Chapter VIII: The Plagues of Egypt (2)

"I had observed by the telescope that the giraffes were standing as usual upon an elevated position, from whence they could keep a good look-out. I knew it would be useless to ascend the slope direct, as their long necks give these animals an advantage similar to that of the man at the mast-head; therefore, although we had the wind in our favour, we should have been observed. I therefore determined to make a great circuit of about five miles, and thus to approach them from above, with the advantage of the broken ground for stalking. It was the perfection of uneven country: by clambering broken cliff, wading shoulder-deep through muddy gullies, sliding down the steep ravines, and winding through narrow bottoms of high grass and mimosas for about two hours, during which we disturbed many superb nellut (Ant. strepsiceros) and tetel (Ant. Bubalis), we at length arrived at the point of the high table land upon the verge of which I had first noticed the giraffes with the telescope. Almost immediately I distinguished the tall neck of one of these splendid animals about half a mile distant upon my left, a little below the table land; it was feeding on the bushes, and I quickly discovered several others near the leader of the herd. I was not far enough advanced in the circuit that I had intended to bring me exactly above them, therefore I turned sharp to my right, intending to make a short half circle, and to arrive on the leeward side of the herd, as I was now to windward: this I fortunately completed, but I had marked a thick bush as my point of cover, and upon arrival I found that the herd had fed down wind, and that I was within two hundred yards of the great bull sentinel that, having moved from his former position, was now standing directly before me. I lay down quietly behind the bush with my two followers, and anxiously watched the great leader, momentarily expecting that it would get my wind. It was shortly joined by two others, and I perceived the heads of several giraffes lower down the incline, that were now feeding on their way to the higher ground. The seroot fly was teasing them, and I remarked that several birds were fluttering about their heads, sometimes perching upon their noses and catching the fly that attacked their nostrils, while the giraffes appeared relieved by their attentions: these were a peculiar species of bird that attacks the domestic animals, and not only relieves them of vermin, but eats into the flesh, and establishes dangerous sores. A puff of wind now gently fanned the back of my neck; it was cool and delightful, but no sooner did I feel the refreshing breeze than I knew it would convey our scent direct to the giraffes. A few seconds afterwards, the three grand obelisks threw their heads still higher in the air, and fixing their great black eyes upon the spot from which the danger came, they remained as motionless as though carved from stone. From their great height they could see over the bush behind which we were lying at some paces distant, and although I do not think they could distinguish us to be men, they could see enough to convince them of hidden enemies.

"The attitude of fixed attention and surprise of the three giraffes was sufficient warning for the rest of the herd, who immediately filed up from the lower ground, and joined their comrades. All now halted, and gazed steadfastly in our direction, forming a superb tableau; their beautiful mottled skins glancing like the summer coat of a thoroughbred horse, the orange-coloured statues standing out in high relief from a background of dark-green mimosas.

"This beautiful picture soon changed; I knew that my chance of a close shot was hopeless, as they would presently make a rush, and be off; thus I determined to get the first start. I had previously studied the ground, and I concluded that they would push forward at right angles with my position, as they had thus ascended the hill, and that, on reaching the higher ground, they would turn to the right, in order to reach an immense tract of high grass, as level as a billiard-table, from which no danger could approach them unobserved.

