Newspaper Page Text
7Ke IVORY
POACHERS
of the LADO
ENCLAVE
W ROBERT TORAN
eoere/cwr er tm /t/octw COMr^ey
4 —
There’s a legion that never was ’listed.
That carries no colors or crest.
But, split In a thousand detachments.
Is breaking the road for the rest.
—Kipling.
' WAS trailing ex-Presi
dent Theodore Roose
velt through Uganda on
the last stages of his
, year’s hunting trip in
Central Africa, being
the only newspaper
correspondent to remain
In the field out of the small army
of them who had set out with
him from New York in March,
1909, when my travels took me to
the shores of the Albert Nyanza,
from which the White Nile ob
tains its source. Here are tho
headquarters of the small body
of men who are braving all man
ner of dangers to make a fortune
by elephant-hunting in “No Man’s
land," as the Lado Enclave terri
tory on the Belgian Congo, bor
dering on the great River Nile,
has been termed.
Many of these men were per
sonally known to me during my
residence in British East Africa
as a government official. I had
acquired a wholesome respect for
these hardy and int?epid tamers
of the uncivilized sections of the
great equatorial Mnterland of
Central Africa, and what I saw
and heard of them at the Albert
Nyanza and on the banks of the Nile did not les
sen my regard for them as men. Perhaps their
calling as elephant-poachers may not have been
regular In the eyes of the law, but then there was
such an element of danger connected with their
work that the offenses of which they were guilty
paled before all other considerations, and one is
forced to concede to them the possession of the
acme of pluck. The freebooter or soldier of for
tune is ever a picturesque figure and the Congo
poachers amply fill this role.
I had marched one hundred and sixty-five miles
across the dreary, swelteringly hot Uganda coun
try, and It was with feelings of extreme relief
that I saw the shimmering expanse of the waters
of the Albert Nyanza from the rugged hill-tops
overlooking Butlaba, the small port on the sandy
shore of the lake.
I pitched camp on the site of the recent Roose
velt encampment within one hundred feet of the
lake.
I had heard from natives that one of the Congo
poachers was in camp at Butlaba, but none of
them seemed to know his name and I was at a
loss to know who he might be. I remembered that
there were a number of men whom I knew inti
mately poaching in this district, and I wondered
whether perchance I was to be given an opportu
nity of renewing my acquaintance with one of
them. Perhaps it might be John Boyes, nick
named "King of the Kikuyu;" or “Karomoja”
Bell, the mightiest of elephant-hunters; the Hon
orable Rupert Craven, brother of Earl Craven;
young Quentin Grogan, brother of Captain Ewart
S. Grogan of Cape-to-Cairo fame; Pickering, a
noted elephant-hunter; Bennett, an ex-engineer of
the Nile launches; W. Buckley, a partner of Pick
ering's; or Pearson, to say nothing of many oth
ers whom I had met from time to time. I men
tion them by their correct names, for they made
no secret of their calling and I feel sure that I
am not committing any indiscretion by so doing.
Each one of these men has a history, and each
and every one of them can tell thrilling tales of
his experiences not only in the Congo but also in
every other part of Africa.
My interested conjectures as to who the man
at Butlaba might be were soon ,set at rest. It is
the custom for all white men in Africa to call on
any other white man who may camp in their vi
cinity. and so it was not long before the "poacher”
came to my camp to see me. It proved to be
Bennett, the ex-engineer of the Uganda Nile fleet,
who had abandoned his profssional calling for the
more thrilling and lucrative work of shooting ele
phants for their ivory. For many years he had
been tn charge of the small steam launch plying
between Butlaba and Nlmule on the Nile, and dur
ing these years he had' done much shooting on
the banks of the river. His haul of ivory added
each year to his small income as a launch engi
neer so that it was a bad year indeed when he
did not double, nay treble, his paltry salary. He
had been with Winston Churchill, when the lat
ter made his trip up the Nile on the government
flotilla when inspecting East Africa and Uganda
in his official capacity as under secretary of state
for the colonies.
This Is the story of a man, as told to me on
^ny first night in camp at Butlaba, sitting in my
tent beating oft the attack of greedy mosquitoes
while entertaining Bennett with the aid of my lim
ited supply of whisky. The story was so startling
that often I had to pinch myself during its recital
to satisfy myself that I was not dreaming of the
Hays of Emin Pasha and Stanley as the result of
the association of my surroundings.
I noticed that his hands were badly lacerated,
in foot, in a fearful state, and all the time we
conversed about generalities I was wondering
•what had been the cause. Presently the conver
sation turned to the subject of elephant-shooting,
and I asked him how he was progressing with his
quest for ivory. I had got him interested now
ud leaned back in my easy camp-chair to listen.
