XV. FISH AND AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS
The sea, estuaries, rivers, lakes, brooks, and ponds often yield an acceptable supply of food to the explorer, who usually adopts the most effective means of securing his prey, without troubling his head much as to whether the mode of capture is strictly sportsmanlike or not. The inhabitants of little known waters are not, as a rule, particularly shy in taking a bait; but some investigation will at times be needed to discover what description of fish are procurable before a successful plan for capturing them can be put in force. Sea fish are generally to be taken with small fish, pieces of fish, fish entrails; shellfish, such as mussels, clams, limpets, cockles, &c.; small strips of salt pork rind, the lug worms from the sand, and the rag worms from beneath stones and drift wood. Artificial baits, too, are often used with much advantage. The bowl of a common pewter spoon, mounted with a pair or three strong hooks, tied back to back, is an extremely killing lure for most predatory fish in both fresh and salt water. To mount and prepare one of these, it will be requisite to cut off the handle of the spoon close to the bowl. Drill a small hole just inside the point from which the stem has been taken off, and another at the small end. Loop through the hole at the large end a piece of strong fine line, about 4ft. long, and to this attach a swivel; then loop on 3ft. more line of the same description to the first swivel, and to the end of this attach a second swivel. A loop fastened to the end ring of this serves to attach the trace and spoon to the main line by. Gut or gimp may be used, instead of ordinary line, when it is desirable to fish "fine." The hooks, either in the form of a "triangle" or simple pair, must be of size proportioned to the description of fish they are intended to catch; and, when securely attached to a 3-in. piece of very strong double gut, should be fastened to the hole in the small end of the spoon. When used with a rod the spoon is spun with, after the manner of any other spinning bait; but when used from a boat or canoe a lead of sufficient weight must be attached to the trace, in order to keep it some considerable distance below the surface, when, as the boat is urged onwards, its rapid revolutions and glittering, flickering play prove most fatally attractive. Many of the pearl-shell baits used by the South Sea Islanders are much the same in principle, only that the hooks they use are usually of shell, wood, or bone. [Illustration] Boneta and albecore are at times taken in considerable numbers by making use of a rude imitation of the flying fish; and the form of this contrivance (represented at Fig. 4 in the accompanying illustration) will show that one need not despair of catching fish because he has no fish hook. {Makeshift hooks.} A piece of oak or other hard wood, about 7in. long, is procured. This is cut slightly tapering towards the tail, like the body of a fish. About 1in. from the tail a hole is bored, and through this a strong sharp nail, such as carpenters use, is driven obliquely. A few turns of twine round the wood and nail serve to prevent shifting or splitting. The "head" end of the stick has a notch cut round it to fasten the line to, and secure a couple of strips of white rag in, so that the free ends may represent the wings or fins of the fish. This affair, when finished and attached to a strong line, is cast into the sea, and kept leaping from wave to wave, when it is greedily seized by the pursuing boneta or albecore, who discovers when too late that, instead of securing a rich and palatable flying fish, he has swallowed a nail instead. The Esquimaux make an excellent substitute for a fish hook by scraping a strip of whalebone round and fine, and then binding on a piece of hard, finely-pointed bone at an acute angle, with a strip of sinew or split ground willow, as shown at Fig. 3. A sail needle may be made to do duty for a hook by attaching it to the line, as shown at Fig. 2.
The albatross can be conveniently taken when following a ship at sea by the use of a baited sailmaker's hook. The point holds in the curved portion of the bird's beak, whilst the swivel at its looped end prevents the line from twisting and becoming entangled. Fig. 1, p. 586, represents the manner in which this hook is formed.
The shanks of horse-nails make very good fish hooks. These, when filed down to the proper thickness, must be laid, one by one, in a narrow groove made in a piece of hard wood, and the barb struck up with a chisel or the sloped edge of a knife. One smart, well-directed blow on the instrument usually effects this. The point is now to be filed up sharp, the wire gently heated in the fire, and twisted with pliers--or, in the absence of these, a split stick--into proper hook form, when it is to be subjected to the case-hardening process. (See "Case-hardening.") Hooks of any size may be made in this way, merely taking care to use good tough iron for the purpose.
Stout, large-sized needles may be used straight for the capture of eels and some other kinds of fish. When so used, the line is firmly secured by waxed thread or silk to the centre of the needle, which is baited by drawing a large worm or other bait over both needle and line, which, when so prepared, lie in a line with each other. On the fish swallowing the bait and the line being drawn tight, the needle at once becomes fixed across the throat, and thus holds the captive until dragged to the shore. The needle is then easily withdrawn by pressing back one end with a bit of stick.
{Tackle, to select.}
We strongly advise the traveller to include in his list of stores a liberal supply of fish hooks of various sizes, for both sea and river fish, together with some strong brass swivels, a few hanks of stout gut, and fishing lines for river and sea fishing. The former should be of the kind known as prepared salmon line, and the latter hemp or cotton sea line. The sea lines should be all "barked" before use; any tanner will subject them to that process for a mere trifle. Lines so treated are infinitely more durable than those used in a raw state. It will sometimes happen that when separated from your stores, short of food, and with very few appliances with you, a catch of fish proves highly acceptable, and tackle of some kind has to be extemporised. We have had on many occasions to do this. Rods can be made very easily from tough sticks or bamboo canes. Fishing lines should never be put away wet, as they will soon decay, and become weak and unreliable. The most portable and convenient form of hand reel we have ever used is made as follows: Two pieces of well-seasoned wood are cut flat, like stout round-ended paper knives. [Illustration] Two holes are burned or bored in each, as at 1 in the annexed illustration; then two round bars are cut with points and shoulders, as at 2. A cork bung is then fashioned and bored in the centre, as at 3; the hole in this admits one of the round bars, and serves to stick the points of the hooks in. No. 4 represents the frame or reel put together, and shows the position of the bung and the loop of the line. The ends or shoulder pieces of the round bars are secured by small pins driven through them. Reels of this description afford free ventilation to the lines coiled on them. They can be taken asunder in an instant, and will pack in a very small space.
{Hints on tackle making.}
We made an excellent outfit for fly-fishing in the Crimea as follows: We selected a set of straight tough dog-wood sticks from the fascines for the joints of our rod; these were feruled with tubes made from preserved-meat tins cut and soldered. The rings were made from wire buttons with the thread covering cut off; the line from hair pulled from the horses' tails, twisted or laid up by the aid of a set of quill sticks, the use of which will be described as our work proceeds. The winch was made from a large-sized cotton reel mounted on a frame of forage hoop iron, and the handle from a piece of a broken Russian ramrod. We were often asked by envious fellow campaigners where we had picked up such an excellent fly-rod and fittings. Our having made it from the limited means at our disposal was never even suspected by them.
{A dinner extemporised.}
The following adventure will serve to illustrate the manner in which a little ingenuity will often procure a dinner. Our little party encamped one morning, after a very long fatiguing night march in Bengal, under the shelter of an immense banyan tree which grew on the banks of a deep reed-fringed lake. A small native village, situated at no great distance, had been pillaged and deserted some time before, and a miserable pariah dog or two wandering disconsolately about between the huts, and a few inquisitive-looking crows perched on the roofs, were the only living creatures to be discovered. No land of Canaan was this; commons of the very shortest kind stared us unpleasantly in the face. Still we had some bags of grain of the country, and a little "ghee" or native butter. An old corn mill, of the "quern" pattern before described, was foraged out from some forgotten nook or corner, and set to work preparing flour. A needle from the doctor's instrument case, when heated in the fire and bent to a proper form, made a very tolerable hook; a skein of his suture silk, a line; a bamboo cane, pulled from the roof of a hut, a rod; a bit of bark with a stick through it made a float; a few shot, split with a knife, sinkers; and some beetle larvæ, which were routed out of a decayed log, formed a very toothsome bait. The lake was clearly our larder, and to it we betook ourselves with as little delay as possible, the long cane over one shoulder, a double-barrelled gun over the other, and a leather bucket swung over the arm in lieu of a fishing creel. No Waltonian enticements in the shape of ground bait were needed here; the bait was hardly out of sight before the float vanished, and then, on the "haul devil, pull baker" principle, out our floundering victims came amongst the sedges and reeds. A shrill blast on our railway whistle not only brought one of the sable camp followers to carry the welcome capture to the cook, but roused six or eight large grey wild ducks, which had lain like so many water rails amongst the tall reeds, and sent them with outstretched necks and whistling wing wheeling round the lake, when by dropping under a hollow bank and keeping well down we lulled suspicion, and the flock come cutting the air right overhead. Now is our time, and, pitching the heavy double well before them, we let drive in rapid succession the two charges of big shot. Three thumping ducks come like clods to the earth; a few feathers drift off on the wind far in the rear of the survivors, who do not linger on the wing; and little did we care where their flight might lead them--our hunter's dinner had been earned, and in less than two hours from its obtainment was duly cooked, eaten, and its merits discussed.
{Alligators, to catch.}
A very effective contrivance for taking caymans or alligators was made use of by Waterton's followers in British Guiana. The annexed illustration represents a modification of it. Two or more tough fire-hardened sticks are notched at the large end like the head of a tent peg, and barbed at the point like a straightened fish hook. The notched ends are bound fast with raw hide lashings to a stout rope, which has been served for about 6ft. or 7ft. with stout wire. When this contrivance is to be used, the barbed tines and rope are thickly wound round with the entrails of some animal, and then suspended just above the water by supporting the rope on an upright crutch, which is so adjusted as to give way on the bait being taken. When the whole mass has been pouched by the alligator, and the rope is hauled on, the tines open, catch across the gullet, and act as a hook. We have heard of alligators being destroyed by inclosing a canister of powder, with the wires of a galvanic battery attached to it, in the offal of any animal; this, when fitted with a line and float, was cast into the water, and, on a bite being perceived, the connection of the circuit was made, when the alligator was shattered by the force of the explosion which followed.
{Alligators, to baffle.}
Alligators are incorrigible pests to the fisherman, waiting until the fish is securely hooked, and then carrying it off, line and all. The following plan is the best we know to baffle the greedy marauders. Strong flexible sticks, like small fishing rods, are to be cut, taking care to select such as have lateral branches some distance down. One of these is to be cut to about 2in. from the main stem, and a notch made in its end for a button on the line to catch in, as shown in the above illustration. This, when freed by the biting of the fish, allows the rod to spring smartly up, and swing the fish high enough to be beyond the reach of the prowling pirate.
{Liggers and trimmers.}
A variety of fish may be taken in ponds and lakes by the use of inflated bladders, of which several can be used at once. They are thus prepared. The bladder, after being well filled with air by blowing into it through a quill or bit of cane, must have its neck securely tied up with twine, and to this fastening a piece of stick the size of the little finger must be attached, so that it forms a sort of stem-like appendage to the bladder. The line, with the baited hook attached, is now to be knotted fast to the centre of the stem, and then wound on it just as thread is wound on a reel. The lower end of the stick or stem must now have a slit made in it. The line, when pulled into this, should have just a sufficient length to hang freely in the water. The bladder is now to be taken to the windward side of the pond or lake, and cast adrift. On the bait being seized by the fish, the line is jerked from the slit. The bladder, revolving on its own axis, allows the coil to unwind from the stem, and from its extreme buoyancy soon tires out the largest captive, whose position it serves to indicate to the fisherman, who gathers up his prizes at his leisure from his canoe or reed boat. Bundles of rushes, large corks, empty bottles, and a number of other things, can be used as substitutes for the bladders. Contrivances of this kind are commonly called "trimmers" or "liggers." Large turnips are often used by poachers to mount lines on for the capture of pike in preserves, as, unless rather experienced hands, the keepers do not suspect the dangerously destructive character of these floating roots.
On the Vaal River, in South Africa, we caught barbel up to 27lb. weight by thus using an empty powder canister; but it was anchored in mid stream by a stone not heavy enough to prevent a large fish from dragging it. This was left all night, and if in the morning it was missing from its place, a black boy was sent up or down to discover it. Our canoe was then launched, and the prize secured. If barbel were fished for, the hook was allowed nearly to reach the bottom; if otherwise, it was kept but a little below the surface. Frogs were generally used as bait. If the fisherman is not occupied as we were by other work, and can spare the time, or does not possess a canoe, he may make fast a sufficiently strong hauling line, and so bring his capture to the shore whenever he wishes. The method of arranging this contrivance is shown in the preceding illustration.
{Otters, to make.}
"The otter" is another contrivance with which great numbers of fish are often taken, and thus it is made: Procure a piece of very light strong wood, and from it fashion a board 22in. long, 9in. wide, and 2in. thick. Trim the ends to a sharp edge, and round them off in boat form. Then, on that portion which would correspond with the keel of a boat, fasten a long strip of lead of the same thickness as the board, and so adjust its weight that, when your board with its lead keel on is placed in water, about 1in. only of the upper edge appears above the surface. Two holes are then to be bored at each end, and through these two separate strings are to be passed, and the ends so knotted as to prevent them from pulling through the holes. The loops thus formed must be just long enough to come in contact in the centre of the board. Four knots will thus be on one side of the board, and the loops the other. A 4-in. piece of very strong, stiff brass wire must now be used to connect the two loops, and on this a stout ring must be placed so that it may travel forward and back on the wire. To this ring the main line on which the hooks are fastened is to be attached by a loop and swivel. To work the otter, it will be necessary to launch it in the water, and walk away along the bank until it runs out with the line, which is coiled on a wooden frame or reel and carried in the hand. The otter travels backward or forward according to the direction in which the string or line is pulled, and is in principle much like a paper kite, the loops performing the part of the "belly-band."
{Ground lines, to manage.}
Ground lines often well repay the trouble bestowed on setting them. They are best made of strong, fine hempen line. A heavy rifle ball or other suitable weight must be fastened to one end, and a pointed peg to the other. A number of hooks on twisted horsehair traces are to be looped on, at equal distances apart, at the end nearest the sinker. The line when duly baited and pegged fast to the bank is to be taken on a long fork-ended stick, so that the end has a swing of about 8ft. or 9ft. With this the baits and sinker can be cast a very long distance out; and when it is requisite to take up the line to re-bait or take off fish, the fork is again made use of to draw it over, and thus keep the hooks clear of the bank. When using a night line, it is a good plan to fasten the shore end to a tough branch twisted in the form shown in the annexed illustration, as by the play it affords when the fish makes a sudden rush the line is saved from being broken.
{Traveller, to make.}
Wide pools in rivers and the stretches of sea beach frequented by fish at the rising of the tide are conveniently fished by the use of a "traveller." This is simply a double line with one half only mounted with hooks. It is thus used: At dead low water a heavy stone is procured, and round it is placed a piece of strong cord, to the end of which is fastened a link of chain, the bow of an old key, a slice from the end of a marrow bone, or a common curtain ring; and through this one end of the doubled line is passed, and brought back to the standing place of the fishermen. As the tide flows and approaches the shore, that half of the line without hooks is drawn in, which, of course, causes the drawing out of that half provided with them. A small cross stick knotted to the centre of the line prevents the first hook from passing through the ring and causing entanglements. As fish are caught, or the bait requires renewing, the line is hauled out and pulled back again to its old position without the trouble of casting. By this method a much larger space can be covered by the tackle than could be commanded by the ordinary method.
{Harpoon arrow.}
The harpoon arrow is at times a very effective means of securing fish, especially when they are basking on the surface of the water or among the weeds. The arrow-head is made from a large-sized sea-fish hook, heated in the fire and straightened. This when cut to the right length is secured to the shaft of the arrow with waxed thread. A small loop is also fastened on, to attach the harpoon line by. This should be composed of very fine strong line; and when about to be used it is coiled carefully away in a small wooden bowl or calabash. The bow should be rather short, and of considerable power. A little practice at floating corks or other light substances will soon serve to teach the method of discharging the harpoon and adjusting the line.
{Basket fish traps.}
Basket traps, of different forms of construction, are much used by Indians for the taking of fish. Some are simple in the extreme, and much resemble a lady's crinoline. With it the native wades about in the wide shallow lakes, keeping the bell-shaped mouth downwards, and frequently striking the bottom with it. When a fish happens to become inclosed, it immediately darts off and endeavours to escape; but its head coming in contact with the side of the basket, the shock is at once felt by the wader, who thrusts his bare arm down through the small or upper opening of his contrivance, and so secures his victim, who, when a strip of vine or ground cane has been passed through his gills, is allowed to trail after his captor. On the Zambesi the women wade in the clear shallow water with a funnel-shaped basket, the smaller end of which is prolonged by a pole or handle. When a fish is seen, the wide lower end of the basket is at once darted down upon him, and he is captured at leisure.
Wicker cages of trumpet form, constructed much on the principle of the ordinary eel basket, appear common amongst the aborigines of nearly every part of the world. Some we once discovered when hunting in the Bheel country were of most elegant form, and woven entirely from the finely-split fibres of single bamboo joints, the knot being left entire at one end, to form a ring through which the bait is introduced. By some tribes of North American Indians long rods are used to form these, just as we employ willows. Some traps made in this way are very large. Huge baskets are often suspended and secured beneath waterfalls in the run of the salmon, which on missing their leap fall back into these traps. When a sufficient number have been inclosed, the Indians, armed with short clubs, enter the baskets and despatch the ill-fated fish, which are then cast out on the rocks to the dusky ladies of the tribe, who are waiting to receive them. On the Zambesi, the B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] River near Lake Ngami, and in North Australia, the natives are very ingenious in the construction of dams or weirs; and creels or trap baskets are skilfully placed at the outlets. Some of these are of stiff reeds or osiers; others, of rushes so flexible as to be merely a bag or net. Long semicircular pounds are, by the natives of some countries, constructed of sticks and twigs between high and low water marks. The fish, getting embayed within these, are left high and dry as the tide falls, and are gathered up before the return of the waves.
{Dams, weirs, and spears.}
Dams and fishing weirs are built across streams by the inhabitants of most countries. At these the fish are either entrapped in hutches furnished with bars, on the eel-basket or sparrow-cage principle, shot with arrows, scooped up in hoop nets, or speared with hand spears of various forms. Some of these are perfectly simple in construction, whilst others are remarkably ingenious and curious. The annexed illustration (Fig. 1) represents one much used by the inhabitants of northern regions for the capture of the salmon. By the Esquimaux these implements are made principally of horn. The handles are of drift wood, neatly bound together with strips of tendon. The centre spikes are of sharpened bone, whilst the barbs in the jaws of the spear are usually made from two common iron nails, obtained by burning chance fragments of wreck. Fig. 2 represents the trout spear of the trappers. The tines are of steel, set in an iron head-piece.
