For the better understanding of M. Edouard Foà’s pages, it will be as well to give here a few details of that arduous journey which he made in 1894-97 across the Dark Continent, during which he collected materials for this narrative—a journey, by the way, for which he was well equipped in every respect, for there is no part of Africa over which he has not travelled, rifle in hand, during the past fourteen years.


In 1880 he travelled through Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco; from 1886 to 1890 he wandered from the Ivory Coast to the Niger, thence to the French Congo, making a stay in Dahomey; and in 1891, entrusted with his first mission by the Minister of Public Instruction, he left the Cape for the Zambesi, and, after crossing the Orange Free State, the Transvaal and the Gaca countries, passed through unknown or little known regions, which he described from a sportsman’s point of view in a work—no less interesting than this—entitled Mes Grandes Chasses dans l’Afrique Centrale. These were difficult journeys; but not so difficult or important as his recent travel.

Though crossing the African Continent may not nowadays be considered an extraordinary undertaking, in comparison with certain more difficult feats of exploration which have been accomplished in recent years, it is one of which any traveller may be proud. What made the journey so noteworthy was that M. Foà was able, not only to shoot an enormous quantity of big game (to carry out, in fact, his main object), but also to study in a most thorough manner the natural history of the countries through which he passed from various points of view, and to make important geographical discoveries. Moreover, the journey was remarkable from this point of view alone: with the exception of the descent of the Congo, it was accomplished entirely on foot: about 4000 miles were traversed in that way.

In many respects, M. Foà’s journey well merits comparison with that which Dr. Sven Hedin made about the same time across Asia. The Foà expedition consisted of 380 men, twenty-five of whom were well armed. Leaving the River Chinde at the mouth of the Zambesi, in August 1894, in company with two old African travellers, M. E. de Borély and M. Camille Bertrand,—the first of whom went as far as Lake Nyassa, the second as far as Lake Tanganyika—it followed the course of the Zambesi for several months. A stay of more than one year was made in the partly unexplored country north and north-east of the Zambesi in search of big game. Mountainous in parts and flat in others, densely covered with vegetation here, waste and marshy there, these regions were crossed and recrossed many times by the hunter.

Pushing still farther north, he explored, when passing through the Makanga, Maravia, and Angoni countries in the direction of Lake Bangweolo, various tributaries of the Zambesi, principally the Aroangwa. This great stream had already been visited several times before; but most of its length and its source were indicated on maps as unexplored. M. Foà crossed it several times in various districts, and visited its source. Later he explored the shores of Lake Nyassa in a gunboat, The Pioneer, which was lent to him by Mr. M. Alfred Sharpe, the Governor of British Central Africa. During the trip, which lasted for nine days, the explorer made astronomical observations which will have the effect of modifying the map of the great lake.

The explorer left Lake Nyassa to ascend the high plateau which separates the lake from Lake Tanganyika at Karonga. The exploration of unknown regions and the deciding of some important geographical questions took up several months at this period of the journey. The explorer entered upon an entirely new route in the Ubemba country, and mapped hydrographically the Chozi and Chambezi. It has been thought that some of the sources of the Congo were in the neighbourhood of these two rivers; but I believe that M. Foà is the first to show that this really is so by mapping the network of small streams which flow into the Chozi and Chambezi in the Ubemba country.

Tanganyika was then explored in a similar manner. Embarking at Urungu, M. Foà devoted three weeks or more to visiting its shores in an arab dhow. He drew up a detailed map of the lake in five parts, and studied the question of its origin. The shells which he brought back with him for the Paris Museum support the theory of the naturalist Günther that it is a former arm of the sea isolated by the rising of surrounding land—i.e., it is a “relicten-see.” On Tanganyika and in the immediate neighbourhood he saw the good work which is being done by the Pères Blancs, the mission of Cardinal Lavigerie, in putting down the slave trade; and, on touching at Ujiji, noted what slow progress was being made by the Germans in their large East African colony.

