182 EXPEDITION INTO 



flexible, may be drag-g-ed fi-om the ribs in strips like the planks 

 from a ship's side. Of these are manufactured a superior 

 description of sjambok, the elastic whip already noticed as 

 being- an indispensable piece of furniture to every boor 

 proceeding on a journey. Our followers encumbered the 

 A^'ag*g-ons with a larg-e investment of them, and of the canine 

 teeth, the ivor^^ of which is extremely profitable. 



Of all the mammalia, whose portraits, drawn from ill- 

 stuffed specimens, have been foisted upon the world, the 

 Behemoth has perhaps been the most ludicrously misrepre- 

 sented. I soug'ht in vain for that colossal head — for those 

 cavern-like jaws, g-arnished with elephantine tusks — or those 

 ponderous feet with which " the formidable and ferocious 

 quadruped" is wont "to trample down whole fields of corn 

 during" a sing'le nig-ht." Defenceless and inoffensive, his 

 shapeless carcase is but feebly supported upon short and 

 disproportioned leg's, and his belly almost trailing- upon the 

 g-round, he may not inaptly be likened to an overg-rown 

 ^^ prize pig"." The colour is pinkish brown, clouded and 

 freckled with a darker tint. Of many that we shot, the 

 larg-est measured less than five feet at the shoulder ; and 

 the reality falling- so lamentably short of the monstrous 

 conception I had formed, the /^ river horse," or '^sea cow,"* 

 was the first, and indeed the only South African quadruped 

 in which I felt disappointed. 



The country now literally presented the appearance of a 

 menag-erie ; the hosts of rhinoceroses in particular, that daily 

 exhibited themselves, almost exceeding- belief. Whilst the 

 camp was being- formed, an ug-ly head mig-ht be seen pro- 

 truded from every bush, and the possession of the g-round 

 was often stoutly disputed. In the field, these animals lost 



* The Hippopotamus is termed by the Colonists Zekoe, or Sea-Cow, the least 

 applicable designation perhaps, not excepting that of the Sea-Horse, that could 

 have been conferred. 



