SILENT ELOQUENCE. 



275 



moon then appeared with its beautiful silvery light, the 

 furious hurricane having passed on its course to the vast 

 plains and mountains of the mysterious interior. Every 

 insect who possessed " a shrill small horn " now began 

 piping it in rejoicing, the cricket and beetles making the 

 air vibrate with the sharp note they utter ; while on the 

 plains in front of me, a couple of antelopes walked out to 

 graze, conscious already that the danger was over. After 

 a severe storm all the animal creation seem on the move, 

 and, although it was long past the bed-time of the 

 feathered inhabitants of the ravine, they began flitting 

 about from tree to tree; while some green parrots that 

 seemed to reside here, and had been caught in the storm, 

 and therefore obliged to seek shelter elsewhere, returned 

 in parties of twos and threes, and were then noisily 

 welcomed by their more fortunate fellows. My Kaffir 

 seemed awed by the lightning and thunder; he ate a 

 little of his " muti " (charmed medicine) that was round 

 his neck, and sat immovable. When the storm had 

 passed he looked steadily at me for a few seconds, 

 covering his mouth with his hand in his usual way, shook 

 his head two or three times, and shut his eyes. One 

 must have seen his performance to have judged of his 

 eloquence. 



As the night was so brilliant, I determined to push on 

 and try to find my friend's location, for I was unpleasantly 

 moist, and everything was so wet that lighting a fire 

 would have been no easy matter. In Africa we travel by 

 " direction :" " Go out in that direction for two days, and 

 you will come to my house," is about the amount of informa- 



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