26 HUNTING TRIPS IN NORTHERN RHODESIA. 



On getting to camp I found M. in before me with a hartebeest. The natives' 

 appetites for nyama (meat) seems inexhaustible, and they can eat great quantities 

 of it. Too much meat is not good for them, but they barter a lot of it with the 

 villagers for grain, ground nuts, sweet potatoes, etc. To-day I nearly trod on a 

 brown mamba (called the cobra here), and a native walking near me also had 

 a narrow escape of being bitten, for the reptile passed between his legs after I had 

 disturbed it. 



On Wednesday, December 30th, we both went out to try and find sable 

 antelope. I saw duikers, reedbuck, and a klipspringer, but fired at none of them. 

 When I got to camp I found M. had arrived with a nice reedbuck ram. Many of 

 the natives were now suffering from the effects of overeating themselves, and there 

 were constant applications for manquala (medicine). 



We shifted camp next day and after getting the tents up went out. I came 

 on a herd of Nyasaland gnu, but they ran, so I followed. Getting to within three 

 hundred yards I tried a long shot, as it seemed hopeless getting nearer. I made 

 a lucky shot and hit one through the neck, but unfortunately it was a female. As 

 the herd ran off I tried a long shot at a good male, but missed him. 



Saw a number of guinea-fowl, quail, and snipe to-day, but not having a shotgun 

 did not shoot any. 



A shotgun is often a useless encumbrance, for one cannot fire at small game 

 without disturbing the larger and more valuable animals. 



We found we had come too late, for all the buffalo had left. There was a 

 tremendous amount of their spoor about, but all some weeks old, although I saw some 

 more recent, but not fresh enough to be worth following. October and November 

 are the best months, for now the rains had broken, all the game had scattered. 



On the New Year we changed camp to a spot just under a hill named Tomboye, 

 and saw heaps of old buffalo spoor all round. There were the remains of an old 

 village here with the walls of the huts still standing, and the buf?alo had been 

 wandering between the huts. 



The country hereabouts appeared very wild indeed and looked a typical big game 

 country. Feeling feverish I came back to the tent earlier than usual, shooting a 

 reedbuck on the way. M. came in with a good sable bull, and had lost one of his 

 men, who got back just as darkness fell. 



Next day we were both out again, and I tried my best to get a shot at sable, and 

 got up to a single old bull, but he was suspicious and went of? before I could shoot. 



Coming back I shot a duiker, which ran quite a hundred yards with a bullet 

 through both shoulders. 



