168 THE UNICORN'S PASS. 



against each other, have formed cavities in which the Bakaa took 

 refuge against their enemies. The numerous chinks and crannies 

 left by these huge fragments made it quite impossible for their en- 

 emies to smoke them out, as was done by the Boers to the people 

 of Mankopane. 



This mass of basalt, about six miles long, has tilted up the 

 rocks on both the east and west ; these upheaved rocks are the 

 ancient silurian schists which formed the bottom of the great 

 primaeval valley, and, like all the recent volcanic rocks of this 

 country, have a hot fountain in their vicinity, namely, that of Seri- 

 nane. 



In passing through these hills on our way north we enter a 

 pass named Manakalongwe, or Unicorn's Pass. The unicorn 

 here is a large edible caterpillar, with an erect, horn -like tail. 

 The pass was also called Porapora (or gurgling of water), from a 

 stream having run through it. The scene must have been very 

 different in former times from what it is now. This is part of 

 the Biver Mahalapi, which so-called river scarcely merits the 

 name, any more than the meadows of Edinburgh deserve the 

 title of North Loch. These hills are the last we shall see for 

 months. The country beyond consisted of large patches of trap- 

 covered tufa, having little soil or vegetation except tufts of 

 grass and wait-a-bit thorns, in the midst of extensive sandy, 

 grass-covered plains. These yellow-colored, grassy plains, with 

 morctloa and mahatla bushes, form quite a characteristic feature 

 of the country. The yellow or dun-color prevails during a great 

 part of the year. The Bakwain hills are an exception to the 

 usual flat surface, for they are covered with green trees to their 

 tops, and the valleys are often of the most lovely green. The 

 trees are larger too, and even the plains of the Bakwain country 

 contain trees instead of bushes. If you look north from the hills 

 we are now leaving, the country partakes of this latter character. 

 It appears as if it were a flat covered with a forest of ordinary- 

 sized trees from 20 to 30 feet high, but when you travel over it 

 they are not so closely planted but that a wagon with care may 

 be guided among them. The grass grows in tufts of the size of 

 one's hat, with bare soft sand between. Nowhere here have we 

 an approach to English lawns, or the pleasing appearance of En- 

 glish greensward. 



