8 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
This delightful existence might have gone on indefinitely, but 
one morning news came through that war had been declared. 
Shortly afterwards I was sent to one of the company’s farms north 
of Pietersburg where the manager had been called to the Forces 
as he was a reservist. My job was to collect a horse that had been 
running loose on the farm and ride it back to our place, where it 
could be looked after. With the help of a gang of natives we even- 
tually lassoed the horse and got it saddled, so I set off on my long 
journey. It was a frisky half-trained stallion, and I had just over 
a hundred miles to go. Many times he tried to bolt when I dis- 
mounted, and this he managed once, fortunately near a farm- 
house, so that I was eventually able to corner him in a small pad- 
dock. I accomplished the trip in three days. As I had done very 
little riding up to this point, my posterior began to feel the worse 
for wear, so for comfort I took the precaution to stuff my spare 
shirt in the seat of my trousers on the second day. Even so an 
otherwise interesting journey became more and more painful. 
On the third day the heat was tropical, and it was a couple of very 
weary specimens that at last reached the farm. 
Having by now learned enough Shangaan to understand almost 
anything the natives said, I began inquiring about some of their 
curious customs and beliefs. Once when I was approaching a 
stockaded native village I came to a long sapling that had been 
planted in the ground near the entrance path. Dangling from the 
top of the pole was a wild root resembling a yam. For the life of 
me I could not imagine the significance of this, but my boy ex- 
plained solemnly that the root had the power of keeping lightning 
away from the village, also snakes and burglars. Natives are often 
reluctant to discuss their legends and superstitions, but I could not 
resist asking how he supposed a root could repel reptiles and brig- 
ands. He replied that at night the magic root would make the 
road into the village appear as a sheet of water and so the noc- 
turnal prowlers would turn back. 
On another occasion I was out repairing a boundary fence with 
a native, when we disturbed a snake. It was almost certainly a 
harmless species, but to most natives all snakes are venomous. My 
boy explained that this one was very bad, and if a man were bitten 
by it the only cure was to go home and sleep with his sister! 
