48 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
the nape of his neck, from which he pushed it off, for, a3 he 
said, ‘ It was so heavy, man, and I don’t like to be stamped on’ 
—neither did he! The lion was then driven off and killed. 
Livingstone was so quiet and imperturbable that he would have 
made a capital sportsman, but he could neither shoot nor ride 
(except on oxback)—this was not his business. I am afraid he 
despised the vé/e of a sportsman, and no doubt believed, as he 
has stated, that the Kafirs looked upon us as weaklings to be 
used for providing them food. Perhaps he was right ; but I 
think he overlooked that we, with no knowledge of the lan- 
guage, would have found it very difficult to make our way, 
if we had only come to see the country, without shooting. _He 
could talk to the Kafirs’ ears and hearts, we only to their 
stomachs ; and I would fain believe that his grand work was 
occasionally made a little smoother by the guns. 
An incident highly creditable to Kafir womanhood occurred 
just as we reached Mabotsé. The women, as is their custom, 
were working in the fields—for they hoe, and the men sew— 
and a young man, standing by the edge of the bush, was chatting 
with them. A lioness sprang on him and was carrying him 
off, when one of the women ran after her, and, catching her by 
the tail, was dragged for some little distance. Hampered 
with the man in her mouth and the woman behind her, she 
slackened her pace, whereupon her assailant straddled over 
her back and hit her across the nose and head with a heavy 
short-handled hoe till she dropped her prey and slunk into 
cover. This man was her husband! Would Mrs. Smith do 
as much for Mr. Smith? Could she do more? 
We pushed on from Livingstone’s station and hunted 
through the country of the Ba-Katla, the people amongst 
whom he was living. It was then full of game, and put me in 
mind of the children’s pictures of Adam naming the beasts in 
the Garden of Eden—more animals than bushes. The first 
giraffes fell here, Murray again scoring, and killing No. 1. We 
seldom shot these beautiful-eyed, gentle-looking creatures— 
only a cowas a dainty now and then, for the flesh of the female 
a ee ee 
