A Breath from the Veldt 183 



branches, stood the old hunter's camp. It was about as picturesque a scene 

 as one could well witness. Two great waggons were joined together by a 

 whitetent, at the door of which stood the womenfolk, and amongst them the 

 distracted mother, who gave me as cordial a welcome as if I had been the head 

 of the College of Physicians. She asked me at once if I could do anything 

 for her boy, and of course I said I could. I had read up my Burroughes and 

 Wellcome pamphlet before starting, and felt myself equal to any emergency 

 after that. The poor boy, about twelve years of age, was evidently in the 

 last stage of collapse, as they had no medicine, and only a little brandy to give 

 him, and I was very glad to have the necessary remedies handy, in the shape 

 of quinine and Warberg tincture. After leaving directions for the sick lad, 

 old Basadanote showed me as usual round his waggons and encampment, the 

 most picturesque item of which was five lovely Burchell's zebras, perfectly 

 tame and standing quietly munching their hay under the trees. In most cases 

 these zebras, when captured, become quite docile in a few days, and will walk 

 about the camp like dogs, with no further restraint than being picketed for 

 the night. 



It will be a long time before the memory of that camp scene fades from 

 my mind, with its koodoo heads leaning against the waggon, its suspicious 

 Boer dogs, its stacks of biltong under the drying sheds, its white-capped Dutch 

 women flitting about under the great trees, Zulus cleaning assegais or attending 

 to the horses, and zebras that whisk their tails continuously in the blazing sun. 



Amongst other animals that Basadanote had killed were a couple of 

 Lichtenstein's hartebeests. These he had shot to the east of the main road 

 beneath Gong's Rant, where we had left Frau Van Staden and her family. I 

 should like to record this here, as Lichtenstein's hartebeest has not previously 

 been known to extend nearly so far west as this ; in fact, it is seldom found 

 westward of the plains of the Sabi, Busi, Gorangosi, and Pungwi Rivers. I 

 found a small troop west of the Nuanetsi, and again another near the Lundi. 

 Since the species is now being hunted more in its proper home, a few troops 

 are possibly seeking for peace and quietness by moving farther in from the 

 coast. 



Oom Roelef, having summed up the extent of the game on the Bubye, 

 said we had better press on, as he feared the. young Basadanotes with us were 

 going to attempt a " bluflf," i.e. to follow the old hunter, who knew where 

 the game was on the Nuanetsi, and cut in after the buffaloes before we got 

 a chance. So we decided to trek on to the big river, and there give them 



