Wild Game in Zambezia (1914) (Linked Table of Contents)
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Wild Game in Zambezia (1914) (Linked Table of Contents)
Wild Game in Zambezia (With Linked Table of Contents)
African big game hunter Reginald C. F. Maugham in his spare time was also a British colonial administrator; his book "Wild Game in Zambezia" was published in 1914.
"Wild Game in Zambezia" relates Maugham's vast storehouse of adventures hunting big game in what is now Zimbabwe and Zambia during the British colonial era. The many true stories vividly describe the real hazards of hunting in Africa:
In describing his friend's run-in with a lioness, Maugham writes:
". . . The lioness with a hoarse roar turned back and re-entered the cover, into which, with great foolhardiness, the hunter immediately followed. He does not appear to have proceeded far on her spoor when, without any warning beyond a succession of exasperated grunts, the lioness charged. As he afterwards expressed it, " She seemed to come from nowhere," and in a moment she had him by the shoulder, her great claws lacerating his back. In this terrible plight, thanks to his great personal strength and activity, he wrestled valiantly . . . ."
In describing a vicious attack by a honey badger Maugham writes:
"Another interesting form occasionally met with is the carelessly designated, so-called Honey Badger. The unfortunate honey badger was first espied during the morning march by one of my carriers in the Barue region of Zambezia. Casting discipline to the winds, and his load after it, the misguided porter dashed off in pursuit. Supposing that his disappearance was occasioned by other causes, I paid no attention to the matter until loud yells from some distance in the direction which he had taken intimated the occurrence of some incident of an untoward character. Fearing snake-bite, or some such mishap, I hurried in the direction whence the sounds came. When I arrived the following tableau presented itself—The carrier, with an expression of face in which pain and alarm were admirably depicted, was executing a kind of danse fantastique and roaring lustily, whilst from a portion of his posterior there hung with great determination a curious - looking animal. This pendant beast was like neither dog nor cat; it looked, rather, a curious mixture between an otter and a badger. The expression on the animal's face as it maintained its determined hold was one of placid resolution. This I afterwards ascertained to be a honey badger. Several others of my people having by this time appeared upon the scene, the sufferer was speedily relieved, but no sooner had the honey badger been discouraged from maintaining his grip on the carrier by means of heavy blows from a stick than, instead of retreating like any wellordered beast into the fastnesses of the bush, he transferred his attentions to my gun-bearer whom he attacked quietly but mischievously. . . . "
In describing his missing pet monkey, Maugham writes:
"I received a coldly worded notification that an immense and formidable monkey, said to be mine, had gained its freedom and had practically taken charge of an important thoroughfare, had bitten, more or less severely, divers peaceful citizens, and must at once be secured or shot. I found Joao shortly afterwards, seated upon the counter of an Indian sweet shop, and having the time of his life, whilst the tearful and affrighted proprietor, note-book in hand, kept careful account of his ravages.... However tame baboons may become in captivity, nothing will ever finally extinguish that mischievous spirit of inherent naughtiness."
He writes of an undiscovered species of snake, stating:
"There is the persistent rumour of an arboreal snake which the natives certainly regard with such dread that nothing would induce them to go within a long distance of their reputed haunts. The snake in question would appear to be something akin to our conception of the cockatrice, and is said to possess a red comb upon its head, and to have the unusual power of producing at will a curious melancholy, metallic cry."
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