172 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



on very well with him. My body-servant, Ali by 

 name, and the cook were also Somalis. Ali was 

 lazy, and it was difficult to get him out of bed 

 in the early morning, but in other respects he 

 gave great satisfaction. The Somalis had their 

 own rations, rice, ghi (clarified butter) and sugar, 

 but they remained content with these rations and 

 left me in possession of mine. Ali had the key 

 of all my store-boxes, but I did not detect any 

 pilfering, and he worked a Doulton's filter well 

 and carefully. The cook received good pay, 

 but he was a failure : and I believe that most of 

 our cooking was done by the negro porter who was 

 attached to the kitchen. 



If you wish to be reasonably comfortable on a 

 shooting expedition in Africa you must take a 

 good many stores. The little oribi is good 

 eating, and the Grantii and Thomsonii gazelles 

 are passable ; but most of the other antelope 

 are terribly tough, and a mincing-machine is 

 a necessary part of your equipment. Minced 

 hartebeest I could eat, but a hartebeest steak 

 was beyond me ; and a water-buck, unless you 

 are actually starving, is untouchable. Even the 

 impala, which some people consider good, is, 

 in my opinion, very insipid. A sportsman, how- 

 ever, does not go to Africa to eat ; and with 

 the aid of tea, sugar, biscuits, jam and canned 

 fruit, and some whisky, sparklet syphons and a 

 good filter, you can make yourself comfortable 

 enough. 



Gimlette had a '470 D.B. cordite and a '350 

 bore magazine rifle, and I had my '450 D.B. 

 cordite rifle, and a Rigby-Mauser with a '350 



