SO THROUGH ANGOLA 



Then came Chance again ! The lioness had 

 been stalking too. Had she stalked me or the 

 sable ? At the shot she appeared for a moment 

 near me, and then was hidden in the bush. I 

 followed her up for over an hour, but lost her in 

 ground where a soft-footed animal, walking warily, 

 may leave no trace. 



We marched again south-west for a dozen 

 miles through open forest and waterless country, 

 to reach Bonji, and a salt river called Longoe, 

 6 miles from where it joins the grert Conn/a to 

 the west. On the flats beyond the Longoe River 

 many cob were grazing, like that one I had shot 

 on the banks of the Loando. There were no 

 canoes near our village, and I could not cross the 

 river, so never knew if the cob, whose head alone 

 I now possessed, was or was not new to science. 



While we camped by the Longoe, I hunted all 

 the country westward to the Coanzn, still a great 

 river, though here a thousand miles or fart her from 

 the sea. 



Between the Longoe and Coanza there were 

 very few sable ; but I found the spoor of roan, 

 reed buck, eland, oribi, and duiker, while, south of 

 the Longoe, cob were always feeding in the marshes. 



On the 30th August we marched out from 

 Bonji village, on a road which ran south-eastwards 

 along the Longoe River. Three hours after start- 

 ing we met a herd of sable, which moved off as 

 we saw them, and I followed with camera and 

 o'iro. The photography which followed was diffi- 

 cult, as it was the South African spring, and tb<' 

 sun shone fiercclv at middav. 



