tent was drawn over it, and from
the cornices hung marvellous stuffs from Eastern looms.
The Prince made his entry on a tremendous elephant, lost
beneath a pile of sumptuous trappings, and surrounded
by all the court dignitaries, with their servants and
bearers. When the Prince dismounted they threw them-
selves down upon the ground, and he walked upon their
prostrate forms to his seat, whence he viewed the mar-
vellous dancing of his nautcli girls.

" After the sensuous, the cruel. Two men, their heads
covered with turbans, and wearing masks with eyeholes,
appeared, each with a long rod. They drew near, and
after crossing rods like fencers, began to lash one another
in rhythmical time, as if they were hammering iron. Un-
der each swishing blow the flesh writhed and the blood

A LETTER FROM THE NIGER. 265

spurted. It was a horrible sight, brought to an end when
one of the contestants acknowledged he could stand no
more. It was impossible to tell by appearance which the
victor was, so sore and scarred were they both.

" Finally a cage was dragged out, in which was a
magnificent black panther, as large as a tiger. He
seemed timid before so many people and such bright
lights, and had to be urged out from behind his bars
with a goad, and even then took refuge behind a post,
where the buffalo, let loose to fight him, attacked him
furiously. It was evident at once which would be the
victor. The buffalo went like a shot from a rifle, bury-
ing his horns in the flanks of the panther, and crush-
ing him against the palisades, goring him through and
through. He uttered but one cry, and was dead.

'' The Prince ordered another panther freed. It was a
female, smaller and fiercer than the first, that came run-
ning in, like a cat in haste. Her eyes glowed viciously,
and instead of waiting an attack, she sprang at a bound
above his head, and fastened her cruel teeth and claws
deep in the back of his neck. The bull made a thousand
turns to free himself of this foe that was sapping his very
Hfe. He rubbed against the palisade, he rolled over and
over upon the ground, he sprang clumsily into the air ;
but the panther stuck as if riveted to him. At last the
great animal succumbed, sinking in his own blood, in
which the ferocious panther positively revelled, wallow-
ing in gore, and tearing her prey in pieces. Indeed, so

266 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

reluctant was she to let aro that she was drac^g;ed the
length of the arena by the attendants as they removed
the remains, and was safely locked up with them in her
cage again.

"'Now the time was come for the proof of The Sun,
who entered with the simple arms he had chosen, and
placed himself facing his king, whom he saluted. One
could not help admiring his coolness, as he stood with
folded arms awaiting the test ; the panther was loosed
from the opening at the opposite end of the arena, his
hair on end, his back creasiny like a cat's, ready for a
leap, his tongue protruding between his gleaming teeth.
Suddenly he drew himself together, and unbent like a
spring, bounding in a graceful curve upon his prey. The
sliock must have been frig;htful, but it did not overthrow
the man, nor did he lose his presence of mind. With his
left hand he forced the wooden block between the angry
jaws, which closed upon it, and with his right he buried
his poniard in the beast's shoulder. The latter fell in a
limp heap, tearing The Sun's knee with his claw as he
fell. This was his only wound ; and he had strength to
reach his despot's throne, and be received back into favor
by this easily convinced monarch. For my own part, I
prefer to trust to the average jury ! "

CHAPTER XIII.

ANOTHER OF THE CAT FAMILY.

WAS fishing when Thursday, his hair standing
on end and his eyes like the setting sun, came
running toward me. He was breathless and
speechless.

" Have you seen the ghost of your ancestor ? "
He shook his head, but still could not speak. Evidently
something serious was the matter. All he could do was
to point to a little island left in the stream by the falling
waters, but about which I could see nothing extraordinary.
When I started to move in that direction, the one from
which he had just come, he grasped me firmly, and
nothing could shake him off. "• Let me go, coward ! "
said I ; '^ or at least let us climb into this tree, where
we can see something besides these everlasting marshes."
The idea seemed to strike him, for in a twinkling he was
in the lower branches of the tree, where I rejoined him,
and where a curious sight greeted me. A jaguar, the
fiercest of the cat family, was a few yards away peace-
fully engaged in fisliing. I could hardly believe my eyes.
But there he crouched, — an enormous specimen fully six
feet long besides his tail, that would measure a yard more,

268

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

watching with his piercing eye the water below him. He
was absolutely motionless, and you would have thought
him stuffed ; but his jaws rested almost on the surface of

THE JAGUAR PEACEFULLY ENGAGED IN FISUING.

the stream, and upon its waters there fell noiselessly the
saliva, to which the fish will rise as to a bait, whereupon
he struck them on to the beach with a sure aim that

ANOTHER OF THE CAT FAMILY. 269

never failed to land his game. In an hour I saw him
catch fifty of different sizes, with the same instinct and
pleasure that a house-cat catches the gold-fish.

Suddenly the scene changed. The avenger of the in-
nocents appeared in the shape of a number of crocodiles.
In an instant twenty open jaws rose from the surface of
the water and moved toward the jaguar, who retreated
slowly into the brake, followed by the crocodiles. Upon
the leader, who was a monster, the jaguar pounced, tooth
and nail, and tried to sink his fangs into the unyielding
armor of his hide, while the crocodile wound his snake-
like body around the foe, and strained every muscle to
strangle him. Never did I see a finer wrestling bout ;
and the jaguar was getting the best of it, when the croco-
dile's friends came to the rescue, like dogs upon a quarry.
Soon a dozen lay dead, all killed in the same w^ay, — their
throats cut clear across with a jagged tear, through which
the blood poured and their breath escaped in uneven gasps
like puff's from a bellows. The jaguar limped, and could
hardly stand ; for the terrible amphibians had crushed his
haunches, breaking the' bones and dislocating the joints.
He killed now simply for the pleasure of killing. The
sight and smell of j^lood intoxicated him, and when the
few remaining crocodiles, wounded and terror-struck, un-
dertook to escape into the stream again, he assumed the
offensive and barred their retreat. With a few blows
from his claws he added them to the slain, and remained
victor on the field of battle. But his triumph w\as short.

270 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Even while he was slaking his fever in long draughts
from the yellow stream, his bloody jaw dropped, his eyes
lost their light, and he rolled over dead, in the very spot
where I had watched him fishing at first.

I took pleasure in making the cowardly native take
off his magnificent skin, which decorates my study floor
as I write.

It was the beginning of the rainy season. Twenty
servants accompanied me, carrying provisions, arms, and
ammunition ; and my hunting-fever being on me, I was
resolved to see more of this interesting and beautiful
animal, the jaguar.

