A PLETHORA OF GHOONYAS 219 



extraordinary parasite; also a small, speckled 

 toad a novelty, I thought and a scorpion 

 which, when stretched out, measured eight and 

 a half inches. Well done, Fauna ! 



Hendrick had roasted a pheasant to a turn. 

 I was savagely hungry; just as I was about to 

 begin eating I noticed some people approach- 

 ing along our trail. These comprised a man, 

 two women and several children. I was filled 

 with foreboding. The strangers approached, 

 each carrying something with carefulness. 

 They set offerings before me. These con- 

 sisted of ghoonyas, and nothing else. 



What did these people take me for; did 

 they suppose I lived on a ghoonya diet that 

 I fed my caravan on ghoonya soup? Was I 

 to have the extinction of an innocent species 

 of orthoptera on my already burthened con- 

 science; or would the result of all this be the 

 adoption of the ghoonya as the totem of the 

 Richtersveld Tribe? Those unlucky three- 

 penny pieces, my unfortunate enthusiasm 

 over the first specimens these seemed to 

 have set the whole of the local population on 

 the hunting trail for ghoonyas. Anger gave 

 way to despair. I spoke a few w r ords of appeal 

 to Hendrick, seized my fragrant pheasant and 

 hurriedly made for the open veld. When I 



