212 
VISITS TO MADAGASCAR. 
CHAP. VIII. 
dred yards of them, when they cocked up their tails and can- 
tered away. They were all of a tawny brown colour, with the 
ends of their tails white. In their size and their paces they 
looked more like ponies with excessive hog manes, than ani¬ 
mals of the ox species. During the day we passed herd after 
herd, varying in number from five to twenty in each, including 
the young ones. The spring-boks frequently crossed the road 
only a short distance before us, passing along by a succession 
of bounds, or vaulting leaps, with remarkable rapidity and 
gracefulness. Mile after mile these beautiful animals ap¬ 
peared in varied numbers, scattered over the plains on either 
side. On our way we passed the waggon of a travelling boer, 
and purchased of him half a sheep and some flesh of the 
gnu for our men. 
About eleven o’clock, on the same morning, we crossed a 
rushy, muddy, but rather deep stream, called Seacow’s River, 
and soon afterwards, reaching a farm-house, we sent a man 
to ask if we could procure forage for our cattle, and a little 
bread for ourselves. The man returned to say that our wants 
could be supplied, and we were invited to alight. On reaching 
the house, we were agreeably surprised by a scene of refine¬ 
ment and taste for which we had not been prepared. We were 
ushered into a nice, elegantly-furnished room, on the walls of 
which hung some good pictures. A number of elegantly- 
bound volumes lay on the table, where also there was a shallow 
dish filled with fresh and fragrant flowers. Two young ladies 
welcomed us, and in a minute or two a tall, gentlemanly 
man entered, who bade us welcome in fine English, and 
pressed us to take breakfast, which was soon dispensed with 
true English hospitality and kindness by his daughter, while 
we conversed with our host. Alluding to the animals we 
had seen, he said that at certain seasons when drought pre¬ 
vailed in other parts, the spring-boks came down to this 
neighbourhood in thousands; that he had sometimes shot 