About this time occurred one of the most interesting episodes of the expedition. M. Foà tried to reach the Kassai, the great tributary of the Congo, by crossing almost unknown countries. He entered the Urua country, and in crossing the Mitumba mountains encountered great difficulties. Many times the natives threw down their loads and refused to go a step farther. At last, however, the journey of seventy-five miles over most difficult ground was accomplished and the River Luizi was reached—only to find that progress was barred by the whole district being up in arms. As there was nothing for it but to turn back, the expedition did so, and descended towards the valley of the Lukuga river.

M. Foà then set out to reach the Congo by crossing the Manyema under the guidance of a troop of Wanyamwezi, a warlike people who live on the opposite side of Lake Tanganyika. Full of danger and most laborious this journey was, as much on account of the mountains—similar to those of the Urua country—which had to be crossed, as owing to the fact that the country was in a state of rebellion.

The course of the Luama (or Lugumba) was explored, and that well repaid any difficulties which the expedition had to overcome. The tribes of the Manyema are cannibals. They are constantly at war with one another; and, though they were not hostile to the travellers, a sharp look-out had to be kept, lest there should be treachery. In fact, during part of the journey the expedition had to be protected by a convoy of troops placed at its disposal by Baron Dhanis of the Congo Free State. The country through which it passed had rebelled against the Belgian Government, and many were the hair-breadth escapes which it had,—one night in particular, when it passed within alarming proximity to the rebel camp, fortunately without being seen.

The crossing of the equatorial forest, of which Sir H. M. Stanley has given such a vivid account, took up twenty of the forty-one days which were occupied in travelling from Tanganyika to the Congo. Like Stanley and others, M. Foà met with the pygmies. He took measurements of many of them, studied their industries and customs, and will probably throw very interesting light on these people when he publishes the detailed account of his journey. The rest of the crossing of Central Africa was a question of time only. The explorer and his men descended the Congo in a pirogue to New Antwerp, and took the steamer to Stanley Pool. At first M. Foà thought of reaching the coast by way of the French Congo, via Franceville and the Ogowe river; but, the rainy season setting in, he returned to the left bank of the Congo, and, when near Tampa, took train on the recently constructed Congo Free State railway, which brought him to Matadi.

The main scientific results of this three-years journey, in addition to those which I have already mentioned incidentally, may be roughly enumerated as follows: 800 astronomical observations with sextant, theodolite, chronometer; three years’ observation of magnetic declinations, meteorology, and temperature; six thousand miles of mapping; the collecting of many natural-history specimens, including large and small mammals, birds, fishes, insects, shells, etc., for French museums; the taking of ethnological notes on 150 different tribes; and the preparing of forty vocabularies.

Such is a brief account of M. Foà’s journey, the scientific results of which were considered of such importance that the Paris Geographical Society presented him with its grande médaille d’or. The Brussels and the Antwerp Geographical Societies awarded him medals, and the King of the Belgians gave him a decoration. My résumé, though inadequate (owing to limitation of space), will suffice to give the reader an idea of the difficulties which had to be overcome almost at every turn, and will make him wonder that any time at all was found for sport. M. Foà killed nearly five hundred head of big game.

As I have already said, sport was his main object in crossing Africa; and never once did he lose sight of it during the whole of the journey. M. Germain Bapst, in his Mémoires d’un Siècle, tells us that Marshal Canrobert once met Jules Gerard, shortly after that French hunter had been made an officer, and asked him if he intended to give up killing lions. “C’est impossible,” said the celebrated lion-killer: “ça me prend comme la fièvre; alors il faut absolument que j’aille à l’affût. Si cette fièvre me reprend, je serai obligé de recommencer. Qui a bu boira.” M. Foà is no exception to this rule. Once a man is seized with a passion for hunting, it never leaves him.

As will many times be seen in reading After Big Game in Central Africa, no one could well show more devotion to his pursuit than M. Foà has shown. Ably assisted by those native hunters of whom he speaks so highly,—Tambarika, the skilled tracker of game, Tchigallo, the cool-headed, Rodzani, the tenacious, and Msiambiri, the ever-cheerful—he went about his work with a systematic thoroughness which could only result in success. Frederic Lees. Paris, 1899.

