CHAPTER V. 



Necessity of a gun Strange footstep A disappointment Vicinity of the 

 Umganie Duiker buck Matuan the Kaffir Vocal telegraph Reit- 

 bok A human pointer Singular conversation Apathy of the resi- 

 dents Kaffir messengers Buck-shooting The buck's tenacity of life 

 A buck on three legs Dangerous country A sporting red-coat 

 Strange sportsmen. 



AFTER this attack on and by the elephants, I devoted 

 my time to the pursuit of the reit-buck (Eleotragus redun- 

 cus),the ourebi (Oreotragus scoparius), the duiker (Cepha- 

 lophorus mergens), &c., all of them found within a few 

 miles of Natal. As these days' sport are, with little ex- 

 ception, repetitions of each other, and therefore possess 

 interest only to the person concerned, I will select one or 

 two incidents, that stand well out in my memory, as 

 amongst the most interesting. 



It is always advisable, in a country of this description, 

 where the game wanders and its locality is uncertain, 

 never to be out without a gun. You may wander for 

 many miles and not see a single head of game in a 

 country that ought to be teeming with it ; but you may 

 stroll out one hundred yards from your house and meet a 

 noble buck who has come to take a peep at you. He, 

 of course, will not accept your invitation to wait until 

 you go in for your gun. 



Scarcely an individual whom I ever met, and who had 

 been long resident in Natal, did not remark some time or 