Many of the natives of Africa and Australia are very skilful in the construction of dams and weirs. We have seen in some rivers the smaller channels effectually blocked against the passage of fish, which have at first been gently led--by very slight obstructions, and then forced by impassable barriers, narrowing like a funnel as they went on--to take the desired course, at the end of which creels or basket traps, sometimes of soft rushes, or in other cases of twigs or cane, have been set to receive them; while in sluggish waters, such as the B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] River at Lake Ngami, long zigzag fences of reeds are set up, inclosing a considerable space, and narrowing gradually to several funnel-shaped outlets, at each of which one or more creels are set, belonging to various families. Openings are left in the lines for the ordinary passage of canoes; but when a "take" is to be made these are carefully closed, and the canoes in deep water, with a promiscuous medley of waders in the shallows, form an extended line, gradually closing in and driving the fish toward the traps. Most of the creels are pointed at the farther end, so that the fish wedging themselves in cannot escape, and in all the mouth is armed with a set of elastic reeds like the wires of a mouse-trap, allowing free ingress, but opposing any return. [Illustration:1-3] Fig. 1 shows a Zambesian creel of this class, and several of them are annually washed away by some unexpected rise of the river, and either carried over the falls or washed ashore on rocks or points of land near them. Fig. 2 is ingeniously made of a pole of bamboo, as before mentioned, which is carefully split in the direction of its fibre, into any number of thin rods or strips, care being taken to leave the last joint or internode intact, so that they all remain connected like branches springing from one root; they are then opened out, bent into the proper form, and either laced together with smaller cross pieces of cord or fine rattan, or the strips themselves are often interwoven or plaited so as to form a most elaborate piece of artistic basket work. Fig. 3 is a creel or trap extemporised with three iron hoops, four poles to keep them at a proper distance apart, and sufficient spunyarn to form a net round them; there is an entrance at each end, and, as these are also formed of yarn, their ends must be kept in form and position by lines stretched tightly between them.
{Fishing lines, to make.}
Fishing lines can be made of a variety of materials. Prepared sea-weed of a particular description is extensively used by some of the coast Indians of North-West America. Wild hemp is also made use of by them; narrow strips of hide are in use for some kinds of fishing amongst the Esquimaux; whilst yucca, aloe, and pineapple fibres are made available in tropical countries. The inner bark of trees and the hair of animals, horses especially, are materials well adapted for the purpose. To twist this into traces for fastening hooks to, in the absence of silkworm gut, a common pocket knife can be conveniently used, as shown at Fig. 1 in the annexed illustration. When a hair line of many strands, of considerable length and free from knots, is required, recourse may be had to "quill sticks," as they are called (Fig. 2). [Illustration: 1-4] These are made as follows: Three pieces of deal, or any other light wood, are to be cut to the size of common penholders, and to 4in. in length; one end of each is to be very slightly tapered, and have a half-inch piece of quill fitted to it like a "float cap." Supposing a twelve-hair line is wanted, that number of hairs from an "entire horse's" tail are knotted together at one end, and then all the free ends at the other are to be cut to uneven lengths; four are then placed in each quill, and a stick put in to hold them fast. The knotted end is then secured to a fixed point by a pin, and the sticks laid side by side in the left hand. The right-hand stick is now taken up by the forefinger and thumb of the right hand, the proper twist given to the united strands, and the stick passed over the other two, so that it may lay the third in the row. The next stick is now taken up, twisted, and passed on in the same way, drawing out the hairs from under the cap as the strand shortens until a hair is free of the cap, when another is inserted in its stead, taking care to keep all the lengths uneven. To taper the line, drop a hair from time to time until the line is long enough, when the protruding ends are nipped off. The line will then be fit for use. The above engraving will explain the arrangement of the sticks, quills, &c., and the way in which the horsehairs are inserted. Many descriptions of fibre admit of being twisted in the same manner. Fig. 3 shows the manner in which wires are twisted by the aid of a winch handle and hollow stick; Fig. 4, the way in which a ring can be taken from the finger by the aid of a bit of twisted line. The finger is bound above the ring, and the free end used to draw off the ring, like the worm of a screw.
{Silkworm gut, to make.}
Very strong serviceable lines can be made from almost any of the endless number of vegetable fibres to be obtained by soaking the stems of plants or the inner bark of trees, and then "laying them up," as it is called, which is done by forming the number of strands intended for twisting by dividing a small hank of fibres equally, and then, after imparting the required degree of twist to the strand nearest to the right hand, passing it over the other to the extreme left, and so on, laying in fresh fibres as they are needed. The Indians often twist their lines on the thigh under the hand, as shown in the annexed illustration. The surplus twist may be taken out of all lines by fastening one end to a tree or other fixed point, and then, after having taken a turn round a piece of smooth stick, walking backwards until all the line has been passed under a moderate strain round the stick. In such countries as produce silk-yielding caterpillars, excellent lines may be made from the silk wound directly from the cocoons, and then twisted into thread. "Silkworm gut" can also be obtained wherever silk-spinning worms are met with. To make it, a number of the caterpillars are to be collected just prior to their time of spinning. These are to be placed in a pot or other convenient vessel, containing a mixture of vinegar and water in equal quantities; they are then to be covered down and allowed to stand about twelve hours. A worm may be then taken out, opened, and tested as to its fitness for drawing. If, on pulling the yellowish green coils which will be found within it to their full extent and extreme length, they break from softness of texture, the worms must be allowed to remain in the vessel some time longer, temperature having much to do with the condition of the pickled insects. When the coils are found to be tough, and stand stretching fully out, one end of the strand must be placed in a slit made in the end of a thin board or sheet of bark prepared for the purpose. The strand is now to be drawn and evenly stretched to the other end of the board, in which corresponding slits have been made, when the extremity of the gut is secured in one of them. When all the worms have been thus treated, the stretching board is to be placed in the sun, in order that the gut may dry, which it usually will in about twelve hours. It will now be found that a considerable quantity of yellow substance will remain adhering to the gut. This must be removed, and in order to do so dissolve a piece of common soap about the size of a musket ball in a gallon of rain water. Place this with the gut in it in a boiler, and boil it for ten minutes, when the gut must be turned out on a cloth to drain. Before cooling each strand must be lightly and smartly drawn through a pledget of cotton held between the finger and thumb, which will at once strip off the yellow coating; but great care must be taken not to press the softened strand hard enough to render it flat or curled. As fast as the strands are run through the cotton they must be replaced on the board and again dried in the sun, after which they can be selected as to size, quality, length, &c., and packed up in hanks by twisting cotton or any other kind of thread round them.
{Fishing nets.}
Nets of various forms have been in general use from periods of the most remote antiquity, and, so far as we know, no aboriginal people have yet been discovered who were ignorant of their use. The material and form of construction are found to vary with the region in which they are had recourse to, and the character of prey sought to be captured. Perhaps the most primitive form is that of the common hoop or landing net, so generally used on our coasts for catching shrimps. A forked pole, a net bag, and a little twine, are all that is required to construct one of these of efficient pattern. The two sticks constituting the fork are bent round towards each other, the two ends overlapped, and then lashed together. The net bag is then fastened on. A great number of modifications of this description of net are used, some worked by hand, and others raised from the water by mechanical contrivances. The following illustration represents a fishing raft and lever net as used by the natives of Ceylon and some other islands of the Eastern seas. Some of the Chinese fishermen construct engines much on the same principle; only, instead of raising the net by a rope and lever, a long plank is made use of. This runs along the centre of the fishing boat, and on it sits the fisherman waiting for the shoal to pass over the radius of his trap, when with a sudden backward movement he throws his whole weight on the extreme end of the balance-board on which he has been crouching, and thus raises the nets with a smart upward jerk. The trammel is another form of net of much value to the voyager and explorer. It simply consists of two nets--one coarse in the mesh, and the other comparatively fine--leaded at the bottom and corked at the top, and so moored with heavy stones that they may hang curtain-like in the water across the run of the stream or tide. The fish in their nocturnal wanderings dart against the first net, which is forced through the large meshes of the second, forming a sort of purse in which the fish are secured. Many others become entangled by the twine of the meshes, which in their efforts to escape gets under the gill covers and so holds them fast. Incredible quantities of fish are at times taken in nets of this kind. They are especially valuable on account of the ease with which they can be set and taken up, two men being sufficient for the performance of either operation. When a promising spot has been selected, the first anchor stone is cast over, together with a buoy line and large cork. The foot line, net, and cork line then follow, being cast evenly over by one man, whilst the other either rows or sculls slowly ahead. When all the net has been thus allowed to run out, the other end is secured by an anchor stone and indicated by a float. The spoils are secured in two ways. One is to raise the first anchor stone by the buoy line, and then gather in the net fold after fold, with all it may contain, in the bottom of the boat. The other is to raise one of the stones, pass it over the boat and allow it to sink again to the bottom, thus leaving the foot line and leads in the hands of the boatmen, who proceed to draw the boat along by it, clearing the net of fish, weeds, or entanglements as they go, and allowing the net to sink again as they proceed, until the whole length has been overhauled and re-set.
{"Tip-up," to make.}
A trammel net may be used under the ice by cutting two holes through it at a convenient distance apart. A pole is then passed from one to the other, as shown in the above illustration. The net is suspended from a set of rings which run freely on the pole, and ropes are rove so as to haul the net forward or back to either of the holes, at which the fish are taken out. When clear, the net is set again. Great numbers of fish may at times be taken by fishing with the hook through holes made in the ice. A contrivance known as a "tip up" is often used. The annexed illustration [Illustration] will serve to show the nature of the arrangement. A hole is bored in a piece of flat stick; through this a cross-pin is driven, leaving it long enough at the ends to rest across the hole in the ice. The line, hook, and bait are attached to one end of the flat stick, and a bit of coloured rag to the other. When the fish has taken the bait, the flag end of the stick tips up, and the little pendant flutters aloft and signals "fish caught here." A number of tip ups may be set at once, and are easily watched. When fishing with a common line at an ice hole it is well to rig up a little wigwam or break wind. Strips of cow's udder make excellent baits for use under the ice. Seals may be speared in their blow holes by waiting patiently over them. The form of the excavation in the ice made by the animal is shown in the annexed illustration; an examination of it will show that it is requisite that the harpoon or spear should be very carefully, yet powerfully, thrust down or the seal will probably escape.
The trunk or bow net is extremely useful for catching fish in comparatively narrow streams. These are long tunnel-shaped network bags, flared out widely at one end, and tapered to a pocket form at the other. Hoops of suitable size are made use of to keep the tube properly distended, and a mousetrap-like arrangement of meshes and twine prevents such fish as may enter from going back again. The purse end of the net is made to untie like a bag, and has a piece of rope and a stone fastened to it, so that the wide end of the net is always down stream and in the run of the fish, which is upwards. The larger descriptions of nets, such as seines, drift nets, trawls, dredges, &c., do not strictly come within the province of this work; still all vessels, and even large boats proceeding on surveying or exploring expeditions, should be furnished with both lines and nets. A small ground seine, Cornish pattern, and a light trammel, such as are made and sold by the French, will occupy but little space, and pay well for taking. A few pieces of spare net, and a good supply of twine, are matters by no means to be overlooked.
When engaged in fishing from a boat on rocky ground, it not unfrequently happens that the grapnel or creeper, if simply secured to the end of the painter, and lowered away, will, on an attempt to haul it up again being made, resist every effort and remain firmly fixed among the rocks. To prevent this pass the painter down the shank of the creeper, and take a turn with it over one of the claws just at the back of its bend; now bring your painter up the shank again, and with a piece of common twine tie it fast to the head ring, as shown in the accompanying illustration. Should the creeper get fast, the string will give way on being hauled on, causing the claws or flukes to be upset, when they are at once set free, and the creeper can be weighed.
{Crustaceans, to catch.}
Crayfish and some other crustaceans can be taken readily in some situations by stretching pieces of net over hoops of casks, and then, when suspended by cords weighted with stones, and baited with any offal, these contrivances are lowered down to the haunts of the fish. Crayfish are met with in incredible numbers on some portions of the coast of South America and the adjacent islands, that of Juan Fernandez yielding them, as well as other fish, in vast numbers.
{Fishing implements, &c.}
In Table Bay crawfish are caught in great numbers in baskets made of rough netting of rope yarn, stretched upon an iron hoop, and baited with bits of fish or offal (as in Fig. 1), let down nearly to the bottom, and hauled up as soon as the "krief" is seen or felt tugging at the bait. The crawfish constitutes the food of a great proportion of the Malay or Mahometan population. Fig. 2 is a crab pot. Fig. 3 is a peculiar kind of mace, with spikes as long and as sharp as possible, used by the Malay lads in Table Bay. We do not at present remember the name by which it is locally known; but it is thrown in the manner of a lobstick into the midst of the shoals of small fish that frequent the bay, and seldom fails to secure one or more of them.
{Hints on the haunts of fish.}
The haunts of fish will be found to vary considerably, particular species abounding in situations where other inhabitants of the same waters are but rarely met with; and, although no absolute set of rules can be laid down for the discovery of the fish of either rivers, lakes, or the sea, still there are conditions favourable to their congregation. Thus the mouths of streams discharging themselves into the sea are usually good fishing pitches, as are the waters covering reefs and beds of sunken rock, which crop out and raise their crests above the ordinary sea bottom. On sand and gravel stretches flat fish of most kinds are to be successfully sought for; whilst a rugged, rock-strewed bottom, broken up into deep crevices and yawning weed-fringed gulfs, is a favourite resort of the larger crustacea. Nearly all sea fish are most disposed to feed as the tide rises. In tidal rivers many species of fish come "down" in force to the coming flood; whilst others run up from the sea--mullet, bass, and many others do this. Tributary streams and rivulets discharging themselves into lakes, rivers, or ponds, usually supply a considerable quantity of food suitable for fish, and form gravel beds on which spawn can be deposited. The mouths of such streams are much frequented by all kinds of fish. The deep, well-like spots amongst the beds of water plants, and the still deeps beneath the shade of overhanging trees, are favourite spots with most of the soft-mouthed fish, such as carp, and many others of similar habits and tastes.
{Hints on baits.}
In some localities the seeds and blossoms of certain plants overhanging the water, and occasionally falling in, act as a lure to considerable numbers of fish. In North Australia the large globular fruit of the water pandanus yields seed round which is a sweet, well-tasted farinaceous pulp, which may not only be eaten by the fish, but by the traveller as well. This substance is an excellent bait for both fish and water turtle. The latter are best caught by a short, strong hook, which need not be barbed, as it is not expected to pierce through, but only to catch in, the horny bill, and to bear the heavy back strain as the creature resists the attempt to heave him in. A short, stiff pin bent into a hook will do for the small kinds, or a sailmaker's hook for the larger. Ship-biscuit dust, cast by the handful into the water and allowed to sink gradually, will frequently attract large shoals of many kinds of fish.
The fish inhabiting ponds and water holes are at times destroyed by some tribes of Indians by the use of juices of the euphorbia, or the Indian milk bush. The juicy branches of either of these are crushed between stones until a sort of pulp has been formed. This is cast into the water, and soon poisons the fish, which float helplessly about, and are soon collected. A powder made from the Coculus Indicus, when mixed with dough, is also used for this purpose. Small pellets of the paste are broken off and thrown to the fish, who soon become intoxicated, and swim round in a circle at the surface, when they are taken up with a small hand net, or a piece of cloth stretched on a forked stick. Lime is often made use of to destroy fish, but dire necessity can alone justify the use of either of these latter modes of fish capture, as they lead to wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter. Pools, wells, and water holes are often completely drained of their contents by thirsty men and equally thirsty cattle. Search should always be made under stones and in sly corners for both fish and water tortoises, which will frequently repay the trouble of looking for. Some chains of ponds in Australia and water holes in other countries contain enormous eels. These should be well looked after, as they make a most palatable and nutritious meal. The largest are to be taken with night lines, the lesser ones in the eel baskets, before described.
When mackerel fishing off the island of St. Helena, we provided ourselves with a good supply of biscuit dust, which, when sprinkled broadcast in the sea, brought immense numbers of the small-sized brilliant mackerel usually taken there round our boat. The bait we used was a narrow strip of very white pork rind. The hook was a very small one, and the tackle as fine as that usually used for trout fishing. There is no limit to the quantity to be thus taken when the fish are off the island. We on one occasion had great sport amongst the bream at the Cape de Verds by having recourse to the same expedient. We often attract numbers of sea fish to the neighbourhood of our boat or canoe by placing bran, biscuit dust, or pulverised crab shells, with all the fish offal we can collect, in a piece of old fishing net, and then lower the mass, with a good-sized stone in it, by a stout cord until within about 6ft. of the bottom and directly under the boat, when the cord is made fast. Bait with fish entrails or strips of fish, and use a lead sinker.
When about to fish the waters of little-known lands, it will at times be requisite to employ baits gathered about the immediate neighbourhood of the scene of operations, and the naturalist-sportsman will usually discover some kind suited to his purpose. Some species of ground nuts when roasted over the fire make a very attractive bait for some members of the carp family, amongst which is the "Roheta," or sacred carp of India. Grasshoppers, locusts, mantis, beetles of various kinds, and the larvæ found feeding amongst the leaves or burrowing in the decayed logs, are all good in their way. Small fish, frogs, and young birds are excellent for trolling with, or for baiting night lines. Earthworms, slugs, snails, and pieces of meat from any animal or bird which may be shot, are all available. Pieces of beef are in high repute as baits on many rivers of South America and amongst the Falkland group. Artificial flies of the rudest style of manufacture often prove as destructive as the most elaborately finished specimens. Feathers and coloured fur or wool secured to a hook, in the shape of a rough hairy worm, form a very killing bait for both sea and river fish. It is hard to say what these anomalous-looking contrivances are taken for. Flies they in no way resemble. Still they are greedily snapped at by the fish, and that is the main point after all. The Indians of the lakes and Pacific coast of America make use of a very singular feather contrivance, with which they attract the fish within their reach. A shuttlecock-like affair is constructed and loosely attached to the end of a long rod or pole, which is thrust far down in the clear deep water. The shuttlecock is then detached by a sudden jerk, and comes spinning and gyrating towards the surface. The fish on seeing it make a rush and endeavour to effect a capture, but are transfixed by the ready spear of the Indian sportsman.
{Fish spearing.}
Fish spearing by the aid of fire has been practised in all parts of the world from the very earliest ages. Canoes or boats of light draught of water may be used. Pine knots, or any other resinous or fatty fuel, is usually made use of. A species of grate or fire pan is fixed so as to project beyond the bow, and the spearman stands ready with his weapon--such as is represented at Fig. 2, page 596--and strikes the fish when he sees him. Torches of reed or vegetable fibre bound together are often carried along the banks of rivers, or out on the wide sand shallows of certain seas, to effect the same object. Great numbers of turbot and small sturgeon are speared in this manner by the Tartars inhabiting the Russian shores of the Black Sea. Fig. 4, p. 604, is a set of grains for striking dolphins or small fish. The smaller pair of prongs screw on and off, or turn on a pivot, so that they can be laid flat with the others, and stow in less room. The line is made fast round the neck of the iron close by the barbs, and the end of the staff is heavily loaded with lead, so that when a fish is struck the weight turns up the points, and prevents any chance of its escape. Along the shallow beach of Walvisch Bay we used frequently to wade with a harpoon, striking sting-rays, flat sharks, fiddle or angel fish, or occasionally a more dainty sole in the shallow water; although not unfrequently sharks of larger size would cruise in our vicinity, and sometimes try to get between us and the shore. We found in striking the smaller fish that the great barb of the common harpoon would frequently either drive them out of its path with a superficial wound, or would cut through their sides without securing them; and we therefore took as a substitute a soft iron Kafir assegai, or spear (Fig. 5, p. 604), and, fitting it into a bamboo shaft, cut several barbs in each of its edges with a fine tenon saw, which caused it to hold all it penetrated.
The few Hottentots who maintain themselves in the vicinity of the bay do so partly by assisting in the fishery or in discharging the cargoes of vessels, and also in a great measure by spearing sand sharks and sting-rays in the shallows of the lagoon. For this purpose they use either sticks pointed and hardened in the fire, or the sharp straight horns of the gemsbok (Oryx capensis) set like a pike-head upon a stick; and, because they have to wade a great distance in the shallow waters, and it would be inconvenient to go ashore with every fish they kill, they set up a tripod of sticks near them, and on this they hang their prizes until they have accumulated enough to be worth carrying ashore to the women, whose task it is to clean and dry them for winter use.
