A Breath from the Veldt 



95 



and make a fire ! " Then comes the voice of the old man singing his morning 

 hymn. It was generally a Gregorian chant, and not particularly beautiful, nor 

 improved by the quavering voice in which he delivered it, but there was an 

 old-time flavour about it that harmonised well with the devotion of the singer, 

 and seemed to add a small iota of romance to a life that was entirely romantic. 

 Sometimes he would at this early hour try to rouse his slumbering family to 

 a proper sense of duty and music, but with such rare success that he generally 

 had to do precentor and congregation himself. 



Here, at the Makatese village v/here I write, I have a good view of the 

 rhinoceros birds feeding on an ox. So tame were they that they allowed me 

 to approach within thirty yards, where I sat down for an hour, and with the 

 aid of a telescope made many sketches of them. These birds and the honey 



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S) %t^ 





BUSH VELDT LANDSCAPE AND DISTANT VIEW OF THE ZOUTPANSBERG MOUNTAINS 



guide are the most curious of all the feathered tribe with which the traveller 

 comes into contact while in South Africa — each in its own way amongst the 

 marvels of creation. While speaking of them I should like to add a few notes 

 from personal observation of the rhinoceros bird (or " rhinaster vogel," as it is 

 called by the Dutch), which to my mind is the most interesting bird I have 

 ever seen. In size it is about equal to our common starling, which it also 

 resembles to some extent in habit, being fond of resting on the backs of 

 animals, and relieving them of the tics that infest most creatures, domestic or 

 wild, in the bush country. To aid it in these forays after insects, nature has 

 endowed the bird with a tail of horny feathers for support, and claws of such 

 extraordinary strength and sharpness that it can cling on securely while 

 performing feats of acrobatism most amusing to witness. The prehensile 

 power of the claws is, as I found by experience, so great that when a dead 



