414 TIIK TROPICAL WOKLD. 



and that is tremendous, though generally he is a lumbering- 

 looking animal in his paces. A small bush and bunch of grass 

 fifteen yards off, made him swerve a little and exposed his 

 shoulder. I just heard the ball crack there, and I fell flat on 

 my face. The pain tnust have made him renounce his purpose, 

 for he bounded close past me on to the water, where he was 

 found dead.' 



The buffaloes are generally fond of marshes or submerged 

 river banks, where they love to wallow in the mud, or to remain 

 plunged up to the muzzle in water. They are admirable 

 swimmers, particularly the Bhain (Bubalus Bhain), a species 

 inhabitmg the sandy banks of the Granges. Abandoning them- 

 selves to the current, these semi-aquatic ruminants often drift 

 down the river in large herds, and are said to plunge from time 

 to time in order to detach with their liorns the water-plants 

 growing at the bottom, which they then leisurely devour as they 

 slowly float along. 



As if to make up for the hideous deformity of the rhinoceros 

 and hippopotamus, the African wilds exclusively give birth to 

 the beautifully striped Zebras, the most gorgeously attired 

 members of the equine race. 



The isabelle-coloured Quagga, irregularly banded and marked 

 with dark brown stripes, which, stronger on the head and neck, 

 gradually become fainter, until lost 

 behind the shoulders, has its high 

 crest surmounted by a standing mane, 

 banded alternately brown and white. 

 It used formerly to be found in great 

 numbers within the limits of the Cape 

 Colony, and still roams in large num- 

 QUAuoA. -^^^^ ^^ ^^^ open plain farther to the 



north, where it may often be seen herding together with gnus 

 and springboks. 



Thus in the desert of the Meritsane, Major Harris, after 

 crossing a park of magnificent camelthorn trees, soon perceived 

 large herds of quaggas and brindled gnus, which continued to 

 join each other, until the whole plain seemed alive. The 

 clatter of their hoofs was perfectly astounding, and could be 

 compared to nothing but to the din of a tremendous charge of 

 cavalrv. or the rushing of a mighty tempest. The accumulated 



