NATURAL HISTORY 307 



resembling 'a guinea-pig but belonging to a very distinct 

 group and having no near allies. It lives entirely among 

 the rocks and is very locally distributed. This is shown 

 by the fact that we obtained at different times no less than 

 three different species. 



It was on a hill called Kodja, which lies directly behind 

 the Gaima Range, that I first had an opportunity of observing 

 the dassie closely. The hill is an eruption of stones, about 

 300 ft. high, the grey, bare aspect of which is occasionally 

 reheved by grass and the dark green splotches of trees 

 springing in the hollows. At the foot of the hill there is a 

 small Momvu village, and some of the huts perch on the 

 ledges of rock above. 



By the time I reached the hill the sun was high, but I 

 made the ascent and was rewarded for my pains with a 

 sight of the dassies. 



The chmb up the hill was interesting ; the Momvu boy, 

 whom I took with me as guide, knew intimately the ways 

 that were sometimes narrow and difficult. We wriggled our 

 way by narrow ledges past gigantic boulders, and dipped 

 into dark caverns, through which we crawled, groping our 

 way to gain the exit at the other end by a hole sometimes 

 only just large enough to squeeze through. Then the path 

 would wind through thick undergrowth in a hollow, and 

 occasionally we came upon a few frail huts of mud and 

 green corn-plots on a shelf of rock. 



The top of the hill is almost flat in places and covered 

 with short grass between the iron-stone slabs and enormous 

 grey boulders. The dassies, which were the chief denizens 

 of the hill-top, were to be seen in little family parties. 



