A THUNDER-STORM. 171 



family, and the other as a sitting-room and kitchen, 

 where a set of miserable-looking Bushmen, with 

 nothing but a filthy sheep-skin round their waists, 

 were engaged at a large fire-place preparing their 

 coarse repast. The place was altogether so com- 

 fortless, that we preferred returning to our waggon, 

 although the inmates were extremely kind and hospi- 

 table, pressing us to partake of a mess of " spring- 

 bok vleis" (stewed game), unaccompanied, how- 

 ever, with either bread or vegetables of any kind, a 

 luxury in which these poor people seldom indulge. 

 A basin of milk supplies the place of wine, and in 

 this plain and frugal manner they live from year to 

 year, their chief object being the increase of their 

 flocks. 



Finding there was no other alternative, we retired 

 to our waggon, at a short distance from the house, 

 in the midst of a wide plain, exposed on all sides 

 to the tempest, which was raging with great fury. 

 The moon, now near its full, rose through a thick, 

 hazy mist ; the vivid lightning flashed every instant 

 in rapid succession ; while the startling volleys 

 of thunder burst incessantly over our heads, rever- 

 berated by the lofty mountains by which we were 

 surrounded, in continuous and stupendous echoes. 

 The torrents in which the rain descended soon pro- 

 claimed the inefncacy of our canvass covering as a 

 shelter from its violence. The storm continued with 

 little intermission until sunrise the following morning, 



