Thomas Baines

“ The main sheet of an open boat should never be made fast, but held either by the steersman, or some one near him, in readiness to ease off. A squall seldom comes so suddenly that the first puff, if well watched, will not help the boat into the wind before the full strength comes; but on the coast of Australia we have known a squall come so suddenly through the dead calm of the night that it struck us at once like a blow from a sledge-hammer, and, though we had taken all the usual precautions, the sea was pouring like a jet-black cataract flecked with diamonds over 8ft. ”

“ Many, perhaps, are wounded; but unless he does it at a stroke the lion has no time to kill, for he is already bristling like a porcupine with spears, and one moment of inaction would expose him to the fatal shower that would pour in upon him from every side. His fate sooner or later is sealed; whatever way he charges his foes elude him; wound after wound exhausts his strength, till, bleeding and helpless, he sinks upon the ground, and his skin and paws are borne in triumph to the chief ”

“ The height and strength of the palisade forbids all hope of escape; the natives, wild with delight, are shouting and pressing on their rear, they rush thundering on to the narrowest part, the slight fence which hides the pit from view is easily leaped, others follow, blindly pushed on by the crowd in the rear, until at length the pit is filled with perhaps one or two hundred animals, writhing, struggling, and suffocating, and moreover bruised and stunned by the hoofs of those which rush madly on, seeking to escape over them. ”

“ Calm water will reflect the colour of the sky according to the angle at which it is viewed; if you look down on it, it will reflect the dark blue of the zenith, but at the same time, if it be transparent, it will also transmit the broken colours of the ground beneath, and thus many beautiful effects are produced—the yellow sand of the tropics imparting a brilliant green to the shallow sea, while rocks or sea-weed will give rich tones of brown. If the spectator is low down, the water will reflect the colour of the horizon, and its own local colour will be lost or much diminished ”

“ The stranger to the wilds would feel no little compassion for the poor crippled lapwing plover, who, crying plaintively, totters on and struggles to escape from the hunter, until at length, on a good space of ground being travelled over in fruitless pursuit, the cunning bird wheels away aloft with a mocking whistle, and shortly rejoins her brood of mouse-like little ones among the moss hags. We once saw a hyena near our camp take a piece of old dry goat’s hide in his mouth and perform a number of strange and uncouth movements, as if either lame or drunk ”

“ A few years since, when all the elephants had to fear was the pitfall of the Bushmen, with its sharpened stakes at the bottom, they would come fearlessly on, trusting to their leader, as with extended trunk as above mentioned, would literally feel the ground inch by inch, and, having once detected a frail deceitful covering that masked the pitfall, would toss aside the sticks and grass, and the whole herd would follow in contemptuous security along the very edge of the now undreaded snare. ”

“ As the boat approaches, the boat steerer lays in his oar and stands up, harpoon in hand, watching the most favourable moment to drive it with all his force, through skin and blubber, deep into the solid flesh, the boat sometimes actually touching the whale before the harpoon is launched. The oarsmen back the boat off as quickly as possible out of the reach of the sweeping tail, and the whale generally dives, then darts forward at full speed, sometimes below and sometimes at the surface of the water. ”

“ Every effect of storm or sunshine on the hills, catching the passing rain cloud while the shower was still falling, with its misty fragments torn off by the gale, illuminated by the beauteous rainbow, or lighted up by rays of sunshine piercing through the gloom; and when such luxurious appliances can be obtained, and are used, moreover, to so good a purpose, far be it from us to say a word against them. ”

“ The distant hills may either melt into the soft tints of the sky, partaking of roseate light and faint sky shadow, or may rise cold and dark against a clear horizon, or may be shown in full light against a heavy storm cloud; in any case, the tone of colour proper to their respective distances must be preserved, and in this respect there can be no better rule than to copy those that nature herself presents. ”

“ If the journal of to-day is put off, the events of to-morrow will confuse and dim the impressions that ought in all their pristine vigour to have been committed to paper; procrastination is the thief of time, and we may well say that it will rob the journal of the traveller of all that freshness and vivacity which alone can make it interesting. ”

