BEER VLEY. 115 



barren, was not, however, without game : I saw sever- 

 al herds of springboks, of from five hundred to two 

 thousand in each ; also several troops of gigantic-look- 

 ing ostriches, and abundance of bustard and Namaqua 

 partridges. I shot two springboks, and broke the fore 

 leg of a third. Beer Vley, at the southern end of which 

 I had now encamped, is a very extensive, low-lying, 

 level plain; its length might be somewhat about twen- 

 ty miles, and its oreadth averaging from one to two 

 miles. Through the entire length of this grassy vley 

 runs, in the rainy season, a deep stream of water, which 

 meanders in a very serpentine course along the center 

 of the plain, and, overflowing its banks, irrigates and 

 enriches the surrounding pasture. At that season, 

 however, this channel was perfectly dry, yet the plain 

 was covered with rich green grass. The country sur- 

 rounding Beer Vley is extremely desolate and sterile, 

 consisting of low rocky hills and undulating sandy 

 plains, barely covered with dwarfish scrubby shrubs and 

 small karroo bushes. 



On the morrow I removed my encampment about 

 eight or nine miles further down tfie vley, being oblig- 

 ed, from the broken and uneven nature of the ground, 

 to march in a semicircular course, holding along the 

 outside of the vley. I drew up my wagons on the plain 

 close to the bank of a dry channel, with a fine large 

 pool of running water in my vicinity. This was the 

 finest place that can be described to shoot springboks, 

 and also to select extraordinary specimens on account 

 of their horns, which I was anxious to do. The coun- 

 try, on every side, was covered with immense herds of 

 these antelopes, and they all seemed to have an inclina- 

 tion to come and feed close along the side of the water- 

 course beside which we lay. This channel being about 



