' 77<5- January. way out of the river towards that fide of it which Was unguarded. On the 25th, from fome traces o f the fea-cows which we found in the duft near another fpot, we concluded that many of thefe huge amphibious animals had lately taken up their quarters in a certain pit thereabouts, which we accordingly prepared to lay fiege to in every poflible way. In the mean time, we faw a yonng lion make its efcape into a clofe thicket, on the fide of this fame pit, where it might be- perfectly fafe from us and our hounds. Not much approving of this animal’s being fo near a neighbour to us, we thought it belt for feveral of Us markfmen to be together at each hiding-place; at the fame time ordering our Hottentots, partly by making a noife and uproar, and partly by the means o f making large fires, to frighten the fea-cows from attempting any o f the other paffes. Thefe animals had probably been befet in the fame manner feveral times before, as this night we fcarcely heard any thing of them. In the mean while, however, we flattered ourfelves, that by continuing to block them up, we fhould at leaf! b.y ftarving them, force them to quit their afylum, and expofe themfelves on the land to the fire of our guns. On the 26th likewife, we were on the look-out after thefe animals, between the hours of ten and eleven in the forenoon, and alfo juft before dufk, though upon a quite different plan from what we had before, as We meant now to hit them on their fnouts the inftant they fhould ftick them up within the reach o f our guns out of the water, in order to take breath, or more properly, (as 4 it it is not unaptly called by the colonifts) to blow themfelves. In order that the ihot might prove mortal, we were obliged, however, on this occafion, to direff it infuch a manner, that the ball fhould pafs through the cavity of the nofe into the brain. It was merely upon this plan, that we went out after the fea-cows, before we arrived at Agter Bruntjes-hoogie, and were ftrengthened by the farmer’s party. But we con- ftantly found thefe animals too fhy, to allow us to put our defigns in execution: for although in thofe plates where they had not been frightened or wounded, they will often in the middle of the day raife their heads and part of their bodies above the furface of the water, they at this time fcarcely ventured juft to put one of their noftrils only out of it, in order to- breathe almoft imperceptibly ; and this only for the moft part, in thofe fpots in which they were fheltered from us by the hanging branches of trees; Notwithftanding this difadvantageous fituation, in confequence o f the acutenefs of their fmell, they feemed ftill to difcern usj efpecially when we were to the windward of them ; as in that cafe they inftantly withdrew to another part. The fame night, we betook ourfelves again to our pofts and in the dulk of the evening, I faw a little animal, which probably was an otter, ftick its head up out of the water and blow itfelf a little, fuffering itfelf for a few moments to be borne away by the current. At half an hour after eight, it being already very dark, a fea-cow began at intervals to put its head up above the water, and utter a fharp, piercing, and, as it were, a very angry cry, which feemed to be between grunting and neighing. Perhaps this cry may be beft expreffed by the words, beurkh January.
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