Large Eland Killed. 153 



Some natives hearing the shots came running up, so I 

 asked them to go and get some water for my men and 

 myself from the stream near their village. One man also 

 brought me back a few eggs in a small pot, which I boiled 

 and enjoyed. 



Wanting the complete skin of this animal for setting up, 

 I took many measurements, but as I have given some of 

 them in Chapter III., I will only say that he was y2|in. in 

 height, and his horns measured 29^in., and were nicely 

 shaped. It took over three hours in the hot sun to get his 

 hide off, and I was very tired and thirsty before I reached 

 camp at sundown that evening; but a warm bath and a 

 good dinner soon freshens a man up. I used to have a 

 big camp fire every evening, and my happiness would have 

 been complete if I had only had a congenial companion to 

 talk to. 



The next few days were cloudy, a few showers of 

 drizzling rain came on at times, and I had the greatest 

 difficulty in getting the eland skin dried. In such weather 

 the thick neck skin will not dry, and in most cases it has 

 to be thinned down with knives so as to hasten the drying. 

 As I could not get my knives sharp enough I used a pair of 

 good ivory-handled razors, which improved the skin, but 

 not the razors. 



Although I took a great deal of trouble over it, this skin 

 eventually went bad on its way to the Transvaal, as, owing 

 to the carelessness of a firm of Portuguese forwarding 

 agents at Louren^o Marques, it was delayed in transit. 

 Truly, collecting in a country like this is disappointing 

 work, as after all one's trouble the results are liable to be 

 spoilt by other people's negligence. Freight is very high 

 there for all such heavy packages. 



Chiromo district would be a very good one for any 

 collector to work in, as there he would be near the river, 

 where specimens could be placed on the steamers at once 

 for transporting to Chinde. It is a difficult matter getting 

 large skins carried safely through the bush, as they are 

 very apt to be chafed by the thorns, rough trees, and 



