348 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



gani, and Vungo rivers — infested by lions^ — that we 

 found any game at all. On the morning of the 30th, 

 however, shortly after crossing the last-named' stream, 

 I shot a tsessebe antelope— one of three — and trekking 

 on ao-ain crossed the Gwelo, and reached the Gwenia 

 just before sundown. Here we found the waggons of 

 the well-known old Dutch hunter, Jan Viljoen. He, 

 together with all the males of his party, consisting of 

 one son and his two sons-in-law, was away hunting. 

 So far, Mrs. Viljoen informed us, they had met with 

 very i^^^ elephants. Reports had come in, however, 

 she told us, that the Englishmen had been shooting 

 well on the other side of Umfule. How I anathe- 

 matised the illness which alone had prevented my 

 being with them and sharing in their sport ! The 

 very day after old Viljoen and his party came here, 

 five lions attacked and killed two pack donkeys 

 belonging to him, which, through the carelessness of 

 the herd, had been left out at night. The next morn- 

 ing the old man and his sons tackled the marauders, 

 and amongst them killed a lioness, the others making 

 good their escape into some reeds and long grass. 



The following day we remained where we were 

 to give our oxen a rest, so I took a ride up the river 

 in the early morning, and shot two out of a small 

 herd of sable antelopes. 



Two days later, on September 2nd, and shortly 

 before reaching the river Se-whoi-whoi, I came across 

 a solitary old sable antelope bull, with a fine pair of 

 horns, of which I wished to possess myself; but 

 fortune willed it otherwise, for after making two bad 

 shots, I eventually lost him amongst some stony hills 

 and thick underwood. On my way back to the 

 waggons I gave chase to some zebras, and shot two 

 of them. Just before sunset next evening we reached 



