UNRULY BEARERS 
69 
case to insolence, refused to move at the word of command. 
However, I adopted a plan that answered very well, simply 
taking my gun and going ahead, when some hours later they 
followed on, and amicable relations were restored. We thus 
learned a lesson unfavourable to a repetition of yesterday’s 
experience, and henceforth we avoided the overfilling of our 
boys’ stomachs with meat, unless the expedition was stationary. 
The scenery at this point of the river was unique, mainly 
characterised by baobab trees of vast thickness, whose shiny grey 
magnificence towered aloft not unlike huge inverted carrots in 
shape, with their roots in the air, and graceful palms, ‘ Kolahni,’ 
rising from little knolls scattered across the expansive flat, with 
their long, rough, black stems often sixty feet high, topped by a 
tously bush of circular palm-leaves. I recall to mind the 
oppressive dreariness of this aspect as we gazed on the landscape 
through a thin, grey mist rising from the immense flat of reeds 
forming the Chobe swamp on our right, to the music of the 
grumbling roar of the first lion we had heard since leaving 
Panda Matenga. Remarkable also was the fine white dust 
rising in little clouds at our feet as we occasionally crossed 
little patches of open ground. 
Game was very abundant here, and our bearers went frantic 
because we would not settle down to hunt meat for them. How¬ 
ever, by putting eleven to fifteen miles daily behind us before 
providing a supper, we managed to draw them from one camp 
to another. Often on the line of march, sassaby, letzwee, reed 
buck, rooi buck, wildebeest, giraffe, etc., would stare at us from 
a safe distance; but unless a day’s march was accomplished, 
nothing would tempt us to shoot. Then, when near the camping 
ground, the shock of our guns would set the air ringing, inciting 
the bearers to rush up, each in hopes of securing his favourite 
titbit, generally the fat round the kidneys, or the termination 
of the alimentary tube, a sure spot to find a little fat in, no 
matter how lean the carcase might be. All hunters will agree 
with me how gruesome the daily meal is without any fat; for 
game at this season of the year is especially dry, while it is 
