Adventure Magazine Cover, November 10, 1924 — page 189: what you’re looking at

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

Ask Adventure The cartridge most easily obtained here or abroad is the old .44 Winchester, or .4440 cartridge, which is a good compromise for revolver and rifle. In either Colt or Smith & Wesson revolvers, or Winchester Model 1892 or Remington Model 141% this is a very popular and powerful load, es- pecially if the UMC Hi-Speed loads are used in the es. But in view of recoil, accuracy and the fact that certain South American republics prohibit the im- portation of larger arms than the .38 caliber in re- volvers, I believe the .38 Special will be the best re- volver for general use by the members of your party. Allow me to recommend the use of the .38 Colt Special ammunition, it having a square-pointed bullet, thus giving better killing-power than the round-nosed type of projectiles. 4. I will advise the plan of taking two arms of each pattern for each member of your party, as well as a supply of the spare parts for the weapons, and a liberal supply of ammunition, oils, greases, cleaning-compounds, etc. Admiral Peary told me that was his plan in his expeditions, and surely no man knew better how to outfit for the long trails. I will advise gold-bead front sights on the revolvers and gold or ivory beads on the rifles. And don’t forget that a couple of Browning heavy- type machine guns can be used quite often to good advantage, too. In certain parts of the globe I’d be apt to feel safer could I once more crouch behind a Browning and know there was a full belt in it. I enclose a little literature on arms. Trust I have covered all desired information fully and that you will not hesitate to write again in case I have over- looked anything. Climate and Wild Life of Portuguese East Africa TH subjoined monograph has been _ printed in leaflet form on hard paper. The leaflet may be obtained free from the ‘“‘Ask Adventure’ expert responsible for it: namely R. G. Waring, Corunna, Ont., Canada. Don’t expect any response unless you enclose addressed envelop and return postage: PORTUGUESE East Africa, along with British East Africa or Kenya Colony, as it is now known, are the two remaining big-game hunting- grounds of Africa, and it is these two sections in which nearly all the different African species are still found in more or less numbers. Strict game- laws prevail, and one who is a non-resident pays handsomely for hunting-privileges, with a limit to the game that may be killed. Your photograph is attached to the license, which may cost you up to three hundred dollars, for which you will be allowed to kill one elephant, and perhaps one of each of the various species of boks and antelopes. The cost of the license varies with the game and district. The Makua, the indigenous native tribe, are very indifferent hunters. No natives are allowed to have in their possession any kind of firearms so their only weapons are their knives and spears, and these are not responsible for any game larger than gazelles or the smaller types of bok. » The natives depend largely on traps and snares. The former are usually pits dug to a depth of five to 187 seven feet, deftly covered: by twigs and leaves, when ay animal caught therein may be easily speared to eath. The snares are very cunningly laid, and are used largely for the kagga or wild guinea-fowl, of which by this means large numbers are obtained. In the grass runways the snare is set in such a way that the bird can not fail to be caught if it attempts to Pass on. Once or twice a year a hunt is organized in which probably two to three hundred men will take part. Notice is sent to all the surrounding chiefs, who proceed to the place of meeting with picked men, each chief bringing a net five feet high and from eighty to one hundred feet long. A location for the nets having been chosen, these are placed end to end and firmly staked. The best spearmen are then selected and placed at convenient stations along the line and behind the nets. On this particular occasion I, with the com- mandante of the Matadane and one other European, were guests, and we were placed in front of the nets at intervals of about eighty yards apart. Under the direction of a head man the rest of the men had departed to a point some three or four miles away. After a time the sound of the horns and tomtoms commenced, and needless to say the din was enough to drive every living thing out of the bush, but not our way. Lying flat on the ground, we certainly had the pleasure of viewing frightened bunches of game crossing the line of nets diagonally; but as nothing was visible except a moving mass of legs and hoofs it was quite impossible to get in a shot owing to the underbrush. Toward the finish one water-bok did plunge into a net, but not before he had a couple of bullets in him. He was promptly speared. From the direction and formation of the men on their arrival I-decided that either they had lost their sense of direction or else had none, for instead of arriving in crescent formation thay all came in at right angles to the net position, hence all the game was crossing broadside to the nets. JH IPPOPOTAMI were fairly numerous in the district. It was whilst taking the soundings of a river that I saw my first hippopotamus. Floating down the river, blowing water through his nostrils and greatly magnified by the delicate early morning mist of the tropics, his enormous bulk is not easily forgotten. My “boy” Omari shouted, “Bunduki,”’ the Swahili word for gun; but to irritate wild game of such proportions with a .44 Winchester carbine would be asking for trouble where none is intended; for the hippopotamus is not ferocious unless attacked and wounded, when an ordinary rowboat or native dugout canoe is crushed in his powerful jaws like an eggshell. | I was standing on the banks of the Melual River one day talking to a Portuguese corporal when a hippopotamus came up to the surface, directly op- posite us. The corporal had a Krag-Jorgensen rifle and I had my Winchester .44. We both fired. I distinctly saw the effect of my shot, for on impact the bullet, an ordinary leaden one, seemed to go all to pieces, giving out a spray-like effect. The shot by the Portuguese evidently penetrated deeply, but with what result we never knew, for the hippo gradually submerged.. One that was killed by a friend of mine later on had no less than thirteen bullets of various calibers in him. (© MICLOOKS =