464 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



such times could not fail to present a grand and 

 awesome sight. There are three small tails, which 

 are, however, insignificant, the highest being that on 

 the eastern side, which falls into a deep hole the water 

 has worn in the rock. These falls Jameson afterwards 

 christened the Beaconsfield Cataracts, not that their 

 appearance entitled them to the distinction ot being 

 named after so distinguished a man, but just to show 

 his appreciation of that able statesman's genius. 



After crossing the river I became involved amongst 

 a series of steep, stony hills, but holding steadily to 

 the west gradually got into a less broken country. 

 During the day I had seen much old buffalo spoor, 

 and just before sunset came upon the tracks of a 

 herd that I thought fresh, but soon found they had 

 passed the evening before. Being in want of water 

 before camping, I followed the spoor to a rather 

 muddy hole in the bed of a deep gully, and there 1 

 camped. Next morning I was up early, and still 

 kept to the west, crossing much buffalo spoor only a 

 day or two old, and also the tracks of several black 

 rhinoceroses (there are no white ones in this part of 

 the country). About nine o'clock, from the point of 

 a ridge of hills, I saw the Umniati river running just 

 below me, and a native kraal perched on the summit 

 of a hill beyond. So much for native information ; 

 instead of being three days' journey from our camp, 

 the Umniati, after all, was barely five-and-twenty 

 miles as the crow flies. 



Whilst making this reflection, I saw three old 

 buffalo bulls below me on the edge of the short thick 

 bush with which the hillside was covered ; they had, 

 unfortunately, heard us talking, and dashed away 

 into the thicket. With April, my gun-carrier, in 

 close attendance, I ran after them, but could not get 



