Bunduki (Bunduki Series Book One) Read online

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  i The arm guard is used to protect the flesh of the inner arm from the slap of the bow’s string.

  ii Clip point: one where the back of the blade curves to meet the cutting edge in a concave arc. In the case of Bunduki’s Model 12, the ‘false’, or top cutting edge was five and a quarter inches in length and as sharp as the main cutting edge.

  iii What happened to James Bowie’s original knife after his death during the Siege of the Alamo Mission, at San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, on March 6th, 1836 is told in: THE QUEST FOR BOWIE’S BLADE.

  iv Recurved bow: one that is bent back from the straight line at the end of its limbs.

  v For those who have read Addendum 3 (The Greystoke Lineage) in fictionist genealogist Philip Jose Farmer’s TARZAN ALIVE, to avoid confusion, the author has transposed the Christian names of Sir John Paul Clayton and John Armand Drummond-Clayton.

  vi

  Moran: A member of a Masai or Samburu war clan.

  vii Simi: East African sword with no guard to the hilt and a pear-shaped blade.

  viii How they gained their knowledge is told in: THE SON OF TARZAN, by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

  ix Due to a lack of details when Mr. Commissioner Sanders, C.M.G. (see the various volumes of biography by Edgar Wallace for information regarding Sanders of the River s career) told Edgar Rice Burroughs about Tarzan and, later, in deference to Lord Greystoke’s wishes—to prevent the Mangani from interference and exploitation by human beings—they were described as being giant Anthropoid Apes. Since they are now extinct, Lord Greystoke has lifted his restrictions and it can be stated that they were a species of Australopithecus. Neither E.R.B. nor Mr. Wallace disclosed the true identity of the informant, for reasons not unconnected with the British Government’s Official Secrets Act.

  x Told in: TARZAN OF THE APES by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

  xi Korak ‘The Killer, the Manganis’ name for Sir John Drummond-Clayton.

  xii The story of David Innes is told in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ‘Pellucidar books and Lord Greystoke’s first visit there is described in: TARZAN AT THE EARTH’S CORE.

  xiii Kopje: Afrikaans word meaning a peak.

  xiv Biltong: Afrikaans’ name for sun-dried meat. The Americans call it ‘jerky’.

  xv Pemmican: A North American Indian food made from buffalo meat, or venison, which is dried, mixed with tallow—the harder, coarser of the body’s fats—and berries, all pounded and pressed tightly together to form a cake. Like biltong, or jerky, it is nutritious and will keep in good condition for a long time without refrigeration,

  xvi Told in: TARZAN AND THE GOLDEN LION by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

  xvii Esmeralda Moreland, Lady Greystoke’s Negress nurse and maid.

  xviii Due to its Spanish connotations, Texans rarely use the word ‘cinch’.

  xix These included, among others, the Oparians in THE RETURN OF TARZAN and TARZAN AND THE JEWELS OF OPAR: the Xujans in TARZAN THE UNTAMED: and the various tribes of Pal-Ul-Don in TARZAN THE TERRIBLE by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

  xx Captain Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond’s biography is recorded in the books of H.C. ‘Sapper’ Melville and Gerald Fairlie, although they were requested not to make any mention of his younger brother to avoid reprisals against John by Carl Petersen.

  xxi The family ties between Lord Greystoke and the Drummond brothers are explained in detail by fictionist genealogist Philip Jose Farmer in: TARZAN ALIVE.

  xxii At Lord Greystoke’s request and in the interests of producing a fast-moving story without extensive explanations, Mr. Burroughs did not reveal John Drummond-Clayton’s exact status when writing THE SON OF TARZAN. However, permission now having been granted, this has been clarified in the above mentioned work by Mr. Farmer.

  xxiii Told in: TARZAN’S QUEST by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

  xxiv Due to the similarity in their appearances and because the true status of the Mangani had yet to be discovered, it is possible that they were responsible for most of the reports of gorillas attacking natives and abducting their women.

  xxv Told in THE BEASTS OF TARZAN by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

  xxvi Bunduki later established that they were a transitory stage between Australopithecus and Homo Erectus Erectus and not the type of Mangani known to Tarzan.

  xxvii The immunity offered against archers by their breastplates was the reason why the Mun-Gatah nation had never bothered to make use of bows and arrows, even for hunting. The shields of the Masai in Kenya gave a similar protection from Wa-Kamba or Kikuyu bowmen so they too took no interest in archery as a means of defense and attack.

  xxviii Cresting: the bands of color painted for the purpose of identification around the arrow’s shaft just in front of the fletching.

  xxix The Marauder and other bows of its kind have fiberglass limbs and a wooden handle. Earlier ‘composite’ bows were constructed from layers comprising of combinations of horn, sinew, strips of leather and springy wood.

  xxx Being dwellers on the open plains, the Mun-Gatah people were dependent upon their domesticated zebras to such an extent that their whole culture was based upon the different sub-species of Equus Quagga that they bred. The lowest social order rode the grar-gatah, which had the striping of a Grant’s zebra. People of the next grade had the ocha-gatah, with the orange and black stripes of the Burchell’s. While the aristocracy made use of the banar-gatah, that had been developed from the larger Grevys. Only the six members of the Council of Elders, the High Priest and the Protectress of the Quagga God had the right to ride a quagga; its name being onomatopoeic and derived from the animal’s snort of alarm.

  xxxi Czdkan: a Polish horseman’s war-hammer of the late 16th and early 17th Centuries.

  xxxii What the ‘putting away’ entailed is told in: BUNDUKI AND DAWN.

  xxxiii According to the legends, the Grecian Amazons maintained their race by having intercourse with men from neighboring districts. After which, any male children were either killed or returned to their fathers.

  xxxiv At no time in his twenty-four biographical hooks on the life of Lord Greystoke does Edgar Rice Burroughs suggest that Tarzan made use of vines when travelling through the trees.

  xxxv The languets of the British Army’s 1848 Pattern lance, which has similar dimensions, were secured by only five screws.

  xxxvi Details of Mark Counter’s career can be found in various of the ‘Floating Outfit’ series of biographies by J. T. Edson.

  xxxvii Told in: THE MAN FROM TEXAS, which also gives a description of ‘bulldogging’.

  xxxviii How Bradford Counter achieved his ambition, by becoming a deputy sheriff, is told in the ‘Rockabye County’ series of biographies by J. T. Edson.

  xxxix A description of the ‘taking up the toes’ system of roping is given in: TRAIL BOSS.

  xl Only the distrust that existed between the High Priest and the Protectress had caused their hunting party to wear breastplates, They had pretended that their reason for doing so was the possibility of meeting enemies,

  xli The figures quoted are actually those of the formula which was described by English philosopher, scientist and educational reformer, Roger Bacon, c. 1220-1292. There were many other prescriptions, including 74.64% saltpeter, 13.51% charcoal, 11.85% sulphur which would produce an ideal reaction and what came to be the universally standardized mixture, KNOs-75%, C-15% and S-10%.