d the saddle, and would carry them quietly.

I passed a month in making myself acquainted with the country around
D'Urban, its rivers, paths, and kloofs, and also in studying the Zulu
language, which I found to differ slightly from the frontier Kaffir. I
always carried a dictionary with me, and, upon meeting any natives, sat
down, and, pulling out my book, asked word for word what I wanted. I
rarely failed in making myself understood, and then the Kaffir would
repeat my words, giving the correct pronunciation and grammar. If, for
instance, I was thirsty and wanted some milk, I would look in my
dictionary for "I want." _Funa_, I would find, expressed to want;
_amasi_ or _ubisi_, milk (the first being sour milk, a very refreshing
drink, and the latter sweet milk); _uku posa_, to drink. "Puna ubisi
uku posa," I would say. The Kaffir would give a kind of intelligent
grunt, such as _er-er_, and say, "Wena funa posa ubisi." I then
repeated the sentence after him, putting _di_, I, for _wena_, you, and
bore in mind that "Di funa posa amasi (_or_ ubisi)," was I want to drink
some sour (or sweet) milk. By this means I was soon able to ask for
everything I wanted, and in six months could talk the language with
tolerable freedom. I found it of inconceivable use in my solitary
trips, as I was then independent of Dutch farmers, English squatters,
etc.; a Kaffir kraal always supplying the few things I wanted; and I was
by its aid enabled to see and hear more than by any other means.

I recommend every person who may be in a strange country at once to set
to work and acquire its language; it turns out generally a most useful
amusement.

By these Kaffirs I was taught the art of spooring; my lessons were
learned over the print of some buck's foot on the bent-down blade of a
bit of grass. Spooring requires as much study and practice as any other
science, and a professor is often required to decide some knotty point,
such as the number of days since a buffalo passed, or at what hour
certain elephants rolled in the mud. It first appeared to me very much
a matter of guess, but I afterwards saw the reasons throughout for the
Kaffirs' conclusions.

A few rough outlines, showing the spoors of some of the different
South-African animals may be useful to an inexperienced hunter.

_A_ is the footprint of a Bull-Elephant (circular).

_B_ Cow-Elephant (elliptical).

_C_ Rhinoceros.

_D_ Hippopotamus.

_E_ Buffalo. The animal c