Hunting Notes of a Bushman. 
huntsmen, the one who goes with the dogs carries with 
him a cutlass and a horn, with which latter, according 
to a concerted code, he can signal to the one left watch- 
ing in the canoe as to the direction in which the deer is 
running — thus, several blasts at short intervals may 
mean that the deer is going up the river, a long followed 
by a short blast that it is running down stream, and 
continuous blowing that the deer has turned and is mak- 
ing for the water. When first found by the dogs the 
deer almost invariably runs inland ; but, on finding itself 
persistently pursued, turns and takes to the water. 
Should the hunters watching in the canoe make any 
noise or in any other way attract the attention of the 
deer before it is in the water, it will make for the land, 
and in nine times out of ten will escape. But if, in perfect 
stillness, these watchers keep close into the side of the 
river, and, when the deer takes to the water, they allow 
it to swim well out, and if they then get between it and 
the shore, they may then, and only then, attempt to catch 
or kill it. Under no circumstances must the deer be 
shot with a gun while swimming in deep water ; for, if 
so shot, it would instantly sink, not to rise again, except 
in rare instancs, before the lapse of four or five hours» 
and never to rise again in rivers frequented by perai.* 
Another way of killing beyou and wirribisceri 
is by watching for them at night in the cultivated 
clearings, to which they come to feed on the young cas- 
sava leaves. For this purpose, the huntsman makes a 
platform of sticks, about 15 or 20 feet from the 
* On this subject, of the rise to the surface of animals shot whilst in 
the water, see note in Timehri, Vol. 2, p. no. The perai is of course 
that voracious fish Serrasalmo nigra — Ed. 
