sed, he would have the skins carefully dressed, and the
skulls and horns preserved, so that I might take the whole back with me
to civilisation, as trophies, upon my return. Of course I thanked him
for his exceedingly generous offer, which I gladly accepted so far as
the three buffalo killed by myself were concerned; and therewith we
parted upon the very best of terms, the king according me full
permission to go where I pleased in his country, remain in it as long as
I chose, and kill all the game that I had a mind to, while I made His
Majesty inexpressibly proud and happy by presenting him with a
burning-glass and showing him how to kindle a fire by its means. Then,
my ceremonial visit being at an end, I returned to the wagon, ordered
the oxen to be inspanned, and resumed my journey.

The ensuing fortnight was spent in progressing slowly northward through
that part of Basutoland which lies between the Machacha mountain range
and what is now known as the Caledon River, hunting all the way. But
although the sport, such as it was, was good, enabling me to bag five
lions, eight leopards, and three splendid specimens of rhinoceros, and
although buck of all kinds, and buffalo, were plentiful enough to have
enabled me to fill the wagon with their skins and horns, had I desired
to do so, the sport was not the kind that I desired; I was out after
elephant, and Basutoland was not elephant country. Therefore, at the
end of the fortnight, I crossed the headwaters of the Caledon, and
entered what in after years became the Orange Free State, and, still
later, the Orange River Colony. Thence, passing between the two
mountain ranges which later received the names of Witte and Roode
Bergen, we "struck" a wide expanse of level, open country; through this
a stream flowed in a northerly direction, along the left bank of which
we trekked for a full week, not only for the sake of the water and the
richer grass growing in the immediate vicinity of the stream, but also
because if there was any game in the neighbourhood it was sure to be
found within easy reach of the water. And here I got my first slice of
luck, potting a brace of elephants, both of them magnificent tuskers, as
well as another rhinoceros, three giraffes, and seven cock ostriches in
perfect plumage. Then, crossing the Wilge River, and, two days later,
the Klip River, we entered the country now known as the Transvaal, the
Klip River being, as a matter of fact, the headwat