SOUTHERN AFRICA. 181 



be left standing- in the wilderness for hours together, without 

 attempting* to stir from the spot. 



Our next movement broug-ht us to the source of the Oori 

 or Limpopo — the Gareep of Moselekatse's dominions. Fed 

 by many fine streams fi'om the Cashan rang-e, this enchanting- 

 river spring's into existence as if by magic ; and rolling* its 

 deep and tranquil waters betweeen tiers of weeping willows, 

 throug'h a passag-e in the mountain barrier, takes its course 

 to the northward. Here we enjoyed the novel diversion of 

 hippopotamus* shooting* — that animal abounding* in thesedg-y 

 recesses of the Limpopo, and dividing* the empire with its 

 amphibious neig-hbour the crocodile. Throughout the night 

 the unwieldy monsters might be heard snorting and blowing 

 during their aquatic gambols, and we not unfrequently de- 

 tected them in the act of saltying fi'om their reed-grown 

 coverts to graze by the serene light of the moon ; never, 

 however, venturing* to any distance from the river, the strong*- 

 hold to which they betake themselves on the smallest alarm. 

 Occasionally during the day they were to be seen basking* 

 on the shore amid ooze and mud ; but shots were more con- 

 stantly to be had at their uncouth heads, when protruded 

 from the water to draw breath, and if killed, the body rose 

 to the surface. Vulnerable only behind the ear, however, or 

 in the eye, which is placed in a prominence, so as to resemble 

 the garret- window of a Dutch-house, they require the per- 

 fection of rifle practice, and after a few shots become ex- 

 ceedingly shy, exhibiting* the snout only, and as instantly 

 withdrawing* it. The flesh is delicious, resembling* pork in 

 flavour, and abounding in fat, which in the colony is deser- 

 vedly esteemed the greatest of delicacies. The hide is up- 

 wards of an inch and a half in thickness, and being scarcely 



* Hippopotamus Amphihius. Delineated in the Portraits of Game and Wild 

 Animals of Southern Africa. 



