Page:Seven Years in South Africa v1.djvu/330

 The next morning was again very fine and bright, and the golden sunbeams that penetrated the foliage above our heads awakened the feathered tribe betimes to commence their usual concert. Small song-birds were especially numerous, as well as various kinds of shrikes, and the Tockus flavirostris.

For two reasons our progress all day was very slow. Not only were our bullocks so weary that they required continual intervals of rest, but the bushwood was so dense that we felt the necessity of being very cautious. We did not, however, catch sight of a single lion; and, in due time, found ourselves once more upon comparatively open country.

It turned out a gorgeous day, and I am sure that none of us will forget the view upon which we gazed across the table-land. To a sportsman, and still more to a student of animal life, such days must ever remain engraven on the memory; they atone for the discomforts which have been endured in the past; they explain the longing which arises to revisit former haunts.

On reaching the top of the plateau, we looked across a vast plain, extending for at least twenty miles to the north and south, bounded on the east by mimosa groves. Except around the pools where the grass grew high, the plain was covered with a rich carpet of new green sward, thickly studded with brown ant-hills, and forming the habitat of numerous sorts of game. Darkbrown, light-brown, tawny, yellow, motley, and