XII A FIXED RESOLVE 229 



Thus I lett Matabeleland in September 1896, at 

 the conclusion of the native rebelHon in that country, 

 with the fixed resolve to do my best to kill a male 

 inyala before quitting South Africa. 



Leaving my wife in the care of kind friends at 

 Kimberley, I proceeded by the shortest route, viz. 

 by rail via Pretoria to Delagoa Bay, and found 

 myself in the now important town of Lourengo 

 Marques on the evening of Monday, September 21. 



There I was fortunate enough to make the ac- 

 quaintance of Messrs. Gould and Edixhoven, two 

 gentlemen who were most kind and obliging to me 

 in every way, and who spared no pains to render 

 me all the assistance in their power to enable me 

 to carry out the object I had in view. They intro- 

 duced me at once to a trader from Amatongaland, 

 who had lately come down to Delagoa Bay, and 

 who was just about to return to his station near the 

 junction of the Pongolo and Usutu rivers. Mr. 

 Wissels (the gentleman in question), a Cape colonist 

 of German extraction, I found was about to return 

 to his station by boat on the following day ; and 

 when he heard that I wished to shoot an inyala, 

 he told me that these animals were plentiful in the 

 neighbourhood of his station. Then he most kindly 

 offered to take me there with him, and to find 

 Kafirs who knew the haunts and habits of the 

 antelopes in question to go hunting with me. 



I had but very little preparation to make for the 

 journey before me, but before I could leave Delagoa 

 Bay it was necessary for me to get a passport from 

 the authorities to travel in Portuguese territory, and 

 also to obtain a licence to carry arms. Thanks to 

 the ready kindness of Mr. B. Cohen,^ and the courtesy 

 of the Portuguese governor of Louren^o Marques, 

 I obtained all the necessary licences in an unusually 

 short space of time, and was ready to embark on 



1 At that time the British Consul at Delagoa Bay. 



