CURIOUS EFFECTS OF STARVATION 
face. The moment I moved, the astonished animal, which 
had evidently never seen a human being before, leapt 
away and disappeared. 
I find that people have strange ideas about wild ani¬ 
mals. It is far from true that wild beasts are vicious. 
I have always found them as gentle as possible. Al¬ 
though I have seen nearly every wild beast that it is 
possible for man to see in the world, I have never once 
been attacked by them, although on dozens of occasions 
I have come into close contact with them. I invariably 
found all wild animals — except the African buffalo — 
quite timid and almost gentle, unless, of course, they have 
been worried or wounded. These remarks do not apply 
to wild animals in captivity. 
On September tenth — that was the seventh day of 
our involuntary fast —we had another dreary march, 
again without a morsel of food. My men were so down¬ 
hearted that I really thought they would not last much 
longer. Hunger was affecting them in a curious way. 
They said that they could hear voices all round them 
and people firing rifles. I could hear nothing at all. I 
well knew that their minds were beginning to go, and 
that it was a pure hallucination. Benedicto and Filippe, 
who originally were both atheists of an advanced type, 
had now become extremely religious, and were muttering 
fervent prayers all the time. They made a vow that if 
we escaped alive they would each give £5 sterling out 
of their pay to have a big mass celebrated in the first 
church they saw. 
They spoke in a disconnected way, and looked about 
in a dazed condition, alternating hysterical laughter with 
abundant tears. After Filippe’s tobacco had come to an 
end he had become most dejected, all the time wishing 
to commit suicide. 
“ What is the use of more suffering? ” he exclaimed 
fifty times a day. “ Let me die quickly, as I can stand 
vol. ii. — is 273 