He said he had just returned from the Congo,
where he had been shooting elephants for some
months at the back of Mahagi, and that he had
been very successful up to a certain point, but
then had lost all his hard-gotten ivory and aM his
effects, owing to an attack from the natives. His
subsequent narrative was an enthralling one, and
I wish that it were possible for me to reproduce
it, exactly as he told it to me on that still African
night
"I got on very well with the natives and had
got some very fine tusks,” he continued. “One
day I was out after some elephants, which had
been located by the natives for me, and came
across four huge tuskers. I fired at the biggest,
but only succeeded in mortally wounding it. He
charged through the tall elephant grass toward
me, with his huge ears outspread and his trunk
raised high above his head. He screamed fear
fully with rage and pain and the sight was in
deed a terrifying one. I fired at point-blank range
and again hit him mortally. The elephant contin
ued his charge and one of my native servants
failed to get out of his way. The elephant pushed
the native to one side with his tusk in passing
and the boy fell to the ground without a sound.
The elephant fell down dead a short distance
away.
“The three remaining elephants were wild with
rage and rushed hither and thither, tearing down
the trees in all directions as if they had been
made of paper, screaming shrilly all the time. It
was an anxious moment for me, for I was within
fifty feet of them at the time of my first shot.
At last they made oft across country toward the
lake, and I followed them up and succeeded in
bagging all three of them in three shots at close
range.
“I returned to look for my native servant,
thinking that he would be watching over my first
tusker. To my astonishment I found the boy
lying dead where he had fallen when the elephant
bowled him over. I examined him carefully and
found that no bones had been fractured, nor was
there a mark on his body. He must have died
from shock at the terrifying experience.
“On or about December 10th I moved off farther
Inland after a big herd and camped, leaving my
main camp two days behind me. Within a radius
of twenty miles of me there were four other white
poachers, namely, Pearson, Dickinson, Boyes and
Knowles. The natives appeared perfectly friendly
to me. On my first night in camp they visited
me, dancing and singing round my camp-fire. I
suspected no treachery from them; on the con
trary they appeared willing to keep me informed
of the movements of the elephants and of the
Belgian military patrol, which was operating in
the district, endeavoring to capture us poachers.
“Next day the same thing: happened and I was
asked to attend to the leg of one of the tribesmen
who had been Injured badly In a native brawl.
I bathed the wound and was winding a bandage
round the wounded leg when I suddenly felt my
wrists seized. A rope was quickly cast round my
neck, other ropes were fastened round my legs
and arms, and I was jerked roughly oft the camp
stool on which I was sitting. Then the natives
seized my guns, arid all my camp equipment was
deliberately destroyed before my eyes. A native
seized my helmet and insolently paraded before
me with it on his own bead. I was'then beaten
savagely across the back of the hands and on the
body with sticks. My hands burst open, hurting
fearfully, and the sun beat down upon my head
with terrific force.
“I was made to march, with my captors jeering
at me and subjecting me to awful indignities, for
four whole days through the broiling sun until
their powerful chief's village was reached. Here
the chief came forward and shook me by my
wounded and manacled hands, bidding his follow
ers release me. He was a fine-looking old savage,
with a very intelligent face, standing over six
feet high.
“On the orders of tU®
chief I was offered milk /to
drink and given a native hut
to live in as a prisoner un
der a strong guard. My
food during this time con
sisted of raw meat and very
little of that. After some
days of torture, wondering
what they intended to do
with me, I wa's haled before
the chief and given a pub
lic trial. I could under
stand what they were say
ing, and it appeared that
all, except the chief, were
in favor of my death. For
tunately for me, the chief's
wishes prevailed and I was
released and allowed to re
turn to Mahaga, on my giv
ing a guaranty that I wouli
never again hunt in this
A JI 1X U J — 4- rl nIA MVi
district I was threatened with infant death and
torture if I was caught again by Jhem.
"Then began six days’ journey through the
blazing African sun with all my clothes in rags,
no helmet and no hat, no water, and no food ex
cept what I could find my the way, which was
very little, seeing that I had no rifle. All my
camp equipment, stores and rifles had been taken
away from me and I had lost all my ivory, the
result of many months’ arduous work in the
Congo.
"At last, after days of infinite torture, 1
reached the camp of a Belgian official near Ma«
hagi, who clothed and fed me, promising me that
the natives would he punished. This was indeed
kind of him, for It must be remembered that I
was a poacher in the Belgian territory and liable
to ten years’ imprisonment if captured by the
Belgians in the act of poaching ivory. I have
came to Butlaba to try to get together another
outfit and return to the Mahagi district to re
place my losses. I am determined to make up my
lost time and feel confident that I can do so.”
I wish that I could tell the tale with the un
affected simplicity and nothing-out-of-the-ordinary
manner in which Bennett told it to me.
