74 MATABELE LAND. 
indifferent. The cells, when taken out, proved full 
of grubs. . . . One of the boys was carrying two 
squirrels killed by a dog ; another had found roots. 
I tried the latter, and found them slightly bitter and 
at the same time sweet. They are chewed and the 
juice swallowed. The only leaf visible is contained 
in a small green shoot, apparently just coming out 
of the ground, but the roots are very large and long. 
Another boy brought a pretty duiker, which he had 
killed with an assegai. 
" October lotk. — We seem on a sort of plateau, 
with lower ground in front. Beyond is high land, 
blue in the distance. Starting a little before 7 a.m., 
we reached the Umvungu about 9, a big reedy river 
with water in its bed. When we arrived one of the 
boys was calling out, and we found he had shot a 
sable antelope. Many flowers are now springing 
up in the veldt, and the tints of the trees are very 
lovely, reminding one of an English spring, or, in 
some respects, of autumn ; different shades of green 
and yellow. In the course of the afternoon we en- 
tered very thick bush, the thickest I have yet met 
with in South Africa, and more like English wood 
in general appearance than what we have hitherto 
seen, the trees budding with delicate tints of fresh 
green, brown, and yellow. Soon after entering the 
bush fresh elephant spoor was announced — the first 
I have yet heard of — and a few minutes later we came 
on a broken tree lying across the road, and more fresh 
elephant spoor. Emerged from the thick bush about 
5.20 P.M., and soon afterwards outspanned at a spruit." 
