PURCHASES. 87 



garrison, I resolved to hunt on and about the frontiers 

 until the end of March, at which time the horse dis- 

 temper begins to subside, when I proposed starting on 

 an elephant-hunting expedition into the more remote 

 districts of the far interior. In Colesberg I purchased, 

 by the kind recommendation of Captain Donovan, a 

 second wagon of the cap-tent kind, which turned out 

 to be an unusually good one. Its price was £50. I 

 also purchased an excellent span of black and white 

 oxen from a Dutch blacksmith in the town. From 

 Donovan I bought a dark-brown horse, which I named 

 Colesberg. His price was three hundred dollars, and 

 he was well worth double that sum, for a better steed 

 I never crossed. I purchased from a Boer in the town 

 another horse, well known to the garrison by the sobri- 

 quet of the " Immense Brute." He was once the prop- 

 erty of Captain Christie of the 91st. When, on one 

 occasion, having wandered, an advertisement appeared 

 in one of the frontier papers relative to an " immense 

 brute" in the shape of a tall bay horse, the property of 

 Captain Christie, &c., &c., and ever since he had been 

 distinguished by this elegant appellation. I exchanged 

 my brown stallion with Colonel Campbell for an active 

 gray, which I considered better adapted to my work. 

 Glass was at this time at a premium in Colesberg, 

 every window in the town having been smashed by a 

 recent hail-storm. I loaded up my new wagon with 

 barley, oats, and forage for my horses, they having very 

 hard work before them — hunting the oryx, upon which 

 I was more immediately bent, being more trying to 

 horses than any other sport in South Africa. 



My intention was to revisit Colesberg in four or five 

 months, and refit, preparatory to starting for the far in 

 terior. T left the skulls and .-. '• -iiriRns of natural his 



