152 EXPEDITION INTO 



hartebeestSj sassaybes^ g-noos^ and quag-g-as. Here^ too^ we 

 saw the first traces of the elephant — mimosa trees torn up 

 by the roots, and sturdy branches, which, rent from the 

 parent stock, overhung- the path. Hundreds of deep holes, 

 impressed by the feet of these gigantic quadrupeds during* 

 some recent heavy rain, with heaps of fresh excrement, 

 were everywhere to be seen. Andries, who thoug"ht every 

 animal less than an elephant beneath his notice, now became 

 frantic. Stopping the wag'g'on which he was leading, he 

 waved his cap aloft, threw a mass of dung- into the air, and 

 huzzaed till he was hoarse. 



Arriving- at the end of the forest, we ag-ain descended, 

 and found ourselves under one of the secondary rang-es 

 of the Cashan mountains, on the bank of the Bag'obone 

 Kiver, where we halted in a meadow, having- travelled twelve 

 miles. Here ag-ain the scenery was Avild and romantic. 

 The mountains rose on either hand in bold majestic forms, 

 clothed in parts with luxuriant verdure — their steep rocky 

 sides besprinkled in others with occasional lig'ht bushes, 

 which enlivened the rich and varied tints of the broken 

 crag-s. Bug-g-ed cliffs margined the bubbling- river and shut 

 in the lower prospect, whilst the g-reat range of the Cashan 

 mountains towered above them in the distance, their spiry 

 blue summits appearing" to us, who had for months seen 

 nothing- larg-er than an ant-hill, almost to rival the Alps in 

 pTandeur. 



AVhilst the Hottentots were eng-ag-ed in making- a fence for 

 the cattle, I entered one of the nearest gToves for the purpose 

 of obtaining- food for the people, and presently brought down 

 a water-buck,* a rare and splendid antelope, which is not to 

 be met with until after crossing- the Mariqua. The report of 

 my rifle disturbed a lion and lioness from a bush close b}^, 



* Aifjoccrus EUipsiprymnus. Delineated in the Portraits of Game and Wild 

 Animals of South Africa. 



