It is in the rivers that a man feels the importance 

 of a good horse with a stout heart, and his dependence 

 on it. There were no roads, and not even known tracks, 

 there ; and when we reached the Black Umbelusi 

 we picked a place where there was little current and 

 apparently an easy way out on the opposite side. It 

 was much deeper than it looked ; however, we were 

 prepared, and thirty yards of swimming did not 

 trouble us ; yet it certainly was a surprise to us 

 when the horses swam right up to the other bank 

 without finding bottom and, turning aside, began 

 to swim up stream. Looking down into the clear 

 depths we saw that there was a sheer wall of rock to 

 within a few inches of the surface. Now, a horse 

 with a man on his back swims low only the head 

 and half the neck showing above water and by what 

 instinct or means the horses realised the position I do 

 not know, but, with little hesitation and apparently 

 of one accord, they got back a yard or two from the 

 ledge and, raising first one fore foot and then the 

 other, literally climbed out exactly as a man or a dog 

 does out of a swimming bath hoisting their riders 

 out with them without apparent difficulty. That 

 was something which we had not thought possible, 

 and to satisfy ourselves we dismounted and tried 

 the depth ; but the ten foot reeds failed to reach 

 bottom. 



When it came to crossing the Crocodile River we 

 chose the widest spot in the hope that it would 

 be shallow and free of rocks. We fired some shots 

 into the river to scare the crocodiles, and started to 



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