LI VINGSTONIA —B LAN TYRE — Q UILLIMANE. 435 
the river’s edge. The lively Ilala, however, was well 
handled by Fredericks and Harkess, and cautiously 
groped her way along in the dark. Another four miles 
was over, and then the launch was safely moored close 
to the bank at Matope. 
No time was lost in despatching native carriers with 
letters to Blantyre, about thirty-six miles distant. 
M. Gliraud and myself in the meantime amused ourselves 
by hunting during the early hours of the morning ; 
usually starting about daybreak and returning before 
noon, when the heat became excessive, and the task of 
writing up journals was thought more conducive to 
comfort than wading in long prickly grass and jungle. 
Abundance of game could be found on both sides of the 
river, but more particularly on the west side, where it 
swarmed in great variety. Never, on even a single 
occasion, did we return home without bagging. 
Early one morning as I walked up the right bank of 
the river, I saw a most marvellous sight upon an open 
Hat which verged the banks, and was studded here and 
there by a few stray bushes and dwarfed trees. The 
situation commanded a full view of a big bend in a 
broad part of the stream. 
Animal life seemed to fill the water, the land, and the 
air. Feathered Hocks were indescribably numerous. 
Crocodiles and storks mingled together in blissful enjoy¬ 
ment like the members of one family, in fearless inter¬ 
course. Hippos were out in full force, some being 
partially immersed, whilst others showed only a part of 
their ugly heads above the water. On the brink of the 
bank was a herd of bush pig ; further inland towards 
the centre of the hat were reed-buck and impala, while 
close to the borders of the forest was a large herd of 
buffaloes and nearly a score of zebras. 
Buffaloes were rather hard to stalk, the young forest 
of thin-stemmed trees affording very poor shelter. 
However, on that day a zebra and a boar fell to my 
rifle. When walking home I came to within fifty yards 
of a small herd of water buck, but they behaved so 
well that there would have been no more pleasure in 
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