240 GUN MEDICINE. 



To show that a shock on the part of the system to 

 which much nervous force is at the time directed, will 

 destroy life, it may be mentioned that an eland, when 

 hunted, can be despatched by a wound, which does little 

 more than injure the muscular system ; its whole nervous 

 force is then imbuing the organs of motion ; and a giraffe, 

 when pressed hard by a good horse only two or three 

 hundred yards, has been known to drop down dead, 

 without any wound being inflicted at all. A full gallop 

 by an eland or giraffe quite dissipates its power, and the 

 hunters, aware of this, always try to press them at once 

 to it, knowing that they have but a short space to ran 

 before the animals are in their power. In doing this, the 

 old sportsmen are careful not to go too close to the giraffe's 

 tail, ior this animal can swing his hind foot round in a way 

 which would leave little to choose between a kick with it, 

 and a clap from the arm of a windmill. 



When the nervous force is entire, terrible wounds may 

 be inflicted without killing ; a tsessebe having been shot 

 through the neck while quietly feeding, we went to him, 

 and one of the men cut his throat deep enough to bleed 

 him largely. He started up after this and ran more than 

 a mile, and would have got clear off, had not a dog brought 

 him to bay under a tree, where we found him standing. 



My men, having never had fire-arms in their hands 

 before, found it so difficult to hold the musket steady at 

 the flash of fire in the pan, that they naturally expected 

 me to furnish them with " gun medicine," without which, 

 it is almost universally believed, no one can shoot straight. 

 Great expectations had been formed when I arrived 

 among the Makololo on this subject ; but having in- 

 variably declined to deceive them, as some for their own 

 profit have done, my men now supposed that I would at 

 last consent, and thereby relieve myself from the hard 

 work of hunting by employing them after due medication. 

 This I was most willing to do, if I could have done it 

 honestly ; for, having but little of the hunting furore in 

 my composition, I always preferred eating the game to 

 killing it. Sulphur is the remedy most admired, and I 

 remember Sechele giving a large price for a very small 

 bit. He also gave some elephants' tusks, worth £30, for 

 another medicine which was to make him invulnerable to 

 musket-balls. As I uniformly recommended that these 

 things should be tested by experiment, a calf was anointed 



