140 
THE NEW AFRICA 
the comprehension of these facts, perhaps luckily so, for even 
if he understood the situation, it is probable that he would have 
placed more obstacles to interrupt our onward course. The 
river banks are flanked here by magnificent forest, which 
could be used as timber for all purposes requiring exceptionally 
hard and tough wood. White rhinoceros and buffalo spoor were 
very plentiful, mingled with the tracks of all kinds of smaller 
game. Any hunter could be sure of making an unrivalled bag 
here, for elephants also are plentiful, especially on the opposite 
side of the river. However, we were told that it is not per¬ 
mitted to shoot elephants there, as King Lebossi holds this part 
of his territory between the Chobe and Zambesi strictly as a 
preserve. 
Matambanja’s seemed to be still a great way off from us, 
and the length of our march, underestimated as it had been, 
was indefinitely drawn out by our slow progress. 
In the night Franz woke me with the tidings that a hippo 
w r as grazing close to us in the moonlight. Taking Chiki and 
Paul—both armed with guns—with us, bearing in mind former 
experiences, we made for a thin strip of bush running down to 
the water, and crept cautiously along this until within a hundred 
yards of the hippo. There were still some forty yards of bush 
leading in his direction, but Franz and the natives would go no 
further, so taking the four-bore in one hand and the Swinburne 
in the other, I made with noiseless tread for the point of 
the bushes nearest the hippo. I could just distinguish the 
animal about sixty yards off, encased in a kind of haze, 
through which the moonlight occasionally penetrating, reflected 
the rays in silvery streaks, showing the beast to be still 
wet. I was standing holding the four-bore in hand, with the 
Swinburne-Henry between my knees, thinking of my last hunt 
after sea-cow in the moonlight, as much as the game before me 
at the moment, waiting for the hippo to stray within sighting 
range, when a tremendous disturbance around me and in the 
branches overhead, to the accompaniment of many fierce ‘ kwa- 
lioos,’ sent the blood tingling through my veins. For the instant I 