The forest proved to be of an almost impenetrable
luxuriance, and the problem seemed to me to reach any
game, even when we knew they were near. I almost
resolved to try our old plan in Ceylon, where the same
conditions prevail, — of setting fire to the woods on three
sides of a square and stationing the hunters on the
fourth.

The native ingenuity overcame this difficulty when the
time came, — namel}^, the second afternoon after we had
gone into camp. The peculiar cry of a jaguar was heard
at some distance in the forest, and immediately ni}^ head
guide detailed a native to perform the feat of drawing
him toward us. This fellow, naked save the cloth around
his middle, climbed a tall tree near us, like a squirrel.
From this height, seated astride a branch, he began to
imitate the calls and sobs of a young monkey in distress.

ANOTHER OF THE CAT FAMILY. 273

He did this perfectly, but so loud did it sound in the now
silent forest — for the jaguar's cry had ceased instantly —
that I could not help fearing he had scared away the
prize.

'^' Do not believe it," said Thursday. "These fellows
know what they are about, and you will see the brute
drop upon our friend in a few minutes, like a stroke of
lightning."

''But the poor fellow has no arms. lie will be killed."

Thursday shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, as if
"who cares?"

Hardly had he finished when the native uttered a
piercing shriek, and a terrible hand-to-hand struggle
began in the tree-top. The jaguar had approached
silently, by light bounds from branch to branch, and
when within reach made one last one upon the sup-
posed monkey. Great confusion reigned. The natives
rushed frantically roimd the base of the tree, trying to
lasso the beast, when they caught sight of his spotted
hide through the leaves. Finally one more skilful than
the rest caught his noose around the hind quarters of
the jaguar, and brought him down limb by limb, but
directly upon himself. We could not get a shot with-
out killing the man ; and his friends, whose lassos would
have done good service, fled incontinently and left him
to his fate. The jaguar, fortunately, was well held, and
every frantic bound he made to free himself tightened
the noose and slowly strangled him. Watching our

18

274 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

opportunity, in one of these leaps, Thursday and I gave
hiui each our quota of cold lead, and he fell dead beside
the native.

I supposed the latter, too, was killed, of course ; but
not at all. His shoulder was laid open, but not badly,
and after a few days he was round with the rest,
against whom he seemed to harbor no ill-will for their
cowardliness.

A great American hunter, whose books are famous,
told me that the jaguar is harmless enough until he
sees or tastes blood. Then nothing will control him ;
he is mad for more, and simply kills blindly to satisfy
this passion. He told me, that returning one day from
the fields he had found three negroes lying in their blood,
and a pet jaguar, that had always seemed perfectly sub-
missive and friendly, hidden behind some bags, ashamed
of the fury that a sudden sight of flowing blood had
occasioned in him. He looked for all the world like
a dog that expected a thrashiug for some fault.

"We have a wild-cat," said he, ''beside which the jaguar
is a lamb. I was travelling once among the Indians of
South America, and came to a little village of a friendly
tribe, where my party was most hospitably received.
The best hut in the village and the best food and
drink were given us with a grace civilization does
not know. When we awoke in the morning the village
was in an uproar, and all our friends bore signs of the
liveliest distress on their faces. We found a great mis-

ANOTHER OF THE CAT FAMILY.

275

fortune had fallen upon tlieni. Part of their wealth had
been annihilated. The meadow where they pastured
their sheep had been visited by a wild-cat, a hundred

THREE NEGROES LYING IN THEIR BLOOD.

sheep left dead upon the plain, and the rest frightened
away into the woods, where it was very difficult to find
them.

276 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" The Indians, true to their nature, swore revenge, and
I remained a few days to see how they would accomplish
it. The mighty hunters of the tribe arrayed themselves
in sacks, in skins, and in coverings of leaves and moss,
and lay in wait in the meadow among the dead sheep,
and the squaws covered them over so completely they
could hardly breathe, during the thirty hours they had
to remain in hiding. All this time, of course, they were
without food. But the second day, toward noon, the
cat appeared; and we, in the huts, watched with eager
eyes his stealthy advance from bush to bush. As soon
as he reached the pasture he stopped, sniffing the air
and glancing in every direction to see if he was observed.
To make more sure he climbed a tree, and sat there
watching several minutes. Seeing nothing he sprang at
a bound to the earth to resume his gorge. Immediately
the Indians were up, and twenty arrows laid the thief
low. He fell without a cry, and the hunters began a
mad dance around his body, while the shouts and songs
of the children and squaws showed the joy felt in the
success of the ruse. The village divided the meat, which
is too rank and gamey for me, and, with a little rum
from my stores, made a wild night of it."

Seeing my interest in his stories, the American offered
to tell me some curious adventures with bears, and dur-
ing the next few days he amused me with those you
will find in the next chapter.

CHAPTER XIV.

AN American's adventures.

WAS hunting in the mountains, rather aim-
lessly it must be confessed, when I ran across
an old she-bear, bearing in her jaws a lot of
roots and vegetables, as if returning from market. I
followed her, for the bear seldom, if ever, attacks, unless
outrageously provoked, and I was curious to see the
family to which she was evidently taking this food. In
a crevice in the rocks, near the top of a ledge, lay five —
instead of the traditional three — cubs, and looking down
upon them I saw her divide the delicacies with maternal
impartiality among her tumbling offspring. She treated
them in the most affectionate and caressing manner, and
they answered her in like fashion, presenting a most
charming family picture. Several days later I returned,
to find the young scamps playing round the base of the
cliff and the old lady away. They w^ere like young dogs
in feature and gentleness, but their color was a tawny
yellow, relieved with a white necklace. They w^ere ap-
parently about two months old, and I resolved to kidnap
two for domestication. I selected two at hap-hazard, and
seizing them by the nape of the neck, dropped them into

280

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

a bag I had brought for the purpose, and carried them
off to my camp. Later m the day I returned to see how
the family fared without two of its members, and I was

THE BEAR IN CAPTIVITY.

liorror-struck at the sight I saw. I was about to enter
the crevice, to find, as I supposed, the sleeping cubs,
when I perceived a huge animal at the back of the cave

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES. 281

eating its poor young I — eating with a gusto and drinking
the warm blood greedily. I drew back and pushed a
large stone against the entrance, and lighting my bag,
which was, of course, hemp, and burned readily, I tossed
it into the bed of dried ferns and leaves behind my im-
provised prison-bar. The dry stuff caught instantly, and
the smoke and flame poured out of the cracks, while the
unnatural father made frantic efforts to escape from the
fiery furnace to which I had, without recourse, condemned
him, and in which I had the satisfaction to see his bad
deeds punished.

