This In A Hot Climate Is As Much As A Man Can
Accomplish Without Being Oppressed; And We Always Tried To Make Our
Progress More A Pleasure Than A Toil.
To hurry over the ground,
abuse, and look ferocious at one's native companions, merely for the
foolish vanity of
Boasting how quickly a distance was accomplished,
is a combination of silliness with absurdity quite odious; while
kindly consideration for the feelings of even blacks, the pleasure of
observing scenery and everything new as one moves on at an ordinary
pace, and the participation in the most delicious rest with our
fellows, render travelling delightful. Though not given to over
haste, we were a little surprised to find that we could tire our men
out; and even the headman, who carried but little more than we did,
and never, as we often had to do, hunted in the afternoon, was no
better than his comrades. Our experience tends to prove that the
European constitution has a power of endurance, even in the tropics,
greater than that of the hardiest of the meat-eating Africans.
After pitching our camp, one or two of us usually go off to hunt,
more as a matter of necessity than of pleasure, for the men, as well
as ourselves, must have meat. We prefer to take a man with us to
carry home the game, or lead the others to where it lies; but as they
frequently grumble and complain of being tired, we do not
particularly object to going alone, except that it involves the extra
labour of our making a second trip to show the men where the animal
that has been shot is to be found.
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