The spear or javelin--launched from the hand, projected from a bow, dropped from a height overhead, or in some cases fired from a gun, and yet secured to a line--seems to be known in some form or other to most nations, whether civilised or barbarous.
The elaborate combinations of mechanical skill and scientific knowledge supplied to our whalers, and intended in some cases to be fired from swivels or shoulder guns, sometimes to destroy the creature in whose body they are buried by their explosive power, and sometimes to paralyse the vital energies by chemical compounds or by powerful poisons, are beyond the province of this work, and we shall take, therefore, as our type of this species of weapon the harpoon in its most simple and, as we believe, its most generally effective form, as used by whalers in every ocean that has yet been traversed. The weapon itself consists of two parts, the iron and the shaft, so fitted as to remain firmly united till the blow is struck, and then, when the strain comes upon the line, to separate from each other, so that there may be no danger of the barb being torn from its hold by the weight or leverage of the staff when violently swayed by the convulsive struggles of the whale.
The head of the harpoon is triangular, or perhaps more nearly heart-shaped, the point representing the apex, and the barbs the two sides of the base. Its size is about 3-1/2in. each way, or as large as the palm of a moderately-sized hand, and its thickness where it joins the shank nearly three-quarters of an inch, and from this it rounds off gradually, rather than tapers, to the edges. There are various opinions as to the metal of which it should be made; some prefer iron so soft that the back of a sailor's jack knife will scrape it to an edge, somewhat rough and anything but permanent, but yet sufficiently keen to cut through the skin and blubber into the flesh of the whale; others say soft steel which may be sharpened by a file; and some insist on having it edged with steel of the finest quality, and ground and set to as fine an edge as a razor. Each has its advantages. The fine keen edge of the last will be more certain to enter, and will pierce more deeply, but, if once blunted, it cannot be so readily sharpened by the simple appliances at the command of the sailor. Against this, however, it should be guarded by being kept in a leather sheath of such form that the edges cannot be blunted by contact with any portion of it, and at the same time cannot damage it by cutting the seams. It is well partially to fill this sheath with grease or tallow, in which the edge of the harpoon may be embedded, and so kept perfectly secure from rust.
Of the material of the shank there can be but one opinion. It should be of 1/2-inch iron of the best possible quality, smooth, even free from flaws, tough of fibre, and so pliable as to admit of being coiled round its own staff, uncoiled, and straightened again without breaking. It should be from 20in. to 2ft. in length, and should terminate in a conical socket to receive the shaft. The shaft should be of ash, hickory, or other strong and even-grained wood, 3in. in diameter, and generally about 5ft. long; though in one of full size it would be 6ft., and the iron part 3ft., making a total length of 9ft. A lanyard about 3ft. in length, and of 2-1/2in. rope, is attached to the shank by simply taking two turns of it tightly round the iron, and then returning and seizing the end down upon itself. The lanyard is "stopped" to the staff with spunyarn so tightly as to keep the point of the wood firmly pressed down into the iron socket under all ordinary circumstances, and in its farther end is spliced an eye, into which, when required for service, the line is hitched, the regular whale line being 2-1/2in. in circumference and 200 fathoms long; and when the whale is struck, and the line checked as the wounded animal darts away, the increased tension draws the staff from its socket, and it remains fast by the "stops" already mentioned to the lanyard, secure from being lost, and incapable by its leverage of loosening the hold of the barbed iron upon the flesh.
Many of the less frequented bays and harbours in our colonial possessions are frequented by whales and cetaceans of various kinds; and we have seen exciting chases even within the limits of the anchorage in Table Bay. The peculiar construction of the whale boat is well known. She is generally from 25ft. to 30ft. in length, 6ft. or 7ft. in breadth, and 2-1/2ft. or 3ft. deep, rising with a graceful sheer till the stem and stern would be from 4ft. to 5ft. high. She generally pulls five oars, the boat-steerer taking the bow, while the boat-header steers with a long oar or sweep, confined by a grummet to the stern-post. A tub, with the whale line coiled in it, is placed in the stern sheets; the harpoons, each properly sheathed, are hung in beckets in the bows, and near them are the lances. These are half-inch rods, 5ft. or 6ft. long, with one end flattened out to the shape and dimensions of the bowl of a large table-spoon, only that the narrow end is attached to the shank, while the broad one is forward, and is sharpened as the cutting edge. The other end of the iron has also a conical socket, in which a shaft of wood similar to that of the harpoon is fitted, making a weapon about 14ft. in length, to which is attached a lanyard of perhaps 20ft. to prevent its loss. The blades are also sheathed like those of the harpoons, not only to preserve their edge, but to prevent their accidentally cutting any of the crew; a broad-bladed knife is also kept handy in its sheath for the purpose of cutting the line should it be necessary.
Generally the whalers keep a man on watch upon some commanding height, or agree with the keeper of some signal station to hoist a private signal when a whale is in sight, and sometimes even to turn the advantage of his elevated position to account by signalising to the men in the boat the movements of the whale.
The end of the line is taken from its tub, led forward over the thwarts between the rowers, and bent on to the eye of the harpoon lanyard. As the boat approaches, the boat steerer lays in his oar and stands up, harpoon in hand, watching the most favourable moment to drive it with all his force, through skin and blubber, deep into the solid flesh, the boat sometimes actually touching the whale before the harpoon is launched. The oarsmen back the boat off as quickly as possible out of the reach of the sweeping tail, and the whale generally dives, then darts forward at full speed, sometimes below and sometimes at the surface of the water. The boat steerer now makes his way aft, and takes the steering oar, while the header goes forward and takes charge of the line. While the whale is strong it is allowed to run out, checked only by one turn round the bollard, while the boat is towed with almost alarming swiftness through the water; but as soon as he becomes weakened or slackens his speed another turn is taken, and the line checked as much as possible, or even hauled in, if it is safe to do so, water being freely used to keep the rope from burning when the line is running on the strain.
As soon as possible the boat is hauled close up to the whale, the long lances are thrust into his side, still further weakening him with wounds and loss of blood, until some vital organ is reached, and the condensed breath blown from his nostrils is crimsoned with his blood. Then the boat backs off till the death struggle is over, and the carcase of their mighty victim being taken in tow, is beached upon some convenient spot for cutting it up and trying down the blubber.
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.
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 B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] 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 1/2in. thick, so cut as to be conveniently grasped, and tapering from the handle till they were barely 3/4in. 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.
The womera is about 30in. in length, and is held in the right hand, the forefinger of which sometimes grasps the spear also, to steady it until the moment before it is thrown, while the left hand supports the centre of the shaft, prevents the weight from depressing the point, and steadies and directs the aim.
The advantage gained by the use of the womera will be readily understood by anyone who will remember that the length of stroke is an important element in estimating the power of a steam engine. Suppose the length of a man's arm, from collar-bone to fist, to be 3ft., and the chord of the arc through which he is able to swing his body in the act of throwing 4ft., we shall have 10ft. as the length of his stroke; and if we add to this double the length of the womera, or 5ft., we shall find that he is able to apply propelling force to the weapon while it is passing through 15ft. of space, an advantage which naturally exhibits its corresponding effect in the increase of range. The spear point is generally charred to harden it.
The boomerang, a weapon whose apparently mysterious property of coming back to the hand that has thrown it, must be now much better understood in England than it was before the arrival of the Australian cricketers. It is a thin blade of wood, curved either sabre-like in the segment of a circle, or bent in the centre at an obtuse angle. But its peculiar property is that, owing to a slight twist or change in the plane of surface on either side the centre, it becomes in reality a segment of one turn in the flange of a screw of exceedingly small pitch, and if its length were indefinitely increased it would assume the form of the spiral springs used in candle lamps, or in the well known toy of Jack-in-the-box; and supposing a small segment of one turn cut from the wire of such a spring and flattened, without altering either its circumferential or its spiral curve, we should have an exact representation of the boomerang. Little more need be said of this weapon, as no one but a native could ever hope to use it effectively.
{Turtle spears.}
A very simple form of harpoon is used for spearing turtle by some Australians we fell in with near the Goulburu Islands. They had evidently been alongside European ships, and it was probably from this source that they had acquired the essential part of their harpoon--an iron spike about 6in. long, and pointed at both ends. To this was fastened a small line, which was also stopped to the staff--a light pole about 8ft. long--the remainder of the line being held loosely coiled in the hand. Sometimes the Australians use their paddle as a spear by having the blade end sharpened, barbed, and hardened.
XVI. POISONED WEAPONS, ARROWS, SPEARS, &c
{Poisoned arrows.}
The arrows of the South African Bushmen are worthy of notice, not only for the ingenuity displayed in making formidable weapons from such apparently insignificant materials, but for the deadly poison with which in many cases they are imbued. A crooked stick, a few reeds, bits of bone, and the dorsal sinews of any antelope, are all the materials required in the formation of the weapons. The poisoning is sometimes a more elaborate affair. Among the southern tribes, some of whom still maintain an existence as hunters and occasional marauders on the borders of the colony, the juices of the bulbs of various species of amaryllis and hæmanthus, mixed sometimes with serpent poison, and aided by the adhesive acrid juice of the euphorbium, are boiled down in the hollow of a stone to the tough viscous consistency of birdlime, and sparingly smeared upon the arrow heads. Farther to the north the process is much more simple. The Bushmen of the Kalihari Desert, and the regions in the vicinity of Lake Ngami, use the entrails of a grub called 'kaa or ngwa, an almost inarticulate sound, which it is impossible to write so as to enable the English reader to pronounce it with anything like correctness. Both forms of spelling are attempts to indicate a click of the tongue against the teeth, followed by a slight nasal ringing, and ending in the broad sound of the vowel "a." The grub is of a creamy white, and is soft, with the exception of its head; and when full-sized seldom much exceeds three-quarters of an inch in length. It lives chiefly, perhaps almost exclusively, upon the leaf of a tree called "Maruru papeerie," which varies from the size of a small low-growing shrub to that of a moderately-sized tree, upwards of 20ft. high, or 12in. or 14in. in thickness. It is covered with thorns, and its wood in the vicinity of Lake Ngami was soft and of a very even texture; but toward the Zambesi it seemed harder. When we first saw it it was feeding on these leaves, and we were rather puzzled by a loose ragged mantle or envelope of green matter, which seemed to be peeling off like a skin in process of being cast. It lay in loose rolls, mostly parallel to the muscular rings upon the body, and was gradually forced forward, so as to form a hood or shield above the head, where it dried and broke off as it accumulated, and was replaced by fresh matter. Our highest magnifying power was the microscope of a sextant; but this at length enabled us to decide that the green matter was merely excrement issuing not only in the usual manner, but also from pores ranged along the whole length of the body. As the grub attains its full size, this matter issues more sparingly, and is of a browner colour. The grub drops to the ground, buries itself to the depth of a couple of feet, and forms its cocoon of a thin shell of earth, cemented by glutinous juices around its body. This is quite hard enough to bear handling, even rather roughly, so long as it retains its perfect form, and we brought several specimens to England; but if it is once broken, the slightest touch is enough to complete its destruction.
In applying this poison to their arrows, the Bushmen collect a number of the cocoons, which they lay near them on a skin, a leaf, or on a sandal; they break one of these, and, taking out the grub, hold it between the thumb and forefinger, and squeeze the entrails, or rather the internal juices, in small drops upon the arrow head, which is then carefully laid upon any extemporised rest to dry in the sun, much as an artist lays his brushes on something that will keep the hair from contact with anything capable of giving or receiving damage from the colour with which they are charged. They take the greatest possible care not to let these juices come in contact with any cut or sore, or abrasion of the skin, for they would in such case produce the same excruciating agony that is inflicted upon a wounded animal; and it is said that a man with a wound, however slight, so infected, would become a maniac, and would probably destroy himself in the extremity of his pain. It is, however, believed that fat rubbed plentifully on the wound, and taken internally in sufficient quantities, would prove an antidote; but this is a medicine by no means likely to be always at hand among persons living a nomadic life, and but occasionally supplied with animal food like the Bushman. Fortunately for them they possess another remedy, growing plentifully and naturally in most parts of their country. We were aware that they knew of this; and a friend, who had been personally acquainted with the chief for a considerable time, had long attempted to induce him to reveal its name, but he was unwilling to do so, till in a conversation with another member of his tribe he mentioned its name; and our friend, who perfectly understood the Sechuana and some of the other native languages, asked him at the next opportunity if the remedy in question were not the "Kàla haétlwe," and thus surprised him into the confession that white men knew everything, and that further attempts at concealment were useless. The word kala signifies friend, but we are not aware of the meaning of the concluding syllables. The "Kàla haétlwe" is a small, soft-stemmed plant; the flower is yellow, star-shaped, and has five petals; the stamens are numerous, and the calyx is divided into two sepals. The root is something between a bulb and a tuber--rough and brown outside--and, when cut, is seen marked with concentric lines of light reddish brown and purple. The leaves are 2-1/2in. in length, and 1/4in. wide. The mid-rib of the leaf projects on the under surface, and forms a depression on the upper. There are, however, two other plants which bear the same name, and are used for the same purpose. One of them has a broader leaf and larger flower, and tastes like sorrel; and the third has a waved or wrinkled leaf. The root or bulb is chewed and laid on the wound, and is followed by plentiful application of fat.
The natives use an arrow with a bone head dotted over with the ngwa or 'kaa poison, and loosely inserted into the shaft. This is a slender reed, seldom more than 3/8in. thick. It is bound with sinew at the end to keep the head from splitting it, and is also bound for the same purpose near the notch. In fastening this sinew no knots or hitches are used, but the end is frayed out very fine, chewed soft, and, while still soft, is firmly pressed down upon the rest, where its glutinous properties cause it firmly to adhere.
The Bushman makes use of a simple and effectual method of sheathing his arrows, so as to render any accidents impossible. When not intended for use the point is reversed and enters the socket in the shaft.
They make use of a very ingenious expedient for tightening the bowstring. A small knob of hardened sinew is firmly lashed to one end of the bow, the string made of the dorsal sinews of the springbok or other antelope, slightly twisted, has a loop at one end, which is hitched on to the end of the bow; the other is brought up and passed between the knob and the wood, several turns are taken loosely round the latter. When required for use the bow is bent by holding it with the hand and knee, with the action represented in the beautiful statue of Cupid, and then with the other hand turning the coil of sinew around the end of the bow until the string is sufficiently tightened.
They also adopt a very simple plan of preserving an ostrich feather. The Bushman, it may be after weeks or months of patient stalking, kills an ostrich. He knows the feathers are valuable, and that from a white trader he may obtain for them tobacco, clasp knives, tinder boxes, or other articles of value to himself, but he also knows that he must keep them clean and unbroken. He therefore inserts the quill first into a reed, and taps it on the ground till the whole feather has vanished, and he can carry it about in his quiver; and, to say truth, it is at first sight a little astonishing to a European when a Bushman offers for inspection a slender reed, to see him draw from it a gracefully waving ostrich plume of the finest quality and largest size.
The simple apparatus by which the Bushmen obtain fire is shown at page 536. It consists of two sticks of moderately close-grained but not very hard wood. One of these, which may be called the fire stick, is somewhat thicker than the little finger, and may be of any length, generally about 1ft. or 18in., and in this small notches are cut with the point of an assegai, at about 1in. apart, for the reception of the end of the other, or the whirling stick. This is about the size and length of the ramrod of a common fowling piece, and both are carried in the quiver, with their arrows, sucking reeds, and rushes, for the manufacture of bracelets, &c.
The preparation of the wourari poison is usually conducted by natives, from whom it is best obtained. This substance may be at times of service to the explorer. The sumpitans of the Dyaks and Borneans should also be noticed. Mr. Bates says that salt is put on the tongue of the coati as a restorative from the stupor induced by the wourari poison. We have often heard of poisoned bullets, and once saw an experiment tried. A hole was bored in a revolver bullet and filled with the juices of the 'kaa or ngwa--the Bushman's poison grub; this was fired into the rump of an ox; the animal showed little or no sign of acute pain, but seemed to be dull and stupefied for some hours. At length it seemed as if it were likely to recover, and, partly because the flesh was really wanted for food, and partly to end an experiment which seemed likely to lead to no useful result, the poor creature was shot dead. Probably the fire might have neutralised or destroyed the active principle of the poison.
We have heard of some native tribes who prepare arrow poison by first making a hollow nest in the liver of a dead animal. They then fill this with living centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other poisonous creatures. These they irritate by striking the liver with a stick, when the virus of the united assemblage of venom bearers is poured out and at once absorbed by the liver, which is rubbed over the weapon to be treated. The Chinese plunge their arrows in a putrid carcase in order to poison them. The Malays keep their poison preparations strictly secret. Poisoned weapons retain their destructive qualities for years, and should therefore be handled with extreme caution.
A square of paper, folded diagonally across, may be used as a "feather" for a blowpipe arrow. Wild cotton is also used to make the arrow fit the tube.
A cross-bow of peculiar construction is used by the Chinese; the action of the trigger is sufficiently simple to need no explanation, and the chief peculiarity consists in the fact of its having a kind of reservoir above the barrel, in which half a dozen or more arrows or bolts lie one upon the other; this is connected with the barrel only at the foremost end, the string passing beneath it, and the lowermost arrow resting on the string until the bow is bent; then the string being pulled back allows one arrow to drop into its place in the barrel, from which, of course, a sufficient length of the upper part has been cut away to admit of the arrow falling in. When the trigger is pulled, the string drives the lower arrow out from beneath the others; the next arrow then rests on the string, and, when that is again drawn back, drops like the first into the barrel; and so on until all are exhausted, and it becomes necessary to replenish the reservoir.
The pellet bow, the subject of the illustration below, is an instrument with which many tribes make excellent practice with small pellets of hardened clay. For the inexperienced, a padded glove is necessary for the protection of the left thumb, and there is also a peculiar knack in so holding the bow that that arm shall be the merest trifle out of the line of flight of the pellet.
Many semi-barbarous nations are perfectly aware of the advantage to be gained by rifling their arrows, and this is done sometimes by having rather large barbs, and giving them a pitch or turn on opposite sides, or by putting on the feathers spirally.
In using the arrow for the capture of tortoises on the South American rivers, the archers like to shoot at such a distance that they may give their arrow a good elevation, and allow it to fall more perpendicularly on the back of the tortoise, as it has then a better chance of penetrating the shell. It has no barb, as, if its broad point once pierces, there is not much fear of its being dragged out.
A thorn wreath is used by the Uganda and other nations in Central Africa, and is described by Captain Speke. The thorns all point to the centre, and yield just enough to allow an antelope or other animal to put his foot through, when their points are sure to enter the leg, and prevent its coming off. A log is made fast to it, heavy enough to impede the motions of the animal, but not sufficiently so to tear the wreath off from his leg and allow him to get away. Young branches of many kinds of mimosa in South Africa, which have thorns 5in. or 6in. long, would answer well for this. The ancient Romans and Greeks made use of this contrivance in deer hunting.
We remember seeing, several years ago, the foot of a Vaal rheebok encumbered with a joint of the spine of a horse or ox. The poor creature had literally put its foot in it some time before, and had worn the painful appendage till the skin beneath was destroyed and the tendons weakened, which led to its being eventually caught.
