THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W.KOFOID ' 
 
WILD LIFE IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
 
WILD LIFE IN CENTRAL AFRICA. 
 
WILD LIFE 
 
 IN 
 
 CENTRAL AFRICA 
 
 DENIS D. LYELL, 
 
 Author of "Hunting Trips in Northern Rhodesia^ 
 " Ny as aland for the Hunter a?id Settler' 1 etc. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY PHOTOGRAPHS 
 AND DRAWINGS BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 THE FIELD & QUEEN (HORACE COX) LTD. 
 WINDSOR HOUSE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS E.C. 
 
PRINTED BY THE FIELD & QUEEN (HORACE COX) LTD. WINDSOR HOUSE, 
 
 BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.G. 
 
I DEDICATE THESE PAGES ON 
 WILD LIFE AND SPORT TO MY 
 BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN 
 MEMORY OF PAST HAPPY DAYS. 
 
 M372637 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 THIS book is a simple account of the ripe experience of 
 ten years spent in Central Africa, which is the tract of 
 country known as Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia. 
 The former protectorate used to be known as British 
 Central Africa, and the latter territory is now amalgamated 
 with North-Western Rhodesia, known collectively as 
 Northern Rhodesia, to distinguish it from Southern 
 Rhodesia, which embraces the old-time territories of 
 Matabeleland and Mashonaland. 
 
 For the last ten years I have spent a wandering sort of 
 life in Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia, so, to get 
 a short and descriptive title, I use the title " Wild Life in 
 Central Africa." 
 
 I am afraid this is rather a disjointed kind of volume, 
 digressions are frequent, and possibly there is a certain 
 amount of repetition. For this I can only plead that I 
 have suffered much from malarial fever, both in India and 
 Central Africa, and my memory is such that I sometimes 
 forget what I have written soon afterwards. 
 
 Some people may think that this is rather a matter-of- 
 fact kind of volume; but, then, I am a matter-of-fact sort 
 of person, and dislike embellishing my writing with fanciful 
 or fictitious matter, or to read such literature written by 
 other authors on sport and travel. 
 
 These pages are intended for the nomad big-game 
 hunter, who loves to get away from the beaten track, 
 where he can be free of the irksome conventionalities of 
 civilised life, and where he can find a freedom that is 
 impossible in more settled countries. 
 
viii Introductory. 
 
 There is no country in Africa more isolated and cut off 
 than are the territories I write of, and, in the parts away 
 from the townships and settled districts, the hunter and 
 traveller will rind the country and people in the primeval 
 state they were before Europeans first settled in these 
 regions. 
 
 In this volume I write rather pointedly and emphatically 
 on some subjects connected with sport, and I lay great 
 stress on the iniquity of firing long-range shots at game 
 when it is usually not difficult to get fairly close and do 
 good work. My reason for doing so is that such a lot of 
 rash and careless shooting takes place that many harmless 
 animals are sent off to die a slow and lingering death, 
 unless they have the good fortune to be killed quickly by 
 some prowling lion or leopard that may come on them. 
 
 I do not lay claim, especially in my earlier days of 
 hunting, to bagging everything I fired at ; but, with 
 experience, I found that it pays to get to close quarters 
 and make certain of my shot, with the consequence that 
 I hardly ever lose anything I fire at nowadays. 
 
 The beginner is apt to get excited, and shoot carelessly, 
 without taking pains to align his sights on a certain spot, 
 and he usually thinks it sufficient if he manages to hit the 
 beast anywhere in its body ; but this is not good shooting, 
 and neither will it lead to clean killing. What he should do is 
 to pick the exact spot and aim at that ; so close quarters are 
 necessary if he is to see the exact angle at which the game 
 is standing. It is all a matter of angle ; for game is not 
 always found waiting broadside on, and many positions are 
 presented to the hunter. 
 
 A good range for antelopes is 100 to 150 yards ; and for 
 large game like elephant, rhino, or buffalo, a range of 
 sixty or seventy yards is best, as the first bullet is the 
 all-important one ; and the subsequent following up of a 
 wounded dangerous beast is not so risky as when long 
 shots are fired. 
 
 It is perhaps needless to remark that animals styled 
 ''dangerous game" are seldom dangerous until they are 
 
Introductory. ix 
 
 interfered with or wounded ; and the only animals that 
 may act offensively are man-eating lions at night, animals 
 with young which are closely approached, or those that 
 have been recently wounded and left by another hunter. 
 
 The following pages have been written in the bush, and 
 I have had no opportunity of getting at books of reference, 
 though these were not much required, as the book deals 
 almost solely with my own experiences. 
 
 Having kept diaries for the ten years I have spent in 
 Central Africa, I have found it difficult, out of so many 
 notes, to find the most interesting ; so I have given the 
 most recent, as they will give the sportsman a better idea 
 as to the conditions pertaining at the present day, though 
 the country has changed little since I first knew it in 1903 ; 
 and there are still hundreds of square miles that have 
 hardly ever been trodden by the foot of civilised man, and 
 there game will be found in abundance by anyone who 
 takes the trouble to go and look for it. 
 
 This is a country where camping out causes little 
 hardship in the dry season, which is from May to December ; 
 and the three great essentials of camp life shade, fuel, and 
 water are plentiful, while native labour is cheap and- 
 abundant. The country has not yet been spoiled, as 
 British East Africa has been, by the influx of wealthy 
 sportsmen who have throw r n their money about without a 
 thought for those who may follow them. 
 
 Besides giving a certain number of shooting experiences, 
 I give other information on licences, tracking, the natives 
 and other matters which may be of interest to my 
 readers, and if my ideas do not meet with approval, I 
 can only say that they are the thoughts of a single 
 individual, though I have tried not to let my pen run away 
 w T ith me when discussing any matter that may have 
 several sides. Perhaps the lonely life I have led for so 
 long in the silence of the bush is apt to make a man 
 dogmatical and opinionative ; but I like people who have 
 decided opinions, so I hope my reader will make allowances 
 if he does not agree with all I write. 
 
 
x Introductory. 
 
 The trophy hunter who comes here should manage a six 
 months trip for a sum of 50 monthly, including passages 
 from, and return to, home ; and if he goes about on his 
 feet instead of engaging twelve to sixteen men to carry 
 him in a machilla, he would have no difficulty in doing the 
 trip for the sum stated. 
 
 He should bring his rifles, cartridges, tent, camp outfit, 
 and clothes and boots, from home, as these things are 
 difficult to procure here. Foodstuffs can be got in the 
 townships, but they, too, would cost less to bring out and 
 they would be fresh. 
 
 The Army and Navy Stores and other firms know how to 
 pack provisions in useful cases not weighing more than 
 5olb. each, which is the usual weight of a porter's load, 
 though I think 4olb. better if long marches are taken. 
 Such cas-es when empty are very useful for sending 
 home small horns, curios, or headskins of small size ; 
 and for the larger trophies nothing can beat large green 
 canvas bags. 
 
 I give some pages on camp outfit and rifles, so need not 
 discuss the subject now at any length. 
 
 The best time to arrive here would be the month of 
 June, as the grass fires do not usually take place much 
 before July, and the best route is from England to Chinde. 
 If a sportsman could only afford three months in the 
 country, he should get all the game he wants in the 
 Chiromo district, which is only four or five days' journey 
 from Chinde by river steamer ; and the game includes 
 elephant, buffalo, eland, waterbuck, hartebeest, zebra, 
 sable antelope, bushbuck, reedbuck, duiker, oribi ; and a 
 possibility of lion, leopard, kudu, and other animals. 
 
 In conclusion, I have to thank the proprietor and the 
 editor of the Field newspaper for permission to use some 
 articles I wrote for that periodical at different times. 
 
 Also I am obliged to a good sportsman who writes to 
 that journal in the name of "Mannlicher" for having 
 given me permission to quote a short letter about 
 " Photographing Big Game." 
 
Introductory, xi 
 
 My friend George Garden, of Mlanje, Nyasaland, has 
 again allowed me to use some of his fine photographs, and 
 I would like to acknowledge his kindness here. 
 
 I may say that most of the photographs of game are by 
 myself, but some are not as good or clear as I would like, 
 which is doubtless due to the effect of a damp climate on 
 the films. 
 
 The photographs of the situtunga, sassaby, black and 
 red lechwe have been kindly sent me by Mr. J. E. Hughes, 
 who has had much experience of the country bordering 
 Lake Bangweolo, and who is, I believe, prepared to act as 
 guide to any sportsmen wishing to make a shooting trip in 
 these regions. 
 
 D. D. LYELL. 
 
 Bua River, 
 
 Nyasaland. 
 
 March 20, 1913. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION v jj 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Remarks on Sport and Making a Home in the Bush i 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Shooting in Central Angoniland I5 
 
 CHAPTER III, 
 
 Further Shooting Experiences in Central Agoniland 33 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Hunting Elephant and other Game ... 52 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Risks of Big-Game Shooting 80 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Tracking Game, Licences^Camp Notes, etc.... ... 105 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Memories of Big-Game Hunting ... 127 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Field Notes on the Game 
 
XIV 
 
 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. PAGE 
 
 Field Notes on the Game (continued j... ... 193 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Native Characteristics, Customs, and Beliefs ... ... 213 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Various Subjects for the Sportsman and Naturalist ... ... 236 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ballistics of the best known High Velocity Rifles ... ... 274 
 
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 A fine single-tusked elephant shot in Nyasaland . . Frontispiece. 
 
 My permanent hunting camp ... ... ...Facing page i 
 
 Crossing Bua river, near Likasi, Central Angoni- 
 
 land ... ... .... ... ... ... ,, ,, 2 
 
 Showing how palm-pole door is made ... ... ,, 10 
 
 The Mlanje mountains, Nyasaland ... ... ,, 17 
 
 Zebra (Burchell's) shot in Nyasaland ... ... ,, ,. 26 
 
 Horns of kudu bull shot in North-Eastern 
 
 Rhodesia ... ... ... ... ... ,, ,, 30 
 
 Very old eland bull shot in Nyasaland ... ... ,, .. 35 
 
 My camp in Central Angoniland... ... ... ,, ., 37 
 
 Roan bull shot in North-Eastern Rhodesia ... ' ,, 41 
 
 Elephant bull shot in Nyasaland 58 
 
 Fence round dead elephant ,, ,. 62 
 
 Sable bull shot in North-Eastern Rhodesia ... ,, 69 
 
 Hippo shot in the Bua river, Nyasaland ,, 74 
 
 Trees broken by an elephant ... ... ... ,, ,. 97 
 
 Lioness (photo by G. Garden) ... ... ... ,, ,, 101 
 
 i. Spoors of antelopes in miniature ... ... ,, ,, 104 
 
 2. Spoors of game in miniature... ... ... ,, ,, 105 
 
 3. Spoors of pachyderms ... ... ... ,, ,, 106 
 
 4. Spoors of the carnivora, etc., in miniature ... 107 
 A favourite haunt of hippo in the Bau river, 
 
 Nyasaland 115 
 
 The Luangwa river, North-Eastern Rhodesia ... ,, 128 
 
 Baobab tree in Nyasaland ., 133 
 
 Bushbuck and impala rams ... ,, 141 
 
 Rhino shot in Northern Rhodesia 143. 
 
xvi Index to Illustrations. 
 
 Buffalo bull shot in Nyasaland Facing page 145 
 
 Buffalo cow shot in Nyasaland ., 147 
 
 Tree broken by an elephant ... ... ,. ., 149 
 
 A hunting camp in the bush ... ... ... ,, ,. 151 
 
 Eland bull being skinned for preservation ... ,, 153 
 
 Kudu bull shot in Nyasaland ... ... ,, ,, 154 
 
 Sable bull (photo by G. Garden)... . . .,. ,, ,, 174 
 
 Sassaby (photo by J. E. Hughes) ... ,, ,, 180 
 
 Situtunga (photo by J. E. Hughes) ,, ,, 182 
 
 Red lechwe ij)hoto by J. E. Hughes) ... ... ,, ,, 184 
 
 Reedbuck ram shot in Nyasaland ,, 185 
 
 Impala (photo by G. Garden) ... ,, ,, 186 
 
 Warthog boar ... ... ... ... ,, ,, 202 
 
 Mkumbi, an old Angoni chief ... ... ... ,, ,, 218 
 
 A son of Africa Central Angoniland ,, 228 
 
 Fig. I. Eland bull, showing the way to take 
 
 measurements for specimens intended for 
 
 mounting in museums... ... ... ... ... 239 
 
 Fig. II. Impala head and neck, showing the 
 
 way to take head skin ... ... ... ... ... }> 241 
 
 Fig. III. Reedbuck, showing the way to take 
 
 whole skin ^ 242 
 
 Roan antelope head, showing the method of 
 
 removing horns from core ... .. ...Facing ,, 241 
 
 Black lechwe (photo by J. E. Hughes) ... ... ,, ,, 253 
 
 Bullets cut from game ... ... ... M )} 26^ 
 
 The Author v ^ 274 
 
O ^j 
 
Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 REMARKS ON SPORT AND MAKING A HOME 
 IN THE BUSH. 
 
 British East Africa and Central Africa compared Long-range shooting 
 at game Somali hunters compared with other natives Life in a tent 
 unhealthy Village life and tropical pests Rats White ants Fleas 
 killing ducks and fowls Bees and hornets Snakes Hut building 
 Cutting poles Native bark string Grass cleaning Grass seeds 
 Knowledge of use to young colonists The best type of man for a 
 colonial life. 
 
 .THERE are few countries among our British possessions 
 that can offer a better field for the hunter or field-naturalist 
 than do the territories in Africa known as Nyasaland 
 and Northern Rhodesia, the latter formerly known as 
 North-Eastern, and North- Western, but now under one 
 administration. There the sportsman or traveller will, 
 in the wilder parts of the country, see the land and 
 people under primeval conditions, and the cost of such 
 travel will not be so excessive as it has become in British 
 East Africa, where wealthy men have foolishly squandered 
 their superfluous wealth to the detriment of poorer, though 
 often better, sportsmen than themselves. In 1911 I visited 
 British East Africa, and I am bound to admit that it is a 
 splendid game country, although the conditions of shooting 
 on the plains are not nearly so sporting as they will be 
 found in the country I am to write of in this volume. On 
 the plains a man usually rides about on a pony or mule, 
 and it is customary to fire very long shots at game ; in 
 fact, the animals there seem to have learned the range of 
 modern rifles to a nicety, and it is difficult for the man who 
 
 B 
 
2 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 likes to take his shot at between 100 and 200 yards to get 
 as close as that without much trouble. 
 
 With modern high velocity small bores, some of which 
 shoot point-blank to about 300 yards, there is not a 
 great difficulty in hitting a large animal like a zebra or 
 wildebeest at that range, but it is more difficult to make 
 good shooting on medium or small-sized animals, such as 
 Grant's and Thomson's gazelles, and I, personally, think 
 it a great shame that this long-range shooting should be 
 practised, for many men who could not hit an i8in. bull at 
 400 or 500 yards think nothing of pumping several clips of 
 cartridges into herds of animals at these absurd ranges. 
 After killing a great quantity of African game, I have found 
 that if an animal is much over 150 yards off it is a very 
 difficult matter to discern the true angle at which it is 
 standing, and if this cannot be ascertained it is nearly 
 impossible to place the bullet in a vital spot, and so kill 
 it neatly and humanely. 
 
 The eyesight of mankind is not capable of seeing true 
 angles much over 150 yards, especially when using the 
 ordinary open or peep sights usually fitted to sporting 
 rifles, although a telescopic sight might be a help in doing 
 so ; but these sights are too bulky, and too easily damaged, 
 and very few practical men with average eyesight use 
 them. 
 
 In a later chapter I intend to write fully on sporting 
 rifles, as I consider the subject one of great interest to 
 all sportsmen. I also intend to treat of the natives further 
 on, but I will mention here that I found the natives of 
 British East Africa very poor hunters and trackers. The 
 Somalis have proved themselves useful to sportsmen, and 
 some of them are very plucky ; but so are many races 
 of African natives, and bravery in danger is not the pre- 
 rogative of any single race of mankind. Personally, I 
 found the Somalis a veritable nuisance, as they do not get 
 on well with the natives, and they are perpetually grumbling 
 and wanting something. In fact, they have been so spoilt 
 by kind and generous treatment that they expect to be 
 
Spooring the Game. 3 
 
 treated like Europeans, so they demand, and receive, all 
 kinds of luxuries such as flour, tea, sugar, ghee, salt, 
 seasonings, rice, etc., not to mention European clothing, 
 such as boots, putties, hats, shooting coats, and other things. 
 
 What a difference such a swaggering specimen of 
 humanity presents to the Nyasaland or Northern Rhodesian 
 tracker, with his yard or two of cloth or a skin round his 
 loins, who tramps about on bare feet, and can often track 
 game as well as a Bushman of the Kalahari Desert, and 
 who is charmed if he is presented with an old worn out 
 blanket and an empty flour tin to cook his porridge in. 
 
 The Central African gunbearer or tracker does not ask 
 a tent, water bottle, cooking pot, or any of the luxuries 
 expected by the Somalis, and neither does he get from 50 
 to 100 rupees a month, but is pleased with a humble fee of 
 from four to six shillings and a yard of cloth, or some salt 
 every week to buy food, though the old hand gives his 
 men meat to barter with the villagers for their flour, sweet 
 potatoes, ground nuts, etc. 
 
 It is known that the natives of British East Africa are 
 the poorest trackers or hunters in any territory in Africa ; 
 so I cannot understand why people praise them ; but then 
 such Europeans cannot have hunted with really good native 
 trackers in a bushed country or they would know better. 
 
 In Central Africa the game has often to be spoored, 
 especially large antelopes such as eland, kudu, sable, and 
 roan ; and of course big game like elephants, rhino, and 
 buffalo are nearly always tracked, as they are not often 
 come on by chance. 
 
 This spooring work lends the chief interest to big game 
 hunting, as anyone who is a fair shot can align a rifle barrel 
 straight and kill game if he only keeps cool and gets close 
 enough. In Central Africa most shots will be obtained at 
 a distance of 150 yards or less, and I have not often found 
 it necessary to fire at 300 yards or over, unless in the case 
 of following up a wounded beast. This is, I think, the only 
 excuse for long-range shooting, as all men deplore losing a 
 hit animal, which will go off and be shunned and turned out 
 
 B 2 
 
4 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 of the herd by its comrades, and will eventually die a slow, 
 painful death, unless it is killed by a lion, leopard, hyena, 
 or pack of wild dogs. 
 
 Having compared British East Africa with this country, 
 I will now go on to give an account of making a camp in 
 the wilderness. In North-Eastern Rhodesia and Nyasaland 
 I have made several big camps, as it is most uncomfortable 
 being in a tent always. A tent is either too hot or too 
 cold, and it is always a cramped abode for anyone liking a 
 fair amount of space. Besides, a man cannot keep healthy 
 in a tent during the rainy season, as the ground is usually 
 damp and sodden. So, without a preliminary description 
 of how I got there, except to say that it was on my legs 
 and not by machilla, I will bring my reader to a spot in the 
 African bush situated near the source of the Bua River in 
 Nyasaland. 
 
 On the journey from Blantyre I had shot a considerable 
 amount of game for my " boys " (all native servants are 
 called "boys" here), and once I had heard a lion grunting 
 early in the morning near the Rivi-Rivi stream. 
 
 I left the path to look for this lion, but he did not " speak" 
 again, and as the ground was hard and stony I could not 
 find his tracks, so I failed to get a shot. On getting to 
 Memeza's village (this chief is a son of Mpseni, the late 
 paramount chief of the Angoni race living in this district), 
 I rented a fair-sized native hut, as I knew it would take 
 about two months to build my camp, and my single fly 
 "Whymper" tent was rather old and weather-worn, and I 
 wished to keep it for further shooting trips. Besides, as I 
 have mentioned, life in a tent is uncomfortable over a long 
 time. 
 
 A thatched hut, if clean and free from fleas and other 
 human tormentors, is a much better habitation in every 
 way, but I knew from much past experience that the rats 
 and village dogs and pigs would prove a nuisance. 
 
 Of all tropical pests I w T ould give the ubiquitous rat first 
 place, as these dirty vermin are fearful destroyers of all 
 property. I have had the following and other articles gnawed 
 
Tropical Pests. 5 
 
 and destroyed by them, so it will be seen that a rat's "menu" 
 is probably one of the most varied of any living creature. 
 
 To enumerate some of these articles, I can mention 
 rifle stocks, the rubber heelplates often fitted to heavy 
 weapons, leather and web slings of rifles and bags, putties, 
 clothes, sponges, corks of waterbottles, lead articles, books 
 (for the gum or glue in the binding), vulcanite pipe stems 
 and other articles made of that substance, indiarubber 
 articles, leather body belts, hats (it is most cheering to find 
 a hole the size of a crown piece in a new double "Terai" 
 which cost a guinea), skins, horns, all food stuffs, etc. I 
 could easily give a page full of other articles if I cared to, 
 and it is enough to state that rats, and next to them white 
 ants, cause a great amount of loss to the settler here. 
 Traps are of little use, as they get too wary after a time, and 
 there is generally plenty of food kept in the native bins, and 
 offal in quantity for them to feed on. Cats reduce their 
 numbers and make them clear out, although they often get 
 very cute and keep aloft in the thatch where the felines cannot 
 reach them. Other pests, such as mosquitos, fleas, hornets, 
 tarantula spiders, scorpions, centipedes, snakes, biting ants, 
 and other tormentors, do not compare with rats and white 
 ants. 
 
 With the latter one can take care not to build over a 
 nest, although some parts of this country are so bad that it 
 is difficult to keep clear of them. I have noticed that white 
 ants and fleas are most troublesome in the dry season, 
 whereas snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and some other 
 insects are worse in the rains. Even after taking great care 
 to build my huts in a place apparently clear of white ants, 
 they eventually found their way in, and came up through the 
 mud on the floor, eating skins and boxes, and on the walls 
 they got up the poles and would come out and eat things 
 hung on pegs or nails. 
 
 It is a good plan to put one's cherished possessions in 
 watertight tin boxes which are impervious to rats or ants, 
 and every night before I turn in I have a look round and 
 lock things up. Unfortunately, one is inclined to leave this 
 
6 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 until an article has already suffered a certain amount of 
 damage, and most of my belongings bear the marks of rats' 
 teeth, or pieces eaten out of slings and bags by white ants. 
 It is worth mentioning that neither rats nor white ants care 
 to eat green Willesden canvas, such as tents and guncases 
 are made of, and this is a much better material than leather 
 or brown canvas for the tropics. When bees make up 
 their mind to hive they can prove a great nuisance, and I 
 once lost over ten fowls which were stung to death by a 
 swarm. Eventually, they settled in a brick chimney (I was 
 then living in a brick house in Zomba), and in the evening I 
 smoked them out and they dropped into my bedroom by 
 the hundred, which I discovered later when I went to 
 bed, for many were only dazed and stupefied with the smoke, 
 and they soon woke up and began to crawl about. 
 
 Black ants are bad biters, and I was seldom more 
 amused than when an officer of the King's African Rifles in 
 Zomba, who apparently had never had any previous 
 knowledge of their ways, stood over a line of the " warriors " 
 until many of them had -climbed up the legs of his pants. 
 Then he jumped and rushed into his house and undressed 
 quicker than I ever saw a man do before. His " boys " 
 and I then helped to unload him, which was a difficult 
 business, as he was unable to stand still for long. These 
 ants have very strong mandibles, and if a man were too 
 sick to move, or tied up, a swarm would soon kill him. 
 I have had several ducks and fowls killed by them, and 
 once they nearly killed a calf which they had attacked. 
 
 Lately, a swarm of fleas appeared at my camp and settled 
 on the ducks and fowls, and the birds' necks and heads got 
 covered with them. They were so numerous that they 
 resembled fine bead work. In three months I had lost nine 
 ducks and about a dozen fowls, when I tried to kill the fleas 
 by rubbing on various strong solutions of corrosive sublimate, 
 permanganate of potash, or boracic acid ; and on one duck 
 I tried a rubbing of paraffin oil, which quickly killed the 
 fleas; but it killed the duck also, for it gave a few shivers 
 and expired. I fancy that when the fleas felt the oil, in 
 
Hornets and Snakes. 7 
 
 their dying struggles they all began to bite hard, which 
 proved too much for the duck. 
 
 Hornets, especially a variety, native name magu, sting 
 most painfully, and if a bush is touched where they are 
 hanging to their paper-like nests they dart out and sting. 
 1 have still a lively recollection of two fastening on to the 
 lobes of my ears and the shooting pain that followed. 
 Why each hornet chose an ear lobe I cannot say; but the 
 fact was evident, and the pain did not cease for several hours. 
 In India, a variety (possibly more than one variety) builds 
 its nests in the tea bushes, and the Indian women get badly 
 stung at times. In fact, I have seen several women nearly 
 killed by them, and I have heard of a few cases where 
 people died from the numerous stings inflicted, and in one 
 instance a pony was stung to death. As these insects 
 generally attack the necks of their victims, death is often 
 caused by suffocation, as violent inflammation and swelling 
 results. 
 
 I have not found that snakes are so dangerous as 
 statistics would cause one to believe, for I spent nearly 
 seven years of my life as a tea-planter in Cachar, Assam, 
 Sylhet, and the Terai Dooars. During that time I only 
 heard of two or three cases of death from snake-bite, so I 
 cannot understand how the Government can issue statistics 
 of thousands of deaths annually. Like others, I can only 
 believe that the majority of deaths are murders pure and 
 simple, which are reported to the authorities as snake bites. 
 While working in a tea-garden snakes are often disturbed, 
 and I suppose I have killed over 300 Indian snakes, and 
 the worst varieties were cobras and banded kraites. In 
 Africa, by far the worst snake is the puff-adder, as he is 
 usually in a torpid condition, with heat or cold, so is much 
 more liable to be touched. His skin, too, greatly resembles 
 dried dead leaves, and it takes quick and clear eyesight to 
 spot him as he lies quiescent. Some of the water snakes 
 are very deadly and so are the mambas (of three varieties, 
 I think). Personally, I have had narrower escapes from 
 snakes than wild animals, for I can remember three narrow 
 
8 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 shaves from puff-adders, two from mambas, and one from 
 a deadly type of water snake. 
 
 I will now leave the subject of pests and mention the 
 building of my camp, which may be of interest to any 
 wanderer who intends to live or settle here for a time. 
 
 It was in May, 1912, when I started operations, having 
 already been ten years in Central Africa, so I was quite 
 well experienced in this kind of work. 
 
 The first thing I did was to get labourers, and there was 
 no difficulty about this, as scores of natives came to me to 
 apply for work. In 1903 I had lived in this district and 
 they knew that there would be plenty of meat going, for 
 nothing attracts a native here more than nyama (meat or 
 game). Some of my carriers wished to stay on for a month, 
 and, including them, I wrote on over fifty men and boys. 
 The women here do not work much for Europeans, as they 
 do in India, for they have their own duties to perform. 
 However, when I wanted grass for thatching purposes 
 later on, they brought me thousands of bundles, receiving 
 for each load a lump of fresh meat, or in some cases 
 partially cooked meat, which is the best way to preserve it 
 here. I make stands with fires underneath and cut the 
 meat in long strips, gashing it all over so that the heat and 
 smoke can get well into it. In this condition it lasts for 
 several months, and if it gets slightly " high," this is no 
 matter, as the natives like their meat with a strong gamey 
 flavour. 
 
 After noting the names of the labourers, I went off with 
 a few men to look for a site not too far from the Bua River. 
 The first spot I picked was unsuitable; as the natives 
 informed me it had been used as a cemetery, so I selected 
 another site near it. Even here there were three old graves 
 within 50 yards, but as I am not superstitious, and as the 
 natives said that they had no objections, I got the men to 
 come along and clear the ground of all grass and bushes, 
 and I had to fell some trees also. 
 
 In a dambo, or open grassy space, pretty clear of bush and 
 usually wet in its lower parts in the rainy season, I found a 
 
Erecting Huts in the Bush. 
 
 nice spring of clear water, which was a lucky incident, as it 
 is better not to have to drink water from a running stream 
 where the natives wash constantly. As a matter of fact I 
 seldom drink water unless in the shape of tea or coffee. 
 Tea I consider the best drink for tropical countries, as the 
 water to make it with must be boiled. It assuages thirst 
 better than cold water, and also induces a perspiration, which 
 is a good thing in the tropics. Coffee is rather a bilious 
 compound to be drinking constantly, and cocoa induces 
 thirst and is too fat and heavy a fluid for frequent use. 
 
 After I had cleared about two acres of ground I sent 
 the men off to cut poles, and to get that indispensable 
 material for binding known to the natives as maluzi. This 
 string is the inner shreds of bark, which are pulled off in 
 lengths of from 5ft. to loft, or more, and is taken from 
 the bovu tree. When wanted very strong it is twisted up 
 in strands. The natives use it for all kinds of binding, for 
 nails are never used by them for hut building. 
 
 The best trees for poles are the masuko and maula, both 
 of which are impervious to the borer insect, which soon 
 gets into soft wood and riddles it with hundreds of holes. 
 Besides, soft woods such as the bovu, which supplies the 
 bark string, do not stand the damp, and soon get rotten. 
 
 It is best to remove all the bark from the poles, and this 
 is done by hammering it with a piece of wood, or with the 
 back of the axe. If the poles are not cleaned the bark 
 opens and proves a receptacle for all kinds of pests, and 
 the mud of the walls is apt to crack when the bark opens 
 with changes of climate. 
 
 When the men cut the poles in the bush they should be 
 cut rather long, then cleaned, and afterwards cut to the 
 proper length, after being inspected. I have found it 
 useless to expect the natives to cut them off to the exact 
 length wanted, unless they are marked for them. The best 
 height for the walls of the dining and sitting hut is 
 about gft., and as the poles will be sunk in a trench about 
 i Sin. deep, they should be trimmed to lo^ft. A round hut 
 is measured out by getting two sharp pegs and a long piece 
 
io Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 of string. A small loop is made and put over the centre 
 peg, and when the exact diameter wanted is fixed, another 
 loop is made and the other peg inserted, and a circular line 
 made. The space for the door should be marked, but in 
 cutting the trench for the poles the earth should be left 
 intact in the doorway. 
 
 For the verandah another line is made, and this can be 
 marked by deepening the line with a hoe, so that while at 
 work the men's feet will not obliterate the mark. I made 
 my hut 2yft. wide inside, with a verandah of gft., which 
 made a total diameter of 45ft, as of course the verandah 
 goes right round. Then I made a smaller hut near, 6ft. less 
 inside, with a verandah all round, and the two huts I 
 joined with a passage. I had some difficulty in knowing 
 what kind of doors to make, as the ordinary native door is 
 made from the stalks of maize when dry (called impaissi), 
 and these are loose affairs and soon get broken. At last I 
 thought of getting the poles of the Chiwali palms, which 
 I knew grew near the Bua, a few miles off, so I sent men 
 to cut them, and when they had arrived I got two men to 
 tackle the doors, which are made by putting five or six 
 stakes into the ground and then making holes in the palm 
 sticks and pushing them on. A strong wooden pole is put 
 on as a backstay, and then a strip of palm stick is nailed 
 on. I managed to get some nails from the Government 
 officer at Fort Manning (six miles off), and also some rough 
 boards out of which I fashioned a table, a few racks, and 
 some small windows. He also kindly lent me a saw, plane, 
 two augers, and a few tools. Having no hammer, I did the 
 best I could with a small American axe I possessed, and I 
 may say such a tool is most useful in the bush for all kinds 
 of work. The natives are very expert axemen in a way ; 
 although they doubtless could not compete with the 
 European bushmen of Australia, New Zealand, and 
 Tasmania. The natives' axes are made of soft wrought- 
 iron, and are seldom wider than liin. in the blade. Some 
 of the African trees are very hard and they will splinter a 
 hard-tempered European axe. In building huts or a house, 
 
H 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 
 W 
 
Building the Permanent Camp. u 
 
 one has to study the prevailing winds, and the natives will 
 be able to say from what direction they usually come. The 
 door should be placed on the lee side so that the wind will 
 not rush in and bring dirt with it, and blow out the lamps or 
 candles. 
 
 When the poles for the walls had been cut and trimmed 
 to the right length they were put in the ground, and strips 
 of bovu wood were brought and the poles firmly bound in 
 four circles. 
 
 Then long poles for the roof were procured, and care 
 should be taken not to get wood that the borer will eat into. 
 Masuko and maula are best, as these are common trees over 
 most parts of the country. To get the pitch of the roof, 
 four men hold up a pole each while another stands about 
 25 yards off to see that the angle is right. Then these four 
 sticks are firmly tied and others are put in between and 
 tied. Some of these poles, especially the first four, have 
 forked ends which are pushed into one another and the 
 spaces form gaps to insert other poles into. Then, when 
 the poles are about a foot apart on the tops of the wall 
 poles, the roof is fastened with strips of wood firmly tied 
 with maluzi string. The floors of the huts should be raised 
 about 9 inches or a foot, and then children can be got 
 to hammer it with slabs of wood flattened at the ends. 
 The verandah is made by placing poles from one of the 
 circular strips of binding on the roof to poles laid across the 
 upright verandah poles, and these should be at nearly the 
 angle of the upper part of the roof. I was fortunate 
 enough to find some white clay in a dambo not far away, 
 which was of a nice French grey colour when it had dried 
 on the walls of the huts. 
 
 I got native women to smooth up the floor with flat stones, 
 and to do this they got some dark coloured earth, which was 
 made into a paste, and when half dry the flat stones were 
 rubbed over it, making a fine polished surface, which, however, 
 did not last long, even when covered with mats and skins. 
 I am afraid this account of hut building will prove rather 
 tedious and dry reading, and though I would like to get on 
 
12 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 to the shooting I must still give a few lines about the 
 thatching of the roof. If the grass is wanted very clean it 
 is possible to comb it out on a kind of large hackle, but 
 more than half of it will disappear in doing this, as it is 
 full of short fibre. 
 
 So as to have the interior nice, I got about twenty-five 
 bundles of sicaira grass, which is naturally clean, of a pale 
 yellow colour, and very strong and long. This I put on 
 under the ordinary grass and it prevented short stalks and 
 grass seeds from falling into the hut. The grass here usually 
 seeds about May or June, so it is best, if it is full of seeds, to 
 leave it lying for a few days in the sun and then shake it 
 Well, to get rid of the thousands of sharp seeds, which are 
 very disagreeable if they fall on one's blankets, clothes, or 
 into the food. 
 
 It is most interesting superintending such work, and if 
 the natives are stupid or aggravating it is best to be patient 
 and try to teach them. The climate often makes Europeans 
 most irritable, and the intensely aggravating qualities of 
 some natives make it very hard for a man to keep his 
 temper, especially if he be of a quick, sensitive, and 
 energetic nature. If a native gets more than one order at 
 a time he will only remember the last. A white man, if he 
 is asked to do three things, usually does them in the order 
 named ; not so a native, for he would likely forget the two 
 former orders, and possibly the last, too, as he would get 
 hopelessly muddled. 
 
 I think all young men who intend to live in a wild 
 country should have some knowledge of the following 
 subjects : 
 
 I. Gunnery shooting with rifle and gun. 
 
 2. Zoology and taxidermy. 
 
 3. Mechanics, including motor and ordinary cycle repairing. 
 
 4. Carpentry and wood work. 
 
 5. House building, brick making, and some knowledge of 
 
 surveying. 
 
 6. Horses, riding, and some knowledge of veterinary work. 
 7. Stock such as cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. 
 8. Medicine and rough surgery. 
 
Knowledge Settlers Require. 13 
 
 9. Gardening, especially vegetable growing and planting. 
 10. Boating and fishing, 
 ii. Rough camp life and cookery. 
 12. Skinning and butcher work. 
 
 Any youth who has some practical knowledge of these 
 subjects will make a most capable colonist. In wild 
 countries I have often met men who could not use a saw, 
 hammer, or file ; and as for using an axe or adze, they 
 would probably have amputated a toe at the first attempt. 
 Some could not even clean a rifle or gun properly, and 
 their knowledge of all useful subjects was practically nil. 
 In most of our best schools boys are now taught many 
 useful subjects, and in most cases such knowledge will be 
 vastly more useful to them in after life than a knowledge of 
 extinct languages, such as Latin or Greek. 
 
 Certain very sensitive and refined persons might turn up 
 their noses at taxidermy, or skinning and butcher work ; but 
 it is quite possible to retain refinement, and yet have a 
 knowledge of how to use one's hands and brains ; and it 
 will certainly lead to comfort in the long run. 
 
 There are doubtless thousands of Britons living at home 
 who would be glad to leave their occupations and go 
 abroad ; but circumstances prevent them doing so, and 
 they get rid of superfluous energy by playing games such 
 as football and cricket. But such games, strenuous exercise 
 though they may be, are a very inferior training for a wild 
 natural life in a primeval country. 
 
 It has often been proved that the best men for a rough 
 life abroad are the moderate sized, wiry individuals, and not 
 the large, lusty men, who usually are the first to break 
 down under prolonged hardship and discomfort. 
 
 The same applies to the natives of Central Africa, and 
 when starting out on a hard trip I usually pick out the 
 smaller men, some of whom show little fat or muscle on 
 their bodies. 
 
 [Since the completion of this volume a new regulation 
 has come into force in Nyasaland regarding the occupation 
 
14 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 of Crown lands, and a man can no longer build a permanent 
 hunting camp in the bush, or he will be liable to a penalty of 
 100 fine and a further penalty of 10 a day after notice to 
 quit has been given. 
 
 I think this is rather a harsh and unjust law when 
 applied to parts far removed from civilisation, and it is 
 evident that there is one law for the blacks and another for 
 the whites, for the former can go where they like, build 
 villages, and cut timber on Crown lands. 
 
 Land is no longer sold here by the Administration as it 
 used to be, and it can now only be leased for a term of 
 seven, fourteen, or twenty-one years ; so if a man wishes 
 to buy land, he can only do so from people who acquired 
 it before the new regulations came out. 
 
 Of course a man can still travel about and pitch a tent ; 
 and, I suppose, make a rough shelter, and use timber for 
 firewood ; but, as I have said, he cannot erect a permanent 
 shooting camp here, and spend his time hunting and making 
 notes on natural history, as I did, without special permission, 
 and this, I fancy, it would be difficult to get at the present 
 time.] 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 SHOOTING IN CENTRAL ANGONILAND (NYASALAND). 
 
 A slight description of Central Angoniland Nyasaland well watered and 
 thickly bushed The rainy and dry seasons Grass fires Cold at night 
 Plateaux in Nyasaland Distance walked in Central Africa Some 
 rules for hunting Two elands shot One wounded and found dead 
 Pain suffered by wounded beasts Vital shots at game Tenacity of 
 life in game Elephants and rhinos easy to kill Mr. Selous's opinion 
 of tenacity of life in lions The first bullet the all-important one 
 Close quarters best with dangerous game Fine sable antelope shot 
 Horns and ivory shrinking with age and heat Natives' fondness for 
 meat The best country for large sable heads Eland cow and bull 
 shot Good cow eland horns Remarks on hunting game Three 
 zebras killed Zebra meat causing rash Cutting the throats of game 
 Good hunting tribes Search for an elephant Hartebeest shot 
 Vegetable nuisances Some good kudu heads got in Central Africa 
 Abundance of kudu. 
 
 CENTRAL ANGONILAND is perhaps one of the best game 
 countries left in Africa, as it is still in the same primeval 
 condition as it was before the whites came to the country 
 some twenty years ago. As I will enumerate the game in 
 later chapters, I will only say that nearly all the species 
 known to exist in Nyasaland are found here, and the only 
 species that are absent are the Nyasaland gnu and the 
 inyala. The puku is found on the Bua River, the only 
 locality where it is known to exist here ; although it is 
 extremely abundant in the adjoining territory of North- 
 Eastern Rhodesia. 
 
 The topographical aspects of the country are on the 
 whole a vast undulating extent of bush, with a dambo here 
 and there, and many hills. I have mentioned before that 
 the word " dambo " means a grassy space, sometimes clear 
 of trees, but often with bushes or trees here and there, and 
 
1 6 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 usually there are plenty of ant hills, which form fine 
 stalking cover for approaching game. The drainage of the 
 surrounding bush finds its way to these places, and many of 
 the rivers in this country have their source in some such 
 marshy hollow. 
 
 Compared to many of our other possessions in Africa, 
 Nyasaland is well favoured with trees and a good water 
 supply, and the rains being regular, the natives are able to 
 depend on the soil producing a plentiful supply of food. 
 In the course of time the amount of timber they cut to 
 make their gardens will doubtless affect the rainfall, 
 although they naturally never go very far from water. They 
 are very wasteful with the timber, as they collect it in heaps 
 and burn it, for they believe that the wood ashes make the 
 soil more productive, and, certainly, vegetables such as 
 pumpkins seem to grow best where there are plenty of 
 ashes. The rains usually break about the beginning of 
 December, and they last until April or May. 
 
 About August all the grass has got yellow and dry, and 
 the natives then burn it, and this is ruinous to the growth 
 of the trees in the dryer parts of the country. They start 
 these fires so as to get the field mice, which are burnt to 
 death ; and millions of reptiles, insects, and birds must be 
 killed also ; and in some cases I have heard of young 
 elephants and antelopes being burnt to death. The hottest 
 months are those of September, October, and November, 
 and at this time the heat can be terrific in some parts of 
 the country, such as the Chiromo marsh. In North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia, the valley of the Luangwa River is very hot, and 
 the same can be said of the valley of the Zambesi River. 
 
 In May, June, and July the nights are often cold, and 
 fires are a comfort, but about August the weather gets 
 hotter by day and night, although the nights are never 
 uncomfortably hot on the higher levels. There are many 
 ranges of hills and detached kopjes scattered all over 
 Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia. 
 
 In Nyasaland the best known mountains are the plateaux 
 on Mlanje and the Zomba range, and people often go to 
 
The Mlanje Plateau. 17 
 
 these places for a change. The cold during June and July 
 can be bitter on either of these plateaux, and natives taken 
 there should certainly be provided with a blanket, for cold 
 generally crumples up a native, although he can usually 
 stand any amount of heat. 
 
 The scenery on the Mlanje Plateau is very beautiful and 
 many cedar wood forests will be seen, and there are also 
 many clear streams of pure, cold water. Any visitor to 
 Nyasaland, or even people who settle there, should make a 
 journey to this plateau, for the climate and vegetation are 
 quite different from any other that will be experienced or 
 seen in the country. The plateau has, besides the cedar 
 forests, many beautiful heaths, and the air is cool and crisp 
 and quite exhilarating after the atmosphere of the plains. 
 
 In this chapter I intend to give some account of my 
 experience of game in Central Angoniland, so I will now 
 begin to do so. 
 
 While my huts were building I often went for a walk 
 into the surrounding bush, and my favourite time was about 
 3 o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun began to lose its 
 power and sink in the west. The only disadvantage about 
 the afternoon shoot is that game killed has to be left out for 
 the night, especially if it is a large bodied beast, and from the 
 European point of view this does not improve the meat for 
 the table, but natives do not mind it in the least. 
 
 I have often wondered how many miles I have walked 
 through rough bush and along native paths in Central 
 Africa. Having lived in the country for ten years, I must 
 surely have covered quite 20,000 miles on foot. I have 
 never kept a record of the distance covered, although in my 
 old diaries, most of which are at home, I have kept notes of 
 most of the game I have shot, and of all my many journeys 
 after game. 
 
 When living in some lonely hut or house, very few days 
 pass that I do not go out into the bush with my rifle. Life 
 in such a place, far from civilisation and libraries, would be 
 intolerably slow if one did not spend the time in this way. 
 It is interesting to take notes of the game, and for a couple 
 
 c 
 
1 8 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 of years or so I was constantly taking rough sketches of 
 their footprints, or spoor, as well as sketching their 
 droppings and making notes on their habits. 
 
 There are three important rules that should be observed 
 by all who hunt big game, and these are : 
 
 i. Observance of the direction of the wind. 
 
 2. To make as little noise as possible. 
 
 3. Get close for the shot so as to hit a vital spot. 
 
 There are plenty of other rules, but these are certainly 
 the most important ; at least, they are according to my ideas. 
 
 On May 25, 1912, I went out with several men carrying 
 the cartridge bag, camera, and an axe, and we went along 
 slowly for it is useless walking quickly, as one makes 
 too much noise and cannot scan the country for game 
 and especially on the look out for elands, as a great 
 number of these animals had lately been visiting the native 
 maize gardens in the vicinity of Memeza's village. Every 
 morning their fresh tracks could be seen, and a herd of these 
 large antelopes will do as much damage as an equivalent 
 number of cattle, and in a further chapter I will mention 
 the amount of damage done to the natives' crops by 
 elephants and other game. It is enough to mention here 
 that the natives are not allowed to kill large animals, and 
 they usually only hunt pig and small buck with their pariah- 
 like dogs, and run the animals down by speed of foot and 
 terminate the business with their soft iron spears or 
 knobkerries. 
 
 As it was late when I left the village I did not intend to 
 go far, but this was not necessary, for after leaving the 
 maize fields and getting into the bush for less than a mile I 
 saw some large animals about 300 yards off, and knew at 
 the first glance that they were elands. I may mention that 
 seeing game is more a matter of habit and knowing what 
 game looks like than exceptional power of eyesight. A 
 white man can become just as quick as a native in this 
 respect after plentiful experience ; and having shot a great 
 deal of game, and seen much more, I find I usually see it 
 now before the natives who accompany me. Spooring 
 
Elands Shot. ig 
 
 game is a more difficult matter, but the European can learn 
 to do this also if he only makes a proper study of the 
 subject. 
 
 On seeing the elands I told the natives to lie down, and 
 I proceeded to stalk them, and after some difficulty I 
 got to within 150 yards, which is near enough to make good 
 shooting at animals of their size. 
 
 The game was suspicious, so seeing a good bull that 
 presented a fair shot, I aimed at his shoulder and pressed 
 the trigger. He immediately gave a shiver and raised his 
 forelegs from the ground, as elands often do when hit well 
 forward, and dashed off with most of the herd, but another 
 bull was a bit slow in moving, and I immediately fired at 
 him also. The herd consisted of over thirty animals, and 
 the wounded beasts, were soon lost to sight, so I took the 
 spoor and soon found blood, and after tracking for a short 
 time I found the animal lying dead. This was the second 
 bull fired at, and as I could not find any more blood on the 
 tracks, and it was rapidly getting dark, I covered up the 
 dead eland and went back to the village, deciding to return 
 the next morning to look for the first animal I had hit. 
 After a wash and a good dinner, succeeded by several 
 pipes, I went to bed and was up at cock crow next morning. 
 As I can never eat much early in the morning, two cups of 
 tea and some toast was all I waited to dispose of, arid then 
 I started for the dead game, accompanied by over fifty 
 natives. We soon reached the eland and found it had not 
 been interfered with by carnivorous animals during the 
 night, although I noticed fresh hyena spoor in the sand 
 near it. I always hang my pocket handkerchief over game, 
 and this usually serves to keep off lions, leopards, or 
 hyenas. 
 
 While I was measuring the horns of the eland and taking 
 a snapshot with my Kodak, a man who had wandered about 
 200 yards off called out that he had found the other eland 
 lying dead, and so it proved, and on following his tracks 
 backwards I found he had only run about 100 yards from 
 where he was hit and then fallen dead. He did not go off 
 
 C 2 
 
20 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 with the herd, but took a line of his own, which was the 
 reason we had failed to notice his spoor in the grey light of 
 the previous evening. This was satisfactory, as I knew 
 that I had not lost a wounded beast, although if he had 
 gone off I would have spent the whole of the day in trying 
 to find him. The worst feature about shooting is wounding 
 and losing a fine animal, as its sufferings must be great. 
 The other herd animals shun it, because, I think, the smell 
 of fresh blood is disliked by them ; so it has to lead a 
 solitary existence until it dies from its wound, or death 
 in some other shape or form puts a termination to its 
 sufferings. This eland had been hit through the large 
 arteries leading into the heart, and this is quite as good a 
 shot as the heart one. In some ways it is better, for if 
 the bullet strikes a little back the lungs will probably be 
 punctured. Game shot in the heart, or in the big arteries 
 above that organ, usually give a shiver and draw them- 
 selves together, and dash off at a quick pace and fall dead 
 within a short distance. 
 
 If struck in the lungs they may go farther and leave a 
 more plentiful blood spoor, and this blood will be light- 
 coloured and frothy. A shot in the kidneys usually kills 
 game pretty quickly, as such a wound has a sickening 
 effect and it causes severe internal haemorrhage. Shots in 
 the brain, centre of neck, and in the spine usually drop 
 game where they stand, and, of course, animals often drop 
 with shots in other parts ; but they will probable get up 
 again and run off. If an animal is found lying stretched 
 out on its side it is usually done for, and on the point of 
 death ; but if sitting up, it will likely have the strength to 
 get on its legs and bolt. Sometimes a wound seems to 
 paralyse a beast's nervous system, and it is then able to 
 stand several subsequent wounds in deadly parts of its 
 body without showing much distress for some time. It is 
 wonderful how tenacious of life wild animals are, and the 
 small duiker, considering its diminutive size, is an example 
 of this. It is difficult to say what is the toughest species, 
 but the kob family is probably the most tenacious of life ; 
 
Long Range Shooting. 21 
 
 and waterbuck and puku are two of the toughest I have 
 met with, although if properly hit with the first bullet they 
 are as easily killed as anything else. 
 
 Although lions are said to be pretty tough if not hit well 
 forward, a deep wound will probably cause their death ; 
 for being carnivorous feeders their wounds are more liable 
 to suppurate and cause inflammation in a very short space 
 of time. 
 
 Elephants and rhinos are easy to kill, and so are buffaloes 
 if well hit ; although an old buffalo bull can carry off a lot 
 of lead if he is not struck well forward. 
 
 Mr. F. C. Selous has mentioned that he has found lions 
 easy to kill, and most people who have shot elephants have 
 found it very easy to kill them with small or medium bore 
 rifles. Of course it is imperative to get close if one is 
 to expect to place the bullet well, and certainly the most 
 important shot with all game is the first one. People who 
 fire long range shots at dangerous game, and then have to 
 follow up the animals, really take much more risk in doing 
 so than they would do in approaching close for the first 
 shot, when they could make tolerably certain of placing 
 their bullet in a vital spot. Also it must be remembered 
 that a small bullet in the right place is always better than a 
 large one in the WTong place. 
 
 After seeing the natives started on cutting up the elands, 
 one of which I had given complete to Memeza to divide 
 with his brother and one or two other headmen of adjoining 
 villages, I started off to try to find some more game, and 
 soon reached a dambo, where, however, nothing was visible. 
 I walked along the edge of the timber, and every now and 
 then I turned round and looked back, when suddenly I saw 
 a bull sable leave the bush on the opposite side and begin to 
 cross the dambo towards my side. It was a good 600 yards 
 off when I first caught sight of it, so I turned back and ran 
 inside the thick bush, for I wanted to get a shot at it before 
 it reached thick cover. When I thought I was about 
 200 yards from the place I made for the open again, and 
 saw the sable walking slowly towards the bush. I sat down 
 
22 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 and fired at it with the 200 yards leaf up as it was walking, 
 and I missed. The sable stopped, so I quickly pumped 
 another cartridge into the magazine of my 7-9 mm. Mauser 
 rifle and fired again, this time with better results, as I heard 
 the bullet make the welcome " phut." The sable started 
 forward and was soon into the bush, so I followed, and 
 suddenly saw him standing looking back. I fired quickly, 
 he dropped, and I thought I had broken his backbone. On 
 approaching close he suddenly jumped up and ran off at a 
 great pace, and I missed him. I felt disgusted at my bad 
 shooting, but I determined that I would follow him all day 
 if necessary. From the glances I had had of his long 
 curved horns I knew he had a good head, so I was soon on 
 his tracks, which were easy to follow as long as he was 
 running, for a sable cuts deep into the soil, and his hoofs 
 spread much when he is moving quickly. At last he began 
 to walk slowly, but he got into country where the ground 
 was covered with a thick carpet of dry fallen leaves, 
 perhaps the most difficult type of country to spoor in that it is 
 possible to find. Then we lost the spoor completely, and I 
 thought I was to lose the sable, but I spread out the men 
 and told them to look for the tracks, and to keep their 
 eyes open for the game. I was w r alking in the centre of 
 the line when I caught sight of the sable standing nearly 
 200 yards away. There was no time to sit down and take 
 a steady shot, so I fired standing, and very quickly, and I 
 was delighted to see him drop, and on going up to him 
 I found that the last bullet had entered close to the point of 
 his shoulder and got him in the heart a particularly good 
 shot, but at the same time a very lucky one, for I could not 
 depend on shooting so straight every time. 
 
 The horns were a fine pair, measuring close on 42in. on 
 the curve, and they eventually dried to 4iiin., as all horns 
 do after being kept for a time. Ivory also dries up, and a 
 5olb. tusk may sometimes go dow r n to 461b. or so if kept in 
 a hot, dry climate. Horn and ivory substance is full of 
 moisture, and as this evaporates there is a slight decrease 
 in weight and measurements. 
 
Natives Great Meat Eaters. 23 
 
 As we had not brought out any water with us we were all 
 rather thirsty and tired, so after photographing the dead 
 sable we started back for the village, which was only about 
 four miles off. 
 
 How different are one's feelings when returning successful 
 from what they are after a fatiguing day when some fine 
 animal has been missed or, worse still, wounded and lost ! 
 
 In the latter case every step is tiring, and one's own 
 feelings are reflected on the men, who keep silent and glum. 
 Sometimes when a large animal, such as an elephant, has 
 been killed, the natives will sing and carry the tail, and 
 wave it as they get near the village. Possibly another man 
 has got a load of meat and the villagers will run out and 
 beg a bit. 
 
 All natives are extremely fond of meat and the amount 
 they are capable of eating at a sitting is prodigious, and I 
 am sure some of them could dispose of ten pounds without 
 feeling in any way uncomfortable. After a succession of 
 great gorges natives will become dazed with too much flesh ; 
 in fact they get drunk with meat. Elephant meat they are 
 very fond of, as they believe that eating it gives them 
 strength. 
 
 The sable antelopes in the Eastern and Southern parts of 
 Central Africa, such as in Nyasaland, for instance, seldom 
 grow very long horns, and a head of 42in. or 43in. may 
 be considered an exceptional one. I saw a head in Fort 
 Jameson which measured 4yin., and this trophy was picked 
 up near the Mangazi valley. 
 
 On the plateau above Lake Tanganyika some sable with 
 very large horns have been shot, but the best place for large 
 sable trophies is North-Western Rhodesia, where heads of 
 45in. are common, and where they have' been shot up to 
 5oin. and slightly over. 
 
 As I always give natives most of the meat of any game I 
 shoot, only keeping part of it and the head and skin for 
 myself, this large quantity of meat was soon finished, and I 
 still wanted many bundles of grass for my huts, so on the 
 29th I went out again to try to fill the larder. 
 
24 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 I had walked some way before I saw any game, when 
 suddenly I saw an eland feeding not far off. On getting 
 near enough for the shot, I saw it was a cow with a 
 particularly good head, so I fired at her neck and made a 
 good shot, for she dropped in her tracks. 
 
 Then a bull appeared and ran off, but stood and looked 
 back from a distance of slightly over 200 yards, and I also 
 fired for his neck, but made a bad shot, for the bullet took 
 him under the ear. He dropped dead, which was satis- 
 factory ; but I like to hit where I aim. The cow was still 
 alive when I came back to examine her, so I ended her 
 pain with a bullet behind the shoulder. She had horns 
 measuring 3i|in. on the straight, but the right horn had an 
 ugly inward twist which spoilt the symmetry of the trophy. 
 
 The question of giving pain to animals is the worst 
 feature about game shooting, and yet after all it is necessary 
 to get meat, and a well-placed bullet kills humanely. 
 
 Many people who have never experienced the fascinating 
 and exhilarating sport of big-game hunting allege it is 
 cruel ; but I fancy that these people are not averse to 
 eating a nice bit of roast beef or tender mutton, and if 
 they do not kill the cattle and sheep themselves, others do 
 it for them. The killing is usually the most distasteful part 
 of the business to the hunter, and it is quite a mistake for 
 people to say that sportsmen are devoid of kind or humane 
 feelings, for every good sportsman likes to give a beast a 
 chance for its life. 
 
 Our remote ancestors had to hunt to get meat to eat, and 
 this spirit has been handed down to many of us, and it will 
 be a long time before it disappears. Big game hunting is 
 good training for young men, and a man learns a lot when 
 busy at it, so it is to be hoped that the splendid game 
 countries we possess in Africa, Asia, and Canada will be 
 preserved for generations yet to come. A man who is expert 
 at circumventing animals in their natural haunts will likely 
 prove as efficient when the game is two instead of four- 
 footed; and there is no better training field for officers than 
 the haunts of wild game. Game inhabits all types of country, 
 
Stalking and Tracking Game. 25 
 
 from the mountainous ridges of the Himalayas to the long 
 flat stretches of desert found in parts of Africa. In hilly 
 country the game will be searched for with a glass and then 
 stalked, and this is probably the highest form of big game 
 shooting. In Central Africa, unless an animal is tracked up 
 step by step, it will probably be shot by tramping about the 
 bush, and compared to hill stalking or the steady spooring 
 work necessary in tracking, this bush tramping is really 
 poor sport, as the animal is seen all of a sudden, and the 
 shot fired almost immediately, without any preliminary 
 work except some rough walking. 
 
 Consequently, I put deer stalking in Scotland or any 
 other country, and markhor and ibex shooting in the 
 Himalayas, on a much higher plane than the generality of 
 African shooting ; although to be successful in the latter, 
 one has to exercise much care to go quietly, as at certain 
 times of the year the ground is covered with hard, brittle 
 leaves, some of which go off like a pistol if they are 
 trodden on. 
 
 Most people who shoot in Central Africa wear heavy 
 boots, and often riding breeches and gaiters, and it is 
 impossible to " still hunt" in such a dress. The best foot- 
 gear is either thick rubber-soled boots or shoes, or others 
 with chrome soles; and the nether garments should be 
 pants, known as " shorts/' and I have found it best to shoot 
 in bare legs. Sometimes it is pretty hard on the skin, 
 although, with practice, the legs get hard, and one's eyes 
 become used like a native's to choose an easy path. A 
 European who has not been accustomed to walk about in 
 rough country usually keeps his eyes in the air, but a good 
 bushman's eyes are all over the place, for he will glance 
 down and seek a path free from holes or obstructions, and 
 the next second his eyes will be ranging the country ahead 
 and to the sides in search of game. 
 
 If I had not accustomed myself, after ten years of rough 
 bush walking, to keeping a good look out where I put my 
 feet, I would probably have been bitten several times by 
 poisonous snakes, such as puff-adders, or I would have 
 
26 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 broken my legs by putting them into old ant-bear holes r 
 which are often quite hidden by thick grass growing round 
 them. 
 
 This is a great country for honey, and the natives range 
 the bush looking for it in holes in trees, and sometimes they 
 put out bark tubes for the bees to hive in. They usually 
 collect it in a dirty manner and bring it full of bark and 
 grass chips, and also full of maggots, but it can be strained, 
 and a piece of old mosquito netting is useful for this. As 
 most of the game meat got here lacks much fat, except the 
 eland's, which often has a lot, the system needs two 
 substances, and these are fat and sugar. 
 
 I am certain sugar is a great strengthener for those 
 taking hard bodily exercise ; in fact, one often gets a 
 craving for sweet things ; so nothing could be better or 
 more wholesome than honey, which it is usually easy to 
 procure during the dry season. 
 
 After a spell of looking after the work at my camp I 
 sallied out again on June 2, and came on a herd of zebras, 
 and shot three of them. I cannot say I like shooting 
 these harmless, beautiful animals, and many is the herd I 
 have passed by without harming them, although in some 
 districts they prove a nuisance, as they make a great noise 
 when running, especially on hard, stony ground, and they 
 thus disturb more valuable game. Many is the elephant 
 that has been lost owing to a rushing herd of zebras, for 
 the noise they make frightens other game and makes 
 them bolt too. Many of the natives refuse to eat zebra 
 meat as they say it gives them a rash or itch, and the young 
 children are said to suffer from this rash more than the 
 adults ; but perhaps this skin rash is caused more by over- 
 eating than by the kind of meat partaken of. 
 
 Again, different families of natives eschew the flesh of 
 some species of game. Some will not eat bush-buck, others 
 bush-pig, and so on. This is not a caste prejudice, but 
 purely a personal one. 
 
 Mohammedans will not eat pig and sometimes refuse to 
 touch the animal, and hippo is often barred. In Nyasaland 
 

Best Native Game Spoor ers. 27 
 
 the Yao tribe called Ajawa by the natives are Moham- 
 medans, and unless the throat of an animal is cut they will 
 not eat the meat. The throat has to be cut when there is 
 life in the animal ; but the Yaos are not so particular in 
 this respect as the Indian Mohammedans, for I have seen 
 them cut the throats of dead animals, although they always- 
 pretend that they are not quite dead. 
 
 This throat cutting is often a nuisance to the sportsman 
 who wants to keep the masks of game for setting up, and 
 in such a case the African Mohammedan will usually be 
 satisfied if he is allowed to stab the beast's throat near 
 its junction with the chest. In India this rite is called 
 " hallalkaro." 
 
 When a beast falls it is a mistake to allow the men to 
 rush forward, as the animal may get up again, so I always 
 restrain my men and approach first, and it is needless to 
 remark that one should never approach an animal, especially 
 a dangerous animal, with an empty rifle. Many fine 
 trophies have been lost by omitting to follow this simple 
 rule, and quite a number of elephants have got up and been 
 lost by not making sure they were dead by putting in a 
 final shot. 
 
 The best races of natives I have met for bush and 
 spooring work are the Awemba, who live in northern parts 
 of North-Eastern Rhodesia, but I have also seen excellent 
 hunters and trackers belonging to such tribes as the 
 Akunda, Awisa, Achewa, Angoni, Asenga, and Yaos. It 
 usually depends on whether a native lives in a good game 
 district, and whether he is fond of hunting. As to pluck, 
 this is not singular to any particular race of savages, 
 although the paramount races, such as the Awemba, Angoni, 
 and Yaos, are more likely to act bravely in an emergency 
 than members of slave tribes. 
 
 On June 7 I went out to try to find some elephants 
 that had been coming to the fallen maize stalks near 
 Kamwendo's village. I had Kamwendo with me and 
 he is one of the best elephant trackers I have ever seen, 
 and once he gets on the spoor of a good bull he is almost 
 
28 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 certain to take one up to him. He has been with me on 
 several trips and most of the Europeans who have hunted 
 elephants here have had him with them, and he must have 
 seen over fifty big bulls shot, if not more. He is an 
 Achewa headman, and his village is about eight miles south 
 of Fort Manning. He is always ready to go out with 
 sportsmen, so if anyone comes here who wants a shot at 
 an elephant Kamwendo will take him to the best places and 
 do the tracking work. 
 
 Besides being a good spoorer, he is an agreeable native to 
 get on with as he is always civil, and he knows all the 
 villages and elephants' haunts for many miles around, and 
 he is very popular with the natives as he is fond of beer, 
 and often goes off on visiting rounds to look for it. A 
 native will often travel twenty or thirty miles to a village 
 where there is beer, and I know several headmen who are 
 constantly on the move to try to find it. 
 
 Kamwendo took me to his gardens and we found the 
 spoor of a single bull elephant, but the tracks were two 
 days old, so we went off to a drinking hole about six miles 
 away and on getting there we found the night's tracks of 
 three small elephants, two bulls and a cow, but Kamwendo 
 agreed with me that they were not worth following, as the 
 tusks would not be more than 2olb. to 25lb. each. 
 
 It does not follow that the best tuskers have the largest 
 feet, but there is a limit, and any elephant with tracks less 
 than 5oin. in circumference is not likely to be a very large 
 one. An average measurement for a big bull's front feet 
 will be about 54in. in circumference, and some of the 
 largest will measure 56in. or 58in. As we were looking 
 round, I spotted a herd of hartebeests feeding near the top 
 of the dambo, and as my men asked me to shoot one I went 
 off to stalk them. I may say here that there is only one 
 variety of hartebeest in Central Africa, Lichtenstein's, 
 and in referring to hartebeests this is the variety that is 
 meant. 
 
 With some trouble I got to within 150 yards, as I think 
 the game had seen us at the water hole and were slightly 
 
Obnoxious Vegetation. 29 
 
 suspicious. I fired at one which dropped in its tracks and 
 then fired at another which also fell to the shot, but it 
 jumped up at once and ran off. The first one very soon 
 expired, so I started off to try to find the other. I put it 
 up once, and, judging by the way it ran, it did not seem to 
 be badly damaged. As we were all thirsty and rather tired, 
 we returned to the water hole, where I made some tea in a 
 small kettle I had brought out, and demolished some bread, 
 a tin of sardines, and three hard-boiled eggs. Then, after 
 a smoke, I left some of the men to cut up the dead harte- 
 beest, and went off with Kamwendo and another man to 
 try to find the wounded animal. Once again, about 4 p.m., 
 we disturbed it, and as it was going strong, and the sun was 
 sinking, we had to leave it and get back. I had spent a 
 good six hours on its tracks, so had done my best to find 
 it, for I loathe wounding and losing a beast. It was past 
 sundown when I got home, and by this time the nightjars 
 were hovering round in the open spaces after moths, and 
 the frogs in the Bua were croaking hard. Darkness soon 
 comes on there, and, if there is not a good moon, it is 
 uncomfortable being benighted in rough bush country ; and 
 many is the fall and hard bump I have received when 
 stumbling back to camp in the dark. Bare legs are 
 certainly best for daytime when one can see where he is 
 going, but at night a pair of putties or light gaiters would 
 be a comfort and save some painful stabs and scratches. 
 
 There is a vile vegetable growth in this country which is 
 called chitaisi, and its pod is covered with numberless 
 fine hairs, which cause a most painful itching and rash. 
 On a wintry day, and when these pods are ripe and ready 
 to fall, the minute hairs get blown all over the place, and if 
 they get into clothes or blankets they prove a great 
 nuisance. When following elephants into thick cover the 
 hairs will drop on one's arms and neck, and I can assure the 
 reader that they are just like hundreds of sharp needles, with 
 some irritating acid put on them, being pressed into one's 
 flesh. The itch ceases in a few hours and leaves a rash like 
 nettle stings, but it does no further damage ; although if a 
 
30 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 man's blood was in bad order, and he scratched the 
 skin off to get relief, it might end in an attack of blood 
 poisoning. 
 
 There is another variety of this buffalo bean Angoni 
 name, kasi which the natives eat by breaking the pods 
 and cooking the beans, from which they remove the hard 
 skins after boiling well. The Achewa race call the bean 
 chitaidza. One of the worst districts here for the buffalo 
 bean is Mlanje, where the vegetation is rank and tropical. 
 
 Scrubb's ammonia eases the itching, but then a sportsman 
 cannot carry a bottle of it with him when tramping in the 
 bush, so he will need to put up with it, and he is sure to 
 meet it sooner or later if he shoots here when the grass is 
 long. 
 
