62 Notes on South African Htmting. 
Infantry v Cavalry travelling. 
Ayton and I each burnt our most precious 
sacrifice to the deities of the Falls—he his last 
pipe of decent tobacco, and I my last cigarette 
—and, time being pressing, we left next morn¬ 
ing for Pondamatenga, where we arrived safely 
after three days’ walking over most horribly 
stony paths. 
Our return journey now lay before us, and 
the comparatively easy days of walking were 
ended. When I say easy walking,” I speak 
advisedly, for after a man has ridden carefully 
for about thirty miles through heavy sand, and 
then on his arrival at his sleeping pla *e has to 
groom his horse, cut wood, fetch water, get 
grass to last his horse all night, cook his dinner 
and eat it, he finds himself quite ready to roll 
up in his blanket; whereas, travelling on foot, 
with six or eight boys,” he has all his things 
carried, and all the dirty work done for him. 
Those little words, ‘‘ cut wood,” do mean such 
a prodigious deal more than any two words 
ought to. The labour of cutting down hard 
wood trees with a hatchet that has known their 
hardness before, is an experience I never hope 
to suffer again. Cutting grass with a hunting 
