GLIMPSES OF EAST AFRICA AxND ZANZIBAR 



and they grew furiously excited over their game of 

 football, and a well-trained team for a tug-of-war 

 was a picture. I once saw a team of officers pull- 

 ing against the native soldiers, I must say the 

 former laboured under a disadvantage by pulling 

 in boots, whereas their adversaries could cling to 

 the dry slippery grass with their bare feet, pushing 

 their strong useful big toes into the ground. It 

 was a practice pull, and excitement ran high, for at 

 first they seemed evenly matched. My terrier Mark, 

 thinking he saw a '* giving in " look steal over the 

 officers' faces, ran to the end where my husband, 

 being a heavy weight, was pulling, and caught hold 

 of the seat of his trousers and pulled for all he 

 was worth, causing yells of laughter to come 

 from the interested and wildly anxious onlookers. 

 On that particular occasion even Mark's extra 

 weight did not make the officers' team successful, 

 to the supreme joy of the natives. 



At some sports, my husband's team, drawn from 

 his company, kept the team of another company 

 fifteen minutes on the strain, finally pulling them 

 over, although for a quarter of an hour neither 

 side appeared to give an inch. But just to show 

 how difficult it is to manage native sports, one of 

 my husband's men fell sick and could not at once 

 pull the second time ; he was given five minutes 

 grace or so, and then the leader came to say the 

 man was willing to pull again. This time it was 



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