Mr. Patterson's Travels in Africa. 



a rock in the middle of the river, and their guns being 

 loaded they killed one of those Animals ; the other swam 

 to the opposite shore. Mr. Van Renan, anxious to go 

 to the north, in order to meet with the Camelopard, 

 which he had heard abounded there, while I made 

 excursions to the eastward in search of curious Plants. 



I here found the Boshmen's Grass, the seed of which 

 is used by the Boshmen as an excellent substitute for 

 corn. Locusts at certain times of the year come also 

 down in great quantities, so as to destroy most of the 

 Plants, but in their journey they are themselves eaten 

 by the Hottentots and are esteemed an excellent and 

 delicious food. 



The next day we killed an Animal of the Antelope 

 tribe called the Hartbeast, the Capra Dorcas of Linnaeus; 

 the length of the body, including the tail and head, was 

 five feet, six inches; it is of a brownish colour, and the 

 flesh is palatable though dry. We then proceeded to 

 the Sondag River, the face of the country at this place 

 has a very barren appearance, and wild Dogs are found 

 here which are larger than the Jackal and are very 

 troublesome to flocks of sheep. The Hippopotami that 

 are found here are very shy, and the chief Animals found 

 are the Lion, Panther, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Buffalo, 

 Antelope, &c. The Natives here are darker in their 

 complexions but of better shape, than any I have beforj 

 seen. 



From the pith of a certain kind of Palm Tree the 

 inhabitants make an excellent bread. In the neighbour- 

 hood of this place, we saw a herd of Elephants, as we 

 conjectured eighty in number at the least, they seemed 

 very quiet although curious, and came so near us, that 



