CHAPTER XXI 



Hippopotamus Paths — Rliinoceros — Bad Rifle — Watcrbucks — Difficult 

 Country — Sable Antelope — Native Villages — Bargaining- — Lo 

 Magondi — Native Weaving — Trip with Lo Magondi — The Lory 

 - — Pool^' of Hippos — Sea-Cow shooting — Matabele — Superstition — 

 Beaconsfield Cataracts — Shooting Buffalo — Lion at night. 



It had been my intention this year to have crossed 

 the Zambesi and endeavoured to pass through the 

 Mashukulumbwe country to the upper Kafukwe, 

 and thence penetrate, if possible, as far north as 

 Lake Bengweolo, However, these ambitious pro- 

 jects were rudely frustrated by Sir Owen Lanyon, 

 the Administrator of the Transvaal, refusing to 

 grant me "any arms or ammunition whatsoever" — 

 to quote his own words in reply to my letter ; for 

 to have started on an expedition that would in all 

 probability have extended over two years without 

 a good supply of ammunition, would have been 

 madness. As it was, however, necessary for me to 

 visit the interior and look after some property I had 

 left there, before leaving the country, I determined 

 to join my friends Messrs. Collison, Jameson, and 

 Dr. Crook in a hunting trip to the Mashuna country. 

 Reaching the Matabele country in the latter end 

 of May, I found them all still at the king's kraal, 

 though impatient to get amongst the game. A few 

 days later we all trekked away together en route for 



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