•^ When the unhappy mother returned, she v/andered
inconsolably over the country for a week and then dis-
appeared. Soon after, I was in a neighboring town visit-
ing a clergyman whose parsonage overlooked the parish
burying-ground. He told me — with real apprehension,
too — that ghosts had recently disturbed his household's
quiet, and that it was all he could do to keep his super-
stitious servant from leaving him alone upon his haunted
hearth. I interrogated Gertrude, and found that upon a
tomb erected to one who had died without the sacrament,
' like a dog,' on two successive nights she had seen a
ghost, nodding and prostrating himself in real ghostly
fashion. I don't believe much myself in that kind of
nonsense ; and I resolved to watch with servant and
master the next night, when, sure enough, the perform-
ance was repeated ; but to my sceptical eyes, even at the
distance of our window from the grave-yard, by a very

282 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

earthly animal walking upon four legs. I could never
have convinced either of them of this had not the servant
come running in the next day at dinner-time to say that
a bear was in the garden eating sweets stolen from my
host's beehives, and on my pursuing him, hroom in hand,
had he not retreated through the fence into the grave-
yard. It immediately occurred to me that this was our
unhappy ghost, and I resolved to see if the death of
the former would not relieve us of the presence of the
latter.

" The priest readily consented, and I proceeded to lay
my plans, after which I retired behind a garden-house
and awaited developments. As I had expected, the bear
returned after a few hours to finish his interrupted feast,
glancing around suspiciously and advancing with the
greatest caution, watching the windows of the parsonage
and starting like a guilty thief at every noise. When
he reached the scattered sweets he began to make away
with them most gluttonously, at every gulp showing an
increased pleasure in his feast and an added gayety of
demeanor. After the last bit had disappeared he began
a series of clumsy gambols like a dance, ending in his
falling on his back with his legs in the air and his eyes
closed in contentment — or sleep. Slipping from my
hiding-place, I crept cautiously up and buried a knife
deep in his shoulder where I knew it would do the most
good. He never stirred. The parson was greatly sur-
prised at my success, until I confessed that a quart of

SEIZING TWO BY THE NAPE OF THE NECK, I DROPPED THEM INTO A BAG.

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES.

285

good alcohol was really responsible for the ease with
which Bruin had dropped asleep, and that it was an
added argument against the use of stimulants !

EATING STOLEN SWEETS FROM MY HOST S BEEHIVES.

" ' And now, my dear fellow,' said I, ' we will sup from
I broiled bear's feet, if Gertrude is as skilful a cook as I

I take her to be.'

286 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" Gertrude distinguished herself, and prepared them to
perfection ; but she would not eat of them herself, because
there was something human about their appearance ; and
although I told many stories of the brute's cruelty and
very inhuman ways, nothing would alter her resolution,
and we finished them easily without her !

" There is nothimi; more interestino; or curious than the
bear's life, — alone, in hiding among the rocks and deep
in the lonely forests ; and between him and the orang-
outang; there is a strong; resemblance in instincts and
intelligence. One of the most cruel varieties of bear is
the white one found in Norway and Siberia, where, among
the superstitious, he is credited with almost divine char-
acteristics, and even his lonely way of life is considered
a sign of profound wisdom. They bring him their crimi-
nals for judgment ; and if the latter are imeaten after
striking him on the nose, they are pronounced guiltless !
The Siberians have a queer w^ay of hunting the bear.
One day I had landed at a small towni, and found the
people in a wild state of excitement. A bear had come
from the nei2;hboring; woods and carried off a woman
to his fortress, and, Ijy chance, had selected the prettiest
girl in the village and a recent bride. I advised an imme-
diate pursuit of the ravisher, and headed a small party
w^hich, wdth the aid of dogs, was soon on his track. We
had provisions for several days, and the hunters were
all armed with small-bore guns and long knives at their
belts, and their courage aroused for any emergency, far

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES. 281)

beyond its usually very gentle pitch. They felt like the
avenging Greeks, and that their honor as fathers and
husbands was at stake. We beat all the bushes, hunted
all the caves, and scaled all the ledges, without stirring
a mouse. The dogs trotted along in front with their
ears down, as if no game were within a hundred miles ;
and the relatives of the stolen girl had begun to calculate
how nearly their relative could, by that time, have been
eaten, when one of our scouts ran in to say he had seen
the bear. Under his guidance we soon reached the spot,
and the dogs were let loose upon him without further
delay. He stood upon his hind legs, and dropped heavily
upon the dogs when they came within his reach, crush-
ing and strangling several. But one or two caught him
by the throat and stomach, and were only shaken off
after they had drawn blood in no stinted streams.

'' The bear uttered angry growls and advanced slowly
upon us. Meanwhile the natives had set up crotches in
the ground on which to rest their light guns, in which
I took little stock, and were preparing to open fire on
liim when T interfered. My own heavier arm was loaded
with ball, and, after waiting till he had come within
modest range, I aimed over a crotch and fired, killing
him instantly. The dogs rushed upon him, and we had
to beat them off with our guns in order to get the body,
which was carried in state to the village, and a regular
feast inaugurated. The husband of the lost girl insisted
on an immediate autopsy ; but not a particle of his better

19

290 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

half could be found in Bruin's stomach, and he had to
console himself with the skin, which was voted him by
popular consent.

'' We had hardly reached the village when the missing
girl, her hair flying and garments torn, rushed in as if
followed by his Satanic Majesty himself. It seems the
bear had treated her most gallantly, giving her food in
his mountain fastness, and watching her with the
greatest apparent admiration and without offering her
the least violence. In the morning, when the bear
started on a foraging expedition, she escaped over the
barriers he had left at the entrance to his den ; and
while we had been interviewing him, she had made the
best of her way back to the village, running all the
way.

" I had another bear adventure," continued my friend,
" which resulted in the capture, alive, of a very large
specimen. He had taken refuge in a hole beneath the
roots of a mighty tree, where it was impossible to get
at him unless we should dig him out like a rat ; so I
arranged nooses around the opening and placed my men
at some distance from the tree, each holding an end of
rope. When Bruin put out his head to see if the coast
were clear, we .drew our nooses tight around his neck
and held him helpless. We took him into the town and,
finally, on board the vessel, where he became thoroughly
at home and a prime favorite of all the men, especially
the cook, in whose quarters he was usually to be found.

A.\ AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES.

291

warming himself lazily before the fire, and superintending
solemnly the culinary proceedings.

