Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
o¬, a favourite past time was hunting. This was not done for
fun, in fact Holmes expressed an abhorrence of unnecessary
slaughter -
'it is sheer butchery to kill when there is no use-
ful purpose to excuse it'
- but to supplement their food stocks
and keep their diet as varied as possible. Apart from the occa-
sional wildebeest they rarely caught anything, but nevertheless
they did not do badly for food:
We have tea, coffee and cocoa and plenty of Nestlé's milk.
Bread and cake we get made every few days and butter and
jam we have in plenty. Our usual breakfast consists of por-
ridge, and then eggs and toast. That we have in the dark
while the boys are pulling down the tents and getting their
loads ready for the day's tramp. We have plenty of tins of
preserved and dried fruits and these we never miss for lunch
and dinner. Generally we have a cold chicken at lunch and
a grilled one for dinner, with soup made out of the leavings
at lunch. So you see we fare pretty well. For the last few days
however we have been bereft of fowls, and have been reduced
to tinned sausages and sardines - of which one sickens very
rapidly. Today we are in great luck, for our present from the
chief includes a fine goat, which will keep us in meat for sev-
eral days. This is a very welcome change. We also got some
flour made out of mealies
[maize],
which makes very good
porridge, and some 'beer'. The latter looked like sour milk and
we immediately sent it off to the carriers.
Somewhat to Holmes' disappointment, there were few excit-
ing encounters with wild life and little that really frightened him,
apart from waking up one night to find a large snake in his tent.
Leopards and lions, however, could be a problem, prowling
round and stealing livestock from the camp neighbourhood at
night:
'There was a dog here - a sort of mongrel pointer -
quite a nice affectionate beast, and pleasant to have about
the camp. Soon after going to bed the night became very quiet
and a sudden series of piercing yells broke from the dog going
close by the fire between our tents. There was a complicated
