we should arrive in the happy
hunting-grounds of the Base country, where we were led to expect great
results.

In a day's march through a beautiful country, sometimes upon the high
table-land to cut off a bend in the river, at other times upon the
margin of the stream in the romantic valley, broken into countless hills
and ravines covered with mimosas, we arrived at Ombrega (mother of
the thorn), about twenty-four miles from Geera. We soon arranged a
resting-place, and cleared away the grass that produced the thorn which
had given rise to the name of Ombrega, and in a short time we were
comfortably settled for the night. We were within fifty yards of the
river, the horses were luxuriating in the green grass that grew upon its
banks, and the camels were hobbled, to prevent them from wandering from
the protection of the camp-fires, as we were now in the wilderness,
where the Base by day and the lion and leopard by night were hostile to
man and beast.

We were fast asleep a little after midnight, when we were awakened by
the loud barking of the dogs, and by a confusion in the camp. Jumping up
on the instant, I heard the dogs, far away in the dark jungles, barking
in different directions. One of the goats was gone! A leopard had sprung
into the camp, and had torn a goat from its fastening, although tied to
a peg, between two men, close to a large fire. The dogs had given
chase; but, as usual in such cases, they were so alarmed as to be almost
useless. We quickly collected firebrands and searched the jungles, and
shortly we arrived where a dog was barking violently. Near this spot
we heard the moaning of some animal among the bushes, and upon a search
with firebrands we discovered the goat, helpless upon the ground, with
its throat lacerated by the leopard. A sudden cry from the dog at a few
yards' distance, and the barking ceased.

The goat was carried to the camp where it shortly died. We succeeded
in recalling two of the dogs, but the third, which was the best, was
missing, having been struck by the leopard. We searched for the body in
vain, and concluded that it had been carried off.

The country that we now traversed was so totally uninhabited that it was
devoid of all footprints of human beings; even the sand by the river's
side, that, like the snow, confessed every print, was free from all
traces of man. The Bas-e were evidently absent from our neighbourhood.

We had several times disturbed antelopes during the