From this time till the 27th of the month, the party remained in the same camp, making frequent excursions thence in search of game, first in one direction, then in another. Here they met with more quagga and sable antelope than any other game, but there were also eland, koodoo, and sassaybi, besides some of the lesser antelopes and wild pigs in abundance. “Near the spruit on which we stand,” writes Frank Oates at this point, “is the most really picturesque bit of craggy and sylvan scenery I have yet seen. Our present camp indeed is far the best in that respect we have ever yet had. It is now spring, moreover; the first rains have fallen, and refreshed nature is beginning to resume her long-lost garb of green.” The following quotation from the Journal of the 18th gives a pleasant glimpse into one of their longer rambles from this camp:--“Started about 7.30 A.M., and walked nearly three hours, first through the thin, then through the thick, bush, striking a path during the walk which we followed to the south-west, and which brought us out under a huge spreading baobab, the largest tree I have yet seen since leaving Pietermaritzburg. They call it the ‘Indunas’ tree,’ for here the indunas from the neighbouring kraals are wont to sit and drink beer when anything particular is on hand. The huge trunk is blackened all round with fire, but the tree seems uninjured, and spreads its huge canopy from a framework of crooked boughs, like a gigantic oak. Stretching my arms round the tree at the height at which I stand from the ground, it took me four times, all but about a foot, to encircle it--say about twenty-three feet for its girth here, but below this it is much more, as it increases towards the roots. Other trees of the same kind stand about, but they are less. A splendid view, such as recalls Wharfedale to the mind, here suddenly bursts in sight. The Umvungu River flows in the valley; at our backs is the thick bush, through which we have come; but before us stretches the green vista of woods far away, till it becomes blue in the distance. We waited here about two hours, and returned as we had come.” In this way the whole surrounding district was gradually traversed. The weather during the stay at the present camp was already beginning to be wet, and there was no improvement in this respect, but the reverse, from that date. On the 27th, moving their position, they again encamped a few miles further to the westward, where they remained till the middle of November, hunting the district, and at times leaving the waggon for some days together. Elephant and giraffe were met with on this occasion, the rest of the game being mostly the same as that found near the previous encampment. The chief trophy of the chase here obtained was a fine bull elephant, its tusks weighing together 108 lbs. [Illustration: THE FIRST ELEPHANT.]