VOICES OF THE VELDT

Shannon News, 25 September 1925, Page 2

VOICES OF THE VELDT

We read the other day that the Prince was a little startled by the night noises of the African veldt. No wonder (writes "Eulahn" in the Daily Mail).

Every old hand in Africa prides himself on knowing all the bushveldt voices, but to a newcomer they are positively uncanny.'' Some "of them, such as the raucous bark of the baboon, the lion's roar and grunt, and the spiteful weh-weh-weh! of the. jackal, are unmistakable. But many of the hair-raising shrieks and yells that split the silence of the bushveldt' test the skill of seasoned hunters to identify. They verge on the. uncanny. To camp near a rock kopje in the baekveldt is to court a sleepless night of crazy pandemonium. As darkness falls, weird chatterings and chucklings, followed by piercing wails and shrieks of demoniac laughter, come from the gloom of the rocks.

Most newcomers to Africa get their first real fright from the "bush-baby" or tree lemur. It climbs to a branch •'.vcr ■ one's tent and suddenly gives "vent to wild, blood-curdling yells and tortured howls, dying to whimperings and grizzlings, that can be heard for miles around. A bush voice that must be heard in ihe dead quiet of the veldt for its uncanny terror to be felt is that hysterical gibber oC laughter swelling to a wild peal of guffaws—the kill-cry of the hyena. Natives so dread the sound that any inmate of a kraal who imitates it is at once outcast as possessed of the devil. The hunter's best asset is his knowledge of bush veldt voices. That low rumble which sounds like very distant thunder comes from a herd of elephants, grazing out of sight maybe but very near. When the veldt is thick in rain-fog one often hears squeals and shrieks as though a mob of schoolgirls were at play. It Is the trek-chatter of the zebra herds. There is one bush sound, heard in Ihe arid patches, that is ominous both to men and animals. Twuzz-zz-zip! Horses and mules, bolt from it! The great, herds of gamy on the plains stampede, men tear down leafy branches and wave them frantically. It is the sound that the sleeping-sickness tsetse hums just before it bites.