368 A JOURNEY INTO THE 
-a hole into the ground large enough for his body, pressing himself close 
to the fire; he seemed much pleased when somebody covered him with 
a sheepskin, which he often would replace again when it shifted off him. 
Nothing could please that animal better than when he was liberated 
from his chain at the time we started: he would turn round like a 
wheel, often taking the lead, as soon as the dogs commenced racing 
after various kind of game, which were rambling about the fields in 
every direction. His mission was fulfilled before any of the dogs closed 
with the game; our swift hoggish racer had already broken the pha- 
lanx of antelopes, or quaggas, and joined our party again long before 
the dogs returned. 
The commencement of our march was the ascent of a moderate ele- 
vated ground, the route leading through small groups of Acacia-trees 
of moderate size, during sultry weather, until we entered again the open 
and more level fields. We fell in during our march with small troops’ 
of the wild Vlat Boar, which were rambling amongst many other game 
at no great distance from the route, and gave sport both to our dogs 
and to the Hottentots, who had to conduct the horses, of which they 
made use against orders. The little swift runners however soon won 
the race, for they were soon lost out of sight, and the men returned with 
the horses covered with foam. 
_ The custom of burning the grass down over the whole country gave 
it a very dreary and melancholy appearance. The natives had recently 
_ set fire to the fields, and all the country looked black; the rising of 
smoke gave ample signals that they still went on to destroy every 
blade of green, and made us aware of the danger that our oxen and 
horses would suffer under such a practice. The air, filled with smoke, 
made an impression to the mind far from pleasant, and we were glad 
to reach towards evening a suitable place in a valley, where there was 
something to eat for the animals, and where we could find some wood, 
as we halted for the night near some solid rocks, which were shaded 
by a number of evergreen wild Olive trees. The Dutch emigrants 
named this station “ Wonder-fontyn,” in allusion to the disappearance 
a river of some importance, entering a rocky cavern some miles’ 
distance higher upwards of the place, where we just spanned out. The 
natives state that the same river appears again on the surface about 
sht miles distance lower down. As it was our opinion first that the 
ing = w S which we had left the same afternoon, re- 
