i6o KLOOF AND KARROO. 



white ; the crown of the head is black, effectively- 

 separated by a white line. This bird is seldom 

 found alone ; in this instance its fellows must have 

 been disturbed by our vicinity. 



Picking up his solitary and battered prize, 

 Jackson came back and finished his pipe. Although 

 temporarily a little roused from his fatigue, I could 

 see that the man's weary soul no longer hungered 

 after sport ; in fact, he was now completely knocked 

 up, and our only plan was to make for the store, 

 rest an hour or so, and then, towards evening, start 

 back for home through Witte Poort, and so along 

 the fairly level road that led along by the Plessis 

 River up to our farmstead — ^a matter of eight or 

 nine miles. Descending the mountain with some 

 difficulty, for it was steep, broken, and crumbling, 

 we reached the plain, and presently arrived at the 

 store. 



Squatted outside, blinking in the hot glare of the 

 sunlight, were three or four Kaffirs, one of whom I 

 recognised as a petty chief from a neighbouring 

 kraal, making up their minds for a drink, or 

 devising means of raising the wind. Inside, as 

 we entered, another was having a soupje, a small 

 tumbler of raw spirit — Boer brandy — which he 

 gulped down without even winking. Not a 

 pleasant sight, but, alas, a too frequent one at 

 South African " winkels " (stores). Another fiery 

 dram followed, gulped down, like its predecessor, 

 quite unblenchingly, and yet that crude and awful 

 spirit is enough to make even a dead donkey 

 sneeze. Truly these natives must have " interiors " 

 of cast iron. Now I am not straight-laced, or a 

 preacher, or a practiser of total abstinence, but 



