34 /'/<; GAME SHOOT1NC, 



to Baker when he went up the Nile, and it had the honour, I 

 believe, of being left with Lady Baker to be used, if required, 

 during her husband's enforced absences. Baker returned it to 

 me with a note apologising for the homeliness of the ramrod 

 a thornstick which still rests in the ferrules adding that 

 having to defend themselves from a sudden attack, his man 

 Richarn, being hard pressed whilst loading, had fired the 

 original ramrod into a chiefs stomach, from which they had no 

 opportunity of extracting it. 



I am sorry now for all the fine old beasts I have killed ; but 

 I was young then, there was excitement in the work, I had 

 large numbers of men to feed, and if these are not considered 

 sound excuses for slaughter, the regret is lightened by the 

 knowledge that every animal, save three elephants, was eaten 

 by man, and so put to a good use. I have no notes, and 

 though many scenes and adventures stand out sharply enough, 

 the sequence of events and surroundings is not always very 

 clear. If my short narrative seems to take too much the 

 form of a rather bald account of personal adventure, I must 

 apologise ; and I may add that the nature and habits generally 

 of the animals I met with are now so well known, and have 

 over and over again been so well described by competent 

 writers, that my relations with a few individuals of their families 

 must be the burden of my song. 



I spent five years in Africa. I was never ill for a single 

 day laid up occasionally after an accident, but that was all. 

 I had the best of companions Murray, Vardon, Living- 

 stone and capital servants, who stuck to me throughout. 

 I never had occasion to raise a hand against a native, and my 

 foot only once, when I found a long lazy fellow poking his 

 paw into my sugar tin. If I remember right, I never lost any- 

 thing by theft, and I have had tusks of elephants, shot eighty 

 miles from the waggons, duly delivered. One chief, and one 

 only, wanted to hector a little, but he soon gave it up. 

 And with the rest of the potentates, and people generally, I 

 was certainly a persona grata, for I filled their stomachs, and 



