448 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



the hunting veldt. As the greater part of the 

 country through which we hunted during this season 

 was famihar to me, and as I have given some account 

 of it in other parts ot this work, I will confine 

 myself to giving a narrative of a journey made by 

 Mr. Jameson and myself on foot to the junction of 

 the Umfule and Umniati rivers, a point never 

 previously visited by a European, an abstract ot 

 which appeared in the ProceecUrigs of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society for June 1 8 8 1 . 



On the 24th of July 1880, Mr. J. S. Jameson 

 and myself left our waggons, which were standing 

 on the banks of the Umfule river (not far from 

 the spot marked Constitution Hill on Mr. Baines's 

 map), and started on foot on a trip into the " fly " 

 country to our north. Our party consisted of 

 ourselves, a little Griqua boy named " Bokkie," 

 who looked after the cooking and made himselt 

 generally useful, and thirteen Matabele and Makalaka 

 Kafirs, who carrieci our ammunition, guns, and 

 provisions. Mr. Jameson's battery consisted of a 

 double 10 and a double 500 "Express," both by 

 Rigby, and both most excellent weapons ; my own 

 of a single 10 (Whitworth rifling) and a single 450 

 " Express " — the latter by Gibbs of Bristol. 



It was already late in the day when we made a 

 start, and so, as the sun was getting low in the 

 heavens when we reached a fine clear stream — a 

 tributary of the Umfule, running beneath a hill 

 known to the Kafirs as " Intaba-go-umbundwan," 

 and about three hours' hard walk from our waggons 

 — we decided to camp upon its banks, the more so 

 as we did not know exactly how far we were from 

 the next stream, or from the main river. As we 

 were without meat for dinner, we each of us took 



