A DENSE JUNGLE. 227 



rankness of his flowing mane exceeding in beauty any 

 thing I had hitherto seen. I considered myself ex- 

 tremely fortunate in having secured so noble a speci- 

 men of the lion with so little danger, and I at once set 

 men to work to unrobe him, which they were not long 

 in accomplishing. 



About mid-day we inspanned, and trekked on till sun- 

 down through a country the most wild and primitive 

 that can be conceived. . We proceeded under the guid- 

 ance of two Bechuanas, who had joined us on the pre- 

 ceding day, and were proceeding to Booby. The two 

 Baquaines who had accompanied me from Bakatla had 

 forsaken my standard after I had shot the bull eland, 

 so liberal a supply of flesh being far too powerful a 

 temptation to admit of their proceeding beyond it. On 

 gaining the neck of the mountain pass, our march for a 

 few miles wound through beautifully-wooded grassy 

 hiUs, after which we descended into a rugged and dense- 

 ly-wooded valley, intersected with deep water-courses 

 which threatened momentarily the destruction of my 

 axle-trees. So dense was the jungle that we were 

 obliged repeatedly to halt the wagons, and cut out a 

 pathway with our axes before they could advance. 

 Emerging from this valley, we entered upon a more 

 level country, still, however, densely covered with for- 

 est-trees and bushes in endless variety. Here water 

 was very abundant. We crossed several streams and 

 marshes whose margins were a mass of the spoor of 

 wild animals, that of rhinoceros, buffalo, and camelo- 

 pard being most abundant. At one stream the fresh 

 spoor of a troop of lions was deeply imprinted in the 

 wet sand. 



Although I am now acquainted with the native names 

 of a number of the trees of the African forests, yet of 



