FRUIT AND VEGETABLES. 49 



bourhood. Most of the hunters, he says, make a 

 great deal of money, but spend their money as fast 

 as they get it, saying, ' There is more ivory where 

 this came from.' Lee himself was careful. His 

 place, he says, is very healthy, and it has got so 

 good a name that in unhealthy times people stay 

 about here, and it has been like a town, so that he 

 opened a store. He is trying peaches, apricots, and 

 pomegranates. Potatoes grow well here, and he is 

 seldom without vegetables. He is trying several 

 wild fruits. He has always water in the spruit 

 close by, and waters by hand. He showed me a 

 small wild grape. 



" Lee tells me that a lion may often be stopped 

 by throwing your hat at him, when you may have 

 time to shoot. He says an elephant-gun should 

 never be longer than 27 inches (25 is better), nor 

 weigh over 9 lbs. He shoots 8 drams of powder, 

 and an 8-to-the-lb. ball. The recoil is avoided by 

 the barrel being strong, and nearly as thick at muzzle 

 as at breech. His clothing in hunting is as light 

 as possible ; ' veldt schoen,' and he says not even 

 a shirt if he could help it. He carries needles and 

 thread in his hat. 



" For trading with the Matabele he recommends 

 white, blue, and I think red beads. Selampore is 

 much liked, or strips of coloured calico. Beads, he 

 says, seem going out, and printed calico being pre- 

 ferred. The Matabele Country, he says, was for- 

 merly under a queen. There were, I think, other 

 queens before. An old man has told him the tradi- 



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