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there were no striking landmarks to guide us, and yet, 
after hunting first one way and then another, following 
game, twisting and turning in all directions, a Caffre was 
never at a loss for the direction in which the camp lay. 
We tried a roast joint of venison this evening, with three 
sticks and a string to spin it with in front of a huge wood 
fire, and it turned out a complete success, and a pleasant 
change from our everlasting frying-pan, besides saving 
our precious stock of very bad butter and fat. Our camp 
at night is very picturesque : we have a huge fire for 
ourselves, round which we sit and talk after dinner ; E. 
knitting by the firelight seated on a cartridge case, our 
only apology for a chair ; the meat hanging up in a bush 
close by ; the white tents shewing brightly on each side of 
the fire ; and at a little distance from us six or seven small 
fires are flickering probably under a big tree where the 
Ca£Pres have taken up their quarters, jabbering and eating 
incessantly, their naked and swarthy forms gleaming in 
the firelight. The donkey and ponies are tied up as close 
as possible to the fires for safety from any stray lion or 
panther that might take a fancy to them. We are much 
amused at the extraordinary way the Caffres enjoy their 
smoke ; one fellow takes a huge draw at the pipe, and 
swallowing a lot of the smoke immediately begins to 
cough with all his might, and this seems to be their idea 
of pleasure, coughing repeatedly with such violence that 
it is a wonder they do not break a blood vessel. We often 
hear the plaintive scream of the night baby" as it moves 
amongst the boughs of the trees, and the occasional howl 
of the jackal and wolf. We are much disgusted to find 
that the composition with which we rubbed the outer 
coverings of our two little flour bags to make them water- 
proof has, owing to the heat, gradually soaked through 
into the flour ; and, as resin was used in making the 
