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Show I 1 "' '" ' 1 '' '"''' Elephant Ivory and How It Is Obtained k)y Capt. Fritz Duquesne Capt. Fritz Duquesne was bom of Boer parents in South Africa, educated edu-cated in Furore (where he won considerable con-siderable distinction ax a swordsman), swords-man), and has been a professional hunter of big game most of his life. At the iige of 17 he was a veteran of the Kaffir wars. He served in the liocr war and also in the Congo. In the recent events of South Africa's kaleidoscopic history Capl. Duquesne took a conspicuous part, lie acted act-ed in many capacities during the hostilities between the Boer and the British, being in turn spy, military detective, engineer, censor, dispatch-carrier dispatch-carrier and propagandist. He was wounded twice in the fighting around Colcnso. When the Brituih succeeded in cutting cable communication communi-cation between the Boer republic and the rest of the world, Duquesne carried the news of the Boer victories victo-ries over the Mozambique border, and from there he wrote dispatches J to the Petit Bleu, the official Euro- i pean organ of the Boer government. 4 , ' lie was once captured by the For- tugucse and thrown into prison at 5 r ' Lorenzo Marquis. Later he was to ) ken as a prisoner to Europe at the request of the British government. When the ship that conveyed him 3 and his guard touched at Naples he ?. was suffering from a fever and in consequence was placed in an Italian hospital. On his recovery he was al- lowed to go free. He went to Brus- J sels and was sent back to the front by Dr. Leyds, with plans for the seizure of Capo Town by the Boer i commanders then mobilized in Cape k Colony. Everything was ready for the taking of the city when, a traitor i having revealed the plot, Duquesne l and a number of others were cap tured in Cape Town inside the Brit-,i Brit-,i ish defenses. This was the climax i of what has come, to be known as the "Cape Town Plot." Some of the prisoners were sentenced to death I who later had their sentence changed 1 to life imprisonment. Capt. Duquesne j was among the latter. Ten months later he escaped from the Bermuda prisons, got aboard the American j yacht Margaret of New. York while she was coaling at the dock, and was ' conveyed to Baltimore. Back to Eu- ' rope he went again, as war corrc-' spondent and military writer on the Petit Bleu; thence to Africa, where ' he took a commission on the Congo. i In East Africa he hunted big game , for sport and profit, and finally he came to New York to do newspaper i and magazine work. MHE experience Presi-M Presi-M 1 dent Itoosevelt has f v I gained hunting 1 I gamo on tho North , I Amorlcan continent pMMaM will bo of llttlo UBO cg&SjljMiS&'l to him on his expo- SHRvtal dlt,on lnt0 tl0 wllds JvlWJjVJ of East Africa. tm Hunting in America is a sport, Bomothlng to bo played nt; hunting In Africa Is n trade, almost a J profession. In America ono merely ' takoB a rlflo and Boes out to shoot. In Africa, to hunt a la modo, ono takes a battery of arms, usually throo and ' sometimes four, high power rifles of different cnllbcr, ranging from a bIx i and five-tenths millimeter to a COO cordite express. Tho cartridges for f these rifles nro charged with vari ous bullots, solid nlckol, steel, soft noso long, Boft noso short and split. . Each of these bullets was designed by oxports for a spoclnl uso, and on tho way they are used depends tho success of one's shot. Often tho uso of fho unsuitable bullot ends in the hunter's doath. On small gamo tho light callbor nrm, six five-tenths, mllll- J meter, Is used, and on largo and dan- ! gorous gamo tho nlno mllllmoter Mnu- sor nnd 000 callbor cordlto oxpreBS glvq tho boat results. Tho last-namod rlflo strikes tho enormous blow of 8,700 pounds, nnd has a recoil of closo on a hundred weight. That tho man whose hunting experiences has been bring him down. Tho hunter must put the shot into tho animal's head or heart, or he must face a charge that will probably end In his destruction. Rifles of various caliber are carried for economy. It Is cheaper to uso ft small six five-tenths mllllmctor rlflo ondimnll game, a nlno mllllmoter on medium game, and a COO express on big game, than to enrry one weapon for all-round work, which would have to bo big enough at least (or the largest game. Nothing smaller than n 450 express would do for that, and It, would bo distinctly uneconomical, not to say foolish, to shoot a small antelope, the size of a goat, with a C00 express. It would be like using a pile driver to kill a mosquito. Again, cartridges become very costly by the time thoy reach tho interior of Africa. A cartridge for a GOO express- rifle, for Instance, costing sixpence (12 cents) n London, reaches an enormous price by the time It gets Into tho hunting grounds of Africa. I have seen them bring five shillings ($1.25) each, nnd very scarce at that. ,Nor Is this such an extravagant price whpn one takes Into consideration that every ounce has to be carried by porters who plod for months through swamps, across rivers, over mountains, traversing the par.cb.ed veld and penetrating tho dlB-mal dlB-mal forest, often fighting their way foot by foot beforo they reach their destination. It, is easy to see that weight is an Important factor In cartridge cart-ridge economics. Four six five-tenths millimeter cartridges are equal In weight lo one COO express. That Is, It Is four deaths against one, for the same' weight. , These are tho things President Itoosevelt must learn before he can consider himself up on the ways of safari. If tho president hunts like an Africander and not like the ov-orago ov-orago European that visits the dark continent, ho will certainly find danger; danger that tries a hunter's confined to bird shooting with shot-guns, shot-guns, or small gamo, with, say, a 32-callbor 32-callbor rifle, may understand the meaning of theso figures, lit mo state that tho ordinary 32-callbor rlflo has a recoil of perhaps ten to twelvo pounds. Tho double-barreled Bhot-gun, Bhot-gun, which to tbo ordinary hunter Bcems to havo all tho "kicking" ca-paclty ca-paclty any weapon needs, has a re-boII re-boII of from 25 to 30 pounds, Tho COO callbor cordlto express Is the most deadly hand arm made. Notwithstanding tho terrific forco of this GOO express bullet It must bo placed in tho correct part of an olo-phant's olo-phant's or a rhinoceros' anatomy to nerve, that requires an alort Intelligence Intelli-gence and a quick eye to pass through It and live, Mr. Cunnlngbame, wno Is organizing organiz-ing tho Roosovelt Expedition, Is ono of the most experienced and clever of African hunters. He will havo complete com-plete chargo of everything from tho largest to tho smallest detail. With him at tho head of things tho president presi-dent can depend on haying a successful success-ful hunt. That Is, If ho Ja going for sport and not merely as a scribe looking look-ing for local atmosphoro for his book. Many great African hunters havo killed all their gamo in tho narrow nnd dark confines of nn Ink bottlo. Afrlcn Is a monagorlo 11,600,0-00 miles in area, with tho greatest combination com-bination of lakos, rivers, mountains nnd veld Imnglnablo, a verltablo para-dlso para-dlso for wild anlraalB. Notwithstanding Notwithstand-ing tho destruction of big gamo, thero aro still thousands of herds of everything every-thing Africa possesses for the hunter, roaming over tho veld Only a fqw days' travel afoot from tho const. There aro hundreds of rivers that have rnrely been visited by the whlto mnn. On the banks of theso streams hippopotami, rhinoceroses, elephants, leopards, Hons, gorillas nnd dozens of varieties of antelope, the names of which have never been heard by tho majority of Europeans' or Americans, gambol and fatten in gluttonous, plon-tltude plon-tltude undisturbed by the crack of tho 600 caliber express. It is only In reachable districts that tho gamo Is killed to any great extent. Tho cost nnd danger of hunting In most of the country have protected It and will protect It for many years to como. Frightful" Diseases of the Jungle. Where gamo Is most abundant tho frightful diseases that nnturo seems to havo placed as a barrier against the white man's Invasion are also abundant. In -Africa's wild, benutlful, mysterious forests, maro to bo feared than nil the Hons and rhinos, lurk the germs of tho deadly bluckwater fover, malaria, science-defying sleeping sickness sick-ness and the unknown reason for tho veld sores that drain one's llfo out In n fow months. These, with the East African term for an expedition of any kind, enpeclally a liuntlne expedition. miasma! swamps, the noxious Insects, tho slimy, poisonous spears of tho natives, make hunting In Africa no game for tho chicken-hearted. Of course, hunting as a business is ono thing and hunting for pleasure Is another. It Is possible to kill African game to a limited extent without tho slightest hardship. Ono can go on safari accompanied by natives who do all the work, oven to carrying tho sportsman In a hammock up to tho WITH A ROAR HE CHARGED DOWN ON ME LIKE AN AVALANCHE. game, selecting tho correct rifle, loading with the proper ammunition, pointing out tho place to shoot at and handing the hunter the weapon. Tho hunter merely pulls tho trigger, after seeing that thero are a number of shikarees (nntlvo hunters) In readiness to protect him should ho miss his mark and the gamo chargo. As often as not ho misses, a shlkarco shoots the game, and his employer gets tho credit. It Is the dangerous side only of African hunting that has any attractions for tlio man with any sporting instincts in him, and it is only that stdo of the hunt that Is of Interest to the laity. According to present