PROCEED ON THEIR JOURNEY. 157 



which these people sometimes accomplish. They were 

 about three hundred yards behind the ostrich when they 

 passed our wagons, and as they disappeared over a ridge 

 upon our right they seemed to have gained seine ground. 

 Certainly no sport could excel this mode of hunting the 

 ostrich, in fatiguing the ardent hunter. As night came 

 on, we encamped near the Kurrichane mountain range, 

 beside a salt-pan, then filled with water. The country 

 was generally undulating, covered with grass and dwarfish 

 trees, and from the slightest elevation looked like a vast 

 park. The mountains were not lofty, but rugged and 

 picturesque. Towards evening I had succeeded in killing . 

 a hartebeest which served us for a delicious meal. 



The next morning, Mr. Barrill considered his ankle well 

 enough to mount his horse, and Carollus resumed his jam- 

 bok, or whip, to perform the difficult task of driving 

 the oxen over the mountains. The ascent was easy, but 

 very slow, and the descent, though more rapid, was ex- 

 tremely fatiguing to the oxen. In the valley, upon the 

 other side, we found a road, which our Hottentots said led 

 to the vale of Bakatla. We proceeded up the valley 

 about three miles, when we reached a gorge in the 

 mountains. Through this ran a crystal stream, which we 

 followed for about half a mile, and then entered the beau- 

 tiful vale of Bakatla, bounded by finely- wooded mountains 

 and varied with cornfield and grassy meadows. That 



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