Page:Seven Years in South Africa v1.djvu/333

 black, were the robes in which a fanciful nature had bedecked her children. There were striped gnus and black gnus, blessbocks and hartebeests, springbocks and zebras; some were grazing, others gambolling, whilst here and there a herd would stalk solemnly along in single file, as though wrapped in meditation. Several herds of blessbocks stood in long rows cropping the pasturage, and quite near to us was a group of nearly 150 zebras, wending their way in a wide curve slowly to the south. In smaller bands were hartebeests innumerable; black genus, in herds varying from ten head to eighty, had taken up their position near the bushes; and between them and the zebras were springbock gazelles, far too many to be counted. Nor were birds wanting to add to the animation of the scene. There were great bustards (Eupodotis Kaffra and Kori); there were two of the lesser bustards that I have already mentioned. There were chenalopex, ducks, plovers, ibises, cranes, and many others; their rich plumage and graceful forms as they rose in the air, or hovered just above, the ground, contributing largely to the general charm.

I had seen much of the animal life of South Africa during my first journey, but I had never witnessed anything to compare with this; it exceeded all that imagination could depict, and appeared to me enough to transform the most indifferent into a keen lover of nature. For a full hour we feasted our eyes upon the prospect before us, quite forgetting the necessities of our weary cattle. So fascinated