That is amazing! The naturalist collections and geographic documentations over so much of the interior of the continent was accomplished with what we would consider pretty limited equipment. I'm sure that at times the mosquitoes and tsetse flies were thick enough to tear your face off. I would guess malaria would have been a constant companion.
Then there were his guns, if i recall correctly there was a brutal a four bore.
Keeping an expedition of this size equipped and supplied would have been a financial and logistical nightmare. And then there were the politics and interpersonal relationships of the whole thing, not everybody keeps their friendly disposition in the face of adversity.
I loved the book, this gives more perspective.
Thanks
Bfly

Before entering upon my subject I must tell the reader of the arms and equipment which I took for this expedition, with a view to shooting animals which inhabit Central Africa, including the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, lion, leopard, panther, giraffe, buffalo, antelopes of several species, wart-hog, and wild boar, hyena, and certain smaller carnivorous animals.

I am still of the same opinion on the subject of large-bore weapons, and if you possess neither 12-bore nor 8-bore rifles I do not advise you to buy them unless you are certain of visiting a country where elephants abound, and those countries are becoming, alas, more and more difficult to find. Amid certain circumstances, however, these weapons may be useful. As I was to travel through parts of Central Africa where I counted upon finding elephants, I took one of two 8 bore double barrelled rifled guns which I possessed and 200 cartridges.

My principal weapons were two express double-barrelled rifles of 577-bore. One of them had been made specially for me by M. Galand, the well known gunsmith, who had already armed me several times, and according to my own indications. I had asked for an exceedingly small reduction of the bore at the top part of the barrel; a small increase in the thickness of the barrels, without respect to weight; shortening of the barrels; a large pea-sight; a treble lock, top-lever, and a solidity equal to the severest test. This rifle, which I call my express No. 1, is so well made that after three and a half years’ shooting, tribulations, jolts, and handling, after having fired 600 or 700 cartridges it only required cleaning upon my return.

As to its penetration, that will be seen in reading the chapters which follow, and more especially the tenth chapter. Express No. 1 weighs 11 lbs. 1 oz. No. 2 is the weapon already known to my readers. It also was made in the workshops of M. Galand, and with it I killed more than 300 animals during my hunting expeditions from 1891 to 1893. The barrels are a little longer, the two sights are diamond ones, and its weight is a little less, 10½ lbs. only. I took with me on trial, and not without a little mistrust, a double-barrelled English rifle of 303-bore—that is, a little smaller than the Lebel. This weapon, which had the appearance of an express rifle very small for its bore, was one of the first examples of the Metford Express which had appeared on the London market; it was an adaptation of the Lee-Metford army weapon which fires six shots and has a single barrel.

To adapt it to sporting purposes, it was supplied with two barrels; but the repeating mechanism was done away with, as in ordinary rifles. The first two weapons of the kind had burst in the face of their owner. The third, that which I took with me, had been strengthened so as to resist the action of English army smokeless powders, cordite, and rifleite, which put the barrels to severe tests, so that it weighed, notwithstanding its small bore, almost as much as an express—10 lbs. 1 oz. This weapon, which I shall call my 303, has proved that it was admirably built, since I have fired with it nearly 1000 cartridges without the slightest accident.

A telescope adjusted on the barrel is intended to magnify and consequently to bring the quarry nearer; but I was never able to use this instrument, and I recommend you, if one is suggested to you, not to make this useless expenditure.

All these rifles had the stock plated—that is, protected by a steel plate, which is a precaution against the ease with which it can be broken should it receive a violent blow or should an animal walk over it. In the matter of unrifled weapons I took only a 12-bore Winchester fowling-piece, capable of firing six shots—a very good gun for rough service, having the advantage of possessing interchangeable pieces, and quite sufficient for killing a few guinea-fowls or firing buck-shot. To defend oneself against natives, especially at night, buck-shot are infinitely better than bullets.

