66 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER CH 



young male elephant, and Makanyanga suggested 

 that a considerable portion of this meat should be 

 dried, and that he, a couple of native hunters, and 

 some of my carriers should take the meat to the 

 villages at Unangu, and there barter it for food. 

 (In explanation, let me state that most native tribes 

 do not count meat as a staple food, but simply as a 

 species of relish to be eaten with flour foods, such 

 as rice, matama flour, Indian corn flour, etc.) 



To this proposal I at once agreed, and tying up 

 the meat in loads, and balancing the burdens on 

 their heads, my tracker and men filed out of camp, 

 bound for Unangu. 



In four days' time, the party returned with several 

 packages of food, my tracker informing me that he 

 had bought the supply with the elephant meat he 

 had taken away ; but no sooner had they started 

 chatting with my other men and relating their 

 experiences, than the whole company seemed to be 

 convulsed with laughter. Feeling that the joke 

 must be an unusually good one, I asked Makan- 

 yanga what was the cause of the excessive merri- 

 ment. 



' Master,' he replied in a somewhat uncertain 

 tone, ' hunger is a great thing, and to assuage the 

 pangs of hunger a man must do a lot. God made 

 men and the last men made were the black men. 

 Besides, all men are fools, only some are greater 



