SPORT IN MOZAMBIQUE 



echoes, and playing at hide-and-seek with me without 

 affording the opportunity of firing a shot. On the 

 fourth day he disappeared ; but several months 

 afterwards he again took up his quarters in the 

 neighbourhood, accompanied by a new consort. 



There is another feline which I shot close to the 

 house, namely the lynx, which feeds upon hares, 

 partridges, and guinea-fowls. I have seen only a 

 single species of civet ; those I have killed were of 

 the size and shape of a large fox, with a long black 

 and grey coat. This nocturnal animal is omnivorous, 

 feeding not only upon flesh, but likewise on insects 

 and fruits. It has the remarkable property of 

 yielding civet, secreted by a gland situated near the 

 vent. 1 



Everyone is familiar with the porcupine, that great 

 destroyer of crops, which the natives call nongo, and 

 of which they highly appreciate the flesh. I have 

 killed three. 



I also captured, during this rainy season, a curious 

 rodent, a sort of rat, Chcetomys gambianus, more 

 than a yard and a half in length, which 1 the natives 

 call rupini. It lives in colonies in a burrow, and is a 

 great devourer of crops. I also captured two kinds of 

 monitors or miscalled iguanas ; the one, which lives 

 in the woods, grey and black, and the other, which 



1 The Kafirs term the lion indifferently bondolo, calamou, and goug- 

 namar ; the leopard, nialougwe or kamba ; the lynx or caracal, jauzi ; 

 and the civet, m'fongo. 



(86) 



