DEPARTURE FOR ENGLAND 303 



ed. On the contrary, the wild, free, heaxthy, roaming 

 life of a hunter had grown upon me, and I loved it more 

 and more. I could not help confessing to myself, how- 

 ever, that in the most laborious yet noble pursuit of 

 elephant hunting I was over-taxing my frame and too 

 rapidly wearing down my constitution. Moreover, the 

 time required to reach those extremely distant lands 

 frequented by the elephant was so great that it con- 

 sumed nearly one half of the season in going and re- 

 turning, and I ever found that my dogs and horses had 

 lost much of their spirit by the time they reached 

 those very remote districts. My nerves and constitu- 

 tion were considerably shaken by the power of a scorch- 

 ing African sun, and I considered that a voyage to En- 

 gland would greatly recruit my powers, and that on re- 

 turning I should renew my pursuits with increased zest. 

 Having thus resolved to leave the colony, I directed 

 my march toward Port Elizabeth, by way of Graff 

 Reinett, crossing the bold mountain range of Snew- 

 berg. On the 10th of May I reached the shores of the 

 ocean, which Ruyter and others of my followers, now 

 beholding for the first time, gazed upon with wonder 

 and with awe. On the 19th I took my passage for Old 

 England in the bark "Augusta." INIy valuable col- 

 lection of trophies and my Cape wagon, weighing all 

 together upward of thirty tons, were then carefully 

 shipped, and on the 7th of June I set sail (my little 

 Bushman accompanying me) for my native land, after 

 a sojourn of nearly five years in the wild hunting- 

 grounds of Southern Africa. 



Tin: END. 



