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 compelled to abandon all further hope of success, and returned to the waggon to bear my disappointment as best I could.

Of all the South African beasts of prey, the spotted hyæna is the most enduring and the most tenacious of life, and I have known instances where they have withstood the effects of fearful wounds for double the time that I believe other mammalia could have held out. I shall have to refer to these animals more than once again.

Next morning we reached one of the patches of wood that we had seen towards the distant north; it contained some wretched huts, made of branches driven in the ground and covered with leaves, occupied by Yochoms, a branch of the Makalahari. These Yochoms were dependents of a Barolong, named Mokalana, who resided in another of these woods a few miles away; both settlements bore the names of their respective owners. The custom that the Bechuanas have of calling their towns and villages after their builders or owners, frequently causes a great deal of confusion, as in this way a place sometimes gets known by two or three names, those of past as well as present chiefs; and when a chief changes his place of residence, the new settlement will bear the same name as the old one, although it may be not more than a few miles distant.

The Yochoms had to look after a herd of cows and sheep for their liege lord, and it was also their business to hunt for him; for this purpose they