“ But a lion hunt on fair and open ground, by a tribe of savage warriors, must have been an exciting scene. With them the preparatory tracking up and gathering of information essential to the English hunter are needless; the haunts and habits of the lion they intend to hunt have long been too familiar to them. The hunters with their naked bodies fresh anointed, and lithe and well-turned limbs, assemble around with light assegais or javelins, and with long sticks tufted with black ostrich feathers. ”

“ On the American Continent a sport known as fire-hunting is much followed. This mode of hunting is prosecuted at night. The hunter provides himself with a rifle, an old frying-pan, fastened to the end of a pole, and a good supply of resinous pine knots. These he ignites in the pan, and as the bright flame leaps up, he watches carefully for the gleam from the eyes of the deer amongst the dark shadows of the forest. ”

“ The forest is then surrounded, the elephants disturbed with loud noises, driven from their favourite haunts, and forced to take refuge in the thickest forest; and here men, previously stationed in the trees, cut the remaining bush vines, and let the tangle fall like a boarding netting among and around the elephants; spears and assegais are also hurled down on them at every opportunity. This is, however, a service of great danger, for the persecuted animal, with his far-reaching trunk, may seize the nearest hunter and dash him to jelly against a tree, or trample him to death. ”

“ Whether the rather more than half-reasoning elephants know that the fly kills horses or not, we cannot undertake to say; but they certainly connect the idea of comparative security with the “fly country,” just as an Australian horse knows that the stockyard is the only place in which he is never flogged, and retreats to it whenever he hears the cracking of the dreaded stock whip. ”

“ If the traveller is content with the solid flesh, of course he can let them do as they like; if not, he must look out in time. It is quite well to know that the marrow-bones slightly warmed afford most delicious food; the marrow of the ox is good, that of the buffalo is better, but that of the koodoo is the ne plus ultra. The bones of the quagga—at least, so far as our experience goes—afford no marrow; indeed, there is no hollow for it, the inside being a cellular structure filled with oil. The flesh, also, being rather rank, persons of very delicate taste do not relish it. ”

“ Among the Bushmen the lion is not much hunted; in fact, some of them seem to look upon him as an involuntary benefactor, who, after he has killed his prey, will certainly let some remain for them, and may, perhaps, be scared from his repast, so as to leave them all. Sometimes, perhaps, they venture, if annoyed by one of men-eating propensities, to track him to his lair, and as he lies in dreamy enjoyment after a full meal, to lodge a poisoned arrow in his side. ”

“ The man who, by chopping down a tree and washing its pith for a week or two, can provide himself with a substitute for bread for a whole year is not likely to be, nor is he really equal either in physical strength, activity, or intelligence to him who must earn his food by cultivation of the soil, by chasing wild animals in their forest haunts, or by launching his little craft upon the waters, and ensnaring or doing battle with the denizens of the ocean. ”

“ The hunter of the fur-clad denizens of the forest and the field, who, for the love of sport and the obtainment of trophies of the chase, penetrates to little-known regions; and the hardy and keen trapper—who, with pack, traps, kit, and rifle, steers his own course to the most remote and untrodden solitudes—each require a somewhat different mode by which to fit their spoils when gathered for transport to either the cities of Europe or the trading port of the professional peltry dealers. ”

“ The stays were formed of slips of bamboo, and sometimes even of the poles, which, being well fastened, would not only resist tension on the weather-side as well as ropes, but on the lee would, by their rigidity, help to support the masts. The outriggers of these were more elaborately framed with a lighter set of beams, which supported stanchions and hand-rails, so that, when the wind freshened, men might run out upon the weather outrigger and, holding on by the hand-rail and stays, which lead from the mast-head, serve as a counterpoise to the immense sails as the boat dashed through the water. ”

“ In all cases of extreme scarcity of food, we strongly advise the traveller to leave no stone unturned which may yield aliment of some kind to help him on his way before he sacrifices his riding horse or mule. Where a number of animals accompany an expedition, a few may perhaps be parted with from time to time; but we earnestly advise the solitary hunter or explorer to exercise every faculty he possesses for food finding before he makes up his mind to destroy his four-footed friend. ”

