Game in the Luangwa Valley. 129 



Roan antelopes were plentiful, but I never saw any sable 

 near Mzazas. Zebra and hartebeest were in numbers, and 

 puku, reedbuck, oribi, and duikers could be seen here and 

 there. 



Hippo were to be seen in the river occasionally, and 

 buffalo, although they did not exist quite close to where I 

 was living, were to be found in other parts of the Luangwa 

 Valley, not more than a day's journey off. 



Mzazas has a name as a good place for lions, but my usual 

 bad luck with these animals seems to have followed me, for 

 though hardly a day passed without my tramping through 

 the bush, I never actually saw one of them near Mzazas. 



On one occasion I heard two break away out of a patch 

 of thick grass, and I ran round hoping for a shot, but by 

 this time they had gone, and I spent hours on the spoor 

 without any result. 



There were a good many bushbuck, and occasionally I 

 saw and shot warthogs. Once I got the glimpse of a 

 bolting leopard which had been feeding on an impala fawn 

 he had killed, but he was soon out of sight, just like a flash 

 of yellow light. 



One day I heard pig in some long grass, almost up to 

 my neck, and seeing an anthill near, I went to it so as to 

 try to see into the grass. There was a large tree which 

 had a big branch overhanging the anthill. Just as I 

 reached the- top I saw a leopard jump from this branch and 

 disappear, and, as it frightened the pig, I got a shot at 

 neither. 



Leopards are most wary animals, and I consider it is the 

 purest fluke if a man gets a good chance at one. They 

 nearly always lie up in thick grass or bush, and their 

 hearing must be most acute, for they go off silently if 

 disturbed at any distance ; if come on close, all one sees 

 is a yellow flash, and they are off for good. If lions and 

 leopards would only stand and growl at the intruder it 

 would be much better, as one would have a good chance of 

 putting in a deadly shot, but they refrain from doing this 

 unless they are wounded, and then instead of standing 



