Schlagwort-Archiv: hunting

Garut to Cianjur, 15 April 1893

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A mountain range densely covered in alang and close to Garut, about an hour’s drive distant from here, contained numerous wild boars. The regent, a keen friend of the hunt, had arranged a boar hunt in that mountain range, anticipating my intentions. According to the program, there was to be a hunt there.

Thus we drove at the earliest and as fast as possible our four pony team was able to run to the spot where the riding horses were ready to take us to the hunting ground. Here too we found heavily undulating terrain so that once again the coolies had to push the carriage in steep places or brake it in order to ease the burden of drawing the carriage for our bravely galoping small horses. Arriving in a very deep cut valley I noticed with astonishment the presence of many hundreds of people who had all come with kin and children and occupied the surrounding heights in picturesque groups in order to observe the spectacle of a princely hunt.

Everyone was in their Sunday best, the local hat on the head. Clever merchants had created a whole bazaar in which they sold food and drinks to the people. On a ledge of the valley, a bamboo house had been built which was richly decorated with flags in our and the Dutch colors as well as flowers and  garlands. On the dais on the first floor I should take a seat on a fauteuil in green velvet and send my shots at the boars from there as if I was an ancient Roman emperor who had set his mind to hunt in utmost comfort. The impression that this was an imperial hunting ceremony was reinforced my the decoration of the approach road to the house; this road had been most splendidly decorated as a via triumphalis with an honor portal, flag staffs and groups of flowers. In the side rooms of the house, cup-bearers were doing their duty but it was not Falernian wine but sparkling champaign that was flowing in streams. A music band out of our sight played during the hunt and performed our anthem in fortissimo.

The valley and the ledge opposite us had been cleared and surrounded with a thick bamboo fence which led up to the house so that the boar hunt was apparently limited to an arranged killing and thus not a true hunting enterprise but more of a popular feast that amused me greatly by the comic preparations and the pretension of calling this a hunt. Drivers in great numbers led by a native dignitary were waiting on the opposite ledge for the signal to start the hunt and as soon as it was given entered with infernal cries and shouts into the tall grass where they released a pack of about forty hounds of all kinds of breeds. Immediately the spectacle started as the dogs had soon found the boars and barking, were chasing around in the undergrowth. The undergrowth was despite the clearing activities still so thickly filled with tall grass, bamboo trees and ferns that we could see even the strong boars only for a few moments. Every now and then a boar stood its ground and defeated many dogs that returned wailfully to their masters.

The first victim of my rifle was a brash young boar which I discovered on the other ledge and shot like a chamois. Actually the shots were interesting and in no way easy as the game was very flighty and only visible for a few moments on the steep ledge or in the deep valley. The young boars were no larger than hares and offered at a distance of 100 paces opportunities for beautiful shots.

Extremely entertaining were the incredible fear of the drivers and their leaders about the harmless boars. If a boar came close to a hero or, pursued by the dogs, tried to break the line, the drivers and the dignitaries were quickly up on the trees. It was an overwhelmingly comical sight when a dignitary wearing all the glittering insignia of his office was fleeing from a crying young boar and in his already funny uniform climbed up a slim palm tree as fast as a monkey, so that the palm was bending under the unexpected load. If there was no danger, the drivers advanced in true oriental manner without order and plan in the area. The dignitaries followed with swords drawn. The dogs were entertaining themselves in some corner to hunt for young boars and naturally bite them so that many could be bagged only in the pieces that remained.

In total I shot 21 pieces, but among them only one good boar. The boars were of a completely different type than ours; they are smaller, have a completely naked rind and only around the snout it had a kind of whiskers with thick bristles as well as very pronounced cheekbones and a much longer pointed snout. The teeth were fitting to the body size much smaller. The natives distinguish two types: the field and the woodland boar  (Sus verrucosus and Sus vittatus); but I could not see much difference in their main attributes.

A young boar was captured in a large wood pile. We bound the animal’s feet together and sent it in a rucksack directly to the ship in the harbor of Tandjong Priok where it would probably display its special ferocity and would be a hard test for the taming powers of my animal  keeper Biaggio.

The hunt had ended, the people started cheering in an unarticulated way and I left the scene of this funny boar hunt in some sort of ceremonial procession. During the drive back to Garut — the cloudy sky at the beginning of the hunt ha fully cleared —  I enjoyed the splendid sight upon the crater of Papandayan.

In the afternoon we said good-bye to the friendly Garut and drove the same evening to Cianjur where I was very hospitably received in his house by the regent, a kind man who carried the title and name of  Raden Adipatti Prawira dij redja. The palace was festively illuminated. To illuminate the inescapable bamboo sticks were used, grouped in bundles and decorating the triumphal portal and facades to great effect. The hollow bamboo sticks were filled with oil in which a burning wick was swimming. Such a stick will burn for hours.

The regent seems to be a passionate hunter too as he showed his rifles with pride as well as the heads of his bagged deer  (Cervus hippelaphus), of Bantengs, the wild cow of the Indian islands, and of rhinoceroses. As a living piece of booty of a Banteng hunt, there was a tame Banteng bull captured as a small calf and now enjoying his life that seemed to be the special favorite of the regent who personally was feeding it every day.

A second passion of this dignitary is painting. But his success in this pursuit are rather not outstanding and the outcome of his art of such a quality that even a jury of the Salon des refuses in Cianjur would have to shake their heads. Nevertheless the noble born master from Cianjur has sent some of his works to the exhibition in Chicago.

The world exhibition at Lake Michigan seems to have gone to the head of this brave Javanese. Everywhere it was said that he had sent this or that to the distant America. Mr. Kerkhoven has even sent a whole Javanese village there in which gracious Javanese girls will sell tea from their master’s plantation.

To the black coffee after the dinner appeared a whole flock of dancers, one uglier than the other, all fervently masticating betel and making us so tired by their boring rhythmical dance that I quickly went to our bed.

Links

  • Location: Cianjur, Indonesia
  • ANNO – on 15.04.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Der Hüttenbesitzer“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing the opera „Merlin“.

Batavia, 11 April 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

After 6 o’clock in the morning I had myself woken up and immediately went to the bridge as we were expected to land in Batavia in half an hour. The sky was very cloudy and the temperature on deck very agreeable. As earlier I was here too pleased to be disappointed that my fear of having to endure much heat in the tropical but especially in the equatorial regions did not manifest itself. After all, it was quite tolerable, except for the lead chambers, that is the cabins, where the temperature namely during the night were almost unbearable.

The first we saw of Java were the two extinct volcanoes Salak (2215 m) and Gede (2962 m) that are located just above Batavia or, better said, south from a spot above Buitenzorg. More and more one could distinguish the green coast and the beautiful harbor Tandjong Priok where the masts of many ships became visible. The pilot came on board and guided us into the inner harbor. At that moment the merchant ships anchored there hoisted their grand flag dressing.

Having anchored we offered the territorial salute which was answered by  a land battery. Close to us lay three Dutch warships, that is the habor guard ship „Gede“, the cruiser „Aceh“ and the armor deck corvette „Sumatra“, all officers and the crews stood on deck to watch our arrival and out of many gunports, female heads were peeking, armed with glasses and opera glasses.

