278 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



such an existence ; at all events, a glance at many 

 a listless, stolid, Dutch Afrikander would seem to 

 imply it. 



We were not long in getting down hill to 

 breakfast. On our way we noted a handsome 

 umber-brown lark — " dubbelde leeuwirk " the 

 Boers call it. Le Vaillant knew it, and christened 

 it " I'alouette a gros bee"; its ornithological title 

 is Alauda crassirostris. Other larks there are in the 

 Colony, but none of them have the splendid song of 

 an English skylark — more's the pity. A flight 

 of red-wing starlings passed over our heads, flying, 

 doubtless, to some fruit or berry not far off. These 

 birds have dark blue bodies and handsome rufous- 

 tinted wings. The Dutch farmers know the bird as 

 the rooi vlerk-spreo ; Le Vaillant discovered it, and 

 christened it "la roupenne." These are shocking 

 fruit stealers, and the wine Boers, during the grape 

 season, find them most troublesome neighbours, and 

 wage determined war on them, guarding their crops 

 with boys and guns. These fellows were, I fancy, 

 on their way to the peach orchards of some Boers 

 away over the mountain. A little lower down, a 

 rock-lizard, about a foot long, flashes across our 

 path. It is a great, gaudy creature, having a bright 

 blue head and back, and a wonderful rose-coloured 

 throat. Its skin is marvellously smooth and soft 

 to the touch. The Boers call it the " blaauw-kop 

 salamander" (blue-headed salamander), and look 

 upon it with feelings of awe and horror. They will 

 tell you solemnly — and they verily believe it — that 

 this reptile is deadly poisonous, and that from it all 

 the snakes obtain and renew their poison. 



The lizard, in truth, is perfectly harmless. But 



