142 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



point to base. On examination, we found that my 

 bullet had struck it in the centre of the shoulder, and 

 going right through the heart, lodged under the skin 

 on the other side. Early the next morning we came 

 across an immense herd of impalas, one of which I 

 shot. My bullet — a ten to the pound — struck it as 

 it was running straight away, and entering by the 

 left thigh, tore a passage through the entire length of 

 its body, passing out on the breast, and yet this 

 animal — not much larger than a springbuck — ran at 

 least 400 yards after receiving such a wound, and 

 had it not been for the excellent spooring of one of 

 my Masaras, would have eluded us after all, in the 

 jungle, and become a prey to the vultures and 

 hyenas. The tenacity of life exhibited by wild 

 animals in South Africa, and I suppose all over the 

 world, is really extraordinary, and many instances of 

 it have come under my own personal notice so 

 wonderful, that I hardly like to recount them. In 

 the afternoon, as we were skirting along the river, a 

 small herd of water-buck rushed out from a patch 

 of reeds, crossing about 100 yards in front of us as 

 they made for the jungle. As they passed we fired, 

 wounding two, but though there was a good deal of 

 blood on the spoor, and we followed them a consider- 

 able distance, they made good their escape. Later 

 on we met a small party of natives, who had come 

 across from their village on the other side, to hunt. 

 They were all armed with huge spears, but their 

 hunting seemed to be confined to visiting and keeping 

 in order a lot of pitfalls— of all of which we had 

 fortunately managed to steer clear — and despatching 

 with the aforesaid spears any animals that were 

 unlucky enough to tumble into them. In the 

 evening one of these men came to our camp, saying 



