8 CENTRAL AFRICAN GAME AND ITS SPOOR. 



impressions, they do not show the resemblance we should have wished. The reason 

 for this, we are inclined to think, is that the spoor when committed to paper is too 

 clear and well defined, and that the only way to convey a true impression would be by 

 making a plaster cast. 



The reader must also bear in mind that, though the spoor is the actual size, as he 

 will discover for himself if he troubles to compare their measurements with the 

 mean of those of two or three dozen full-grown animals, they look bigger than 

 the original. 



The spoor we have drawn is as nearly perfect as we could find, a place where an 

 animal has crossed a bare patch or pathway being generally chosen. Such a spoor is, 

 perhaps, not seen more than once or twice during a whole day spent in following an 

 animal, it generally being necessary to decide what the animal is from an imperfect 

 representation, but it is necessary to learn the appearance of the whole thoroughly 

 before one can hope to recognise it from the part. 



When one has the general appearance of the spoor vividly ingrained in one's 

 mind, the imagination instinctively fills in the parts missing from an imperfect 

 impression, and this often leads the eye to catch some faint lines in other parts it 

 would otherwise have missed. 



It is not merely necessary to be able to recognise the spoor, by far the most 

 difficult part is to see it at all. In walking in the bush one should always go very 

 slowly, as there are four important things to be done at the same time. 



Firstly, to keep a continual look out in every direction, to see any game the 

 moment it becomes visible and before it has seen you, in itself no mean feat in thick 

 country ; secondly, to watch the ground in front and on either side of you for spoor ; 

 thirdly, to walk noiselessly ; and, fourthly, to listen for any sounds which might betray 

 the presence of game, not to mention looking out for antbear holes, game pits, 

 stumps, buffalo bean, and other impediments. 



The main difficulty in seeing spoor is to recognise it in every guise it assumes 

 in ground of varying hardness and different types of country, and at the different 

 speeds an animal is moving. 



Till one begins to see them unconsciously it is best to be continually thinking 

 how a spoor would look if it were in a special patch of ground you are looking at. 



Putting aside tracks in muddy ground, and the galloping buck on hard bare 

 soil, which is obviously apparent, we will try and describe some different aspects they 

 assume. 



There is a very shallow, faint impress which an animal often makes in a thin 

 layer of gritty sand in hard ground. This is absolutely invisible looking straight down 



