Introductory Chapter 



it, and see what a tremendous difference it makes. 

 Dress an animal's head in its skin, as nature made 

 it, and then look round at all of them and note 

 how very much more interesting it is to see the 

 different colours and shapes ; whether the skin 

 is smooth or shaggy, for instance ; while if an 

 animal has a mane, like the Roan, there it is. It 

 makes fifty per cent of difference, for instance, to 

 the Hartebeest. The bare skull of the latter, 

 with its absurdly long face, high horn-pedicle and 

 horns, making the head still more elongated, is 

 just saved by the ears sticking out on each side. 

 When about to skin any head, think for a moment 

 that one looks at it, set up high on the walls of 

 one's ancestral hall, from below. Therefore, so 

 as not to show stitches, or an irregularly cut line, 

 the skin must be cut above, on the top of the 

 neck. If the animal has a mane, cut the neck 

 just on one side, taking care not to divide the 

 mane. The animal will have its throat cut, but 

 be careful to have the operation done not actually 

 in its gullet, as ninety-nine out of a hundred 

 savages will try to do, but at the very base, at the 

 junction of the neck to the body. Cut off the 

 head, and take the whole thing back to camp, 

 "all standing." Arrived there, cut along the top 

 of the neck to the top of the poll. From this 

 point cut two lines, making a V to each horn. 

 Then skin downwards, finishing off with the lips. 

 The reason of the V-shaped cut, starting with the 



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