204 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA, 



At 3 P.M. we inspaniiedi and held on till midnight 

 with fine moonlight, crossing a desett and sandy coun- 

 try. In the viciiiit^r of Chooi we passed an extensive 

 range of old pitfalls, formed by the natives for entrap- 

 ping game. Thfey were dug in the form of a crescent, 

 and boctipied an extent of nearly a quarter of a mile. 

 On this march I observed some enormous tirunks of 

 trees that had been diestroyed by fire in by-gone years. 

 On the following day we reached Loharon, an uninter- 

 esting and desolate spot, where we eiicamped for the 

 day beside a pool of rain water. Here I observed a 

 few hartebeests, sassaybies, and zebras. On the 20th, 

 having breakfasted, we inspanried, and continued our 

 march till sunset. We pdssefl through a very level 

 country, covered with detached bushes. The dullness 

 of the scene, however, was enlivened by a wondrous 

 flight of locusts, the largest I had ever behield. The 

 prospect was obscured by them as far as we could see, 

 resembling the smoke arising flroili a thousand giant 

 bonfires ; while those above our heads darkened our 

 path with a double flighfc^th'e one next the gfound 

 flying north, while the upper clouds of them held a 

 southerly course. The dogs, as usual, made a hearty 

 meal on them. 



"We continued our march by moonlight, halting at 

 midnight in a vast open plain beside a small pool of 

 rain water. After bteakfast I rods forth in quest of 

 springboks, of which 1 bagged A couple. I fell in with 

 blue and black wildebeests, zebrasj ostriches, and bles- 

 boks. The plains here were bare and tipcn, resembling 

 the country frequented by the blesboka ix» the southward 

 of the Vaal, with which country T subsequently ascer- 

 tained it to be connected, in a due southerly course, by 

 an endless succession of similar bar* plains, throughout 



