GORDON CUM MING. 231 



dusky matron drew her drapery around her, for she 

 wore a cotton skirt, turned on her heels, and marched 

 off at the head of her black satellites. Cigar was my 

 interpreter; word for word he translated what she 

 said, and much was I disappointed. I must truly 

 acknowledge that I never saw a finer piece of acting 

 in my life. 



To get over my annoyance, I mounted my horse 

 and went for a ride. About five miles from home I 

 came across a quantity of game, and the first elands 

 I had seen this trip. They were apparently in very 

 poor condition, and on extremely bad galloping 

 ground, so I let them go ; not that we did not 

 require meat, but for the reason that they would 

 have taken a great deal out of my horse before I 

 could have forced them to come to a standstill. 



On my way home I visited the honey cave, from 

 which the kraal takes its name. It is situated in the 

 face of a bluff that overlooks the salt-pan, and still 

 contains an immense quantity of honey. This place 

 is historical among hunters' annals, for here the 

 mighty Nimrod, Gordon Cumming, long resided. 

 Then it was the centre of the finest elephant and 

 rhinoceros district, probably, in all South Africa. 

 Alas ! none of these mammoths of the animal 

 creation are to be found at the present day within 

 hundreds of miles of it. The indiscriminate in- 

 troduction of firearms by the traders is the cause of 

 the wholesale butchery that has occurred of these 



