Shifts and expedients of camp life, travel & exploration

by William Barry Lord; Thomas Baines

Of course the whale is towed head first, as in that position the involuntary action of the fins, moved by the ripple of the sea, helps the boatmen; while were they to attempt to tow him by the tail, the same action would not only neutralise all their efforts, but would most probably tow them in the opposite direction.

HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP.

Few sailing vessels bound upon long voyages go to sea without a harpoon, a dolphin grains, and a shark hook; and the former is called into requisition whenever a shoal of porpoises are seen keeping way with the vessel, ever and anon letting her pass them, and then darting ahead to recover their position in advance. A rope, generally the end of the fore bowline, passing through its own block at the bowsprit end, is then bent on to the lanyard of the grains. One of the crew goes out on the martingale guys, and, having made a line fast about waist high to the martingale or dolphin striker, to give him a little additional support, stands watching the movement of the porpoises beneath. At length one comes directly under him, keeps the same course as the ship, and perhaps, for a moment, the same speed. He launches the grains, and, if his aim has been true, the porpoise is transfixed. The men at the inner part of the bowline haul on, and raise the victim clear of the water. The harpooner seizes the end of a rope previously laid near him, and passing it round the harpoon line quickly ties in it a running bowline knot. This he passes over the head of the porpoise, and tightens it at the juncture of the body with the tail; and not till then does he consider his prize secure. Of course in this case the sport, the trial of skill, the opportunity for displaying quickness of eye and skill in the management of the weapon, is the chief inducement; yet the capture is not without its value. The flesh of the warm-blooded porpoise is in reality fresh meat, and is sold as such among the lower classes in many foreign ports. Several gallons of oil may be obtained from one of moderate size, and the skin furnishes good tough leather for making thongs, or covering any portion of the rigging that needs serving with raw hide. Long narrow strips of the fish, when carefully cut out with a sharp knife, make a kind of porpoise biltong; this, when thoroughly aired by laying it in the sun, makes a fair kind of food. A kind of rissole is also made from the solid portions of the fish; these are cut into mincemeat, formed into balls of suitable size, and then fried. Steaks are also to be extemporised from the best cuts.

The hippopotamus harpoon of the Zambesi differs considerably from that just described. The iron is only 6in. or 8in. long, with a small barb at one end and a spike in the other, to stick loosely into a staff of light wood 2in. thick and about 5ft. long. The iron has a kind of knob or thickening in the centre to serve as a catch for the line, which is knotted round it. The line is about the thickness of a small lead line. It is very neatly and firmly twisted by hand from the fibres of plants and shrubs bordering the river, and is coiled tightly and evenly round the staff of the harpoon from end to end, so as to increase its thickness, and make it as large as can conveniently be grasped in the hand. The end of the line is securely stopped to the staff, which is secured from splitting by being bound round with small cord, with a kind of Turk’s-head knot turned upon the end that receives the iron.

The hippopotami live in families or small herds of from half a dozen to twenty each, basking upon the sandbanks in the tropic sun, bathing in the depths and raising their clumsy-looking equine heads above the surface to look out, or taking nightly walks for miles into the country to crop the herbage of some favourite spot. Taking advantage of the prowling habits of the animal, the natives construct in his path or run, a harpoon trap or drop. The full-page illustration will serve to show the manner in which this contrivance is arranged. The instant the ground cord is detached from its hold by the advancing foot of the hippopotamus, the heavy beam holding the barbed iron drops with tremendous force, and fixes the spear-head deeply in the flesh beneath the tough skin of the victim, who rarely escapes with his life. A general hippopotamus hunt is not unfrequently undertaken, which is conducted as follows: The natives, having decided which herd they intend to attack, muster about half a dozen canoes, each carrying two men—a harpooner and a paddler; they close gradually and cautiously round the herd, and deliberately select their victim; closer and closer they draw in, till, as the semicircle of canoes narrows round them, the animals exhibit first curiosity and then alarm, and extreme caution is necessary to avoid so terrifying them as to make them break the line and take to flight instead of gazing at the advancing boats. When the animals dive, the canoes come on; when they rise or appear much alarmed, they stop, or approach but slowly. At length a fortunate harpooner finds himself near an animal; the hippopotamus dives, the canoe perhaps gains another length and is close upon him; when he again rises, the harpooner stands erect and next to naked, like a magnificent statue, in the bow, his upraised right hand grasping the harpoon, and his left a paddle, every muscle of his body as rigid and immovable as if he were in reality of bronze. The hippopotamus eyes him suspiciously; he seems to know that danger threatens him; but, like a cunning fencer, he waits the moment of the blow, and will not expose himself by prematurely attempting to avoid it. His instinct, however, is no match for the cunning of his enemies; the harpooner makes a feint of striking with the paddle; the animal starts aside to avoid the expected blow; and as he does so the hunter delivers the harpoon with all his force. The small barb penetrates the tough thick skin, and no power can draw it out again; the line uncoils; the light staff, sometimes even with a bladder attached, floats behind to mark his track; the wounded animal finds no rest; other harpoons are delivered; and as he becomes wearied with exertion, pain, terror, and irritation, opportunities are found to thrust at him with broad-bladed spears until he sinks beneath his wounds and dies.

