172 ANT-HILLS. 



when the immediate neighbourhood presented the 

 appearance of one vast morass. A troop of wild 

 dogs, taking advantage of the confusion created by 

 the tempest, and the marshy state of the ground, had 

 attacked and destroyed several of the farmer's sheep, 

 the remains of which he brought home for his 

 family's consumption. 



Quitting this place, our path lay at the foot of a 

 long range of mountains, which stretched away to- 

 wards the Bamboos and Winterbergen, forming a 

 natural boundary to the New Hantam district. The 

 astonishing number of ant-hills which everywhere 

 dotted the plains was almost incredible. We re- 

 marked that, where they most abounded, antelopes 

 and other species of gregarious animals were seldom 

 to be met with. Whether this circumstance arose 

 from the sterility of the soil, or the impediments 

 thrown in their way by these numerous tumuli, I 

 was unable to ascertain. 



These ant-hills were constructed of an elliptical 

 figure, to the height of three or four feet above the 

 surface of the ground ; and such was their extraor- 

 dinary number, that they extended over the plain as 

 far as the eye could reach : so near, too, were they 

 together, that in some places our waggon could with 

 difficulty pass between them. 



" Wherever ant-hills abound, the Aard-vark is- sure 

 to be found at no great distance. This animal con- 

 structs a deep burrow in the immediate vicinity of its 



