CH. xvm COUNTRY TEEMING WITH GAME 303 



Mashunaland and the East African coast, I walked 

 into a country still teeming with big game, for no 

 white man, as far as I am aware, had ever hunted 

 there before the time of my visit, 1 and the fell 

 plague of rinderpest, more potent for mischief than 

 many legions of human game-destroyers, had only 

 recently commenced its ravages, thousands of miles 

 away on the plains of Masailand. Moreover, the 

 natives living in this low-lying, fever-haunted district 

 were few in number and almost destitute of firearms. 



Elephants still wandered over this tract of 

 country, often in large herds, as their tracks and 

 pathways leading in all directions plainly showed. 

 But these animals, whose fatal possession of ivory 

 has made them an object of pursuit to man in 

 South-East Africa ever since the days when the 

 ancient Arabian traders carried gold and ivory to 

 King Solomon, appeared to have inherited a timid 

 and restless disposition, which, in spite of a present 

 immunity from persecution, kept them always on 

 the move. 



All other animals were, however, singularly tame 

 and confiding. Great herds of buffaloes feeding in 

 the reed beds along the rivers or lying in the shade 

 of the scattered thorn trees allowed a near approach 

 before taking alarm, and some ol the old bulls which 

 were frequently encountered either alone or in little 

 bands of four or five together would scarcely take 

 the trouble to get out of one's way. I remember, 

 when first descending from the broken country at 

 the head of the Mutachiri river, where there was 

 but little game, into the level coast plains, the first 

 buffaloes 1 encountered were five old bulls, which 

 were lying in the shade of some palm scrub on the 

 bank of the river, whose course I was following. 



1 Tin- Portuguese who travelled occasionally between the 1'un^we river 

 anil Massi kes^i never hunted or left the footpath, along which they were 

 carried in hammocks. 



