216 
AFRICAN HUNTING. 
thoughts came crowding thick and fast upon me, as 
there are many instances of white men being totally 
lost in this endless, almost uninhabited land. If 
you stray into the thirst land, as there is great 
danger of doing, you will assuredly die of thirst, if 
not of famine. Though I had fasted full forty 
hours, I did not feel the slightest hunger. I tight¬ 
ened my belt, and drank lots of water. I could 
have shot game, but was chary of my bullets, 
keeping them most religiously, in case things came 
to the worst. 
My poor Kaffir’s fortitude quite gave way with the 
numerous disappointments. I never spoke a harsh 
word to him, though he took me in an exactly con¬ 
trary direction to what I believed to be right. He was 
very positive for a long time, and then his confidence 
entirely forsook him, and he sobbed as if his heart 
would break. At length we got on a Kaffir j ath, 
and very old tracks of cattle, and determined to con¬ 
tinue that as our only chance. To our intense joy 
we saw, before long, the fresh footprints of a Kaffir, 
and resolved to follow that to the world’s end, in 
faint hope that it might lead us to his kraal. My 
disappointment was great indeed, when we at length, 
about two hours before sunset, came to a large kraal, 
but found it uninhabited. We followed on, and next 
came to a pitfall, where there were evident signs of 
game lately being captured. I shall never forget the 
start of joy that Matakit gave when I said I saw 
cattle, and pointed to some black things in the dis- 
