86 
THE NEW AFRICA 
tains, whose altitude deprives the atmosphere of any moisture it 
may contain before allowing it to pass to the lower-lying sandy 
wastes in the interior. This hydrological condition pertains 
only to the dry winter months. In summer, when it rains, the 
circumstances are altered. 
Once more we had a long palaver with our hearers, who wore 
out our patience with their constant nagging at us on every 
trivial occasion, but by preternatural good nature and persuasion 
we finally managed to get them on. 
Passing into an open glade on the march, we came upon a 
quagga mare disabled by lions, with a beautiful little filly by her 
side. The lions had bitten through the leg sinews of the mare in 
a manner similar to ham-stringing. The poor beast, unable to 
fly from us, bared her wicked-looking teeth in self-defence, until, 
perforated with assegai wounds, she rolled over on her side, her 
foal sharing the same fate, as we were unable to catch it. The 
natives informed us that there was nothing unusual in lions 
disabling game in the manner described, and that they follow it 
up to kill at leisure when recovering their appetites after gorging 
on others previously killed at the time they took this precaution 
to provide for a future meal. 
In this neighbourhood we found several pots of burnt clay, 
evidently fashioned for cooking purposes as well as for storing 
corn. They were plain, without any attempt at ornamentation 
or handles, an outward curl of the lip affording sufficient 
holding surface to prevent them from slipping, a marked 
difference to Zulu pottery, which is invariably formed without 
any rim whatever. 
We shot the first Harris buck in this district. The Harris 
buck is the worst treated animal in regard to name in South 
Africa, being variously called roan antelope, bastard eland, 
bastard gunsbok, bastard sable, tarka buck, and also by the 
name at the head of this paragraph. These differences in name 
do not however affect its fair claim to be second in size only to 
the eland amongst the antelopes. 
On the night of the 13th we were much alarmed by a great 
