Bush Veld and other Treks and Adventures 76 



shoot it suddenly swung round and galloped off. I 

 instructed the boys not to tell him about the looking- 

 glass, and next day when I shot more game than he 

 did, he was convinced it was because he tried to 

 shoot on Sunday. Poor old Dolf, he and his plump 

 old wife Tanta Jacoba are dead and gone long ago 

 with so many more. 



In the winter of 1863-4, Alex, and I went for a 

 short shooting trip to the near "bush -veld." One 

 afternoon, near Dronkfontein, we espied two giraffe 

 bulls. As he was keen to get one, I told him to get 

 alongside and shoot one, and kept close behind him on 

 my old Buckley. His horse Punch, was game enough, 

 but he could not make him go near the giraffe, so 

 he called to me to try and get up. I at once did 

 so and shot one from the horse's back. He was 

 eighteen feet to the top of his head. Then after- 

 wards I shot another, as Punch still would not let 

 Alex, get near. This giraffe lay apparently dead, 

 and I was packing bushes on to him to keep 

 "aasvogels" off, when Alex, shouted to me, and 

 turning round I saw the giraffe standing right over 

 me. He had sufficiently recovered from the shot to 

 get up, so I shot him under the chin, bringing him 

 down like a felled tree (poor brute), nearly on top 

 of me. He was 18 feet 9 inches in height. We 

 skinned one, and went on later to " Dronkfontein," 

 where we found the Oppermans and Cornelius 

 Erasmus, to whom I gave the two giraffes, as they 

 had not shot any, and Erasmus afterwards gave me 

 some whips made of the hide. They started at dawn 

 to fetch the animals ; I gave them a boy to show 

 where they lay. Alex, used to enjoy sitting round 

 the fire listening to these old Boer hunters' yarns, 

 which they have a very graphic way of telling. 

 Some of these old Boers were most friendly to me 

 always. 



