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district. We told old ^^Slangey" this morning tliat as 
the chances were not in favour of our reaching his kraal, 
which was considerably further down the river, he had 
better start off at once while we were stationary, spend a 
day or two with his wife, and return to us as soon as he 
could. I sent a present of a blanket by him to his chief, 
and the promise of a bag of powder if he would send us 
back some bearers to help carry, as I am afraid the ponies 
will not last to go home, having grown very poor and 
feeble the last few days. ^^Slangey" was afraid to go 
alone, so we sent Bachi, one of the hunters, to accompany 
him, and if necessary shoot some game to supply them 
with food. The old fellow had brought a lot of odds and 
ends all the way from Maritzburg for his wife : cloth, 
cotton, needles, and other sundries, so I could not refuse 
to let him go though we half thought he would not return. 
We also gave him a piece of soap he asked for for 
his wife, and doubtless the use of it improved her 
appearance while it lasted. E. justly proud of an excellent 
pie of buffalo steak and kidney which she had cooked for 
our dinner ; but as we had no covered pot the crust was 
first baked in the bottom of our tin dish, and then put 
over the meat which was then baked in the same way. 
August 1th. Camp remained stationary, and I again 
was off directly after breakfast after game. While 
following up a wounded gnu I caught sight of a troop of 
giraffe, and immediately turned all my attention to them. 
After great difficulty I managed to creep up to within 
200 yards and fired, hitting one on the shoulder, but they 
all started off and disappeared, the herd dividing into 
three parts, so when we got up to the place where they 
had been I did not know which to follow ; but Dubois took 
one spoor, two Caffres another, and myself the third with 
Swartboy. In a little while we found by the spoor that 
the herd had united again, and after running and walking 
