A RACE WITH A KAFFIR. 113 



and kloof of zuur veldt (sour pasture) affords excellent 

 grazing for goats, and is admirably adapted for the 

 breeding and rearing of horses. For this reason 

 are we settled in one of the most sequestered nooks 

 of the Eastern province. 



Some of us have been marking goats in the kraal 

 all the morning, while two others have been to the 

 kloof across the valley, where a leopard has been 

 crying for many nights past. With them they took 

 a dead kid, into which had been deftly inserted, by 

 means of incisions in soft parts of the flesh, a 

 strychnine pill or two, intended for the benefit of 

 Felis pardus. Arrived at the kloof, they had deposited 

 the dead kid in a place where it was likely to attract 

 the notice of the leopard, and in all probability the 

 result would be the death of one more of these 

 fierce enemies of our colts and flocks. Leopards 

 are so essentially night-loving animals, that they are 

 by the merest chance encountered in the daytime ; 

 hence the colonial method of attacking them by 

 poison. Three years ago, when our host came to 

 Naroekas Poort, it happened one day that the 

 mason engaged in building the house was left alone 

 for some hours ; the walls had been erected, and he 

 was working on the flat roof. Chancing to look 

 down from his work, the man was astounded to see 

 a leopard saunter quietly down the hillside and 

 enter the house by the open doorway. Like most 

 South African farmhouses, the dwelling consisted 

 of but one storey, and the mason lay as still as 

 death, for he was unarmed, and, knowing the 

 activity of the brute, he was uncertain whether it 

 might not scramble on to the roof if it caught sight 

 of him. After five minutes of breathless suspense, 



8 



