A BEAUTIFUL WOOD-PIGEON, 209 



mon and women, came again to see the white men, the 

 wagons, and the oxen; they still persisted in saying that 

 there were no elephants in advance. As the country was 

 now quite unfit for trekking, and probably I might not 

 find elephants until I had proceeded to a great distance, 

 I resolved to turn back. Accordingly, after bre&kfast 

 we trekked, and halted for the night at the fountain 

 we had left on the preceding day. On the march I shot 

 an extremely beautiful wood-pigeon : its back and tail 

 were grass green, its thighs bright orange, its bill and 

 feet bright coral red. 



On the 15th, at sunrise, we inspanned, and held on 

 until late in the afternoon, steering for the mountain 

 of Guapa, where I had seen sable antelope on the 16th 

 of July. We halted for the night without water; dur- 

 ing the night rain fell. On the march we saw ispoor 

 of eland; my troop of dogs took away after a herd of 

 zebras, one of which broke Filbert's shoulder with a 

 kick, so I was obliged to shoot him. This was a sad 

 loss to me; Filbert was the best dog I had left. 



Next day, at dawn, we marched, holding for a vley 

 close under the blue mountain in advance. Having pro- 

 ceeded some miles we fell in with springboks, zebras, 

 blue gnoos; and soon after, to my surprise, an old bull 

 kookama or oryx, carrying a superb pair of horns, start- 

 ed away before the wagons. My dogs were fresh and 

 hungry : they were instantly slipped, and dashed for 

 ward on the scent of the oryx. Unluckily, a wild dog 

 sprang up right in their path, to which they at once 

 gave chase, and thus I lost this most splendid ante- 

 lope. 



I walked ahead of the wagons with my rifle, and 

 soon started two pairs of ostriches. I was going down 

 wind, and kept starting the game. I next sent away 