First arrived our consul Dirk Fock on board and soon thereafter, sent by the governor general, lieutenant colonel Nepveu to welcome me and present the program for the stay in Java.  The discussion of that program presented the range of sights of this beautiful island and the large number of excursions one can undertake there.  As my voyage around the world had so many other locations to cover, I was forced to constrain my program in Java for the short duration  of 14 days. After long negotiations we succeeded to determine what could be managed to see during such a time span which repeatedly meant to rank the most interesting spots behind the spots most worth seeing and at the same time easily accessible.

Now it was important to be ready within an hour, having packed all baggage and given all orders as the special train to Batavia was set to depart already at 10 o’clock in the morning. Strangely, this was achieved. At a quarter to 10 o’clock we steamed to the railway station Priok where a large crowd had gathered, mostly Chinese and Malays, as well as a few Europeans. A police guard whose duty it was to guard Batavia and its surroundings lined the road.  It was a really comical company, mostly elderly Malays wearing some sort of circus uniform and a head cloth and were armed with hacking knives and lances. As a form of salute the held the lances high in front of the face and made hideous faces.

The Javanese railways fortunately have open view carriages; in one such carriage we sat down and arrived in Batavia half an hour later after a drive through a friendly land, past many canals. At the station we were received by the governor general of Dutch East India, Dr. C. Pynacker Hordijk, as well as the resident of Batavia province, Jonkheer van Schmidt auf Altenstadt, and the gentlemen assigned to me, artillery colonel De Moulin and captain Fabius.

For the drive into the city I used the four horse team of the governor in which I sat down beside him. The driver of this strange carriage, a coffee-brown Malay was wearing a white-red uniform with golden laces. The headdress of the driver made him look quite funny as he wore a very large lacquered top-hat under whose brim the stiff tails of the cloth wrapped around the head in the local manner loosely peeked out. Behind us stood two servants in a similar uniform on the rear foot board, holding a golden sunscreen on a long staff over our heads.

While my first impression of Batavia was very pleasing as we were driving in the middle of gardens and palm groves where almost everywhere there were clean settlements inhabited by Malays, I liked the city even more. Seen from the station, there were nice single story buildings enclosed by gardens on the right and left of the road. These houses are inhabited by Europeans and are built airily in conformity to the climate and had a cosy character.

Our arrival was attended by a large crow of Chinese, Malays, Javanese and Europeans in front of the houses and in the street. Colorfully intermingled they vividly showed their interest in u. I had for the first time the opportunity to see the airy outfit used, it is said, by the European women here in the whole of Java. As a dress they use the Sarong, a large piece of cloth, tied picturesquely around the waist that falls down like a gown, The upper body is veiled in a cut linen jacket. This very simple outfit fits the temperature and climatic conditions well. Especially the younger wearer of this dress look great in it and all female members of the European families use it and also the upper class society is wearing it during the day until the hour when the dress is changed for dinner. Until the 12th and 13th year, the girls make do with a baby-like camisole. As the body of a child develops faster in a tropical climate than in countries with a temperate climate, the new arrival is faced with the strange view of girls in this dress who seem to look almost like adults.

In front of the house which the government had rented for my accommodation there was a large triumphal arch made out of bamboo and blooming palm branches, decorated in our colors and those of the Dutch tricolore.

The one story house, as almost all buildings on Java as this island is prone to earthquakes, lies in a small garden on one of the most active roads in Batavia. Noisy and grinding the steam tramway rushes past from the morning to the evening, on the canal nearby small bamboo rafts are rocking melancholically. The interior of the house is also influenced by the Javanese style. Behind the large covered veranda is an extended room which serves both as a dining room and parlor and contains the entrances to the different individual chambers. The windows and doors seem not to be ever closed even during the night. Instead there are folding screens. The rooms are all high and airy. The floors are covered with straw mats, the canopy beds that provide rest are spacious, long and wide but are so hard that they recall the beds in our mountain huts. Apparently, the experience with the local hygiene forces the Dutch for whom in general nothing tops domestic comfort to spend the night only on hard beds.

The sky was cloudy, the temperature was muggy even tropical. An hour after our arrival, a storm started with a flood like rain, though without cooling the air. It only increased the air’s humidity so that the disagreeableness of humid heat was experienced even more.

We discussed the program for the next days with the resident as well as the two gentlemen assigned to me and ate breakfast which was conspicuous for its long duration. Even though we were served by no fewer than 16 old Malayan servants who were decorated with the local long-eared head cloths, the dinner seemed to go on without an end due to the slowness of the service.

Then  appeared Mr. E. J. Kerkhoven, the owner of large tee plantations in Singapore in the residence of Preang and an excellent hunter about whom I had already been informed at home and with whom we would undertake a hunting expedition of multiple days into the interior of Java.But at the start of our conversation with Mr. Kerkhoven it seemed as we had to cut this plan from our program as Mr. Kerkhoven, despite being a passionate hunter, and the governor general highlighted the difficulties of such an expedition and offered many reasons against it: bad communication. important physical exertions, cholera, malaria as well as other endemic mountain diseases etc. Our desire to visit the hunting grounds rich in game of Preang was clashing with the program that the governor general had planned for me in advance. I could not fully trace the different causes in favor and against which were mentioned during the discussion but it was nevertheless clear that each of the gentlemen had a different motive to paint the risks of this hunting expedition in the blackest of colors.

Finally I succeeded to allay all concerns, assisted by the clever and effective secretary general Sweerts de Landas, after I managed to particularly explain to the gentlemen that I was willing to abstain from all comfort in matters of hunting. Thus, an expedition of ten days to the southern parts of Preang was finally agreed upon. So Mr. Kerkhoven asked for a delay of five days to make all necessary arrangement, appoint hunters and carriers etc. This delay was granted and it was decided to use the time to visit Buitenzorg and other interesting spots in Java.

But I could already on this day pay homage to the joy of hunting  as the kind resident of Batavia had organized a crocodile hunt for the afternoon to which we started out as soon as the rain had mostly stopped. In the suburb of Weltevreden we crossed a long road which is inhabited only by Chinese. Here too in Batavia the „Yellow Flood“ is very noticeable. Among the 114.864 inhabitants are 27.279 Chinese.  Fixated on earning money like almost no other people and equipped with a subtle merchant spirit and a surprising frugality, these true Mongols have established a foothold not only in Batavia but in all other trading places on Java so that among a total population of 22,754.749 souls on Java — except for the army and the crews of the fleet — besides 46.631 Europeans, 13.995 Arabs, 2843 other Orientals and 22,449.553 natives 241.727 Chinese were counted.

The mistrustful and deceitful character of the Chinese,  their pure egoistical nature and their other traits make me abhor this even physically unsympathetic people even though I can not deny that they have their positive sides. Incredibly active and inventive in commercial affairs, very skilful in technical competences,  intelligent farmers and gardeners and where the primary extraction demands it and where it is advantageous to not shy away from heavy labor, the Chinese strive primarily to profit by any means from the competition in the exchange of goods and in financial business. Most are merchants and traders, partly as peddlers (Klontongs), shopkeepers, agents, partly as commission agents, retail merchants, government lessees, money racketeers, bankers. The remaining Chinese sustain themselves as handymen, domestic servants, clerks, coachmen, cooks until they too can, starting small first with goods bought on credit, become merchants as well and exploit their mercantile skills.