"We landed in Norway to coal; and the bear, whom

HIS HEAD WAGGING ABOVE THEM WITH EEAL ELOQUENCE.

the men had named Romeo, followed his friend on shore
and accompanied him on his various marketing errands,
to the terror of all the orderly natives. He even went

292 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

SO far as to follow him into a clmrcli during divine ser-
vice, where fifty good people were performing their daily
devotions. Turning suddenly, the cook was horrified to
find Romeo no longer visible ! Where could he have
gone? A moment before he had been close on his master's
heels, and now he was not to be found. Within a few
moments, however, he reappeared, but in a most unlooked-
for spot, — his great paws on the edge of the pulpit,
and his head wagging above them with real eloquence !
There was an immediate stampede among the congrega-
tion ; and every man, woman, and child made headlong
for the doors, without standing on the order of their
going. This incident created a great scandal ; and we
were compelled to go elsewhere to refit, where we did
not allow Romeo to go ashore, fearing some new es-
capade. Arriving home, the cook begged to be taken
into my service permanently, so great had his attachment
grown to the bear, and I readily consented.

" Romeo and my children soon became fast friends ;
and though my neighbors laughingly spoke of our
house as ' the bear pit,' we did not greatly mind, but
were proud of our distinguished-looking nurse ! He
would go silently down the hall in the morning to the
nursery, and awake his little charges, and, when they
were dressed, ask nothing better than to play with
them by the hour, or walk beside them when they
took their exercise ; and I always noticed that nothing
was inclined to molest such a well-guarded party !

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES. 295

" One cold winter night, a poor little child very insuffi-
ciently clad, and barefoot, came to our door to ask for
alms. He was a bright, fearless little fellow, and be-
tween Romeo and himself it was a case of love at tirst
sight. We gave the lad something to eat, and as sotni
as his hunger was satisfied, Romeo took him bodily,
and carried him off to his own quarters, where he took
him between his warm haunches and pillowed him on
the soft fur of his breast. For many days this was the
lad's regular couch, and he was always sure of a wel-
come and a share of whatever was best in Romeo's
larder.

" By the way, I remember very well the first time I
hunted a bear, and it may amuse you to hear it."

I assured him that it would, and he continued : —

" It was in the Tyrol ; and I had been reading, as boys
will, most exciting books of hunting adventures, until
my imagination was filled with them, and I resolved
to imitate my heroes forthwith. I had a light double-
barrelled shotgun, and armed with it, I set out one bright
morning early, in search of hea7's. After walking sev-
eral hours without seeing anything in the way of game
larger than a robin, T met an old man, bent and worn,
going toward the village. On seeing my sportsman-
like equipment he stopped to ask me in search of what
game I had come, and on my frankly telling him, lie
laughed long and loud.

" ' What, are there no bears now in this neighborhood '.' '

296 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" ' Oh yes, but far from here, and livhig among rocks
and forests, that, alone, you could never penetrate ; and
even if you did, with such a pop-gun you could do little
more than tickle a bear ; ' and off he went laughing to
himself.

'' I must confess I felt rather crestfallen at his evident
disrespect for my plans and arms, but I resolved to show
him how he had misjudged both, by bringing back a bear
to put him out of countenance.

"With this laudable object in view, I continued my
route for some miles, when suddenly, joy and delight !
I saw a veritable bear in the middle of the road, on
his hind legs, and with a heavy stick in his fore-paws.
I could hardly believe my own good fortune, and my
hands trembled with excitement as I raised my gun
and aimed at his shoulder, as I had heard one should.
Bano; ! banu; I went both barrels ; and when the smoke
cleared away, I looked expecting to find him dead as
a door-nail, instead of which he was merely scratching
his back as though a mosquito had bitten him ; while
I heard loud shouts of ' Murder ! don't fire, it is my
bear I ' from behind a neighboring rock, whence issued
an irate wandering minstrel, whose sole stock in trade,
beside his instrument, was the brute in question !

•' I became the laughing-stock of the country, and after
p.Lcifying my injured friend by the payment of ample
damages, I was glad to leave the Tyrol until the matter
should blow over.

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES. 297

" In a voyage to arctic seas that I once made, we fell
in often with the polar bear, and became familiar with
the appearance and habits of this handsome variety.

MY HANDS TKEMBLED WITH EXCITEMENT,

Our ship was caught in the ice off the mouth of the
Lena, and it was impossible to get on even had we not
been well supplied with fresh provisions. It was a real

298 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

Switzerland of icy peaks and crystal ravines, clothed, in
place of forests, with stalactites and stalagmites, firm as
marble and glittering like diamonds. By aid of our con-
veyances, half-sled and half-boat, we could travel among
these wonders, hunting and fishing, and there was not
a man on board but enjoyed the life, which we made as
like that of tlie Esquimaux as possible. Out of three
white bear-skins I had made myself a suit, perfectly
impervious to wind and weather, giving me much the
appearance of the animals from which they were taken.
Only my eyes were visible, and even they were pro-
tected from the cold by a veil.

'' More trying b}- far to a traveller than the cold is the
darkness. Those long nights, during which all Nature
seems dead, are so wearisome, and fill the mind with
ennui, and the body with lassitude.

" One day the doctor came to pay me one of the long
visits which rendered life endurable during these hours
of darkness. His cabin was next to mine, — for we had
built huts and dug out caves in the ice, instead of re-
maining on board in the discomfort caused by the angle
at which the vessel lay, — and he suggested our tunnel-
ling the partition of ice between, that we might have a
covered gallery connecting our rooms. I agreed, and we
set to work instantly, hoping to grow warm during the
exercise. We were nearly done, and were beginning to
congratulate ourselves on the rapidity of our work, when,
in reply to a vigorous blow of the hatchet, we heard dis-

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES. 301

tinctly a growl veiy like that of a flog aroused from a
nap.

" ' It 's a bear/ said the doctor, calmly. ' If you want
to add to your store of skins, it is a good opportunity."

'^ '■ Don't you suppose he will attack us '.' "

" ' Not unless you fire a gun in his ear. He sleeps, and
sleeps soundly, and we have but to kill him in his dreams
in good Homeric style.'

" ' That seems rather cowardly, but we do need skins
and meat, so perhaps the means are justified.'

" The bear lay rolled in a ball, and covered with a
blanket of snow, so that it was hard to distinguish his
outline. As a sudden noise mis-ht awaken him, we had
to be careful in approaching him, to do so silently ; but
we held him sure. Standing one on either side of his
head, at a signal we buried our axes in his skull, and
killed him instantly, thereby obtaining a most welcome
addition to our daily bill of fare, as well as securing
another wrap against the cold. He was seven feet long,
which is a size to which no l3rown bear attains ; and his
size and weight were more those of a fatted ox than a
wild animal. The color of his hair was slightly yellow,
rather than white, and it was long, thick, and delight-
fully soft. The men were so rejoiced at the feast of meat
that followed this lucky find, that they spent all their
time looking for polar bears, but without any success.

