SOUTHERN AFRICA. 251 
the two tribes of people called the Great and the Little Nama- 
quas, and to which Colonel Gordon there gave the name of 
the Orange river. In point of size, and the bulk of water 
which it contained, all the rivers of the colony, taken col- 
lectively, would not be equal to it. 
The banks were finely fringed with the Karroo mimosa, 
the willow of Babylon, and the rhus vimhialis. Vast numbers 
of the hippopotamus were snorting and blowing in every part 
of the river, endeavouring as it were to emulate the torrent 
that roared among the rocks. Under the shade of the trees, 
and on the reedy banks near the mouth of the Sea-Cow river, 
w€ discovered the beds where these enormous animals had 
been playing and rolling, on venturing forth from their watery 
abodes. The description that the author of the Book of Job 
has put into the mouth of the Almighty, of the behemoth, is 
poetic, grand, and figurative ; and it is more than probable 
that the animal he alluded to was the hippopotamus : — 
" Behold now behemoth which I made with thee ; he eateth 
" grass as an ox : His bones are as strong pieces of brass ; 
" his bones are like bars of iron : He lieth imder the shady 
" trees, in the covert of the reed and fens. The shady trees 
" cover him with their shadow : the willows of the brook 
" compass him about. Behold he drinketh up a river ; he 
" trusteth that he can draw np Jordan into his mouth. He 
" taketh it with his eyes; his nose pierceth through snares." 
In the rocky mountains of the long pass, through which we 
had approached this magnificent river, were great numbers of 
klip-springers and reeboks, and of a species of monkey of a 
