314 ON THE TRACK OF A RHINOCEROS. 



they had known me all my life, and were very kind; 

 They said they knew the English well, and the names of 

 Waller, Bishop Mackenzie, and others, might be heard 

 every now and then during their conversation. I 

 remarked that they were very badly clad — indeed, 

 worse so than any natives I had seen in the country, 

 save some who did not pretend to wear any clothes at 

 all. Most of the old women wore nothing but a piece 

 of roughly-made matting ; and altogether I was struck 

 with the general appearance of poverty in a place 

 where the English missionaries had spent so much time. 

 The good and kind hearts of the people, however, shewed 

 that though not improved as regards their apparel, 

 their minds had been raised above the low level of the 

 savage, through the influence of those good men whose 

 bones now lie as Avitnesses of the cost — the great cost 

 at which, comparatively speaking, so little good has 

 been effected. 



Shortly after crossing the river next morning with 

 two stalwart and swarthy guides, we found the spoor of 

 a rhinoceros, and immediately took it up. The ani- 

 mal had been down to the river for water, and was 

 now evidently going home for the day. For six 

 hours we followed the tracks, which led us zigzag up 

 the side of Morumballa mountain, sometimes amongst 

 densely-wooded ravines and dells, through most of 

 which little streams of water ran down the steep 

 declivities to the Shire, and where the rank vege- 

 tation afforded shelter to mjrriads of mosquitoes ; then 

 up some precipitous ascent, so steep that it seemed a 

 marvel to me how the animal ever got up. After a 

 long pull up a hill so steep that I often slipped back. 



