MISPLACED ENERGY 211 



had little or no opportunity of gathering " veld 

 kost." 



I examined the collections of Flora and 

 Fauna and carefully took possession of the 

 tank of poisoned spirit. The spoil did not 

 amount to very much. The most interesting 

 item was a locust — very like those which occa- 

 sionally over-run the Cape Colony, and do 

 such enormous damage. It was, however, 

 clearly a separate species, being larger and 

 lighter in colour than the much-dreaded migra- 

 tory insect. 



Soon after we halted three boys approached 

 along our trail, each carrying something with 

 great care. They drew near, and with an air 

 of conscious virtue, deposited their offerings 

 at my feet. 



One had brought a small, elongated, circu- 

 lar basket made of rushes, with the top care- 

 fully closed. I opened this and found it full 

 of green, bladdery ghoonyas. There were 

 dozens and dozens of them, squirming and 

 crawling over one another. The next boy car- 

 ried a rusty, battered nail-keg. This, likewise, 

 contained ghoonyas. The third boy had de- 

 nuded himself of his goatskin and tied a bunch 

 in it, big enough to hold a moderate plum- 

 pudding. This, too, was full of ghoonyas — - 



