292 TRAVELS IN 
pafs the night near a fmall torrent called Drooge 
Rivier^ the Dry River : for our cattle were 
fo harafled that they were not in a condition 
to carry us any farther ; and the circumftances 
of the moment did not permit us to make long 
marches. Whenever we halted, a great deal 
of time was neceffary to arrange our camp ; 
to prepare food for about an hundred animals; 
to boil provifions for a ftill greater number 
of people ; to watch over the fafety of all 
thefe individuals ; to coUeG wood for making 
fires, and to keep them burning during the 
whole night. Thefe details became very la- 
^ borious ; but they were neverthelefs indif- 
penfable. 
That evening our dogs thought proper to be 
^ur purveyors. The whole country was filled 
with Guinea-fowls, which at fun-fet perched 
in hundreds on the trees that furrounded us, 
in order to pafs the night. They made "a 
continual and difagreeable cackling : but it . 
was of fome ufe to us, for thefe fimple birds 
^.-^ifcovered themfelves by it ; and our dogs, 
which heard them, began to run round and 
^ to bark at the bottoms of the trees where they 
w^ere feated. Thefe Guinea-fowls endeavoured 
to make their efcape \ but the weight of their 
bodies, 
