FREEDOM OF SAVAGE LIFE. 53 



times to ask for presents ; but the less they know of the 

 whites, the less I always found the Kaffirs so disposed. 

 As auxiliaries in the bush they were unequalled, and I 

 rarely moved without taking at least two with me. 

 Enduring, cheerful, sensible, and unassuming, they were 

 thoroughly skilled in tracking game ; they could be sent 

 home with a buck, and the horse thus be kept uiiincum- 

 bered, or the hunter himself free for more sport. 



I was always gathering some lesson from them either 

 as to the animals which we pursued, their habits or their 

 trail, the things good to eat in the forests or those to be 

 avoided. The Kaffirs' ambition was limited, a cow or a 

 blanket being sometimes the extent of their desires. 



In a country of this description one has the pleasure of 

 great freedom. It is certainly pleasant for once in a life 

 to feel like a wild man, to throw off all the restraints 

 imposed by the rules of society, and to wander, unwatched, 

 uncriticised, amongst the wonders and beauties of nature. 

 Dress, that all-important subject in civilized countries, and 

 about which the minds of hundreds are wholly engrossed, 

 is here a dead letter, or nearly so. Could a man dye his 

 hide a dark brown, he might walk about with a few strips 

 of wild-beast skins hung around him, and not attract 

 particular attention. Novelty has certainly a wonderful 

 charm, and perhaps it may be for this reason that a man 

 fresh from civilization feels so much pleasure in sharing the 

 pastimes and excitements of the savage. A wet tent is 

 by no means an agreeable residence, and frequently during 

 the heavy rains that visited Natal, I shouldered my gun, 

 and paid an afternoon call to some Kaffirs who lived a 



