362 GAME-PITS ENDURANCE OF THE NATIVES. 



for myself, I escaped with a violent twist of the neck, which 

 inconvenienced me slightly for a few days. 



Almost all the tribes of Southern Africa avail themselves 

 of pitfalls (often on a most gigantic scale) for the capture of 

 game. These traps, or rather these lines of pitfalls, are either 

 constructed in the shape of very obtuse triangles, open at the 

 base and gradually tapering to a point, where a single, double, 

 or treble row of pits are dug, into which the game is driven 

 by shouts or yells, or they are formed in the shape of a cres- 

 cent — often miles in extent — usually shutting out a valley 

 or defile, with pits at every fifty or a hundred paces apart, 

 artfully concealed with grass, sand, &c., the intervening spaces 

 being planted and filled up with stout palisades, closely inter- 

 woven with boughs and branches of thorn-trees. 



The Hill-Damaras are remarkable for the perseverance 

 and industry they exhibit in the construction of game-pits. 

 From want of proper tools, the trees have first to be burnt 

 down and then carried on men's shoulders to their destina- 

 tion, and when we add to this that the task is frequently ex- 

 ecuted in the most arid districts — the haunts of the gemsbok, 

 the eland, the koodoo, and other tenants of the wilds, who 

 are capable of existing more or less without water for long 

 periods — it is easy to imagine the labor and fatigue of the 

 process. 



On counting over the different articles of my baggage, I 

 found that at least nine or ten oxen would be required to 

 carry them, in addition to those necessary for myself and 

 men to ride upon. Almost all my cattle were young, and 

 only half broken-in, and there was scarcely time for further 

 training. To save all trouble, I felt inclined to push on with 

 the old wagon ; but, for more than one reason, the idea was 

 quickly abandoned. I worked night and day, but was much 

 harassed. Through carelessness, the hyaenas were allowed 

 to devour the skins intended for pack "riems" and divers 

 minor articles. The men were lazy, stubborn, and ill-humor- 



