"A most graphic and fascinating account of daring adventure." -Daily Telegraph
"The author was a party of four...that started for the Soudan in the winter of 1874...the sensation loving reader...finds...rhinoceros and lion falling like sheep...one animal...takes vengeance on his slayers." -The Graphic, June 24, 1876
"Great...was the rejoicing among the Arabs when an elephant, a lion, hippopotamus, or rhinoceros fell to the guns of the sportsmen." -The Morning Post, Dec. 22, 1876
"Highly interesting, a narrative of wild adventure." -Albion
"Those who wish to try conclusions with a lion, or see how quickly a rhinoceros can get over the ground when he means business, can scarcely follow a better guide." -Athenaeum
In 1876, at the request of friends, Arthur Myers published "Life with the Hamran Arabs," an account of his hunting trip in the Soudan to the Nile tributaries of Abyssinia, during the winter of 1874-75.
The hunting party included fellow members of the Coldstream Guards Lord Coke, Sir W. Gordon Cumming, Captain Vivian, Lord Charles Ker, the Earl of Ranfurly (who did not survive the adventure), and Mr. Charles Arkwright.
The party successfully hunted lion, elephant, rhino, hippo, as well as various antelope and gazelle, hiring members of the local Hamran Arabs to act as guides. Readers of Sir Samuel Baker's book on the White Nile and its tributaries will remember his account of those daring hunters who are in the habit of hunting the elephant with their keen scimitars. Mr. Myers and his companions found the Hamran men all that Sir Samuel had described them.
Although all the gentlemen were excellent shots, and seem to have been blessed with steady nerves, they had some very narrow escapes, including the author's close scrape with a lion:
"Suddenly I heard a loud roar on my left, and on looking in that direction I saw Essafi to my intense astonishment running like a hare towards me down some sloping ground, and a lion bounding over the low bushes in full chase after him and every moment gaining upon him. Essafi almost touched me as he passed on. It was a grand sight to see him advance with a continuous half-roar, and making a succession of long springs...."
Although the sport varied, on the whole it was excellent; and, in the course of the expedition, the travellers bagged almost everything that was to be met with. As they themselves confessed, their wellarmed party must have been no small nuisance to the parties of Arab hunters they repeatedly encountered.
However, sometimes the members of the hunting party were too quick to claim victory over a trophy:
"Rejoiced at his success, as it was his first rhino, Cumming sat on the body to contemplate his prize and examine the bullet-holes, until suddenly a convulsive movement passing through its huge frame, made him spring off his comfortable seat, and with Jali beat a speedy retreat. At the same moment the rhinoceros also sprang up to their mutual astonishment...."
A local Pasha had recommended use of a koorbatch (whip) to enforce orders among the guides, but as Myers notes, some guides had the foresight to steal or hide the koorbatch to avoid falling victim to its lashes:
"Some question arose between Essafi and himself this morning about a koorbatch which Essafi had lent me the previous day, and could not be found, though this was by no means an uncommon occurrence ; for when riding in the woods, the report of 'game ahead' would make one dismount instantly, and the whip was somehow or other sure to disappear."
About the author:
Arthur Bowen Richards Myers (1838-1921) was an Army surgeon and travel writer.
