1 84 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



On coming up they reported that the wounded lechwe 

 had left the herd and made for a branch of the river 

 where the water was deep, across which he had swum, 

 when they were forced to abandon the pursuit. As 

 it would have taken a considerable time to get the 

 canoes round to the spot where he had crossed this 

 branch of the Chobe, and it being late, I reluctantly 

 gave him up, and started back for the place where 

 I had left the one first wounded. 



As I had anticipated, the loss of blood had soon 

 told upon him, and we found him lying in a patch 

 of grass, not far beyond where I had last seen him. 

 When we were about thirty yards off, he sprang up 

 and again made off, but had not gone many yards 

 when I knocked him over with a bullet behind the 

 shoulder. He was a beautiful animal, very thick-set 

 and heavy, of a bright bay colour, with white belly 

 and black points on the legs, and carried a lovely 

 pair of horns, beautifully ringed, and curving well 

 forward at the points. This being the first lechwe 

 ram that ever fell to my rifle, I was much pleased 

 at my success, and removed the skin of the head 

 with the greatest care ; and then, it being too late 

 to think of going after the other, I returned to camp 

 for the night. 



The next morning I again went across to the 

 marsh after the lechwe, and had the good fortune 

 to shoot a magnificent specimen, the finest ram out 

 of a very large herd. 



In the evening, after returning to camp, I shot 

 two buffaloes out of a large herd that came down to 

 drink a few hundred yards farther up the river. 



After consigning the heads and skins of the lechwe 

 antelopes to the care of the natives, by the aid of 

 whose canoes I had shot them, and dividing the 



