THE WANDERINGS OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER

COUNTRY LIFE

First published in 1923

THE NATIVE ATTACK.

Frontispiece.

THE
WANDERINGS OF AN
ELEPHANT HUNTER

BY
W. D. M. BELL

LONDON
PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICES OF “COUNTRY LIFE,” LTD.,
20, TAVISTOCK ST., COVENT GARDEN, W.C.2, AND BY
GEORGE NEWNES, LTD., 8-11, SOUTHAMPTON ST., STRAND, W.C.2
NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
MCMXXIII

Printed in Great Britain.

CONTENTS

PAGE
List of Illustrations[vii]
CHAPTER
I.Hunting the Big Bull Elephant[1]
II.The Brain Shot at Elephant[5]
III.The Body Shot at Elephant[8]
IV.African “Medicine” or Witchcraft and its Bearing on Sport[12]
V.Karamojo[20]
I.INTO THE UNKNOWN[20]
II.IVORY AND THE RAIDERS[31]
III.THE COMING OF PYJALÉ[44]
VI.Dabossa[59]
VII.Through the Sudd of the Gelo River[78]
VIII.The Lado Enclave[87]
IX.Hunting in Liberia[105]
X.Buba Gida, the Last African Potentate[128]
XI.Buba Gida and the Lakkas[135]
XII.The Ascent of the Bahr Aouck[149]
XIII.Buffalo[170]
XIV.African Lions[175]
XV.Rifles[179]
XVI.African Administrations[184]
Index[188]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
The Native Attack[Frontispiece]
The Falling Spear: the Deadliest Native Elephant TrapFacing[2]
The Marauding Bull”[3]
Spear Weighing about Four Hundred Pounds”[3]
The Deadliest and Most Humane Method of Killing the African Elephant”[6]
The Brain Shot from Behind”[6]
The Position of the Brain when the Head is Viewed from the Front”[6]
Locating the Brain with the Side of the Head to the Sportsman”[6]
The Elephant, after the Brain Shot, Dies Quietly”[7]
The Angry Bull”[8]
Where the Windpipe enters the Body is the Spot to Hit”[8]
Elephant in the Country Most Suited to the Body Shot”[8]
With One Eye Shut”[8]
With Both Eyes Open”[8]
The Dotted Lines show the Position of the Heart and Lungs”[8]
With the Herd in the Pairing Season”[9]
Elephant Slinking Away, Warned of the Approach of Man by Honey-Guides”[14]
Medicine indeed!”[15]
He Shook His Head so Violently in the Death Throes that a Tusk Flew Out”[16]
A M’Boni Village”[17]
M’Sanya Bow and Poisoned Arrow”[18]
A Patriarch”[18]
“A Small Native Boy was in the Act of Pinking an Enormous Elephant””[19]
Poor Karamojans, showing Periwigs”[34]
Carrying the Ivory”[35]
Elephant Snare Net Set, but not yet Covered”[36]
Karamojan Warrior”[37]
That Lunatic Pyjalé Spears an Elephant”[44]
Longelly-Nymung, the Author’s Blood Brother”[56]
The Return of the Safari”[57]
“The Elephant nearly fell over with Fright””[64]
Watching the Northern Trail for the Returning Raiders”[65]
From the Look-out Hill”[72]
The “Elephant Cemetery””[73]
The Camp Chronicler”[76]
Abyssinian Slavers”[77]
A Shot from the Shoulders of a Tall Native”[86]
Telescope Tripod as Stand in High Grass”[87]
Elephant in the Upper Nile Swamp”[94]
In the Lado Enclave: White Rhino, Lion and Elephant”[95]
Looking into the Brilliantly Lit Open Space from the Twilight of the Forest”[102]
Suliemani bumps into his Bull”[104]
The Arrival in West Africa”[105]
A Colony of “Chimps” Fruit-gathering”[118]
Small Elephant of Liberia”[119]
The Palaver with the King”[124]
The Silent Town”[128]
Outside the Walls”[129]
Commanders of Regiments”[130]
Chiefs in Armour with Arrow-proof Quilts”[131]
An Enormous Man, Fully Seven Feet High, rose from a Pile of Rags”[132]
Whenever the King Sneezes, Coughs or Spits the Attendant Slaves break into Loud Wailing”[133]
In Buba Rei”[136]
A Foot Soldier”[137]
Lakkas, Shy and Nervous”[140]
Buba Gida’s Elephant Hunters”[141]
He Disappeared into the Thick Stuff”[146]
There He was now Facing Me”[147]
Gallery Forest and Baboon”[150]
Camp on Lake Léré”[151]
A Man-Eater, from whose Inside a Woman’s Bangle was taken”[152]
Native Decoys”[154]
Whistling Teal and Locust Storks”[154]
Rolling up Hippo”[154]
The Small Canoe Up-streaming”[155]
Hippopotamus in the Shallows”[156]
W., in the Small Canoe, runs into a Rising Hippo”[157]
Spur-winged Geese”[158]
Male Egyptian Geese in Breeding Season”[159]
Sky Black with Wildfowl”[160]
Rhino nearly have our Cook”[161]
Musgum Village”[162]
Mud Huts: Musgum”[163]
A Water Buck”[164]
Female Water Buck on Sandbank”[165]
Doe Kob and Calf well Camouflaged”[166]
Cow Hippo and Calf”[167]
Arab Spear for Ham-stringing Elephant”[168]
Portaging Canoes”[168]
The Kilangozi or Head Porter who carried this Tusk (148 lbs.) for Sixty-three Consecutive Marching Days”[169]
In Thick Stuff”[170]
Worthy Game”[170]
Some Retreating Cleverly Backwards and Receiving the Charging Animals’ Rushes on their Shields”[171]
Driven Out of the Reed Beds”[176]
“A Magnificent Male deliberately Turned and Stood Facing Me””[176]
Chasing Off an Intruder”[176]
Spotted!”[177]