Page 82 - Adventures in Africa

Scarcely had we put on some meat to cook, when
half a dozen of our acquaintances arrived. It was

satisfactory to find that Jan understood their language.
They appeared to be well disposed towards us, and
our friendship was cemented by the feast of quagga
flesh which we got ready for them, W e ourselves,

however, preferred the more delicate meat of the
springbok. W e kept somo of the meat for our next

day's breakfast, and offered the remainder to our
guests, which they quickly stowed away.
They undertook to convey us down the river the
following morning in their canoes, or on a raft,

observing that, if we went in the canoes, we must be
separated, as each could carry only one of tis. We,

therefore, determined to trust to a raft, such as we
ourselves had proposed building. Our guests retired
for a short distance from us, and formed a camp by

themselves for the night.
I awoke about two hours before dawn, when my
attention was attracted to a peculiar noise which I

might liken to a low grunting and the tread of
numberless feet. As day broke, I saw the ground to
the southward covered with a dense mass of deer

moving slowly and steadily on towards an opening in
a long range of hills to the east. They appeared to
be in no hurry, but continued feeding as they went. I

aroused my uncle, who pronounced them to be spring­
boks, one of which I had shot on the previous evening
migrating for the winter to the northward. They were

beautiful animals, graceful in form, of a light cinna­
mon red on the back, fading into white on the under
part of the body, a narrow band of reddish brown