82 
AFRICAN HUNTING. 
with a real Kaffir cur in my life, not even a puppy, 
and I scarcely ever saw, or knew, or heard of one good 
for anything; they do indeed lead the life of a dog. 
They are well-fed when quite young, but afterwards 
they are expected to provide for themselves, and are, 
consequently, wretchedly lean and mangy, but they 
continue to exist. 
After pacifying them a little, driving them to a 
more respectable distance by sweeping the legs of 
two from under them with a well-directed hedge- 
stake, and felling a third with a stone, I ordered 
food to be cooked for me, and enquired the news, 
and heard there was great sickness in the country, 
and that a friend of mine, John Dunn, whom I had 
hoped to join, had just been carried out of the 
country by the natives, almost dead. I had, fortu¬ 
nately, met two hunters, Jack and George, the 
previous day — the latter very sick — and had got a 
little jalap from him; and having with me calomel, 
tartar emetic, and laudanum, took an emetic as a 
preventative, and continued doing so weekly as long 
as I remained in the unhealthy country. 
(PA. — Started early with a hunchbacked dwarf 
for a guide. He had two of the most extraordinary 
legs I ever saw — I cannot call them a pair — but 
with them he managed to give me a great deal of 
trouble to keep up with him. I saw to-day Guinea 
fowl of a kind new to me, very like a black cock in 
plumage, with buff tufts on their heads, and no tails. 
We crossed the Pongola and reached some large 