{The manufacture of stone weapons.}
Europeans are very rarely reduced to such a state of destitution as to be entirely without some tool or weapon of iron or steel, even if it is merely an old jack knife; yet such cases may, and sometimes do, happen. We remember reading with great interest the tale of two seamen who, during many weeks' sojourn on a small island, possessed absolutely nothing but one knife, which served them to cut up the sea birds they managed to catch, till at length this, having been wrapped in a bloody cloth and carefully stowed away in a crevice of the rocks, was found by some bird, dragged from its hiding place, and irrecoverably lost; then they with great labour beat out and ground down upon the rocks an old spike nail. Under such circumstances, the ability to produce a cutting edge from a flint or other pebble of sufficient hardness would have stood them in good stead; and even, if we remember how often edged tools are spared by using a piece of glass as a scraper, we shall be ready to acknowledge that a keen-edged fragment of flint, obsidian, or agate may advantageously be used in the same manner. Perhaps it may be thought absurd to give directions for the breaking of glass for this purpose, yet, simple as the matter seems, a hint may not be thrown away: Take the back of a knife, or the smooth straight edge of any piece of iron fixed with tolerable firmness for a moment, then, taking the piece of glass in both hands, rest its edge midway between them on the edge of the iron; let the upper edge of the glass lean from you, and push it gently along the iron, so as slightly to indent the edge of the glass; then, reversing its position so as to make it lean towards you, draw it smartly along the iron, and you will find it separated by a clean fracture directly across, forming a line more or less curved, and leaving one edge of the glass much sharper than the other. By a little practice, and by pressing a little more with one hand than the other, almost any curvature that the work to be done may require may be achieved.
In North Australia we had reason to believe that many of the tribes through whose country we passed were utterly ignorant of the use of iron. Fragments of jasper and other stones were found in several localities, where they had evidently been used for cutting up or skinning animals. Spear heads that they had dropped or lost in the chase were occasionally picked up; and once we came across a considerable area profusely strewn with chips of every form and kind, indicating that the manufacture of weapons had been extensively carried on there. Some of these might be relics of antiquity; but those strewn upon the surface over an area of 200yds. or 300yds. were quite recent; while along the river side were holes in the earth surrounded by scorched shells of the freshwater mussel, of the tortoise and turtle, besides bones of fish and alligators, and fragments of charred wood and blackened stones that had been used in cooking. The savages might have been few in number; perhaps in one instance the cooking holes would indicate the presence of twenty or thirty; while, from the number of chips, from six to eight seemed to have been engaged in making weapons; and it must be remembered that, thoroughly as they enjoy the pleasure of doing nothing, they are neither ignorant nor idle when employed either in the chase or in the preparation of snares or weapons for it. Besides this--as only the perfect weapons would be taken away for actual service, and the failures and imperfect ones would far outnumber them--it is easy to imagine how such chips would accumulate during successive generations.
The following explanation of the progress of stone-implement making was given us by a fellow traveller, and our own examination of the fragments on the spot confirmed his statement:--The operator, squatting down before a block large and solid enough to be used as an anvil, selects a pebble as nearly oval as possible, and about the size of an ostrich egg or a cocoanut. One end of this he strikes on the large block, so as to detach a fragment, which leaves a flattened base; then, taking it vertically in his hands, he strikes the edge of this base upon the anvil, detaching in succession two ovate chips as nearly as possible equal in form and size; and this, if cleverly done, leaves a sharp and well-defined central rib, with a slightly hollowed facet on either side. The next blow should, if successful, split off another piece, small at the base, spreading slightly as it goes upwards, and finally tapering to a keen point, with the rib previously formed running truly along the centre; and this chip constitutes the spear head, which is fastened to the shaft with gum and lashings of bark or vegetable fibre. If this is well done, at least three chips must have been made in the production of one head; but if, as is most likely, the failures greatly outnumber the successes, the proportion of chips must be greatly increased. Sometimes, when a pebble is found well suited for the work, facets are struck off on all sides, and spear heads are formed as long as the cleavage of the "core" remains sufficiently perfect. Some of these, when about half worked out, present so great a resemblance to a common beer glass with facets on it, that we hardly know how to convey a better idea of the peculiar form. The stone tomahawks discovered were generally of trap or greenstone. They were first chipped out into a long wedge-like form, and then with great labour ground up to a uniform rounded edge upon other stones, and with gum and lashings securely fixed into a branch, part of which is generally made to bend round them as a handle. Blacksmiths in this country secure their cold chisels much in the same manner.
XVII. TRACKING, HUNTING, AND TRAPPING
Most readers of works on travel must be familiar with the apparently wonderful power possessed by savages of following the tracks of men or animals, and yet this is in reality only a habit of closely observing effects, and referring them to their natural causes. On the roads of a populous country, passengers, animals, and vehicles succeed each other so rapidly that no continuous spoor of any one of them remains; but it is otherwise in the desert and the wilderness. There it is impossible for man or beast to efface the track that he has made. In countries such as Kafirland, where cattle thefts are common, no evidence is required but the track of the stolen animals entering a village, and the headman is considered responsible until he shows where the same track has gone out again. Kafirs have been known to sweep out the spoor with branches where they were about entering a river; but such a ruse, though it might prevent a farmer making oath to the exact place at which they crossed, would never actually deceive him, or prevent his finding the track on the other side.
Sometimes a number of men will tread in each other's footsteps, or they will walk backward for short distances, or will put on their shoes heel foremost; but a practised eye will soon detect the deceit, and be aroused to double vigilance. It may be thought that a man passing barefooted over a hard rock would leave no trace; and yet the fine dust of the road he left, caked by perspiration, has been sufficient to betray him. Sometimes, in a grassy country, the track is best seen by looking out ahead, when it appears as a continuous line, showing where the grass has been turned, although it is almost invisible at a short distance; and this is sometimes the case on plains of coarse sand or shingle. Very frequently, though no actual footprint may remain, stones or pebbles will have been turned so as to lie with that side uppermost which has for a long time rested on the ground, and an eye accustomed to observation detects this at once, and will sometimes see, by the condition of the upturned side, whether it has been moved so recently as not yet to be perfectly dried. If a shower has fallen, it will at once be seen whether the tracks were made before the rain, during it, or afterwards; in the same manner the morning or evening dew upon the tracks will furnish a test of time, as will the grass withering, if crushed in the heat of the day or partially restored if bent while the dew was on it.
If there has been wind, it may be known whether the tracks were made during its continuance, by the position of the grass, or by the sand or dust drifted from it; and if the wind has changed at a remembered time, it may be possible to tell exactly the point at which the track and change took place. If periodical or alternate winds blow, as, for instance, the land and sea breezes near the coast, it will be easy to tell during which of them the track was made.
Sleeping places, or halts for rest, for food, drink, or other purposes, should be carefully sought for. The condition of the grass cropped by an animal, and the fragments dropped from its mouth, must be examined, as also its dung, the comparative moisture or dryness of which is an unfailing index to the time that has elapsed since it was dropped.
If there are two or more tracks, and the time when one was made is known, that of the others may be inferred by looking sharply for any place where they cross, and ascertaining which overlies the other. We have been followed for many miles at night by a lion, but though we knew by the panic spreading among the oxen that something was disturbing them, we were not aware of the fact till our Hottentot went back next morning and reported the track of "a great man lion, step for step upon our horse's spoor."
Not only can the period of time at which tracks are made be very closely estimated, but various circumstances connected with the track will not unfrequently afford most important information. As, for instance, where the tracks of naked feet are investigated, it will generally be found that savages in walking turn their toes in, whilst Europeans turn theirs out; if the track is left by shod men, the description of foot gear will often tell a tale. A mocassin print with the toes turned out would indicate that a white man in Indian gear had passed. The army pattern boot or shoe, the native sandal, worn by aborigines of some countries, the shooting boot, and the light buck-skin shoe, all leave their well-marked and distinctive tracks. The particular manner in which a boot or shoe sole has been nailed or repaired will enable an experienced tracker to follow its print unerringly amongst fifty others; large or small, narrow or wide, the track will in almost all cases retain its individuality, except when cunning Europeans put on other men's boots for the purpose of crime.
The nature of a footprint will, by its comparative depth and form, show whether the person who made it carried a burden, or was in light marching order; if in a hurry, or travelling leisurely; whether travelling willingly, or led as a captive; whether sober or intoxicated. In following horse tracks the pace at which the animal or animals were going can be judged by the impressions left on the ground. A stray horse walking leisurely away, feeding as it goes, will usually leave an irregular but well-marked track, causing but little disturbance of the surface of the ground; a sudden fright caused by the appearance of a wild animal or an attempt at capture will be shown by a scattering of earth, sand, or gravel, and probably by the casting out of the pellets which collect in the hollows of the feet. A frightened horse starting without a rider will usually leave the deep and disturbed tracks caused by ill-directed speed at the very commencement of the run, which will in most cases prove rather erratic. Had the same horse been galloped away by a rider, the man's track might be found, or if not, the first sixteen or twenty hoof strokes will vary in distance, depth, &c., from those farther on, where the animal had been caused to strike into his regular stride. Most hunters can identify the track of their own horse. A defect in either hoof, a broken shoe, and the mode of shoeing, are all matters to be well looked to. The horses of wild tribes, from not being shod, are to be distinguished from those belonging to Europeans, who either shoe "all round" or leave the hind feet bare, and only shoe the fore hoofs. Mule tracks are not of the same form as those of the wider and rounder footed horse, and can be instantly recognised. Tracking on snow is usually followed with much greater rapidity than when prosecuted on the uncovered ground; still no little experience is needed to successfully follow up partly obliterated and wholly filled up footsteps. The impressions left in snow by different animals require some study before the inexperienced hunter can with certainty distinguish one from another. The art of tracking can no more be taught without the aid of the forest and the plain to demonstrate in, than can a skilful cricketer be made without allowing him to play the game. The hints which are here given are merely intended to form a sort of groundwork, on which the experienced hunter must himself build. In traversing the woods and wilds let nothing escape the eye, and never allow the slightest deviation from the common order of things to pass without close scrutiny and the application to the case of a system of inductive reasoning. No living creature acts voluntarily without aim; and, although at times much mystery surrounds the doings of some furred or feathered inhabitants of the wilderness, depend on it a little close scrutiny will not fail to show both plan and purpose in that which at first appeared an enigma. The stranger to the wilds would feel no little compassion for the poor crippled lapwing plover, who, crying plaintively, totters on and struggles to escape from the hunter, until at length, on a good space of ground being travelled over in fruitless pursuit, the cunning bird wheels away aloft with a mocking whistle, and shortly rejoins her brood of mouse-like little ones among the moss hags. We once saw a hyena near our camp take a piece of old dry goat's hide in his mouth and perform a number of strange and uncouth movements, as if either lame or drunk; a second, however, crouched, partly concealed by some euphorbium bushes and stones. Their object was to lure away our dogs whilst they themselves remained at a safe distance, when the pair would have made short work of some of them. In tracking wounded game look out sharply for even the most minute blood specks or flakes of foam, these, where found, are great helps over hard ground. Dead or dying animals are discovered in an incredibly short space of time by birds of prey; and when they are seen curling and wheeling over any particular spot you may rest assured that food is the attraction. Nothing requires greater care and circumspection than the approach of the hunter to the lurking place of any animal capable of doing mischief when suffering from the effects of a wound. We have known even antelopes to use their horns freely when unable to escape. No large beast of prey should be approached, although apparently dead, until all doubt on the subject is removed by either a shot through the head or a pelting with stones.
Within the colonies, of course, roads are regularly made, but in the wild country beyond, and less important places within, the boundary the so-called roads are merely foot or bridle paths or waggon tracks. We have heard a farmer say, "I have made a new road round the mountain to-day," and we understood by this merely that he had driven his waggon by a fresh route, leaving others to follow his track if they thought it better than the old one. Sometimes the waggon is not employed upon this work, but the track having been first carefully estimated by the eye a thorn tree is cut down, dragged along it by the oxen, and the road is made. A waggon track across the country seems practically indelible, the wheels are almost sure to crush the side of an ant-hill here and there, and even if the insects repair the damage the new work will always show. If it passes during the rains, the clay kneaded by the feet of the oxen, or furrowed by the wheels, is baked so hard by the succeeding hot weather that ordinary vegetation for many seasons will not efface the marks. If in the dry season grasses are crushed down, the stumps of a tuft will show for a long time the passage of the wheels. More especially is this the case if a fire sweeps over the plain immediately after, or if the waggon passes during or after a prairie fire. We have known a fellow traveller recognise in this manner the tracks his waggon had made seven years before. The lines of charred stumps crushed short down remaining to indicate the passage of the wheels, though all other impressions had been obliterated by the rank annual growth of grass, fully 12ft. in height.
Often when waggons have passed for the first time across a grassy plain, the vegetation they have crushed down will be partially replaced or mingled with other kinds, either indigenous, and only waiting for this opportunity to spring up, or growing from undigested seeds from other localities deposited in the droppings of the oxen; or even it may be exactly the same vegetation simply rendered more luxuriant by being thus manured. We have seen a broad grassy plain looking like an immense corn field, but right across it the road was marked by a broad band of yellow flowers contrasting with the deep green around.
{Points of the compass.}
In many countries the prevailing winds leave unfailing indices of the direction of the points of the compass. Thus all the unsheltered trees on the road from Cape Town lean towards the north-west or north-north-west; and on the sub-tropical plains of South Africa and Australia we frequently noticed that the continued winds from the south-east had laid the grass towards the opposite point. The rising or setting sun is a useful guide, so is the moon, and also the stars; but the traveller must acquire for himself the habit of observing where any of the heavenly bodies are likely to be at a given time, by day or night, and this while he is upon known paths, and not in actual need of them, and then his knowledge will serve him if by accident he should lose the road. If the declination is the same as the latitude of the place, the sun will be vertical at noon, and therefore of no service as a guide for nearly a quarter of an hour, but by extemporising a plumb line, and observing whether its shadow shortens or lengthens, it may soon be found whether the sun is east or west of the meridian. In using stars select, if possible, those that are far north or south, and as low as possible; or, if the pole be far above the horizon--as it must be in all places far removed from the equator--take the star that is nearest to it, and that consequently revolves with the least possible change of position. In the north the constellation of the Great Bear will serve, but if the pole star can be seen, it is, of course, the best--the two stars called the Pointers will guide the eye to it. And in the south, when the southern cross is vertical, either above or below the pole, it is due south; and this may be ascertained by trying when the two stars of the longer beam coincide with a plumb line, but at any time the position of the pole may be estimated by remembering that it is half-way between the lower star of the cross and the little Magellan cloud.
In travelling with a waggon from almost any civilised colony, it will generally be found that traders and hunters have penetrated so far, that for perhaps 1500 or 2000 miles there is nothing to be done but to let the waggon driver follow their tracks, which will generally be in every respect the best that could be selected, while the traveller hunts or explores on either side the path, or gains experience as to the slope a waggon can climb, descend, or travel on without capsizing; the average size of trees under the branches of which it can pass, and the density of the grove in which it can continue a gently meandering course between the trees without the absolute necessity of cutting a road, which, of course, he avoids if possible by making even a considerable détour, for the labour is excessive and severe.
{Hunting.}
The professional hunters in South Africa, and indeed most of the amateurs who are ardent in the pursuit of game, not only follow the wild animals by day, but as they become shy, or few in number, lie in wait for them at the waters at which they come to drink by night; for the less dangerous animals they merely throw up a circular wall of loose stones, 2ft. or 3ft. high, to hide the hunter from the view of the approaching animals; and not unfrequently an experienced hand will even watch in these for the lion, the rhinoceros, or the elephant, trusting for security to a quick eye and ear, and to skill in handling the two or three spare guns which are kept ready loaded within easy reach.
With the larger animals it is, however, more advisable to dig a pit about 10ft. long, 3ft. deep, and 30in. wide, and to roof in 5ft. or 6ft. of the central part of this with stout logs, that an elephant would not break were he to tread on them in passing over; the ends are left open, and a bank of earth is left in each, large enough for the hunter to sit upon, with nothing but his head showing above the edge of the "scherm." Generally two men lie in each pit, one watching whilst the other sleeps. The pit should be made in a spot carefully chosen to leeward of the path by which the elephants or other animals are likely to come, and great care must be taken to cover any signs of human work about it. The cut ends of the logs placed across it must especially be hidden, and if chips have been made in the vicinity, they ought to be removed, and everything reduced as nearly as possible to its natural appearance and condition. Most hunters carry a pick and one or two spades for this and similar purposes, but we have found a worn-out adze exceedingly handy and much liked by native servants. The work should be commenced early in the day, so that it may be finished by a little after noon, and left to recover its natural quiet, and the air to purify itself from the taint of man, for even though the elephant may not be so early on the watch, smaller animals, disregarded by the hunter, are sure to be about him, and any alarm among them will most assuredly spread itself, until a general sense of danger pervades the wilderness; and if this extends to the keen senses of the elephants, they will not approach till they have assured themselves by every possible precaution that all is safe.
We have seen the path marked for a considerable distance by the serpentine track of the extended proboscis, sometimes actually touching the ground, and at others moving so closely in contact that the breathing would disturb the dust, as the leader of the herd deliberately tested the scent for every inch of the way. And the change of elephantine tactics since rifle pits were introduced sufficiently proves that what we call instinct is in reality an intelligence capable of receiving new ideas and guiding its possessors in meeting novel dangers. A few years since, when all the elephants had to fear was the pitfall of the Bushmen, with its sharpened stakes at the bottom, they would come fearlessly on, trusting to their leader, as with extended trunk as above mentioned, would literally feel the ground inch by inch, and, having once detected a frail deceitful covering that masked the pitfall, would toss aside the sticks and grass, and the whole herd would follow in contemptuous security along the very edge of the now undreaded snare. Far differently do they now act; if they but suspect the presence of a pit they will not approach until, by making a careful circuit far to leeward, they have assured themselves that their chief enemy man, and especially the white man, has not recently been near the water.
If a taint remains upon the air they act with the extremest caution; for hours they will remain motionless, waiting till their keen senses detect the recently tainted breeze, or their huge expanded ears catch the crackling of a twig or the slightest sound made by the incautious hunter. If their fears preponderate, they may not only refrain from drinking, but even desert the locality, and travel 50 or 100 miles during the night to another water, but thirst may overcome their prudence, and they may approach and enter the water; the hunter must then, in perfect quietude, make himself acquainted with the individuals of the herd, selecting the male that carries the heaviest ivory, and wait patiently until he comes near enough and exposes his shoulder, then, aiming upwards, at the lower part of the after lobe of the huge ear, he reckons either to cripple the animal by breaking its shoulder bone, or to kill it by sending his bullet to the heart; then, judging at once the effect of his shot, he catches up his spare gun and either fires again at the same elephant or selects another, and endeavours to cripple him also.
If two hunters are together, they can agree beforehand whether they shall fire together at the word given by one, or whether one man shall fire both guns. In the latter case at the word, or rather at the sign signifying "be ready," both set the hair triggers of their rifles, and the man who is to fire being assured that his comrade is prepared, waits a favourable moment and fires; the other does not consciously pull the trigger, but, with his gun carefully aligned upon the vital part and his forefinger hardly touching the trigger, waits patiently till either the concussion of the air or the slight nervous action induced by the report of his friend's gun causes his finger to contract upon the trigger, and his gun is fired.
