xx NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AFRICAN NATIVE 201 



varying from 60 to 80 pounds from early morning 

 till evening under the rays of a tropical sun, often 

 going without food, or water, or both, when circum- 

 stances demand. Moreover, the journey is per- 

 formed through the most exacting country, up hill 

 and down dale, doubling under branches and bent 

 trees, and winding through thick, thorny elephant 

 grass. If we have the luck to come across water, 

 all the better, if not, we sleep without food or water 

 until it is reached the next day. Even then, the 

 rest is often of the briefest duration ; food is 

 hurriedly cooked and eaten, and we are off again. 



Combined with the native's bodily vigour, is 

 usually the cheerful contentment that good health 

 promotes, and his open-air life and habits give him 

 a certain amount of physical courage. I have 

 chosen my trackers particularly on account of their 

 fearlessness and presence of mind in the face of 

 danger, and they and my carriers are as keenly 

 interested in hunting as I am myself. Several 

 times, when I have been following up elephants and 

 there has been a probability of our not coming up 

 with them, a circumstance which may entail our 

 sleeping on the spoor, passing a thirsty night, and 

 starting after them again at dawn, I have waited for 

 the arrival of my carriers, and told them that, as we 

 might not find water again that day, they were at 

 liberty to retrace their steps to the last water-hole 



