NATIVE NATURALISTS 67 



The natives soon discovered that they could 

 make an appreciable addition to their incomes by 

 hunting, and bringing in beasts of various sorts. 

 Hyraxes, gigantic rats, bats, mice, worms, beetles, 

 chameleons, and snakes came pouring into Bihunga 

 when once it was found that there were people mad 

 enough to pay for such follies. The care with 

 which they secured the captive beasts, and the air 

 of mystery and importance with which they pro- 

 duced them, were always a source of amusement. 

 If it could by any means be avoided, they would 

 never hold a beast in their hands, but always bind 

 a string of banana-fibre round its neck, and attach 

 that to a stick, or else they wrapped the creature 

 in elaborate parcels of banana-leaves, which they 

 opened with a great display of caution and pretence 

 of fear. The moment of unpacking the parcel was 

 always an exciting one, as you never could tell what 

 might be produced ; a mouse might make a sudden 

 dash for liberty, or a swarm of beetles or crabs 

 come scurrying out, or a few chameleons would 

 come strolling out, looking fearfully bored, or half 

 a dozen bats would flap out into the sunshine. One 

 of the most curious things that was brought was a 

 single small beetle tied to a stick by a most ingenious 

 harness about its middle ; it was a common species 

 of which we had many specimens, but it was bought 

 and put to death for the sake of its harness, and 

 now, I hope, it adorns the National Collection. 



My business was to make collections of plants 



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