1G4 EXPEDITION INTO 



commemoration^ I presume, of the exploits of Guy Fawkes, 

 they had kindled a bonfire, which bid fair to destroy all the 

 g-rass in the country, the flames fanned by the wind abeady 

 beffinnino' to ascend the hills. Nothing" can be conceived 

 more horribly disg'usting- than the appearance presented by 

 the savages who, g'orged to the throat, and besmeared with 

 blood, grease, and filth from the entrails, sat nodding- tor- 

 pidly round the remains of the carcase, sucking* marrow fi'om 

 the bones, whilst their lean, famished curs were regaling 

 themselves upon the g'arbag-e. Every bush was garnished 

 with flaps of meat, and every man had turned beef-butcher, 

 whilst swollen vultures* were perched upon the adjacent 

 trees, and others yet ung-orged were inhaling- the odours that 

 arose. 



The sun set upon us with every demonstration of rain. 

 The night was dark and gusty. Thunder pealing amongst 

 the mountains, and vivid flashes of forked lightning pre- 

 saged a coming storm, fortunately, however, it expended its 

 fury in the hills, and onty visited us with a few drops. 

 Before g'oing to bed, I had been gazing- for hours upon the 

 singular and sublime effect produced by the extensive and 

 rapidly spreading- combustion of the g-rass. A strong* south- 

 easterly wind setting- towards the hills, was driving- the 

 devouring element, with a loud crackling noise, up the steep 

 g-rassy sides, in long- red lines, which, extending for miles, 

 swept along the heights with devastating- fury, brilliantly illu- 

 minating the landscape, and threatening* to denude the whole 

 country of its veg-etation. Suddenly the storm burst above 

 the scene. The wind immediately hushed ; a death-like 

 stillness succeeded to the crackling- of the flames. Every 

 spark of the conflagration was extinguished in an instant by 

 the deluge that descended, and the Egyptian-like darkness 

 of the night was unbroken even by a solitary star. 



* Vulttis Fulvus, and Vultus Auricularis : White and Black Aas-vogel of the 

 Cape Colonists. 



