266 



UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



one of these little creatures suddenly jumped up out of the grass 

 at my feet. Before it could dash away, up went my stick and 

 caught it a whack on the neck, stretching it dead. The Soudanese 

 soldier walking behind me then carried it for me, slung from 

 the stick, till the caravan overtook us. 



Natives have a clever way of making a sort of pouch or 

 hand-bag out of the skin of small animals, such as kids, pahs, 

 weasels, or wild-cats. One cut or stab through the throat 

 sideways furnishes an opening large enough to enable the 

 operator to withdraw the whole of the body of the animal, 

 peehng the skin off as if it w^ere a tight-fitting glove. The 

 skin is then turned inside out, dried in the sun, and mani- 

 pulated until it is soft and pliant. The pouch is carried 

 suspended from the wrist or arm, by slipping the hand through 

 the hole at the neck. I have in my collection one of these 

 curious hand-bags, which I got on my journey through the 

 Magwangwara country in German East Africa. It is the skin of 

 a weasel, and has the jawbones and teeth left m situ. The native 

 to whom it belonged carried in it his most cherished possession, 



which hap- 

 pened to be 

 a snuff-box. 

 He sold me 

 the handbag, 

 but he would 

 not hear of 

 parting with 

 his s n u ft- 

 box. 



Tlie Kobus 

 thomasi Ante- 

 lope. — 1 have 

 shot only one 

 specimen of 

 this fine an- 

 telope. 1 se- 

 cured it on the 

 march through Singo, one of the Uganda provinces. Shortly 

 before reaching our cam.p at Busibika, we were crossing a grassy 

 plain with a few shrubs and scattered trees, when I caught sight 

 of a large herd of antelopes; but curiously enough there was only 



THE KOBUS THOMASI ANTELOPE. 