 There is another plant which flowers annually which is 
 very irritating and makes one cough hard as the dust gets 
 down one's throat, but this bush is only present in some 
 districts. 
 
 Of course there are plenty of thorns and stinging plants, 
 which, not being a botanist, I cannot give the scientific 
 names of ; but after a few years, insects that sting and 
 plants that irritate are not much noticed, as the skin gets 
 hardened and inured to them. The newcomer always 
 suffers more than the old hand, as his skin is soft and his 
 blood rich, a fact that insects seem to find out soon. 
 
 June 13 saw me on the tramp again, and on this day I 
 went through some lovely undulating country, just like a 
 wild, untended park at home, although, of course, the 
 vegetation was very different. I saw several oribis and let 
 them go, for it is a mistake firing at such small fry, as the 
 shots put other game on the qui vive. 
 
 I have often thought a " Maxim Silencer" fitted to the 
 rifle would be handy, and yet it does not seem quite sport 
 to use such a contrivance, as the game has quite a heavy 
 enough handicap against it already, with rifles of great 
 velocity and killing power. 
 
 While going along we suddenly disturbed a kudu bull in 
 some thick bush, and as kudu bulls do not usually give one 
 
O *j 
 
 ffi Q, 
 
 1/3 5 
 
Kudu Horns. 31 
 
 much time for contemplation, I fired at him quickly and 
 saw a sapling between us shake and then drop over. He 
 started forward and then turned and ran, but stopped 
 after going about fifty yards and looked back, when I 
 got him in the lungs, and he fell and died in less than a 
 minute. 
 
 His head was not a very good one, but it is very difficult 
 seeing the horns of an antelope which is startled, as he 
 holds his head high with the horns laid over his back. The 
 first bullet, which had cut the sapling, had splintered and 
 left several scores along his back, one of which had cut the 
 skin for a length of a foot. 
 
 Once when marching to Tete I shot a very fine bull 
 kudu with 5yin. horns, and in this case, also, the bullet 
 penetrated a small sapling and then hit the kudu in the 
 lungs, making a hole as large as a i2-bore spherical bullet. 
 This kudu fell in his tracks and died almost immediately. 
 
 The best kudu head I have seen in Central Africa was 
 one belonging to a kudu shot by Captain C. H. Stigand, 
 near the Shire River, in Nyasaland, and as far as I can 
 remember its horns measured as follows : 
 
 Curve 63fin. 
 
 Straight ... 45 ,, 
 
 Tip to tip ... 45 i,, 
 
 I have never had the good fortune to shoot such a fine 
 kudu as this, although I shot two kudus in North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia, on October 10, 1908, one of which exceeded 
 Captain Stigand's head in two of its measurements. 
 
 The dimensions were as under : 4 
 
 Curve 54^in. 
 
 Straight 46^ , , 
 
 Tip to tip 49!,, 
 
 Circumference ... ... ... ... lof ,, 
 
 This head was an abnormal one, as it will be seen that 
 there is only a difference of Sin. between the curve and 
 straight measurements, whereas the usual difference is 
 quite a foot. 
 
32 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 The other kudu I shot at the same time as the above 
 head had also a fair pair of horns, as they measured : 
 
 Curve 53i in - 
 
 Straight 41^ ,, 
 
 Tip to tip ... ... 32^,, 
 
 Circumference ... ... ... ... ni,, 
 
 These measurements show a more normal head in every 
 way, and the circumference measurement also shows that 
 the animal was older than the one bearing the abnormally 
 wide horns. 
 
 A kudu head is certainly one of the finest trophies a 
 sportsman can hope to get in Africa, and these animals 
 being very wary, as a rule, and not so often shot as many 
 of the antelopes inhabiting more open country, they are 
 still numerous in parts of Nyasaland, Portuguese territory, 
 and North-Eastern Rhodesia, and will likely remain so for 
 many years to come. 
 
 I think, as do the majority of men who have shot in 
 Africa, that the kudu is quite the finest antelope there,, 
 although a few hunters might give first place to the sable 
 antelope or the gemsbuck. A kudu's horns look well on a 
 wall, and so do a gemsbuck's, but a sable head, owing to the 
 great backward curve, does not show up as well as the 
 other two heads mentioned. Owing to their wary and 
 retiring habits, kudu are more difficult to find and bring to 
 bag than most antelopes, but this only enhances the value 
 of the trophy to the lucky sportsman who manages to bag 
 a good head. 
 
 I have heard men say that kudu are scarce in Central 
 Africa, but they are really one of the most numerous 
 species, and there are plenty of them, only they inhabit 
 rough, broken country where the walking is often hard, at 
 least to people who like to find their sport easy. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 FURTHER SHOOTING EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL 
 ANGONILAND. 
 
 Two bull elands shot One a very large one Measurements given 
 Weight of a large eland Rich fat obtained from elands Change to 
 my new camp List of huts made and cost An insolent native False 
 evidence The best way to treat an insolent native Oribi and reed- 
 buck shot Hartebeests companionable animals Roan antelope 
 wounded and found later Two roan antelopes killed Collecting 
 blood smears of game A fine roan lost in North-Eastern Rhodesia 
 Good trophies shot by chance A splendid pair of elephant tusks 
 obtained by Mr. Melland in North-Eastern Rhodesia A friend shoots 
 two lions on his first trip Loneliness of life in the wilds A fine 
 lion missed A tropical storm Game in heavy rain A fine impala 
 lost Articles quoted from the Field: "Long Shots at Big Game," 
 " Photographing Big Game," " Measurements of African Crocodiles." 
 
 I WAS on the trail again on the i5th, as the elands had 
 been coming every night to the gardens to eat the fallen 
 and dried maize stalks, and it did not take me long to 
 get on the spoor of a large herd, which, judging from 
 the large footprints of some of them, contained some 
 big bulls. On fairly soft ground elands are very easy 
 beasts to spoor, as, being very heavy, they leave deep 
 footprints. 
 
 We had gone perhaps four or rive miles when I caught 
 sight of the herd, just as Kadango, the best man I had 
 with me, saw them. As the game had not seen us, I told 
 the men to lie down and keep low ; for they often put their 
 heads up to watch proceedings, and this has sometimes 
 scared the game and frightened them away as I was 
 
 D 
 
34 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 crawling up close. By the time I had got to within 
 150 yards the elands were beginning to think all was not 
 right, for some of them faced in my direction with their 
 horns laid back. I fancy they heard an occasional leaf 
 crack, as all the vegetation was very dry and brittle. 
 Suddenly they ran, and I saw a very large blue bull trotting 
 clear of the others and fired twice at him, hearing both 
 bullets tell. Then I lost sight of him for a time, but, 
 seeing another bull with the herd which had a fine pair 
 of horns, I waited for them to slow down, which they 
 soon did. 
 
 I fired at him, and he went off looking very groggy. I 
 ran after him, telling Kadango to go after the big bull and 
 keep it in sight if possible. I soon got closer to my animal, 
 which had stopped after running about 300 yards and 
 looked back, and I fired a steady shot at its shoulder at a 
 range of seventy yards or so. It did not move, but I saw 
 it shiver slightly, so I immediately fired again for the same 
 place, and it fell on its side, and was soon dead. On going 
 up to it I found that it had three bullets all within 6in. 
 of each other, just about right for the heart, except that the 
 first one was about 4in. too far back. As I was looking at 
 this fine animal, I heard Kadango calling me, so I went 
 towards the sound and soon saw him running. He said 
 the big eland was lying down, but was still alive, so I went 
 back and soon saw it sitting with its forelegs under it ; but 
 one hind leg stretched out in an unnatural position, and I 
 knew this limb was broken. It had probably been 
 splintered by my first shot and then broken under the 
 great weight of the animal. I soon put the poor beast 
 out of its misery, and then sat down to rest and have a 
 smoke. 
 
 This was by far the heaviest eland I had ever shot, or 
 seen, but I foolishly allowed him to lie as he was, and so I 
 could not get an exact measurement of his height, as 
 the muscles and sinews had stiffened up by the time 
 the men had returned with the villagers I had sent them 
 back for. 
 
i 
 
 n 
 
 c 
 
 P 2 
 
 i! 
 
 
 
 SI 
 
 w *j 
 

 Great Size of Elands. 35 
 
 Here are the measurements, which were most carefully 
 taken with a steel tape : 
 
 FT. IN. 
 
 From nose to end of flesh on tail ... ... ... 13 4 
 
 From nose to root of tail II 5 
 
 Circumference of body at middle... ... ... 9 6 
 
 Circumference of neck at middle ... ... ... 70 
 
 Height from top of shoulder to heel of fore foot... 6 o 
 
 Horns on straight ... ... ... ... ... 2 2 
 
 About two years ago I shot another large bull eland, 
 which gave a height of 6ft. o|in. at the shoulder, and he 
 measured 8ft. Sin. round the middle of the body and 
 5ft. gin. round the centre of his neck, and his horns were 
 29^in. on the straight. 
 
 He was certainly a younger bull than the very large one 
 I have given detailed measurements of, but, like all full- 
 grown beasts, he had the thick tuft of matted hair on the 
 frontlet of his skull. 
 
 Whether the measurement of a dead animal's height is 
 a true index as to the height he stands when alive I cannot 
 say, although I do not suppose the difference can be 
 possibly more than one or two inches. 
 
 The eland which I hit with three bullets grouped close 
 together was also a fine beast, full-grown, but not aged, 
 and his height was an inch less than the old bulPs, but his 
 horns were longer, as they measured 29^in. and had 
 amber-coloured tips. Elands that are very old sometimes 
 wear their horns down to less than 2ft. in length, as 
 they are constantly rubbing them on trees, and they are 
 also often splintered and broken as well. 
 
 Elands are such grand, inoffensive animals that one 
 regrets killing them, and yet they give good sport in 
 tracking, and the meat and fat they yield is often needed 
 by the hunter. I got over i5lb. of fine, rich fat from the 
 old bull, and this has to be boiled down in pots and the 
 refuse skimmed off. The fat should first be chopped up 
 into small pieces and boiled for several hours, and it should 
 not be washed in w r ater, as this tends to make it go bad. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Moreover, it should not be stored in tins, and the best 
 receptacles are large native earthenware pots. Pieces of 
 strong paper or cloth can be tied round the rims of the 
 pots to keep the contents clean. 
 
 This large bull eland took twenty-five men all their time 
 to remove to the village, some four miles off, and none of 
 them carried less than yolb., and in the case of two men 
 carrying a leg slung on a pole they had considerably more, 
 so this bull must have weighed between iSoolb. and 2ooolb. 
 as he stood, for in such a large beast there is a great loss 
 of weight in blood and the contents of the paunch when 
 cutting up. A large bull's skin is very heavy, and it took 
 two strong men to carry this one slung on a pole with the 
 fat, heart, kidneys, and liver enclosed. The skin of the 
 neck is almost as thick as the hide on a hippo's back, 
 which is slightly over i^in. 
 
 Bull elands are much taller and heavier than the cows r 
 and the three animals where the male exceeds the female 
 to the most noticeable extent are the elephant, eland, and 
 kudu. The sexes in other game do not appear to vary so 
 much; at least, this is my opinion, which is founded on 
 considerable experience of African game. 
 
 The tracks of male elephants and elands are also much 
 longer and broader than those of the cows, but in kudu 
 there is not a great difference, although the bull is slightly 
 larger. 
 
 On the 28th I was out again, and saw two warthogs,. 
 both of which I hit hard. One ran about 120 yards and 
 fell dead, but the other I could not find, although I spent 
 several hours tracking it. Next day I sent a native head- 
 man, named Shauri, with some other men and a lot of dogs, 
 to try to find it, but they returned unsuccessful, so I can 
 only suppose that it was slightly hit, as the 7*9 mm. Rigby- 
 Mauser rifle I generally use makes a very severe wound in 
 all game if the bullet strikes full in the body. 
 
 In a further chapter I intend to write a few pages on 
 my experiences with high velocity rifles, as I think it a very 
 interesting subject to all big-game men. 
 
Description of My Camp. 37 
 
 On the 29th I transported all my goods from the village 
 to my new camp, as the huts were fairly dry, although they 
 were rather damp and chilly during cold nights. However,_ 
 large log fires soon dried them, and I was much more 
 comfortable here away from the rats, pigs, and dogs 
 which haunted the village. 
 
 The air smelt sweeter, too, for a native village is a dirty 
 odoriferous place, not to mention the filth and dust that is 
 always blowing about. 
 
 My camp had taken about a month to build, and the 
 labour necessary cost me j ios., and for this moderate 
 amount I had the following huts : 
 
 i. One large round hut 45ft. across the verandahs. 
 2. One smaller hut (joined to the former by a passage). 
 3. One guests' hut. 
 4. Three boys' huts. 
 5. One kitchen. 
 6. One store. 
 7. Two labourers' huts. 
 
 8. One goat and sheep hut (oblong and divided in the centre). 
 9. One fowl and pigeon cote. 
 10. One large shed for storing horns and skins. 
 
 This certainly seems a lot of work, but the smaller huts 
 did not have much time or trouble spent on them, 
 except that I saw that they were strongly made and well 
 thatched, and I mudded them all, and put a coat of 
 grey mud on them so that they would all be the same 
 colour. 
 
 When I came from Blantyre I brought a Yao man with 
 me who had come to ask for work. He was a huge fellow, 
 quite 6ft. in height and strong in proportion, and he was a 
 " gay Lothario " with the women and particularly fond of 
 native beer. 
 
 This he used to buy with money and barter for meat, but 
 one day when I was out shooting he left his work 
 and, in sight of other men working for me, paid several 
 visits to a stand where I had stored a lot of half-cooked 
 meat. 
 
38 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Then he left his work and went off to barter the meat for 
 beer, and he thus got very tipsy. Ubibu, the name he 
 went by, was when sober a kind of mountebank, as he used 
 to make a fool of himself and try to make the natives laugh. 
 
 On getting back to the village from the bush where I had 
 been shooting, the natives told me that Ubibu had stolen 
 the meat, so I sent to the place where he ought to have 
 been working to call him, but he was absent. 
 
 At last he was found, and came swaggering up in a very 
 cheeky manner and asked what I wanted with him. 
 
 I then asked him why he had left his work and why he 
 had had the impertinence to steal my meat, when he usually 
 got a very plentiful share, as he was strong and accustomed 
 to carry heavy loads. 
 
 He was very insolent, so I lost my temper, very 
 naturally, and told some men to get hold of him, for he 
 had moved off, shouting as he went. The men came back 
 w r ith him ; at least, he was walking in the centre singing and 
 shouting. 
 
 Now, I did not wish to take the law into my own hands, 
 but I knew from past experience that if he was allowed to 
 go without being hurt 1 would lose respect and control ; 
 so I told the men to lay him down and instructed my head 
 capitao, Nterimanja, to give him eight strokes with the 
 thin end of a knobkerry. 
 
 Nterimanja, having served as an askari (soldier), was a 
 pretty lusty fellow, and he knew his duty, so he laid on 
 pretty hard, but Ubibu got up smiling, and went off cursing 
 Nterimanja, who was a Yao like himself, and saying he 
 would bewitch him. As Ubibu had been paid for his 
 previous month's work the day before, there was nothing 
 due to him, so I told him he was dismissed. 
 
 At that time there were several natives returning from 
 the South African mines with a good deal of money and a 
 box of clothes, and Ubibu met one of these fellows in an 
 adjoining village, and this man after several days had 
 elapsed persuaded him to go to the Boma (Government 
 office) and report me. 
 
Natives Not Truthful. 39 
 
 This would have been all right if Ubibu had seen fit to 
 tell the truth, but he lied horribly and informed the Assistant 
 Resident that I had given him forty strokes with the 
 chikoti (hide whip, called sjambok in South Africa). Now, 
 I did not even possess a chikoti at that time, but the 
 Assistant Resident did not know this, and he believed 
 Ubibu's story, although he was a clever official and a very 
 sensible man. 
 
 I wonder why he did not examine the man's body, for a 
 native who got even twenty strokes would likely be unable 
 to walk well for some time. Thinking the case was too 
 serious for him to adjudicate on, he gave Ubibu two shillings 
 and a letter, and sent him to Lilongwe, the head station of 
 Central Angoniland, and some seventy miles off. The 
 Resident (or Magistrate) passed Ubibu on the road without 
 getting the letter, but I had gone to Fort Manning, where I 
 had seen both the Resident and Assistant Resident, and told 
 them the true facts of the matter, so, on the Resident getting 
 back to Lilongwe, he sent back Ubibu to Fort Manning. On 
 the day the case was heard I gave the knobkerry to the 
 owner to carry off to the Boma, as he was a witness. All 
 my witnesses admitted that Ubibu had been beaten with the 
 knobstick, and when this was produced it was found to be 
 badly splintered. This, it was easy to notice, had been done 
 on a rock, as the marks showed ; but it also shows how 
 natives will often not only lie, but will combine to blacken a 
 case. The court capitao and interpreter belonged to the 
 same tribe as Ubibu, and I heard afterwards that when I was 
 sitting with the Assistant Resident in his house, before we 
 went up to his office, the interpreter, at the instigation 
 of Ubibu, hammered the knobkerry on a rock they were 
 sitting on. As I had taken the law into my own hands, 
 very foolishly, but I think very naturally, I had the pleasure 
 of paying Ubibu three shillings in cash and refunding the 
 two shillings given him by the Assistant Resident to pay 
 for his food on the road to Lilongwe. 
 
 On July 2 I shot an oribi and also a reedbuck ram that 
 was running with four does. Reedbuck and oribi are 
 
40 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 usually seen in couples, although one sometimes sees from 
 three to five of each species together. The medium and 
 smaller sized antelopes do not seem to care to intermingle 
 with other species as do sable, hartebeest, gnu, and zebras. 
 
 Perhaps the most companionable antelope is the harte- 
 beest, and solitary bull gnus are also fond of seeking the 
 company of a herd of hartebeests, as I have noticed on 
 several occasions. 
 
 On the gth I wounded a bull roan, and although I tried my 
 best to find it I was unsuccessful, as I lost the spoor on 
 some hard ground, for the animal began to walk slowly and 
 leave very shallow impressions behind. 
 
 Being unwell on the following day, I sent out a man 
 named Zovi with some other men to look for the roan, as 
 he had been with me when I hit it and knew where to go. 
 They found it and finished it with a few spear thrusts, so I 
 only kept the hind legs, skin, and head, and gave the natives 
 the rest of the meat. 
 
 At this time I was collecting blood smears of game for 
 the Sleeping Sickness Commission, which had a big camp at 
 Kasu Hill, away to the south ; and for this purpose I had got 
 permission to shoot game above the number allowed on my 
 licence. However, I did not need to shoot much extra game, 
 and I only did so when I got into other parts of the country 
 where there was a better chance of finding parasites in the 
 blood of the game. As there were few tsetse flies in this 
 locality, it was most improbable that any parasites of sleep- 
 ing sickness would be found in the blood of game here; and 
 so it proved, for all the slides I sent to Sir David Bruce 
 were found to be free of trypanosomes. 
 
 In taking blood smears it is usual to take two from each 
 animal. One is called a thin smear and the other a thick 
 smear. To take the former a drop of blood about the size 
 of a S.S.G. shot is dropped on one end of the slide, and 
 with the smooth edge of another slide this is flattened and 
 spread on the glass. A larger drop of blood is used for the 
 thick smear, and it is allowed to partially dry before rubbing, 
 so that it will be thicker in form. 
 
Fine Roan Antelope Seen. 41 
 
 As there were more roan antelopes about and I wanted 
 their blood for smears, I went out on the nth, and when 
 tramping along with Zovi I saw a herd of the wanted 
 animals, so I shot two, a bull and a cow. The bull had a 
 pretty, though not long, pair of horns, as they only measured 
 26in. on the curve. 
 
 The best roan head I ever saw is, unhappily, not in my 
 collection, as he went off, taking with him a really fine pair 
 of horns. It was on a wet day, as I was tramping from the 
 Luangwa River to Fort Jameson, in North-Eastern Rhodesia, 
 and I was within eight miles of Sasare Mine at the time. 
 As I led the party, with a man behind carrying my rifle in 
 its cover to protect it from the wet, I suddenly saw the roan 
 standing in a small dambo within seventy yards of the road. 
 He saw us at the same moment, but did not run at once. 
 I sprang for the rifle and dragged it from its cover and 
 pumped a cartridge into the barrel from the magazine. 
 Just at this moment the roan turned and went off very fast, 
 and I am sorry to say that I missed him clean. 
 
 If I had not been very tired at the time, for I had come 
 a long way that day, I would have followed him up and tried 
 my best to kill him, as I saw that he had a lovely head. I 
 had just got this rifle out from home, and did not know its 
 shooting well, or I might have made a slightly better shot. 
 It is often the way that the best heads are presented to one 
 like this, and all the best trophies I have heard of as being 
 .shot in Central Africa have been due to lucky chances, and 
 not to persistent efforts in tracking up, or looking for, an 
 exceptional animal. 
 
 Captain Stigand's kudu was come on by chance, and the 
 best buffalo head procured in North-Eastern Rhodesia was 
 shot by a Mr. Grimes the poor fellow soon after contracted 
 sleeping sickness, of which he died who was told by the 
 natives that a big buffalo had been coming to their gardens, 
 near where his camp was pitched. He went out and 
 killed it with a '405 Winchester nitro rifle, and its horns 
 measured over 48in, outside measurement, and, moreover, 
 they were beautifully shaped and more closely resembled 
 
42 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 the heads shot in Uganda than the usual type of this country, 
 which are seldom wide. 
 
 Again, Mr. Melland, of the Northern Rhodesian Adminis- 
 tration, shot a grand bull elephant with a single "400 bullet 
 before he noticed the size of the ivory. It ran off hard hit 
 and was found later, and its tusks weighed close on i2olb., 
 but they dried to about u61b. 
 
 Many men who have never killed an animal of a certain 
 species sometimes have the luck to get a very fine trophy 
 at the first go off, and not long ago a friend of mine (Mr. 
 W. P. Ronaldson) went to the Chiromo Marsh to shoot r 
 and on his first day bagged two large lions. Now, I have 
 been there several times, and I have heard lions roaring 
 and grunting at night, but I have not had the luck to 
 meet any in that locality, although it is a famed haunt of 
 these large felines. I could give many other instances of 
 men getting fine trophies or shooting some rare species 
 (such as the inyala) purely by chance. I would give 
 something to shoot an inyala, but as yet I have not seen 
 one alive, and yet several men, some of whom have had 
 slight experience, have been fortunate enough to shoot 
 one in Nyasaland. 
 
 So it is in many circumstances of life, for those who 
 want a thing do not get it, and those who care not are 
 more fortunate. 
 
 At a certain moment one man may be soaked with rain, 
 and at the same moment another man somewhere else on 
 the face of the globe may be dying of thirst. It is a world 
 of contrasts, but to meet them one has usually to go to the 
 wild, unfenced wilderness. Those whose untamed spirits 
 urge them to travel such country usually see the best and 
 the worst, for their lives are spent amongst vivid contrasts. 
 This spirit the Germans aptly call it "wanderlust/' I 
 think dwells in the hearts of many at home who must 
 long, at times, to get to the vast spaces of the earth. Those 
 are the lucky ones who can go and return as they wish. 
 Sometimes it is possible to get too much of the wilds, for 
 comforts are rare and discomforts common. I think, 
 
Loneliness of Bush Life. 43 
 
 judging from my own experience of tropical Africa, that 
 one longs for the cold, exhilarating ,air of home more 
 than for good food ; although this, too, is often desired 
 when one is low with fever and satiated with unpalatable 
 stuff. 
 
 The intense loneliness and monotony of a solitary 
 life, away from others of their own kind, have a bad 
 effect on the minds of many men, as they get morbid and 
 inclined to suffer from melancholia, when they often act 
 foolishly. 
 
 About the year 1905 I spent twelve months at a place 
 called Mzazas, on the Luangwa River, and during that time 
 only four men visited me, and once I went away to see a 
 man I kne.v some sixty miles off. As Mzazas was not 
 a health resort and I underwent an attack of blackwater 
 fever there, I was naturally pretty bad at times ; but I 
 cannot say I regret the loneliness, as I was out in the bush 
 every day looking tor game and making a collection of 
 drawings of game spoor. 
 
 Sometimes, when a man is beginning his shooting ex- 
 periences, over-keenness may lose him an animal he is 
 very anxious to bag. Besides the large-horned roan 
 antelope I have mentioned, I can remember several other 
 trophies that I should have bagged if I had shot more 
 steadily. Once when on a shooting trip, in December, 
 1903, to the country bordering Lake Chiuta, w r ith Captain 
 Mostyn, of the King's African Rifles, I lost a lion in the 
 following way. Every day my friend and I used to go off 
 in a different direction and meet in the afternoon or evening 
 when we returned to camp. One day I had got on the 
 fresh spoor of a herd of buffalo, which took me across the 
 mud and swamp of the lake, and I had followed them 
 many miles when my men and I noticed the tracks of some 
 Portuguese native hunters, who had cut the spoor of the 
 buffaloes just ahead of us. We then stopped and began to 
 return to the tents, and we had just reached the swamp 
 when we disturbed a fine, light-maned lion which was lying 
 in a low hollow, with some tall grass in its centre. I had 
 
44 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 handed over my rifle to my gun-bearer a few minutes 
 before and was walking a short distance in front, and, 
 instead of passing through the tall grass in the hollow, I 
 passed to one side. The men following went right through 
 it, and I suddenly heard a series of hoarse grunts, so, 
 naturally, stopped and turned round to look. The lion 
 must have seen or heard me pass, but he was so excited 
 with the shouts of the men that he forgot my existence 
 and ran towards me, looking back at the natives. I gave 
 a shout, and the lion then noticed me and stopped and 
 crouched, putting his head on his paws. I regretted not 
 having my rifle in my hand, for he was only about two 
 paces from me, and I could easily have brained him. I 
 held out my hand for the rifle, and the man who was 
 carrying it very pluckily carne round with it. 
 
 Just as I got it in my hand the lion bolted to the right, 
 and I foolishly fired a running shot at him, instead of 
 waiting for him to stand, which I think he would have 
 done within 100 yards or less. My bullet must have 
 passed just in front of his face, for he swerved sharply 
 and was soon into some thick bush, where I lost sight of 
 him, and, although the men and myself beat up the bush, 
 we never saw him again. When the lion bolted I was 
 amused at the action of a boy who had a soft iron knife 
 in his hand, for he gave a yell and ran after the lion. 
 What he thought he could do if the lion had stopped and 
 waited for him I cannot say. 
 
 When we were crossing the swamp one of the worst 
 tropical storms of thunder, lightning, and rain that I have 
 ever seen came on, and the lightning was so close that I 
 feared some of us would be struck. While tramping along 
 in the mud and lashing rain I noticed several herds of 
 game, and they stood like horses or cattle with their tails 
 to the driving storm, and would hardly move out of our 
 way. I saw several reedbucks, also, and I remember one 
 male had a very fine head, but he was more lively than 
 most of the other game, for he ran off before I could get the 
 rifle from its cover. We got home at dusk soaked and 
 
Fine Impala Seen. 45 
 
 tired, and this was one of the black days in my diary 
 and one of the hardest. 
 
 Just after this experience I was shooting near the 
 Shire River, and one day I saw the largest horned impala 
 I have ever seen in Central Africa. His head more 
 resembled the size of the British East African type, though 
 I cannot say what it measured, as I missed a fairly easy 
 chance at him at about seventy yards range. 
 
 Again, in North-Eastern Rhodesia I wounded and lost a 
 very fine bull sable antelope, whose horns were much 
 better than a 43in. head I had bagged about a month 
 before. I knocked this sable down and had walked up to 
 within twenty yards of him, and then turned my back 
 to pull my Kodak from its case to get a snapshot. While 
 I was doing this I heard the thud of his feet and 
 turned round to see him disappearing into the thick bush 
 near. I followed this sable for two days and never 
 saw him again, and I believe my bullet grazed his spine, 
 which dropped him and caused paralysis for a few moments. 
 The loss of this beast was, of course, due to my own 
 carelessness, although if the boy who was carrying the 
 camera had been a sharp-witted lad he would have told me 
 the sable was getting up and running off, as he was looking 
 at it. Then I would likely have had time to get in another 
 shot with the chance of killing or crippling it. Anyhow, 
 1 lost the best pair of horns I have seen on a living 
 sable antelope, and I am sure they were not much less 
 than 46in. 
 
 Every incident such as this is a fine lesson, and it is 
 generally remembered when a similar incident arises ; 
 and of course there would not be much interest in game 
 shooting unless there was a certain amount of uncertainty. 
 
 The lucky days are not perhaps so common as the 
 unlucky ones, but the luck is sure to change if one keeps 
 hard at it. The best hunter, if not always the best shot, is 
 the man who is hard-working and persevering. 
 
 Before closing this chapter I will give a few of my articles 
 which have appeared in the Field newspaper at different 
 
46 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 times, as I have the kind permission of the proprietor and 
 editor of that journal to do so. Here is one about long 
 range shooting at game which may be of interest : 
 
 LONG SHOTS AT BIG GAME. 
 
 SIR, In your issue of July 9 I notice a letter by " Canities Adest " entitled 
 41 Long Shots at Stags." I have also seen other letters on the same subject, 
 one by Mr. Dunbar-Brunton referring to some long shots he made at game in 
 North-East Rhodesia. I have had considerable experience of big-game 
 shooting in Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia, and I have seldom found it 
 necessary to shoot at a greater range than about 200 yards, and most shots 
 will be taken at 100 or 150 yards. 
 
 I do not consider it sportsmanlike for a man to make a practice of 
 shooting at game over 150 yards, and if he cannot get to within that 
 distance he cannot be a good hunter. Even on the big plains (called 
 dambos here) there is usually enough covert to enable one to get a reason- 
 ably close shot, and only on a very few occasions have I found it necessary 
 to shoot at game over 200 yards off. Of course, some men might be able to 
 kill a buck better at 300 yards than another man would at 100 yards, and 
 with modern rifles, such as the '280 Ross, '256 Mannlicher, or '275 Mauser, 
 a matter of fifty yards or so may not make so much difference when a man 
 is blessed with good eyesight, and when the game is standing in the open. 
 In the old days in Southern Africa the Boers used to fire at springboks at 
 distances over 500 yards, and often kill them, but I believe that for one 
 buck they killed they missed or wounded many. A springbok is about the 
 size of an impala, and the heart of the latter measures 5in. long by 3fin. 
 broad, so it would need a remarkably good shot to hit it at a distance of 
 over 150 yards. The lungs are larger, but under the ordinary conditions of 
 shooting in this country it is unsportsmanlike, I consider, to shoot at a buck 
 over 150 yards, unless meat is urgently required or the beast has been 
 wounded by a previous shot. Many men who know they could not hit a 
 ift. "bull" at 300 or 400 yards think nothing of pumping a magazine full 
 of cartridges at a buck at that distance, whether it is standing or running. 
 
 When a man has been walking for some distance in a hot tropical sun, 
 and is perhaps shaky with fever or exertion, he cannot expect to shoot as 
 well as he would at a gunmaker's range on a cool day at home. It is all 
 very well to say that rifles are so accurate and have such a flat trajectory 
 nowadays that it is easy to kill game at 300 and 400 yards ; but the question 
 of eyesight comes in. Any good modern rifle with a velocity of 2OOoft. per 
 second is capable of killing an animal a mile off; but that is no reason why 
 animals should be shot at when it is impossible to locate their vital organs 
 or to discern the true angle at which they are standing. 
 
 The ignorance displayed by some men who ought to know better is 
 amazing. For instance, men will fire at hippos from a river steamer in 
 motion and expect to put a bullet into a circle of about 5in., which is, 
 roughly, the size of a hippo's brain. For one hippo that they kill by a fluke 
 they will wound over twenty. The wounded animals retire into the weeds 
 
Long Shots at Game. 47 
 
 and attack the first native canoe that passes near, probably drowning the 
 poor native, or, at least, causing him the loss of his canoe and its contents. 
 Some people who go after buck, when asked if they got anything, will say, 
 " No, but I hit several," apparently very proud of the performance. If he 
 had said, " No, but I wounded one, and followed it until I lost the spoor, or 
 darkness came on," he might be called a sportsman, for even the best of 
 hunters will have the bad luck to wound and lose an animal at times. 
 
 In the hands of a man who knows what he is doing a magazine rifle is a 
 great advantage, but in the hands of a tyro who loses his head and gets 
 excited it becomes a curse. I really think that the administration of the 
 different protectorates in Africa should make it unlawful for a man who 
 knows nothing of big-game shooting to use a magazine rifle until he is 
 accomplished enough to use it properly. A single loader or double is not 
 only better for him, but for the game. If he had a single loader he 
 would naturally take more trouble to get closer, and fire with greater care. 
 A man once said to me : " I never try to get close, for I have five shots in 
 my magazine, and surely I can hit a beast with five shots ! " 
 
 He may have hit some of them, but he did not bag many, unless he 
 counted the wounded as "bagged." Men who go in for big-game shooting 
 and are well up in their subject are generally humane and kind-hearted men, 
 and all of them deplore the loss of a wounded animal, for they know the 
 sufferings that it has to undergo,, and in hourly terror from carnivorous 
 beasts, which can take it at a disadvantage. 
 
 A modern expanding bullet makes a fearful wound, for the diameter 
 increases as the bullet penetrates. In some cases the exit hole in a small 
 antelope will be as large as a saucer. Such a wound in the body of a large 
 antelope like a roan, kudu, sable, or waterbuck will almost invariably cause 
 its death. I have shot a great number of antelopes, and I have seldom 
 found other bullets than my own in the animals, so I presume that nearly 
 all wounded beasts die sooner or later. 
 
 I quite agree with " Canities Adest," and his letter applies to Central 
 Africa just as much as it does to deerstalking at home, for the amount of 
 rash -hooting that goes on out here is appalling. 
 
 Field, October 8, 1910. D. P. L. 
 
 I now give two letters from tne same newspaper about 
 photographing big game and the dangers incurred while 
 doing so, and I have the permission of " Mannlicher " to 
 give his ideas on the same subject. 
 
 PHOTOGRAPHING BIG GAME. 
 
 SIR, In your issue of January 20 I notice a paragraph entitled " Mr. 
 Kearton's Cinematograph." I quote the last sentence: "Mr. Kearton and 
 his brother, who has helped him, have done wonders, and when we 
 remembe that a photographer has to approach very much nearer to his 
 subject than a sportsman does to his game, we cannot but admire the 
 
48 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 personal courage that has led them to incur a real risk in the pursuit of 
 science." Now, I quite agree with this, but I would like to point out that 
 animal photographers really take less risk than do men whose desire it is to 
 kill the game they hunt. Most hunters know that few wild animals are 
 really dangerous until they are wounded, and it is usual for them to make 
 a bolt as long as they have the strength to do so. 
 
 Mr. Radclyffe Dugmore, in his interesting book " Camera Adventures in 
 the African Wilds," makes some rather derogatory remarks about the man 
 with the rifle, and there can be no doubt that he and his comrade, as well as 
 Mr. Kearton and his brother, all took great risks in photographing lions 
 and rhinos ; more especially the latter, as in certain parts of British East 
 Africa these animals are known to charge without provocation. Perhaps 
 getting to within twenty yards of a crusty rhino might, however, be sufficient 
 excuse for it to charge, and so we can hardly blame the animal for acting on 
 the defensive. 
 
 Men who take telephotographs do not need to get much closer than a 
 man who is trying to kill with a rifle. When a lion, buffalo, elephant, rhino, 
 or leopard is wounded and followed into dense grass or bush, I am certain 
 the risk is infinitely greater than it is to try to photograph any of those 
 animals which are unwounded, and I am sure that all practical hunters will 
 agree with me. I do not for a moment wish to detract from the dangers 
 undergone by big-game photographers, for it needs much courage to go 
 close to dangerous game with a camera; but I contend that the danger is 
 really less than it would be if the game had been wounded and was being 
 fol'owed with a rifle. 
 
 A famous surgeon who visited British East Africa wrote some derogatory 
 remarks about lion shooting. Following lions on horseback with a pack of 
 dogs may not be very dangerous, or following them with a crowd of natives 
 and four or five guns may also lack much danger ; but to follow a wounded 
 lion, buffalo, elephant, or rhino into dense covert by oneself accompanied by 
 only a second gunbearer is very dangerous. The graves of many good 
 sportsmen all over Africa prove it, and so does the record of those who 
 have had the bad luck to get mauled. 
 
 Field, April 20, 1912. D. D. L. 
 
 SIR, As one who, like Mr. Lyell, has had long experience of hunting 
 great game in most parts of the African continent, I heartily endorse his 
 remarks as to the nonsense that is talked about the danger incurred in 
 getting these photographs. I also agree with him that getting close-range 
 photos of rhino, particularly in East Africa, involves more risk than any 
 other animal. With a telephoto camera it is not necessary to get anything 
 like so close to the really dangerous animals as a really good man does when 
 hunting alone. A telephoto lens will give excellent results of elephants at 
 100 yards ; but the old hand after elephants gets vastly closer than this 
 before taking his shot, ditto with rhino. I have shot rhino in various parts 
 of Africa, and never found them particularly dangerous till I went to East 
 Africa, for the first and only time, twelve years ago. As regards lions, in 
 broad daylight the danger is practically nil until the animal has been 
 
Length of Crocodiles. 49 
 
 wounded, or at least shot at. It is true that with a vast crowd of beaters 
 and the backing of several reliable guns the danger is but small; while the 
 dog method, about which we have heard so much lately in connection with 
 a holocaust by an American hunter, which included a few good lions, but 
 many of a tender age, is almost devoid of danger, and, far from being a new 
 thing, was on one occasion utilised by that good sportsman Mr. Butter with 
 great success. The large number of fatal accidents, though in many cases 
 due to the inexperience and want of steadiness of the sufferers, shows how 
 true it is that the genuine sportsman, who hunts single handed and on foot, 
 runs the very greatest risk when following up wounded animals into more or 
 less dense covert. MANNLICHER. 
 
 Field, April 27, 1912. 
 
 Then to conclude this chapter I will give other articles 
 from the same newspaper about the length of African 
 crocodiles. 
 
 I sent a query to the Field of March 12, 1910, asking 
 if anyone could say whether an African crocodile had 
 been killed measuring over 22ft., and here are the replies 
 by the best authorities on the subject, and a further letter 
 I wrote on the same subject : 
 
 MEASUREMENTS OF AFRICAN CROCODILE. 
 In reply to his question on this subject I may refer Mr. D. Lyell to the 
 late Dr. John Anderson's "Reptiles of Egypt," in which (pp. 11-12) the 
 statements made by travellers or other observers regarding the length of 
 Crocodilus niloticus, the common crocodile of Africa, are quoted and 
 discussed. Although there have been reports of crocodiles 5oft. long, 
 Dr. Anderson concludes that there is no record of the actual measurements 
 of any Nile crocodile over lyft, and that the greater size attributed to other 
 specimens has been all guesswork. The limit of growth, however, is quite 
 unknown. G. A. BOULENGER. 
 
 In reference to Mr. LyelPs query in last week's Field it may be 
 
 mentioned that it is very difficult to obtain trustworthy information with 
 regard to the maximum dimension of crocodiles of any kind, and that this 
 is especially so in the case of the African Crocodilus niloticus. Those who 
 shoot them seldom take the trouble to measure such as are brought to land. 
 That Indian crocodiles commonly attain a length of from I5ft. to 2oft. is 
 well known, and there is little, if any, doubt that they sometimes grow to a 
 much greater size. It is stated, for instance, in Gunther's " Reptiles of 
 British India," that both C. porosus and C. palustris sometimes grow to3oft, 
 and there is in the British Museum a skull of the first-named species killed 
 in Bengal in 1840, which was stated by the donor to have belonged to a 
 
 E 
 
50 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 reptile measuring 33ft. in length. On the other hand, there does not appear 
 to be any record of the African crocodile attaining anything approaching 
 such dimensions. The largest specimen of this species in the British 
 Museum, at the date when the Catalogue of Chelonians and Crocodiles was 
 published, measured just under I5ft. (4^ metres) in length; and Dr. 
 Voeltzkow, who made a special study of these reptiles in Madagascar a few 
 years ago, states that the largest specimen he measured was I3ft. long. 
 Again, writing of Egyptian crocodiles, Dr. J. Anderson, in his " Reptiles of 
 Egypt," states that there is no authentic record of any specimen exceeding 
 iyft. in length. Mr. Selous, on page 291 of his " Hunter's Wanderings," 
 refers to a I3ft. crocodile as a large one. So far as I can discover there 
 appears to be no record of an African crocodile 22ft. in length. R. L. 
 Field, March 19, 1910. 
 
 SIR, I must thank Mr. G. A. Boulenger and Mr. R. Lydekker for their 
 answers in the Field of March 19 with reference to the length of the 
 African crocodile. 
 
 I have shot a number of crocodiles in the Zambesi and Luangwa rivers, 
 and the largest one I taped measured I4ft. Once on the Zambesi, while 
 travelling in the river steamer Hamburg, I saw and wounded a much bigger 
 one. It was lying asleep on a sand bank about midday, and 1 used a '303 
 rifle with a soft-nosed bullet. When the bullet struck, the crocodile raised 
 its tail in the air and brought it down with a thump, as these reptiles often 
 do when well hit. Thinking it was dead, I picked up a pair of binoculars, 
 and through them I saw the blood pouring out of the wound between the 
 neck and shoulder. While I was looking I heard the crack of two Snider 
 rifles, and on turning round I found that two Portuguese soldiers had both 
 fired. Their bullets did not strike the crocodile, but passed over it and 
 raised the sand some distance beyond. However, the crocodile seemed to 
 revive, and was quickly in the water before I could reload and fire again. 
 
 This was by far the largest crocodile I have ever seen, either in India or 
 Africa, and it seemed half as long again as the I4ft. one that I measured. 
 Its bulk and girth were enormous and far exceeded an i8ft. garial I once 
 measured in the Brahmaputra River in Assam. The skipper of the 
 Hamburg, who had been some time on the Zambesi, told me that he had 
 never seen one approaching it in size. It was well hit with a raking shot, 
 and I fancy it died, but shall always regret that I did not fire again and 
 make sure of this, for I could have persuaded the skipper to stop the 
 steamer and put me ashore so that I might have taped the animal. In fact, 
 he said he would have done so had the crocodile not escaped. The i8ft. 
 garial I measured in the Brahmaputra was a large one, but I believe I have 
 seen a few bigger. In 1894 these animals were very plentiful, although in 
 five or six years they got scarcer, as many people used to fire at them from 
 the passing steamers. 
 
 I have an idea that the late Sir Samuel Baker mentions a large crocodile 
 in his book on the sources of the Nile, but it is so many years since I read 
 the work in question that I have forgotten the facts. 
 
Large Crocodiles. 51 
 
 A crocodile is an awkward animal to skin, for the skin is very firmly 
 attached to the body. A good many natives are killed by these animals 
 every year, and in places where they are dangerous the natives make a 
 circular fence in the water to protect themselves when bathing and drawing 
 water. 
 
 Shire River, Nyasaland. D. D. L. 
 
 [The passage referred to by our correspondent is, no doubt, that in 
 " Wild Beasts and their Ways " (ch. xiii.), where Baker wrote of having 
 seen on a bare patch of grey granite on an island in the Victoria Nile " two 
 vast forms each as thick as the body of a hippopotamus, and of enormous 
 length. These two antediluvian monsters glided slowly and fearlessly 
 along the gently sloping granite, and when half beneath the water they 
 exposed a breadth of back which was the most extraordinary sight I have 
 ever seen in my long experience of crocodiles." The canoe in which he 
 was travelling at the time was about 3oft. long, and he judged the surface of 
 the granite at about 6oft., but "would not presume to estimate the length of 
 these extraordinary creatures." ED.] 
 
 Field, July 16, 1910. 
 
 E 2 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 HUNTING ELEPHANT AND OTHER GAME. 
 
 A good locality for elephants A large race of elephants Stretching skins 
 of game The spoor of three elephants found One a very large one 
 Good tracking Damage done by elephants Easily killed with small 
 bores The largest bags of elephants in a day The use of anthills to. 
 spy from An elephant lost through the carelessness of a native Lose 
 a shot at moving elephants Mistake of firing uncertain shots Excite- 
 ment of elephant shooting Hot weather Try a different direction 
 The spoor of a good tusker found Follow him and find him in a bad 
 bit of country Hit him, and he runs and falls dead A good tusk 
 Old wounds in elephant Actions of an elephant shot in the lungs 
 Elephants die hard Measurement of the cavity of an elephant's brain 
 Size of elephant's feet Position of elephant's heart Good quality 
 ivory found in Nyasaland and adjacent countries Bad smell of dead 
 elephants after lying in the sun Noise made by opening elephant's 
 stomach Natives cut themselves A lively night with hyaenas Weird 
 noises made by hyaenas I sight a small herd of buffalo and see a herd 
 of sable antelopes Central Africa a network of paths "Closing" 
 paths Usual time of year for grass burning Destruction caused by 
 grass fires Hot ground Shoot a kudu bull Carry off elephant meat 
 Another trip Two sable antelopes shot Wound a bull and lose it 
 Elephant scared Meet a white man and his wife Two eland bulls 
 shot Fat got from elands Natives- dirty butchers Noting position 
 of vital organs in game Change camp and see spoor of lion and 
 buffalo Young eland killed by lion Extreme heat at end of dry 
 season Go after hippo Shoot one Time taken by hippo to rise 
 when shot Four hippos shot in Zambesi River Crocodiles in the Bua 
 River Go after game and find it wild A tropical storm Damage 
 done to native crops by elephants, hippos, and other game The 
 appetite of elephants Elands and pigs destructive " Garden " 
 elephants dangerous animals Poachers of game Boers great 
 destroyers of animal life Reserves for game Connection of game 
 and sleeping sickness Impossibility of exterminating game in Central 
 Africa. 
 
 ON September 16, 1912, after having engaged a few carriers,. 
 I started off for Maponda's village, and Kamwendo, the good 
 elephant spoorer, arranged to meet me there on the evening 
 
Tall Elephants. 53 
 
 of the same day. Some years before, in 1904, I had shot a 
 fine 5o-pounder near the same village, and Maponda (a 
 woman chief) and her people remembered the fine feeds of 
 meat, so were very glad to see me come along again. The 
 vicinity of her village is in one of the best elephant localities 
 in Nyasaland, and I suppose over twenty large bulls have 
 been shot there by Europeans at different times. I know 
 that many skulls can be seen ; that is to say, if one happens 
 to pass where they are. The elephants in this district 
 are a lanky, tall type of animal, and the one I shot 
 in 1904 must have reached lift, or slightly more, and the 
 natives told me he was the tallest elephant they had 
 ever seen. He fell dead in a kneeling position against 
 a small tree, so I could not get his shoulder measurement. 
 Mr T. A. Barns (who shot the large elephant now in the 
 South Kensington Museum) has killed several in that 
 locality measuring close on lift., and the height of the 
 elephant mentioned, in the Natural History Museum, is 
 stated to have taped lift. 4in. when shot. An elephant or 
 giraffe skin, or, indeed, the skin of any large beast, can be 
 stretched a considerable amount w r hen being set up in a wet 
 condition, and it would be an easy matter for a taxidermist 
 to mount a I2it. elephant out of an I ift. skin. 
 
 If a lion's skin is immersed in water for a day or two it 
 could be made to stretch quite a foot, although the width 
 measurement would likely decrease somewhat if the length 
 were increased. Thus, unless the hunter is a principled 
 man, he could add on several inches to the height of a 
 trophy without the most expert naturalist or taxidermist 
 being able to detect it, as skins intended for natural history 
 specimens are not pegged out, and they shrink considerably 
 in drying. I have no doubt that there are several speci- 
 mens in different museums which represent taller animals 
 than they were when alive. I believe it is possible to 
 stretch a game head by soaking it for a long time and then 
 hanging heavy weights to the tips of the horns. Of course, 
 no self-respecting sportsman or taxidermist would do this, 
 but a few trophy dealers in South Africa would likely be 
 
54 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 quite willing to take the trouble if it enhanced the value 
 of a head and brought them a pound or so extra. 
 
 I was up before dawn on the morning of the lyth, and 
 Kamwendo took me to some maize-fields where the 
 elephants often came at night to eat the dried-up stalks. 
 All game are fond of maize and millet stalks, and they 
 come a long distance to feed on them, as well as invading 
 the growing crops, unless the natives sit up on stands 
 with a drum or old tin, which they beat at times all through 
 the night. 
 
 We were very lucky, as we found the spoor of three 
 elephants, one a fine, big fellow, judging from the size of 
 his footprints. 
 
 Again, I was much interested in noticing Kamwendo's 
 fine tracking,/ for he instinctively seemed to know where 
 the elephants would leave the garden, and he took me to 
 the bush, where we cut the spoor at once. 
 
 Following a large bull elephant is the most exciting 
 sport there is in the world, for one has so many oppor- 
 tunities of seeing what such a beast is capable of. Trees 
 that seem unbreakable are sometimes broken and splintered, 
 and one marvels at such power, and perhaps a new hand 
 might feel a shiver go down his backbone when imagining 
 the grip of such a trunk being placed on his neck, or 
 thinking what would happen to his body if the mighty foot 
 was suddenly placed upon it. 
 
 Yet, with all his immense strength, the elephant is a 
 wonderfully easy animal to kill, if one can only hit him 
 properly. Even a -256 Mannlicher will kill an elephant 
 most efficiently when in the hands of a good, cool shot. 
 
 That six to seven tons of bone, flesh, and muscle should 
 drop to a projectile weighing I58grs. seems something like 
 a miracle, but it has been made possible by the ingenuity 
 of civilised man. More elephants have been shot in 
 Central Africa with 7-9 mm. Mausers than with any other 
 weapon, and the bullet only weighs 225grs. 
 
 The largest bags of elephants which I have read of as 
 being made in one day were eighteen shot by Mr. Viljoen 
 
Elephant Country. 55 
 
 in Southern Rhodesia, and that famed elephant-hunter, the 
 late Mr. A. H. Neumann, once bagged sixteen in a day, 
 using a -303 and a lo-bore rifle. But after this wandering 
 from the tracks, I must get back again to the elephant I 
 was after. 
 
 The fresh spoor led us into some bad country, bad for 
 puny man, but, of course, nothing to the elephant; and 
 some of the long, half-dry grass towered over our heads, 
 and I hoped when I got into this kind of country that the 
 elephants would stand in more comfortable surroundings 
 for the last round. 
 
 In such grass it is often difficult to move, once one leaves 
 the broad tracks of the elephants, and I have found that 
 elephants are much more inclined to be disagreeable in 
 such country than they are in more open timber land. 
 Therefore it is a very sound plan to climb anthills to look 
 round or send men up trees for the same purpose, so as 
 not to get right under the animals before being aware that 
 they are so close. 
 
 Not far from this place, and when approaching an 
 elephant which had been blowing red anthill dust all over 
 himself, I once mistook the animal for an anthill, and got so 
 close that I could have touched his stern with the muzzle of 
 my rifle. Luckily the elephant was asleep, and I and the 
 man with me were able to retreat and get to the anthill 
 which I knew was near the elephant. 
 
 On crawling to the top of it, he was still asleep and 
 swaying gently backwards and forwards, and my sight was 
 just on the orifice of his ear when my gunbearer, in his 
 eagerness to see results, cracked a stick or bit of dry reed. 
 At the sound the elephant twisted right round (just like a 
 top being spun), and the bullet that I fervently hoped would 
 have punctured his brain went into his side somewhere, 
 and he went off ; and, although I did my best to find him, 
 
 I failed. 
 
 Kamwendo took me along splendidly until, at about 
 
 I 1 a.m., we suddenly saw the three elephants wandering 
 about, feeding. I told the men who were carrying some 
 
56 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 lunch and water to sit down and wait, and gave Kamwendo 
 the -400 single cordite and took the 7-9 mm. Rigby, and 
 we approached the monsters. 
 
 Suddenly the elephants began walking fast in our 
 direction, and, as the grass was long, Kamwendo and I 
 made for a more open part where there was some timber, 
 and when we reached a fairly large-sized tree I stopped. 
 
 The game did not seem to be much alarmed, and I 
 thought they would stand every moment. The three beasts, 
 the largest being a splendid bull with long white tusks quite 
 6olb. each, passed me at a fast walk ; and I have regretted 
 many times since that I did not fire at him then, as I might 
 have got to his heart or lungs. However, as I object to 
 fire risky moving shots at such fine animals, I waited for 
 him to stand. Instead of doing so, the elephants suddenly 
 got the wind of the men I had left behind, and they 
 suddenly put up their tails and started off at full pace, and 
 then got into the thick grass. I had spoilt a fine chance in 
 not taking a snapshot, and lost two splendid tusks, so I 
 was not in a good temper when I sat down to have some 
 food after a most tiring and exciting morning's work. A 
 smoke soon put me into a better frame of mind, and I 
 thought I might see the same elephant again some day ; 
 which was really not much satisfaction, as elephants travel 
 long distances and do not come to be shot. After lunch 
 I took the spoor and followed for about four miles, but the 
 elephants never slowed down, and I knew they would not 
 likely stop for many miles, so I trudged back to camp 
 without the tail which is usually cut off to show that there 
 is an elephant less in Africa. 
 
 Every sportsman has to put up with misfortune, and I 
 was no stranger to it ; but 1 knew the luck would change 
 with some more hard leg work. Elephant spooring is hard 
 work, for the country to be traversed is often very stiff 
 going, and it is this that makes the disappointments in 
 elephant shooting so hard to bear. It is not usual to get 
 up to an elephant without going through dense country, and 
 the prolonged excitement tires one almost as much as the 
 
Oppressive Heat. 57 
 
 strenuous exercise. If one actually sights the animals, and 
 for some reason cannot get a shot, the remembrance is 
 inclined to be tantalising. However, I had the consolation 
 of knowing that I had not wounded a splendid beast and 
 lost it, which is always the worst remembrance of all. 
 
 It was late in the afternoon when I reached my tent, and 
 during the day's w r alk I had seen eland, kudu, and other 
 game, although I did not fire at any of them, not wishing 
 to frighten any elephants that might be within hearing. 
 
 The sun is dreadfully hot in the months of September, 
 October, and November ; and the atmosphere is particularly 
 sultry and oppressive in the latter month, just before the 
 rains break. People at home occasionally experience this 
 oppressiveness just before a thunderstorm ; but it is very 
 much more intensified in Central Africa. 
 
 It is usually hotter to sit in camp than tramp about in the 
 sun, as the exercise induces perspiration, and this makes the 
 body feel cooler. This may seem a paradoxical remark, 
 though it is true nevertheless. 
 
 On the following day I was out of my camp bed as 
 early as usual, which was at first cockcrow, about half an 
 hour before sunrise. I was feeling slightly feverish with 
 the previous day's work, but it never does much good 
 to lie up, unless one is so bad that movement is impossible ; 
 and, besides, I have often noticed that there is nothing 
 so good as a stiff walk to get rid of fever. Kamwendo 
 suggested that we should go in a different direction, 
 to which I was quite agreeable, as I hoped that direction 
 might be easier country than I had been tramping through 
 the day before. 
 
 I think Kamwendo was feeling a bit tired also, for he 
 certainly led me through much more open country, but we 
 found no fresh elephant spoor until about 1 1 a.m. ; by 
 which time we had made a long semicircle of quite 
 fifteen miles. Then Kamwendo, who was leading the way, 
 gaveagruntand pointed down, and there I saw the absolutely 
 fresh tracks of a fine bull elephant. He had not passed 
 more than twenty minutes before, and his droppings were 
 
58 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 steamy and hot. This was a piece of good luck, as 
 I had given up hopes of seeing any spoor on this day, 
 and I had no idea I should have the good fortune to 
 find absolutely fresh tracks. Both Kamwendo and myself 
 knew that we would soon see this elephant, for he had been 
 moving slowly along, feeding occasionally, and he was 
 bound to rest soon, as the sun was intensely hot, and 
 elephants, like human beings, prefer to slow off a bit about 
 midday in tropical Africa. 
 
 The men were told to wait, and Kamwendo carried 
 the '400 with strict injunctions that he was not to fire 
 unless I told him to, a thing I have never yet asked a 
 native to do. 
 
 Then we walked along steadily, and in about ten 
 minutes saw the elephant standing on the opposite side of 
 a large dambo in some long grass. On our side the grass 
 had all been burned by the natives, but the fire had not 
 touched the opposite side, which was annoying. The 
 elephant looked huge as he stood flapping his ears against 
 his sides, and every now and again blowing dust over 
 his body with his trunk. As we were crossing the open to 
 reach an anthill not far from the elephant, he began to 
 move slowly into the tree bush near, stopping here and 
 there to pick a few leaves from the trees. 
 
 As the grass was very long among the trees and I knew 
 it would be difficult to see him from the ground when 
 enveloped in the grass, I moved to another anthill farther 
 on and just ahead of the elephant. He then began to ram 
 a tree with his forehead, and he seemed to have something 
 wrong with him, as he was never still a moment. 
 
 I changed ground again to yet another anthill, and it 
 was fortunate I did so, as the elephant began to move to 
 an open space about 100 yards from me. As he was busy 
 picking some leaves, I took a steady aim for his brain and 
 fired. 
 
 Instead of dropping in his tracks, as I had hoped, he 
 gave one or two painful grunts and dashed past me, 
 getting the four remaining shots in the magazine as he 
 
J <n 
 S 
 
 aa 
 
Elephant Shot. 59 
 
 went by like a whirlwind. I saw the dust fly when some 
 of these bullets cracked on his hide, but I could not tell 
 exactly where they went. The stricken beast now ran 
 towards the place I had first seen him standing, and, as 
 I could see nothing when I came down from the anthill, 
 Kamvvendo and I ran towards the place where he had 
 disappeared. We then heard a man shouting something, 
 and, as we could not hear what he said, I told Kamwendo to 
 go over to him and find out. I moved forward, and then 
 saw the elephant standing some seventy yards off, and 
 as I had got into the burned dambo and the elephant 
 looked very annoyed, I thought I had better get under 
 the cover of the grass again. 
 
 As Kamwendo approached, I heard Tereka, the other 
 man, shout something to him, and Kamwendo passed on 
 the message that the elephant had collapsed. 
 
 We then went close to an anthill within fifteen paces of 
 the elephant, from where I saw the poor animal on his 
 knees, and I could see his side moving as he breathed, so I 
 fired another two shots, one at his head and one behind his 
 shoulder, and he died. 
 
 Leaving our perch on the anthill, we went to look at 
 him, and I was very disappointed to see that he had 
 only one sound tusk ; but it was a beauty, and when I got it 
 out I found that it weighed 55lb. afterwards it dried 
 to 53lb. and measured 6^ft. long, and it was beautifully 
 curved and without a crack or flaw. 
 
 The stump of the other tusk, broken short off at the lip, 
 proved to weigh i4lb., and it was all cracked and diseased. 
 
 This elephant had a bullet, about '450 bore, nickel 
 covered, in his head, and also a -303 bullet in his shoulder. 
 
 The pain of the bullet wounds, and especially the nerve 
 of his broken tusk, must have caused the animal tortures, 
 and this accounted for his strange behavour in butting the 
 tree and showing so much restlessness. I found the bullet 
 that killed him was one of my running shots which had gone 
 through his lungs, and Tereka told me that before the 
 elephant fell he put his trunk in the air three times. This 
 
60 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 is a common act when an elephant is shot in the lungs, and 
 I have seen them do it several times. It is evidently 
 caused by the suffusion of blood in the lungs which gets 
 coagulated and causes suffocation. 
 
 When an elephant is killed, more particularly a large old 
 bull, it is usual to find native bullets in his carcass ; 
 sometimes these are round and at other times oblong, and 
 they are simply pieces of iron made in the roughest 
 way by being hammered with stones. 
 
 It is not so common to find European bullets, although 
 it is not unusual to do so. The large nickel-covered 
 projectile was either a '450, "475, or "500, but it had got 
 so misshapen that it was difficult to recognise its bore. 
 The sportsman who fired it had evidently hit a tree, which 
 reduced the velocity of the projectile and flattened it, so 
 that it had no penetration in the hard bone of the skull. 
 
 It is a memorable sight to see such a large animal as an 
 elephant die, and they sometimes die hard and make 
 stupendous efforts to rise when they get on their knees. 
 They also groan and sometimes scream with pain, and it 
 is impossible to witness such a sight without feeling great 
 pity for the suffering giant. Puny man is no longer a 
 weakling compared to such large creatures when he is 
 armed with a good modern rifle and knows how to use it 
 efficiently. 
 
 Not very far from my dead elephant was the dried-up 
 skull of a large bull shot by an officer who once lived 
 at Fort Manning, and Kamwendo told me the tusks 
 were as heavy as the one I had just got. I measured 
 the depth of the brain cavity and found it to be exactly a 
 foot. In my " Nyasaland for the Hunter and Settler" I 
 gave two sketches of the cavity in an elephant's head, one 
 sketch being by my friend Mr. Martin Ryan, and the other 
 by myself. It shows how small a mark it is, and also how 
 difficult a one, as it is buried in the centre of a mass of bone 
 and flesh. 
 
 The feet of my elephant measured 56in., and he was a 
 tall, large-bodied animal, but, owing to the kneeling position 
 
Different Kinds of Ivory. 61 
 
 in which he fell, it was impossible to get his height measure- 
 ment. The three. largest elephants I have shot have all 
 fallen in this kneeling position, and it is not uncommon for 
 elephants to do so ; although I think they usually fall 
 flat on one side or the other. Perhaps animals generally 
 fall on the wounded side, although small antelopes are 
 often carried over by the force of the bullet. I think, 
 when they run some way before falling, that they usually 
 fall on the side that the bullet enters. I have heard it 
 remarked that it is easier to kill an elephant from the right 
 as it is stated that his heart lies more to that side than on 
 the left. This, however, I consider a fallacy, as the heart is 
 placed almost centrally in the cavity of the body. If an 
 elephant should be cut up to examine the position of the 
 heart and lungs, they naturally, by the force of gravitation, 
 sink with their weight towards the side nearest the ground. 
 
 There can be little doubt that the elephants in Nyasaland 
 and Northern Rhodesia are probably as large as any breed 
 of elephants in Africa, with regard to their height and 
 weight, for the late Mr. A. H. Neumann has written in his 
 " Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa " that the 
 largest bull out of many he measured gave a height of 
 i oft. gin. at the shoulder. 
 
 The ivory in Equatorial Africa is not usually of such fine 
 quality, as it is found farther south, although the best bulls 
 have much heavier and longer tusks. 
 
 After the elephant fell I took several photographs, and 
 then we cut off the tail and went back to the village. As 
 we got near, the villagers noticed the tail, and they 
 began to shout to one another that an elephant was dead, 
 and I have no doubt the following day's work of cutting-up 
 was looked on as a sort of local outing. 
 
 My only regret was that the elephant had not two sound 
 tusks, but when 1 got glimpses of him before shooting I 
 could only see the side with the long tusk, so I naturally 
 thought that he would have another on the opposite side. 
 Elephant shooting is certainly full of luck, and I was sorry 
 that the fine elephant I had seen the previous day had not 
 
62 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 given me a better chance to shoot him, as his tusks were 
 much finer than this elephant's, and, moreover, he had two 
 perfect ones. 
 
 The elephant was left untended that night, and early next 
 morning I changed my camp to the carcass, as there was 
 water in the big dambo near. 
 
 In the night the hyaenas had arrived on the scene and 
 eaten about half the trunk, and they must have been very 
 pleased to find such a quantity of fine meat waiting to be 
 devoured. Before pitching the tent I took care to get to 
 the windward side of the elephant, as I knew from past 
 experience that there would soon be a strong aroma about ; 
 but at this time of year the wind is very changeable, as the 
 great heat causes eddies in the air, so I could not get away 
 from the stench, which kept coming round at every slight 
 change of the wind. 
 
 The first thing I did was to make a large grass fence 
 round the carcass, which gained me another native name, as 
 the natives immediately christened me " Kampanda," the 
 fence-maker. I also made a rough covering over the tent, 
 and it was about 3 p.m. when all this work was completed, 
 at which we had all worked hard. Then I got men on to 
 the work of chopping out the tusks, while others began to 
 hack up the body. 
 
 Before I had any experience of strong animal smells, 
 the worst effluvia I can remember was that of the whalers 
 which used to return to Dundee from the Arctic regions, 
 and they certainly had a strong smell, but nothing compared 
 to a putrefying elephant under a tropical sun. However, 
 one can become accustomed almost to anything in this 
 world. I once shot three hippo in the Lupata Gorge of 
 the Zambesi River and carried most of the skin to Chinde 
 under some boxes, and elephant tusks wrapped in canvas. 
 
 This skin got wet in the bilge water, and what with the 
 dampness and heat it putrefied rapidly, and when I got to 
 Chinde the people there informed me I was polluting the 
 atmosphere, so I sent the skin to a sandbank some distance 
 away, and it was given to the fishes. When my elephant 
 
Cutting up the Elephant. 63 
 
 tusks, in their canvas wrapping, were deposited in the 
 African Lakes Corporation store, there was an instant use 
 of handkerchiefs by the employees, and I was asked if I did 
 not think it horrible. All I could reply was that I had been 
 sleeping every night for over a week in very close proximity 
 to a much worse smell, and surely the slight aroma of the 
 canvas sacking was a very meagre odour and not worth 
 worrying about. 
 
 When the sun began to sink low I took my rifle and went 
 for a lonely stroll down the dambo, but the only game I saw 
 were two reedbuck which cleared off quickly. 
 
 On getting back to the elephant the stomach had just been 
 opened, and the bad air and a lot of filth came out with a 
 series of shrieks, for all the world just like a boiler letting 
 off steam in jerks. 
 
 Some of the natives had cut themselves, and I had the 
 pleasure of bandaging some bad gashes. If a native cuts 
 himself when cutting up game he will often rub the injury 
 with fresh dung, and they often put cowdung on bad sores 
 and ulcers. The consequence is that, instead of doing 
 them any good, they make their sores much worse, and I 
 have seen some ugly ulcers simply caused by carelessness 
 in not keeping the first injuries clean and covered. 
 
 Night soon falls in the tropics, and the camp presented a 
 lively sight with the many camp fires and the constant 
 chattering of the natives, who were revelling in abundance 
 of meat, and lumps of fat cut from the inside of the elephant. 
 
 About 8 p.m. the hyaenas began to howl, and by mid- 
 night the noise was deafening. The small fire I had made 
 in front of my tent soon went out, but the elephant enclosure 
 was bright with many fires ; so the hyaenas paraded within a 
 few paces of the tent, and I could not sleep, as their shrieks 
 and howls, intermingled with melancholy, disappointed 
 groans, were continued all night. 
 
 People who have not heard a number of hyaenas collected 
 round meat have no idea what weird noises they can make, 
 and these are always intensified when the animals cannot 
 get at what they are longing for. 
 
 
64 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Next day I sent most of the meat off to Dua's village, not 
 very far away, and in the afternoon I packed up my kit and 
 went off to camp in that village, as I wished to try for a 
 second elephant in the vicinity. 
 
 I also sent off some men with meat to my camp on the 
 Bua River, and told my cook, Yakobo, to bring a lot of 
 women back to help carry more of the meat. 
 
