Always at the beginning of any particular hunt there was one solemn ceremony to perform. an earnest consultation between all the hunters as to which spoor was most worthwhile following. The Bushmen would sit on their heels like elder statesmen discussing the size,mood,sex,and direction of the animals,study the wind,the sun,the hour and the weather generally. When they had picked out one particular spoor they revealed their decision by flicking their hands over it loosely from their wrists and making a sound like the wind between their teeth. They would do that,too,whenever spoor was fresh and promising and the gesture came so clearly from a background of meaning that we never saw it without an mediate quickening of our own pulses. The decision made,they would set out at a steady trot,until there was evidence that their quarry was near. Sometimes they would stalk it,first on their knees and finally full on the stomach,until the animal came within range of their bows. Frequently,if seen,they would make no effort to hide themselves but go slowly, hands behind their backs, imitating the movements of ostriches pecking casually at the food in the veld. When hunting in a group they seemed to prefer shooting in pairs,coming up together on their knees like shadows within a bush. Without a word being spoken but by some process of wordless intercommunication of purpose,simultaneously they would let fly their arrow sat the animal,the bowstrings resounding with a wild harp-like twang. That done they would stand up at leisure. They never expected the animal to drop dead at once,knowing they would have to wait until the poison began to do its deadly work. But the first thing to establish was that the arrows had found their mark. The arrows were made in three sections for this very reason. First,the poisoned head was made in one short hollowed piece which fitted into another slightly larger one which was joined to the main shaft,notched at the far end to take the bow-string without slipping or fumbling. This made certain that the wounded animal would be unable to rid itself of the arrow by rubbing its wounded place against a tree,for in this way the arrow-shaft either parted from the arrow-head on impact,or else when the animal started rubbing itself against trunks and thorn bushes. If the hunters recovered the arrows intact,of course,they made no attempt to follow the alerted quarry. But if they found only the shaft they would take up the spoor at once and the real business of the hunt began. How long it took before they closed in for the kill with their spears on an animal already half paralyzed by poison,depended on the sort of poison used,the size of the animal,and the nature and place of the wound. Sometimes the chase would last only an hour or two, but with the greatest of all quarries, the eland,it sometimes took a whole day. I have never seen a killing which seemed more innocent.lt was killing in order to live. On their faces there was always an expression of profound relief and gratitude when the hunters quest had been fulfilled. There was also a desire to complete the killing as quickly as passable. I have watched their faces many times while performing this deed and I could see only the strain of the hunt,the signs of fatigue from running all day under a cloudless sky in a high temperature,together with a,kind of dedicated expression, but no gloating,or killing for the sake of killing. According to the passage the hunters kill their prey by____.