92 
THE NEW AFRICA 
to the Sunta, which we crossed with much difficulty, as the 
water was several feet deep, and then went on our way rejoicing 
at the numerous herds of game we saw in the open valleys 
occurring every few miles on the line of our march. Gaula 
(Jan) had a successful hunt after buffalo, dropping an 
enormous hull at the first shot from his 6-bore; and I, 
coming suddenly upon a troop of eland in the bush, was lucky 
enough to kill a cow at sixty yards with a single shot in the 
neck as she was looking at me. She was of the dun-tufted 
species, called by the Boers Moff Eland, because of the almost 
black tuft of mane hair growing on the top of the forehead. 
Unfortunately I had no time to choose a bull in the hurry, for 
the troop was making off into the trees before I had time to 
look about me. The older bulls attain an enormous size, quite 
1500 lbs. in weight at a modest computation, and are often 
extremely fat, with very tender flesh. From one bull I killed 
we took quite 200 lbs. weight of pure white fat from the omentum 
suet and kidneys, a great acquisition to our cuisine when feeding 
on the usually dry meat of other game. 
The customary row took place amongst the boys at the cut¬ 
ting up of the meat, although we portioned it out as fairly as 
we could, so much to each skerm. We noticed with undisguised 
distrust that they were eating sparingly and preparing biltong, 
assisting the drying process by large fires they built up under¬ 
neath the meat hanging in strips from reims over the blaze. 
We had reason to regard these preparations as an indication 
that they meant to return and desert us, for the object was plain 
enough; with sufficient food to carry them home they could 
leave us at any moment. Still, this time all passed without 
more disturbance than a good grumble, and the journey pro¬ 
ceeded harmoniously. 
A honey bird, twittering in great excitement, led the boys off 
to a j great tree close by our route, and they were in high glee 
at the prospect of another supply of honey. Great was their 
disappointment, and ours too, when we found the wood of the 
tree so hard that our hand-axes would hardly make any impres- 
