PORTUGUESE EAST AFRICA 57 



elephant, and belts have to be drawn in tight 

 on a ravenous appetite, one doesn't worry about 

 shooting "sitters." And, as a matter of fact, 

 picking guinea-fowl off their perches on top of 

 the enormously high trees of the Ruenya is far 

 from being easy work. One has to crawl through 

 vegetation, tangled and gnarled and knotted, 

 and manoeuvre amidst creepers and branches to 

 get a shot at the wily fowl outlined against a little 

 patch of blue, high, high up, so high that only 

 a good choke barrel and a charge of number five 

 shot, well directed, will bring him down. 



Often when returning from these guinea- 

 fowling expeditions it was late evening, and the 

 rest of the caravan, now largely enforced by a 

 number of local natives, had passed on. 



Then it was I learned much of African wisdom. 

 An African native is never at a loss to follow up 

 a caravan to which he belongs. He may be miles 

 behind, but even in the densest bush he will find 

 his way to the camp-fires of his companions. 



At one time I used to marvel greatly at this, 

 but now I know the methods of direction, the 

 explanation seems extraordinarily simple. Where 

 there are several paths crossing one another, 

 sticks are placed across the wrong tracks or a 

 line is drawn across them in the ground, thus 

 denoting that these byways are '* closed," or 

 are not being travelled over. Where natives 

 leave a main bush thoroughfare and turn off to 

 reach a hidden village, green leaves are thrown 

 on the paths taken. In dense forest, trees are 

 blazed along the line of march. There are many 

 other silent methods of information employed. 

 Thus, a mealie cob tied up on a bush outside a 

 village means that the inhabitants have plenty 

 of grain, and are prepared to barter for food. 



