74 



THE HUNTER'- S ARCADIA. 



lead, and from its box, on which I was seated, a hne 

 view of the distant country was obtainable. 



Guinea fowl were numerous ; at every turn of the 

 track three or four, sometimes half-a-dozen, of these 

 swift runners took the road in front of us, and only 

 left it when inclination suited them to do so. 



Duiker and steinbok every few hundred yards 

 hopped out of some bush, took a long, startled stare, 

 and off they went to parts unknown, while aloft in 

 the air incessantly passed little parties of two or 

 three of the swift-winged and plaintive-voiced double- 

 banded or variegated sand grouse. 



I was in contemplation of all these charming 

 scenes, and thinking what a free and independent 

 life I was leading, when my driver came to my 

 seat, and, taking the vacant place at my side, ex- 

 claimed, "Look der, Bass ! Look der, spring-boken" ; 

 and there indeed are the spring-buck, not in thousands 

 as I expect to see them, but in parties of seven or 

 eight. They were not over three or four hundred 

 yards off, consequently within rifle range, so I got 

 out my binocular (the most useful of all the instru- 

 ments, and, at the same time, the one most conducive 

 to pleasure, that the traveller in these parts can 



