38 THE LAND OF THE LION 



meat or venison, in long strips of about a square inch in 

 thickness. These he warms over the fire, no more, and 

 then, cramming as much of one of them into his mouth 

 as it will hold, places the knife as close as he dares to his 

 lips, and cuts the chunk off, which, without further chewing, 

 so far as I could see, he swallows down in one monstrous 

 gulp. The meat is nearly raw, and he scarcely uses his 

 magnificent teeth on it at all. It is hard, too, to induce 

 him to cook anything thoroughly sweet potatoes, beans, 

 rice, maize none are half done when he consumes them. 



Poor fellow, he pays his score. He seldom lives to be 

 over forty. The cause of this unnecessary shortlivedness 

 is uncertain, for in this new land where there is so much to 

 do, and alas! so few capable of doing it, few scientific 

 observers have as yet troubled their heads about him. 

 But the presumption is he dies of worn-out bowels. His 

 life is short, but till the sad, swift breakdown comes and 

 he slips away, as he himself laughingly will tell you, to the 

 seci (hyenas), it is merry. In a good sefari where porters 

 are carefully chosen, and fairly treated, you hear the men 

 singing and piping all the time. They start at daybreak 

 to the tune of the piper and the whistle and pipe play 

 them into camp. 



As he tramps along, a more miscellaneous bundle of 

 rags no one ever saw, yet, as you look closely, you will 

 see remnants of coats once "built" in Bond Street, shreds 

 of breeches long ago faultlessly cut by Tautz or Hammond, 

 and, somehow, held together round his waist. Where 

 the clergy part with their cast-off clothes I do not know, 

 but unmistakably clerical collar coats are quite common. 

 Through all these curious rags, patched in a hundred 

 places with every imaginable stuff, from cheap, American 

 cotton to kongoni hide, his finely moulded limbs, magnifi- 

 cent back muscles, and soft, silky, brown black skin shows 

 freely. Look at him, for he is well worth your study! 



