22 After Big Game in Central Africa 



and an ear of inconceivable delicacy ; he was the 

 one among us all who followed a track the quickest. 

 Thin and dry, of middle height, possessed of an 

 immense mouth, rather gloomy of countenance, he 

 was fairly cheerful. Difficult to manage at first, he 

 ended by becoming very obedient. 



One who did not turn a hair, as the expression 

 goes, and laughed rarely, was Tchigallo, the calm- 

 est of the band. However, he got on well with 

 his companions, and, as a rule, made little noise. He 

 was tall and strong ; his face was rather agreeable ; 

 as a tracker he was fairly good. He had had a 

 good experience of the woods ; but I do not know 

 whether he liked hunting, as he never appeared 

 happier than when near his fire at the camp. 



Kambombe had a very agreeable face and marvel- 

 lous teeth. A youth when I engaged him, he changed 

 during the three years he remained in my service, 

 and when he left me he had become a tall, thick-set 

 fellow. As fond of hunting as Tambarika, which is 

 not saying little, he became a good tracker. As a 

 servant he showed much good disposition in carrying 

 out his duties ; but he was taciturn, and rarely 

 laughed. 



Such were the men I had with me. All of them 

 possessed to a high degree that instinct of the life 

 of the woods, which is only acquired when one 

 has grown up in their midst, that sharpness of 

 the senses which was extolled formerly among the 

 Red-skins, that gift of observation which nothing 

 escapes no more the bee which enters a little hole at 



