A BOA-CONSTRICTOR. 75 
The following day (October 1 1 ) the party reached 
the Gwailo River, which was crossed without difficulty. 
A half-caste Cape man, who was hunting here, named 
Nelson, rode up and gave a very bad report. He 
had shot fourteen elephants in two months, and a 
few ostriches. He said the Mashonas, hunting the 
elephants with their assegais, and shouting, had 
driven them away. His plan now was to go to 
Damaraland, via Lake Ngami, where he had been 
before and found elephants abundant. 
Resuming his journey in the afternoon, Frank 
Oates now struck across the veldt to the south-east, 
and crossed the Umgwanya River the following 
morning, proceeding afterwards a few miles up its 
banks. At this point he had intended to encamp 
for a few days ; but hearing from two natives who 
came to the waggon that there were still elephants 
in the thick bush which had been passed through 
the day before, he felt tempted to return there ; and 
on the 13th, re-crossing the Umgwanya and Gwailo 
Rivers, in a more direct line than he had taken 
coming, went back in the direction of the Umvungu. 
"A boa-constrictor," he here writes, "six feet six 
inches long, and as thick as my wrist, lay its length 
upon the ground, and was skilfully transfixed by one 
of my boys' assegais, and pinned to the ground. 
The lads were evidently afraid of his bite, but the 
men say that it is harmless. . . . The Mashonas 
use these snakes as an article of food." 
Next day the spruit which they had outspanned 
at on the loth, near the thick elephant bush they 
