At The Season When The
Fruit Is Ripe, The Hegleek Tree Is A Certain Attraction To
Elephants, Who Shake The Branches And Pick Up The Fallen Berries
With Their Trunks; Frequently They Overturn The Tree Itself, As
A More Direct Manner Of Feeding.
Florian was quite incapable of hunting, as he was in a weak state
of health, and had for some months been suffering from chronic
dysentery.
I had several times cured him, but, as Barrake
insisted upon eating fruit, so he had a weakness for the
strongest black coffee, which, instead of drinking, like the
natives, in minute cups, he swallowed wholesale in large basins,
several times a day; this was actual poison with his complaint,
and he was completely ruined in health. He had excellent
servants,--Richarn, whom I subsequently engaged, who was my only
faithful man in my journey up the White Nile, and two good
Dongalowas.
At this time, his old companion, Johann Schmidt, the carpenter,
arrived, having undertaken a contract to provide, for the Italian
Zoological Gardens, a number of animals. I therefore proposed
that the two old friends should continue together, while I would
hunt by myself, with the aggageers, towards the east and south.
This arrangement was agreed to, and we parted. In the following
season, I engaged this excellent man, Johann Schmidt, as my
lieutenant for the White Nile expedition, on the banks of which
fatal river he now lies, with the cross that I erected over his
grave.
Poor Florian at length recovered from his complaint, but was
killed by a lion. He had wounded an elephant, which on the
following morning he found dead; a lion had eaten a portion
during the night. While he was engaged with his men in extracting
the tusks, one of his hunters (a Tokroori) followed the track of
the lion on the sand, and found the animal lying beneath a bush;
he fired a single-barrelled rifle, and wounded it in the thigh.
He at once returned to his master, who accompanied him to the
spot, and the lion was found lying under the same bush, licking
the wound. Florian fired and missed; the lion immediately
crouched for a spring; Florian fired his remaining barrel, the
ball merely grazed the lion, who almost in the same instant
bounded forward, and struck him upon the head with a fearful blow
of the paw, at the same time it seized him by the throat.
The Tokroori hunter, instead of flying from the danger, placed
the muzzle of his rifle to the lion's ear, and blew its brains
out on the body of his master. The unfortunate Florian had been
struck dead, and great difficulty was found in extracting the
claws of the lion, which had penetrated the skull. Florian,
although a determined hunter, was an exceedingly bad shot, and
withal badly armed for encounters with dangerous game; I had
frequently prophesied some calamity from the experience I had had
in a few days' shooting in his society, and most unhappily my
gloomy prediction was fulfilled.
This was the fate of two good and sterling Germans, who had been
my companions in this wild country, where degrees of rank are
entirely forgotten, provided a man be honest and true. I
constantly look back to the European acquaintances and friends
that I made during my sojourn in Africa, nearly all of whom are
dead: a merciful Providence guided us through many dangers and
difficulties, and shielded us from all harm, during nearly five
years of constant exposure. Thanks be to God.
Our camels returned from Geera with corn, accompanied by an
Abyssinian hunter, who was declared by Abou Do to be a good man,
and dexterous with the sword. We accordingly moved our camp, said
adieu to Florian and Johann, and penetrated still deeper into the
Base.
CHAPTER XV.
ANTELOPES ON THE SETTITE.
OUR course lay as usual along the banks of the river, which we
several times forded to avoid the bends. Great numbers of
antelopes were upon the river's bed, having descended to drink;
by making a circuit, I cut off one party upon their retreat, and
made two good shots with the Fletcher No. 24, bagging two tetel
(Antelopus Bubalis), at considerable ranges. I also shot an ariel
(G. Dama), and, upon arriving at a deep pool in the river, I shot
a bull hippopotamus, as a present for Taher Sheriff and his
brothers. We decided upon encamping at a spot known to the Arabs
as Delladilla; this was the forest upon the margin of the river
where I had first shot the bull elephant, when the aggageers
fought with him upon foot. The trees were larger in this locality
than elsewhere, as a great portion of the country was flooded by
the river dnring the rainy season, and much rich soil had been
deposited; this, with excessive moisture, had produced a forest
of fine timber, with an undergrowth of thick nabbuk. We fixed
upon a charming spot for a camp, beneath a large tree that bore
a peculiar fruit, suspended from the branches by a strong but
single fibre, like a cord; each fruit was about eighteen inches
in length, by six in diameter; it was perfectly worthless, but
extremely ornamental. We had arrived beneath this tree, and were
still on horseback; my wife had just suggested that it would be
unpleasant should one of the large fruit fall upon our heads if
we camped under the branches, when suddenly a lioness glided by
us, within three yards of the horses, and almost immediately
disappeared in the thick thorns; unfortunately, I had the moment
before given my rifle to a servant, prior to dismounting. I
searched the bushes in every direction, but to no purpose.
This spot was so favourably situated that I determined to remain
for some time, as I could explore the country on horseback to a
great distance upon all sides. We immediately set to work to
construct our new camp, and by the evening our people had cleared
a circle of fifty yards diameter; this was swept perfectly clean,
and the ground being hard, though free from stones, the surface
was as even as a paved floor.
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