A CURIOUS BET 
89 
made bets for a shirt, which in any case I had to pay, and then 
heaped a quantity of brushwood at the base of the tree, which 
we set alight, and saw the trunk fairly burning before we struck 
homewards. Next day, on passing, we found the fire had done 
its work, and the tree lay prone on the ground, to the huge 
delight of the winning boy, who donned the shirt before the 
envious eyes of the loser. The result of this bet was that the 
boys several times afterwards tried to raise my enthusiasm to 
the paying point by making other bets; and occasionally, when 
in a particularly good humour, I laughingly consented to be 
their victim, a little stratagem that gained me the high regard 
of several of our best boys. At midday we reached the junction 
of the Chobe river and the Sunta creek, where we picked up 
Paul, who had been waiting for us, as before described. Here 
were some enormous baobab trees, and a beautiful pan of clear 
water, at which we camped for the rest of the day, Hammar not 
being very well. Jan and I tried to get a shot at some hippo¬ 
potami in the river, but the dense reeds foiled our attempts to 
get within range, although from an elevation on the banks we 
could plainly see their great heads rising every now and then, 
some eight hundred yards off in the water, as they came up from 
below to breathe and sport in the sunlight. It was a fine sight. 
J an and I made up our minds to try for one at night, as the state 
of the moon, now nearly full, would give sufficient light to shoot 
by, when they came out to graze on the banks of the river. 
Observations taken at the Sunta and Chobe junction prove 
this spot to lie seven miles south of the latitude of Panda 
Matenga. It is apparent here that the Chobe river bed, 
hitherto following a south-west by south direction, makes a 
bend northwards. 
After supper, Jan taking his 6-bore and I the No. 4, with a 
wad of cotton wool tied round the end sight to make it more 
clear in the moonlight, we started off for the plain on our right, 
covered with small round bushes and short sweet grass, where we 
could hear the sea-cows already bellowing to each other as they 
left the water to go feeding. Proceeding very cautiQusly; with 
