CHAPTER XXVIII. 



NATIVE COIFFURE. 

 Jumping Hares A Cheerful Countenance Ladies' Toilette. 



ADJOINING my new camp were several fields that had 

 all the appearance of being lately cultivated. I inquired 

 of those Bechuanas that visited me why they did not 

 grow a sufficiency for their wants. So they had tried 

 to do, was the answer, but the jumping hares (Pedetes 

 coffer] destroyed it before it had time to mature. 



Now, as the j'umping hare is very succulent food, 

 affords sport, and moreover is a very destructive 

 animal to the agriculturist's crops, a battue was re- 

 solved against them ; and as there is no time like 

 the present, it was determined that it should take 

 place that night, for it is only after dark that success 

 against these gentry can be hoped for, they being 

 quite nocturnal in their habits, passing the entire day 

 in sleep within the limits of their extensive and often 



