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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 2, 1908)
TIIE SUNDAY OREGONIAX, PORTLAND, AUGUST - 2, 1903. W1M WO, M APMCA PRANK 3 CARPENTER ' ISSNT COMING If ANXIOUvf UT AWAITED AND PICTURED ifOWE OF VU BIG vUNT" THAT MAX BE EXPECTED Lunm v. 71 - ..ITT-' "T . :v .:' 4 : BT FRANK O. CARPENTER. I HAVE receired several letters asking as to the President's big game hunt tn Africa. I have heard of It here and there all the way down the east coast of the continent. The official! and sports men are talking about It, and all are holding out their hands to welcome the Nimrod ot the White House. I got the first Intimation of the Presidents plana, now more than a year ago, while I was traveling In the Sudan. They were be ing; discussed by a German baron and a British colonel belonging; to the Indian service as we were crossing the Nubian Aeeert together. The baron and the col onel were on their way up the Blue Kile to shoot Hons on the border" of Abyssinia and they believed that the President might find excellent sport there. hile at Khartum I had a talk with the sirdar ' or governor-general, who was also commander-in-chief of the troops of the Su dan, and learned that he would be glad -to have our President sample the big game of the Anglo-Egyptian possessions. When I arrived in British East Africa a few months later I was told that the President would surely come there, and I heard the same story In German East Africa, both at Mwansa on Lake" Vic toria and at Dar es Salaam below Zan zibar. The German officials can assure Mr. Roosevelt a good bag of giraffes. hippopotami and elephants, and the same ii true of British central Ainca ana northwestern Rhodesia. Indeed the Preel dent's coming seems to have been anlicl' cated for some months and the officials ar.d sportsmen are awaiting his advent and to see him change his coat or arms from the "Teddy Bear" to the "Teddy Lion," "Teddy Elephant" or "Teddy Hip popotamus. Big Game In Sudan. The aeneral opinion is that the Pnesl' dent will leave New York for Gibraltar and Naples, ana tnai ne win mere lajie on3 of the German East African steam ers and go down to Mombasa, beginning his hunting expedition in British East Africa. This can be easily and com fortably done. There are steamers every week and the trip to Mombasa will take lss than a mcnth. The fare I should say would be about $300. A far better trip, however, will be to go to Egypt and up the Nile Into the Sudan. Alexandria can be reached at a cost of $150 in a little over two weeks, and an other four or five days will put the Presl dentlal party in Khartum ready to take a steamer up the Blue Nile to the borders of Abyesslnla. They may even extend their travels into that country, and if so the President's friend. King Menellk, will be glad to send native soldiers, hun ters and porters to aid In the chase. For ordinary persons the license to shoot big game in the Sudan costs) $200, but the freedom of the country will prob ably be awarded to our President, and he will be allowed to shoot without limit such birds and animals as are not on the prohibited list. The laws of the Sudan provide that no one may capture or kill giraffes, zebras, ostriches, wild' asses, or rhinoceroses. The holder of a $2U0 li cense can kill two elephants, two elands, two kudus, four buffaloes, four hippo potami and about 10 of the various kinds of gazelles and antelopes. In Abyssinia there are no restrictions on shooting, and there are parts of the Sudan where any number of hippopota mi may be captured or killed. In ad dition to big gam there are In the upper Sudan large numbers of birds and also wild sheep and small ante lopes, so that the hunting is practi cally unlimited. In case the President goes there he will probably charter a special steamer at Khartum and live upon it during the intervals of the chase. Hunting in Uganda. Returning to Khartum the President can go via the Red Sea to Mombasa .or he can outfit for Khartum and take a lit tle steamer on the White Nile for Gondo koro, more than 1000 miles up the liver, and thence on via Uganda into Brltsh East Africa. The trip by way of the Red Sea will take him between two and three weeks, and the Uganda Journey will be thrice as long. The latter trip, however, is by far the better, as he wlil have a chance to shoot big game all the way. At Gondokoro he will be In a country swarming with hip popotami and crocodiles, and a little far ther on will strike rhinos, elephants, lions and all sorts of wild beasts. He should write in advance to the authorities of Uganda for licenses and permission to hunt within the limits of that protector ate: and they will undoubtedly send sol diers to meet