XI ' DRINK AND MURDER 227 



handsome man, and I have been told, a very agree- 

 able and well-informed one when he was sober. 

 Some months later this man came to a dreadful end. 

 He was again on his way to the Zambesi with two 

 waggon-loads of goods, amongst which was a hogs- 

 head of Cape brandy, to which he paid the most 

 marked and unremitting attention, till at last he 

 went half mad, and in a fit of delirium-tremens 

 commenced shooting his oxen as they were trekking 

 along. One day one of his Kafir servants demanded 

 his payment, and on being told that his time was not 

 up, became insolent, on which Schinderhutte, taking 

 a loaded rifle from the side of the waggon, blew his 

 brains out, the ill-fated Kafir falling dead alongside 

 the fore-wheel. According to the account given by 

 one of his drivers, this act seemed to sober him a 

 little, and he never afterwards left the waggon with- 

 out taking a loaded rifle with him. One day, 

 however, he disappeared. Search was made for him 

 the following morning, and some portion of his 

 remains found, the rest having been eaten by the 

 hyaenas. There is no doubt that he was killed by 

 Makalakas and Bushmen in revenge for what was 

 nothing more or less than the cold-blooded murder 

 of their comrade, but the exact circumstances of the 

 tragedy are not, and probably never will be, 

 accurately known. The day after they had killed 

 him, the natives looted the waggons, stealing all the 

 guns, powder, sugar, etc. 



With Schinderhutte were my old friend Dorehill 

 and Mr. Frank Oates, a most kind-hearted and 

 amiable gentleman, and a great ornithologist, whom 

 I had had the pleasure of meeting the preceding 

 year in the Matabele country. They were on their 

 way to the Zambesi, to see the falls and get a little 



