CHAPTER III 



From the coast to Hameye there had been little occa- 

 sion for using our rifles, — a few water-buck and one 

 or two small antelope made up our game-bag, — but 

 from this point onward game was much more plenti- 

 ful, and our rifles were in constant requisition. 



Were it not for the rifle, the difficulty of provisioning 

 one's caravan in Africa would be much increased. It 

 is not for sport alone that one shoots in that country ; 

 though it is safe to state that the desire to slay is gener- 

 ally present in every fully developed and vigorous man. 



It has been the fashion of late years to draw a 

 marked distinction between scientific travellers and 

 sportsmen, and the comparison has not always been 

 favourable to the latter. Many men who from physi- 

 cal reasons or inexperience have not been qualified 

 to use a rifle with success, have taken pains to dis- 

 close this fact by saying they were no sportsmen; 

 thereby seeking to imply that their lack of sporting 

 instinct was more or less to their credit. On the 

 other hand, there have been, unquestionably, many 

 persons who, in the name of sport, have indulged 

 in a w^anton slaughter of God's creatures. But, hap- 

 pily, there is a mean between these two extremes. 



Both Lieutenant von Hohnel and I had in our former 

 African experience indulged to the top of our bent the 



76 



