The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, July 12, 1912 Page: 4 of 8
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1
h
•k.
jr
IVORY
of the LADO
ENCLAVE
W ROBERT rORAN
i*/*/c&r
4
' a i' «. *i ?: /it ih-v« r u *.
rhal no olom or r -M
Hut, split t. h n«l <1« ti4«
U breaking H.* ft)r tl r- *•
Kt| ni
V\ AS trailing I'resl-
' Theodore Roose-
velt through Uganda on
'he last stages of his
year's hunting trip tn
t'eutral Africa, being
'he only u* wspnpcr
correspondent to remain
lu the Hold out ot the small itrmy
it theni who had set out with
him from New York In Mareb,
1 09, when my travels took me to
the shores of the Albert Nyan/.a.
from which the White Nile ol>
tains Its source Her< are the
headquarters of ihe small body
of men who are braving all man
ner of dangers to make a forture
by elephant-huntlng lu "No Man s
l-and, as the l«ado Knclav© terri-
tory on the Belgian t'ongo, bor-
dering on the great H1 \.>r Nile.
has been termed,
Many of these men were per
sonally known to me during my
residence in British Kast Alrlca
as a government official | had
acquired a wholesome redirect for
these hardy and intrepid tftinern
of the uncivilized tortious of tl
great equatorial hinterland 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 conne< ted w ith their
work that the offenses of which they were guilty
paled before all other considerations, and one is
forred 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 nil this role.
I bad marched one hundred and sixty-five miles
across the dreary, swelterlngly hot I'ganda coun
try, and It was with feelings of extreme relief
that 1 saw the shimmering expanse of the waters
of the Albert Nyanza from the rugged hill tops
overlooking ltutlaba, the small port on the sandy
shore of the lake.
I pitched camp on the site of the recent Roose
velt encampment within one bundled feet of the
lake.
1 had heard from natives that one of the Congo
poachers was In camp at ltutlaba, but none of
them seemed to know his name and I was at a
lose to know who he might be. l 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 he given an opportu-
nity of renewing my acquaintance with one of
them Perhaps It might be John Boyes, nick-
named "King of the Klkuyu;" or "Karotnoja"
Bell, the mightiest of elephant-hunters; the Hon-
orable Rupert Craven, brother of F.arl Craven,
young Quentln Orogan. brother of Captain Fwart
H Grogan of Cai>e to-Cairo fame; Pickering, a
noted elephant-hunter; Bennett, an ex-engineer of
the Nile launches; W. Buckley, a partner < f P'.ck
erlng's; or Pearson, to say nothing of many oth
ers whom I had met from time to time I men
Hon them by their correi t names for they made
no secret of their calling and I fee! sure that I
am not committing any Indiscretion by so doing
Kach one of these men has a history, and ea'b
and every one of them ean tell thrilling tales of
his experiences not only in the Congo but also in
ijvery other part of Africa
My Interested conjectures as to who the man
■ I Butlaba might he were soon set at rest It is
the custom for all white men In Africa to call on
any other white man who ma* camp In their vl
clnity. and so It was not long before the 'poacher'
came to my camp to see me. It proved to b*
Bennett, the ex-engineer of the I'ganda Nile fleet,
who had abandoned his profsalonal calling for • ••
more thrilling and lucrative work of shooting elo
phants for their Ivory For many vears he had
tieen In charge of the small steam launch plying
between Butlana and Nlmule on the Nile, and dur
Ing thes«" years he had done much shooting 'in
the banks of the river Ills haul of Ivory added
ra> h year to his small Income as a launch cnprl
neer so thai It was a had vear Indeed when he
did not double, nay treble his paltry salary He
had been with Wln ton Chiirelifll, when the lat
ter made his trip up the Nile on the government
flotilla when Inspecting East Africa and i'ganda
In his official capacity as under secretary of state
for the colonies
This Is the s'ory of a man, as told to mo on
my first night in camp at Butlaba sitting In iny
tent beating ofT the atta< k of greedv mosquitoes
while entertaining Bennrt* with the aid of my lim-
