HONAMA AND HIS MEN. 67 



twelve feet wide was cleared, inter- 

 secting the runs followed by wild ani- 

 mals in passing from any given stretch 

 of outlying jungle to the deeper forest. 

 The bottom of the net was firmly 

 pegged down along its whole length ; 

 the upper side was then raised by props 

 (like the clothes lines in a drying 

 ground) to a height of about ten feet, 

 the main support being given to the net 

 by props on the side from which 

 animals would approach it when roused 

 by the beaters; by every one of these 

 latter props crouched a spearman 

 under an extemporised screen of brush- 

 wood, and with his goat's-hair blanket 

 folded on his shoulders. The instant 

 that an animal rushed against the net, 

 the spearmen knocked away the props 



