52 PEACE : LION HUNTING 



to whom F sometimes gave a lift, would always 

 rudely insist on getting out and walking when we 

 got in amongst the timber. 



With increasing knowledge of the language, it 

 now became more interesting to talk to my boys — 

 who never could be got to understand why, as 

 I had told them, there was no game in my country 

 (Australia). 



" Badeko hefu (no eland) ; badeko thovoo (no 

 wildebeeste) ; badeko lefoouu (no sassaby) ; 

 badeko mapi (no deiker) ; and badeko fumbo (no 

 sable) " ; but when I reached "badeko fume " (no 

 rhinoceros), there was a chorus of astonishment 

 and surprise, and " badeko fume," " badeko fume " 

 resounded : though why they thought it particu- 

 larly wonderful that there were no rhinoceros (of 

 all things) in Australia, I cannot imagine. When 

 I started to make a little vocabulary of Makwengo 

 (bushman), the spelling on particularly phonetic 

 lines gave curious results. Hyena, for instance, I 

 could only best put on paper as " 0000/ ■ a case, I 

 think, of onomatopoeic spelling. 



Old hands sometimes deny the bushman any 

 keen sense of humour, but the natives of these 

 parts could certainly enjoy a joke. Once, being 

 intently watched by some twenty natives whilst 

 sitting on top of the wagon, I pretended, after 

 appearing to examine my discarded trousers 

 (which, though old, had not yet reached the " given 

 away" stage), to pitch them away. With one 

 bound the whole mob of spectators leapt forward 



