42 Notes on South African Himting, 
Two Stories of Death. 
very heavy sand. It subsequently turned out 
that the water which looked a little at night 
was the last permanent water, and that we had 
consequently missed it. 
To those who know the road I ma5^say we went 
from Geruya to Daka and missed Tamasetsi. 
With an ox wagon two days and nights 
without water is nothing; oxen frequently go 
four and five days without water. There is a 
story that a man in Damaraland once went ten 
days without. The fiction library of South 
Africa is voluminous and varied. 
It is really astonishing that more people do 
not die of thirst than do. There are surpris¬ 
ingly few instances of it. The saddest one was 
poor Mr. French, who lost his way when 
hunting elephant. He had hunted the herd for 
some hours in the heat of the day, and when 
he stopped found himself lost. He was found 
within twenty-four hours dead. 
Another very near thing was that of Mr. 
Truscott, a trader and hunter. This gentleman 
also lost his way, and has often told me that 
the last thing he remembers was seeing the 
vultures sitting round him. 