him on the border, while the Sidar of the Sudan will give him an escort and 'all assistance on the Upper White Nile. Leaving the ship at Gondo koro he will have to go on mules, or on foot to Nlmull, a march of only a few days: and there he will get small boats which will take him to Lake Albert, In the Uganda protectorate. If he wishes, he can be met at Lake Albert by Jinrikl shas from Entebbe: and a couple of weeks will give him time for a leisurely run through the protectorate with chance shots at ail sorts of big game. Ue will see chimpanzees and colobue monkeys and baboons of all sorts. On . the way are great herds of sebras, wild buffaloes and nearly every known type of the African antelopes. There are wild asses like those of Nubia and three horned and five-horned giraffes. Sir Henry Johnston claims that there are okapl In Western Uganda, and I know that lions and leopards are everywhere to be found. There are no restrictions as to hunting lions, and it will be strange if the President and Kermlt, who, I un derstand, is to go with him, do not kill several ot the Uganda species. As to the elephants, they are found all over the country, and a certain number of them may be shot by each sportsman, when properly licensed. The laws, how ever, prevent the killing of cow elephants or baby elephants, and. as a general rule, none of the females of the big game can be hunted, killed or captured when ac companied by their young. The party will meet with many rhinoc eroses and will have to be careful to keep to the windward of them. The Uganda rhinoceros is stupid and almost blind, but it can smell like a bloodhound. and it will charge against the wind. I met one man. In South Africa who had shot a white rhinoceros. 3?hls was in Rhodesia, and I am not sure whether any such are to be found in Uganda. I am told the rhinoceros there is timid and J that he will not charge unless he Is shot at. The animals go alone and are seldom seen in parties or droves. They are huge beasts with two great horns on their nose. There is a big horn just over the nose rising almost at right angles with the mouth, with a small horn behind It. The longest rhinoceros horn on record measures almost four feet, and some are frequently secured which are from 3$ to 42 inches. About Lake Victoria. During the trip across Uganda the President will probably visit Mount El gon, an extinct volcano, about which there is excellent hunting,- and will then go to Jlnga. where the water of Victor! Nyanza flows out. forming the Nile. At that point the fishing is good and there is good sport shooting the birds, among which is the whale-headed stork. Cross ing from there to Kampala, the capital of Uganda, the President will go on to Entebbe and thence sail over the lake to Port Florence, where the Uganda railway ends and whence he can go down into British East Africa. I should by all means advise the party to take a trip around Victoria Nyanza be fore going south. This body of water Is bigger than Lake Superior, and hippopot ami may be seen in the papyrus reeds almost anywhere along its shores. There are lions and leopards in the woods, and one haa no trouble to get a shot at monkey. There are some wild beaBts on the islands of the lake, and on Ukerewe there is a herd ot elephants. At Bukoba there are a German commander and sev eral German officials; and at Mwanza, the southernmost port, there is a fine set of German officers, who will be glad to accompany the President on any big game excursion he may care to under take. At all of these ports there are natives who may be hired to carry the camp equipment and guns, and there will be no trouble in getting them to chase up the wild animals. The trip around the lake la comfortable. The steamers are small, but the food is good, and the storms are seldom so great as to affect one a digestion. Germans and President. In going down the Uganda road toward the ocean the Presidential party might get off at Vol and tramp across to the slopes or Mount Kilimanjaro In German East Africa. I am told there are many elephants in that region and that big game of all kinds abounds. This is so in many parts of the German colony. The officials there are great sportsmen and they will welcome the President. During my stay at Dar es Salaam I had chats with the governor and his chief officials. They are anxious that the President should oome and will be glad to go about with htm and make his stay pleasant. I have heard from another source that there is some talk of the Kaiser visiting German East Africa at the same time in order to go hunting with the President. The two men have about the same tastes; they are both fairly good shots and the stories of how they have chased the lions or