 Then I went off to try to find a small herd of buffalo I 
 had seen on the morning of the i8th, and which I had left 
 alone, as I was looking for elephant spoor at the time. 
 
 The buffaloes had evidently been frightened by the shots 
 fired at the elephant, and it is possible that the smell of the 
 dead animal had reached them, as such a perceptible smell 
 may doubtless be carried by a strong wind for many miles. 
 
 While looking for the buffaloes, or their fresh spoor, I saw 
 a large herd of sable antelopes, headed by a fine horned 
 bull, and I spent some time watching him feeding. As I 
 had still hopes of finding the buffaloes, I did not attempt to 
 shoot him, so I left them undisturbed to go on with their 
 grazing. However, I might as well have had a shot, for, 
 after tramping about all the morning, I failed to find the 
 buffaloes or their fresh tracks. 
 
 While coming back to the tent I saw a warthog boar and 
 fired at him, and he ran hard for about fifty yards and fell 
 on his side. He was an old fellow with very thick tushes, 
 which, however, had been worn very short. 
 
 Warthogs are very prolific animals, and they would need 
 to be so to hold their own, as they are not only much 
 hunted by the natives, but lions and leopards must kill 
 great numbers of them. I must admit I like shooting at 
 them, as they present a fine target for a white front sight, 
 and I am always on the look-out for a good pair of 
 teeth, as I think they are nice trophies. 
 
 Central Africa is a network of native footpaths, and it is 
 impossible, in most parts of the country, to go for many 
 miles without striking a path. Many other paths branch 
 off, and, if the traveller is being followed by carriers, it is 
 usual to mark the path that should not be taken by 
 
Annual Grass Fires. 65 
 
 making a line or more across it, or by putting over it 
 some freshly broken small branches, leaves, or grass. In 
 this way it is possible for the natives to follow people 
 in front, and it is seldom that they take the wrong path. 
 In very wild country sometimes the track is invisible, and it 
 is then followed by watching the trees and bushes for "blaze" 
 marks ; and, should these be old and partly obliterated, it is 
 sometimes no easy matter to get along quickly, as frequent 
 stops will require to be made for careful examination. 
 Occasionally, the grass is tied in knots, but these marks 
 soon go in the annual grass fires which sweep through the 
 country every year. 
 
 The time for burning the grass varies in different 
 localities, and it depends on the duration of the rains. 
 The usual time for it is July, August, and September, and 
 it is a grand sight, especially at night, to see a great fire 
 sweeping along with a strong wind. 
 
 Many small mammals, reptiles, and insects are killed in 
 these conflagrations, and the natives' main reason for 
 burning the grass is to get the small field rats and mice 
 that are killed, as I have mentioned before. 
 
 In parts of the country that are dry the trees and bushes 
 get scorched and burnt, and this keeps them small and 
 stunted. A dead tree, or a dead branch on a sound tree, 
 will sometimes get alight and smoulder for months, and 
 elephants often burn themselves by rubbing on them. 
 
 Great numbers of young antelopes and other animals must 
 also be killed, especially those which have just been born 
 and are helpless. I have heard of young elephants being 
 killed, also, and animals like land tortoises and snakes 
 must be killed in thousands. 
 
 Returning to the subject of native paths, it will be 
 noticed how these twist and curve, and yet, on the whole, 
 keep a good direction from point to point. 
 
 A native will never worry about removing an obstruction 
 such as a small boulder or fallen tree, and he will invariably 
 go round it. In the dry season, when many of the smaller 
 rivers and streams are dry, short cuts are made by walking 
 
 F 
 
66 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 down the sandy beds, and this is hard work, as the sand is 
 often more than ankle deep and very hot. However, it is 
 softer and cooler than the hard, stony ground, and the 
 natives like to get to such places, which afford easy 
 going for a time. 
 
 Near the Luangwa River, in North-Eastern Rhodesia, I 
 have often seen the ground so hard and hot that it caused 
 pain to touch it with the hand, and the sand was often so 
 heated that a handful could not be retained for long. Rifle- 
 barrels, tin boxes, and, indeed, all metal objects were 
 untouchable at times, and I have seen the oil oozing out 
 of my rifle-stocks with the intense heat. 
 
 A native path is always preferable to a broad road, as it 
 is more shady, and, being curved, it is not so monotonous 
 to walk along. 
 
 For the man who rides a bicycle, the broad, hoed road 
 will be best, but, personally, I would much rather walk 
 along a twisting native path than on the European road. 
 
 Many is the shot at game one will get while tramping 
 along these native footpaths, especially if there early in the 
 morning or late in the evening, when the game has not 
 retired to lie up, or when it again gets on the move as the 
 heat of midday decreases. 
 
 On the evening of September 21 I went out and saw 
 a lot of game, including a large herd of kudu. They were 
 some way off when I first noticed them, but the ground 
 was covered with many anthills, so, with a good deal of 
 crawling, I got to within shooting range and loosed off at 
 the only bull I saw. As the bush was very thick where the 
 kudus were standing, I could not see the horns of the male 
 well. Anyhow, my bullet told, and the stricken animal ran 
 a short way and stopped to look back, when a second 
 bullet dropped him. 
 
 As it was too late to skin and cut up the game, I covered 
 him with grass, and befo.re I left I tied my handkerchief to 
 a bush close to the carcass. Early next morning the men 
 I sent for the meat found that no carnivorous animal had 
 interfered with it during the night. 
 
Distributing the Elephant Meat. 67 
 
 I was trying to sleep about 9 p.m., although the smell 
 of the pile of dead elephant was fearfully strong when the 
 wind veered round, when I heard people shouting in the 
 distance. This was Yakobo and my carriers returned with 
 about fifty women to Carry the meat. Most of them had 
 babies, and the row was deafening, but I told my cook to give 
 them a lot of the meat, and I felt rather sorry they could 
 not eat it all up, for the stench was absolutely sickening. 
 
 I managed to get asleep about midnight, but was 
 awakened several times during the night by the loud 
 chattering and the cries of infants, who, being too young 
 to fill up on "high" elephant, were doubtless kept from 
 their usual nourishment by the mothers, who were busy 
 chewing elephant meat. When natives feed the working 
 of their teeth can be heard at some distance, and in the 
 intervals they chatter like monkeys, so it was not what 
 might be called a peaceful night for me. 
 
 I got a lot of the meat away early, and sent men out at 
 earliest dawn to bring in the kudu meat, and by 9 a.m. 
 they had got back to the village. 
 
 After presenting the headman with a lot of meat I 
 started off and reached my home on the Bua River at 
 i o'clock ; and this was pretty quick work for the eighteen 
 miles of rough country that lay between. 
 
 When I got the elephant meat on the stands with big 
 fires underneath, the maggots had a lively time. 
 
 I remarked to Yakobo, my cook, that surely the natives 
 would refuse to eat such meat, but he said that many of them 
 rather liked it with plenty of maggots in it. Personally, 
 though I can stand a good deal in the way of strong meat 
 aromas, it nearly made me sick to get a whiff of it or even 
 to look at it. 
 
 I felt very sorry for the young infants, whom the mothers 
 carry in a cloth or skin on their backs, for the drip, drip 
 from these baskets right on the heads of the children must 
 have been almost too much for such tender specimens of 
 humanity; at least, I thought so, but on my remarking this to 
 the women they only smiled and said it was chabe (nothing). 
 
 F 2 
 
68 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 I had promised each porter half the contents of her 
 basket, so they were quite pleased and happy. They would 
 willingly have walked twice as far for the same amount of 
 their beloved nyama. In Africa meat does not keep fresh 
 for a week or more, as it does in Britain, and a day or so is 
 enough to make it too high for the European's use. When 
 well cooked it lasts a bit longer, but four or five days is as 
 much as it will stand, even in June and July when the nights 
 are quite chilly. 
 
 On October 3 I went off for another shoot to Maponda's 
 village, as I had heard that the elephants were back 
 again to that locality. However, I might have saved 
 myself the trouble, for I could find no recent elephant 
 spoor, as the animals were evidently still suffering from 
 fright. 
 
 On the 4th I walked a long distance and came on a large 
 herd of sable antelopes. Most of them were feeding in some 
 fairly long grass, though a few were lying down. With 
 some difficulty I got to within shooting distance, and from 
 the back of an anthill I was able to watch these splendid 
 animals for some time. This herd consisted of quite twenty- 
 five head, and the only bull I could see was in the worst 
 position for a shot, as is often the case. He was not a very 
 large animal, and I thought there might be another bull 
 somewhere about. I needed the meat for myself and the 
 men, so I fired at a cow which was lying down and which 
 presented a good shot. I may say that, unless a lying 
 animal shows up fairly well, it is usually a mistake to fire 
 at one in this position, although there is the advantage 
 of knowing the game will not likely move when one is 
 aiming, as a standing beast will often do. The sable got the 
 bullet and half rolled over with the shock, but recovered 
 herself and jumped up and bolted. I knew she was as good 
 as dead, as I was steady, so I looked round for the bull I 
 supposed to be about. 
 
 Sure enough, he appeared from behind a large anthill 
 covered with long grass, and I fired a shot at him and 
 heard the bullet strike, but he went off strongly. 
 
If 
 
 v 
 
 
Sable Antelopes Shot. 69 
 
 I then took the spoor and soon found the body of the 
 cow, and I was looking round to see if the bull was 
 visible, when I heard two coughing grunts and then saw a 
 sable running. Thinking it was the bull, I threw up my 
 rifle and fired, and the sable fell as the bullet took it just 
 under the tail. On walking up to it I found that I 
 had shot another cow. The grunts I had heard were 
 certainly made by the bull, as I never heard a cow sable 
 make these hoarse sounds, and I think the cow had joined 
 him, and that he was probably lying down, and had gone 
 off in a different direction, which I did not notice, as my 
 attention was taken up with the bolting cow. 
 
 As it was pretty late, I covered up the two sable and 
 decided to return early next morning and try to find 
 the bull. 
 
 Next morning I came back with all my men to cut up 
 the meat and to resume the search for the wounded sable. 
 The cows were both very fat and in the highest condition, 
 and the natives relished this, as they got most of the meat. 
 
 I spent many hours trying to trace the wounded animal, 
 and I could not find him, but I shot a reedbuck ram after 1 
 had left the sable spoor. 
 
 Finding this locality no good for elephants, as they had 
 evidently been scared away by the smell of the dead one, I 
 changed camp to Mitala's village, about eight miles from 
 Maponda's, where I found the old camp of a white man 
 who had been shooting there a month or two before. 
 
 Telling my cook to superintend the pitching of my tent 
 and to make some lunch, I took three men and went for a 
 stroll, and found a lot of old elephant and buffalo spoor. I 
 came on a large herd of roan antelopes, and could have 
 shot one had I cared to do so, for they would hardly move 
 away ; at least, they would let me approach to within 
 150 yards, and then run for two or three hundred yards, and 
 stop and look back. Besides the spoor I have mentioned, 
 the whole ground was covered with the tracks of elands 
 and roan, and this was evidently a big-game haunt of the 
 best description. 
 
jo Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 On getting back I found my tent pitched, and was just 
 going to call for food when I heard the shouting of machilla 
 men in the distance, and soon saw them coming round a 
 bend in a path. A machilla is a hammock on one or two 
 poles. 
 
 Then I saw a tall white man walking behind, and soon 
 they arrived at my camp, and turned out to be Mr. 
 and Mrs. Barns, who had camped here before, and since 
 then had been shooting in another locality. 
 
 My cook soon added to the lunch, and while we were 
 eating it we talked about shooting experiences. 
 
 In the evening I went out and shot two bull elands, each 
 falling to a single ygmm. bullet, although I gave each of 
 them a finishing shot to put them out of pain. These 
 elands were with a herd consisting of quite 150 animals, 
 one of the largest herds of elands I have ever seen. I 
 could have shot several more had I wished to do so, as 
 they were quite tame and would hardly clear out. Those 
 I had shot were both full-sized bulls, one slightly larger 
 than the other, and I gave one to Mr. Barns and kept the 
 other for my men. Neither was very fat, and it is quite 
 impossible to tell whether an animal will have plenty of 
 inside fat until it is cut up. Many beasts that look fat will 
 not have any inside fat, and others that look thin may be 
 full of it. This fat is found round the heart and kidneys, 
 and the intestines are often covered with it. It should be 
 kept as clean as possible, and I get the natives to put 
 it in the hide and transport it to camp in that way. 
 
 In cutting up a carcass the natives are usually very care- 
 less, and they do not seem to mind dirt getting on the 
 meat, although, of course, when this happens it can be 
 washed off. 
 
 Meat does not keep well when it gets wet, and no water 
 should be put on the fat, as this is apt to make it go rancid 
 when boiled and rendered down. 
 
 It is useful, when cutting up an animal, to take note of 
 the exact position of the vital organs, such as the heart, 
 lungs, liver, and kidneys, as a knowledge of their positions 
 
/ Change my Camp. 71 
 
 is a great help in directing a bullet for a killing shot. 
 Naturally, when a beast is lying on its side all the organs 
 mentioned will incline downwards with their weight, but a 
 very good idea can be got of their natural positions, anoT 
 this is a great help to good killing, and I advise young 
 sportsmen to study the matter. 
 
 On the 8th I had a long walk round Matisi dambo, where 
 there was water, and near there I found the tracks of a 
 small bull and a cow elephant. These tracks I followed 
 for some distance until I found that the animals had joined 
 a small herd of cows, and as the bull, judging by his spoor, 
 was not worth shooting, I left them and did a long round 
 to look for the tracks of a bigger animal. 
 
 After travelling many miles through some very rough, 
 thorny country, I again found the spoor of the same two 
 elephants, which I followed again for a short distance, 
 thinking that they might be joined by a bigger animal. 
 About midday, having seen nothing, and rinding I was not far 
 from camp, I made for it, and found lunch awaiting me. 
 
 On this day the sun was scorching hot, and the ground 
 was covered with small, thorny bushes, which were very 
 hard on bare legs, and I arrived back with many scratches. 
 
 As two men should not camp together, I left next 
 morning for Maponda's village, although, by the unwritten 
 rules of sport, it was Mr. Barns's duty to move on when he 
 found me in camp. However, Mrs. Barns was feeling 
 unwell, so I did the moving to save her the trouble and 
 exertion. 
 
 On the eight miles' tramp to Maponda's I found the 
 night spoor of a lion on the path in some sand, but, when 
 he got on hard ground, no traces of his passage were 
 visible. I also saw the tolerably fresh spoor of a herd of 
 buffaloes, but I was not feeling quite fit enough to start 
 after them. Besides these tracks there was plenty of 
 eland and roan spoor about, and I saw some reedbuck and 
 a warthog, which all bolted before I could get a shot. 
 
 On the loth I had a good try to find another 
 elephant, and did a round of a good twenty miles, and 
 
72 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 went through some very likely country, but was not lucky 
 enough to find any spoor fresh enough to follow. 
 
 In a dambo I found the carcass of a young eland which 
 had been killed by a lion two nights before, and, strange to 
 say, the lion had only eaten a small part of it, and had not 
 returned the next night. If the moon had been good I 
 would have made a machan near ; but, as it was a long way 
 from camp and the kill was old, I did not think it worth 
 while. 
 
 When I got back to camp I had some food and a smoke, 
 and then decided to return to my home on the Bua River, 
 so I packed up and got home by sundown, having covered 
 fifteen miles, which made a total of a good thirty-five miles 
 for the day's walk. 
 
 From the path I saw a fine black bull sable a long 
 way off, and he evidently saw me or the porters almost 
 at the same instant, as he started off for safer quarters 
 at once. 
 
 For the next few weeks I did not do much hunting, as I 
 wished to give the game a rest, and the weather was 
 terrifically hot and sultry, and I was not feeling too fit. 
 
 The heat was not so bad as the Luangwa or Zambesi 
 valleys are in September, October, and November ; but it 
 was bad enough, and I have gone through so much heat that 
 I find I cannot stand it as well as I used to do. 
 
 However, as my boys kept asking me for some fresh 
 meat, and I also wanted some for myself, I went out on 
 November i and came on a large herd of hartebeest, out 
 of which I shot three animals. 
 
 At this time of year many dust devils (whirlwinds) 
 are seen, and sometimes these are so strong that leaves and 
 grass are taken high up into the air. Once, when coming 
 from Tete to Fort Jameson, I was lying on my camp-bed at 
 midday, with a pocket handkerchief lying on my body. A 
 dust devil came along and picked up the handkerchief and 
 took it out of sight. I fancy that many small birds are 
 killed in these whirlwinds ; especially cheepers that have not 
 become strong and well feathered. 
 
A Hippo Shot. 73 
 
 Early in December I heard from a native that there were 
 some hippo in the Bua, near Pinda's village, about twelve 
 miles off, so on the 4th of that month I got a few men and 
 went off to try to find them. 
 
 As I made a very early start, I reached Pinda's about 
 10.30 a.m., and the native who had told me of the hippo, a 
 man named Mankanga, went off with a tew of the villagers 
 to try to locate the animals, and I sat smoking and watch- 
 ing the natives at their daily tasks of pounding flour, making 
 baskets, attending to their children, and other duties. 
 
 Soon Mankanga came back and told me there was a big 
 hippo in a pool only a few hundred yards away, so I took 
 my rifle and cartridge bag and followed him. 
 
 There was an anthill about fifteen yards from the bank, 
 surrounded by papyrus and grass, and a few bushes grew out 
 of this anthill forming good cover, so I got Mankanga to 
 carry me through the water and mud to the place. 
 
 On getting on the top of the anthill, I soon saw the 
 reddish brown head of the hippo in the middle of the deep 
 pool, so I tried to get my ygmm. solid bullet under his ear, 
 as he was nearly full side on. 
 
 The bullet hit with that distinct crack that is often 
 heard when a heavy-boned animal is struck fairly in 
 the head, and this sound is unlike the soft "phut" of a 
 bullet hitting a thin-skinned beast behind the shoulder. 
 
 I made a bad shot, however, for I saw by the way the 
 hippo sank that he was not killed, as he splashed a good 
 deal. When a hippo is killed in the water he usually sinks 
 quietly without making any splash or commotion. 
 
 My bullet must have caused the poor beast great pain, for 
 it immediately began to make the most extraordinary 
 contortions, coming up and going down, and swimming in 
 circles. Every time it came round 1 waited for the shot at 
 the back of its head, and hit it four times out of five 
 shots, one bullet going just over, as I was not quite quick 
 enough. The sixth shot found the exact spot, and, as I 
 have shot a good number of hippo in the past, I knew I 
 had killed him, as he quietly disappeared beneath the surface. 
 
74 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 The sun and water were warm, and I thought he would 
 come to the surface in less than two hours, so I went back 
 to the village and attacked the lunch my cook Yakobo had 
 prepared. After I had fared I attended to some bad 
 blisters on my feet, and when I was busy at this Mankanga,. 
 whom I had left to watch, came and told me that the hippo 
 had risen. I looked at my watch and found that the 
 time this animal had remained below w r ater Avas less than 
 an hour. Once in the Zambesi I shot four hippo which 
 came up in about the same time, and, again, I have known 
 others to remain below the surface for over five hours. 
 It depends on several conditions. Great heat and the 
 fatness of a hippo make it rise quickly. A cold atmo- 
 sphere, cold water, and a thin poor condition may keep 
 a hippo under for several hours. Heat causes gas to 
 generate more quickly in the stomach and entrails, and 
 this causes buoyancy. 
 
 Some men then offered to swim out and attach a 
 long bark rope to one of the hippo's legs, but, before 
 allowing them to do so, I asked several of the villagers 
 whether there were any crocodiles in this part of the Bua r 
 for I knew that some parts were infested with these 
 loathsome creatures, and some nine years before I had 
 foolishly stood in the Bua almost up to my armpits 
 shooting at hippo. 
 
 On that occasion some creature scraped against my bare 
 legs and made me get out of the water very quickly. 
 It may only have been a fish or a water turtle, but the 
 following day, on getting a hippo out, I found that its skin 
 was scored with the teeth of crocodiles, so I cannot help 
 thinking that a small crocodile intended to seize one of my 
 legs and may have been frightened by a movement or 
 their white colour. 
 
 Anyhow, I have never again risked standing long in a 
 river where I knew there were crocodiles, nor have I 
 allowed my natives to take such risks. 
 
 If several men go in together and splash hard they 
 frighten the crocodiles away, and on this occasion I told two 
 
Getting the Hippo Ashore. 75 
 
 of the three men to keep on splashing hard, while the 
 third was busy tying on the bark rope to one of the 
 hippo's legs. 
 
 At first they were doubtful as to whether the hippo was 
 dead, but I assured them it was, and said I would stand 
 by with my rifle, which I did because I was not so sure 
 about the crocodiles. 
 
 It took some time to make the rope fast, and as long to 
 manoeuvre the dead hippo to my side, as the papyrus grass 
 kept catching the rope, and it broke several times. The 
 bank was rather steep where I wished to get the hippo 
 ashore, and, although over fifty men got hold, they could 
 not get it up a muddy ledge, so I cut slits in the hide and 
 passed a long pole through the gaps under the skin. This 
 gave the men a good grip, and they then dragged the 
 animal to where I wanted it. 
 
 As it was now 4 p.m., I knew, if I once began cutting 
 it up, that natives would come in the dark and help them- 
 selves ; so I told them they w r ould have to wait until next 
 morning, when I would reward all who had helped with 
 plenty of meat. 
 
 Then I got some men and started off for a walk in the 
 surrounding bush. Game was evidently plentiful, but 
 I found it very wary, as several white men had been 
 shooting there, and the natives are constantly ranging 
 the country with their dogs in search of pig and small 
 buck. 
 
 I saw a waterbuck, which I tried to stalk, but he went off, 
 and so did a herd of hartebeest and a few reedbuck that I 
 saw later. It was noticeable that the game had been much 
 scared lately. 
 
 The sky was black, and the air had that sultry and 
 oppressive feeling that portends an approaching storm, so 
 when I got back to the path I made a. run for the village 
 and got there just as the storm broke. 
 
 It rained hard for over two hours, and the earth could 
 not take in the great quantity of water, so it soon looked 
 like a lake, and all hollows became rushing torrents. 
 
7 6 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 The next day I returned home ; there were no more 
 hippo about and elephants seemed scarce, as I had only 
 seen some very old tracks. . 
 
 Before closing this chapter I would like to give my 
 reader some idea as to the damage elephants are capable 
 of doing to native crops. 
 
 The late Mr. G. P. Sanderson, author of " Thirteen 
 Years Among the Wild Beasts of India/' in that volume 
 gives details about the appetite of Indian elephants, and, as 
 the African species is larger, their daily rations will be as 
 great, if not greater. Sanderson had great experience of 
 Indian elephants, as for years he was in charge of the 
 Government keddahs in different districts in India, and he 
 made a special study of their habits. 
 
 He remarks that an ordinary elephant will consume 
 6oolb. to yoolb. of green fodder in eighteen hours, and that 
 a big tusker can dispose of quite Soolb. 
 
 Let us take the figure yoolb. as the average amount for a 
 single elephant in twenty-four hours; then a herd consisting 
 of thirty animals, not an exceptionally large herd in parts of 
 Africa, would eat 2i,ooolb. weight of green stuff every day. 
 
 This is a large amount to be consumed daily, or rather 
 nightly, for elephants, although they often ravage native 
 crops in daylight, prefer the night as a rule. It can, there- 
 fore, be easily imagined that in districts where elephants 
 are numerous the damage they do may cause famine 
 among the natives. 
 
 Hippos also do great damage to the native gardens, and 
 near large rivers they leave the water at night and feed on 
 the green crops, and, as they weigh about half as much as 
 an elephant, we may calculate that a single hippo can eat 
 35olb. of fodder during a night's feeding. 
 
 Then, other game, such as eland, kudu, sable, roan, and 
 hartebeest, all inv,ade native gardens and do great damage. 
 A herd of eland can eat and destroy just as much grain as 
 would a herd of large cattle. 
 
 In this district (Central Angoniland) elands are very 
 plentiful, and the natives have to make strong fences to 
 
Damage done by Wild Animals. 77 
 
 keep them out of the fields, but they push these down and 
 find an entrance, and commit great havoc among the 
 green crops. 
 
 Pigs are extremely destructive, and they are particularly 
 fond of rooting up ground nuts and sweet potatoes ; and 
 all the smaller game animals, such as bushbuck and duiker, 
 have a tendency to invade the native fields. 
 
 The natives, therefore, have to stand all this without the 
 chance of reprisals, except against the smaller game, which 
 can be hunted and killed with the help of their dogs and 
 spears. 
 
 In parts of Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia these 
 garden-feeding elephants get very dangerous, and, as the 
 natives run from them whenever they are seen, they lose 
 their natural fear of man and are inclined to become most 
 troublesome. 
 
 I have been charged twice by garden-feeding elephants, 
 and on both occasions I stood my ground and shot as care- 
 fully as possible. One of these bull elephants fell within 
 fifteen yards of where I was standing, and I stopped the 
 other and killed him with a lung shot as he swerved and 
 gave me the sight of his shoulder. 
 
 Neither Nyasaland nor North-Eastern Rhodesia has a 
 game warden, and it is time they did, not o'nly to help 
 the natives, but to supervise the game country and 
 the more valuable game, and also to see that white 
 poachers do not exceed the number of game -allowed on 
 their licences. 
 
 In British East Africa the game is now treated as a valu- 
 able asset, and there is a game warden and a number of 
 game rangers ; but I believe there are not enough to keep 
 their eyes on such a vast extent of country, and much 
 poaching and game slaughter occurs, principally by Boers 
 from South Africa. The Boer is usually a fine, manly 
 fellow ; but no one can deny that he is a fearful slaughterer 
 of animal life. I have met many Boers in Cape Colony, 
 Natal, and Southern Rhodesia, and seen a few in British 
 East Africa ; but I never met one that was a true sports- 
 
78 Wild Life in Central Africa, 
 
 man at heart that is, a man who was interested in wild 
 life from a natural history point of view. Their one idea 
 is to kill, and they only keep a few skins and heads good 
 enough to sell. They seldom take an interest in game 
 trophies, except when they expect to get a few shillings 
 for a good pair of horns, and very few take the slightest 
 interest in field natural history. 
 
 Some of them are good shots, and many of them are 
 good hunters as far as the killing goes ; but few are good 
 sportsmen, and the authorities should make an example of 
 some of the worst of them and send them back to South 
 Africa, where they have left little game to slaughter. 
 Doubtless there are many Britishers whose methods are 
 quite as bad as the Boers', and similar treatment should be 
 meted out to them, for they are a nuisance of the worst 
 description. 
 
 However, British East Africa has at least one very large 
 reserve where the game is protected, but the settlers now 
 think that land so near the railway should be opened for 
 settlement ; and doubtless in time they will manage, through 
 legislation, to get rid of the large southern game reserve, 
 which would be a mistake, I think. 
 
 Reserves which are far from communications are difficult 
 to supervise, and it will be a pity if this splendid haunt of 
 wild life is done away with. 
 
 Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia being well bushed 
 countries, the game has a better chance of survival, and 
 luckily there are no Boers there yet ; but I think the Govern- 
 ments of these territories should try and protect the game 
 by appointing game wardens in each territory. All licences 
 issued should pass through their hands, and the power of 
 refusing a " big-game" licence should be given to them. 
 Also they should be given full authority to arrest poachers, 
 either white or black, and any such case should be tried by 
 the magistrates. 
 
 In these countries a great outcry has been made against 
 the game, as it is supposed to tend to the increase and 
 spread of sleeping sickness. 
 
Game and Sleeping Sickness. 79 
 
 The only thing to do in this case is to deport the native 
 inhabitants and leave these areas vacant for some years, 
 when the disease would die out. It is useless expecting that_ 
 the game can be exterminated in such vast stretches of 
 country, for an army of good shots would make little differ- 
 ence to it. Doubtless many animals would be killed, but 
 the majority of the game would only leave for pastures new, 
 and this, instead of getting rid of the disease, would only 
 tend to spread it through the country. 
 
 If some contagious disease could be discovered to sweep 
 away the tsetse flies, this would be the best way, but that 
 seems almost impossible ; so the natives should be moved, 
 and, before being sent to another district, they could be care- 
 fully examined and segregated for a certain time in camps 
 under medical supervision. 
 
 The extermination of game in a short space of time is 
 absolutely impossible in such countries as Nyasaland and 
 Northern Rhodesia, for these are heavily bushed and grassed 
 regions, and game, when much molested, simply moves on 
 until it discovers a locality where it is safe from molestation. 
 
 Those who agitate for the slaughter of game should bear 
 this point in mind, and remember that tropical Africa is 
 not a country of open plains like many parts of Southern 
 Africa, where it was a comparatively easy matter to 
 exterminate the game. 
 
 In any country where game can be hunted on horseback 
 it would not take long to exterminate it or drive it into 
 other districts; but in Nyasahnd and Northern Rhodesia 
 this could not be done, as the vegetation is too dense. 
 Moreover, horses cannot be used for hunting there, as they 
 cannot stand the climate and the bites of the tsetse flies, 
 without dying very quickly of horse sickness. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE RISKS OF BIG-GAME SHOOTING. 
 
 The risks of big-game shooting Causes of accidents Men handicapped 
 formerly with inferior weapons Pluck of old hunters Killing powers 
 of modern weapons Selous's adventures Neumann injured by cow 
 elephant Captain C. H. Stigand's experiences with wild beasts 
 Sportsmen killed by elephants and buffaloes Mr. George Grey's death 
 A large bag of lions made by Mr. L. Tarlton Mr. George Garden 
 attacked and injured by an elephant Other deaths mentioned and 
 possible causes of accidents Buffaloes hard to stop Native woman 
 killed by lion near Zomba Lion tragedies Courage of some natives 
 Native ideas as to good killing rifles. 
 
 MANY men have been killed or injured by wild animals, 
 and many more are likely to suffer in the same way so long 
 as they continue taking the risks inseparable from hunting 
 great game. 
 
 There is a saying that if only a man keeps it up long 
 enough he is bound, sooner or later, to meet with mis- 
 fortune ; but if there were no risks, there would be no 
 excitement in it. 
 
 Because a man is killed by a wild animal it does not 
 follow that he was inexperienced, as he probably did all 
 that a man could do, and yet suffered. His might be 
 looked on as an exceptional case which helps to prove the 
 rule, if any rule, in such an instance, can be laid down. 
 
 An accident is usually due to one or other of the 
 following four causes, which I would put as follows : 
 
 (1) Recklessness and contempt of danger. 
 
 (2) Uncertain or long shots. 
 
 (3) Inferior weapons with insufficient stopping power. 
 
 (4) Ignorance of the game and its habits. 
 
 Formerly men were very heavily handicapped by having 
 to use inferior weapons, for who can compare a single 
 
Old and Modern Rifles Compared. 81 
 
 or double muzzle-loading rifle or smooth bore with the 
 splendid weapons that can be procured at the present day. 
 Imagine standing up to a growling lion or a shrieking 
 elephant with one of these old weapons and having to 
 keep one's wits about one while the powder was first put 
 in, then the bullet rammed home, and, lastly, fumbling in a 
 pouch or pocket for a minute cap to place on the nipple, 
 before the shot could be fired. This all required a nerve 
 that the modern sportsman does not require to display with 
 his double hammerless ejector or quick-loading magazine 
 rifle. 
 
 Take the old single 4-bore smooth bore,, for instance, 
 which I have handled in Mr. Selous's museum at Worplesdon, 
 and imagine killing a crusty elephant or buffalo with it. 
 The weight was little considering the charge it fired, so it 
 must have kicked like a stubborn mule ; more especially 
 when it was dirty. 
 
 After showing me this prehistoric weapon and some of 
 the trophies it and other old weapons had shot, Mr. Selous 
 took me to his library and showed me his '375 cordite rifle. 
 What a difference there was in the two weapons ; and it 
 made me think that not nearly so many men would hunt 
 game at the present day if they had to use these old muzzle- 
 loaders. 
 
 The old hunters, such as Oswell, Gordon Gumming, 
 Baldwin, Selous, and many others certainly were men of 
 courage and endurance, or they would not have done what 
 they did. 
 
 A modern rifle of '450 or -470 bore has a much more 
 paralysing effect on an elephant, rhino, or buffalo than had 
 a 4-bore or 8-bore rifle, be it a muzzle-loader or a breech- 
 loader, and, of course, the former high velocity rifles have 
 the additional advantage of being quickly reloaded after 
 being fired. 
 
 Although I have possessed a -450 cordite rifle, I have 
 killed the few elephants I have shot with either a '303 or a 
 7'gmm. rifle, but there is no doubt that, if a man intends 
 to shoot many elephants, these small bores are dangerous 
 
 G 
 
82 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 weapons to use continually, as their stopping power is not 
 great enough. 
 
 Personally, as a man cannot shoot unlimited elephants 
 nowadays in any British protectorate or colony, I find that 
 I can kill elephants best with the rifle I use continually 
 on smaller game, and that a small bullet in the right place 
 is much better than a large bullet in the wrong place. 
 
 A friend w r ho uses a '450 No. 2 bore tells me that when 
 hit well forward an elephant is practically anchored, as the 
 shock to his system seems to take away all power of 
 movement. 
 
 The 7*gmm. Mauser rifles with a long, blunt bullet have 
 tremendous penetration, for I once fired a solid at an 
 mbawa (mahogany) tree, quite 2ft. in diameter. The 
 bullet went clean through it, and doubtless had sufficient 
 velocity to kill a man after that. For head shots at 
 elephant and hippo nothing can beat such a rifle, and they 
 are infinitely superior to a weapon firing a light, pointed 
 bullet, which will likely get bent and zigzag all over the 
 place. 
 
 For killing soft-skinned game there are many good types 
 of bullets, such as hollow-pointed, soft-nose, " Dum-Dum/' 
 and slit. The soft-nose and slit expand more readily than 
 the hollow point and Dum-Dum, and the two latter types 
 are much the best for buffalo and eland. 
 
 I will now mention a few incidents and accidents that 
 have occurred to big-game hunters, and I will begin with 
 Mr. F. C. Selous, certainly the most noted of living big- 
 game sportsmen. As I have mentioned, he began his 
 shooting career in Africa by using large 4-bore smooth 
 bores (called by the Dutch " Roers "), and then he mentions 
 using a lo-bore breechloader. One day, being unwell, he 
 followed a herd of elephants w r ith a -461 Gibbs falling 
 block single rifle, using, I think, a solid bullet of Syogrs. 
 weight. 
 
 He killed five elephants and wounded a sixth, which 
 he found a few weeks afterwards. He also mentions in 
 his book "A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa" having 
 
Accidents to Sportsmen. 83 
 
 killed rhinos, hippos, and lions quite easily with the 
 same rifle, using, for them, a 36ogrs. expanding bullet with 
 a small hollow in the point. Mr F. Vaughan-Kirby has 
 also used these '461 Metford rifles and speaks very highly 
 of them in his " In Haunts of Wild Game," and in other 
 volumes. There is no doubt that they were most excellent 
 killing weapons, and much ahead of the ordinary black 
 powder Express rifles of -450 and -500 bore that were used 
 about the same period. The '450 Express fired a very 
 light bullet of 2yogrs. with an abnormally large hollow in 
 the point which extended to within a quarter of an inch of 
 the base. Driven by 4drs. to 5drs. of powder, this bullet 
 used often to fly into small splinters on striking the skin of 
 a big antelope, or it would penetrate for an inch or two and 
 then hit a bone and fly to bits. 
 
 A good many Indian sportsmen were killed by tigers 
 when using these inferior weapons, and if they had been 
 armed with a '461 of the type mentioned they would likely 
 not have suffered. Mr. Selous quickly found out that a 
 small bore (all rifles under -577 were then called small 
 bores), used with a bullet either completely solid or with a 
 good solid base behind the hollow in the point, was a 
 thoroughly reliable weapon ; so, when the "303 sporting 
 rifle came into vogue, he soon got one and used it in 
 Mashonaland and Matabeleland, and also on American 
 game, with good results. He then tried a '256 Mannlicher, 
 but doubtless found, as others and I have done, that it is 
 rather too small in the bore for a good sporting rifle. 
 
 Then he got a '375 cordite rifle and has done good work 
 with it, and I read in the Field that when recently in 
 British East Africa he used a -275 and a "425 magazine 
 rifle. During his many hunting experiences he has had 
 several very narrow escapes from lions, elephants, and 
 buffaloes. He was once knocked off his horse by a cow 
 elephant and stunned by the shock. 
 
 When he came to his senses he mentions that he became 
 aware of a strong smell of elephant. After a hard 
 .struggle he managed to release himself, and got away. 
 
 G 2 
 
84 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 He afterwards found that his horse had received a severe 
 wound in the buttock from the elephant's tusk, but I think 
 it eventually recovered. Again, a buffalo knocked his horse 
 down, and Selous fell right under its horns. The buffalo 
 then attacked him, and he managed to throw himself to 
 one side and escape the main force of the blow, although 
 he got a painful glancing blow which nearly dislocated his 
 shoulder. 
 
 Then the buffalo left him, which it would not likely have 
 done had it been badly wounded. The poor horse had 
 received a terrible wound in the body, and Selous had to 
 put it out of its pain by shooting it. 
 
 Again, in British East Africa, a buffalo charged and 
 missed him, but got one of his gunbearers and gave him a 
 severe blow which nearly killed him ; as it was, the 
 buffalo's horn broke to pieces a pair of prism glasses which 
 the native had slung round his shoulders. 
 
 On another occasion a lion charged right up to him, and 
 would doubtless have mauled him had he not stood his 
 ground. In such a long career of hunting he has had 
 many other narrow escapes, and he likely owes his escapes 
 to very good nerves, agility, and great experience. 
 
 A great hunter of elephants and other game was the 
 late Mr. Arthur H. Neumann, and he probably shot at least 
 twice as many elephants as any man has done. I am aware 
 there are several men who have shot from 300 to 500 
 of these animals, but I believe that Mr. Neumann shot 
 about 1000 of them. Lately a book has appeared by 
 Mr. Sutherland, and in a review of this book I read that 
 he has shot 447 elephants, which is a great score. 
 
 Mr. Neumann had one very narrow escape from a cow 
 elephant in British East Africa. He had wounded her 
 with a '303 Lee-Metford, and she then attacked him. 
 The magazine refused to act, and the animal knocked 
 him down and drove one of its tusks through the biceps 
 of one arm, at the same time injuring his ribs. He was 
 not far from Lake Rudolf at the time, and he lay ill for 
 a long time afterwards, but recovered to bag several 
 
Neumann the Elephant Hunte-r. 85 
 
 more fine bulls with the same rifle. This accident was 
 entirely due to the faulty construction of the early 
 303 rifles, for had he been able to load he would have 
 doubtless killed, or at least have turned, this elephant. 
 He mentions using a lo-bore and a '577 Express with 
 solid bullets, with good effect, and I believe during the 
 latter part of his life that he used a -450 cordite rifle, and 
 found that it killed elephants better than any rifle he 
 had ever previously used. Neumann has left a great 
 reputation in British East Africa, both among the whites 
 and natives. I met a man who knew him intimately, 
 and he told me that Neumann was a strange, silent man 
 who had a great love of loneliness and the wilderness. 
 He left one volume of his adventures entitled " Elephant 
 Hunting in East Equatorial Africa," and those who have 
 not read it should do so, as it is a book well worth perusal. 
 Like most good hunters, Neumann did not embellish his 
 writing with fanciful matter, and all he wrote is solid fact ; 
 so it is a lasting pity that he did not leave big-game shooters 
 further accounts of his adventures, as they would have been 
 most interesting reading. 
 
 Neumann was, I believe, an excellent game shot, and it 
 was his custom to get pretty close to the animal he wished 
 to shoot ; and it is really safer to do this than to fire long 
 uncertain shots, which are likely to wound, with the result 
 that the elephant has to be followed up in thick cover, for 
 all wounded animals take to the thickest cover they can 
 find, which is infinitely more dangerous than going to 
 within, say, twenty yards of an unwounded beast. For the 
 brain shot it is absolutely essential to get close, or one will 
 not be able to see exactly where to shoot, or the true 
 angle at which the beast is standing. For the heart shot, 
 much the best, really, sixty yards is a good distance. 
 When elephants are in herds it is a mistake to go closer 
 than this, as in their fright they run all over the place, and, 
 unless there were some large trees about, it would be 
 difficult to escape being trampled on. As I think I have 
 mentioned, an elephant's brain is very small, considering 
 
86 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 the size of the skull and the mass of surrounding bone, ana 
 it means shooting at an object not larger than I2in. by 6in.; 
 and, moreover, when one considers that this mark is com- 
 pletely hidden in the centre of the head, it shows how 
 experienced a man must be to make good work with the 
 brain shot. 
 
 An elephant's heart is about the length of an ordinary- 
 sized cushion, so it is not hard to hit. It lies half-way up, 
 or down, the body, whichever way one looks at it that is, 
 it is fairly central in the cavity of the chest, and it lies 
 right between the two shoulders. 
 
 If a man is standing slightly to the rear, then the shot 
 should be placed behind the shoulder ; if broadside on, then 
 the bullet should be aimed right through the shoulder. Of 
 course, solid bullets should always be used, as penetration 
 is the great object to be desired. 
 
 I have heard of no man who has suffered such narrow 
 escapes from wild beasts as has Captain C. H. Stigand, for 
 while in Nyasaland he was nearly killed by a black rhino- 
 ceros, which gored him in the chest. If the wound had 
 penetrated a little deeper it would have reached his heart. 
 This rhino charged him unawares, which is an unusual 
 thing for a rhino to do, as they do not always charge even 
 when wounded, except in parts of British East Africa, 
 where the rhinos, I have read, often charge when they see 
 a human being, without waiting to be shot at. 
 
 Then, soon after the goring from the rhino, the same 
 gentleman went to British East Africa and was badly 
 mauled by a lion. He sat up for lions close to Simba rail- 
 way station, on the Uganda railw r ay, and he shot three of 
 them. One was only wounded, and he got down from 
 the platform and approached it. A charge immediately 
 followed, and Captain Stigand, although he hit the lion in 
 the chest with his '256 Mannlicher, failed to stop or turn it. 
 It seized him by the left wrist, and he fell with the lion on 
 the top of him. His rifle was now useless, and with his 
 right hand he could not reach a sheath knife he had on his 
 belt, so he did the next best thing and began to punch its 
 
Captain Stigand' s Adventures. 87 
 
 head. He found afterwards that his first bullet had broken 
 its lower jaw, and the pain made it shift its grip further up 
 his arm. Captain Stigand, being a powerful man, kept 
 striking the beast with his fist, and at last it left him and: 
 went off. He managed to get to the small railway station, 
 and, having some permanganate of potash handy, he put 
 some of the crystals into the bites. Next day a train came 
 along and took him to Nairobi, where he was ill for some 
 time. If he had not used the permanganate I believe he 
 would have lost his arm. I may mention that the lion was 
 finished off from the train the same day, as it was seen 
 lying quite close. Its skin, which I saw in London after- 
 wards, was riddled with bullet-holes, and the skull showed 
 the broken lower jaw, the result of the first shot. I cannot 
 say I admire the men who peppered this lion from the rail- 
 way carriage by daylight, considering that a single man 
 followed it at night. This, although a courageous pro- 
 ceeding, cannot be recommended, for the simple reason 
 that the odds are too much against the man, as it is quite 
 impossible to make good shooting with a rifle when the 
 sights are invisible. 
 
 A year or two before these events took place Captain 
 Stigand was knocked down by a wounded elephant in 
 North-Eastern Rhodesia, and his clothes were covered 
 with blood from the animal's mouth and trunk. On this 
 occasion he managed to escape the notice of the animal 
 by lying quiet, almost right underneath it, and I believe he 
 eventually followed up and killed it. Again, he was upset 
 in the Nile by a hippo, which, I think he mentions in one 
 of his books, badly bit one of the boatmen. 
 
 I read in the Field of January 25, 1913, that Captain 
 Stigand has been very badly injured by a bull elephant in 
 the Sudan. It seems he was not hunting it, but trying to 
 drive it from the natives' gardens, when it attacked him 
 and put one of its tusks through his thigh, and then threw 
 him some distance. All who know him, or of him, w r ill be 
 glad to hear he has recovered from the serious injuries he 
 received. 
 
88 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 I hope he will not feel annoyed with me for describing 
 his adventures with wild beasts ; but as he refrains from 
 mentioning these facts in his own writings, I see no reason 
 why they should not be put on record, especially as some 
 people who have mentioned them make mistakes in the 
 details. 
 
 Since I have lived in Central Africa a good number of 
 sportsmen have been killed by elephants, and a sad case 
 was that of a Mr. Johnstone, who was killed about the year 
 1904, near the Luangwa river, in North-Eastern Rhodesia, 
 by a big bull elephant he had wounded and followed up. I 
 heard the evidence taken down which was given by some 
 of his boys. 
 
 He wounded this elephant, and, on following, came up 
 to it and gave it several more bullets. It then attacked 
 him and knocked him down, and, in killing him, it broke 
 one of its tusks into several pieces. I expect the ground 
 was hard or rocky, and, when it struck, the tusk went right 
 through him and hit the hard ground. Some of the natives 
 said it also tore him in pieces, but I cannot say whether 
 this is correct, though cases have been known of elephants 
 treating a body in this way. Anyhow, he was in a frightful 
 state, and his remains were brought to the native com- 
 missioner at Nawalia, and are buried there. This station 
 has now been abandoned, and I expect the grave is 
 untended and overgrown with vegetation. Such has 
 been the fate of several other men I knew or have 
 heard of. 
 
 Mr. Shaw, of the King's African Rifles, was badly hurt by 
 a wounded elephant in Nyasaland, and he was taken to 
 Fort Jameson hospital, twenty-two miles off, where he died 
 shortly afterwards. This was his first elephant, and it is 
 possible he may have acted recklessly in following it. 
 However, men of great experience have been killed, for a 
 Mr. Goddard, who had shot 1 10 elephants, was killed by the 
 next one he fired at. I have been told that he felt his nerve 
 going and had a presentiment that he would come to grief 
 soon, and so it happened. 
 
Fatal Accidents to Hunters. 89 
 
 Then a Mr. Tilden, an American cotton planter near the 
 Luangvva river, was killed by an elephant which he had hit 
 and was following up. Perhaps these last three accidents 
 occured through carelessness with the first shot. It is 
 without doubt the all-important one, for it is usually taken 
 when the animal is standing. If a man cannot shoot 
 straight then, the chances are very much against him doing 
 so with subsequent shots, especially if they are taken at an 
 elephant running. 
 
 A few years ago a Mr. Crosby was killed on the western 
 border of North-Eastern Rhodesia by a bull buffalo which 
 he had wounded and followed. I was told that he knew his 
 303 rifle was in bad order and sometimes missed fire, and 
 yet he had the temerity to follow one of the most dangerous 
 beasts in Africa with such a weapon. He came on the 
 buffalo suddenly on rounding an anthill, and it charged at 
 once, knocked him down, and practically disembowelled 
 him, as well as smashing his head to pieces. He had never 
 shot a buffalo before, and doubtless did not exercise due care 
 in following such a dangerous animal. Most experienced 
 hunters, instead of approaching the anthill, would have given 
 it a wide berth to one side, so as to see behind it, though, 
 of course, it is an easy matter to talk or write of an 
 incident that one does not know the exact details of. 
 However, the mere fact that he knew his rifle was out of 
 order ought to have made him exceptionally cautious in 
 following such an animal. 
 
 In such circumstances a man should spare a thought for 
 his relatives when he is engaged on such a business, for the 
 pain of his own death may not be so great as the indirect 
 suffering it may cause to others, and, besides, as I have 
 remarked before, no man goes after game with the object of 
 being killed. 
 
 The intense and thrilling excitement of following a 
 dangerous w r ounded animal, when undergone on many 
 occasions, has usually one of two effects on the human 
 nerves. It either makes a man all the keener to experience 
 this excitement whenever the opportunity offers, or it has 
 
go Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 the opposite effect of shattering his nerve and making him 
 shoot badly. 
 
 Some men feel more excitement before they see the 
 animal they are following than they do when they get to 
 close quarters, as they then quieten down and act coolly, 
 and forget all about the excitement in the effort to put a 
 good shot in and end the matter. This is the way with 
 myself ; and although I have hardly had any experience 
 with lions or leopards, I have shot a few elephant, rhino, and 
 buffalo, and I find I am much more excited when tracking 
 one of these creatures than I am when I get close enough 
 for my shot. Personally, I have had much more narrow 
 escapes from snakes than I have had from any wild animal, 
 and not long ago I was nearly struck by lightning, which 
 raised a small cloud of steam from the wet earth not very 
 far from where I was standing. Although I felt a slight 
 tingling sensation in my feet and hands, I did not feel 
 excited in any way, probably because I knew r the danger 
 was over when the flash had reached the ground. 
 
 Doubtless some men retain an even temperament from 
 start to finish, and it is beyond them to feel excitement in 
 any way, as they probably were born with little sensitiveness 
 in body or mind. 
 
 Most of us have heard of the famous general who was a 
 proud possessor of the Victoria Cross, which he won in the 
 Indian Mutiny. He passed through dreadful scenes of 
 human slaughter, and yet he admitted that he sometimes 
 fainted at the sight of a cut finger or a spot or two of blood. 
 Yet his mental strength subordinated his actions, so that he 
 could face the thing his instinct loathed. So it is with all 
 risks, and if a man possesses a strong enough mind he can 
 subdue all sense of fear. Of course, when a thing is done 
 many times, the mind and body become accustomed to the 
 matter. 
 
 Some boys may be afraid to sleep in the dark, and yet 
 may accustom themselves to do so ; and many girls may be 
 in a terror when they see a mouse or a rat, and get over it 
 if they have to live where such vermin are plentiful. 
 
Death of Mr. George Grey. 91 
 
 Centuries back, when the ancestors of Britons lived in caves 
 and huts, what terror must have been theirs at times at 
 least, so some people believe ; although I do not. For I 
 imagine their nerves were dull and blunt like the nerves of- 
 the blacks of Africa, and they did not feel terror untL 
 danger was actually present. 
 
 African natives seldom dread peril until it is on them, as 
 their minds are not sensitive, neither are their nerves so 
 highly strung as those of the more civilised whites. Certainly 
 the superstition that enwrapped the minds of early Britons 
 must have always been a menace to them, just as the natives 
 of Africa and other countries suffer to day. Unseen and 
 imaginary fears often envelop them, and take away all 
 power of reason or logical thought. 
 
 One of the saddest accidents to a white sportsman that 
 has occurred for many years was that which befell the late 
 Mr. George Grey, who was killed in British East Africa by a 
 lion he had wounded. It charged, and he failed to stop it 
 with a '256 Magnum rifle, although I believe it was hit 
 several times. 
 
 I certainly believe that had he been using a stronger 
 rifle, such as -350 or '450, with heavy, blunt, expanding 
 bullets, that he would not have been killed. Even a 
 7*9 mm. Mauser would have been an infinitely better rifle 
 than the '256, with its tremendous velocity and sharp, light 
 bullet, which is most likely to fly to bits on striking hard 
 substances. Further, at such a short distance the bullet is 
 all the more liable to break up, and these modern ultra 
 high-velocity rifles, with their light bullets, are simply a 
 repetition of the old Express '45o's, with their useless 
 projectiles. 
 
 Mr. George Grey was known and liked all over Africa 
 and in the Matabele Rebellion he did some splendid work. 
 I think his action of going round by himself and warning 
 the Colonists of danger from the natives was one of the 
 finest deeds in African history. 
 
 Then he raised a corps which was named after him as 
 " Grey's Scouts," and this band took a prominent place in 
 
g 2 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 quelling the rebellion, under the leadership of Mr. Grey, 
 and other fine officers, among whom was Mr. Crewe, a 
 most gallant fellow. 
 
 After that Mr. Grey took over the managership of the 
 Tanganyika Concessions, a company which owns large 
 copper properties in the Congo, and I have heard from 
 many men who knew him of his fine work there. He 
 thought nothing of starting off by himself with a blanket 
 and a rifle, and riding a bicycle along bush paths for 
 hundreds of miles, when he was engaged on urgent 
 business. He was full of energy, and it seems a lasting 
 pity that such a fine specimen of a Britisher should meet 
 x with a premature end in the way he did, and simply 
 because he was using an inferior type of weapon. Because 
 these '256' s and *28o's are splendid military or target rifles 
 is no reason that they are the best for sporting purposes. 
 
 Any medium-bore high-velocity rifle, such as a '350, "360, 
 or "375, would be infinitely better, as they shoot heavy, 
 blunt bullets. 
 
 One of the largest bags of lions made in British East 
 Africa is that of Mr. Leslie Tarlton, and I believe he has 
 shot fifty-four. He liked the '350 old pattern, with 310 
 grains bullet, but found that the new '350 Magnum had 
 the same fault as the -280, as the bullet is too light and it 
 breaks up too readily. However, in a letter to me, Messrs. 
 John Rigby and Co. said that they had now improved the 
 bullets for this rifle. Very wisely they make the solids for 
 the -350 Magnum with the ordinary blunt points ; but 225 
 grains is rather light for the bore. 
 
 A good rifle has lately been brought out by Messrs. 
 Holland and Holland of -375 bore, with a very high 
 velocity, but at the same time plenty of striking energy, 
 and blunt nosed bullets can be used from it as well as 
 sharp pointed projectiles. 
 
 In a few years the best gunmakers will stop supplying 
 sharp pointed bullets for sporting purposes, and really " the 
 sooner the better," for the most practical men object to 
 using them, as they are unreliable. 
 
An Elephant Attacks Mr. Garden. 93 
 
 Even when using a good type of rifle and bullet an 
 accident may happen, and Mr. George Garden, of Mlanje, 
 in Nyasaland, was badly damaged by an elephant a few 
 years ago in the Barue country, in Portuguese territory, 
 south of the Zambesi. An elephant charged him, and, as 
 he did not wish to kill it, the tusks being poor, he fired at 
 its mouth with a '450 No. 2 nitro rifle. The shock neither 
 stopped nor turned it, and he was knocked down and his 
 rifle sent flying. The elephant pommelled him badly with 
 the base of its trunk and forehead, but, fortunately, did not 
 trample on him or seize him with its trunk. It then left 
 him, and was found dead some time afterwards. My friend 
 had a bad time, as he was far from civilisation when the 
 accident occurred, although he eventually recovered, and 
 has killed several good elephants since with the same rifle. 
 It is only necessary to read old sporting books to see that 
 the heaviest rifles that can be procured will not necessarily 
 stop an animal like an elephant. 
 
 In Central Africa all hunting is done on foot, as horses 
 cannot be taken into tsetse-fly country, and, moreover, the 
 country is not suitable for these animals, as they soon die 
 of sickness. 
 
 It also costs a great deal to import them and get them 
 transported from the deadly climate of the coast to the 
 higher and more healthy country of the interior, so, except 
 for a few animals found here and there, such as in Zomba, 
 Blantyre, or Fort Jameson, none of these quadrupeds are 
 used. There are a good many donkeys in the country. 
 These animals being much tougher than horses in resisting 
 bad climates and disease, they are more commonly used. 
 
 A very serious accident happened to a Mr. de Fries, on 
 whom a wounded buffalo inflicted most severe injuries. 
 He was ill for a long time, and he must have had a good 
 constitution to recover from the bad wounds he received 
 on that occasion. 
 
 A short time ago I read of the death of Mr. Hubert 
 Latham, who won a great name as a daring aviator. He 
 seems to have been one of those plucky men who live for 
 
94 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 nothing but excitement. He was killed in the French 
 Congo, and, owing to his daring and reckless nature, he 
 doubtless took risks that may not have been necessary. 
 Still, he was a very experienced big-game hunter, and in 
 such cases it is very difficult to get the full details. In 
 thick country it is often impossible to move at all, and the 
 surrounding reeds or thick jungle may prevent a man using 
 his rifle quickly in an emergency. Again, a misfire may 
 occur or a cartridge may jam in the chamber at a critical 
 moment, and leave a man practically unarmed and unable 
 to defend himself. 
 
 In a fairly recent copy of the Field was the news of the 
 death of Mr R. P. Fuller-Maitland, who was killed by a bull 
 elephant in British East Africa, not far from Lake Baringo. 
 He was a very young man, and it is most unfortunate 
 for the sufferer and his relatives that such a life should be 
 cut off in such an untimely fashion ; but this is the price we 
 pay for our love of wild sport, and those may be termed 
 the lucky ones who live through many dangerous adven- 
 tures with wild beasts. 
 
 A German officer, Lieutenant O. Graetz, who travelled 
 by a motor-boat through some of the rivers and lakes of 
 Central Africa, was tossed by a wounded buffalo while 
 passing through the Chambesi River. He sustained a 
 severe and painful wound in his cheek, which was torn 
 open by the buffalo's horn. Worse luck, however, befell 
 his companion, a young Frenchman named Mr. Octave 
 Fiere, for the buffalo killed him at the same time, after 
 mutilating his body in a dreadful manner. 
 
 Naturally, Lieutenant Graetz now considers the buffalo 
 the most dangerous animal in Africa, although authorities 
 such as Selous put it third ; giving first place to the lion, 
 and second to the elephant. 
 
 To decide such a matter a man would need to have shot 
 equal numbers of all these animals, and also keep detailed 
 notes of their behaviour under varied conditions. I cannot 
 say I have had a sufficient experience to decide, although I 
 agree with Selous that the lion should come first, as he is 
 
Dangerous Animals Compared. 95 
 
 naturally possessed of a more ferocious temperament than 
 elephants or buffaloes, and, moreover, he is a flesh eater. 
 Further, his capability of taking cover is much greater than 
 either of the former animals. As to the elephant and 
 buffalo, the former is more likely to charge, I think, but he 
 is easy to stop or turn, even with a very small bore rifle ; 
 but once a buffalo means mischief he has to be killed or 
 knocked down, if his charge is at close quarters ; and very 
 few buffaloes charge at a greater distance than fifty yards. 
 
 I think on this account that the buffalo might come 
 second, leaving third place for the king of beasts the 
 elephant. As the term " king of beasts" is usually given 
 to the lion, I think that it should be transferred to the 
 elephant, if by "king" we mean an animal that surpasses 
 all others in strength, and which is invincible in the haunts 
 of wild beasts. 
 
 However, no rule can be laid down, as animals differ 
 greatly as to temperament in different localities, and it is 
 quite impossible to say how any animal will act under 
 given circumstances. 
 
 As this is a book about Africa, I do not wish to write of 
 India or America. In the former country many sportsmen 
 have been killed by tigers, and I think they are every 
 bit as dangerous animals as lions. Many are shot from 
 the backs of elephants or from platforms, except in some 
 districts where it is usual to hunt them on foot. A full- 
 grown Indian tiger would be a match for a big lion, and, 
 although the forequarters of the lion are probably more 
 powerful than those of the tiger, the latter would gain in 
 agility. 
 
 It would be a grand sight to see two of these fine beasts 
 having a fight to the death. 
 
 The rhino, both black and white varieties, does not seem 
 to have caused many deaths, although I have read of a few 
 within the last twenty years. A good many men have 
 been damaged by them, and that grand old sportsman, the 
 late Mr. William Cotton Oswell, had adventures with both 
 varieties when he was hunting in South Africa long ago. 
 
96 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Some notes I have about deaths to white men include 
 that of Prince Ruspoli, who was killed in Somaliland by an 
 elephant. Then Colonel Armstrong and Mr. York met 
 their deaths in Uganda in the same way. 
 
 Mr. F. L. James, also, was trampled to death by an 
 elephant in West Africa, and Mr. Ingram was another 
 victim to the same species. 
 
 Mr. Selous mentions the death of an Englishman named 
 Firmin in 1870, and a Swede named Dr. Wahlberg also 
 was killed by an elephant in Matabeleland. 
 
 When Matabeleland and Mashonaland were taken over, 
 a good many white men were killed by lions, and the death- 
 roll in British East Africa must be very large indeed. 
 
 Yet a famous surgeon who visited that country on a 
 non-sporting tour wrote some derogatory remarks about 
 lion hunting. 
 
 Certainly, shooting lions after running them down with 
 a pack of dogs is not a particularly sporting method, and 
 neither is a beat composed of several hundred natives, and 
 perhaps five or six guns ; but if a white man tackles a 
 single lion or a troop of lions all by himself, accompanied 
 only by a gunbearer carrying a second rifle, he will get as 
 much healthy excitement as he requires. Certainly, if the 
 famous surgeon had gone in for this sport in the way 
 mentioned, his statements would be vastly different. He 
 had only to ask any resident doctor in Nairobi for a few 
 details as to the people who have been treated there after 
 being mauled by lions, to have got at the truth, which 
 would have resulted in his expressing different ideas on 
 the subject. 
 
 It is fairly well known nowadays that lions kill by biting, 
 and only use their claws for gripping or to pull an object 
 to their mouths. The paralysing effect of their bites seems 
 to cause a numbness at the time, although soon afterwards 
 the wounds become excessively painful. A lion does not 
 use his paws to give a blow, like a tiger does, as was the 
 popular idea long ago. He is said to come along the 
 ground like a large dog, and on reaching his victim to 
 
The Way Wild Animals Attack. 97 
 
 stand up on his hind legs and grip him with his jaws. 
 Naturally, if a man was kneeling, or flat on the ground, the 
 lion would not stand up, and in this case he would hold 
 with his claws and bite with his teeth. 
 
 Another popular fallacy connected with wild animals is 
 that the buffalo charges with his horns lowered. This he 
 does not do, for he holds his nose straight out, quite 
 protecting his head from the brain-shot. When within 
 striking distance he lowers his horns, and either lifts his 
 enemy in the air and catches him again or he knocks the 
 hunter down and gores him, and also has been known to 
 trample the body with his front feet. An elephant and a 
 lion often leave their victim after mauling him slightly, but 
 a buffalo will likely spend some time mutilating the corpse, 
 and, although this may be termed vindictiveness, I do not 
 blame the buffalo for resenting his injuries on the person 
 who caused them, if he can get hold of him. He acts 
 according to his nature. 
 
 Elephants usually pierce with their tusks or use their 
 forefeet to trample a man, but sometimes they seize the 
 body and tear it into fragments. 
 
 Anyone who has watched an elephant playing with a 
 big tree, and has seen the way he can bend and break 
 it, will no longer wonder how puny an object a man is 
 when in the power of such a monster. 
 
 A rhino gores with his front horn, and, as he is a very 
 powerful animal and his horns are sometimes very sharp, 
 the man who escapes after getting beneath a rhino's nose 
 may consider himself a lucky individual. 
 
 The natives seem to be more afraid of rhinos than they 
 are of elephants, lions, or buffaloes ; why, I do not know, 
 except that they say he is always in a bad temper. He has 
 the habit of turning over his dung with his front feet and 
 horns, and the natives think this shows him to be a 
 hot-tempered customer. 
 
 Rhinos are certainly very easy to kill with modern small 
 bores, and a great number have been shot with '303 and 
 7'9mm. rifles. 
 
 H 
 
98 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 By climbing a tree for a distance of six or eight feet one 
 could get away from a buffalo or rhino, but such a height 
 would be no safeguard against an elephant, lion, or leopard. 
 
 When wounded, the leopard can be a very dangerous 
 animal, although he is easy to kill as a rule. In charging 
 he comes along with a spring or bound, and is thus very 
 hard to hit. A friend, who has had the opportunity of 
 shooting a good number of leopards, told me that, when 
 wounded and followed, they will generally move on twice 
 when disturbed ; but that they almost invariably charge on 
 being closely approached for the third time. They take 
 cover behind the slightest vegetation, and, when lying 
 quiet, they are most difficult to see. For following such 
 an animal one could not possibly have a better weapon 
 than an ordinary 12-bore shotgun loaded with A.A.A. 
 or S.S.G. 
 
 In big-game shooting there are many indirect risks 
 appertaining to the sport which might be considered, 
 and possibly the worst of these is being bitten by a 
 poisonous snake when tramping through rough bush and 
 grass in bare legs. Personally, I cannot bear any covering 
 on my legs w r hile shooting in Central Africa, as putties are 
 much too warm and they seem to prevent free action of the 
 muscles. Gaiters are better, especially if made of cloth, 
 but they soon get torn to bits by rough, sharp grass and 
 thorns. Stockings, like putties, are too hot, and they do 
 not last for any time in this country under the rough usage 
 they are exposed to. Snakes do not seem to strike higher 
 than the lower part of the calf ; but, luckily, most of them 
 seem to be possessed of acute hearing, and quickly glide off. 
 
 The puff adder is by far the most dangerous African 
 snake, owing to its lethargic habits, and on several 
 occasions I have had narrow escapes of being bitten, 
 although I will not inflict the details on the reader, as snake 
 stories, like fish stories, are common, and unfortunately not 
 all true. I think I have read more bunkum about snakes 
 than of any other living creature, and most of the really 
 " tall " stories come from America or Australia. 
 
How to Treat Snake Bite. 99 
 
 It is a good plan to carry a small lancet and a small bottle 
 or tube of permanganate of potash in the cartridge bag 
 
 when shooting. There seems to be only one thing to do 
 
 when bitten by a poisonous snake, and that is to imme- 
 diately tie a ligature tightly above the wound, and then 
 gash it with the lancet or a sharp bladed penknife, so as to 
 induce it to bleed freely. Then the permanganate crystals 
 are rubbed in after squeezing the blood out. Sucking the 
 wound is good, but personally I would not care to allow a 
 native to suck my blood, as their mouths are generally foul. 
 Alcohol is often given, and particular care has to be taken 
 to keep the sufferer moving, and on no account should he be 
 allowed to lie down or go to sleep until some considerable 
 time has elapsed. 
 
 I remember reading two cases of Europeans being bitten 
 by puff adders and recovering. One was that of Mr. Frank 
 Streatfield, who was bitten by a female puff adder on a 
 voyage to England from South Africa. Luckily, medical 
 aid was quickly available and he recovered, though I think 
 he mentioned in the Field, in describing the incident, that 
 he has never felt quite so fit since, It is certainly a 
 reckless proceeding to handle dangerous snakes, and 
 because a reptile does not object to being handled at one 
 time is no assurance that it will always be in an equally 
 docile state. 
 
 Of course the cobras and other poisonous snakes that 
 Indian snake charmers use for public performances have 
 been rendered innocuous by having their poison glands 
 removed. 
 
 A small tube of permanganate is also useful for bites 
 from wild animals, and every sportsman should make 
 a point of carrying a little when out shooting. 
 
 I lately treated a native who was scratched by a leopard, 
 near where I am at present living on the Bua River in 
 Nyasaland. He was out with some natives hunting small 
 buck and pig, and was alone on one of the flanks. The 
 leopard suddenly jumped on his back and gave him a few 
 .scratches, and he got one rather painful gash where a claw 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 had entered the orifice of his ear. I did not hear of the 
 occurrence until two days afterwards, although the man 
 was living within half a mile of my camp, and he knew he 
 could have got medicine by asking for it. However, the 
 natives seem to dislike appealing to white men when they 
 are hurt or ill. On hearing of the affair, I took a basin and 
 some medicine and went off to his hut, and he then 
 seemed quite pleased to be treated. In less than two 
 months he was quite sound, and if he had only come at 
 once he would have got better in two weeks. Strange to 
 relate, this man had had both his ears cut off for some 
 crime, before the whites came to this country, about twenty 
 years ago. 
 
