176 TRAVELS IN 
clear stream, upon the bank of which we pitched our tent. It 
intersected one of the most beautiful tracts of country that 
had yet fallen under our observation in Southern Africa. The 
bold eastern bank clothed with hanging- wood, and the exten- 
sive meadows rising gradually on the opposite side into fine 
swells covered with grass, and interrupted here and there by 
clumps of tal] shrubbery and straggling trees, gave to the 
country the appearance of a suite of English parks or plea- 
sure grounds. On the banks of the river stood a number of 
small villages and detached huts ; but they were entirely de- 
serted. The land had evidently been under cultivation at no 
distant period. Fields of millet that had been consumed by the 
birds were still standing in regular rows. It appeared to be the 
holcus sorghum ofLinnaeus. Several large water-melons, of an in- 
sipid taste, were growing, having spontaneously planted them- 
selves to all appearance from the seed of the old ones which 
were laying in a decayed state on the ground. Several imple- 
ments of husbandry, keeries, and small wooden spades, were 
lying in the gardens ; and from these and other circumstances 
it appeared that the inhabitants had been driven away in haste. 
From some fires being seen at no great distance from the 
place of our encampment, and from the perpetual barking of 
the dogs after it grew dark, we began to suspect that our mo- 
tions were watched by the spies of one of the parties, namely 
the KafFer king, or the emigrant chiefs. In the course of 
the night, however, the disturbance made by the dogs was 
sufficiently explained by an immense troop of wolves, which 
were attracted by the smell of an ox that had been killed the 
preceding evening. These creatures came in such a body as 
