d bush-buck, and also duikers: to trap these I
bent down the stem of a young tree, so as to form a spring, and by means
of withes and the bark of a shrub, which was as strong as rope, I made a
noose in the path frequented by these buck. Scarcely an evening passed
but I caught a buck, and so had plenty of meat. I sadly wanted some
salt, however; but I soon thought of a plan for securing this. There
were several small hollows in the rocks above high-water mark, these I
filled with sea-water, and, as they were exposed to the sun, the water
soon evaporated, and a deposit of salt remained. With this salt I
rubbed the strips of buck-meat I had cut with my knife; and, hanging
these in the sun, made a provision for the future. I was obliged to
hang them at the end of thin branches at a distance from the ground, for
I found that leopards frequented this place, and although they might not
attack me, yet they would at once carry off and devour my meat.

I wanted some weapon very badly: I had cut a stout stick to make a
knob-kerrie, but such a weapon would be harmless against a leopard. I
should have felt more comfortable if I had possessed two or three
assagies, for there is a feeling of power when one grasps a weapon which
we know how to use. I believed it possible that I might find some
assagies, if I crossed the bay and searched along the shore where so
many of the Zulus had been killed or wounded. I waited till it was
nearly dark one evening, and then swam across the channel that separated
the bluff from the wooded shore opposite. I landed on this shore, and,
keeping close to the bush, examined all the likely places for an assagy
to be found, and at length found three very good ones. I could see no
fresh traces of men's footprints, and concluded that all the Zulus had
left Natal.

I therefore ventured further inland, and visited the locality where the
white men had been ambushed by the Zulus. I found the remains of their
bodies: hyaenas and vultures having feasted on them, but little remained
except their bones. Almost hidden by the long grass, I saw the stock of
a gun; and found this to be a double-barrelled gun, with a flask of
powder and a bag of bullets close beside it. Such a treasure I had not
expected, and I now felt that I was secure against any average enemy.
In order to get across the channel with my powder dry, I collected a
quantity of wood and fastened this together by withes and bark, so as to
make