176 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



life out of the luckless brute. In the meantime Taylor 

 galloped another hyaena to a standstill and shot it. 



By sunset we were home, each ornamented with 

 a brush, a bag of game that required two Kaffirs to 

 carry, and a buck behind our saddles. Such was the 

 result of half a day's shooting in the immediate vicinity 

 of Klerksdorp. 



As no driver could be procured for love or money, 

 Mr. Leask most considerately lent me his own private 

 man Jacob. He was to take me as far as Zeerust in 

 Marico, and there assist me to find a suitable person to 

 take his place. 



But before leaving Klerksdorp I would say a few 

 words upon the Boers I met there. To Scotchmen they 

 are partial; on Englishmen they look with eyes of 

 suspicion. Want of education and ignorance of the 

 world are the cause of this, fostered by stories circulated 

 by deserters from the British army. 



At Klerksdorp there were two brothers residing, 

 who had amassed considerable fortunes by taking 

 oranges, peaches, apples, poultry, &c. &c., to the 

 Diamond-fields. Their status in life had always been 

 such as to justify any person imagining that they would 

 not be quite as ignorant as their fellows. 



An anecdote about them, true I can vouch for, and 

 most absurd, I do not hesitate to narrate. 



One of these brothers was enlarging upon the 

 immense foolishness of these Englanders. They are 

 spending no end' of money to find out the source of 

 the Nile, and actually send people into Africa south 

 of the equator to discover its source. " Well, is not 

 the world round?" Taking an orange to illustrate 

 the matter, and drawing a line round the centre of 



