3i6 ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA ch. xiii 



the European and Swahili that, though Mnyamiri was only too 

 glad of an excuse to kill a goat, nominally as a sacrifice, really 

 for a feast, he grudged giving a small piece of meat to trap the 

 animal he was praying to be preserved from ; while I, though 

 going through no incantations, soon put our unwelcome visitor 

 beyond reach of doing further mischief 



Though I have seen descriptions of the setting of guns in 

 books, I have never seen advocated the best method of contriv- 

 ing the means by which they are to be fired ; it may therefore be 

 useful to set forth the system I find most successful, and at the 

 same time the simplest. But as I shall have occasion later on 

 to describe and illustrate my plan of setting guns for lions, which 

 is done on a different principle, it may be better to give both 

 methods then. 



