SO THE PLAINS. 



high, of loose white sand, crowded together with most 

 irregular regularity. The outside limits are perfectly 

 defined, the country through which the ' stream ' passes 

 being generally a plain, from the level of which the 

 'hills' rise abruptly. Standing upon one of those 

 hillocks the view is a most remarkable one. Along the 

 length of the stream, as far as the eye can reach, can be 

 seen only a succession of conical hillocks, crowded 

 together without order in position, but each perfect in 

 form, and white as the driven snow. The sand is so 

 light and so loose, and shifts so constantly, that there can 

 scarcely be said to be a road across it. A road enters 

 and a road leaves it, but all traces of the heaviest train 

 are soon effaced and buried in the sand. The passage is 

 said to be dangerous. I have crossed it but once. Before 

 entering it, our leader, an old freighter who had spent 

 many years in that country, mounted a dune, and looked 

 long and anxiously at the sky. The day was bright, the 

 air still and clear. Deciding to risk it, he gave the order, 

 and our waggons at once plunged to the hubs in the 

 yielding sand. We were not heavily loaded, and every 

 man was required to walk, yet the teams could make 

 only 100 or 200 yards before stopping to blow and 

 rest. Our leader, keeping ahead on the summits of 

 the hillocks, directed the movements, and with great 

 difficulty, and by sometimes doubling teams, we finally 

 gained the hard ground on the west side, making the dis- 

 tance of about twelve miles in just about as many hours. 

 Wherever sand-streams are covered with grass the 

 surface is undermined by a beautiful little animal called 

 the gopher (on the high plains a small striped squirrel, 

 on the southern plains a pouched rat). This animal feeds 

 on the roots of the grass, on seeds, &c., which he stores 

 in cavities dug out of the soft sand. His labours not 

 only render travel more difficult, but exceedingly dan- 

 gerous, especially to a rapidly-moving horse. It is this 

 animal that gives the danger to buffalo -hunting. 



