302 LIFE OF DA VID LIVINGSTONE, LL.D. 



leads them to the carcase, taking credit to himself, of course, for having killed 

 it during his transformation. 



" It is believed also," says Dr. Livingstone, " that the souls of departed 

 chiefs enter into lions, rendering them sacred. On one occasion, when we had 

 shot a buffalo in the path beyond the Kafue, a hungry lion, attracted probably 

 by the smell of the meat, came close to our camp, and roused up all hands by his 

 roaring." One of their native followers, imbued with the popular belief that 

 the brute was a chief in disguise, took him to task in his intervals of silence 

 for his meanness in wanting to plunder the camp. 



"You a chief, eh? You call yourself a chief do you? What kind a 

 chief are you to come sneaking about in the dark, trying to steal our buffalo 

 meat ? Are you not ashamed of yourself ? A pretty chief truly ; you are 

 like the scavenger beetle, and think of yourself only. You have not the heart 

 of a chief ; why don't you kill your own beef ? You must have a stone in 

 your chest, and no heart at all indeed ! " 



Near the village of a chief called Sandia, six of the Makololo shot a cow 

 elephant. In this district, the chief claims one half of any game killed on his 

 ground. This right was to some extent waived, the headman of the hunting 

 party superintended the cutting up of the brute and apportioned the pieces — 

 " the head and right hind leg belong to him who killed the beast, that is to him 

 who inflicted the first wound ; the left leg to him who delivered the second, or 

 first touched the animal after it fell ; the meat around the eye to the English, 

 or chief of the travellers ; and different parts to the headmen of the different 

 fires, or groups, of which the camp is composed ; not forgetting to enjoin the 

 preservation of the fat and bowels for a second distribution." The cutting up 

 of the carcase is a scene of wild excitement. "Some jump inside, and roll 

 about there in their eagerness to seize the precious fat, while others run off 

 screaming, with pieces of the bloody meat, throw it on the grass, and run back 

 for more ; all kept talking and shouting at the utmost pitch of their voices. 

 Sometimes two or three, regardless of all law, seize the same piece of meat, and 

 have a brief fight of words over it. . . . In an incredibly short time tons of meat 

 are cut up, and placed in separate heaps around." The following is the method 

 of cooking the elephant's forefoot, which the white members of the party had 

 for breakfast on the following morning. " A large hole was dug in the ground 

 in which a fire was made, and when the inside was thoroughly heated, the entire 

 foot was placed in it, and covered over with the hot ashes and soil. Another 

 fire was made above the whole, and kept burning all night. . . . It is a 

 whitish mass, slightly gelatinous, and sweet, like marrow. . . . Elephants' 

 trunks and tongues are also good, and, after long simmering, much resemble 

 the hump of a buffalo, and the tongue of an ox ; but all the other meat is tough, 

 and, from its peculiar flavour, only to be eaten by a hungry man." The natives 

 eat enormous quantities of meat when they have the opportunity. 



