278 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



rhinoceros, and proceeded with Ruyter to take up the 

 spoor of the bull wounded in the morning. We found 

 that he was very severely hit, and, having followed the 

 spoor for about a mile through very dense thorn cover, 

 he suddenly rustled out of the bushes close ahead of us, 

 accompanied by a whole host of rhinoceros birds. I 

 mounted my horse and gave him chase, and in a few 

 minutes he had received four severe shots. I managed 

 to turn his course toward camp, when I ceased firing, 

 as he seemed to be nearly done up, and Ruyter and I 

 rode slowly behind him, occasionally shouting to guide 

 his course. Presently, however, Chukuroo ceased tak- 

 ing any notice of us, and held leisurely on for the river, 

 into a shallow part of which he walked, and after pant- 

 ing there and turning about for a quarter of an hour, 

 he fell over and expired. This was a remarkably fine 

 old bull, and from his dentition it was not improbable 

 that a hundred summers had seen him roaming a peace- 

 ful denizen of the forests and open glades along the fair 

 banks of the secluded Mariqua. 



During our march on the 19th we had to cross a 

 range of very rocky hills, covered with large loose 

 stones, and all hands were required to be actively cm- 

 ployed for about an hour in clearing them out of the 

 way to permit the wagons to pass. The work went on 

 fast and furious, and the quantity of stones cleared was 

 immense. At length we reached the spot where we 

 were obliged to bid adieu to the Mariqua, and hold a 

 westerly course across the country for Sichely. At 

 sundown we halted under a lofty mountain, the high- 

 est in the district, called " Lynche a Cheny," or the 

 Monkey's Mountain. 



I>|p.xt day, at an early hour, I rode out with RuytcT 

 to hunt, my camp being entirely without flesh, and we 



