Chap. XXI v.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 213 



measured more than seven in length. The echo of 

 the shot, reverberating through hill and dale, caused 

 the mare to break her tether and abscond, and 

 brought large tribes of pig-faced baboons from their 

 sylvan haunts, to afford me anything but sympathy. 

 Their ridiculous grimaces, however, could not fail 

 to elicit my mirth, whatever might have been my 

 humour. It was long before I recovered my horse, 

 and I did not regain the waggons mi til after night- 

 fall. The new moon brought, if possible, a more 

 abundant supply of rain than usual; nor did the lions 

 fail to take advantage of the nocturnal tempest, hav- 

 ing twice endeavoured to effect an entrance into the 

 cattle-fold. It continued until nine o'clock the next 

 morning, to pour with such violence, that we were 

 unable to open the canvas curtains of the waggon. 

 Peeping out, however, to ascertain if there was any 

 prospect of its clearing up, we perceived three lions 

 squatted within a hundred yards, in the open plan, 

 attentively watching the oxen. Our rifles were 

 hastily seized, but the dampness of the atmosphere 

 prevented their exploding. One after another, too, 

 the Hottentots sprang out of the pack-waggon, and 

 snapped their guns at the unwelcome intruders, as 

 they trotted sulkily away, and took up their position 

 on a stony eminence at no great distance. Fresh 

 caps and priming were applied, and a broadside 

 was followed by the instantaneous demise of the 

 largest, whose cranium was perforated by two 

 bullets at the same instant. Swinging their tails 

 over their backs, the survivors took warning by the 



