330 
THE NEW AFRICA 
delivered like a flash, backed by the enormous weight and 
muscle of a full-grown giraffe, is something surprising in more 
ways than one. The correct and most satisfactory manner is to 
get near the wounded beast’s flank opposite to the direction one 
wishes to turn it in, and by shouting, induce it to deviate in the 
required direction. 
The poor wounded beasts, unable to keep up with their 
flying companions, who now that they realised the proximity of 
danger put on a pace that I, at any rate, with my weight on a 
horse could never hope to emulate, soon were headed into the 
desired course, diverging more or less from each other, and we 
drove them homewards. This duty is the most undesirable part 
of the sport to the hunter, for the flagging energies of the poor 
hunted beasts and their distress become so apparent that one 
involuntarily feels inclined to put them out of their misery off¬ 
hand. However, this would be injudicious while far from home, 
for it is advisable to make the beast carry its own meat as Con¬ 
veniently near to camp as possible. There is one point, however, 
the hunter must pay particular attention to while in the execu¬ 
tion of this part of the hunt, namely, not to overdrive the beast. 
When he discovers that this is likely to be the case, he must 
kill the animal immediately, for now the flesh reaches a stage 
when further driving will cause it to decay rapidly after the 
beast is killed. This is caused by an interstitial apoplexy of 
the muscles that vastly facilitates the decomposition of meat, 
which then cannot be used for making biltong, and consequently 
becomes valueless. Nature has provided a good indication when 
this undesirable effect is about to take place. The hunter has 
only to watch the movements of the animal’s tail, which as long 
as he continues fairly fresh, turns and twists about in the most 
lively manner, but as soon as the condition of the beast arrives 
near spoiling point the tail droops, and now hangs down like a 
limp rag. Then no matter how necessary the desire to force the 
animal nearer to camp, or how far off from water, it is advisable 
to finish the animal off by a shot in the brain. 
Having clearly depicted all the possibilities of this part of the 
