88 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



mammal population — would long since have 

 been exterminated. The Kanya is to the oryx 

 a strong city of refuge from pursuit, and he 

 draws his scanty but sufficient supply of 

 moisture from the dunes coiled about 

 Typhon's flanks. This seeming paradox is 

 explained by the circumstance that a certain 

 plant, the root of which somewhat resembles 

 an exaggerated turnip and is heavily charged 

 with moisture, grows in the dune-veld. This 

 root the oryx scents out, and digs from out the 

 sand with his strong, sharp, heavy hoofs. 



The Kanya stones, which stop a galloping 

 horse as effectively as would a barbed wire 

 fence, are no obstacle to the oryx, for the 

 divisions of his hoof expand widely and are 

 connected by a strong membrane of muscle. 

 They stretch apart when he treads on a stone, 

 the membrane lying over the latter like a sup- 

 porting spring. Yet, strangely enough, I once 

 saw an oryx break its leg in passing over a 

 narrow strip of Kanya. This occurred many 

 miles from where I was that day; on the 

 southern fringe of the Kanya-tract, in fact. 



It happened in this wise. One morning 

 Hendrick and I rode ahead of the wagon. 

 Five oryx emerged from a depression and 

 stood at gaze about six hundred yards away. I 



