GAME IAWS. $6x 



which here and everywhere else in the country is esteemed 

 right royal food. In the country above Zunibo we did not 

 find a vestige of this law ; and but for the fact that it 

 existed in the country of the Bamapela, far to the south 

 of this, I should have been disposed to regard it in the 

 same light as I do the payment for leave to pass — an 

 imposition levied on him who is seen to be weak because 

 in the hands of his slaves. The only game-laws in the 

 interior are, that the man who first wounds an animal, 

 though he has inflicted but a mere scratch, is considered 

 the killer of it, the second is entitled to a hind-quarter, and 

 the third to a fore-leg. The chiefs are generally entitled 

 to a share as tribute ; in some parts it is the breast, in 

 others the whole of the ribs and one fore-leg. I generally 

 respected this law, although exceptions are sometimes 

 made when animals are killed by guns. The knowledge 

 that he who succeeds in reaching the wounded beast first, 

 is entitled to a share, stimulates the whole party to greater 

 exertions in despatching it. One of my men, having a 

 knowledge of elephant medicine, was considered the 

 leader in the hunt ; he went before the others, examined 

 the animals, and on his decision all depended. If he 

 decided to attack a herd, the rest went boldly on ; but if 

 he declined, none of them would engage. A certain part 

 of the elephant belonged to him by right of the office he 

 held, and such was the faith in medicine held by the slaves 

 of the Portuguese whom we met hunting, that they offered 

 to pay this man handsomely, if he would show them the 

 elephant medicine. 



When near Mosusa's village we passed a rivulet called 

 Chowe, now running with rain-water. The inhabitants 

 there, extract a little salt from the sand when it is dry, 

 and all the people of the adjacent country come to purchase 

 it from them. This was the first salt we had met with 

 since leaving Angola, for none is to be found in either the 

 country of the Balonda or Barotse ; but we heard of 

 salt-pans about a fortnight west of Naliele, and I got a 

 small supply from Mpololo while there. That had long 

 since been finished, and I had again lived two months 

 without salt, suffering no inconvenience except an 

 occasional longing for animal food or milk. 



In marching along, the rich reddish-brown soil was so 

 clammy, that it was very difficult to walk. It is, however, 

 extremely fertile, and the people cultivate amazing quan- 



2 o 



