LIFE OF C. KOK. 
267 
country, he first asked the Bushman chief what 
he should give him for permission to do so. The 
ignorant inhabitant of the wilderness having once 
heard some person mention 12,000 rix dollars, 
accordingly demanded that sum, being perfectly 
unacquainted with its relative value. Kok told 
him rix dollars could be of no use to him, he 
would, therefore, give him a sheep for each 2,000 
dollars. The chief was highly pleased with the 
six sheep, instead of the 12,000 rix dollars which 
he had asked. 
Having resided so long in the interior, he has 
of course been often exposed to danger from wild 
beasts. He remembered that once, when ascend- 
ing a low hill, the dogs drove up a lion from the 
other side, which met him as he advanced towards 
the summit, and seemed ready to spring upon 
• him ; he escaped by leaping down a low cliff 
into the middle of a bush. The lion remained 
upon the edge of the cliff, but after growling for 
a short time he walked off. Cornelius was fre- 
quently afterwards pursued by lions, but said, he 
always succeeded in shooting them before they 
got too near. 
He was once in imminent danger from an ele- 
phant, near the waterfall on the Great Orange 
River. While in the river with his musket, mov- 
ing forward, and in the act of taking aim, he 