" As the days began to grow longer, however, and the
ice to break up a bit, we had better luck. One of the

302 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

first of these clays we saw, on a floating cake of ice, a,
large female and two stalwart cubs, for whom she was
fishing, diving for the prey, and bringing it up almost
every time to her hungry offspring. Suddenly she made
a bolder plunge mto the waves, and then began a wild
struo-crle with some larsrer foe. We hurried forward to
see what it could be, guided by the breaking of ice, the,
spouting of the water, and the tremendous noise which
the contestants made. The bear bayed like a dog, and
gnashed her teeth with rage, seeming unable to land her
prey. All at once we caught sight of what it was, — a
seal, — which just then threw itself bodily out of the
water, and lifting its weight upon its tail and hind flippers,
tried to bite the terrible fisherman. I ordered my men
to loose a dog that had been trained to this special work,
and off he tore like a shot. Menaced thus from behind,
the bear turned upon this new enemy, and allow^ed the
seal to slip quietly into the water and escape. The dog
stood a few^ paces off, and tried by barking and constant
movement to distract the bear's attention, and turn it
to his advantage ; but the old lady was too quick for
him, and moved with surprising agility for so large a
body. Not content with this policy of defence she slowly
advanced toward the furious dog, now grown careless of
his own safety, and, when almost upon him, gave a heavy
spring, and crushed him like an egg-shell beneath her
enormous weight. We were still too far off to help the
poor creature, and as any advance was slow^ over the

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES.

303

hummocks and across the open channels, I almost de-
spaired of gettmg a shot at tlie bear ; when, instead of

THE BKAR MADE A WILD LEAP UPON THE NEAREST CANOE-

\

escaping as she might easily have done, she came directly
toward us, having apparently quite forgotten the seal.

"The polar bear is fierce and vindictive, and does not
I found, fly, like other bears, when hunted ; and I loaded

304 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

my ritie quickly as the distance between us lessened. A
wide, open channel, liowever, interposed between us, — too
broad for my crazy make-shift of a boat or for a shot
accurate enough to kill. But tlie natives with me had
their tiny canoes, and, without so much as by-your-leave,
launched them and paddled toward the hoped-for prize.
They sat upon the bottom of their frail crafts, with their
limbs stretched out under the deck, while a double-bladed
paddle supplied the motive power. Beside each lay a
long javelin barljed with iron. These hardy fellows
paddled in good order toward the other side. When
almost there, the bear made a wild leap upon the nearest
canoe, overturning it and drowning its occupant like a
rat. A second Esquimau, who came to his aid, met a
similar fate, his skull being broken by a blow from her
formidable paw.

" The circle of foes thus broken, the bear might again
have escaped ; but her maternal instincts called her to
the aid of her little ones, and turning quickly to look
for them, she found herself face to face with two more
enemies, and without the chance to meet and defeat them
separately. They took advantage of this, and plied their
spears from opposite sides, tingeing the icy waters with
her life's blood, and killing her in sight of her little ones.
The four natives left then raised the huge carcass on
theiy canoes and brought it with rejoicing to the shore,
on which we stood spectators of the cruel hunt ; for, to
me at least, the sympathy was all with the game."

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES.

307

One more of my friend's stories, and then to return
to warmer climes.

He said : " That reminds me. I was hunting buffaloes

MOUXTIXG THE SPECOIEXS.

in the Rockies, — when they were more numerous, too,
than they are now, — and was lying in wait near a
stream, where I hoped they would come to drink. All

308 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

at once I became conscious of the presence of another
hunter after the same game, — a black bear, lying along
a huge limb that overhung the favorite jdooI. He lay
there so still that I should never have noticed him, had
not my own attention been concentrated on the same
spot.

" Two magnificent buffaloes strayed away from the herd
browsing far out on the plain, and came slowly down the
wind toward ns, — I say us, for the bear and I evidently
had the same object in view in coming there. I resolved
to see the thing out, and, if possible, bag two birds at
the same shot. The buffaloes waded into the pool, and
when directly under him, and not till then, the bear
dropped heavily down upon the male like a hawk on its
prey. The great ruminant was utterly helpless, and his
companion tried in vain to assist him by vigorous blows
from his stout horns, which fell quite as frequently upon
friend as upon foe. In spite of them both the bear hung
firm, his claws deep buried in his victim's neck, while
the latter charged madly up the bank, where he fell
crushed by the weight and strangled by the embrace of
the bear.

" Now was my turn, I thought ; and, while he was
putting the finishing touches to his prospective meal, I
sent an explosive bullet into his skull, and he fell upon
the buffalo as dead as he."

I found the American a delightful companion ; and his
stories of Australia — where he had spent years — induced

A GLIMPSE INTO THE IIUSEUM.

AN AMERICAN'S ADVENTURES. 311

me to make a brief visit to that interesting country,
where the life, both animal and vegetable, is so unlike
anything I had ever seen.

It is needless to say Thursday accompanied me, and
that we went well armed and fully prepared to add to my
already extensive collection, which a skilled professional
was mounting and arranging for me at home. In fact,
I was able to keep a number of taxidermists continually
employed, mounting the specimens I sent back. My barn
had been transformed into a natural-history museum ;
the hay intended for living quadrupeds distending the
skins of dead ones, shot over many a field under tropic
suns. It would have given a nervous person a sad turn
to go into the building at night, when the moonlight
came in floods through window and skylight, falling
upon gorilla and orang-outang and every known variety
of ape, arranged systematically, and flanked by tiger and
lion, bear and giraffe, rhinoceros and hippopotamus, in
most picturesque confusion.

I longed to return to these treasures, but, before doing
so, turned to this new field for one or two needed additions
to my collection.

CHAPTER XV.

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH '' THE BUSH.

HE bush" is the Australian term for the native
jungle ; and after landing at Melbourne, and
admiring the wonderful progress of this com-
paratively new country and its flourishing capital, we
took a fortnight's hard riding to reach it. At the end
of that time I found myself installed at the hut of an
Australian squatter, on '"the run "of a hospitable friend
whom I was to visit.

The curious country round us, called, as I have said,
"the bush," is a mixture of forest and underbrush, not
at all unlike the virgin solitudes of North America or
the jungles of India, but without the savage grandeur
of the former, or the picturesqueness of the latter, with its
interminable network of vines and bamboos, — the haunt
of the tiger, the panther, the elephant, and the deadly
serpent. But the Australian bush is varied with charm-
ing meadows filled with bright flowers and clumps of
lofty trees, and this variety extends uninterruptedly as
far as your horse can carry you ; always the same prairie
with its gigantic trees, the same flowers, the same peace-
ful silence, broken occasionally by the haj'sh note of a

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH " THE BUSH:' 313

parrot, or the cry of a cockatoo, standing on one foot
and lifting his head to watch you pass. Everywhere
you are met with cautions not to touch that flower to
your lips lest it poison you ; not to break that branch
lest a tiny thorn may pierce your skin, and you die
in convulsions within an hour, and such like cheerful
advice. You are surrounded, in fact, with deadly plants,
which under a tropic sun distil the most potent poisons ;
and it is the vegetable, rather than the animal, kingdom
that the traveller has to fear.

