368 TlMEHRI. 
All along this part of the creek, the savannah gives 
pasturage to herds of cattle. Lower down, they are 
found on both sides, but higher up, they are confined to 
the right bank. Still further up, far beyond Blairmont, 
immense ranges of savannah land exist, well suited 
for cattle raising, but the land lies useless awaiting 
energy and capital. In many parts the grass is 
soft and suitable ; but in the greater extent, a hard, 
tall, and coarse razor grass baffles even man's progress. 
When burnt down, however, it makes room for the softer 
grasses, and in not a few districts where fire had recently 
run its course, these softer grasses were in course of 
growth. The tall razor-grass effectually prevented one 
from seeing any game that might have been browsing, 
and indeed quite effectually prevented one from tramping 
much about these savannahs. The men set fire to the 
grass on every possible occasion, and as the lower two 
feet consisted almost entirely of close dry refuse, into 
which one sank at every step almost above the knee, it 
burnt with intense rapidity and fury, the fire blazing 
up like an angry fiend. At night, especially, it was a 
grand sight to watch the course of such a conflagration ; 
but in the day, it was more or less of a nuisance, since 
owing to the twisting and bending of the creek, the fine 
falling cinders, and the dense smoke would often un- 
expectedly accost us as we paddled along. At such times, 
the white plumaged birds' skins that were exposed to be 
dried, suffered considerably. 
On Tuesday morning an early start was made for the 
higher reaches of the creek. Birds similar to those 
already named were very numerous ; waterhaas were 
occasionally started from the bush by the dogs ; and 
