XX MAN EATEN BY LION 427 



beads and meat, and laying them upon Sekeletu's 

 grave, prayed to the spirit of the departed chieftain 

 for good luck with the elephants. 



Soon after leaving camp the following morning, 

 we passed the best part of the skeleton of a man, 

 who had been killed and eaten by a lion a few days 

 before our arrival. His head and feet were missing, 

 otherwise the skeleton was perfect. Three fine new 

 assegais lay beside his bones, which none of the 

 Kafirs with us would touch ; indeed, they expressed 

 great horror when Miller picked them up to examine 

 them. A little farther on we came upon an immense 

 herd of buffaloes feeding quietly along the river's 

 edge. One of these I shot to please the Kafirs, and 

 a little later Miller shot a hippopotamus cow that we 

 found alone in a small lagoon. This animal was 

 dreadfully poor, and all covered with scars of wounds, 

 half an inch deep, inflicted, the Kafirs said, by other 

 hippopotami. We found an old bullet in her head, 

 and no doubt it was on account of this wound that 

 her comrades had treated her so roughly. Here we 

 remained all day, whilst our headman sent Kafirs to 

 see if there were any elephants on a large island 

 which he says is a favourite resort of theirs. 



September \f^th. — Shot a buffalo cow shortly after 

 starting. We then went on a little farther, and 

 halted whilst our guide sent messengers to a small 

 Makuba town to get news of elephants. About an 

 hour later one of these Kafirs returned, saying he 

 had crossed fresh elephant spoor, so we at once 

 packed up and went to see about it. We soon 

 came upon the spoor of a large herd of cows, coming 

 down from the sand-belt to drink in the river, and 

 followed it first to the water, and then along a broad 

 footpath that eventually led us to a small Makuba 