Scorned in the country and seen as enemies, as the persecutions in the prior centuries demonstrated — on a single day, 9th October 1740,  under the government of the governor general Valkenier, the agitated population had butchered over 10.000 Chinese — the Chinese have managed nevertheless in their strange tenacity to  hold their ground on Java and expand once more. The government shows them no favor but hits them with a special contribution, the queue tax, Bea Kondeh, forces them to live in segregated city districts and uses other rulings to restrict the fast growth of the Chinese on Java. Still and in spite of all this, the sons of the Heavenly Kingdom are partly as immigrants partly as natives – the latter are called Feranakan Chinese — have developed roots especially in the north of the island and even in the interior of the country.

Continuing on through the small alley we finally stood in front of the Kasteel (Fort), which today, preserved by the government in its old form, only is of historical value. It has been built by the East India company at the start of the 17th century and later been equipped with bastions, outworks, earth walls and fortification ditches that now have been levelled or filled in.

An important protection of the Kasteel during the time when it had been the citadel of Batavia was formed by the canals of the fortification system. As the Dutch had,  following the example of their homeland, in Batavia which is cut in two by the river Tji Liwung (Liwoeng) arranged a system of water canals partly to drain the city of water, partly to set up a dense network of shipping paths. Thus Batavia offers with its navigable canals and ditches, its shore constructions and the vessels which swim in the canals lined by tree alleys a view of a city where water canals are of great importance.

On one of the canals that led from the fort to the sea was a small flotilla of boats ready to take us, drawn by a steam barge, to the crocodile hunt. We sat down in the vehicle which was beautifully decorated with flowers and flags. The barge which was directed by a high government official in person started moving and we glided forward on the canal, swinging agreeably, refreshed by a glass of cooled champaign served by an uniformed servant and animated by the sights of the shore landscape that we were passing by.

A colorful packed crowd on both shores watched our journey with curiosity. Still appeared small settlements, now and then a Malay village, then fields of arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea), which provides the known nutritive flour, became visible. Swimming between these fields and low bushes we finally stopped at the mouth of a small natural side ditch which led into the midst of Tamarind and myrtle bushes and was in some way grown together with the jungle.

It looked to me as if there had been too much preparation to ease hunting crocodiles in this ditch. The bushes had been cut back, so that it did not limit our sight. Alongside the canal, barricades had been built in order to prevent crocodiles from escaping and upstream and downstream guards had been posted.

Right at the arrival at the canal I had noticed tiny points emerging out of the water, the eyes and nose ridges of some crocodiles but they quickly submerged and only some time later an especially strong specimen appeared again. I bagged the animal with a head shot. During its final convulsions it kicked out violently, sending water and dirt widely into the air until it finally turned a wheel for some minutes only to sink down dead. Now the native hunters threw a rope around its neck and drew it on land.

Then I marched up and down along the shore and soon discovered a second crocodile which had buried itself so deeply into the soft mud after my first shot had frightened it that I could only notice how the earth was moving alternating up and down. I fired by chance at the spot where I thought the animal’s head and soon a blood trail as well as the kicking around of the jagged tail in the mud showed that I had hit the crocodile. Then everything was quiet as the reptiles refrained from appearing again. They had hidden themselves under water in the deep mud and only after many people started hitting the water with long bamboo staffs and pierced the mud at the bottom of the canal, life returned to the canal.  The crocodiles were very much resented these operations and attacked the staffs snatching and biting. As soon as a head became visible I fired on the eyes and the cervical vertebra, the only vulnerable places of a crocodile, and thus managed to bag another six strong specimens, so that my total number came to eight crocodiles, each of which was longer than 2 m.

The coloring of the individual specimens was very different. It varied between black or greenish-gray and a clear yellow with black edges. What a thick and impenetrable skin and what hard skull a crocodile possesses, I could observe on a specimen that appeared at a distance of about 25 paces, while only its head was visible. I fired with my Express rifle, caliber 500, three times one shot after another upon the skull of the animal between the eyes. After each shot the crocodile dove without displaying any kind of wound, only to reappear on the surface again. The fourth shot finally hit close above the eye which made the animal turn and killed it.

After the animal had been drawn on land, I found upon close examination that the three bullets had not pierced but had bounced off the skull between the eyes like from armored plate without leaving more than a barely noticeable spot where I had hit it.

The killed crocodiles were stored in a boat that was towed by our flotilla and now we returned on the same path which we had used before driving through in the midst of the now brightly illuminated and therefore very picturesque Chinese quarter. Returned home we had to change clothes for the dinner at the governor general’s.

The governor general Dr. C. Pynacker Hordijk, whose residence is in Buitenzorg, owns in Batavia, the seat of the government, a beautiful one story palace, in which he and his wife were expecting me. In the large dining room decorated with coats of arms and the emblems of the homeland, there was unfortunately a muggy heat during the dinner that followed. I sat between the lady of the house and vice admiral Jonkheer J. A. Roell. This charming person told me all kinds of interesting things about the martial expedition of 1873 of the Dutch against the resisting and still independent kingdom of Aceh on Sumatra. At the dinner during which a military band was playing its melodies were also the commander of the Dutch East Indian army, lieutenant general A. R.W. Gey van Pittius, the secretary general Sweerts de Landas and other dignitaries among them many members of the council of India (Raad van Indie).

The dinner which was notable for its absence of toasting and circles was soon declared to be ended and so I could discuss the continuation of our voyage with the ship captain in my apartment.

Links

  • Location: Jakarta, Indonesia
  • ANNO – on 11.04.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. Neue Freie Presse reports that FF bagged 15 tigers and 7 panthers in India.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Goldfische“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing the opera „Die Rantzau“.
Franz Ferdinands Jagderfolge in Indien, Die Presse 11.4.1893

Franz Ferdinand bagged 15 tigers and 7 panthers in India, Die Presse 11.4.1893

Johor to Singapore, 7 April 1893

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For today it was planned to visit Johor, the capital and residence of the sultanate Johor founded in 1859 by sultan Abu Bekr. In the sultan’s absence the heir apparent had invited me to enter the interesting kingdom of the sovereign Malay sultanate of Johor and after seeing the sights to hunt close to the city in the afternoon.

Accompanied by the Belgian consul general, my entourage and several gentlemen from the staff of „Elisabeth“ we set out of Singapore early in the morning in carriages. As the heat was not yet suffocating, the drive was very pleasant. On an excellent road we crossed the whole island of Singapore, first alongside the numerous parks of the city of villas and then through jungles and primal forests.

Astonished and captivated, our eyes were locked to the marvels which nature produced in its blooming children. While I might call the prevalence of palm and banian trees as characteristic for Ceylon, here there was a colorful changing variety of views. Bamboos, mango and durian trees line the road; behind them stand coffee and pepper trees. Then follows jungle out of whose impenetrable thickets sago and areka palm trees were rising as well as tree ferns. Numerous small Malay and Chinese settlements add lively colors to the rich green of the landscape.

The drive took around two hours to finally arrive at the end of the island and we could see the city of Johor in front of us, only separated by the small water road of Salat Tabras. The first sight of Johor is very charming. Out of a deep-blue sea rise green hills, on the left criss-crossed by the stream Sungei Tschat and ornamented like a park and crowned with bungalows. In the middle was Istana Laut, the sultan’s palace; on the right government buildings and the former seraglio of the sultan. On the left the small blooming city with its light red brick roofs. In between copses of trees an green meadows. Truly, if we didn’t know that a sea strait was in front of us, one might think of being at the friendly shore of an interior lake.

