EXTRAORDINARY CHARACTER. 173 



soro, for a short ramble, in the hope of getting a 

 shot at some kind of antelope, as the men in the 

 village said there were plenty of nyama (literally 

 meat, but used by the natives for all small antelopes). 

 In rear of the village, and running parallel to the 

 river, is a flat plain covered with long grass, about 

 half a mile in breadth, where it is joined by the low 

 thick forests which run down from the hills. My 

 route lay across this plain, and I had scarcely gone 

 half way over it, when hearing footsteps hurrying 

 after me, I looked round, and saw an extraordinary 

 figure in the shape of a native sportsman striding 

 over the ground, evidently in haste to overtake me. 

 I waited for him, and as he came up, making all sorts 

 of strange grimaces, and bowing and scraping, I 

 could not help laughing heartily at the unexpected 

 apparition. He was about six feet four inches in 

 height, his limbs and neck, which were long and 

 thin, giving him a ridiculously lanky appearance. 

 A high fez, so old and greasy that one never could 

 have believed that its colour had once been red, 

 adorned his head, and he carried a rusty gun about 

 six feet long. Many belts, pouches, bags, and knives 

 of different sizes encircled his waist, and his powder- 

 horn hung from his neck. His face, breast, arms, and 

 back were scarred in an extraordinary manner. 

 Around his wrists he wore several rings of what ap- 

 peared to be some root recently dug from the ground, 

 and the stock of his gun was so covered with the 

 same article, that it was a mystery to me how he could 

 shoot with it. I found, on putting this trusty weapon 

 to my shoulder, that I could not bring my eye to 



