268 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



capacious flesh-pot, in which is stewing a melange of 

 francoHn and buck, procured by Tobias for our 

 special use and behoof on this occasion. We stroll 

 with the little Dutchman about the premises, note 

 the horses he has in the kraal, hear that a troop of 

 zebras has been seen running on the mountains close 

 to our own far-ranging stud ; hear, too, of the 

 untimely demise of a weakly foal killed by a leopard ; 

 inspect the patches of oats and melons in the 

 alluvial bottom ground ; and then supper is ready. 



There are only two compartments, for they 

 cannot be styled rooms, in Tobias's house — in 

 reality it is one apartment, with a rough partition of 

 boards running half-way up to the roofing which 

 shuts off the bedroom. In one corner of the dining- 

 room — if I may so call it — there is an ancient Boer 

 waggon chestj a treasured family heirloom, as these 

 things often are, at least 150 years old, in which is 

 stored most of Tobias's worldly gear, and upon which 

 reposes a huge antique clasp Bible. A rust-bank — 

 a rude sofa of wood, covered with skins — stands 

 against the wall facing the entrance. Upon the 

 wall hangs a solitary picture — an ancient engraving 

 of one of the old-time Dutch governors of the 

 Colony — Governor Ryk Van Tulbagh, if I remember 

 rightly, who flourished towards the middle of the last' 

 century. A plain deal table, two chairs, and an 

 empty case or two, complete the furniture. The 

 floor is of the usual South African mixture of ant-hill 

 clay and cow-dung, set perfectly hard and perfectly 

 clean. Tobias and his wife have already supped, 

 and while he sits on his rust-bank and smokes his 

 pipe, she places on the table a mighty tureen 

 steaming hot. The Cape Dutch are not often 



