SINGULAR NOTION. 
117 
to the match, and a certain day and place were ap¬ 
pointed for the rendezvous. In the meantime, the 
tortoise sent to all her friends and acquaintances, 
informing them of the pending match, and requested 
that they and their kindred would place themselves, 
at short intervals, all along a certain line of country 
—that agreed upon as the scene for the coming 
race. The match was begun; after a while, the 
antelope, after proceeding at the top of his speed 
for a time, came to a halt, at the same time calling 
out: € Where ar£ you, friend? 5 ‘Here, here! 5 
screamed the tortoise from amongst the grass. Off 
started again the astonished steinbock at even greater 
speed, and on repeating his question at intervals, 
he always receives the same reply— £ Here, here ! 5 
On, on went the puzzled beast, until at last it 
dropped dead from exhaustion, and thus the sluggish 
tortoise easily overcame his immensely more swift 
but less strategic antagonist. 55 
There is also another version of this story, in 
which the steinbock, after having run some distance, 
and not perceiving his friend, lay down to sleep— 
the sun at the time being very hot—in which situa¬ 
tion the sluggish tortoise passed him ; and when the 
antelope awoke, his opponent had already reached 
the end of their common journey. 
Regarding the sun again, certain of the Bechuanas 
entertain very singular notions, they believing that 
the luminary which sets in the evening so suddenly is, 
during the course of the ensuing night, transferred 
to the eastern hemisphere; but no one has yet seen 
the phenomenon. 
