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AFRICA. 3 
and, having kiiTed it over and over with the 
utmoft tendernefs, threw it upon my (houlder 
and bid me keep it. Was this inconftancy or 
indifference ? 1 he careffes flie beftowed upon 
It before fhe gave it me prove that it was nei- 
ther. She conjedured, that it would afford 
me great pleafure to pofTefs the animal ; and, 
without farther ceremony, £he detached herfelf 
from it in my favour. 
My plan was to repdr to a horde of the 
Koraquas, eftabliflied at the diftance of fourteen 
or fifteen leagues farther to the north-eaft* 
Twxlve perfons, men and women, of that 
which I was going to leave, joined themfelves 
to my caravan, and ferved me as guides. Wc 
propofed to halt on the banks of a river, fitu- 
ated four leagues and a half from our point of 
departure ; but w^e found the bed of it occu- 
pied by a herd of more than an hundred buf- 
faloes, which my dogs roufed, and which fled 
from us on the oppofite fide. 
It is always a bad omen to meet with thefe 
animals, in the deferts, during times of 
drought; for, as they live always in large herfs, 
and take up their abode in the beds of the 
rivers, they foon exhauft what little water 
B 2 might 
