Wild Beasts and Their Ways by Sir Samuel White Baker (adult books to read txt) 📕

kneeling upon the ground with a number of men around it, and I found that it was to undergo a surgical operation for a terrible wound upon its hump. This was a hole as large and deep as an ordinary breakfast-cup, which was alive with maggots. The operator had been preparing a quantity of glowing charcoal, which was at a red heat. This was contained in a piece of broken chatty, a portion of a water jar, and it was dexterously emptied into the diseased cavity on the camel's back.

The poor creature sprang to its feet, and screaming with agony, dashed at full gallop across the desert in a frantic state, with the fire scorching its flesh, and doubtless making it uncomfortable for the maggots. Fire is the Arabs' vade mecum; the actual cautery is deeply respected, and is supposed to be infallible. If internal inflammation should attack the patient, the surface is scored with a red-hot iron. Should guinea-worm be suspected, there is no other course to pursue than to burn the suffering limb in a series of spots with a red-hot iron ramrod. The worm will shortly make its appearance at one of these apertures after some slight inflammation and suppuration. This fearful complaint is termed Frendeet in the Soudan, and it is absorbed into the system generally by drinking foul water. At the commencement of the rainy season, when the ground has been parched by the long drought of summer, the surface-water drains into the hollows and forms muddy pools. The natives shun such water, as it is almost certain to contain the eggs of the guinea-worm. These in some mysterious manner are hatched within the body if swallowed in the act of drinking, and whether they develop in the stomach or in the intestines, it is difficult to determine, but the result is the same. The patient complains of rheumatic pains in one limb; this increases until the leg or arm swells to a frightful extent, accompanied by severe inflammation and great torment. The Arab practitioner declares that the worm is at work, and is seeking for a means of escape from the body. He accordingly burns half a dozen holes with a red-hot iron or ramrod. In a few days the head of the guinea-worm appears; it is immediately captured by a finely-split reed, and by degrees is wound like a cotton thread by turning the reed every day. This requires delicate manipulation, otherwise the worm might break, and a portion remain in the flesh, which would increase the inflammation. An average guinea-worm would be about three feet in length. Animals do not appear to suffer from this complaint, although they are subject to the attacks of great varieties of parasites. Elephants are frequently troubled with internal worms. I witnessed a curious instance of the escape of such insects from the stomach through a hole caused by a bullet, nevertheless the animal appeared to be in good condition.

It was a fine moonlight night on the borders of Abyssinia that I sat up to watch the native crops, which were a great attraction to the wild elephants, although there was no heavy jungle nearer than 20 miles. It was the custom of these animals to start after sunset, and to arrive at about ten o'clock in the vast dhurra fields of the Arabs, who, being without fire-arms, could only scare them by shouts and flaming torches. The elephants did not care much for this kind of disturbance, and they merely changed their position from one portion of the cultivated land to another more distant, and caused serious destruction to the crop (Sorghum vulgare), which was then nearly ripe. The land was rich, and the dhurra grew 10 or 12 feet high, with stems as thick as sugar-cane, while the large heads of corn contained several thousand grains the size of a split-pea. This was most tempting food for elephants, and they travelled nightly the distance named to graze upon the crops, and then retreated before sunrise to their distant jungles.

I do not enjoy night shooting, but there was no other way of assisting the natives, therefore I found myself watching, in the silent hours of night, in the middle of a perfect sea of cultivation, unbroken for many miles. There is generally a calm during the night, and there was so perfect a stillness that it was almost painful, the chirp of an insect sounding as loud as though it were a bird. At length there was a distant sound like wind, or the rush of a stream over a rocky bed. This might have been a sudden gust, but the sharp crackling of brittle dhurra stems distinctly warned us that elephants had invaded the field, and that they were already at their work of destruction.

As the dhurra is sown in parallel rows about 3 feet apart, and the ground was perfectly flat, there was no difficulty in approaching the direction whence the cracking of the dhurra could be distinctly heard. The elephants appeared to be feeding towards us with considerable rapidity, and in a few minutes I heard the sound of crunching within 50 yards of me. I immediately ran along the clear passage between the tall stems, and presently saw a black form close to me as it advanced in the next alley to my own. I do not think I was more than 4 or 5 yards from it when it suddenly turned its head to the right, and I immediately took a shot behind the ear. I had a white paper sight upon the muzzle of the large rifle (No. 10), which was plainly distinguished in the bright moonlight, and the elephant fell stone dead without the slightest struggle.

After some delay from the dispersion of my men who carried spare guns, I re-loaded, and followed in the direction which the herd had taken.

