Best Native Game Spoor ers. 27 



the Yao tribe called Ajawa by the natives are Moham- 

 medans, and unless the throat of an animal is cut they will 

 not eat the meat. The throat has to be cut when there is 

 life in the animal ; but the Yaos are not so particular in 

 this respect as the Indian Mohammedans, for I have seen 

 them cut the throats of dead animals, although they always- 

 pretend that they are not quite dead. 



This throat cutting is often a nuisance to the sportsman 

 who wants to keep the masks of game for setting up, and 

 in such a case the African Mohammedan will usually be 

 satisfied if he is allowed to stab the beast's throat near 

 its junction with the chest. In India this rite is called 

 " hallalkaro." 



When a beast falls it is a mistake to allow the men to 

 rush forward, as the animal may get up again, so I always 

 restrain my men and approach first, and it is needless to 

 remark that one should never approach an animal, especially 

 a dangerous animal, with an empty rifle. Many fine 

 trophies have been lost by omitting to follow this simple 

 rule, and quite a number of elephants have got up and been 

 lost by not making sure they were dead by putting in a 

 final shot. 



The best races of natives I have met for bush and 

 spooring work are the Awemba, who live in northern parts 

 of North-Eastern Rhodesia, but I have also seen excellent 

 hunters and trackers belonging to such tribes as the 

 Akunda, Awisa, Achewa, Angoni, Asenga, and Yaos. It 

 usually depends on whether a native lives in a good game 

 district, and whether he is fond of hunting. As to pluck, 

 this is not singular to any particular race of savages, 

 although the paramount races, such as the Awemba, Angoni, 

 and Yaos, are more likely to act bravely in an emergency 

 than members of slave tribes. 



On June 7 I went out to try to find some elephants 

 that had been coming to the fallen maize stalks near 

 Kamwendo's village. I had Kamwendo with me and 

 he is one of the best elephant trackers I have ever seen, 

 and once he gets on the spoor of a good bull he is almost 



