- SOUTH AFRICA FIFTY YEARS AGO 71 
thinner part of the bush, and I fired and wounded one of the 
_ dogs. And the lioness, tired by the protracted worrying, and 
startled perhaps by the sound of the gun, bounded off and 
escaped without a shot. I have been often asked by those 
who have seen the sketch, ‘Oh, but why did you not turn 
round and shoot her from the saddle ?’ And all the answer I 
could or can give is, ‘It’s easy to say but difficult to do,’ and 
that in a second we were on the ground together. The men 
told Livingstone that the dogs came out so close upon the 
lioness that she, rather flustered at being swept from the horse’s 
back, turned to fight with them, and took no notice of me. 
We caught the horse four miles off, and I sewed up and cured 
_ his wounds, but he was never fit for anything again, bolting 
__ dangerously ata stump or other dark object. A hard spin after 
a straight-horned gemsbok killed him. 
_ It washere at Lupapi that I first saw the wild dogs hunting. 
I had gone towards the water on the chance of a shot, late 
one afternoon, and as I got into the little flat in which the 
spring lay, an antelope broke through the bush on my right, 
panic-stricken and blown. Thirty yards behind it came the 
_ wild dogs ; before it had gained the middle of the open space 
_ they ran into it, and though I was within roo yards, they had 
___tornit nearly to pieceswhenI got up. They then retired a short 
_ distance, sitting down and watching menacingly whilst I cut 
_ away part of the hind quarters, and the moment I turned my 
_ back swooped down on their prey, dismembering and putting 
_ it out of sight in an incredibly short time. They are ugly- 
~ looking brutes, more like jackals than dogs, with great endur- 
ance in running, and great grip of jaw. Three or four head 
_ the pack, holding the scent. As they tire, three or four 
others take their places, the pack running loosely after the 
leaders. 
We reached the kraals of the Ba-Mungwato, but met with a 
_ surlyreception. The chief wished to play the part of the great 
potentate, and declined seeing us, sending messengers for 
presents and specifying what they were to be. His envoys, 