"I accordingly with a gentle movement of my hand directed my people to follow me, and I made a sudden rush forward at full speed. Off went the herd; shambling along at a tremendous pace, whisking their long tails above their hind quarters, and taking exactly the direction I had anticipated, they offered me a shoulder shot at a little within two hundred yards' distance. Unfortunately, I fell into a deep hole concealed by the high grass, and by the time that I resumed the hunt they had increased their distance, but I observed the leader turned sharp to the right, through some low mimosa bush, to make direct for the open table land. I made a short cut oblquely at my best speed, and only halted when I saw that I should lose ground by altering my position. Stopping short, I was exactiy opposite the herd as they filed by me at right angles in full speed, within about a hundred and eighty yards. I had my old Ceylon No. 10 double rifle, and I took a steady shot at a large dark-coloured bull: the satisfactory sound of the ball upon his hide was followed almost immediately by his blundering forward for about twenty yards, and falling heavily in the low bush. I heard the crack of the ball of my left-hand barrel upon another fine beast, but no effects followed. Bacheet quickly gave me the single 2-ounce Manton rifle, and I singled out a fine dark-coloured bull, who fell on his knees to the shot, but recovering, hobbled off disabled, apart from the herd, with a foreleg broken just below the shoulder. Reloading immediately, I ran up to the spot, where I found my first giraffe lying dead, with the ball clean through both shoulders: the second was standing about one hundred paces distant; upon my approach he attempted to move, but immediately fell, and was despatched by my eager Arabs. I followed the herd for about a mile to no purpose, through deep clammy ground and high grass, and I returned to our game.

"These were my first giraffes, and I admired them as they lay before me with a hunter's pride and satisfaction, but mingled with a feeling of pity for such beautiful and utterly helpless creatures. The giraffe, although from sixteen to twenty feet in height, is perfectly defenceless, and can only trust to the swiftness of its pace, and the extraordinary power of vision, for its means of protection. The eye of this animal is the most beautiful exaggeration of that of the gazelle, while the colour of the reddish-orange hide, mottled with darker spots, changes the tints of the skin with the differing rays of light, according to the muscular movenment of the body. No one who has merely seen the giraffe in a cold climate can form the least idea of its beauty in its native land. By the time that we had skinned one of the aninmals, it was nearly six o'clock, and it was necessary to hurry forward to reach the river before night; we therefore arranged some thorny boughs over the bodies, to which we intended to return on the following morning.

"When about half-way to the river, as we were passing through grass about four feet high, three tetel bounded from a ravine, and, passing directly before us, gave me a splendid shot at about sixty yards. The Ceylon No. 10 struck the foremost through the shoulder, and it fell dead after running a few yards. This was also my first tetel (Antelopus Bubalis); it was in splendid condition, the red coat was like satin, and the animal would weigh about five hundred pounds live weight.

"I had made very successful shots, having bagged three out of four large game; this perfectly delighted the Arabs, and was very satisfactory to myself, as I was quite aware that my men would be only too willing to accompany me upon future excursions.

"It was quite dark before we reached the river; we had been much delayed by repeated falls into deep holes, and over hidden stones; thus I was well satisfied to find myself once more at home after having crossed the river, in pitchy darkness, in a similar manner as before. Every person in the village had had a good view of the stalk; therefore, as two giraffes had been seen to fall, the Arabs were waiting on the bank in expectation of meat.

"September 3.--This morning I crossed the river with about twenty men, some swimming with inflated skins, and others supported by logs of ambatch. A number of swimmers were holding on to a pole to which four inflated girbas were attached; this is an excellent plan for assisting soldiers to cross a river, as they can land together in parties, instead of singly, with their guns dry, should the opposite bank be occupied by an enemy. I sat in my gun-case, with the two rifles that I used yesterday, in addition to the little Fletcher; heaps of clothes and sandals belonging to the swimmers formed my cargo; while, in case of accident, I had taken off my belt and shoes, and tied my ammunition within an inflated skin. Neptune in his car drawn by dolphins was not more completely at home than I in my gun-case, towed by my fish-like hippopotami hunters. After pirouetting in several strong whirlpools, during which time a crowd of women on the Sofi side of the river were screaming to Allah and the Prophet to protect us from crocodiles, we at length arrived.

"We took a direct course towards the animals I had shot on the previous evening, meeting with no game except a large troop of dog-faced baboons (Cynocephali), until we reached the body of the tetel (Antelopus Bubalis), which lay undisturbed; leaving people to flay it carefully, so that the skin should serve as a water or corn sack, we continued our path towards the dead giraffes.

