48 /,'/<; (A-/. l//i SHOOTING 



the nape of his neck, from which he pushed it off, for, as he 

 said, ' It was so heavy, man, and I don't like to be stamped on ' 

 neither did he ! The lion was then driven off and killed. 

 Livingstone was so quiet and imperturbable that he would have 

 made a capital sportsman, but he could neither shoot nor ride 

 (except on oxback) this was not his business. I am afraid he 

 despised the role of a sportsman, and no doubt believed, as he 

 has stated, that the Kafirs looked upon us as weaklings to be 

 used for providing them food. Perhaps he was right ; but I 

 think he overlooked that we, with no knowledge of the lan- 

 guage, would have found it very difficult to make our way, 

 if we had only come to see the country, without shooting. He 

 could talk to the Kafirs' ears and hearts, we only to their 

 stomachs ; and I would fain believe that his grand work was 

 occasionally made a little smoother by the guns. 



An incident highly creditable to Kafir womanhood occurred 

 just as we reached Mabotse. The women, as is their custom, 

 were working in the fields for they hoe, and the men sew 

 and a young man, standing by the edge of the bush, was chatting 

 with them. A lioness sprang on him and was carrying him 

 off, when one of the women ran after her, and, catching her by 

 the tail, was dragged for some little distance. Hampered 

 with the man in her mouth and the woman behind her, she 

 slackened her pace, whereupon her assailant straddled over 

 her back and hit her across the nose and head with a heavy 

 short-handled hoe till she dropped her prey and slunk into 

 cover. This man was her husband ! Would Mrs. Smith do 

 as much for Mr. Smith ? Could she do more ? 



We pushed on from Livingstone's station and hunted 

 through the country of the Ba-Katla, the people amongst 

 whom he was living. It was then full of game, and put me in 

 mind of the children's pictures of Adam naming the beasts in 

 the Garden of Eden more animals than bushes. The first 

 giraffes fell here, Murray again scoring, and killing No. i. We 

 seldom shot these beautiful-eyed, gentle-looking creatures 

 only a cow as a dainty now and then, for the flesh of the female 



