And Bechuanas
employed both dogs and natives to assist them, while the English hunters
generally had no assistance from either. They approached
to within thirty yards of the animal, while the others stood
at a distance of a hundred yards, or even more, and of course
spent all the force of their bullets on the air. One elephant
was found by Mr. Oswell with quite a crowd of bullets in his side,
all evidently fired in this style, and they had not gone near the vital parts.
It would thus appear that our more barbarous neighbors do not possess
half the courage of the civilized sportsman. And it is probable
that in this respect, as well as in physical development, we are superior
to our ancestors. The coats of mail and greaves of the Knights of Malta,
and the armor from the Tower exhibited at the Eglinton tournament,
may be considered decisive as to the greater size attained
by modern civilized men.
At Maila we spent a Sunday with Kaisa, the head man of a village of Mashona,
who had fled from the iron sway of Mosilikatse, whose country lies
east of this. I wished him to take charge of a packet of letters for England,
to be forwarded when, as is the custom of the Bamangwato,
the Bechuanas come hither in search of skins and food among the Bushmen;
but he could not be made to comprehend that there was no danger
in the consignment.