"I had not proceeded far, before I saw, at about a mile distant, a motionless figure, as though carved from red granite; this I felt sure was a giraffe acting as sentry for another party that was not yet in view; I therefore sent my men on towards the dead giraffes, while, accompanied by Florian's black servant Richarn,* who was a good sportsman, and a couple of additional men, I endeavoured to stalk the giraffe. It was impossible to obtain a favourable wind, without exposing ourselves upon flat ground, where we should have been immediately perceived; I therefore arranged that my men should make a long circuit and drive the giraffe, while I would endeavour to intercept it. This plan failed; but shortly after the attempt, I observed a herd of about a hundred of these splendid creatures, browsing on the mimosas about half a mile distant. For upwards of three hours I employed every artifice to obtain a shot, but to no purpose, as upon my approach to within a quarter of a mile, they invariably chose open ground, leaving a sentry posted behind the herd, while two or three kept a look-out well in advance. No animal is so difficult to approach as the giraffe; however, by great patience and caution, I succeeded in reaching a long and deep ravine, by which I hoped to arrive within a close shot, as many of the herd were standing upon the level table-ground, from which this natural trench suddenly descended. I believe I should have arrived within fifty yards of the herd by this admirable approach, had it not been for the unlucky chance that brought me vis-a-vis with two tetel, that by galloping off attracted the attention of the giraffes. To add to my misfortune, after a long and tedious crawl on hands and knees up the narrow amid steep extremity of the gully, just as I raised my head above the edge of the table land, expecting to see the giraffes within fifty paces, I found three gazelles feeding within ten yards of me, while three magnificent giraffes were standing about a hundred and fifty yards distant.

* This faithful black, a native of the White Nile regions,
subsequently became my servant, and, for four years
accompanied us honestly and courageously through all
our difficulties to the Albert N'yanza.

"Off bounded the gazelles the instant that we were perceived; they of course gave the alarm immediately, and away went the giraffes; but I took a quick shot at the great leader as he turned to the right, and he staggered a few paces and fell headlong into the bush. Hurrah for the Ceylon No. 10!--however, neither the second barrel, nor a shot with the Manton 2-ounce, produced any effect. It was a glorious sight to see the herd of upwards of a hundred of these superb animals close up at the alarm of the shots, and pelt away in a dense body through the dark green mimosa bush that hardly reached to their shoulders; but pursuit was useless. My giraffe was not quite dead, and, the throat having been cut by the Arabs and Richarn, we attempted to flay our game; this was simply impossible. The seroot fly was in swarms about the carcase, thousands were buzzing about our ears and biting like bull-dogs: the blood was streaming from our necks, and, as I wore no sleeves, my naked arms suffered terribly. I never saw such an extraordinary sight; although we had killed our giraffe, we could not take possession; it was no wonder that camels and all domestic animals were killed by this horrible plague, the only wonder was the possibility of wild animals resisting the attack. The long tails of the giraffes are admirable fly-whippers, but they would be of little service against such a determined and blood-thirsty enemy as the seroot. They were now like a swarm of bees, and we immediately made war upon the scourge, by lighting several fires within a few feet to windward of the giraffe; when the sticks blazed briskly, we piled green grass upon the tops, and quickly produced a smoke that vanquished the enemy.

"It was now about 3 P.M. and intensely hot; I had been in constant exercise since 6 A.M., therefore I determined upon luncheon under the shade of a welcome mimosa upon which I had already hung my water-skin to cool. We cut sonne long thin strips of flesh from the giraffe, and lighted a fire of dry babanoose wood expressly for cooking. This species of wood is exceedingly inflammable, and burns like a torch; it is intensely hard, and in colour and grain it is similar to lignum vitae. The festoons of giraffe flesh were hung upon forked sticks, driven into the ground to leeward of the fire, while others were simply thrown upon the embers by my men, who, while the food was roasting, employed themselves in skinning the animal, and in eating the flesh raw. The meat was quickly roasted, and was the best I have ever tasted, fully corroborating the praises I had frequently heard of giraffe meat from the Arab hunters. It would be natural to suppose that the long legs of this animal would furnish the perfection of marrow bones, but these are a disappointment, as the bones of the giraffe are solid, like those of the elephant and hippopotamus; the long tendons of the legs are exceedingly prized by the Arabs in lieu of thread for sewing leather, also for guitar strings.

