AFRICA. 
feet round the whale, was molilened with its 
blubber, which had been converted into oil by 
the heat of the fun. The lofs of this greafe, dif- 
perfed in this manner, was a fource of afflidion 
to my Hottentots, who regretted that they had 
not within their reach one of my carriages load- 
ed with a dozen barrels, that they might fill 
them wath oil ; an event which v>^ould have 
rendered them happy during the whole jour- 
ney. Dcfire, however, foon begets induftry : 
they thought of their antelopes, and requefted 
my permiffion to difpofe of them. Having 
obtained it, they returned to the fpot where 
they were hid, and, flaying them, made bags of 
their fkins, of which each was capable of hold- 
ing more than forty pounds of oil. 
I endeavoured myfelf to derive fome benefit 
from the whale. Examining It with attention, 
I obferved various kinds of be£tles crawling 
over this immenfe body of carrion, and em* 
ployed alfo in devouring it. Having counted 
fourteen different fpecies, I began to hunt thefe 
fwarms of infects ; and fome individuals fe- 
lefted from each fpecies were, in turn, facri- 
ficed to my favourite paffion, and ferved to en^ 
rich my fmall coUedion. The repofitory in 
which 
