204 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



At 3 P.M. we inspanned, and held on till midnight 

 with fine moonlight, crossing a desert and sandy coun- 

 try. In the vicinity of Chooi we passed an extensive 

 range of old pitfalls, formed by the natives for entrap- 

 ping game. They were dug in the form of a crescent, 

 and occupied an extent of nearly a quarter of a mile. 

 On the march I observed some enormous trunks of 

 trees that had been destroyed by fire in by-gone years. 

 On the following day we reached Loharon, an uninter- 

 esting and desolate spot, where we encamped for the 

 day beside a pool of rain water. Here I observed a 

 few hartebeests, sassaybies, and zebras. On the 20th, 

 having breakfasted, we inspanned, and continued our 

 march till sunset. We passed through a very level 

 country, covered with detached bushes. The dullness 

 of the scene, however, was enlivened by a wondrous 

 flight of locusts, the largest I had ever beheld. The 

 prospect was obscured by them as far as we could see, 

 resembling the smoke arising from a thousand giant 

 bonfires ; while those above our heads darkened our 

 path with a double flight — the one next the ground 

 flying north, while the upper clouds of them held a 

 southerly course. The dogs, as usual, made a hearty 

 meal on them. 



We continued our march by moonlight, halting at 

 midnight in a vast open plain beside a small pool of 

 rain water. After breakfast I rode forth in quest of 

 springboks, of which I bagged a couple. I fell in with 

 blue and black wildebeests, zebras, ostriches, and bles- 

 boks. The plains here were bare and open, resembling 

 the country frequented by the blesboke to the southward 

 of the Vaal, with which country I subsequently ascer- 

 tained it to be connected, in a due southerly course, by 

 an endless succession of similar bar' plains, throughout 



