MATTERS, INCLUDING PETS AND INSECTS 



spring of Paka the wild cat, which, like most wild 

 cats, was a light brown colour, to match the dried- 

 up grass on the plains. 



A curious thing happened ; the kitten took to 

 eating the duiker's food of cucumber rind and so 

 on, and the duiker began eating the kitten's food 

 of maize-meal and gravy and chicken bones. I was 

 always rescuing chicken bones out of its little 

 mouth, which it would turn over and suck for a 

 long time, but I feared the results if it swallowed 

 them. I have since heard wild buck like sucking 

 bleached bones. 



The duiker I kept for seven months ; once or 

 twice it went away for a night but returned in the 

 morning, just when I was feeling very anxious 

 about it. As I was planting flowers, I felt a little 

 soft nose poke me behind, the duiker having softly 

 run up the path. It had a little collar and bell 

 round its neck later, as it was difficult to see to 

 catch and put up for the night when once it grew 

 dark and the duiker grew frisky. I could catch 

 it, but it would not let the boys come near it, ex- 

 cept with its bottle in their hands. One evening 

 it ran down to the plain, and never returned, I think 

 it must have met a little husband who induced it 

 to leave me. For some things I was not sorry, as 

 it grew rather unmanageable, coming into our 

 bungalow and climbing up to the tables and pulling 

 all the roses on to the floor to eat. At meal-times 



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