On the landing pier on the other shore we were received by two nephews of the sultan and I was escorted on a lovely barge to Johor’s shore where the first minister as well as all dignitaries and Europeans present were assembled. A pretty steam yacht of the sultan was anchored there. On foot we went to the palace where the heir apparent, a tall 18-year-old young man with a very sympathetic mien as well as a younger brother of the sultan received us. The palace is a long two story building whose exterior is without ornamentation while the interior has been decorated more tastefully and comfortably than the palace in Singapore. There is no shortage of guest rooms as the sultan is extremely hospitable  and every European who arrives in Singapore, especially if he is a naval officer, is highly welcome to visit him.

In a vestibule of the Istana, tea was served and the program of the day discussed. The key persons apparently were not completely in agreement about it. At the court of the sultan, multiple Europeans who had had a very lively past and must not have lived in peace with their neighbors but had explored their differences and pursued their own interests tried to gain a decisive influence upon the sultan. Among them lives a Swiss who has now a coffee plantation of the sultan’s and served as an organizer and interpreter during our stay. Besides other British persons, there was a Scot who had come to Johor as an engineer and now possessed a large steam saw.

The heir apparent seems to be under the influence of these strangers even though he otherwise exhibited a decisive character. He has been in that rank for only a short time as the sultan had earlier designated another of his relatives who was being educated in England as his heir but had declared this for void without much circumstance when the relative did not develop according to the sultan’s wishes and named him chief of police while the current heir was designated to be the successor to the kingdom of Johor.

After the conclusion of the discussion about the day’s activities a drive in a steam boat was undertaken and namely in the estuary which separates Singapore from the mainland. Firstly the ship drove alongside a small city, then past many plantations and finally we steered in between the jungle that reaches on both sides to the shore and forms a lovely frame for the sea strait.

Then followed a rich breakfast during which I had the opportunity to admire the golden table fittings and the golden tableware — opulently equipped luxuries of the goldsmith’s art which the sultan had had made in England. The household of Johor is generally equipped with the greatest luxury what, it is said, has led to an overburdening of the civil list of this ruler in combination with the other very expensive habits of sultan Abu Bekr. In a clever calculation of its own advantage, England knows, it is claimed, to keep its ward out of financial misery time and again.

The sultanate of Johor contains 24.850 km2 with around 300.000 inhabitants, among them 210.000 Chinese, and is thanks to the English participation very well administered.  The main sources of income of the government are from the importation of opium and alcoholic beverages as well as the export duties upon gambir, pepper and other agricultural products which by the way is the only tax the inhabitants of Joho have to contribute to.

The interior of Johor is covered with thick tropical jungle whether it is swampland or hilly terrain or mountain. Due to the influence of the nearly daily rain, the strong dew and the great humidity, one can find here a rich evergreen vegetation.

Palms such as the sugar rich Cabong palm, the coconut, the Sagound, the Areka palm trees and the gutta percha trees (Isonandra gutta), camphor trees (Camphora officinalis) and excellent wood for construction providing large tree trunks of the virgin forest are characteristic for the forest zone. Bushes that supply resin, oil and poison constitute the undergrowth of the jungles. The cultivated land is used especially for the production of rice, maize, namely however for pepper and catechin, the extract from the branches of the gambir bush (Uncaria Gambir), a Rubiacee, that contained a tanning agent.

The intense cultivation of pepper and catechin-gamber which is by preference done in the North-western province of Muar almost completely by Chinese is expressed in Johor’s exports as the two named products are the most important export goods. Imported is mainly rice, the main staple of the population.

Up to now only a few parcels have been converted to cultivation. The forests are in many places not and in the others only irrationally exploited, with the result that Johor’s jungles still contain many apes of the Gibbon family (Hylobates), then Semnopithecus obscurus etc., and also scattered elephants, rhinos, tapirs, bisons (Gaur), bears and even Malaysian tigers, as well as sambar deer and the small Kijangs (Cervus muntjac), then crocodiles, snakes and finally many birds.

The mineral wealth of Johor are still not explored with the exception of tin of which the whole Malaysian peninsula is especially rich as well as gold. The latter one is especially found around Ophir (Gunong Ledang), the tallest mountain in the territory of Johor, whose sharply rising peak we had already seen from the sea on April 5th.

All in all the sultanate of Johor which had entered into history as one of the tributary states of the once so mighty sultanate of Malacca but then had fought and achieved its independence and managed to keep its sovereignty to the present day, offered a very favorable terrain for the tasks of modern cultivation. Under Abu Bekr administration, culture and trade of Johor had made decisive progress on the way which alone can provide this small but richly furnished and favorably located country with enduring prosperity.

A deer and boar hunt was planned and thus we drove, having enjoyed the culinary fruits of Johor, on an excellent road inland across a very pretty landscape with numerous nice Malay settlements in whose small gardens the purging croton (Croton tiglium) formed the main ornament. We drove comfortably and rapidly. The carriages and the horse teams especially were excellent as the horse loving sultan had imported among others also a pair of outstanding horses from our country. We stopped at a police station, where the hunting party was expecting us led by the brother of the sultan, a very well nourished gentleman, as well as the deposed heir to the throne — two reportedly proficient hunters.

After a long discussion it was decided that we should take up position in an extended line while the drivers already in position would march through the jungle towards us with their dogs. Behind us they had formed some kind of net made out of bast slings which was intended to catch any escaping, wounded or missed game. Thus we stood in intervals of 50 paces each in the middle of tall grass and thick ferns with little open ground and were waiting for action. Hour upon hour passed and nothing appeared beyond a huge pouring rain that came down upon us with flash and thunder and restricted our view to a few paces and soaked our clothes within minutes.

The current and the former heirs as well as the sultan’s brother stood behind me soaking wet and finally declared that probably no game would come close to us now and thus it was better to return home. I quickly concurred and we were soon back at the police station where the organizers apologized for the failure and explained that they did not have sufficient time for the preparation for a more successful hunt. Despite our message that my arrival was imminent in Singapore and Johor five weeks ago, the Belgian consul general is said to have informed the court of Johor only recently about my visit, possibly because he had been constrained by having to represent four governments at the same time. The consul general also had not participated in the hunt but had asked me to use the time for a visit to the state prison, so that he failed to get his share of the downpour.

During the return drive I enjoyed the company of the heir apparent who told with delight about his time in Vienna which he had visited a short time ago as well about Frankfurt am Main where he had stayed for half a year. The sultan is very keen on Western culture and tends to send his relatives to Europe to obtain an education.

The gala dinner in the palace was attended by us, the prince, a large number of dignitaries and the prince of Pahang deposed by the English. This formerly independent prince of a kingdom of 25.900 km2 at the northern border of Johor had been simply dispossessed by the English because of alleged riots in his country and angry and sulking, he had retired to Johor where a marriage between his daughter and our host was to take place on the particular wish of the sultan of Johor; but the prince does not seem to agree to this plan and seemed for the present to be reluctant to agree. At the dinner I sat beside the prime minister, a friendly and knowledgeable old fellow with whom I had a good conversation thanks to the interpreter. He knew much about our country and about all our officers on the mission ships of our navy which had been guests here. In the absence of the ruler he is in charge of the government and is said to be a competent and active man.

