SEA COWS 217 



On the southern side the mountain range came 

 to an abrupt ending. Rounded hillocks 

 emerged here and there from the plain which, 

 as it approached the coast, was carpeted with 

 patches of white, slowly-drifting fog. This 

 made the detail difficult to appraise. 



We descended the flank of the last really 

 high mountain, intending to rest just below the 

 lordly gate of the immense labyrinth from 

 which we had emerged, — from the threshold of 

 which the mist-shrouded plains extend to the 

 Atlantic. For when the hot winds of the 

 desert stream over the cold antarctic current 

 that washes this coast, they draw up moisture 

 which is blown back landward in the form of 

 vapour. Herein lies the explanation of the 

 circumstance that the coast desert is occas- 

 ionally, for months at a time, densely 

 shrouded in mist. 



There — before the mountain gate — where 

 the wearied water glided away in thankful 

 silence from the last of the thunderous rapids 

 that vexed its course, — was one of the 

 favourite resorts of the only remaining school 

 of sea-cows on that side of Africa, south of the 

 tropical line. Of all the myriad hosts of won- 

 derful wild creatures that until lately popu- 

 lated these desert plains and mountains, only 



