Part 12
My apparatus revealed several shortcomings even in the improved form. It was not absolutely light-proof, and it had to be set up always, for its automatic operation, in the brief tropical dusk. If no animal presented itself for portraiture the plates exposed were always wasted, unless at dawn they were withdrawn again. (This is not the case with the apparatus as since perfected.)
Many wrong impressions are current in regard to this kind of photography. It can be managed in two ways. Either the photographer himself remains on the spot to attend in person both to the flashlight and the exposure, or else the mechanism is worked by a string against which the animal moves. Before I took my photographs I had been a spectator of all the various incidents represented in them, watching them all from hiding-places in dense thorn-bushes, thus coming, as it were, into personal touch with lions and other animals. Though not so dangerous really as camping out on the velt, where one’s fatigue and the darkness leave one defenceless against the possible attacks of elephants or rhinoceroses, you need good nerves to spend the night in your thorn-thicket hiding-place with a view to flashlight snapshots of lions at close quarters. In that interesting work _Zu den Aulihans_, by Count Hoyos, and in Count Wickenburg’s _Wanderungen in Ostafrika_, the reader will find interesting and authentic accounts of night-shoots which correspond with my own experiences. Count Coudenhove in his first book describes very vividly the effect upon the nerves of the apparition of numbers of lions within a few paces of him, when concealed in a thorn-bush at night.
There is a wonderful fascination at all times in lying in wait by night for animals, and watching their goings and comings and all their habits. Even here at home, in our game preserves, the experience of passing hour after hour on the look-out has a charm about it difficult to describe in words. Out in the wilderness it is increased immeasurably. It is an intense pleasure to me to read other people’s impressions of such experiences, when I feel the accounts are trustworthy. They are so different in some respects, so much alike in others. In my first book I cited Count Coudenhove, mentioned above, in this connection, as a man of proved courage, who writes at once sympathetically and convincingly. Here let me give a passage from the book of another sportsman. Count Hans Palffy. In his _Wild und Hund_ he speaks as follows: “I had been waiting for two hours or so in the darkness without being able to descry the carcase of the rhinoceros” [which he himself had shot and which he was using as a bait for the lion], “when suddenly I heard a sound like that of a heavy body falling on the ground, and then almost immediately the lion began growling beside the dead animal. I could hear the King of Beasts quite distinctly, as he began to pull and bite at the flesh.... He would move away from it every ten or twenty minutes, always in the same direction, to give out a series of roars. The effect of this was magnificent beyond description. Beginning always with a soft murmur, he gradually raised his mighty voice into a peal of thunder--I never in my life heard anything so beautiful.”
Both on account of the hardships and fatigue involved--which are calculated in the long run to ruin his constitution--and also because he really cannot manipulate his cameras successfully except on starry or moonlight nights, it is most desirable for the photographer to provide himself with an apparatus working automatically. You cannot count upon its working as you would wish. The string which sets it in action may be caught and pulled by a bat or even a cockchafer instead of a lion you want to photograph. The photograph reproduced on p. 697, for instance, was the work of the turtledoves therein visible. The motion of their wings, it may be noted, was too quick for a clearly defined record.
This picture, taken in the early morning, is a good instance of the way in which I have always enforced my rule as to never touching up my photographs. The plate was broken on its way home, but the cracks which resulted were left as they were.[21] I remember one case in which I had put up my apparatus with a view to securing photographs of certain lions, and in which I had to be content with a picture of a spotted hyena splashing its way in full flight through the swamp. The hideous cowering gait of the animal came out very strikingly on the negative.
There is wide scope for a man’s dexterity and resourcefulness in the setting up of a flashlight apparatus. All the qualities that go to the making of a big-game hunter are essential to success in this field also. You have to keep a sharp look-out for the tracks of the different animals and to watch for their appearance, taking up your position in some thorn-bush hiding-place or up a tree if you propose to operate the camera yourself by means of a string. In the case of most animals you have, of course, to pay special attention to the direction of the wind. This is not necessary, however, in the case of lions. Lions take no notice whatever of the man in hiding. Elephants, on the contrary, are very easily excited, and when this is so they are apt to force their way into his thorn retreat and trample on him or to drag him down from his point of vantage.
