Page:Seven Years in South Africa v1.djvu/428

 bocks’ horns, with the skulls of striped genus, of a giraffe, and of a rhinoceros, so that there could exist little doubt but that comparatively recently it had been the site of a hunter’s quarters. This impression was confirmed by the Masarwa guide, who told us that a party of Bakuenas, with one of Sechele’s sons at their head, had not long since carried back with them to Molopolole a great waggon-load of skins and meat, besides a number of ostriches.

Having refreshed ourselves, we agreed that we were bound duly to celebrate our New Year’s Day. Our festivities were necessarily of a very simple character, and were brought to a close by drinking the health of the Emperor of Austria in the heart of the South African wilderness. The Masarwa stared at us, in great amazement; to him our cheers appeared like speaking to the air, and he inquired of Pit whether we were addressing our morimo.

Towards evening I felt myself so far recovered, that I ventured to take a little stroll into the woods to a spot where the road branched off suddenly from west to north, and where I had observed some trees of a remarkable height. In the different woods between Molopolole and Shoshong, some groves of trees are sixty feet high, and amongst them I saw a species of Acacia horrida, that I think I had not seen elsewhere.

In various places some old trunks of trees had fallen down, and their black bark had become partly