A Breath from the Veldt 91 



Nearly all European and New World people living open-air lives drink freely 

 of coffee, but the Dutch Boers exceed all in this respect, for even when 

 stationary at their homes coffee is generally served once in every two hours ; 

 and as every caller is expected to partake of it whether he likes it or not, the 

 custom becomes rather trying when one is carried from one house to another in 

 rapid succession. The Boers, however, are experts in the art of coffee-making. 

 They buy only the best berries, and roast and grind them fresh every day, 

 producing a very different concoction from that which Englishmen at home are 

 too often invited to enjoy. 



The following day we struck the Oliphants River, at its junction with 

 Elands River, and down came the locusts thicker than ever as we outspanned 

 for the night on the high bank above this fine stream. They had already 

 made great havoc in the pastures, large tracks of the veldt looking as if they 

 had been mown down close with a scythe. In the river the fish were rising 

 at them in all directions ; and having fishing material with us, Pete Landsberg 

 and I soon had the two whipstocks rigged up to try our luck. In a short 

 time we had caught about two dozen yellow fish, averaging about f lb., and one 

 or two of the curiously-whiskered barber fish, a dull heavy creature with little 

 or no play in it. Both these fish would be excellent eating if they would only 

 allow one to enjoy them ; but their bones are so numerous and so sharp that 

 even a shark might think twice before tackling them a second time. Not so, 

 however, the eels which frequent this river. They are not only far superior to 

 any in our own country — recalling, when fried, the delicious flavour of the 

 sole — but are by far the best fresh-water fish here, from a culinary point of 

 view. After sundown we set fire to the great trees on the bank above, and by 

 their light sat and fished with hand-lines for the eels, the longest running to 5 

 and 6 lbs. each. Needless to say how we enjoyed them after the toujours perdrix 

 and khoorhan. Hert brought in in the evening two pallah, an old ram and a 

 ewe ; and Tace a young ram. 



loth May. — Trekked on along the Oliphants, where we found plenty of 

 pallah spoor. Tace killed another young ram ; and in the evening yet another 

 was bagged by the old man with whom I was riding, as a punishment for its 

 tameness in allowing us to approach within forty yards. With so many 

 buck on hand, the Dutchmen are now engaged in making " biltong " of 

 the meat, cutting it up into big strips and then rolling in rough salt and 

 hanging it up in the trees to dry. When travelling the meat is taken 

 down, and hung up again at every oiitspan till it is tl;ioroughly dry. Saw 



