174 NATURAL HISTORY ESSAYS 



of the morning sun. In the middle distance is 

 seen a troop of springbok, the prominent chestnut 

 line ornamenting their flanks being excellently 

 rendered : two of these buck are rejoining the 

 herd after drinking. Further away are seen more 

 quaggas, the main troop being dimly recognisable, 

 spreading out in characteristic crescent formation 

 as its component members begin to graze. A 

 single rocky hill rises in the ocean-like expanse, 

 its outlines swimming in hazy perspective on the 

 boundless horizon. 



The quagga like many other animals had 

 the curious habit of swarming at the salt 

 pans to lick the salt. These pans are vast 

 depressions, gleaming with crystallized efflor- 

 escence, and curiously recalling the salt lakes 

 of Algeria. Harris has left a clever sketch 

 of one of these saline tracts, the impression of 

 free boundless space and sparkling atmosphere 

 being capitally rendered. In the foreground are 

 seen a couple of small pools, whose moisture 

 encourages a scanty growth of trees and shrubs : 

 a few antelopes are resting near the water or 

 careering over the plain, whose parched condition 

 is well shown by the cloud of dust thrown up by 

 their flying hoofs : the horizon is blurred in the 

 shimmering heat-haze, through which loom in- 

 distinctly the grotesque forms of some three or 

 four ostriches. My own picture reproduced in 



