A CAPE CART JOURNEY. 33 



and I took a long sweep round, thus getting beyond 

 the game. Then we approached one another, and 

 this time the koorhaan, apparently flurried, or unde- 

 cided by the new method of attack, got up well 

 within shot, and a bird fell to each of our guns. 



We turned in another direction, and after a short 

 time a brace got up some forty yards off, of which 

 one was secured by Bob, while the other, which lay 

 a trifle more forward, was missed by myself. 

 Another miniature stalk or two resulted in one more 

 of the koorhaan being brought to bag, this time my 

 gun proving fatal. After this we sat down upon the 

 veldt, took out some biscuits, and prepared to dine. 

 We had some springbok-biltong with us, but, being 

 new to the Colony and its ways, were not quite 

 certain how to eat it. Biltong — salted and sun- 

 dried flesh — is a commissariat delicacy quite peculiar 

 to the Cape. As a food it is undoubtedly extremely 

 nourishing. It has the merit of remaining always 

 sweet and good eating, even in the hottest weather ; 

 it occupies very little space, and in many a frontier 

 commando and campaign of the Boers it has proved 

 a most valuable sustenance in long marches. It is 

 dark coloured — almost black looking — and is dried 

 nearly to the hardness and consistency of horn, and 

 it has to be cut with a sharp knife into very thin 

 wafers to be eaten. 



Of all this, however, we were in crass ignorance, 

 and thrusting the curious looking stuff into our 

 mouths, we gnawed away at it with an energy worthy 

 of more tender viands. Our efforts were quite un- 

 availing ; do what we would, we could not separate 

 or masticate the toughened flesh, and at last, after 

 sucking away for some time, we finished with aching 



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