66 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch 
young male elephant, and Makanyanga suggested 
that a considerable portion of this meat should be 
dried, and that he, a couple of native hunters, and 
some of my carriers should take the meat to the 
villages at Unangu, and there barter it for food. 
(In explanation, let me state that most native tribes 
do not count meat as a staple food, but simply as a 
species of relish to be eaten with flour foods, such 
as rice, matama flour, Indian corn flour, etc.) 
To this proposal I at once agreed, and tying up 
the meat in loads, and balancing the burdens on 
their heads, my tracker and men filed out of camp, 
bound for Unangu. 
In four days’ time, the party returned with several 
packages of food, my tracker informing me that he 
had bought the supply with the elephant meat he 
had taken away ; but no sooner had they started 
chatting with my other men and relating their 
experiences, than the whole company seemed to be 
convulsed with laughter. Feeling that the joke 
must be an unusually good one, I asked Makan¬ 
yanga what was the cause of the excessive merri¬ 
ment. 
‘ Master,’ he replied in a somewhat uncertain 
tone, ‘ hunger is a great thing, and to assuage the 
pangs of hunger a man must do a lot. God made 
men and the last men made were the black men. 
Besides, all men are fools, only some are greater 
