THE STAMPEDE. 103 



seemed to pass over that vast plain ; the flowers 

 faded ; the tall grass shrivelled and died ; the leaves 

 on the rank weeds rolled together, and were blown 

 away, by hot winds that swept over that ocean of 

 land ; vegetation withered into a gray and sapless 

 mass, standing where it grew ; the streams, that were 

 wont to move in sluggish and tortuous windings, were 

 dried up, leaving channels like the trails of immense 

 serpents ; the blight of drought was upon all nature 

 about me. 



As I stood, wrapped in contemplation of the im- 

 mensity around me, a dull heavy sound fell upon my 

 ear, like the rumbling of a thousand carriages over 

 the rough pavements of a far-off city. Turning in the 

 direction whence the sound seemed to come, I saw in 

 the distance vast herds of deer and antelopes, flying at 

 wild speed towards the spot where I stood. Behind 

 these came an army of elks, their stately horns glanc- 

 ing and waving in the sunlight, seemed like a forest 

 of dead, low, barkless trees. Behind these came thun- 

 dering down again, millions and millions of buffaloes, 

 making the earth tremble with the weight of their 

 rushing and countless hosts. For miles and miles, in 

 width as well as in depth, this vast herd covered the 



