Natives Great Meat Eaters. 23 



As we had not brought out any water with us we were all 

 rather thirsty and tired, so after photographing the dead 

 sable we started back for the village, which was only about 

 four miles off. 



How different are one's feelings when returning successful 

 from what they are after a fatiguing day when some fine 

 animal has been missed or, worse still, wounded and lost ! 



In the latter case every step is tiring, and one's own 

 feelings are reflected on the men, who keep silent and glum. 

 Sometimes when a large animal, such as an elephant, has 

 been killed, the natives will sing and carry the tail, and 

 wave it as they get near the village. Possibly another man 

 has got a load of meat and the villagers will run out and 

 beg a bit. 



All natives are extremely fond of meat and the amount 

 they are capable of eating at a sitting is prodigious, and I 

 am sure some of them could dispose of ten pounds without 

 feeling in any way uncomfortable. After a succession of 

 great gorges natives will become dazed with too much flesh ; 

 in fact they get drunk with meat. Elephant meat they are 

 very fond of, as they believe that eating it gives them 

 strength. 



The sable antelopes in the Eastern and Southern parts of 

 Central Africa, such as in Nyasaland, for instance, seldom 

 grow very long horns, and a head of 42in. or 43in. may 

 be considered an exceptional one. I saw a head in Fort 

 Jameson which measured 4yin., and this trophy was picked 

 up near the Mangazi valley. 



On the plateau above Lake Tanganyika some sable with 

 very large horns have been shot, but the best place for large 

 sable trophies is North-Western Rhodesia, where heads of 

 45in. are common, and where they have' been shot up to 

 5oin. and slightly over. 



As I always give natives most of the meat of any game I 

 shoot, only keeping part of it and the head and skin for 

 myself, this large quantity of meat was soon finished, and I 

 still wanted many bundles of grass for my huts, so on the 

 29th I went out again to try to fill the larder. 



