CHAPTER XXI. 
THE BLESBOK, 
“"fiong the wily Yeere, such an archere 
As men say that pe be, 
te map wot fail of good hitatt 
Where is sa great plentic. 
 @nt water clere of the ribere 
Shall be full sweete to me, ; 
BUith which right hele E shall right wele 
Cuvure as ye shall see.” 
THE Bontebok flats, which furnish the subject of this singular landscape, would appear indebted for their nomenclature 
to the double fact of possessing within their wide limits neither a solitary antelope of the species referred to, nor one single 
square rood of level land! Lying in the country of the Tambookies, immediately beyond the eastern frontier of Albany, and 
peopled by wild animals alone, this elevated region forms an inexhaustible hunting ground, frequented alike by parties from the 
colony, and by numerous of the Kafir tribes, whose assagais and throwing clubs have left within their own inhabited districts 
lot even a sparrow alive. In place of the usual flat features of South African scenery, a boundless billowy succession of 
surge-like undulations are clothed throughout with a layer of bright green sward, close browsed by the wild herds that it sup- 
ports. Every where is the sward illumined by a dwarf flora, endless in variety as in profusion—the daisy, the buttercup, 
and the dandelion, claiming, amid hundreds of strange faces, now first introduced by Dame Nature, the privilege of old 
acquaintance, 
“ Like some enchantress with her magic wand 
Tn treasures new she decks the smiling land’? —— 
and the whole acres positively derive their complexion from the beds of blossoming bulbs by which they are completely covered 
Alternate patches of green, yellow, purple, or crimson— here bathed in bright golden sunshine, there partially shrouded by 
silvery mist —impart to the country the appearance of being spread with a carpet of gigantic pattern; but over the whole 
tract not a solitary tree, no not even a bush of so much as a foot in height, is anywhere to be seen, and owing to the total 
absence of fuel thus entailed, the Bontebok flats are equally without one permanent inhabitant. 
On our way back to the Colony from the interior, I resolved to pay a flying visit to this boasted preserye, the inac- 
cessible nature of which compelled us to adopt the usual plan of hiring from a farmer residing at the foot of the mountains, 
teams better inured than our own to so difficult an ascent. Both waggons having been freighted with fire-wood, we com- 
menced the arduous undertaking early one Saturday morning, but the united strength of fifteen pairs of oxen to each vehicle, 
failing to carry them more than midway. to the summit, we passed the first night on the slope, lying over like ships under a 
gale of wind. Renewing the attempt with the return of dawn, the omnibus was overthrown ‘through the clumsiness of the 
boors, who, being pleased to attribute our disaster to the fact of its being the Seventh day, made the matter worse by super- 
stitiously declining to assist in putting together the scattered fragments. It was then determined to advance with pack-horses, 
under the guidance of a friend who had joined our expedition from Fort Armstrong and was well acquainted with the flats. 
Four of the sorriest steeds were accordingly laden with fuel, and afer we had watched the sliding descent of the tottering 
vehicles, which, with all four wheels locked, vibrated from side to side in the most frightful manner, our little party of six 
set forward, carrying each his rifle across his shoulder, and his bedding beneath his saddle, Crossing the crystal stream of the 
Klipplaats river, brawling over its shallow and pebbly bottom, we arrived late in the evening at our wild bivouac, roasted a 
carbondadtje, and spreading every man his sheep-skin mantle before the smouldering embers of the niggard fire — 
“Our curtain see—the starry sky, 
Our couch —the green earth's dewy breast.” 
Wreaths of white mist ascending from the vale, had for some time been twirling and flickering over the mountain side ; 
and not long after we had laid us down, a heavy dew began to fall, which rapidly increased to sleet, and assumed at last the 
consistency of positive rain. My companion's ample tarpauline, serving to cover us both, was presently steeped in standing 
pools; and so bleak and unsheltered was our position, that but for a certain pocket ally, which was snugly stowed away 
beneath his head, and referred to every tenth minute at least, I believe we might actually have perished. My own bones 
ached again with the cramp, nor do I ever recollect to have passed a more comfortless night. The moon, that rode on the 
