492 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. xxii 



where we spent a very merry Christmas with Mr. 

 John Bennion and some of the other resident 

 traders and their wives. 



The outbreak of the war in the Transvaal, just at 

 this juncture, prevented our travelling through that 

 state, as had been our intention, so we journeyed 

 along the borders of the Kalahari desert to Griqua- 

 land, and ultimately reached the Diamond Fields on 

 15th February i 881, after having been much delayed 

 on the road by heavy rains, 



I here disposed of my waggon, oxen, and horses, 

 and went down by passenger-cart to Port Elizabeth, 

 where I soon afterv/ards took ship tor England, 

 which I reached, after a very fine and quick passage, 

 early the following April. 



My work is now over, and should my pages have 

 afforded either amusement or instruction to any 

 sportsman-naturalist, or supplied definite information 

 to any roving spirit, whose inclinations bid him bend 

 his steps towards the splenciid hunting-grounds 

 which still exist in the far interior of South Africa, 

 I shall feel amply compensated for the time and 

 trouble that the compilation of this volume has 

 cost me. 