The golden fittings which decorated the table were, if that was even possible, even more valuable and more splendid than those I had admired in the morning.. A rather good private orchestra of the sultan provided the musical entertainment and just after the dinner accompanied the Malaysian dances in which boys in girls‘ dresses were turning around in a circle as the female sex was excluded from public dances according to the ruling customs here. The spectacle was by the way rather without interest even though the poor boys gave their best.

After I had taken a heartfelt leave from the prince and the gentlemen in Johor, I visited also a Chinese gambling den which had been formerly established in Singapore and now was suffered here more than licensed to set up shop here. The Chinese enjoy gambling with a true passion, sacrificing the fruits of hard work and move on all holidays in whole caravans from Singapore to the gambling den in Johor. The gambling hall is rather cleanly equipped. At its side is a restaurant and an opium den. The game is a simple game of chance as one wagers upon four numbers and decides the game by a throw of a die.

As a dedicated enemy of games of chance who by the way neither finds entertainment nor interest in it, I received in this gambling den a truly vile impression. Nevertheless we tried our luck and returned in a splendid, mild tropical night on the same way we had come in the morning, minus the loss of a few dollars, on board of „Elisabeth“ where we arrived late in the evening.

Links

  • Location: Singapore
  • ANNO – on 07.04.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing a comedy „Verbot und Befehl“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing Richard Wagner’s opera „Die Walküre“.

Bhanderia to Sohela, 26 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Today it was time to say good-bye to beautiful Nepal; saying good-bye to the Nepalese natives, namely the hunting masters and shikaris, those splendid fellows who gained our highest esteem during our all too short stay; saying good-bye to our brave Hathis that had carried us faithfully and diligently for three weeks on many difficult marches and hunts.

Filled with the most beautiful memories of this successful and extremely interesting hunting journey, of strange events and of a fancy-free life in tents in the natural jungle we left Nepal. As if heaven wanted to make our departure very painful, the day was gorgeous and cloudless. The blue mountains and the glacier peaks gave a parting salute to us. The green jungle with its mighty shala trees lay very invitingly in front of us, so that we started to another tiger hunt.

Almost everyone of the brave Nepalese came to express his regrets of our departure. The uncle and nephew of the maharaja had turned out in full dress for their final attendance call. The former wore a colonel’s uniform, the latter one of a captain in the Nepalese guard. The uniform consisted of a darkblue, enlaced coat and similarly decorated pants made out of a thick barracan cloth. The headdress was formed solely out of a gold circlet with a golden cockade which was ornamented more or less richly with gemstones to distinguish the different ranks. I presented the two gentlemen with my photograph and also a large gilded hunting knife, truly monstrous weapons, which caused quite a bit of pleasure for the brave gentlemen. They placed the weapons immediately on their uniforms and had their picture taken in this outfit.

Then it was the turn of the lower civil servants, the mahauts, the soldiers of the escort, with one word, everyone of this small people, in whose land we had spent three weeks in the most agreeable manner, came to pay their respect and to perform their selam, after which the people were paid. It was a pretty picture to see them march past, the mahauts on their elephants in front.  receiving pay and tips and expressing their thanks. A comical appearance made our native post master who, having just received his pay, asked for a certificate that confirmed the honest means of getting into possession of this sum.

The others all asked for written references confirming „good behavior“, a request whose granting kept us at work all morning as the writing, signing and sealing of the letters went on without end.  The people expressed real joy about the red-white of the stamp of my chamber administration as these were also the national colors of Nepal.

Finally the camp was dismantled and everything packaged. On our elephant, we waved to all our friends a final salute of good-bye; then the caravan started moving to cross the border and advance south towards Sohela, the next camp location. We had intended to hunt during the march on Indian territory up to Sohela as there were, just as in Nepal, favorable jungles but the Nepalese, uncle and nephew of the maharaja, would not move into Anglo-Indian territory for any reason.

Even though this interfered with my hunting plans, I could not feel bad about the Nepalese strict refusal to break their complete isolation of their country from the Anglo-Indian territory. The constant concern of an annexation of their country by England seemed to be all too real, given the experience of the neighboring formerly independent princes, and the systematic limitation of traffic between Nepal and India seemed to be the only policy to preserve, at least for the present, Nepal’s independence.

The friendly relations, however, which we had with the Nepalese, perhaps intensified by the personal presents of the hunting knives made the representatives of the maharaja willing to offer special concessions. They were as follows: The Nepalese agreed to supply one hundred elephants under the command of a native captain especially for the purpose of our planned hunt on Anglo-Indian territory. But this was linked to the condition that these people were to return on the same evening with their elephants back to Nepalese territory.

On Indian ground we were received by an English official and  a chief forester who is in charge of around 115.000 hectares of the most beautiful teak and shala woods, a most precious stock. These forests were operated by some sort of selection cutting, i.e. the demand for wood for the government is met by cutting the most beautiful trunks in a forest area without there being a cultivation in our manner. The rejuvenation  takes place by spreading seeds. The new growth is left to nature.

In view of this mode of forestry, the task of the chief forester is mostly  limited to the construction of roads to transport the wood out of the forest, to the cutting of wooden ties for the local railway currently under construction in the district and protection of the forest. Given these elements of his duties, the chief forester does everything he can to prevent forest fires. He even asked us vividly during the hunt to refrain from smoking — a policy limitation that was in sharp contrast to the surrounding free nature.

We moved first along a recently constructed road through the forest, then turned south and formed a line for a hunt. Then we crossed a grass jungle that was very rich in furred game and water fowl so that we shot muntjacs, black boars and swamp deer, but the game was relatively timid and many a bullet missed its target in the grass. Then the chief forester proposed to go to an especially fine jungle, namely a wood surrounded by a stream at whose shore tall reeds were growing . But the brave man erred in regard to the quantity of game in this part of his district. The elephants only managed to advance at great difficulty as it was necessary to incessantly cross swampy spots and fallen trees. With the exception of metal storks and cormorants, we found no game here.

Finally we asked the head hunting master to cease further hunts in this terrain. He then lead us into a water jungle in which our elephants were nearly forced to swim and where only frightened water rails took flight.  It looked like the head hunting master did not know his assigned district very well and only special hunter’s luck led us by accident to an especially suitable hunting ground where we not only immediately discovered game but also namely peacocks.

Suddenly I heard a peacock cry loudly to the left of me and saw a whole flock take flight, a certain sign that a larger predator was in the jungle. Truly, the welcome cry of „Bagh! Bagh!“ soon rang out and by instinct all elephants rushed concentrically towards the spot where the cry was uttered. The circle was quickly formed, two shikaris rode for a long time within it. Finally the grass started moving, the elephants trumpeted — but instead of a tiger it was a very strong male boar that moved towards me. I shot it and ask myself if the drivers had shouted „Bagh“ just for fun? Given the great experience of the Nepalese this did not seem plausible but must have been true as there was no more movement within the circle and all mahauts rode up with their elephants to have a look at the boar.

