I had walked some way before I saw any game, when suddenly I saw an eland feeding not far off. On getting near enough for the shot, I saw it was a cow with a particularly good head, so I fired at her neck and made a good shot, for she dropped in her tracks.

Then a bull appeared and ran off, but stood and looked back from a distance of slightly over 200 yards, and I also fired for his neck, but made a bad shot, for the bullet took him under the ear. He dropped dead, which was satisfactory ; but I like to hit where I aim. The cow was still alive when I came back to examine her, so I ended her pain with a bullet behind the shoulder. She had horns measuring 31½in. on the straight, but the right horn had an ugly inward twist which spoilt the symmetry of the trophy.

The question of giving pain to animals is the worst feature about game shooting, and yet after all it is necessary to get meat, and a well-placed bullet kills humanely.

Many people who have never experienced the fascinating and exhilarating sport of big-game hunting allege it is cruel; but I fancy that these people are not averse to eating a nice bit of roast beef or tender mutton, and if they do not kill the cattle and sheep themselves, others do it for them. The killing is usually the most distasteful part of the business to the hunter, and it is quite a mistake for people to say that sportsmen are devoid of kind or humane feelings, for every good sportsman likes to give a beast a chance for its life.

Our remote ancestors had to hunt to get meat to eat, and this spirit has been handed down to many of us, and it will be a long time before it disappears. Big game hunting is good training for young men, and a man learns a lot when busy at it, so it is to be hoped that the splendid game countries we possess in Africa, Asia, and Canada will be preserved for generations yet to come. A man who is expert at circumventing animals in their natural haunts will likely prove as efficient when the game is two instead of four-footed; and there is no better training field for officers than the haunts of wild game. Game inhabits all types of country, from the mountainous ridges of the Himalayas to the long flat stretches of desert found in parts of Africa. In hilly country the game will be searched for with a glass and then stalked, and this is probably the highest form of big game shooting. In Central Africa, unless an animal is tracked up step by step, it will probably be shot by tramping about the bush, and compared to hill stalking or the steady spooring work necessary in tracking, this bush tramping is really poor sport, as the animal is seen all of a sudden, and the shot fired almost immediately, without any preliminary work except some rough walking.

Consequently, I put deer stalking in Scotland or any other country, and markhor and ibex shooting in the Himalayas, on a much higher plane than the generality of African shooting ; although to be successful in the latter, one has to exercise much care to go quietly, as at certain times of the year the ground is covered with hard, brittle leaves, some of which go off like a pistol if they are trodden on.

Most people who shoot in Central Africa wear heavy boots, and often riding breeches and gaiters, and it is impossible to " still hunt" in such a dress. The best footgear is either thick rubber-soled boots or shoes, or others with chrome soles; and the nether garments should be pants, known as " shorts," and I have found it best to shoot in bare legs. Sometimes it is pretty hard on the skin, although, with practice, the legs get hard, and one's eyes become used like a native's to choose an easy path. A European who has not been accustomed to walk about in rough country usually keeps his eyes in the air, but a good bushman's eyes are all over the place, for he will glance down and seek a path free from holes or obstructions, and the next second his eyes will be ranging the country ahead and to the sides in search of game.

If I had not accustomed myself, after ten years of rough bush walking, to keeping a good look out where I put my feet, I would probably have been bitten several times by poisonous snakes, such as puff-adders, or I would have broken my legs by putting them into old ant-bear holes, which are often quite hidden by thick grass growing round them.

This is a great country for honey, and the natives range the bush looking for it in holes in trees, and sometimes they put out bark tubes for the bees to hive in. They usually collect it in a dirty manner and bring it full of bark and grass chips, and also full of maggots, but it can be strained, and a piece of old mosquito netting is useful for this. As most of the game meat got here lacks much fat, except the eland's, which often has a lot, the system needs two substances, and these are fat and sugar.

I am certain sugar is a great strengthener for those taking hard bodily exercise; in fact, one often gets a craving for sweet things; so nothing could be better or more wholesome than honey, which it is usually easy to procure during the dry season.

After a spell of looking after the work at my camp I sallied out again on June 2, and came on a herd of zebras, and shot three of them. I cannot say I like shooting these harmless, beautiful animals, and many is the herd I have passed by without harming them, although in some districts they prove a nuisance, as they make a great noise when running, especially on hard, stony ground, and they thus disturb more valuable game. Many is the elephant that has been lost owing to a rushing herd of zebras, for the noise they make frightens other game and makes them bolt too. Many of the natives refuse to eat zebra meat as they say it gives them a rash or itch, and the young children are said to suffer from this rash more than the adults; but perhaps this skin rash is caused more by overeating than by the kind of meat partaken of.

Again, different families of natives eschew the flesh of some species of game. Some will not eat bush-buck, others bush-pig, and so on. This is not a caste prejudice, but purely a personal one.