7 8 After Big Game in Central Africa 



sider the fruit ripe and ready for plucking, I content 

 myself no longer with simply placing the meat on 

 the tree ; I have it securely attached, or rather nailed 

 by the skin. I fix up my electric projector, and 

 with the ray of its light I experiment on the tree 

 situated barely ten yards from the centre of the 

 camp, and whilst we converse as usual I wait com- 

 fortably seated smoking my pipe. Suddenly, with- 

 out knowing how it happened, I see the panther on 

 the branch, and direct the projector on to her, flood- 

 ing her with light. She occupies herself with tearing 

 the meat without troubling herself about our presence 

 otherwise than by looking in our direction from time 

 to time. I put a bullet in her neck and she falls like 

 a lump of lead. By means of the projector we see 

 her on the ground, and being assured that she is 

 really dead, we bring her to the camp where Tchi- 

 gallo cuts her up immediately. 1 It is appropriate, 

 it seems to me, to quote this moral of La Fontaine : 



"Patience et longueur de temps font plus que 

 force ni que rage." 



And especially is this so in the hunter's profession. 



The panther's death 2 happens on the eve of 

 that of the three buffaloes : so we are able to sleep 

 quietly on the following night. I am troubled, 

 however, by the idea that the hyenas will probably 

 profit by the god -send of buffalo meat, and that 

 they will gorge themselves at my expense ; perhaps, 



1 Carnivora must be skinned immediately, because decomposition 

 sets in in a few hours. 



2 It was one of the finest panthers I have killed. Its skin 

 measured 7 feet 5 inches. 



