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HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



"which were to be inspected daily by one of the 

 ■natives. Several wild animals were captured in 

 these traps, including a boshbuck ram, who had 

 the bad luck to put h's foot into one of them. 



I omitted to mention that Major Pretorius 

 has a retinue of some thirty native servants, who 

 are employed in various capacities; of these six 

 were left in charge of the Addo camp and the 

 rest accompanied us on our trek. 



About 2 p.m. everything was in readiness, 

 and the cavalcade, consisting of an ox wagon, 

 the wagonette, wh'ch was drawn by four oxen, 

 and was occupied by several members of the par- 

 ty, and Major and Mrs. Pretorius with the rest 

 of their guests on horseback, moved off. The 

 native servants travelled on foot and the dogs 

 accompanied them, being kept on the chain. 



After travelling a mile or two we struck a 

 good road, and as the day was cool, had a most 

 pleasant trip through undulating country. There 

 was little or no game to be seen, but monkeys 

 were plentiful, and were frequently to be noticed 

 playing in the bushes. 



About 6 p.m. we arrived at "Orlando," a 

 farm owned by Mr. Bean, wh'ch is prettily situ- 

 ated on a slope in open country and commands 

 a fine view of the surrounding hills. The house 

 is well built and commodious and there is an 

 excellent fruit garden, but unfortunately much of 

 the fruit is lost through the depredation of birds. 

 We were hospitably received by Mr. and Mrs. 

 Bean, and after enjoying a much needed cup of 

 tea, the oxen were outspanned and arrangements 

 made to camp for the night. 



Next morning we were up by daylight and 

 by 7 o'clock everything was in readiness, and a 

 start was made. It was arranged that we should 

 trek for about a couple of hours and then halt for 

 breakfast. The morning was beautifully clear, 

 with just sufficient nip in the air to make it pleas- 

 ant, and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride, with the 

 Bug Hunter as my half-section. I learnt quite a 

 lot about lice and the'r little ways during that 

 ride. My companion, who is an ex-army man 

 was full of interesting reminisences; but his 

 favourite topic of conversation is lice, and what 

 he does not know about a louse is not worth know- 

 ing. He was always' on the lookout for rare speci- 

 mens of birds for the purpose of classifying the 

 various lice found on them, and during the jour- 

 ney was successful in bringing down one with his 

 rook rifle, which was new to him. This bird 

 yielded quite a prolific crop of lice of various 

 species, which were carefully bottled and for- 

 warded to the Pretoria Laboratory. 



Shortly before 10 o'clock we reached the 

 property of Mr. J. S. Smith named Buffleskloof 



— if I remember rightly. Mr. and Mrs. Smith 

 were most kind, and insisted on our breakfasting 

 with them. 



After an hour's rest we continued our jour- 

 ney and reached our camping ground about 3 

 p.m. 



The wagon was soon off loaded and the 

 tents pitched, meanwhile the cook boy prepared 

 an ample lunch to which full justice was done. 

 The tables were set out under the trees, and every 

 one enjoyed the meal after the trek through the 

 fresh air. The camp is situated about two miles 

 from Kinkel Bosch Station and a number of farm 

 houses can be seen dotted over the landscape. 



One of the chief drawbacks is the absence of 

 water. At Addo it had to be carted three miles, 

 and was quite brackish, but at Kinkel Bosch there 

 was a better supply. The farmers go in for under 

 ground tanks and we were fortunate in securing a 

 supply of good water from one of them. The 

 evenings were always a pleasant time, we sat 

 round a big fire in comfortable chairs, and were 

 generally successful in inducing Major Pretorius 

 to 1 relate one of his numerous hunting experiences 

 in Central Africa. These were deeply interesting, 

 and he tells them in a simple straightforward way 

 which holds his listeners' attention. I would much 

 like to retail some of them for my readers benefit 

 but space forbids. The party were early to bed on 

 Sunday evening as the Major intended leaving 

 camp at daylight in search of the elephants. 



At daylight on Monday morning, the camp 

 was astir, at least that portion of it occupied by 

 Major Pretorius and the native contingent. As 

 for the rest of us — the Major had refused all and 

 sundry permission to accompany him, and there 

 was nothing for it but to turn round and go to 

 sleep again. The hunting party, which included 

 Major Pretorius,, eight gun bearers and dog at- 

 tendants and, of course, the dogs, moved off to- 

 ward the bush, and were soon out .of hearing. 

 We turned out about 8 o'clock, and just as we 

 were strolling breakfastward we heard four shots 

 in quick succession, and Mrs. Pretorius prophe- 

 sied that the elephants were making her hus- 

 band's acquaintance. About an hour and a half 

 later the reports of four more shots reached the 

 camp, and it afterwards transpired that these 

 accounted for two elephants killed and one severe- 

 ly wounded, the dead body of which has been 

 located since. I was out for a holiday and so felt 

 justified in doing nothing, and doing that extreme- 

 ly well. I therefore spent the morn'ng following 

 this delightful occupation. During the few occa- 

 sions on which I have taken a holiday I have al- 

 ways found it most soothing to watch other 

 people work. The only busy man I could find in 

 the camp was the Bug Hunter, who was sitting 

 at his tent door extracting lice from the feathers 



