92 THE HUNTER'S ARCADIA. 



mature meer-kat is not bad to eat, I can attest ; a 

 young one, therefore, is probably a delicacy. 



The meer-kat on this Continent plays exactly the 

 same part that the prairie-dog does in America, but 

 in form and appearance they have this difference : 

 the latter is pursy and phlegmatic, the former long 

 and slim. This formation is doubtlessly attained in 

 Africa from their being total abstainers their burrows 

 being often found far from water thus they become 

 attenuated like Blue Ribbon martyrs, in contradistinc- 

 tion to those who go to bed mellow. 



Let me describe the country we have got to. It 

 is composed of spurs of land, two or three hundred 

 yards apart, the summits of which are covered with 

 bush, the greater portion of it being thorny ; not after 

 the manner of our home-bred wild roses and brambles, 

 for the thorns here will, if chance be offered, run them- 

 selves as far into you as the blade of a pocket-knife 

 could reach. Among these thorns are occasionally 

 to be found mimosa trees, but they are far and wide 

 apart ; thus a good view, with few interruptions, is 

 generally to be obtained. 



With Nemo well in hand I traversed several of 

 these dips and valleys without finding the game we 



