100 SOUTH AFRICA. 



buffalo herd have deserted the river since a 

 numerous Boer " trek " passed through the country 

 some fourteen years ago and wantonly shot some 

 thousands of them merely to glut the love of 

 slaughter so characteristic of the race. 



Most of the big game of South Africa stick to 

 the localities where they have been bred till 

 exterminated. The buffalo is the exception, and 

 if he is much disturbed and cut up by mountain 

 hunters he migrates at once, to be seen in his 

 place no more, unless perhaps that locality is 

 deserted for years by his human enemies. 



However, to return to Kange : here I found that 



my friend D determined to take a bee-line 



across the desert for the Lake which was sup- 

 posed to be distant about twenty days whereas 

 by the usual track forty or more days would be 

 consumed on the road. I found it quite useless 

 to point out that there could be no water in the 

 desert, or other hunters would have taken the 



short cut as a matter of course. D felt certain 



of finding water and reaching the Botletle without 

 much difficulty. After a day or two arguing pros 



and cons we decided to part company, and D 



started, accompanied by an Irish servant named 



