"The men were all ready with their nets and spears, and at a signal they moved to the designated spot, and formed the barrier which was to stop the game. The nets were supported by sticks, and each net was attached to the adjoining one; the number was large enough to form a fence more than a mile long, and in the shape of a semicircle; each native was concealed behind his own net by means of a screen, made by tying together the tops of the grass till a sort of inverted fan was formed. When the nets had been placed, and the hunters concealed behind their screens, there was nothing to indicate the presence of man, and even the net could not be seen on account of the high grass.
"The ends of the net came to the bank of a brook about thirty feet wide, but its centre was at least a quarter of a mile from the stream. The women and children, of whom there were great numbers, formed a sort of hedge from the ends of the net for a considerable distance, in order to direct the game into the fatal snare.
"The captain and I had brought our rifles, and the chief assigned us to places behind a couple of ant-hills. We were each followed by gun-bearers with extra weapons, in case of accident to our own, and the captain cautioned me not to fire unless I was quite sure that none of the negroes were in line of my shot and liable to be hurt.
"When everything was ready the chief of the hunt blew a whistle, and the signal was repeated by a man stationed four or five hundred yards away. Then it was repeated by another and another, and so on, till it was carried at least half a dozen miles to windward.
"Ten minutes after the signal was given we saw a column of smoke rising on the horizon, and it was joined by other columns of smoke as far as we could see. Then I saw the whole plan of the hunt: the game was to be driven by the fire in our direction, and the net was to enable the hunters to use their spears. We with the rifles had been stationed far enough from the nets to prevent the possibility of our injuring any of the men behind them. The captain was opposite one of the ends, and I was near the other; and we were to shoot at anything liable to escape the nets, and especially were we to use our weapons upon lions or other dangerous beasts.
"The rule of the hunt was, that each man was to have all the game killed within the limits of his net. This seemed fair enough; but it sometimes happened that an animal speared by one hunter ran into the net of another before he fell; and this gave rise to disputes, which were appealed to the chief. Captain Mohammed said that if there was any trouble about the decision the chief took the game to himself, and thus prevented any one from feeling hurt at seeing what he considered his prize given to one of his neighbors. There is also an allowance of a hind-quarter of each animal killed to the owner of the land.
"The place where I stood was not far from the brook before mentioned; and in order that I should not be seen I stuck some bushes in the top of the ant-hill, hoping that my white hat would not scare away any of the game. The fact is, the animals on such occasions are so frightened that they pay little attention to man, but are entirely occupied with running away.
"I waited rather impatiently for a chance to shoot something. Presently an antelope came bounding over the crest of the ridge, but he was too far off for me to give him a bullet. Then came others, and I had the good-fortune to send one over.
