SOUTHERN AFRICA. 179 



CHAPTER XXV. 



SHOOTING THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, AND HUNTING IN THE 

 VALLEY OF THE LIMPOPO. 



It was unfortunately requisite, during- tlie g-reater part of 

 our journey, to furnish the Hottentots with ammunition for 

 their protection whilst tending the cattle : and their incessant 

 firing-, which no remonstrance could control, soon disturbing- 

 the whole of the g-ame in our neighbourhood, we found it 

 useless to remain more than one day in one place Com- 

 pared with the quantity of powder expended by these 

 scoundrels, the number of animals they killed was exceed- 

 ing-ly limited — the supply of meat for the camp g-enerally 

 depending* upon ni}^ success ', but the beasts of the forest 

 having- been unmolested all their lives, and unaccustomed to 

 the report of the g-un, fled before their attacks in consterna- 

 tion, and were scattered like sheep upon the mountains, so 

 that within a few hours after the formation of the camp in a 

 spot abounding' with g-ame, not a living- quadruped was to 

 be seen. 



The country through which we travelled being- chiefly 

 characterized by open plains or straggling forests with little 

 undergrowth, it will readily be conceived that wood-craj't 

 availed little in the destruction of game. Many of the 

 species that occur are naturally slow and heavy j and the 

 gregarious habits of the fleeter rendering- them easy of ap- 

 proach on horseback, almost every animal, from the mighty 

 elephant to the most diminutive antelope, must be pursued 

 in the saddle. Not only, however, does the success of a 



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