ssession of the wild
beasts.

Macora's tribe were not now living in a conquered condition; nor were
they now prevented from paying a visit to their former home.

The plan proposed by the Makololo chief for catching the young giraffes,
was to build a _hopo_ or trap, in some convenient place where a herd of
giraffes might be driven into it,--the old ones killed and the young
ones secured alive.

No better plan could be devised than this, and it was unanimously
adopted.

A site for the _hopo_ has to be chosen with some judgment, so that
labour may be saved in its construction; and, satisfied that the chief
would act for the best, the hunters determined on leaving to him all the
arrangements regarding it.

A suitable place for the trap, Macora remembered having seen, a few
miles down the river; and thither they repaired.

On the way, they passed the ruins of the deserted village, and many of
the natives recognised amid the heaps of rubbish the places that had
once been their homes.

Five miles farther down, they reached the place which was to be enclosed
as a hopo. It was a narrow valley or pass, leading from a large forest
to the river-bank,--and the variety and quantity of spoor over its
surface, proved that most animals of the country daily passed through
it.

The forest consisted chiefly of mimosa-trees, whose leaves are the
favourite food of the giraffe. Plenty of other timber was growing near,
such as would be needed in constructing the required inclosure.

Macora promised that his people should go to work on the following day;
when pits should be dug and trees felled for the fence of the hopo.

Willem inquired if they had not better first make sure that giraffes
were in the neighbourhood, before expending their labour in constructing
the trap. This Macora declared was not necessary. He was quite certain
that they would be found by the time the trap was ready for receiving
them. He also advised the hunters to refrain from molesting any
giraffes they might see before the inclosure should be completed, which,
according to his calculation, would be in about two weeks.

The hunters now began to understand the difficulties of the task they
had undertaken, and were thankful for the good fortune that had brought
them the assistance of the Makololo chief. But for him and his people,
it would have been idle for them to have attempted taking the giraffes
alive.

Well mounted, they might ride them down and