In elephant shooting it is always well that two men should be together, for though it is not probable, it is at the same time possible that an elephant may attack the scherm. An attack of this kind occurred to the brothers Green, the well-known African travellers and hunters; the enraged elephant began tearing off the beams and earth that roofed the scherm, and in a few moments more would have dragged forth his victim, when the brother fired with deliberate aim and killed the enraged animal. We have already said that the favourite place for the death shot is behind the lobe of the ear, just where it overlaps the shoulder, but if the shot can penetrate about 1ft. below any part of the spine it may cut the large blood vessels there; or if fired from behind, and striking about 1ft. below the insertion of the tail, it may pass through to the vital organs in the chest, and prove fatal.
If an elephant is walking or running in such a manner that the death spot ("dood plek") behind the shoulder is exposed the shot should be delivered, if possible, so as to strike when his leg is thrown forward and the thinnest part of the skin is tightly stretched; if the leg is backward, the skin will hang in loose yielding folds, and the shot will most likely fail to enter. African hunters seldom fire at the head of an elephant unless he is charging and they must check him--he seldom fails to swerve from his course on receiving the bullet--but this rule is not infallible; we have hit an elephant as fairly as possible in the forehead without effecting this.
Another rule is to run from the elephant the moment you have fired, and then look round to see if he is giving chase; if he is, you can increase your speed, if not, you can easily stop and get another shot; but if you wait for him to charge before you run you give him the chance of diminishing the distance very materially before you can get up the requisite speed. Wahlberg, the eminent Swedish naturalist, held that a man ought to stand like a rock, and the elephant would be sure to swerve before he reached him; sometimes the boldest course is the safest, but in his case at length it failed, the elephant came right on, and the career of the brave naturalist was closed for ever.
Sir Samuel Baker, although he has personally killed African elephants by shots in their head, found that he could by no means depend upon being able to do so, and remarks that the man who stands to meet the charge of an elephant by a shot in the head cannot feel the proper amount of confidence that his shot will be effective; indeed, the probability is that it will decidedly fail to kill.
Captain Faulkner, who volunteered to accompany Mr. E. D. Young in his search for Dr. Livingstone, told us that he determined to prove experimentally whether an African elephant could be killed by a head shot, and that he, by walking close up to them, killed several in that manner. It must, however, be remembered that he travelled in a new district, where never white hunter had been before, and that the elephants there were ignorant of their danger, and not prepared to meet or avoid it like those frequenting the old hunting grounds.
In hunting the elephant the favourite shot of the hunter in India is that in the head; but in Africa this is seldom successful. It is related in the early history of Natal that a party of sailors (Lieut. Farewell's, we think) were challenged to go out with the Zulus to kill an elephant, chiefly with the desire that their defective weapons or want of skill would render them objects of ridicule to the natives. Neither their courage nor their good fortune, however, failed them; they formed front as the elephant came on, fired at the head, and killed it.
In Africa, as we have before stated, the "dood plek," or death spot, of all the animals of the chase is considered to be behind or in the shoulder; and in the case of the elephant this is marked by the posterior and lower edge of the ear, which is so large that in a male 10ft. 9in. high at the shoulder the ear measured 5ft. 3in. in depth and 3ft. 9in. from front to rear. The African elephant is much larger than the Indian, which does not average more than 10ft.; while one shot by a friend measured 11ft. 8in. at the shoulder, and probably between 12ft. and 13ft. at the highest part of the back. Mr. Petherick also tells of one 12ft. 4in. at the shoulder, with a pair of tusks weighing 140lb.; and of another of 15ft. at the shoulder, whose pair weighed 100lb.
In general a bull's tusk will weigh from 501b. to 90lb., and a cow's not more than 30lb. The largest we have ever seen weighed, one 153lb. and the other 163lb.--100lb. Dutch being equal to 108lb. English.
The native methods of killing the elephant seem to alarm the survivors but little, and would probably never drive them from the country; but since the introduction of firearms they have gradually been forced so far towards the interior that it is difficult to believe that herds of them had once browsed on the slopes of Table Mountain. A few are left in the dense forests of the Kuysna, where they may not be shot without special permission, and some in the Addo and Sundays River Bush, between Algoa Bay and Grahamstown, and it will be long ere they are thoroughly extirpated from the country to the northward of Natal; but in the district of Lake Ngami they are becoming scarce, and the hunters from Walvisch Bay have to go yearly much farther to the northward, and follow them to new districts. Under these circumstances the waggons of the hunters have to be fitted out for the season's journey like ships for a long voyage. Groceries and meal must be purchased before starting. If bread should be desired, corn may in general be bought for beads, and flesh will be supplied by spare cattle, sheep, or goats, driven with the waggons, or by the hunter's rifle. Of working oxen there must be a sufficient number to replace those that die from the deadly sting of the tsetse, or other causes; and the stud should also be numerous enough to allow for the ravages of the horse sickness, for exhaustion, and for casualties in the field. A "salted" horse--i.e., one that has recovered from the sickness, and is, therefore, supposed not to be liable to it again--is worth any money; but this depends much on the locality, for if a horse that has passed the ordeal in a district where the sickness is in a mild form be taken to one where it is more severe he is liable again to disease and death.
The Western negroes are very ingenious and clever in hunting elephants. The herds are watched for weeks, their haunts are ascertained, their paths carefully traced, and the possibility of catching them in, or driving them to, the thickest parts of the forest debated on; then the bush vines, monkey ropes, lianas, or bindweed are cut, so as not quite to fall, but to hang loosely from the branches. Some of the paths are blocked by trees felled across them; others are left open as entrances and others as escapes; and in these last, where two stout trees, with conveniently forked branches, narrow the pass between them, a heavy beam, pierced with several holes, into which spear-heads are inserted and tightly wedged, is raised, so as to hang as high as possible directly across the path; a stout rope at each end of the beam is looped over the short thick end of a pole, which rests on a forked branch, and of which the longer end is held down by another rope attached to a peg stuck into the ground at the foot of the tree, the immense leverage afforded by the longer arm making it easy for a small strain to keep it down, and the shorter end pointed up, so that the loop cannot slip off. When all is ready another line, about 16in. from the ground, is stretched from peg to peg across the path.
The forest is then surrounded, the elephants disturbed with loud noises, driven from their favourite haunts, and forced to take refuge in the thickest forest; and here men, previously stationed in the trees, cut the remaining bush vines, and let the tangle fall like a boarding netting among and around the elephants; spears and assegais are also hurled down on them at every opportunity. This is, however, a service of great danger, for the persecuted animal, with his far-reaching trunk, may seize the nearest hunter and dash him to jelly against a tree, or trample him to death. But while thus engaged, the others cut and let fall more tangle, and drive down upon him their broad-bladed spears until he sinks exhausted; while others that break away are driven with loud shouts into the openings that gradually narrow as the paths approach the beam falls (contrivances much like those used in the capture of the hippopotamus), where at the next step the elephant must trip the horizontal line, draw out or break the pegs, release the lever ends of the long triggers, and the next moment, with wounded body and disabled spine, lie writhing in the power of his enemies, some of whom, if they approach too closely his powerful wide-sweeping trunk, may yet, however, pay dearly for their victory.
It is fortunate, perhaps, that nearly all occupations necessary for the obtainment of animal food in a wild country not only entail the necessity for the expenditure of sufficient physical force to serve as healthful exercise, but also afford enjoyment enough to induce men to engage in them. It might be shown that even the daily labour of the mechanic is not always the exception to this rule. But for the present purpose it is enough that the chase, besides supplying food and raiment to savages and semi-barbarous tribes from the remotest antiquity till now, has always possessed such charms for the vigorous and healthy man rejoicing in his strength, and proud of the opportunity of displaying it, that not only the savage, confident in his personal address, and the support of his fellow-hunters, exults in open battle with the fiercest animals; in trials of speed and endurance with the fleetest; or of patience and watchful skill in ensnaring the most wary. But our own countrymen, led by the love of adventure and excitement, will leave behind the luxuries of civilised life, and cheerfully endure the privations of a toilsome journey for the mere chance of engaging single-handed with some fierce creature which, with their inferior weapons, a whole tribe of natives would find it difficult to subdue.
Nor is this love of excitement and adventure to be classed with the cold-blooded cruelty so often attributed to hunters. The battue system, by which herds of timid, helpless animals are driven from all quarters into an inclosure before some potentate--who sits in safety in his gallery with ready-loaded rifles, handed to him by obsequious attendants, who score off the hundreds he has slain--we surrender freely to the reproach and reprobation it deserves. There may be enjoyment in wholesale slaughter, but the spirit that could find it is not of the sort which urged a young military friend of ours to chase four lions across the plains near Bloem Fontein, and to regret only that his horse failed to bring him to close quarters before they gained the shelter of the broken rocky hills.
Of course there are "butchers" who, when animals happen to be plentiful and easy of approach, will kill for the mere pleasure of boasting of the numbers they have shot; but the true sportsman would turn disgusted from such facile slaughter. Some exercise of skill, endurance, and more or less personal risk, is necessary to his enjoyment; and when to his ardour for the chase he adds the accomplishments of the artist, the naturalist, and the geographer, he deserves the praise instead of the reproach of those who sit at home at ease, and cannot enter into the enthusiasm which alone has enabled him to endure privation and conquer difficulty, instead of turning weary and defeated from the hardships of travel. All travellers, and many missionaries in Africa, are from choice or necessity hunters--and those who do not desire in some way to improve the opportunities cast in their way are few in number--and if they enjoy the task of killing savage animals which, in the interests of humanity, had better be thinned off, the cattle farmers, the agriculturists, or the hungry natives, as they satisfy their cravings for animal food, will thank them, and hail the hunters as friends in need.
The Cape farmer, whether English or Dutch, is seldom so spiritless as not to enjoy the hunting of his own lions, and the avenging with his own hand the depredations on his cattle. With game more worthy of his lead, the Dutch colonist works more methodically; and though in general he exhibits but little of the dash and recklessness characteristic of the British officer, he lacks not courage or determination when occasion calls it forth.
{Lion hunting.}
When it becomes known that a lion has established himself in the vicinity, and his depredations become annoying to the cattle owners, his "spoor" or trail is taken up and followed as far as prudent towards his lair; this ascertained, a council is held as to the best means of dislodging him and bringing him into position to receive the fire of the hunters. If there be natural shelter so much the better; if not, the horses are fastened together in line, and, held by the after riders or Hottentot servants, are backed down so near as to afford the marksman an opportunity of a fair shot; one or more, who can be implicitly relied on for certainty of aim and steadiness of hand in the moment of peril, are chosen to reserve their fire in case the rest should miss, and the others are told off to fire in regular order. The marksman, edging a little clear of the shelter of the horses, sits down, rests his elbows on his knees, and, grasping his ramrod as an additional support, takes as deliberate an aim as circumstances permit at the lion, aiming to hit him, if possible, in the breast; for it is seldom that the animal, when thus bearded in his den, refuses to face his foe, or expose his shoulders to the deadly missile. Possibly, he lies with head extended forward, so that it would be useless to fire at the sloping skull; and it is likely also that the fore-paws so cover the chest that there is the chance, by breaking one of them, of somewhat crippling, but at the same time provoking him to a headlong charge, in the fury of which even the loss of a fore-paw would be unheeded, and would diminish but little his power of doing mischief. Suppose him irritated by a painful wound, with a roar like thunder he bounds forward, and the inexperienced hands, if any such there be, discharge their guns as he comes on; but there are always some cool-headed fellows who know that within about five and twenty yards he will stop and gather his energies for a final spring. Deliberate as the Dutchman is, he knows when time is precious; the heavy roer is steadily aligned, and, if the aim be true, the monarch of the forest falls dead upon the spot, or, collecting his last energies, springs upon the horses. Now is the time for the reserve. At a glance he takes in the exigencies of the situation, he steps aside for a clear view, his bullet crushes through skull or shoulder, and the fierce animal falls helpless to the ground.
The restless steeds are brought again to quietude, the visitors gather round the prostrate foe, examine the perforations, and adjudge to each the merit of his respective shot.
Not always, however, is the affair so happily ended. In 1850, while passing through the Orange River Sovereignty, now the Free State, on our way to Vaal River, we heard of a contest that had nearly proved fatal to a brave old boer and his no less gallant nephew; and as we soon after became acquainted with many of the witnesses and actors in the scene, and saw the horses deeply scored by five sharp talons on either quarter, we have no hesitation in relating it. The lion, after receiving the fire of the uncle, had sprung upon him, knocked him down, and lay upon him, glaring defiance at his enemies. The young man, confident of his skill and steadiness of hand, boldly advanced close up to him, set his "Sneider" or hair trigger, and aimed deliberately at the forehead; one gentle touch of the forefinger, and instead of the expected death shot, the hammer fell into half-cock. Again he proved the edge of his flint, set his hair trigger, and again and again it failed him. The lion was growing restless; his trusted weapon was useless in his hand. What wonder that his courage failed, and, dashing it to the earth, he turned and fled. In an instant the lion was upon him, and he in his turn lay helpless beneath the monster's weight. For some time he waited patiently, expecting his comrades to fire; but only one of them raised his gun, and that barrel wavered, so that the rest begged him not to fire. The uncle rose, and catching up his gun hastened to the rescue, but it had been discharged; and with his broken arm he attempted in vain to load it. The young man advised his comrades, and then entreated them to come on and shoot the lion while he was yet quiet enough to give them a good chance; but they came not. He cursed them for a set of cowards. Next he cursed the lion, and in the recklessness of despair he kicked him. The astonished beast turned round and seized the left knee, but this was a false move, for the young boer now drove his right foot so vigorously and rapidly into the exposed flank that the lion stared around him in bewilderment, and finally walked off, leaving the young fellow lamed only for a time. About the same time we became acquainted with a young boer, who, while lying in the power of the lion, had been so mangled that there was not sufficient muscle left upon his right arm to enable him to raise it without the assistance of his left. No one could see him advance to give his hand without a feeling of pity, yet his grip was as hearty as ever; and when his fingers closed upon the gunstock, the needful strength to raise it to the shoulder seemed to return. And notwithstanding his misfortune no man was readier or bolder in the hunting field.
Of the method adopted by English hunters, so many illustrative anecdotes are before the public, that in our limited range it is difficult to select one that shall be new and, at the same time, sufficiently striking to arrest attention. Generally, if the country is tolerably open, two or three gentlemen, with their native servants, and perhaps a few dogs, to distract the attention of the lion, will ride up, and one, checking his horse as he passes, will fire from the saddle, starting forward if the lion springs, and trusting to his comrades to relieve him.
Among the Bushmen the lion is not much hunted; in fact, some of them seem to look upon him as an involuntary benefactor, who, after he has killed his prey, will certainly let some remain for them, and may, perhaps, be scared from his repast, so as to leave them all. Sometimes, perhaps, they venture, if annoyed by one of men-eating propensities, to track him to his lair, and as he lies in dreamy enjoyment after a full meal, to lodge a poisoned arrow in his side.
But in general they prefer to enlist the white man in their cause, partly because they know his weapons to be more instantaneously effective, and partly because they are sure he will reward them for showing him the sport. The feat of Gordon Cumming delivering a village from the persecution of a pair of man-eaters, by killing them both with two shots from his double-barrel gun was still talked of by the natives when we were in the Sovereignty. The general introduction of firearms among the half-castes and the native tribes has rendered obsolete many of their customs, and it is now rare even in Africa to see some of the weapons they formerly used; such, for instance, as the long spears with which the Kafirs attacked the hippopotamus or elephant. But a lion hunt on fair and open ground, by a tribe of savage warriors, must have been an exciting scene. With them the preparatory tracking up and gathering of information essential to the English hunter are needless; the haunts and habits of the lion they intend to hunt have long been too familiar to them. The hunters with their naked bodies fresh anointed, and lithe and well-turned limbs, assemble around with light assegais or javelins, and with long sticks tufted with black ostrich feathers. A few feints and false attacks are made, and the lion is drawn or driven from his covers to the open plain. Now the fight begins. Encircled by the active warriors the lion stands at bay, perplexed and baffled by their rapid change of place, and perhaps somewhat confused by shouts from every quarter. At length the irritated beast exposes himself to the attack. Some bold warrior rushes past and darts his assegai, escaping if he can, while the manoeuvre is repeated by the next. Not all are thus successful. The wounded animal charges furiously, but in the moment of extreme peril the native strikes his plumed staff into the ground, and, before even the quick eye of the lion can detect the cheat, darts off in another direction, driving home, perhaps, another assegai as he passes. Many, perhaps, are wounded; but unless he does it at a stroke the lion has no time to kill, for he is already bristling like a porcupine with spears, and one moment of inaction would expose him to the fatal shower that would pour in upon him from every side. His fate sooner or later is sealed; whatever way he charges his foes elude him; wound after wound exhausts his strength, till, bleeding and helpless, he sinks upon the ground, and his skin and paws are borne in triumph to the chief; while the women of the kraal, with clapping of hands and extemporary songs of triumph, welcome and congratulate the victors.
The elephant, unfortunately for his love of ease and indolence, or perhaps rather quiet and undisturbed enjoyment, is endowed with many qualities which offer peculiar temptations to his apparently contemptible, yet in reality formidable, enemies. To savage tribes the amount of flesh acquired by the destruction of an elephant is a sufficient inducement for a small tribe to labour in digging pitfalls, or unite in the attempt to weary out and irritate him almost to death by numberless light javelins, till some one, bolder or more fortunate than the rest, is able to approach and drive the larger spear with skill and strength sufficient to give a deadly wound. To the ardent sportsman, who is also a clever artist and lover of nature, the mere act of engaging with and conquering single-handed this gigantic animal, affords an almost delirious excitement.
But beyond all other considerations, the paramount inducement to traders, hunters, and even to natives among whom white men have already penetrated, is that, like the greatest of marine animals, the whale, he carries about him that which may be made profitable in a commercial point of view, and thus repay the hunter for the labour of destroying him. Of course, in the case of the elephant this inducement is the ivory, with which in Africa both males and females are provided; while in India the hunters find the females without tusks, and the males so frequently so that profit from this source rarely enters into the sportsman's calculations, nevertheless, great numbers are annually killed in Ceylon and other parts of the Indian Empire. It requires a knowledge of the immense damage a single elephant is capable of doing among the cane or grain fields of the natives to induce those who cannot enter into the enthusiasm of the sportsman, to return a verdict of justifiable elephanticide.
Tigers, panthers, leopards, pumas, &c., are taken in various ways. The former animals, as we have before stated, are captured in large cage traps fitted with drop doors and trigger levers, which are thrown out of gear when the animal seizes a bait suspended from them. The Malays are very skilful in setting traps of this description. The systems adopted in shooting the large animals of prey just mentioned in the jungles of the far East are too well known to need description here. They may be said mainly to consist in shooting from a howdah placed on an elephant's back; shooting on foot, aided by beaters; watching a live or dead bait from a "meechaum" or scaffolding erected in a tree; or shooting at night from the rifle pit, after the manner already described. To hunt antelopes by the aid of tamed leopards, or to take deer with the bearcoot, or hunting eagle, it is necessary to secure the services of a regular staff of native hunters, keepers, and trackers--in fact, a retinue which few mere travellers could support. Sword hunting, as practised by the inhabitants of the Abyssinian borders, is a pursuit requiring more than ordinary skill and adroitness--in short, almost a lifetime may be passed in fruitlessly endeavouring to successfully imitate the feats of the "Aggageers." There are, however, many weapons and hunting appliances used in wild countries which the traveller will do well to familiarise himself with. The spear, the bow and arrow, the sling, the lasso, the bolas, the sumpitan or blow pipe, and the club, may as makeshifts stand him in good stead. A knowledge of the use of the boomerang would be extremely valuable; but we have never known a white man who could throw it even passably well. The spear, as cast from the womera, or throwing stick, is another weapon marvellously accurate, long-ranged, and deadly in the hands of the black fellow, but resolves itself into a mere sharp pointed stick when the European attempts to use it. It is much the same with the Kafir assegai. Very few Englishmen learn to use it well, whilst the natives hurl it with astonishing force and precision. There are calls, too, which are successfully used by the natives of many countries for attracting game to the lurking place of the sportsman. The birch bark calling trumpet of the American and Canadian moose hunter is an example of these; but practice alone will enable the traveller to use it successfully.
