not
so. Inyovu won't sit beside me on the old log, but, facing me, takes
his position. "Why did you move, Inyovu?"

"Must not sit side by side in the bush; we only see half round. Sit
face to face; you see one half, and I the other; then no animal
approaches without being seen." After this caution, I never again made
such a cockney blunder with Kaffirs. Two or three powerful doses of
snuff act like a glass of grog on my dark friend, and I find the
stimulating effect of a pinch on myself; the day is intensely hot, and
but little wind is stirring. Inyovu remarks that we must not go further
down this path. I heard a buck just blow the alarm, and he must have
"got our Wind." The wind has changed a little, as, throwing some sand
in the air, he watched the light particles float away in the direction
that the path turned. It now became a question of how much meat was
required, whether another buck was to pay tribute on that day. Three
Kaffirs and four dogs to feed daily, besides a most infallible appetite
on the part of myself, consumed a large quantity of flesh. If more
venison were required, our first buck would be concealed in the fork of
a tree, or other convenient place, to wait until called for; and the
same stealthy work carried on until a sufficiency was obtained, when we
would retrace our steps for those bucks that we had left hidden two or
three days. A week can be passed in this way very pleasantly, for the
charm of the bush never wears away; the mystery is always the same. The
hot winds that sometimes blow on the flat or open country are scarcely
felt under the sheltering branches; the heat of the sun is, in the bush,
only occasionally annoying, while the scent of the wild flowers gives a
most delicious perfume to the air. The brilliant plumage of the birds
flashes occasionally across the path, and the busy, playful, little grey
monkey amuses you with his threatening grimaces. The exercise also of
the faculties that this sort of amusement necessarily entails, I
believe, must lead to a higher state of health in both body and mind
than is likely to result from the acquaintance of strong tobacco and
brandy-and-water, that are sometimes the early companions of
"Nothing-to-do" gentlemen, who are condemned to pass a certain number of
days in the far south-east of Africa. A tropical forest is a nosegay of
sweet-scented flowers; and as the traveller crushes a blossoming plant,
or his horse disturbs the posi