SOUTHERN AFRICA. 145 



day had been very sultry, and our two dog's, nearly blind 

 from thirst, ran down the steep bank to the water's edg*e, 

 into the jaws of an enormous allig-ator. One of them re- 

 turned immediately in a state of g"reat alarm. Suddenly a 

 splash was heard, and bubbles of blood rising* a minute 

 after^ too truly told what had been the fate of his unfor- 

 tunate comrade. Not content with depriving- us of our 

 valued four-footed companion, the allig'ators quitted their 

 watery homes during* the nig'ht, and ate up a portion of the 

 leather of the wag*g-on furniture, besides the shoes of our 

 followers. These scaly monsters are very common in many 

 of the African rivers, and this was not the only occasion on 

 which we suffered from their ravages. We frequently 

 killed some of an immense size. 



About sunset an unwieldy white rhinoceros approached 

 the wag-g'ons, evidently with hostile intentions. There being- 

 neither bush nor hollow to conceal my advance, I crawled 

 towards him among*st the g*rass, and within forty yards 

 fired two balls into him. He started, looked around for 

 some object on which to wreak his veng"eance, and actually 

 charg-ed up, with his eye flashing* fire, and g'ore streaming- 

 from his mouth, to within an arm's leng-th of me. Crouch- 

 ing* low, however, I fortunately eluded his vengeance, and 

 he soon afterwards dropped down dead. 



Thus far on our journey we had pursued a partially 

 beaten track, dig-nified by the Hottentots in colonial phrase- 

 olog-y with the name of a road, though since leaving* Kur- 

 richane, it had consisted merely of the faint vestiges of 

 the traders' waggons, which " few and far between" had 

 traversed it — and even these could only be discovered by a 

 practised eye. But from our entrance into the hills this 

 morning, all traces had disappeared, nor did we again see 

 the tracks of a waggon for several months, until we had 

 crossed the river Vaal on our return to the colojiy. Thus 



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