THE UNSEEN WORLD 



263 



common in East) is the ratel {MeUivora ratel), allied to 

 the badgers, which is another tenant of these mysterious 

 holes, and which varies a diet of roots and honey by 

 digging from his grave the lightly-buried Kaffir ; but 

 which retires long before dawn to the depths of the 

 earth. Our British badger also possesses a " sweet 

 tooth," and in summer digs up bees' and wasps' nests. 

 The ratel, being short-legged like a badger, has no 



,^''% 



ji' 



„m-^' 



EATEL. 



speed of foot ; and if found in the open, can be run 

 down by an active man. But once it finds itself 

 cornered, it turns directly, open-mouthed, upon its 

 pursuer, in the pluckiest way. Mr. Selous tells me that 

 in his elephant-hunting days he frec[uently ran them 

 down, and in every case they turned and attacked. 



The above are a few — how many more there may be 

 I know not — of the animals whose presence and handi- 

 work is ever in evidence, but which themselves belong 

 to an unseen world. 



When the " sportsman " in British East Africa 

 (that is, as so by law defined, the travelling hunter who 

 has paid up his £50 shooting-licence — since otherwise 



