VAAL RHEBOK SHOOTING. 129 



obtaining a specimen and some venison, we were yet 

 well pleased to have set eyes upon a curious and, to 

 us, new species of the antelope tribe. Our host 

 having shortly finished inspecting his mountain 

 veldt in this locality, we turned our horses' heads, 

 and, after an hour's absence, reached Tobias's 

 house again. Tobias, his expressive black eyes 

 beaming with pride (I think the little man, from his 

 dark complexion and low stature, must have been, 

 upon his mother's side, like many other Boers, of 

 Huguenot extraction), was ready for us with the 

 two pails, each nearly filled with rich dark honey. 

 After looking at a few horses in the kraal near 

 the house, and learning that all was well with 

 such of the stud as we had not seen on our way 

 hither, we set off homewards, leaving Tobias and 

 the Kaffir to follow with the honey. Here I may 

 remark that the wild honey found in such 

 abundance in these mountains, and indeed all over 

 South Africa, though dark in colour, is as delicious 

 and well-flavoured as any I ever met with, and, as 

 may be imagined, it formed a staple luxury in the 

 somewhat attenuated list of our up-country fare. 



It was not long after this that I made closer 

 acquaintance with the rhebok. One bright, clear 

 morning, a few days later, I started away from our 

 lonely farmhouse in Naroekas, accompanied only 

 by Igneese, the Kaffir hunter of whom I have 

 previously made mention, to shoot over a part of the 

 mountains six or seven miles distant. The rest of 

 the party were either busied in another direction, or, 

 after a hard week's tramping about the hills after 

 klipspringer, duyker, and feathered game, were 

 inclined for a rest. I carried a Cogswell and 



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