208 THE HUNTING DOG 



things besides the wild beasts which that astonish- 

 ing country contains. 



Let us now consider for a while that abomina- 

 tion — ^that blot upon the many interesting wild 

 things for which Zambezia provides a home — ^the 

 murderous Hunting Dog. Twice only have I seen 

 these animals, and on the second occasion, in 

 the middle of the little-frequented Barue region 

 in 1907, I frankly thought for a moment that I 

 was not safe from them. I was marching one 

 afternoon through the high, forested tableland, 

 of which so much of this beautiful district con- 

 sists, when I came right upon about sixteen hunt- 

 ing dogs which had been lying asleep probably 

 after one of their unholy feasts. I suddenly be- 

 came aware of a chorus of curious sounds, barks 

 yet not barks, as the pack leaped to its feet and 

 stood for a moment regarding me. It seemed 

 at the first glance that I was face to face with a 

 nightmare pack of large, powerful hounds between 

 2 and 3 feet high, their bodies blotched all over 

 black, white, and reddish brown, and there for 

 several seconds we stood regarding each other. 

 My gun-bearers were clearly alarmed, and I don't 

 think it would have taken much in the way of a 

 demonstration on the part of the dogs to have 

 sent them shinning up the nearest tree. How- 

 ever, I reached for my double '303, and as they 

 unwillingly turned to go, I shot one old dog and 

 severely wounded a second. This hastened their 

 pace for a while, but after covering about 80 or 

 100 yards they all stopped, and, much to my 

 astonishment, turned in their tracks for another 



