chap. ii. RHINOCEROS. 91 



and when I arrived I found that every one had gone to 

 search for me ; and, as an instance of the wonderful spoor- 

 ing powers of some of the natives, I may mention that, 

 the ground having been softened by a shower that had 

 fallen the previous evening, one of them followed me 

 through all the windings that I took while hunting on 

 the day I left camp, and positively tracked me to the 

 water-hole where I had been. 



On this occasion I had unusually good sport, killing 

 three rhinoceroses, two buffaloes, and a hyena, and wound- 

 ing a water-antelope, that was afterwards got. I reached 

 the pool towards five o'clock, and having noticed that 

 there was a great quantity of spoor of all kinds of game 

 that had been there on the previous night, and as I knew 

 that the moon was nearly full, and as the wind was also 

 favourable, I determined to watch that night, though, on 

 most occasions when I did so, I brought, in addition to 

 my double breech-loader of ten to the pound, a large- 

 bored elephant-gun, that did great execution among 

 rhinoceros and buffalo. Game might be expected to arrive 

 at any moment after six o'clock ; and so, after spending 

 the interval in sitting at the foot of the tree, rising now 

 and then to watch the flight of some rhinoceros-birds, 

 whose cry high up in the air had caught my ear, and to 

 notice with satisfaction that they were coming from the 

 direction from which I expected sport, and that, after a 

 short absence, during which they were probably drinking 

 at the river, they passed back again, showing that they 

 were returning to the game, having seen none nearer, I 

 climbed up, and took my seat on the convenient arrange- 

 ment of branches that had originally caused me to choose 



