28 THE BOERS 



a concealed pitfall. As the hedges are frequently about a 

 mile long, and about as much apart at their extremities, a 

 tribe making a circle three or four miles round the country- 

 adjacent to the opening, and gradually closing up, are 

 almost sure to enclose a large body of game. Driving it up 

 with shouts to the narrow part of the hopo, men secreted 

 there throw their javelins into the affrighted herds, and on 

 the animals rush to the opening presented at the con- 

 verging hedges, and into the pit, till that is full of a living 

 mass. Some escape by running over the others, as a 

 Smithfield market-dog does over the sheep's backs. It is a 

 frightful scene. The men, wild with excitement, spear the 

 lovely animals with mad delight; others of the poor crea- 

 tures, borne down by the weight of their dead and dying 

 companions, every now and then make the whole mass 

 heave in their smothering agonies. 



The Bakwains often killed between sixty and seventy 

 head of large game at the different hopos in a single week; 

 and as every one, both rich and poor, partook of the prey, 

 the meat counteracted the bad effects of an exclusively 

 vegetable diet. 



CHAPTEE II. 



DR. LIVINGSTONE PREPARES TO GO TO LAKE NGAM1. 



Another adverse influence with which the mission 

 had to contend was the vicinity of the Boers of the 

 Cashan Mountains, otherwise named " Magaliesberg." 

 These are not to be confounded with the Cape colonists, 

 who sometimes pass by the name. The word Boer simply 

 means "farmer," and is not synonymous with our word 

 boor. Indeed, to the Boers generally the latter term 

 would be quite inappropriate, for they are a sober, indus- 

 trious, and most hospitable body of peasantry. Those, how- 



