ROCK RABBITS. 249 



" With such a name ! Grobler good name. When 

 I die I go where no dom Inglander gets in." 



And with wrath he was about to depart, when 

 " Chummy " added : 



" I trust not, for the society would not be pleasant 

 for my countryman." 



In writing a description of such a scene, justice 

 cannot be done to it, for it was the manner of both, 

 and their antithesis to each other in bearing, that 

 made it irresistibly ludicrous. From the ludicrous 

 to the serious is conceded to be only a step, and 

 such brutes as these were the slaughterers of the 

 youth and flower of our troops during the late Trans- 

 vaal war, and with whom was made a dishonourable 

 peace. 



Of the rock rabbit I should say a few words. 

 It is supposed to be the coney of the Scriptures, 

 and certainly it does take up its residence in the 

 stoniest of stony places ; but, for all this, naturalists 

 make it the transition from the rhinoceros to the 

 hippopotamus ; this classification doubtlessly arising 

 from its dental formation ; more extraordinary still, 

 to the uninitiated, is its being placed among the 

 Pachydermata . 



