3i6 
ELEPHANT-HUNTING IN EAST AFRICA 
CH. XIII 
the European and Swahili that, though Mnyamiri was only too 
glad of an excuse to kill a goat, nominally as a sacrifice, really 
for a feast, he grudged giving a small piece of meat to trap the 
animal he was praying to be preserved from ; while I, though 
going through no incantations, soon put our unwelcome visitor 
beyond reach of doing further mischief. 
Though I have seen descriptions of the setting of guns in 
books, I have never seen advocated the best method of contriv¬ 
ing the means by which they are to be fired ; it may therefore be 
useful to set forth the system I find most successful, and at the 
same time the simplest. But as I shall have occasion later on 
to describe and illustrate my plan of setting guns for lions, which 
is done on a different principle, it may be better to give both 
methods then. 
