358 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



my hand, she commenced eating them one by one in 

 front of me. I shook my head, and showed by my gestures 

 that I disliked exceedingly to see the belle of the party 

 guilty of such unladylike conduct, so ever after when she 

 chanced to find any caterpillars she would come close to 

 me, hold the wriggling thing aloft between her finger 

 and thumb, and then place it in her mouth. 



As a proof of her speed and power of endurance, I 

 will mention a fact that will rather astonish our home- 

 bred girls. I fired at, and mortally wounded, a giraffe, 

 still it had vitality to go over two miles at a very smart 

 pace. Of course I started in pursuit, Ruby doing about 

 a three-quarter gallop. At the moment this Massara 

 woman happened to be by my side, so she seized hold 

 of the mare's long tail, and assisted by that ran the 

 entire distance. 



In the morning she frequently pays me a visit, and 

 out of courtesy I tell Umganey to give her either some 

 sugar, some snuff, or a piece of tobacco. The first she 

 eats at once, making wonderful pantomimic expressions 

 to indicate the pleasure she is enjoying, the two other 

 articles she takes to her old husband, and divides the 

 spoils evenly with him. Snuff is a thing all these people 

 are wonderfully fond of, men and women alike, and a 

 quarter of an ounce of it would be deemed ample 

 recompence for a day's labour. It is a pity they smell 

 so, and yet they do not appear dirty. I expect it must 

 arise from their living so much upon animal diet. 



There is an excellent vegetable found on these velts ; 

 its name I do not know, but it is about the size of a 

 large Swede turnip ; the skin is leathery and soft, but 

 when broken a quantity of substance about the con- 

 sistency of mashed turnip is found inside. This, when 



