238 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



mensely tall, gaunt, hollow-sided, very remarkable-look- 

 ing animals, and carried truly enormous horns. The 

 head of one of them was very handsome ; the horns were 

 very wide and fair set, going out quite horizontally for 

 some distance on leaving the head; their width, from 

 point to point, might have been about eight feet. This 

 ox was roan-colored on his face and along the top of his 

 back. The other was red ; his horns were thicker than 

 those of his comrade, and were of good length, with 

 very good points, but their sweep was not graceful. 

 They were neither of them so thick as the horns of my 

 red Wangketse ox, Rob Roy, which I left with Fossey, 

 nor by any means so handsome ; yet, nevertheless, they 

 were both very remarkable heads, and perhaps such an- 

 other pair I might never again fall in with. I told 

 Mahura that I possessed finer specimens, but I would 

 be happy to have a deal with him. He then showed 

 me two fine bull elephant tusks, for which I offered him 

 cash; but he said he had no understanding in cash, 

 and that he would keep them until he saw something 

 he stood in need of. His drift was to get one of my 

 valua||Je double rifles out of me. 



Next day Mahura brought me the two large-horned 

 Kalihari oxen, and after coffee he asked me if I was 

 going to buy. I asked him what he wanted for the ox- 

 en, when'he said powder. I said that I would take them 

 both, and give him eight pounds of powder for each. 

 On hearing my offer he only laughed, and, turning 

 round, ordered his herds to drive the cattle back to the 

 post. I asked him what he v/anted for them : this he 

 would not state, but remarked, "You were wont to 

 ride by the Motito road. They may well now say, 

 ' Alas ! we have lost that good trader ; now may Ma- 

 hura rejoice that that good man has gone to trade with 



