148 
THE NEW AFRICA 
Not until I shouted did the boys appear, and then with hesita¬ 
ting steps. I never could understand the fear they had for 
this kind of game, for they seemed to be more terrified at what 
a ‘Tsckucurroo ’ might do than at what I considered to be far 
more decided dangers from other kinds of game, such as buffalo. 
More meat, meat, always meat, and although perhaps j ustified in 
making a bag of rare game, I felt positively discouraged at the 
prospect before us, but made up my mind to give the meat 
nearly all away to the natives living across the river, and only 
keep a choice cut from the flank for our own camp. 
As the chief Jeluka was away from home, we opened prelimin¬ 
ary negotiations with his brother, who consented to supply us 
with the necessary canoes to take us to the crossing of a river 
ahead flowing into the Chobe from west and called the Liana, also 
Loengwe, pending Jeluka’s approval on his return. We found 
that we were already camped at the bank of this Liana river, 
but the mass of reeds hid the fact from our observation until 
later, although we could clearly distinguish a stream about one 
hundred yards wide and very deep running from the west, 
which we at first mistook for an arm or loop of the Chohe. 
Since we left the connecting stream between the Okovanga 
and the Chobe, the gigantic baobab trees, very frequent up to 
that point, seemed to have left us, with the Kolahni palm. 
A thorn that some time previously had lodged in my foot 
began to he very troublesome, causing considerable inflam¬ 
mation and lameness, so that I prevailed on the unwilling 
Hammar to cut it out, an operation that gave me considerable 
relief, although distressing Hammar very much to perform. 
At the junction of these two rivers we were astonished to 
observe the great variety of insects, especially of the mantis 
kind, of all shapes and colours. Some like broad dry leaves, 
others like sticks, and the most peculiar of all like grass seeds. 
Here was an inexhaustible field for the entomologist, and I am 
aware that many a collector will express disapproval at the 
apparent callousness with which we passed these rare objects 
without securing some specimens. But let it be borne in mind 
