the meat. I was busy tugging out the last shoulder of my trusty steed, when the men called out, “Good God, sir, the lion’s above you!” I _did_ feel queer, but I did not drop the joint, I walked steadily down the rock, looking very frequently over my shoulder; but it was not till I came to where the men stood that I could see the round head and pricked ears of my enemy, peering over the ledge under which I had been at work. Stewartson made a very good shot at him, but too low, splintering the stones under his chin. It was far too dark for a good aim. It then appeared that the creatures we had thought were deer, were really the lions. It was now useless to lie out where we had intended, as the lions knew all about us, and proved to be far better rock-climbers than ourselves; and, as we could not get up the tree, we returned thoroughly out-generalled. In the evening a waggon came down. It was _en route_ from the Missionary station of Mr. Hahn to the Bay. The waggon-driver had a small flock of slaughter sheep for his own consumption by the way; he kindly sold us two of them, which was all he could spare. In the morning, with a heavy heart and diminished cavalcade, we proceeded onwards, sometimes Andersson and sometimes I rode—but I had much the most riding of the two. The next day one of my sheep had to be killed for meat—for some of the men had a most unaccountable prejudice against horse and mule flesh. The mule, I grant, was stringy, for she was old, and had done a great deal of work. But the horse was what butchers would describe as “prime.” _September 25th._—We came to a water-hole in the sandy river-bed, at a place where it was flanked with deep reeds. Stewartson had made us travel in the middle of the day, and right in the midst of the deep sand of the river—he seemed to have a most marvellous dread of lions, though at this season of the year night is the only fit time for travel, and I saw clearly that the mules were knocked up; indeed we only travelled three hours a day. There were lions roaring about us all night, and as there was a long reach of dry reeds, we set fire to it. It makes a glorious bonfire, frightens the wild beasts, and improves the pasturage very much.