" The run " had been named by the owner, a friend
and countryman of mine, '• Devil's Station," because of
the savage wildness of the country covered with virgin
forests and untracked bush, and he confided to me that
he had never himself been entirely round his property.
The name was appropriate on account, as well, of this
deadly growth of plant life, suggesting to a superstitious
mind the magic influence of evil spirits.

The English Government has hit upon the happiest
way to colonize this rich country, allowing to the first
comer, without regard to " race, color, or previous con-
dition of servitude," the right to take possession of any
unoccupied land, — ten, twenty, fifty, or one hundred
acres, as much as his resources will allow him to im-
prove to advantage, — demanding in return so small a
tax that it simply serves to establish and preserve the
royal property in the land. The settler becomes the
tenant of the Government, rulmg over these vast pos-

314 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

sessions as he sees fit ; the only condition imposed upon
him being that he shall receive and entertain for three
days any European, wounded, sick, or in want, and
supply him with sufficient provision to reach the next
station. Any one breaking this rule loses at once all
the privileges of his original concession, and, although
there are some flagrant abuses resulting from it, as a
whole it works well, and has saved many a good fellow's
life.

Two days after our arrival our host arranged a kan-
garoo hunt in our honor, in the native way, — that is,
without guns. The night before, a dozen guides were
despatched in different directions to scour the country,
and report on the prospect of a successful hunt.

At dawn we were awakened by our host, and told
to prepare for a day's sport, as the report from the
scouts had been favorable. The party consisted of five
natives, my host, myself, and Thursday, and three
travellers invited at the last moment. One of them
brought two enormous dogs in leash, bearing the sug-
gestive names of Strangler and Terror. We were fol-
lowed by a wagon loaded with provisions and camping
conveniences, enough to last us a week, if we chose to
stay that long. As the day broke we strangers were all
loud in our admiration of the beauty of the landscape,
and our words fired the pride of our guides. So we went
along well pleased with ourselves and one another.

Here and there, as if dropped pell-mell, without order

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH ''THE BUSH/' 317

or system, our host pointed out all those varieties of
giant mj'rtle and pine, which are unequalled elsewhere
in the world ; the eucalyptus, — one variety of which is
noted for its abundant sap, the growing well of the
traveller ; and one for its height, often reaching four
hundred feet, and rivalling its neighbor, the Welling-
tonia Gigantea, which grows to even greater heights.
Hundreds of varieties of acacia studded the plain, filled
in with Australian white lilies of sweetest perfume.
We were passing through little clumps of fig-trees,
whence a wax-like gum exuded ; of iialukas, bearing a
sort of manna; and of silk-trees, whose long green
threads swept the ground like hair.

At eleven, or so, we met another of our scouts waiting
to advise us of the proximity of the game for which
we were in pursuit ; and by his advice we left our
mustangs under guard of one of the natives, and, rifle
in hand, began threading the undergrow^th, often so dense
and low that we were obliged to advance on hands and
knees, stopping every now and then, as the guide listened,
his ear near the ground, for any sound of game in the
neighborhood. After an hour of this painful advance, the
guide told us we had reached the spot where he thought
the kangaroos would shortly come ; and we lay as he
placed us, each behind and, in fact, in a bush, so that
we could not see one another, so well were we hidden.
It was uncomfortable, but necessary. The guide then
began the clever imitation of a magpie's note at regular

318

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

intervals ; and even I who knew he was going to do it,
and who lay nearest him, lialf douljted it was not the
real article. It was as good as Thursday's imitation of

UV HIS ADVICE WE LEFT OUR MUSTANGS.

the young elephant. Suddenly a light rustling among
the leaves drew my eyes in another direction ; and there
stood a magnificent kangaroo over six feet tall, looking

.1 QUICK TRIP THROUGH " THE BUSH.'' 319

around for the source of the disturbance, which, by the
way, ceased instantly.

The light-footed animal approached fearlessly, now
stopping and sitting on its haunches to eat a tuft of
delicate greens, now dropping on all fours and running
forward in a zigzag course as light-heartedly as a child.
Soon, reaching the stream, it drank deep draughts from
the waters, and, what was our astonishment ! out popped
from one of its pouches a young one and gambolled on
the grass beside its mother. It was a pretty sight, and
T, for one, regretted the hostile ambush. But it was too
late now to draw off the natives, who could not under-
stand such a motive, and who already held their javelins
poised for hurling.

By courtesy, Thursday was allowed the first shot, and,
either by luck or a skill which I was ignorant he pos-
sessed, his spear was so well aimed that the poor beast
fell without a sound, and almost before the fatal steel
reached her he ran out, disregarding the cautions of our
host to look out for the dying animal's claws, to catch
the little one and offer it to me for adoption. I found
it old enough to live without its mother, to whom it
struggled feebly to return.

Meanwhile the natives had scooped out a hole some two
feet deep, and filling it with dead wood and large round
pebbles from the river-bed, set fire to the pile, and soon
had a pile of red-hot stones and glowing embers. The
kangaroo was quickly dressed, and the best parts put

320 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

into this improvised oven and earthed up for thirty
minutes, when they emerged smoking and appetizing,
and I must confess I never ate anything better — in
Australia !

We passed the night in camp, and the next day re-
turned to our indefatigable mustangs, remounted, and
continued our inspection of the run and our search for
further adventure. . Tlie little kangaroo steadfastly re-
fused all food, and at the end of the second day died of
starvation. It was an inglorious ending of a cruel sport,
to my mind ; and I heartily wished both mother and
young alive and free again.

For several days we travelled through the bush, jour-
neying slowly from one enchanted scene to another, — the
horses' hoofs sinking into a soft green carpet, stretching
far and wide beneath the grateful shade of the gigan-
tic trees ; on every side fragrant flowers, yellow, red,
purjDle, and white, arranged as no florist can, and in
a profusion unequalled by any forced growth. One of
the lilies is periodic in its perfume, as the morning-glory
is in bloom, sending out no perfume during the night,
but under the magnetic influence of the sun's warmth
emitting a most penetrating and agreeable scent, drawing
toward it thousands of bees that hang upon its flowers
for hours. Another lily, a red variety, jjer contra, seems
to languish during the heat of the day, waiting the
refreshing dews of evening to open. When twilight
■comes it arouses from its lethargy, holds up its beautiful

I

I

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH " THE BUSH:' 323

head, and pours a flood of fragrant incense into the night,
closino: ag-ain at early dawn.

