62 EXPEDITION INTO 



of ail}'- other g-ame quadruped with which I nm acquainted. 

 The female is smaller and of slig-hter form^ with less ponder- 

 ous horns. The stoutest of our sa,vag*e attendants could with 

 difficulty transport the head of the eland to the wag'g'ons, 

 where one of the Hottentots had just arrived with the carcase 

 of a sassaybe that he had drag'g-ed a considerable distance 

 assisted by upwards of twenty savag-es. These men were no 

 sooner made acquainted with the occurrences of the morning", 

 than they set off at speed upon the tracks of our horses, and 

 were presently out of sig-ht. About sunset the party returned 

 g-org-ed to the throats, and g-roaning- under an external load 

 of flesh, which having* been unable to consume, they had 

 liuno- round their necks. 



About midnig'ht as unusual commotion caused us to start 

 from our sleep. The whole of the cattle had burst throug"h 

 the thorn fence by which they were surrounded, and panic- 

 stricken, were blindly charg-ing* they knew not whither j oxen, 

 horses, and sheep, tumbling* headlong* over the wag'g'on 

 poles, and over each other, in indescribable confusion. The 

 nig-ht was intensely dark, and all the fires had g'one out 

 — Coeur de Lion had clambered on to the top of the bag"g"ag-e- 

 wag'g"on, and was screaming* like a woman, whilst each 

 Hottentot was discharg*ing* his g"un, loaded with ball, in any 

 direction that the muzzle mig'ht happen to have assumed. 

 The horses were the least alarmed, and after floundering* 

 about in the dark for some time, we succeeded in recovering* 

 all but one ; but every endeavour to reclaim the oxen and 

 sheep proving* abortive, we retired ag*ain to rest, having* 

 first ascertained, by the lig-ht of a candle, that the conster- 

 nation had been occasioned by three lions that had entered 

 the fold and slain two of the sheep. 



At daybreak both Hottentots and savag'es were despatched 

 on the tracks of the fug-itives. Some of the savag'es shortly 

 returned with the sheep, several more having*, however, been 



