SPORT IN MOZAMBIQUE 



One would think that the Kafirs of the neighbouring 

 villages would be delighted to see me for having rid 

 them of such troublesome formidable neighbours as 

 the lions of the tendos. Nothing of the kind, they 

 were, on the contrary, much distressed, and, instead 

 of helping me, did all they could to hinder my finding 

 them. It is, therefore, entirely due to my own efforts 

 that I have fired at twenty-five lions and accounted 

 for twenty-three of them. I have at last, however, 

 solved the mystery. A native, more loquacious than 

 the rest, said to me one day when I was showing him 

 the skins of my lions, which were drying near my 

 camp : " Yes, you have killed a great many lions, 

 but there are still plenty more, and as you will not 

 always be here, when you have gone away they will 

 return in multitudes, and, looking for their brothers 

 and being unable to find them, they will see their 

 skeletons on the plain, which will cry out to them : 

 1 These are the men who have killed us,' and in revenge 

 they will come and eat us in our villages." 



Strange as was this reply, it did not much surprise 

 me, for I know with what fearful awe the Kafirs 

 regard the lion. " It is not an animal," they say, 

 " but a very strong man " ; and it is only when a lion 

 has absolutely become a man-eater that they decide 

 to hunt it. As a rule, when a Kafir meets a lion he 

 salutes it by clapping his hands, then, scraping his 

 feet on the ground, as though he were addressing a 

 great personage, he says to it: "Master, I wish to 



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