1812. 
BUSHMAN ACTIVITY IN DRIVING CATTLE. 
71 
to slacken their pace. These men displayed all that beautiful ease of 
motion and flexibility of joint, which struck me as so remarkable 
when I first became acquainted with this nation ; and which have been 
noticed on a former occasion.* 
This circumstance afforded a most favorable opportunity of 
ascertaining, by my own experience, how rapidly these wild people 
could drive a herd of cattle, and how much more rapidly they them- 
selves can travel ; for, the necessity of passing these rocky moun- 
tains before dark, forced them to a display of those powers which, on 
no other occasion, probably, would they have exhibited so fully. I 
now clearly saw, and subsequent observations confirmed this remark, 
that whenever the Bushmen steal cattle out of the Colony, the Boors 
can have little hope of recovering them, unless they instantly, and 
with fleet horses, commence the pursuit, so as to overtake them 
before they can have reached the mountains. In stealing cattle, 
Mercury himself could not have been more expert, or more cunning, 
than the Bushmen. 
During two hours, we travelled on the elevated and mountainous 
tract which, extending from the southward of Kaabi's Kraal, to the 
northward and westward of the Obelisk, constitutes what is called the 
Hyena Mountains. In our ride this afternoon, the prospect, which 
we had from their summits, of the plains extending to the northward, 
was, like that of the wide ocean, terminated only by the horizon. 
The sun was just setting when we reached the western edge of 
the mountain, whence we could distinguish the smoke of the hunters' 
fire down in the plain below ; but still at a considerable distance. 
Great care was required in descending the rugged pathless side of the 
mountain ; which we fortunately accomplished before the twilight 
was withdrawn. In half an hour after this, having ridden at least 
fourteen miles since leaving the kraal, we arrived at the spot where 
the rhinoceros was lying. 
The first salutation from my Hottentots, was the agreeable 
information that Speelman had shot another rhinoceros. This he had 
left in the middle of a plain situated farther westward, and separatee^ 
* At page 422, of the first volume. 
