256 NEGLECTED EDUCATION. 



and dirty Hottentots on the subject of South- African 

 spooring, &c., of which I might otherwise easily have fancied 

 I knew something, from having lived the gipsy-like life of 

 a savage for upwards of two years, and during that time 

 having been occupied night and day in the pursuit of wild 

 animals, and gathering information from the natives 

 that I frequently now listen attentively and patiently to 

 criticisms on the sporting proceedings of such men as 

 Sir Cornwallis Harris and Gordon Gumming, oracularly 

 delivered by gentlemen whose experiences have been 

 gathered from watching the deer in Greenwich Park, 

 or from knocking over a cock-pheasant in the well- 

 preserved covers of their private manors. For I always 

 remembered that these people might know more on the 

 subject than the sporting giants whom they are attempting 

 to vilify. 



Well do I remember on one occasion being the butt of 

 at least a dozen Kaffirs, for no other reason than because 

 I could not tell whether a buffalo had galloped or only 

 walked over some hard and grassy ground, that retained 

 less impression than a dry turnpike-road. How amusing 

 it was to see them sitting down on purpose to quiz me, 

 pointing to each footmark, that to my dull perception was 

 little more than the scratch of a penknife, and then 

 asking if I could not now see the pace at which the 

 animal had moved. I was compelled to acknowledge 

 myself a dunce, and to explain to them that my 

 education in early youth had been in this particular 

 science dreadfully neglected. They would then show 

 and explain to me how I was to judge of these things 



