VAN ROOZEN ALARMED. 165 
entering the dry bed of the Motloutsi River about 
two hours before sunrise, and I was asleep in the 
waggon. It appears that Van Roozen had gone 
across the river in front of the waggons to ascertain 
the nature of the opposite bank, which he had just 
cHmbed when the roar of a Hon resounded in his 
ears, and he asserts that he was chased by a couple 
of them, and ' ran like a horse.' The latter part of 
his statement, no doubt, is perfectly correct, and also 
it was true that there had been two lions within a 
yard or two of him at one time, as we saw by the 
spoor at sunrise. I found the remains of a pallah 
they had killed in the bed of the river, and the 
spoor of the lions going away into the bush, and 
set off to follow it with the dogs and the Dutchman. 
The latter was in a great fright. I should have 
thought nothing of it if he had candidly admitted 
as much, but he thought to put me off by making 
believe to follow the spoor, and then conveniently 
losing it. The Kafirs too are most terribly afraid 
of lions, and will always lose the spoor ; indeed it is 
almost useless to attempt to follow it with them, but 
I had thought better things of a Dutchman calling 
himself a ' hunter.' The fact is, for one man to go 
alone, or only accompanied by Kafirs, may be 
dangerous, but for two white men with double- 
barrelled rifles the danger is very slight ; as, in the 
remote contingency of an attack, one could help the 
other, but really Dutchmen are only a degree better 
than Kafirs. Still they are wonderfully useful about 
a waggon, and my having this one with me takes a 