 Natives are very touchy about any blemish of this kind, 
 and it is considered to be bad form to make any remarks 
 on such injuries. An old man who lives near my house 
 was mauled several years ago by a leopard, and his wounds 
 took over a year to heal up. Another accident occurred to 
 an old woman, who had most of the calf of one of her legs 
 torn off by an hyaena on a dark night. A wound of this 
 kind must be dreadfully painful, as it is a tear and not a 
 clean bite. 
 
 At another village, about three miles away, a lion took a 
 woman last year (1912) and ate most of her. It then left 
 the skull right on the top of a grave, which had a small 
 mound over it. The superstitious minds of the natives were 
 greatly disturbed over this weird action on the lion's part, 
 and they firmly believe the lion was a human being 
 who had died, and had come to life again in the guise 
 of a lion. This idea was strengthened by the fact that 
 a European who hunted up the lion fired several shots 
 at it and failed to kill it. My informant, in telling me 
 of the affair, remarked : " How could he kill a man who is 
 bewitched ? " 
 
 In this chapter I have not mentioned anything about the 
 natives being killed or injured by dangerous animals, and 
 yet the list would be much longer than that of the whites 
 who have suffered. 
 

Lion Kills a Woman. 101 
 
 I have heard of a great number of natives being killed 
 by lions, and several by elephants and leopards. 
 
 Buffaloes also have killed a few, and crocodiles very_ 
 many. 
 
 Just after I arrived in Zomba in 1903, a native woman 
 was killed in a village by a man-eater. I went off, very 
 keen to get a shot at the beast, and after a walk of ten 
 miles, or slightly more, I reached the scene of the 
 catastrophe. 
 
 Not knowing a word of the language, I had to depend on 
 a boy who had come with me to explain the reason of my 
 visit. He could not speak a word of English, but he had 
 been primed by a white man in Zomba before I left. The 
 small headman first produced a large native mat, on which 
 I sat down, and some native beer and a pot of fried locusts 
 were brought to me. 
 
 I tried the beer and rather liked it, as I was very thirsty, 
 but the locusts were too much for me. Then the headman 
 and some of the villagers took me to the hut, which was a 
 flimsy grass affair, the walls as well as the roof being made 
 of grass. I saw two holes in the walls, and I was able to 
 picture the details of the affair. It seemed that the 
 maneater forced its way through one side, and the 
 husband of the woman, instead of standing by with an 
 axe or spear, dived through the opposite side and left his 
 wife behind. 
 
 She was a big, fat woman, and the lion had killed her by 
 biting the back of her head. Then it had eaten some of 
 the fleshier parts of her body, having also disembowelled 
 her, and I particularly noticed that the lion had made some 
 deep scratches on the hard mud floor of the hut, and no 
 doubt it tried to scrape a hole wherein to bury the entrails. 
 
 It was a disgusting sight, and the smell was overpowering, 
 both of the lion and human being. If natives are frightened 
 they emit a horrible smell, and this carnal odour was more 
 than I could stand for long, and so I departed. 
 
 The natives having collected, we first went into a big 
 mealie field where there was a great amount of lion spoor. 
 
102 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Then the tracks led into some thick bush, and here we found 
 some bits of flesh, evidently some that the lion had carried 
 off. I also saw some long mane hair hanging to a thorn 
 bush. 
 
 We tried our best to get up to the lion, which we 
 disturbed several times, but never got a glimpse of ; 
 although an old man who had mounted an anthill called out 
 something, and began shaking his spear and pointing. I 
 ran to the anthill, but by the time I got to the top the lion 
 had moved on and at last took fright and went off for good, 
 so I never got a shot. 
 
 I was inexperienced then, and if I had now the same 
 opportunity, I expect I might have a different tale to tell of 
 that day's proceedings. As I had to get back to Zomba on 
 duty, I had to leave the same afternoon or I would have 
 liked to have sat up for this lion. 
 
 Next day the natives burnt down the hut with its 
 gruesome contents, as the lion kept hanging around that 
 night, but was kept off by the flare of large fires and the 
 beating of drums. 
 
 Many is the tragedy of this kind that has taken place in 
 all countries where lions still exist, and it still goes on. 
 The natives, of course, are very foolish, as they have 
 abundant materials for making strong huts and inclosures ; 
 but they are too lazy and careless to do so, and they trust 
 to luck, and hope that if anyone suffers it will be someone 
 else and not themselves. 
 
 A man-eater does not proclaim his presence by roaring or 
 grunting, and when he is on the look out for a meal he 
 works silently. If he cannot break in through the w r alls, he 
 has been known to jump on the roof and get through the 
 thatch. I remember hearing in North-Eastern Rhodesia of 
 a lion getting into a hut where there were three boys. He 
 killed them all. Parts of Central Angoniland are bad for 
 man-eaters, and the villages in the vicinity of, and including, 
 Gw r irisis, were surrounded by tall palisades to keep the 
 beasts out. The villagers there belong to the Chipeta tribe, 
 a poor, weak lot; and it is noteworthy that lions do not 
 
Native Courage. 103 
 
 attack the villages of the Angoni tribe to such an extent. 
 In the old days the Angoni hunted them with shield and 
 spear, and I expect the lions have inherited a respect for 
 that tribe. 
 
 I remember having a native pointed out to me who, with 
 a large knife, had killed a leopard, which jumped on him. 
 
 One day I was passing along a path through the bush 
 and walking quickly when I saw this man ahead of me, 
 with a bundle of sweet potato leaves on his head and an 
 axe in his hand. I thought I would test his nerve, so, 
 having indiarubber shoes on, I walked close up, then sat 
 down behind a big rock close to the path and uttered 
 three or four sharp grunts something like a leopard's. The 
 resemblance must have been pretty close, for at the 
 first grunt he threw down his load and faced round, and 
 approached swinging his axe and giving vent to an occa- 
 sional yell. It was so amusing that I burst out laughing, 
 and so did this native when he saw that the supposed 
 " leopard " was a white man. He then looked rather 
 disgusted that his leg should have been pulled in this way. 
 However, he smiled again when I told him he had a 
 " strong" heart, and he went off quite pleased with 
 himself. 
 
 Natives, I am afraid, think the white men mad, and I 
 have no doubt his story would amuse his friends when he 
 told it round the fires that evening. Many natives are 
 very plucky, and numerous incidents are on record of a 
 native gunbearer or tracker going to his master's aid w r hen 
 in danger from some wild animal. 
 
 Again, others reason that it is foolish to run risks, as 
 man has only been given one life, and hold to the old 
 
 couplet that 
 
 He who fights and runs away 
 May live to fight another day. 
 
 Natives have great faith in certain white men whom 
 they have often seen killing game, but their faith is more 
 in the weapon than the man. Rifles that do not kill much 
 game because they are not held straight are said to be 
 
104 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 bewitched, whilst others are supposed to have been 
 influenced by a good medicine. 
 
 However, they believe that the white man is seldom 
 afraid, although the most experienced of them know the 
 difference between a reckless and reasoning courage. 
 
 It is a good thing that Britishers are usually willing to 
 take risks, even when the odds are against them, and it is 
 well that the natives should know this. 
 
DUIKER. 
 (One-half size.) 
 
 ORIBI. 
 (One-half size.) 
 
 REEDBUCK. 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 PUKU. 
 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 IMPALA. 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 BUSHBUCK. 
 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 SlTUTUNGA. 
 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 ft A 
 
 
 SASSABY. 
 (One-quarter size.) 
 
 WATERBUCK. 
 (One-quarter size.) 
 
 (l) SPOORS OF ANTELOPES IN MINIATURE. 
 (Note.-Lichtenstein's Hartebeest like Sassaby, but larger.) 
 
SABLE. 
 (One-quarter size 
 
 GIRAFFE. 
 One-quarter size.) 
 
 A 
 
 GNU. 
 (One-quarter size.) 
 
 / IF x 
 
 KUDU. 
 (One-quarter size.) 
 
 ELAND. 
 (One-quarter size.) 
 
 (2) SPOORS OF GAME IN MINIATURE. 
 (Note. Spoor of Roan similar to Sable, but larger.) 
 
 BUFFALO. 
 (One-quarter size.) 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TRACKING GAME, LICENCES, AND CAMP NOTES. 
 
 Knowledge of tracking useful to the hunter Scarcity of blood spoor caused 
 by use of modern rifles The easiest time to track Difficult country to 
 spoor in The droppings a good guide to age of tracks Elephants 
 swallowing stones The usual method of hunting in Central Africa 
 Distinctive smell of different game Anthills useful for stalking Game 
 fond of ashes Fondness of game for high hills Sharp grass and other 
 vegetable nuisances Ticks Leeches in Africa and India A deadly 
 tea estate in India The best spots to hit game and the effects of such 
 wounds Animals helpless with back leg broken Tenacity of life in 
 game The best position for shooting Game plentiful near perennial 
 rivers in the dry season The extinction of garrie a difficult matter in 
 Central Africa Sleeping sickness and the best preventive for its 
 spread Licences and game allowance in Nyasaland, North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia, and British East Africa Poaching by white men A letter 
 quoted from the Field about German East Africa Remarks on game 
 protection Game reserves and their uses The cruelty of confining 
 wild creatures in cages The hardest sport in the world A few notes 
 on camp life Advice for a man who gets lost in the bush. 
 
 IN previous volumes, particularly in " Central African 
 Game and its Spoor," by Captain C. H. Stigand and 
 myself, I have written a good deal about tracking, and 
 there is no doubt that a good knowledge of this interesting 
 part of big game hunting is necessary for any man who 
 wishes to become an expert hunter. 
 
 Anyone who can walk well and hold a rifle fairly steady 
 will be able to shoot a lot of game ; but there are many 
 cases when a knowledge of spooring will help a man to 
 obtain a trophy that would be lost unless the hunter him- 
 self, or one of his native followers, be proficient in the art. 
 
 A good tracker can read on the ground the recent 
 wanderings of game. Much lore on their habits can be 
 
io6 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 ascertained in this way, and such study increases the 
 pleasure of shooting a hundredfold. 
 
 Naturally the easiest animals to track are the heaviest in 
 body, though if the ground should be stony or baked very 
 hard with the heat of the sun, even they may leave very 
 slight impressions behind them. But besides the footprints, 
 there are the droppings to go by, and they are generally a 
 greater index to the age of the spoor than the tracks 
 themselves. 
 
 Again, all animals feed as they move about unmolested, 
 and the nibbled grass or the branches and leaves torn 
 from trees and bushes by elephant, rhino, and eland are 
 also a silent guide to the observing sportsman. 
 
 Before going further, I may mention that the word 
 u spoor " is a South African term for the tracks of game, 
 and it may also mean the droppings or other traces of 
 game as well as the footprints. 
 
 The time when a knowledge of spooring becomes most 
 useful is when some animal is wounded and escapes for 
 the time being. 
 
 In such an event there is the blood trail, as well as the 
 tracks and droppings, as a guide to the path the animal 
 has taken. Sometimes, if a beast is very hard hit, it will 
 leave the herd and go off by itself, and in this case it is, of 
 course, much easier to follow. 
 
 The high-velocity rifles used at the present time do not 
 cause an animal to drop so much blood as was formerly the 
 case with Express rifles shooting soft lead bullets, or big 
 bore rifles or smooth bores. 
 
 It is not usual for a modern expanding bullet to pass 
 through a large animal, and the small entrance hole soon 
 gets blocked up with coagulated blood, and there may be 
 very little blood spilt. If a bullet goes right through there 
 is a better chance of the beast bleeding considerably, so 
 a bullet like the " Dum-Dum " (with lead just exposed at 
 the point) is a good type of projectile to use on animals 
 like buffalo, eland, roan, kudu, hartebeest, and sable 
 antelope. 
 
HIPPO. 
 (One-sixth size.) 
 
 RHINO. 
 (One-sixth size.) 
 
 ELEPHANT. 
 (One-sixth size.) 
 
 (3) SPOORS OF THE PACHYDERMS. 
 
M 
 
 J 
 
 JACKAL. 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 CIVET CAT. 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 HUNTING DOG. 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 HYAENA. 
 
 (One-fourth size.) 
 
 
 f 
 
 LEOPARD. 
 (One-fourth size.) 
 
 WARTHOG. 
 (One-third size.) 
 
 f\ 
 
 ZEBRA. 
 (One-fourth size.) 
 
 KASENYE. 
 (One-half size.) 
 
 KlLPSPRlNGER. 
 
 (One-half size.) 
 
 (4) SPOORS OF THE CARNIVORA, ETC., IN MINIATURE. 
 (Note. Lion Spoor similar to Leopard, but larger.) 
 
Effects of Modern Rifles. 107 
 
 In a medium-sized -buck, such as a bushbuck, impala, or 
 reedbuck, a slit or a soft-nosed bullet will usually go right 
 through, and then there will be plenty of blood to follow. 
 
 With elephant, rhino, and hippo, solid sheathed bullets 
 should invariably be used, and a rifle like the ygmm. 
 Mauser will sometimes drive a solid right through these 
 animals when a 'body shot is taken. I have known such a 
 bullet go right through an elephant's head, but this is 
 unusual. 
 
 There seems to be such shock with modern bullets 
 driven at great velocity that the arteries and blood vessels 
 are seared, and bleeding does not take place. 
 
 Rifles like the -280, used with a sharp expanding bullet, 
 seem to work great destruction in the flesh and tissues, 
 and this prevents external bleeding. Such a weapon is 
 doubtless most reliable for red deer and the smaller 
 antelopes and other game of the world, such as bighorn, 
 markhor, ibex, and bear ; but most men who have had a 
 good experience of African game like a heavier blunt bullet 
 of the old shape. 
 
 In a later chapter I will have more to say about rifles, 
 and I only mention them here in connection with the blood 
 spoor they cause. 
 
 The easiest time to track is, of course, just after rain, as 
 all old spoor will be washed over with sand or mud and 
 recent tracks will show up distinctly. 
 
 Perhaps the hardest type of ground to spoor on is either 
 rocky land or ground covered with a thick carpet of dried 
 leaves, as the vegetation will often have to be turned aside 
 to detect the marks on the earth. 
 
 If an animal is running hard there is little difficulty, as 
 the soil will be thrown back and to the sides ; and a 
 running sable antelope leaves a very distinct trail, as his 
 hoofs spread out more than do the majority of game. 
 However, no hard-hit animal will keep up a fast run for 
 more than a mile or two, and it will soon settle down 
 to an easy walk, and will usually take to pretty thick 
 cover. 
 
io8 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 An easy spoor to follow is one through long, rank grass, 
 as the beast's hoofs and body will press the grass over in 
 the direction it is going. 
 
 Elephants in such a patch of country are very easily 
 followed, and if there is a herd of any game nothing could 
 be simpler than tracking in such a place. 
 
 Droppings are often eaten by beetles, sometimes almost 
 immediately after they are deposited, and large dung like 
 elephant's will remain warm for an hour or two, and if it is 
 broken open it will often be steamy. It is certainly easier 
 to tell if droppings are recently deposited than the exact 
 age of footprints. 
 
 In windy weather the fine sand gets blown into the foot- 
 prints, and small spiders sometimes make their webs over 
 such marks, which would point to them being a few hours 
 or more old. 
 
 By opening dung one can get a fair idea as to the food 
 of various game, and it is astonishing what a varied 
 " menu " all animals have. Both carnivorous and herbi- 
 vorous game eat certain fruits, and the former are not 
 above eating such creatures as mice, lizards, land turtles, 
 locusts, caterpillars, and snails. In fact, anything that is 
 eatable that comes in their way will be swallowed at times. 
 
 Elephants eat leaves, bark, fruits of many kinds, and, I 
 believe, occasionally grass, and rhinos are said to feed 
 solely on bark and thorns, but I once found grass in a 
 black rhino's stomach, so it had evidently been grazing. 
 
 Elephants often swallow stones, and on several occasions 
 I have found them in their stomachs. Quite recently I 
 picked out thirty-eight stones from an elephant's stomach, 
 and there may have been more that I did not find. These 
 may be taken when the animals drink and it is possible 
 that they swallow some when eating anthill mud, which 
 they probably eat for its saline qualities, or for the acid 
 contained in it. 
 
 The usual way to shoot in Central Africa is to go out 
 and range the bush on the look-out for game, but if 
 any special animal is wanted it is better to try to find the 
 
Game Animals Have a Strong Odour. 109 
 
 fresh tracks and spoor it up, and certainly this is the 
 highest art of hunting. 
 
 I have mentioned that the pleasantest time to go out 
 shooting is in the afternoon, when the grass and vege- 
 tation are dry and the sun is losing its power. There 
 are two objections to this time and these are that if an 
 animal is shot it has to be left out all night, and this spoils 
 the meat for the white man's use. If the game is disem- 
 bowelled, or "gralloched" as they tay in Scotland, the 
 smell will carry a long way, and it is bound to attract 
 hyaenas and perhaps lions if there are any about. The 
 other objection is that should a beast be wounded there 
 is no time to spoor it up and put it out of pain, and 
 this is a very serious objection indeed, in my opinion, 
 for it is cruel to leave a wounded animal for over twelve 
 hours. 
 
 The disadvantage about the morning shoot is that the 
 grass and vegetation, before the time of the annual fires, 
 will be soaking wet with dew ; in fact, so wet that one 
 might as well walk through a pond. However, the sun 
 soon gets strong and dries one if it is not a dull and cloudy 
 day. Such a morning is sometimes beautiful with the 
 sun's rays flashing on the dewdrops like millions of 
 diamonds, and the sprays of long grass like a highly 
 polished series of sword blades. 
 
 Often the "couch" of some game animal will be seen, 
 and there is usually such a strong smell that it is possible 
 to tell what species has been lying there. Buffalo have a 
 strong odour, so have eland and waterbuck, and pig also 
 leave a strong taint behind. 
 
 Sometimes I have smelt game before seeing it, and 
 animals can have little difficulty in tracing their own kind 
 by the sense of smell. I imagine, too, that the feet of 
 animals leave a strong scent behind, which enables others 
 to follow them. 
 
 Most game move about at night, when they eat and 
 drink, and they lie up when the sun begins to get hot, 
 which is about 9 or 10 a.m. 
 
no Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Antelopes like to go into the open about 4 p.m., when 
 the sun is beginning to wane, and the open spaces are a 
 good type of country to search between that time and 
 sunset. Early in the morning, game will often be found in 
 the dambos, the small plains in Central Africa, which are 
 generally covered with anthills in a more or less degree. 
 These mounds form good cover for a stalk to a fair sporting 
 range, and there are often clumps of bush or patches of 
 grass left by the annual fires which serve the same purpose. 
 
 Warthogs, reedbuck, and oribi will occasionally be seen 
 in the open during the hot hours, though the heat of 
 October and November is generally too great for all of 
 them, and they will keep to the bush. 
 
 I think I have mentioned that the grass fires usually take 
 place in July, August, or September, but it all depends on 
 the duration of the rains, and whether the grass has got 
 dry and yellow enough to burn well. 
 
 Game is very fond of going to the dambos and licking 
 up the salt contained in the ashes ; and two or three weeks 
 after the fires the fresh green grass will spring up and 
 be eagerly eaten by the game ; but this grass will likely 
 get withered again until the rains in the early part of 
 December bring it back to life. Then it will continue 
 growing right up to March and April, when the rainy 
 season usually ends. 
 
 All game is very fond of ascending hills, and even such 
 large animals as elephants and buffaloes will often climb as 
 high as Soooft. Many of the ranges in Central Africa 
 have plateaux on the tops, and Mount Chiperoni, in 
 Portuguese East Africa, which is considerably higher than 
 Soooft. above sea level, used to be, and doubtless still is, a 
 favourite haunt of all the larger game. 
 
 Probably animals go to these places to get away from 
 biting flies, and for coolness in very hot weather; and 
 possibly the food has a different taste to that found at 
 lower levels, and may act as a medicine or tonic. 
 
 It is certainly hard work following game in some of their 
 wanderings, especially in the rainy season and before the 
 

 Troublesome Plants. \ 1 1 
 
 grass is burned. About April and May the grass begins 
 to seed, and some kinds of grass have seeds as long 
 and sharp as needles ; these cling to flannel shirts, 
 socks, and other rough clothing, proving a very great 
 nuisance. 
 
 At times grass seeds will be driven into the flesh, and 
 as some of them seem to have barbed points, they are 
 difficult to extract. Then there is the buffalo bean (chitaizi 
 or chitedza), which I have mentioned before as being a 
 pod covered with hairy spikes, containing some irritant 
 poison and causing a severe itching, followed by a red rash, 
 which, however, disappears in a day or less, if the blood is 
 in good order. 
 
 There are also many different kinds of thorns and 
 stinging nettles, and a painful object to rub against in 
 thick grass is a fine creeper about the size of a leather 
 bootlace, which is covered with sharp spikes. This creeper 
 is difficult to detect, as it is green in the rains and turns 
 yellow with th<* grass in the dry season, and when shooting 
 in bare legs, as I usually do, I have had the skin badly torn 
 by this vegetable string. It is very strong, so there is no 
 use trying to break it, and one has to retreat a pace and 
 then step over it. 
 
 Ticks are often numerous, and in some parts of Africa 
 leeches are bad, but I never saw them so numerous in 
 Africa as I did in parts of Eastern India. 
 
 While working at Ekaruni Tea Estate, in Sylhet, both 
 the coolies and myself used to get covered with wire 
 leeches, and it was useless trying to pull them all off, as 
 they generally carry away a piece of skin, and the place 
 is sure to fester, and often form a bad ulcer. I can 
 remember occasions when I got home and applied some 
 salt to them and collected from fifty to one hundred on the 
 mud floor. Then a sprinkle of salt would make them 
 vomit up the blood, and a pool of gore would collect over 
 a foot in circumference. This would not have been so bad 
 if it had been a very occasional event, but when it was 
 repeated day after day, it made one feel like a sucked 
 
H2 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 orange. The reason the leeches were so bad on the 
 garden named was that I went there when the place was 
 virgin jungle, and the land was very wet and sw r ampy. 
 With good drainage the land was dried, and the wet jungle 
 was cut down, so the leeches disappeared in the clearings. 
 I have seldom seen such a deadly place for natives, as 
 many died of cholera, dysentery, ulcers, blood poisoning, 
 and other diseases. It reminded me of a description of 
 Yambuya Camp, where Captain Nelson and his natives 
 were starved and died of disease in the Stanley Emin Pasha 
 Expedition. 
 
 Mosquitoes teemed on that place, and they were so bad 
 that I used to sit and dine under a large mosquito net, 
 having a smaller one stretched over my bed. The " boys " 
 used to push the dishes under the large net, and a " boy " 
 inside would put them on the table and remove them in 
 the same way. The only recommendation this fever spot 
 possessed was an abundance of snipe and jungle fowl, and 
 there were a few deer about; but the jungles were so thick 
 that it was almost impossible to see them, and one made 
 such a noise creeping about that the game usually had 
 plenty of notice before it was possible to get a glimpse 
 of them. 
 
 I remember the monkeys proved a great bother, as they 
 used to invade the young tea nurseries and eat the freshly 
 planted seed and pull out the small bushes, so I shot a 
 number with a small rook rifle. Baboons in Africa often 
 damage tobacco and other plants, but they can be 
 frightened away by shooting a few and hanging up a 
 carcase or two as scarecrows. 
 
 The beginner at big game shooting may like to know 
 the best spot where to hit game. When shooting, he 
 should try to get the sight on a certain spot and not aim at 
 hazard. 
 
 The two deadliest shots for game are the heart and the 
 lungs, and, of course, a bullet in the brain or the centre 
 of the neck will drop game at once ; but these are unsatis- 
 factory targets, as a bullet in the head will break the skull 
 
The Best Shots at Game. 113 
 
 and if too high may remove a horn. Unless the animal is 
 large, such as eland or buffalo, the neck is a difficult 
 mark. 
 
 To hit the heart is a question dependant on the angle at 
 which the game is standing, but if broadside on, the best 
 spot is fairly low through the shoulder bone. The hearts of 
 all game are lower than a line drawn horizontally across 
 the body, and a buffalo's heart lies right down in the 
 cavity of the chest. If the heart, or large arteries just 
 above it is struck, the animal will usually give a shiver and 
 dash off at a fast pace and then collapse after going forty 
 to sixty yards ; but often game will fall at once and die 
 quickly. Personally, I prefer to see a beast run for a little 
 way before falling, as animals which fall quickly often get up 
 again and bolt. Of course a small buck is often knocked 
 down by the concussion, and I have seen bushbuck and 
 duiker lifted off their legs by the energy of the bullet, and 
 this was particularly noticeable when I used a -318 " Axite " 
 rifle, which has a velocity of 25ooft. sec. and shoots a 
 heavy, blunt point bullet of 25ogrs. 
 
 For the lung shot aim at about six inches behind the 
 shoulder, and pretty high. Shots aimed at the lungs may 
 go high and break the spine, and then the stricken beast 
 will collapse at once. If the lungs be punctured, game may 
 run for a distance of from fifty to 200 yards before falling, 
 or it may fall at once. When running off it will drop a lot 
 of frothy blood from its mouth, and this blood will be a 
 light crimson colour and covered with frothy bubbles. 
 
 If one sees this frothy blood, game will almost certainly 
 be recovered if tracked up, and the beast will likely be 
 found dead not very far away. 
 
 Animals with a broken front leg may travel for hours ; 
 but a broken hind leg will prevent game moving far, as the 
 back legs are the driving machinery, so to speak, and the 
 heaviest part of the animal is the hindquarters. 
 
 It is impossible to shoot much game without noticing 
 instances of animals exhibiting great tenacity of life, and I 
 have seen duikers run off with half their entrails dropped 
 
H4 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 behind, and I once hit a warthog in the stomach with 
 a soft-nosed bullet, and the stomach fell out of the exit hole 
 and I picked it up on the spoor. I naturally thought the 
 warthog would be lying dead; but it jumped up when 
 approached, and I killed it with another bullet. This is 
 not nice reading, and I will not mention other cases ; I 
 only state these to show how tenacious game is at 
 times. Of course such incidents are exceptions, and not 
 the rule ; and they are the result of bad shooting in the 
 hind quarters. With experience one learns to aim coolly 
 and not to fire uncertain long shots at animals standing at 
 unknown angles. After seeing the pain caused by 
 indifferent shooting, the humane-minded sportsman will 
 take greater care in aligning the sights of his weapon, and 
 he will take greater pains to get within a good sporting 
 distance. 
 
 Personally, I find the best position for a standing shot is 
 a rest against a tree, taking care that the barrel does not 
 touch the wood, as the jar w r ill cause the bullet to fly wide. 
 When the grass is long it is impossible to sit down and 
 expect to see the game, unless one is perched on an anthill 
 or rock ; but in the dry season, when the grass is burnt 
 and the leaves withered, I find that the steadiest position 
 is to sit down and put an elbow on each knee, which is a 
 favourite position among the deerstalkers in the forests of 
 Scotland. I seldom lie down unless I get on an anthill, as 
 even in the dry season there is usually too much vegetation 
 in the way. A strong reed or twig is enough to turn 
 aside a bullet, and it is sometimes very difficult to find a 
 path for the bullet in thick bush, where the stems of the 
 trees are closely grouped together. 
 
 The object of the sportsman is to bag males, as a rule ; 
 but many of the antelope cows carry good horns, and, to 
 mention the principal, there are eland, sable, roan, and 
 hartebeest ; though none of them carry such fine heads as 
 the bulls, for they are thinner and shorter, except in the 
 case of the eland cow, which often grows horns as long 
 as those of the bull. 
 
# ; 
 

 The Sleeping Sickness. 115 
 
 In good game haunts in Central Africa, game will often 
 swarm in certain regions during the dry weather, when all 
 the small rivers and streams have dried up. On the 
 Luangwa River in North-Eastern Rhodesia, and on the 
 Bua River in Nyasaland, game is very abundant from July 
 to the end of November, as both these rivers are perennial. 
 
 During the months of the hard rains January to March 
 there is water in every stream and hollow, and the game 
 wanders about all over the country, although I think 
 certain game remain in one patch of country throughout 
 the year if they have not been much disturbed. It is this 
 wandering habit amongst the fauna that makes it so diffi- 
 cult to get rid of the sleeping sickness ; and to attempt to 
 exterminate the game by shooting it would do harm instead 
 of good, as most of it would only be driven into other 
 country and take the disease with them. It would, there- 
 fore, be an infinitely easier matter to remove the native 
 inhabitants into districts free of much game and tsetse flies, 
 and those suffering from the disease could be segregated 
 and attended to. As present it is quite impossible for the 
 medical authorities to hear of a tenth of the number of 
 cases that occur in sleeping sickness areas, and dozens of 
 natives die without anything being known of them. If 
 a disease area were depopulated for several years, the 
 plague would fade away and become unknown in the 
 course of time. 
 
 Native huts are flimsy affairs ; they do not take long 
 to build, and natives seldom occupy a village for more 
 than ten years, as they change their locality to get fresh 
 ground for their gardens. 
 
 In all British colonies and protectorates there are now 
 stringent game regulations, and it is a good thing that the 
 fauna of a country should be preserved for future genera- 
 tions of sportsmen and naturalists. As it may prove useful, 
 I will now give some information referring to the cost of 
 licences, and the number of game animals allowed to be 
 killed annually in Nyasaland, North-Eastern Rhodesia, 
 and British East Africa. 
 
n6 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 NYASALAND. 
 
 There are now only two licences here and the visiting 
 sportsman pays jio, and a deposit of 50 is sometimes 
 required which is returned when he leaves the country. A 
 gun licence is also required, which costs los. 
 
 The resident in Nyasaland, or a resident in the adjoining 
 territory of North-Eastern Rhodesia, pays 2, and has to 
 also take out the los. gun licence. 
 
 The game allowed on any of these licences is : 
 
 Head. 
 
 Buffalo 6 
 
 Hippopotamus 4 
 
 Eland 6 
 
 Gnu (wildebeest) ... ... ... ... ... ... 6 
 
 Zebra 6 
 
 Sable antelope 6 
 
 Roan antelope ... 6 
 
 Kudu 6 
 
 Warthog ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 
 
 Monkey 6 
 
 Aard Vark (antbear) 2 
 
 Egret ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 
 
 Any other species, in all ... ... 30 
 
 Total 104 
 
 For shooting elephant the following licences are 
 necessary : 
 
 One elephant ... 10 
 
 A second 10 
 
 A third ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 
 
 A fourth 20 
 
 That is four elephants can be shot for 60. I cannot 
 find any mention of the rhinoceros in the present game 
 regulations of Nyasaland. 
 
 The above list is a very generous one, and it is sufficient 
 for any man, in fact it will seldom be found necessary to 
 shoot the full numbers allowed, unless a man is doing little 
 else than travelling about the country. 
 
Shooting Licences. 1 1 7 
 
 The item giving thirty head includes the game which is 
 not specified, such as waterbuck, hartebeest, bushbuck, 
 reedbuck, impala, inyala, oribi, steinbuck, and duiker. 
 
 Carnivorous animals, such as lion, leopard, hyaenas, wild 
 dogs, cats of various varieties, otter, and all birds excepting 
 egrets can be shot in any quantity, and all that is required 
 for shooting them is the ordinary gun licence necessary 
 for permission to carry a weapon of any kind. 
 
 NORTH-EASTERN RHODESIA. 
 
 It is probable that the game laws of the above territory 
 may be changed to make them similar to the country known 
 as North-Western Rhodesia, but this, I think, would be a 
 mistake, for North-Eastern is not so often visited by sports- 
 men as no railway touches the country. 
 
 At present I believe that the game laws are as follows : 
 
 ALLOWANCE ON 25 GAME LICENCE. 
 
 Four elephant (ivory not less than nib. weight for each tusk). 
 
 Five rhinoceros. 
 
 Four gnu (wildebeest). 
 
 Three zebra (males only). 
 
 Eland and all other game, except giraffe and other animals and 
 birds which are protected. 
 
 The taking out of a 25 licence includes the ordinary charge of los. 
 for a gun licence. 
 
 ALLOWANCE ON 2 LICENCE. 
 
 Buffalo. 
 
 Roan antelope. 
 
 Sable antelope. 
 
 Kudu. 
 
 Hippopotamus (six only) 
 
 Lechwe. 
 
 Reedbuck. 
 
 Waterbuck. 
 
 Hartebeest. 
 
 Oribi. 
 
 Duiker. 
 
 Klipspringer. 
 
 Situtunga. Warthog. 
 
 Puku. 
 Impala. 
 
 Bushpig. 
 Bushbuck, etc. 
 
 There seems to be no limit of the animals mentioned, 
 except the hippo, of which six are allowed. 
 
n8 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 As in Nyasaland, all carnivorous animals and other 
 small mammals can be shot, and the same applies to birds, 
 except those specially protected. 
 
 It will be noticed that eland, zebra, and gnu can only be 
 shot under the 25 licence. 
 
 North-Eastern Rhodesia is a vast territory, teeming with 
 game in places ; and, both there and in Nyasaland, there 
 are hundreds of square miles that have hardly been 
 traversed by white men, and the game is as numerous at 
 the present time as it was before Europeans settled in the 
 country. 
 
 It always pays to break into new country and get away 
 from the ordinary beaten tracks that have been much 
 shot in, although even in country that has been well 
 hunted, game will often be found in abundance. 
 
 The animals are difficult to drive out of country they 
 like, and if they should be frightened and driven away, 
 their homing instincts soon bring them back again. 
 
 BRITISH EAST AFRICA. 
 
 The " sportsman's " licence here costs rupees 750 
 G5)> an d it allows of a large variety of game to be shot, 
 though many of them belong to insignificant species 
 producing poor trophies. 
 
 A resident pays rupees 150, a traveller's licence costs 
 rupees 15, and a landholder's licence is rupees 45. 
 
 Here is a list of the Game Ordinance of 1909 and the 
 
 game allowed : 
 
 Head. 
 
 Buffalo (bull) 2 
 
 Rhinoceros 2 
 
 Hippopotamus (with restrictions as to district) ... ... 2 
 
 Eland ... ( ,, ,, ) I 
 
 Zebra (Grevy's) 2 
 
 ,, (Common) ... ... ... ... ... ... 20 
 
 Oryx (Callotis) 2 
 
 (Beisa) 4 
 
 Waterbuck (of each species) 2 
 
 Sable antelope (male) ... ... ... ... ... i 
 
Number of Game Allowed. 
 
 Roan antelope (male) (with restrictions) ... 
 Greater kudu (,,)( ,, ) ... 
 
 Lesser kudu ( ,, ) ( ) ... 
 
 Topi 
 ,, (in Jubaland, Tanaland, and Loita Plains) 
 
 Coke's hartebeest 
 
 Neumann's hartebeest (with restrictions) ... 
 Jackson's hartebeest 
 
 Hunter's antelope 
 
 Thomas's kob... 
 Bongo ... 
 Impala... 
 Situtunga 
 
 Wildebeest 
 
 Grant's gazelle (four varieties of each) 
 Waller's gazelle (Gerunuk) 
 
 Harvey's duiker 
 
 Isaacs's duiker 
 Blue duiker 
 
 Kirk's dik-dik 
 
 Guenther's dik-dik ... 
 Hinde's dik-dik 
 
 Cavendish's dik-dik 
 
 Abyssinian oribi ... ... ,, 
 
 Haggard's oribi 
 
 Kenya oribi ... 
 
 Suni (Nesotragus moschatus) 
 
 Klipspringer ... 
 
 Ward's reedbuck 
 
 Chanler's reedbuck ... 
 
 Thomson's gazelle 
 
 Peter's gazelle 
 
 Soemmerring's gazelle 
 
 Bushbuck 
 
 Bushbuck (Haywood's) 
 
 Colobi monkeys of each species 
 Marabout stork 
 Egret of each species 
 
 Total 
 
 Head. 
 
 i 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 10 
 10 
 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 K) 
 10 
 IO 
 10 
 IO 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 10 
 
 6 
 4 
 4 
 
 312 
 
 If the different varieties of Grant's gazelle and water- 
 buck are included this would bring the total up a little. 
 
120 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Of course much of the game given is very localised, and 
 without a long residence in the country it would be impossible 
 to get specimens of all the species given in this list. 
 
 With regard to elephant a special licence of rupees 150 
 is required to shoot one elephant, and the tusks must not 
 weigh under 3olb. each. To kill two elephants the charge 
 is rupees 450. 
 
 For permission to kill one bull giraffe the licence costs 
 rupees 150, and certain districts are prescribed. 
 
 Certainly no sportsman can complain about the limits 
 enforced ; but it is not the true sportsmen who do the 
 damage to the game of British East Africa, but the 
 unprincipled whites who get far from civilisation and 
 slaughter the game. In a former chapter I have mentioned 
 the damage the Boers do, and as that country now teems 
 with men of that race it can easily be imagined how the 
 game suffers. 
 
 There is only one way to prevent poaching, and that is 
 to have sufficient game rangers to patrol the country 
 in parties of from two to four men with full powers to 
 apprehend and bring before the game warden the poachers 
 who are caught redhanded. 
 
 One man is useless, as a witness is necessary, and such 
 game rangers should be given the power to resist force by 
 the use of firearms. 
 
 I admire the Boers as a fine, manly race, and I suppose 
 most people do ; but they are not sportsmen in a true 
 sense, and they only slaughter game for the sake of the 
 hides and an occasional fine head which they keep to sell. 
 
 The first thing to do is stop the exportation of hides and 
 game trophies unless they have been shot under licences. 
 
 In German East Africa the decimation of the game has 
 already reached a serious state, and I take the liberty 
 of quoting an article which appeared in the Field of 
 January 6, 1912. It reads as follows: 
 
 Our Berlin contemporary Naturivissenscha fliche Wochenschrift of 
 December 17 (1911) devotes two articles one by Professor Fritz Bein and 
 the other by Professor C. G. Schillings, to the appalling slaughter of big 
 

 German East Africa, 121 
 
 game which is now taking place in German East Africa, and the urgent 
 need of prohibitive legislation in order that a remnant of the fauna may be 
 saved. 
 
 Game reserves like those which have been established with such marked 
 success in British East Africa, as well as restrictions on the number of head 
 of game shot by individual sportsmen, and likewise regulations prohibiting 
 the export of undersized ivory and trophies and skins for commercial 
 purposes are apparently wanting in the adjacent German Protectorate, and 
 it is to the lack of these that Professor Bein, who has lately returned from a 
 tour in German East Africa, attributes in a great measure the rapid 
 destruction of the fauna, which he designates a scandal to civilisation and 
 a heartrending disgrace to the German Empire. 
 
 The slaughter on a big scale is not attributed to sportsmen who visit the 
 country on hunting trips, and are for the most part men of culture and 
 lovers of nature. 
 
 Nor is it due to collectors of specimens for legitimate scientific purposes, 
 neither of these classes causing any appreciable diminution in the number 
 of the game. 
 
 The touring sportsmen who spend from two to six or more months in the 
 country are, indeed, an advantage to the country, for they bring and spend 
 a large amount of money, which is much needed. 
 
 The real culprits are those who shoot for the purpose of obtaining record 
 heads, and the professional hunters, who sell their trophies, and shoot every 
 living thing they come across, from elephants to the smallest birds. 
 
 Many of these professional elephant hunters belong, it is said, to an 
 extremely undesirable class, who in many instances have left their own country 
 for urgent reasons. Worse even than these are colonies of South African 
 Boers, who get their living by shooting rhinoceroses, elephants, and other 
 animals yielding spoils of commercial value. Many of these Boers, it 
 appears, were settled in the country at great expense by the Government in 
 order to act as " pioneers of civilisation." Whereas the European sports- 
 man, whether scientific or otherwise, travels with a big train and a large 
 amount of impedimenta, the Boer goes about accompanied only by a single 
 negro, with little more than his rifle and blanket, and lives on the flesh of 
 the game he shoots and a handful of maize. Thus lightly equipped, he gets 
 far away from the haunts of Europeans, and for some ten months in the 
 year shoots to his heart's content without fear of interruption. 
 
 The remaining two months are spent oh his small farm or field, which he 
 pretends to cultivate to a certain extent, in order that he may figure as an 
 industrious settler. 
 
 As the result of the destruction inflicted by hunters of the above types, 
 Professor Bein states that whereas in a district in the heart of the Masai 
 plateau, which he visited in 1907-8, elephants were then abundant, when he 
 revisited it in 1909-10, scarcely a single elephant was to be seen. The 
 Boers, it appears, had been hunting in the district during the interval, and 
 from a single herd had obtained no fewer than sixty pairs of tusks. 
 During a five months' march through the same country, only five 
 rhinoceroses were observed. Again, he states that in Lake Mweru district, 
 
122 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 a noted locality for rhinoceroses, where Schillings only a few years ago saw 
 as many as twenty in a day, he could find only a couple of old tracks, but 
 not a single living individual. 
 
 During the whole of his five months' journey in German East Africa, 
 Professor Bein had only one opportunity of shooting elephants, and this 
 was not due to any incompetence on his part, as he was accompanied by 
 two experienced sportsmen who knew the country well, and were adepts in 
 detecting game. 
 
 In Umbegwi it is stated that a Boer within a period of three weeks, shot 
 nine elephants and sixteen rhinoceroses in an area of only a few square 
 kilometres. In a single week a professional English hunter killed one 
 elephant and nineteen rhinoceroses, to say nothing of other game, in 
 the Morogoro district ; while, when Professor Bein was in the neighbour- 
 hood of Lake Mweru, a German hunter shot six elephants, which had been 
 specially protected by a planter from the pure love of nature, despite the 
 damage they inflicted on his crops. 
 
 All this, and more, goes on in spite of protests by the author, by the 
 Duke of Ratibor, Prince Solms-Baruth, Paul Niedick, Professors Sarasin 
 and Matschie, and Geheimrat Waldeyer. 
 
 Unless something effectual is done, and that speedily, German East 
 Africa will be denuded of its big game. 
 
 The above interesting article shows that in certain 
 districts in German East Africa a great deal of game 
 slaughter has taken, and is likely still taking, place. 
 
 One point I can hardly follow. It says that a Boer, 
 accompanied by one negro, will go off for ten months with 
 only his rifle and blanket. 
 
 One negro could not carry sufficient food and cartridges 
 to last for ten months, and how could the Boer transport 
 the horns, skins, or tusks with one negro ? 
 
 A good lot of exaggerated matter is written about the 
 extermination of game in parts of Africa; but at the same 
 time there is much truth in the statements given. Unless 
 a Government is prepared to spend money on game 
 protection, and provide sufficient game rangers to patrol 
 the country, the game will be slaughtered. However, the 
 exportation of skins can be prevented by legislation, and 
 the Boers and other game butchers would stop killing the 
 game to any great extent if they found that their trouble 
 was useless, and, moreover, they can be caught with 
 efficient supervision. 
 
Wild Animals in Confinement. 123 
 
 Of course, settlers object strongly, as a rule, to game 
 destroying their crops and plantations, and no game 
 reserve should be made near settlements, as it is not fair to 
 men who spend money in planting concerns to have their 
 fields devastated by wild animals. 
 
 More especially is this the case when stringent regula- 
 tions disallow a beast to be shot, and no compensation is 
 given for the damage it causes. 
 
 It behoves sportsmen to be open-minded in the matter, 
 and also Governments ; and, after all, there is an abundance 
 of room in the wilder parts of the country where game 
 reserves can be made. It is better that such reserves 
 should not be of too large an area, or it will be impos- 
 sible to supervise them efficiently without going to great 
 expense. 
 
 Game reserves act as feeders for surrounding country 
 that is getting shot out, and this has already been proved 
 in the United States of America ; and they also form 
 nurseries for the supply of specimens to zoological gardens 
 and parks, although personally I think it is a shame to 
 keep wild creatures in such confined quarters, where they 
 only pine and die under the unnatural conditions of their 
 lives, spent generally in a climate that does not suit them. 
 
 It is pitiful to see a beast like a lion confined in a small 
 cage, and gone in the loins with the want of proper 
 exercise and freedom ; and such an act on man's part is 
 infinitely more cruel than shooting game in the country it 
 frequents. Some people may dissent from this view, and 
 yet there are plenty of men who would prefer a quick 
 death to solitary confinement for the term of their natural 
 lives. 
 
 A weak-backed lion or a scraggy rhino, as seen in a zoo, 
 is surely not a better guide as to the shape of the animals 
 than well-stuffed specimens in a museum. 
 
 If people at home wish to know what a certain animal 
 looks like, they have museums in all the large cities, which 
 are open to inspection ; but for a gaping crowd to go to 
 gaze at some decrepit animal behind iron bars is nothing 
 
124 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 more nor less than a civilised kind of refined cruelty, 
 and I hope the day is not far distant when all zoological 
 gardens and parks will have to be abandoned by an Act 
 of Parliament. Doubtless there are many who will not 
 agree with the last sentence, but I let it stand, for I know 
 that many sportsmen consider the imprisonment of wild 
 creatures a species of slow torture, and a pandering to the 
 noxious taste of crowds of the lower population of Euro- 
 pean countries. I have seldom met an intelligent and 
 humane-minded man who did not deplore the shutting up 
 of wild animal life in cages, and, when we consider the 
 roving instincts of man alone, we can have some slight 
 idea of the misery of such animals' lives, accustomed, as 
 they are, to an unlimited freedom in their own countries. 
 
 The young which happen to be born in confinement 
 doubtless also feel the constraint to some extent, for one 
 cannot expect that the longing for liberty will leave such 
 creatures in one or two generations. 
 
 Only a few species breed freely when in confinement, 
 and the young are generally weak and feeble compared to 
 pure wild stock of the same species which are born in their 
 natural haunts. But enough of this subject for the present, 
 for the writings of a single individual will never have an 
 effect in the discontinuance of such refined cruelty by 
 people who ought to know better. In its wild state game 
 known as dangerous very seldom harms man unless it is 
 interfered with or wounded, and certainly no man can 
 object to any wounded beast trying to avenge its injuries 
 on the person who inflicted them, and there would be little 
 interest in big-game shooting if there were no chance of a 
 " scrap " with an animal occasionally. There is really 
 nothing very difficult in shooting harmless game ; although 
 the discomforts and hard work this may entail may be as 
 great as the work necessary to find a lion or buffalo. 
 
 With regard to hard work, elephant hunting comes 
 under a separate category, as no sport in the world will 
 take more out of a man ; especially if it be undertaken 
 in October or November, just before the rains, when the 
 
How to Choose Camping Ground. 125 
 
 heat of the sun is sometimes terrific ; or right in the middle 
 of the rainy season, when the coarse grass is from loft, to 
 2oft. in height, and usually soaking wet and full of creepers 
 and stinging plants. 
 
 There are many opportunities of exercising one's 
 ingenuity when living in the wilds, as stores full of 
 different necessaries are not found round the first corner 
 as they are in large cities and towns at home. 
 
 The tent should be pitched under a big leafy tree ; 
 though care should be taken to inspect the branches to see 
 if any are rotten and likely to fall if a gale springs up I 
 remember once I was camped under a large tree and 
 omitted this inspection, and a gale came on in the middle 
 of the night, bringing down a large branch. Luckily for 
 me it only touched a tent rope, giving the tent a bad shake, 
 but if it had been a few feet nearer, I would not be writing 
 this at the present moment, as it w r eighed a ton or more. 
 
 Some trees grow large gourd-like oblong pods, about 
 i8in. or more long, and I once saw one land on a native's 
 head and knock him insensible. When he recovered he 
 said that an enemy had tried to kill him by making the 
 vegetable growth strike his skull, which, to say the least, 
 was amusing. 
 
 The three essentials for a camp are the presence of 
 shade, water, and fuel ; and these are all abundant in 
 Central Africa. If water cannot be found above ground it 
 can often be got by digging in the bed of a sandy river- 
 course. The presence of puku, impala, waterbuck, and 
 reedbuck usually denote that water is somewhere near. 
 
 If a man gets lost in the bush by himself, and cannot 
 find a path, the best thing he can do is to first try to find 
 water, and then he should make a smoky fire on the highest 
 spot near, and wait until his friends appear. Here I 
 presume that he is careful not to leave camp without a 
 box of matches, a rifle and cartridges, and a knife ; which 
 are real necessities in a wild country. With water and 
 some meat he could live for a long time, taking care to 
 keep a large fire going by day and night. Green leaves 
 
126 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 put on the bright fire would produce lots of smoke, and so 
 would some green grass. He could break down branches 
 to make a rough skerm round at the back, and with plenty 
 of dry fuel and his rifle he would be safe from lions. If he 
 had not many cartridges it would be a mistake to fire 
 many shots, as a call for help ; these should be kept and 
 economised as much as possible. A compass is of little 
 use unless one knows the direction travelled before his 
 bearings were lost. The prevailing wind is a help, and 
 if this is unknown, the angle of the trees and the bark 
 will denote it. Rivers, too, if their direction is known, are 
 an aid, but they usually twist more than appears on the 
 maps of this country. Perhaps the best advice is to keep 
 cool, which, of course, is easier said than done, and not 
 to indulge in aimless wandering after one knows that the 
 direction is lost. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 MEMORIES OF BIG GAME HUNTING. 
 
 Old shooting experiences a pleasant memory Game plentiful near the 
 Luangwa River Giraffes Leopard seen Lion followed into thick 
 grass Bird life on the Luangwa River Vultures spotting game 
 Natives eating rotten meat Crocodiles A native taken by a crocodile 
 Fish and their poor eating qualities Mushrooms and other edible 
 fungi Shoot a fine impala ram Waterbuck plentiful Bad climate 
 near the Luangwa River Great heat and thunderstorms Wound a 
 bull elephant He charges and is killed Garden-feeding elephants Hit 
 a tuskless bull elephant A cow proves nasty Thorn thickets 
 inhabited by game Follow elephants which run off and swim the 
 Luangwa River Kill six hippo Track and shoot a bull rhino Close 
 quarters with a rhino A good rhino horn Go a trip to the Chiromo 
 Marsh Follow a wounded buffalo bull for six hours and kill him 
 The haunt of the inyala antelope in Nyasaland Kill a very fine 
 reedbuck ram Chiromo district a good game country Thorn country 
 and the Tuchila Plain Shoot a large eland bull Bag some sable 
 antelope Difficulty of preserving specimens in damp weather A good 
 kudu specimen spoiled by a native Thorns and sharp grass Shooting 
 in bare legs Wound, track, and kill a hartebeest bull. 
 
 MY memory often carries me back to some lovely game 
 country and the exciting sport I experienced there, and 
 one of the most lovely of them all was the vicinity of 
 the Luangwa River in North-Eastern Rhodesia. The 
 Luangwa is a very large river, especially in the rains, as it 
 drains a vast extent of country. In the dry season many of 
 the smaller rivers and streams dry up and when seeing 
 them at this time it is difficult to believe that they can 
 develop into rushing torrents of great force. I am now 
 living on the head waters of the Bua River which is 
 usually a quietly running stream about 3oft. across. As 
 I write this (March 23, 1913) after about twelve hours' 
 
128 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 steady rain it has" risen tremendously and is now in spate, 
 in places about 3Ooft. across, and a small bridge I made was 
 carried away. When the rain stops this small river goes 
 down almost as quickly as it rises. 
 
 In 1905 I spent a year at a place marked on the map as 
 Mzazas, which was right in the centre of some of the best 
 game country left in Africa. It was right opposite one of 
 the two game reserves existing in North-Eastern Rhodesia. 
 This reserve was made to preserve one or two herds of 
 giraffe which inhabited that country. The Administrator 
 of North-Eastern Rhodesia at that time was the late 
 Mr. Robert Codrington, and he most kindly gave me 
 permission to shoot in the reserve on condition that I did 
 not interfere with the giraffes, a promise I kept. I saw 
 their fresh spoor on many occasions, and once got a 
 glimpse of them running off. As they were the first 
 giraffes I had ever seen, I was interested in watching them 
 for the short time they were visible. 
 
 I have since seen several herds of giraffe in British East 
 Africa, where a bull can be shot on a special licence of 
 10, although somehow I do not have the ambition to 
 shoot such a harmless and beautiful animal, and there is 
 very little interest in the trophy of the mounted head 
 and neck, or the tail. 
 
 Near Mzazas elephants were rather scarce, but rhinos 
 were fairly plentiful, as the bush is full of thorn trees, the 
 staple food of these animals. Most of the commoner game 
 was abundant, and water-buck and impala swarmed. The 
 waterbuck is one of the most beautifully formed antelopes 
 of Africa, as he has a very fine carriage, especially when he 
 is startled, and holds up his head and neck. The meat is 
 poor eating, particularly that of an old bull. 
 
 I was never tired of watching the herds of graceful 
 impala, and often have I lain and watched them feeding 
 and resting. They made a lovely picture of animal life 
 amongst the green tropical vegetation growing on both 
 sides of the river. The most noticeable tree was the 
 mopani, always found near large rivers in Central Africa. 
 
Game in the Luangwa Valley. 129 
 
 Roan antelopes were plentiful, but I never saw any sable 
 near Mzazas. Zebra and hartebeest were in numbers, and 
 puku, reedbuck, oribi, and duikers could be seen here and 
 there. 
 
 Hippo were to be seen in the river occasionally, and 
 buffalo, although they did not exist quite close to where I 
 was living, were to be found in other parts of the Luangwa 
 Valley, not more than a day's journey off. 
 
 Mzazas has a name as a good place for lions, but my usual 
 bad luck with these animals seems to have followed me, for 
 though hardly a day passed without my tramping through 
 the bush, I never actually saw one of them near Mzazas. 
 
 On one occasion I heard two break away out of a patch 
 of thick grass, and I ran round hoping for a shot, but by 
 this time they had gone, and I spent hours on the spoor 
 without any result. 
 
 There were a good many bushbuck, and occasionally I 
 saw and shot warthogs. Once I got the glimpse of a 
 bolting leopard which had been feeding on an impala fawn 
 he had killed, but he was soon out of sight, just like a flash 
 of yellow light. 
 
 One day I heard pig in some long grass, almost up to 
 my neck, and seeing an anthill near, I went to it so as to 
 try to see into the grass. There was a large tree which 
 had a big branch overhanging the anthill. Just as I 
 reached the- top I saw a leopard jump from this branch and 
 disappear, and, as it frightened the pig, I got a shot at 
 neither. 
 
 Leopards are most wary animals, and I consider it is the 
 purest fluke if a man gets a good chance at one. They 
 nearly always lie up in thick grass or bush, and their 
 hearing must be most acute, for they go off silently if 
 disturbed at any distance ; if come on close, all one sees 
 is a yellow flash, and they are off for good. If lions and 
 leopards would only stand and growl at the intruder it 
 would be much better, as one would have a good chance of 
 putting in a deadly shot, but they refrain from doing this 
 unless they are wounded, and then instead of standing 
 
130 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 in the open they probably growl from behind a bush 
 or patch of grass, where one cannot see anything 
 definite to shoot at. 
 
 While living at Mlanje in 1911 some natives came and 
 told me that a lion had killed a bushpig in some thick grass 
 on the slope of a hill. I went off, and, after a w r alk of five 
 miles or so, came to the place. The grass was not only 
 thick, but it was over loft. high. I asked the natives to 
 spread out and come in with me, but they refused, saying 
 this was a very fierce lion. I knew it was foolish going 
 into such a place without the backing of another gun or 
 two, but I was keen to get a shot, so in I went. I had not 
 gone twenty yards when there was a series of very loud 
 grunts and growls, and the thick grass began to break. 
 I was so enveloped that I did not know at first whether 
 the lion was coming on or bolting, so I held my rifle 
 ready and waited. He went past me, and I could not 
 see a hair, although I saw the tops of the grass bending 
 before him. 
 
 I then went out of the grass into a small patch of open 
 ground, which was part of a native garden. The natives 
 then pelted the grass with stones and lumps of mud, and 
 the lion shifted several times, but refused to face the open. 
 After this had gone on for about an hour, an old man, who 
 was sitting on a rise some distance off, shouted to me 
 that he could see the lion's head, so I ran over, and, after 
 following the direction he pointed, I saw it too. I sat 
 down, and missed the first shot ; but, at the second, the 
 head seemed to topple over, and I thought I had got him ; 
 but I was mistaken, for soon after we saw him get into 
 some thick cover. In passing into this cover he did not 
 show, and we only saw the grass and bushes swaying as 
 he passed. It was now late in the afternoon, so I decided 
 to get home and return with a friend next day. However, 
 nothing more came of it, and I cannot say whether I hit 
 him or not. Certainly, if I did so, it was not a good hit. 
 A lion's head at a distance, enveloped in thick, dry grass 
 of the same colour, is not a satisfactory target. 
 
Keen Sight of Vultures. 131 
 
 One night at Mzazas I sat up for some lions that had 
 been coming round, but, instead of coming to a fat pig I 
 had tied up for them, they spent the night in chewing up 
 some roan reim (thongs made of roan hide) I had stretched 
 along some trees. This was fixed at about eight feet from 
 the ground, and they tore it down with their paws, and 
 then ate a lot of it. 
 
 The bird life in the Luangwa River was most interesting, 
 and the shrill cries of the ospreys were often heard as they 
 perched on some dead tree overhanging the river. The 
 monkeys, too, used to chatter and cry in the early 
 mornings, and late in the afternoons as they came to 
 drink. Many beautiful kingfishers of several varieties 
 jcould be seen, and the glint of their wings in the strong 
 sunlight was like the flash of jewels. Geese, ducks, and 
 waders were numerous, and I noticed many terns of a 
 small species. Green pigeons, parrots, guineafowls, par- 
 tridges, quail, and doves helped to fill the pot at times, 
 and marabout storks, as well as storks and herons of other 
 varieties, were abundant. One very pretty black and 
 white coloured stork is known, I believe, as the saddle bill 
 stork, from the formation of a saddle shaped plate on the 
 posterior part of his peak. 
 
 When game was killed and left in the open the vultures 
 would be the first to see it, and then the marabouts would 
 follow. It is marvellous how the vultures can see meat at 
 such a distance, for when one shoots a beast none may be 
 visible. Then in half an hour one will notice some dark 
 specks away in the blue, and these will get lower and 
 lower in diminishing circles until they develop into these 
 carrion feeders. But if it is properly covered, the vultures 
 fail to see it, as I have proved on many occasions. 
 
 It is useless covering the game and leaving big patches 
 of crimson blood lying near. Sand or earth should be 
 thrown over such marks. My belief is that the vultures do 
 not notice the game as quickly as they do a fair-sized patch 
 of red blood, and it is this that first catches their vision, as 
 they wheel far off in the heavens. When the sun went 
 
 K '2 
 
132 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 down, as it often did in the dry hot season in a mass of 
 gorgeous colours, the hyaenas would wake up and begin to 
 wander about. They must find their staple diet of dry 
 bones a rather unsatisfying meal, so when a lot of meat falls 
 in their way they make up for lost time. They will eat 
 anything, but, indeed, many of the natives are quite as bad, 
 and I have seen them relish meat that was positively 
 moving with maggots. But it does not seem to do them 
 much harm. 
 
 A robust negro will put away a good lolb. of meat in an 
 evening, and probably fill up the vacant spaces with ufa 
 porridge and sweet potatoes as well, and yet he will 
 appear quite fit next morning, and ready to repeat the 
 dose. Their digestive organs must be wonderful in their 
 working mechanism, and Nature has been kind to them in 
 this respect. 
 
 Crocodiles were very plentiful in the Luangwa, and on 
 two occasions they left the water at night and took game I 
 had left on a sandbank. I shot a good many, and then 
 they got very cunning, and it took good stalking to get 
 within range at times. More than half of those hit got 
 into the water, and doubtless died soon afterwards of their 
 wounds, or were probably eaten by their fellows before 
 they had time to die, for I believe crocodiles are quite 
 capable of cannibalism. One. day a cow went into the 
 river to drink and was seized by a crocodile, which was 
 frightened off by the herd boy. However, as its udder had 
 been dreadfully torn, I shot it to put it out of its misery. 
 
 When the river was low I used, instead of using an old 
 dugout canoe, to cross the river where the water was about 
 up to one's waist. I was returning one day with two men 
 who were carrying an impala ram I had shot, and we had 
 got to the river when the boy who was carrying the 
 cartridge bag stayed behind. The men with the impala 
 and myself had crossed the river at the ford, and were 
 going along a path parallel with the river, when we heard 
 a yell, which seemed to come from the direction of the 
 ford. I got the men to lay down the buck, and we all 
 
Boy Taken by Crocodiles. 133 
 
 returned to see what had happened. On getting near we 
 shouted for the boy, but no answer was returned, so I had 
 a very good idea what had occurred. I did not fancy 
 sending the two men to the other bank, or to cross again 
 myself, and so, as my house was only about a mile away, I 
 went there and got the dugout, and returned up the river 
 until we came to the spot. Behind a stone we found the 
 cloth of the missing boy and my cartridge-bag, so the 
 history of the tragedy was plain. He had, on reaching the 
 river, thrown off his cloth and the bag and gone in to 
 bathe, and one of the loathsome crocodiles had got him. 
 
 After that, I used to go there and lie in wait for any 
 crocodile that left the water. I shot several, and I hope 
 the maneater was among them. 
 
 When we got back with the cloth and told our sad story 
 to the boy's wife, there was much wailing and cries of 
 " Mai-o," but the woman was married again in a few 
 months, and seemed to have forgotten the incident 
 completely. 
 
 In my chapter on the characteristics of natives I will 
 have more to say about this trait in their character ; but 
 it is enough to mention here that they have poor memories, 
 however much they may feel such a loss at the time. 
 
 Crocodiles, sharks, and snakes are three of the most 
 obnoxious creatures in the world, and one often wonders 
 the reason why they were created. They may be no worse 
 than man-eating lions or tigers, except that their quiet and 
 invisible attack imbues them with horror and loathing. 
 
 The Luangwa valley being very hot and tropical, the 
 grass got very long and thick in the rainy season, and 
 shooting was a wet business. I used to fish a good deal, 
 and catch barbel or mudfish, but they are not good eating, 
 as their flesh is muddy flavoured and they are rather full 
 of bones. However, they formed a change in the per- 
 petual course of fowl, or game meat, which becomes very 
 monotonous after some time. After living about seven 
 years in India and ten years in Central Africa, I became 
 rather tired of fowls. They have very little resemblance to 
 
134 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 the fine, plump birds served up at home, and, instead of 
 having a delicate flavour, some of them are very distasteful. 
 
 The things a man longs most for in tropical Africa are 
 fresh home fish, good, tasty meat, vegetables, bread and 
 butter, and milk. Sometimes the four latter can be got if 
 one can keep cows and has a good garden and a capable 
 cook. Some of the cooks make quite eatable bread, and 
 such a man is a treasure, for good bread is a luxury when 
 one can get it. 
 
 There are several native vegetables that are good eating, 
 such as pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and ground nuts. 
 Maize, or Indian corn, when it is fresh and soft, well 
 boiled, and then eaten with a little butter and pepper, is quite 
 excellent. Sweet potatoes are good, but one tires of them 
 sooner than of European potatoes. The Angoni grow a 
 vegetable they call itchaysani, which has a taste reminding 
 one of fresh new potatoes and a slight flavour of 
 artichokes. 
 
 There are a great many fungi in the country, some of 
 which are good eating while others are poisonous. A 
 small mushroom almost similar to those found at home, and 
 a pink colour underneath, is called manyama ; a bigger 
 white mushroom is named chipendi, and the biggest is 
 called boa. The latter is the first to appear when the 
 rains break, and they are quite good when chopped up and 
 boiled with chipped ground nuts as a seasoning. They 
 have a taste something like codfish ; and being rather 
 tough and stodgy, a little goes a long way. The natives 
 sometimes have a small variety of tomato growing in 
 their gardens, and chillies can be got. A man who used to 
 suffer a good deal from malarial fever told me that a native 
 told him if he ate a lot of chillies he would not suffer, so he 
 tried it, and found that he seldom got fever afterwards. 
 This may be only a yarn, but he seemed to be in earnest 
 when he told me of the fact, and I have seen him put 
 as much as a teaspoonful into his soup and other courses, 
 and seem to relish it ; so he practised what he preached at 
 any rate. 
 
A Fine Impala Ram Shot. 135 
 
 The natives use many herbs as a relish to their daily 
 food of ufa porridge, and they are extremely fond of 
 salt. 
 
 In the dry season they collect great quantities of honey, 
 and when they secure it free of extraneous matter it is very 
 nice. It is hardly as strong as heather country, but darker 
 than the ordinary white honey seen in Britain. They keep 
 the wax after chewing all the sweetness out of it, and the 
 Angoni used to use it for polishing the headrings that all 
 the principal men \vore. I believe they first made the 
 rings of hair, and they coated them with beeswax and 
 polished them round. The Zulus of the South wear these 
 rings, and the fact that the Matabele do so, as well as the 
 Angoni, shows their Zulu origin. 
 
 I remember while at Mzaza spending several days in 
 trying to shoot a very nice impala ram that used to be with 
 a herd. He was a particularly wary animal, considering 
 that impala are not as a rule difficult to shoot. He usually 
 kept on the safe side of the big herd ; and as soon as 
 danger was seen, for they seldom got my wind as I took 
 care of that, he was off with a jump. At last I got him 
 with a difficult shot I had to place between the forks of a 
 large tree, and he ran off and fell in the grass some sixty 
 yards away. He had not exceptionally long horns as they 
 only measured i8in. on the curve, but they were pretty and 
 wide set. 
 
 Several fine waterbuck heads have been shot in the 
 vicinity of the Luangwa River, although the best out of a 
 large number I have killed only measured 28^in. on the 
 curve. I have tried my best to get good heads ; and, 
 although I have managed to get a few better than the 
 average, I have not had the luck to shoot anything near 
 the record, except a small Sharpens steinbuck which comes 
 second, I think. 
 
 I would rather shoot the record buffalo than any other 
 species, as the animal ranks as dangerous game, and a 
 buffalo head, with its gnarled, rough appearance, is certainly 
 one of the best trophies that can be got in Africa. 
 
136 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 With all its wealth of fauna and flora, the Luangwa 
 Valley cannot be called a health resort, especially in the 
 rains, when the country is flooded and damp, and I was 
 often ill with malarial fever there, as well as undergoing a 
 severe attack of blackwater fever. 
 
 In October and November, just before the rains, the 
 heat was terrific at times, and hot winds used to sweep 
 along, which seemed to frizzle one up. These siroccos 
 used to burn my face, and I have often had to shield it with 
 the brim of my old felt hat. 
 
 Then, just before the break of the rains the sky used to 
 turn a molten bronze colour, and the air was sultry and 
 oppressive. As the sun sank in the west it used to tip the 
 peaks and ridges of the Machinga Mountains with the 
 most beautiful colours, and I can never forget some of the 
 sunsets I witnessed there, for they were lovely beyond the 
 power of writing to describe or paint to portray. There 
 is not much game high up on the Machinga range, with 
 the exception of a good many rhinos and a few bushbuck 
 and duiker. The higher peaks are the habitat of klip- 
 springers ; and elephants and buffalo have their chosen 
 tracks from the Luangwa Valley to other haunts west of 
 the range. 
 
 When thunder and lightning used to come, how the 
 peals of thunder would echo among the clefts and ravines 
 of the range, and the lightning appeared to run along the 
 rockier parts. I expect the ground there is full of ironstone 
 in places ; in the Drakensberg Mountains in South Africa, 
 the same thing occurs. 
 
