130 Men, Mines, and Animals in South Africa. 



lip to now has l^een getting gradually more 

 wooded since A'ryburg, and the trees getting 

 gradually larger. The thorns all the way ha^'e 

 been very troublesome, especially the well-known 

 " wait-a-bit " thorn. . . . AVe found several 

 waggons outspanned here, Mr. Winslow and ]3arty 

 amono- them. AVent out four hours Avith a rifle 



o 



in the morning, but saw nothing. In the after- 

 noon ]Mr. Winslow came and showed us the wa)' 

 to a large '' vley " about two or three miles away, 

 where there were numbers of duck and teal. 



Here we shot about a 

 dozen birds, but Giles 

 \\as the only one who 

 iiianaoed to brine* his bird 



to bag, a very large duck ; 

 in fact, almost as big as 



with 



a verv 



a goose, 



l)road span of wings. 

 All the other birds fell 

 into the "•vley," and it 

 ^vas too deep to wade 

 foi- them. Also croco- 

 diles were said to li^e 

 there sometimes. Dark- 

 ness brought an end to 

 our afternoon sport, so 

 we returned to camp, 

 feeUng M-e had rather wasted our cartridges, 

 and killed birds for no reason. Mv. Winslow and 

 three of his party came to supper, and we had a 

 " smoking concert " over a roaring camp fire. . . . 



Fording a river. 



