Each neft, however, has a feparate entrance on the under fide-,,
and has no communication with its neighbour from within.
Sometimes one of thefe clumps of nefts will extend a fpace of ten
feet in diameter, and contain a population of feveral hundred
individuals. The aloe dichotoma, being the only plant met
with on the hills of this country approaching to the fize o f a tree,
except the mimofa, which grows only on the borders of periodical
rivers, is generally the refort of thefe gregarious birds,
Where they conftrud their temporary dwellings, when nature
calls upon them to fulfil the end o f their creation.
It was on one of thefe edifices that the Hottentot fcreened
himfelf from the fight of the lion. Having/ remained filent and
motionlefs for a length of time, he ventured to peep over the
fide o f the neft, hoping that the lion had taken his departure;
when, to his great terror and aftoniihment, his eyes met thofe of
the animal, to uie his own expreffion, “ flaihing fire at him.”
In ihort, the lion laid himfelf down at the foot of the tree, and
ftirred not from the place for four-and-twenty hours. He then
returned to the fpring to quench his thirft, and, in the mean
time, the Hottentot defcended the tree, and fcampered to his
home which was not more than a mile diftant, as faft as his
feet could carry him. The perfeverance of the lion was fuch,
that it appeared afterwards he had returned to the tree, and from
thence had hunted the Hottentot by the fcent within three
hundred paces of the houfe.
It feems to be a fad well eftabliihed, that the lion prefers the
flelh of a Hottentot to that of any other creature. He has frequently
quently been fingled out from a party o f Dutch. The latter
being difguifed in clothing, and the former going generally
naked, may perhaps account for it. The horfe, next to the
Hottentot, feems to be his favorite.food ; but on the iheep,
•perhaps on account of his woolly covering, which he is too indolent
to uncafe, he feldom deigns to fix his paw.
From the Cape to the Khamies berg, very little occurs in the
animal kingdom to intereft the natural hiftorian, efpecially one
who may have made a previous journey to the eaftward, where
almoft the whole tribe of quadrupeds peculiar to Southern
Africa may be met with. In a Namaaqua hut I obferved the
ikin of a Jackal, with a black bufhy tail, that feemed to be
different from any I had feen on the other fide o f the continent.
It was covered with thick fur. The dogs of the Namaaquas
were of the fame fort as thofe of the Bosjefmans; and it was
here obferved of them* that their tails, contrary to the defcrip-
tion of Linnaeus, given as the fpecific charader to the domeftic
dog, were almoft invariably recurved on the right fide.
In our defcent of the mountain, we were driven to feek ihelter
from the violence of the rain in a mixed horde of Baftaards and
Namaaquas. The chief was of the former defcription. In his
younger days he had been a great lover of the chace, and his
matted hut within ftill difplayed a variety of the {kins of animals
that had fallen before his piece. He boafted that, in one excur-
fion, he had killed feven camelopardales and three white rhino-
cerofes. The latter is not uncommon on the fkirts of the
colony behind the Hantam mountain, and feems to be a variety
3 e 2 only