114 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



the leopard, having finished its survey of the empty- 

 house, strolled out again and betook itself to the 

 mountain, no doubt pondering inwardly as to the 

 next piece of insolence that was coming to disturb 

 the hitherto unbroken solitude of its fastnesses in 

 the lonely poort. The mason was thankful when 

 some more of his party arrived on the scene, and, 

 needless to say, took care not to be left alone and 

 unarmed at the house until it was finished. The 

 leopard shares with the bufialo, at the Cape, the 

 unenviable reputation of being the most dangerous 

 animal to face when wounded. In this respect, 

 even the lion, farther up country, takes a 

 secondary place in the estimation of South African 

 hunters. 



Our hostess sits working on the stoep (verandah) 

 just outside the dining-room, her little three-year 

 old daughter is playing near her, and occasionally 

 trots out to us with some treasure to display. She 

 has no fellow-playmate ; her child sister lies buried 

 a little below the house, where a rude Kaffir brick 

 grave marks the spot ; for in such manner are Cape 

 farmers, far from civilisation, often compelled to 

 bury their lost ones. 



As one gazes down the poort (or pass) in front 

 of us, one cannot help feeling that these huge brown 

 masses of rock that form the mountains of the 

 Witteberg have a peculiar savage charm of their own. 

 One's fancy wanders back to the time, not so many 

 years ago, when the lion's roar echoed through their 

 kloofs and kopjes, as the leopard's cry does even 

 now; while the fleet hartebeest {Alcelaphus caama) 

 and the lordly koodoo {Strepsiceros kudu), most 

 beautiful of all South African antelopes, with its 



