SYMPATHETIC MUSIC. IO3 



About sunset, the Mantatees that had absented 

 themselves returned ; between them they brought 

 quite 300 lbs. of superior ivory, worth at that time, 

 close upon ico/. at Durban or Port Elizabeth. 

 Since those days this valuable commodity finds easy 

 sale at double this price. 



I have neglected to mention — not from want of 

 feeling let me assure my readers, but I wish to con- 

 fine myself as much as possible to our shooting and 

 my own personal adventures — poor Selwin is worse ; 

 he is so fractious also, that neither Dillon nor myself 

 can control him. Of this we cannot complain, for 

 we are ignorant of how much he suffers. I made 

 him a large gourd full of cream of tartar water 

 flavoured with the juice of some of the ripe fruit of 

 the meruli tree — in colour and shape not unlike a 

 ripe greengage, but similar to many wild fruits, by 

 far the greater part of it is the stone — this evidently 

 gave great comfort to the invalid. 



Soon after dark the natives commenced singing ; 

 their noise, I thought, would disturb the patient, so 

 I would have insisted on their silence, but no, he 

 liked it ! and when two or three notes of their wild 

 music recalled the memory of an air he had known, 

 his handsome, well-bred face would brighten up and 

 his lips would feebly murmur out a continuance of 

 the tune. 



The music of the natives at a distance, I must 

 say, sounds sympathetic. Night after night have I 



