Chap. XIII. 



THE rOKU. 



265 



of blue weldebeests or brindled gnus (Katoblepas Gorgon) 

 amused us by their fantastic capers. They present a 

 much more ferocious aspect than the lion himself, but 

 are quite timid. We never could by waving a red hand- 

 kerchief, according to the prescription, induce them to 

 venture near to us. It may therefore be, that the red 

 colour excites their fury only when wounded or hotly pur- 

 sued. Herds of lechee or lechwe now enliven the mea- 

 dows ; and they and their younger brother, the graceful poku, 

 smaller, and of a rounder contour, race together towards the 

 grassy fens. We ventured to call the poku after the late 

 Major Vardon, a noble-hearted African traveller; but fully 

 anticipate that some aspiring Nimrod will prefer that his own 

 name should go down to posterity on the back of this buck. 



Midway between Tabacheu and the Great Falls the streams 

 begin to flow westward. On the other side they flow east. 

 Large round masses of granite, somewhat like old castles, 

 tower aloft about the Kalomo. The country is an elevated 

 plateau, and our men knew and named the different plains 

 as we passed them by. 



On the 13th we met a party from Sekeletu, who was now at 

 Sesheke. Our approach had been reported, and they had 

 been sent to ask the Doctor what the price of a horse ought 

 to be ; and what he said, that they were to give and no more. 

 In reply they were told that by their having given nine large 

 tusks for one horse before the Doctor came, the Griquas 

 would naturally imagine that the price was already settled. 

 It was exceedingly amusing to witness the exact imitation 

 they gave of the swagger of a certain white with whom they 



waterbuck's head has also been 

 brought from West Africa and figured 

 as a new species ; and the common 



bush buck was called A. Roualeyni, 

 though well known and described 

 before any of us were born. 



