The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 132, March, 1909Various
History
The Wide World Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 132, March, 1909
Various
Adventure stories -- Periodicals; English periodicals; History, Modern -- 20th century -- Periodicals; Voyages and travels -- Periodicals
The frightened zebras retreat at once, dashing towards the stockade.
As they approach it other animals are surprised, including, perhaps,
antelope, eland, deer, buffalo, and perhaps a giraffe. The one aim of
the four-footed fugitives is to get away from the cordon of yelling
natives, which now surrounds them on every side. There is only one
outlet, which leads into the stockade, and into this they plunge
panic-stricken. Once inside, the entrance is immediately closed. At
a recent drive, organized by one of Mr. Hagenbeck's hunters in German
East Africa, fully four hundred zebras and a large number of antelopes
and other animals were surrounded in this way. As the corral was not
large enough to hold such a number the greater portion were allowed
to escape, and finally eighty-five zebras and fifteen antelopes were
secured.
When first captured the zebra is very wild, dashing about the stockade
at lightning speed, but in a few days he recognises that it is
hopeless to try to escape, and philosophically accepts the situation.
In German East Africa the settlers often tame these newly-caught
zebras and ride them like horses.
Curiously enough, the big cats--such as lions, tigers, and
leopards--do not give the hunter so much trouble as some of the hoofed
animals. In the case of lions they are now only taken when cubs. This
work is done by the natives; the collector merely tells them that he
is wanting lions, and in a short time they return with the desired
number. These men track the lioness to her den, rushing in suddenly
and raining spears upon her till she is dead. The little ones are then
wrapped up in pieces of cloth and handed over to the hunter at
the camp. They are fed on goats' milk--which they drink out of a
bottle--and pieces of fowl until they are old enough to travel, when
they are sent down to the coast in little wooden boxes on the backs of
camels and shipped to Europe.
Occasionally when the cub-hunters visit a den they find both parents
away, and then their task is easy. Should the mother return, however,
there is at once a fierce fight, and unless she is quickly overpowered
it goes hard indeed with the natives. There is no creature more fierce
than one of these big cats when it comes to protecting her young, and
the cries of the infuriated mother will sometimes bring her mate to
the scene, and an enraged male lion strikes terror into all but the
stoutest hearts.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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