Sometimes, in the
early morning, this breeze is of an icy coldness, and might be blowing
straight from the South Pole. During the dry season the traveller should
not contract fever, unless he happens to have the germs in his system,
and in this case he may have been immune the whole wet season, and then
the first cold weather brings out the disease and lays him low.
I must now devote a few words to the veldt and to its animal life as we
learnt to know it during some delightful weeks spent in camp eight miles
from the township, where game was then still abundant. There we lived in
comfortable tents, and our dining-room was built of grass held in place
by substantial sticks. The delight of those days is fresh in my memory.
Up and on our horses at dawn, we would wander over this open country,
intersected with tracks of forest. The great charm was the uncertainty
of the species of game we might discover. It might be a huge eland, or
an agile pig, or a herd of beautiful zebra. Now and then a certain
amount of stalking was required, and on one occasion a long ride round
brought us to the edge of a wood, from whence we viewed at twenty yards
a procession of wildebeeste--those animals of almost mythical
appearance, with their heads like horses and their bodies like
cattle--roan antelope, and haartebeeste; but as a rule, the game having
been so little shot at, with an ordinary amount of care the hunter can
ride to within shooting distance of the animal he would fain lay low.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311