192 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



hippopotami, and, on one of them showing his head 

 close to me, I fired, the bullet cracking loudly on 

 his skull. On being struck he made a mad plunge 

 forwards, bringing his fore-feet clean out of water, and 

 then disappeared. Some of the natives said he was 

 killed, and would come to the surface if I would only 

 wait a little ; but I myself did not think so, for, if 

 shot in the brain, they usually sink like a stone with- 

 out any commotion. Yielding, howev^er, to their 

 entreaties, I waited an hour or so, and then, nothing 

 having appeared, we continued our journey. In the 

 evening I shot a fine old wart hog, with large tusks. 

 At daybreak we again embarked in our little fleet, 

 still skirting along the shore of the marsh in a south- 

 westerly direction. Where the main channel of the 

 Chobe was, I did not know ; as far as we could see 

 to the north and west, the whole country was a sheet 

 of water, interspersed with islands, and intersected 

 here and there by deep streams. There is always a 

 cool breeze blowing across these watery wastes, even 

 during the heat ot the day ; and then, again, one 

 there escapes tsetse flies, which make life unendurable 

 on the mainland — so that altogether I never enjoyed 

 any part ot my wanderings so much as this canoe trip. 

 In every direction, herds of the graceful lechwe, one 

 of the handsomest of South African antelopes, were 

 to be seen standing about in the shallow water ; but 

 they were very shy, and would not allow the canoes 

 to approach within shot. Wild-fowl, geese, duck, 

 and teal, of many kinds abounded, and I noticed also 

 several species of bitterns, egrets, ibises, and other 

 water-loving birds that I had never seen before ; 

 whilst my attention was constantly attracted by the 

 shrill, plaintive cries of large white-headed ospreys, 

 as they sailed in graceful circles overhead. 



