i io BIG GAME SHOOTING 



done, stand with a fierce countenance over their slaves until all 

 is put right, when the inferior race retire. Trapdoor spiders, 

 too, were very numerous, with their cunning arrangements. 



But I have wandered from the Limpopo. 



The Bechuana are not of much account in hunting elephant 

 with the spear, though they talk and brag a good deal about 

 it ; indeed I have known them fairly beaten and forced to come 

 to me for assistance. I can see a young bull now, walking 

 about quite strongly, with forty assegais in him, scattering his 

 assailants by trumpeting and half-charges. ' Would " Tlaga " 

 come and shoot him for them ? ' Tlaga did. The elephant 

 looked like a porcupine, but they would never have bagged 

 him, though he might have died afterwards. It is not so with 

 the Bushmen. They are past-masters of the art of hunting, 

 though here I would mention that there are Bushmen and 

 Bushmen. Those found near the colony and spread over the 

 barren Kalahari country are a small, stunted race, dwarfed 

 probably by scarcity of food and hard usage. The others are 

 upright, tall, sinewy fellows, who with their skill in hunting 

 and the abundance of game never suffer hunger, and who are 

 looked upon, though small in number, with a certain amount 

 of fear by the Bechuanas. I was very fond of the Bushmen. 

 They tell the truth, which the Bechuana do not, and instead 

 of being mere pot-hunters they are enthusiastic sportsmen, 

 enjoying the work as much as yourself. When you are hunting 

 with them, it is true, they leave all to you, and greatly delight 

 in watching a tough fight with a savage bull, giving you full 

 credit for your weapon and your use of it ; but their tactics 

 when alone are as follows. Taking up the spoor of, say, 

 five or six tuskers, they follow on until they see their quarry, 

 which, with their splendid sight, they do a long way off. A 

 handful of dust thrown up gives them the wind. Some half- 

 dozen or more men conceal themselves in pairs not far apart 

 in the line they hope the elephants will take. Two or three 

 of the others, making a long detour, give them their wind, 

 and as they move off, try to head them in the direction of the 