I had also a small 32-bore double-barrelled fowling-piece for small birds, intended for collections, and which it was necessary not to spoil; finally, two large Galand revolvers and a small tue-tue, in case of emergencies, for it must not be forgotten that I proposed upon setting out to cross regions where Stanley, Peters, Wissman, and many others had experienced extreme difficulties with the natives. Here, then, is a list of the arms which I took with me:— 1. 1 double-barrelled 8-bore rifle. 2. 2 express 577-bore rifles. 3. 1 express 303-bore rifle (Metford). 4. 1 smooth 12-bore Winchester six-shot repeater. As to the ammunition taken I give here the detailed enumeration:— 8-bore—100 small cartridges, with round 2½ ounce bullets (5 drachms of powder), for buffaloes or to dispatch large pachydermata. 8-bore—100 large cartridges with conical 4 ounce 1 drachm bullets (8 drachms of powder), for elephants and rhinoceroses. Express 577—1600 express bullet cartridges (6 drachms of powder), with copper tube, weighing 1 ounce 2 drachms. 800 cartridges with solid bullets, ordinary lead, of 1 ounce 5 drachms.

Express 303 (Metford)—500 cartridges, with solid bullets of great penetration for defence or shots at the head (hippopotami, elephants, rhinoceroses), weighing 7 drachms.

Let me say a word or two to explain these various kinds of bullets. The solid bullets are like those of the Lebel rifle, completely covered with nickel. The Jeffery bullets are truncated at the point, and present longitudinal holes which enable them to spread out; they are what have recently been called Dum-Dum. The hollow differ from them in not being split; on the other hand there is a hollow space from the point to the middle, and this is filled with wax.

The soft-nosed solid have a nickel envelope only three-quarters of the way up, fixed in such a manner that at the point the lead is bare. The soft-nosed express are made in the same way, but their apex is hollow and filled either with wax or with a copper tube. Of the last four kinds, taken with me so that I might try them, and submitted to many and conclusive tests, I have retained only two—the hollow and the soft-nosed express, both of which have cavities filled with wax. For small animals, and antelopes ranging to the eland exclusively, they are excellent. From the eland upwards, the 577 express is necessary.

All my ammunition supplied by Eley and Kynoch was packed in soldered zinc boxes, ten cartridges in a box. I use new cartridges only; I never refill my old cases. Refilling is exceedingly dirty work; the powder which one may procure fouls the barrels, the bullets are badly moulded, and the percussion caps often miss fire.

In the case of a partridge it is a matter of no importance; but when your life depends, perhaps, on a cartridge, can one run such risks? Out of the 5000 cartridges which I took with me, I do not think one missed fire. I may say, therefore, that they were irreproachable. As one can obtain them nowadays wholesale at very reasonable prices, and as they keep indefinitely the boxes of which I have spoken, what advantage is to be gained by refilling empty cases? Besides, the question of refilling only applies to the express rifle and to the 8-bore, the 303 having a kind of ammunition which can only be made by means of special machines. As every one asked me upon my return home if I had used explosive bullets, I will express my opinion about them once and for all. Whether they be “Devismes” or “Pertuiset” or “Jacob Shells,” I find them full of inconveniences.

Either the explosive bullet is a breakable projectile charged with some explosive substance,—picrate of potash, gun-cotton, fulminating mercury, powder, etc.,—in which case one is obliged at the last moment to place a percussion-cap on a nipple, exactly as in the case of a capgun; or it is a bullet charged with a detonator which is protected by a cap when not in actual use. Five times out of ten it does not explode, doubtless because, in your emotion caused by the presence of danger, you have forgotten to take off the protector; or else, if it bursts, it does so on a level with the skin, almost outside in the case of thick-skinned animals, and it no longer has the necessary penetrative force; while in the case of animals with tender skins it does damage which, as one can attain the desired result with ordinary bullets, is useless.

And then you expose yourself to the danger of letting these projectiles fall, or of forgetting them in a cartridge case, with the result that you and your men run a risk every moment. In short, the explosive bullet, which I doubt if anybody has ever used with success, may be classed nowadays in museums of balistics, side by side with mortar-pieces and flint-locks.

Possessing modern arms and projectiles they are no longer necessary, and are always dangerous. On the other hand, the expansive bullet is much used and very practical. Its destructive power is due not to the action of an explosive charge, but to its method of construction. About three-quarters of the way up the bullet is hollow, and in this hollow is placed a copper tube which is simply intended to plug it, and thus to prevent the resistance which the air would offer it during its flight if the hollow were open; it acts the same part as the wax in the 303 bullets. The impact causes the bullet to expand.