The silence of the prairies oppressed us. for not a bird's
note disturbs these solitudes ; although later we found
that there icere plenty of winged beauties on the conti-
nent — but of that and the odd waj- in which we became
convinced of it, later.

We saw many kangaroos, but without harming them;
even the natives seeming to have been touched by the
death of our little captive. They are timid, graceful
animals, of great variety of size, and should only be
killed when their excellent meat is needed.

I passed my days adding to my herbarium and collec-
tion of insects, and my rifle hung, a useless ornament,
at my saddle-bow. One of these peaceful mornings, I
was riding along with m}^ party, when I noticed occasional
glances of alarm cast over his shoulder l^y our leading
bushman. The day had opened clear and bright, when,
suddenly and without warning, the wind began to rise
and blow in a most threatening way through the trees,
bending their lofty trunks, and tearing the leaves from
the branches. 1 was old enoug^h woodsman to understand
why the Australians looked anxious and turned their
horses toward the denser forest, where the trees would
shelter us from the approaching cyclone. Great black
clouds scurried across the sky. and showed us we must
hurry to reach any shelter Ijefore tlie storm should break.

'' We still have a few minutes' lee-way," said our host,

524

HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

" for a cyclone is always preceded by a flight of birds es-
caping from it, — just as we are, but with better success."
Almost as he spoke the sound of innumerable wings was

I WAS XTKGING ON MY NAG "VVITH SPUR AND VOICE.

heard, and a dense flight of birds passed over our heads,
uttering their discordant cries, as if defying the gale behind
them.

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH " THE BUSH.'' 325

I was urging on my plucky nag with spur and voice,
and she seemed to understand the necessity of effort,
" devouring the ground " beneath her flying feet, while
overhead the forked lightning lit up the inky sky. It
was an impressive sight, its very suddenness adding to
its grandeur. I must have resembled the phantom rider
of the Norwegian ballads, who only appears on days when
kings or great men die ; tearing across the country flat
upon his fiery steed, with the black clouds of misfortune
and death behind him. Like a cannon-ball the cyclone
struck us, and carried my stout mare forward as irresisti-
bly as if she had been a feather. It was impossible to
stop or to turn aside. Forward! was the only word ; and
the fact that a tiny lake lay directly in front of us made
no difference whatever to the wind god, and into the
water we went, horse and man, in obedience to his
mighty breath. This seemed to pacify him instantly, or
else he had done his worst, for the wind fell as promptly
as it had arisen, leaving me to haul myself out by an
overhanging branch, none the worse for my bath, while
the poor pony waded ashore at the nearest beach ; and
together we sought our companions, scattered far and
wide, like dead leaves before the blast. No one had been
hurt ; and we were congratulating ourselves upon the
escape of the part}'' all through our lunch hour, which we
prolonged to several, resting our tired horses and excited
guides, who whiled away the time telling stories of less
fortunate parties, overtaken by these sudden tropical

326 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

gales, and never beard from afterward. Just as we
were starting on once more, onr chief guide interrupted
our chat and hiughter by laying bis finger on his lips,
and pointing toward a tall eucalyptus near which we
had been lunching.

"What is it, Nagarnook?" queried our host.

The guide moved silently round the tree, his hands
clasped negligently behind his back, scrutinizing with
his bead-like eyes every point of its polished bark. After
a moment or two of this examination, he stopped and
uttered one word : " Opossum ! "

'' How, in the name of all that 's good, does he know ? "
laughed I.

A smile of conscious pride passed over the face of the
native, who understood my tone of surprise, as with his
finger he pointed out to nie a line of tiny scratches,
hardly visible, in the smooth bark of the giant tree.

" Yes, but they may be old marks. What makes you
believe them recent ? "

" The white chief is pleased to jest with his slave."

" No, seriously ; T see that they are opossum marks, but
the trees are full of just such tracks all around us."

'■' Let the white chief look more closely ; " and he
showed me in the marks lowest down on the trunk,
grains of sand, damp still, and evidently recently left
behind a climbing 'possum. Blowing hard upon these
the sand still clung to the moistened track. He looked
up, proud of his proof.

WE PROLONGED OUR LUNCH HOUR.

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH ''THE BUSH." 329

" Well done ! But how can we get at him ? Let us
see you solve that difficulty ! "

Without waiting to be asked twice, Nagarnook seized
his hatchet and cut a foothold in the base of the tree a
yard up, and another a yard above that. Placing his toes
in this improvised ladder, and with his left arm embracing
the mighty trunk, he lifted himself, and with his right cut
a new rest higher up, and so on until he reached the
lower branches, where the animal's hole was. Into this
he ran his hand, and seizing the fellow by his tail to avoid
his sharp teeth, he swung him round his head several
times, and brained him on his own doorstep, and then
dropped him at our feet in triumph. It was all so neatly
and quickly done, that we could not help a shout of ap-
plause, as he descended in the same way he had gone up.

The little animal was cooked for supper; and it was
now so late, we decided to camp where we were. The
meat of the 'possum — which is about three times as
large as a gray squirrel — is bitter and detestable to a
European palate ; but the native guides thought it de-
licious, and made a perfect feast of it.

The night was enlivened by the cry with which this
animal salutes its coming, and which it utters as it seeks
its food from branch to branch in the darkness. This
note was like a bugle-call to the natives, who quickty
lighted pine torches, and started in pursuit with their
boomerangs as arms, and bagged over a dozen before
they were satisfied to turn in for the night.

330 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

The boomerang is an arm purely Australian in inven-
tion and use, and I have never seen it carried in any
other country on the globe. It varies in length from
two feet and a half to three feet, and is fashioned from
a hard though flexible bit of wood, slightly curved in
the middle, rounded at one end, and quite flat at the
other. It is not so wholly unlike a Yankee axe-handle
in shape, though in color it is almost always as much
darker as the color of Australian woods is deeper than
those of New England.

When the native wishes to use his boomerang, he
seizes it at the larger end in both hands, the convex
side up, then whirling it rapidly round his head with
a peculiar motion of the wrist, that gives it its terrible
force and accuracy of return, he lets it go into the air.
Thus hurled it travels some dozen yards, which is sim-
ply preliminary. At the instant it touches the ground
it rebounds several feet, and returns upon its track
until it reaches the object against which its thrower
intended it to strike.

