THE GODS OF RAIN 137 



be an easy one. Andries owned a mob of over 

 sixty horses, the greater number of which had 

 been taught but the merest rudiments of 

 service. 



We reached the outer periphery of the hills 

 late in the afternoon, and camped on the 

 margin of the pale-green ocean of feathery 

 " toa." Far-off, to eastward, we marked the 

 rose-litten turrets of a thunder-cloud. When 

 the sun went down these were illuminated by 

 incessant lightnings, symbols of destruction 

 heralding the advent of the only giver of life- 

 rain. 



I had formerly been accustomed to bring 

 books to Bushmanland, but, with one excep- 

 tion, I did so no longer. The exception was 

 Ludwig's translation of the Vedic Hymns. 

 The open Volume of the desert, so insistent' 

 to be read, was sufficient; nevertheless those 

 large, primordial utterances of the Vedas 

 seemed appropriate whenever one was brought 

 into contact with unspoilt Nature in her vaster 

 aspects. Although they originated under con- 

 ditions very dissimilar to the local ones, the 

 Vedic Hymns are tuned to the desert's pitch. 

 In India, as in Bushmanland, rain is the para- 

 mount necessity. When the rain-gods forget 

 Bushmanland a few thousand fat-tailed sheep 



