98 



A Breath from the Veldt 



attack, they think only of themselves, and refrain from " swearing " until the 

 intruder is within thirty or forty yards or so. To give an instance of their 

 tameness upon occasion, the day we left the Bubye River a rhinoceros bird 

 alighted on " Brenke's " back just as we were starting. I was riding " Spotty," 

 my other Basuto pony, and driving "Jimmy" and " Brenke " in front of me. 

 As we moved on down the bank to cross the wide sandy bed of the river, I 

 thought the bird would fly away ; but not a bit of it ; he had evidently " struck 

 oil " in " Brenke," and was determined to make the most of it. So there he 

 sat on the back of the pony as he trotted along in front of me, evincing no 

 fear whatever, though several times he was within five yards of me. At last 

 " Brenke's " pace became too lively for him, when he flew over our heads away 

 back to Bubye, to join the companions he had left behind. 



The flight of the rhinoceros bird closely resembles that of our own fieldfare, 

 and its cry of alarm (a jarring swear) is almost exactly like that of the common 

 starling when its nest is being robbed. All the birds utter it together when 

 they wish to warn an animal of approaching danger, sitting in a line along 

 its back and stretching their necks upwards preparatory to taking flight, as 

 shown in my sketch. Then away they go ; not all together, but following 

 each other in a string, and after mounting some twenty yards in the air 

 immediately above their four-legged friend, they commence a series of gyrations, 

 accompanied by loud cries, which never fail to attract its attention. I have 

 seen this performance only once myself on a wild animal, and that at too great 

 a distance to judge of the efl^ect upon the animal they were trying to arouse ; it 

 was a sable antelope, and they flew away almost as soon as they had alighted 

 on its back. 



i^th May, Sunday. — It is a real pleasure to have a day's rest at the end of 

 each week ; for continuous trekking through uninteresting country becomes 

 wearisome and monotonous in the extreme. Oom Roelef holds a service with 

 his family and the Landsbergs, in which the " Old Hundredth " figures 

 conspicuously in the midst of long Gregorian chants. I don't like it myself, so 

 I generally spend the day sketching, writing, and preserving specimens of game 

 birds. Many Makatese come to trade mealies, fowls, and Kaffir corn for salt. 

 As a rule the men and boys have pleasant, good-natured faces ; but the women 

 are simply hideous. Prince is great at bartering, and thoroughly enjoys 

 haggling with them. He will spend half the day in this way, for time is no 

 object to a Kaffir, and great is his joy when he has got the best of a bargain- 

 as he rarely does, however, when dealing with the old women. Mem. — If a 



