414 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



June ^th. — Sent the waggons to the pan we found 

 yesterday, and then, saddling up Bob, took two young 

 Makalaka boys with me, and rode across the flat to 

 look for game. I had been riding for about a couple 

 of hours, and was near the farther side, when I heard 

 a lot of hyaenas making a tremendous noise. Think- 

 ing they were feeding on some carrion, I galloped in 

 the direction from whence the sounds proceeded, and 

 presently sighted a whole troop of hyasnas trotting 

 away towards the belt of thorns which skirts the upper 

 end of the flat. On in front of the hyasnas I saw 

 three animals that seemed larger than they, and, hoping 

 they might be lions, I put the spurs into Bob, and 

 galloped as hard as he could go, in order to catch vip 

 to them before they reached the thorn-bush. As I 

 galloped, I passed and counted fifteen hyasnas, trot- 

 ting along like dogs, most of which stood and looked 

 at me as I rode within lOO yards of them. I now 

 saw that the three larger animals were lionesses. They 

 were trotting quietly along, and in front of them 

 again were several more hyasnas, so that there must 

 have been more than twenty of these animals alto- 

 gether. Just as the lionesses reached the edge of the 

 thorn-bush, I was close behind them, and pulling in 

 Bob, jumped to the ground. The hindmost of the 

 three as I did so stopped, and, wheeling broadside to 

 me, turned her head to look at me. Before I could 

 fire, however, she sprang away with a loud purr and a 

 whisk of her tail, and went ofl' after her comrades at 

 a canter. As she ran, I gave her a shot from behind, 

 which knocked her over. After rolling about growl- 

 ing for a few moments, she regained her legs, and 

 rejoined her friends that were trotting slowly along. 

 She soon, however, left them, and lay down in a patch 

 of bush, where, having marked her well, I rode on 



