chap. vii. HUNTING WITH DOGS. 351 



the herd had passed, as we could see by the spoor, lay my 

 poor dog shot through both shoulders and quite dead. I 

 was never more soriy for the death of any animal. 



The hartebeest is one of the fastest antelopes in 

 Africa, and possesses such strength as well as to render it 

 almost impossible for anything under a whole pack of 

 strong and swift hounds to bring it to bay. It is com- 

 mon in the great level grass plains to the north-west of 

 Zululand, and on several occasions I tried coursing them 

 there with two very fast crossed Amaponda greyhounds, 

 but although they could run up to them when they had 

 a fair start, they never once succeeded in bringing one to 

 bay, or even in causing one to separate from the herd. 

 The natives of the districts having often seen me unsuc- 

 cessfully stalking them, or trying to ride them down, and 

 being much interested in a supply of meat being obtained 

 of which they would get a share, came to me and said 

 that they would show me how I might easily get a shot 

 at close quarters. Breaking the regular surface of these 

 plains are deep indentations formed by the water during 

 the heavy thunderstorms of summer ; they are often from 

 ten to twenty feet deep, with such perpendicular sides 

 that not only is it impossible to see them at a hundred 

 yards' distance, but they are often uncrossable for upwards 

 of a mile. The subsoil being principally formed of a 

 strong red clay, the shapes the rain and the wash of the 

 torrents cause it to assume are as peculiar as they are 

 curious ; piles of bright red columns, which bear a singu- 

 lar resemblance to those to be seen in the sea- washed 

 caves of Staffa, sometimes standing in rows of several 

 hundred yards, while all the various forms to be found 