They tell a curious story of this weapon, so deadly in
an Australian's hands. When one of the first explorers
returned to England, and told of its marvellous accuracy
and execution, the learned doctors at Oxford laughed at
him, and one in particular took especial delight in pointing
out the physical impossibility of such feats, and sneering
at the narrator. A few months afterward this disbe-
liever was sent by his confreres to Australia on some

I!E Stt-UNG HIM ROUND HIS HEAD SEVERAL TIMES.

mission connected with his profession, and had occasion
to prove the truth of the story he had doubted.

Placed face to face with a native chief, he asked the
latter to exhibit his skill with the boomerang, taking
him as his mark ; and, folding his arms, he stood smil-
ingly awaiting the result. The chief, although some-
what surprised, asked nothing better, and, with a hasty
glance at the professor, hurled his weapon into the air.'
After describing several graceful curves, it came back
swiftly toward its mark whistling viciously, and it would
certainly have broken the doctor's sceptical skull, had
he not prudently thrown himself flat on the ground in
a paroxysm of terror, from which he emerged in a wiser,
if not a happier, frame of mind.

We should have been glad to stop this unnecessary
slaughter of opossums ; but, as our host said, you could
no more convince the natives of the cruelty they were
needlessly inflicting, than you could induce them to alter
their religion in favor of one in which transmigration
should play a part. A sudden end was put to the f>port,
however, in an unlooked-for way, by the cries of terror
and pain which one of the natives uttered at this mo-
ment. We did not understand the language, but we
caught the feeling vividly ; and the whole camp rushed
toward the sufferer, rolling in agony beside the stream,
his head apparently wrapped in a black turban.

" What 's the matter with him ? " shouted one of our
party. Without waiting to reply, the chief guide drew

oo4 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

liis knife, and (juick as thought laid the black band-
open its entire length, revealing the tortured features
and wounded forehead of his countryman beneath. For
it was one of the terrible reptiles of the country that
had fallen, like a leech, upon the poor fellow, and was
slowly sucking away his life-blood. As it dropped off
we saw six large vv'ounds, from which the blood flowed
freely, on the guide's face, and a real bandage was im-
mediately applied, and such prompt remedies adminis-
tered as experience had taught ; for delay is death.
After this accident naturally enough the hunt was
brought to a sudden end, and we turned our horses
seaward, our journey enlivened by stories of this fright-
ful scourge, which, fortunately, is as rare as it is terri-
ble ; indeed, my host said that in twenty years of
knocking round the bush, this was but the third he
had seen. And m}' tempting offer of a year's supply of
rum and tobacco to any native who would brins; me
a specimen alive, failed to produce one within the next
two weeks, during which I remained in the country.

The next morning as we were preparing to mount,
one of the men called our attention to a swarm of
bees, and a very large one, on a branch of mimosa,
their legs covered with the rich pollen, and apparently
quite forgetful of their hive. Each native immediately
set to work making himself a tiny cage from reeds ;
and into this, with marvellous skill, and the aid of
some bit of bloom particularly appetizing to these

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH " THE BUSH.''

337

*' friends of flowers," as they are poetically called there,
each tempted a few bees, and shut them in safely.
None of the white men interfered in this danfrerous

LEAVING nni, LIKE MAZEPPA, AT THE BEAST S MERCY.

operation, nor did w^e understand its object, but watched
with admiration while they handled these peppery little
fellows without a sting.

When each had captured about a dozen, the chief

338 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

explained to our host how they proposed by these
prisoners to discover the hive, and obtain a coveted
supply of honey.

In five minutes we were all in the saddle, and, the
Australians leading, started in the direction in wdiich
the first bee, when liberated, flew. As soon as we were
distanced by this rapid guide, another was let go, and
so on, until, at the tremendous pace we were going, I
felt we must have travelled twenty miles, for we did
not even draw rein when a fresh bee was freed. The
pace was beginning to tell on one of our party, and
afterward he confessed to me he had never ridden
so hard in his life. To add to his sufferings, his saddle
began to slip, and, cling as he might, it surely and
slowly disappeared beneath his horse's belly, leaving
him, like Mazeppa, at the beast's mercy. It was no
laughing matter, although he did appear most supremely
ridiculous ; for, riding as hard as we could, Ave could not
catch his frightened pony, which easily led the liunt.
Luckily for him, the animal entered into the pursuit
with intelligence as well as zest ; and when at last
the dead tree, groaning beneath its weight of stored
sweets, was reached, he stopped with the rest, and
ended his mad career as gently as he had begun it.

Loaded with honey, we continued our way at a more
comfortable jog, reaching our host's broad verandas in
time to enjoy a more luxurious bed than we had seen
for many nights.

A QUICK TRIP THROUGH " THE BUSH.''

339

Before bidding farewell to iny hospitaljle friend and
Thursday, — whom I bequeathed to him, when I found
the latter was willing, — I made one brief hunting trip

I FOUND SEVERAL SMALL FISH IN HIS STOMACH.

in another direction, which introduced me to a curious
bat-like animal, with a description of which I may most
appropriately close this wandering narrative, which per-
haps resembles it, — half-bird and half-mammal.

340 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE.

I had shot a couple of foxes, and was '-- toting " them
mto camp, when I heard a rustling in the underbrush
along a stream running beside the trail, and out hopped
a frog-like bat, with the tail of a beaver ! This is the
best way I can describe him, even after shooting and
dissecting him. He was like an American beaver in
other respects than his broad, flat tail ; but his throat
and long web-footed hind legs were those of a frog ;
while the membrane from his fore-feet to his side re-
sembled the wings of a bat.

Opening this curiosity carefully, I found several small
fish in his stomach, and an old button! — certainly a
light breakfast ! I took the greatest pains with this
specimen, wishing to identify it when I returned to
America, and packed it with my most valued posses-
sions, intrusting the package to Thursday, who insisted
on going back to Melbourne to see me safely off. But
I was fated never to see it again. Between the wharf,
where I parted with the faithful fellow, and the hold
of the vessel the package mysteriously disappeared ; and
I have never been quite sure whether I was the victim
of a practical joke, or whether I really was the dis-
coverer of a new species, of which the knowledge
perished with the lost package.

University Press: John W'ilsnn iind Son, Cambridfce

1

RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT
T0»-^ 202 Main Library 642-3403

LOAN PERIOD T

2

3

4

5

6

LIBRARY USE

This book is due before closing time on the last date stamped below

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

giy^ 1 ^nr)

^mrjf^

cmsmmm?§w

SENtONILL

OCI 2 9 2001

U, C. BERKELEY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
FORM NO. DD6A, 20m, 1 1 /78 BERKELEY CA 94720

®s

LD 21-100m-6,'56
(B9311slO)476

General Library

University of California

Berkeley

WiLvJ ?

:f-^;'