Bound for Khartoum Once More 



less of a fit state to protect themselves ; though 

 even they cannot hope to stand up against a 

 modern powerful cordite rifle in the hands of 

 one of the bolder spirits anxious to secure his 

 ivory. 



The elephants and buffaloes in the Reserve 

 are protected from the white sportsman by the 

 natives, who love to show their zeal towards 

 Government by reporting to the authorities every 

 case of elephant being shot in any part, either on 

 the chance of a reward for information received, 

 or, as I strongly suspect, because they consider 

 these royal game their own special perquisite as 

 in the old days of indiscriminate slaughter. I 

 should say that the cases of a native reporting 

 another of his own kith and kin for breaking the 

 game regulations in this manner are extremely 

 few and far between, whilst the numbers of 

 important beasts who are done to death in this 

 noiseless, secret, underhand way, would be 

 surprising if ever they came out. Why, when 

 one meets a party of savages busily engaged in 

 clearing the path of weeds and undergrowth, one 

 notices by the roadside their bundles of bows and 

 arrows heaped together near the remains of their 

 fires, and on examination all the arrows are found 

 to be bright and sharp. If you question them 

 they make no bones about the matter, but tell 

 you straight, " This is the season for elephant 

 huntinor ! " The natives do far more harm in 



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