PREPARATIONS FOR A MOVE. 
439 
erred on the right side, being too careful not to 
exaggerate ; he allows that he has a bad eye and is 
not a good judge of distances, as he says himself 
that he judged a distance to be 400, wdiich proved 
to be 900, yards. The discovery of the Falls was 
made in 1855, and from that time to this (1860), 
with the exception of Livingstone’s party, no Euro¬ 
pean but myself has found his way thither. 
To give myself a good idea in rifle-shooting at game, 
I have been for years constantly judging and stepping 
off distances — for instance, from one ant-heap to 
another — and have hardly ever shot any game on the 
flat that I have not previously in my own mind 
first judged the distance, sighted accordingly, and, if 
successful, afterwards stepped it off, so that I can now 
form a very good idea. It is astonishing what wide 
shots others make who have not been in the habit of 
so doing; objects look very much nearer than they 
really are, owing to the clearness of the atmosphere. 
9 th [Sunday ).—Got to Sechele’s three days ago, 
and am now the best part of a day on my road 
towards Merico. My two Bequina boys left me at 
Sechele’s, and we had a whole day’s quarrelling as 
to pay, their captain demanding much more than 
had been previously agreed upon, in consequence 
of the distance and time that I had been away ; he 
also demanded as their right one tusk for every 
. elephant shot by a Bequina, and this matter still 
rests in the hands of the German missionary, 
Mr. Schroeder, whom I have appointed to act in 
