28 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



tentot, and his nephew, — a lad of about twelve 

 years of age, were also left behind for the pur- 

 pose of taking charge of the oxen when they 

 returned, maddened with thirst, after being re- 

 leased from the yoke at the camping-place 

 under Bantom Berg and the Great Dune, which 

 was our objective. 



Shortly before sundown we inspanned and 

 made a start, shaping our course north-east. 

 Soon we had crossed the last rocky ridge, — the 

 boundary separating the hilly country from the 

 plains. The latter were covered with the 

 shock-bearing tussocks of " toa," — waving 

 plumes at that time bleached to a light yellow 

 by the ardours of the summer sun. We passed 

 the head of the Kanxas Gorge, — a miniature 

 canyon whose rocky, perpendicular sides con- 

 tained caves which had been until a compara- 

 tively recent date occupied by Bushmen. The 

 walls of these caves shew records of their 

 former inhabitants in the form of black-pig- 

 mented script. This consists mainly of groups 

 of short, parallel lines crossed at various angles 

 by lines similar. But neither here nor in any 

 of the haunts of the now-vanished Bushmen I 

 have visited in the north-western areas of the 

 Cape Province, have I seen paintings of men 

 and animals such as are to be found in other 