* * * * *
Future workers in this field will find that my labours have served to some extent to clear the ground for them, and we may look forward to many interesting achievements. There can be no doubt that the explorer who provides himself with the necessary photographic equipment will find ample scope for his activities.
My own process was simple enough. I stretched lines of string round the heifer or goat which was to serve as a bait, and the lions, hyenas, etc., falling on their prey pulled these strings, which worked the flashlight--the animals thus taking their own photographs. Some of these pictures record new facts in natural history. In my first book, for instance, there is a picture of a lioness making off with her tail raised high in the air in a way no artist would have thought of depicting, and no naturalist have believed to be characteristic.
In the course of my labours I had to overcome every description of obstacle, and had constantly to be making new experiments. By the time I had got things right I had so small a stock of materials left at my disposal that I ought to congratulate myself upon my subsequent success. The number of good pictures I secured was far less than I had originally hoped for, but on the other hand it far surpassed what, in those moods of pessimism which followed upon my many failures, I had begun to think I should have to be contented with.
Among my successful efforts I count those which record the fashion in which the lion falls upon his prey, first prowling round it; and those which represent rhinoceroses and hippopotami, leopards and hyenas and jackals, antelopes and zebras making their way down to the waterside to drink; those also which show the way in which hyenas and jackals carry off their spoils, and the relations that exist between them. But a point of peculiar interest that my photographs bring out is the way in which the eyes of beasts of prey shine out in the darkness of night. I have never been able to get any precise scientific explanation of this phenomenon. I have often seen it for myself in the wilderness. Professor Yngve Sjöstedt, a Swedish naturalist, who has travelled in the Kilimanjaro region, tells us that he once saw, quite near his camp, the eyes of at least ten lions shining out from the darkness exactly like lights. I find the following passage, too, in an old book, printed at Nuremberg in 1719: “Travellers tell us (and I myself have seen it) that you can follow the movements of lions in the dark owing to the way in which their glowing eyes shine out like twin lights.”
Even with a small hand-camera it is possible to secure pictures worth having, such as the studies of heads reproduced on the accompanying pages. These must always have a certain value, as they depict for the most part species of animals which have never yet been secured for zoological gardens.
I repeat that there is an immense harvest awaiting the man who is prepared to work thoroughly in this field. Why, for instance, should he not succeed in getting a picture by night of an entire troop of lions? My photographs show how a mating lion and lioness fall on their victim--from different sides; and how three lionesses may be seen quenching their thirst at midnight, all together. With good luck some one may manage to photograph a troop of a dozen or twenty lions hunting their prey--that would be a fine achievement. Or he might secure a wonderful group of bull-elephants on their way down to a drinking-place. The possibilities are immense.
Who has ever seen a herd of giraffes bending down in their grotesque impossible attitudes to quench their thirst? A photographic record of such a sight would be invaluable now that the species is doomed to extinction. But, apart from such big achievements as these, trustworthy photographs of wild life in all its forms--even of the smallest beasts and birds--are of the utmost value, especially in the case of rare species that are dying out.
This is true not merely of Africa, but of other parts of the world as well. Who is attempting to secure photographic records of the great elk and mighty bears of Alaska? or of the wild life of the Arctic zone--the polar bear, the walrus, and the seal?
The Arctic regions should be made to tell their last secrets to the camera for the benefit of posterity, nor should the wild sheep and ibex of the unexplored mountains of Central Asia be overlooked.
These things are not to be easily achieved, and they involve a considerable outlay of money. It would be, however, money well spent. Money is being lavished upon many other enterprises which could very well wait, and which might be carried out just as successfully some time in the future. These are possibilities, on the other hand, that are diminishing every year, and that presently will cease to exist. I trust sincerely that it may be my lot to continue working in this field.
“If only the matter could be brought home to the minds of the right people,” wrote one of our best naturalists, after examining my work, “tens of thousands of pounds would be devoted to this end.”