ited supply of whl ky The ston wrs so s'artPn*
that often I had to pinch myself during Us re< ital
to satisfy myself that I was not dreaming of the
days of Kmln I'ashs and Stanley as the result of
the association of my surroundings
I noticed that his hands were bad^v lacerated
in fact, 'n a fearful state and all the time we
conversed about generalities I was wondering
what had been the emive Present'* tin corner
satlon turned to the sublect of elephant shooting
and 1 asked h'rn how he was progressing «*lth his
quest for Ivor? I had got hltn Interested now
end leaned sack In ntv aw camp chair to listen
- :r>«
^.V> >, ;■«4
ffy T*t H/COVAY conwy
x
Till
.t!,<1
in fa\
lie said he had Just returned from the Congo,
where lie bad been shooting elephants (or some
months at the t ick of Mahagi, and that he I ad
been very successful up to a certain point, but
then had lost all his hard-gotten Ivory and all hi*
effects, owing to an attack from the natives. His
subsequent narrathe was an enthralling one, and
I wish that It we re possible for me to reproduce
It exactly as h< tuld it to me on that still African
night.
"I got or very well with the natives and had
got some very fli%e tusks." lie continued. "One
day I was out al'ter some elephants, which had
been located by the natives for me. and came
across four huge tuskers I flred at the biggeet.
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 1 fired at point-blank range
and again hit him mortally. The elephant contln
ued his charge and one of my native servants
failed to get. out (ft 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 pa|>er. screaming shrilly all the time It
waa an anxious "noment for me, for I was within
fifty feet of the..j at the time of my first shot
.t last they made off across country toward the
lake and I followed them up and succeeded In
hagirlng all three of them in three shots at close
range.
"1 returned to look for my native servant,
thinking that he would lie witching over my first
tusker. Tn rnv astonishment I found the boy
lying dead where he had fallen when the elephant
bowled him over I examined hitn' 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
iviachers. namely. Pearson Dickinson. Boyes and
Kn«iwlen The natives appeared perfectly frlendlv
to me Or: my first night In camp they visited
me. dancing and slnirng round rnv camp fire i
suspected no treachery from thrm; on the con
trarv they appeared willing to keep me Informed
of the movements of the elephants atid of the
Belgian military patrol, vlii'h wa« operating in
the district, endeavoring to capture us poachers
"Nexi day the same thing happened and I was
asked to attend to the leg o' one of the tribesmen
who had been Injured hadlv In a native brawl
! bathed the wound and was winding a bandage
round the wounded leg when I suddenly felt rnv
wrists seized A rope was quickly cast round my
neck, other ropes were fastened round my legs
and arms, aud I "as jerked roughly off the camp-
stom on which ■ was sitting The^i the nntlv «
setzod my guns, and all my camp equipment wa*
deliberately destroyed before my eyes K native
self.eii my helmet and Insolently paraded before
me with It on his own head 1 ' ns then beaten
savagely across the back of the hands and on the
body with sticks My hands burst ofx*n hurting
fearfully, atid the sun beat down upon my head
with terrific forte
"1 wns made to march, with my captors Jeering
st me and suhlectlng me to awful Ind'gnitles. for
four whole days through the broiling sun until
their powerful chief's village was reached Here
the chief came forward and shook me hv my
wounded and manacled hands biddlre his follow-
ers release me He was a fine look'nK old savage,
with a very Intelligent face standing oTer six
feet high
On the orders i>f the
chief I was offered milk to
drink and given a native hut
In as a prisoner un
der a Montr guard My
food during thin time con
cpted of raw meat and very
little of til.;' \fter s"mo
da.v.i of torture wondering
what they intended to do
with nu' I w as haled before
the < tisi and uiven a pub-
Hi trial. I could u; der-
pit th• v w« re say
it appeared that
