82 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. X. 



domestic as well as wild, contributes to their des- 

 truction — 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 opportunity, prowled round the camp, roaring in 

 concert with the sighing of the reeds, which so alarm- 

 ed the cattle that they thrice broke loose, and were 

 recovered with difficulty. There was nothing, how- 

 ever, to prevent our resuming our journey in the 

 morning, the thirsty earth having completely ab- 

 sorbed the deluge that had fallen. Our road lay 

 across a plain, with isolated groves of acacia, and we 

 fi equently passed over a solid pavement of granite. 

 Visiting the scene of the occurrence detailed above, 

 and searching amongst a low belt of wooded hillocks, 

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

 eland, which I drove into the plain, and, assisted by 

 Richardson, brought up to the waggons, and then 

 despatched, the caravan being immediately halted. 

 We frequently afterwards adopted this plan, which 

 saved the trouble of carrying the meat from a dis- 

 tance ; 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 apprize the king of our approach — an 

 offer which we gladly accepted. From this point, 

 the summits of distant ranges of hills could be dis- 

 tinguished, across extensive plains covered with 

 grass waving to the breeze, which stretched away to 

 the northward and eastward, far as the eye could 