Envoi
I may be permitted a few words in conclusion to reaffirm certain views to which I cling. I would not have my readers attach any special importance to what I myself have achieved, but I would like them to take to heart the moral of my book.
It may be summed up in a very few words. I maintain that wild life everywhere, and in all its forms, should be religiously protected--that the forces of nature should not be warred against more than our struggle for existence renders absolutely inevitable; and that it is the sportsman’s duty, above all, to have a care for the well-being of the whole of the animal world.
Whoever glances over the terrible list of so-called “harmful” birds and beasts done to death every year in Germany must bemoan this ruthless destruction of a charming feature of our countryside, carried out by sportsmen in the avowed interest of certain species designated as “useful.” The realm of nature should not be regarded exclusively from the point of view of sport; the sportsman should stand rather in the position of a guardian or trustee, responsible to all nature-lovers for the condition of the fauna and flora left to his charge.
I would have the German hunter establish the same kind of reservations, the same kind of “sanctuaries” for wild life that exist in America. In our German colonies, especially in Africa, we should model those reservations on English examples. Such institutions, in which both flora and fauna should be really well looked after, would be a source at once of instruction and enjoyment of the highest kind to all lovers of natural history.
_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._
CHEAP EDITION
“The most remarkable travel book that has ever been published.”--_Graphic._
With Flashlight and Rifle
A Record of Hunting Adventures and Studies in Wild Life
By C. G. SCHILLINGS Translated by FREDERIC WHYTE
With an Introduction by Sir Harry Johnston, G.C.M.G., K.C.B., Illustrated with 302 of the Author’s “untouched” photographs taken by day and night.
_Printed throughout on English art paper, in one handsome vol., =824= pages super-royal 8vo, =12s. 6d.= net_
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT wrote of Mr. Schillings’s book:
“His extraordinary photographic work among the teeming wild creatures of East Africa.... He is a great field naturalist, a trained scientific observer, as well as a mighty hunter; and no mere hunter can ever do work even remotely approaching in value that which he has done. His book should be translated into English at once.”
Some Exceptional Reviews
“An entrancing work. His photographs are positively wonderful; his letterpress is vivid.”--_Standard._
“A book of singular value.”--_Yorkshire Post._
“This remarkable book.”--_Sporting and Dramatic News._
“A unique and most remarkable book.”--_Scotsman._
“Space forbids any mention of the author’s hunting adventures or of his many thrilling escapes from death, but all through the two volumes the human interest is as strong as the scientific.”--_Graphic._
“A remarkable book. Nobody else has ever obtained so wonderful a series of photographs.”--_Truth._
“An entirely remarkable book, containing the greatest triumph in photography of wild animals ever achieved.”--_Outlook._
LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW
Nearest the Pole
By Commander R. E. PEARY
(U. S. Navy; President of the National Geographic Society)
_Author of “Northward over the Great Ice,” etc._
With an introduction by President Roosevelt and numerous illustrations selected from a collection of 1,200 of the Author’s photographs
_In Crown 4to, cloth gilt and gilt top_, =21s.= _net_.
In this book Commander Peary relates the thrilling story of his endeavours to reach the North Pole. Although he did not succeed in his attempt, he managed to get nearer to the Pole than any of his predecessors. Sailing in the _Roosevelt_ from Etah, North Greenland, on August 16th, 1905, the expedition soon encountered ice which made their progress both dangerous and difficult. After being icebound for some weeks, the vessel was extricated, but not floated again until the following summer. The sun disappearing from sight in October, was not seen again until March. The expedition re-started in February on a sledge trip in the direction of the Pole, and after dividing the party, Peary and his followers journeyed towards their goal encountering on their way, among other mishaps, a gale which lasted six days, during which time they found themselves some seventy miles out of their course. They then endeavoured to get intelligence of the other portion of their party, but had to abandon their attempt as their scouts could not locate their whereabouts. At length, by forced marches, Commander Peary, on April 21st, reached 87° 6´ N.
