372 
AFRICAN HUNTING. 
all this way for meat, by giving him the breast of 
one of the elands, and he is going to carry it all the 
way back to the State, four good days. His load 
cannot weigh less than 70 lbs., though when sun-dried 
it will of course be considerably less. We have found 
two bees’ nests. I got a Bakalahari to-day from 
Stably, a brother of Sechele’s, to go with me the 
whole way, and he exhorted me to take care of him, 
though they themselves treat them far worse than 
dogs. We have been busy patching up Sechele’s 
wagon ; it is in a desperate state ; every spoke out 
of the nave of one wheel. Still, green hide will 
do wonders; it holds like a vice, as it gradually con¬ 
tracts as it becomes sun-dried. 
12th .—I write this at Massouey, a fountain, now 
full of delicious water, where we arrived last night, 
and the roaring of a lion, close at hand, made us 
particularly expeditious in getting the oxen kraaled, 
and the horses made fast to the wagons. It was too 
dark to see to shoot, and we fortunately found a 
kraal already made to hand, which only needed a 
little repairing to make it all right. The jackals kept 
up a concert the whole night, but we heard no more 
of his majesty. Three springbucks are all that we 
have slain since Batlanarmi. I fell in with an old 
gemsbok bull, but my after-rider’s horse, Snowdon, 
ran right in between us, and so prevented my getting 
a shot; he is hot-headed and a bit of a bolter, and 
January is a poor hand in the saddle. The sun is 
very powerful and the roads heavy. I have just 
