Soon, however, some antelopes appeared, at about two
hundred yards off, and attracted us much more than the
enormous baboons which were so disagreeably close. A
long stalk was necessary, for the antelopes were travelling
upwind and the thorns impeded our progress very much.
My feet were getting worse day after day. There is nothing
in the hoot line to be found in this country-. After crawling
in a breathless state for some time, and every now and then
peeping over the rank vegetation, we at last came within
range, so that I was able to bring down an eland bull. On
the way home I shot some guinea-fowl (Numida Pucherani),
which were almost as shy as the game. I also brought down
a small gazelle.
The game here is so constantly disturbed by the natives
shooting with their erratic flint-locks that it is in fact
very hard work, requiring not a little dexterity, too, to be
successful in the chase. The places where game was
while I was out hunting on'another occasion. Observing a couple of
baboons squatting on the bough of an acacia, face to face, I fired and
brought one of them down, being anxious to see to what variety they
belonged. The moment it fell the other jumped from the bough as quickly
as possible, and seizing its comrade bounded away into
surprising strength and agility. Perhaps an occurrence of this kmd has
led some of the natives to think that there is something human about
these animals, although in many districts they do not besitate to use their
skins as aprons before and behind. There is no accounting for the whims
of tribes, who show differences even when dwelling in close proximity,
recollect that, while elephant shooting in Southern Africa, when an amma
was killed the Zulus, orHottentots, would devour every morsel of the carcase
and even suck the marrow from theeelular bones of the head. The
Kaffir in the old Gape colony would not taste such meat, no matter how
hungry he was. This I have observed on several occasions, the answer to
an inquiry on the subject being, “ The elephants axe people; we wont
eat them.” Yet these very people will devour a monkey with avidity,
although it resembles 'them much more closely in figure and action
Possibly the reason they give to the elephant a human connection is that
the udder is between the fore legs.
most plentiful were in the young forest-patches, where
the grass had been burnt and there was no undergrowth
of any description to afford cover to the stalker not
even an ant heap. Antelopes when hunted or disturbed are
ever on the alert, and their quickness of vision is most
remarkable.
My men had all been paid in advance, as was the custom
of the country. This prevented the necessity for my
carrying cloth, but then, having nothing to offer them, I
would be in an extraordinary fix should they take it into
their wonderful heads to walk off, in fact to “ bolt. I t was
a strange experience altogether; for at any moment they
might leave me in the veldt or in some small town where
the people would give nothing.
Fits of sulks were not of frequent occurrence, and the
people evidently had a better idea of such travelling than
any tribe I had hitherto encountered. True, they were not
without their peculiarities. For example, they were loth to
hurry away from the Dake river, where evidently they had
numerous friends. The meat, however, was soon finished,
and then came my turn. I struck for mileage, and determined
not to shoot any more.
We were to have reached the Zambesi in six days. The
six days had passed, and we had barely covered half the
distance.
One of the men said he had toothache. The whole party
was at once in sympathy with him, and every one sulked.
To meet the exigencies of the occasion I produced my
forceps, which often before had caused fearful shrieks in its
work of dismembering the jaw-bone. Much to my amazement
he did not seem to fear the dreaded implement of
torture, although its appearance had the effect of making
him quickly shut his mouth with the evident determination