Often it breaks into pieces; or else takes a mushroom shape, head, in its tremendous velocity, dragging and catching with its edges the flesh and viscera; and it often happens in the case of delicate animals that upon leaving the body it makes a hole as big as the crown of a hat. The express 577 bullet, the hollow or the soft-nosed express of my 303, which are of that type, may be used successfully for all animals with a soft skin or of average corpulency, which, in the African fauna, are the lion, leopard, cat, wild-boar, and all antelopes, with the exception of the eland.

The eland, buffalo, rhinoceros, giraffe, and elephant are, on the contrary, more massive animals; and the expansive bullet being insufficient because of the thickness of the flesh and bone, the solid bullet is used. Some sportsmen recommend that a third part of tin or a fifth part of mercury be added to the lead to increase its hardness. What is the good? For my part, I have always left the lead in its natural state; it crushes the better for it, and penetrates admirably the hide of elephants or rhinoceroses, in spite of the statement that it is impossible to cut those animals’ skins. The solid bullet of ordinary lead shot from a modern rifle, as, for example, the express, passes right through.

The statement that the hide is impenetrable is a legend to be relegated to a museum of curiosities with the explosive bullet, with the belief in the protected and impenetrable scales of the crocodile, with the phosphorescent eye of the lion, an eye which glistens in the obscurity like a bicycle lamp. It is also to the human imagination that we owe the idea that the lion can jump over a wall with a calf in its mouth; it is to the imagination that we owe the theory of certain sportsmen on the method of proceeding to see his sight, and to take aim on a dark night when on horseback with sufficient precision to shoot animals like the rhinoceros right in the eye. The eye of the rhinoceros is, as we know, very small.

As to diamond sights, telescopic sights, or others more or less extraordinary which imaginative gunsmiths invent at every moment, the only object which they reach is, most certainly, the pocket of the sportsman. Nothing equals the small pyramid, surmounted or not by a ball. It is good to have it in platinum, in silver, or in ivory, because it stands out better; the material of which it is made is a mere matter of taste and habit. Diamonds are not worth much; I have tried them, as all other modern inventions in gunnery, and have returned to the silver sight upon which at night can be placed a large pea in white or phosphorescent enamel.

Fascinating! Thanks for sharing.

Ski+3
Whitefish, MT

I read this book about ten years ago and the problem I have with it and so many others like it is that I feel like a total wimp afterwards. What lives these men lead compared to our own soft existence today.

I killed successively in a few days bubalis, zebras, nswalas, and an eland. The latter was killed under circumstances which showed the value of my new rifle in regard to range and precision. It was in the neighbourhood of Nant’ana, where elands are rather rare. One morning I saw one of them on a grassy plain more than four hundred yards away.

It saw us immediately, and began to look fixedly at the spot where we had suddenly crouched down in the grass as soon as we perceived ourselves discovered. I resolved to do everything possible to try my new rifle on this magnificent animal. The eland is the largest of antelopes, reaching the corpulence of one of our oxen and the height of a guardsman’s horse. It was necessary to approach him; but that was no easy matter. Examining the surroundings, I found that there was a small clump of trees on our right, and about two hundred yards behind him.

I waited until his suspicions were set at rest, and he was eating; then I began to describe, by walking on all fours, the large circuit which I had to make. It took me a long time to reach the prolongation of the line formed by the animal and the clump of trees. Once shielded from his eyes, thanks to this natural screen, I reached the foot of the clump; but once there, it was impossible to go any farther. The grass was too short, and a step farther would have meant my trouble for nothing. On the other hand, the animal had moved slightly, and, scenting danger, still looked in the direction he had seen us at first. I was nearly 200 yards away; but there was no longer any time to hesitate.

I raised myself slowly in a line with the trunk of one of the trees, took careful aim, and pulled the trigger. Receiving my shot, the eland kicked, turned to the right, and fled at a headlong gallop. I was certain of having hit him; but, seeing him get away so swiftly, I thought him only slightly wounded. Still following him with my eyes, I saw him slacken his pace from a gallop to a trot; then suddenly he rolled over in the grass, kicked for a moment with his four feet, and disappeared. When we ran up a few minutes afterwards we found him dead.