the lions have chased them would be read with avidity all over the country. As for myself, I doubt the possibility of the German Emperor leaving Europe; but it will be rememoerea mat he has alreadv gone as far as the Medltteranean and there Is no telling. what either he or our President will do. In British East Africa. Coming back to Port Florence, the President hud best go down the Uganda Railroad to Nairobi, the capital of British East Africa, and make that his headquarters during his hunting in that territory. British East Africa has ore big game than any other part of the continent; and so much hunting Is done that It Is no trouble to outfit or to know where to hunt. -There are mercantile firms which make a busi ness of supplying hunting parties, and there are men who will take charge of everything at so much per month or I rcm ttat appica. Ml x ' I'll ..rir ....... , . - . 5T3 Sir. S v M 1 v ' L ,-V ' " fm lilt 1 1 IV'-- - , iiYfOC, I " 1 liK" .Vf-- ci.''i I l v Jill l.' I JaissS",,, i- salmon. Indeed, i Jgass- I pr0p0rtion to Us at so much per hunt. The expenses are considerable. I should think It would cost the President 40 or $50 per day for every member of his party; and without he has special privileges given him each member will have to pay, in addition, a license of $250 for the privi lege tf shooting the big game. Such licenses are now bringing from $50,000 to $100,000 a year to the government, and thev are looked upon as a live source of revenue. They are paid by the nobility of England and all others who shoot; but it may be that there will be an exception in the case of President Roosevelt. ' As to good company, there will be no trouble about thut in British East Africa, There are no end of famous people who hunt there every season and some of the nobility of England have large estates with game preserves. Lord Delamere, one of these, is famous shot, and so is Lord Hindllp, who owns tens of thousands of acres In the Rift Valley. I have already written of our Pike County millionaire, William McMillan, formerly of Mis souri. He has an estate of 20,000 acres right in the best game region, and his wife now and then goes out and shoots a Hon In the back yard. There la a chance to pop over a hippo potamus or a rhinoceros in the garden patch before breakfast, and there are herds of antelopes and zebras on the plantations. Mr. McMillan has an auto mobile with which the President might run down the zebras, or. In case of an unanccessful trouble with a Hon, re treat in a masterful way. Seriously speaking, the big game of British East Africa is numerous and varied beyond description. The Uganda Railway, which runs for about 60J miles from the Indian Ocean to Lake Vic toria right through the country, is lined with antelopes, zebras, gnus and wild ostriches, and one frequently sees giraffes, Hons and rhinoceroses from the car windows. There is far more game visible in a ride over that road than the numDer or came ana nogs in a journey tnrougn me Dest stocx-rais- Ing portions of the United States. ; Hunting In Rhodesia. One of the tine hunting grounds still left on the African continent is Barotseland, now known as Northwest ern Rhodesia. The President might reach this by going westward through German East Africa to Lake Tangan yika, and thence making his way down that lake on the small steamers now plying to the southern end. From there he could march overland to the Broken Hill mines, or it may be that the Cape- to-Calro Railroad will be extended much further north by the time he reaches there. It he should not care to go further into German East Africa, he can take ship at Dar es Salaam and go down Into the Mozambique Channel, landing at Beira, in Portuguese East Africa. From there two or three days on a good railroad will bring him here to Buluwayo and thence to the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi. These falls are equal to It not greater in beauty than Niagara, and the President should by all means see them. From Victoria the train will take him northward across the Kafue River Into Barotseland, when he will be in a game country which affords excellent sport. I have met the Governor of that ter ritory since I came here. He is a cele brated hunter and has killed many Hons and rhinoceroses. He tells me that Barotseland has antelope of all kinds, and also many giraffes, zebras, buffa loes, hippopotami, elands, kudus, lions, cheetahs and leopards. There are numerous wild birds, and In the Zam besi and the Kafue there Is fairly good fishing. Sport With Natives. In northwestern Rhodes! the President may have a chance to hunt native fashion. The negroes there are experts, and they kill all aorta of game, from wild hogs to rhinoceroses. They