Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South AfricaDrayson, Alfred W. (Alfred Wilks)
History
Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa
Drayson, Alfred W. (Alfred Wilks)
Hunting -- South Africa; South Africa -- Description and travel
My careful follower, Inyovu, will now enter the bush with me in search
of buck. We are not armed for elephants (that is, our guns are of too
small a calibre), so we keep a look-out for their fresh footprints, or
other traces, and immediately take care to avoid the animals. Inyovu
has a gun to carry, more for his own satisfaction than use, as he is a
miserable shot, and requires a longer time to aim than an artilleryman
would take to lay a mortar. From his professor-like skill, however, in
silent walking, he could, when sent out alone, often shoot and bring
home one of the three sort of bush-buck that frequented this region.
When he accompanied me, it was entirely for the purpose of carrying
anything that I might shoot.
The part chosen for this sport was generally the most open in the bush,
and the least crowded with underwood. In time I had my separate beats,
and used to draw them as regularly as hounds draw their respective
covers. Dress is a most important part in these excursions: the
trousers of the country, made of untanned leather, and termed crackers,
are very good; a long jacket of dark blue or green is better, but a dark
dull red is even more killing; the _veld-schoens_ (shoes) worn by the
Dutch are certainly far superior to any other boot or shoe I ever saw;
they are comfortable, soft, and silent, not unlike the mocassin. Having
entered a few yards in the path chosen, which should be one well-worn by
the elephants, it is advisable to wait a few minutes and listen, to be
certain that all is going on right: the stealthy advance then commences.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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