Hunting the Elephant / Bookcrop (ePub)

"The Congo basin is the hunters' paradise...thither went William Stamps Cherry...in search of the biggest game he could find...for nearly two years he did little but hunt elephants. Then he returned to America with a large collection of tusks and a most interesting journal." -Butler County Democrat, Oct. 1, 1901

"William Stamps Cherry, the young African explorer...is the young man from Chicago who has already spent three years in equatorial Africa. His exciting adventures on this trip are numerous...nearly losing his life." -St. Louis Globe-Democrat, March 06, 1898

"An African traveler of whom the world has heard little...is William Stamps Cherry...went to the Congo with practically no money...for three years Cherry lived with the natives of the upper Sanga." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Feb. 3, 1901

"William Stamps Cherry...since he has reached manhood...has spent most of his life in the depths of Africa...for many months at a time he has not seen a white face...very little has been published about Cherry's adventures and the really good work he has done...has never seemed to court publicity." -Washington Times, Dec. 26, 1900

Surviving only by his wits and a double-barreled .50 caliber rifle, 20-year-old big game hunter William Stamps Cherry of Missouri traveled alone into the unexplored heart of Africa, a land of slaves, cannibals, and big-game beyond all of his wildest imaginations. The natives of this wild and dangerous region would later come to refer to this great white hunter as "Hula Macosy" which means "strong man."

In 1901 and 1903, Cherry published several articles on his elephant hunting experiences in central Africa. The first of these articles, titled "Elephant Hunting in Africa" appeared in the October 1901 issue of McClure's. The second, titled "Hunting the Elephant" was published in Hearst's International, Volume 5, in 1903. It is these two articles, comprising about 30 pages, that have been compiled and republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.

After arrival in the Congo and completion of a successful expedition for the French, Cherry purchased two 60-foot native canoes, hired a crew of natives, packed his rifles and camp outfit, and set out for the jungles above the equator. He followed the upper Mobangui and its tributaries, making numerous trips up the Kotto river above the rapids which had previously been a barrier to other white travelers. He lost almost everything he had through the capsizing of his canoes in the rapids three times. He would voyage several hundred miles further up the river open up an unexplored region equal in size to Illinois.

As noted by Cherry, for a long time the natives of this region of Africa had been trying to kill a gigantic elephant who had killed 27 of their own, but due to his toughness and strength he always managed to escape, even though the beast's huge body was covered with spears like a pincushion.

In introducing this jumbo sized elephant, Cherry relates that "I had come into contact with an enormous elephant about eleven feet high at the shoulders; he had the points of several spears sticking in his body, and was not in an amiable mood. He had killed twenty-seven natives and was thirsting for more. I felt that I was on the trail of perhaps the biggest elephant in Africa, and naturally I was determined to follow him to the bitter end...."

This encounter proved one of the most dangerous and thrilling episodes in Cherry's life. Such is the beginning of but one of many of Cherry's adventures described in his famous magazine articles published on his return.