CHAPTER III 



MASHONALAND : FROM SALISBURY TO THE 

 PORTUGUESE FRONTIER 



There are no records of Job having journeyed 

 with pack-donkeys. Had he done so his repu- 

 tation for amazing patience would assuredly have 

 suffered. 



When L. and I travelled from Salisbury to 

 Tete, with Molo, Dodo and Clo Clo, we ran up 

 a big account in that celestial ledger wherein 

 swear- words and curses are entered. We shall 

 be tempted to dispute those accounts in the 

 eventful day, when they are presented for settle- 

 ment. They should have been charged to Molo, 

 Dodo and Clo Clo. It should here be explained 

 that we were not eloping with the female section 

 of a theatrical company. Molo, Dodo and Clo 

 Clo were three donkey mares, for which we paid 

 £7 105. apiece. We were bound for the far- 

 distant interior after elephants and adventures, 

 and as we could not get porters we purchased the 

 three donkeys. 



We wandered off the beaten track, tramped 

 and struggled along paths which were practically 

 untrodden by white feet, toiled over mountains, 

 and forded angry rivers. It was hard work from 

 daylight to sundown, and we had but very little 

 shooting. L., however, proved himself a mag- 

 nificent companion, and when at last we reached 

 that old-world town slumbering by the Zambesi, 



36 