The next day I left by launch for Koba, the first
government i>ost on the Nile. Here I found a
small village of white elephant-poachers, but all
of them were away after ivory in the Congo at
the time of my visit. They live on the British side
of the Nile and make periodical excursions into
the Congo after ivory. The British government
allows Congo ivory to pass through its territory
on payment of twenty-five per cent custom duty,
and in away this' encourages the poachers, for
they are allowed to shoot only two, or at most
three, elephants each year in East Africa or
Uganda, on payment of a $258 license. In the
Congo no license is necessary and they may shoot
as many tuskers as they can, without a license, if
they can evade being captured by the Belgians
or the natives.
Each man takes untold risks when he follows
this calling. Not only does he chance ten years’
imprisonment in a chain-gang in the interior of
the Congo, if caught by the Belgians, but he also
takes his life in his hands every time he shoots
an elephant, for he crawls into a herd through
the fifteen or twenty-foot grass, selects the big
gest bull and then shoots it at a range of from
ten to fifteen yards. No one who has not tried
elephant shooting can realize the terrifying aspect
of a herd of elephants when you are close to
them. They move so silently, and yet each one Is
capable of crushing the life out of any man who
dares disturb their peace.
At Koba I found the houses, made of grass and
mud, of John Boyes, the Honorable Rupert Craven,
and of Pickering and Buckley. “Karajoma” Bell
had given up poaching for the time being, as he
had made more than sufficient out of it to satisfy
all his desires. Bell is a young Englishman, who
has a big estate in England and an annual rent
roll of some $15,000. He came out to Central Af
rica seeking adventure In 1902, when only eight
een years of age, and at once turned his attention
to elephant-hunting.
I am told that in the last eight years Bell has
spent SIOO,OOO in seeking ivory and has made
$200,000, so that he has cleared one hundred per
cent
John Boyes, alias “King of the Kikuyu,” was,
unfortunately, poaching in the Congo. I should
have liked to renew my acquaintance with him,
for he is a remarkable character. Boyes was at
one time an able-bodied seamsfti on a merchant
vessel and was wrecked, or deserted, I know not
which, at Zanzibar, many years previous to my
first meeting with him in 1904. He had spent all
his time cattle-trading and ivory-hunting in tho
wilds, and for many years made the territory of
the Aklkuyj tribe his headquarters. He had be
come blood-brother to their king, Klnanjul, and
then had made himself virtually their king.
SUCCESS WITH THE TURKEYS
Hen Will Take Better Care of Poults
Than Any Human Can —White
Holland for Market
Choose the largest hens from your 1
own flock keeping some of the old,
quiet ones and one or two young hens.
Get a young tom from some neighbor
that has a healthy flock.' Never keep
two toms on the same farm. The
worst enemies turkeys have are crows,
rats, coyotes and the cholera.
Barrels or boxes filled one-third with
straw, laid in the orchard and partly
covered with brush make the best
nests. Gather the eggs every evening
until a hen wants to set Then give
her 16 to 18 eggs in her own nest and
set all the other eggs under chickens
at the same time. When hatched give
all the turks to the turkey hen.
When the next hen wants to set
give her some .eggs if there is a full
setting, otherwise break her up by up
setting the box or barrel containing
her nest. If not allowed to set a tur
key hen will lay three settings of eggs.
Do not set any as late as July as the
turks will only be a bother in cold
weather. When hatched the hen may
taken them to the alfalfa or wheat
field and not come back to her nest.
If so, let her go. She will take better
zllaOr
•■w
White Holland Turkeys. z
care of them than any human can. In
feeding give the hen com to fill up on
so she will not rob the turks of their
food. Give the turks hard boiled eggs
chopped fine once a day in the after
noon.
Nothing equals turkeys as grasshop
per and army worm destroyers. A
flock will eat many bushels of insects
in a season.
The Mammoth Bronze is the Ply
mouth Rock of the turkey world, the
Bourbon Reds though smaller ' -e fav
orites because of their domes -y and
the White Holland turkey especial
ly prized as a market fov> for its pink
white skin. Young hetkusually weigh
ten pounds, old gobblers twenty-six
* pounds.
Fattening Ration.
W. A. Lippincott, head of the poul
try department of the Kansas Agricul
tural college, gives the following as
an excellent ration for fattening pur
poses: One part cornmeal, one part
oat flour, one part barley meal, one
part beef scrap, eight parts butter
milk or skim milk. This makes what
is called slop feed, as it is thin enough
to pour.
iDommKi
Sour milk is an excellent feed for
chicks.
Lice increase very rapidly on the
sitting hen.
The chicks should not be fed the
1 first day after hatching.
A varilety in feeding is one way of
keeping the flock in good condition.
Cleanliness is the most important
factor in the successful raising of
1 poultry.
