156 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



the river ; but as is so often the case when elephant- 

 hunting on foot, just as we were close up to, and 

 expecting to sight them at every instant, they got our 

 wind and decamped. Thinking that as they had not 

 been much disturbed in this part of the country, they 

 perhaps would not run far in such thick bush, I 

 directed my two Masaras to take the spoor at their 

 best pace, but though we stuck to it for good three 

 hours, running and walking alternately, it was useless, 

 and I finally gave it up. All the time we were thus 

 following them, the elephants had been doubling 

 about in every direction in the bush, constantly 

 manoeuvring so as to get our wind, by which means 

 they kept themselves informed of our whereabouts, 

 and avoided a closer acquaintance. Several times the 

 spoor showed us where they had been standing, no 

 doubt listening intently, and sniffing the air for some 

 sign of our approach. 



I may here say that whilst following these elephants 

 early in the morning from the river, and before they 

 got our wind, we came across two large herds of 

 buffaloes, and on again returning to camp, after 

 having been fairly outwitted by our would-be victims, 

 we passed close to another large troop, that, having 

 lain asleep in the deepest recesses of the jungle, 

 during the heat of the day, were just commencing to 

 feed down towards the river for their evening drink. 



The number of buffaloes about this part of the 

 Chobe is really astonishing,^ and in no other part of 

 the country that I am acquainted with, have I found 

 them so numerous. They are quite a nuisance to 

 the elephant-hunter, for not only do they continually 



1 This was written in 1874. The buffaloes have now been driven 

 farther westwards, but beyond the Sunta outlet they are still to be met 

 with in i^reat numbers. 



