82 MATABELE LAND. 



"There was a scene to-day when Nelson's two 

 boys, who claim the ivory we got the other day, 

 came to the waggon. Nelson told me not to give it 

 to them, but he did not want them to know he had 

 given me this hint. The ivory, it seems, would not 

 be his anyhow, as the king's man who is with him 

 hunts on his own account and would claim it. My 

 boys were resolute to keep it, and we let them fight 

 it out by themselves, which they did very noisily, 

 finally saying it should be referred to the king. It 

 seems to me that, picked up in the veldt, it belongs 

 to the finder, unless the shooter has followed it up 

 himself. This Nelson says his men did not attempt 

 — though he advised it — saying it would be useless." 



From this time till the 27th of the month, the 

 party remained in the same camp, making frequent 

 excursions thence in search of game, first in one 

 direction, then in another. Here they met with 

 more quagga and sable antelope than any other 

 game, but there were also eland, koodoo, and sessebi, 

 besides some of the lesser antelopes and wild pigs 

 in abundance. " Near the spruit on which we 

 stand," writes Frank Oates at this point, "is the 

 most really picturesque bit of craggy and sylvan 

 scenery I have yet seen. Our present camp indeed 

 is far the best in that respect we have ever yet had. 

 It is now spring, moreover ; the first rains have 

 fallen, and refreshed nature is beginning to resume 

 her long-lost garb of green." 



The following quotation from the Journal of the 

 1 8th gives a pleasant glimpse into one of their longer 



