THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



The reason why one man for a long jungle trip needs as 

 many as forty men, which would give him about thirty 

 porters for carrying loads, and possibly only twenty of 

 these would carry food, is that in most of the outlying dis- 

 tricts, where the best game is to be had, no food or 

 " posho," as the porters' food is generally called, can be 

 obtained locally, and forty men will eat just about one load 

 of posho of sixty pounds each day. This again would 

 only carry the safari along for less than a month, but 

 within that time the hunter probably passes by some East 

 Indian's store, or a native village, where it is possible to 

 buy the needed loads of posho. And besides this, at the 

 start each man may carry his own food for six to eight 

 days in a small muslin bag, which is added to his load. 

 Then, if much game is secured, it is possible to feed the 

 men on smaller rations of posho, so that twenty loads 

 of posho, for instance, would in such a way be sufficient 

 for four or five weeks, within which time the sportsman 

 is now reasonably certain of being able to buy food locally 

 in almost any place in British East Africa. 



If, however, the hunter desires to go very far ofT from 

 inhabited country, he can arrange for the posho in an- 

 other way — by taking, say, only twenty men in all, just 

 enough to have them carry the camp outfit, guns, and a 

 few loads of food, and then use twelve donkeys to carry 

 the rest of the men's posho. As each donkey carries 

 from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and fifty 

 pounds, and only feeds on the grass, it is possible, in such 

 a way, to be out from fifty days to two months without 

 buying fresh supplies. If rations are cut down, when 

 meat is very plentiful, it may be possible to be away 



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