THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 275 



Everything was ready and the men had already been stationed 

 at regular intervals about two miles to windward, where thev 

 waited with their fire-sticks ready for the appointed signal. A 

 shrill whistle disturbed the silence. This signal was repeated at 

 intervals. In a few minutes after the signal a long line of sepa- 

 rate thin pillars of smoke ascended into the blue sky, forming a 

 band extending over about two miles of the horizon. The thin 

 pillars rapidly thickened and became dense volumes, until at 

 length they united and formed a long black cloud of smoke that 

 drifted before the wind over the bright yellow surface of the 

 high grass. The fire traveled at a rate of several miles an hour, 

 and very soon, from an ant-hill which he had selected, Baker 

 saw the startled game begin to move about. A rhinoceros was 

 first to appear, but it was too far for a successful shot, and kept 

 along an incline toward the nets ; antelopes shot by, and presently 

 a lion and lioness leaped into view, but just as Baker was about 

 to fire the head of a native rose in the direct line of aim. Beau- 

 tiful lencotis, hartebeests and antelopes were now running on 

 every side, affording excellent shots, which Baker thoroughly 

 improved until he had killed nearly a dozen of these animals 

 without moving from the ant-hill. The natives killed many 

 antelopes, but the rhinoceros ran through the net as though it 

 had been a cobweb, followed by a number of buffaloes. 



HOW THE NATIVES CARE FOR THEIR BABIES. 



THE results of the hunt were very gratifying, enough meat 

 having been obtained to last the village for several days. The 

 women who participated in the hunt, to carry the game, took 

 their babies wtth them, slung across their backs by a piece of 

 bark-cloth and protected against rain by inverted gourd-shells ; 

 yet with this burden they managed also to carry large loads of 

 meat. 



The treatment of children in Central Africa is most inhuman 

 and accounts for the extraordinary mortality among them. 

 According to the population of the village, there are certain 

 houses built upon pedestals, or stone supports, about three feet 

 from the ground. lu the clay wall of the circular building is a 