“ Water, either for drinking or other purposes, is as scarce as in the driest parts of India or Africa; for though in temperate countries it may be a luxury to let a piece of ice melt in the mouth, the expenditure of animal heat in thawing a mouthful of snow in the Arctic regions would be greater than even the most robust constitution could afford.
Water, in fact, unless kept in constant agitation, loses its fluidity. A sheet of ice is as dry as a piece of glass, and snow seems to have no more moisture in it than the dust of the highway on a Derby day. ”

“ With such rude implements as he may chance to be possessed of, he fashions the exterior, flattens the surface of the log, and hews out the bow and stern; then fire, kept within due bounds by the assistance of clay, is brought to bear on the mass of timber, and as the wood ashes form, and the wood becomes charred, a sharpened stone or thick sea-shell is used to remove the mass and expose a fresh surface. By dint of labour, patience, care, and perseverance, the shell of the boat is at length formed, but lacking the curves and contour needed to render it stable and seaworthy. ”

“ In native warfare an army might be watched into a place from which escape is hopeless, and in the dry season the grass would be then fired at the entrance and the exit; or in the rains, some small river might be partially dammed up so as to accumulate a quantity of water, which being let loose at the proper moment by the dragging out of a pole that serves as a trigger to let go the rest of the impediments, would sweep down upon and overwhelm the helpless enemy. ”

“ The mode of harnessing, too, differs in almost every country. Whilst we, in England, usually content ourselves with a team harnessed in pairs, the Russians not unfrequently work three and four a-breast. The Spanish and Portuguese race, in their devious wanderings about the world, have taken the enormously high wheel of the Peninsula with them, and delight to see a big-booted postilion, black or white, acting as pilot to the lumbering old-world conveyance they journey in. ”

“ When shooting ducks on the marshes of Southern Russia we used to form a sort of screen by cutting a bundle of marsh reeds, fastening their tops together with a piece of twine, spreading the lower ends out like a large extinguisher or the hat of a beehive, and then placing the whole arrangement on the head. When seated thus arrayed on a good thick pile of reeds, with your legs encased in well-greased boots, and your gun placed well under cover, the ducks, geese, widgeon, and other fowl, come fearlessly by on whistling wing, and are knocked over and bagged accordingly. ”

“ The solitary traveller in a wild country will be very rarely compelled to construct his own bridge, for, as a general rule, he will only have to pass once, or at most to return by the same route. The labour of making a bridge would be greater, and more time would be lost, than by seeking for a practicable passage at some distant point, or, in case a river was the impediment, forming a float of some kind. ”

“ If the paper is of a light pearl or a warm grey tint, so that Chinese white will tell upon it, it will be less dazzling to the eye when reflecting the rays of a vertical sun; but it must be remembered that all tinted grounds impart their own character to the work, and, if strict fidelity is sought, nothing but pure white paper, with a sufficient grain or texture to take the colour well, and to give that slight broken uncertainty of touch which is of so much advantage in foliage or rough surfaces, and yet sufficiently fine to admit of the most delicate manipulation where it is required. ”

“ The marksman, edging a little clear of the shelter of the horses, sits down, rests his elbows on his knees, and, grasping his ramrod as an additional support, takes as deliberate an aim as circumstances permit at the lion, aiming to hit him, if possible, in the breast; for it is seldom that the animal, when thus bearded in his den, refuses to face his foe, or expose his shoulders to the deadly missile. ”

“ If a taint remains upon the air they act with the extremest caution; for hours they will remain motionless, waiting till their keen senses detect the recently tainted breeze, or their huge expanded ears catch the crackling of a twig or the slightest sound made by the incautious hunter. If their fears preponderate, they may not only refrain from drinking, but even desert the locality, and travel 50 or 100 miles during the night to another water, but thirst may overcome their prudence, and they may approach and enter the water ”