ACROSS THE MAU ESCARPMENT 79 



few knew Momba had been mauled, but presently two or 

 three brought in the poor fellow, all limp and faint. It was 

 then he said that the fellow next him had shot at the birds, 

 but he, Momba, had put two bullets in him. We com- 

 forted him by assuring him that he had. 



It was fortunate that I always carried in my saddle bags 

 permanganate of potash, lint, bandages, and a strong 

 syringe; also, that my syce carried my water bottle full of 

 boiled water. These were to hand in a few moments, and 

 I did with them, for poor Momba, what I could. He had 

 made no outcry when the beast gripped him, though the 

 wounds of the great teeth, almost through the forearm, 

 showed plainly the sideways tug he had received and 

 flesh and sinew was forced outward by the straining. 

 But he cried pitifully when the fierce burning current of 

 disinfectant was forced into all the wounds. He said after- 

 wards that he had "awful pain up his arm and into the 

 back of his head, and then things were very dark." His 

 description, I fear, was accurate enough. But the one 

 thing that must be done, let it pain as it may, let it even be 

 necessary to hold a half-distracted man down in order to 

 do it thoroughly, is at once and with a strong solution to 

 syringe and syringe thoroughly. The claw wounds in his 

 legs were slight scratches, and gave no after trouble, heal- 

 ing up at once. But hand and arm were terribly torn and 

 lacerated. Seventeen wounds in all he had. 



We tended and fed him as well as we could, dressing the 

 wounds twice daily. The crushing his arm had received 

 caused most trouble, pus gathering near the bone, under 

 the larger muscles. The wounds could easily be washed 

 out, but deeper in, the poisonous matter lay, and I was 

 afraid to lance it as I did not know what harm I might do. 

 Momba had a temperature for almost seven weeks. His 

 whole left arm remained dreadfully swollen, but gradually 

 improvement set in. After a time he could eat well and 



