22 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



grass, — yellow or light green in hue, according 

 to the more or less scanty rainfall. But in 

 Winter all the waving plumes crumbled away, 

 leaving the bases of the tussocks as black as 

 pitch. Where the hills and the plains met, 

 stood groves of immense dragon aloes — some 

 cumbered with nests of the sociable grossbeak 

 — each as large as a hayrick. 



The lordly oryx crossed our path; the un- 

 gainly hartebeest lumbered away to windward 

 at a pace which made pursuit hopeless; the 

 gazelles of the desert fled before us like thistle- 

 down borne on an eddying wind. The roofs of 

 many a city of desert mice sank beneath our 

 footsteps and the horned adder hissed defiance 

 at our caravan from his home at the tussock's 

 base. We crossed the zig-zag track made by 

 the yellow cobra when prowling in the dark- 

 ness. The plumed ostrich scudded away at 

 our approach, the great bustard of the Kalihari 

 spread his powerful wings and flew forth 

 heavily until he almost crossed the horizon, 

 and the " kapok vogeltje," no bigger than a 

 wren, twittered at us from his seat of cunning 

 on the outside of the simulated snowball which 

 is his nest. 



We did not fear the poisoned arrows of the 

 Bushmen, for that strange race which formerly 



