68 NATURE AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA 



regard to sporting etiquette or not. And I am 

 afraid there are few Englishmen who have travelled 

 in the African interior who could plead '' not guilty " 

 to the charge of having, at some time or another, 

 fired into the thick of a troop of guinea-fowl, as they 

 sat roosting together in some tree at night, in order 

 to provide a good meal or two for themselves and 

 their party. 



But there are also many days when the guinea- 

 fowl can be followed in a more appropriate and 

 sportsmanlike manner. And, especially after the 

 rains fall, when grass and vegetation are thick and 

 covert is good, the gunner, with the aid of a dog 

 which understands this game, can enjoy some very 

 pretty sport. Along the banks of the Setlagoli river 

 in British Bechuanaland covert was abundant, and 

 we could usually reckon on picking up a few brace 

 of guinea-fowl — besides other game — if we rode that 

 way. 



One fine South African winter morning I rode 

 with a friend up the Setlagoli to call on some 

 neighbours. The road ran from our huts on the 

 Maritsani through a picturesque bit of country, well 

 grassed and densely timbered with giraffe acacia. 

 Between the road and the Setlagoli — for most of the 

 year a mere dry, sandy watercourse, with an occa- 

 sional pit of water here and there — a thick growth 

 of thornbush, interspersed with trees, offered excel- 



