and gone into the kloof beyond. Whether he 

 had followed us up when we got ahead of him 

 hoping to stalk us from behind ; or had 

 gone ahead, expecting to meet us coming down wind ,/,, 



to look for him ; or, when he heard us pass down wM 

 i i i 11- " Mi 



stream again and, it may be, thought we had given 



up pursuit had simply walked on after the herd, 

 were questions never answered. 



A breeze had risen since morning, and as we ap- 

 proached the hills it grew stronger : in the poort itself 

 it was far too strong for our purpose the wind coming 

 through the narrow opening like a forced draught. 

 The herd would not stand there, and it was not prob- 

 able that the wounded animal would stop until he 

 joined the others or reached a more sheltered place. 

 We were keen on the chase, and as he had about an 

 hour's start of us and it was already midday, there was 

 no time to waste. 



Inside the poort the kloof opened out into a big 

 valley away to our left our left being the right bank 

 of the stream and bordering the valley on that side 

 there were many miles of timbered kloofs and green 

 slopes, with a few kaffir kraals visible in the distance ; 

 but to the right the formation was quite different, 

 and rather peculiar. The stream known to the 

 natives as Hlamba-Nyati, or Buffalo's Bathing Place 

 had in the course of time shortened its course to 

 the poort by eating into the left bank, thus leaving a 

 high, and in most places, inaccessible terrace above 

 it on the left side and a wide stretch of flat alluvium 

 on the right. This terrace was bounded on one side 

 287 



