ZOUTPANSBEEG AND THE MAGWAMBAS. Ill 



the wagon for my return jonrney, and in this I was 

 greatly assisted by the Magwamba boys, who, on finding 

 that there was really a market, set thoroughly to work 

 in procuring specimens. Birds were mostly brought 

 alive, as the lads were adepts at trapping, or when 

 killed they were generally in perfect condition, as the 

 blunted wooden arrow-head was used. At first some 

 of the men would bring a small bird pierced by a 

 bullet shot from an old " Brown Bess " ; but they soon 

 knew the requirements better, and a good ornitholo- 

 gical collection could have been obtained had I 

 possessed leisure to remain longer on the spot. The 

 great trouble was to prevent them bringing the same 

 thing over and over again, and to make them under- 

 stand that insects were valueless when crushed ; but 

 they really experienced pleasure in trapping and 

 shooting birds, and would attentively watch the process 

 of skinning. As the lads brought in my prizes, I 

 recalled the same arrangement made years before with 

 the Nicobarians in the Bay of Bengal and the Malays 

 of Province Wellesley. 



Animal life was, however, scarce, the dry season had 

 just commenced and birds had generally left the 

 neighbourhood. The only predatory beast was the 

 Jackal (Canis mesomelas), whose shrill cries or screams 

 had broken our rest and disturbed the deep stillness 

 of the night as we journeyed up in the wagon. On 

 our arrival at the store we heard that these animals 

 had been prowling around and had dragged away a dried 

 hide a few nights previously. Buck were very scarce, one 

 species only, the Duyker (Cephalolophus grimmii), being 

 obtained during my stay. No quantity of big game 

 can now exist near a Kafir location since the intro- 

 duction of firearms, and the natives have learned to 

 use a gun with much greater precision than in their 

 early fights with the Boers, when they frequently shut 

 both eyes before firing. 



The dry veld now no longer contained its rich variety 

 and myriad numbers of orthopterous insects, and this, 

 I believe, was the cause of the almost utter absence of 



