1 84 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



and either a pair of boots or, better still, leather socks and 

 sandals, They should also be provided with any kind of old 

 shooting cap, but not a red fez or white cap, the common head- 

 gear of the porters. In fact, a gun-bearer should be as little 

 conspicuous and as thorn-proof as his master, and if this is 

 seen to it will prevent disappointments, both from being sighted 

 by game when stalking it or from losing wounded game 

 through the gun- bearers being unable to keep in their proper 

 position with either a spare rifle or ammunition. Gun-bearers 

 should be provided with a good butcher's knife apiece, and care 

 should be taken that these are kept sharp, as the African native 

 is naturally cruel, and will cut and hack at the throat of a 

 wounded beast with a knife no sharper than a piece of hoop 

 iron. A good butcher's steel should.be always taken out ; it 

 can be carried by one of the attendant porters, as it is rather 

 an awkward thing for a gun-bearer to carry. 



Besides the ordinary duty of gun -bearing when out shooting 

 andwhen on the march, gun-bearers have other duties to perform. 

 First, on arriving in camp they help to put up their master's tent, 

 and see that a small trench is dug round it to carry off the water 

 in case of a downpour of rain. They then clean all their master's 

 rifles and guns, and, as a rule, do this well. It is also their 

 duty to skin any heads and clean the skulls of the game shot, 

 and attend generally to the trophies, though they always get 

 friends to help them. When a beast has been killed, and their 

 master has had the first choice of the meat, the perquisites to 

 which gun-bearers are entitled, and which are now looked upon 

 as theirs by ' dusturi ' (custom), are the heart, liver, kidneys, &c., 

 and any scraps of inside fat, and they take very good care to 

 uphold their claims to these tit-bits. After a cold wet day or 

 a first-rate day's sport, a little tobacco as ' backsheesh ' will 

 delight them, and can do no harm by causing jealousy amongst 

 the other men, as gun-bearers are looked upon in a caravan as 

 favoured individuals. 



In the matter of pay, unless other arrangements are made 

 when engaging them, their wages and food are the same as an 

 askari's. 



