IN AUSTRAL AFRICA. 309 



Bechuana Land, and had settled to have a long 

 hunt on the morrow. Big game, such as hartebeeste, 

 wildebeeste, and quaha (Anglice, quagga),are not now 

 plentiful in this neighbourhood, although small bucks, 

 bustards, florikins, partridges, sand-grouse, and hares 

 abound in every direction. Lately we had feasted 

 ad nauseam on the minor-sized trash, so resolved not 

 to use our rifles till something worthy of a Martini- 

 Henry bullet was found. 



On a stony ridge of undulating hill, about an 

 hour after leaving camp, my companion whistled to 

 attract my attention. Turning, I saw he had dis- 

 mounted, and, doing the same, I proceeded to join 

 him, as silently as a veteran can move through brush 

 when leading a horse. 



When I reached his position we left our horses, 

 and made a sharp detour to the right, not only to 

 render the wind better suited to our purpose, but to 

 gain ground less obstructed by brush and such like 

 impediments as might interfere withouraim. In our 

 calculations we were perfectly correct, for through a 

 glade we saw a hartebeeste cow, quite as high as an 

 ordinary ox at the withers, unsuspiciously cropping 

 the lower leaves of a mimosa tree. This antelope, 

 although probably, with the exception of the ostrich, 

 the most wary of game in South Africa, was evidently 

 quite unconscious of our presence. My friend's 

 opportunities for killing the larger species of game 

 not having been at all equal to my own. 1 waived 



