After that, I used to go there and lie in wait for any crocodile that left the water. I shot several, and I hope the maneater was among them.

When we got back with the cloth and told our sad story to the boy's wife, there was much wailing and cries of " Mai-o," but the woman was married again in a few months, and seemed to have forgotten the incident completely.

In my chapter on the characteristics of natives I will have more to say about this trait in their character; but it is enough to mention here that they have poor memories, however much they may feel such a loss at the time.

Crocodiles, sharks, and snakes are three of the most obnoxious creatures in the world, and one often wonders the reason why they were created. They may be no worse than man-eating lions or tigers, except that their quiet and invisible attack imbues them with horror and loathing.

The Luangwa valley being very hot and tropical, the grass got very long and thick in the rainy season, and shooting was a wet business. I used to fish a good deal, and catch barbel or mudfish, but they are not good eating, as their flesh is muddy flavoured and they are rather full of bones. However, they formed a change in the perpetual course of fowl, or game meat, which becomes very monotonous after some time. After living about seven years in India and ten years in Central Africa, I became rather tired of fowls. They have very little resemblance to the fine, plump birds served up at home, and, instead of having a delicate flavour, some of them are very distasteful.

The things a man longs most for in tropical Africa are fresh home fish, good, tasty meat, vegetables, bread and butter, and milk. Sometimes the four latter can be got if one can keep cows and has a good garden and a capable cook. Some of the cooks make quite eatable bread, and such a man is a treasure, for good bread is a luxury when one can get it.

There are several native vegetables that are good eating, such as pumpkins, sweet potatoes, and ground nuts. Maize, or Indian corn, when it is fresh and soft, well boiled, and then eaten with a little butter and pepper, is quite excellent. Sweet potatoes are good, but one tires of them sooner than of European potatoes. The Angoni grow a vegetable they call itchaysani, which has a taste reminding one of fresh new potatoes and a slight flavour of artichokes.

There are a great many fungi in the country, some of which are good eating while others are poisonous. A small mushroom almost similar to those found at home, and a pink colour underneath, is called manyama; a bigger white mushroom is named chipendi, and the biggest is called boa. The latter is the first to appear when the rains break, and they are quite good when chopped up and boiled with chipped ground nuts as a seasoning. They have a taste something like codfish ; and being rather tough and stodgy, a little goes a long way. The natives sometimes have a small variety of tomato growing in their gardens, and chillies can be got. A man who used to suffer a good deal from malarial fever told me that a native told him if he ate a lot of chillies he would not suffer, so he tried it, and found that he seldom got fever afterwards. This may be only a yarn, but he seemed to be in earnest when he told me of the fact, and I have seen him put as much as a teaspoonful into his soup and other courses, and seem to relish it ; so he practised what he preached at any rate.

The natives use many herbs as a relish to their daily food of ufa porridge, and they are extremely fond of salt.

In the dry season they collect great quantities of honey, and when they secure it free of extraneous matter it is very nice. It is hardly as strong as heather country, but darker than the ordinary white honey seen in Britain. They keep the wax after chewing all the sweetness out of it, and the Angoni used to use it for polishing the headrings that all the principal men wore. I believe they first made the rings of hair, and they coated them with beeswax and polished them round. The Zulus of the South wear these rings, and the fact that the Matabele do so, as well as the Angoni, shows their Zulu origin.

I remember while at Mzaza spending several days in trying to shoot a very nice impala ram that used to be with a herd. He was a particularly wary animal, considering that impala are not as a rule difficult to shoot. He usually kept on the safe side of the big herd; and as soon as danger was seen, for they seldom got my wind as I took care of that, he was off with a jump. At last I got him with a difficult shot I had to place between the forks of a large tree, and he ran off and fell in the grass some sixty yards away. He had not exceptionally long horns as they only measured 18in. on the curve, but they were pretty and wide set.

Several fine waterbuck heads have been shot in the vicinity of the Luangwa River, although the best out of a large number I have killed only measured 28½in. on the curve. I have tried my best to get good heads ; and, although I have managed to get a few better than the average, I have not had the luck to shoot anything near the record, except a small Sharpens steinbuck which comes second, I think.

I would rather shoot the record buffalo than any other species, as the animal ranks as dangerous game, and a buffalo head, with its gnarled, rough appearance, is certainly one of the best trophies that can be got in Africa.

With all its wealth of fauna and flora, the Luangwa Valley cannot be called a health resort, especially in the rains, when the country is flooded and damp, and I was often ill with malarial fever there, as well as undergoing a severe attack of blackwater fever.

In October and November, just before the rains, the heat was terrific at times, and hot winds used to sweep along, which seemed to frizzle one up. These siroccos used to burn my face, and I have often had to shield it with the brim of my old felt hat.