XX NOTES ON LIFE OF THE AFRICAN NATIVE 201 
varying from 60 to 80 pounds from early morning 
till evening under the rays of a tropical sun, often 
going without food, or water, or both, when circum¬ 
stances demand. Moreover, the journey is per¬ 
formed through the most exacting country, up hill 
and down dale, doubling under branches and bent 
trees, and winding through thick, thorny elephant 
grass. If we have the luck to come across water, 
all the better, if not, we sleep without food or water 
until it is reached the next day. Even then, the 
rest is often of the briefest duration; food is 
hurriedly cooked and eaten, and we are off again. 
Combined with the native’s bodily vigour, is 
usually the cheerful contentment that good health 
promotes, and his open-air life and habits give him 
a certain amount of physical courage. I have 
chosen my trackers particularly on account of their 
fearlessness and presence of mind in the face of 
danger, and they and my carriers are as keenly 
interested in hunting as I am myself. Several 
times, when I have been following up elephants and 
there has been a probability of our not coming up 
with them, a circumstance which may entail our 
sleeping on the spoor, passing a thirsty night, and 
starting after them again at dawn, I have waited for 
the arrival of my carriers, and told them that, as we 
might not find water again that day, they were at 
liberty to retrace their steps to the last water-hole 
