Adventure Magazine Cover — page 190: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

oP 184 windjammer who had been shipwrecked more than this coal-barge admiral had ever made port, and that I would write you to get some real logical dope. If you can give us the correct stuff on all of this bunk, try to put it in the sort of English ‘“‘as she is spoke’’—so that even most of our brilliant minds down here can catch the gist. I know that’s a big order, skipper, but that’s the only way some of these dummies can be convinced—they read and write English, you know, but they speak United States. es When these buddies got the idea in their think- tanks that here at last was a chance to get to the real information from a reputable. source, they jumped at it. I’m interested myself, so here’s a hope that’ you can slip us a hatful of information relative to all that I’ve mentioned. NoteE:— Stamped and _ self-addressed envelop enclosed.” —RoBert H. Stoy, U.S. Marines, Parris Island, S. C. ' Answer, by Captain Dingle:—Because I don’t believe any Marine can shoot well or far enough to hit me here, I'll answer that fool question about the sinking ship to the best of my own belief. Get the belief... Nobody knows by actual visual proof. It’s like a trick question anyway. All that stuff about pressures is right. But there’s one simple fact which is sometimes ignored when talking pressures. All water-pressures in- crease enormously with depth. ; »See a fish hauled up from only thirty fathoms. Down there he’s accustomed to resisting high pres- sures; when he’s dragged up fast to the top, giving him no time to adjust his resistance, all his innards poke out of his mouth, simply because outside pressure decreases too quickly. ° But about the ship: If she has a quantity of air absolutely imprisoned within some compartment, she undoubtedly would take a very long time to get to bottom—as long, in fact, as it took for that imprisoned air to get out, either through gradual leakage or decay of the structure. But if no air remains inside the hull, then, coming down to pres- sures, since the pressures are equal all around, out- side and inside the hull, there remains the actual intrinsic weight of the ship to pull her down even- tually. This is my personal belief, shorn, as you ask, of all pretense to highbrow dope. I believe that every ship sunk eventually reaches bottom in some state or other, though it may not be intact, and Lord only knows in what time. Game of Southern Nigeria [*s there, all right; oodles of it: Question:—“My chum and I are about to be dis- charged from the Army, and we are planning to make a trip to Africa for big-game hunting for pleasure and profits. We are each twenty years old, and are pretty fair shots with a rifle. We have had practically no experience. Please answer the following questions: 1. Could two men of our qualifications make this trip with success? 2. What are the possibilities in hunting elephants ‘for ivory? 3. What part of Africa is best for this kind of hunting? | Adeenue 4. What are the laws for hunting in Africa, if any, and licences, etc.? : 5. Where could a man dispose of ivory and furs? 6. Are there any markets for skins of fur-bearing animals? 7. Please give all the dope you can about insects, fevers, etc., and their prevention andscure. 8. Could two men get along in the jungle without _ help of natives,-guides, etc.? _ 9. Could we get along with thehatives, speaking only the English language? 10, What is the best make of rifle for this work, and what size bore? Which is the best cartridge, lead ball or steel jacket? Can we buy rifle and sup- plies in Africa? ; 11. About what would it cost to finance an expe- ae of this kind?”—K. C. S., Schofield Barracks, Answer, by Mr. Miller:—There is no reason why two wide-awake young men with the tropical experi- ence of Hawaii should not get along very well in West Africa, or southern Nigeria, which would be your best field. But you could hardly look for financial success. In the first place elephants are getting rare, so rare that even experienced hunters often fail to bag a single one. A ‘“‘visitor’s license”’ costs ten pounds—say forty dollars at present rate of exchange. That allows you to kill birds, water- buffalo, leopards, gazelle, etc., within certain pre- scribed areas and a limit on the bag. A “special license” is required to kill elephants; to wit, one elephant, fifty pounds, two elephants, a hundred and fifty pounds—about six hundred dol- lars. It is not permissible to kill less than a fifty- pound tusker, or to kill a female elephant at all. There’s a Government royalty of two shillings a pound on ivory. In fact, you had better put ele- phants out of your mind. Under a general license you may kill 1 hippopota- mus, 1 bongo, 4 buffalo, 4 roan antelope, 4 water- buck, 4 bush-buck, 4 reed-buck, 4 hartebeest, 8 buffon’s kob (cobus cob), 4 red-fronted gazelle, 4 situtungs, 2 addra gazelle, etc., etc., with modifi- cations according to the district hunted. With a bird license only—which costs but a dollar—you may shoot guinea fowl, sand-grouse, red-eyed and green ~ ‘pigeons, rock fowl, francolins, floricnas, partridges, quail, geese, duck, teal, snipe, lesser bustards, etc. There are markets for skins and hides in all large seaports. Bring them to America, or sell them in England. Ali the papers run ads. of fur-buyers. Yes, two men used to roughing it could make the jungle, but would want guides, or they must keep in touch with villages. Mostly the blacks are friendly, and if the white man is tactful and careful to avoid running foul of the superstitions it would be all right. You would want to go to a public library and read up the-books on the West African shelf before you went, or it would be like monkeying in a chemical laboratory without any knowledge of chemistry. If you are hardened and not finicky and can “live off the country”’ as we say in Africa—live by your ~ rifle and such native foods as you can buy with the flesh you bring down—it would not be expensive, less expensive than roaming the States. But you would have to hire carriers for your pelts and guns and camp equipment, and sometimes hire canoes. As for language, a white man can generally make himself understood by signs, , ‘S Comic ow. 200!