202 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
and await my return. They have invariably replied 
in the negative, saying that if my trackers and I can 
endure the hardship, they also can and will, and 
pointing out that if they were to return to camp and 
I kill an elephant in their absence, they would only 
be objects of derision to their womenfolk. 
Though the native—I do not refer to the coast 
native—is instinctively fond of hunting, he lives on 
what he grows in his shamba or garden, and in com¬ 
parison with the labourer in civilized countries gets 
the necessaries of life easily. When about to clear 
the virgin forest for his garden, he asks his wife to 
make a lot of beer, and then invites all his friends 
to come and help him with the undertaking. They 
arrive and set to work with a will, and ere long 
they have the trees cut and stacked aside. When 
the work is finished, the host treats them to unlimited 
beer, and if a wife makes good beer, she is known 
for miles around. The shamba is now ready for 
cultivation, and with very little labour yields him 
anything between one to four crops of Indian corn 
a year. In addition, he grows matama (their chief 
grain food), sweet potatoes, rice, mealies, bananas, 
several kinds of beans and peas, melons, and 
pumpkins and vegetable marrows in variety. He 
seldom suffers from lack of food, and experiences, 
therefore, no difficulty about feeding his children, 
while day in, day out, all the year round, he himself 
