174 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



and refresh ourselves and our oxen. Here we 

 stopped four days. It was a lovely spot ; down 

 the banks of the river, and following its course, 

 grew charming avenues of willows, kameel dooms 

 (mimosa), and bastard ebony; two or three 

 islands densely clothed with bush and greenery 

 dotted the broad and shining bosom of the mighty 

 stream ; hippopotami wallowed quietly in the flood, 

 and fish were plentiful. The mimosa was now in 

 full bloom, and the sweet fragrance of its yellow 

 flowers everywhere perfumed the air as one strolled 

 by the river's brim. Rare cranes, flamingoes, gorgeous 

 kingfishers, and many handsome geese, ducks, and 

 other water-fowl, lent life and charm to this sweet 

 and favoured oasis. 



" I had some old scraps of fishing tackle with me, 

 and having cut myself a rod from a willow tree, 

 I employed some of my spare time in catching 

 fish, and had, for South Africa which, as you 

 know, is not a great angling country capital sport. 

 The fish I captured were a kind of flat-headed 

 barbel, fellows with dark greenish-olive backs and 

 white bellies, and I caught them with scraps of 

 meat, bees, grasshoppers, anything I could get 

 hold of, as fast as I could pull them out, for an 

 hour or two at a time. Once I ran clean out of 

 bait, and was non-plussed ; however, I turned over a 

 stone or two, killed a couple of scorpions, carefully 

 cut off their stings, and used them as baits, and 

 the fish came at them absolutely like tigers. I soon 

 caught some thirty pounds' weight of fish whenever 

 I went out. The mountains rose here and there 

 around in magnificently serrated peaks, and the 

 whole place, whichever way you looked, was superbly 



