CHAP. in. ELAND. 169 



never so pushed by the latter as to force them to break up 

 all over the country, thereby enabling shot after shot to 

 be fired among them, many of which, though fired at ran- 

 dom, or, at the best, family shots, take fatal effect, though, 

 no doubt, leaving a far larger proportion of wounded ; on 

 the other hand, on horseback, one gallops into them, 

 scatters them in all directions, kills the one that is singled 

 out, and then goes after another, and by the time it also 

 is ridden down and killed, it is very likely that there is 

 not another in sight, and quite possibly no other chance 

 can be obtained the whole day. 



Once in 1868, a friend of mine had taken his waggon 

 into a part of Swaziland which abounded with eland for 

 the sole purpose of filling it with their hides, for which, at 

 the time, there was a very large demand, and on hearing 

 from him of his having done so, I joined him with two horses 

 to assist in shooting them. The country, though treeless, 

 was anything but flat, and we soon found great difficulty 

 in killing more than one or two apiece during the day, 

 though we not unusually saw more than one herd in that 

 time, and after talking it over in camp, and seeing that it 

 was our over haste that forced them to break up too soon, 

 we decided to act differently next day, and try to get 

 enough to complete the load and enable us at once to 

 leave for the colonies, which good fortune and a very 

 exceptionally favourable disposition of the ground made 

 us succeed in. 



We were " outspanned," as the Dutch expression for 

 halting with waggons goes, on a great open hollow, bounded 

 on all sides by hills, which, though rideable in most places, 

 were not only very hard upon the cattle, but in some 