"After luncheon, I took my little Fletcher rifle, and strolled down to the spot from whence I had fired the shot, as I wished to measure the distance, but no sooner had I arrived at the place than I observed at about a quarter of a mile below me, in the valley, a fine tetel; it was standing on the summit of one of the numerous knolls, evidently driven fronm the high grass by the flies. I stalked it very carefully until I arrived within about a hundred yards, and just as I reached the stem of a tree that I had resolved upon as my covering-point, the tetel got my wind, and immediately bounded off, receiving the bullet in the right hip at the same moment. After a few bounds it fell, and I ran forward to secure it, but it suddenly sprang to its feet, and went off at a surprising rate upon three legs. I believed I missed it, as I fired a quick shot just as it disappeared in the thick bushes. Whistling for my people, I was now joined by Bacheet and Richarn, my other men remaining with the giraffe. For about four miles we followed on the track through the broken valley of the Atbara, during which we several times disturbed the tetel, but could not obtain a good shot, on account of the high grass and thick bushes. Several times I tried a snap shot, as for a moment I caught sight of its red hide galloping through the bush, but as it ran down wind I had no chance of getting close to my game. At length, after following rapidly down a grassy ravine, I presently heard it pelting through the bushes; the ravine made a bend to the right, therefore, by taking a short cut, I arrived just in time to catch sight of the tetel as it passed over an open space below me; this time the little Fletcher bagged him. On examination I found that I had struck it four times. I had fired five shots, but as three of those had been fired almost at random, when the animal was in full speed through the bushes, one had missed, and the others were badly placed.

"Fortunately this long hunt had been in the direction of Sofi, to which we were near; still more fortunately, after we had marked the spot, we shortly met my first party of Arabs returning towards the village, heavily laden with giraffe's flesh, and the hide of one that I had killed yesterday. It appeared that during the night, lions and hyaenas had completely devoured one of the giraffes, not even leaving a vestige of skin or bone, but the immediate neighbourhood of the spot where it lay had been trampled into mud by the savage crowd who had left their footprints as witnesses to the robbery; the hide and bones had evidently been dragged away piecemeal.

"On arrival at the river we were all busy in preparing for the passage with so large a quantity of meat. The water-skins for the raft were quickly inflated, and I learnt from the Arabs an excellent contrivance for carrying a quantity of flesh across a river, without its becoming sodden. The skin of the tetel was nearly as capacious as that of an Alderney cow; this had been drawn off in the usual manner, so as to form a sack. The Arabs immediately proceeded to tie up the neck like the mouth of a bag, and to secure the apertures at the knees in like manner; when this operation was concluded, the skin became an immense sack, the mouth being at the aperture left at the hind-quarters. The No. 10 bullet had gone completely through the shoulders of the tetel, thus the two holes in the hide required stopping; this was dexterously performed by inserting a stone into either hole, of a size so much larger than the aperture, that it was impossible to squeeze them through. These stones were inserted from the inside of the sack; they were then grasped by the hand from the outside, and pulled forward, while a tight ligature was made behind each stone, which effectually stopped the holes. The skin of the tetel was thus converted into a waterproof bag, into which was packed a quantity of flesh sufficient to fill two-thirds of its capacity; the edges of the mouth were then carefully drawn together, and secured by tying. Thus carefully packed, one of the foreleg ligatures was untied, and the whole skin was inflated by blowing through the tube formed by the skin of the limb; the inflation completed, this was suddenly twisted round and tied. The skin thus filled looked like an exaggerated water-skin; the power of flotation was so great, that about a dozen men hung on to the legs of the tetel, and to each other's shoulders, when we launched it in the river. This plan is well worthy of the attention of military men; troops, when on service, are seldom without bullocks; in the absence of boats or rafts, not only can the men be thus safely conveyed across the river, but the ammunition can be packed within the skins, wrapped up in straw, and will be kept perfectly dry.

