CHAP. i. BUFFALO. 35 



the irregular grey hills of Swaziland, while far off to the 

 south could be distinguished some of the cone-like peaks 

 which rise from the Zulu boundary. After passing along 

 this edge We entered a deep defile, steep and stony, from 

 which we emerged, after hard climbing, only to enter a 

 similar one, until, after many hours' unsuccessful search 

 for spoor, I sat down, fairly tired with so much unwonted 

 climbing under the glaring sun, and told the Bombo 

 Kaffirs who accompanied me that I did not believe that 

 there were any buffaloes, and that unless they first found 

 the spoor I should not stir from the spot on which I was, 

 except to go home when it got cooler. On this, several 

 of them started to examine the ground, and in about an 

 hour one came back to say that he had found the fresh 

 tracks of a solitary bull ; and on accompanying him to the 

 grassy slope on which he said that it had been feeding, I 

 found that he had spoken the truth, and at once followed 

 it into the jungle, where it had next gone. 



This cover was quite different from any that I had 

 before been in. The trees were huge thorns, very short 

 and thick-stemmed, and throwing out long bare branches 

 within a foot or two of the ground, which interlaced with 

 those coming from the neighbouring trees in such a way 

 as to form in many places an impassable barrier. All these* 

 were again bound together by a network of tough monkey- 

 ropes, which twined in and out among them in the direst 

 confusion. It shows the remarkable strength of the buffalo 

 that he had been able to quietly walk through all this, 

 snapping branches and creepers as if so much pack-thread ; 

 while it was only in single file, and treading where he had 

 trod, that we could follow him at all. For three hours we 