 While shooting on the Luangwa River in 1908, I found 
 the spoor of a big herd of elephants on November 16. 
 After my men and myself had followed the tracks for 
 about four miles, we came on the herd, which consisted of 
 quite thirty animals. Most of them were standing in 
 some thick bush, although a few were moving about just 
 outside it, in a patch of thick grass which had not been 
 burned. Between myself and the elephants was a slight 
 hollow, which at the bottom showed the sandy bed of a 
 
A Charging Elephant Killed. 137 
 
 small stream. This was about sixty yards from the nearest 
 of them. I could not see any very large bull and I fired 
 at the best one I saw, which seemed to have 3olb. 
 tusks. He was standing fairly broadside on ; so I took a 
 line between the orifice of the ear and the eye, shooting 
 a few inches forward of the earhole. At my shot he 
 dropped and I thought I had brained him. Then the herd 
 broke away in all directions, and two young bulls a little 
 smaller in the ivories than the one I had dropped, came 
 round at us. 
 
 We all made pretty good time to some trees in the rear. 
 I stopped when I got to a tree about two feet in diameter, 
 and so did the man who was carrying my cartridge bag, an 
 Awemba named Kalenje, and he took up his position 
 behind a tree a few paces behind me. 
 
 He then said to me that the elephant fired at was getting 
 up, and on looking I saw it was making violent efforts 
 to get on its legs. By this time the two young bulls had 
 gone round towards the direction of the bolting herd, so 1 
 fired a shot at the wounded elephant which it did not seem 
 to feel at all. As soon as it got on its legs it immediately 
 started in our direction, for the last shot had evidently 
 shown it where we were. Whether it was charging with 
 intent it is difficult to say, but, judging from its demeanour 
 and the shrill screams it gave, I think it was. Anyhow, it 
 was coming straight for my tree, increasing its pace at 
 every stride, and the " frou-frou JJ of its feet as they swept 
 through the dry grass I still remember. After the first 
 screams it was silent, and it held its trunk down covering 
 its chest, making a heart shot useless. 
 
 I had in my hand a -303 sporting rifle holding ten shots 
 in the magazine. As I had only put eight cartridges in to 
 start with and had fired two shots, I had six shots left. As 
 the elephant came along in a bee-line, I began firing at it, 
 taking a steady rest against the trunk of the tree and 
 shooting just above the eyes. He took the first two shots 
 with a shake of his head, and the third shot, at a distance of 
 about 20 yards, got his brain, and he lurched over on his 
 
138 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 side. With the momentum of his speed he slid for several 
 paces along the ground, making large grooves with the bony 
 parts of his body. I must say I was relieved to see him 
 collapse, and so were the men, who gathered round smiling 
 and making remarks about the way he fell. 
 
 When he came down the ground trembled with the 
 shock, and I thought one of the tusks would be broken, but 
 they were both sound, and eventually weighed close on 3olb. 
 apiece. This elephant belonged to a herd that made 
 a practice of invading the native gardens, and they certainly 
 are more dangerous than elephants that prefer to keep 
 away from human habitations. 
 
 Most of the elephants in Central Africa will not miss an 
 opportunity of a good feed of maize, but they are easily 
 scared off. Others, like the herd this animal belonged to, 
 are left alone^ and lose their fear of man and resent being 
 interfered with. 
 
 While shooting on the west bank of the Luangwa, not 
 very far from Kacumbe's village, which is situated close 
 to the river on the eastern bank, I one day was following 
 a small lot of elephants that had been feeding in a big 
 patch of pumpkins, which they had quite destroyed. There 
 was a good bull in this small herd, and the tracks took me 
 into the higher ground, covered with thick patches of dense 
 thorn bush, through which there were many game paths of 
 elephants and buffaloes. When rounding a bend on one 
 of these paths along which the spoor was leading us we 
 suddenly walked right on to the elephants, which I naturally 
 thought was the herd we were following. It was fearfully 
 hot, they were standing in a dense bunch, and one in the 
 centre towered above the others ; but I could not see 
 his tusks, as two or three others were standing between. 
 Their ears were flapping, and they swayed slightly back- 
 wards and forwards. As only fifteen paces separated us, 
 I had to do something, and, as I could not get the heart 
 shot, I tired behind the skull of the big bull, and then my 
 men and I ran for all we were worth to an anthill on our 
 left. It was just as well that we did, for the elephants 
 
Tuskless Elephants. 139 
 
 ran at once, and one actually went between us and the 
 anthill, but passed on. 
 
 Then several shrill screams vibrated through the air, and 
 we saw a cow approaching us, accompanied by a small 
 calf. I saw this cow was tuskless, and, as I did not wish 
 to shoot her, as it is against the regulations to shoot cows 
 (at least, it was at that time), I waited. After screaming, 
 she rushed off, and I was very glad she did so. I now saw 
 the bull getting up speed, for my first bullet had missed 
 the brain and only dazed him. My men said : " Do not 
 shoot him, Bwana, for he is a 'nungwa' " (tuskless elephant), 
 so I let him go. An elephant shot in the head, unless the 
 brain is touched, never sustains much damage, especially 
 from a small bore. Every elephant in this small herd of 
 nine or ten was tuskless, as far as I could see, which was 
 rather extraordinary, but which is a fact, nevertheless. On 
 examining the ground further on, we found that this was 
 not the herd we were following, but another herd, which 
 had come from a different direction, and, on taking up the 
 spoor, we found where the first lot had been standing 
 before they bolted on hearing my shot. This shot also 
 disturbed a few buffalo that had been resting among the 
 thorn scrub, and I caught a glimpse of them running aw r ay 
 after I fired as they went off with a crash. These thorn 
 patches are nasty places to follow elephants in, for, except 
 on their paths, it is difficult to move quickly in the thicker 
 parts, and the elephants seem to look on such places as 
 refuges or sanctuaries. The natives told me that elephants 
 are very " okali " (fierce) when disturbed in these places, 
 and, judging from my experience, this seems to be the case. 
 
 The natives living near the Luangwa here were much 
 troubled by hippos, which invaded their crops and 
 did almost as much damage as the elephants, so on 
 November 9, 1908, as I had failed to get a shot at some 
 elephants I had spoored, I spent the rest of the day in 
 shooting hippo. This is the account from my diary : 
 
 Up before sunrise and got away just as the sun appeared 
 in the East, and soon after leaving the village (Kanunta's) 
 
140 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 I saw a herd of twenty roan antelopes, which were as tame 
 as cows, perhaps because I did not wish to shoot any, 
 being after elephants. We soon found elephant spoor, 
 but the guide took me further on, saying he knew where 
 the elephants were going and we could cut the spoor 
 again. 
 
 Saw a fine ram puku with a herd (I got this ram a few 
 days afterwards) and a small herd of four bull waterbuck, 
 one with a good pair of horns. Then we got on the 
 elephant spoor which led us into the troublesome matete 
 reeds, which are as sharp as needles and very difficult to 
 walk in, as the elephants trample it down and it trips one 
 up at every step. 
 
 After going some way in this dangerous country we 
 heard the elephants just ahead. Coming to a slight ridge 
 covered with grass, instead of matete, I got on it, and got 
 the glimpse of the backs of three elephants, one male and 
 two females, which had evidently heard us and were 
 walking fast. Soon they were lost to sight, and we 
 followed as far as the Luangwa, where the tracks showed 
 that they had crossed to the west bank. As we were 
 debating what we should do, we saw a second herd of 
 elephants run towards the river and cross also, one cow 
 helping a small calf which got into difficulties. I got one 
 of the men to carry me across, and in the process I got wet 
 to the middle as the water reached almost to his shoulders. 
 We then took the track again, and several times got to 
 within 400 yards or so of the elephants, but the wind 
 kept shifting every few minutes, as it always does in the 
 Luangwa Valley during the months of September, October, 
 and November. These shifty winds are, I imagine, caused 
 by the heat, which forms vacuums in the air. 
 
 When crossing the river we had seen a big herd of hippo 
 playing themselves in a deep pool, and the villagers begged 
 me to shoot some. At that time six hippos were allowed 
 on the licence, and up to this time I had not shot any that 
 year, although I had killed a number in previous years. 
 When coming back towards the river after the abortive 
 
Six Hippos Shot for Food. 141 
 
 chase after the elephants, I shot an impala ram. On 
 getting to the pool where we could hear the hippos grunting 
 and splashing, I sat down and killed five with consecutive 
 shots. The sixth cost me three cartridges, for after my 
 first shot at him he was only dazed, as he left the water and 
 stood on a sandbank, where I gave him two more bullets 
 which killed him. This may seem dreadful slaughter, but I 
 have mentioned that the hippos do great damage to the 
 crops, and, moreover, the inhabitants of the villages round 
 here were suffering from a famine, as they had finished 
 most of their last season's crop of grain. This supply of 
 meat, of which not a pound was wasted, would give them 
 food for some time, and put strength into those who were ill 
 from hunger. Instead of regretting such slaughter, I would 
 do the same again for the same purpose. 
 
 Further, the natives are not allowed to kill large game 
 like elephants and hippos themselves, so it is a good action 
 on any white man's part to kill it for them, as long as 
 he does not exceed his allowance. 
 
 However, as I do not believe, now-a-days, in giving the 
 natives great quantities of meat for nothing, and as they had 
 plenty of goats and I wanted the milk as much as they 
 wanted the hippo meat, I told them that I would give one 
 hippo for one milch goat, and they were quite agreeable, 
 and the different headmen went off to bring the goats. A 
 large hippo weighs quite 65oolb., and a big goat certainly 
 not more than 8olb., so they had certainly the best of the 
 bargain. 
 
 Two of the headmen produced billy goats, saying they 
 had no nannies, which I expect was a fib, so to square 
 matters they had each to bring six fowls as well. This was 
 only fair to the men who produced nannies, which are 
 considered more valuable. 
 
 Another man who had no goats produced a pair of khaki 
 trousers, which he said he had given fifteen shillings for in 
 Salisbury, and on my refusing a hippo for them, as I told 
 him I could not wear them, he almost exploded in tears, 
 and begged me to take the pants and give him a hippo, for 
 
142 Wild Life in Central Africa, 
 
 he and his people were very hungry. I relented, and he got 
 his hippo, and I gave the trousers to my capitao (headboy). 
 
 Then the excitement began, as the men belonging to 
 each hippo owner went in, and got the hippos out on a 
 small sandbank, all in line. Unfortunately I had no films 
 for my camera on this trip, so I lost some very interesting 
 pictures.. The natives had promised to keep the best of the 
 hides, and all the teeth, for me, and they were soon busy 
 hacking away at the meat, which they carried to the bank, 
 where there was plenty of timber to make fires. Some of 
 them busied themselves making stands to cook the meat on, 
 and quite 1000 natives must have collected for the feast; 
 and the owners of the hippos, who, except to their own 
 families, do not believe in giving something for nothing, 
 were busy bargaining for prime lumps of sea cow. 
 
 Another memory that comes back is a day's sport near 
 the Rukusi stream in North-Eastern Rhodesia, where I had 
 gone after elephants. On September 29, 1908, I had been 
 out early looking for spoor fresh enough to follow, and I 
 only found the tracks of a few cow elephants, which I did 
 not want. 
 
 When travelling along the dried up bed of the Rukusi, 
 we found the spoor of a big bull rhino which took us along 
 the banks of the waterless bed for some distance. At last 
 it lead us to the higher country, over undulating hills with 
 many thorn trees here and there. At this time of year big 
 game does not seem to care, if not harried much, to travel 
 far, as the heat of the sun is tremendous and it makes the 
 animals lazy. About 10 a.m. I sat down to make a cup of 
 tea and eat a little food ; and as I always carry a big gourd 
 of water, and often a lump of dried meat for my men, they 
 also had some refreshment. 
 
 After smoking a pipe of tobacco we took up the spoor 
 again. Machila, a fairly good tracker, was spooring, and 
 I w r as walking to one side keeping my eyes ahead and to 
 the flanks. Suddenly I saw a grey object just like a big 
 rock, and snapped my fingers to draw the attention of the 
 men. At first I was not sure whether it was not a big 
 
Large Rhino Killed. 143 
 
 boulder, as there were many about there ; but as we 
 watched we caught the movement of a rhino's ears. 
 
 It would have been better had I whistled to make the 
 rhino stand up and give me a chance of a good shot, for a 
 sitting animal presents a poor target, if one wishes to get 
 the bullet to a vital spot and kill quickly. However, I thought 
 I could kill him quite well as he was, so sat down, and took a 
 shot with a single '400 cordite Eraser rifle at his shoulder. 
 
 After the shot the cartridge jammed in the breech, 
 which is not unusual with single falling-block rifles, and the 
 rhino gave a startled grunt, and was on his legs and off 
 before I could get the refractory case out and loaded again. 
 We all ran after him and saw him disappear into a large 
 patch of light coloured grass that threw off a very strong 
 glare which nearly blinded me. Rushing along in this 
 way I suddenly found myself within a few yards of the 
 rhino, which had come to a stand half broadside on. There 
 was not much time to waste, so I threw up the rifle, and 
 got in a fine shot right on the point of his shoulder, and he 
 dropped in his tracks. As he kept twitching his ears and 
 eyelids, I gave him another bullet from my '303, which 
 settled matters. 
 
 He had very nice horns, the anterior one measuring 
 slightly over 2oin. He was a very large bull in good 
 condition, and his feet were big, so I took the front ones 
 as trophies. The natives then cut off his tail, and we 
 tramped back through the heat to the village, where a 
 refreshing bath and good lunch awaited me. 
 
 It is very pleasant returning to camp after a successful 
 day, and how different a man feels then compared to a long 
 day's tramp when he has met with bad luck ; or, worse still, 
 wounded and lost a fine animal. In one case the exhilaration 
 felt makes the miles slip past as nothing ; in the other every 
 step drags, and one's bad spirits are reflected on the faces 
 of the natives. 
 
 I shall now change the scene to the Chiromo marsh, 
 which is situated near the Shire river to the south of the 
 Nyasaland Protectorate. On September 28, 1910, I was 
 
144 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 camped at Muona's village and had spent several days 
 looking for a good buffalo bull. There were plenty of 
 buffaloes about, but up to this time I had not come on a very 
 good bull, and often the tracks were hardly fresh enough to 
 be worth following. 
 
 On the morning of that day I determined to get away 
 very early, so got up before sunrise and dressed and 
 breakfasted by candle light. As the darkness of night gave 
 place to a soft grey light we left camp and went to some 
 big maize fields to see whether game had been feeding on 
 the dried stalks. All game is very fond of these stalks 
 and come long distances to feed on them, and fresh spoor 
 can usually be found in these places. In less than an hour 
 we found the night tracks of three buffalo bulls, which, 
 judging by their steaming dung, had just left the spot. We 
 were soon going behind them, and had not got more than 
 300 yards into the thick bush and grass when a man who 
 had climbed a large anthill said he saw them. 
 
 I was soon alongside him, and following his directions I 
 looked ahead and saw the head and horns of a buffalo, 
 which was evidently standing and listening, as he doubtless 
 had heard us in the bush. I had a '404 magazine rifle 
 which had a drag pull, and as I had not used this rifle much 
 I made a mistake in not shooting with my ygmm. Mauser 
 which I knew well. I forgot the drag pull of the '404, as 
 my ygmrn. has an ordinary pull, so I made a bad shot and 
 missed the bone of the neck. However, there was no 
 doubt that I had struck the buffalo somewhere, for he 
 grunted in an angry manner as he ran off with the other 
 two. Then began one of the most exciting days that I have 
 spent in Central Africa. 
 
 On reaching the tracks, there was a lot of blood scattered 
 on the leaves and grass. About 8 a.m. we disturbed the 
 buffaloes, which ran off again before I had time to get the 
 rifle to my shoulder. After this we found the wounded bull 
 had taken a line of his own, and on comparing the tracks I 
 was glad to sed that his were much larger than those of his 
 companions. 
 
A Buffalo Bull Killed. 145; 
 
 This was satisfactory in a way, as we now thought that 
 he would not go very far before stopping. Besides it is 
 easier spooring one beast than three, and we knew we were 
 behind the wounded animal. 
 
 The sun was terribly hot and the heat reminded me 
 of the Zambesi and Luangwa valleys at the same time of 
 year. Another three hours was spent in following slowly 
 and carefully ; for when I came to a particularly thick part 
 of the grass I sent men up trees to look around, as I had no 
 wish to stumble right on the horns of the beast in such 
 cover. 
 
 Then, in some fairly open grass country, I saw him 
 standing broadside on, except that his head was turned 
 in our direction. I fired quickly with the '404, and he fell 
 on his back, and I thought I had broken his spine. How- 
 ever, I was mistaken, for he was on his legs again in three 
 seconds, and off he went, with myself and the men run- 
 ning behind, as I wished to keep him in view as long as 
 possible. 
 
 The gallant beast heard us following, and, like an old 
 warrior, he turned to meet us, grunting loudly at times. 
 He then began trotting in our direction, so most of my 
 men began to climb trees, and I was amused at the calm 
 way they did this, as none of them hurried. Molilo, a very 
 plucky fellow, stayed behind me with the ygmrn., and we 
 stood and watched the buffalo, which seemed very sick. 
 He looked up at the men in the trees, and could not see 
 me well, as I had taken slight cover behind a big bush. 
 Then he stopped and looked round with the sort of air 
 that seemed to say " Come on; I am ready for you.' 7 When 
 he stood I could not see his shoulder well, as a few saplings 
 were in the way, so I fired at his hip-joint, and, on getting 
 the bullet he swayed, and I thought he would fall. He did 
 not, but, instead, turned round and walked slowly away. I 
 now took the small rifle and ran alongside him, and he 
 turned at once. The plucky old animal was now too sick 
 to charge, I think, for he only stood glaring at me with his 
 head up. At about twenty yards I fired for his heart, which 
 
 L 
 
146 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 lies very low in a buffalo's chest, and he fell for good, and 
 began to moan and bellow. 
 
 Most buffaloes when dying bellow several times, and it 
 is their last good-bye to life. I never hear the sound but I 
 regret killing such splendid animals, for a buffalo is a much 
 pluckier beast than most. 
 
 It was close on midday by this time, and, as I had hit 
 the buffalo first before 6 a.m., it had been six hours of 
 intense excitement and hard tracking work. A little water 
 was left in the gourds, and there was enough to brew a 
 cup of tea and give the men a few mouthfuls. I do not 
 think I ever enjoyed a cup of tea more, or the pleasant 
 smoke that followed it, as I sat and gazed at the fine beast 
 I had had the good fortune to lay low. After that I 
 took some photographs, which turned out very well, 
 and, before covering him up with branches and grass, I 
 measured his head, which was not exceptionally broad, 
 but very deep over the frontlet, and old and gnarled. 
 It was a fine trophy, but I had to work hard for it, 
 which always makes it the more valued in the eyes of the 
 hunter. 
 
 In the same month of the following year (1911) I had 
 another exciting day with buffaloes. This time I was 
 camped at Machinjiri, a small stream, rising in the Cholo 
 range and flowing towards the Shire through some of the 
 best game country left in that part of Africa. The rains 
 had been late, and therefore much of the grass was green, 
 and there was a lot of water in the lower parts, which 
 made tramping through the country hard work. On that 
 day, September 25, I was off early, as it is necessary to 
 make the most of the cool hours of the morning. The first 
 animal I saw was a reedbuck, and then I saw a single bull 
 waterbuck, neither of which I wished to fire at, as I hoped 
 to see buffalo. 
 
 We had walked some five miles, when, suddenly, as we 
 were skirting a large dambo full of grass, reeds, and 
 water in its lower parts, four buffaloes ran out into the 
 open. 
 

 11 
 
Difficult Shooting Ground. 1^47 
 
 Two appeared to have fair heads, and there was little 
 time to pick and choose so I fired at the nearest, and then 
 fired again, and it ran a short distance and dropped. Then 
 I hit two others, both of which ran back into the thick 
 reeds, and one I heard bellow soon afterwards. The fourth, 
 which I thought seemed the best, had run along the edge of 
 the swampy ground where the vegetation was not so rank ; 
 I climbed an anthill and hit it twice, then went to find 
 the two which had taken cover, and soon came on the 
 carcase of the one I had heard bellow, which was lying 
 in the mud and water. The other I heard near so I 
 climbed another handy anthill and gave it a shot which 
 seemed to drop it. I waited about a quarter of an hour and 
 then went into the reeds, and on getting to within twenty 
 yards the buffalo, which had been lying down, stood up, 
 and I gave it a good shot between the neck and shoulder 
 which killed it. 
 
 It was nasty work following buffalo in this kind of 
 country as the odds were mostly in favour of the game, for 
 it was quite impossible to see anything until one got to 
 close quarters, and the soil was sticky and muddy, quite 
 preventing quick movement. 
 
 I now went off to look for the animal that had gone 
 along the edge of the dambo, and we soon found the 
 footprints leading into the swamp. I took one man with 
 rne carrying a -400 cordite rifle, and carried my little 
 y-gmm., as I always feel safer with a rifle I know well, 
 even although it is a small bore. We went slow r ly, and 
 stopped every now and again to listen for the breathing 
 of the wounded animal. Suddenly a black object caught 
 my eye, and this was the buffalo's head, which was all 
 that was visible. However, I knew he was standing 
 almost head-on, so I fired at an imaginary mark about a 
 foot below his nose. He got the bullet, as I heard the 
 " phut," and he turned round and bolted. This was getting 
 a bit too exciting, for I could not lift my feet out of the 
 mud and water without some trouble, and every step 
 made a noise in the rustling reeds and water. However, 
 
 L 2 
 
148 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 I decided that I must see the matter through as I had 
 wounded a fine animal which it was my duty to try my 
 best to finish, so I followed slowly. We had gone about 
 a hundred yards at a slow pace, when I heard a loud 
 grunt almost under my feet, and I saw the buffalo, which 
 seemed very stiff, begin to rise like a cow by putting up its 
 hindquarters first. Through weakness it could not rise 
 quickly in the soft ground, so I took a most careful aim 
 between neck and shoulder and fired with the small rifle, 
 and I was both pleased and relieved to see it sink down 
 and fall over on its side and begin the death bellow. 
 
 This buffalo was less than three paces from where I stood, 
 which is a little too close, in my opinion ; but " all's well that 
 ends well." If it had not been severely wounded and 
 weak, it is likely that it would have got me, as it would have 
 been absolutely impossible to escape it in such ground. 
 Therefore, for such work there can be no doubt that a man 
 requires the heaviest rifle he can handle ; and a '470 
 would be a much more reliable weapon than a ygmm., 
 which is '311 bore. As all African sportsmen know, the 
 buffalo is the hardest beast to stop once it has started a 
 charge, so a weapon with great striking energy is the best 
 tool for such work. 
 
 These buffaloes consisted of two bulls and two cows. 
 The horns of the bulls were nothing to speak of, but one of 
 the cows had the best head I have yet seen on a cow buffalo ; 
 and I took her complete skin off for mounting in a museum. 
 She had an ojd bullet wound in one of her front legs, and 
 she and the others were covered profusely with ticks, 
 especially on the softer parts of the bellies, and the soft 
 skin inside the thighs. Buffaloes are lumbering looking 
 beasts, but they can go at a great pace, and being very 
 heavy they break through thick cover, just like elephants 
 and rhinos. Their colour when young is brownish ; but 
 when they get old their hides turn a greyish black, and in 
 thick cover they are not easy to make out. 
 
 A few days after this I came on a small herd of elephants, 
 but not having taken out an elephant licence, had to leave 
 
Trees Broken by Elephants. 149 
 
 them alone. Strange to say I saw this herd within 300 yards 
 of the place where a white elephant hunter had been killed 
 by a cow elephant the previous year. The natives told me 
 that this cow was still with the herd, and when I saw the 
 elephants and pointed to them, the villagers I had with me 
 did not wait, but cleared off as if the devil was after them. 
 
 Not far from here I got a photograph of a very large tree 
 broken by a bull elephant, and it measured just under the 
 place it was broken 52jin. in circumference. As far as I 
 can remember it was an " nkuyu " tree, which is soft and 
 stringy in the wood. Anyhow, it was an example of what 
 a big bull elephant is capable of in the way of muscular 
 strength. 
 
 The district under the Cholo range is flat, and game is 
 most abundant, comprising many eland, buffalo, waterbuck, 
 zebra, hartebeest, and reedbuck. Elephants are often 
 found, and I saw the fresh spoor of a bull rhino one 
 morning. 
 
 Close to the Shire River, that rare and lovely antelope, 
 the inyala, exists, and in the Cholo hills sable antelopes 
 are fairly plentiful. Bushbuck, too, are numerous all over 
 the place, and some of them have good heads. I shot a 
 reedbuck one day, the best I saw out of quite fifty of these 
 animals, which are found in lots of from a couple to five or 
 six animals, and it had a very pretty pair of wide-set 
 horns measuring lyfin. from tip to tip, and I4in. along 
 the curve. 
 
 It is possible to reach Chiromo in about four days from 
 Chinde on the coast, and as there are plenty of boys 
 looking for work during the dry season, which is the best 
 shooting time, a sportsman who is in a hurry could not find 
 anywhere in Africa a finer shooting ground. The heat is 
 very great during the months before the rains, and if a man 
 does not relish a tropical climate he had better not go 
 there ; but on the other hand if he wants good buffalo, 
 eland, waterbuck, and bushbuck heads he is almost certain 
 to get them there. Moreover, he has a very good chance, 
 if he is 'a lucky man, of coming on lions, although during 
 
150 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 several trips there I have been unfortunate in not seeing 
 any. It is probably the best district for lions in Nyasaland, 
 and a good many have been killed there. In the rainy 
 season, when the lions find the game difficult to catch, they 
 often enter the township of Chiromo, and some grim 
 tragedies have taken place there, many natives having been 
 seized and killed, in some cases almost at the doors of the 
 white inhabitants. 
 
 It was a great relief to get away from the plains by 
 climbing the steep path at the top of the Cholo range, and 
 I remember the lovely views of the game country stretching 
 away in the blue distance, with many a grass fire sending 
 up clouds of black smoke, which sometimes hung in the air, 
 forming great long bars across the horizon. 
 
 The buffaloes leave the marsh in the rainy season and go 
 to the top of the range, doubtless for coolness, and to get 
 away from the flies, and perhaps, also, for a change of food. 
 I noticed a good deal of old spoor on the plateau. 
 
 Again let me change the scene to the eastern border of 
 Nyasaland, which is a very broken country, full of high hills 
 and small ranges. I had gone to a place near Mausi Hill 
 to get specimens of eland and sable antelopes to send to 
 a South African museum, and I had passed along the valley 
 of the Tuchila River to get there. The country was 
 covered with big thorn trees, the stems of which often have 
 a sickly appearance, as some are yellow, others an ochre, 
 and many a nasty green colour. 
 
 Besides these large trees the vegetation is full of small 
 thorns and sharp grass, which soon make a pair of 
 bare legs very ugly, and some of these deep scratches are 
 apt to fester, unless a man's blood is in good order. 
 
 The Tuchila Plains, as this place is often called, used to 
 be a fine game country in the old days, and elephants were 
 once abundant there ; but constant persecution has made 
 them trek to safer regions. When I got round the base of 
 Machemba Hill, which has several other large single hills in 
 close proximity, such as Nchesie, I came, after trudging for 
 a few miles, to a small stream called Nandeu. Here the 
 
Two Sable Bulls Killed. 151 
 
 headman of the small village on its banks was named Beni, 
 and he had served several years in the King's African Rifles, 
 a fine corps of native soldiers. He showed me his medal 
 for the Ashanti campaign, in which he took part, and he 
 was a very civil sort of man, and offered to get another 
 man and show me the best game country ahead. While 
 he was away I had some lunch, and the carriers got a rest 
 and some food. Then, Beni having returned with a friend, 
 we started off through the bush for the country right under 
 Mausi (pronounced "Ma-usi") Hill. Here we came to a 
 dirty waterhole, so, as game spoor was thickly imprinted 
 on the ground in every direction, I put my tent up under a 
 big tree. 
 
 At three o'clock I went out with Beni and the other man, 
 taking besides about six men to carry in any meat I got. The 
 guide took me through some fairly open country, covered 
 with short, stiff grass and full of thorn trees, and we had 
 not gone far before I saw a herd of sable antelopes. Tell- 
 ing the men to sit down and keep quiet, I managed, with a 
 good lot of trouble and a plentiful amount of scratches, to 
 get within 150 yards of the game. One bull was very black, 
 so I thought he would likely carry a good head, and I fired 
 at him. At the shot he ran off with the herd, but stood 
 after going a short distance, when I fired again and dropped 
 him. I then killed another male before the herd had vanished. 
 
 The oldest animal measured 55m. at the shoulder, and 
 he had rather an abnormal head, for the horns were 
 extremely thick and cobby, though they only measured 
 about 33in. in the curve. This was not a young sable, but 
 a very old beast, with large bulges on the base of his horns. 
 Only fully adult animals have these bulges. As his body 
 measurements were very large, I came back next day and 
 took his complete skin for setting up. Most of the meat 
 of the other animal was carried to camp and eaten up that 
 night by my hungry men. 
 
 On the 25th I wounded a bull sable with a very pretty 
 pair of horns, but lost him. After getting back to camp 
 and having some food and a rest, I decided to go back 
 
152 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 in the afternoon and have another look for him. Going 
 through some thick grass I found a good blood spoor, and 
 followed it, when suddenly, within fifty yards, up jumped 
 the bull, and I hit him hard somewhere in his stern. 
 Going on, I put him up again, as I thought, and fired 
 and dropped him with a shot in the spine. On going up 
 to him I found that this was quite another animal, as he 
 had no previous wound in his body, and I noticed the head 
 was different, although it was quite a good one. 
 
 After searching around, one of the men found the blood 
 of the first one, and I soon came on him lying down ; but, 
 when he saw us, he was quickly on his feet. However, he 
 waited just a little too long, for I got the sights on his 
 shoulder and killed him where he was standing. This was 
 a most beautiful animal, being very slenderly formed in 
 comparison to the one I had shot on the 23rd. His horns 
 also were much longer and thinner, as they measured nearly 
 40 inches on the curve, and had very even, sharp points. 
 I took his complete skin, and it can, probably, now be seen 
 in the Transvaal Government Museum in Pretoria, to which 
 institution I sent it. 
 
 On the 2yth I went out to try to find eland, and came 
 on the fresh spoor of a large herd which I spoored up. 
 Eland are easy beasts to track, as being such heavy 
 animals they leave a good print. When I first saw them 
 they were all grouped together, and in the thick grass and 
 bush in which they were standing I found it most difficult 
 to see the best head. 
 
 I got on them with the glasses, and at last saw a fine 
 big bull, so I took a steady shot and the bullet, a solid, 
 went right through him, and raised the dust far on the 
 other side. As he went off I fired two more shots, and 
 hit with one at least. 
 
 I could see one of his hind legs dangling, so I knew I 
 would get him, as a heavy beast can never go far with a 
 broken back leg. Before I finished him I took two photo- 
 graphs of him moving in front of me, and then gave him a 
 bullet in the heart, which quickly killed him. 
 
i 
 
 w 8) 
 
 o 
 
 SI 
 
 03 
 
Large Eland Killed. 153 
 
 Some natives hearing the shots came running up, so I 
 asked them to go and get some water for my men and 
 myself from the stream near their village. One man also 
 brought me back a few eggs in a small pot, which I boiled 
 and enjoyed. 
 
 Wanting the complete skin of this animal for setting up, 
 I took many measurements, but as I have given some of 
 them in Chapter III., I will only say that he was y2|in. in 
 height, and his horns measured 29^in., and were nicely 
 shaped. It took over three hours in the hot sun to get his 
 hide off, and I was very tired and thirsty before I reached 
 camp at sundown that evening; but a warm bath and a 
 good dinner soon freshens a man up. I used to have a 
 big camp fire every evening, and my happiness would have 
 been complete if I had only had a congenial companion to 
 talk to. 
 
 The next few days were cloudy, a few showers of 
 drizzling rain came on at times, and I had the greatest 
 difficulty in getting the eland skin dried. In such weather 
 the thick neck skin will not dry, and in most cases it has 
 to be thinned down with knives so as to hasten the drying. 
 As I could not get my knives sharp enough I used a pair of 
 good ivory-handled razors, which improved the skin, but 
 not the razors. 
 
 Although I took a great deal of trouble over it, this skin 
 eventually went bad on its way to the Transvaal, as, owing 
 to the carelessness of a firm of Portuguese forwarding 
 agents at Louren^o Marques, it was delayed in transit. 
 Truly, collecting in a country like this is disappointing 
 work, as after all one's trouble the results are liable to be 
 spoilt by other people's negligence. Freight is very high 
 there for all such heavy packages. 
 
 Chiromo district would be a very good one for any 
 collector to work in, as there he would be near the river, 
 where specimens could be placed on the steamers at once 
 for transporting to Chinde. It is a difficult matter getting 
 large skins carried safely through the bush, as they are 
 very apt to be chafed by the thorns, rough trees, and 
 
154 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 bushes, but I managed this by covering up the ears and 
 head with old sacking and newspapers. 
 
 I spent some days trying to get hold of a good bull kudu,, 
 as there were several herds in the vicinity of Mausi Hill. 
 On one occasion I wounded a fine fellow with a quick 
 snapshot, but he escaped me, although I spent a long time 
 trying to find him. Another day I managed to stalk a very 
 wary herd and I saw the horns of a bull, but owing to the 
 position he held his head I could not tell whether they were 
 big or not. The shot I fired killed him and I was disgusted 
 to find that his head was a poor one, so I simply took the 
 headskin, and sent it and the skull to the Transvaal 
 Museum, as I thought it might prove interesting to students 
 of natural history to exemplify the formation of growth. 
 
 To show how a collector may be robbed of his spoils I 
 shot a nice bull kudu when on a short trip to the Palombe 
 stream, and he had a very pretty head. It was almost 
 sundown when I got him and camp was a good three miles 
 off, near the stream, which was clear running and pure. I 
 managed by the help of two big fires to get his skin off 
 up to the neck, so I cut it off there and rolled it up in 
 a bundle and got home by 9 p.m., giving my legs some 
 nasty bumps when getting through the thorny bush by dull 
 moonlight. After cleaning my rifle and eating a good 
 dinner, I went to bed, seeing that the skin was put up in 
 the fork of a large tree beyond the reach of any prowling 
 hyaena that might pay the camp a visit. Next morning 
 I tackled the skin of the head, with the help of a Yao boy 
 named Marki, whom I had taught to skin well. My cook 
 then told me breakfast was ready, so I left Marki to go on 
 with it for the part he was busy on was easy, as the 
 ears had not yet been reached. When I was at breakfast 
 Marki appeared and said in a plaintive voice that he had 
 cut the skin of the neck, and on going over I found he had 
 made a big gash right through it, which quite spoilt it for 
 the purpose of setting up. His error cost me a very nice 
 specimen and a considerable sum of money, so I told him 
 he would be fined. 
 
Treatment of Skins and Horns. 155 
 
 I then went out into the bush to look for another kudu, 
 but without success ; and on returning to the tent I found 
 Marki had absconded, taking with him a small boy who 
 carried his blanket when marching. 
 
 Another thing it is most difficult to make the natives 
 understand is that they must keep skulls and bones 
 seething with bacon beetles away from skins ; and I 
 constantly had to find fault with them for mixing them up. 
 When I had taught them to be careful in camp by putting 
 the skulls at one side and the skins at another, one would 
 imagine that they understood, and yet when I started back 
 for home they would place a skin on the ground, when 
 resting, and then quietly deposit a bundle of skulls right on 
 the top of it. This, to say the least, is aggravating, but 
 only what can be expected from human beings who have 
 not been blessed with moderate reasoning powers and the 
 gift of perception. However, with all their faults, they are 
 good, faithful servants, if kindly, but not familiarly treated. 
 Their best points are most prominent when one is travelling 
 in the wilds and shooting, for here they are in their 
 element. 
 
 The grass was very sharp and hard near the Palombe 
 stream, as it is round Mausi Hill, and one day I saw a man 
 walking in front of me stop and look at his leg. I thought 
 perhaps that a snake had bitten him, so I said u Chi-ani ? " 
 (What is it ?) ; and he showed me a stem of thick grass 
 sticking clean through the full thickness of his calf. I pulled 
 it out, and he was all right ; but I was surprised at a piece 
 of grass being able to penetrate in this way, particularly in 
 a native who has a pretty tough skin. 
 
 As I have mentioned, I always walk about and hunt in 
 bare legs ; and, although I got many cuts, scratches, and 
 bumps I never ran a stem of grass through my leg. 
 Once I got a long thorn right under my knee-cap, which 
 caused great pain, and prevented me walking well for 
 some time ; and, again, a thorn once penetrated a rope-soled 
 shoe I was wearing and broke off in the instep, but other- 
 wise my legs have not met with any serious accident 
 
156 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 although I have not been so fortunate with other parts 
 of my body. 
 
 When in India long ago, tea planting, I dislocated a 
 shoulder playing polo ; and in the South African war twa 
 ribs were smashed by a fall off a " buckjumper," and I 
 have met with a few minor accidents not worth mentioning, 
 although I remember them well ; but up to the present no 
 wild beast has managed to get hold of me, although they 
 may have chances yet ! 
 
 To conclude this chapter, I will give the account of an 
 interesting day's tracking, or the best part of a day. 
 
 While marching along a narrow native path I saw a herd 
 of hartebeest grazing near, but the rifle was in its cover, 
 and just as I got it out and had loaded, the game began to 
 move off. I fired a fairly long shot, and hit a large bull in 
 the rump ; but, instead of stopping him, the wound seemed 
 to act as a tonic, and he went away fast. Before going 
 further, I may say that hartebeests (Lichtenstein's) are 
 usually the poorest sporting animals in Central Africa, as 
 they often behave very foolishly, and watch their com- 
 panions being shot down without making any attempt 
 to run away, at least out of range. 
 
 However, when much shot at, a single bull hartebeest 
 can become one of the wariest animals, and it will need 
 careful stalking and much care to get within range of him. 
 This fact I note, as many authors on sport seem to think the 
 hartebeest is always an obliging animal in offering himself 
 for the pot, and the very opposite can be stated at times. 
 
 After wounding the hartebeest, I waited until my cook 
 and the carriers came up, and told them to go on to within 
 an easy distance of the water, which was in front. I then 
 took four men and began to spoor the hartebeest. We 
 had gone quite three miles before we saw him, when I 
 gave him two shots, which both hit, and he walked a short 
 way and lay down. I then turned to get the "Kodak," 
 and, as I was doing so, he jumped up quickly and absconded, 
 and was into the thick bush before I could grab my rifle 
 and fire again. Two hours after this I got a sight of him 
 
Hartebeest Spoored Up. 157 
 
 again, but he again bolted. This hartebeest had travelled 
 a long way a good six miles from where I had first hit 
 him, but I determined I would get him, not only because I 
 had wounded him severely, but also because I wanted his 
 skin as a specimen. 
 
 We then heard voices, and 1 found my men waiting 
 under some big trees close to the path, and my little camp- 
 tabh- spread for lunch, so, as it was nearly midday and I 
 was thirsty, I decided to have some tea the best thirst- 
 quencher I know and some food ; and the waste of time, 
 although hard on the hartebeest, would give him time to 
 settle down. 
 
 In about an hour the men and I left again, and, to make 
 rather an uninteresting incident short, I may say we found 
 him dead close to where we had left the spoor. 
 
 He turned out to be a fine male ; but, as one of my shots 
 had broken the lower jaw and torn the skin badly, he was 
 useless as a specimen, although his meat was much appre- 
 ciated by my hungry men, who seldom complained of too 
 much nyama. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 I. FIELD NOTES ON THE GAME. 
 
 The following animals described : 
 
 Elephant. 
 
 Rhinoceros. 
 
 Hippopotamus. 
 
 Buffalo. 
 
 Eland. 
 
 Roan antelope. 
 
 Sable antelope. 
 
 Kudu. 
 
 Common waterbuck. 
 Hartebeest 
 
 (Lichtenstein's). 
 Sassaby. 
 Situtunga. 
 Inyala. 
 Puku. 
 
 Lech we (two varieties). 
 Bushbuck. 
 
 Reedbuck. 
 Impala. 
 Oribi. 
 
 Klipspringer. 
 Common duiker. 
 Sharpe's steinbuck. 
 Blue duiker. 
 Livingstone v s antelope. 
 
 THE following notes are the results of ten years' experiences, 
 almost wholly spent in the wild places of Central Africa, 
 where game is very plentiful if one goes to look for it in 
 its natural haunts. As I have written before, some people 
 imagine, because game is less seen in this country than 
 it is in more open spaces in other countries, that it is very 
 scarce. This is quite a mistaken idea, and Central Africa 
 Nyasaland, Northern Rhodesia, and adjacent countries 
 holds a most plentiful and varied stock of game. 
 
 In previous volumes I have already written a good deal 
 on this subject, but I think a book on shooting would be 
 imperfect without giving an assorted list of the principal 
 fauna, and this is my excuse for adding this chapter to 
 the present volume. I give information here on other 
 subjects, such as the approximate weight of the animals, 
 good average trophies, and two native names in different 
 languages, all of which I trust will prove useful. 
 
 The mark 6* is for male, and ? for female. 
 
The Elephant. 159 
 
 ELEPHANT (Elephas africanus]. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Njobvu. | Chingoni - - Nkhlovu. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ I3,ooolb. 
 
 Good average tusk, $ ... 4olb. 
 
 Good average length, $ 66in. 
 
 This grand animal is still very plentiful in the countries 
 I write of, although many of the largest tuskers have been 
 thinned out within the last ten years. It is certainly 
 unfortunate for the elephant that ivory is such a valuable 
 substance, as otherwise his body is of little use, except in 
 supplying an abundance of meat, which the natives are 
 very fond of, as they believe eating it gives them strength. 
 The best ivory comes from this country, it is known in 
 the market as Mozambique quality, and it is seldom that 
 ivory of bad quality is shot here. 
 
 The best tusks are called " soft " ivory, and the inferior 
 ones " hard " ivory. The former brings up to 155. per 
 pound in the European markets for bull tusks, and the 
 ivory of the cows is much more valuable, as it sometimes 
 fetches i per pound. 
 
 The most remarkable features about the elephant are 
 his enormous strength and his powers in covering long 
 distances. He is certainly " The King of Beasts/' and one 
 stamp of his mighty foot would flatten out a lion as a man 
 can a beetle which he treads on. 
 
 Elephants in their natural haunts cover an immense 
 extent of country in their daily wanderings, and they are 
 always at it, except when they may find a good feeding 
 ground, such as a large maize garden, when they will 
 spend perhaps two weeks hanging around. In the rainy 
 season they do not travel so much, as water and feed are 
 plentiful, and this is a trait unlike most animals, which 
 scatter and disperse in the rains. 
 
 The largest bulls often wander about singly or with a 
 comrade or two, and such friends may be quite small 
 
160 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 elephants, or they may be almost as large as himselt. A 
 fair tusker will have tusks about 4olb. each, though many 
 grow bigger tusks. 
 
 A yo-pounder is an exceptionally good one, and I have 
 not heard of any elephant being shot in this country with 
 tusks over i2olb. each. In Nyasaland, where elephants are 
 numerous in parts of Central and Northern Angoniland, 
 the biggest I have heard of was a 95-pounder, but I have 
 little doubt that a loo-pounder is wandering about 
 somewhere in this country. The heaviest tusk known 
 is one weighing 235^3., length loft. 4in., and 26in. in 
 circumference. 
 
 The longest measures lift. 5iin., with a circumference 
 of iSJin. 
 
 The largest tusker known to have been shot by a white 
 man was one killed by Major Powell Cotton in the Congo 
 Free State, and the two tusks weighed 372lb., the larger 
 tusk weighing igSlb., with a circumference of 25in., and 
 git. long. 
 
 That well-known elephant hunter, the late Arthur H. 
 Neumann, never killed an elephant with bigger tusks than 
 i2olb., although he shot many over loolb. Selous hunted 
 elephants in Southern Africa, where big tusks were scarce 
 in his time, and his largest, I believe, was between yolb. 
 and 8olb. 
 
 Sir Alfred Sharpe, who has killed more elephants in 
 Nyasaland than anyone else, never got an 8o-pounder, so 
 such large tuskers may be considered very scarce in that 
 country. 
 
 Certainly a pair of elephant tusks, if long and sharp 
 pointed, are very nice trophies, and I may say the tail is a 
 good trophy as well as the feet. The big front feet make 
 nice receptacles for vases, etc., and the back feet, if cut long, 
 make useful stick or umbrella stands. 
 
 The molars take a fine polish, and can be made into 
 various articles such as paper weights. The best taxidermists 
 make very pretty trophies out of feet and skin, though the 
 latter is very apt to warp in changeable climates. 
 
Elephant Characteristics. 161 
 
 The most dangerous elephants to shoot are herd bulls, as 
 the cows with calves often charge at the shot, and these 
 young bulls are not such staid, easy-going fellows as their 
 larger brethren, which usually prefer their own company or 
 the companionship of one or two chosen comrades. In 
 their old age they get morose, and probably do not wish to 
 be troubled with family affairs. It is impossible to say how 
 long an elephant will live, but I believe some must attain an 
 age of over 150 years. An elephant is probably not full 
 grown until he is close on fifty years, and his tusks probably 
 keep on growing for a much longer time. 
 
 When a man has shot a really big elephant he has 
 probably shot an animal that was roaming the wilds before 
 he saw the light of day, and to see such an animal fall 
 always reminds me of seeing some monarch of the forest 
 sink down before the implements of man. Elephants drink 
 daily, and they travel long distances for water in the dry 
 season, and often do not drink twice consecutively at the 
 same water where they are much molested. If an elephant 
 is killed, the others will leave the locality for a time, as 
 they seem to dislike the smell. 
 
 Smell is the strongest sense in elephants, and I am sure 
 they will scent human beings at about three-quarters of a 
 mile if the wind is strong and steady. Such being the 
 case, the direction of the wind has to be carefully studied 
 before trying to approach elephants for a shot. Their 
 sight is very bad indeed, and if a man moves slowly, and 
 keeps still when the animal is looking in his direction, 
 he can go up and smack an elephant's body on occasions. 
 Some tribes such as the Ndorobo of British East Africa 
 kill elephants with poisoned spears, and to do this they 
 approach within a few feet. 
 
 When near elephants one will often hear the flapping of 
 their ears ; also strange rumblings made by their digestive 
 organs, I think. At times they emit shrill cries, and I once 
 heard a wounded bull crying like a child. 
 
 If an elephant had been wounded and closely approached, 
 and becomes aware of the proximity of the hunter, he will 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 often give vent to several piercing shrill cries, at the same 
 time flapping his ears violently, and on occasion stamping 
 his feet ; then it is advisable to shoot very straight or get 
 out of his way. An elephant can run very fast when he 
 means mischief, and a man on foot would find it quite impos- 
 sible to get away unless there was cover about. A good 
 horse can outpace an elephant in open ground, as a rule ; but 
 if the horse was tired, or a sulky animal, it would go hard 
 with the hunter. Long ago, when unlimited elephants could 
 be shot, it was the custom of the best hunters to run them 
 down on foot, and Mr. Selous told me that in hot weather 
 he has sometimes run elephants almost to a standstill. 
 
 When carrying a heavy rifle in soft, sandy ground, this 
 must have been the hardest physical exercise it is possible 
 to imagine. Of course, old hunters did not dress, like 
 some of the modern sportsmen do, in tight breeches, with 
 leather gaiters 5 and their coats or shirts decorated with 
 bright leather patches, and, in some cases, their belts 
 covered with an assortment of knives and odds and ends, 
 like a Christmas tree. No, they simply wore a hat, shirt, 
 small pants (although these were often not worn), and a 
 pair of shoes. It is a good thing for men to inure them- 
 selves to going about in bare legs, for they will move 
 unhampered, and, if the occasion arises for a bolt, they 
 will be able to run hard. A few scratches will not hurt 
 anyone ; in fact, after a time, one hardly feels them at all. 
 Without doubt, elephant hunting is the finest sport in the 
 world, and, when these fine beasts disappear which I hope 
 will not happen for a very long time the finest beast on 
 the earth to-day will have vanished. 
 
 The best shot at an elephant is, undoubtedly, the heart, 
 as most accurate shooting and great experience is necessary 
 to hit the brain. The heart, too, is very much larger than 
 the brain and much more easily reached. 
 
 A j-gmm. bullet will sometimes go right through the 
 heart of an elephant and be found near the skin on the 
 opposite side, and, as penetration is the great desideratum, 
 solid bullets should always be used. 
 
The Rhinoceros. 163 
 
 RHINOCEROS (Rhinoceros bicornis] 
 (The black rhinoceros). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Chipembere. | Chingoni - - Chipimbere. 
 
 Approximate weight, <? yooolb. 
 
 Good average front horn, <? i8in. 
 
 The rhino, as he is generally called, is fairly abundant in 
 some parts of the country where there is a good supply of 
 thorn trees and bushes, as this variety does not eat much 
 grass ; in fact, some naturalists say he never eats any grass, 
 although, judging from the contents of the stomach of one 
 I opened, I think that on occasions he feeds on it. His 
 food is bark and twigs torn from thorn bushes, and he 
 must have extremely powerful digestive organs to thrive 
 on such food. 
 
 The natives seem to fear the rhino more than they do 
 the elephant, buffalo, and lion ; why, I fail to know, as he 
 is not usually a dangerous animal to go near. 
 
 He has a fussy appearance, and, as he has the habit of 
 knocking about his dung, the natives think this proves him 
 to be bad-tempered. He has certainly a weird, antedilu- 
 vian appearance, with his armed head and small, pig-like 
 eyes, and. his mouth has what one might term a dyspeptic 
 look ; and I can hardly blame him, for a breakfast, lunch, 
 and dinner of thorn and bark must be a most unsatisfactory 
 diet. Perhaps the rhino feels annoyed that Nature has not 
 given him an appetite for more succulent vegetation, like 
 the eland, sable, and kudu. 
 
 As thorn bushes are often found on rough, stony hills 
 the rhino is frequently seen in such places, and they are 
 interesting beasts to track, as on hard ground they some- 
 times leave a very faint spoor. The Machinga Mountains 
 in North-Eastern Rhodesia are full of rhino, and they 
 wander down to the valley of Luangwa River, where their 
 footprints will often be seen. Here they are very easy to 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 follow, as the soil is soft and sandy. Unlike elephants, they 
 do not form herds, and it is usual to find them singly or in 
 couples a male and female and sometimes such a pair 
 will be accompanied by a calf. 
 
 Why Rhinoceros bicornis should be termed the black 
 rhino I do not know, for I carefully examined a white and 
 black specimen in the Cape Town museum, and I failed to 
 notice that there was much difference in their colour ; and, 
 moreover, neither follow their names, as they both 
 appeared to be a slaty grey colour. 
 
 The black rhino walks with his head held high, and I 
 have read that the white variety holds his head low, and 
 close to the ground. 
 
 The latter is a much larger and heavier beast, and 
 measures much more at the shoulder, and he also grows 
 much larger horns. 
 
 In the country I write of a 2oin. front horn is quite a 
 good one, but in British East Africa the black rhino grows 
 much larger horns than this. 
 
 They are very easily killed with modern rifles, and any 
 small bore high-velocity rifle will account for a rhino quite 
 easily. In fact, one only realises the power of such rifles 
 when he sees how easy it is to kill elephants and rhinos 
 with them, and it seems to me that it requires a really big 
 and heavy-boned animal to fully bring out the power of 
 such weapons. 
 
 Rhino flesh is often full of maggots, and the beasts 
 themselves are usually covered with plastered mud, as, like 
 pigs, they delight to wallow in muddy holes. Elephants 
 have the same liking for mud holes in very hot weather, and 
 I have seen a deep hole filled with mud and water which 
 was just like a huge bath. I once followed a bull elephant 
 that had just had such a bath, and he left mud on the trees 
 as he passed, and it was possible to get a good idea of his 
 height by these marks. 
 
 Rhino will often be found near elephants, so I suppose 
 they leave each other alone ; although they never intermix 
 as antelopes of different species often do. The natives do 
 
The Hippopotamus. 165 
 
 not interfere much with rhino, and old iron bullets are not 
 so often found in their bodies as they are in those of 
 elephants and hippos. 
 
 Very few of the two latter animals will be shot without 
 such projectiles being found, especially if they are old. 
 
 It is a good plan to get pretty close to rhino (as it is with 
 elephants) so as to get in a good first shot, which is always 
 the most important one. 
 
 Rhino and elephant when wounded badly do not stop 
 quickly, as do antelopes, and they have the habit of 
 walking on until they drop, so as long as the beast is 
 in sight keep on shooting carefully, if it has already 
 been hit. 
 
 HIPPOPOTAMUS (Hippopotamus amphibius], 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 Chinyanja - - Mvuu. Chingoni - - Mvu. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 6ooolb. 
 
 Good average tusk, <? 2oin. 
 
 This animal is often described in old sporting books as 
 the " sea cow," but I never saw the least resemblance to a 
 cow in a hippo. Some years ago his ivory was much used 
 by dentists for making false teeth, but since other com- 
 positions have been introduced it is no longer used for this 
 purpose. In South Africa hippo hide is in great demand 
 for making whips, although it is not so strong as rhino 
 hide. However, hippos are much more easily found than 
 rhinos, and many of them have been slaughtered in the 
 rivers and lakes near civilisation. While going from Tete 
 to Chinde some years ago, in a houseboat, I saw about 150 
 of these animals, and shot several for my men ; and on 
 other occasions I have seen plenty of them in the Zambesi, 
 Luangwa, and Shire Rivers. In Central Angoniland there 
 are plenty of hippos in the Bua River, and in other small 
 rivers, and in Lake Nyasa they are abundant; so with all 
 
1 66 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 the persecution they have suffered they may still be con- 
 sidered plentiful. They are usually found in small herds 
 of from three to a dozen individuals, although in the 
 Zambesi River I have seen a herd consisting of over 
 forty animals. The old bulls, like the males of other 
 large animals, often wander off by themselves and lead a 
 solitary existence, and sometimes such beasts, if wounded, 
 will have no hesitation in attacking and upsetting a native 
 canoe. I have shot a good many hippo from boats (not 
 steamers) and from the banks of rivers, and I have only 
 seen one that wished to resent its injury. However, a big 
 European made boat is a different affair to a small, flimsy 
 dug-out canoe, and if people made a practice of shooting 
 out of these frail vessels they would doubtless meet with 
 more accidents than they do. I think it is a great shame 
 to shoot at hippos from a river steamer in motion, or, 
 indeed, from any craft that is moving, as good shooting in 
 such circumstances is quite impossible. A hippo's brain is 
 very small, certainly not more than 6in. in diameter ; so it 
 can be imagined that it presents a small and difficult mark 
 for the best of shots. 
 
 Yet some men who have hardly ever fired a rifle before 
 think nothing of pumping bullets into hippos from the deck 
 of a fast travelling steamer. The bullets may hit at times, 
 so the hippo goes off with a painful w r ound, and retaliates 
 on the first native canoe that appears, as mentioned before, 
 possibly dro\vning the owner, or at any rate causing him 
 the loss of his canoe and contents, which cannot often be 
 recovered, as hippos nearly always frequent deep water in 
 the daytime. The grunting of hippos is a common sound 
 when camped near a lonely river or lake ; they seem to do 
 most of their wandering in the dark hours, and in the 
 daytime lie asleep in thick patches of papyrus or reeds, and 
 sometimes, where they have not been much shot at, w r ill 
 come into open deep pools during the day. The most 
 deadly shot for a hippo is at the back of the head slightly 
 below a line between the base of the ears, but when they 
 are disturbed they will not often present this chance, and 
 
The Buffalo. 167 
 
 the usual shot will be a quarter one between the ear and 
 eye or right up the nostrils. Once I killed four hippos 
 in the Zambesi River with four shots, and every bullet hit 
 the eye ranging back to the brain, and the hippos died and 
 sank at once. 
 
 In very hot weather, and if the hippo is fat, the animal 
 may rise to the surface within an hour ; but if the water is 
 cold and the hippo is a thin beast it may remain under 
 water for quite six hours. It is simply a matter of buoyancy, 
 caused by the formation of gas in the bowels and stomach ; 
 and a fat beast produces more than a thin beast, and 
 consequently rises sooner. 
 
 The old bulls are darker coloured than the younger 
 animals. It is a very difficult matter to get a glimpse of 
 the teeth when the hippo is in the water, unless he is 
 obliging enough to throw open his jaws. If very wary and 
 shy, they will show little more than their nose above water, 
 and sink quickly. A big bull is a very heavy animal and 
 must weigh about three tons. The skin of their backs is a 
 good inch and a half thick, and very heavy. 
 
 When the skin is cut for whips it should be divided into 
 widths of about 2in., then slit at each end so that it may be 
 hung to a tree or platform. Stones are then tied at the 
 other end to stretch it well. If it gets hard before this 
 can be done it can be softened by putting it in water for 
 three or four days. 
 
 BUFFALO (Bos caffer). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Njati. | Chingoni - - Mboo. 
 
 Approximate w r eight, '<? ... I5oolb. 
 
 Good average horns 3gin. outside spread. 
 
 This is one of the finest game animals in the world, and 
 a bull buffalo not only gives the best of sport, but he also 
 grows one of the finest trophies a sportsman can procure in 
 Africa. Buffalo are usually found in herds of from six to 
 
168 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 thirty animals, although at times many small herds collect, 
 and form a large herd of two to three hundred. When 
 shooting buffalo, great care should be taken over the 
 first shot, for if he is only slightly wounded it is often 
 dangerous work following him, as the buffalo, like all 
 wounded animals, seeks the thickest cover he can find. 
 
 Although there is little difficulty in killing buffaloes with 
 small or medium bore rifles, a heavy rifle such as a 
 450 or -470 cordite would be better to stop a charge. 
 The buffalo is the most difficult beast to stop, once he means 
 business, and, unlike an elephant or rhino, a badly placed 
 shot will not often turn him. I have found that a buffalo's 
 heart lies lower in the body than any other animal's, in fact 
 it is right against the lower cavity of the chest ; so a bullet 
 placed half way up the shoulder would not strike the heart, 
 although it would be likely to cut the big arteries leading 
 into that organ. The lungs are high, but slightly farther 
 back, and this shot is a most deadly one for all game. A 
 large bull is much heavier than a cow, and although he does 
 not stand as high on his legs as a bull eland, he is much 
 broader in the chest and body, but less in the neck measur- 
 ment. There are still plenty of buffallo left in this country, 
 and they are very abundant in the Chiromo Marsh near 
 Chiromo, and also in parts of Central Angoniland. In 
 North-Eastern Rhodesia they are also common in the 
 Luangwa Valley, and in the country between it and Lake 
 Bangweolo. 
 
 Buffaloes usually like wild country with open dambos 
 and plenty of thick bush to lie up in, and they are fond of 
 eating the fresh leaves of bamboos, as, also, are elephants. 
 As I have related, buffaloes give exciting sport when they 
 have to be followed wounded into thick cover, and so I 
 recommend a heavy bore for this work unless a man is a 
 cool, good shot and is experienced. One should never 
 go blundering into thick cover after a wounded buffalo, and 
 the best thing to do is to wait for a short time, and then go 
 very slowly as one has to trust to one's ears as much as 
 to one's eyes. Also, it is a great mistake to be heavily 
 
Habits of the Buffalo. 169 
 
 clad, for the lighter one is, the quicker he can move, and 
 heavy boots, leggings, and coats are not wanted at this 
 work. 
 
 A buffalo's speed is astonishing considering his bulk r 
 and it is quite impossible to judge pace by watching 
 retreating animals at a distance. Once a buffalo gets hold 
 of a man he is usually marked for life, if he has not the 
 misfortune (or perhaps the fortune) to be killed at once. 
 It is almost impossible to brain an oncoming buffalo, so his 
 chest is the only mark to shoot at ; and buffaloes have been 
 known to be hit in the heart and yet have enough tenacity 
 of life to travel a long way before dropping. Again, I may 
 mention that a buffalo moves with his head up and nose 
 straight out, and only dips his horns when within striking 
 distance, and then the thing he strikes is usually deeply 
 marked, for they are possessed of tremendous strength 
 in their necks. 
 
 Buffaloes drink every day and they love to wallow in 
 mud and water, so they often present a reddish colour. 
 I once saw three buffaloes almost white, as they had been 
 wallowing in some slaty white soil. 
 
 The cows have poor trophies compared to the bulls, and 
 they are not nearly so difficult to kill, and the same applies 
 to cow elephants. Buffaloes wander a good deal, and 
 personally I have found that they take longer to get up to 
 than is usually the case with elephants. 
 
 If much harried they become most wary, and travel along 
 distance before stopping to rest, and the old solitary bulls 
 do this more than herds. However, a single bull is much 
 easier to approach closely than a herd, as he is often 
 dull of sight and hearing. In a herd comprising many 
 younger animals there are always plenty of eyes and ears 
 on the alert for danger. Herd animals never travel so lar 
 as single animals, for the cows and young animals make 
 the herd lag and lie up quicker. 
 
 Young buffaloes are of a brownish colour, and when old 
 become a slaty black, while some of the older animals may 
 be almost hairless on their bodies. Their hoofs are nice 
 
iyo Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 trophies when mounted, and the tails of all game are 
 interesting trophies ; but, of course, the head is the chief 
 prize, and, as I have said, it is, perhaps, the finest African 
 trophy a man can shoot. An old bull's horns almost join 
 on the frontlet, are usually worn down and much gnarled, 
 and sometimes cracked in places ; but all this enhances 
 their value in the sportsman's eyes. 
 
 ELAND (Taurotragus oryx). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Nchefu. | Chingoni - - Mpofu. 
 
 Approximate weight, <? ... i6oolb. 
 
 Good average horns, <? ... 28in. straight. 
 , 9 ... 28in. 
 
 A big eland bull is a grand animal, and the humane- 
 minded hunter will seldom kill one without regret, for he 
 is a harmless, inoffensive animal, which never tries to 
 resent an injury. Certainly there is very little satisfaction 
 in shooting such animals, and, after doing so, a man never 
 has that exhilarating feeling which comes over him after 
 killing an elephant or buffalo. A few people are very 
 fond of shooting antelopes, but leave the dangerous game 
 alone ; in my opinion, there is nothing great in killing 
 non-dangerous game, as it simply needs a little exercise 
 to find it and some skill with the rifle to kill it. 
 
 An old bull eland's most noticeable features are his 
 great bulk and weight, the tuft of long hair on his fore- 
 head, and his blue appearance, for he is often nearly 
 hairless, although he never becomes wholly so. He 
 evidently rubs most of his hair off, and he certainly treats 
 his horns roughly, as they get worn down to a remarkable 
 degree. No old bull has ever very long horns, and, if 
 they are much over 27in., he cannot be very old. 
 
 When in their prime they may grow horns of from 28in. 
 to 33in., and the former is an average head, the latter 
 quite exceptional. 
 
The Eland. 171 
 
 The cows have usually longer and much thinner horns 
 than the bulls, and two I have near me as I write measure 
 as follows : 
 
 Horns of a large and old bull 
 
 IN. 
 Length ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 25^ 
 
 Tip to tip i8f 
 
 Circumference .. ... ... ... ... ... 12^ 
 
 Horns of a large cow in her prime 
 
 IN. 
 
 Length ... ... ... 3 i 
 
 Tip to tip ... ... ... ... ... ... i8| 
 
 Circumference ... ... ... ... ... ... 8^ 
 
 The above measurements show the great difference in 
 the girth of the horns. The weight of the two heads, 
 without lower jaws, were, the bull's 24lb., the cow's I3lb. 
 Thus the bull's skull and horns weighed almost twice as 
 much as the cow's, but I must say this was an exceptionally 
 heavy bull, in fact the most bulky eland I have ever killed, 
 .and his neck and body measurements were phenomenal, as 
 I have mentioned in Chapter II. 
 
 His horns, when shot, measured 26in., and in the course 
 of six months or so they had shrunk half-an-inch, which is 
 usual with most horns ; and ivory, also, dries up and gets 
 lighter after being kept for some time. 
 
 Some elands have whitish tips to their horns, and this is 
 sometimes seen in kudu and bushbuck horns. Situtunga 
 .and inyala also often grow white tips, I believe. Although 
 I write " white," the colour is more of a light amber. 
 
 The cows and young animals have pretty reddish brown 
 hides with stripes, and there is great difference between 
 the weight of an old bull and a big cow. 
 
 At times elands can be found in enormous herds of from 
 100 to 300 animals. I recently saw a herd of about 200 
 of all sizes., but did not see any really old bull among 
 them, and I think, like buffaloes and elephants, the very 
 old stagers mostly lead a solitary existence, only consorting 
 with big herds at intervals. 
 
172 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Elands are easy beasts to track, as, being heavy, they 
 leave a prominent spoor, especially if the earth is damp or 
 wet. At certain times of the year they pack together, and 
 they probably do this before leaving for some well-known 
 haunt. Lions kill a good many of them, and they must find 
 them much easier to kill than buffaloes. In South Africa 
 it was considered an easy task to run down elands with 
 horses, but in this country they are shot on foot. 
 
 In conclusion I may say that when elands are in good 
 condition they yield a quantity of nice fat, which, when cut 
 into small pieces and boiled, makes most excellent dripping 
 for cooking purposes. It should not be cleaned in water, 
 which is inclined to make it rancid. It is better not to 
 keep it in tins for the same reason, and native pots made 
 of earthenware are the best receptacles. 
 
 ROAN ANTELOPE (Hippotragus equinus). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Chilembe. | Chingoni - - Twacambwa, 
 
 Approximate weight, $ ...... yoolb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ ...... 26in. curve. 
 
 This animal evidently got its name from its colour, 
 which is usually strawberry roan, although some animals 
 are a blue roan, and I think the old animals are usually the 
 latter. Roan are fine beasts, but their horns are insignifi- 
 cant compared to the fine trophies that sable antelopes 
 grow. A roan has very large ears, and his hair is 
 longer than most other antelopes, except waterbuck, or 
 the water-loving situtunga and the inyala. They seem to 
 fight more with one another than do most antelopes, and I 
 never saw roan consort much with other species as do 
 zebra, sable, and hartebeest. 
 
 The roan is a good deal localised, but where they exist 
 they are numerous, and they are particularly so in Central 
 Angoniland and North-Eastern Rhodesia ; they are also 
 
The Roan Antelope. 173 
 
 found away to the north in British East Africa and the 
 Sudan. 
 
