IX A CANOE TRIP 175 



carry the meat, and I feel sure that not one scrap of 

 meat or bone of those two elephants was left to 

 fatten the vultures or hyaenas. 



Upon questioning the men as to whether there 

 were any elephants farther up the river, they in- 

 formed me that about two days' journey to the west- 

 ward, and not far from one of their towns, a large 

 troop had been drinking for some time past, and 

 offered to take me, my Kafirs, and all my belongings 

 in their canoes to the town in question, in order 

 that I might shoot them some more meat. Of 

 course I was delighted at the idea, and on the 

 following morning, five canoes having been told off 

 for the accommodation of myself and party, I once 

 more made a start up river. My two Bushmen, 

 Hartebeest and Arotsy, walked along the bank, so 

 as not to miss the spoor of any elephants that might 

 have drunk during the night, but I went by canoe 

 and enjoyed a delicious rest. I really did enjoy this 

 canoe trip most thoroughly, and as we glided over the 

 clear and rippling water, fanned by a cooling breeze 

 and free from the persecution of the detestable "tsetse" 

 flies, my mind recalled many a pleasant day spent in 

 times gone by upon the quiet reaches of my dear old 

 native Thames. Every now and then, however, a 

 herd of graceful lechwe antelope, plunging through 

 the shallow water, the blowing and bellowing of 

 hippopotami, and now and then a hideous crocodile, 

 lying like a log upon the sand, broke the association of 

 ideas, and recalled the fact that many a mile of land 

 and water lay between me and the old country. 



Late on Saturday afternoon we reached the 

 Makuba village, for which we had been making. It 

 was situated upon an island at a spot where the river 

 opens out into a sort of marshy lake, and about 400 



