146 
THE NEW AFRICA 
ance for us. It never was clear to us why the natives all lived 
on the other side of the Chobe, and I was anxious to cross over 
to see if there were any advantages of soil or other facilities to 
account for this fact. But to all my offers to go over, the 
natives always made some objection that ended in my remain¬ 
ing. Probably they felt safer from possible raids where they 
were, and with good reason, for no one could possibly have 
found his way across the labyrinthine passage through the inter¬ 
minable masses of reeds without a guide, or without attracting 
the notice of the inhabitants, who, thus warned, would have 
plenty of time to take steps for their protection. 
The headman returned with the news that the chief was 
away to help ferry over the river a horse which had been sent to 
King Lebossi from the king at Lake Ngami, but where the ferry 
or horse was we could not learn, and both of us expressed our 
doubts about the possibility of bringing a horse safely through 
this fly-infested country. Our green beads were again accepted 
as payment by the canoe men without demur, and we also pur¬ 
chased a large basket of corn in exchange for enough beads to 
make a single bracelet. The country surrounding us was low 
and flat, supporting camel thorn—Mimosa, in which there was 
any quantity of giraffe and buffalo spoor. 
While waiting for news from the other side ennui led me off 
on the track of a rhinoceros with several of my best boys to 
help find his lair. Apparently the rhinoceros comes to the 
river’s bank to drink and wallow early in the morning, and then 
takes a bee-line for some feeding-place lying anywhere between 
three and six miles away in the sand belts. We proceeded 
without much attempt at caution, following the very distinct 
track leading straight through the sand for about four miles, 
when one of the trackers snapped his fingers to attract our 
attention. We all hurried over to him, while the boys assumed 
the wakefulness and keenness of pointers, and there sure enough 
was a sign that the animal had started feeding, for plainly all 
around us the tops of the small bushes had been cropped, as the 
animal had gone irregularly from one clump to another. He 