The bullet, passing through the heart, had shattered and very much damaged it. Although satisfied with the precision of my rifle, I did not regard this trial as conclusive, because all animals which are wounded to the heart are irrevocably doomed, whatever may be the projectile or weapon. Later, experience taught me that the eland is too big for this kind of projectile, and that the Express 577 is the weapon with which to kill it without too much trouble or loss of time. When the animal is very corpulescent, and the quantity of flesh is considerable, a projectile which gives a violent shock is necessary to kill it, which is not the case with the small-bore bullets. Some time afterwards I organised a small expedition into Portuguese territory around Chiperoni mountain, five or six days’ journey to the north-east of our camp. In that district there was almost impenetrable grass, an undergrowth of a denseness not at all common at that time of the year.

We found there numerous traces of game,—amongst others those of wildebeests, which I saw for the first time north of the Zambesi. Elephants also had frequented the district; but their marks were fairly old. A few rhinoceroses also lived there, and one day we even found ourselves quite near one of them; we heard it breathing and breaking roots of trees, but the vegetation was of such density, the grass was so high and so thick, that we were unable to see it after several hours’ pursuit. We returned from our journey absolutely unsuccessful as far as big animals were concerned. The surroundings of our camp were not at all satisfactory. I presumed that the first rain would bring game to the north-west of the Chiromo, and only a fortnight separated us from the time when the heavens would open their windows for a period of four months. In the meantime I began hunting hippopotami on the banks of the Shire. Up to then I had only kept the teeth of my largest specimens, and I needed for my collection a fine, entire head. But I did not find this time the trophy for which I was in search, although there was a great choice at that period, a number of hippopotami having collected a little below the confluence of the Shire and the Rui.

Either those which I killed were too young, or the teeth in the case of the old ones were worn out. During these few days on the banks of the river my companions often amused themselves by shooting at crocodiles, several of which they killed. One morning when we were at lunch, one of these reptiles, measuring a good length, which had been killed the moment before, was dragged ashore, and they came to tell us that a man was in its stomach. Upon verification it was found that its intestines contained at least part of a human body. An arm with the hand attached, a foot with the ankle, and a few ribs were withdrawn—each part being clean cut from the body and hardly damaged, though the flesh was swollen and the skin was discoloured under the action of gastric juices shielded from the light. I ordered these remains to be buried, but nobody would touch them: so I had everything—crocodile and contents— thrown back into the river. The human remains floated, and the sailors of a gun-boat which arrived below stream reported to their officer that they had seen the arm of a white man descending the current of the river. This news caused great agitation in the district.

On the following day another crocodile, containing the head and the shoulders of the man, a part of whose body we had found on the previous day, was killed. This discovery caused me in future to open the crocodiles which I shot, a thing I had never thought of doing before; and thus I found several times rather strange things, including half a goat-skin rolled into a ball, and a red loin-cloth. At Lake Nyassa, two years later, there was taken from the stomach of a gigantic crocodile over six yards long, an assortment of twenty-four copper bracelets and a large ball of frizzy hair, which the horrid beast had been unable to digest after having devoured the native lady to whom these objects belonged.

Easily one ofthebestbooks written on Africa about his adventures. I highly recommend it and enjoyed it.

Another Foa enthusiast here! That .303 double gave him wonderful service.

Those were magnificent days.

What courage these men of exploration had! To be admired for sure.

I am not only appreciative of those pioneers that opened up Africa, but I am also thankful for the modern weapons we now have the pleasure of carrying.

Toting 4, 8, 10 bores weighing 10-13 lbs. for the large/heavy animals (even Giraffe and Eland!) must have been exhausting. My Dakota Safaris in 458 Lott and 404 Jeffery both weigh 8.5 lbs. each, and I do not trek 4,000 miles with them on safari!! And as I understand it, they are more powerful than a 577 BP express. Are we lucky or what?

Grateful for many things...