BEAUTIES. 69 



The ground selected for the camp is high, and 

 therefore dry ; it is surrounded by a few scattered 

 camil-dorn trees from twenty-five to thirty feet high, 

 which not only supply my people with wood, but 

 also form convenient larders for hanging our game 

 in. Moreover, they add picturesqueness to the 

 scene ; and I am a great advocate for pleasing the 

 eye, whether it be in the choice of a sweetheart, a 

 horse, a dog, or even a gun. I suppose our City 

 fathers are most gratified by the delights of the 

 table or the wine-cup, and the exquisite with per- 

 fumes and the knowledge that he is well dressed, 

 but give me the sight of a bonnie lass tripping 

 over the heather, or balancing herself on stepping- 

 stones that traverse the bed of a murmuring burn, 

 the sides of which are shut in with feathery, graceful 

 birches, or drooping, dipping, ever-moving elm-boughs. 

 But, the reader may say, Africa is surely not 

 the place to gratify such a pleasure ! But it is ; 

 for in parts of it there are glades and valleys quite 

 .as attractive as any to be seen at home ; but, in 

 place of the blue-eyed, golden-haired, rose-tinted 

 cheeked lassie, you must substitute the graceful 

 steinbok, the suspicious duiker, or the elegant yet 



