Hunting Buffalo 63 



ground then. Now, nearly half a century later, 

 there is little or no game, and the Kaffirs have cut 

 down and burnt square miles of trees. We kept our 

 horses in good fettle on cut buffalo grass and " sorg- 

 hum " (Kaffir corn), although riding daily after 

 game. One never goes faster than at a walk, or 

 amble, except when actually chasing game, as you 

 would frighten all game away, besides losing touch 

 with your carriers. 



I had one grand little cream coloured horse, 

 only 14.2, but I could shoot any game from his back 

 at full gallop. I have ridden him from Pretoria to 

 Durban and back many a time, eight days each way, 

 sometimes swimming several swollen rivers. One 

 afternoon I shot two giraffes off his back and the next 

 day rode from below the "Slagtboom" on Elands 

 River to Pretoria, seventy miles, as a messenger had 

 been sent to tell me that my father was seriously ill. 

 When sometime afterwards I was leaving the Trans- 

 vaal my neighbour, Nicolas Prinsloo, living on what 

 is now my farm, " Lynwood," gave me fourteen large 

 black trek oxen for him. I knew that he would be 

 well treated, as the better class Boers value a good 

 horse highly and treat them well. 



In the dry frosty air of the Bush Veld in 

 winter, I used for weeks at a time ; to sleep mostly 

 under the wagon on the ground, and never was in 

 better health or spirits. I preferred it also when in 

 lion veld, as I was better able to protect the horses 

 and oxen. What I did not like was snakes, but 

 they seldom troubled me. One got under my 

 mattress one night for warmth, and the boy killed 

 him in the morning when he took up my bed. 



One night, after I had been running about the 

 bush in the dark to turn the horses (which a stray 

 lion had stampeded,) I got to bed at midnight. After 



