ranean and the Cape of Good Hope, a tract of country
embracing both the torrid and the temperate climates.
On the 14th the party struck off to the north-westward;
travelling over a country tolerably well- clothed with grass and
frutescent plants, and abounding -with quachas, pallas, harte-
beests, and a great number of wild buffalos; and in the evening
they arrived at a village of Booshuanas, consisting of
about forty houses, situated upon the banks of the Kour-
manna river, which as far as the eye could reach were beautifully
skirted with large trees, the most remarkable and the
most abundant of which was the mimosa of the Camelopardalis.
The following day they fell in with th e ' missionary
Edwards who, with his wife and family accompanied by his
half-cast companion and assistant Jan Kok and a few Hottentot
attendants, were rambling about the country, apparently
without any determinate object. One of the Hottentots
was still smarting under the recent wounds received
from a lion, which he had the misfortune to encounter, and
from whose voracious fangs his escape was little less than
miraculous. Having observed the fresh traces of a lion's paws
leading into the kraal where his master’s sheep were pent up
by night, the Hottentot had placed what the Dutch call a
stell-roer or trap-gun in the passage leading into the kraal,
with a view to destroy this nightly despoiler. The following
morning, on going to the spot, he found the gun discharged
and, from the quantity of blood sprinkled on the ground,
concluded that the contents must have been lodged in the
body of the animal. Following the traces of blood on the
ground,, he incautiously approached too near to a neighbouring
thicket, out of which, before he had time to presentdriv
musket, the wounded lion burst forth and, pouncing upon
tlie poor Hottentot, laid him flat on the ground with a single
pat of his paw. The royal brute bestrode the Hottentot with
great composure and, as if conscious of having obtained his
enemy within his clutches, seemed to be determined to prolong
the sweet delight of revelling in his revenge. According,
to the poor fellow’s statement, he pawed him just as a kitten
is wont to play with a mouse; and that whenever he attempted
to stir, he was sure to receive what the lion might
consider a gentle tap, but which, however, generally carried
away with it a piece of flesh. Both his arms, indeed, had-,
been lacerated in a shocking manner by this lion’s play, with-
which he continued to amuse himself and to torment his
vanquished enemy for a considerable length of time,, without-
the least apparent intention of speedily, making- a meal of
him. The master of the Hottentot, having by accident discovered
the traces of blood, followed them. to the scene of-
action and, casting his eyes to the spot,, saw with terror the
critical situation of his Hottentot:. He possessed, however,
sufficient presence of mind to level his piece, and, taking a
cool and steady aim, he shot the lion dead upon the Hottentot;
the" skin of which he carried with, him as a trophy of
one of the most fortunate but critical shots that perhaps was
ever, made as, had lie missed his aim, Iris own fate was involved
in that of the Hottentot.
Continuing their journey along the banks o f the Kourmanna
river, they passed a succession of Booshuana villages, plea