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THE NEW AFRICA 
quite undisturbed, with the boys unconcernedly gorging on meat 
as usual. The shots proved to come from Hainmar, who had 
gone out shooting up the river bank. He had come across a 
troop of letzwee buck, and by a scientific stalk had got within 
two hundred yards of them, when at his first shot, which told, 
the whole troop, impelled by some form of madness, charged 
down and raced round and round him at about a hundred yards 
distance. He fired away merrily at them until they recovered 
their senses and fled. As six lay on the spot after the scrimmage, 
he was satisfied not to follow the troop up to look for possible 
wounded ones, but, by a few well-directed shots, settled the 
account of those lying about him which appeared still to have 
a little life left. One letzwee buck, that he took for dead, 
jumped up and charged straight at him, and probably would 
have done him an injury with its sharp horns had he not 
killed it at short range as it came along. As it was, the buck, 
in falling, brushed against him. 
Great was the delight of the local natives at this new 
supply of meat, and Hammar’s prowess was lauded to the 
skies. This established between us a genial footing, tempered 
by considerable respect, which much facilitated our dealings with 
them. It is the native character to admire prowess of any 
sort, and men gifted with special qualities can always be sure 
of commanding their admiration. We ascribed the cheerful way 
in which these men came to terms with us to transport our 
goods on to Matambanja’s to the good repute we stood in as 
hunters. On the 30th of July all our arrangements were 
complete for starting; but as the boys would not leave the 
meat behind, and there was too much to carry, we put a good 
face on matters and gave them a holiday. To one who has 
never witnessed savages devouring meat, it perhaps seems 
unusual to hear that they will sit by the fire boiling and 
roasting and eating and sleeping by turns, for many hours at 
a stretch, until their bodies assume a startling rotundity of 
contour that may well cause a disinterested onlooker to speculate 
as to what may happen when the limit is overstepped. Yet 
