An Eight Days 3 Ramble in Gape Golomj. 255 



however, our guide appeared very sanguine, so we said nothing, 

 but watched curiously his mode of pursuit. To our intense 

 astonishment, he pulled straight for the nearest flock of geese. 

 Two or three ducks, which were swimming about in the neigh- 

 bourhood, took wing, and were soon out of sight, but the geese 

 seemed either fascinated, or more stupid than geese ever were 

 before, for they made no attempt to fly. They swam away 

 from us, certainly, but otherwise showed no disposition to 

 avoid us. 



"What does it all mean?" said Hendrick to me. cc Why 

 don't they fly ?" I asked of Franz Retief. " Can't fly," an- 

 swered he, " they have lost the long feathers of their wings." 

 0, ye gods ! what an announcement ! what a downfall to all 

 our hopes of sport ! Hendrick looked disgusted, and laid aside 

 his gun; but, in another moment, Retief cried "Look out \" 

 and, as he spun the punt half round until she was broadside on 

 the troop of geese, the temptation was too strong, even for 

 Hendrick. The birds, on the calm surface of the waters, 

 seemed larger than they really were, and we forgot all about 

 their wings and their supposed helplessness. Bang ! bang ! 

 went both our guns — unluckily, at the same bird, — which 

 turned up, and died satisfactorily. The remainder did not give 

 us a chance, for, in an instant, they were gone ! not into the 

 air, but into the water ; where they stayed so long that we 

 began to suspect they were amphibious. When they re- 

 appeared, they were scattered all around us, well out of range. 

 Having secured the dead bird, Retief put the punt about, and 

 went after the nearest of the broken flock. But the knowing 

 creature had learnt a lesson, and as soon as we approached 

 him, down he went amongst the fishes, and taking a swim un- 

 derneath the surface, he reappeared still further off. Retief 

 caught sight of his head the moment it came up, and, bending 

 to the oars, sent the punt dashing through the water in pursuit. 

 After a long chase we shot him, and, when we had added seven 

 more to our list, we had almost come to the conclusion that, 

 for these geese, wings were unnecessary appendages, consider- 

 ing how uncommonly well they managed to baffle our attempts 

 to shoot them. 



Notwithstanding their activity, and the difficulty of getting 

 near them, however, there was really no sport in slaying them 

 under the circumstances ; so, when we had bagged a sufficient 

 number to supply a few of our friends with roast-goose for 

 dinner, we landed and commenced the much more congenial 

 occupation of walking up the snipe. Promising as the place 

 looked, however, the result proved that it was almost un- 

 inhabited by the long-bills. I had tramped about for fully 

 three-quarters of an hour, floundering through the shallow 



