HUNTING IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. 229 



they advance, and preserving also a large quantity for future 

 emergencies, finds in the insect army a ready and ample com- 

 pensation for the wild game which has been compelled to 

 abandon the ravaged pastures of the wilderness. The here- 

 ditary enemies are also numerous ; almost every animal, do- 

 mestic as well as wild, contributes to their destruction fowls, 

 horses, oxen, sheep, and antelopes, alike swallowing them 

 with the greatest avidity. 



" The night of the 17th was rainy and tempestuous ; and 

 the lions, never failing to take advantage of such an oppor- 

 tunity, prowled round the camp, roaring in concert with the 

 sighing of the reeds, which so alarmed the cattle that they 

 thrice broke loose, and were recovered with difficulty. There 

 was nothing, however, to prevent our resuming the journey 

 in the morning, the thirsty earth having completely absorbed 

 the deluge that had fallen. Our road lay across a plain, 

 with isolated groves of acacia, and we frequently passed over 

 a solid pavement of granite. Visiting the scene of the gems- 

 bok's humiliation, and searching amongst alow belt of wooded 

 hillocks, which skirted a part of the road, I found a fine fat 

 eland, which I drove into a plain, and, assisted by Richardson, 

 brought up to the wagons, and then dispatched, the caravan 

 being immediately halted. We frequently afterwards adopted 

 the plan, which saved the trouble of carrying the meat from 

 a distance ; and the unfortunate animal once blown, was 

 much more manageable than a Smithfield ox. 



" Andries having donned his best apparel, here proposed 

 to proceed on horseback to Mosega, in order to apprise the 

 king of our approach an offer which we gladly accepted. 

 From this point, the summits of distant ranges of hills could 

 be distinguished, across extensive plains covered with grass 

 waving to the breeze, which stretched away to the northward 

 and eastward, far as the eye could reach. On the left, the 

 low range of hillocks, already noticed, terminated at some 

 distance in several detached hills some conical, others table- 



20 



