78 THROUGH ANGOLA 



science. Here an animal had been killed that 

 was of little worth as a trophy, while any chance 

 of a shot at the lioness had been destroyed for one 

 night at least. The deformed sable when measured 

 next morning was found to be 4 feet 3 inches high 

 at the shoulder and only 3 feet 8 inches high at 

 the rump, and its shape even in daylight was very 

 like that of a hog. 



For the next two days I hunted hard for sable. 

 There was only one small herd of eight or nine 

 cows and two bulls in the neighbourhood, and as 

 I myself was tracking, I got to know some of these 

 animals individually. The ground was hard and 

 the tracking difficult, but all the more interesting 

 on that account ; for tracking is the very salt of 

 all hunting in Africa, as stalking is the salt of 

 hunting in the hills. 



It is easier to approach the larger African big 

 game than wild goat or sheep, or even the deer 

 family in other countries. 



To allow some one else to do all the tracking is 

 for the hunter equivalent to letting the American 

 guide, the Indian shikari, or the Scottish gillie, 

 direct the whole of the stalk. Not one of these 

 things is true hunting (though it may be called 

 shooting), and those who do them may be called 

 big-game shots, of whom there are many thousands 

 to-day : they are not big-game hunters, of whom 

 there are very few. 



To find and judge the age of a track ; to know 

 the animal, its sex, its size, and the way it has 

 moved ; to guess its very mood whether anxious, 

 or uncertain, or tranquil ; this can all be done 



