VIII 



ANOTHER CHANGE LIONS 



OUR head-man reported that the porters were dis- 

 abled from sore feet and would require sandals 

 before another trek was possible. We clothe the safari, 

 either actually or by a money allowance, which is the 

 usual way. We were hunting in the early part of the 

 rainy season. The grass, from knee to shoulder high, 

 was fast being broken down under the rains. The 

 grasses in Africa have edges to their blades, especially 

 the spear-grass, and not only cut feet, but shoes as well. 

 Most of our trekking had been over the veldt, where 

 paths were absent or not well defined. In short, I was 

 asked to furnish three zebra skins that the porters might 

 be shod. I had no desire to shoot a zebra, beautiful, 

 graceful, and picturesque. I would have much preferred 

 to have traded the hard-worked nag that I bestrode for 

 one of those plump beauties. They are regarded almost 

 as vermin, and your license permits you to shoot twenty. 

 They were numerous, and usually not difficult to ap- 

 proach within two hundred and fifty or three hundred 

 yards, but this day, in executing my commission, I rode 

 hard and long, and did not sight one until 12.30 P.M., 

 when the hot glow of the sun had raised a shimmering 

 heat from the wet earth, producing a pulsating, up- 



61 



