212 VISITS TO MADAGASCAR, chap. yiii. 



dred yards of them, when they cocked up their tails and can- 

 tered away. They were all of a tawny brown colour, with the 

 ends of their tails white. In their size and their paces they 

 looked more like ponies with excessive hog manes, than ani- 

 mals of the ox sj^ecies. During the day we passed herd after 

 herd, varying in number from five to twenty in each, including 

 the young ones. The spring-boks frequently crossed the road 

 only a short distance before us, passing along by a succession 

 of bounds, or vaulting leaps, with remarkable rapidity and 

 gracefulness. Mile after mile these beautiful animals ap- 

 peared in varied numbers, scattered over the plains on either 

 side. On our way we passed the waggon of a travelling boer, 

 and purchased of him half a sheep and some flesh of the 

 gnu for our men. 



About eleven o'clock, on the same morning, we crossed a 

 rushy, muddy, but rather deep stream, called Seacow's Eiver, 

 and soon afterwards, reaching a farm-house, we sent a man 

 to ask if we could procure forage for our cattle, and a little 

 bread for ourselves. The man returned to say that our 

 wants could be supplied, and we were invited to alight. On 

 reaching the house, a scene of refinement and taste, for which 

 we had not been prepared, burst upon our view. We were 

 ushered into a nice, elegantly-furnished room, on the walls of 

 which hung some good pictures. A number of elegantly- 

 bound volumes lay on the table, where also there was a shallow 

 dish filled with fresh and fragrant flowers. Two young ladies 

 welcomed us, and in a minvite or two a tall, gentlemanly 

 man entered, who bade us welcome in fine English, and 

 pressed us to take breakfast, which was soon dispensed with 

 true English hospitality and kindness by his daughter, while 

 we conversed with our host. Alluding to the animals we 

 had seen, he said that at certain seasons when drought pre- 

 vailed in other parts, the spring-boks came down to this 

 neighbourhood in thousands: that he had sometimes shot 



