166 CIVILIZED AND BAEBAEOUS SPOILSMEN. Chap. VIII. 



of its coolness. Hunting this animal is the best test of courage 

 this country affords. The Bushmen choose the moment suc- 

 ceeding a charge, when the elephant is out of breath, to run in 

 and give him a stab with then long-bladed spears. In this case 

 the uncivilized have the advantage over us, but I believe that 

 with half then training Englishmen would beat the Bushmen. 

 Our present form of civilization does not necessarily produce 

 effeminacy, though it unquestionably increases the beauty, cou- 

 rage, and physical powers of the race. When at Kolobeng I 

 took notes of the different numbers of elephants killed in the 

 course of the season by the various parties which went past our 

 dwelling, in order to form an idea of the probable annual de- 

 struction of this noble animal. There were parties of Griquas, 

 Bechuanas, Boers, and Englishmen. All were eager to distin- 

 guish themselves, and success depended mainly on the courage 

 which leads the huntsman to go close to the animal, and not 

 waste the force of his shot on the air. It was noticeable that the 

 average for the natives was under one per man, for the Griquas 

 one per man, for the Boers two, and for the English officers 

 twenty each. This was the more remarkable, as the Griquas, 

 Boers, and Bechuanas employed both dogs and natives to assist 

 them, while the English hunters generally had no assistance from 

 either. They approached to within thirty yards of the animal, 

 wliile the others stood at a distance of a hundred yards, or even 

 more, and of course spent all the force of their bullets on the air. 

 One elephant was found by Mr. Oswell with quite a crowd of 

 bullets in his side, all evidently fired in this style, and they had 

 not gone near the vital parts. 



It would thus appear that our more barbarous neighbours do 

 not possess half the courage of the civilized sportsman. And it is 

 probable that in this respect, as well as in physical development, 

 we are superior to our ancestors. The coats of mail and greaves 

 of the Knights of Malta, and the armour from the Tower exhibited 

 at the Eglinton tournament, may be considered decisive as to 

 the greater size attained by modern civilized men. 



At Maila we sjDent a Sunday with Kaisa, the head man of a 

 village of Mashona, who had fled from the iron sway of Mosilikatse, 

 whose country lies east of this. I wished him to take charge 

 of a packet of letters for England, to be forwarded when, as is 