{Pitfalls.}
The natives of South Africa excel in the construction of pitfalls, and there is scarcely a tribe, with the exception of the pastoral Kafirs on the frontier, or the half-castes, who possess firearms, that does not more or less supply itself with wild flesh in this manner.
The tools used in sinking pitfalls resemble chisels, perhaps a hand breadth broad, and 8in. or 1ft. long; these are set in stout handles 6ft. or more in length, and used in a manner that may be understood after a glance at the beautiful group of Michael overthrowing Satan. The pits will be 10ft. or 12ft. long, 2ft. or 3ft. wide, and more than 8ft. deep, but they taper wedge-like towards the bottom, which is only a few inches wide, the intention being that an antelope or other animal shall jam his body immovably between the sides before he can touch the bottom with his feet. About the centre the pit is crossed by a wall of the hard soil, reaching about half-way to the top, and left standing for the purpose of catching any animal that, having once fallen in, is able to spring forward, and of holding him helplessly suspended by the belly.
The top is carefully covered with small sticks, over which reeds or grass are laid, and earth dusted over the whole as naturally as possible. A little water is then sprinkled over all to equalise the surface. Of course this has to be very artistically done to deceive the timid game; therefore there is no wonder that a mounted hunter, or even a traveller on foot, should occasionally fall in. Sometimes, to insure the capture of the animal, a small hole, also carefully covered, is made just before one end of the pit, and the creature stumbling in this, leaps forward and precipitates itself into the true snare.
We have on three occasions fallen into such pits (unprovided with the little hole last mentioned, which might have proved a warning to a man, who, if possible, would instinctively step backward), and once had considerable difficulty in getting out, because, owing to the wedge-shaped form, our hips were tightly jammed between the sides, while our feet could not reach the bottom; but, by vigorously sticking our elbows into the sides above, we at length extricated our lower extremities.
A fellow hunter had a more dangerous adventure than this; for the one that he fell into had three stakes, that would certainly have impaled an antelope, fixed upright in it; but fortunately a man goes straight down feet foremost, and seldom or never falls lengthwise. These pits for single animals, however, are but petty affairs compared with the extensive hopo or tellekello fences, built for the purpose of inclosing large herds of game, that are either driven during the day by extended lines of men from all quarters into the wide entrance, or suddenly find themselves forced into it when they come by night to drink at the water; in either case the space between the fences narrows rapidly, funnelwise, the fences themselves being made stronger in proportion to the diminution of the space between them, until this becomes little more than a narrow lane, and the fences assume the proportions of palisades, high and strong enough to prevent the escape even of the large animals that crowd into it. At the end of this passage is a low fence, partially concealing from view the yawning pit beyond, the apparent size of which is diminished by beams and poles so laid as to cover a considerable portion of each side, and thus rendering it impossible for any animal attempting to spring out to make his escape.
We have often seen these fences; but the Bushmen will very seldom get up a drive when white hunters are in the vicinity, preferring, very naturally, to eat game which, with very little trouble to themselves, has been shot by the European or the colonist, rather than to assemble their tribe and be on watch all night at the tellekello.
On occasions such as we have referred to, the widest opening of the fences is kept as near as possible to the pool or river where the wild game comes to drink, without encroaching so far as to interfere with their free access to the water. The Bushmen dig holes outside the fence, make in them large fires of hard wood, and cover the still glowing embers with dry earth, which absorbs a great amount of heat, and gives it out gradually during the night to those who come to sleep, or at least to lie down and watch beside it. In addition to this, they fashion a number of torches of some dry light wood, preferring that of a dead baobab; and at night, when the herds come down to quench their thirst, they draw their cordon round in rear of them, light their torches, and, waving them in the air, rush forward with wild gesticulations and loud outcries. Sometimes the larger animals, such as the black rhinoceros, or others, instead of submitting to be driven, will endeavour to break through the fence, but the active Bushmen swarm along the outside, and meet every attempt by waving their blazing torches, or throwing them in the faces of the animals; at length the herd crowded together comes to the narrowing neck of the funnel. The height and strength of the palisade forbids all hope of escape; the natives, wild with delight, are shouting and pressing on their rear, they rush thundering on to the narrowest part, the slight fence which hides the pit from view is easily leaped, others follow, blindly pushed on by the crowd in the rear, until at length the pit is filled with perhaps one or two hundred animals, writhing, struggling, and suffocating, and moreover bruised and stunned by the hoofs of those which rush madly on, seeking to escape over them. The Bushmen now assemble near the pass and stab with their assegais, as many as they can, but these are few in comparison; and when the pit is once filled, the escape of the majority of those that remain is tolerably certain.
{Tsetse fly.}
The most serious impediment which stands in the African hunter's road to success is the tsetse fly, which haunts the forests and the banks of streams in many parts of southern and subtropical Africa. Horses and dogs are also liable to be fatally affected; but men, mules, and donkeys, as well as sheep or goats and wild animals, are not injured. When cattle are "bitten" by "the fly," as this dreaded pest is called, par eminence, they begin to lose condition, the coat ceases to be sleek and glossy, and in a period, proportioned to the severity or number of the bites, generally from twelve hours to a fortnight or three weeks, or even a month, the animals die.
If the tsetse infested district is not large, it is much better to make the circuit of it, or to pass through it in the night. We have seen a horse thus taken through the belt on the shores of the Zambesi as a present for Tekalatu. He would be towed by a canoe across the broad river, and hurried on to a place of security before the morning. The fly, as may be supposed from these remarks, is very local. One of the Transvaal republicans told us that a mimosa tree, with bright yellow bark (probably the sweet gum), was one tolerably certain indication of its habitat; but it is best to inquire of the natives what are its particular limits, and especially to learn whether the tribes in advance keep cattle or dogs, and if they do not, to ask why so. Have they possessed cattle, and been plundered of them, or can they not keep them because of the proximity of the fly? If this is the case, the oxen must be kept beyond the bounds; but mules or donkeys may be used with safety.
The boundaries of this pest are well defined; and we have heard the Dutch colonists speak of "De Kant van de Vleigen," or the "edge of the flies," with as much precision as a municipal officer in defining the boundary of his parish. Frequently one side of a waggon road will be spoken of as infested, while the other is safe; and sometimes the hunters speak of riding up to the "edge of the fly," and going in on foot to shoot game. Whether the rather more than half-reasoning elephants know that the fly kills horses or not, we cannot undertake to say; but they certainly connect the idea of comparative security with the "fly country," just as an Australian horse knows that the stockyard is the only place in which he is never flogged, and retreats to it whenever he hears the cracking of the dreaded stock whip.
That the fly is local there can be no doubt; and the only chance, so far as we have heard, of this pest being found out of its proper district, is that a herd of buffaloes or other game may be chased to some distance, and carry the fly with them; but if they remain long the insect will leave them and return to its proper range.
The fly, a little more than half an inch long and more slender in proportion than a common house fly (the illustrations given below, Figs. 1 and 2, give the true size and an enlarged view of the insect), hovers steadily over the devoted cattle with a peculiarly rapid motion of the wings. To speak either of its bite or its sting would convey an erroneous idea; it seems to pierce the skin, and dilute the blood it wishes to drink by the injection of a fluid, just as the mosquito does; the surplus liquid mingles fatally with the blood. We believe neither goats nor sheep are injured by the virus. The piercing apparatus must be of considerable length, as the insect will penetrate a pilot coat and full suit of underclothing; the puncture leaves no subsequent pain like that of a mosquito, but is startling enough at the moment. The description of the fly may be thus summed up: The abdomen is marked with transverse stripes of yellow and dark chesnut, fading towards the back, and imparting the appearance of a longitudinal stripe of yellow down the centre of the back. The belly is a livid white; dusky glassy-brown wings folding over each other; eyes, brownish purple. It has six long legs. Its proboscis is about one-sixth of an inch long. It has tufts of hair on the body, which are dingiest about the mouth, on the back, and near the tail. It is keen of smell, quick of sight, and its flight is rapid and straight.
It is said that a peculiar breed of dogs, known as the "Moscoba," or Bàylyè dogs, remain exempt from injury, from having from time immemorial been reared in the fly district, and escaped a cow-milk diet as the natives say. It has no injurious effect upon game whatsoever.
The Cape Colony, the Free State, Kafirland, Natal, and most of the Transvaal Republic, as well as Namaqua and Damara land--the Kalihari Desert and the desert between the B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] and Zambesi rivers--may be regarded (speaking generally) as clear of the fly, but the hunters on the various tributaries of the Limpopo suffered very heavy losses; and Mr. Coqui and party, who travelled from Origstadt to Delagoa Bay, lost all their cattle, we believe, from the tsetse, not far from the last-named place. When travellers first began to find their way to Lake Ngami many, for want of local knowledge, lost sometimes half their cattle. At Tette, and the other Portuguese possessions on the Zambesi, very few cattle and no horses are kept, but Senhor Pascoal possessed a few donkeys. The natives in the vicinity have no cattle. We do not remember that we saw the tsetse there, but possibly this may have originally prevented their introduction, and the fly may have died out in places where the wild animals have been destroyed. When we travelled from Walwisch Bay, we fell in with no fly all the way to Lake Ngami, but turning thence to the north-west we feared to push too far to the northward, as the banks of the Teoughe, and probably the woods some distance from it, were known to be infested.
From the lake eastward we travelled in comparative safety along the B[=o]-tlét-l[=e] River, and turned north over the elevated riverless plain towards the Zambesi. In the valley of that great river system we first felt ourselves in actual proximity to the fly. At D[=a]ká, the cattle grazed in safety; but a servant, who was sent to outspan, ten or twenty miles to the west, had to return because he had got into an infested locality; and when we started with one waggon only to visit the Falls, we found that patches of mimosa and other forests on the banks of the Matietsie River were also frequented by these little pests.
We tried to save the oxen by rushing them past whenever the edge of the bush approached too closely to the river; but an accidental delay exposed the cattle to the fatal influence of the tsetse. At the Anyati, or Buffalo River, we had to leave the waggon and cattle as the long bed or sand hill covered with mopani and other trees, between it and the Falls, was known to be infested.
Mr. Baldwin also on his way to the Victoria Falls, from Natal, left his waggons in Moselekatses country, on account of the fly in the intervening districts, and made his way on foot. A fellow traveller of ours had a safe camp for several months with cattle at Boana; and at Logier Hill on the Zambesi (lat. 18° 4´ 58" S.; long. approx. 26° 38´ E.) we do not remember to have seen any, though we resided there from September to the following February, in 1862-63.
In the parts about Chobè the fly is found near rivers only, in or near rich soils, and marshy spots--generally in mimosa or mopani forests. It sometimes shifts its position, and has been known to leave a spot which has been greatly hunted with guns--probably because the game had diminished or left.
The following are the first symptoms in oxen of being bitten: A swelling under the throat, which, if lanced, emits a yellowish fluid; the hair stands on end or reversed; they become debilitated, and though the herbage is ever so luxuriant, refuse to fill themselves and become very thin; their eyes water, and at length, when their end is approaching, a continual rattling in the throat or chest may be heard a few paces off. Sometimes one out of the number recovers, but very rarely, and only when it has no work to perform after being bitten. Horses generally swell about the eyes, nostrils, and testacles, where, probably, the bites are most numerous; the hair becomes reversed, and pining gradually away, they die. Both cattle and horses live from a fortnight to six months after being bitten, but generally all die shortly after the first rain falls.
After death the heart of an ox is encased in a yellowish and glutinous substance, which might be mistaken for fat. The flesh is full of little bladders of water, and the blood is half water at heart, which, on cooling, becomes congealed into a yellow glutinous substance. The vitals are of a livid colour.
We do not believe that the flesh is rendered unfit for food if the animal be killed in the early stages, but when the poison has made much progress in the blood, and the creature becomes much out of condition, it must of course be greatly deteriorated. We do not know of any remedy, and no certain preventive; it would be a great boon to travellers if any composition, disgusting to the insect, innoxious to the animal, and easy of carriage and application, could be discovered. We have heard a hunter propose to tar his horse, and then ride "into the fly," and shoot elephants; and it is supposed that the anointing of cattle with their own excrement mixed with milk will save them from being bitten, but both these expedients, beside being annoying to the animals, would be liable to lose their efficacy in a short time.
{Catching cattle.}
The vang-stock is generally used to slip the noose over the hind leg of an ox unwilling to be caught. If a turn can be got round the other leg so much the better; another noose is thrown over his horns; men catch him by the tail, another seizes him by the horns, using them as levers, and, with all his members thus pushed and hauled in contrary directions, down he must go. If he is meant for a waggon ox the yoke is put upon his neck, and once fast in the middle of a dozen well-drilled yokefellows his struggles are unavailing, and he soon begins to feel the necessity of taking kindly to his work.
If he is wanted for a pack ox, a hole is bored through the cartilage of the nose, and a small stick 4in. or 6in. long, with a fork at one end like a =Y= pushed through; this serves as a bit, to which his halter is made fast; a long reim is passed very tightly, with many turns, round his body, some old skins are tied upon his back, and he is forced to stand or walk with these for several hours. Next day heavier packages are put on, and he is thus exercised till he is well accustomed to carry a load. The Kafirs very frequently tie packages upon the horns of their oxen. For riding oxen, those that seem of a less gregarious or dependent temper, and go most freely alone, are selected, as they give less trouble to the rider. Many of the most highly valued have loose, pendent horns, swinging, like locks of hair, with every motion of the head. We believe this is malformation, and is produced by beating and breaking the core of the horn while still young. In riding, the reim is carried from the nose-bit over the forehead, and thus the nose can be jerked up into the air at the rider's pleasure, or the animal guided by a gentle pull from side to side.
{Riding oxen.}
Among completely uncivilised Kafirs or Hottentots the ox is ridden with only a few skins lashed on his back, but after communication with Europeans they generally improvise some sort of saddle, perhaps a couple of pads connected by strips of skin, or a piece of skin with the ends turned up towards the middle and stitched, so as to form two bags, which may be filled either with grass or with any soft articles that have to be carried. We have ridden oxen very comfortably with an English saddle, and have used spurs, which are well enough for gentle admonition, but the sambok, or hide whip, must be at hand as a more convincing argument.
The armament of a hunter is expensive. A couple of hundred pounds may very easily be spent upon his rifles, without subjecting him to the imputation of extravagance. He must have his good, stout, plain gun (smooth-bored) for general purposes--double-barrel, of eleven gauge; then his rifles, carrying bullets of from 2oz. to 6oz. each; and most probably one or more smooth bores, of still heavier metal, for night shooting at close quarters, when extreme accuracy of aim is not of much importance, and where the shock to the nervous system by the concussion of a large round bullet which bruises the parts around, instead of merely penetrating them like the sharp pointed cylindro-conical, is much more likely to bring down the animal before he has had time to wander very far from the place where he was shot.
Powder is required in large quantities, for, besides being always liable to waste or injury from damp, the loading of guns, with from 6drs. to 10drs. to a charge, the number of shots fired for practice at ant-hills, ineffectively in the chase, or shot away by native servants, counts for something. A liberal stock of shot of various sizes, caps, wadding, and gun requisites should be laid in.
Of course there must be a proportionate amount of mercury, tin, or type metal, to harden the bullets, till they can just be indented between the teeth, when they are supposed to be hard enough, without losing too much of their weight.
{Spring guns.}
When engaged in hunting in the forests during the day, the hunter will not unfrequently find it convenient to set either gun or bow traps for the purpose of destroying mischievous and roving night prowlers. Almost any old gun or musket, provided that it will go off when the trigger is pulled, and will not burst from the effects of a good heavy charge, will answer the purpose. The most convenient form of gun trap we have ever used is formed by lashing a piece of horn, bone, or polished wood, to the back of the trigger guard with waxed thread, as shown in the annexed illustration. [Illustration] The trigger string is then brought back, passed through behind it, and led forward through the ramrod hoops. The gun, when heavily loaded, is lashed fast to some tree or post at a convenient height from the ground. A stout forked stick placed in the ground, about 18in. from the muzzle, will, according to its length, serve to regulate the line of fire to the height of the animal the trap is intended for. The trap is baited either by attaching a piece of meat of suitable size to the end of the trigger string in such a way that, as the food is seized and dragged away, the trigger may be drawn, and the gun exploded. Where jackals or other small animals of prey are abundant, they are very apt to spring your trap and waste your ammunition. In order to prevent them from doing so, it is well to form a sort of pass or road up to a large bait staked to the earth with crook posts or pegs, and then carry your trigger line at a slight strain high enough for a jackal to go under it, but low enough to be struck on the advance of a larger animal. The outer end must now be tied fast to a tree or post, as shown in the engraving on the opposite page. [Illustration] Some hunters we have known adjust their trigger lines on the lever principle, as shown in the accompanying illustration. The plan is a good one for drawing a trigger with a heavy pull; but we prefer our own plan, because it is always available. The bit of horn need never be taken from the guard when once properly secured there. A very good porcupine trap is made from the barrel of an old cavalry pistol, stapled to a block of wood, and exploded by the fall of a piece of old spring. A little bone peg or setting pin rests on the top of the barrel, and supports the spring until the string which is fastened to the middle of the setting pin is drawn. The least pull on the string causes the lower end of the pin to slip off the barrel, and allows the spring to fly sharply down on the crown of the nipple.
{Arrow traps.}
Bow and arrow traps are in use in many parts of the world. The Chinese and Tartars are very clever at constructing them. Very large and powerful cross-bows, charged with poisoned arrows, and set much after the manner of a gun-trap are often used for the destruction of tigers and other animals.
Large and very strong bamboo bows, charged with a number of arrows placed in a row, are set with a line stretched across the run of the animals in such a manner that a set of trigger sticks, shown in the annexed illustration, may be acted on when the line is drawn on.
There is an arrow trap, the "Elg-Led," used for the destruction of elk in the forests of northern Europe. No bow is used in the construction of this engine. The hunter, when about to set an elg-led, seeks for a regularly used elk track. Each side of this, when found, he plants a post about 4ft. in height, like the posts of a gate. At about 6ft. from one of the posts he plants another in the same line, and on the tops of the two uprights he fixes by pins a fir-pole chopped flat, just as a hand rail of a bridge is made. He then cuts a long tough spring pole, and lashes its large end fast to two more uprights in such a way that, when forcibly bent back like a spring, its small end may sweep the whole length of the hand-rail, as we will call it. On the top of this hand rail a deep groove is cut, and in it rests a heavy-headed arrow. When the spring pole is drawn back to its full extent, it is held in place by a hard wood pin, set at a slope in a notch cut in the top of the hand rail. To the bottom or heel of this pin is attached one end of a stout copper wire, whilst the other end is carried across the elk track and made fast to the other gate post. Brushwood skilfully disposed on either side of the track keeps the elk in the direct road, whilst fresh young branches and "elk food lichen" scattered freely here and there serve to so attract the attention of the advancing animal that the first intimation he receives of anything being amiss is the passage of the massive steel-pointed shaft through his body. We were first shown how to set an elg-led by an old Norse skipper, who as a warning informed us that the best cow he ever possessed, or was ever likely to possess again, was found dead within ten yards of the first elg-led he ever constructed. Whilst on the subject of traps of this kind, it may not be amiss to caution our readers against placing any of them in situations where either domestic animals or human beings are likely to stray. When you set gun or bow traps near camp, warn all your followers that you have done so. In setting a gun trap be sure that the cocking of the gun and putting on the cap are the last two operations performed. In the case of arrow traps never lay in your arrow until every detail of your arrangements have been completed. Never cross in front of a set trap, or you may pay dearly for doing so.
