THE REDISCOVERED COUNTRY 47 



By dint of crawling, climbing straight up, and worming 

 my way, I gained the top of a ridge and most unex- 

 pectedly found it to be a spur, or "hogsback" between 

 our stream and another flowing into it some distance 

 below. Followed the ridge until I found it did not 

 "jump off" at the end, then returned and shouted for 

 Cuninghame. He scrambled up, and together we set 

 to find a practicable back way down to the level of our 

 stream. Found a blessed — but disused — rhino trail. 



Cuninghame returned for men. When they arrived, 

 he and I each took charge of a squad with axes and 

 pangas* and slowly we hewed out a good path. We 

 landed finally at a grove of trees near the junction of 

 the two streams and sent the men back to get camp. 

 Sufficient unto the moment was the progress thereof. 

 We were farther along, but apparently not much better 

 off, for our river here plunged into another gorge flanked 

 with high cliffs. A wide valley led to a mountain range 

 to the left. Evidently we were in for another climb 

 somewhere, the only question was as to which made 

 the best climb. Cuninghame agreed to tackle the 

 range near the gorge, while I explored the valley. 



Went up about three miles to where I could see that 

 it ended in a cul-de-sac. Returning, turned aside to 

 stalk a bull eland — absolutely the only game seen for 

 two days — and found a concealed narrow tributary 

 valley that led to a possible pass. Very hot. 



* Panga — a sort of universal tool something like a machete. 



