390 
AFRICAN HUNTING. 
and deliberation, I have decided, in spite of all the 
remonstrances of the Boers, to trek due north, and 
stand my chance of tsetse, kief (poison), with which 
the bush in many places abounds, thirst, and other im¬ 
pediments. I have a hankering to reach the Zambesi 
and see the great Falls, which is so strong as to over¬ 
rule all minor difficulties, though I cannot hide from 
myself the great risk I incur to horses, dogs, and oxen; 
still something urges me on, and I will follow my 
fate, good or evil, and am already three hard days 
on my route, without accident. 
I had a good night’s buffalo-shooting by the water ; 
they came in large herds; I was in a hole under the 
wind, and made very good work, killing five dead on 
the spot. A sixth had got about a mile away, and no 
doubt many more subsided in the bush, but as there 
was a superabundance of delicious flesh, I did not go 
on the spoor of the wounded. Nothing but buffaloes 
came, but they in great numbers, -and I could have 
shot many, many more, but my bullets were ex¬ 
hausted. This was not mere butchery, though it looks 
like it. The crops of the Maccalacas Kaffirs failed 
this year, and they are more than half starved, and 
it was only combining sport with charity, as not 
even a bit of hide was suffered to remain. Poor 
Gyp, I grieve to say, was taken by a tiger. I had 
ridden forwards to water, and she came after me 
on the spoor, before the wagons. It was night, and 
Adonis heard the scuffle, and poor Gyp’s last 
breath, which left her carcase, not in the shape of a 
yell, but rather of a fierce angry whine that she 
