of the Old World. 197 



quantity of fat, oil, and tar, which he got from the 

 cook, and fastened it to a bamboo pole about fifteen 

 feet in height ; then, providing ourselves with several 

 guns, a carpet, brandy-panee, &c., we went to the 

 salt-lick, a little before dusk, and, having erected a 

 kind of screen with bushes and branches, comfort- 

 ably established ourselves in front and to leeward of 

 an open space of ground, which was covered with the 

 footprints of different kinds of deer. Our pole was 

 planted in the ground some half dozen paces in front, 

 and when it got dark the lamp was lighted, and a 

 piece of bright tin (the lid of a cowrie-box) placed 

 behind, to serve as a reflector, and also to prevent 

 the light from revealing our ambuscade. 



We waited for nearly an hour without hearing or 

 seeing anything, when suddenly I thought I saw a 

 pair of bright eyes shining like stars from the thicket 

 in front of the light, and in a moment a low bark 

 informed me that my plan had succeeded, and that a 

 buck-elk was at hand. I whispered to the others not 

 to fire until I gave the signal for I knew, from the 

 cry of the buck, that the herd was at hand ; and in a 

 few moments he stepped forward, barking, stamping 

 his hoofs, scratching his back with his antlers, and 

 staring at the light; and almost immediately he was 

 followed by the rest of the herd, which must have 

 numbered nearly twenty. The light engrossed all 

 their attention, and they came to within a dozen 



