222 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXV. 



turn, they must have charged over me, had my 

 horse not contrived to scramble up the bank ; from 

 the top of which I fired both barrels into the leader, 

 a ponderous bull, whose appearance stamped him 

 father of the herd. Falling on his knees, the 

 patriarch was instantly trampled underfoot by his 

 followers as they charged, bellowing, in close squad- 

 ron, down the declivity, with the fury of a passing 

 whirlwind, and making the woods re-echo to the 

 clatter of their hoofs. 



In the vegetable world, a great variety of novel 

 and interesting forms grace the banks of the Lim- 

 popo, but the airy acacia is still pre-eminently beau- 

 tiful. Green and shady belts, bedizened with golden 

 blossoms and purple pods, or fringed with the cradle 

 nests of the pensile grosbeak, extend on either side — 

 their mazes being intersected by paths worn by hip- 

 popotami during their nocturnal rambles. The 

 recesses of these fairy groves, ringing with " wood- 

 notes wild," are the favourite haunts of many forest- 

 loving antelopes. The graceful pallah, with knotted 

 and eccentrically inflected horns of extraordinary 

 proportions, is found in large families. Shy and 

 capricious in its habits, the elegance of its form, 

 and the delicate finish of its limbs, are unrivalled. 

 The usual succentorial hoofs are wanting, but the 

 hind legs are furnished with remarkable cushions 

 of wiry hair, which occur in no other species, and 

 remind us of the heels of a Mercury. This fa- 

 voured spot, too, is a chosen resort of the majestic 

 water-buck, which I now found might be ridden 



