389 
1 •] Late. Music Meeting at Chester . 
animals, tygers, panthers, leopards, 
hyaenas, wolves, and wild dogs, all of 
which lie close during the day, and 
carry on their depredations at night, 
i hey are in general timid and cautious, 
and will seldom, if ever, venture to 
attack men, unless driven to great ex¬ 
tremities ol hunger, or in defence of 
taeir own lives ; then they are furious 
and determined. They seldom attack 
the horned cattle, the smaller animals 
are principally their prey ; among the 
domestic animals, goats and sheep are 
the greatest sufferers. The larger and 
more dangerous kinds of animals, as the 
lion, the elephant, and the rhinoceros, 
are seldom seen in these parts, though 
we are not quite without them, their 
tracks being sometimes seen. 
r l he banks of the larger streams are 
covered with a great quantity of shrub¬ 
bery called bush, which is its most ap¬ 
propriate term : it does not deserve the 
name of forest, not producing any 
timber of growth or size; this bush 
affords shelter to a number of buffaloes, 
which are sometimes shot by the Hot¬ 
tentots: their skin being very tough, is 
in great request for making draught 
ropes, or track tows for the oxen to 
draw by. The hippopotamus, here 
called the sea-cow, is the most extraor¬ 
dinary of all the animals this country 
produces ; although its body is equal 
in size to the largest ox, its legs are 
not more than 18 inches long, very 
thick and strong, the foot is much larger 
than that of tlie ox, and of the same 
shape, the skin is very thick, about an 
inch and a half, in some places two 
inches, it is not covered with hair, but 
rough and uneven, like the skins of 
those fish that are without scales, there 
is a little hair scattered over it, but not 
perceptible till you have the skin in 
vour band : the skin is used to make a 
kind of whip, called a shamboc, its 
toughness and hardness is such that it 
fetches blood at every stripe. The 
head is immensely large, its length from 
the top of the head to the nose, was 
three feet, its breadth across the eyes 
was two feet two inches, it does not 
taper always towards the mouth, but 
continues nearly the same breadth down 
to the nose, its mouth is rounded some¬ 
thing like the representation of a dol¬ 
phin’s head on country signs. The 
tusks were four or five inches long, its 
ears were very small. Just above the 
mouth are two holes through which it 
spouts up the water. It generally keeps 
m the fresh water, but at night comes 
out to feed on the weeds and long grass 
on the banks of the liver; of all the 
ugly monsters nature ever formed, this 
is surely the most ugly. There are 
several kinds of smaller beasts, dreadful 
enemies to the poultry, foxes, wild cats, 
otters, and the mansehunt of which 
there are great numbers ; they resemble 
the pole cat of England, but larger, 
stronger, and more destructive. The 
plains are peopled with a variety of an¬ 
telopes, but by no means in such num¬ 
bers as described by Vaillant and Bar- 
row; you may travel many miles and 
often a whole day, without seeing one; 
they are extremely wild, wonderfully 
swift and watchful, which makes it 
very difficult to get within shot of them. 
There are hares, partridges and phea¬ 
sants, the latter rather scarce ; the wild 
turkey and the Guinea fowl are also 
very scarce ; birds of prey are in great 
abundance, from the rock eagle to the 
kite, and several species of vulture. 
On the plains too we have ostriches, 
zebras, and the quacha, the latter more 
plentiful than the two former; they 
appear more social, usually going in 
herds ; their motion and appearance is 
more like the mule than the horse, the 
manner of carrying the head shews 
abundance of spirit and fire. The os¬ 
triches are seldom killed, their speed is 
so great, and their vigilance equal to it. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
HE taste for music, which now 
seems greatly ou the increase, has 
induced me to trouble you with the 
subjoined account of the meeting at 
Chester, should you deem it worthy 
your acceptation. The celebration of 
tlie grand musical festival of Chester, 
commenced on Tuesday, Sept. 25th, in 
the Cathedral. This building has less 
to boast of, in point of architectural 
beauty, than any episcopal edifice we 
have ever seen ; but upon this occasion 
the mode of fitting it up was admirably 
calculated for the purpose intended, 
and, with the exception of the fine and 
ringing choir of Gloucester, displayed 
the voices and instruments to as much 
advantage as we ever heard. The or¬ 
chestra was erected at the western ex¬ 
tremity of the broad aisle, usually called 
the nave, and the audience had forms 
placed for them between the rows of 
pillars, the gallery for the grandees 
being at the back of the screen. On 
this occasion it was splendidly filled ; 
we observed, in particular, the Countess 
of 
