SOUTH AFRICA 15 



coloured hair, a hug^e moustache and a deep, re- 

 sounding voice. Another of the officers was dubbed 

 The Ostrich from the way he walked, and a third 

 The Giraffe because he was tall and slender. I 

 believe that my name was The Wolf, but I never 

 ascertained the reason. I must, however, point 

 out that there are no wolves in South Africa, but 

 the hyena is called a wolf. 



Headquarters were at Mafeking, about a hun- 

 dred miles beyond the railway terminus. At the 

 General's request I had brought two couple of 

 foxhounds to augment the pack already there. I 

 do not recommend that part of South Africa as 

 a hunting country. The only time suitable for 

 hunting was a few hours in the morning, for 

 when the sun had dried the dew the scent 

 vanished. Moreover, we lost several hounds from 

 snake-bite. The black mambra, the most aggres- 

 sive and venomous snake in the veldt, was fairly 

 common. One day when the General and I were 

 shooting and his pointer bitch came to a point 

 close to an ant-heap, the General went forward 

 to investigate what the game was, and I saw a 

 huge mambra, about nine feet long, fairly launch 

 itself from the heap. Quick as lightning the 

 General had his gun up to the shoulder and blew 

 the snake's head off. Carrington in his young 

 days had been a great boxer and it seemed to 



