230 Wild Life in Central Africa. 



antelope's throat, and saw away for some minutes without 

 getting through the skin, and they will treat domestic 

 creatures in the same way. I got so disgusted with the 

 time they usually took to kill the fowls used for daily food 

 that I made them use a small American axe with which 

 to decapitate them. 



I showed them how to do it with one chop on a block of 

 wood, and I remarked to my cook, who is a mission boy 

 with a crucifix round his neck, that the fowl died quickly, 

 and did not suffer pain. He replied " Yes master, but it is 

 only a fowl/' evidently meaning that it did not much 

 matter whether it suffered pain or not. 



I think that instead of teaching natives to recite the 

 Lord's Prayer and sing hymns, it would be much better to 

 try and instil into their minds the crime of senseless and 

 thoughtless cruelty to man and beast. 



That they feel sorry for persons suffering I do not 

 doubt, more especially close relatives ; but I have seen 

 them mimic the contortions of a dying man, which so 

 disgusted me that I seized a stick and went for them. 

 Afterwards, I heard them laughing at the white man's 

 strange ways, and I have no doubt they mimicked me as I 

 went for them with that stick. 



Should a white man be ill, they often seem quite dis- 

 tressed and sympathetic ; but this is not usually true 

 sympathy, for they are simply afraid that, if their master 

 dies, they will be blamed, and their sympathy is for 

 themselves, and not for their master. 



They are most patient when suffering from hunger, 

 over-exertion, or sickness ; in fact, they are more like 

 animals in this respect than human beings. 



In carrying heavy loads for long distances day after day 

 they are unsurpassed by any savages I have ever seen. A 

 white man could not do it, as he would chafe and fret 

 under the constant fatigue and monotony; and I think their 

 brains get so dulled at times that they walk mechanically. 



Previously I have mentioned how staunch they can be 

 in times of danger, and many Africans have saved their 



