374 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



following day a lot of Mashunas came to our camp 

 and asked permission to cut up the meat, which we 

 granted. They own allegiance to the petty Mashuna 

 chief, Lo Magondi, whose kraals were situated 

 amongst the hills, which we could see from our 

 camp, and which were not more than ten miles 

 distant. 



On September 27 we rode down to have a look 

 at the Hanyane river, as it is marked in Mr. Baines's 

 last map. By the Matabele this river is called 

 " Hanyane," but by the Mashunas " Manyame," 

 and near its confluence with the Zambesi, "Panyame." 

 It is a fine running river, with long reaches of deep- 

 blue water, neither few nor far between, along its 

 course. In many parts of it there are hippopotami, 

 though about here the natives have persecuted them 

 so much that they have gone in quest of fresh fields 

 and pastures new. At one place we found a large 

 deep pool, fenced completely round, rude dams, as 

 it were, having been built across the shallow water, 

 both above and below it ; several stages, too, had 

 been erected in the pool itself, surmounted by small 

 platforms. These preparations, the Mashunas told 

 us, had been made to circumvent some hippopotami 

 that were in the pool. The fence was made to 

 prevent their coming out to feed, and on the 

 various platforms men were stationed with heavy 

 spears, which they plunged into the backs of the 

 amphibious monsters whenever they showed them- 

 selves above water. Altogether, the hippopotami 

 must have had a rough time of it in that pool. 

 Two, at any rate, must have met their death, for 

 we saw their skulls lying there. Just after leaving 

 this pool we crossed the spoor of some elephants 

 that had passed in the night, and, it being still early, 



