BUILDING THE RAFT. 205 



malchis) at the rutting season. They were very 

 grand and terrific, but a combat of two mature Cape 

 buffalo bulls, well matched in age, stature, and 

 physique, with the arena clear of all impediments, 

 would be a contest most truly magnificent. 



The formation of the raft proved a more arduous 

 and protracted job than I had expected, for the 

 whole of the work devolved upon my shoulders. 

 In America I have had lots of practice with the 

 axe ; and among its easy-splitting trees, with the 

 aid of an auger and notching, in two or three 

 hours I could have made a float that would easily 

 have supported the whole party. Not so here ; 

 the timber was so hard and heavy that it had little 

 buoyancy, while clamps and girders w r ere required 

 without number to give strength and cohesion. But 

 for the buffalo 7 r /iei?ns the whole structure must have 

 been a failure ; as it was, when the machine was 

 finished, it was nothing to boast about. True, the 

 raft was built in the water, but where the water was 

 very shoal, so handspikes had to be employed to 

 move it further from the shore. Half afloat as it 

 was, it was nearly proving as obdurate as Robinson 

 Crusoe's canoe. What distressed me most was, that 

 when we " prized" at one corner, the whole structure 

 changed shape, and, from an almost perfect square, 

 assumed the outline of a meagre parallelogram. 

 Elbow grease, when judiciously applied, accomplishes 

 a very great deal ; so at length the raft slid into deep 



