VII REACH DAKA 125 



Thus on a clear, bright African winter's morning, 

 May 6, 1874, we trekked away from the Tati en 

 route for the still distant hunting-grounds of the 

 Zambesi. Altogether we formed quite a caravan, as 

 our party consisted of Mr. and Lieut. Garden, and 

 their English servant Tofts, with three waggons, and 

 Wood and myself with two. 



As the road from Tati to the Zambesi is so well 

 known to English traders and hunters, and has been 

 so lately described by Dr. Holub, and by many other 

 travellers before him, I will not trouble my reader 

 with any description of it, but will conduct him at 

 once to our camp on the head waters of the river 

 Daka (pronounced Deykah) situated about sixty miles 

 due south of the Victoria Falls, which we eventually 

 reached on June 10. At Daka we were occupied 

 for some days in constructing strong enclosures for 

 our cattle and in laying in a supply of game meat 

 for the use of our people and dogs, who were to 

 remain at the waggons whilst we were away hunting. 

 At last, on June 22, we made a start for the falls, the 

 route to which from Daka lies through a hilly country 

 for the first thirty miles or so, intersected by several 

 small streams all flowing eastwards. Then come a 

 succession of broad sand-belts thickly timbered with 

 fine goussy trees, between which again and the river 

 is a tract of about the roughest country in the world, 

 cut up, as it is, into innumerable steep sides, precipi- 

 tous ravines and gullies, which find their way down to 

 the deep narrow chasm at the bottom of which the 

 Zambesi runs, in a boiling, seething torrent, for many 

 miles below the great falls. 



Early on the morning of the third day after leaving 

 the waggons, and whilst skirting the edge of a sand- 

 belt covered with rather thick bush, we heard an 



