Part 19 (1/2)
The waggons were drawn up so as to form a square, inside of which were tied the horses; the sheep were driven underneath, and the oxen were tied up outside They feasted well theboks, but the poor animals had neither food nor water after their hard day's journey
As soon as they had supped they retired to their waggons, and the Hottentots really supplied, that itin the vicinity was evident from the restlessness of the oxen, who tried to break the leathern thongs hich they were fastened
The ht, when they perceived the bodies of some anie, as they always do in an iht, and the Hottentots soon made out that they were five or six lions not forty yards distant The truth of this supposition was confirry roar from one of theuns, and soled furiously to escape, for the roar of the lions had spread consternation
Our travellers heard it in their waggons, and were out with their guns in a minute At last one of the oxen broke loose, and, as it was running behind its co not more than three or four yards fro of one of the lions, which bore the ani before the fire to the attack, when the ani upon them Bremen called out for them to retreat, which they did, as the animal advanced step by step towards the, the lion then went to his prey, and dragged it to a distance of about fifty yards, where it coh they could not plainly distinguish, the tearing of the ani of its bones by the lion, while its bellowings were most pitiful
They all now fired in the direction where they heard the noise; the lion replied to the volley by a treons, so as to be distinctly visible Breed our travellers not to ry and very angry, and would certainlyupon them, which must be attended with disastrous effects
The other lions were also nowround and round the cauns, and re his prey
”We must be quiet here,” said Bremen to Alexander; ”there are many lions round us, and our fire is not sufficient to scare them away, and they uns,--that would frighten thehten the other lions, perhaps, but it would enrage this one so near to us, and he would certainly unpowder upon some ashes now and then, as we have but a small fire: the flash will drive them away for the ti his ry lions approached him, he would rush at therohich made not only the poor oxen, but the men also, to shudder as they heard it
In this un in his hand, expecting an ireat relief of them all The lions had disappeared, and they walked out to where the old lion had made his meal, and found that he had devoured nearly the whole of the ox; and such was the enorth of his jaws, that the rib-bones were all des, which are known as the marrow-bones, were broken as if by a hammer
”I really,” observed the Major, ”have more respect for a lion, the more I become intimate with his feline majesty”
”Well, but he is now,” observed Swinton, ”and I think that we had better be off too”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The oxen were yoked, and the caravan proceeded at a slow pace to gain the wished-for river As our travellers walked their horses--for the poor animals had been without food or water for twenty-four hours, and all idea of chasing the various herds of animals which were to be seen in their path was abandoned for the present--Swinton remarked, ”We are not far from the track of the Mantatees, when they hteento ask you for some information on that point, Swinton
There has been more than one irruption into the country froave me a very fair idea of the history of the Cape colony, but ere both too ed after our arrival in Cape Town for me to obtain further information”
”I will, you may be assured, tell you all I know,” replied Swinton; ”but you must not expect to find in me a Mr Fairburn I may as well remark, that Africa appears to be a country not able to afford support to a dense population, like Europe; and the chief cause of this is the great want of water, occasionally rendered hts of four or five years' continuance”
”I grant that such is the case at present,” observed the Major; ”but you well know that it is not that there is not a sufficient quantity of rain which falls generally once a year, but because the water which falls is carried off so quickly Rivers become torrents, and in a feeeks pour all their water into the sea, leaving, I may say, none for the remainder of the year”
”That is true,” replied Swinton
”And so it will be until the population is not only dense, but, I htened and industrious Then, I presu a supply of water throughout the year which have been so long adopted in India, and were for large tanks, from which the water cannot escape, except by evaporation”
”I believe that it will be the only remedy”
”Not only the reetation will flourish, and the vegetation will not only husband the water in the country, but attract more”
”All that is very true,” replied Swinton, ”and I trust the time will come, when not only this land may be atered with the dew of heaven, but that the rivers of grace h it in every direction, and the tree of Christ may flourish”
”Amen,” replied Alexander
”But to resume the thread of my discourse,” continued Swinton; ”I was about to say, that the increase of population, and I may add the increase of riches,--for in these noreat cause of these descents frohts which I have mentioned of four or five years compel them to seek for pasture elsewhere, after their own is burnt up At all events, it appears that the Caffre nations have been continually sustaining the pressure from without, both from the northward and the southward, for many years