28 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



certain to take one up to him. He has been with me on 

 several trips and most of the Europeans who have hunted 

 elephants here have had him with them, and he must have 

 seen over fifty big bulls shot, if not more. He is an 

 Achewa headman, and his village is about eight miles south 

 of Fort Manning. He is always ready to go out with 

 sportsmen, so if anyone comes here who wants a shot at 

 an elephant Kamwendo will take him to the best places and 

 do the tracking work. 



Besides being a good spoorer, he is an agreeable native to 

 get on with as he is always civil, and he knows all the 

 villages and elephants' haunts for many miles around, and 

 he is very popular with the natives as he is fond of beer, 

 and often goes off on visiting rounds to look for it. A 

 native will often travel twenty or thirty miles to a village 

 where there is beer, and I know several headmen who are 

 constantly on the move to try to find it. 



Kamwendo took me to his gardens and we found the 

 spoor of a single bull elephant, but the tracks were two 

 days old, so we went off to a drinking hole about six miles 

 away and on getting there we found the night's tracks of 

 three small elephants, two bulls and a cow, but Kamwendo 

 agreed with me that they were not worth following, as the 

 tusks would not be more than 2olb. to 25lb. each. 



It does not follow that the best tuskers have the largest 

 feet, but there is a limit, and any elephant with tracks less 

 than 5oin. in circumference is not likely to be a very large 

 one. An average measurement for a big bull's front feet 

 will be about 54in. in circumference, and some of the 

 largest will measure 56in. or 58in. As we were looking 

 round, I spotted a herd of hartebeests feeding near the top 

 of the dambo, and as my men asked me to shoot one I went 

 off to stalk them. I may say here that there is only one 

 variety of hartebeest in Central Africa, Lichtenstein's, 

 and in referring to hartebeests this is the variety that is 

 meant. 



With some trouble I got to within 150 yards, as I think 

 the game had seen us at the water hole and were slightly 