hunt at the close of the Summer, first, setting fire to the high grass and burning over the whole country. As the grass sprouts up in the swampy places the game goes there to feed, and the natives lay In wait and shoot it with their bows and arrows or kill it with spears. They also stretch great nets across the paths or drives. Into which they chase the game, and when the animals become entangled they rush in and spear them. These nets are made of vines and fiber and are sometimes two miles In length. It will Interest the President to see how they snoot Hons and leopards by means of traps. The most common lion trap is a noose baited with meat and so arranged that when tne lion grabs the meat he is caught by the noose, and in Jerking away pulls the trigger of a gun which hangs down from above. The gun is so fixed that when it goes oft the beast receives the ball just back of the neck and is killed. In trapping leopards the gun is set at an angle ot 45 degrees, so that the animal is shot through the brain. As to fishing. I am told -there is no sport like catching the tiger fish 'of the Zambesi. This fish often weighs sb much as 25 pounds, and It is as gamey as a it Is far more so In weight, for it Is said that a four-pound Zambesi tiger will yield more excitement than a 40-pound salmon. The tiger fish is dark blue on the back, white on the belly, and it has five or six blue stripes on the eldes. Its fins and tall are red. The best places to fish for It are from an Island, or below a rocky bar, in about three feet of water. The fish takes almost ahy, kind -of a glittering, spinning bait, and a good way to catch it Is to troll for it or cast with a hook ZEBRA. with a spoon fastened to the line by a steel wire. The lines have to be carefully made, and nothing but wire" Is of any good In connection with the hook, for the tiger will cut a gut or twine line to pieces with Its teeth. Great care must be used in extracting the hook, and It Is well to kill the fish first. Its teeth are sharp, and, if one is not careful, he may lose a finger. The tiger fish is as full of bones as a shad, but it does either the salmon or shad It affords, and there are many African' fish which are better to taste. Season for Hunting. Down here In Rhodesia the President! will find the Winter months of from July to November the best time for his visit.! Then the rainy season is over, the grass1 Is grown up and been burned off anil tliel new grass Is Just shooting. The game now comes out of the woods and bushesi to graze, and there are practically no ln- Beets or mosquitoes. There Is no danger of fever at this time, although I would1 suggest that the President go nowhere tn! Africa wltrtout mosquito nets, and that he; put them up whether out on the plains or in the cars, when there Is the least danger. j In British East Africa almost any time! of the year except the rainy season Willi furnish excellent hunting. The big game! country Is so near the equator that the; temperature Is about the same all the; year round. This Is also true or uganaa.. not compare with . and, as for the Sudan, the best time there ad as a table fish. I Is In the heart of our Winter. About its only virtue is the sport which Bulawayo. July How. a Man Feels When He Flies i T'S AN entirely new sensation. This swift, free glide of an aero plane is more exhileratlng than the fastest automobile or yacht - or the speediest horse. It's the greatest sport In the world." This enthusiastic testimony is given by A. M. Herring, of New York, one of the oldest and most successful builders of aeroplanes. It Is generally conceded that the flying machine haa ar rived and that within a few years the new means of locomotion will be com- I paratlvely common. It is already pos sible to describe' the new sensation of flying from actual experience. The highest praise of any form of rapid locomotion has always been that it is "like flying." A fast automobile or horse or train is said to' "fairly fly," to "go like the wind." The aeroplane makes it pos sible for the first time In human experi ence to actually go like the wind and to fairly fly. One may feel something of this feeling In a swing, In a rapidly as cending elevator or a balloon. This sen sation of rising clear ot the earth is not new, but the experience of actually soaring or sliding through the air is, of course, entirely new.. There is nothing with which to compare it. And, accord ing to Mr. Herring, who haa enjoyed the experience several times, an aeroplane ride Is the most fascinating thing in the world. An aeroplane leaves the. earth, as a rule, at an easy angle, moving with great speed, so that the passenger finds him self in the air before he can well realize It. If the