310 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



self, it was high time that he should be ignominiously 

 dismissed the service. 



On the 28th, as I was breakfasting, natives arrived 

 and reported fresh spoor within a mile of camp. I there- 

 fore resolved to defer for the present the trip to the east- 

 ward on which I had determined ; but it so happened 

 that the spoor which was reported led me in that direc- 

 tion, and was the means of introducing me to a succes- 

 sion of fine hunting districts, throughout which ele- 

 phant and rhinoceros were abundant. Every thing be- 

 ing ready, I proceeded to take up the spoor, accompani- 

 ed by after-riders and about a hundred of the Baman- 

 gwato men, fresh parties having joined me : it was the 

 spoor of a small troop of cow elephants. Mutohuisho 

 and the spooring party took it up in a masterly man- 

 ner, and went along at a rapid pace all day, with 

 scarcely a check, until we found the elephants. The 

 spoor led us first through a gorge in the mountains, 

 which I mentioned as having rounded on the 24th; 

 after which we followed it in an easterly course, sldrt- 

 ing the base of the mountain chain. The country in- 

 creased in beauty as we advanced ; and, having follow- 

 ed the spoor some hours, it led us into a new variety 

 of country, and, as I fancied, into a new climate. Here 

 large trees were abundant, and the grass and leaves 

 were much greener than in the country we had left 

 behind. We crossed the gravelly beds of two period- 

 ical rivers. In one of these I observed the recent spoor 

 of a heard of bull elephants deeply imprinted in the 

 sand. This day the wind, which had for weeks been 

 cold and blighting, blowing off the icebergs of the South- 

 ern Ocean, shifted to northeast, and breathed warm and 

 balmy upon us. 



As we advanced the work of elephants became more 



