Chap. XXII.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 197 



was driving the devouring element, with a loud 

 crackling noise, up the steep grassy sides, in long 

 red lines, which extending for miles, swept along 

 the heights with devastating fury, briUiantly illu- 

 minating the landscape, and threatening to denude 

 the whole country of its vegetation. Suddenly the 

 storm burst above the scene. The wind immediately 

 hushed ; a death-like stillness succeeded to the 

 crackling of the flames. Every spark of the con- 

 flagration was extinguished in an instant by the 

 deluge that descended, and the Egyptian-like dark- 

 ness of the night was unbroken even by a solitary 

 star. 



