2 3 o THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



he had been a mighty buffalo-hunter, for hides. He stated 

 that whenever as a still-hunter he got "a stand on a bunch,'* 

 and began to shoot, slowly and patiently, so as not to alarm 

 the stand, whenever a buffalo took alarm and attempted to 

 lead away the bunch, usually it proved to be a wise old cow. 

 The bulls seemed too careless to take notice of the firing and 

 try to lead away from it. 



The Sixth Law. Of food and territory, the weak shall 

 have their share. 



While this law is binding upon all the members of a wild 

 flock, a herd, a clan or a species, outside of species limits it may 

 become null and void; though in actual practice I think that 

 this rarely occurs. Among the hoofed animals; the seals and 

 sea-lions; the apes, baboons and monkeys, and the kangaroos, 

 the food that is available to a herd is common to all its members. 

 We can not recall an instance of a species attempting to dis- 

 possess and evict another species, though it must be that many 

 such have occurred. In the game-laden plains of eastern 

 Africa, half a dozen species, such as kongonis, sable antelopes, 

 gazelles and zebras, often have been observed in one land- 

 scape, with no fighting visible. 



With all but the predatory wild animals and man, the 

 prevailing disposition is to live, and let live. One of the few 

 recorded murders of young animals by an old one of the same 

 species concerned the wanton killing of two polar bear cubs in 

 northern Franz Joseph Land, as observed by Nansen. 



The Seventh Law. Man is the deadliest enemy of all the 

 wild creatures; and the instant a man appears the whole herd 

 must fly from him, fast and far. 



In some of the regions to which man and his death-dealing 

 influence have not penetrated, this law is not yet on the statute 

 books of the jungle and the wilderness. Sir Ernest Shackleton 

 and Captain Scott found it unknown to the giant penguins and 

 sea leopards of the Antarctic Continent. I have seen a few 

 flocks and herds by whom the law was either unknown, or 