Intentions, Mr. Cunnlngbame will tako tho Itoosovolt party over tho route I have covered twice, tho last tlmo very recontly. What I have passed through Rooso-velt Rooso-velt must fuco. Ho will bo lucky It ho comes put nllvo, , Like most Doers, I havo been hunting, hunt-ing, on and off, and associating with hunters since I was ten years old. Danger nnd hairbreadth escapes havo happened so frequently to mo that most of my hunting experiences appear ap-pear almost too commonplace to record. Yet somo of them stand out vividly from tho ri.st, especially thoso of recent occurrouco. It would bo lmposslblo to hunt any length of tlmo In Africa without having somo adventures adven-tures worth relating; adventures In which a steady eye, nerves of Bteol, and n brain as quick as lightning nro llte-savlng essentials to a big gamo hunter. Most gamo drops at tho first shot from tho rlflo of an experienced hunt er. "Tho game that makes tho story Is the game that's missed," as tho Swahlll (eaBt coast unlives) say, and there is nothing truer than that saying, say-ing, as far as my experiences go, for a bad shot nenrly ended my trek a llttlo whllo ago In the Lake country. I was treklng between Lake Albert Edward N'Yanza and Lake Klvu, the greatest stretch of hunting ground in the world, with a caravan of a hundred hun-dred men. We had marched steadily through tho early part of tho day and, now that the merciless whlto-hot sun was directly overhead, t called a halt. Each member of the caravan threw himself down In tho shado excepting my shikaree Nick, a "boy" from the other Bide of tho continent, a nattvo of Senegal. Ho novOr rested, and as ho got a porcentngo of tho Ivory wo secured, ho never let tho soles of his feet grow soft for want of exerclso. About nn hour passed before Nick same swinging Into camp with his whlto teeth gleaming like now swords, I knew by his smite that thero was something afoot. He walked straight to my elephant guns and beckoned me. I knew he had struck a fresh spoor (trail). Seizing my nrms, I signaled my gun bearer nnd struck nut, Nick lea'dlng. If thero aro any elephants about at midday, tho hunter is pretty sure to make a good bag, for at that tlmo they rest out of tho direct rays of tho sun, dozing tho hot hours away, and nro easily approached. A Terrible Battle with Elephants. After halt an hour's walk through grass that was at least 20 feet high, wo came across a herd of about twenty elephants, among which there were somo fine bull tuskers. As I expected, ex-pected, they wero all resting out of the sun. They wero difficult to got at on account of tho thickness of the undergrowth. It meant a long, pa-tlont pa-tlont crawl to a good shooting position, posi-tion, for to shoot at anything but close qunrtors In such country meant that tho bullet would bo deflected by the bush, I put a Bolld nickel ball In tho right barrel of my COO caliber ox-press ox-press for a head shot, and a soft noso split In tho loft barrel for a body shot. With tho shikaree at my side and tho gun bearor at my back, wo oropt Bllently, Inch by Inch, foot by foot, through the huge tufts of 'grass till a good view of the game presented Itself. It-self. I took off my coat nnd hat, hung thorn on a low limb and crawled a few yards farther on. As I could not get a vital shot nt any of tho elephants ele-phants in their lying position, I gavo a sharp whistle. In an Instant they wero upon their feat thrusting their trunks up In tho air to get a scent of their enemies nnd holding out their enormous cars to catch tho slightest sound, At last an old bull worked Into tho right position. I aimed at his weakest point, between tho oye and ear, and gavo him the solid shot. My aim was bad; a piece of his tusk flow Into tho air. With a roar ho charged down on me like on avalanche, ava-lanche, I lovolod my express for a second shot and tho natives stood ready, Down ho came, tho grass wnvlng bo-fore bo-fore him in billows. I waited CO, 40, 30, 20 yards, another second's suspense sus-pense and bang I I gavo him tho soft bullet full in tho chest. It failed to stop him, A screeching roar of pain burst from the chnrging monster and blood gushed from his trunk. I snatched my Mauser and Jumped aside as ho passed. My hat and coat, which were a fow yards behind, attracted at-tracted his attention. With a snort of satisfaction he crushed them down. I gnvo him nil my Mauser shots in tho rear. With extraordinary suddenness sudden-ness he turned. He sighted mo raid charged, his tusks level with his body. My magazine was empty. I threw my rlflo down and ran, tho elephant gaining gain-ing on mo at each step". I saw Nlclt ahead of me with leveled rlflo. To keep running meant that 1 would soon bo overtaken, Instinctively Instinctive-ly I throw mysolf on the ground and Nick fired. With a thud that mnde tho earth tremblo tho elephant dropped. The huge trunk twisted like ft wounded