In situations where it is not convenient or profitable to construct arrow traps, deer are often taken in considerable numbers by first forming a rough fence of tree trunks and branches, and then making openings just large enough for the animals to pass through at intervals. In these pass ways nooses of strong cord are suspended in such a way that, as the deer endeavours to force its way through, the slip knot tightens round his neck and holds him fast until dispatched. Tough, elastic young trees are not unfrequently made to do duty as deer traps, by bending them down until their tops are a few feet from the earth; a running loop of strong cord is then made fast to the extreme end of the natural spring, which is held down by a line, peg, and trigger arrangement set in the deer path. As the animal, in straying onward, catches his leg in the line, the trigger sets the bow free, the noose runs home, and the captive swings aloft. Some of the jungle tribes of India make use of an ingenious hook arrangement for deer and antelope catching, which is thus prepared: A pebble from the river bed, a stout, sharp, hook-shaped thorn and a short piece of twisted hide or grass rope are used to make the trap. The pebble has a hole made in one of its ends, through this one end of the rope is looped, whilst the other end is securely lashed to the thick end of the hooked thorn, as shown in the annexed illustration. This contrivance is baited by placing a small round jungle fruit, of which deer are very fond, on the hook, which is, with its cord and pebble, laid in the path which the animals follow in going to and from water. On the bait being taken into the mouth, the hook quickly becomes embedded in the loose skin below the tongue. The deer, being unable to get rid of it, strikes impatiently upwards with one of its fore-feet, stamping furiously, like an enraged sheep; in doing this, the cleft between the two hoof-tips, being open, receives the cord, the pebble runs up to the back of the pastern, into the hollow of the heel, holds fast there, and so compels the deluded beast to caper about on three legs, when a well-directed arrow soon settles the matter. On the American Continent a sport known as fire-hunting is much followed. This mode of hunting is prosecuted at night. The hunter provides himself with a rifle, an old frying-pan, fastened to the end of a pole, and a good supply of resinous pine knots. These he ignites in the pan, and as the bright flame leaps up, he watches carefully for the gleam from the eyes of the deer amongst the dark shadows of the forest. When the two glowing orbs are perceived a ball is directed immediately between them. Canoes are not unfrequently used in fire-hunting, when the deer are lily-root hunting on the borders of lakes and rivers. Salt-licks or saline incrustations are powerful attractions to deer, who will travel long distances at night to indulge their fondness for salt, when they can be often shot in great numbers by the aid of fire kindled near the lick. Trappers and squatters at times manufacture artificial salt-licks by boring a great number of auger-holes in prostrate tree trunks; these, when tightly rammed with salt, seldom fail to attract such deer as may be in the vicinity. Care must, however, be taken that domestic cattle are not shot at the lick in mistake, as the salt is much relished by them.
When a deer is killed by the hunter at some distance from camp, he either protects it from the attacks of animals or birds of prey until it can be conveniently removed, or proceeds to prepare it for packing at once on his horse, pony, or mule. In countries where there are no vultures, animals of medium size may be kept in safety by attaching them to a spring-pole, or "riser." This is made by bending down a tough, elastic young tree until the crown fork is reached; trim this in such a way with your hunting knife that a sort of hooked crutch is formed. Now lock the hind legs of your animal together by making a slit behind one back tendon, and running the opposite leg through until the hough joint prevents its return; place the loop thus formed over your hook-crutch, and then let the tree spring back to its original erect position, and your game will be safe from ground pilferers. The pole will be too small for bears to climb. Birds and wild cats are scared away by attaching a few bits of coloured rag, or a fluttering pocket handkerchief to the prong. Large red deer or moose can be cut up before suspension. When large animals have to be left whole and unskinned in the woods, lay them longways against the side of a fallen log; cover them with thorn bushes, and then proceed to cut some long thin wands, or small branches; strip the bark from them, in order that the white stick may show. Plant the ends in the earth, and bend the upper portions of the rods over the thorn bushes, amongst which they can be wattled. Few wolves will face this arrangement, as it looks too much like a trap to be safely ventured on. To prepare a deer for packing on a horse which has to carry the hunter as well, proceed as follows:--First make an incision directly behind the back of the head, above what is called the pithing spot, or joint between the atlas and dentata of anatomists; cut round the neck until the muscles, &c., are all divided; then twist the head round, using the antlers as a pair of levers; divide the attachment between the two bones just mentioned, and the head is separated from the neck. Cut the neck from the body just at the last neck joint, which lays in front of and above the shoulders. Cut off all the feet at the pastern joints. Now pass your knife directly in through the front line of the breast bone, and cut forward and back until the brisket is completely divided. Then in the same line carry your cut straight down the centre of the belly until the point of your knife rests on the root of the tail. Feel for the arch bone of the pelvis, skin back the tissues from it, place your knife on its centre with the heel of the blade close to the border of the bone. If the knife is a powerful one, and in good order, a little dexterity in its use will suffice to divide the arch at once. When this has been done, return to the brisket, force open the cut made in it, insert the two hands, and pull right and left until you can bring your knee to bear in flattening out the two sides by the giving way of the heads of the ribs. Take the two thighs and spread them open in the same manner. When this is done seek for the end of the windpipe; when found make a hole through it and pass in a short stick for a cross handle to hold on by, pull it upwards and backwards, cutting away right and left above it such adhesions as will be found, turn out all the intestines by freeing them in the same manner, taking care not to puncture them during the operation. If the work has been properly done nothing but the kidneys will remain in the body of the deer, which can be easily lashed fast to the Ds behind the saddle. The liver and heart can be made a separate package of, as they are well worth taking home.
{Fall-traps.}
A great number of forms of the fall-trap, as it is called, are to be found in different parts of the world, and trappers of fur-bearing animals avail themselves extensively of the use of engines of this description. From the largest bear to the tiny ermine the drop or deadfall produces death, just as we see the common slide-door cage successfully used in taking alive either the royal Bengal tiger or the pilfering kitchen mouse. Deadfall traps are especially valuable to the northern trapper, who, with axe, knife, and rifle, penetrates vast solitudes in search of furs. The materials for his traps cost him merely the trouble of cutting them from the surrounding forest; but no little ingenuity, forethought, and deep calculation are needed to so arrange the tree-trunks, pegs, sticks, and baits, as to successfully impose on creatures so richly endowed with instinct as the fur-coated inhabitants of the wilds.
The martin trap is a contrivance much used for taking small animals of the weasel tribe, is generally useful, and is made as follows: When you have reason to suspect the presence of the animals you are in search of, either from having seen their tracks or noted their movements, proceed to build your pound wall, as it is called. This is a horse-shoe or half-tower arrangement, about 4ft. in height, built up with heavy stones and pieces of hard compact turf. Through the centre of the back of your half tower pass a stout, rounded, smooth stick, about the size of a common broom handle, sharpen the end which comes to the front, and adjust it so that, when the wall is completed, it may project at about 2ft. 6in. from the ground, and 4in. within the line of the two side walls. Now, with your axe, fell a good heavy straight young log, long enough to lay well across the front of your pound when brought up almost in contact with the stones forming the ends. Now, with your knife, make your "figure of four," the principle of which is shown in the above illustration. When this is completed make your loop-line. This is a stout strand of twisted cedar bark, with a smoothly-tied loop at one end. This loop is run on the projecting stick in the centre of the pound, and pushed back until the loop touches the back wall. The other end of the line is made fast, about 4in. from the ground to the bait, which must be perfectly fresh, clean, sweet, and uncontaminated, to be of any use. Any small pieces of bird or squirrel will do. When the bait is attached, the figure of four is brought into use. The main stem or king post rests on the sharpened end of the centre projecting stick which holds the loop and bait, whilst the drop log rests on the crown point at a slant. Immediately on the animal taking the bait, he walks backward with it, draws the loop along the stick until it draws the king post away, when down drops the fall log across his back and instantly kills him, without injuring his skin. In the North of Europe a variety of modifications of the "figure of four" are used for destroying bears, gluttons, and other animals. The woodcuts given on this and the previous page will serve to explain the nature of three of them.
Great numbers of foxes are taken by the Swedish hunters by the use of a contrivance known as a "tana." This is usually made from the stump end of a small tree, chopped with the axe to a sloping or wedge-like form. Two cuts are then made, one on each side the centre or highest point, on which the bait, usually a cat's head, or any piece of offal, is fixed. In performing a series of leaps to get at the bait, the fox gets one of his fore-paws in a slit, as shown in the annexed illustration, when he remains a prisoner until dispatched by the hunter.
The fox hook is another contrivance for the capture of foxes and wolves. The illustration on the following page shows the hook when set and before baiting. The body or slip of the contrivance is made by pinning two hard wood sheaves or trucks to a block-piece of any tough wood; a tough young tree is bent down to form the spring; a loop, or bellying of the line, which must be of strong cord, is placed between the trucks, and a small wedge inserted to keep it there. The hook, which is best made from bone or horn, is next baited with a piece of meat, and placed on the ground. When a fox or wolf seizes the bait, the first determined tug he gives draws out the wedge. The block-piece, with its trucks, remains attached to a stump, whilst the pole-spring flies violently up, and carries with it the prowler, who hangs like some fur-jacketed and odd-looking fish. Assafoetida, when rubbed against stumps and logs, is said to attract wolves.
The professional trapper, who derives his livelihood from the sale of the skins which good fortune and skill combined may cast in his way, avails himself largely of the use of the steel trap or gin for the capture of animals of all kinds and descriptions; and in no country in the world has the manufacture and use of this valuable contrivance reached such perfection as in the United States of America. The steel traps manufactured at Oneida, on the Newhouse principle, are admirable, and range from the "0" size, adapted for musk-rat, to No. 6, or "the great bear tamer," represented in the annexed illustration.
When large traps, such as that just described, are used, there will not unfrequently be some risk and danger in setting them. Mr. Newhouse, the maker of the Oneida trap, gives the following hints on the subject in his valuable work on American trapping: "All that is necessary to be carried into the woods to do this is four strong leathern straps furnished with buckles. When you wish to set a trap, cut four levers of a size and length proportioned to the size of the trap, take two of them; make a loop of one of the straps and slip it over one end of each, then bring the trap spring between them, press them together, and adjust a loop over the other ends of the levers. Serve the other spring in the same way. Now spread the jaws, adjust the dog and pan, loosen the levers, and your trap is set. The straps weigh only a few ounces, and are easily carried." He also gives us a valuable hint or two on the use of so-called "sliding poles," which are contrivances much used by trappers, and astutely remarks as follows: "Animals of aquatic habits, when caught in traps, invariably plunge at once into deep water, and it is the object of the trapper, availing himself of this plunge, to drown his captive as soon as possible, in order to avoid his violence, and keep him out of the reach of other animals. The weight of the trap and chain is usually sufficient for this purpose in the case of the musk rat. But in taking the larger amphibious animals, such as the beaver, the trapper uses a contrivance which is called the 'sliding pole.' It is prepared in the following manner: Cut a pole 10ft. or 12ft. long, leaving branches enough on the small end to prevent the ring of the chain from slipping off; place this pole near where you set your trap in an inclined position, with its small end reaching into the deepest part of the stream, and its large end secured at the bank by a hook driven into the ground; slip the ring of your chain on to this, and see that it is free to traverse down the length of the pole. When the animal is taken, it plunges desperately into the region towards which the pole leads. The ring slides down to the end of the pole at the bottom of the stream, and, with a short chain, prevents the victim from rising to the surface or returning to the shore."
Whilst on the subject of steel traps, it may be well to observe that the bait, whatever it may be, should never be placed on the plate of the trap. Hang it up on a stick; strew it round about; lay it before or behind the trap in a run, or set the trap without bait, but do not bait the trap itself, as doing so with wild forest animals is next to useless. Do not secure your trap chain to a fixed object, as the animal will probably get free. When setting your traps, cut clogs for them; these clogs are merely short lengths of pole, of weight and size proportioned to the size of the trap. Do not fasten the clog so that it may drag crosswise, or it will become fixed amongst the undergrowth. To make it travel end-on place the ring of the chain over the end of the clog, which should be large enough to fit it moderately tight, then with your tomahawk (which should always be at your side whilst trapping) split the clog end, insert a stout flat wedge, and drive it home; this will effectually keep the ring on and prevent crossing. Traps should be rendered perfectly sweet before setting by putting them in the camp fire and heating them up to a point just below that which would tend to injure the springs. Boiling hot water and wood ashes are sometimes used for the same purpose. Sheepskin gloves with the wool on may be used to handle the traps with in order that no taint from the trapper may remain about them. Many baits are prepared by trappers for luring animals to the trap. The much-lauded beaver medicine, or castor bait, is a white creamy secretion found in the neighbourhood of a set of glands near the scrotum of the male beaver. Foxes are often attracted by laying down some earth taken from a fox den, or by scattering small pieces of fried meat dressed with honey about the neighbourhood of the traps. Mr. Newhouse strongly recommends as a fox bait the following preparation: Obtain from the female of the dog-fox, or wolf, the matrix in the season of coition, and preserve it in a quart of alcohol tightly corked; leave a small portion of this preparation on something near the trap, and then, putting some of it on the bottoms of your boots from time to time, strike large circles in two different directions leading round the trap. A very attractive baiting oil for mink and other fish-eating animals may be made by cutting any kind of fish into small pieces, leaving them in an unstoppered bottle, and allowing them to be exposed to the sun and air; putrefaction soon takes place, and a thick strong oil is formed, the smell of which is a great attraction.
Musk rats, which abound in many of the shallow lakes and river bottoms of America, are either speared through the walls of their winter houses by trappers who travel over the ice in pursuit of them, or captured in steel traps of the description already spoken of. A musk-rat spear is made by mounting a smooth polished rod of highly-tempered steel in a 3ft. or 4ft. handle, just as a chisel is fitted. The blade or tine should be about a yard long and a little under half an inch in diameter. The point should be as sharp as a needle. In using this instrument, the hunter looks out sharply for a spot of white or hoar frost on the dome of the musk rat house; through this he plunges his spear, knowing that the sleeping family is beneath it. The heat given off by the animals causes a partial thaw, which leads to the tell-tale white incrustation. On the rats being transfixed, a hole is cut with a tomahawk through which to take them out, when a steel trap is set for the capture of such fugitives as may have escaped the pointed steel.
{Catching birds.}
The explorer's larder will not unfrequently depend for a supply on such feathered game, large or small, as good fortune may place at his disposal. In many regions animals of the chase, properly so called, do not exist; in others, they are so thinly scattered over a large extent of country that their capture is at the best precarious and uncertain. Few routes, however, which the traveller could select on the face of the habitable globe will be found destitute of feathered inhabitants of some kind. We know of no bird which could not, under the pressure of hunger, be turned to account. Vultures are, perhaps, the most repulsive feathered creatures in creation, and yet instances are not wanting in which starving men have fed on them. Our space will not admit of our entering on a description of the various and complex net arrangements made use of in the capture of wildfowl in decoys by the continental sportsman. We shall deal only with such contrivances as may be turned out of hand by the exercise of a little ingenuity and the use of simple tools and common appliances. Ostrich catching--the ostrich being the largest known bird--perhaps deserves the first place in our list.
A variety of methods are adopted for the capture of the ostrich and emu by the natives of the countries in which they are found. The Arabs and Cabiles of Algeria organise regular ostrich hunts, for which the horses are systematically trained by having their food gradually decreased in bulk, and being ridden long distances daily in the full heat of the sun. The ostriches, when found, are headed towards an ambuscade of mounted hunters, who, when the birds approach within the required distance, dash out from their concealment, and literally ride down the game, which, when thoroughly exhausted, is knocked on the head with short heavy sticks. The Bushmen of Africa lie carefully concealed, with their bows and arrows, at a convenient distance from the nests of the birds or the edge of a vley or pool to which they come to drink. Stalking is an art the Bushman excels in; and, with a piece of ostrich skin on his back, a stick roughly hewn into the form of the neck and head of the bird, together with his short bow, in the left hand, and a supply of arrows in his head band (as shown in the annexed woodcut), the cunning hunter creeps up wind towards the feeding flock, and not unfrequently succeeds in shooting down more than one before the alarm is given. The Australian native, when emu hunting, provides himself with a leaf-covered branch large enough to effectually conceal him as he advances step by step up wind towards the birds as they stalk forward and back on the plain in search of food. When within range the native fits the hollow end of his long fire-hardened spear into the tooth of his womera, or throwing stick, and sends it whistling on its mission of death. In South America the ostrich is hunted by mounted men, who capture it by the aid of the bolas, which consists of three rounded pebbles sewn up in raw hide cases and attached to strips of hide, which are united in the centre. In the use of this contrivance the balls are made to whirl rapidly round the head of the hunter as he gallops towards his prey, and diverge to the full extent of their thong attachments. When sufficiently close to the object of pursuit, the whole affair is launched forth with extraordinary force and precision, entangling the legs, wings, or neck of the bird, and not unfrequently inflicting a heavy stunning blow or two as well. In districts where wheeled vehicles are employed by either settlers or natives, ostriches or emus may be successfully approached by concealing yourself in one of them as they go creaking and jolting slowly in a line with the flock. By a little management the bullock team may be so guided as to edge down until at very close quarters, when a heavy charge of buckshot under the wing, or a well-directed bullet through the body, seldom fails in bringing the game to bag. We have successfully approached bustards in this manner, both in India and Tartary. Before commencing your stalk, it is well to arrange some straw or reed in the cart, waggon, or hackery in such a manner that it shall afford concealment without preventing you, when within shot, from instantly starting, gun in hand, to a kneeling posture, which we have found the best attitude to shoot in when subjected to the irregular motion of a vehicle with wheels out of circle, and travelling over a plain without roads. For this description of shooting, a strong hard-shooting gun is needed. One of the kind described at page 9 of this work will be found well adapted for the purpose, and is identical in size of bore--viz., 11--weight, &c., with one we always use. When about to commence bustard shooting, it will be well, if you have no Ely's wire cartridges, which are of the greatest value for all large fowl, to prepare some from old kid-glove fingers, or oiled silk, as directed at pp. 235 and 236. It is seldom, even when shooting with heavy charges of powder and cartridges, that standing or running shots at bustards prove fatal. We have found it the best plan to continue the approach steadily, until the bird, becoming alarmed, makes a short rapid run, as it almost invariably will, and then spreads its wide wings for flight. Then fire well to the front and below the wing, and the chances are greatly in favour of the sportsman.
