CHAP. v. LIONS. 223 



various : a sufficient nearness to the river to render 

 fetching water easy and safe during the hours of dark- 

 ness, with enough elevation in the ground to raise us 

 above the fatal miasma which nightly steals forth from 

 the lower bottoms, .while at the same time a close and 

 ample supply of firewood was a necessity ; and even all 

 these would be worthless unless plenty of fresh spoor 

 proved that we had again overtaken the game. 



After going several miles, our followers, numbering 

 some thirty men, who had hitherto marched steadily 

 behind in Indian file, humming the air of a hunting- 

 song, which occasionally broke forth into words, began to 

 feel the overpowering heat of the mid-day sun, and to 

 grumble at the distance, pointing to the numerous tracks 

 of rhinoceros, buffalo, eland, and other large animals, as a 

 proof that we had come far enough for the principal 

 object of our search, and that nothing remained but to 

 discover a camping-ground. 



This, however, did not seem likely to prove an easy 

 task. We were passing through a low thorn jungle 

 which bordered the river for half a mile or so, and 

 extended to the rank bottom of reeds and tambuti 

 grass through which it ran, while the whole country in 

 front and to our left was one vast plain, covered with 

 scattered mimosa and other thorn-trees deepening here 

 and there into impenetrable thickets, the black shadows 

 of which looked cool and comfortable in the blinding 

 glare of the sun ; while on their edges a quick eye could 

 distinguish the dark outline of various kinds of antelope, 

 standing motionless, waiting till the lessening heat should 

 permit them to come out and graze. The soil itself was 



