atmosphere, reminded me that we were in a game country.
The thought conduced to create thrilling dreams of sport,
especially after a supper of elephant’s trunk, when the
digestive organs would he sadly impaired, and would send
tumultuous throbs to the brain, awakening the most awful
visions of imagination. At one time I would be breathlessly
creeping up, like a snake, to some fearful monster, and just
as I came close to him my gun would not come to the
shoulder. In a second he would be upon me, but I was off,
whirling through space, as though I were shot from a
Krupp; jumping, in one bound, rivers which had taken
hours to cross: and at length dashing meteor-like through
the ethereal sky, only to see my dreaded enemy, in the
shape of a larger world, directly before me, and coming
nearer and nearer with a velocity equal to my own. Of
course just as we were about to collide, with terrific force,
I awoke.
I then found that the drawing board which I was accustomed
to place at my head, to protect me from the wind, as
it blew through the waggon as if through a funnel, had
fallen upon my cranium, bringing down at the same time
the lantern, while the sail flap at the end of the conveyance
was lashing and cracking about my ears, being agitated by
the heavy gale.
What a gipsy life this was! But it was pleasant withal,
almost captivating, for hitherto no real or serious obstacle
had come in my way.
When morning broke the mist lifted, and the grey of the
dawn proved the harbinger of another lovely day for our
journey. Breakfast, before starting, consisted of tea, and
about six inches of elephant’s trunk, which I worked on
strenuously with my teeth for a quarter of an hour; but
making no impression upon the stuff, and noticing the
**■ higher ape” watching for an opportunity to try his powers,
I flung the bit to him, and saw it go down his throat like a
worm into a young sparrow, for by this time he had quite
recovered.
John had succeeded in making a small tent-cover for my
bed, using for the purpose some cotton drill (trading stuff
that I carried). The cover was necessary, because the
dews were now very heavy at night, and we would soon
have to abandon the waggon. This was the only way to
avoid having constantly, or rather as long as the climate
would allow me, to sleep in wet blankets. Damp means
fever.
I was not sorry when the time came to leave the camp, as
my Kaffirs would soon become useless through their excessive
feasting. They had been eating at every spare moment,
and the fire had always a pot full of pumpkin, while long
pieces of meat were being roasted. The “ higher ape” at this
time was a fearful looking picture, his outline resembling
that of a drowned man. Poor Taroman had assumed the
aspect of a well-developed pumpkin, and was forced to find
that there was a limit to the elasticity of the walls even
of Tits wonderful paunch, which he continued to rub with
earnest fervour, groaning all the time, as he declared that
he had a pain in his head! Like other people in all parts
of the world, it is noticeable that as the Kaffir grows fat he
becomes lazy.
Karemba was now in his own country, although his home
was a great distance towards the south-east.
At 6 o’clock in the morning the thermometer registered
40°, the dew laying heavy on the grass. Before noon we
made a start, although it certainly was rather difficult, for
one of John’s harassing peculiarities was his at all times
far calculating disposition; his keen eye to future business
h 2