TROPHIES GALORE.

Shannon News, 17 December 1929, Page 4

TROPHIES GALORE.

BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN AFRICA

LEVIN RESIDENT RETURNS FROM A NOTABLE TRIP.

CAPTURES RANGE FROM ELEPHANTS TO CROCODILES.

The ambition of a lifetime was fulfilled when a Levin resident who has been, in his own country, a very consistent and successful follower of Nimrcid, found himself in the heart of Africa, where bigger game than any he had hitherto encountered awaited the exercise of his stalking and sharpshooting powers. To say that he came through the test with flying colours is to put the case but mildly, for elephants, lions and a great many other creatures of the wilds fell to his aim.

A little over six months ago, Mr C. H. Bould, left for Sydney, en route for Durban, with equatorial Africa as liis objective and lie returned to his home town this week. From the Natal port he travelled over two thousand miles by rail, then 123 miles by motor and over three hundred miles by native canoe up the Chambezi River, which rises in the Tanganyika country. At the end of the canoe journey, he walked for two months in the direction of the Equator and was accompanied by a train of 22 natives. These were simple, good-natured fellows belonging to the region which he was visiting. He found them to be good, reliable men, honest in every way, but with an intelligence peculiarly limited in certain directions. They just did what they were told, but the telling had to be repeated in detail on many occasions, because of their forgetfulness. As an instance of this failing, Mr, Bould informed a Chronicle representative that there were only three in the whole party who could remember how to clean a rifle. Tire period which he spent in the game territory was two and a-half months, commencing in the middle of July; nominally, being south of the Line, it was winter, but actually it is the dry season in the toopics. During that time he did not see another white man. “I started to talk to lfiyself,” said Mr Bould, evidently recalling the

habit of remote boundary-riders, “but I never answered myself back.” For the loiig sojourn in the wilderness a great quantity of baggage had to be carried. The native bearers each took 601bs of this, and the weight was increased to' 701bs by the' carrier’s own property. ‘ A load such as this was borne cheerfully and without any sign of fatigue. The capito, or native in charge, was described by Mr Bould as a- wonderful man. lie undertook the cooking throughout the expedition, and, using a sheet of corrugated iron for a. stove, produced Scones and yeast bread, roasted and dressed game, which he served in a manner worthy of an hotel chef, and proved himself equally successful in the preparation of puddings. Naturally, game figured frequently on the menu, and in most cases it consisted of birds, such as ducks, geese, partridge, and many other varieties. Only on two occasions was buck meat eaten.

The days were full of interest, and .the nights also had "their thrills. Mr Bould’s “bag” included three elephants, a lion and a lioness, a leopard, a hyena, a jackal, wild cats, wart-hogs, and buffaloes, antelopes, and about fourteen different varieties of buck. In addition ho fished for crocodiles with success. The apparatus for this feat consisted of a large wooden minnow and baited hooks. The bait being taken by the “croc,” his huge mouth closes on the wood and the hook fasten in his throat. The smallest catch ineas-r ured 6ft. 6in; the other four were too big to pull ashore, and were dispatched in the water with a rifle, being shot either in the fop of the head or behind the foreleg. Mr Bould secured some fine specimens of the wart-hog — animals with tremendous tusks; also two swamp-bucks and the very rare sable antelope. Every time the camp was pitched on a new site, which was fairly often, the natives would build a barricade around it, this being constructed of cut timber. Guided to the spot by their keen sense of smell, lions, leopards and hyenas would roam round the outside of the camp all night, making the air resound with- their cries. Sometimes the hunter would have a platform erected, from * which he could see over the top of the barricade, and, with a torch attached to his rifle, would take pot-shots at the prowlers. The hyena which he obtained was killed in. this way. He shot another

hyena from a platform which was put up in the forest, two hours’ walk from the camp; he stayed on. that structure all night, in company * with a native, the two sleeping in turns. The leopard was potted in daylight; two of the animals were walking ac ross the plain, and Mr Bould dropped due of them at 40U yards with a .303 rifle. The most dangerous animals encountered were the buffaloes. A herd of 22 chased the party, and the negroes climbed the trees; Mr Bould brought down three of the herd.

Bird life was very abundant, but most of the birds did not slug. Nature was prodigal in her floral wealth, but nine out of every ten flowers lia’l no scent Mr Bould visited the magnificent Victoria Falls, and his hunting trip took him seven or eight hundred miles north of that locality. Some capita, views of the Falls and the gorges arc included in the splendid collection of photographs which he has brought back with him and which illustrate iii a very, striking manner the nature of the expeuitin. It is his intention to exhibit in the windows of his business premises at an early date some of the numerous and imposing trophies which resulted from his enterprise. ; •