When we reached the third spring we found that Jakobs and Kurtin had already settled there before us. Another trader, whom I may distinguish as X., arrived after us on the same day; he had visited Sepopo, the king of the Marutse-land, whither I was directing my course, and he gave me an introduction to a friend of his, whom I should be sure to meet further north on the Panda ma Tenka. I asked him to convey two of my cases of curiosities to Shoshong, but although he promised to deliver them, I am sorry to record that I never heard any more about them. In exchange for 800 lbs. of ivory, Mr. Kurtin sold him two cream-coloured horses, one of which I had myself cured of an illness in Shoshong; the ivory that X. was conveying in two waggons did not weigh less than 7000 lbs., of which 5000 lbs. had been obtained from Sepopo, the rest having been procured by his own people during their excursions on the southern shore of the Zambesi, between the Victoria Falls and the mouth of the Chobe. He warned me that there was great risk of getting fever on the Zambesi, and that in the district ahead of us there was great scarcity of water. In return for some medicines with which I supplied him, he very courteously sent me a good portion of a cow that he had just killed.
After starting in the afternoon west by north towards the most northerly of the Klamaklenyana springs, we had to pass through a part of the forest, where we saw some fine camel-thorn acacias and mimosas; also some trees like maples, some mochononos, and bushes of fan-palms. The scenery remained very much of the same character all through the next morning’s march, until we reached the spring in time for our midday halt. Between the first and the last of the four springs, I counted twenty-five depressions in the ground that are all full of water after heavy rain.
As we came along, I made several little détours into the woods, and saw buffaloes, striped gnus, Zulu-hartebeests and zebras, and noticed that lion-tracks were by no means wanting. At a point near the spring, where a trader’s road brings them out from the western Matabele, I met three hunters, named Barber, Frank, and Wilkinson. Barber’s skill as a hunter was notorious; he had a mother who was not only a keen observer of animal life, but was so gifted with artistic power of delineating what she saw, that she had published several little works on the subject. Barber likewise showed me his own sketch-book, in which he had made some very clever illustrations of his hunting-adventures.
We went a few miles further before we stopped for the night. Some of the trees that we passed next morning were of remarkably well-developed growth, several of the trunks being sixty feet in height; they belonged to a species called wild syringa by the Dutch, and “motsha” by the Bamangwatos; there is another sort quite as common, which they call “monati.” Near the groves I observed a great many orchids with red blossoms.
About noon we came to a slight hollow, containing a pond known as Yoruah, where we again fell in with our hunting acquaintances. X. had advised them to make it their headquarters for a time, because he had himself been extremely fortunate in killing elephants there during his own stay. There were traces from which it was clear that a herd had passed along quite recently, and it was hoped that they might soon return again. Not wishing that my dogs should cause the hunting-party any annoyance, I pushed on at once without stopping, and reached the Tamafopa, or Skeleton-springs, in good time next day.
Here I made up my mind to stay for a few days, and taking the waggon about half a mile into the forest, fixed upon a station close to some rain-pools that were generally more or less full of water throughout the year; one of my principal objects for this rest was that I might try and get a skin of the sword-antelope, the finest of all the South African species.
Taking a stroll westwards I saw some steinbocks, and observing countless tracks of animals of all sorts, I could not doubt but that the whole district was teeming with life, and accordingly I came to the conclusion that I would spend another night of observation in the open air; even if I failed to accomplish my end with regard to the skin of which I was in quest, I might at least reckon upon being entertained. Instead of going alone as I did before, I resolved this time to take Pit with me, and in reply to my question whether he thought he would be able to keep awake, he told me he had not the least doubt on that point.
About an hour or two before sunset I saw that a thoroughly good enclosure was made round the waggon, and Theunissen undertook to keep a good look-out against lions. I and Pit then made our way towards the spot which I had already selected in a forest glade about 500 yards in circumference, partially overgrown with grass, and about ten feet above the level of the woods; in the centre was a small rain-pool that had been full of water some months back, but was now much covered with weeds, and nearly empty. Near the edge of the glade stood a fine hardekool-tree, and about fifteen yards from this was an Acacia detinens thirty feet high, of which the branches drooped nearly to the ground, and partly sheltered and partly supported a great ant-hill at its side. Altogether the place seemed well adapted for my purpose.
The first thing I made Pit do was to collect some of the branches of the trees, to make a sort of breastwork about two feet high; we reserved an open space of eight feet or more of bare plain between ourselves and the tall grass; and then we carefully examined our guns and put them in perfect readiness for use. The sun was now sinking, and all the birds had gone to roost except a few glossy starlings that kept twittering around the nests which they occupy all through the year. Pit offered a piece of advice which I thought it advisable to follow, and we left our retreat before it was absolutely dark to fetch some branches of acacia to throw over the enclosure as a light covering, and while we were doing this the howling of the jackals at no great distance made us aware that the hour was at hand when the deer would be on the move to drink, and when the beasts of prey would set forth for their nightly prowl.
Taking his usual posture, Pit half lay down, while I, for my part, preferred a squatting position as being the least uncomfortable for a long period of watching. For a little while we kept up a conversation in an undertone, but soon afterwards I suggested that it might be better if we were quite quiet. Half an hour or more might have elapsed when I heard a peculiar sound that induced me to rise cautiously and listen; for a moment or two I was puzzled, but hardly knew whether to be more amused or disgusted to find that the noise had no other origin than the open countenance of my slumbering servant. The poke that I gave him was not particularly gentle. At first he seemed inclined to be aggrieved, but immediately recollected himself, and apologizing for falling asleep, promised now to keep wide awake. I knew his propensity too well to have much confidence in his vigilant intentions, but I really was surprised to find after how brief an interval he had begun to snore again as loud as ever.