HOGS. 433 



that there were certain bush-fruit ripe of which 

 Gorillas were very fond, at no great distance, and 

 he thought that we should find some of those 

 animals there, if there were any in the neighbour- 

 hood. I therefore gave orders to have breakfast 

 ready before daybreak, as it was my intention to 

 start as soon as it was light enough to see the 

 way. All being satisfactorily arranged, I got 

 into my hammock, arranged my mosquito -curtains 

 properly, and had a capital night's rest. 



Leaving two Kroomen in charge of the goods 

 in the hut, Tom, Dick, and Smoke, with the 

 Bekelai, M'pogola, and King Bapi's four men, 

 started with me at daybreak in a south-easterly 

 direction, and, passing through some three miles of 

 alternate prairie and bush, we arrived at a clump 

 of dense forest, where I halted the people, whilst 

 N'adoma and I went to reconnoitre. We had 

 hardly entered the cover before a sounder of hog 

 started up from almost under our feet, and trotted 

 leisurely away, evidently more astonished than 

 frightened at our intrusion, and I could easily have 

 shot a couple had I not been afraid that the crack 

 2f 



