A MORNING AMBUSCADE ON WITTEBERG. 267 



one of these fine birds since our arrival, and Frank's 

 gun brought down the male bird neatly enough. 

 This bird, the Ardea purpurea of Linnaeus, is 

 abundant in the Colony ; it measures in length 

 very nearly three feet, and in colouring stands 

 pre-eminent among its numerous congeners — for 

 the. Cape boasts of eleven true herons {Ardece), 

 though not all are commonly met with. 



It is a delightful country, this Kaap-land as 

 the old Boers called it, if you have leisure enough to 

 explore it ; and pastoral farmers out here have, 

 after all, frequently but to sit down quietly and 

 see their flocks increase around them ; while to a 

 collector, with plenty of time on his hands, I can 

 imagine nothing more enticing than six months 

 spent in the Eastern province of the Cape Colony, 

 or beyond the Kei in Kaffraria proper (both of them 

 countries not yet half ransacked by naturalists). 

 Presently, as we walk on, a wild cat of some kind 

 jumps out from some bushes in front, and tears 

 away into covert, where it is useless to follow. It 

 was too quick for us, and we lose an opportunity of 

 slaying one of the pests of our much-harassed 

 poultry-yard. But " vorwarts " is the word, and 

 we push on through the deep kloof of which I have 

 previously spoken, and as the sun falls in a warm 

 glow behind the hills, tinting gorgeously the brown 

 rocks around, we reach Tobias's little reed and 

 plaster habitation, where we shall sup and rest for 

 a few hours. 



Tobias's vrouw, an excellent but somewhat 

 retiring Dutch lady, of rotund and sturdy figure, is 

 preparing a capital supper for us, and we can already 

 scent from afar, with appetising sensations, that 



