The Dingi-Dingi 



times very pig-headed. In this case my man put 

 them in too hot a house, with the result that he 

 killed a good many of my best plants. 



We arrived late in the afternoon at a ford, 

 where we were to cross the river. Here the water 

 was, in some places, up to our middle. It is 

 rather a creepy business wading a stream when 

 you are perfectly aware that the place swarms 

 with crocodiles. The river at this place was quite 

 one hundred yards broad, the stream, too, was 

 strong. I went second, Cooe leading the way, 

 Weddell bringing up the rear, and we landed 

 on a sand-spit. Here the ground was literally 

 ploughed up with the spoor of a big herd of 

 buffalo they had evidently made a yard of the 

 place. 



The river banks were densely fringed with tall 

 reeds and grass, but at a short distance there 

 was an excellent site for my camp, and it did 

 not take long to clear away the grass and pitch 

 our tents. 



That evening before we turned in Weddell 

 told me the following story. He had been 

 hunting in this place the previous year, and on 

 one occasion passed close to a tree which grew 

 among some tall reeds. Whilst passing he was 

 amazed to see a lioness jump out of the branches 

 and then disappear in the grass. Now, I thought 

 that I could swallow a lot, but doubted my 



capacity to digest this piece of information. 



109 