pt the ••hief, were
i f ni' death For
innately for me, the .lie's
w -iies prevailed and ■
released and allowed to re-
turn to ,t. on my 1 *
ing a t:i . t an"' M r I w out J
in vi r anvn lit in this
district I * , threatened with ir-'an' death and
tor' ..e If I w.is caught again by them
"Then beuari six days' journey through thn
blaring \fri• • i sun with nil my clothes In r.Ks,
no helmet and no hat no water, and no food ex-
eept what could find inv the way which was
yery* Itith leeittf that I bad no ride All my
ramp 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
\t inr" after days of Infinite torture I
reached the camp of a Belgian official near Ma
hagl. who clothed and fed me promising me that
the natives would be punished This was Indeed
kind of him for It must he remembered that I
was a poacher In the Belgian territory and liable
to ten vears' Imprisonment If captured by the
Belgians In the act of poaching Ivory. 1 have
rarne to Butlaba to try to get together another
outfit and return to the Mahagl district to re-
place my losses I am determined to make up mt
lost time and feel confident that 1 can do so"
I wish that I could tell the tale with th* un-
affected simplicity and nothing-out of-the-ordlnary
manner In which Bennett told It to me
The next flay I left by launch for Koba. the first
government post on the Nile Here I found a
small village of white elephant poachers, but all
of them were away after Ivory in the Coniro at
the time of my visit. They live on the Hrltlsh side
of the N'lie 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.
*nd In a way this encourages the poachers, for
they are allow d to shoot only two, or at most
three elephants each year in Fast Africa or
I'ganda. on payment of a I2"0 license In the
Congo no license Is necessary and they may shoot
as many tuskers as they can, without a license. If
the* i an evade being r aptured by the Belgians
or the natives
Kach man takes un told rt> Vs 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
'nk«s his life In his hands every lime he shoots
an elephant, for he crawls Into a herd through
the fifteen or twenty-foot grass, selects the big-
gsst bull anil 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
rtf a herd of elephants when you are clo«e to
them They move so silently and yet ench one In
capable of crushing the life out of any man who
dnren disturb their peace
At Koha I found the houses made of crass and
mud of John Boves the Honorable Hupert Craven,
and of Plr l( -r!ng and linckley "Karajoma" Pell
had given ii,; poaching for the time being as be
had made more than sufficient out of It to satisfy
all his desires Hell Is a vourg Fnglishman. who
has a big estate In Kngland and an annual rent-
roll of some fir. 001) lie i -me out to Central Af-
rica seeking adventure In 1 f 02. when only eight-
een ve«rs o' age and at once turned his attention
to elephant-hunting
I am told that In the last eight years lte|| has
sp nt f 10ft nno in seeking ivorv and has made
$200 000. so that he has cleared one hundred per
cent
Ii hn Boves, alias ' King of the Klkuyu," was,
unfortunately, poaching In the Congo I should
have liked to renew my acquaintance with him,
for he is a remarkable character Boyes was st
one lime an able bodied seaman on a merchant
vessel snd was wrecked, or deserted, I know not
which at Zanzibar many vears pr«M ions to mv
first meeting with him In 1904 He had «pent all
his time cattle trading and tvorv hunting in the
wilds, and for many yenrs marie the territory of
the AkIk11yii trl!*1 his headquarters lie had Ire-
come blood hro'her to their king Klnnnjul, and
then had made himself virtually thelt king
Every Day
Is Bake Day
at Our House!"
writo a ii accomplished house-
wife, an enthusiastic patron of
■
Cream
BAKING POWDER
" !t is Hot Biscuit, Muffins, Sally
Lunn, Waffles,Pot Pie, and almost
daily, now that the season lias
come, a Fruit Slior! Cake all
home - made, home - baked of
course, and perfectly delicious!
Home-baking, thus, with tlie aid
of Dr. Price's Baking Powder,
provides the most tasty food,
which 1 know to be of absolute
purity, clean and healthful, and
with considerable economy."