 They seem to dig with their horns, as I have often seen 
 places where the ground had been routed up by them, and 
 the horns of the oldest animals are often chipped and 
 broken. Their flesh is pretty good eating, if the animal 
 is not too old, but not so good as eland flesh, or even 
 hartebeest. The roan, sable, and gemsbuck have the 
 reputation of being the fiercest antelopes ; and I have 
 often seen the eyes of wounded roan and sable gleam with 
 rage when approached closely, so it is better to finish a 
 wounded beast of either of these species with a bullet. If 
 an animal is sitting up it will often have the strength to 
 rise again, and a stab from roan or sable horns would be 
 equivalent to a dig with a blunt spear, and forced by the 
 power of their necks it would go right through a man's 
 body. When a beast is stretched on its side it seldom gets 
 up again, so if a roan or sable is in this position one can 
 approach carefully and seize the uppermost horn, and put 
 one's foot on the lower one and press it down strongly 
 against the ground. Then the operation of cutting the 
 animal's throat can be performed, but a very strong grip 
 should be kept while this is being done. Roan are found 
 in herds, and the old bulls are not so inclined to lead a 
 solitary existence as are old sable bulls and other animals. 
 An ordinary herd will consist of from ten to fifteen animals, 
 although I have at times seen larger herds. 
 
 SABLE ANTELOPE (Hippotragus m'ger). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Mpala-pala. | Chingoni - - Nyambuzi. 
 
 Approximate weight, c? 55olb. 
 
 Good average horns, <? 4oin. curve. 
 
 ,, ? 28in. 
 
 Most sporting writers give the sable antelope a high 
 place in the list of African antelopes, and he is certainly a 
 splendid looking animal with his long curving horns and 
 
174 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 black coat with snow white belly. He is a much bolder 
 animal than the kudu, which prefers to keep to fairly thick 
 cover, but the sable is very fond of wide, open spaces, 
 although he retires to the bush when the sun gets hot. I 
 have mentioned that in Nyasaland few sable grow horns 
 longer than 43in., but in North-Western Rhodesia this is a 
 common length, and heads have been procured there 
 close on 5oin. 
 
 This species was first brought to the notice of naturalists, 
 about the year 1838, by the late Sir Cornwallis Harris, and 
 it was long known as the " Harrisbuck." The Boers of 
 South Africa have a very descriptive name for the sable, 
 as they call it " Zwartwitpens," which, in Dutch, means 
 " black, with white belly." 
 
 Sable antelopes used to inhabit a great range of country 
 in Africa, they are still numerous in the country lying 
 north of the Zambesi River, and they are particularly 
 abundant in parts of Nyasaland, Portuguese East Africa, 
 and North-Eastern and Western Rhodesia. Anyone who 
 wishes to get a really big pair of sable horns should 
 go to the latter country, and I am sure he will get what 
 he wants. 
 
 Sable are usually found in herds of from ten to 
 twenty-five animals, and sometimes much larger herds will 
 be seen. 
 
 The old bulls seem to love to lead a solitary existence 
 at times, and they are then much easier to shoot than the 
 herd bulls, as their hearing and sight fails, and they have 
 not the safeguard of the younger and more alert animals 
 as a protection. 
 
 The largest pair of sable horns I have shot only measure 
 43m. I found the animal sleeping at a distance of sixty 
 yards or so, and killed him as he lay, so there was little 
 true sport in the affair. 
 
 I got this bull in North-Eastern Rhodesia, and near 
 where I shot him I wounded, on another day, a bigger- 
 horned bull, which I lost after spending the best part of 
 two days spooring him. He was only slightly hit, or I 
 
IB 
 
 ^W 
 
The Sable Antelope. 175 
 
 would likely have been successful in finding him. Again, 
 when travelling to Broken Hill, in North- Western Rhodesia, 
 I wounded a very large-horned bull, which I also lost, as a 
 rainstorm came on and washed out his tracks. I had a 
 good look at this animal's horns before firing at him, and 
 they were certainly not less than 45m. Such is hunter's 
 luck, or, perhaps, I should term it indifferent shooting. To 
 a man keen on good game-heads the sight of an excep- 
 tional pair of trophies is very apt to cause bad shooting, 
 especially before he has learned by experience to keep 
 cool and shoot steadily. 
 
 When disturbed I have noticed that sable often run into 
 the open, whereas more bush-loving animals, such as kudu 
 and bushbuck, immediately run for the thickest cover they 
 can find. I think sable depend more to their eyesight 
 than the two latter species, who trust in their hearing more 
 as a protection against danger. Young sable are a rufous- 
 red colour, and about the third year they begin to turn 
 darker; but it takes some years for them to assume the 
 jet black coat of the old beasts. Even the oldest sable 
 will show reddish hairs on the ears, and old bulls fight a 
 good deal and get their ears torn and split, as I have shot 
 several with half their ears gone. Sable meat is fairly 
 good eating, and the marrow from their bones, as well as 
 that of other large antelopes, is very tasty. The bones 
 are easily cracked with a stone, hammer, or axe ; and the 
 marrow can be cooked by putting the bone on a camp-fire ; 
 but, before doing this it is better to crack one end, or the 
 accumulation of steam inside will likely split the bone and 
 scatter the contents. 
 
 All old sable, bulls and cows, have a prominent bulge 
 on the base of the horns which gets smoothed up, although 
 the rings are easily visible. 
 
 If a good pair of sable horns are shot which do not show 
 this bulge, it is likely that they have not reached their 
 full growth. The horns of the females are much thinner 
 than those of the bulls, and they never form a great 
 curve. 
 
ij6 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 KUDU (Strepsiceros kudu}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Ngoma. | Chingoni - - Kugea. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 55olb>. 
 
 Good average horns, $ 53in. curve. 
 
 A big bull kudu is a picture of beauty when seen stand- 
 ing on some scrubby hillside with his long spiral horns 
 laid back, and his ears raised to catch the slightest sound. 
 However, he is not often viewed like this, as he is generally 
 a most wary animal, who knows how to take care of these 
 long curving trophies of his, and the usual view is that of a 
 herd, with one or two bulls, doing very good time through 
 the thick bush. 
 
 The bulls are much heavier and taller than the cows, and 
 I do not think many of the females would weigh more than 
 35olb. Kudus have extraordinary large ears, and it is 
 evident that their ears were made for the purpose of self- 
 protection, as, their lives being spent in fairly thick country, 
 they depend for safety mostly on their powers of hearing. 
 
 Kudu browse more than most animals, except perhaps 
 bushbuck and eland. Besides their splendid heads (the 
 males only bear horns although exceptional cases of cows 
 growing horns are on record), their most noticeable features 
 are, besides abnormal size of ears, their pretty blue-grey 
 hides profusely striped with white, and their graceful small 
 hoofs. The males also grow long hair under their throats, 
 which enhances their beauty. T have never seen very large 
 herds of kudu, and a collection of thirty animals may be 
 considered a very large one. Like sable and eland, the 
 old bulls often wander by themselves, although not to such 
 an extent as the former animals, and it is a fairly common 
 sight to see several good bulls consorting together. I 
 recently saw five fine bulls running with a herd of elands. 
 
 An old bull kudu (often spelt koodoo) may become 
 almost hairless, when the prominent stripes w r ill become 
 very faint. 
 
The Common Watcrbuck. 177 
 
 There is a very fine specimen of a bull kudu mounted in 
 the Natural History Museum at South Kensington,' and a 
 glance will show what a perfect animal he is, but he looks 
 finer still if one has the luck to see him standing on some 
 bare ground with the rocks and scrub all round and a blue 
 sky overhead. 
 
 I should imagine that leopards kill a large number of 
 kudu fawns, as they inhabit the same type of country, and 
 there is no doubt that the larger animals are often killed by 
 lions. On several occasions I have seen kudu make long 
 jumps, something like impala, when much startled, and 1 
 once saw two medium-sized bulls fighting, but this was 
 more of a pushing match than a battle with their horns. 
 
 I heard of a pair of kudu horns being found interlocked ? 
 and it was evident that the poor animals had met with a 
 painful death, by degrees, of starvation. A large kudu 
 must have a good eye for measurement, as he will often 
 dash between two close-growing trees, just sufficiently 
 wide to pass his horns, although he can twist his neck 
 considerably to decrease their space if he wishes to do so. 
 
 COMMON WATERBUCK (Cobus ellipsiprymnus}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - Nakodzwe. | Chingoni - - - Chuzu. 
 
 Approximate weight, <? 5oolb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ 28in. 
 
 There are several varieties of waterbuck in Africa, and 
 two of them are present in this part of it, the common 
 waterbuck and Crawshay's ; the latter is found in the most 
 northerly parts of North-Eastern Rhodesia. 
 
 The difference is slight, as the former shows a white 
 ring on his rump, whereas the latter has a white patch. 
 
 A waterbuck has a better carriage than most antelopes, 
 as he does not have a droop in the hindquarters, and when 
 
 ' N 
 
178 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 disturbed he holds himself well. Their colour varies con- 
 siderably, like roan antelopes, but the prevailing colour 
 is an iron-grey brown, and variations of colour will some- 
 times be seen in the same herd. The hair is often fairly 
 long and shaggy, and generally the bulls have long hair 
 under their throats. My friend George Garden, of Mlanje, 
 in Nyasaland, once showed me a photograph of a bull 
 waterbuck he had shot which had extremely short hair on 
 the body and neck, and without a vestige of the long neck 
 and throat hair common to most bulls of this species. 
 Waterbuck are found in herds, though at certain seasons 
 the bulls will consort together and keep apart from the cows 
 and younger animals. 
 
 Waterbuck swarm in the Luangwa Valley in North- 
 Eastern Rhodesia, and they are usually common near all 
 large rivers and lakes. Their name would seem to imply 
 that they live in water, which is far from being the case, 
 although they are never seen far from it. They are fond 
 of living in stony hills bordering rivers, but they drink 
 daily and often lie up close to water. If a hunter is thirsty 
 and sees waterbuck or impala, he may be sure there is 
 water somewhere near. I once saw a wounded one run 
 into the Luangwa River, but, his heart or strength failing 
 him, he stood up to the belly in water, and I put him out of 
 his misery with another bullet, and I have often regretted 
 not having had a camera with me at the time, as he was a 
 splendid picture of an antelope. 
 
 The waterbuck, or Steedman's antelope, was discovered 
 by Andrew Steedman, who travelled in South Africa early 
 in the nineteenth century. He published " Wanderings 
 and Adventures in the Wilds of South Africa," 2 vols., 
 8vo, London, 1835, and exhibited at the Colosseum, 
 Regent's Park, in that year, a panorama called the African 
 Glen, with a large collection of African trophies, birds, 
 animals, native arms, etc., the catalogue of which extends 
 to 346 items, according to a copy in my possession. 
 Steedman named the waterbuck Ellipsiprymnus, from the 
 wel -known circular white mark on its hind quarters. 
 
The Hartebeest. 179 
 
 HARTEBEEST (Bubalis lichtensteim}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - Ngondo. | Chingoni - - Nkonze. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ ...... 4Oolb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ ...... iQin. curve. 
 
 All over Africa various varieties of hartebeest exist, 
 although only one variety is present here Lichtenstein's. 
 
 These antelopes used to be much more plentiful 
 than they now are. They are unusually foolish animals, 
 unless when much hunted, and then they become 
 very wary and difficult to get shots at, especially in thick 
 bush. 
 
 Hartebeests are of a companionable nature, and I have 
 often seen them consorting with sable, zebra, and gnu. They 
 are sometimes found in herds up to thirty or forty, but the 
 usual number is from ten to fifteen in places where they 
 have been much molested. Both sexes bear horns, and 
 these are peculiarly shaped, being well curved inwards, 
 and then taking an abrupt bend backwards. The 
 hartebeest has a long skull, and he is not a prettily 
 shaped antelope, like a w r aterbuck. In moving, they have 
 a stiff action, rather mechanical, and not graceful. They 
 inhabit much the same type of country as sable antelopes, 
 are often found in the the open in the cooler hours, and 
 when the sun gets hot they retire to the shelter of the 
 bush. 
 
 I think their meat is very good eating and prefer it to 
 most of the other species except eland, bushbuck, impala, 
 and klipspnnger. There is not a very noticeable difference 
 between the weight of fully grown adults of the two sexes, 
 although the bull is slightly heavier. 
 
 N 2 
 
180 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 SASSABY (Damaliscus lunatus). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chibisa - - - - Mtengo. Chiwemba - Mtengo-Maroli. 
 
 Approximate weight, <? ... 4oolb. 
 
 Good average horns, 3 ... i6|in. curve. 
 
 This animal's name is often written Tsessebe in old 
 books on sport. They are extremely localised in this 
 country and only found in the districts bordering Lake 
 Bangweolo, in North-Eastern Rhodesia. It is strange that 
 they do not occur to the south of this, as they are not 
 present again until the country known as Southern 
 Rhodesia is reached. The heads in North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia are better than those usually shot in the south. 
 Sassaby are fond of the open and seldom go into thick 
 cover, but find shade below small clumps of bush or trees, 
 where these can be found. 
 
 Enormous herds exist, and up to a thousand can be seen 
 together at times. Their skins are a beautiful glossy 
 colour. The females bear horns which are thinner than 
 those of the males, as the horns of females always are in 
 those species in which the females grow them. 
 
 SiTUTUNGA (Tragelaphus spekei}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chibisa - - Nzowe. | Chiwemba - - Nsowe. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 2oolb. 
 
 Good average horns, <? 28in. curve. 
 
 This is the most water-loving antelope in Africa, and 
 they spend most of their time in swampy country, although 
 I do not believe that they often stand in the water up 
 to the tops of their backs ; for if they did so the crocodiles 
 would quickly decimate, them. 
 
/ 
 
The Situtunga and Inyala. 181 
 
 They are plentiful near Lake Bangweolo and the rivers 
 flowing into that lake, and they are also found in Lakes 
 Moir and Young, two small lakes widely separated in 
 North-Eastern Rhodesia. They occur, too, near Lake 
 Victoria Nyariza in British East Africa. 
 
 Their most noticeable features are their elongated hoofs 
 and their long silky hair. The hoofs spread out in walking 
 and help them to walk in soft ground without sinking. 
 
 Several men have shot situtunga, and Mr. T. A. Barns 
 shot a number in the swamps of Lake Bangweolo. 
 Mr. C. H. Timmler got several on the borders of Lake 
 Young, and I have heard of several being shot near Lake 
 Moir. Most of the horns seen have been traded from the 
 natives, who kill great numbers in the rainy season by 
 spearing them from canoes, after they have been driven 
 into the water. 
 
 The females are hornless and much smaller than the 
 males. I think there is always a greater difference between 
 the weights of males and females when the latter are 
 hornless than there is when the females grow horns. 
 
 INYALA (Tragelaphus angasi). 
 
 NATIVE NAME. 
 Chiyao - - Boo (pronounced " bow," long). 
 
 Approximate weight, <? 225lb. 
 
 Good average horns, c? 26in. curve. 
 
 Often written " Nyala," as the " N " is pronounced 
 " in." This animal is, without exception, the most beauti- 
 ful medium-sized antelope in Africa, as he is most grace- 
 fully formed and prettily marked; but it will take much 
 trouble to shoot a male, as they are most difficult to find, 
 even in country where they exist in moderate numbers. 
 The inyala used to be plentiful in parts of South-East 
 Africa, and that well-known hunter and field naturalist, 
 Mr. F. C. Selous, shot several fine specimens near the 
 Usutu River, within a reasonable distance of Delagoa Bay. 
 
1 82 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 In Nyasaland they are known to occur sparingly on the 
 Shire River, and are slightly more numerous near the 
 Muanza River, flowing into the former. 
 
 Twice I have tried to find them, but on both occasions 
 something came in the way, and I never saw a wild inyala, 
 although I have still hopes of doing so. 
 
 My friend, Mr. C. H. Timmler, told me that he once shot 
 two buck considerably larger than bushbuck, when they had 
 come to drink on the Luangwa River, in North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia. He fired across the river, and they both fell ; 
 but, as darkness was near, he had to leave them, and next 
 morning he found that they had been removed by croco- 
 diles. He firmly believes that they were inyala, and I see 
 no reason to doubt that they do exist in parts of the 
 Luangwa River, as I have heard of two other cases of 
 antelopes being shot there like inyalas ; but the successful 
 sportsmen were not experienced hunters or field-naturalists, 
 or they would certainly have kept the heads and skins 
 for identification. 
 
 Parts of the Luangwa valley certainly look typical inyala 
 country, as there are large tracts of thick papyrus and 
 reeds bordering the river. On the Muanza River, however, 
 the inyala, I believe, inhabit thick scrub near it, and do 
 not live solely in the dense reeds. 
 
 I examined carefully a very fine specimen of a full-grown, 
 though not aged, male which is in the Durban Museum. 
 The hair is long under the neck and belly, and reaches 
 some way dow r n the legs, the prevailing colour of the 
 animal is a silver grey, and the sides of the body are 
 striped with white, with a few white spots on the haunches. 
 The legs of this specimen were a rich rufous colour 
 below the knees ; but I believe the oldest males lose this 
 colour in time. 
 
 The females are hornless and differ in colour from the 
 males. In a book written by the late Captain Faulkner, 
 about 1868, entitled "Elephant Haunts/' he mentions 
 shooting an antelope, near Cape Maclear, on Lake Nyasa, 
 which from his description was probably an inyala. 
 
The Puku Antelope. 183 
 
 I have never heard that inyala exist there, but it is 
 possible that they do, or they may have existed and been 
 exterminated ; although this is doubtful, as the natives are 
 not possessed of guns, and they would be unlikely to 
 exterminate any species by hunting with dogs and spears, 
 or even with nets, in the type of country these antelopes 
 inhabit. 
 
 I believe that when the valley of the Luangvva River 
 becomes better known, that the existence there of the 
 inyala will be proved as a fact ; and it is possible that it 
 also inhabits other little-known country in Central Africa. 
 
 PUKU (Cobus vardoni}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Seuli. Chingoni - - Seuli. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ lyolb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ i6^in. front curve. 
 
 Scarce in Nyasaland, and very localised, although they 
 exist in great numbers in the Luangwa valley, and on the 
 banks of most of its tributaries. In Nyasaland it is only 
 found on the Bua River, and the heads there are not nearly 
 so good as those of North-Eastern Rhodesia, where they 
 sometimes grow to over 2oin. 
 
 The puku also exists south of the Zambesi in suitable 
 localities. It is never found far from water, and I have 
 often seen them lying on the sandbanks of the Luangwa 
 River in the dry season. It is of a yellowish colour, 
 with white belly, and in shape well formed. The meat is 
 tough eating, and the animal is very tenacious of life, like 
 the waterbuck, unless well hit, when it is as easily killed 
 as any antelope. 
 
 The males fight a good deal. I have noticed them 
 doing so on several occasions, and I once picked the point 
 of another ram's horn out of the neck of one I shot. 
 Sometimes when a ram is shot it will attack another, 
 thinking it was the cause of the injury. Puku rams often 
 
184 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 collect in herds comprising males only, and in a herd of 
 females there will generally be only one old ram. 
 
 The females are hornless and their flesh is better 
 eating than that of the males. The Chibisa name for the 
 puku is seula. 
 
 LECHWE (two varieties). 
 
 The Red (Cobus lichi}. 
 
 The Black (Cobus smithemani). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chibisa - - - Nja. | Chiwemba - - Nja. 
 
 Approximate weight, 3 iSolb. 
 
 Good average horns, 3 2yin. front curve. 
 
 The common or red lechvve is found south of the 
 Zambesi in much the same type of country as is inhabited 
 by the puku. The species is not found in Nyasaland, but 
 in North-Eastern Rhodesia it is very abundant in the 
 country bordering Lake Bangweolo where both varieties 
 are present. The black variety is a most handsome 
 antelope with rich rufous black colouring on the sides, the 
 top of the back being a rich black and the belly white. 
 Considering their size, lechwe grow fine trophies of a lyre 
 shape, and well ringed. 
 
 Like other members of its genus they are fond of water, 
 and in the rainy season the natives of Lake Bangweolo kill 
 great numbers by driving them into deep water and then 
 spearing them from canoes. The hoofs are long and well 
 spread, and the females are hornless. 
 
 BUSHBUCK (Tragclaphus scriptus). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Balala. | Chingoni - Mbawala. 
 
 Approximate weight, 3 i5olb. 
 
 Good average horns, 3 !5 m - curve. 
 
 One of the prettiest of the medium-sized antelopes, and 
 very plentiful in most parts of Central Africa, particularly 
 
Bushbuck and Reedbuck. 185 
 
 so near the larger rivers. Along the Shire River they 
 are abundant, and in the Luangwa Valley they are very 
 plentiful indeed. 
 
 The skins are prettily marked with spots, and the old 
 males get darker with age. Some of the younger animals 
 are bluish, although the usual colour is a light brown. 
 
 The horns have often white or amber-coloured tips, and 
 are prettily curved. Bushbuck have a bare patch on the 
 throat which looks hairless, though if it is closely examined 
 it will be seen to be covered with very fine short hairs. 
 They abound in hilly country, and prefer fairly thick bush. 
 The best head I had seen was one killed by a leopard near 
 Gwazas, on the Shire River, in Nyasaland, and it measured 
 igjin. on the curve, and was for long the record ; but 
 lately, my friend, Mr. C. H. Timmler, showed me a head of 
 a bushbuck he had bought at Chinde, and, on measuring it, 
 I found that it gave iQfin. on the curve, so it is evidently 
 the record. 
 
 Bushbuck are sporting animals, which usually give the 
 sportsman some trouble to find. At times they bark just 
 like a dog, and they often make this noise when disturbed 
 at close quarters by human beings or carnivorous animals. 
 Their flesh is very good eating. 
 
 REEDBUCK (Cervicapra arundinum), 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 Chinyanja Mpoyo. 
 
 Chingoni ----- Shangu (sometimes Mpoyo). 
 
 Approximate w r eight, $ ... .... I5olb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ I3in. front curve. 
 
 As its name implies, prefers reeds and grass country 
 near water. Fairly common and well distributed, and 
 often seen in small lots up to six or eight, although the 
 usual number is from two to five animals. 
 
 When disturbed, gives a shrill call, which carries for 
 some way and puts other game on the alert ; so it is 
 
1 86 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 better, if stalking an animal, to give reedbuck a wide 
 berth. 
 
 The skin is very thin, just like strong parchment, and the 
 hair soft and fine. As reedbuck run they hold their tails 
 up, and, as the tails are large and are white underneath, 
 they will often be the first thing to catch the eye. The 
 meat is soft and tender, but rather insipid, and I have 
 noticed that it goes bad sooner than other meat. 
 
 The females are hornless, and weigh much less than the 
 males. 
 
 IMPALA (sEpyceros melampus). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Nswala. | Chingoni - - Nswala. 
 
 Approximate weight, 3 nolb. 
 
 Good average horns, <J igin. front curve. 
 
 One of the most gracefully formed of the medium-sized 
 antelopes, and very numerous and well distributed wherever 
 there are large rivers. The presence of impala always 
 denotes that water is near, and waterbuck, puku, and 
 reedbuck are an index to the same conditions. 
 
 Impala are often found in large herds of from fifty to a 
 hundred animals. They are particularly common in the 
 Luangwa valley, and their numbers there are probably 
 greater than any other species. They are of a pretty light 
 brown or fallow colour, with white belly, and the heads of 
 the rams, for the does are hornless, are a beautiful shape 
 and nicely ringed. Their flesh is particularly good, being 
 tasty and tender. 
 
 The males, at certain seasons, consort together, and 
 sometimes a herd of over twenty will be seen. In a large 
 herd there is not often more than one full-grown ram. 
 When startled, impala often jump high into the air and 
 give a kind of bark, as do bushbuck when frightened. 
 
 The variety found here is smaller in the body and horns 
 than those found in British East Africa, and is known as 
 Johnston's impala. 
 
Oribi and Klip springer. 187 
 
 They inhabit pretty "park-like" country where they 
 form lovely pictures of wild life. 
 
 I weighed a full-grown ram, and he scaled iiolb. 
 (uncleaned). 
 
 ORIBI (Oribta scoparid}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - Choe, often Gwapi. Chingoni - - ChozimbL 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 4olb. 
 
 Good average horns, <? 4iin. straight 
 
 These pretty little antelopes are usually found in couples 
 and they are fond of open dambos, where they often 
 remain during the day unless the sun is very hot, when 
 they will retire into the thin bush, but they are very 
 seldom found in very thick cover. As they are small 
 bodied animals they are difficult to shoot unless fairly 
 close ; and anyone who can get most of the oribi he fires 
 at ought to do well on larger game. 
 
 Their skins are a reddish yellow with white belly, and a 
 noticeable feature is their small neatly formed feet, which 
 leave a track not unlike a miniature hartebeest's. 
 
 It is wonderful how seldom one sees a young one with 
 any of the smaller antelopes, and I think they leave them 
 behind in cover until they are almost the same size as 
 the parents. 
 
 Oribi meat is tender but rather insipid ; their kidneys 
 and liver are very good when fried fresh. 
 
 KLIPSPRINGER (Oreotragus saltator). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 Chinyanja - - Chinkoma j Chingoni - - Chinkoma. 
 (sometimes Gwapi). 
 
 Approximate weight, <J 35lb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ 3fin. straight 
 
 The Boers call this little animal the " klipbok/' which 
 means stone buck, and rockjumper is the English meaning 
 
1 88 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 of the word klipspringer. The most noticeable features of 
 these animals are the long wiry hair, which will come out 
 with a hard stroke of the hand, and I have seen a bullet 
 send a shower of hair away after its exit from the opposite 
 side ; also the small feet, which are only worn do\vn in 
 front, as the klipspringer lives mostly among rocks and 
 hard ground, although they will often wander down to the 
 lower ground in the evening, and I have sometimes seen 
 their spoor in a native garden, near hilly ground. The 
 Boers use the hair to fill saddles with, as it is said not to 
 pack with use, and it is springy and light, in fact, just like 
 small quills. 
 
 Only the males bear horns, and they are usually seen in 
 pairs, although a number of pairs may feed and inter- 
 mingle when feeding. I once counted eight couples of 
 these animals in an undulating valley on the plateau of a 
 long range of hills overlooking Fort Manning, in Central 
 Angoniland. 
 
 Klipspringer meat I consider more tasty than that of 
 any other antelope, as it resembles tender mutton, and has 
 not the soft, insipid taste of some of the other species. 
 
 They are most sporting little animals, and to get a shot 
 at one it is often necessary to climb high, when lovely views 
 of the surrounding country will be seen. I have climbed 
 many a lonely hill to look for them, many probably never 
 trodden by the feet of civilised man, and when doing so I 
 have kept my eyes open for minerals ; but I never found 
 any, probably because I know little about geology or 
 prospecting \vork. It is often the way that the first men 
 in a new country gain little, and those who follow are the 
 lucky ones. 
 
 In running off, klipspringer often stop and look back 
 from the top of a big boulder, and thus offer a fine chance 
 for a quick shot. If they are startled and bolt, it pays to 
 wait, and not risk a doubtful running chance, as they will 
 likely have one look back before disappearing for good. 
 
 Klipspringers are found throughout Africa, where the 
 country suits them, but it is hard work following them, 
 
The Common Duiker. 189 
 
 although the beautiful scenery, and the trophy and meat, 
 are a recompense for such hard exercise under a hot sun. 
 They seldojn drink, and doubtless get all the moisture they 
 need by eating juicy and wet vegetation. 
 
 DuiKER (Common) (Cephalophus grimmi}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - Gwapi. Chingoni - - Phunzi. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 35lb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ 4in. straight. 
 
 The duiker is one of the commonest small antelopes in 
 Central Africa, as they are found all over the country. 
 
 They usually run in couples, inhabit fairly open bush, 
 and go into the open in the cooler hours to feed. The 
 females are, as a rule, hornless, although I have heard of 
 several cases of their bearing horns, which, however, are 
 smaller than those of the males. 
 
 As they are small-bodied animals, it needs fairly 
 accurate shooting to kill them. They are very tenacious 
 of life, considering their small size, and I have seen them 
 go off with most severe wounds, although it is easy to 
 recover them by spooring them up. 
 
 They have a habit of returning to the same place to 
 deposit their droppings, but they are not singular in this 
 respect, as many other animals do the same thing. 
 
 I do not think they drink often, as they are sometimes 
 found far from water. They probably get all the moisture 
 they require by eating wet grass and leaves, and also plants 
 that are full of moisture. 
 
 Their colour is a brownish grey and they are well formed, 
 and like other small buck can be easily tamed when taken 
 young. The males have a long tuft of hair between the 
 horns which, when they are close, look like a third horn. 
 Their meat is fairly good eating, and their kidneys and liver 
 are particularly good. 
 
1 90 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 SHARPE'S STEINBUCK (Raphiceros sharpei}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - Kasenye. Chingoni - - Nsumpe. 
 
 Approximate weight, <? 2olb. 
 
 Good average horns, $ liin. straight. 
 
 A very localised species, but where found may exist in 
 fair numbers. Inhabits fairly thick bush, and is seldom seen 
 in open country. The colour of the skin is a reddish 
 brown with white hairs interspersed. When they run 
 off they do not often stand and look back like oribi, 
 klipspringer, and duiker. They could easily be killed with 
 a shot gun and heavy shot, such as a charge of No. 4, but I 
 think it is more sporting to shoot them with a rifle. 
 
 I have seen them near Gwazas, on the Shire River, 
 in Central Angoniland, and different parts of North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia. They seem to have acute senses of smell and 
 hearing, and are seldom seen standing. Only the males 
 grow horns. 
 
 BLUE DUIKER (Cephalophus nyasoe}. 
 
 NATIVE NAME. 
 Chinyanja - Kadumba. 
 
 Approximate weight, <? 1400. 
 
 Good average horns, $ i^in. straight. 
 
 The females grow horns as well as the males, and both 
 sexes show an inward curve on the horns. The colour 
 varies from a blue brown to a chocolate brown. I have 
 seen these tiny antelopes in the Mlanje district of Nyasaland, 
 and also at Mpezo about fifteen miles from Blantyre, where 
 there are a few of them, although their numbers are 
 kept low by the natives, who set snares across their runs. 
 They are very wary, and it is most difficult to get a 
 shot at them with a rifle. I believe they are plentiful in 
 parts of Portuguese East Africa, and I saw the skins of 
 
Livingstone's Antelope. 191 
 
 two of the chocolate-coloured variety, which were got in 
 the stony hills bordering the Lupata Gorge, on the Zambesi 
 River. In Mlanje, where they used to be very plentiful, 
 they inhabit the thickest of cover, and the natives there also 
 kill great numbers with their snares. 
 
 In running they assume a crouching attitude, and so 
 creep through small spaces among the thick vegetation, 
 and, once they are startled, they do not stop to look back, 
 but go right away. The female does not, probably, weigh 
 much more than i2lb. Their feet are very small and grace- 
 fully formed, and they are the smallest antelopes in this 
 part of Africa. 
 
 LIVINGSTONE'S ANTELOPE. 
 
 When living, about a couple of years ago, for a few 
 months near Mikolongwe, in Blantyre district, a friend 
 (Mr. J. Maiden, of Midima Estate) gave me a pair of 
 horns, on frontlet of skull, of a small antelope killed by 
 one of his natives with a shotgun on the slopes of Midima 
 Hill. At the first glance I thought it belonged to a male 
 Livingstone's antelope, so I wrote Mr. R. Lydekker, F.R.S., 
 of the Natural History Museum, London, and sent him, 
 with a full description, a pencil sketch of the horns, and he 
 replied that I was correct in thinking it belonged to this 
 species. I have never seen another specimen, and it is a 
 pity Mr. Maiden was not able to keep the full skull and 
 skin ; but he happened to be away from home when his 
 boy shot it, and the horns were all he could recover. 
 
 I think it is worth putting on record that this species 
 exists here. I know it is plentiful near Shupanga Mission 
 Station, on the south bank of the Zambesi River; but it is 
 a long way from that place to Midima Hill, in the Blantyre 
 district of Nyasaland, and I never heard of it as existing on 
 the north bank of the Zambesi. 
 
 I have heard of the common steinbuck being shot in 
 Central Africa, but not having met with it, or seen the 
 horns or skin of a specimen shot there, I prefer not to 
 include it in this list, as its existence is doubtful. It 
 
1 92 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 is possible that in the northern parts of Nyasaland and 
 Northern Rhodesia that one or two small species of ante- 
 lopes may exist that have not yet been brought to the 
 notice of naturalists, as some of that country has been but 
 little shot in, especially by men with any knowledge of 
 field natural history. 
 
 It needs a man with a certain amount of experience to 
 notice a difference in the markings or features of animals, 
 and some discoveries must have been lost to science owing 
 to this want of observance in hunters. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 II. FIELD NOTES ON THE GAME. 
 
 The following animals described : 
 
 Lion. Bushpig. Otter (two 
 
 Leopard. Hyaena (two varieties). 
 
 Cheetah. varieties). Civet Cat. 
 
 Serval. Wild Dog. Antbear, or 
 
 Zebra. Jackal (two Aard-Vark. 
 
 Warthog. varieties). | 
 
 Native names given for many other animals not strictly speaking classed! 
 as game. Also names for some of the birds, snakes, &c., are also given. 
 
 LION (Felis leo). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - - - Mkango. | Chingoni - - Ngwenyama. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 
 Good average skin, $ ... 
 
 40olb. 
 gft. 3in., unstretchecL 
 
 THERE is no African animal that has inspired writers on 
 sport in that continent, or the interest of those who have 
 never seen Africa, to the same extent as the lion ; but in. 
 his natural state he does not present the hairy and dignified' 
 appearance that he does when looking through the bars of 
 a cage with sleepy-looking brown eyes. 
 
 Wild lions, especially in very hot regions, do not often 
 have good manes, and Mr. F. C. Selous has quite con- 
 clusively proved that the profuse growth of hair seen in 
 lions in the zoological gardens and menageries in Europe 
 is the result of the cold climate ; and possibly regular 
 feeding may have something to do with it. 
 
 Long ago, in the higher parts of Southern Africa, lions 
 grew large manes with long hair under the forelegs and 
 along the belly, and to-day lions exist on the higher plateaux 
 
 O 
 
194 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 of British East Africa with much better manes than those 
 inhabiting the warmer lower country. Some people with 
 good experience aver that lions lose their manes through 
 inhabiting thick thorn bush, as they get the hair matted 
 and tangled with blood when feeding, and it is then caught 
 by thorns and pulled out. I have seen lion hair hanging to 
 a thorn bush when a maneater that had killed a woman had 
 gone off with some of the flesh, and lain under this bush 
 eating it. He left a little hair behind, but this is no proof 
 that thorns would make a lion lose all its mane, as it would 
 keep growing. 
 
 Lions originally came from cold and temperate zones, 
 and all animals inhabiting cold countries are hairier than 
 those which live in the more tropical parts of the earth, so 
 there is little doubt that a cold climate is responsible for 
 the profusion of a lion's mane. 
 
 Large lions have been killed weighing over 5oolb. but 
 few will be shot weighing more than 4oolb. It depends 
 greatly whether a lion is weighed before or after a good 
 meal, as I think he can easily stow away quite yolb. weight 
 of meat when famished with hunger, and lions are usually 
 rather hungry, often going without food for several days. 
 Then they will eat anything that is eatable, and they are 
 not averse to having a dessert of masuko plums, when these 
 are ripe and fallen on the ground. 
 
 Lions are most dangerous on dark, rainy nights, for in 
 the rains most of the antelopes scatter all over the country, 
 as water is plentiful everywhere. They do most of their 
 killing in the hot and dry season by lying in wait at the 
 isolated water holes, and at favourite drinking places on 
 rivers. They do most of their hunting by scent and 
 hearing ; and, regarding this fact, the colouration of animals 
 is no help to them in escaping, and they have to depend on 
 their own hearing, scent, and speed for safety. This is 
 where the closet naturalist falls into the trap with regard to 
 so-called protective colouration of animals preyed on by 
 others ; and, although many more able men than myself 
 have written on this subject, I intend to give a few lines on 
 
Habits of the Lion, 195 
 
 it before completing this volume. Further, I do not wish 
 to write much on lions as compared to Mr. F. C. Selous and 
 Mr. F. Vaughan-Kirby, my experience of them having been 
 very small indeed, as I have had very bad luck in finding^ 
 them. Considering the immense amount of wild country 
 I have walked over, I have come to the conclusion that 
 lions are rather scarce in Nyasaland and North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia, except in certain parts, and as a rule it is pure 
 chance coming on them. 
 
 The proper way to measure a lion or leopard skin is to 
 stretch the animal out as straight as possible and put a 
 peg in at the nose and another at the end of the tail, and 
 measure the space between them. This should be done 
 when the animal is freshly killed, as it will stiffen up soon. 
 To measure a skin that has been flayed from the animal 
 is no true index, as it is an easy matter to stretch it about 
 a foot, particularly if it has been soaked in water for twelve 
 hours. 
 
 Lions kill by biting, and use their claws for gripping 
 their prey, and a charging lion comes along low, like a 
 big dog ; so it offers a better target than a leopard, which 
 bounds. They often break into cattle, sheep, and goat 
 kraals, and do this by forcing a space between the poles 
 near the ground, for they will seldom jump into such an 
 enclosure. If they are disturbed, however, they have no 
 hesitation in jumping through the interstices of the poles 
 where they are usually wider apart, about zoft. or I2ft. 
 from the ground, and in doing this they will go right 
 through big thorn branches. Lions realise that their 
 existence largely depends on the soundness of their pads, 
 so they are usually careful about interfering with thorns, 
 except when they are famished with hunger, when they 
 become heedless of anything. 
 
 They kill numbers of native pigs, and have little diffi- 
 culty in breaking into the flimsy enclosures that natives 
 often keep them in. 
 
 In a wild state they kill many buffaloes, elands, and 
 zebras, and they like donkeys ; so if such animals are taken 
 
 O 2 
 
196 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 on a journey through a lion country, they should be well 
 guarded at night. 
 
 The lion's great feature, excluding his name, is his roar, 
 and it is certainly a wild sound when heard on a dark 
 rainy night. I have only heard lions roar close once, and 
 and by close I mean within 100 yards ; and that was 
 during a night in the rains on the Luangwa River in 
 North-Eastern Rhodesia, and it was raining hard at the time. 
 
 The air seemed to vibrate with the sound, and the 
 rats, crickets, and other tropical insects were evidently 
 frightened, as they kept quiet. A dog I haH in the hut 
 with me was fairly well scared out of his wits, for he 
 shivered and trembled, although he was a very plucky 
 terrier, and eventually met his death by running out at 
 night to tackle a leopard singly. The lions I think there 
 were five took up the chorus, and I could hear the long 
 sigh after each roar. In wild places one will sometimes 
 hear lions roaring at a distance, and I have often listened 
 to the sobbing grunts of lions as they were prowling round ; 
 but, though I sometimes went to try to find them next 
 day, they were somewhere else. As Mr. F. C. Selous and 
 other authors have written so much on the lion, it is 
 needless for me to write more about this fine animal. 
 
 LEOPARD (Felis pardus). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 ~, . . (Nyalugwe. 
 Chmyanja - > 
 
 , 
 
 (Natave. 
 
 Chingoni - 
 
 (Ngombwa. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ ...... nolb. 
 
 Good average skin, $ ...... yft. 3in. straight. 
 
 The leopard is one of the wariest animals in the world, 
 and he seems to know how to look after his skin, which is 
 a very handsome trophy, and really much prettier than a 
 lion's, unless he has a fine mane. Leopards are fond of 
 hilly country and thick bush wherever it is found, so as the 
 country I write of is covered in parts with trees and bush, 
 
Habits of the Leopard. 197 
 
 there are plenty of leopards, but they are most difficult to 
 get a shot at, as they seem to have most acute hearing. 
 Usually, when disturbed, all one will see is a flash of yellow,, 
 and they disappear into the bush or grass. They are very 
 plentiful in the Mlanje range of mountains in the south of 
 the Nyasaland Protectorate, and they find plenty of food 
 there in the shape of bushbuck, pig, and klipspringers on 
 the higher parts. 
 
 They are easily obtained by putting out a set-gun baited 
 with part of their kill, or, better still, with a dead dog. 
 Dog-flesh seems to be most attractive to them, and many 
 a fine terrier has been taken in Africa and India by a 
 leopard. In their habits they must resemble cats,' and, 
 like them, they eat great quantities of field rats and mice, 
 and are not above filling up corners with lizards and any- 
 thing they can catch. In the breeding season they are said 
 to become bad-tempered and liable to attack man, and I 
 have heard of several man-eating leopards which haunted 
 districts near villages and killed the natives at night, 
 usually a young boy or girl, which the leopards probably 
 know are easier to kill than fully grown adults. I lately 
 treated a man who was mauled by a leopard, which jumped 
 on his back and gave him a few scratches. This man was 
 so grateful that he brought me a fowl, which is rather 
 unusual, as natives do not, as a rule, show much gratitude; 
 although the Angoni and Yaos do occasionally. Natives 
 are averse to offering thanks, but I think that in their 
 hearts they are often grateful. 
 
 If a sportsman wishes to shoot leopards, the best plan is 
 to sit up over a kill, or try to find out where the leopard 
 goes to rest during the hours of day, and take up a position 
 to intercept it as it comes out for its nightly prowl. 
 Leopards cannot be systematically hunted by walking 
 about, even in rubber shoes, as being so close to the 
 ground they seem to be able to catch the slightest sound, 
 not only of the legs and boots rubbing against branches, 
 grass, and stones, but the vibration in the ground, which 
 must carry for some considerable distance. 
 
198 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Leopards and hyaenas must kill a great number of fawns 
 which are unable to run, as these are left by the mother in 
 some cover when she is feeding. 
 
 Hill leopards, at least those found in Mlanje, seem to 
 be smaller bodied and more profusely spotted than those 
 inhabiting lower levels, and the natives say that the 
 smaller kind are fiercer when wounded than the larger 
 
 o 
 
 variety. 
 
 Leopards will often be heard grunting at night, as they 
 move about, and their grunts are sharper and quicker than 
 a lion's, and at times sound just like a saw being worked 
 in hard timber. 
 
 They often break into goat kraals, and, like lions, they 
 will then kill much more than they can possibly eat, and it 
 is apparent that the lust for killing comes over them. 
 Lions kill their prey by biting the upper part of the neck 
 behind the ears, and leopards nearly always grip the wind- 
 pipe under the throat. When in India I saw the carcases 
 of several bullocks and cows killed by leopards, and this 
 was how they acted. Tigers kill like lions by gripping 
 with their claws, and biting the neck behind the head. I 
 heard of a case in Mlanje district of a small lot of bushpig 
 chasing a leopard into a tree, and my friend George 
 Garden saw the place and told me that the pigs must have 
 remained for some time round the base of the tree, as the 
 earth was much trampled by their feet. On another 
 occasion I heard some bushpigs grunting, and also the 
 grunts of a leopard, and I found the spoor and noticed that, 
 instead of the leopard hunting the pigs, he was being 
 hunted, as in places the pigs' tracks covered those of the 
 leopard. 
 
 CHEETAH. 
 
 I have only seen one skin of this animal in Nyasaland, 
 and it was obtained from natives near Dedza, in the 
 southern part of Central Angoniland. As far as I 
 remember, it was about 6ft. in length, and much whiter 
 coloured and less profusely spotted than a leopard's skin. 
 
The Cheetah and Serval. 199 
 
 These animals are plentiful in the more open parts of 
 British East Africa, and they doubtless exist in the big 
 plains near Lake Bangweolo. The spoor of the cheetah is 
 slightly longer than that of the leopard, and the back part 
 of the pads is convex in the centre instead of concave as in 
 the leopard. Cheetahs are very fleet for a short distance 
 but they soon get winded, and cases have been known of a 
 horse overtaking them. In India, as most sportsmen are 
 doubtless aware, they are used for hunting the blackbuck, 
 although they are not always successful in killing, unless 
 they manage to stalk near enough to get close with the 
 first rush. 
 
 SERVAL (Felts serval). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES 
 Chinyanja - - Ndudzi. | Chingoni - - - Njosi. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 3olb. 
 
 Good average length, <? 3ft. 6in. 
 
 Very numerous all over this country, inhabits bush 
 country and goes into the open to hunt at night. It is 
 very fond, as most carnivorous animals are, of walking 
 along native paths, where it can go quietly. 
 
 Kills small antelopes, and likely catches many fawns 
 and hares. The skins are prettily spotted, with fairly 
 long light hair under the belly. The natives kill numbers 
 when hunting with dogs, so it would seem that, like 
 the cheetah, the serval is short-winded when followed 
 far. Although the claws are retractile they are not so to 
 the same extent as lions and leopards, as in muddy ground 
 I have often seen them in the spoor. When startled, all 
 retractile clawed animals shoot out their claws, probably to 
 take a better grip of the ground in dashing off. In a sandy 
 nullah in India I once saw the pugs (tracks) of a tiger that 
 had chased a bullock at close quarters, and each pug 
 showed the front cut of the long claws. In moments of 
 excitement the claws are shot out, and cats do it when 
 watching a bird near at hand. 
 
j2oo Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 ZEBRA (Common) (Equus burchelli). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 Chinyanja Mbizi. 
 
 Chingoni - - - - - Lidua, sometimes Chimbeti. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 6oolb. 
 
 Very common in most parts of Central Africa and only 
 one variety is found here, although there may be slight 
 differences seen, such as some of the animals being brown 
 coloured on the nose, instead of black ; and the striping of 
 some beasts is more distinct just above the hoofs, round 
 the fetlocks, than it is in others. 
 
 These very slight variations mean little, I think, and 
 certainly do not contribute a difference great enough for 
 the classification of a variety. One might as well group 
 Englishmen, for instance, into groups, because some 
 happen to have black hair, others brown, and others flaxen 
 hair. A light skinned lion may give birth to two cubs, one 
 black maned and another light maned ; and such differences 
 mean little or nothing. 
 
 Zebras are found in herds up to thirty or more animals, 
 and they are a charming ornament to a w r ild country, but a 
 great nuisance when hunting other game, for they make 
 a tremendous rattle and clatter in running away if dis- 
 turbed on hard, stony ground. This puts more valuable 
 game on the qui vive, so, like reedbuck, which whistle 
 loudly, they should not be frightened, and it is better to 
 make a detour to get round them. 
 
 Quite recently I weighed a large old zebra mare I 
 shot, and, without the contents of the stomach and entrails, 
 it gave a weight of 525^3., so a large stallion alive would 
 certainly weigh quite 6oolb. 
 
 A zebra skin, being very thick, is useless as a trophy for 
 
 placing on the floor, although a good taxidermist could 
 
 likely thin it down and tan it soft, when it would be pretty 
 
 . and useful. The young have very pretty skins, and, being 
 
 thin, they make pretty rugs. 
 
The Zebra. 201 
 
 
 
 A zebra I shot in British East Africa Chapman's 
 variety, I think seemed very similar to those I have seen 
 in Central Africa. The only difference I noticed was that 
 the skin seemed paler and more bleached, and it lacked 
 the rich, whitish-yellow and black velvet colours of the 
 Central African type. 
 
 Zebras are not more different to see than any other 
 game, although closet-naturalists aver that they are pro- 
 tectively coloured ; but as their natural enemy, lions, do 
 not hunt them by sight but by smell, this can be no 
 protection at all. In some lights they look dark, in others 
 almost white, and it all depends on what side the sun is. 
 When standing in timber and bush, they betray their 
 presence by the constant flapping of their tails or by the 
 movement of their ears. Zebra are not difficult to kill 
 with small-bore rifles when hit well forward, and, being 
 thickset, cobby animals, they offer an easy mark for a shot. 
 Their hoofs are often cracked all round the edges, doubtless 
 caused by sharp stones, as they often live on rough hills, 
 where they probably go for coolness and to get away 
 from the flies. Many animals which are usually found on 
 fairly flat ground have this habit of ascending hills. 
 
 When zebras are seen, it will be noticed that they 
 generally all face in one direction, and prefer to feed 
 up-wind. In running away from danger, game will often 
 run down-wind for some way, and then they will gradually 
 work round, so as to get the wind in their faces. 
 
 WARTHOG (Phacochosrus sethhiopicus). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 ^, . CNiiri, often. ^. . (Kaprika. 
 
 Chinyania - -J A , J U Chmgoni - - 1 XT 
 
 (.Mbango, |Nagu. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ igolb. 
 
 Good average upper tush, $ loin, curve. 
 
 This ugly, though inoffensive, animal used to be much 
 more plentiful than it is, as the natives kill great numbers 
 by hunting them with dogs and spears, and they seem to 
 
2O2 Wild Life in Central Africa. . 
 
 have little difficulty in getting up to them. I have shot 
 a large number of warthogs, and never found therm 
 dangerous, and have only seen three, one boar and two 
 sows, that seemed to wish to resent their injuries, and as 
 they are very easily killed, there is no risk in shooting 
 them. They are certainly not so plucky as bushpigs or 
 the Indian variety, which is usually willing to stand and 
 put up a fight for its life. A common sight is to see a 
 family of warthogs with the two parents and a litter of 
 from six to ten youngsters, and one of the latter is quite 
 good eating when cooked like a sucking pig at home. 
 
 The older beasts are tough, the flesh tastes rather strong, 
 and it is darker than pork, and of course not so fat. 
 
 A big boar, with his yellowish-white ivory and warty 
 lumps on his face, is a weird-looking animal, and he has no 
 pretentions to good looks, for in washing himself he likes 
 his water dirty, delighting to wallow in mud holes during 
 the heat of the day. 
 
 Here is the weight of one I weighed in sections, and he 
 
 was a big, heavy boar : 
 
 LB. 
 
 Head (with skin on) 24 
 
 Four legs (cut off at the joints) ... ... ... 58 
 
 Body (clean) ... ... ... ... ... ... 62 
 
 Skin with entrails enclosed 42 
 
 Total ... 186 
 
 Another 61b. to lolb. should be added for loss of blood 
 and matter in cutting up, and as this pig was shot in the 
 lungs he dropped a lot of blood before he fell, so it may be 
 assumed that an exceptionally large boar would reach 
 20olb. in weight. 
 
 Warthog keep their lower tushes very sharp, as they 
 are constantly rubbing on the flat of the upper teeth ; and 
 although the big tushes are often broken, the lower ones 
 are generally in good order. 
 
 The skin on their knees is very hard, as in rooting in 
 the ground they go down on their knees, so callosities 
 are formed in the course of time. 
 
The Wart hog and Bushpig. 203 
 
 A noticeable feature of warthogs is. that when running 
 they hold their tails straight up, which gives them a rather 
 ludicrous appearance. I have only heard of one instance 
 of a warthog injuring a human being, and that was a 
 native who met one on a narrow path near his garden 
 one morning. I think it had probably been frightened, 
 and on seeing him in the way it gashed his leg severely. 
 
 Many years ago I visited Sadiya in the northern parts of 
 Assam, and the police officer told me that he had a Gurkha 
 soldier in hospital who had wounded an Indian boar with a 
 Martini rifle, and that it knocked him down and gashed 
 and cut the softer parts of his body into ribbons ; but that 
 he was recovering, as they were only severe flesh wounds. 
 This shows the ferocity of the Indian pig, and it is certainly 
 a much pluckier beast than the African warthog. 
 
 Warthogs are a greyish colour, and have long hair along 
 the neck and back. 
 
 BUSHPIG {Potamochoerus cheer opotamus}. 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - Nguruwe. | Chingoni - Nguruwe. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 22olb. 
 
 Good average upper tush, $ ... 5in. curve. 
 
 Bushpigs are pluckier beasts than warthogs, although 
 their teeth are smaller. The cutting teeth are thicker and 
 kept very sharp. Bushpigs are heavier than w r arthogs and 
 are of a reddish colour with long hair along the top of the 
 neck and ridge of the back, and also hairy on the body. 
 
 I have mentioned cases of them attacking leopards, and 
 I have no doubt that several of them could kill one of these 
 animals if they managed to get him cornered. 
 
 There seems to be a variation in the size and colouring 
 of bushpigs in different districts of this country, and those 
 found on Mlanje Range in Nyasaland seem to me to be 
 larger and much hairier than those found in other places. 
 It is very cold on the plateau of Mlange Mountain during 
 
204 Wild Life in Central Africa, 
 
 most of the year, especially at night, and I have little 
 doubt that the pigs there have grown hairier skins as 
 a protection against the lower temperature. 
 
 Bushpigs do great damage to native crops, and the 
 natives usually make fences to keep them out of the 
 gardens. On the other hand warthogs do not often invade 
 the grain fields, as they prefer to keep to the bush and 
 plains. 1 have heard of a small pig in this country which 
 must resemble the peccary; but I never saw one. The 
 natives mention the existence of this animal near the 
 Luchenza River flowing past Mikolongwe, in Blantyre 
 district, and a friend, Mr. W. P. Ronaldson, told me that 
 he had seen their spoor, which was very small ; so I think it 
 is probable that these little pigs exist there. They are 
 said to keep to the thick bush during the daytime and only 
 to go into the more open country in the hours of darkness. 
 
 Lions kill a great number of bushpigs and I should 
 think they are better eating than the skinny, long-snouted 
 native pigs they also feed on when they can break into 
 a kraal. 
 
 I should say that a big male bushpig is slightly heavier 
 than a warthog boar, as he is thicker made and larger in 
 the limbs. 
 
 (Two varieties). 
 
 (1) Spotted hyaena (Hy&na crocuta). 
 
 (2) Brown hysena (Hya>na brunnea). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES (Spotted variety). 
 
 Chinyanja - - Fisi. | Chingoni - - - Pisi. 
 Approximate weight, <? ......... I25lb. 
 
 There are two varieties of hyaenas in Central Africa, but the 
 spotted hyaena is the only one that is likely to be met with, 
 and I ne^er saw a specimen of a brown hyaena although I 
 heard of one being shot in Mlanje District many years 
 ago. I have also heard that they are slightly more 
 
The Hyscna. 205 
 
 numerous in Portuguese East Africa, which adjoins 
 Nyasaland. 
 
 The cry of the spotted hyaena will often be heard at 
 night, and the repertoire of the hyaena in the making of 
 weird sounds is unique. 
 
 Hyaenas howl, shriek, cackle, clack, and laugh according 
 to the state of their stomachs, and if a dead elephant or 
 other large animal has been left out for a night, all in the 
 district seem to collect for the dinner party. 
 
 Lately I left a bull elephant, and on coming back next 
 morning, I found that the hyaenas had eaten half the trunk. 
 I made a fence round this elephant, which took more than 
 half the day, so by nightfall I had only got out the tusks 
 and cut up part of the animal. The hyaenas that had 
 visited the carcass on the previous night came back at 
 dark with many more, and I will never forget the sounds 
 they made that night. One could hear their cries of 
 disappointment in finding the natives and myself camped 
 near, for the natives slept inside the enclosure, and I in my 
 tent, pitched about fifty yards to windward so as to escape 
 the strong stench. 
 
 As the natives had fires and I had not, the hyaenas kept 
 roaming round the tent in a most fearless way, and, as 
 they sang their various songs quite close to my ears, I 
 could not sleep much. 
 
 If hyaenas cared to, they might be dangerous, as they are 
 possessed of tremendous power in their jaws, and, con- 
 sidering the amount of walking they do in search of food, 
 they must be wiry and hard. Occasionally they will take 
 half the face off a native or give a human being a tearing 
 bite in the leg, but, considering their numbers, they do 
 little harm. 
 
 I have seen the thigh-bone of a big elephant broken in 
 half by them, and this, of course, was not the result of one 
 bite, but continual gnawing and crunching. 
 
 Any ordinary bone they will snap with a single bite, and, 
 as they feed mainly on bones left by lions and leopards, 
 their droppings are usually of a bluish-white colour. It is 
 
2o6 Wild Life in Central Africa, 
 
 often easy to see what a carnivorous animal has been 
 feeding on from the nature of its dung. There is a diffi- 
 culty in telling the sexes of hyaenas, as the organs are 
 similar. I once weighed a large male hyaena, and it scaled 
 i25lb., and I do not suppose they ever exceed i5olb. 
 
 Considering their moderate weight, their strength is 
 marvellous, and twice I have known them remove a slab of 
 hippo hide which was a good load for two strong men to 
 carry on a pole, and which presumably \veighed quite 
 i6olb., and on both occasions they dragged the skin for 
 some distance and then gnawed it. It must have been a 
 tough and stodgy meal, although not so sharp or hard as 
 a load of chipped bones. The hyaena enters largely into 
 native superstitions, doubtless through their quiet, sneaking 
 habits and strange cries. 
 
 WILD DOG (Lycason pictus], 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 Chinyanja - Mbulu. 
 
 Chingoni - Mesengyanga, sometimes Mbulu. 
 
 Approximate weight, $ 8olb. 
 
 It is possible that there may be more than one variety of 
 the wild or hunting dog in Central Africa, as a certain 
 amount of difference can be noticed in their markings in 
 different districts. I have only shot about ten wild dogs, 
 but I have seen them on several occasions when after 
 game, without firing at them. 
 
 Those I shot in Central Angoniland seemed to have 
 more white on their bodies than two I shot near the 
 Luangwa River in North-Eastern Rhodesia, and were also 
 slightly larger. 
 
 Their colour is a mixture of blotched markings of black, 
 yellow, and white, and they are often mangy and dirty. 
 The bitches bring forth their young in deserted antbear 
 holes, and they must leave them behind when hunting, as I 
 never saw young animals running with a pack. They are 
 
The Wild or Hunting Dog. 207 
 
 sporting animals, but they do great damage to the game, as 
 they are always at it, for it must take a lot of meat to 
 feed a pack of fifty or sixty of them. 
 
 They range the country until they disturb an antelope 
 and then hunt by scent, following quickly and steadily 
 until they wind their prey, when it is easy to kill it, except 
 in the case of sable or roan antelopes, when I fancy the 
 dogs get killed at times, as both these antelopes are plucky 
 and well armed with their long, curved horns. I once saw 
 a large pack hunting a bull waterbuck, and the chase 
 cannot have lasted long, as the waterbuck was showing 
 signs of being done and was not far in front. He was 
 likely doomed unless he crossed water, which would be the 
 only thing to stop the dogs, as they would lose the scent 
 of the spoor. An old native once pointed out a small 
 detached hill to me, where he said a pack of wild dogs had 
 killed a lion, long ago ; and after killing him they ate him. 
 I expect this is true, but that the lion was an old animal 
 pretty near a natural end with old age and hunger, and 
 that it had neither the strength to run far or put up a good 
 fight for its life. 
 
 I asked the native if it was a lion or lioness, and whether 
 it was old, and he said that when the people saw the 
 animals fighting they were afraid to go near, and that the 
 dogs soon ate up the meat and skin. 
 
 Some authors give wild dogs a bad character, and say 
 they are dangerous, although I never saw them make an 
 attempt to attack human beings, even when wounded. 
 The natives, however, say they are dangerous, and I 
 believe they imagine so for the reason that when wild dogs 
 are seen they never seem in a great hurry to bolt, and will 
 often trot a few yards and look at the disturber, and give 
 vent to a clacking sound. 
 
 One I wounded badly near the Luangwa River allowed 
 me to-go up and push it with my foot, and it only cringed 
 and turned over, so I put it out of pain quickly with 
 another bullet. The habits of the African wild dog must be 
 very like the wolves of Eastern Europe and America, and 
 
2o8 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 as they get most of their food by running it down, I think 
 they are worthy of being classed above vermin, for at least 
 their methods are " sporting." 
 
 JACKAL (Two varieties). 
 
 (i) Side-striped (Cam's adustus}. 
 (2) Black-backed (Cants mesomelas). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 Chinyanja - - Nkandwe. | Chingoni - - - Kandwe. 
 Approximate weight, <? ......... 
 
 Although these animals are fairly plentiful, they are not 
 very often seen unless one is out very early in the morning, 
 or late in the evening when darkness is near. Then a 
 jackal may now and then be disturbed in a patch of grass, 
 or seen leaving such a place where he has spent the day 
 resting and sleeping. They are fond of walking on native 
 paths, and I have shot a few I have met in this way. Their 
 sharp cries will be heard at night, although not so often as 
 in India, where the jackal (of a different variety) is much 
 more plentiful than I have ever seen it in Central Africa. 
 In the cold season their skins are very pretty, as they are 
 more thickly haired at that time than in the rainy months. 
 In South Africa various tribes make nice karosses (fur 
 rugs) with jackal and other skins ; but I have never seen 
 the natives of Central Africa make rugs of any skins, 
 although they make bags and ornaments of wild cat and 
 other small skins. 
 
 Jackals eat locusts when they are about and they 
 doubtless eat lizards, snails, mice, rats, etc. ; in fact 
 anything they can catch and kill that is eatable. They eat 
 berries and fruits, also, and when big game is killed they 
 visit the remains after the lions and hyaenas have left, and 
 they probably follow both these animals to pick up the 
 leavings. I think the black-backed variety is commoner 
 than the side-striped ; the latter being slightly the larger of 
 the two. 
 
Otter and Civet Cat. 209 
 
 OTTER (Two varieties). 
 
 (i) The large, clawless (Lutra capensis). 
 (2) The small, with claws (Lutra maculicollis}. 
 
 Chinyanja- - Katumba. | Chingoni - - - Ntimi. 
 
 The former (i) is clawless and both varieties feed on 
 fish, crabs, and insects. The latter (2) can be distinguished 
 by spots on the neck skin and from its smaller size. 
 
 Their skins are pretty and soft, and great numbers have 
 been exported by traders who used to buy a good skin from 
 the natives near Lake Bangweolo for a yard of calico, 
 value 3d., though I fancy the natives know their value 
 better now and ask and receive more. 
 
 Otters give a grunting cry, which can occasionally be 
 heard when camped near rivers and lakes. They are 
 found on all the large bodies of water, and a favourite haunt 
 is the muddy swamps surrounding Lake Bangwelo. 
 
 CIVET CAT (Viverra civet to). 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 rFututu. 
 
 Chinyanja - - Chombwe. 
 
 Chingoni - < Chimbwe. 
 
 LChiwanda. 
 Good average skin 3ft. gin. straight. 
 
 Fairly numerous, but seldom seen except by the natives, 
 who kill a few when their dogs disturb and tree them. 
 
 The Angoni have three different names for the civet cat, 
 which I give above. The skin is black, with greyish spots 
 and stripes, and from the back of the ears to the tail the 
 hair is long, especially about the rump. 
 
 They feed mainly on fruits and berries, although they 
 probably eat meat when they can get it. 
 
 It is almost wholly a nocturnal animal, and, during all 
 the years I have lived here, I only remember seeing one in 
 the day time, which I saw on the side of a rocky hill when 
 after klipspringers. They live in holes, and possibly in 
 hollow trees at times. 
 
210 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 ANTBEAR (OR AARD VARK) (Orycteropus afer}: 
 
 NATIVE NAMES. 
 
 Chinyanja - - - Zimba. Chingoni - - Pendwa. 
 
 Approximate weight ... ... ... i3olb. 
 
 This is one of the strangest denizens of Africa, and it is 
 purely nocturnal in its habits. Its abandoned holes will be 
 seen all over this country, as it spends its time digging for 
 termites. It is not difficult to notice when it is " at home/' 
 as the earth will be seen to be newly dug, and the fresh 
 spoor of the animal's entrance will be seen. Then it has 
 to be dug out, which will take some time, as the earth is 
 often caked and hard. Its claws and paws must be very 
 powerful, considering the work it does, and, if any animal 
 works hard for its living, surely the antbear does. 
 
 Its tongue is long and pendulous and covered with sticky 
 moisture, and it licks up the ants when it finds them in 
 quantities. The Boer name "aard vark" means "earthpig," 
 and in some ways it is not unlike a pig, as it has a long 
 snout. The colour is bluish grey, and it is almost hairless, and 
 the skin is thickly covered with a fatty substance which 
 makes it most difficult to cure, and the only way to preserve 
 it is to thin it down. I never saw one of these animals alive, 
 but I have seen three dead ones killed by the natives. 
 
 I will now give a list of other animals and birds to be 
 found here. 
 
 CHINYANJA. CHINGONI. 
 
 Crocodile ... ... ... Nigona. Mwena. 
 
 Baboon Nyani. Korwe. 
 
 Monkey, common (i) Pusi. Nchasi. 
 
 Monkey, dark coloured (2) ... Mchima. Seymango. 
 
 Honey Badger ... ... Chuuli. Nsairi. 
 
 Wild Cat ... ... ... Vumbwe. Ligora. 
 
 Rusty Spotted Genet Mwiri. Simba. 
 
 Reed Rat Mawpini. Mafondo. 
 
 Large Shrew ... ... ... Sakwe. Tondo. 
 
 Small Shrew Yidenga. Tondo. 
 
 Stoat Lakongwe. Kakeedi. 
 
 Porcupine ... ... ... Nungu. Nungo. 
 
 Galago ... ... ... ... Changa. Chingwe. 
 
Native Names of Animal Life. 
 
 211 
 
 Bush Baby 
 Scaly Manis ... 
 
 Hare 
 
 Hyrax(i) 
 Hyrax (2) 
 Zorille ... 
 Slender Mongoose 
 Marsh Mongoose 
 
 CHINYANJA. CHINGONI. 
 
 Kamunde. Kanganjea. 
 
 ... Nkaka. Nshoni. 
 
 Kalulu. Mvunja. 
 
 Kafwaombwe. Nteraicha. 
 ... Mbira. Mbira. 
 
 Kanyimbi. Kanyimbi. 
 
 . . . Nyenga. Nshangana. 
 
 ... Kakaka. Chikanda- 
 
 Matika. 
 
 Red Mongoose Kakaka. Gerenenzi. 
 
 Banded Mongoose Msulu Luwara. 
 
 Mellor's Mongoose (?) ... Msukunya. 
 
 Squirrel Pati. Gorogoro. 
 
 Mole Mfuko. Mfukosani. 
 
 House Rat Koswe. Gundani. 
 
 Field Mouse Mbeywa. Mbeywa. 
 
 FLIES AND INSECTS, ETC. 
 
 CHINGONI. 
 
 Butterfly Bobo. 
 
 Tsetse Kamsembe. 
 
 Bat Chimkopeete. 
 
 White ant Ninswa. 
 
 Hornet Magu. 
 
 Bee Njuchi. 
 
 Small black ant ... ... ... ... ... Nyerrairi. 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 CHINYANJA. CHINGONI. 
 
 Vulture Mwimba. Linki. 
 
 Crested Crane Mangalu. Lehaemu. 
 
 Plover Kwiri-Kwiri. 
 
 Wagtail ... ... ... Tye-Tye. Luvaivi. 
 
 Guinea Fowl Mkanga. Pangaira. 
 
 Partridge Nkwali Nkwali. 
 
 Duck ... ... ... ... Bata. Sasamanzi. 
 
 Crow Mowboru. 
 
 Goose Lachekwe. 
 
 Kingfisher Periweri. 
 
 Dove Lidjua. 
 
 Pigeon ... ... ... ... Kombocombo. 
 
 Owl ... Chikova. 
 
 Osprey Nquasi. 
 
 Parrots Ngur-guru. 
 
 Secretary Bird Makonongo. 
 
 Bustard Chikvvaysha. 
 
 P 2 
 
212 
 
 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 SNAKES. 
 
 Python 
 
 Red combed snake (?) ... 
 Mamba ... ... 
 
 Green long snake... 
 
 Water snake 
 
 Puff adder 
 
 Small snake like porcupine 
 quill 
 
 CHINYANJA. 
 
 CHINGONI. 
 
 CHARACTER. 
 
 Nsatu. 
 
 Satu. 
 
 Harmless. 
 
 
 
 Mbobo. 
 
 Dangerous. 
 
 
 
 Mamba. 
 
 Dangerous. 
 
 
 
 Nswaima. 
 
 Dangerous. 
 
