THE WAACHT EEN BEETJE TREE 269 
rnent, seem to hook on from above and below, until apparently 
there is only one possible way out of the difficulty, and that 
is, to wrench oneself free at the expense of one’s clothing 
and a succession of very pronounced and ugly scratches. Added 
to all this, the plant, with its light green foliage, hiding the 
vicious thorns in their friendly appearing verdure, seems to invite 
the touch by an outward display of attractiveness, never expos¬ 
ing on its exterior any sign of its disagreeable nature. Many a 
hard-pressed giraffe or buck owes its life to the friendly inter¬ 
vention of the Waacht een beetja tree, past which the hunter, 
all unsuspecting, has brushed in the hurry of the chase, to be 
held fast while the game vanishes over the belt. 
Some three hours further on we came upon one of Moremi’s 
hunters who had just shot an elephant close by. He told us 
that the troop to which this one belonged was very fierce, and 
that he had followed this elephant, which had been wounded in 
the first encounter, to here, where he had killed it; but not 
without much difficulty and some danger, for the beast had 
charged him several times. The other hunters who accom¬ 
panied him had in the general attack made on the elephants 
killed nine more, some distance down the river where we should 
meet them„ Elephants, he told us, were now extremely scarce, 
and when a troop wandered into this country the natives 
turned out in hundreds and organised a general hunt on behalf 
of the king, to whom all the ivory belonged. 
The hunter’s name was Okohru. He told us that ahead 
there was neither game nor corn, and that we would have a hard 
sixteen days tramp to the lake. This information induced us 
to purchase an ox from some natives living close by for seven 
pound in cash to take with us as provision on the road. Less 
they would not take. This brute, a fine beast, turned out so wild 
and fierce while being driven along that we were obliged to kill 
him at nightfall for fear that he would escape us altogether. 
For the last five miles we had been splashing along half-way 
up to our waists in clear water which overspread the fiat-lying 
country for a great distance inland, and noticing the trouble the 
