LATER VISITS TO SOUTH AFRICA 135 
away the clay, which has by this time under the dry heat 
3 - become as hard as a brick, and madame and her family make 
their dééut. The poor monsieur is a rickle of bones, madame 
as round as a ball ; the Kafirs, knowing this, always dig her 
out as a tit-bit whenever they find the nest. And what's it 
_ done for? An African wood is filled with all sorts of cats, 
and without a protection the toucan (that’s not right, but let it 
stand) family would soon be improved off the earth, for a hole 
in a tree comes handy to a cat; but the clay very soon gets 
too hard for his claws, and the bird hatches in security. Now 
come with me towards a Kafir kraal, such as those of the Ba- 
Quaina or Ba-Wangketsi, permanent tribes. We walk through 
_ the outskirts ; there’s our friend the toucan in, but there’s 
aga 
__ his wife too, and they keep alternately flying to and from that 
__ hole in the tree, out of which many-gaping mouths are pro- 
__ truded at each visit. They are the same birds, but the house- 
door is open. Within a radius of five to six miles of every 
large kraal no cat exists. The Kafirs kill everything that runs 
_ upon four legs for food or clothing, the best carosses are made 
of cat-skins (I have one with thirty-six pussies in it), and the 
birds have found this out— instinct ? or reason ? 
I wandered on at my leisure, and on my return from the higher 
reaches of the river unexpectedly came upon the waggons of 
Mr. Webb, of Newstead Abbey, and Captain Shelley, and a com- 
panion who, I believe, was travelling with them and trading 
on his own account. We exchanged friendly greetings, they 
going towards the Lake, I homewards. I was returning earlier 
than need be, for I was very nearly run out of lead, and though 
I knew they were amply provided I had not the face to ask 
them for metal more valuable than gold in the middle of Africa. 
Next morning, however, I shot three elephants, and it occurred 
to me that I might exchange their tusks for lead with Mr. 
Webb’s companion, and I[ accordingly sent John on horseback 
with a note to Mr. Webb, asking him to mediate for me, and 
telling him John would put his Kafirs on our tracks from the 
elephants and they might run heel, and take the tusks out 
