Chap. VII. 
SCARCITY OF WATER—THE OSTRICH. 
153 
sliivering instead of taking his rider out of danger. It has hap¬ 
pened often that the poor animal’s legs do their duty so badly 
that he falls and exposes his rider to be trodden into a mummy; 
or, losing his presence of mind, the rider may allow the horse to 
dash under a tree and crack his cranium against a branch. As 
one charge from an elephant has made embryo Nimrods bid a 
final adieu to the chace, incipient Gordon Cummings might try 
their nerves by standing on railways till the engines were within 
a few yards of them. Hunting elephants on foot would be not 
less dangerous,^ unless the Ceylon mode of killing them by one 
shot could be followed: it has never been tried in Africa. 
Advancing to some wells beyond Letloche, at a spot named 
Kanne, we found them carefully hedged round by the people of 
a Bakalahari village situated near the spot. We had then sixty 
miles of country in front without water, and very distressing for 
the oxen, as it is generally deep soft sand. There is one sucking- 
place, around which were congregated great numbers of Bush- 
women with their egg-shells and reeds. Mathuluane now con¬ 
tained no water, and Motlatsa only a small supply, so we sent 
the oxen across the country to the deep well Nkauane, and half 
were lost on the way. When found at last they had been five 
whole days without water. Very large numbers of elands were 
met with as usual, though they seldom can get a sip of drink. 
Many of the plains here have large expanses of grass without 
trees, but you seldom see a treeless horizon. The ostrich is 
generally seen quietly feeding on some spot where no one can 
approach him without being detected by his wary eye. As the 
waggon moves along far to the windward he thinks it is intending 
to circumvent liim, so he rushes up a mile or so from the lee¬ 
ward, and so near to the front oxen that one sometimes gets a 
shot at the silly bird. When he begins to run all the game in 
sight follow his example. I have seen this foUy taken advantage 
of when he was quietly feeding in a valley open at both ends. A 
number of men would commence running, as if to cut off his 
retreat from the end through which the wind came; and although 
he had the whole country hundreds of miles before him by going 
* Since writing tRe above statement it has received confirmation in tbe 
reported death of Mr. Walbberg while hunting elephants on foot at Lake 
Ngami. 
