3:20 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



devoured; but as yet I had not been able to distinguish one 

 of them, and having the example of the missing lieutenant 

 before my eyes, did not like to hurry over the slippery and 

 treacherous surface of the mountain. At length the cries of 

 Peter and his boys, and more shots evidently at some objects 

 in immediate contiguity with the shooters, who I suspect 

 aimed at the long grass and plants agitated by the move- 

 ments of the birds underneath, denoted the immediate vicinity 

 of the guinea-fowl, and the probability of their soon breaking 

 cover. Never having seen this variety of the gallinaceous 

 tribe in its wild state, I was very anxious to get a fair shot 

 at them, and shifted my quarters to a piece of standing maize, 

 or Indian corn, where I considered they would very likely 

 direct their course; indeed, I had not long taken up my 

 position, where I could command a small strip of bare and 

 open surface lying between the cover and the maize, when I 

 perceived a column of these curious yet beautiful birds 

 stealthily creeping out in single file in the direction I had 

 anticipated. 



I managed so to get their heads in line as to kill, or 

 rather pot, two with the first barrel, and knock over another 

 by a running shot with the second. The whole flock, 

 amounting to about twenty in number, were now in the 

 standing Indian corn, which was thickly interwoven with 

 weeds at the bottom. This we surrounded, or rather they 

 did (as, fearing the over-excitability of my Portuguese com- 

 panions, I kept at a respectful distance), and by dint of the 

 strenuous exertions of Peter and his boys and dogs, six more 

 guinea-fowls were added to our bag. They were very fine 

 fat birds, and weighed several pounds each. Their plumage 

 was much the same as the tame species in our own farm- 

 yards, but rather darker. I had an opportunity of testing 

 their flavour at the cabin table of the corvette, where I was 

 invited to dine with my fellow-sportsmen the same evening, 



