Introductory Chapter 



watch it all night and keep turning it. It is 

 always one's luck to shoot a rare animal in the 

 rains, and to have to throw away the mask because 

 it refuses to dry properly. As regards measuring 

 horns — in most animals the method is apparent. 

 Take the front curve, start at the base, and 

 measure along, gripping the measure lightly with 

 one's fist, not pressing it into any corrugations, 

 and follow the horn carefully to its tip. In the 

 case of a kudu, start on the ridge at the base in 

 front, and follow that ridge spirally round the 

 horns. An eland is measured in a straight line. 

 A buffalo, at its greatest outside span at the 

 widest part and greatest inside span as well. 

 (This will be usually in the same straight line as 

 the former.) Wildebeest is done the same as 

 a buffalo. Measure a lion, leopard, etc., lying at 

 full length on the ground, sticking a spear into 

 the ground at its nose and at the tip of its tail. 

 Take the animal away and you have the measure- 

 ment. 



The big rains start in the last week in March 

 or beginning of April, and last to the end of 

 May. The autumn rains begin in the middle of 

 November and go on for a month or six weeks. 

 If you shoot in the rains, or directly after, you 

 must take most of your shots standing, and 

 you will be thoroughly badly wetted by the long 

 grass in the mornings. A month after the rains 

 the grass dries up by reason of the heat of the 



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