240 
INGENIOUS FOOT-TRAP. 
fashion of the triangle of sticks and stones adopted in 
the Himalayas to kill tigers, leopards, or bears. Never 
having seen the contrivance in this form, my curiosity 
was raised to enter ; luckily some Seedees called out 
in time to tell me of my danger. Three of our cows 
were less fortunate ; one was killed, becoming food for 
our Waganda escort, because the Seedees would not 
touch it, and two were dragged from under the logs 
much bruised. The natives were eager sportsmen, 
netting the smallest or largest antelope, which they ate 
or conveyed alive to their king. Nets were made of 
beautiful soft and strong fibre, from the aloe generally. 
A most simple, ingenious foot-trap for wild buffalo 
we observed here for the first time. It was set gener- 
ally at salt-licks, where these animals were known to 
scratch the ground, and consisted of two small circles 
of wood, placed immediately one over the other ; be- 
tween them a quantity of stout acacia thorns pointed 
to a common centre ; all were lashed strongly toge- 
ther, and the trap, when completed, was several inches 
larger than a buffalo's foot. This was fitted over a 
hole made in the ground, and a noose (attached to a 
block of wood) laid over it, and concealed with earth. 
On the buffalo putting his foot upon it, the trap fastens, 
and the more he struggles the tighter the noose be- 
comes. The former king of Uganda was said to have 
kept a large menagerie of animals caught in this way. 
Birds were not numerous ; the cannibal vulture of 
Uganda, now that we had left the capital, was a rare 
bird. Guinea-fowl and florikan were the only game- 
birds observed, the grass being too tall to discover 
partridge, &c. An owl of very handsome plumage, 
weighing six pounds, was shot. A graceful bird on 
