CHRISTMAS ON THE VELDT 225 



journey across the veldt by waggon or Cape cart under a 

 cloudless moon and starlit sky can imagine the pleasure 

 of such travelling, or the beauty assumed by the vast 

 expanse of rolHng plain under such conditions. 



So Hght was the glorious night in question that one 

 might easily have read a newspaper under the silvery 

 beams cast by Queen Luna, and such weird and wondrous 

 shapes did the rugged boulder-strewn kopjes take that 

 it would have been very easy to imagine we had invaded 

 a strange land inhabited by giants of enormous stature, 

 and fearsome creatures of huge bulk and awful form. 

 Through the night we treked, outspanning twice or 

 thrice for an hour or so to rest the mules and to afford 

 them the opportunity of a kick and a roll on the veldt : a 

 species of exercise which appears to be as refreshing and 

 invigorating to a tired mule or donkey as does a warm 

 bath and a sleep to a travel-worn man. 



Some of our party made a pretence of slumbering 

 during the journey, but what with the jolting of the 

 waggon over the nullah-crossed veldt-track, the yeUing 

 and cursing of the black driver at the waywardness of 

 his stubborn team, and the snatches of song which the 

 harmonious Hood indulged in at short intervals, I 

 hae ma doots whether any one of us could honestly 

 declare that he enjoyed five consecutive minutes of 

 quiet and peaceful slumber. Be this as it may, I sat out 

 the trel\ owl-like, on the rack of the waggon, smoking, and 

 drinking in the beauties of that glorious African night. 



It was a good three hours before dawn when the 



