VI A CHAT BY THE CAMP FIRE 



99 



him. We had both been lucky since our last 

 meeting, and, over a substantial meal of rhinoceros 

 liver and rice and a kettle of coffee, we sat till far 

 into the night recounting to one another our various 

 hunting experiences during the past two months. 

 W.'s plan of procedure was a little different from 

 mine ; he had given ten of his Kafirs guns, and they 

 all hunted with him, firing away at the elephants 

 indiscriminately. As a natural consequence, after 

 every successful hunt there were several claimants for 

 some of the elephants shot, and it was often difficult 

 to decide who amongst them had really given the 

 disputed animal the first bullet. Three of my Kafirs 

 also carried guns, but I usually sent them out 

 hunting alone ; not that I cared much about their 

 disputing among themselves, but I very much object 

 to any of my servants claiming an elephant which I 

 think I have killed myself. W., however, having 

 probably shot more elephants than any Englishman 

 living, was past this vanity, and only thought of how 

 to secure the greatest quantity of ivory. 



The day following my arrival, we left the skerm, 

 and went away to the north-west, leaving two Kafirs 

 behind to look after the ivory and baggage. We 

 remained away five days, but only shot two elephant 

 cows. The hills here (close to the Zambesi) were 

 higher and more rugged and precipitous than those 1 

 had been hunting amongst farther to the eastward, 

 and in many of the deep narrow ravines the scenery 

 was most striking. Though the sides of these kloofs 

 in some cases were almost perpendicular, several trees 

 had nevertheless found a hold for their roots in the 

 interstices of the rocks, and amongst them the 

 fantastic-shaped baobabs, with their long leafless limbs, 

 looked particularly strange. 