 
 
 Kalukaquiti. 
 
 Dangerous. 
 
 
 
 Mbevu. 
 
 Dangerous. 
 
 Piri. 
 
 Piri. 
 
 Dangerous. 
 
 
 
 Mshawa. 
 
 Harmless. 
 
 Mapingo. 
 Kapapasha. 
 Chipiri. 
 Nalongo. 
 
 Harmless. 
 Dangerous. 
 Dangerous. 
 Harmless. 
 
 The ordinary word for a snake is njoka, and natives do 
 not differentiate unless asked to do so. 
 
 I do not know the Chinyanja names for many of the 
 above snakes, and I have got several Chingoni names from 
 an old chief named Shauri, which I could not identify with 
 many I know, as his description was too vague. I have 
 written against each whether it is dangerous, and he seems 
 to think that most of them are, and even states that the 
 python will kill men, and in doing so thrusts its tail in 
 the victim's nose \ The mbevu, mamba, piri, and mbobo, 
 he considers very "bad" snakes, and the latter he affirms 
 kills by hanging from a tree and biting at anything that 
 passes beneath, with fatal results to the passer-by. Few 
 natives can distinguish between poisonous and non- 
 poisonous snakes, although they naturally know which are 
 the most dangerous. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 NATIVE CHARACTERISTICS, CUSTOMS, AND BELIEFS 
 (MAINLY ANGONI). 
 
 Most noticeable characteristics of the natives Internecine war in olden days 
 Witchcraft and the things it can do A strange custom with children 
 Boiling water ordeal Charms against death Dead returning in the 
 shape of animals Digging up corpses Cooking children of enemies 
 Names given to commemorate events Old name for the Angoni race 
 Distribution of the Angoni tribe Marriage customs Women workers 
 Polygamy defended for natives The " White Father's " Mission 
 Strange legend about the Angoni trek Putting not-wanted people out 
 of the way Strange custom to get a case heard Kindness of natives 
 to others of same tribe Superstitions about planting crops Hardihood 
 under painful wounds Bible not suitable for natives Untruthfulness 
 of natives Civilisation not beneficial to natives Fondness of hunting 
 and meat Natives good servants Patience with natives best 
 Atrocities practised by natives Mild justice inadequate at times Love 
 of children Natives as soldiers Adaptability in learning quickly 
 Liking for music Cruelty to animals Splendid porters Staunchness 
 at times Mission boys Missions discussed A strange custom with 
 pigeons A funny native woman Old Mpseni Peculiar ideas with 
 regard to births Child murder Impossibility of natives reasoning as 
 do Europeans. 
 
 IF a newcomer was asked what were the most noticeable 
 characteristics of the natives, he would probably say their 
 love of making a noise, their strong smell, and their liking 
 for meat and native beer. He would be right, but there 
 are also hundreds of other interesting traits which it takes 
 a long time to discover, as to do so one has to live near 
 them and understand their customs and manner of 
 thought and action. In the old days before the whites 
 went there, it was purely a " survival of the fittest," as they 
 were constantly making war on other tribes ; and many 
 people died by drinking the ordeal poison, and other 
 poisons introduced into their food by enemies. 
 
214 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 The natives firmly believe that a person can cast a 
 spell on, and kill, another person, and they believe abso- 
 lutely in various compounds, which if enclosed in a small 
 horn, can cause death or sickness. One case that was 
 mentioned to me was that of a child who was found one 
 morning with all the teeth of its upper jaw missing, and 
 they assert that there are medicines which cause persons 
 the loss of various organs of the body ; so that some fine 
 morning a man or a woman can wake up without a nose, 
 or with only one eye or one ear, and perhaps a toe may 
 have departed in the night. 
 
 The Angoni had a strange custom with regard to children 
 who had the misfortune to cut the teeth of the upper, 
 before the lower, jaw. If this happened, the mother 
 would call a lot of old women to witness the occurrence, 
 and then they would march down to the river with the 
 child, when the mother would tie it tightly in a skin or 
 piece of calico, and fling it into deep water, just like a 
 puppy or kitten. This custom was called " kunameera/' 
 
 Their idea was that should the child grow up it would be 
 able to cast a spell on anyone it was unfriendly with, so it 
 was put beyond doing harm in a watery grave ; and the 
 mother and her friends returned quite relieved that they 
 had done the best to save future trouble. 
 
 Infant mortality used to be very great, as the natives had 
 a custom of throwing away babies that showed, in their 
 estimation, the least blemish. For instance, if a child was 
 born with dark skin round the nipples, or if the lips were 
 very red, it was thrown into the bush. 
 
 Even to-day the natives kill many infants for the same 
 paltry reasons. 
 
 A mother who gave birth to a child suffered from severe 
 internal pains, doubtless caused by inflammation due to 
 straining in deliverance. She affirmed that as soon as the cut 
 navel of the child had healed that the pain would leave her. 
 
 Another strange idea is that they will not break sticks of 
 firewood in a hut near a newly born child, as if this is done 
 they believe the child will get ill. 
 
Native Beliefs. 215 
 
 Should a person be accused of a bad action and he or 
 she feels guiltless of it, an instant offer is made to undergo 
 the boiling water ordeal, which consists in heating a bowl 
 or pot of water over a hot fire until it boils. Then a stone 
 is thrown into the bowl and the accused picks it out and 
 puts it in, several times, in the view of witnesses. 
 
 If nothing happens the person is held to be guiltless, but 
 if the flesh is burnt or scalded, this is considered a sign of 
 guilt. My informant averred that no innocent person can 
 possibly be burnt by the hot water ; and he asked me to 
 accuse him of something he could not have done, and he 
 would prove it. However, I did not feel quite heartless 
 enough at the moment to experiment in this way. The 
 effect of the ordeal is heightened if the accused undergoes 
 the trial in a hot sunlight, it is usually performed after 
 the sun has set. I said that the accused person put some- 
 thing on the hand which prevented scalding, but this my 
 informant strenuously denied. 
 
 Some natives accuse others of carrying poison under the 
 finger nails which they use at times against their enemies, 
 and they find this a convenient way of transporting it and 
 keeping it secretly. Many natives put charms round their 
 necks or wrists as a guard against Mfiti (witchcraft), or as 
 a charm against danger in different shapes and forms. One 
 will have a charm against illness, another against an 
 enemy, another against lions, another against snakes, and 
 so on. 
 
 This reminds me of the witch doctor's charm against the 
 white man's bullets in the Matabele Rebellion. His charm 
 did not work, for he died ; but had he had time for an 
 explanation he would doubtless have stated that he had 
 brought the wrong charm out that day, and that he had 
 another at home which was infallible. 
 
 The Angoni believe that the spirits of wild animals can 
 enter into human beings, and when a man-eating lion is 
 killing the natives they will say that is So-and-so who died, 
 and is now tormenting the people who are left by killing 
 and eating them. An elephant I shot which fell in a 
 
216 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 kneeling position, like an Indian elephant kneeling for 
 people to mount into the howdahs, was said to be an old 
 chief who had turned into an elephant, and that he was 
 kneeling to ask forgiveness or pity for past misdeeds to his 
 fellow men. This was rather a quaint and interesting idea 
 I thought. 
 
 Hyaenas which came to feed on the elephant were the 
 dead followers of the chief who had collected to bewail his 
 loss ; so the natives imbue the most ordinary happenings 
 with superstitious ideas. 
 
 After an Angoni raid against an enemy, such as the 
 Achewa tribe, the captured slaves, cattle, and other live- 
 stock, would be sent ahead, followed by the warriors 
 chanting songs of victory. Many dances would take place, 
 much native beer be consumed, and cattle, sheep, and 
 goats be slaughtered for a big feast. 
 
 But if a chief had been killed, a herald was sent in front 
 to the village, where he placed the shield of the dead 
 warrior near the door of his hut. He walked slowly and 
 with his head bent on his chest, and the people knew 
 their chief was dead, and the maliro, or wake, for the 
 departed began, and lasted for many days, according to 
 the importance of the chief. The widows would not marry 
 again for, perhaps, five years, and all this time they would 
 not wash their bodies, as by doing so it was believed that 
 they were trying to make themselves clean and beautiful, 
 and were anxious to marry again. Cattle and goats were 
 killed, and the widows wore strips of skin or mat round 
 their heads and waists ; and often bark string is used as a 
 mourning band. I have not heard that within the last 
 hundred years any chief has been accompanied to " The 
 Happy Hunting Grounds" by an escort of slaughtered wives 
 and slaves, as used to be customary in parts of West 
 Africa. 
 
 A chief's grave was often zealously watched for some 
 months, so that body snatchers did not dig him up. 
 
 Some madmen are said to dig up bodies to get certain 
 organs with which to manufacture witchcraft medicines, 
 
Cannibalism. 217 
 
 and some races in Central Africa, mainly the Anyanja 
 and Anguru, dig up bodies to use as food, which is a 
 loathsome and disgusting habit, and very much worse than 
 ordinary cannibalism, when the freshly killed victims are 
 eaten. When the Angoni raided an Achewa village, all 
 the full-grown men and women were speared ; but the 
 young boys and girls who could walk were spared and 
 taken back as slaves. The poor infants would have their 
 brains dashed out with knobkerries, then goats and other 
 livestock would be slaughtered and eaten, and often 
 the victors would leave a big pot simmering on a fire in a 
 hut, filled on the top with goat's flesh and underneath it a 
 small baby. 
 
 The people who had escaped into the bush would watch 
 the raiders depart, then return tired and famished to their 
 huts, and seeing the pot of good meat, would often eat 
 most of it until they came to the bottom, where they saw 
 the slaughtered infant probably their own and this was 
 the so-called practical joke. I have spoken to natives who 
 have done this, and they were often quiet, good-mannered 
 men ; but when war was on they turned into bloodthirsty 
 savages. 
 
 Many of the older men's names were given to com- 
 memorate past events, such as M'meza (or Memeza). He 
 happened to be born when the Angoni were collecting 
 for a big raid, and the word M'meza means sending 
 round. This man is one of the nicest and most gentle- 
 manly natives I ever met, there is nothing savage or 
 coarse in his features, and he has the reputation of being a 
 kind-hearted man who disliked shedding blood. At 
 present -he is the headman of the Angoni villages round 
 Fort Manning, although his nephew, named Zulu, is the 
 Boma (Government) capitao. 
 
 Zulu's father (of the same name) was a son of old 
 Mpseni (pronounced Impseni), the paramount Angoni 
 chief, and Memeza is another son of the same old chief. 
 
 An Angoni chief I know well, named Shauri, is also a 
 son of old Mpseni, and a brother to Zulu, Memeza, and 
 
218 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Mkumbi, all mentioned here. He got his name at the- 
 time the Angoni were preparing for a raid, and the word 
 Shauri means sending out a party to see if the enemy is 
 about. 
 
 Mkumbi, yet another son of Mpseni, means clouds, and 
 he was brought into the world on a cloudy day. 
 
 The old Angoni name among themselves, and other 
 tribes, was Mazite, and it was a dreaded word long ago 
 in this part of Africa, for the Angoni are descended from 
 the Zulus of Natal, probably the finest race of savages in 
 the world, as they are splendidly built men with plenty of 
 pluck and fighting qualities. 
 
 A part of the Zulu race split up and trekked north. 
 Some stopped in Matabeleland and formed that nation,, 
 which lost its paramount chief Lobengula when the whites 
 occupied that country. Then others went farther on and 
 crossed the Zambesi and settled in different parts of 
 Central Africa under different chiefs. 
 
 One lot is found round Dedza, in the southern part of 
 Central Angoniland, and they are called Ngabi's section. 
 Another big detachment settled in the country round Fort 
 Manning, in Nyasaland, and Fort Jameson in North- 
 Eastern Rhodesia. This is known as Mpseni's section. 
 Then another went farther north still, and formed 
 Mombera's section; and, strange to say, internecine war 
 often was carried on between all these people who belonged 
 to the same tribe. It is said that the Awemba in the northern 
 parts of North-Eastern Rhodesia and the Masai, of British 
 East Africa, are of Zulu blood, but I have not sufficient 
 knowledge of ethnology to state whether this is so or not. 
 
 The tribal customs of the Angoni are most interesting, 
 and these have often a great amount of common-sense 
 intermingled with superstitions and old myths. 
 
 When the young boys and girls reach a marriageable age 
 they marry, as do most savage races. A young girl is 
 called a bhuto, and at the age of puberty she is known as a 
 namwali. Long ago the men did not marry at such an 
 early age as they do now, as their thoughts were more bent 
 
Marriage Customs. 219 
 
 on war and a " free lance " existence. Now, as wives are 
 sometimes scarce, they take them young. 
 
 When the Angoni had plenty of cattle, as many as 
 twenty cows would be paid to a father for his daughter, 
 although the usual number was from five to ten beasts. 
 
 Now all the youth does is to arrange with the parents 
 and the girl, and then hand over a few shillings, or some 
 cloth or beads, and the girl is his. Then a beer drink 
 usually takes place, and the youth, who has probably got a 
 hut ready for his bride, takes her off and they cohabit. 
 
 The missionaries are trying to instil into the minds of 
 the natives that a single wife is much preferable to a 
 number, and they are teaching the natives to read and 
 write and relinquish their polygamistic habits, and many of 
 the younger men have done so. 
 
 This is a big question, but, so far as I can see, this 
 system does not work well with natives, particularly with 
 the older men who have from three to ten or more wives ; 
 if these are cast off they either lead immoral lives or they 
 hold an inferior position for being unattached. A man's 
 wealth and food supply depends largely on the extent 
 of his household, or households I should write it, as each 
 wife has her own hut. 
 
 The women do the greater part of the hard work, as they 
 perform most of the hoeing in the gardens, and they cook 
 their husband's and children's food, get water and firewood, 
 and do a lot more ; so if a man has only one wife he will 
 find that his garden will be small, and often, if she is ill, 
 there will be no food to eat, as it is hard work for her to 
 pound grain, and do the other necessary daily tasks. 
 Therefore many of the old men have refused to give up 
 any of their wives, and as they are too old to bother about 
 learning to read and write they lead their old lives, except 
 that fighting and raiding play no exciting part. 
 
 The man usually does the heavy work of timber felling 
 and making a garden, and he hunts pig and small buck 
 with his dogs and a spear. The old men always have a 
 great craving to imbibe native beer ; and they often travel 
 
22O Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 long distances in search of it. I know several old native 
 chiefs like this, and they are happy souls with little to 
 worry them, except the difficulty of finding enough silver 
 to pay the annual hut tax for all their huts. The younger 
 generation are also pretty fond of beer, and they often 
 waste a great amount of maize in making it, and conse- 
 quently suffer from hunger at the end of the hot season, 
 before the new crops, which are planted as soon as the 
 rains break, have had time to bear. 
 
 The " White Fathers " Mission do a considerable amount 
 of good work among the Angoni, and they have mission 
 schools in most of the more important villages, in charge of 
 educated native teachers, who get a small wage. If a 
 youth or maiden wishes to attend such a school they are 
 welcome, and after being able to repeat " the Lord's 
 Prayer/' they are presented with a chain and crucifix, and 
 they are very proud of this symbol ; but I question if they 
 fully understand its meaning, and I think it is rather absurd 
 to give it to them. They simply look at it as a pretty 
 ornament, and I have had boys who wore them who were 
 just as liable to lie and steal as others who lacked this 
 symbol of Christianity. 
 
 Most of the " White Fathers " are Frenchmen, and they 
 are broad-minded and intelligent men ; but I consider that 
 they are going a " bit too fast," and no native should be 
 given a crucifix until it is proved that he is wholly con- 
 verted. The missionaries live in good brick houses, and 
 usually have livestock, such as cattle, pigs, and sheep, and 
 a fine vegetable garden. I think they are very wise in 
 making themselves comfortable, as without good health 
 they would be unable to perform their duties of attending 
 to the sick and holding services throughout their district. 
 
 All of them, both the priests and the laymen, come out 
 for the term of their natural lives, and they do not go home 
 unless they are seized with severe illness which needs 
 medical attention that cannot be got in this country. This 
 Catholic mission is much more broad-minded than the 
 Scotch and English missions in the country, and, personally, 
 
A Strange Belief. 221 
 
 I have found them most friendly and hospitable. Any 
 fault that may be found does not apply to any of them 
 individually, and it is the result of a system which they 
 have to follow. Although I have stated that certain of the 
 natives who have been given a crucifix may be dishonest or 
 untruthful, I think that many are influenced for good by 
 the teaching they receive. If a native has more than one 
 wife he cannot get a "mtanda" (crucifix), but it is only 
 the younger natives who seem to care to possess one. To 
 teach natives to read and write, and also to work at 
 various trades, is most admirable, but to teach them merely 
 to sing and chant hymns, and repeat the Lord's Prayer, is 
 rather futile, as they have not the slightest idea of the true 
 meaning, and simply do so because it is an excuse for 
 making a noise, and a native is very fond of hearing his 
 own voice. Natives, in their habits, are most gregarious, 
 they like to collect together, and the way they have 
 formed themselves into communities shows that they believe 
 there is safety in numbers. This habit was doubtless 
 caused in the old days, when they found it advisable to 
 build their huts close together and live near one another. 
 A negro is always inclined to show more bravery in front 
 of his fellows than he is when by himself, as he does not 
 possess that strength of mind and self-reliant spirit which 
 enables him to depend on himself. 
 
 A strange story was told me with regard to the invasion 
 of this country by the Angoni (Zulus). 
 
 They firmly believe that Zonandowa, the father of old 
 Mpseni, when he came to the Zambesi River, made the 
 waters go apart and leave a path for the army to cross 
 safely to the other side. They say the place is not far 
 from Nungwi (Tete), and some of the older men can point 
 it out at the present day. Considering the old Scriptural 
 story of the same kind, I think it most interesting that 
 they should have such a belief. 
 
 When a man is fierce or bad-tempered, the Angoni say 
 that the spirits of wild animals have entered into him ; and 
 this is particularly the case when the " peppery" individual 
 
222 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 has killed a lot of big game, as they assert that he cannot 
 help it, as the elephants', buffalos', and lions' spirits have 
 found a place in his heart, and that they are responsible 
 for his irascibility. 
 
 Old Mpseni seems to have been a rather fiery personage, 
 for he ruled his people with an " iron " hand. An Angoni 
 tells me he remembers often seeing adulterers killed, and 
 this was done by either dashing out their brains with knob- 
 kerries or, more usually, taking them to a big tree and 
 binding them to it with bark-string, placed round the neck 
 and round the trunk. This quickly killed by strangulation, 
 and then the bodies were thrown to the hyaenas. At that 
 time the indunas had great power, as " they had the ear," 
 so to speak, of Mpseni, as the ordinary people were afraid 
 to go near him. Some of these indunas are still alive, and 
 they always struck me as cunning old men, and they were, 
 probably, the most expert liars in existence in getting up 
 false cases against people who were in their way. 
 
 In a thunderstorm, when the lightning is bad, the Angoni 
 object to having black dogs, sheep, goats, or pigs in their 
 huts, as they believe their presence will cause the lightning 
 to strike the huts. Further, they keep the fire low, and 
 they believe that should a black sheep look up to the roof 
 the lightning will immediately strike the hut and kill the 
 occupants. 
 
 The eldest son of old Mpseni (I write " old " Mpseni 
 because the present chief of the Angoni here is young 
 Mpseni, son of Singo, who was the eldest son of Mpseni), 
 by name Singo, was killed when the whites occupied this 
 country. He was sentenced to death, and a native tells 
 me the soldiers fired twice at him, and hit him, but he did 
 not die, so a white man took a big knife and cut his throat. 
 This I do not believe, but it is what the natives believe, 
 and, once they get anything into their heads, it is difficult 
 to get it out, as they have that dull, stubborn nature which 
 it is difficult to enlighten. 
 
 The death of Chibisa, son of Patamoyo, a son of Mpseni, 
 seems to have been simply a murder. One day some 
 
A Cruel Murder. 223 
 
 Achewa police were out raiding, when they heard the cries 
 of a child in some reeds, and they called out, when Chibisa 
 who was herding some goats, and had taken his young 
 brother with him, came out of the reeds holding the child. 
 The murderous Achewa then told Chibisi, who was only a 
 youth about fifteen years of age, that they intended to kill 
 him, so he asked permission to place the child to one side 
 in a safe place. He then walked back, and the scoundrels 
 shot and killed him. This murder greatly impressed the 
 Angoni and they still talk of Chibisa, who was said to be a 
 good-looking, kind-hearted youth. Singo they considered a 
 grand fellow and he seems to have been the beau-ideal of a 
 Zulu warrior, for he was tall and good-looking and in their 
 various fighting and raids he was always the " bravest of 
 the brave." 
 
 Some tribes, including the Angoni, have a peculiar idea 
 with regard to having a case heard by their chief. If the 
 chief refuses to listen, considering that the case is small 
 and petty, the man will go out and kill an innocent person, 
 whereby attention is drawn to the -previous case. An 
 occurrence lately took place in this country when a man, 
 who was refused a hearing in the first instance by his 
 native headman, took a spear and went out and killed a 
 young woman he met in her maize garden. The European 
 magistrate heard of it and he was caught, tried, and hanged. 
 So much for native reasoning ! 
 
 Natives often make friends with another person, forming 
 a kind of blood brothership, or blood sistership, and then 
 they are always presenting each other with presents, which 
 it is considered courtesy to return. 
 
 Natives can be very kind-hearted and generous at times, 
 especially to those of the same tribe and family, and if a 
 person is sick, a man will take quite a lot of trouble in 
 getting the sufferer medicine from the bush ; or if he 
 expresses a wish for meat it will be got. 
 
 There are many quaint ideas with reference to planting 
 the crops ; for instance, they do not plant ground-nuts 
 without scattering some reddish looking powder made from 
 
224 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 the roots of a plant, named " kula/' over them. If this is 
 not done and a woman who is unwell with her usual 
 sexual complaint visits the patch of ground-nuts, they 
 affirm that they will not be fruitful. If, after visiting such 
 a patch, the woman then goes to a plot of pumpkins, they 
 will also be rendered unfertile. 
 
 Again, among the Achewa tribe, if a woman in pregnancy 
 should go into the growing maize fields, this will cause the 
 maize to wither, and they often do not wash until the crops 
 are gathered. The Achewa when the crops are growing 
 lead celibate lives ; but when they are safely gathered and 
 stored in the big bins, they resume their married state. 
 
 Black races of mankind are wonderfully tenacious of all 
 wounds, and little children will often get severe cuts and 
 burns, which through bad and dirty treatment may 
 gradually develop into large ulcers, which may trouble them 
 for the remainder of their lives. The usual treatment for a 
 bad cut or burn is to plaster it with cow dung, or put 
 certain leaves and herbs on it, which instead of curing 
 makes the wound worse. 
 
 Their commonest cure for sickness is to bleed a person, 
 using a piece of cow, or antelope horn, as a cup. The 
 small hole is sucked after placing the larger aperture on a 
 small incision made. 
 
 They do not care to ask medicine or treatment from a 
 white man unless they know him well, and then only if 
 they know he has cured someone else of some injury or 
 malady. Being suspicious, and full of superstitions, they 
 are always ready to put down any natural event to some 
 occult influence. 
 
 It is, therefore, a mistake for a white man to give 
 medicine to a man he has had a disagreement with in the 
 past. He may be close to death's door with some malig- 
 nant complaint, and the best Harley-street doctor would be 
 unable to save his life ; so if, out of the kindness of his 
 heart, a white man gave the sufferer a grain of opium to 
 soothe his pain, and he died, as die he must, the relatives 
 would all say that the white man had killed him. For this 
 
Native Superstitions and Beliefs. 225 
 
 reason one has often to see men in agony and, because of 
 the senseless beliefs of the people, be unable to alleviate 
 pain. 
 
 A person never dies from a purely natural cause in the 
 opinion of the natives. Some enemy has cast a spell on 
 the deceased and caused his or her death. Even if an able- 
 bodied, sound man be killed by an elephant or buffalo, 
 some person has caused the accident. 
 
 It will take a very long time for the missionary teachers 
 to eradicate these superstitions and beliefs, so it can easily 
 be seen that as long as the minds of the natives are full of 
 such fantastical ideas, their intellects are quite unable to 
 assimilate the truths of the Christian religion. What we 
 look on as fancy and superstition, they consider well- 
 grounded facts, and it will take many years of sound 
 education to cause their enlightenment. Without any 
 desire to be considered sacrilegious, I consider the Bible 
 an unsuitable book for them, as many of its stories are too 
 much akin to their own beliefs. The miracles described in 
 that book are only extra nourishment for their minds in the 
 shape of the supernatural. 
 
 A native is quite unable to " read between the lines," 
 and he always looks at bare facts, and anything that 
 happens to be on paper can seem nothing but the truth 
 to him. 
 
 As many natives are notorious liars, and some are 
 dishonest, it would be better to teach them to try and be 
 truthful and honest, and also to stop practising senseless 
 cruelty on human beings and animals. 
 
 Before they ever saw a white man they had a belief in 
 a supreme being who was able to influence men for good 
 or bad, and they call this being " Mlungo" (God). 
 
 If it rains too hard or too little, this is the work of 
 Mlungo. If a man dies, the Mlungo has made another man 
 kill him, and so on. Therefore, they are not altogether 
 Pagans. 
 
 Contact with the more highly developed kind of civilisa- 
 tion cannot be said to benefit the natives ; indeed, it does 
 
 Q 
 
226 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 them harm, for they do not copy the best of the Europeans 
 they come across, as they have less to do with them than 
 the lower class whites, who assume friendliness so as to 
 get their money. 
 
 The natives who go to the South African mines are 
 highly paid in comparison to the moderate wages they earn 
 in this country for their labour. Thus, they learn extra- 
 vagance and wants that are useless to them in their natural 
 lives. They learn to imitate the whites in dress, and thus 
 appear most grotesque, although they do not know it. 
 This sale of inferior European clothing is said to be good 
 for trade ; but, if fine races of savages are to be ruined 
 because this trade benefits a few low-class white traders, 
 it is time it was stopped. Again, natives love strong drink, 
 and we know how this has ruined and practically exter- 
 minated fine races of savages throughout the w T orld. White 
 men, with all their higher qualities of self-denial and self- 
 restraint, have often a great struggle to resist the drink 
 demon, so what can be expected of weak-minded natives ? 
 
 The native is quite happy in his own country, and he can, 
 if he wishes, make more than enough to be comfortable. 
 The Government hut tax is moderate, a single month's work 
 will pay it, and a remission is allowed if a native works 
 for a white man for a month. In fact, I think it would be 
 a good thing if the tax were raised, as this would prove an 
 incentive to the natives to do more work. 
 
 For three months they are pretty busy in their gardens, 
 but for the rest of the year they can idle and loaf about, 
 and they spend their time chiefly in drinking beer and 
 holding dances. 
 
 A native is an expert in killing time, yet on occasions he 
 can work, hard, and his good qualities in this respect are 
 never more apparent than when he accompanies a white 
 man on a shooting trip. Then he gets heaps of meat, and 
 he enjoys the hunting and cutting up of the game, and 
 there is nothing he enjoys better than plenty of fat. 
 
 The Angoni have that arrogance of race seen in all 
 fighting tribes which at one time were rulers of a great 
 
Proper Way to Treat Natives. 227 
 
 extent of country. All dominant races show this in their 
 bearing and the way they walk, and it is noticeable in 
 animals also. A lion by day, when he is disturbed, has a 
 furtive, slouching look ; but when he has fed and drunk, 
 I expect he looks round with an air of command and 
 contentment, as he feels dominant. 
 
 The elephant, with his easy, dignified manner, when he 
 has not been frightened or hurt, seems quite oblivious of 
 anything else on earth, and, among animals, he is king, for 
 nothing can harm him except puny man ; and it is only by 
 man's ingenuity in making weapons of destruction that he 
 is able to assert his superiority. 
 
 The Angoni make good personal servants, and the 
 younger lads are intelligent when they are taught. It 
 cannot be expected that they can accustom themselves to 
 the white man's ways all at once, so, although they may at 
 first be aggravating and stupid, it is best to be patient with 
 them. 
 
 Some years ago I was rather inclined to be hasty with 
 them, for during a residence of some seven years in India 
 I had become accustomed to the intelligent Indian servants, 
 and I found it very difficult to put up with the stupid, 
 procrastinating ways of the Africans. 
 
 Central Africa is a land where patience and forbearance 
 has to be exercised if one is to be tolerably happy. It is 
 one of the most isolated countries in the world, for mails 
 take six weeks to come from home, and nothing is done in 
 a hurry. 
 
 The white man who possesses a slow, phlegmatic nature 
 is likely to be more popular with the natives than an 
 energetic man who likes things done quickly ; and who 
 also likes to live like a civilised being, and not among 
 dirty surroundings. 
 
 . Above all things natives like honesty of purpose in the 
 white man, although they do not always practise this 
 themselves, so one should never break a promise given or 
 attempt to cheat the natives, as I am afraid many low-class 
 Europeans do. 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Natives are very sensitive to ridicule or sarcasm, and 
 a little of this will often act better than a good beating. 
 I do not believe in the use of the hippo whip called 
 " chikoti," for it is a most cruel implement when used 
 severely, and it should only be used in extreme cases. 
 There is no comparison between a few punches with the 
 fists and a dose of the " chikoti," which will cut a man 
 fearfully, and in some cases kill him if he happens to be 
 unwell. The use of a light boot occasionally or a smack 
 on the head is usually quite sufficient ; and if a boy 
 deserves beating often for lying or theft, he can be 
 dismissed, as there are generally plenty of others to take his 
 place. Of course, as in Europe, there are scoundrels that 
 deserve the whip, and there is no doubt that the natives 
 have been accustomed in the past to much more severe 
 treatment than they ever get from white men. 
 
 There are two men living near me at present who lost 
 their ears in the old days, for theft ; and it was a common 
 thing to treat " kapolo " (slaves) in this way if they stole 
 from their masters. Other atrocities were common, and 
 the Awemba, in the northern parts of North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia, suffered much cruelty from their chiefs, but it 
 must be remembered that such treatment was the only 
 one the chiefs could exercise to keep their unruly followers 
 in hand. 
 
 The milder and more civilised justice of the whites is 
 often laughed at by the natives, as what were considered 
 serious crimes long ago, such as theft, are hardly punished 
 at all. A man may steal pounds of sugar in a month for 
 which he may get a month's imprisonment, where he enjoys 
 better and more plentiful food than he usually gets in his 
 own home. Imprisonment is little punishment to a native, 
 as he does not feel it any disgrace ; in fact, he has a good 
 rest and plenty of food. Incarceration for a long period, 
 however, must be very irksome to a native, for being a 
 savage he likes freedom, and the separation from his wives 
 and children he must feel dreadfully, as all natives are 
 domestic creatures. 
 
Natives Make Good Soldiers. 229 
 
 I think one of the best points about the natives is their 
 love for their children, and nothing interests them more 
 than handling and fondling them. They do not kiss them, 
 but they play with them and amuse them. On the other 
 hand the wives are simply domestic drudges, and certain 
 bad-tempered men are constantly thrashing them. When 
 a man possesses a plurality of wives, there are naturally 
 many squabbles caused by jealousy, and the women of 
 Africa are just as prone to suffer from this complaint as 
 are those of more civilised races of mankind. 
 
 The Central African natives make good soldiers and 
 police, as they seem to like military drills and duties. 
 That fine body of men, the King's African Rifles, has 
 battalions raised in different protectorates, and I think 
 those recruited in Nyasaland take a leading place for 
 intelligence and smartness. In various African campaigns 
 these men have proved staunch and reliable, and they are 
 wonderfully quick in learning their duties. While residing 
 in Zomba, in 1903, an officer taught several men signalling, 
 and before they were able to take down messages they had 
 to be taught the alphabet. A number of them were 
 proficient in three months, and I think this is a wonderful 
 example of intelligence, as these were grown men of from 
 eighteen to twenty-five years of age, and not youths, who 
 are usually more easily taught. 
 
 Again, the King's African Rifles' band in Zomba was 
 taught by an Indian bandmaster to play all kinds of tunes, 
 and certain of the officers, who took an interest in the 
 matter, introduced new tunes, which the natives would 
 master in less than a week, and play almost as well as 
 some regimental bands at home. 
 
 Natives naturally have a liking for music, and when their 
 interest is aroused they take great pains over learning 
 anything ; and this shows that they have intellect, if it is 
 only awakened and led into interesting channels. 
 
 One of the worst features of the natives is that they are 
 brutally cruel, as they have little sympathy for others or 
 for animal life. A boy will take a blunt knife to cut an 
 
230 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 antelope's throat, and saw away for some minutes without 
 getting through the skin, and they will treat domestic 
 creatures in the same way. I got so disgusted with the 
 time they usually took to kill the fowls used for daily food 
 that I made them use a small American axe with which 
 to decapitate them. 
 
 I showed them how to do it with one chop on a block of 
 wood, and I remarked to my cook, who is a mission boy 
 with a crucifix round his neck, that the fowl died quickly, 
 and did not suffer pain. He replied " Yes master, but it is 
 only a fowl/' evidently meaning that it did not much 
 matter whether it suffered pain or not. 
 
 I think that instead of teaching natives to recite the 
 Lord's Prayer and sing hymns, it would be much better to 
 try and instil into their minds the crime of senseless and 
 thoughtless cruelty to man and beast. 
 
 That they feel sorry for persons suffering I do not 
 doubt, more especially close relatives ; but I have seen 
 them mimic the contortions of a dying man, which so 
 disgusted me that I seized a stick and went for them. 
 Afterwards, I heard them laughing at the white man's 
 strange ways, and I have no doubt they mimicked me as I 
 went for them with that stick. 
 
 Should a white man be ill, they often seem quite dis- 
 tressed and sympathetic ; but this is not usually true 
 sympathy, for they are simply afraid that, if their master 
 dies, they will be blamed, and their sympathy is for 
 themselves, and not for their master. 
 
 They are most patient when suffering from hunger, 
 over-exertion, or sickness ; in fact, they are more like 
 animals in this respect than human beings. 
 
 In carrying heavy loads for long distances day after day 
 they are unsurpassed by any savages I have ever seen. A 
 white man could not do it, as he would chafe and fret 
 under the constant fatigue and monotony; and I think their 
 brains get so dulled at times that they walk mechanically. 
 
 Previously I have mentioned how staunch they can be 
 in times of danger, and many Africans have saved their 
 
Various Native Traits. 231 
 
 masters' lives from wild animals, and in other ways. Cer- 
 tain races, such as the Yaos, Awemba, and Angoni, are 
 ahea.d of others in showing personal bravery ; and, with 
 regard to them accompanying their master on dangerous 
 enterprises, a good deal depends on their trust in their 
 master. If they know a man is a good game shot, they 
 will probably be willing to take risks that they would not 
 do with a white man whom they had seen betray fear, or 
 one who was a poor hand at killing game. Natives are 
 not prone to trust much to first impressions, and it takes 
 them some time to get to know a man. Therefore, it is 
 important that the magistrates, residents, or native com- 
 missioners in charge of districts should be kept there, and 
 not often changed to other districts where the conditions 
 are new to them, and where it will take them a long time 
 to obtain the full trust and confidence of the inhabitants. 
 
 As a whole, the officials of all the British protectorates 
 and colonies of Africa are a good lot of men, although 
 some of the younger of them are inclined to impress on the 
 natives that they are the "big" masters, and that the 
 non-officials are nobodies. 
 
 To properly understand this, it is necessary that a 
 European should have been an official, and then, when he 
 becomes a non-official, he is able to see the difference with 
 which many natives treat him. This shows clearly that in 
 many instances the natives only respect power, and, when 
 official power is wanting, they at once take advantage. It 
 depends greatly on the temperament of the non-official 
 whether he is treated badly by the natives or not, and he 
 has to assert himself with certain natives and prove that 
 he is quite able to safeguard his own interests. They soon 
 get to know whether a man can be browbeaten or other- 
 wise, and they are just like children in taking advantage 
 of patience and kindness. 
 
 The natives living near civilisation are much worse in 
 this respect than the raw savages. Personally I much 
 prefer the latter, and I cannot bear the swaggering Blantyre 
 mission boy in European clothing, hat, and boots ; who 
 
232 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 in many cases is most insolent to white men. These 
 mission boys are frequently scroundrels and past masters 
 in lying and thieving ; but they are cunning to such a 
 degree that the missionaries are often quite hoodwinked 
 by them, and think them paragons of virtue and integrity. 
 This is not a singular opinion ; but is that of most men 
 who have had a good experience of this country. I do not 
 wish for a moment to insinuate that all mission boys are of 
 the type I have portrayed, but that the majority are is 
 a fact that cannot be gainsaid by all honest men. 
 
 On the other hand, the mission teachers (natives) of the 
 White Fathers' missions throughout this country are a 
 much better type of native, as they are taught to be 
 respectful and honest ; and my former remarks apply to 
 the native so-called converts of the Scotch mission in 
 Blantyre. The whole matter is one of education, and the 
 White Fathers are a much better type of men in their 
 own country than are most of the missionaries of the 
 Scotch mission. There is a very strong feeling in the 
 country about the missions, and they have only themselves 
 to blame for this feeling, as they go about their work in the 
 wrong way, for they try to go too fast, with the result, 
 to use a slang term, that they " botch " it, and instead 
 of improving the natives, as is probably their earnest desire, 
 they unfortunately end by spoiling most of them. The 
 medical part of the Scotch mission is a most worthy one, 
 and so are all industrial missions. 
 
 To get back to the Angoni, I saw a strange custom the 
 other day. A man had bought some pigeons, and in putting 
 them into the cote the man put in the hen birds and his 
 wife the cocks. I asked the reason and was told that if 
 this was not done the birds would prove unfertile. 
 
 Not very long ago I shot a hippo in the Bua River. The 
 men had disrobed to get it out of the deep pool, and were 
 in a state of nature in other words stark naked. An old 
 woman who had smelt the meat appeared and was a keen 
 witness of the proceedings. Some of the men shouted to 
 her to go away, and I was greatly amused at her reply, for 
 
Former Native Methods. 233 
 
 she said that she was too old to be interested at the sight 
 of naked men. As her presence interfered with the 
 operations, I told her to leave for the present and come 
 back later, when she would get plenty of meat, and she 
 departed smiling. 
 
 Some of the natives are quite as sensitive as white people 
 in exposing their persons, especially to members of the 
 opposite sex, and it is a mistake to think that all tribes are 
 lax in this respect. Even the Angoni youngsters wear a 
 certain amount of clothing round the waist, it is only the 
 babies that are unclothed, and even they are covered at 
 times. 
 
 In moments of distress both adults and children use the 
 word mai (mother), and they will cry " A-Mai," " A-Mai" 
 when they are hurt, meaning " oh, mother/' <l oh, mother." 
 I have mentioned that the Angoni believe in a "Mlungo" 
 (God, or supreme being) and they have a very good idea of 
 the meaning of right and wrong, and long ago they had a 
 stern code of laws. Most native tribes live in communities 
 under different headmen, who are sometimes the sons of old 
 chiefs, or men who by their own intelligence and strength 
 of body and will have been elected chiefs. In old Mpseni's 
 time he acted as an autocrat, and the power of life and 
 death rested in his hands, although he granted great 
 powers to his sons and indunas. Like Lobengula, the 
 former chief of the Matebele nation, he soon squashed any 
 chief who was getting too strong, and these old savage 
 potentates doubtless thought the proverb "A stitch in time 
 saves nine," a good one. It was the survival of the fittest, 
 and the word " fittest " not only meant a strong following 
 of warriors, but also quickness of perception. Mpseni's 
 big hut has been described to me by some of his sons. It 
 was a large round affair, full of lion and leopard skins ; on 
 the floor was laid a great pile of elephant ivory, which 
 was covered with skins and mats, on which Mpseni spent 
 most of his time, swilling large quantities of native beer 
 and hearing reports brought to him by his principal 
 indunas. 
 
234 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 When the natives wished to have a " Mlandu " (or case) 
 they first approached the induna, who then carried the 
 story on to the head induna, who likewise informed Mpseni. 
 Naturally a good deal depended on the integrity of the 
 indunas, and I have no doubt that many cases were distorted 
 considerably before they reached the " fountain of justice. " 
 
 A son of Mpseni told me he had often a vile temper, so 
 at such times his wives, children, and indunas gave him as 
 wide a berth as possible until he cooled down a bit. At 
 certain times the practice of witch smelling took place, and 
 many innocent persons were murdered. The young 
 unmarried people live free lives, and Mpseni did not let his 
 warriors marry until they were well on in life, so great 
 licentiousness was common ; but when once married, if a 
 man or woman committed adultery, they were knocked on 
 the head or strangled to death. 
 
 A strange belief is still prevalent among most of the 
 tribes in this country. Should a woman in a weak moment 
 have mistaken another man for her husband, she will 
 betray nervousness in putting salt in his food, and on 
 seeing her fear, he at once accuses her of wrong. 
 Nowadays, people are not killed for crimes such as this, 
 although the injured husband will doubtless thrash the 
 woman unmercifully. Child murder, under exceptional 
 circumstances, still takes place, notwithstanding their love 
 for children, and an Angoni told me that a year or two ago 
 a woman gave birth to three crows and a large stone, the 
 crows appearing first. I expect this was the woman's 
 statement for disposing of a malformed child. The same 
 person told me that another woman had a child with a 
 human body, but its head and hair was just like a 
 warthog's. 
 
 I have not much more to write about the Angoni, except 
 that they are a fine race of savages, and it will be a lasting 
 pity if the tide of civilisation brings harm to them. The 
 white man's civilisation and religion is not suited for savage 
 peoples, and they should be left alone to work out their 
 own ends. 
 
Natives Comparatively Happy. 235 
 
 It would be a wise provision to prevent them leaving the 
 country for the South African mines, where they can only 
 learn evil, and the only exception to this should be when 
 they are serving as disciplined soldiers under good officers. 
 
 More attention should also be paid by the Government 
 to the methods of the missions, which in many cases do 
 them harm instead of good. 
 
 They cannot look at matters from our standpoint, and 
 a native told me that in a native church in Fort Jameson 
 the missionary handed round a small basket for the collec- 
 tion, and that he (the native) thought it strange that the 
 white man should take the money of the natives for him- 
 self. I, of course, explained that it was for the upkeep of 
 the church and the payment of the native teachers ; but the 
 native would not see this, and went away unconvinced. 
 
 As a whole, the natives live far happier lives than do the 
 poorer classes at home. They have only to scratch the 
 soil to reap abundance, and at present their wants are few 
 and easily supplied ; so why try to bring them up to our 
 level, which for them can only result in unhappiness and 
 discontent ? 
 
 Since writing the foregoing, I met with a very interesting 
 case of perception on the part of a native, which shows 
 thought and reasoning much above the ordinary. A native 
 said to me in the native language : " God must be very 
 clever, for if I plant three grains of maize, the stalks bear 
 many cobs, which have very many grains ; and if I plant 
 one ground nut, many grow from this. God sends the 
 rain, too, to make things grow, and what would be the end 
 of people without rain, for we would all starve to death ? " 
 
 This shows a power of thought and an admiration for 
 natural laws very much above the average intelligence of 
 the natives, who generally take things as they are, and do 
 no inquire into causes. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 VARIOUS SUBJECTS FOR THE SPORTSMAN AND 
 NATURALIST. 
 
 I. Protective colouration of animals. 
 II. Preservation of trophies. 
 III. Buying secondhand guns and rifles. 
 IV. Native implements, foods, price of labour, etc. 
 V. Health in the tropics, and climatic influences. 
 VI. Different routes to Central Africa. 
 VII. Information for the settler regarding the leasing and purchase 
 
 of land. 
 
 VIII. The literature of big game shooting. 
 IX. A few remarks on rifles and equipment. 
 
 I. PROTECTIVE COLOURATION IN ANIMALS. 
 
 A GOOD deal has been written of late on this subject in 
 the columns of the Field newspaper, and it would seem 
 that the hunters of big game, such as Mr. F. C. Selous and 
 C. H. S., who lately wrote a very interesting article on the 
 subject in the paper mentioned, disagree almost wholly 
 with the ideas of the closet naturalists and entomologists 
 who have also been writing on the same subject. 
 
 The theory when applied to insects may hold good to a 
 certain extent, as birds which feed on insects doubtless 
 seek their food by sight. 
 
 It is the opposite with animals, as they hunt by night 
 and by scent ; and it makes no difference to them whether 
 their prey has a black, red, or white coat, or whether it is 
 marked with all the colours of the rainbow, if such an 
 animal were possible. 
 
 Animals were doubtless antecedent to man on the face 
 of the globe, so why should man suppose that his existence 
 
Protective Colouration. 237 
 
 is of any account. Instead of hunting by scent he hunts 
 by sight long ago with spears and bows and arrows, and 
 now with deadly small bores but it makes no difference 
 to him what the colour of the game is, because it never 
 keeps still for long, as Nature has decreed that all animals 
 must constantly move their bodies, tails, and ears. 
 Certainly an elephant standing motionless in high dark 
 bush, or a zebra in open bush with rays of light pouring 
 through, are both difficult to see at times, but how often 
 does this happen in a hunter's experiences ? 
 
 It is impossible to know why a sable antelope should be 
 coloured black and white, and a kudu a slaty blue ; and I 
 suppose all species have some colouring matter in their 
 skins which cause these noticeable differences. Animals 
 that live mostly in the open, in a country where the rays of 
 the sun are very powerful, get scorched and bleached. 
 
 This is very noticeable in the zebras of British East 
 Africa which inhabit vast open plains. The zebras of 
 Central Africa, Nyasaland, and Northern Rhodesia, which 
 live in a heavily bushed country, have brighter shades of 
 black and whitish-yellow in their striped hides. A photo- 
 graph of any example of protective colouration is no proof 
 at all, as the eye of man does not view objects as the lens 
 of a camera does. Possibly in past ages animals lived in 
 surroundings more like their colouration, but destructive 
 man has changed the face of nature, or driven game out of 
 its natural surroundings, and it has failed to keep pace 
 with the change. 
 
 However, this is almost as fantastical an idea as 
 protective colouration itself, and it will hardly hold good, 
 I am afraid. It is generally assumed that Nature can 
 make no mistakes, so if animals are not coloured to imitate 
 their surroundings, I suppose that Nature did not think it 
 necessary to do so. 
 
 Therefore it is a subject not worth worrying about, as 
 the whole matter rests on no basis, except that animals in 
 their own bodies possess natural proclivities of transmitting 
 their own colours to their descendants. 
 
238 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 The idea that colour helps any animal to escape an 
 enemy that is seeking to kill it is absurd, as all carnivorous 
 beasts hunt by scent, hearing, and speed, so the hunted 
 animal has to depend on its own scent, hearing, and speed 
 if it is to escape. 
 
 A lion probably hardly raises his head many inches from 
 the ground when he is on the tracks of a zebra or an 
 antelope ; and as he doubtless sees better in the dark than 
 can human beings, he probably makes his last rush by 
 eyesight. In the dark it would be impossible to see more 
 than an animal's faint outline, so it matters not what its 
 colour is. After insects, reptiles are more protectively 
 coloured than any creatures, and it certainly requires very 
 quick and acute eyesight to see a slumbering puff adder, 
 but this is more a matter of habit than keen sight. The 
 puff adder's skin is a wonderful imitation of dead leaves 
 and vegetation ; but the leaves and vegetation are not 
 coloured the same in all the seasons of the year. 
 
 If animals are supposed to be protectively coloured, why 
 do not they all change with the seasons ? I know that 
 certain animals and birds in the colder regions of the 
 world do change their covering in winter, but this can 
 be of little avail, as their enemies hunt by scent ; although 
 in the case of birds of prey their hunting is done by sight, 
 It would seem that climate has more to do with the 
 colouration than anything else, except that animals living 
 in the same climate exhibit many contrasts of colour. 
 
 Naturalists may be convinced that certain reptiles and 
 insects are protectively coloured ; but they will never 
 convince big game hunters that colouration is of any use to 
 any animal, as it is fully proved that such is not the case. 
 
 There is too strong a tendency to try reasoning the 
 subject from the human standpoint, whereas man, not 
 being implicated in the scheme of Nature, as it applies 
 to wild creatures, is out in the cold, so to speak. The 
 intelligence of man is capable of many wonderful things ; 
 but I do not think he will ever know much more about 
 Nature's colour scheme than he does at present. 
 
Preservation of Trophies. 
 
 239 
 
 II. THE PRESERVATION OF TROPHIES. 
 
 Before a trophy is taken, careful measurements should 
 be made, so that the taxidermist will be able to mount it 
 exactly as it was on the dead animal. 
 
 Sportsmen usually either take the bare horns and skull 
 
 FIG. i. 
 
 ELAND BULL, SHOWING THE WAY TO TAKE MEASUREMENTS FOR 
 SPECIMENS INTENDED FOR MOUNTING IN MUSEUMS. 
 
 A to B From back of skull to root of tail. 
 
 C to D From base of ear to shoulder. 
 
 D to B From shoulder to root of tail. 
 
 E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, and O Circumferences. 
 
 P to Q Standing height. Taken by putting peg in the ground at top of shoulder 
 
 and bottom of a forefoot. 
 
 The four leg bones ought to be kept for the use of the taxidermist. 
 Denotes heart, lungs, and neck for vital shots. The brain shot should not be 
 
 used, as it destroys the skull. 
 
 or they also take the headskin. In the latter case, the 
 lower jaw of the animal should be kept, as the taxidermist 
 will have great difficulty in making a jaw to suit. To take 
 measurements, a steel tape is best ; and the only measure- 
 ments necessary for a headskin trophy are those of the 
 
240 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 base of the neck and the neck just behind the ears. The 
 cut should be made right over the shoulders, for, if the 
 skin is short, the trophy will be an ugly one when mounted. 
 Cut up the edge of the mane hair to behind the horns, and 
 then make two cross cuts to the base of the horns, and go 
 round them as close as possible without injuring the horn 
 substance. 
 
 The most difficult parts to skin are the ears, eyes, and 
 nose; and this is purely a matter of practice if a good job 
 is to result. 
 
 Natives cannot skin properly without being taught, and 
 it takes some time to make them proficient. Nothing is 
 better for skinning than a sharp pocket-knife with two 
 blades, one fairly large and the other small. A small hone 
 is most useful for keeping the knife sharp, and, for larger 
 knives, a piece of emery-stone is better than a hone. I do 
 not recommend expensive cutler's "hunting" knives, for 
 they are too thick, and the steel is too hard to sharpen on 
 anything except a grindstone. The various implements 
 sold for skinning usually turn out practically useless. For 
 animals a strong pocket-knife and two or three soft-steel 
 bladed knives, known as the " Bushman's Friend " or 
 " Green River " pattern, are all that are necessary. For 
 birds, a small pocket knife, a pair of scissors, and a brain- 
 scoop will do the best of work. 
 
 Many good taxidermists sell preservatives of their own 
 mixing, but, for the sportsman, the principal chemicals 
 required will be alum, saltpetre, salt, and turpentine. For 
 birds, arsenical soap is probably best, as it does not harden 
 the thin skins and make them crack as alum will do ; 
 but it should be kept under lock and key, as it is 
 dangerous stuff to leave lying about for native boys to 
 tamper with. 
 
 The best way to clean skulls is by boiling them in a big 
 pot, although some antelope horns will not come off the 
 cores readily such as hartebeest and eland so care has 
 to be taken, when boiling, to keep the horn substance 
 above the water-line. 
 
Removing Horns from Their Cores. 
 
 241 
 
 Kudu and sable horns can be forced off the cores, after 
 a week or two, by putting two short poles deeply in the 
 ground, and tying the skull to one pole and a loop on the 
 horns, so as to pass a strong stick through. This is then 
 levered against the second pole, when the horn will usually 
 leave the core and come away. 
 
 FIG. 2. 
 
 IMPALA HEAD AND NECK, SHOWING THE WAY TO 
 TAKE HEADSKIN. 
 
 A Cut round neck close to shoulder. 
 
 B Cut up neck to within an inch of horns. 
 
 C Cut round horns close as possible without injuring the 
 
 horns. 
 
 Note that when the entire skin is taken that the cut to get 
 out head and jaw only begins at B. See Fig. 3 for cuts to 
 take off whole skin. 
 
 When skins are taken entire, for setting up, careful 
 measurements are made, and I give a diagram of this 
 which appeared in my " Nyasaland for the Hunter and 
 Settler/' Other diagrams are also shown from the same 
 
 R 
 
242 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 volume as to how to make the necessary cuts for the 
 removal of skins. The main point in preserving skins is 
 to get them thoroughly dry, and to do this a strong sun is 
 required. Then every few days they should be inspected 
 and lightly beaten with a stick or whip, to dislodge the 
 
 FIG. 3. 
 
 REEDBUCK, SHOWING THE WAY TO TAKE WHOLE SKIN. 
 
 B to A Cut from base of neck to end of tail. 
 C, D, E, and F Cuts along inside of fore and back legs. 
 G Cuts up back of neck and around horns so as to get head 
 and jaw out. (See Fig. 2.) 
 
 ubiquitous bacon beetle which is the bane of all trophy 
 collectors. Particular care should be taken that the fine 
 hair and skin of the ears and nose should not be handled 
 roughly. Moreover, never put uncleaned heads near skins 
 or the beetles will at once get at them, and in a short time 
 ruin them. 
 
Packing Horns and Skins. 243 
 
 The best way to send skins home would certainly be in 
 big boxes with a tin or zinc lining, which could be soldered 
 down after drenching the contents with turpentine, and 
 putting some naphthalene marbles inside. 
 
 As the transport on these would be very expensive, the 
 next best thing is to send in canvas tightly sewn, with 
 instructions that care and despatch should be used in their 
 transportation. 
 
 In packing horns, some coarse canvas packed with paper 
 should be wrapped round the points to prevent chipping or 
 breakage, and the same applies to the points and bases of 
 elephant ivory. There is a rather heavy duty on the export 
 of ivory from the different territories in Central Africa, and 
 in North-Eastern Rhodesia. The duty on elephant ivory 
 is 2s. 6d. per pound, and on hippo ivory and rhino horns 
 2d. per pound. There is no duty on the export of horns 
 and skins, but a small stamp charge is levied for the 
 permit. 
 
 Natives, as I have mentioned, can be taught to skin well, 
 although it will take them some time to master the more 
 difficult parts, such as the skin of the ears, eyes, and nose, 
 so these should be done personally. 
 
 In taking a skin, the natives invariably cut it on the 
 outside of the legs, instead of the inside. Skins taken off 
 like this would be useless for natural history purposes. 
 
 Finally, the main desideratum is to keep all skins dry, 
 and to inspect them often, to see that destructive insects 
 are not present. 
 
 III. BUYING SECOND-HAND RIFLES AND GUNS. 
 
 Often a good weapon can be picked up second-hand and 
 several first class London gunmakers sell very reliable 
 firearms of this description, but several points have to be 
 considered when buying such a weapon. 
 
 In both rifles and guns, the barrels are obviously the 
 main feature, as naturally the wear and tear in a weapon 
 affects the barrels more than any part. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 I am a believer in best quality hammer weapons as their 
 construction is simpler than hammerless actions, and the 
 pull-off of the locks is much sweeter and sharper than in 
 any hammerless type of action I have seen or tried. 
 
 Further on I shall give my ideas as to the best type of 
 shotgun for abroad, and it is wise to choose a hammer 
 weapon, for if anything goes wrong it is much more easily 
 remedied with the simple tools that one has. It would be 
 useful to carry spare strikers and a spare top lever spring 
 in case of breakage. 
 
 Not having done much shotgun shooting for some years 
 I do not know what is the best powder for shotguns at the 
 present day, but a very experienced gunmaker tells me 
 that nothing can beat " Smokeless Diamond J) for good 
 killing and for its non-corrosive qualities to the barrels. 
 
 In Central Africa common black powder i2-bore cart- 
 ridges cost over i per 100, so if the sportsman intends 
 using a shotgun much, he had better bring out plenty of 
 ammunition. 
 
 As I shall mention further on in a chapter on rifles and 
 equipment, I consider that nothing is better than the 
 Mauser action for a sporting rifle ; but this is purely a 
 matter of personal choice. If a hammerless weapon is 
 chosen, get the weapon fitted with a non-automatic safety 
 bolt. Probably beginners would be safer with a good 
 quality hammerless gun or rifle, but my objection to them- 
 is that when loaded the mainsprings of the locks always 
 stand at full-cock, and with a hammer weapon the weapon 
 is only cocked when ready to be used. 
 
 When inspecting a weapon, especially a rifle, carefully 
 examine the rifling for wear and the breech for corrosion 
 and pit marks, and see that the striker, or strikers, if 
 double, is in good order and strikes the cap a good blow. 
 
 In a double gun or rifle see that the breech locks close, 
 and hold it up sideways to the light to see if light can be 
 seen between the barrels and breech block. 
 
 Do not buy a shotgun that has had the barrels shortened, 
 or one in which the barrels have been rebored. If fitted 
 
Native Tools and Implements. 245 
 
 with a top lever see that the gun closes with a sharp 
 metallic ring, without any hard grating or dull sound. 
 
 On no account buy a new cheap hammerless gun. A 
 man would be far better with a good second-hand 
 hammer-gun, which probably cost 40 to 50 new, and 
 which can now be bought in London for a sum of from 12 
 
 If one goes to a maker with a good name he can usually 
 be trusted to sell a sound weapon. The Field newspaper 
 always has advertisements from several good gunmakers 
 who sell second-hand guns and rifles, but it would be 
 invidious to mention names. Buyers should remember 
 that no really first-class London shotgun can be turned out 
 at less than 40 new. 
 
 IV. NATIVE IMPLEMENTS, FOODS, PRICE OF 
 LABOUR, ETC. 
 
 It is impossible to help noticing how expert the natives 
 are with their inferior implements, and, although their 
 work is, naturally, coarse and roughly finished, it serves 
 their purpose. Their soft iron axes are wonderful cutting 
 tools, and most of the natives are expert axemen. Some 
 of the African woods are so hard they would often splinter 
 European or American axes, which are usually made with 
 too high a temper, except for soft woods. 
 
 The natives' adzes, too, are very useful articles, and a 
 great amount of work is executed with them. Their small 
 axe-heads are often used as an adze by being put in another 
 handle with a differently angled slot. 
 
 Their knives, except those they buy at European stores, 
 are simply soft iron ; and often they use the soft hoop- 
 iron binding that is sent to this country round crates, 
 boxes, or bundles. It is roughly shaped, and one end is 
 bound with some bark string. With such a tool, used 
 something like a saw with both hands, they get through a 
 hippo hide like a grocer cutting cheese. 
 
246 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 If the knife bends, which it often does, it is quickly 
 straightened with a stone or lump of wood, or with the 
 fingers. 
 
 I once saw a native arrive at the cutting up of an 
 elephant with an old bayonet, but he did not do as good 
 work as others with their scraps of hoop-iron. 
 
 Natives are very handy at making baskets, and their 
 small, flat ones, called " luchairo," are used for cleaning 
 the chaff from the flour after it has been pounded in their 
 wooden mortars, the pestles of which are simply 5-ft. poles 
 of some hard wood, roughly smoothed up to begin with, 
 which take a fine polish with the constant rubbing of the 
 hands. 
 
 The young girls are fond of pounding the grain and 'if 
 a woman has a daughter old enough, it is usually her duty 
 to do most of the flour-making for the family. 
 
 Maize, of course, is the staple grain, but there are others 
 grown, such as mapiri, rapoko, and koche. Sugar-cane 
 ("imphfe," native name) is also grown. 
 
 Then there are native potatoes; yams, in certain districts; 
 and a very nice vegetable, named itchasani, which tastes 
 something like a young English potato, with a flavour not 
 unlike an artichoke. 
 
 In some places bananas or plantains will be seen, and 
 I have even seen the natives growing pineapples and the 
 paw-paw, or papaya, fruit ; but I expect these men had 
 worked for Europeans, and got a liking for such fruits. 
 
 Considering that many settlers and most of the missions 
 grow fruits, it is strange that the natives do not care to 
 plant them, as they could easily get the seeds by asking 
 for them ; but the fact is that they are too lazy. 
 
 That fine fruit, the mango, is now found throughout 
 Central Africa in certain localities, and there is a par- 
 ticularly fine lot of huge mango trees about thirty-five 
 miles north of Tete, on the old Fort Jameson road from 
 that place. 
 
 These trees were planted by the old Jesuit missionaries 
 over three hundred years ago, and, if they could arise and 
 
Native Grains and Livestock. 247 
 
 tell what they had seen in the old slave-trading days, 
 "they could many a tale unfold." Many is the poor 
 miserable wretch, tired to death with marching with the 
 u kori stick" bound to his neck, who must have died 
 within sight of this fine plantation. A cool stream 
 meanders through the valley, and it is a welcome spot 
 to reach after passing through the stony and scorched 
 country which lies between here and Tete. 
 
 From August to December this is one of the hottest 
 places I have seen in Africa ; the heat is often so great 
 that the natives in the stonier parts find it difficult to walk, 
 as the rocks and stones will burn one's hand if they are 
 touched, and hard though the natives' feet are they get 
 blistered and burnt. If there happens to be a good moon, 
 the best thing is to march by night, although night marching 
 is most tiring, as it is impossible in the more shaded parts 
 of the path to see holes, stumps, and rocks, and many a 
 grunt will be heard from the carriers, who give their bare 
 feet nasty jars and cuts. But, as I have said, the natives are 
 most patient and long-suffering when engaged on rough 
 travel, and one cannot help admiring their fine qualities in 
 that way. 
 
 Besides the grains and sweet potatoes which they grow, 
 the natives have a certain amount of livestock, such as 
 sheep, goats, pigs, pigeons, ducks, and fowls, and a few of 
 the chiefs keep cattle. 
 
 A bird like a fowl is no meal for a native, as he could 
 easily eat five or six at a sitting without feeling uncomfort- 
 able, but it affords a relish, what they term " ndeo," 
 pronounced indeo, to their usual dish of ufa porridge. 
 They gather various wild plants and eat wild mushrooms 
 of different kinds, and sometimes they grow chillies for a 
 seasoning. One of their favourite seasonings is the 
 ground-nut, and they grow large quantities of them, and, 
 of course, the pumpkin is commonly grown all over the 
 country^ 
 
 Cucumbers of a coarse variety, are also grown and eaten 
 uncooked, as we eat them with our salmon and salads at 
 
248 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 home. Tomatoes are found everywhere of a small variety, 
 and they grow in the native gardens. 
 
 A vegetable which has a hard, shell-like skin is grown, 
 and these are made into gourds for carrying water and for 
 drinking it. They call the large gourds " chipanda," and 
 the small ones for drinking out of " tumo." 
 
 In some districts with large lakes and rivers in the 
 vicinity they catch and eat a quantity of fish, and the 
 ordinary barbel or mud-fish is the commonest. 
 
 It has a very muddy taste and is rather full of bones, 
 and the European will think them but poor eating compared 
 to the delicious fish he gets at home. There are many 
 other kinds of fish, but as I have never lived on Lake 
 Nyasa, which I believe is full of fish, I do not know the 
 names of the commonly used kinds. 
 
 In the large rivers, such as the Zambesi and Luangwa, 
 there are several sporting fish, including the tiger fish, 
 which needs the strongest piano wire traces to hold him, 
 as he has jaws like a pair of nippers, and will go through 
 an ordinary gimp trace without the least effort. I have 
 never had the necessary equipment there to go in for 
 fishing, and, except for a year spent on the Luangwa River 
 in 1905, I have not lived near any very large river which 
 could afford good fishing. Doubtless there are a number 
 of fish in this country that would give good sport, and I 
 believe spoons are the best lure, although minnows might 
 be useful also. For bait, the entrails of fowls are good. 
 
 The hooks should be pretty large, and, for ordinary 
 mudfish, twisted wire is better than gut. The latter 
 deteriorates here very quickly when exposed to heat, 
 and is not strong enough for African fish. 
 
 The following are the usual prices away from a township 
 for the livestock and foodstuffs sold by the natives : 
 
 Cattle, bulls (depends on age) \ to 3 each 
 
 cows ( ,, ,, ) 2 to 4. 
 
 Sheep, rams 75. to los. 
 
 ,, ewes 8s. to 125. 
 
 Goats, billies 25. to 55. 
 
 ,, nannies (sometimes with kid) ... 4$. to js. 
 
Various Price Lists. 249 
 
 Ducks ... ... ... ... ... ... is. to 25. each 
 
 Fowls (sometimes 4^. or 6<L each) ... ... 3^. ,, 
 
 Pigeons 2d. ,, 
 
 Maize (depends on district and season) ... %d. to 2.d. per Ib. 
 
 Sweet potatoes (depends on district and season) ^d. to 2d. per Ib. 
 Eggs (often bought for a dessert-spoonful of 
 
 salt) .. ... ... Three a penny. 
 
 Pumpkins id. to 2d. each. 
 
 Bananas or plantains 6d. per bunch. 
 
 Groundnuts ... id. to 2d. per Ib. 
 
 Mushrooms (four varieties) ... ... ... For the picking. 
 
 Many of the above commodities can be bartered for 
 meat or salt, which are always in great demand. 
 
 PRICES OF IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 
 
 EACH. 
 
 Native axes or adzes ... ... ... ... is. 
 
 Baskets (according to size) ... ... ... $d. to 6d. 
 
 Mats, long (2oft. or so), name mkeka 15. 6d. to 35. 
 
 ,, short (6ft. or so), ,, ,, ... ... 6d. 
 
 Goatskins $d. 
 
 Wildcat skins ... 6d. 
 
 Serval skins ... ... ... ... ... is. to 2s. 
 
 Otter skins (in some places cheaper) 25.1045. 
 
 Leopard skins ... ... ... ... ... 55. to 105. 
 
 Spears 15.1035. 
 
 Native drums (the real thing) ... ... ... 105. to i 
 
 ,, ,, (made to sell) 25. 6d. to 55. 
 
 Dugouts (canoes) i to 2 
 
 Ordinary sleeping mats used by natives 
 
 (mpassa) ... ... ... ... ... 3^. 
 
 USUAL PRICES OF LABOUR (NATIVE). 
 
 Per Mensem. 
 
 Hunters (gunbearers and spoorers) ... ... 45. to 105. 
 
 Carriers (usual price 45. and food extra) ... 45. to 65. 
 
 Cooks (according to experience) 75. to 155. 
 
 Table boys (according to experience) ... ... 45. to 85. 
 
 Platewashers and pot cleaners (according to 
 
 experience) ... ... ... ... ... 25. to 45. 
 
 Head boys (capitao) ... ... ... ... 55. to 155. 
 
 Common plantation labour ... ... ... 35. to 55. 
 
 Children (the women do not often work on 
 
 plantations) ... ... ... ... ... 15. to 25. 
 
250 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Per Mensem 
 
 Brickmakers (1000 to 1200 bricks per day) ... IDS. to 125. 
 
 Bricklayers (according to experience) ... 75. 10155. 
 
 Carpenters ( ,, ,, ) ... los. to 2 
 
 Native clerks ( ,, M j 105.10305. 
 
