CLIMATE OF THE'^KARROO. 79 



a baby, managed to get his feet firmly on the bucket, 

 and finding the length of the rope just, though only 

 just, allowed his mouth to come above the surface, 

 remained immovable, roaring steadily and lustily till 

 assistance came. 



The long droughts are certainly very trying ; indeed 

 they could not possibly be endured by any country 

 less wonderfully fertile than South Africa, where it 

 is calculated that three good days' rain in the year, 

 could we but have this regularly, would be sufficient 

 to meet all the needs of the land. But often, for more 

 than a year, there will be no rain worth mentioning ; 

 the dams, or large artificial reservoirs, of which each 

 farm usually possesses several, gradually become dry ; 

 and the veldt daily loses more of its verdure, till at 

 last all is one dull, ugly brown, and the whole plain 

 lies parched and burnt up under a sky from which 

 every atom of moisture seems to have departed — a 

 hard, grey, metallic sky, as different as possible from 

 the rich, deep-blue canopy which, far away to the 

 north, spreads over lovely Algeria. The stock, with 

 the pathetic tameness of thirst, come from all parts of 

 the farm to congregate close round the house ; the 

 inquiring ostriches tapping with their bills on the 

 windows as they look in at you, and the cattle lowing 

 in piteous appeal for water ; and you realize very 

 vividly the force of such Scriptural expressions as, 

 " the heaven was shut up," or, " a dry and thirsty land 

 where no water is." 



Then the hot winds sweep across the country, 



