Chapter VII 



KATOOTERO AND HIS HONEYBIRD 



I HAVE related this adventure at length because the shoot- 

 ing of this buffalo was the means of finally establishing 

 my friendship with these proud and elusive tribesmen. 

 I gradually got to know them as intimately as any white 

 men can know a black, and some of my happiest and 

 most profitable days in forest work were spent with 

 them. 



These people are natural scouts; the most skilful man 

 among them in the use of the bow and hunting is voted 

 Chief. They are, generally speaking, very healthy people 

 and have no recourse to medicines or witchcraft. They 

 keep themselves fit by regulating their diet and taking 

 strenuous exercise, which they get quite naturally in the 

 course of their hunting. They do not cultivate the 

 ground, but manage to vary their diet alternatively, by 

 using meat and green food, wild fruits and nuts, tree 

 seeds, roots of plants, wild yams, and a certain number 

 of forest weeds which take the place of vegetables. Sting- 

 ing nettles, when they can be found, are valued as a food. 

 They are first boiled lightly and afterwards pounded to 

 pulp. Honey takes the place of most sweets. This they 

 collect from the hollow trees, of which a number are 



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