66 
and suddenly I heard a great shouting from the Caffres a 
little distance above me. I ran up as fast as I could to 
the upper pool, and was just in time to see an old bull 
hippo trotting over some sand and shingle towards the 
water ; he had evidently found his quarters in the river 
uncomfortable, and was anxious to get ashore, but was' 
headed by the Caffres who yelled at him from the rocks. 
He had come out close to E., who had a capital view of 
him, and was calmly surveying him through her eye-glass. 
Dubois and I blazed away at him, but though we found a 
quantity of blood he blundered back again into the water 
before we could stop him, and we saw him no more. It 
was great luck our seeing one on land as they will not 
often break cover. We waited on till nearly dark with 
the hope of seeing a dead one come up, but none appeared, 
and we had to leave for the camp. After being mortally 
wounded they sink, and in about two hours, becoming 
inflated with gas, they rise to the surface and float. It 
was a most exciting though unsuccessful day's sport. "We 
reached camp ravenous as usual, and found, to our disgust, 
the officious Sara had spoilt our dinner by roasting the 
joint to a cinder. The two Caffres had returned, having 
found the kraal, but reported they could get nothing to 
eat there, in fact the people themselves were hard up for 
food ; and no bearers to be got. 
July 25th. It came on to rain about daylight, so there 
was no moving the camp, and we found it rather un- 
comfortable, besides which a most peculiar and unpleasant 
odour came up from the ground, the air being generally 
most oppressive. One could understand the unhealthiness 
of this country during the rainy season — the smell was 
almost as bad as a drain. Everything perishable was 
huddled under our tents ; and Kemp and Dubois came 
into our apartment for breakfast, which we had some 
difficulty in cooking. The unfortunate Sara was thoroughly 
