82 MATABELE LAND. 
to them, but did not want them to know he had 
given me this hint. The ivory, it seems, would not 
be his anyhow, as the king's man who is with him 
hunts on his own account and would claim it. My 
boys were resolute to keep it, and we let them fight 
it out by themselves, which they did very noisily, 
finally saying it should be referred to the king. It 
seems to me that, picked up in the veldt, it belongs 
to the finder, unless the shooter has followed it 
up himself. This Nelson says his men did not 
attempt — though he advised it — saying it would 
be useless." 
From this time till the 27th of the month, the 
party remained in the same camp, making frequent 
excursions thence in search of game, first in one 
direction, then in another. Here they met with 
more quagga and sable antelope than any other 
game, but there were also eland, koodoo, and sassaybi, 
besides some of the lesser antelopes and wild pigs 
in abundance. " Near the spruit on which we 
stand," writes Frank Oates at this point, " is the 
most really picturesque bit of craggy and sylvan 
scenery I have yet seen. Our present camp indeed 
is far the best in that respect we have ever yet had. 
It is now spring, moreover ; the first rains have 
fallen, and refreshed nature is beginning to resume 
her long-lost garb of green." 
The following quotation from the Journal of the 
1 8th gives a pleasant glimpse into one of their longer 
rambles from, this . camp : — "Started about 7. 30 a.m., 
