IN THE FOREST 



measure from 30 to 36 inches in length. The flesh 

 is coarse, although the Kafirs and the lions eat it ; 

 the hide is strong and serviceable. The waterbuck 

 (Cobus ellipsiprymnus) has a great number of native 

 designations, of which I mention only two, piva and 

 niakobzou. It derives its English name of waterbuck 

 from its partiality for water. 



On my return, I take to pieces my express-rifle j 

 and, finding a quantity of sand in the extractor and 

 the striker, I return thanks to heaven that the first 

 shot did not come off. If I had hit the lion at this 

 short distance, I should probably have been charged 

 by the lioness, and, the extractor not working, I should 

 have been unable to reload. The negligence of my 

 tracker nearly cost me dear. 



One day, when distributing waterbuckmeat to 

 my negroes, one of them declared that he could not 

 eat it. I enquired and was told of a curious native 

 superstition, which they call m'toupo. When a child 

 is of age to understand his father says to him : — 

 41 Your tabu is this animal, you must not eat it." 

 And all his life he observes this prohibition. There 

 are, however, mitigations when hunger lays hold of 

 the stomach. I remember one of my negroes who 

 had the zebra for his tabu, and he replied when I 

 remarked that he was eating zebra that it was only 

 the. bone of the leg of the zebra that was his m'toupo. 

 The m'toupo of the Kafir women is generally the goat 

 and the small antelopes. Another curious custom is 



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