ONE AFRICAN DAY 207 



my second rifle pressed against my right leg and 

 ready for immediate use in case of trouble, and only 

 his eyes glistened with the scent of battle. He had 

 the best eyesight of any man I ever hunted with, 

 and was about the worst hand on a spoor — even a 

 heavy blood spoor — that could be imagined. In 

 fact, in two cases when I had wounded and lost 

 two animals — both Pallah rams — ^he was perfectly 

 hopeless, and I had to make out the trail myself, 

 in both cases fortunately with success. This 

 deficiency in the power of tracking seems to be a 

 common characteristic of all the East African 

 natives, and though they are generally keen, brave, 

 long-sighted, enduring and devoted to their masters 

 — if they think they can shoot — their powers of 

 following wounded game are of the feeblest descrip- 

 tion. Of East African tribes only the N'dorobo 

 seem to be the real hunters, and these are not always 

 easy to get. 



When we had skinned the lions we all returned to 

 camp, where news of our success had already arrived. 

 On the way Pullar killed a very good male Thom- 

 son's Gazelle with fine horns. Then took place the 

 usual procession and dance, with branch-waving 

 and blowing on oryx horns, in which all the porters 

 joined and sang our praises — an exhibition of 

 enthusiasm all the more popular because it entailed 

 a certain amount of additional " backsheesh " and 

 " posho." After an excellent dinner I found Mab- 

 ruki boiling the eyes of my lioness, which he subse- 

 quently ate. In spite of his excellent powers of 

 vision, he said that he felt assured " he would now 

 see better." 



We were just leaving for the afternoon hunt 



