GORDON GUMMING VINDICATED. 311 



home sportsmen turn up their noses, and pronounce with 

 the usual emphaticness characteristic of the breed, snoh, 

 " It's all an infernal lie." In this, as in many other 

 things, they show their ignorance, and because they have 

 not the courage to rival his performances, profess to 

 disbelieve that they ever were done. 



So frequently has this come under my attention at 

 home, that I resolved to make particular inquiries at 

 Soshong (the northern limit of his hunting-ground), into 

 the truth of the most marvellous portions of his narra- 

 tive. In this there was no difficulty, for still many men 

 lived who hunted with him, and were eye-witnesses to 

 nearly all the great deeds of the mighty hunter, and 

 every incident that I could call to mind was emphatically 

 confirmed by them. 



One grey -haired old warrior said that "no white man 

 ever come here like Gordon Gumming. When he heard 

 the lion at night, the same as in the day, he went into 

 the bush and shot him/' This, doubtless, was exag- 

 geration; but that he was a great hunter, and one ot 

 the bravest of the brave, there can be no question. 



Life on the flat, or among the traders, I have not yet 

 spoken of. To leave Soshong without doing so would 

 be base ingratitude, for from one and all, from the 

 highest to the lowest, I received the greatest kindness 

 and hospitality. Moreover, to my surprise, I found them 

 all educated men and gentlemen. True, there was one 

 deserter, but many a gentleman has enlisted, and will, 

 doubtless, to the end of time, and, as well as those more 

 humbly born, sometimes desert. 



Charlie , for I will not give his full name, was 



a character. He was short, well-made, and a consum- 

 mate fop in reference to dress : nobody had shirts with 



