CHAPTEK XXXI. 



LAID UP IN THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



A Strange Spot A Picturesque Cainp Namaqua Partridge A Visit from the 

 Bush-people Dog seized by Leopard A Prickly Screen for Safety 

 Massaras' Feeding-powers Giving Ruby a Run A Miss-shot Koodoo 

 Stealing upon Giraffes One brought low After a Cow and her Little One 

 Ready for the Shot Thrown Gradually recover Consciousness Used 

 up The Bushmen Find me Lost Brought Back to Camp The Guide 

 Hunts for me His Success. 



THE place we are encamped at is a strange spot. The 

 Bechuanas call it one thing, the Massaras another ; and 

 an extraordinary being, a big, powerful man, covered with 

 rags and pieces of skin, whose birthplace is a wonder to 

 all, and who has, uninvited, made our camp his own, de- 

 signates it by a third name, each of which seems more 

 difficult than the other to pronounce. Schoolpat in Boer 

 language means a tortoise the name of our encamp- 

 ment resembles it in the Bechuana tongue ; but there 

 seem to be at least half a dozen syllables introduced. 



Surrounded by woods without limit, the trees which 

 compose them being in height and size about that of 

 ten-year-old elms, ashes, and poplars at home, is a clear- 

 ing covering nigh twenty acres. From the margin 

 of the bush rises an unbroken rock of very hard, dark 

 sandstone, to an elevation of about thirty feet above 

 the neighbouring country. Its sides are not particu- 

 larly steep, not more so than a horse or ox can ascend 

 without difficulty; and in the centre of this mass of 



