INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. xvii 



before partaken of lion's flesh, but found it very palatable and 

 juicy, not unlike veal, and very white. Rhinoceros-hump was 

 a frequent and favourite dish of mine." 



The stay of the expedition at Omanbonde was somewhat long, 

 because Andersson, prior to plunging into an unknown country, 

 wished to send to Objimbinque the large quantity of ivory 

 he had collected, and to await the return of the messengers. 

 It was therefore not until the commencement of January 1859 

 that he broke up the encampment and again set forward, but 

 this time with the waggon in company. 



During the journey, they came to a district where elephants 

 very greatly abounded. " I had often heard the natives say, on 

 being questioned as to the haunts of these animals," writes 

 Andersson*, "that in certain localities they walked about as 

 thick as cattle ; but never till now had I been able to verify 

 this apparently exaggerated statement. I did so at present ; for 

 the whole country in the neighbourhood of the vley (or piece of 

 water) lately referred to, with the adjacent plain, was literally one 

 network of elephant footprints. The trees and bushes, moreover, 

 were so broken that one might fairly suppose a large army had 

 just traversed the veldt. During the daytime they were not 

 visible, but at night their shrill trumpetings would frequently 

 startle us from our sleep. If, instead of exploring, I had turned 

 my attention exclusively to elephant -hunting, I might have had 

 magnificent sport, and profit too. The temptation was strong, 

 but I considered it ignoble, however great the allurements I had 

 to resist, to swerve from a predetermined purpose for the sake 

 of gain and personal gratification." At length, and after a long 

 and fatiguing journey, Andersson reached, not the Cunene as 

 he had intended, but another considerable river, the Okavango, 

 which may be looked on as the greatest of his geographical 

 discoveries, and the name of which serves as a title to the second 

 of his published works. Having so long struggled through deep 

 * The Okavango River, p. 175. 



b 