The harpoon of Lake Ngami and the Bō-tlét-lē River differs from that of the Zambesi, and more nearly resembles our own, except that, as iron is scarce and valuable, the head is still a mere spike, barbed at one end and pointed at the other, for insertion in a heavy beam of mimosa or kameel-doorn. The iron draws from the staff as soon as the barb pierces the thick hide, and the animal springs forward in its efforts to escape; but it is attached to the staff, not by a long line like the Zambesian, but by a short skein of twenty or thirty small cords of mimosa bark loosely twisted together, firmly seized or lashed to the iron at one end and to the staff at the other, and slightly stopped to it in the middle, still further to prevent any risk of fouling. The staff is of wood too heavy to float; a hole is bored in the upper end, and a short loop of strong rope woven or twisted into it, and to this loop is bent on the end of a stout rope of twisted palm leaves, which serves as the harpoon line, and is kept in the canoe, paid out or hauled in again like ours, and has beside the advantage of being so light that, even were the hunter to let go the end, it would float upon the surface, and eventually lead to the discovery of the animal. In consequence of this arrangement the chase of the hippopotamus nearly resembles that of the whale, differing chiefly in the fact that it is carried on in a freshwater river or a shallow lake, instead of the sea. When hippopotamus hunting on Lake Ngami the canoes approach with the same caution as those on the Zambesi, until the harpooner finds an opportunity to strike; then, when the wounded animal darts away, the canoe men hold on to the line, slacking it out when they are obliged, and gathering in as much as possible at every opportunity, and endeavouring to haul alongside as soon as they notice the first symptoms of fatigue, and use the formidable spear they carry for this especial service. This is, however, a task of difficulty and danger, for the irritated animal may turn and crush a tolerably large canoe in his tremendous jaws, and has been known, although not carnivorous, completely to sever the body of a man; more frequently, however, as the natives dexterously avoid his charge, he champs the staff of the harpoon, and endeavours to bite through the skein which connects it with the iron in his side. Were this a single rope he would soon liberate himself, but the small cords become entangled between his teeth, and, though he may cut through a few of them, others are sure to remain strong enough to hold him. Many canoes join in the chase, annoy him on every side, bewilder and weary him, and drive him at length into shallow water, where the hunters, carrying the line ashore, catch a turn round the nearest tree, yielding a little if his strength appears yet sufficient to tear out the barb, but always gathering it in as the assailants, some in canoes and others wading in the shallows, drive him nearer and nearer to the shore, inflicting wound after wound with their broad-bladed spears, till, spouting blood from his nostrils like a whale in its mortal agony, he ceases to resist, and becomes the prize of the hunters.

The carcase of an animal like this is indeed a valuable acquisition; the flesh of even a moderate-sized one is at least equal to that of three oxen, even after allowing for the wasteful manner in which wild flesh is generally consumed. His hide, 2in. in thickness on the neck and withers, is excellent as food, or profitable as an article of barter with the colonists, who make the great “agter zambocs,” or whips for the after oxen of their waggon teams; while the tusks, which will frequently weigh 6lb. or 7lb. each, and sometimes more, are, or used recently to be, worth about 18s. per pound in London, though, since the introduction of mineral compositions for dental purposes, we believe the value of “Zeekoë” ivory has much declined.

The natives of Australia use spears of considerable length, varying from 10ft. to 12ft., and are also remarkable for the great distance to which they can throw them, attaining in some instances, we have been assured, to a distance of 270 yards, a range for which they are indebted to the use of the womera or throwing stick, an instrument that assumes different forms among various tribes, though its principle is the same in all. Those we had an opportunity of seeing in North Australia were rather narrow boards, 3in. wide, and little more than ½in. thick, so cut as to be conveniently grasped, and tapering from the handle till they were barely ¾in. wide at the point, on which a little reverted piece of bone about the size of a cock’s spur was affixed with gum and lashings of vegetable fibre, and the point of this just fitted a corresponding indentation in the end of the spear shaft.