Then a panther jumped between two elephants. The panther had been hiding motionless in the grass, escaped through the line in the confusion caused by the unexpected appearance and fled into the neighboring jungle without any possibility of firing a shot. Now it was the turn of the brave Nepalese again to display their skill. In no time we had encircled the panther again and I fired when I could see its skin through a small opening. The panther was wounded, fled into the grass and was just starting to jump at my elephant when the resident standing next to me killed it with a shot. The panther was small so that the large caliber bullet of the resident smashed in the whole head while my bullet sat between the breast and the neck.

Even though there were still some very inviting jungles close by, the Nepalese asked to return home with the majority of their elephants in order to reach the Nepalese territory before the sunset. We could not deny their request and thus we rode on riding elephants to the camp at  Sohela, at a distance of 16 km from the camp at Bhanderia, while the Nepalese marched north in long lines. How much we would have wanted to follow our hunting companions north!

The camp was close to the railway line under construction that was intended to lead from Mailani, a station of the Rohilkund Kumaon Railway, north over the Sarda river to close to the Nepalese border. The construction of this branch railway line serves mostly to develop the boundless woods close to the border which constitute an important but currently non-productive capital stock.

The last evening in the tent camp we devoted to the compiled listing of the hunting results  of our Nepalese expedition. It refreshed such rich memories of those felicitous and happy days!

Links

  • Location: Sohela, India
  • ANNO – on 26.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is closed until 2nd April, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing the ballet „Excelsior“.

Bhanderia, 25 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Unfortunately this was the last hunting day in Nepal!

The brave natives did their utmost to get me a tiger for the farewell. In multiple locations of the jungle bulls were bound in place and in the morning there was truly a report that in two locations there had been kills. While the camp at Katni was being dismantled in order to transfer it to Bhanderia, 10 km distant, we rushed to the first location of a kill which was just in the place where I had shot the panther the day before. According to the shikaris the confirmed tiger was the one that had killed an animal the day before and dragged it for 400 paces. This seemed to be an experienced tiger that had probably survived a hunt because, when we arrived on the spot, the shikaris reported that they had seen the tiger but failed to encircle it. Probably the tiger had escaped — that they wouldn’t admit — in a very skilful way.

As we had to look for the tiger in the direction that fled, a line was formed and a beautiful forest crossed. It was evident to order not to fire on any other animals. By chance, as always happens in such cases, we discovered a large number of the most interesting game and within close shooting distance: capital chitals, muntjacs, even timid swamp deer dared to approach close to our elephants. After a long search, the shikaris gave up their hope of finding a tiger.

Breakfast was intended to sweeten the necessary consultation. I was already on the verge of enjoying myself. But no breakfast was prepared as the people in charge of it got lost with their elephants in the jungle; after barely half an hour, the carriers of supplies arrived attracted to the correct location by the hungry and thirsty cries of our English companions, so that we could breakfast for an hour.

In the mean time the shikaris advanced with the hunting elephants to track another tiger. We followed on riding elephants, passed by the empty camping location of Katni and finally found the shikaris at the shore of a river in a high reed jungle where they had encircled not a tiger but instead a panther. We had just climbed into our haudas, when the reed moved and the panther escaped out of the ring in full flight through a spot loosely guarded by elephants, without a possibility of firing a shot in the reed.

But this didn’t perturbate the shikaris used to such events — a few commands shouted out, the circle opened, the wings spread out anew and after about 200 paces closed again, so that only a few minutes later the panther was encircled again. It tried to escape again but was stopped by a dense phalanx of elephants and fled in the opposite direction only to be shot by me.  This panther was even stronger than the one from the day before.

On the way back from hunting the panther through a thick forest, consul general Stockinger suffered a slight mishap, as he was struck so hard on the head by a falling branch that one could see the  hit’s bloodshot marks on the forehead.

In the bright moonlight we occupied the new camp at Bhanderia south of Katni.

Links

  • Location: Bhanderia, Nepal
  • ANNO – on 25.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Rosenkranz und Güldenstern“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing once again „Die Rantzau“.

Katni, 24 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

The natives were expecting a tiger with full certainty as they had bound many bulls at a very suitable spot. When it was reported at 9 o’clock that a tiger had killed, the hauda an hunting elephants soon departed. We followed an hour later. Despite the head start, we soon caught up with the mahauts who did not seemed pressed for time as we found them and their elephants bathing in the river. Now it was time to wait until a number of elephants were sent out into the jungle in which they hoped to confirm the tiger.

Strangely, the people dislike being observed in the activity of confirming and encircling. We were thus waiting for some time in the shadow of tall shala trees until finally the head shikari signalled us to move. After only a few hundred steps we met a number of mahauts who stood around helplessly and told us that they were looking for the tiger but could not find it near the killed animal. Still during this explanation, we heard someone shout „bagh, bagh“ in the vicinity and suddenly the whole forest was alive. Out of all directions elephants approached with their guides who had been on the lookout. We too rushed as fast as our elephants were able to the spot where the shout of „bagh“ had rung out, while the drivers tried eagerly to form the seeming disorder into a circle.

My elephant advanced in giant steps across the thick tree jungle. I was fully occupied with protecting myself against the many branches hitting the hauda when I heard great cries on the left and just thereafter I could see in the distance a chital and almost in its footsteps, a strong panther cross in full flight. Its size made me first assume the panther to be a tiger and fired, despite the great distance, after having found the time to shout „Rok!“ to my mahaut. I believed to have missed as the panther continued to flee without being touched. Fortunately it ran in time against the just forming circle where the shouts of the elephant drivers made it reverse direction.

The panther soon emerged from under a tree where it had hidden in a cat like manner and advanced towards me. When I fired at the most suitable moment to fire two shots, my rifle didn’t go off as my hunter had in the heat of the moment forgotten to reload after I had earlier fired twice on the panther. I quickly forgot my anger about this incident as the panther turned again and passed me for the second time in flight where I shot it. The natives justly wait for some time after the kill of a big predator before they approach it. The wounded panther too rose again even though he had seemed dead, roared again when we came close so that I had to kill it with another shot.

The death of this panther made the people very happy as they claimed that this remarkably big male had caused much damage to the neighboring herds and had been known as a terrible enemy. The panther had an especially beautiful golden yellow spotted skin and seemed really to have been an old, very quarrelsome fellow as its whole body was covered in bite marks and the right fang had been shot away probably by a native with a shotgun as only the root of the teeth remained. Under the skin were numerous broken porcupine pricks.  Porcupines are said to be the panther’s favorite food, but it is obtained not without a fight as the proofs from this bagged animal showed.

The shikaris wanted to attempt another sweep to find the tiger as they claimed that the panther could not have killed the animal in the morning. A tiger must have done it as the bull had been dragged for 400 paces which a panther is not able to do. The line was formed and a forest jungle crossed. Some streams as well as various rather bad crossings were forded, no sight of a tiger, however.

Thus a general shooting was commanded. Directed by the resident we turned straight south, crossed a river and even the border, hunted for a while in British India and returned with a turn back into Nepalese territory. We did not meet new species but bagged numerous wild boars and peacocks as well as all kinds of huntable animals. We also killed multiple specimens of the beautiful small Indian civet.

At a distance of 8 km from the camp after sunset the line was dissolved and a very funny race of all 150 elephants to the camp was arranged by the natives. The animals moved at an astonishing speed, driven most fervently by their mahauts. We amused ourselves splendidly in this strange race despite our being mercilessly flung around in our haudas. I was quite proud that my big elephant was one of the first to reach the goal. He had, though, two native jockeys who, one on the right, the other on the left, continuously beat the thick skin of the elephant with a wooden cudgel to incite the elephant to run at top speed.

