She
was a fine young cow, and we cut some steaks from her in case we should
find a scarcity of provisions at Minneria and, quitting the shores of
the lake, we started for breakfast.
It was only 8 A.M. when we arrived. I had bagged five buffaloes, four of
which were fine bulls. Our revenge was complete, and I had proved that
the four-ounce was perfectly irresistible if held straight with the
heavy charge of twelve drachms of powder. Since that time I have
frequently used sixteen drachms (one ounce) of powder to the charge, but
the recoil is then very severe, although the effect upon an animal with
a four-ounce steel-tipped conical ball is tremendous.
On our return to the village of Minneria we found a famous breakfast,
for which a bath in the neighbouring brook increased an appetite already
sharpened by the morning exercise. The buffalo steaks were coarse and
bad, as tough as leather, and certainly should never be eaten if better
food can be obtained. The tongues are very rich, but require salting.
In those days Minneria was not spoiled by visitors, and supplies were
accordingly at a cheap rate--large fowls at one penny each, milk at any
price that you chose to give for it. This is now much changed, and the
only thing that is still ridiculously cheap is fish.
Give a man sixpence to catch you as many as he can in the morning, and
he forthwith starts on his piscatorial errand with a large basket, cone
shaped, of two feet diameter at the bottom and about eight inches at the
top. This basket is open at both ends, and is about two feet in length.
The fish that is most sought after is the 'lola.' He is a ravenous
fellow, in appearance between a trout and a carp, having the habits of
the former, but the clumsy shoulders of the latter. He averages about
three pounds, although he is often caught of nine or ten pounds weight.
Delighting in the shallows, he lies among the weeds at the bottom, to
which he always retreats when disturbed. Aware of his habits, the
fisherman walks knee-deep in the water, and at every step he plunges the
broad end of the basket quickly to the bottom. He immediately feels the
fish strike against the sides, and putting his hand down through the
aperture in the top of the basket he captures him, and deposits him in a
basket slung on his back.
These 'lola' are delicious eating, being very like an eel in flavour,
and I have known one man catch forty in a morning with no other
apparatus than this basket.
