GAME AT AN AFRICAN DESERT- POOL. 67 



great agility. His face, arms, and hands are bronzed by 

 constant exposure to the tropical sun." * 



The old hunter finally succumbed to the effects of 

 malarial fever, in March 1870, and was buried in the 

 African wilderness, in which the greater part of his 

 life had been passed. 



Mr. James Chapman (Traveller and Explorer) gives 

 the following description of the quantities of game 

 seen coming to drink at a desert pool, known as the 

 Mamtsoe Spring, situated in about Lat. 2 1 S., Long. 25 

 E. on the night of September 8th, 1854. A number 

 of lions being in the habit of resorting nightly to this 

 spring, either to drink or waylay the game, he went 

 to lie in wait for them, in a shooting hole which he 

 had constructed for this purpose: 



"Soon after dark, and before the moon rose, I observed 

 some objects crouching towards his (hunting companion's) 

 post, and my cry of warning was lost in the report of his 

 rifle. Five other lions now got on their legs, while two 

 others were observed moving round the pool above the 

 wind." f 



The troop, numbering ten in all, actually besieged 

 them for a short time, but were finally driven off 

 by the firing: 



" Game of all sorts came and went in vast multitudes all 

 night, many passing within a few feet of us. I feel no 

 scruple in affirming that, since the previous evening before 

 sunset, till next morning after sunrise, except during the 

 time of our being besieged by the lions, no less, at a very 



* To the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi, translated from the German 

 of Edward Mohr by N. D'Anvery, 1876, pp. 201 and 202. 



f Travels in the Interior of South Africa comprising Fifteen 

 Years' 1 Himting and Trading (1849 1864) by James Chapman. 

 F.R.G.S., 1868, Vol. i., pp. 2389. 