Returning to the camp we learned that during our absence a funeral had taken place in which the body of a coolie who had died the day before was burned.

Links

  • Location: Katni, Nepal
  • ANNO – on 24.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. Archduke Karl Ludwig was presented the concept of „Old Vienna“ for the world exhibition in Chicago by the exhibition committee. He in turn has promised that Franz Ferdinand would pay a visit during his stay in Chicago.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Faust“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing the ballet „Ein Tanzmärchen“.

Katni, 23 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Attentively we were expecting the reports which arrived only towards 9 o’clock in the morning with the good news that a tiger had been confirmed. Close to the spot where I had killed a tiger on 20th March we encountered the circle already completely formed in a grass jungle surrounded by tall trees. Hodek, who had asked for permission to ride  with the advance party of the shikaris, shouted to u from afar that a very strong tiger was inside the circle. He had already closely observed the tiger as it had jumped up just in front of his elephant during the formation of the circle. Having just arrived in my position, I saw the grass move in front of me, my hunter even claiming to have directly seen the tiger itself. Unfortunately the resident called me to abandon my position with the best intention and had me placed exactly on the opposite side which offered a much worse position as the first one.

A few seconds later I saw the tiger covered by the grass sneaking forward and induced me to fire which caused it to flee with a roar towards Wurmbrand who put a bullet in it. It recoiled towards me and I killed it with three bullets. Now it was time to examine it closely as Wurmbrand and I had fired from the same side. To my regret, the tiger had but one bullet on that side, above which were placed my three killing shots. As the tiger fell after Wurmbrand’s shot, I must have apparently and I have to admit that this fact made me quite a bit jealous for Wurmbrand’s shot as the tiger was an especially strong, beautifully colored male. The old guy must have lived through such a procedure as we discovered between the neck and shoulder a fully enclosed round bullet of a large caliber which once must have caused much discomfort.

The natives seemed not to like the hunt’s result as I had not killed a single one of the four tigers bagged during the last three days. They returned to the camp to where we followed them an hour later only for them to go in the afternoon looking out for a panther that had killed to the south of the camp. At our arrival in the camp, it was however reported that the panther had not been found and as a replacement a general shooting would be undertaken.

When we readying us for the shooting, I noticed that some people were setting fire behind the line to smoke out a burrow visible in the high jungle. My question regarding this received the reply that this was only a bit of play of some people. Reassured, we started the hunt in a plain at the shore of a larger river in which I bagged a beautiful Bengal bustard with white wings and a capital hog deer with high strong antlers and two small Indian civets, as well as various other small game.

Unfortunately, a large hyena escaped us in a strange way. I was just passing through a tall grass thicket when some elephant guides close to me shouted something in Nepalese to me and just then started to pursue a piece of game shouting and gesticulating. They had it soon surrounded. I asked the resident who was riding beside me what it was and he answered that it was only a small Indian civet that one could not see in the tall grass and that’s why it would be futile to ride to the animal’s current location. Thus I continued my ride but I was astonished and not particularly pleased, when I looked back, to see a huge hyena emerge and escape out of the easily reachable thicket. I could not send a bullet after it as between the hyena and my position were people and elephants. Clam and Crawford could only fire a few futile shots at great distance.

After the hunt had ended, people brought us two hyenas to the camp which had been smoked out and slain from the burrow we had discovered at the start of the hunt. Thus I had afterwards reason to be angry about not having been told the truth about the game inside the burrow as I would have assisted with great interest in the unearthing of the young hyenas. The hyena killed during the hunt must have been the mother of the young which were already of a size comparable to a grown European fox. In the evening we paid a visit to the camp of our elephants to observe them eating their meal.

Links

  • Location: Katni, Nepal
  • ANNO – on 23.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. The Neue Freie Presse reports about Jules Ferry’s funeral in Paris.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Bernhard Lenz“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing „Die Königin von Saba“.

Katni, 22 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

Today’s hunt was pretty much a failure, but the true hunter is well advised to remember the saying. „Every day there may be a hunt, but there will not be a catch on every day.“ The weather was just as splendid as it in in our country during especially fine September days.

The morning report said that a strong tiger had killed 11 km to the north of the camp. We therefore should leave quickly and go to the spot of the kill. The hunting and hauda elephants had already left, we followed them in a very pleasant ride through green shala woods to the hunting ground situated almost at the foot of a mountain. There we were received by the shikaris whose faces showed disappointment. The reported that they had already formed a circle but couldn’t find the announced tiger. The native hunting masters as well as the resident who had ridden with us were also very disappointed and after a long war council, had sent out trackers to check the most suitable places in the surrounding areas. Unfortunately in vain.

A breakfast had to save the situation. Afterwards, in want of tigers, there was a  general shooting with meagre results despite spending four hours on it. The good-natured natives were very unhappy about the day’s failure and sent out many people out on the same afternoon to search for tigers in order to promise with certainty a tiger the day after.

Links

  • Location: Katni, Nepal
  • ANNO – on 22.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. Based on one of Franz Ferdinand’s own letters home, the Neue Freie Presse summarizes his days in Jodhpur and mentions the killing of a Tiger at the end of February.
Franz Ferdinand in Jodhpur and hunting tigers in February (Neue Freie Presse, 22 März 1893, S.6).

Franz Ferdinand in Jodhpur and hunting tigers in February (Neue Freie Presse, 22 März 1893, S.6).

  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Kriemhilde“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing Verdi’s „Der Troubadour“.

Katni, 21 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

In the morning it was said that a strong tiger had killed during the night and had been confirmed almost certainly in a valley not very far away. Against the resident’s advice to send the hunter with the hauda elephants in advance and only follow-up an hour later, we preferred to ride along and were received at the location by the maharaja’s uncle with the message that the tiger was still young and  was staying at the spot of the kill. When the wings  advanced to form the circle, the tiger transformed itself into a panther,  and out of the panther into  — nothing. Rather disappointed we left the jungle but as the natives still counted on the presence of a tiger and assured us that one was in the vicinity, a line was formed and a hunt was started in a very open adjacent jungle where no other game than a tiger was to be shot at.

The excellent hunting instinct of the shikaris was splendidly proved as we might just have advanced for about half an hour when th cry of „bara bagh“ rose on the left flank. I was in the center together with Wurmbrand and Kinsky. We had to wait while the wings of the shikaris were ordered to close the circle.

My mahaut pointed constantly to a rather distant grass bush,  shouting „bagh“, but I could not see anything as I had a very bad position in the line in a small depression surrounded by trees. In order not to confuse the natives, I kept at my position and saw the tiger move between the trees at a considerable distance while the wings were closing the circle. At that moment, a shot was fired by Kinsky and the struck tiger fell down and lay down near a large tree. Shortly afterward, Wurmbrand on the left of me shot at a weak tiger that I could not see and that, also hit, hid in a grass bush. Immediately afterwards I saw a third tiger, very distant from me, move across a small clearing directly towards Clam who shot it whereas the animal still tried to escape near Kinsky’s but was killed by him,

During the wheeling of the left wing, there was a slight perturbation during which a fourth tiger managed to escape and Fairholme tried to encircle it with some elephants. Stockinger and Prónay wanted to close the gap but lost their direction and suddenly appeared  in the heat of the hunt in the middle of the circle and, meeting the tiger wounded by Wurmbrand, opened a sustained rapid fire on it, so that it, pierced by seven bullets, died.

