430 
RIVER-HORSES — THE HART. 
4, 5 Nov. 
opinion ; but with respect to the quahty, I think one may venture to 
pronounce it to be, in no point, inferior.* 
At a distance on the eastern side of the Yellow River, some 
large trees were conspicuous by their form ; and were either the 
Acacia GirajfcE or the Acacia lieteracantlia f : but on the western, 
none of this kind were seen. 
Three river-horses passed us, in their way up the stream, and 
were supposed to have been disturbed by the hunting party below ; 
for the Hottentots remark that when these animals are molested in 
their haunts, they generally mover higher up the river ; but are 
very seldom observed to take their course downwards in such cases. 
These three followed each other in the middle of the stream, 
and appeared to swim against the current with ease ; now and then 
barely putting up their nostrils above the water to breathe. It was 
therefore evident that they had been rendered extremely suspicious 
of danger ; as the quantum of their fearfulness may always be 
measured by the proportion of body under water : never venturing 
on shore but when they judge themselves in perfect security. 
The bank rises up behind the woods, higher than the tops of 
the trees, and from this there commences an open plain, over which 
the view reaches without interruption. To the south-eastward is a 
small table-mountain ; and another long and level mountain appears 
in the distance ; but northward the country seemed exceedingly flat, 
and the scope of vision extended immeasureably over the region 
which adjoins the Kora country of the Hart. A branch of the 
Kygariep extends to the Hart village, or chief kraal of that tribe, and 
* The quantity of Gum annually imported into England from Senegal, for home con- 
sumption, is not less than 500 tons, which is purchased in Africa for about one shilling 
per pound ; and although it sells in London (at present) for no more than 51. per hundred 
weight ; it still continues to be brought home, as a remittance for English manufactures, 
on which a counterbalancing profit has been obtained. The present circumstances of 
the Cape Colony, with respect to mercantile remittances, are such as maybe deemed 
more favorable to the Gum trade, considered in this point of view. 
f Described at page 389. These two species much resemble each other in the general 
character of their growth and ramification. 
