HUNTING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 201 



" On the morning of the 9th of October, when the wagons 

 had started on their way to the Meritsane river, our next 

 stage, I turned off the road in pursuit of a troop of brindled 

 gnoos, and presently came upon another, which was joined 

 by a third still larger then by a vast herd of zebras, and 

 again by more gnoos, sassaybes and hartebeests, pouring down 

 from every quarter, until the landscape literally presented 

 the appearance of a moving mass of game. Their incredible 

 numbers so impeded their progress, that I had no difficulty 

 in closing with them, dismounting as opportunity offered, 

 firing both barrels of my rifle into the retreating phalanx, 

 and leaving the ground strewed with the slain. Still unsatis- 

 fied, I could not resist the temptation of mixing with the 

 fugitives, loading and firing, until my jaded horse suddenly 

 exhibited symptoms of distress, and shortly afterwards was 

 unable to move. At this moment I discovered that I had 

 dropped my pocket compass, and being unwilling to lose so 

 valuable an ally, I turned loose my steed to graze, and re- 

 traced my steps several miles without success ; the prints of 

 my horse's hoofs being at length lost in those of the count- 

 less herds which had crossed the plain. Completely absorbed 

 in the chase, I had retained but an imperfect idea of my 

 locality ; but returning to my horse, I led him in what I be- 

 lieved to be a north-easterly direction, knowing, from a sketch 

 of the country which had been given me by our excellent friend 

 Mr. Moffat, and which, together with drawing materials, I 

 carried about me, that that course would eventually bring me 

 to the Meritsane. After dragging my weary horse nearly all the 

 day under a burning sun, my flagging spirits were at length 

 revived by the appearance of several villages. Under other 

 circumstances, I should have avoided intercourse with the in- 

 mates, but dying with thirst, I eagerly entered each in suc- 

 cession, and to my inexpressible disappointment, found them 

 deserted. The same evidence existing of their having been 

 recently inhabited, I shot a hartebeest, in the hope that the 



