488 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



I went out for a stroll, and whilst running down a 

 steep, stony hill, rifle in hand, in pursuit of a black 

 rhinoceros which I had wounded, fell heavily, and 

 jamming my hand between my rifle and a stone, 

 tore the nail of my middle finger clean out ; however, 

 although it looked a nasty place, it gave me no 

 trouble, but healed up right away by first intention. 

 There is nothing, I should fancy, like elephant- 

 hunting on foot to keep the blood in good order. 



In the afternoon we were visited by a small party 

 of Matabele hunters ; they told us what we already 

 knew — that elephants were very scarce this year, and 

 that they themselves had only killed a calf. Just 

 after they left our camp we heard a shot, and soon one 

 of them came running back to say that he had killed 

 an " imbabala," and asking if I would buy the skin. 

 This I was very glad to do, and for a few cartridges 

 I obtained the skin, horns, and skull of a fine spotted 

 bushbuck ram ; it proved, too, a very interesting 

 specimen, being an intermediate type between the 

 dark- coloured, slightly spotted bushbuck of the 

 Cape Colony, and the beautifully striped and spotted 

 bushbuck found to the north-west, on the banks of 

 the Chobe. The next mornins; we arain continued 

 our journey, following the course ot the river ; 

 during the forenoon the walking was pretty good, 

 but by mid-day we again got amongst a lot of stony 

 hills, up and down which we clambered during the 

 rest of the day. Just as the sun was sinking we 

 reached the junction of the Umzweswe river with 

 the Umniati, and here we camped for the night. 

 The next morning we followed the course of the 

 Umzweswe, which we found ran over a rocky bed 

 full of immense boulders, between a series ot high 

 and precipitous hills. First we tried following the 



