SPRINGBOKS ON A SALT-PAN 197 



simultaneously, and the slender legs are stiffened. 

 One buck repeats the leap several times running ; 

 then canters off for another part of the pan. He is 

 followed by the rest of the " klompje." Nothing in 

 nature can equal the wonderful agility, speed, spright- 

 liness, and grace of these creatures. And upon this 

 gleaming pan, at this clear hour of sunrise, they stand 

 out in all their perfection ; no mirror could display 

 their points better. Some, as you may perceive, stand 

 reflectively here and there. Some, with lowered 

 heads and curiously mincing gait, trot lightly as 

 things of air across the sand. Some are licking at a 

 salt corner of the brack. Here, again, is another 

 band suddenly startled into a leaping fit — '' pronken " 

 (pranks) the Boers well call these displays. Such a 

 scene — enacted daily in old Africa these thousands of 

 years past — is worth a year of a man's life in the 

 seething town. Thank God ! there are still a few 

 such places of nature left to this poor harried earth of 

 ours ! Unhappily, even these cannot last many years 

 longer. But time wears on ; the sun grows warmer 

 every instant ; you may see the mirage just beginning 

 to dance at the far corner of the pan. Yonder string 

 of pelicans, half-a-mile in length, stretching out slowly 

 into the desert, tells that the great fisher-birds have 

 breakfasted and are off to digest their meal. The 

 sand-grouse, streaming overhead towards the river, are 

 flying for their morning drink — it must be nearing 



