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carried to Mr. Barn's station, No. i on the map, and it was finally arranged that Mr. Stewardson should guide us up country to Mission Station No. 2.
My disasters began soon. The journey across the arid plain that separated the Kuisip from the Swakop taxed the strength of the mules, who were wholly unused to such a strain. It was necessary to give them immediate rest and food as soon as the pasturage of the Swakop was reached. Tracks of wild animals were looked for on the sand of the river-bed, but none were found, so Stewardson urged that our mules and horses should be left free during the night to rest and feed themselves. The result was that a troop of lions dashed down upon them in the dark, killing one mule and one of my two horses. The remainder galloped off unscathed, and were recovered in the afternoon. The tracks of the lions by the side of those of the animals up to the two fatal springs told the story clearly. I had I no reserve of food, so it was necessary to utilise the horse flesh, which I cut off and stored in an apparently safe hole in the side of a cliff. When I returned towards nightfall to remove
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it, one of my enemies had out-generalled me. He had clambered from behind and unseen to a ledge five or six yards above the hiding-place, and could be seen there by the party below, crouched like a cat above a mouse-hole. I got down safely, meat and all, and saw the head and the pricked ears of the brute as he kept his position. A shot struck the rock under his chin, and he decamped.
I had little further trouble with lions during my journey, though they were often heard roaring at night. I think I only lost one cow, and apparently a
