184 BIG GAME SHOOTING 
and either a pair of boots or, better still, leather socks and 
sandals, They should also be provided with any kind of old 
shooting cap, but not a red fez or white cap, the common head- 
gear of the porters. In fact, a gun-bearer should be as little 
conspicuous and as thorn-proof as his master, and if this is 
seen to it will prevent disappointments, both from being sighted 
by game when stalking it or from losing wounded game 
through the gun- bearers being unable to keep in their proper 
position with either a spare rifle or ammunition. Gun-bearers 
should be provided with a good butcher’s knife apiece, and care 
should be taken that these are kept sharp, as the African native 
is naturally cruel, and will cut and hack at the throat of a 
wounded beast with a knife no sharper than a piece of hoop 
iron. A good butcher’s steel should be always taken out ; it 
can be carried by one of the attendant porters, as it is rather 
an awkward thing for a gun-bearer to carry. 
Besides the ordinary duty of gun- bearing when out shooting 
and when on the march, gun-bearers have other duties to perform. 
First, on arriving in camp they help to put up their master’s tent, 
and see that a small trench is dug round it to carry off the water 
in case of a downpour of rain. They then clean all their master’s 
rifles and guns, and, as a rule, do this well. It is also their 
duty to skin any heads and clean the skulls of the game shot, 
and attend generally to the trophies, though they-always get 
friends to help them. When a beast has been killed, and their 
master has had the first choice of the meat, the perquisites to 
which gun-bearers are entitled, and which are now looked upon 
as theirs by ‘ dusturi’ (custom), are the heart, liver, kidneys, &c., 
and any scraps of inside fat, and they take very good care to 
uphold their claims to these tit-bits. After a cold wet day or 
a first-rate day’s sport, a little tobacco as ‘backsheesh’ will 
delight them, and can do no harm by causing jealousy amongst 
the other men, as gun-bearers are looked upon in a caravan as 
favoured individuals. 
In the matter of pay, unless other arrangements are made — 
when engaging them, their wages and food are the same as an — 
askari’s. 
a oe! ea or 
