144 A Breath from the Veldt 



the recesses of the Zoutpansberg, had there married a black woman and hunted 

 for a living in the country to the north. He and his sons were amongst the 

 first to cross into Mashonaland, which in those days was even more unhealthy 

 than it is at present ; and the father paid the penalty of his daring, falling a 

 victim to the climate as many another man has done since. Since then the 

 brothers (seldom parted) have made annual trips into Eastern Mashonaland, 

 which they probably know better than any men living. They were particu- 

 larly agreeable and polite for men of a half-black caste, and Oom Roelef said 

 they were quite as good as they seemed, which was in itself a guarantee. 



What made our meeting with the Boases particularly interesting was the 

 fact that the elder brother was the very man who had given Van Staden the 

 information about the white rhinoceros' drinking- pool on the previous year. 

 They had been encamped at a brackish pan on the edge of the Thirstland 

 south of the Lundi, being unable because of " fly " to " stand " on that river, 

 where they were hunting hippopotami ; and as their waggons were already 

 full, they did not take up the spoor of a white rhinoceros that had come 

 regularly at night to drink at the end of the pan. 



Boase the elder now proceeded to give us a minute description of the country, 

 and to point out how we could best reach it across country from the Nuanetsi, 

 which was our hunting district for the larger antelopes, and where we hoped 

 also to fall in with buffalo. In fact he did everything to assist us, and would 

 have come on with us, as I wished him to do, had not he been at the time 

 burdened with a heavy load of transport from Victoria to Pietersberg, which he 

 was unable to leave. He was so eloquent and interesting in his descriptions of 

 the various wild beasts he assured us we should get if we entered the " fly " that 

 I lay awake all night thinking about it. 



At mid-day we trekked on to the M'zingwani drift, after saying good-bye 

 to the Boases, to the elder of whom I made a present for his information. 

 There we found many rhinoceros birds, and I spent the afternoon sketching 

 them and their interesting ways. In the evening on we went again till nearly 

 midnight, and had to outspan in the bush, where there was no water. Nor were 

 we any better off in this respect on the following day, when we trekked on to 

 Gong on the edge of Matabeleland. It is a heavy route for oxen, demanding 

 a whole day, and no water to be met with on the way. 



Leaving the waggons at mid-day, Oom and I determined to hunt on to the 

 water-pools at Gong, in the hope of picking up something or other. I had 

 got a bit tired of going out day after day and seeing nothing, for my companion 



