CONFLAGRATION. 63 



midians, used them for this purpose, precisely as the 

 Asiatic species is at this day used in the East. It 

 even appears probable that they bred in a domestic 

 state among these people, a fact which has never 

 been witnessed in modern times. According to the 

 testimony of Pliny and other ancient writers, they 

 were formerly abundant in the forests of Barbary 

 and Mauritania : at present, however, they are 

 only found to the south of the Great Desert ; but 

 the enormous quantities of ivory which are an- 

 nually brought to Europe from the interior of 

 Africa announce the countless multitudes of them 

 which must exist in these remote and unexplored 

 countries. Formerly they were numerous within 

 the boundaries of the colony, but they have been so 

 much hunted of late years, that they have retired 

 beyond the frontiers, and are now only found in the 

 neighbourhood of the Great Fish River. 



The shades of evening were closing fast upon us 

 as we retraced our steps up the mountain-side to the 

 thicket in which we had left our horses. Here we 

 collected all the dead wood we could find, and kin- 

 dled a fire ; when a strong wind carried the flames 

 to the dry grass around us, which speedily becoming 

 ignited, all our efforts to extinguish the blaze were un- 

 availing. The conflagration was grand and terrific, as 

 it extended with fearful rapidity in one overpowering 

 torrent of flame, spreading devastation in its course, 

 and producing in the mind a most painful feeling of 



