90 THROUGH ANGOLA 



nine- tenths of the food in the stomachs of the 

 sable, but then it was the time when the young 

 grass was springing up after the burnings ; and 

 all animals love young grass. It is likely that at 

 other times the quinsolle and the chinbimburee 

 serve as food for the sable. 



It was the first evening on the Luce River, and 

 an hour before sunset, that we came across the big 

 herd of thirty sable. There were five bulls in 

 all, and one huge fellow ; the rest were cows 

 and little ones. The herd was scattered and 

 grazing, half hidden by the trees of an open forest. 

 My one desire \vas to take a photograph, and 

 replace some of those that had been lost ; as the 

 light was fading and there was no time to lose, I 

 started at once to crawl towards the sable with 

 the camera, while the local guide, strongly dis- 

 approving of this way of hunting, crept behind 

 me with my gun. The herd kept moving away 

 from us as fast as we could creep on hand and 

 knee, and all this time the sun was sinking lower, 

 the shadows were lengthening, and all hope of 

 taking photographs was slowly dying out. 



Then came temptation in the eager plcnding 

 of the local guide, who knew only that he needed 

 meat for his village, and who could not understand 

 my losing time and every chance " to point 

 against the sable a long black box which could 

 not kill them." Then, too, I remembered that 

 one sable cow was needed to complete my museum 

 specimens, and I thought, not without misgiving, 

 to kill one that had no young rnlf; but the 

 question was derided by the big bull of the herd. 



