Numa, et al. no matter how quick, does not hunt the mangani as an intellligent, co-ordinated species possessed of knowledge, weapons, and the "joy of killing" so as to represent a viable and continuous threat to the mangani, Tarzan, and all he holds dear. Tarzan immediately recognizes the blacks as a strange and terrible force; which kills not from hunger; kills mysteriously, and from afar; and constitutes an actual danger to his survival, the survival of the mangani, and the survival of his treasured cabin. This immediate appraisal of the natives by the young ape-man is evident in the book; nor do any of the subsequent actions of the natives do anything to alter this impression.

There is no question in my mind that Tarzan, the mangani, the natives or anyone else would destroy Numa, if Numa constituted a serious threat.

It is interesting that it was left to our own species, in this country, to decimate carnivores, such as wolves, mountain lions, bears, and others; when these magnficent animals constituted no threat whatsoever to more than a relative handful of us. For all the lions Tarzan has killed; compare his killing with what civilized man has done to African wildlife, or in fact any wildlife.

"Enemy" is a relative concept. The natives threated Tarzan, his people, and all he held dear; so he killed them as he could. What, perhaps ten? Iraq threatened some of our oil supplies, so we killed what, about 300,000? This is with our knowledge, mores, morals, upbringing, and other civilized values. This war barely made it through Congress, so although this massive killing was moral by majority, it didn't make it by much. Not enough of a majority to save the Kurds, apparently, just as we left the Cypriots to the Turks long ago. Political morality is a contradiction in terms, in many instances.

Tarak, Tarzened to the End.