TREKKING THROUGH THE THIRST 203 



a hot bath and a shave before sitting down to a supper of 

 eland venison and broiled spurfowl; and surely no supper 

 ever tasted more delicious. 



Next day we broke camp. My bag for the five days 

 illustrates ordinary African shooting in this part of the con- 

 tinent. Of course I could have killed many other things ; 

 but I shot nothing that was not absolutely needed, both for 

 scientific purposes and for food; the skin of every animal I 

 shot was preserved for the National Museum. The bag in- 

 cluded fourteen animals, often different species: one lioness, 

 one hyena, one wart-hog boar, two zebra, two eland, one 

 wildebeest, two topi, two impalla, one Roberts' gazelle, one 

 Thomson's gazelle. Except the lioness and one impalla 

 (both of which I shot running), all were shot at rather 

 long ranges; seven were shot standing, two walking, five 

 running. The average distance at which they were shot 

 was a little over two hundred and twenty yards. I used 

 sixty-five cartridges, an amount which will seem excessive 

 chiefly to those who are not accustomed actually to count 

 the cartridges they expend, to measure the distances at 

 which they fire, and to estimate for themselves the range, 

 on animals in the field when they are standing or running 

 a good way off. Only one wounded animal got away; and 

 eight of the animals I shot had to be finished with one bullet 

 two in the case of the lioness as they lay on the ground. 

 Many of the cartridges expended really represented range- 

 finding. 