rise or fall of the plane be in the breath one feels in a rapidly as cending- or descending elevator. A sud den rise or fall of this kind may occur on a windy day, when the aeroplane may rlBe or fall as much as 40 feet One soon becomes accustomed to the feeling. Once In motion well off the earth there la a feeling of Independence and freedom difficult to describe. In a fast automo bile, for Instance, no matter how perfect the tires or the road, there Is always more or less jarring, and one la conscious at all times of the support beneath. There is a freedom of movement on an aero- plane which goes beyond the finest auto mobillng. There Is, of course, more or less vibration from the engines of the areoplane, but the machine seems self centered and independent. The aeroplane adds a new dimension to one's move ments. An automobile or horse or train can move only on one plane. An aero plane can move to right or left and up and down as well, and consequently the feeling of Independence of all earthly en vironment. In long Journeys by aeroplane many people will doubtless suffer from air sick ness. Just as on a ship they sunrer irom sea sickness. The motion or a nying ma chine is very similar at times to that of a ehlp, although traveling at a much higher rate of speed. In passing through a gusty wind an aeroplane will roll and pitch much the same as a ship In a chop py sea. Ordinarily, however, the aero plane will glide in a series of long, even pitches, which will give something the same sensation as swinging. The aero plane Is not only likely to pitch and roll, but her course Is usually In a slightly waving line like that of a fast torpedo boat. An aeroplane, especially the American type, rights itself much more quickly than a ship. The type of machine built by Mr. Herring, except in very high winds, main tains an almost perfect keel. The dis turbances of the air, however, are so much more rapid and violent than the waves of the sea that some motion la al most inevitable. In an air wave the par ticles usually move in a rotary motion; such a wave Is almost always cyclonic In nature. Then again the axis of an air wave may be at any angle and may change about with great rapidity. An air wave again is twice the height of a water wave. It is only when the air waves grow very violent that the aeroplane will roll and pitch. In passing from an area of con siderable disturbance to a quiet zone an aeroplane may rise or fall as much as 40 feet. The sensation in taking such a wave or roller will be exactly like the catch In the breath in a rapidly falling or rising elevator. An experienced pilot can often see a great air wave approach ing and humor his aeroplane to meet It.l In flying over the water an experienced eye can detect the approach of such a1 wave by the motion of the water. It 1st possible to tell from the motion of the tree tops very often the nature of th air waves well ahead. Mr. Herring, when guldir his own1 aeroplane, has found time to look about him and enjoy the flight. An aeroplane is' likely to take up less of the pilot's at-; tentlon than does an automobile of 11.4 chauffeur. The engines work largely u-( tomatlcaliy. requiring little attention. The1 front planes of the aeroplane may be set and even the steering apparatus left to care for Itself. It Is often possible to let go of the steering levers altogether tnr considerable intervals, leaving both hands free to adjust the engines. The passen ger Is left free to enjoy the smooth gilds' of the car while watching the earth slip' swiftly and silently beneath him. The speed of an aeroplane Is equal to that of a very fast automobile. The rush of air. It has been found, strikes one's face with even more force than when moving with the same speed on land or sea. Mr. Herring has therefore equipped his machine with a wind guard, which protects the face. , The anation of flying, once experi enced, cays Mr. Herring, will never be forgotten. There are no speed limitations tn the air, no bad roads, no obstructions. Once well under way on the aeroplane ay feeling of freedom and elation awaits the passenger which no mere earthly experi ence can Imitate. The fascination of automoblllng, of sailing, of fast driving become tame by comparison. The fasti automobile which is passing up and down! hill, over perfect roads without any sense of effort approaches the feeling of fiylngj A fast yacht flying before the wind on aj smooth sea suggests it In a measure. The smooth glide of a graceful skater is an-l other comparison. An aeroplane flight1 has the charm of all of these sensations,! but with the speed greatly increased, without any sense of effort and with the Indescribable exhilaration of being entire ly above the earth.