A little salt in the food for the hens
is an aid to digestion, and so keeps
them well and vigorous.
Lack of grit and overfeeding will
cause idleness and stop the egg yield
' as quickly as anything else.
It is best to salt the morning mash,
but not more than one ounce for 100
■ head of stock should be used.
1 Ducks kept entirely on land, must
1 have deep drinking vessels, so they
’ can get their heads under water.
The busy hen is the productive one;
hence she should be so fed as to in
; duce the greatest activity, if in con
-1 finement.
' Ducks are practically immune from
cholera, roup and gapes. Their fa
’ vorite diseases are spinal meningitis
and paralysis.
Give the chicks as much range as
possible, even if you have to limit
1 that of the old fowls. Exercise is a
means of development.
' If it were not for lice, poultry rais
ing would be an easy matter. At the
same time it is not difficult to rid the
henhouses of this pest
i The proportion of down-feathers on
the legs of Asiatic chicks when hatch
ed, indicates the amount of feathers
they will have when matured.
When the fowl acts dumpish, has a
poor appetite, and seems generally
I out of sorts, it is best to pen it alone
' for a few days and give a good physic.
> The poultry business has been spbk
' en of often as a get-rlch-qulck scheme
I but the people who have succeeded
can testify that this has not always
J been the truth
MACON, DUBLIN ANO SAVANNAH
RAILROAD COMPANY
&KJAL TIME TABLE.
Effective July 2, 1911
No.lS N 0.20 Stations' N 0.19 No.tf
A.M, P.M. Lv. Ar. A.M. P.M;
”7:10 3:25 Macon 11:15 4:30
7:22 3:37 Swiftcreek 11:03 4:20
7:30 8:45 Drybranch 10:55 4:12
7:34 3:49 Atlantic 10:51 4:09
7:38 8:53 Pike’s Peak 10:48 4:08
7:45 4:00 Fitzpatrick 10:42 4:00
7:50 4:04 Ripley 10:37 3:53
3:00 4:14 JeiT’sonville 10:27 3:42
8:10 4:23 Gallemore 10:15 3:30
8:20 4:33 Danvilel 10:07 3:22
8:25 4:38 Allentown 10:02 3:17
8:34 4:47 Montrose 9:53 3:08
8:44 4:57 Dudley 9:42 2:58
8:50 5:03 Shewmake 9:36 2:52
8:55 5:09 Moore 9:29 2:45
9:10 5:25 ar lv 9:15 2:39
Dublin
9:15 5:30 lv ar 9:10 2:25
9:17 5:32 SouMD&SJct 9:08 2:23
9:21 5:26 NorMD&SJct 9:04 2:19
9:31 5:45 Catlin 8:54 2:09
9:40 5:64 Mlntor 8:47 2:91
9:50 6:05 Rockledge 8:36 1:50
9:55 6:10 Orland 8:31 1:48
10:08 6:23 Soporton 8:19 1:33
10:19 6:34 Tarrytown 8:07 1:21
10:26 6:41 Kibbee 8:00 1:15
10:40 6:55 Vidalia 7:45 1:00
CONNECTIONS.
At Dublin with the Wrightsville and
Tennille and the Dublin and South
western for Eastman and Tennille
and intermediate points.
At Macon iwth Southern railway
from and to Cincinnati, Chattanooga,
Rome, Birmingham, Atlanta and in
tormediate points. Also the Central
of Georgia, G., S. & F. railway. Ma
son and Birmingham railway and the
Georgia railroad.
At Rockledge with the Millen and
Southwestern for Wadley and inter*
mediate points.
At Vidalia with the Seaboard Air
Line for Savannah and intermediate
points, and with the Millen and South
western for Millen, Stillmore and in
termediate points.
J. A. STREYER, G. P. A,
Macon, Ga.
Foley’s
DRINQ
Laxative
la Pleasant and Effective
CURBS
Constipation, Stomach and
Liver Trouble.
by stimulating these organs and
restoring their natural action.
la beat for women and ehila
iron aa ORINO does not grips
or nauseate. ■
PartaMt and Stationary
BBS
f AND BOWERS.
Ban, hath and BUngle MillalsJaetetßi
Ptuepa and fltU&et, Wees Bawa, SpU*
tMa.ohalU, PeUaya, Baltin* Oaaw
LOMBARD
Faundry, MaaMtH and Boilw ▼whs
Supply Store.
AUOUBTA, OA.
RHimnwiYCUM
Makos KMaaya and Bladder Right
k Your
Printing
a —~ F 3
If it is worth
doing at all,
it’s worth do
ing welt
□
First class work
at all times is
, our motto.
□
Let us figure
with you on
your next jab.
fi, i iv it i,-., J -
r■ । ■
