82 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA.. 



weighing one hundred pounds each, and upward of 

 seven feet in length. He advised me not to visit that 

 country before the end of April, as my horses w^ould 

 assuredly die of a never-failing distemper which pre- 

 vails in the interior, within a certain latitude, during 

 the summer months. 



Being anxious now to devote my attention more par- 

 ticularly to black wildebeests, of which I had not yet 

 secured a specimen, I resolved to take leave of my 

 friend Hendric Strydom, and proceed to the plains 

 beyond the Thebus Mountain, where he informed me 

 they abounded. Accordingly, about 9 P.M., having 

 inspanned by moonlight, I took leave of my friend, 

 having presented him with a coffee-mill and some 

 crockery, to which his frau had taken a fancy, and 

 also with a supply of coarse gunpowder, which is to a 

 Boer a most acceptable gift. We held for the Thebus 

 Mountain, steering across the open plains and follow- 

 ing no track, with springboks and wildebeests whistling 

 and bellowing on every side of us. About midnight 

 we halted by a fountain near the pass where a few 

 days before I had lain in ambush for eight hours, and 

 as it was probable that the oxen would wander during 

 the night, we secured them on the yokes. Two of my 

 oxen and both my horses were reported missing when 

 we left the farm, and I had left Cobus to seek for them. 



In the afternoon of the next day my two servants 

 joined me, bringing with them the lost oxen, but having 

 failed to find the steeds. At night 1 took up a position 

 in an old shooting-hole beside the vley, to watch for 

 wildebeests. Several jackals, wildebeests, quaggas, 

 and hyaenas came to drink during the night, but, not 

 being able to see the sight of my rifle, I did not fire. 

 Here I remained until the briijht star of mornino; had 