Although upon the "qui vive," they had not retreated far, as they were unaccustomed to guns, and they were determined to enjoy their supper after the long march of 20 miles to the attractive dhurra fields. I came up with them about three-quarters of a mile from the first shot; here there was the limit of cultivation, and all was wild prairie land; they had retreated by the way they had arrived, with the intention, no doubt, of returning again to the dhurra when the disturbing cause should have disappeared. I could see the herd distinctly as they stood in a compact body numbering some ten or twelve animals. The only chance was to run straight at them in order to get as near as possible before they should start, as I expected they would, in panic. Accordingly I ran forward, when, to my surprise, two elephants rushed towards me, and I was obliged to fire right and left. One fell to the ground for a moment, but recovered; the other made no sign, except by whirling round and joining the herd in full retreat.

That night I used a double-barrel muzzle-loader (No. 10), with conical bullet made of 12 parts lead, 1 part quicksilver, 7 drams of powder.

Some days later we heard native reports concerning an elephant that had been seen badly wounded, and very lame.

Forty-two days after this incident I had moved camp to a place called Geera, 22 miles distant. It was a wild uninhabited district at that time on the banks of the Settite river, with the most impervious jungle of hooked thorns, called by the Arabs "kittul." This tree does not grow higher than twenty-five feet, but it spreads to a very wide flat-topped head, the branches are thick, the wood immensely strong and hard, while the thorns resemble fish-hooks minus the barb. This impenetrable asylum was the loved resort of elephants, and it was from this particular station that they made their nocturnal raids upon the cultivated district more than 20 miles distant in a direct line.

We slept out that night upon the sandy bed of a small stream, which at that season of great heat had evaporated. Upon waking on the following morning we found the blankets wet through with the heavy dew, and the pillows soaking. Having arranged the camp, I left Lady Baker to give the necessary orders, while I took my rifles and a few good men for a reconnaissance of the neighbourhood.

The river ran through cliffs of rose-coloured limestone; this soon changed to white; and we proceeded down stream examining the sandy portions of the bed for tracks of game that might have passed during the preceding night. After about a mile we came upon tracks of elephants, which had apparently come down to drink at our side of the river, and had then returned, I felt sure, to the thorny asylum named Tuleet.

There was no other course to pursue but to follow on the tracks; this we did until we arrived at the formidable covert to which I have alluded. It was impossible to enter this except at certain places where wild animals had formed a narrow lane, and in one of these by-ways we presently found ourselves, sometimes creeping, sometimes walking, but generally adhering firmly every minute to some irrepressible branch of hooked thorns, which gave us a pressing invitation to "wait a bit." In a short time we found evident signs that the elephants were near at hand. The natives thrust their naked feet into the fresh dung to see if it was still warm. This was at length the case, and we advanced with extra care. The jungle became so thick that it was almost impossible to proceed. I wore a thick flaxen shirt which would not tear. This had short sleeves, as I was accustomed to bare arms from a few inches above the elbow. Not only my shirt, but the tough skin of my arms was every now and then hooked up fast by these dreadful thorns, and at last it appeared impossible to proceed. Just at that moment there was a sudden rush, a shrill trumpet, and the jungle crashed around us in magnificent style to those who enjoy such excitement, and a herd of elephants dashed through the dense thicket and consolidated themselves into a mighty block as they endeavoured to force down the tough thorny mass ahead of them. This was a grand opportunity to run in, but a phalanx of opposing rumps like the sterns of Dutch vessels in a crowd rendered it impossible to shoot, or to pass ahead of the perplexed animals. A female elephant suddenly wheeled round, and charged straight into us; fortunately I killed her with a forehead shot exactly below the boss or projection above the trunk. I now took a spare rifle, the half-pounder, and fired into the flank of the largest elephant in the herd, just behind the last rib, the shot striking obliquely, thus aimed to reach the lungs, as I could not see any of the fore portion of the body.

The dense compressed thorny mass of jungle offered such resistance that it was some time before it gave way before the united pressure of these immense animals. At length it yielded as the herd crashed through, but it then closed again upon us and made following impossible. However, we felt sure that the elephant I had hit with the half-pound explosive shell would die, and after creeping through upon the tracks with the greatest difficulty for about 150 yards, we found it lying dead upon its side.

The whole morning was occupied in cutting up the flesh and making a post-mortem examination. We found the inside partially destroyed by the explosive shell, which had shattered the lungs, but there was an old wound still open where a bullet had entered the chest, and missing the heart and lungs in an oblique course, it had