On this expedition Commander Peary did for the American segment of the Polar Basin what Nansen did for the Asiatic. The narrative is exceedingly dramatic. The explorer tells how he built the _Roosevelt_ on an entirely different plan from any other Arctic ship, and not only adopted Eskimo clothing and made camps like Eskimos in ice and snow, but took Eskimos with him as guides. It is the seventh time that Peary has been North--oftener than any other explorer: and the Hubbard Gold Medal that President Roosevelt presented him on behalf of the National Geographic Society is the fifth he has received for his distinguished achievements in exploration. There will be an introduction to the book by President Roosevelt, and the beautiful pictures with which the book will be illustrated are selected from a collection of 1,200 of the author’s photographs.
LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW FOOTNOTES:
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Male Emperor-moths (_Saturnia pyri_) hasten from great distances, even against the wind, to a female of the species emerging from the chrysalis state in captivity. Elephants, the author believes, can scent a fall of rain at a distance of many miles.
[2] The author would like to bring this fact home to all destroyers of herons, kingfishers, and diving-birds.
[3] The Masai distinguish the kinds of grass which their cattle eat and reject. Many kinds of grass with pungent grains, such as _Andropogon contortus_, L., are rejected entirely. Yet the tough bow-string hemp is to the taste of many wild animals--the small kudu, for instance.
[4] Latterly many sportsmen in the tropics have taken again to the use of very large-calibre rifles. Charges of as much as 21 gr. of black powder and a 26¾ mm. bullet are employed with them. It is to the kick of such a ride that the author owes the scar which is visible in the portrait serving as frontispiece to this book--an “untouched” photograph, like all the others.
[5] See _With Flashlight and Rifle_.
[6] In winter, Siberia affords a refuge to beautiful long-haired tigers, such as can be seen in the Berlin Zoological Gardens.
[7] For this information I am indebted to the kindness of the experienced Russian hunter Ceslav von Wancowitz.
[8] Herr Niedieck also underwent a similar experience. See his book _Mit der Büchse in fünf Weltteilen_, and my own _With Flashlight and Rifle_.
[9] Little elephants only a yard high used to inhabit Malta, and there still lives, according to Hagenbeck, the experienced zoologist of Hamburg, a dwarf species of elephant in yet unexplored districts of West Africa.
[10] Experienced German hunters make a special plea for the use of rifles of heavier calibre. Many English hunters are of the same opinion.
[11] The _raison d’être_ of these powerful weapons of the African elephant is a difficult question. Why did the extinct mammoth carry such very different tusks, curving upwards? Why has the Indian elephant such small tusks, and the Ceylon elephant hardly any at all, whilst the African’s are so huge and heavy?
[12] On that occasion I had not at hand a telephoto-lens of sufficient range.
[13] The well-known naturalist, Hagenbeck, remembers the immense numbers of giraffes which were bagged in the Sudan some thirty years ago.
[14] Later observers questioned this fact. When I have used the word “mimicry,” I have done so not in the original sense of Bates and Wallace, but as denoting the conformity of the appearance of animals with their environment.
[15] Some years earlier one of our best zoologists, after a long stay in the Masai uplands, had described the giraffes as “rare and almost extinct”: a striking proof of the great difficulty there is in coming upon these animals.
[16] The author has often heard it asserted that the giraffe does much harm to the African vegetation and therefore should be exterminated. Such assertions should be speedily and publicly denied. They are on a level with the demand for the complete extermination of African game with a view to getting rid of the tsetse-fly.
[17] _Giraffa reticulata_ de Winton and _Giraffa schillingsi_, Mtsch.
[18] Cf. _With Flashlight and Rifle_.
[19] Recent reports from West Africa confirm what I say about the disastrous results of allowing the natives to hunt with firearms. The same regrettable state of things prevails in every part of the world in which this is permitted.
[20] I do not know of any “telephoto” picture of animals in rapid motion having been published anywhere previously to my own. Those I refer to here are of animals at rest or moving quite slowly.
[21] Flashlight photographs may be taken by daylight, as is proved by this photograph and some of those of rhinoceroses in _With Flashlight and Rifle_.
[Transcriber’s Note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]