10 THE LION FOUNTAIN. 
perfectly round and cylindrical, being worn only at 
the tips, on which alone the animal treads. This 
peculiarity of structure in the hoof, and the rigid | 
form of the pastern joints, account for the amazing 
agility which the klip-springer displays in bounding 
among the most dangerous rocks and precipices. 
The thermometer at noon stood at 78°. I passed 
through Bushmans’ Porte, and having travelled 
about nine hours in the course of this day, again 
halted at sunset, in a wild open country. Storms of 
thunder and lightning continued at intervals with 
great violence during the night. 
Ascending a steep hill on the 6th, I crossed into 
the Winterveld, and about five o’clock in the after- 
noon reached the farm of Stofiel Jacobs, an exten- 
sive grazier. Jacobs was said to possess upwards of 
nine thousand sheep, besides oxen and other cattle. 
It was pleasing to see the cattle returning home to 
their fold, and the eagerness with which they rushed 
to the water, after having been out all day in the 
parched desert. ‘This farm was situated at a place 
called Lion Fountain, from the number of lions that 
frequented the neighbourhood, and were in the habit 
of resorting to the spring, particularly during the 
dry season: but this circumstance seems in no re- 
spect to have intimidated Jacobs; for since taking 
possession of the farm, which his predecessor had 
vacated solely on this account, he had become one of 
the most celebrated lion-hunters in this part of the 