Wild turkeys are approached by the aid of a call made from a hollow bone. Some skill and experience are needed both to make the call and use it when made. Some hunters succeed in imitating the cluck, or "yelp" as it is called, without the aid of the bone; but to do this it is necessary to study the exact pitch and intonation of the bird's voice, which can only be done by listening to it. Great numbers of wild turkeys are taken in "cribbets," or pens, which are made much on the same principle as the bird trap shown at the front of our full-page illustration, only that, instead of sticks of ordinary size, poles are made use of. The following directions for making a wild turkey pen or trap are given by Audubon, and are thoroughly practical and to the purpose: "Young trees of four or five inches in diameter are cut down and divided into pieces of the length of twelve or fourteen feet. Two of these are laid on the ground parallel to each other, at a distance of ten or twelve feet. Two other pieces are laid across the ends of these at right angles to them, and in this manner successive layers are added until the fabric is raised to the height of four feet. It is then covered with similar pieces of wood placed three or four inches apart, and loaded with one or two heavy logs to render the whole firm. This done, a trench about eighteen inches in depth and width is cut under one side of the cage, into which it opens slantingly and rather abruptly. It is continued on its outside to some distance, so as gradually to attain the level of the surrounding ground. Over the part of this trench within the pen, and close to the wall, some sticks are placed so as to form a kind of bridge about a foot in breadth. The trap being now finished, the owner places a quantity of Indian corn in its centre as well as in the trench, and as he walks off drops here and there a few grains in the woods, sometimes to the distance of a mile. This is repeated at every visit to the trap after the turkeys have found it. Sometimes two trenches are cut, in which case the trenches enter on opposite sides of the trap, and are both strewn with corn. No sooner has a turkey observed the train of corn than it communicates the circumstance to the flock by a cluck, when all of them come up, and, searching for the grains scattered about, at length come upon the trench, which they follow, squeezing themselves one after another through the passage under the bridge. In this manner the whole flock sometimes enters, but more commonly six or seven only, as they are alarmed by the least noise, even the cracking of a tree in frosty weather. Those within, having gorged themselves, raise their heads and try to press their way through the top or sides of the pen, passing and repassing on the bridge, but never for a moment looking down or attempting to escape through the passage by which they enter. Thus they remain until the owner of the trap, arriving, closes the trench, and secures his captives." Great numbers of both capercailzie and blackcock are taken in the forests of northern Europe by the aid of traps and snares. The former differ in form of construction with the district in which they are used. Deadfalls are in common use. They are either made in such a way as to allow one long heavy pole to fall on the bird, or seven or eight stout poles are battened together as they would be to form a door. A hole is cut in the upper end large enough for the main post or setting stick to pass up through as the flap of the trap falls. The figure-of-four form of release is that usually made use of. The illustrations at page 663 will serve to show the arrangement when put together and the mode of notching the separate portions. Birch or beech wood makes excellent figure-of-four traps. Cowberries and other forest fruits are used as baits to strew in and about the traps. A very ingenious form of pen trap is also much used in the North for blackcock capture; it is called the "orre tratt," and is thus constructed: A young pine of about 12ft. high is selected as the centre pole; all the branches are removed, and the top of a well-grown young spruce fir tree lashed in a reversed position to the pole about 4ft. from the ground; a crutch or fork is now fastened with cord to the head of the pole; within about 1ft. of the top in this crutch is lashed the tip stick, which is so tied as to act as a scale-beam or the see-saw used by boys; a bunch of wheat or other corn in the ear is secured to the extreme end of the main pole. When these arrangements have been made, a number of larch poles with the bark on are driven in round the main pole in funnel form, much as young trees are defended from the attacks of deer or rabbits in this country. The top of the funnel should be about 4ft., and the bottom about 20in. across. A few tough sticks or vines wattled in here and there give firmness and compactness to the structure. When this is complete, plant a few poles, with bunches of partly threshed oat or barley reed tied to their tops in such a way that a good foothold may be afforded to birds on cross branches left for the purpose, which should be near enough to the tip stick of the main pole for a blackcock to hop easily off when attracted by the bunch of wheat ears. The instant he settles on the tip stick it gives way, and allows him to drop down into the pen on the fir-branch frill in the centre, which instantly gives way under his weight, and lets him down to the bottom. Should he attempt to rise, the barb-like pine branches keep him down. The tip stick, having fallen back to its original position, is ready for a fresh victim, who quickly descends to join his fellow in the bottom of the pen, which has been known to become well filled during a short winter's day.
{Snares.}
Snares may be made of annealed brass or copper wire, or of several strands of twisted horsehair. Twisted copper or brass wire makes excellent snares, but it must be very soft and pliable. Iron wire, when used as a makeshift for the two former descriptions of material, should be annealed before use: this process, which adds greatly to the pliability and tenacity of iron wire, is conducted as follows: Double your wire into a hank or bundle of convenient size; twist a loose rope made of dried grass or straw round it in all directions until the coil is completely covered; ignite the straw or hay band, and let it burn to ashes; let your wire cool gradually, and you will find it almost as pliant as a thong. The snoods, or "grains" as they are called, are best made from stout white horsehair, twisted by the aid of a half-opened pocket knife, as at Fig. 1, page 598. Immense numbers of these are made in some districts for the capture of snipes and woodcocks, and are used in a kind of trap known as a "springle." As a ground trap for birds, it is, perhaps, the most remunerative that can be set; its form, when adjusted for use, is shown at the front of the full-page illustration, "Traps for Small Game." Common hazel is the best material to make all the woodwork of a springle from. The annexed illustration shows the arrangement in a divided form. The parts consist of the riser A, the "sweik" B, the bow C, the hookpost D, and the button E. The riser line--a piece of stout twisted twine--the grains, and the button in place are shown at F. The riser should be planted so as to lay well back, in order that it may exercise its full power when in action. When setting this description of trap for snipes or woodcocks no bait is used. A convenient spot is chosen on the ground in which they bore for food; and a roading is then made with small bent twigs, as in the annexed illustration, in extended =V= form. [Illustration] The sweik is set directly across the narrow pass, formed by the convergence of the two twig walls or hedges. No woodcock or snipe will ever pass out over the barrier formed by the bent twigs. Feeding and running onwards, they merely touch their beaks against the border hedge, work their way up the gradually narrowing passage, until the sweik, with its surrounding of grains or snare, is reached, when the head or feet of the bird, pressing down the former, releases the button from its hold on the notch. The riser flies up, and the neck, or some other portion of the body of the bird, is caught within the noose, which holds the game firmly against the bow, until strangled or taken out by the trapper. We have seen hundreds of springles set along the lines formed by the wheels of a waggon across an open stretch of plain or moorland. Water settling in these forms a sort of water road for snipes to run in. Two or three twigs on each side are all that will be needed at each trap, in such a favourable trapping ground as this. On an open flat or marsh meadow, 14ft. or 15ft. of twig roading will not be too much for each side or limb of the double or single =V= arrangement. Springles set for birds, requiring a bait such as fieldfares, blackbirds, missel thrushes, redwings, &c., should have their sweiks placed over shallow oval pits; hawthorn, paracanthus or cotoneaster berries, rotten apples, or ears of unthreshed wheat or barley make good baits for springles. Vast numbers of migratory birds of the thrush tribe are taken for the market on the Continent and in the north of Europe by the use of various forms of the "dona." This is a trap made by either bending into half-hoop form a stick either growing or inserted in an auger hole bored in a tree. The string used to bend the bow, and form a head line for the hair nooses or snares, is usually made of bast obtained from the lime or linden tree; twine, or any other cord-like material, will answer the same purpose. Several forms of this kind of trap will be seen suspended from the trees in the full-page illustration, representing "Traps for Small Game." A very excellent form of spring bow trap is made by bending a strong pliant hazel or other stick into the form shown in the annexed illustration. Bore a hole through one end with a red-hot wire; draw the snare or grains through the hole until the two ends of the bow closely approach each other, then force the end of the tread-fork (A), which must be cut to a truncated conical form, into the hole (B), until the grains is held by it in such a way that the force of the bow cannot draw it through the hole, and yet pressure on the tread-fork will displace it, and set the grains free to be drawn through the hole, unless the bird which has stepped on the fork is caught, in which case it is held, as shown in the full-page illustration. Larks, quails, finches, &c., are readily taken in snares, hung either from bows or stretched lines adjusted so as to hang just above the ground; several of these arrangements are shown in the full-page illustration. Chaff or grain should be scattered about traps of this kind, which answer best when snow is on the ground. A great number of both birds and small animals are to be taken in "cribbets:" these are pyramidal-shaped pens, or cages, built up by placing round, straight sticks, with the bark on, one on the other, just as a log house is built, only that cribbet sticks are not notched as logs are for building. When the cribbet is built to the required size and height for the description of game to be caught in it, a string at each corner, brought to the apex of the trap, gathered together in a knot, and made tight by twisting round a stick placed in the loop, makes all firm and compact. A piece of bent vine or briar serves to set the trap, which is arranged as shown in the full-page illustration.
Wild geese, ducks, widgeon, teal, water rails, coots, &c. &c., are taken readily by traps properly set for them. On the coasts of Finland and Lapland great numbers of wild geese are taken by forming a little fence or hurdle (which stands about breast high to a goose), on projecting points or spits of land which stretch out into the bays or harbours. Unbarked sticks, about the size of a common walking-stick, are thrust firmly into the ground, at about 10ft. or 12ft. apart, and then at every third or fourth stick a second is placed at about a foot from the other, forming, so to speak, a pair of gate posts, and in such a manner as to form an irregular line, completely surrounding the sea-line of the spit. A string or wire is now stretched tightly from stick to stick, only omitting the spaces left between the pairs of posts. These are left unfenced, and are each provided with a running noose, made of twisted hair or wire, which is secured to one of the posts. When the arrangement is complete, barn refuse is scattered inside the fence. The geese, coming in from the sea to feed, breast the fence, until an opening, formed by one of the gates, is found. This is quickly entered, and the noose, running in round the neck of the intruder, holds him fast. A sort of trap raft frame is much used for duck catching during winter in the north. Some short pieces of board serve to form the side and end floats of the raft. An upright post is set at each corner, and a top line is stretched round the heads of the side and end posts, as shown in the annexed illustration. Hair or wire nooses are set all round the duck raft, which is usually floated in a hole made in the ice; a quantity of water plants, pulled up by the roots, are thrown within the barriers. The ducks or other fowl, in endeavouring to force their way through the loops, are hung by the neck, and strangled.
Wooden frames are also mounted with wire snares and cross strings, as shown in the illustration on page 677, and prepared for sinking, by the aid of stones, through holes in the ice, until they are about 3ft. or 5ft. beneath the surface. The ducks congregate in these holes, and in diving after food become entangled in the snares, and are drowned. The frames are hauled up once or twice during the day, for the purpose of removing the dead birds. Small-sized fish hooks, fastened to stout line or twine, and baited with bits of unio, pond mussel, or other fresh-water molluscs, removed from the shell, make good traps for ducks. Herons, storks, egrets, and other wader birds, can be caught by hooks baited with small fish. Sea-fowl are caught in considerable numbers by baiting ordinary fishing hooks and lines with bits of pork rind or fish offal.
Ducks and other wildfowl are captured by the natives of Australia by the aid of a long rod or wand, to which a fine strong noose of twisted bark is attached. Furnished with this contrivance, the native proceeds to make for himself a head dress or crown of river weeds, and then, wand in hand, swims and wades out to where the unsuspecting fowl are feeding and disporting themselves; here, with the rod resting on the surface of the water, and pushed forward, duck after duck is first noosed by the neck, and then drawn under the surface to the duck-catcher, who quickly attaches the victims to his belt by slip-loops fastened to it for the purpose. Both the Chinese and Indians take wildfowl on ponds or lakes by the aid of a gourd shell placed on the head. A few real gourds or pumpkins are first launched well to windward, and allowed to float amongst the birds in order to allay suspicion. The fowler then, with his gourd-shell cap (in which two small peepholes are cut) on his head and neck, enters the water at some spot where a clump of reeds or rushes can be found as a concealment, and then swiftly swims or wades, as the depth of the water may render necessary, out amongst the birds. Here he proceeds to draw as many as he requires down by the feet, securing his game just as the Australians fasten theirs. The shooting or trapping of wildfowl by the white hunter or explorer is often much facilitated by the use of false or decoy birds. These may be either solid blocks of carved wood, painted so as to imitate the plumage of real birds (the heads and necks of these should be made to take off), stuffed skins mounted on wooden or bark floats, sheet metal, or gutta-percha models; many of these are beautifully made, but are rather costly and troublesome to carry. We prefer, when making use of a few decoys, to employ duck, goose, or widgeon skins stuffed with bark chips, and balanced with lead attached to a loop fastened to the breast. Bits of lead pipe make good weights. Each decoy bird should have an anchor weight and cable string attached to it, so that it may remain in its proper place until picked up from the canoe by the aid of a long forked pole. Ambushes are often made use of in marshes, on the borders of lakes, or the banks of tidal rivers, for the purpose of concealing the sportsman from the quick eyes of the passing fowl. A good sized cask sunk in the ooze, and then well furnished with straw, makes a good lurking place. On flats, where the tide flows, it is a good plan to plant four stout posts in a square. Bore sets of auger holes up each post in such a way that four stout iron or hard wood pins may be passed completely through the holes in the posts, and project about six inches towards the interior of the square. On these projecting ends a light platform or stage of boards is fixed for the sportsman to stand on; a few bundles of marsh reeds, fastened to the frame, are so spread out as to form an effectual screen. A narrow board to sit on is supported on two bars run through each pair of end posts. When shooting ducks on the marshes of Southern Russia we used to form a sort of screen by cutting a bundle of marsh reeds, fastening their tops together with a piece of twine, spreading the lower ends out like a large extinguisher or the hat of a beehive, and then placing the whole arrangement on the head. When seated thus arrayed on a good thick pile of reeds, with your legs encased in well-greased boots, and your gun placed well under cover, the ducks, geese, widgeon, and other fowl, come fearlessly by on whistling wing, and are knocked over and bagged accordingly. A contrivance, known as the "crinoline stalker," may be used with advantage in approaching many descriptions of wildfowl; this contrivance is made from four bars of wood nailed together in a square, as a picture frame is made. At each corner a leg is placed, about knee high. A string serves to sling the arrangement over the shoulders of the sportsman, just as a falconer's hawk stand used to be carried. A number of short lengths of cord or ropeyarn attached to the frame serve as lashings for bundles of reeds or long green branches, so that, when the stalker is adjusted properly, the sportsman walks as though in a very large and high topped crinoline. When he wishes to remain stationary, he drops his frame so that the legs may rest on the ground. He can then sit down on the hind bar and remain well concealed. The gun is usually carried slung until required for use, in order that the hands may be free to manage the crinoline.
{Calls.}
Calls of different kinds are generally made use of to attract deer, wildfowl, rails, plover, and partridges. The moose deer is called with a trumpet formed from birch bark. Duck and goose calls vary in form with the locality in which they are used. The natural windpipe and larynx, freshly stripped from the bird, are, in the hands of a skilled performer, the best that can be devised. Landrails can be brought close to the sportsman by the use of a small thin flat bone (beef-rib bone is as good as any), cut into teeth, like those of a saw. Over these a thin flat strip of bone is drawn sharply and repeatedly until the answering bird is within shot. Partridge calls are made by stretching a bit of stout parchment or moistened vellum over the mouth of a common bottle neck, broken off short. When the stretched membrane is dry, a small pin hole is made in its centre, and through this a knotted horsehair is passed, until the knot is drawn against the inside of the drum-head. A little powdered resin is placed on the fingers, and the hair is drawn sharply through in such a way that the voice of the real bird is closely imitated.
Woodpigeon, plover, and weasel calls can be purchased for a small sum from any respectable gunmaker, and are far better than most amateurs could hope to make. They occupy a small space, and can be easily stowed away in the gun case. Much might be said on the subject of wildfowl punts, sunk flats, fowling canoes, &c., but a consideration of such appliances can be scarcely entered on in this work.
{Birdlime.}
The use of birdlime may be often had recourse to for the capture of a great variety of birds, particularly such as assemble in large flocks about the neighbourhood of springs or water holes. The most expeditious and best mode of preparing birdlime is to place about a pint of linseed oil in an earthen pot or other vessel, which should be set upright in the hot ashes of the camp fire, and boiled slowly and steadily until reduced to about a third in quantity, when, instead of oil, birdlime will be left in the vessel. The inner bark of the holly, some kinds of elm, a parasitical plant like a mistletoe which grows from the mango tree, the straight upright shoots of the common elder, and several creepers or vine-like plants found in tropical countries, produce birdlime. To prepare it, the bark, after being scraped free from the outer shell, must be boiled in rain-water for at least ten hours; throw it then in a mass out on a cloth to drain; dig a pit in the earth in a cool place, put a flat stone in the bottom of the pit, throw your bark in on the stone, letting it rest as a pile or heap. Now place another flat stone on the top of the pile, throw in grass round the edges to keep any earth from getting in, fill up your pit with earth so as to leave a slight depression in the middle; throw a little water into this every other day for three weeks, when the bark will have become stringy and tough. Lay it now little by little between two rough stones, and grind it into a paste. Work the paste with clean hands in a clear running stream, until all impurities and foreign substances are washed away, and then place it in a clean earthen pot, covered with a tile or flat stone for a week, when the lime will be fit for use. When intended for the capture of small birds, it should be smeared on sets of twigs or branches, so set that the birds may settle easily on them. When used for crow catching, it is placed in a thick coat on the inside of paper cones, which are made as though intended for silkworms to spin in; each cone is baited by placing a piece of raw meat in its narrow end, and then thrusting a thorn or sharp splinter of wood through both it and the paper. The crow, in attempting to get at the bait, thrusts its head into the cone, which remains fixed on like an extinguisher. Birds thus caught either flap about helplessly or keep mounting in the air until, becoming exhausted, they fall to the earth, and are easily taken. On some of the islands of the Pacific vast quantities of dragon flies are taken for food by boys, who, armed with long wands tipped with birdlime, lightly touch the insect, which is at once secured, and placed in a basket carried suspended from the shoulders.
{Poison.}
We have always a great aversion to the use of poison as an agent for the destruction of animal life; and it is only in cases of absolute necessity that recourse should be had to it. The skins of fur-bearing animals so destroyed are very inferior to those obtained in the usual way. The flesh of birds and animals poisoned by strychnine (the agent commonly made use of by hunters and travellers for poisoning purposes) is so intensely poisonous, that any creature partaking of it is almost sure to perish. It is, therefore, the best plan, when it is considered advisable to rid the vicinity of the camp of the presence of furred or feathered carnivora, to destroy some suffering or worn-out baggage mule or horse with strychnine, and then place its remains in a position in which access to them is easy; but see that your own dogs are secured, or they, with all the magpies, crows, vultures, wolves, wild dogs, &c., &c., in the district, will stand a fair chance of being destroyed.
We remember hearing of two settlers in Australia who, finding that their crops were seriously damaged by cocatoos, tried all in their power to shoot them, but to no purpose. They at length prepared a quantity of corn with strychnine, and spread it about the clearings. The cocatoos eagerly devoured the grain, fell dead in the forest, and were in due time devoured by the "dingoes" or native wild dogs, who in turn fell beneath the powers of the potent vomic nut. It is best to take such strychnine as may be required from England. Apothecaries' Hall is the best place to obtain it from. The best way to pack it for travelling is in a stout glass-stoppered bottle, which has had a strong tin case or jacket soldered over it. The tin cover or cap fitting over all should have a skull conspicuously marked on it. (See "Box markings.") Too much caution cannot be used in handling or dealing with this most deadly and fearful poison.