snnko for a moment, nnd then tho gigantic body rclnxed In death. It all took about two minutes to happen and wnB a prolty cIobo shave, but it was worth tho trouble, for tho tusks wo got wore big, weighing weigh-ing closo to a hundred pounds. The Killing of Nick, Hunter Boy. A few months after this occurrence, on tho samo trip, I lost Nick, my Senegal "boy," under terrlblo circumstances. circum-stances. This bravo man who had hunted everything In Africa from the Cape to Cairo, and from Zanzibar to Bonann, boasted many a tlmo that ho would never bo killed by' anything but old age. Dut ho was too sure. Long association with danger had mado him careless, and this cost him his life. Wo wero trcklngsouth toward Lako Tanganyika along a native path running run-ning parallel with tho RubIzI river. It was frightfully hot, so hot that the gun barrels burned our hands. Tho porters staggered under their heavy loads In a long string, mumbling songs, each In hlB native tongue, to keep up his fagged spirits, and the sun rays danced In misty vibrations from tho parched earth. Suddenly the Junglo censed and wo' broko into the open veld. Four hundred yards away, coming In tho opposite direction, was ft herd of at least twenty elephants. They had evidently mado a long Journey Jour-ney and wero suffering from tho Intense In-tense heat, Some of them wero occupied occu-pied in thrusting their trunks into their mouths and drawing water from their stomachs. With this water they wero sprinkling their sunburned backs. This Is a habit that elephants always practlco when they aro overheated over-heated and cannot find tho shado of a friendly forest. To mo tho sight of tho approaching herd was welcomi. I saw Ivory which meant thousands of dollars to us if wo could get In a fow good shots. I ordered my caravan back Into tho undergrowth, un-dergrowth, and, bringing up the shikarees, shik-arees, prepared for tho slaughter, f loaded my nlno millimeter Mauser with solid bullets for long shots. At 300 yards I opened flro nnd tho leader, a fine bull, dropped In his tracks.. The crack of my rifle threw the hord Into consternation. They wore not suro where the noise enme from, nnd they as yet had not caught sight of us. Aftor a llttlo Indecision they kept on the old routo and marched toward us. A hundred yards nearer and I gavo tho nearest, another bull, my second shot. It went wild. He shrloked nnd threw bin trembling head back and forth frantic with pain. I had evidently evi-dently given him a bad face wound. 1 fired again and must havo missed. Ho saw me, and, trumpeting loudly, chnrged down on us, followed by the wholo herd. I emptied my magazine Into them with no effect. Nearer thoy came, their Ivory gleaming In (ho sun nnd tho dust curling up in clouds behind be-hind them. Tho ground vibrated like a beaten drum top under their thun-dorous thun-dorous charge. I saw a tusk-crested wavo of mammoths mam-moths sweeping down to destroy us. It was no tlmo for inaction. Tho gun bearer handed me tho COO caliber express. ex-press. At a hundred yards I gavo the leader one barrel aftor tho other. Ho fell, and thoso behind tumbled over him In a heap. For a moment the mad chargo was broken. I thought wo wero out of danger, hut another leader forged ahead and bore down on us. "Run!" I shrloked, nnd ovory man mnde for safety, excepting Nick, the coolest in tho face of dangor and always the last to run. I threw mysolf my-solf behind a tree, Just escaping being be-ing crushod to death. A screech roB above tho thunder of tho hoofs and the next Instant I saw Nick hoisted tnto tho air with a blood-stained tusk through his body. Tho Infuriated mass swept past, leaving a red mnrked trail, I Immediately sot out on the spoor of tho herd in hopo of getting tho body of tho shlknrco, Although Al-though I searched till sundown I was unsuccessful. That night I heard tho lions roaring roar-ing down toward tho rlvor. The next morning, with a few natives, I continued con-tinued tho search. In tho direction that tho lions' roars came from during dur-ing tho night. We soon sighted a flock of vultures, a sure sign of dead game, and, coming up with them, we found tho chewed carcass of an elephant ele-phant and tho scattered bones of s human being, among which I found Nick's hunting knlfo nnd belt The wounded elephant had carrlod him on his tusk till it fell exhausted through loss of blood, and died. It was ono of tho best ivory hauls I over mado U ono shooting and it was tho saddest. Nick was a great shikaree. Ho possessed pos-sessed every attributo of manhood. Ho died like many a hunter has, died. Nick wnB the twentieth native that I have lost on my various expeditions. It was In tho samo country that on a previous expedition n rhinoceros Invaded In-vaded our camp and killed two natlvo porters, wounding three and giving mo a close call. (Copyright, 19C9, by lien'. B. Hampton.) |