In Wildest Africa -^ 



descriptions given by the first travellers over the velt 

 regions of Cape Colony. 



How did all this accord with the reports I had received 

 of the scarcity of elephants ? with the destruction of the 

 buffalo by the cattle plague ? with my own previous 

 experiences? The most authoritative ot my informants 

 had assured me that in this district the elepliant was to 

 be found very rarely, the buff;ilo hardly ever ! 



Suddenly with mvsterious swiftness the ni^ht is gone, 

 and the day breaks. I search fbr and find the tracks of 

 my giant guests of the night. I had made no mistake. 

 Monstrous footprints are sharp])" impressed in the mud, 

 the ground looks as if it had been ploughed up, and in 

 the midst oi the plain, not very far from the lake, there are 

 actually hundreds of mighty elephants standing near some 

 ol-girigiri acacias. As I begin to watch them, they 

 suddenly become restless. In their noiseless way they 

 make off at an extremely quick rate, and soon disappear 

 behind the nearest ridge. 



Round about me I see herds of zebras, hartebeests, and 

 wiltl animals ot all kinds in vaster nimibers even than those 

 of yesterday. The deep bellow of the wild buffalo breaks 

 upon my ear. I can see long-necked towering giraffes in 

 the acacia thick(;ts. The snorting of" numerous hippo- 

 potami sounds from the lake. .Some of these burlv fellows 

 are sunning themselves on its margin ; and (juite close to 

 them several rhinoceroses are gnizing peacefully in the 

 midst of their uncouth cousins. 



I am surprised, too, at seeing a troop of lions disappear- 

 ing into the bush, after having made a visit to the water. 



62 