 Machilleros (men to carry a machilla) ... ..'. 45. 1055. 
 Interpreters (cooks and head boys often speak 
 
 English) ... ... ... ... ... ... i os. to i 
 
 The price of labour in Nyasaland and North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia, especially away from the Zambesi river, the 
 railway, and townships, is much more moderate than it is 
 in North-Western Rhodesia, where the prices of labour 
 seem to have followed those usual in Southern Rhodesia. 
 In the latter place a boy will often get i to 2 per 
 mensem but he will cook and work hard. In Nyasaland 
 and adjoining territories the personal servants necessary 
 follow the custom of India, but not to such a degree, and 
 one usually keeps too many boys whose time is not fully 
 employed. 
 
 Unless European ladies are present it is not usual to 
 engage female labour, although round Blantyre the cook's 
 wife will often be able to wash and iron clothes, as she 
 may have been taught the work at the mission . 
 
 Ladies often keep a female dhobie or washerman, and a 
 nurse, when they get one; but more often the latter is a 
 young boy who attends to the white children, and takes 
 them out for their daily coach ride and breath of fresh air. 
 
 This youngster also bathes and amuses the male children, 
 and he will often take great interest in their welfare, and 
 be most reliable and trustworthy. 
 
 The youngsters are more intelligent than the adults, as 
 they more readily adapt themselves to their altered 
 conditions of life in fact, some of them get too smart at 
 times and require censure. 
 
 All labour is so cheap here that people who at home 
 have not been in a position to keep many servants will find 
 that their lives are much easier in Central Africa than they 
 could ever be in Britain. 
 
Effects of the Climate on Health. 251 
 
 V. HEALTH IN THE TROPICS AND CLIMATIC 
 INFLUENCES. 
 
 If a man cannot keep well in tropical Africa, he had 
 better leave it for another climate, as he will have no 
 happiness there if his health is bad, for the discomforts and 
 hardships he will often need to undergo, if he lives a wild 
 life, will be more than he can bear. 
 
 There is no doubt Central Africa induces an irritability 
 in white men, and often well educated and sensible men 
 behave here in a way they would never think of doing at 
 home. I have not noticed that liver complaint attacks 
 white men here to the extent it does in India, but the 
 climate has often a very deleterious effect on European 
 brains, and this often turns an intelligent, humane-minded 
 man into little better than a wild beast, causing him to 
 treat natives brutally and unjustly. 
 
 The natives are often to blame, for they seem to have 
 wonderful powers of aggravation and annoyance, not 
 always from intent, but through pure stupidity and cussed- 
 ness. Europeans who possess a highly sensitive nature, or 
 who are naturally short or hot-tempered, suffer in this way 
 more than those of an easy-going, patient nature, whose 
 equanimity it is difficult to upset. 
 
 If a man suffers a great deal from malarial fever, or has 
 suffered from it in another country before he came here, as 
 I did, he should never bathe in the evening, particularly in 
 cold water, as this is sure to induce a chill and bring out 
 the fever. The best time to bathe is about midday, before 
 having lunch. I suffered greatly from malarial fever before 
 I had a bad attack of blackwater fever, but since then I have 
 suffered little, and I think the blackwater fever carries 
 most of the germs out of the system. I only give this 
 opinion for what it is worth, as I am not a medical man, 
 but such has been the case with myself, and I have also 
 heard others mention it. When a man gets wet from 
 being soaked by rain, or from perspiration after a hot walk 
 
252 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 in the sun, it is a foolish proceeding to sit in his wet 
 clothes, particularly when the sun has gone down and the 
 temperature is falling. I suppose nothing has caused more 
 fever in the tropics than this, and it is a wise plan at all 
 times to have a warm tweed jacket or a woollen sweater 
 handy, to put on when the air gets chilly. In the tropics 
 changes of the temperature take place very rapidly, and, as 
 one is usually very lightly clothed in the heat of the day, 
 there is all the more reason to be prepared for the cool of 
 evening and night. Another frequent cause of a chill is 
 lying on a bed half naked, and going to sleep like this. 
 An hour or two before dawn the temperature falls several 
 degrees, and the sleeper becomes chilled, and then pays 
 for it with a sharp attack of fever. 
 
 The best thing is to be covered by wearing pyjamas, and 
 have the blankets folded and ready to draw up, and this is 
 done unconsciously, as it becomes a habit. 
 
 Fever is the most common complaint, and I do not 
 intend to mention others, as I have little medical knowledge; 
 but it will be a good thing for the newcomer if he notes 
 what I have said. It is, of course, almost impossible to 
 escape getting fever, especially in a country where 
 mosquitoes are plentiful ; but although a man has got the 
 parasites in his blood, he can guard against bad fever. It 
 is a good thing to make a practice of taking five grains 
 of quinine two or three times a week, particularly in the 
 rainy season, when the mosquitoes are most abundant. 
 
 Some people say that quinine does them harm, though 
 the majority of Europeans will find that they do not 
 have fever so often if they take it frequently. Warburg's 
 Tincture suits some people better than quinine, though 
 personally I think the latter is much the best drug for this 
 complaint. 
 
 Europeans should live fairly well in the tropics and not 
 stint themselves of a few luxuries at times, as nothing 
 causes sickness more than unpalatable food. 
 
Routes to Central Africa, 253 
 
 VI. DIFFERENT ROUTES TO CENTRAL AFRICA. 
 
 Should a sportsman be coming to Nyasaland then he 
 ought to book a passage to Chinde on the east coast, and as 
 the large steamers cannot cross the Chinde bar on which 
 there is not much water, all passengers and baggage have 
 to be transferred to a tug which comes alongside the 
 ocean steamer. There are two tugs kept at Chinde for 
 this purpose, and they are named the Kadett and 
 Adjutant, and they both belong to the German East 
 African Line. The Union-Castle Line run big steamers 
 which touch at the Chinde buoy, and take passengers. 
 Most Britishers will prefer to travel by a British line,, 
 although the steamers of the German line are usually 
 quite comfortable. 
 
 When the passengers and their baggage have been put 
 aboard the tug, she casts off and makes for Chinde, which 
 is about ten miles from the buoy. The tug often bumps as 
 she crosses the bar, but very seldom runs aground. 
 
 British Chinde consists of a fenced in concession, and 
 all cargo for British possessions is landed free here, and 
 pays duty for Nyasaland at Port Herald, the customs 
 station. Many passengers and goods for North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia come via Chinde, and I think it is the most 
 interesting route into North-Eastern Rhodesia. As a river 
 steamer is usually ready to proceed up the river for Port 
 Herald, there is little delay, and passengers are often able 
 to leave for up-country the day they arrive. Various 
 companies have river steamers, such as the British Central 
 Africa Company and the African Lakes Corporation Ltd. ; 
 and the river voyage is interesting to the lover of nature, 
 although little large game will be seen. 
 
 Perhaps a few hippo may be noticed occasionally, 
 although they are pretty wary. They dive before the 
 steamer gets close, and appear again when it has passed. 
 I think it is a great shame for passengers to fire at these 
 animals, as they are seldom killed, though sometimes 
 
254 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 wounded. Besides, as a hippo sinks when shot dead, and 
 takes a considerable time to rise, there is no chance of 
 recovering the body, so it is senseless cruelty firing at them. 
 
 A few days from Chinde, the river steamer gets into the 
 Shire River, where the scenery is more broken and prettier, 
 and a fine view of the Morambala range is obtained. On 
 reaching Port Herald, the traveller passes his belongings 
 through the customs, and next day, as the steamers usually 
 run in connection with the trains, he leaves for Blantyre, a 
 distance by rail of 113 miles. Then, if he intends going 
 for a shooting trip, there are several firms that will help 
 him to get boys and carriers, and he can buy all kinds of 
 foodstuffs there, though I advise him to bring his rifles, 
 ammunition, tents, and camp outfit from home, as they will 
 be cheaper. A comfortable deck chair and a mosquito net 
 should never be forgotten. 
 
 If the sportsman is bound for North-Eastern Rhodesia, 
 he can get there -via Chinde and Blantyre ; and, if he does 
 not intend to shoot in Nyasaland on the way, his dutiable 
 articles could be sealed and passed through " in transit " ; 
 but the shooting in the central and northern parts of 
 Nyasaland is as good as it is North-Eastern Rhodesia, and 
 all game found in the latter place exists in Nyasaland, 
 except a few species, such as situtunga, lechwe, and 
 sassaby ; and these need a long journey in North-Eastern 
 Rhodesia to reach their haunts. 
 
 Another way into North-Eastern Rhodesia is via Tete, 
 on the Zambesi ; but although this is an interesting 
 journey, it is slower and more expensive. 
 
 For North-Western Rhodesia the sportsman's best route 
 is via Cape Town, and on by rail to Livingstone or Broken 
 Hill, at either of which places he could find boys and 
 carriers. Shooting in North-Western Rhodesia is much 
 more expensive than it is in the other two territories 
 mentioned, and, as I have not spent much time there, 
 I will say little about it. I have entered or left Nyasaland 
 and North-Eastern Rhodesia by all the routes I have 
 mentioned, some on several occasions, and I once went 
 
Methods of Travelling. 255 
 
 all the way from Tete to Chinde in a large houseboat, and 
 though it was not as comfortable travelling as by river 
 steamer, it was more interesting, as I could stop for shoot- 
 ing when I felt inclined. In the dry season, especially 
 towards the end of it, and during September, October, and 
 November, the rivers get very low, and the steamers find it 
 impossible to get far up them, and so the traveller is 
 obliged to travel by houseboat. These have a small cabin 
 or house, fitted aft, and some of these shelters are 
 large enough to hold a box or two, and a deck chair, but a 
 considerable amount of manoeuvring has to be exercised if 
 one's head is to escape many a hard bump. I always 
 think the river travelling delightful, either by river-steamer 
 or houseboat ; many small villages will be passed, and 
 a good deal of bird life will be seen. There is plenty of 
 game within a short distance of the river, but it must be 
 remembered that most of the journey is through Portuguese 
 territory, so it is best to ask permission to shoot there 
 from some commandant. 
 
 On the Zambesi river there are several official stations, 
 and although the officials seldom care anything about 
 the game, it is a matter of courtesy not to break the 
 game laws. 
 
 Twice I was asked by a Portuguese official to shoot as 
 many hippo as I could, as they had been upsetting native 
 canoes, and on one occasion had attacked and sunk a 
 houseboat. The Portuguese soldiers often amuse them- 
 selves by shooting at them with old Sniders, and, the 
 bullets of these rifles being made of very soft lead, and 
 having a low velocity, they wound many more than they 
 kill ; and the poor hippos try to get some of their own 
 back on the first craft they see, which is usually an old 
 man and a boy in a leaky dugout. The dugout goes to the 
 bottom in deep w T ater, and the old native and his son are 
 left lamenting. The canoe may not be worth more than a 
 few shillings, but its loss is a great disaster to a poor native, 
 who probably does not possess much more than the yard 
 of calico round -his loins and a few pots at home. 
 
256 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Considering the fine quality of the sport obtainable in 
 Nyasaland and North-Eastern Rhodesia, and the great 
 expense of shooting in British East Africa, it will not be 
 many years until sportsmen pay more attention to these 
 fine countries, which in some places are hardly known to 
 Europeans, 
 
 VII. INFORMATION FOR THE SETTLER REGARDING THE 
 LEASING AND PURCHASE OF LAND. 
 
 No Crown land is now sold in Nyasaland, and it can 
 only be had on lease of seven, fourteen, and twenty-one 
 years. When I last lived in North-Eastern Rhodesia, land 
 could be purchased from 6d. per acre ; but I do not know 
 the price at present, although I have not heard that any 
 change has taken place. There are many points to be 
 considered when leasing or buying land for planting or 
 farming projects, and, as regards Nyasaland, the following 
 sentences, which appeared in my " Nyasaland for the 
 Hunter and Settler," are well worth consideration by the 
 intending settler. They are these : 
 
 1. Cost of transport to nearest railway or steamer landing. 
 
 2. Quality of soil for the purpose it is required for. 
 
 3. Cost of land, or lease of same. 
 
 4. Water supply (running water essential). 
 
 5. Elevation above sea level. 
 
 6. Prospects of labour supply. 
 
 7. Whether there is plenty of food for the labourers. 
 
 8. Grazing facilities for stock. 
 
 9. Rainfall in district. 
 
 10. Extent of cleared land (native gardens). 
 
 11. Quantity of bamboos (for building purposes). 
 
 12. Amount of good timber (for sawing and big posts). 
 
 13. Firewood (for personal and natives' use and for tobacco - 
 curing, etc.). 
 
 14. Freedom from insect pests (especially tsetse fly). 
 
 15. For cotton (distance from a public ginnery). 
 
 16. Distance from a township. 
 
Books on Shooting. 257 
 
 VIII. THE LITERATURE OF BIG-GAME SHOOTING. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest incentive to young men is the 
 reading of accounts of travel and adventure in far-off lands, 
 and there is no doubt that if we Britons did not possess a 
 very large and interesting collection of such literature, not 
 nearly so many young fellows would leave comfortable 
 homes and go to wild countries, where they often have to 
 suffer hardship and discomfort. 
 
 Mr. F. C. Selous has mentioned how the reading of 
 Gordon Cumming's and Baldwin's books fired his imagina- 
 tion long ago, and the reading of the same books and those 
 written by Mr. Selous himself, did the same to me. 
 
 How well I remember the long winter evenings on the 
 East Coast of Scotland, when it used to get dark about 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, and how I used to sit near a 
 roaring fir-log fire, with a red-shaded lamp near me, and 
 pore over such books. 
 
 One of the earliest books I remember was a volume 
 entitled " Ungava," all about the fur traders on Hudson 
 Bay, in Canada. This story appealed to me so much that, 
 with the help of my brothers and sisters, I built a little log 
 cabin in a plantation of fir trees not far from the house. 
 An old iron pipe served for a chimney, and my bed 
 was made of fir needles covered with two blankets. 
 Then I used to sally out, first with an air gun, and then 
 with a rook rifle, shoot blackbirds and thrushes, and 
 roast them on a spit. In the way of big game, many 
 is the fine torn cat that fell to my -220, and I have often 
 wondered if the owners had any suspicion as to where 
 their pets got to. Later on, I shot much wildfowl on the 
 estuary of the River Tay, and sometimes I would cross 
 over to the Fife coast and shoot there. 
 
 I managed to shoot some very rare birds on the coast, 
 and among them I can mention the following : Little stint 
 (rare so far north), red-breasted snipe (an American species, 
 then having been shot only once or twice before in Britain), 
 
 S 
 
258 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Ross's gull (very rare), shoveller duck (not often got in 
 Forfarshire), etc. 
 
 Then I went to Ceylon, and soon after to India, where I 
 spent some years tea-planting; but the jungles are too 
 thick in Eastern India to expect much shooting unless one 
 can command the use of elephants. I went to Central 
 Africa in 1903 and have been there ever since ; but I will 
 go on to mention some of the most fascinating books on 
 sport I have read. 
 
 A very fine book is Mr. J. G. Millais' " A Breath from 
 the Veldt," and this accomplished author has the great 
 gift of being able to illustrate his works with beautiful 
 drawings. 
 
 I advise all sportsmen to read the " Life of William 
 Cotton Oswell," written by his son. Oswell was the beau 
 ideal of a fine hunter, and he was modest and reserved 
 about his doings. He only wrote a few chapters to the 
 Badminton Big Game series. 
 
 Gordon Gumming was a daredevil, and his book was 
 considered by many people to be fictitious when it 
 appeared ; but the experiences of later sportsmen show 
 that he wrote the truth. About the middle of the 
 nineteenth century many authors were inclined to exag- 
 gerate and embellish their writings, as there were then few 
 people experienced enough to gainsay what they wrote, and 
 the sportsmen of that time were more out for killing than 
 nature study. 
 
 A very interesting writer was the late William Charles 
 Baldwin, and most of his shooting was done in South- 
 Eastern Africa, in the country now known as Portuguese 
 East Africa, and Natal. 
 
 Perhaps one of the soundest writers we have had was the 
 late Sir Samuel Baker, and his books are standard works. 
 There is no doubt that he was not only a mighty hunter, 
 but he was a good observer and field naturalist. 
 
 Everyone knows Mr. F. C. Selous' writings, and I think 
 there is no author who can put his facts so clearly. 
 I consider his books " A Hunter's Wandering in Africa " 
 
Big-Game Literature. 259 
 
 and " Travel and Adventure in South-Eastern Africa " two 
 of the finest volumes on African sport and travel that have 
 ever been written. 
 
 I have often wished I could write like Mr. Selous, or be 
 able to draw like Mr. Millais ; but we cannot all be gifted 
 in this way so we have to do the best we can. 
 
 Some splendid works have been written on Indian sport, 
 and I remember how interesting I found E. Baker's " Sport 
 in Eastern Bengal." This is a little known work, but one 
 much above the average. 
 
 A splendidly illustrated volume is Williamson's " Indian 
 Field Sports," and Simson's book about pig-sticking and 
 tiger shooting is also very interesting. 
 
 General A. A. Kinloch's book about sport in the Hima- 
 layas is well written and illustrated, and another volume on 
 the same region I remember enjoying greatly is Major 
 C. S. Cumberland's. 
 
 With regard to the shooting and habits of the Indian 
 elephant, the best work in existence is the late. Mr. J. G. 
 Sanderson's " Thirteen Years Among the Wild Beasts of 
 India," as he had great experience of elephants and 
 other game during the time he was in charge of the 
 Government Keddahs in Southern and Eastern India. 
 
 There are several other most interesting books about 
 Indian shooting and natural history, such as the works of 
 Forsyth, Markham, Rice, Macintyre, Sir Victor Brook 
 (written by a friend), General Douglas Hamilton, Newall, 
 Jordon, Inglis ("Tent Life in Tigerland"), Hornaday, 
 Durand, Gerard, and many others. 
 
 Some other authors on African sport I have not men- 
 tioned are Drummond, Cotton, Kirby, Teleki, Wallace, 
 Sykes, Stigand (a fine sportsman and an able field 
 naturalist), Foa, Dugmore, Willougby, Bryden, Dickinson, 
 Leatham, Drake-Brockman, Peel, Stevenson, Faulkner, 
 Neumann (one of the finest hunters who ever shot in 
 Africa), Patterson, Buxton (a most interesting writer), Sir 
 Cornwallis Harris, Gibbons, Methuen, Alexander, Chapman, 
 Andersson, and very many more I have forgotten. 
 
 S 2 
 
260 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 A great number of books have been written on American 
 shooting, and one of the very best is Van Dyke's " Still- 
 Hunter/' and I remember how I enjoyed reading Baillie- 
 Grohman's book on British Columbia. 
 
 Mr. F. C. Selous' " Hunting Trips in British North 
 America" is very interesting, and so is Mr. J. G. Millais' 
 " Newfoundland and its Untrodden Ways." Mr. H. 
 Hesketh Prichard's volume, " Hunting Camps in Wood 
 and Wilderness," is also a work much above the average. 
 
 The literature about European sport (especially the 
 northern parts of that continent) is a very varied collection, 
 and there are few authors who can compare with Mr. Abel 
 Chapman, whose books " Wild Norway" and "Wild 
 Spain " are full of good matter. Then an old work is 
 Lloyd's " Field Sports of the North of Europe." A more 
 recent account of sport is Sir Henry Pottinger's " Flood, 
 Fell, and Forest," in two volumes, and other authors whose 
 writings are well worth reading are Sir Henry Seton Karr, 
 who also wrote on American sport, Mr. E. B. Kennedy 
 ("Thirty Seasons in Scandinavia"), and numerous others. 
 
 Since giving this list of writers on British sport, I 
 remember other interesting authors, such as Sir R. Payne 
 Gallwey, Speedy, Moray Brown, Scott, Shand, "Nimrod's" 
 " Life of John Mytton," Jeffries, Jones, Hartley, Gathorne- 
 Hardy, "The Badminton Small and Large Game Shooting," 
 and the " Encyclopaedia of Sport." 
 
 Most of us have read the best known books on shooting 
 and natural history in Britain, and they can be numbered 
 by the dozen, but the best include the works of St. John 
 ("Wild Sports in the Highlands," etc.), Sir John Colquhoun 
 ("Moor and Loch," etc.), Lieut. -Col. Peter Hawker (on 
 wildfowling), Mr. J. G. Millais (" The Natural History of 
 British Game Birds," " British Deer and their Horns, etc.), 
 Morris, Dixon, Corballis, Daniel (an old author 1801-13), 
 Mr. Abel Chapman ("Bird Life of the Borders"), Scrope 
 (on deerstalking), Grimble (on shooting and fishing), 
 Lamond (on fishing), Calderwood (on salmon), Malloch, 
 Hodson, Stewart, Tod, Leitch (these five write on wet-fly 
 
Much of Africa Still Unknoivn. 261 
 
 fishing). Then about dry-fly angling we have Halford's 
 books, as well as some others I have forgotten. 
 
 Young sportsmen have much to be thankful for at the 
 present day, for not only have they an abundant literature 
 on sports of all kinds, but the way has been made com- 
 paratively easy for them by the spread of civilisation, and 
 communications are so rapid that they can soon reach any 
 ordinary shooting and fishing ground they wish to visit. 
 
 How different was it in Mr. Selous' early days, when he 
 hunted in the country which is now known as Southern 
 Rhodesia. Then travel meant a slow progress with ox 
 waggons or on horses, and when he was shooting round 
 Bulawayo and Salisbury he was more cut off from 
 civilisation and the comforts civilisation brings than are 
 most men in the depths of Central Africa to-day. 
 
 As I have mentioned in this volume, it is still possible to 
 get quite in the wilds and view Africa as it was ; and it 
 is a great mistake to suppose that Africa as a whole is 
 getting shot out, for such a statement is incorrect. Certain 
 parts, such as Southern Africa and other places close to 
 European settlements, have certainly lost most of their 
 game, and will never regain it unless the country were to 
 be totally abandoned ; but even in such a small territory 
 as Nyasaland there are many hundreds of square miles 
 that have hardly been trodden by the feet of civilised man, 
 and here the game is likely to survive for many generations 
 to come. 
 
 When reading some of the old books I have mentioned, 
 over twenty-five years ago, I thought that I was too late 
 to experience any really wild free sport ; but, as I mention 
 in the preface, this country is still in much the same 
 condition as I first knew it ten years ago, and the only 
 parts that have slightly changed are those round the small 
 townships, where the land has been taken up by settlers 
 for the planting of tobacco, cotton, and tea. 
 
 Therefore, the young sportsmen who are still acquiring 
 knowledge at public and private schools need have no fear 
 that all the game in Africa will have disappeared before 
 
262 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 they are old enough to go on their first trek to the wilder- 
 ness. They are not likely to be able to drop sixteen 
 elephants in one day, as the late Mr. Arthur H. Neumann 
 once did in British East Africa, as, very wisely, the 
 Governments of all our African possessions have now 
 limited the number of the game allowed to be shot 
 annually ; but they will be able to shoot all they want for 
 trophies, and what more could any sportsman desire than 
 that. 
 
 The best guide for the trophy-hunter is, of course, that 
 well-known work, " Records of Big Game," by the late 
 Mr. Rowland Ward, and in it will be found much 
 information regarding the haunts of game all over the 
 world. 
 
 The tyro will pick up many useful hints from books 
 which are bound to be useful to him at some time or other, 
 and so much information is now published about the best 
 game countries in different parts of the world that he will 
 have little difficulty in finding his way to a good game 
 country. 
 
 It should be remembered that the best sport is usually 
 got by those who leave the beaten track, and who have the 
 energy and self-reliance to break into new lands where the 
 game has not been molested or disturbed. 
 
 A last word of advice to the beginner is to shoot in 
 a thoroughly sporting manner, and to remember that other 
 generations of sportsmen will arise who, in their time, will 
 long for the same wild freedom and sport that we to-day 
 are able to enjoy. 
 
 In the playing fields he will learn to behave in a manly 
 and sporting manner, and, when he is old enough to 
 engage in field sports, this will not be forgotten. 
 
 The charm of all shooting, be it large or small game, is 
 that here we get to the heart of Nature, for the charm is 
 not in the killing, but rather in the wild, natural sur- 
 roundings, which always give an indescribable fascination 
 to the sport. 
 
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Rifles and Equipment. 263 
 
 IX. A FEW REMARKS ON RIFLES AND EQUIPMENT. 
 
 Most of the books on sport published at the present day 
 have a chapter on the subject of battery and outfit, and 
 there is no doubt that it is a most vital matter that the 
 sportsman should have at least one reliable rifle with him. 
 
 I may say that my remarks here are intended as a help 
 to the tyro who has not had any practical experience in 
 the field, and who has to take a gunmaker's advice on the 
 selection of a suitable weapon, or weapons/ for a hunting 
 trip. This advice is not always disinterested, unless, 
 perhaps, the budding big-game shooter goes to one of the 
 leading rifle makers. I would never pretend to give advice 
 to a good rifle maker on technical matters as to rifle 
 building, but the practical hunter is more likely to know 
 what is the best killing weapon for big game than the rifle 
 maker, who probably never saw a wild animal outside the 
 bars of a cage in his life. 
 
 In choosing a weapon, there are several points which 
 have to be kept in view, and these might be summed up 
 as follows : 
 
 1. Lightness and handiness. 
 
 2. Efficient killing power. 
 
 3. Soundness and reliability of mechanism. 
 
 4. Possibility of getting ammunition in the country shot in. 
 
 I here refer to what is called an all-round weapon, and I 
 may say that I am a believer in such a rifle for the simple 
 reason that if a large bore is taken it is seldom at hand 
 when most needed. Therefore, let the small bore be 
 sufficiently powerful to deal with any game from elephant 
 down to duiker. 
 
 Having tried the following high-velocity rifles on game, 
 450, -400, -375, -360, -350, -318, ygmm. ('311), '303, "275, 
 and '256, I think nothing heavier than the -318 is needed, 
 and I have done my best work with a 7-9111111. Mauser 
 made by a well known London firm. This rifle is stronger 
 than the '303, and although its velocity and striking energy 
 are not so great as the '318, I found that the latter did not 
 
264 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 kill game a bit better. The -350 old pattern, not 
 " Magnum/' is a very fine weapon with its 310 grains old- 
 type bullet, but I found it slightly heavier to carry than 
 the y-gmm., so prefer the latter, which will kill any game 
 in Africa. 
 
 It is often in error called 8mm., and this bore is usually 
 found in the Mannlicher form of magazine. 
 
 Let me describe my ygmm. It has the well known 
 Mauser bolt magazine, with non-automatic safety catch, the 
 barrel is 24.in. long, and I got it made detachable. It has 
 three sights for 100, 200, and 300 yards, and a very small 
 ivory bead front sight. Both back and front sights are 
 screwed down. It weighs, with four cartridges in the 
 magazine and one in the breech, yjlb. With it I have 
 killed elephant, rhino, hippo, buffalo, eland, most of 
 the Central African antelopes, and other game, such as 
 zebra, warthog, pig, etc. 
 
 It is so light and handy that I can carry it during a 
 whole day's shooting in rough country, so I am always 
 ready for what turns up. 
 
 Some sportsmen prefer double rifles, but no practical 
 hunter uses them, and I think a second barrel a needless 
 encumbrance to carry ; and, considering that magazine rifles 
 are so quick, there is no necessity to waste money in buying 
 an expensive double, as a really reliable weapon of this 
 kind cannot be purchased for much less than 50, and 
 many makers charge a good deal more for their best double 
 hammerless ejectors. Single falling block rifles are 
 beautifully balanced weapons, but I never saw a falling 
 block that ejected the fired case well, so I think the 
 magazine action by far the best. 
 
 In magazine bolt rifles there are several varieties, such as 
 the Mauser, ordinary Mannlicher for clips, Mannlicher- 
 Schonauer for chargers or hand loading, and the Lee- 
 Metford or Lee-Enfield. 
 
 Having tried all these, I prefer the Mauser, although the 
 Mannlicher-Schonauer has a beautiful, nice- working action. 
 
 Before I got the j-gmm. Mauser mentioned, I did good 
 
Remarks on Rifles. 265 
 
 work with a -303 Lee-Enfield ; but this is not nearly such a 
 good action as the Mauser, and the powder in the -303 
 cartridges, I found, damaged the chamber and barrel of 
 the rifle much more than does the powder in ygmm. 
 cartridges. 
 
 Personally I do not believe in bores less than the -303, 
 and I found with the ordinary -256 Mannlicher and the 
 275 (ymm.) Mauser that one had to shoot most carefully 
 if wounded game was not to be lost. 
 
 The new " Magnums " '256 and -275, with light sharp- 
 pointed bullets, I put on a par with the much advertised 
 280 Ross rifle. These may be very satisfactory on small 
 or medium sized animals, such as red-deer and some of the 
 lesser antelopes ; but they are not safe to use on heavy or 
 dangerous game, especially with solid projectiles, as these 
 do not maintain their true direction after hitting hard 
 round bones, and they zigzag all over the place. A man 
 naturally wishes his bullet to carry true and penetrate 
 efficiently. The great maxim of a good killing rifle is that 
 the bullet should be arranged to penetrate almost through 
 the body of the animal struck, and come to rest on the 
 opposite side. Then the beast sustains the full energy and 
 killing power of the bullet. 
 
 It is natural that with a rifle giving a velocity of 
 30ooft. sec. efficient penetration is more difficult to 
 arrange, as the great velocity is very apt to shatter the 
 bullet and make it lose itself in small splinters. This 
 doubtless produces great shock in the bodies of small or 
 medium sized animals, but it is not good enough for the 
 larger species, which have more tenacity of life, with their 
 larger bones, flesh, and muscle. 
 
 Many men with large experience of ordinary game 
 recommend the '280 and similar rifles, but I never heard 
 a man with practical experience of the largest of African 
 game praise these rifles. By largest game I mean elephant, 
 rhino, buffalo, and eland. 
 
 A friend of mine who purchased a -280 a few years ago 
 told me he would much prefer a -303 with its heavier bullet. 
 
266 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 If the young sportsman chooses a -280, "275, or -256 
 Magnum, he had better get a second rifle shooting heavy 
 blunt bullets as a standby, but then it will often not be 
 handy; whereas if he had a "350, -318, or ygmm. in his 
 hand all he has to do is to change the cartridge if a solid is 
 necessary for use on an elephant or rhino. 
 
 Buffalo are easily killed with a hollow point or slit bullet, 
 but let the slits be short. A " Dum-dum " form of bullet, 
 that is one which has a very small amount of lead showing 
 at the point, is a most excellent projectile for buffaloes or 
 elands, and it will easily kill an elephant or rhino with the 
 body shot. 
 
 Never have an automatic safety catch on a rifle. These are 
 not fitted to magazines, but on falling blocks and hammer- 
 less doubles they are usually fitted, so it is best to get them 
 altered to non-automatic, which, I believe, it is easy to do. 
 
 An automatic catch flies back to safety when the breech 
 is opened, and a non-automatic stays as it is until altered 
 by the thumb. 
 
 In hilly ground a sling is useful, so the rifle ought to 
 have an eye fixed to the barrel and stock for fixing the 
 sling to. 
 
 As to sights, I think the open broad v best, made very 
 broad with a silver line, or ivory or platinum pryamid, 
 leading to the centre of the notch. These are much 
 quicker in use than any form of peep sight, and I consider 
 telescopic sights only necessary for old men whose sight 
 has failed. They are heavy and very easily damaged by a 
 fall or knock, and in cases where they are fitted an opening 
 should be left for using the ordinary V sights when 
 necessary. They are sometimes fixed to the side of the 
 barrel, which is a good plan. 
 
 After firing at an animal with a magazine rifle, load up 
 at once, as the noise of the discharge drowns the noise of 
 the magazine working. With practice one can be very 
 quick with a Mauser or Mannlicher-Schonauer ; in fact so 
 quick that a charging animal will not have come far before 
 one is ready, 
 
Remarks on Rifles. 267 
 
 A single magazine or a falling block is generally more 
 accurate than a double, as with the latter it is difficult for 
 the rifle maker to adjust both barrels to shoot the same. 
 
 People who have done a lot of shooting with a shotgun 
 often prefer a double rifle, as they say they can shoot 
 quicker, especially for running shots. This may be so, 
 but rifle shooting and shotgun shooting are two absolutely 
 different accomplishments. 
 
 With a rifle, if the sights are not properly aligned on the 
 object, the bullet will not hit it except by the greatest 
 fluke, and with a shotgun hand and eye act together, and 
 there is not the need of great accuracy with a charge of 
 small shot. 
 
 No doubt if some of our best shots with a shotgun had 
 bullets in their guns instead of shot, they would often hit at 
 short ranges, but they would not hit much at the ordinary 
 range for big game shooting, which is usually between 
 100 and 200 yards, even if the ball carried as far. 
 
 For a sum of from 12 I2s. to 20 one can get the best 
 magazine rifle made, and nowadays fairly large bores can 
 be got in magazine form, such as '375, '404, '416, and '425. 
 
 The '416, which has lately been introduced by a first class 
 London firm, shoots a very strong charge, and the solid 
 bullets have particularly well covered nickel jackets, so as 
 to improve penetration. Such a rifle I would infinitely 
 prefer to a double '450 or '470; and with a 7'9mm. as the 
 small bore for all-round work one could not do better than 
 get one of these new -416 Mausers for use on very heavy 
 and dangerous animals. Being special rifles, they cost 
 30 guineas, but this figure includes a rubber heel pad and 
 a spare front sight. 
 
 Such a rifle would be the best for elephant and rhino 
 obtainable, used with solid bullets, and, with hollow point or 
 soft nose bullets, buffaloes would seldom need more than 
 one shot with such a rifle. The bullets weigh 410 grains, 
 the velocity is about 24ooft. sec., and the striking energy 
 at muzzle is over 5oooft lb., which is equivalent to the -450 
 type of nitro rifles. 
 
268 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 In making particular mention of the j-gmm. and -416 
 rifles I have, I believe, mentioned two of the best weapons 
 in existence for the big-game hunter. 
 
 For Asiatic or American shooting these would be just as 
 serviceable as for African game, although for the latter 
 country the j-gmm. is enough. 
 
 The '450 and "303 bores are barred for importation into 
 India, and also into Uganda, I think, except to Government 
 officers. 
 
 Having given my ideas as to the best rifles, whatever 
 these opinions may be worth, I shall now mention something 
 about tents and camp equipment. 
 
 As with firearms, the great desideratum should be light- 
 ness combined with strength, so I think the best tent is a 
 single fly covering. A good pattern is the " Whymper," 
 as it only weighs about 35lb. complete with poles, pegs, 
 ropes, and hammer, and it has a ground sheet sewn in 
 which is useful as an aid to comfort. 
 
 Instead, however, of having the back sewn as a fixture, 
 I think it should be made to open like the front, and, if a 
 small window with mesh is made, it makes the tent cooler. 
 
 If a window is made, there should be an outside 
 flap, with tapes (or hooks and eyes), to draw over the 
 opening in case of rain or wind. 
 
 Another good tent is one known as the " Patrol," yft. 
 high and 8ft. by 8ft. It has walls of about 2ft, and is 
 roomier, but slightly heavier, than the " VVhymper." 
 
 Needless to say, all the tents and everything made of 
 canvas should be the canvas known as " Green Willesden." 
 
 There are several good patterns of beds, and I have 
 found none to beat the "X" pattern; tables and chairs 
 can be bought of this pattern also, though the strongest 
 chair is an ordinary deck-chair with seat made of green 
 canvas to lace on. 
 
 A folding canvas bath and a bucket and basin of the 
 same material will be most necessary, and, of all the kit, 
 perhaps one of the most important items is a small-mesh 
 mosquito net. I say "small mesh," as sandflies will go 
 
Necessary Equipment. 269 
 
 through an ordinary-sized mesh, and they are quite as 
 troublesome in some places as mosquitoes. 
 
 Candle lamps are the best for travelling, as paraffin oil is 
 difficult to carry without leakage, and if it gets on things, 
 especially foodstuffs, it is most objectionable. 
 
 Cooking pots are best made of aluminium, as it 
 is very light and strong. Its wearing qualities are most 
 excellent. 
 
 A china or crockery cup or two is a comfort, and the 
 best I know are a German pattern, made very thick and 
 solid. These are seen on the German East African line of 
 steamers. It is wonderful how a china cup will last 
 through much rough travel, and I have had cups remain 
 unbroken for a year or two. Of course, a few enamelled 
 iron cups and plates should be taken, and these latter are 
 more easily cleaned than aluminium. 
 
 The sportsman will likely take a camera, and a Kodak 
 of 3 A size (post card size) is one of the best. 
 
 A pair of binoculars and perhaps a good telescope will 
 prove most useful, in fact necessary at times, and the kind 
 chosen is a matter of personal choice. 
 
 Cartridge bags as well as gun covers are best made out 
 of green or brown canvas. 
 
 As to a shotgun, I think nothing is better than a good 
 quality i2-bore hammer gun, bored right cylinder left choke, 
 and weighing 6Jlb. Such a gun will shoot a round ball 
 true up to 50 yards if care is taken to get a mould that 
 is an exact fit. The best locks that can be purchased are 
 Brazier's and the best barrels are made of Whitworth 
 fluid compressed steel. Such a gun will last a lifetime, and 
 will outlast a dozen cheap hammer or hammerless guns. 
 
 Revolvers and pistols are not much use, except for 
 shooting oneself with by mistake ; but a most useful 
 weapon is a small -220 rifle for use with the " long rifle " or 
 " short " ammunition. It will kill small antelopes if held 
 straight at short range, and is most useful for killing 
 guineafowl, pigeon, or duck for the pot. The cartridges 
 are very light and are little trouble to carry. 
 
2 jo Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 Hunting knives, as usually sold by cutlers, are useless ; 
 when they get blunt they cannot be sharpened without the 
 use of a grindstone, and a file will not usually cut them. 
 
 The best knife to carry is a strong two-bladed pocket 
 knife, and some spare ones might be taken. Get shackles 
 fitted to these to fix to a chain, or to the catch on the 
 body belt. 
 
 Then half-a-dozen soft steel butcher's knives, known as 
 " The Bushman's Friend " or " Green River Knife," should 
 be included for cutting up game, and a strip of emery 
 stone is a most handy adjunct, as well as a small hone. An 
 American axe, a soft steel one, is a tool that should 
 always be taken ; and a pair of pincers or pliers, a few 
 files, some emery cloth, some screws and nails, a small 
 hammer, and a small hand vice will all, at times, be 
 needed for doing some small job. 
 
 I have found a narrow keyhole saw r handy, and, of course, 
 several screwdrivers will be included, with spare parts for 
 the rifles. 
 
 For cleaning weapons, vaseline and Rangoon oil are as 
 good as anything, and I rub plenty of the former on the 
 stocks of rifles to make them waterproof. 
 
 A big waterproof sheet, several green canvas bags with 
 staples and padlocks ; and one, or two, watertight tin 
 cases should be bought for putting the various kit into. 
 
 A most important item is good footgear, and nothing can 
 beat boots fitted with rubber pads known as Scarfe's 
 patent. In the dry season boots with chrome soles last 
 well ; but it is better to get bars or nails fitted, or they will 
 become slippery on dry grass and leaves. These chrome 
 soles are no good for the rainy season, as they get soft and 
 sodden with wet. 
 
 One cannot go silently when wearing heavy shooting 
 boots. Rubber soled boots or shoes are splendid for the 
 grip and silent going ; but then they are unbearably hot in 
 the tropics and soon get cut to bits. 
 
 Shorts, the same as runners or rowers use at home, 
 made of a greenish brown khaki, gabardine, or garbette, 
 
Clothing Recommended. 271 
 
 are better than tight breeches, and I like to shoot in 
 bare legs. 
 
 A light suitably coloured coat, a kind of semi-Norfolk 
 jacket, is handier for carrying things than a shirt. If a 
 coat is worn there is no necessity to wear a shirt under- 
 neath, and a thin singlet or undervest is quite sufficient. 
 
 Use natural colour socks, as blisters will be a common 
 occurrence, and dyed socks may cause blood poisoning. 
 
 The amount of blisters one can get depends largely on 
 the ease with which the boots fit, so great care should be 
 expended in finding comfortable footgear, as nothing else 
 will conduce to the comfort (or otherwise) of a hard 
 walking shooting trip. 
 
 As to head covering, get a drab or brown double 
 " Terai " hat, and for walking in open country, or along 
 broad roads, a pith helmet will often be a comfort, though 
 the latter is most uncomfortable to shoot in, especially 
 when lying or doing the crawl often necessary in a stalk 
 to close quarters. 
 
 A very useful article is a strip of waterproof material 
 made to button, or tie, round the action of the rifle. This 
 keeps water from the action and saves much trouble in 
 cleaning when one returns to the camp or headquarters. ' 
 
 Anklets, made of leather or canvas, might be taken to 
 fix over the tops of the boots, though personally I cannot 
 be bothered with anything tight round any part of my legs, 
 as it hinders free walking. 
 
 For the rains a good waterproof coat is needed, and I 
 like one made of cloth, such as an " Aquascutum," for 
 any rubber or rubber-lined coat is too hot, and causes 
 violent perspiration. 
 
 Again, I would remark that in most cases I would prefer 
 to get wet and change on my return to camp rather than 
 be hampered with having to carry such a garment when 
 shooting. 
 
 However, for marching, and for times when it is incon- 
 venient to get soaked, a coat is necessary. When the cool 
 of evening comes on, a warm tweed jacket should be at 
 
272 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 hand to put on, and I warn sportsmen or travellers not to 
 sit in the chill of evening in damp clothes, as nothing is 
 more likely to cause fever. 
 
 If one is cold in a tent, wear plenty of clothes, and a 
 warm pair of socks helps to keep the body warm. I have 
 sometimes had hot ashes spread under the camp bed, and 
 when undergoing an attack of the " shakes " (ague), a glass 
 bottle filled with hot water will do as a bed warming pan 
 and be a comfort. 
 
 Never go out in a hot sun without head covering, as one 
 will often see men do. A touch of the sun is not an affair 
 of minutes, but simply a matter of a second or two. If the 
 hat has to be removed, it is, therefore, best to get under 
 the shade of a tree, or anything else that will give shade, 
 and not stand uncovered under a blazing tropical sun. 
 
 I am afraid I do not always practise what I preach, but 
 all the same the above hints are good advice, as I know 
 from experience of my own and of others. 
 
 As to medicines, there are certain well-known drugs that 
 should be taken, though I do not advise a sportsman to buy 
 a ready-made medicine chest, which usually contains many 
 medicines which will seldom be needed. A fair quantity 
 of the following are necessary : 
 
 Quinine, vegetable laxative, calomel, Livingstone's 
 rousers (good for natives), boracic acid powder (most 
 useful), phenacetin, permanganate of potash, carbolic 
 oil, toothache cure, lint, surgical needles and thread, 
 scissors, forceps, tourniquet, sticking plaster, adhesive 
 tape, vaseline, safety pins, bandages, lancet, etc. 
 
 Most of these things will be used for treating natives,, 
 who often get bad cuts and scratches. The most common 
 complaint among them is constipation, which causes fever 
 and headaches ; and their cuts are treated so badly that 
 they often develop into large ulcers. 
 
 For the sportsman the best drink is hot tea, as the water 
 for it has to be boiled, which kills dangerous germs. 
 When one is hot and tired, nothing is more refreshing than 
 tea, and if I go off for a day in the bush, I usually carry a 
 
Equipment. 273 
 
 small kettle and some tea and sugar, as well as a little 
 food, such as bread, biscuits, a tin of sardines, and some 
 jam or honey. 
 
 It is wise to carry plenty of tinned milk, and also a good 
 supply of hops and baking powder, to make good bread or 
 scones. Some cooks can make excellent bread with native 
 beer, and, when this is well fermented, it makes the flour 
 rise as well as the best prepared hops. 
 
 Tobacco can be bought in Nyasaland, as it is grown 
 locally, and the price is about 2s. d. per pound. It is 
 rather rank, but one can get accustomed to it. 
 
 While mentioning rifles, I omitted to note the amount of 
 ammunition necessary for a six months' trip. For the 
 small-bore, 100 rounds per month, which totals 600 rounds, 
 would be more than ample ; and out of this 200 might 
 be loaded with solid bullets and 400 expanding, either 
 Dum-dum, hollow, slit, or soft nose. 
 
 For the large bore, if one is taken, 200 solids and fifty 
 expanding would be quite sufficient for the same time. 
 
 A bag, known as a rucksac, is very handy at times, and 
 it is large enough to take a blanket, a waterproof sheet, 
 and a change of clothing, should one intend sleeping out 
 for a night. 
 
 I repeat that it is unwise to make a habit of sleeping on 
 the ground, though a night spent so on occasions will harm 
 no one if it is the dry season, when there is no damp 
 about. 
 
 If one takes care not to catch sudden chills and get 
 bitten by mosquitos, rather impossible in some places, the 
 health will not suffer; and if the sportsman is troubled 
 with fever, it is good advice for him to take quinine 
 regularly, as it is the only drug yet discovered that is 
 a preventive of that complaint. 
 
 Finally, when shooting at game, get close, and make 
 sure 'of the shot. Of course, one can get too close at 
 times, and lose a good chance by trying to get too near ; 
 but the majority of game that is sent away wounded has 
 been hit by long, uncertain shots when standing in a bad 
 
 T 
 
2 7 4 
 
 Wild Life in Central Africa. 
 
 position. Do not aim at the whole animal, but carefully 
 pick the spot that you wish to hit, and this depends on the 
 angle at which the animal is standing. 
 
 Needless to say, this advice is for beginners, and not for 
 experienced hunters. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 BALLISTICS OF THE BEST-KNOWN HIGH-VELOCITY 
 RIFLES. 
 
 Bore. 
 
 Weight of 
 bullet in 
 grains. 
 
 Velocity 
 at muzzle, 
 ft. per sec. 
 
 Striking 
 energy at 
 mu/zle in 
 foot Ib. 
 
 Usual 
 weight of 
 single rifle 
 in Ib. 
 
 Usual 
 weight of 
 double rifle 
 in Ib. 
 
 Type of 
 cartridge 
 case. 
 
 256 
 
 156 
 
 2400 
 
 1990 
 
 ! 
 
 8f 
 
 Rim. 
 
 '256 Magm. ... 
 
 I 3 6 
 
 3000 
 
 2730 
 
 7! 
 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 275 
 
 173 
 
 2300 
 
 2000 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 280 
 
 140-160 
 
 3OOO 
 
 3050 
 
 8 
 
 9i 
 
 [Rim and 
 [Rimless. 
 
 303 
 
 215 
 
 2050 
 
 2O7O 
 
 7* 
 
 8f 
 
 Rim. 
 
 
 215 
 
 2500 
 
 3000 
 
 7t 
 
 94 
 
 Rim. 
 
 *'3ii (7'9mm.) 
 
 225 
 
 2030 
 
 2060 
 
 74 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 *'3i8 ... 
 
 250 
 
 2500 
 
 3460 
 
 7* 
 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 *'350 Rigby ... 
 
 310 
 
 2150 
 
 3200 
 
 7* 
 
 9i 
 
 Rim. 
 
 350 Magm. ... 
 
 225 
 
 2600 
 
 3400 
 
 8 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 *4OO-'36o 
 
 300 
 
 I 95 
 
 2530 
 
 7l 
 
 8f 
 
 Rim. 
 
 360 No. 2 ... 
 
 320 
 
 2200 
 
 3400 
 
 
 9 
 
 Rim. 
 
 375 
 
 270-320 
 
 1970 
 
 2400 
 
 7f 
 
 8! 
 
 Rim. 
 
 
 4OO 
 
 2150 
 
 4100 
 
 8* 
 
 10* 
 
 Rim. 
 
 404 
 
 400 
 
 2125 
 
 4000 
 
 8* 
 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 416 Rigby ... 
 
 410 
 
 2370 
 
 5000 
 
 10 
 
 
 
 Rimless. 
 
 500--450 
 
 480 
 
 ^170 
 
 5035 
 
 9k 
 
 Ill 
 
 Rim. 
 
 500--470 
 
 500 
 
 2 1 2O 
 
 5010 
 
 9 i 
 
 III 
 
 Rim. 
 
 450 No. 2 ... 
 
 480 
 
 2170 
 
 5035 
 
 
 II* 
 
 Rim. 
 
 475 No. 2 ... 
 
 480 
 
 2200 
 
 5150 
 
 9^ 
 
 til 
 
 Rim. 
 
 500 
 
 570 
 
 2150 
 
 5840 
 
 10 
 
 12* 
 
 Rim. 
 
 577 
 
 750 
 
 2050 
 
 6990 
 
 10* 
 
 
 Rim. 
 
 Above statistics are only approximate, but they will be found to be 
 nearly exact, and they give a good enough idea to the sportsman. 
 
 The three weapons marked with an asterisk are the best "all-round" 
 weapons I know, and either of them will kill anything in Africa, and 
 this being the case, they are good for game in any other part of the 
 world. THE AUTHOR. 
 
THE AUTHOR. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Accidents, Big game, 88, 89. 
 
 ,, Causes of big game, 80. 
 Achewa, Beliefs of, 224. 
 
 Africa, Different routes to Central, 253, 254, 255, 256. 
 African Lakes Corporation, 63. 
 Angoni, Ancient name of, 218. 
 
 ,, Customs, etc., of the, 213. 
 
 ,, Old raids of the, 216. 
 
 ,, Strange story related by the, 221. 
 Animals, The mode of attack of, 96, 97. 
 Ant (white and small black), 211. 
 Ants, Ducks and fowls killed by, 6. 
 Axe (American), Usefulness of, 10. 
 Baboon, 112. 
 
 ,, Native names of, 210. 
 Badger (Honey), Native names of, 210. 
 Baldwin, The late Mr., 81. 
 Bangweolo (Lake), Lechwe abundant near, 184. 
 
 ,, Otters plentiful near, 209. 
 Sassaby numerous near, 1 80. 
 
 Situtunga found near, 1 8 1 . 
 
 Bat, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Barns, Mr. T. A., 53, 70, 71, 181. 
 Bee, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Bees, Fowls killed by, 6. 
 Big game hunting, Good training of, 24. 
 Big game shooting, The risks of, 80. 
 Bird life (Luangwa river), 131. 
 Birds, Native names of, 211. 
 Blood smears, The way to take, 40. 
 Boers, Game slaughter by, 77, 78. 
 Borer insect, 9. 
 Boxes (Watertight), 5. 
 
 T 2 
 
276 Index. 
 
 British East Africa, A visit to, i. 
 
 Bua river (Nyasaland), 8, 15, 99, 115, 127, 183. 
 
 Buffalo, Disturb some, 139. 
 
 Escapes from, 84, 89, 93. 
 
 ,, Fine horns of, 135. 
 
 Kill large bull, 144, 145, 146. 
 
 Native names and description of, 167, 168, 169, 170. 
 
 Shoot four, 147, 148. 
 
 ,, The dying bellow of, 146, 147. 
 Bullets (Native), 60. 
 Bush, Erecting huts in the, 9. 
 Bushbaby, Native names of, 211. 
 Bushbuck, Abundance of, 149. 
 Good horns of, 185. 
 
 ,, Native names and description of, 184, 185. 
 Bushpig, Native names and description of, 203, 204. 
 Bustard, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Butterfly, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Camp, Building the permanent, n. 
 
 Change my, 71. 
 
 Description of my, 37. 
 
 ,, Making a, 6. 
 
 Camping ground, How to choose a good, 125. 
 Canvas, A good kind of, 6. 
 
 Cat (Civet), Native names and description of, 209. 
 Cat (Wild), Native names, of, 210. 
 Cedar wood forests (Mlanje), 17. 
 Central Angoniland, Description of, 15. 
 Cheetah, 198, 199. 
 Chibisa, Death of, 222, 223. 
 Chiperoni (Mountain), no. 
 Chiromo Marsh, Buffalo plentiful in the, 168. 
 Cholo range (Nyasaland), 146, 150. 
 Cobras, 7, 99. 
 
 Codrington, The late Mr. Robert, 128. 
 Cotton, Elephant killed by Major Powell, 160. 
 Crane (Crested), Native names of, 211. 
 Crocodile, 132, 210. 
 
 Boy taken by, 132, 133. 
 ,, Native names of, 210. 
 Crocodiles, Length of, 40, 50, 51. 
 
Index, 277 
 
 Crops (Native), Damage done by animals to, 76, 77. 
 Crosby, The late Mr. (killed by a buffalo), 89. 
 Crow, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Crown lands, Rules about occupation of, 14. 
 Gumming, The late R. Gordon, 81. 
 Dambo, Meaning of the word, 15. 
 Dangerous game, Comparison between, 95. 
 Dedza (Nyasaland), 218. 
 Deerstalking, Remarks on 25. 
 
 Dog (Wild), Native names and description of, 206, 207, 208. 
 Dogs (Wild), Lion killed by, 207. 
 Dove, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Duck, Angoni name of, 211. 
 
 Duiker (Blue), Native names and description of, 190, 191. 
 Duiker, Native names and description of, 189. 
 Eland, Easy spooring of, 33. 
 ,, Fat of, 172. 
 Good horns of cow, 24. 
 ,, Horn measurements of, 171. 
 Invasion of native gardens by, 18, 76. 
 ,, Lion kills young, 72. 
 ,, Measurement of large bull, 35. 
 ,, Native names and description of, 170, 171, 172. 
 Shoot, 19, 24, 34, 152. 
 ,, Wound an, 20. 
 
 Elephant, Amount of food eaten by, 76. 
 Broken tusker, 59. 
 
 Close quarters to, 55, 138, 139. 
 ,, Cutting up an, 63. 
 Distributing meat of an, 67. 
 ,, Fatal accidents caused by, 88, 89, 94, 95, 96. 
 ,, Hard work of tracking, 124, 125. 
 Hunting, 52. 
 
 Kill a charging bull, 137, 138. 
 Mr. Melland kills a large bull, 42. 
 Native names and description of, 159, 160, 161, 162. 
 Search for an, 27. 
 See and lose a fine bull, 56. 
 Shoot a good bull, 57, 58, 59. 
 Size of feet of, 28. 
 Stones in stomach of an, 108. 
 
278 Index. 
 
 Elephant, Strength of, 97, 149. 
 Tall bull, 53. 
 
 Tuskless, 139. 
 
 Tusks of, 1 60. 
 
 Wound and lose an, 55. 
 Europeans, Climatic influence on, 12. 
 Evidence, A case of false, 39. 
 Fat, Method of preparing, 35, 36. 
 
 Faulkner, The late Captain, Animal like inyala shot by, 182. 
 Fiere, The late Octave (killed by a buffalo), 94. 
 Firearms, Buying secondhand, 243, 244, 24^;. 
 
 Old, 80. 
 
 Fleas, Ducks killed by, 6. 
 Footgear, The best form of, 25. 
 Footpaths, Native, 64, 65. 
 
 Fort Manning (Nyasaland), Good elephants killed near, 28, 60. 
 Fries (Mr. de), Adventure with a buffalo bull, 93. 
 Galago, Native names of, 210. 
 Game, Field notes of the, 158. 
 Game regulations, 78. 
 Game, The best shots for, 113, 114. 
 Garden, Elephant wounds Mr. George, 93. 
 Genet (Rusty-spotted), Native names of, 210. 
 German East Africa, Slaughter of game in, 120, 121, 122. 
 Gibbs (gunmaker), Mr. George, 82. 
 Goats, Barter hippo for, 141. 
 
 Goddard, The late Mr. (killed by an elephant), 88. 
 Goose, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Graetz, Buffalo mauls Lieut. O., 94. 
 Grass, Burning of the, 16, 65. 
 
 fires, Animals destroyed in, 65. 
 Following buffalo into thick, 147, 148. 
 Graves, Old native, 8. 
 
 Grey, The late Mr. George (killed by a lion), 91. 
 Grey's Scouts, 91. 
 Ground, Sun heats the, 66. 
 Guineafowl, Native name of, 211. 
 Gwazas (Shire river, Nyasaland), 190. 
 Hare, Native names of, 211. 
 Hartebeest (Lichtenstein's), Native names and description of, 179. 
 
 Shoot, 29, 156. 
 
Index. 279 
 
 Hartebeest, Companionable habits of, 40. 
 
 Heat, Oppressive, 16, 57. 
 
 Hides, The Stretching of, 53. 
 
 Hippo, Extraordinary behaviour of, 73. 
 
 ., Kill six, 140, 141. 
 
 ,, Native names and description of, 165. 
 
 Shoot a, 73. 
 
 ,, Shoot three, 62, 63. 
 
 ,, Recovering a, 75. 
 Holland and Holland (gunmakers), 92. 
 Honey, Abundance of. 26. 
 Hornet, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Hornets, Snakes and, 7. 
 
 Stings of, 7. 
 Horns, Luck in getting fine, 41. 
 
 ,, Shrinkage in length of, 22. 
 Hut, Life in a native, 4. 
 Huts, Engage natives to build, 8. 
 Hyaenas, Dead elephant eaten by, 62. 
 
 ,, Strange sounds made by, 205. 
 
 ,, (Two varieties), Native names and description of, 204, 
 
 205, 206. 
 Impala, Abundance of, 128. 
 
 Kill a ram, 141. 
 
 Native names and description of, 186, 187. 
 
 ,, See a fine, 45. 
 India, Snakes numerous in, 7. 
 Insects, Native names of, 211. 
 
 Inyala, Native names and description of, 181, 182, 183. 
 Ivory, Grades of, 61. 
 
 ,, Age reduces weight of, 22. 
 
 Jackal (Two varieties), Native name and description of, 208. 
 Jameson, Fort (Northern Rhodesia), 72, 218. 
 Johnstone, The late Mr. (killed by an elephant), 88. 
 Kalenje, Staunchness of gunbearer, 137. 
 Kamwendo, Tracking powers of, 27, 28, 54. 
 Kingfisher, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Kirby, Mr. F. Vaughan, 83, 195. 
 
 Klipspringer, Native names and description of, 187, 188. 
 Kudu, Abundance of, 32, 
 
 ,, Difficulty in finding, 32. 
 
280 Index. 
 
 Kudu, Measurements of horns of, 31. 
 
 Native names and description of, 176, 177. 
 
 ., Shoot bull, 31, 66. 
 
 ,, Wide-spread horns of, 31. 
 Labour, Cost of native, 249, 250. 
 
 Lechwe (Two varieties), Native names and description of, 184. 
 Leeches, in, 112. 
 Leopards, Agility of, 98, 129. 
 
 Native names and description of. 196, 197, 198. 
 Natives killed by, 197. 
 Lion, A bad tempered, 130. 
 
 ,, A young eland killed by a, 72. 
 
 How game is killed by, 96, 195. 
 
 ,, Measuring skins of, 195. 
 
 ,, Native names and description of, 193, 194, 195, 196. 
 
 ,, Natives killed by, 100, 101, 102. 
 
 ,, Using dogs for hunting, 96. 
 Literature (Big game shooting), 257. 
 Livingstone's antelope, Nyasaland specimen of, 191, 192. 
 Loneliness, Bush life and its, 43. 
 Long range shooting, 2. 
 
 Long shots at big game (Field article quoted), 46. 
 Luangwa river (Northern Rhodesia), 72, 127, 129, 131, 133, 136, 
 
 138, 139, 140, 145, 165, 182, 183, 206, 207. 
 Lupata Gorge (Zambesi river), 62. 
 Machinga mountains (Northern Rhodesia). 136. 163. 
 Maiden, Mr. J., 191. 
 Maitland, The late R. P. Fuller, 94. 
 Manis (Scaly), Native names of, 211. 
 Manning, Fort, 10, 28, 60, 217, 218. 
 Maponda's village (Nyasaland), 69. 
 Marki (Gunbearer and skinner), 154. 
 Mausi hill (Nyasaland), Sable antelope plentiful near, 150, 151, 
 
 154. 
 
 Meat, Cooking and preserving, 8. 
 Melland, Fine elephant shot by Mr., 42. 
 Memeza, Angoni chief named, 217. 
 Memories of big game hunting, 127. 
 Mines, Natives going to work at, 38. 
 Missions, Central African, 220, 221. 225. 232. 
 Mitala's village (Nyasaland), 69. 
 
Index. 281 
 
 Mkumbi, Anzoni chief named, 218. 
 
 Mlanje mountains (Nyasaland), 16, 17, 197, 203, 204. 
 
 Moir Lake, 181. 
 
 Mole, Native names of, 211. 
 
 Mongoose (five varieties), Native names of, 211. 
 
 Monkey. Native names of, 210. 
 
 Mosquitoes, 112. 
 
 Mouse (Field), Native names of, 211. 
 
 Mpezo (Nyasaland), Blue duiker seen near, 190. 
 
 Mpseni, Old Angoni chief named, 217, 222, 233. 
 
 Mzazas (Luangwa river), 43, 128, 129, 131. 
 
 Native, An insolent, 37, 38. 
 
 Natives, Adaptability of the, 229. 
 
 Characteristics of the, 213. 
 
 Courage of, 103. 
 
 Happiness of, 235. 
 
 Implements and foods of the, 245. 
 
 Liking for music of, 229. 
 
 Meat-eating powers of, 23, 132. 
 
 Treatment of, 227. 
 Nawalia (Northern Rhodesia), 88. 
 Ndorobo, Elephant-killing by, 161. 
 Neumann, Elephant injures, 85. 
 
 The late Mr. A. H., 55, 61, 84, 85, 160. 
 Nyasa, Hippo in Lake, 165. 
 Nyasaland, Abundance of game in, i. 
 
 Game in, 77, 78, 79, 115, 116. 
 Hills in, 16. 
 
 Wealth of timber in, 16. 
 Ordeal, Hot water, 215. 
 Oribi, 39, no. 
 
 Native names and description of, 187. 
 Osprey, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Ospreys, 131. 
 
 Oswell, The late Mr. William Cotton, 81, 95. 
 Otter (two varieties), Native names of, 209. 
 Owl, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Parrots, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Partridge, Native name of, 211. 
 Paths, Native, 64, 65. 
 Pests, Tropical, 5. 
 
282 Index. 
 
 Photographing big game (Field articles quoted), 47, 48. 
 
 Pigeon, Angoni name of, 211. 
 
 Pinda's village (Nyasaland), 73. 
 
 Plants, Troublesome, in. 
 
 Plover, Native names of, 211. 
 
 Porcupine, Native names of, 210. 
 
 Protective colouration, 236, 237, 238. 
 
 Puff-adders, 98, 99. 
 
 Puku, 140. 
 
 ,, Native names and and description of, 183, 184. 
 Python, Native names of, 212. 
 Rains, Duration of the, 16. 
 Rainstorm, A tropical, 75. 
 Rash, Meat causing skin, 26. 
 Rat (House), Native names of, 211. 
 Rats, Damage done by, 5. 
 Reedbuck, Native names and description of 185, 186. 
 
 ,, Shoot, 39, 69. 
 Reed-rat, Native names of, 210. 
 Remarks on sport, etc., i. 
 Rhino, Native names and description of, 163, 164, 165. 
 
 Shoot a bull, 143. 
 
 Rigby and Co. (Gunmakers), Messrs. John, 92. 
 Rifles and Equipment, 263. 
 
 ,, Power of modern, 54, 81, 92, 107. 
 Rites, Mohammedan, 26. 
 Roan antelope, Abundance of, 129. 
 
 ,, ,, Native names and description of, 172, 173. 
 
 ,, ,, See a fine bull, 41. 
 
 ,, ,, Shoot two, 41. 
 
 ,, Wound and recover a, 40. 
 
 Ronaldson, Mr. W. P., 42, 204. 
 Rukusi stream (Northern Rhodesia), 142. 
 Rules, Shooting, 18. 
 
 Ruspoli, The late Prince (killed by an elephant). 96. 
 Ryan, Mr. Martin, 60. 
 Sable antelope, Native names and description of. 173. 174, 175, 
 
 Kill, 21, 22, 68, 69, 151. 
 
 ,, The best country for fine, 23, 174. 
 
 ,, ,, Wound and lose a fine bull, 45 
 
 Sanderson, The late G. P., 76. 
 
Index. 283 
 
 Sassaby, Native names and description of, 180. 
 
 Secretary bird, Angoni name of, 211. 
 
 Selous, Mr. F. C., 21, Si, 82, 83, 84, 94, 181, 193, 195, 196, 236. 
 
 Inyala shot by, 181. 
 
 Serval, Native names and description of, 199. 
 Settlers, Information for, 256. 
 Shauri, Angoni chief named, 217. 
 Shaw, The late Mr. (killed by an elephant), 88. 
 Shire river (Nyasaland), Good shooting near, 146, 149, 165, 182, 
 
 185, 190. 
 
 Shooting (Central Angoniland), 15, 17, 33. 
 Shrew (Two varieties), Native names of, 210. 
 Situtunga, Native names and description of, 180. 
 Sleeping sickness, Game and, 40, 79, 115. 
 Snake-bite, Treatment of, 99. 
 Snakes, Angoni names of different, 212. 
 
 ,, Poisonous, 7, 98. 
 Somalis, 2. 
 
 Spoorers, Best native, 27. 
 Spooring, 3. 
 
 Squirrel, Native names of, 211. 
 Stalking, 25. 
 
 Steinbuck (Sharpe's), Native names and description of, 190. 
 Stigand, Capt. C. H., 86, 87, 88. 
 Stoat, Native names of, 210. 
 Streatfield, Mr. Frank, A puff-adder bites, 99. 
 Sugar, Use of, 26. 
 
 Tarlton, Mr. Leslie, Large bag of lions made by, 92. 
 Tea, The use of, 9. 
 Tete (Zambesi river), 72. 
 Thunderstorm, A terrific, 44. 
 Ticks, in. 
 
 Tilden, The late Mr. (killed by an elephant), 89. 
 Timmler, Mr. C. H., 181, 182, 185. 
 Trackers, 3. 
 
 Tracking, 105, 106, 107, 108. 
 Traits, Various native, 230, 231. 
 Trees, Elephants break large, 149. 
 
 ,, Most useful, 9. 
 Trophies, Preservation of, 239. 
 Treatment of, 155. 
 
284 Index. 
 
 Tropics, Health in the, 251, 252. 
 Tsetse, Angoni name of, 211. 
 Tuchila plains, 150. 
 
 ,, river, 150. 
 Vegetables, Native, 134. 
 Vegetation, Obnoxious, 29. 
 Vulture, Native names of, 211. 
 Vultures, Sight of, 131. 
 Wagtail, Native name of, 211. 
 Walks, Long, 17. 
 Warthog, 36, no. 
 
 Native names and description of, 201, 202, 203. 
 
 ,, Weight of boar, 202. 
 Waterbuck, 21, 75, 135, 140. 
 
 ,, Native names and description of, 177, 178. 
 Steedman first discovers, 178. 
 Whirlwinds, 72. 
 
 Wild animals, Confinement of, 123, 124. 
 Wild cat, Native names of, 210. 
 
 Wild dog, Native names and description of, 206, 207, 208. 
 Wilds, Hints to one lost in the, 125, 126. 
 Yakobo, My cook, 67, 74. 
 Young, Lake, 181. 
 Zambesi river, Hippo in, 62, 63, 74, 166, 167. 
 
 ,, valley, Great heat in 16, 72, 145. 
 Zebra, Native names and description of, 200, 201. 
 
 Shoot three, 26. 
 Zoological gardens, 123, 124. 
 Zorille, Native names of ,211 
 Zulus, 135. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 Ballistics of the best known high velocity rifles, 274. 
 
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