vni AN EVENTFUL XMAS DAY 97 



Headman's view that I should camp at this place 

 and make an effort to bag these lions or give my 

 friends a chance of doing so, but as my business 

 was not to shoot, but to see the game and make 

 notes of its variety and distribution, I felt that I 

 must press on, and therefore gave orders for camp 

 to be struck and the march resumed. There was 

 much grumbling at this, and the guides were quoted 

 as having said that water was very far off, and 

 could not be reached until very late in the evening. 

 However, I meant to go on, so they had to take 

 down the tents. While this was being done, two 

 old rhinos walked deliberately and solemnly up to 

 within 80 yards of us, and calmly watched the 

 whole proceedings; and although the porters yelled 

 and howled at them for all they were worth, they 

 would not budge an inch until they had satisfied 

 their curiosity, when they went leisurely away. 



We now got into quite a different kind of country. 

 Up to this time we had been travelling through an 

 open valley practically free from bush, with great 

 undulating swells sweeping across the broad downs 

 like waves on the sea; but now the character of the 

 scenery entirely changed. We were shut in on all 

 sides by dense bush and trees of various kinds, 

 interspersed here and there with rocks and hills, 

 which practically hid everything from view. We 

 had a most exciting afternoon, for during our passage 



