THROUGH WATERBERG. 87 



South-African nature, and then the petty aims and 

 sordid cares of our boasted development appear like an 

 agony or a nightmare. The young Briton without 

 family ties at home who has once roamed over these 

 wild plains, and lived the free life, will visit, but pro- 

 bably never die, in the old country. The anomalies of 

 our so-called civilization are seldom really experienced 

 or so clearly seen as from the vantage-ground of Nature's 

 solitudes, and we there learn a lesson which we never 

 forget, and acquire habits which last for a lifetime. 



Reptiles are not abundant in the neighbourhood of 

 Pretoria. Lizards (Mabuia trimttata\ which live in 

 holes on the banks and hillocks of the veld, may be 

 often seen in fine weather curled up at the entrance to 

 their abodes apparently enjoying the air ; they then ar- 

 range their bodies in a circular manner, their legs falling 

 flat by their sides, and thus have all the appearance of 

 snakes. They were difficult to capture without shooting, 

 and I frequently dug them out, when they were always 

 found living in the company of Toads. A Monitor 

 ( Varanus niloticns] was not uncommon about the banks 

 of the spruits which here and there intersect the veld ; in 

 the stomach of one I found the remains of two freshly- 

 devoured rats and a frog. Among the different car- 

 casses brought to the morning market by Boers for sale 

 maybe frequently found the body of one of these animals. 

 One Lizard (Agama kispida} is not at all uncommon, and 

 I have secured three or four specimens from under one 

 stone. Snakes are certainly few in number, and no 

 Irishman need fear meeting too many specimens of his 

 pet abhorrence near Pretoria. The Python is scarce ; I 

 heard reports of solitary examples having been seen in 

 widely separated spots, but was unable to obtain a 

 specimen. One of the most mythical animals is the 

 Crocodile, w T hich is often reported as inhabiting streams 

 which certainly do not possess a single individual. This 

 was particularly the case in the Spelonken, where I was 

 prevented from bathing in the deepest and best pools 

 of the river by reports of these Saurians, of whom none 

 of my informants had ever seen a specimen at the spot. 