As I saw that the hunt was over, I called Kinsky to come to me and showed him the wounded tiger he had shot in order that he might fire a killing shot. It was his first tiger, a strong female, the mother of the other two one-year-old tigers. The fourth tiger that had escaped must have been the third child of the tigress.

During today’s hunt — another proof of the skill, the quick orientation and the hunting instinct of the Nepalese — we have learned about a new uncommon method of encircling the tiger in a completely open jungle without undergrowth, as the tigers up to now used to be encircled in the thick high grass or reed. Unfortunately, due to my bad position, I had not seen much of today’s hunt but Clam told me that his view across a clearing offered a rare spectacle. When the tigress noted the presence of all the encircling elephants, she sat down, apparently determined to defend herself and her family to the utmost. She placed one of the young on her right, the other on her left, rose on her rear legs and started baring her teeth and roared loudly in all directions.

Unfortunately, during this hunt another elephant was wounded but this time not by a tiger bite but by a stray bullet which might have been deflected from a tree and entered just above the tusk into the elephant’s trunk. Also one of the elephant guides had been wounded by a branch that had been cut by a shot but the wound was minor. A few rupees in compensation served as the best remedy according to the man’s facial expression. Such wounds occur as one has to constantly shoot into the circle and the smooth shala and teak trees easily deflected bullets.

The old uncle of the maharaja was very indignant about the fact that I had not shot a single tiger but I calmed him with the assurance that I was as happy to see the gentlemen of my entourage shooting and had the line form for a general shooting on the way back to the camp. In the surrounding of the camp there was remarkably fewer game than around the first camps as the natives are much quicker to shoot. They still need a special permission to shoot a tiger which is given in case when a tiger inflicts large losses on the cattle herds of the neighboring settlements.

Unfortunately a hornbill was missed again; Fairholme bagged a black buck, the first we had seen in Nepal.

Towards the end of our hunt, close to our camp, two elephants started fighting one another without a known reason. One inflicted with its tusks a heavy tearing and bruising wound on the other elephant’s mahaut’s hollow of the knee and wounded the man so gravely that the poor guy had to spend many weeks in bed to recover.

In the camp we paid a visit to the poor wounded elephant and saw that it was being treated by the doctor. I admired the intelligence and the patience of the animal.  On the order of the guard, the elephant lay down on the right side and looked with smart eyes upon the doctor who examined the wound with a probe without finding the bullet. If the elephant was in pain, it only moved its lips but otherwise kept completely calm, also during the more painful washing and swabbing of the wound, as if it was aware that this procedure would be beneficial. The calm of the animal was even more to be admired as the tears that were flowing from the small eyes proved that the pains that the poor „Hathi“ had to bear were considerable.

Links

  • Location: Katni, Nepal
  • ANNO – on 21.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Bernhard Lenz“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing Rossini’s „Der Barbier von Sevilla“.

Katni, 20 March 1893

Hinterlasse eine Antwort

The natives and namely their leaders had explained to us already the day before that the continuing rains made a dismantling and transfer of the camp impossible as all camels and wagons would get stuck in the mud and furthermore the wet tents would be damaged during the packaging. As they had to agree that the ground where we were offered little special hunting opportunities, especially no tigers,  and hunting results could only be expected at the next camp location, I insisted to break camp and to attempt to reach the next location, Katni, in any condition. After long discussions, I managed to persuade the hunting masters and early in the morning, they started dismantling the camp. The toughest outlook was the upcoming, long march of 23 km in a South-eastern direction; in compensation, the sun made an appearance and dried our soaking wet clothes.

We rode with the riding and hunting elephants in advance as a tiger had killed near the new camp location. The caravan was supposed to follow us. During our long ride we saw with apprehension the damage caused by the continued rain to the forest tracks. Everywhere there were puddles of water and mud so that our elephants sank in deeply. The otherwise dry gorges that crossed the tracks were at places filled with water to a height of a meter.

At the camp in Katni the message soon arrived that the caravan had become completely stuck in the mud and could not advance. As everything had to be packaged differently, it would certainly not arrive earlier than the next morning. The camels especially were slipping in the muddy terrain, so that they could not continue and the weak and badly fed oxen and bulls lacked the strength to draw the impractically built two-wheeled carts.

Sitting on bundles of straw, we were waiting while the shikaris went out with the elephant to confirm the reported tiger. Now and then arrived the first advance parties of the column, the coolies with their load and some soldiers of our escort. Thus we might have waited for about five hours, when the good news arrived that the shikaris had found the tiger and had encircled it. In the quickest pace possible for elephants we went to the location where we arrived completely shaken, but to our great satisfaction the circle was in perfect order. Quickly the positions were assigned and the usual work of the shikaris started.

The hunting ground was a very beautifully situated thick green grass jungle surrounded by tall shala trees and other trees unknown to me which had fragrant, pink butterfly blooms. The tiger soon ran away from the elephants, sneaked around in the jungle for some time and then advanced towards Kinsky who missed, only to retreat back into the thick grass; after some minutes it burst out again with a roar and attacked my elephant. I fired at the tiger now at the feet of my brave „Hathi“ that had not moved. The tiger then which had been hit in the shoulder and lay on the ground turned its head towards me, opened its mouth and showed me its teeth with a roar. A splendid view which made me forget to finish off the tiger with another shot, so that the mighty animal suddenly stood up again and, despite being hit by a second bullet from me, retreated back into the grass jungle.

This started a very exciting chase as the heavily wounded tiger defended itself very energetically and attacked everything that came within range. We were not allowed to leave our position in the circle as this would have opened up gaps through which the tiger might escape. Thus the shikaris rode into the grass to drive the tiger out. It was however already too weak to leave the spot where it lay and was defending its life only in a sitting position. An especially brave elephant attacked directly with a shrill battle cry which these animals trumpet out on such occasions. The elephant charged the tiger and inflicted a deep tearing wound with its tusks on the leg. But the tiger had enough strength left to jump at the elephant and bite its foreleg so that blood was gushing out in streams. After a few attacks of this kind the roar and the fight ended. The tiger had finally perished.

We could only observe the scene as a spectator and could not fire a the elephant with its mahaut and the tiger were so close to each other and we feared hitting either the elephant or the mahaut. The tiger, an old male of over 3 m, was the strongest one we had yet bagged; only after it had perished, could we observe the gaping wound in its flank which the elephant’s tusks had inflicted. But it too was in a bad state and held up its foot in pain and drank its own gushing blood with its trunk.

After the tiger had been photographed, we returned to camp where once more a tiger alarm in the evening provided a talking topic. The supposed appearance of a tiger created great excitement among the coolies until it became clear that the „tiger“ happened to be only an escaped bull that was fighting with another bull in the darkness.

Links

  • Location: Katni, Nepal
  • ANNO – on 20.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. The Empress made a stop in Lugano, Switzerland, on her way to Genoa.
  • The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Bernhard Lenz“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing Massenet’s „Manon“.