31 
who, in speaking of this animal, says, “when it has once got ahead of its pursuers, it is very apt to turn round and stare them 
full in the face!” 
Wild throtigh their red anil sable hair, 
Look out their eyes with savage stare— 
aud in a thinly-wooded country, destitute of brushwood, they would really almost appear to be playing a game at hide-and-seek 
with the hunter —ever peeping at him from behind the trees, so that they may be casily killed from horseback, although they 
generally contrive to keep out of the range of the pedestrian marksman. The longest shot that 1 recollect to have made 
during our expedition, sealed the death-warrant of the magnificent male specimen here portrayed, parts of whose splendid 
robe had assumed the deepest crimson dye. Stupidly sticking himself up as a target at four hundred and twenty yards, he 
converted his heart into the bull’s eye; and the caravan passing presently afterwards, we slung the ecarcase behind one of the 
waggons, and brought it on to the bivonae. But although remarkably dark-coloured and yenison-like in appearance, the flesh 
of this species was nevertheless invariably lean, dry, and tasteless, and on no oceasion proved worth the trouble of carrying. 
In the course of my sylvan rambles, I not unfrequently came upon the fresh and sometimes even reeking remains of 
the Hartebeest, in the very scene where it had been surprised and rent by some beast of prey—the many bleaching skulls 
and worm-eaten horns, which are to be seen strewed over the plain, in regions nearly, if not totally, depopulated, fully attest- 
ing the success that has attended the carnivorous prowler, the lion and the Jyena venatica more especially. Like the wild 
dogs of India, these dogs of the African desert, which are yelept by the Colonists the wilde honden, take the field in large 
organised packs, seldom failing by their perseverance to weary out the swiftest antelope, whilst the confederacy enables them 
to subdue the strongest, with which, single-handed, their slender form would render them incapable of coping. Nor does 
king Leo, as affirmed, restrict himself to game that he has killed himself. I one morning shot a noble bull Hartebeest out 
of a large herd that had been capering before me for some distance —their red and yellow painted bodies glittering in the 
sun, in one of the green glades at the foot of the Cashan mountains; and having cut off his great hammer head, the 
hooked and knotted horns of which were splintered from age and hard thumps received in many a well-fought duello,— 
concealed it in a bush, and continued my sport. Meeting one of our Matabili guides shortly afterwards, strolling about by 
himself, seeking for something to eat, I directed him to the place, and requested that when he had finished his dinner, he 
would be so obliging as to take the head to the waggon, Passing the spot on my return, I was surprised to perceiye my 
friend perched on the summit of a mimosa tree, making signs towards a neighbouring bush; the half-devoured carcase— of 
which the fore-quarters only remained —together with the heavy foot-prints of a lion stamped around the spot, rendering the 
real state of the case at once intelligible. Having however fortunately taken the rough edge off the royal appetite, his shaggy 
Majesty did not deem it worth his while to interfere with the removal vf my humble share of the spoils— although, since 
the truth must be spoken, I confess fo haying afforded him the briefest time that might be, to ponder over the subject, 
before taking my departure. 
The annexed scene lies in the immediate enyirons of the Cashan mountains, where the Hartebeest occurred in the greatest 
abundance—the herds often containing so many as two or three hundred individuals. Gambolling and Iuxuriating over the grassy 
downs, they revel in the shady recesses of the odoriferous mimosa groves which abound in those unfrequented solitudes — their 
vaudy colors presenting a most brilliant contrast to the foliage of the “ green-wood-tree,” against the stem of which they are 
constantly raking their rough horns, until they have acquired a complete coating of bark. 
Tn South African scenery, the nests of the pismire form a very singular feature; some, arising tram the solitary plains 
in the form of a pile of gigantic sugar loaves, or reminding the spectator of a Christmas cake ;— whilst others, shaped like 
the humble cabins of the Bushman tribe, resemble a native kraal or village. The country over which we passed, was usually 
eoyered with these latter dome-shaped mounds of clay, from two to four feet in height, which were almost invariably scooped 
out, either by the long nails of the ant-eater, or by savages, so as to resemble a baker's oven. In wet weather especially, or 
during a dearth of fuel, these aut-hills were our stoutest allies; but, on the other hand, the Hottentots not unfrequently put 
the strength of our waggons to the test, by driving carelessly oyer them— the structure, although honey-combed, being often 
sufficiently hard to resist the pressure of the wheel, and thus throw the vehicle off its equilibrmm, The kitchen fire having one 
rainy night been kindled with great difficulty in one of these friendly mounds, and the tea-kettle placed over an artificial 
chimney therein, the light, which could not be produced by any other means, served as a beacon to one of the Hottentots, 
who having gone in advance to reconnoitre, had contrived to lose his way, A lady at the Cape, looking at the annexed draw- 
ing, inquired with great simplicity, “ whether that,” placing her fair finger on the ant-hill, “was not the house in which the 
Hartebeest resided?" Some one had the ill manners to laugh, whereupon she rejoined, “ Beavers build houses, pray why should 
not the poor Hartebeests also?” 
Two distinct animals are found in this part of the country, that alike burrow in the ground, and appear to subsist 
entirely upon ants and termites, uprooting the laboured works constructed by those minute and industrious insects, and leaving 
upon eyery habitation unequivocal marks of their desolating visits. Of these, the Earth-hog, or Aard-vark* of the Colonists, 
is the most common; it is from six to seven feet in extreme length, scantily covered with coarse brown hair, and fur- 
nished with a slimy flexible tongue, capable of being protruded to the extent of eighteen or twenty inches beyond the atte- 
* Orycteropus Capensis. 
