i r
landing in safety than by trusting to the honesty of their
tailors, or the firmness of their feet. If they depend too
much upon these they will assuredly reach terra firma in
the attitude of their ancestors in the four-footed life spoken
of in science genealogy.
When I called at the telegraph office I found a message
informing me that hunters were “ arriving out.” The first
rains had fallen, and the time was propitious for making a
start for the interior. There would now be plenty of grass,
as the lands had been freshened by the rains. Among
these hunters I hoped Mr. Selous would be found.
Looking into a Port Elizabeth paper, I read of the
tremendous explosion which had just taken place at the
Diamond Fields. Its effect must have been prodigious,
for no less than 33 tons of dynamite, 7 tons of loose powder,
a quantity of paraffin, and 200,000 cartridges, were blown
up.F
rom Major Deare, of the Colonial forces, I got every
assistance, and among other attentions, he kindly showed
me the lions of the town. I cannot enter upon a regular
guide-book description; but I may say that Port Elizabeth
is an active and thriving town, showing a wonderful amount
of life in the sixty-third year of its age—that was in 1883.
i The buildings are exceedingly handsome, and an especial
j feature is the new feather, ivory, and general produce
; market, which is a spacious, as well as a fine building.
I The churches are elegantly built. There is a commodious
; and comfortable club; and, as a rule, the hotel accommoda-
| ,tion and attention are unusually good. The place is healthy,
I but exposed to violent and piercing winds.
We must not, however, linger amid the scenes of civiliza-
Ition. We must be up and away to the north, the region to
I which the tremulous needle directs a course. Should the