ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS 133 



bulls — I can't distinguish the sexes on the veldt — 

 two Lechwe 27 inches, two Sassaby 16| inches, 

 one Pallah 21j inches, one Reed Buck 14| inches, 

 one Koodoo, one Warthog, and I lost a good roan 

 bull, which took away two bullets, and I followed 

 his spoor eight hours with bushmen and never came 

 up with him. On getting back here again the chief 

 wanted me to go with him on a lion hunt, so I went, 

 and have just returned. We saw no lion nor even 

 heard one, but I saw buffalo, and had the deuce 

 of a hunt, but alas and alas, lost a very big old bull 

 badly wounded. I stuck to him all day long, but 

 he did us in the end. I also shot another roan 

 cow, a very big one, 27 inches — I could have sworn 

 it was a bull, but no, my luck is dead against me 

 with the roan — a Warthog, a Pallah 22 inches, a 

 Reed Buck, and a Wildebeest cow. That leaves 

 only three things that I want from here still to be 

 got — a Buffalo, a Hartebeest and a Sitatunga. 

 I have been out several mornings in the marshes for 

 a Sitatunga, but have not seen one yet. However, 

 I live in hopes, as when the young grass begins to 

 grow they leave the swamps and feed more on the 

 islands. A Sitatunga is a head one does not often 

 see in private collections, and here am I in the hope 

 of them. I must get one. Well, I am afraid this 

 is a dull letter. I am no good at correspondence, 

 but I shall have a lot to tell you when I get home. 

 I am now able to appreciate your Breath from the 

 Veldt, and I like the book much better now that I 

 know the life and the same sort of country, and the 

 game itself. Your pictures of sable are the beasts 

 themselves, and they are, as you say, the finest 

 beasts in Africa. 



