228 A Breath from the Veldt 



got a good hold, gnawed away till the animal was disabled ; and as I always 

 found my friend very accurate on all points, I have not the smallest doubt that 

 these lions did literally and intentionally hamstring the buffalo. 



On my first sight of the Cape buffalo I was much struck with the shortness 

 of the animal's legs and his extraordinary activity in the use of them. The 

 American bison is a stupid, clumsy brute at the best, but the Cape buffalo has 

 not only a very fair share of cunning in his composition, but ample power to 

 carry out his evil intentions when he means to be wicked. 



On the afternoon of the third day we left the edge of the river and struck 

 due east in the thick bush, hoping to reach the Lundi in three days and take 

 our chance of finding natives to guide us. The arrangement was that Van 

 Staden and I should walk on ahead within sight of Prince, who drove the 

 donkeys and followed our line, so giving us a chance of shooting game. And 

 now many difficulties cropped up. About every half hour the waggon would 

 get locked on a tree, and as it was impossible to back it, we had to cut the 

 tree down. It was heart-breaking and wearisome work, and at night we out- 

 spanned in the forest, thoroughly done up, and with no water for our donkeys. 

 Now a donkey, as most of us know, has great endurance, and can exhibit 

 upon occasion a perseverance and a willingness beyond all praise ; but, as a 

 race, these animals are as various in temperament as any human beings. I can 

 never think of them without recalling the little girl " who had a little curl 

 right in the middle of her forehead, and when she was good, she was very, 

 very good, but when she was bad, she was horrid." In a team a bad moke 

 is worse than useless, for he gives all the work to some good beast that would 

 pull itself to death rather than be beaten, and in a bad country where you are 

 always getting hung up, even a good donkey fastened to a waggon is almost as 

 great a nuisance. When your fore-wheel catches the stem of a tree the good 

 donkey, instead of stopping, as a lazy one would, begins to pull like mad, to 

 the imminent danger of your waggon ; and this entails no end of work on your 

 part to avoid a smash, for, unlike oxen and horses, donkeys are not readily 

 trained to stop at a word of command. We had eight donkeys in our team, 

 the two best — " Mrs. Langtry " and " Gladstone," acting as leaders — and these 

 with the two rear ones against the " disselboom " had to be rushed at, seized 

 round the head and stopped compulsorily whenever a block occurred. This, 

 we found, was the only way to make any progress. And so, toddling along, 

 always on the alert for an accident, we managed to avoid any actual smash till 

 the evening of the second day, when the whole turn-out nearly went to glory. 



