CHAPTER XXXI 
SOME PECULIAR FOODS 
When I shoot an elephant within reasonable 
distance of a village, I usually send a couple of 
messengers there to purchase food for my men, and 
eggs and fowls for my own consumption. Shortly, 
after their return, the headman of the village 
usually appears on the scene, accompanied by his 
wives and a horde of men, women and children, all 
elated at the prospect of gorging themselves to 
repletion with nyama (meat). On their arrival, 
my men are perhaps busy cutting out the tusks, so 
they stand aside and await the conclusion of this 
operation, which is a tedious work, requiring trained 
men, for it must be remembered that two to three 
feet of these enormous teeth are embedded in the 
skull, and that in extracting them, one careless 
stroke with an axe may chip the tusk and 
diminish its value. On the completion of the 
task, all the natives set to with a will, and, ere long, 
the carcase is being quickly hacked to pieces. 
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