SIM 



and very few landmarks, so that even experienced 

 hunters went astray sometimes for a few hours or a - 

 day or two when the mists or heavy rains came on 

 and nothing could be seen beyond fifty or a hundred 

 yards. 



Nearly every one who goes hunting in the Bush- 

 veld gets lost some time or other generally in the 

 beginning before he has learned to notice things. 

 Some have been lost for many days until they blundered 

 on to a track by accident or were found by a search- 

 party ; others have been lost and, finding no water 

 or food, have died ; others have been killed by lions, 

 and only a boot or a coat or, as it happened in one 

 case that I know of, a ring found inside a lion told 

 what had occurred ; others have been lost and nothing 

 more ever heard of them. There is no feeling quite 

 like that of being lost helplessness, terror, and 

 despair ! The horror of it is so great that every 

 beginner has it before him ; every one has heard of 

 it, thought of it, and dreamed of it, and every one 

 feels it holding him to the beaten track, as the fear 

 of drowning keeps those who cannot swim to shallow 

 water. That is just in the beginning. Presently, 

 when little excursions, each bolder than the previous, 

 have ended without accident, the fear grows less 

 and confidence develops. Then it is, as a rule, that 

 the accident comes and the lesson is learned, if you 

 are lucky enough to pull through. 



When the camp is away in the trackless bush, it 

 needs a good man always to 



find the way home 



121 



