CAMP. 81 



cool enough to walk over. I then went back to my deer. 

 He was literally cooked ; not very artistically, as the out- 

 side was burned to a cinder, the inside being raw. The 

 antlers and almost the whole head were burned off, and 

 the whole animal lost to me. It was nearly an hour be- 

 fore my servant could find on his, the windward, side of 

 the fire an opening by which to get on to the burnt 

 ground, and even then the heat was so great that the 

 horses were almost frantic. 



This was the hottest* fire I have ever seen on the 

 plains, the flames sometimes appearing at least thirty feet 

 high. 



It has already been stated that the smaller streams 

 of the second or high plain are subject to sudden and 

 extraordinary rises. This comes partly from the fact 

 that the original rains have cut the ground into ravines 

 with such regularity that all pour their waters into the 

 principal stream about the same time; partly that the 

 slopes formed are covered with a thick mat of short 

 sward, which absorbs water so slowly that almost all the 

 rainfall finds its way at once into the ravines ; but princi- 

 pally from the immense quantity of water which falls in 

 an incredibly short time. 



Almost all positions of the high plains are occasionally 

 visited by most terrific rain-storms, so severe that they 

 have the general name ' waterspouts.' The quantity of 

 water poured from the clouds, and the effect produced, 

 are so apparently incredible, that I would hesitate to 

 describe them but that the facts are perfectly known to 

 every plainsman. 



These storms generally occur in the afternoon of a 

 sultry day, and, in gathering and coming up, have all the 

 appearance of an ordinary thunderstorm. The rain, how- 

 ever, does not fall in drops, but in streams, as if poured 

 from the strainer of a shower-bath. 



As the myriads of streams are caught by the wind 

 and deflected from their direct course,, they present an 



G 



