58 THE SOCIETY EOE THE PRESERVATION OE 



NOTES ON THE GAME IN THE NILE PEOVINCE 

 AND IN SOUTH-WESTEBN UGANDA. 



Colonel Delme Baclcliffe, M.V.O., late Senior Commissioner on 

 the Anglo-German Frontier Commission, contributes the following 

 notes on the fauna of the little-known districts through which the 

 Commission journeyed : 



Elephants, as almost everywhere else throughout the Uganda 



Protectorate, are common in the Nile Province. The ivory of 



these elephants is perhaps larger than that of any other elephants 



m Africa. The largest herds are seen north of the Aswa river, 



although one large herd crosses the Acholi country, coming from 



the Karamojon region, crosses the Nile just north of Lake Albert, 



and returns about twice a year. North of the Aswa river there is 



a large extent of bamboo jungle, which is a favourite haunt of the 



elephants. At times there may be five or six hundred collected 



together in this part. About Gondokoro, and north of it, enormous 



numbers of elephants are to be seen in the dry weather, when they 



come down to the Nile in search of the water which cannot be 



found further oast. 



The elephants are protected by the Game Laws, but this pro- 

 tection is practically only effective against Europeans. The natives 

 will everywhere continue to slaughter elephants with spears, pit- 

 falls, grass fires, &c, and the fact that ivory cannot be sold in the 

 open market will not protect the elephants, as the natives really 

 slaughter elephants chiefly for the sake of the meat. They do this 

 on occasions m the most ruthless manner. For instance, one 

 chief in the Acholi country described to me how his tribe had 

 surrounded two hundred elephants with fire in the dry season and 

 had slaughtered the whole lot. He stated with great pride that 

 almost every man in his village had an elephant to himself. Natives 

 are incapable of appreciating the wastefulness of this slaughter. 



If elephants are really to be preserved some effective means 

 must be devised to protect them from the natives ; but, in addition, 

 it appears that a modification of the Game Laws is desirable. At 

 present two elephants only may be killed on one licence The 

 minimum weight of tusks is eleven pounds, and females are pro- 

 tected. I consider, however, that it would be better to raise the 

 minimum weight of tusks to forty or even more pounds. This 

 would automatically protect the female, as no mistake could then 

 be made as to an animal being shootable on account of the size of 

 its tusks. Again, the elephants which need not be protected are the 

 large bulls. The old bulls when past the breeding age may well 

 be shot ; and the minimum of two might be raised to four or six of 