"The Arabs were much afraid of crocodiles this night, as it was perfectly dark when we had completed our preparations, and they feared that the snmell of so large a quantity of raw flesh, more especially the hide of the giraffe, which must be towed, would attract these beasts to the party; accordingly I fired several shots to alarm them, and the men plunged into the river, amidst the usual yelling of the women on the opposite side. Fires had been lighted to direct us, and all passed safely across.

"The sport upon the Abyssinian side of the river had been most satisfactory, and I resolved upon the first opportunity to change my quarters, and to form an encampment upon that bank of the Atbara until the proper season should arrive for travelling. I had killed three giraffes and two tetel in only two excursions. Florian, who was ill, had not been able to accompany me; although he had been shooting in this neighbourhood for two years he had never killed a giraffe. This want of success was owing to the inferiority of his weapons, that were not adapted to correct shooting at a range exceeding a hundred yards.

"On the following morning about fifty Arabs crossed the river with the intention of bringing the flesh of the giraffe, but they returned crestfallen in the evening, as again the lions and hyaenas had been before them, and nothing was left. I therefore resolved not to shoot again until I should be settled in my new camp on the other side of the river, as it was a wasteful expenditure of these beautiful animals unless the flesh could be preserved.

"The rainy season was drawing to a close, and I longed to quit the dulness of Sofi.

"September 12.--The river has fallen nearly eighteen feet, as the amount of rain has much decreased during the last week. Immense crocodiles are now to be seen daily, basking upon the muddy banks. One monster in particular, who is well known to the Arabs as having devoured a woman a few months ago, invariably sleeps upon a small island up the river.

"This evening I counted seven elephants on the east side of the river on the table lands.

"To-day the Arabs kept one of their holy feasts; accordingly, a sheep was slaughtered as a sacrifice, with an accompaniment of music and singing, i.e. howling to several guitars.

"The Arab system of an offering is peculiar. Should a friend be dangerously ill, or rain be demanded, or should any calamity befall them, they slaughter an ox if they possess it, or a sheep or goat in the absence of a larger animal, but the owner of the beast SELLS the meat in small portions to the assembled party, and the whole affair of sacrifice resolves itself into a feast; thus having filled thenmselves with good meat, they feel satisfied that they have made a religious sacrifice, and they expect the beneficial results. The guitar music and singing that attend the occasion are simply abominable. Music, although beloved like dancing by both the savage and civilized, varies in character according to the civilization of the race; that which is agreeable to the uneducated ear is discord to the refined nerves of the educated. The uutuned ear of the savage can no more enjoy the tones of civilized music than his palate would relish the elaborate dishes of a French chef de cuisine. As the stomach of the Arab prefers the raw meat and reeking liver taken hot from the animal, so does his ear prefer his equally coarse and discordant music to all other. The guitar most common is made of either the shell of a large gourd, or that of a turtle; over this is stretched an untanned skin, that of a large fish being preferred; through this two sticks are fixed about two feet three inches in length; the ends of these are fastened to a cross piece upon which are secured the strings; these are stretched over a bridge similar to those of a violin, and are either tightened or relaxed by rings of waxed rag fastened upon the cross piece--these rings are turned by the hand, and retain their position in spite of the strain upon the strings. Nothing delights an Arab more than to sit idly in his hut and strum this wretched instrument from morning until night."

I was thoroughly tired of Sofi, and I determined to move my party across the river to camp on the uninhabited side; the rains had almost ceased, therefore we should be able to live in the tent at night, and to form a shady nook beneath some mimosas by day; accordingly we busily prepared for a move.