Our correspondent has written for
us I he a hole story.
OB. PRICE S
DREAM BAKiNG POWDER
Makes Home-Baking
a Success and a Recreation,
with food more healthful, desirable, and
sale Irum all improper contamination.
PRICL RARING POWDCK CO CHlOAOO
I
V
I'
Hardly the Sunday School Brand.
The young hopeful b.id secretvd
some bright buttons In his i>ocket,
which came from the motor car show
When Sunday (school was well under
way, he look one out and pinned It on
hi* coat, feeling It un ornament. l°n
fortunately, when the minister c&ine
round to speak to the dear children,
his near sighted eyes were caught by
the color
Well Richard, I ee you .rre wenr
Ing some motto my lad What doe*
it nay*"
You read it, Kir replied Hichard,
hanging his head
"But ! cannot see
giaesen son. Head It
hear you "
Richard blushed It says, sir
It to be poor"
Magazine
AN APT SCHOLAR.
I haven t m
so we can all
Ain't
Metropolitan
Willing to Oblige.
A story comes from a town where
firms advertise to hcII ilsh direct to
small purchasers The glowing ad-
vertisements asked tot the sending
of half a dollar with a list of the va-
rieties of Ilsh preferred One letter
i ead
i want two salmon, a dozen whit-
ing, a dozen fresh herring, some floun-
ders, and If you have them yog can
add a lobster "
The next day the lad) received h
letter which ran
Dear Madam ['lease send another
dime, and we will forward the fisher
man' I "alias News
With the Lid Off.
Mother," asked Hob, with a hope
fill eye on the peppermint jar. "have
1 hen ae ood hoy this afternoon*"
"M m yea." answered moth, dubi
ously, recalling n certain little rift
within the lute Tlie four year-old dip
iomat looked anxious
"Please." he begged, "say a wide
| open yes'" Harper's lla/.ar
Standard of Sanity.
Shakespeare was asknd if llamle:
'waa sane
"As sane as 'lie fourth of July." he
replied
Mrs Beacon Swede I'm glad your
uncle left you some money, but
pleaae, Norah, don't call It it legacy
Say Ilmbacv It Is very improper to
sa> leg, always say limb!
Norah- Yls, ma'am, an' shall 1
wurruni oop Ihot limb o' mutton for
dinner, or will ye* hov It cowld?
Noted Author.
"Hee that man over there with the
IiIh< k mustache'' mild Ttwnpj
"Yes." said the visitor
"Well," said Tomp.v, "he is the an
thrrr of ruie of the most popular ae
rials In a hundred years "
'Really?" salt) the visitor "Why
he doesn't look like a literary mar; "
"No said Totnpy. "lie Isn't—he's
the Inventor of popped prlts, th«> best
selling cereal on the market "• Mar
per'a Weekly
Put It Up to the Cook Book
My denr Dollv sail the yonng hus
band, "honestly | cannot <-nngratulate
you on your success with this pud
ding It Is slmplv rank."
"Charley'" exclaimed the IHlle
wife, how absurd' It Is all imaglna
tlon' The coolt hook says It tastes
like ambrosia
If there ever it a lime when you ate juntibed in < uwing.
It i when ihe summer weather leu your appetite lo hiding;
Hut there wn't any need to risk your oui and ahock. ihe neighhm-
Tempt your appetite with T oattie* and go unging to your lahora
Written hw w .1 M rwtfc > vit,
T#mpr, Arli
On* of th# AO .Ilnf!## for whlrh Pnnttim <*n ,
H*tt)«t Mi<'h , putri ll o tJU in Mm)
i
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The Bastrop Advertiser (Bastrop, Tex.), Vol. 60, No. 13, Ed. 1 Friday, July 12, 1912, newspaper, July 12, 1912; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth206045/m1/4/: accessed June 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bastrop Public Library.