CHAPTER IX 



A Buffalo wounded by Lions Hippopotamus Guinea-fowl 

 Palm-wine Liechtenstein Hartebeest Vultures and Adju- 

 tant Bird Warthog Canoe Boy Bitten by Lion Hippo- 

 potamus attacks empty Railway-trucks Durban Stander- 

 ton Johannesburg. 



Those hardy days flew cheerily, 



And when they now fall drearily, 



My thoughts, like swallows, skim the main 



And bear my spirit back again, 



A wild bird and a wanderer. BYROK. 



I LEFT permanent camp for three or four 

 days in order to hunt farther afield. To 

 this end I took only a very small cotton 

 tent for Weddell and myself, just sufficient to 

 keep the night dew or a shower from us. The 

 place we went to was situated on the banks of 

 a lagoon where Weddell said there was hippo- 

 potamus. On our way I noticed a lovely white 

 flower, in shape very similar to one of the 

 new white clematis. It was evidently a climbing 

 plant, as the flowers showed over the tops of 

 some reeds, which in this place were eight feet 

 high at least. I was determined to get the root 

 of this flower if possible, tracing it down the 

 stalk of a reed to the ground and then for a space 

 of at least ten feet before I found from whence 



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