December an<^’ as ^ar as * can ^earn> are iQ Africa to be found only 1 in Camdebo and Agter Bruntjes-hoogte ; from whence it is only a few years ago, that one of them was carried to the Cape, and from thence to Holland: confequently, the gnu then wandering in thefe parts was, probably, an old buck, which did not care to keep company any longer with the herd it belonged to, or had been accidentally feparated from it. As this that was feen here kept upon the open plains, and we could not fteal upon i f by creeping towards it from among the bufhes, I endeavoured to overtake it on horfe-? back. And indeed, at firft I got almoft within gun-ihot of the animal, when it ihewed its vicious difpofition in making various curvets and plunges, flinging out behind with one -or both legs, and butting againft the mole-hills with its horns; but immediately upon this, it fled with confider- able velocity in a direCt line over the plain as far as the eye could difcern i t : and I cannot help thinking, but that, this was one that was become furious, as the other gnus I have chafed finds would frequently flop to look back at their purfuers, as foon as they had gained ground o f them in any confiderable degree. What contributed not a little to this gnu’s having efcaped from me was, that the ground was rocky, and that an ardent defire for difleCting this animal induced me to pufli my horfe on too fail at firft; fo that in a very little time it was quite out of breath, and all over in a tremor. A confiderable number of eagles and birds o f prey that feed upon carcafes, were feafting on and fighting for the clk-antilope we had ihot the day before, and had already confumed confumed almoft all the fleih we had left behind us. I n v likewife feared a jackal away from the carcafe. I could not at this time pretend to chafe it, as my horfe was not recovered from the fatigue o f purfuing the gnu. This day we likewife faw a numerous herd of quaggas, which not unfrequently made their appearance in thefe deferts. Scarcely a day paffed without our feeing a great number of hart- beejls between the two Vifcb-rivers, and fpring-boks by the. hundreds and thoufands at a time. It was now the 24th of December, a period which the Chriftians all over the world ufually fpend in mirth and feftivity. My friend and I, though in the midft o f a de- fert, and feparated from the reft of mankind, "were defirous of partaking of this religious jubilee; we therefore overhauled our ftock of bifcuit, and found that on occafion o f this great holiday, we could afford to give out two to each, man. As to the reft of our fare, we treated ourfelves with an oftrich-egg, part o f which was ftewed in our porridge- pot, the remainder being boiled up with fome coffee, a fmall bafon full of which was diftributed to every one o f our company. The third diih confifted of a piece of elk’s fleih. This day at noon the thermometer had been at 84, but towards the evening fell to 76.— At night our Hottentots fattened a piece of meat to a long flout ftrap in fuch a manner, that if the wolf fhould come and attempt to fwallow the meat, he would be caught fail by the ftrap till they could lay hold of him and kill h im ; but the beaft was not at that time in this part of the country, and confequently we could not difcover how far this new invention of theirs was practicable. On
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