The Portsmouth inquirer. [volume] (Portsmouth, O. [Ohio]) 1849-1855, 1850-10-28
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rive Years Of .Hunters Life in South
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The spfingbok is so termed by the colonists
lof,.account ofits peculiar habit OF sptinging,
lor taking extraordinary bounds, rising TO an
incredible height in the air. when pursued.
The extraordinary mapnerin which spring
Iboks are capable Of spfinging, is best seen
when they are chased by dog. On these
occasions away start the herd, with a sue
cession of strange perpendicular bounds, ris-.
ing with cursedslions high into the air, and
ai the same time elevating The snowy folds
|oflong white hair on their launches and
along their back, which imparts to them a
peculiar fairy-like appearances, different
from any other animal. They bound to the
height Of ten or twelve feet, with the elias
fieily of an India rubber ball. clearing at
each spring from twelve. to fifteen feet ,;of
grcuhd, without apparently the slightest ex-
|efti9f6 In performing The spring. they APP
peaI ieE an Instant as il suspended IN the
air. when, down come all four feet
again together, and, striking the plain, away
they soaTagbin, as if.about 10 take fights--
The rd-only adopt this motion for % few
hundred yards. when they subside into
light elastic trot, arching their graceful
necks, and lowering their noses to the ground
s,if in sportiye mood. Presently pulling pp,
they face about, and rencountre the object
Of their alarm. In crossing any path or
wagon-road on which men have lately trod,
the springbok invariably clears it bya single
surprising bound /; and when a herd of per.
haps many thousands have toHcross a track
OF the sori, tits extremely beautiful to see
how each antelope performs this feat, SO
suspicious are they Of the ground on which
theirenemy, man, has trodden. They bound
in similar way when passing to leeward Of
a lion, or any other animal of which they
entertain an instructive dread. RNtr'
The accumulated masses of living crea-
tures which the springboks exhibit on the
greater migrations is utterly astounding and
any traveller witnessing it as ha We, and CIV
ing o true description of what he has seen,
can hardly expect to be believed, SO marvel
lous is The scene. ~ .4s3g g 3
They have been well and truly compared
10 the wasting swarms Of flocusts, SO familiar
to the traveller in this land of wonders
Like them they consume every green thing
in their course, laying waste vast districtsin
few hours, and running in q single night
the fruits of q farmers toll. The course
adopted by the atelope is generally such as
to bring them back 10 their own country by
route different from that by which they
set out. Thus their line Of march some
times forms something like vast oval, oran
extensive square, Of which the diameter may
be SINE hundred miles, ard the time occu-
pied in this migration may vary from si1
months TO q year, M .4,1ifssj aasig 8,
A FLIGHT or Iocusrs. s~.,
On the following day had the pleasure
Iof beholding the first flight Of locusts that
thad seen since my arrival in the colony
We were standing in the middle OF a plain
lof unlimited length, and about FIVE miles
across, when observed .hem advancing
On they came like a snow-storm, flying
slow and steady, abouta hundred yards from
1.-THE ground. | stood looking at them until
the air was darkened with their masses,
while the plain on which we stood became
densely covered with .them. Far as the
eve could reach East, West, North and
South-they strtched in one unbroken cloud,
land more than an hour elapsed before their
deyasting legions had swept by. waspar-
Iticularly struck with this most wonderful
and truly interesting sight; and 1 remember
lat the time my feeling was one of self-grat-
Eulationat having visited Q country where
tcould witness such scene.
N3 OSTRICH EGGS, AND osTRIcHEs. ''eN
In the evening two of the Hotentots
walked into camp bending over a burden Of
ostrich eggs having discovered nest con-
tanning fye-and-t thirty, Their manner Of
carrying them amused me. Having .diyest-
ed themselves Of their leather Crackers .
(which in colonial phrase means trowsers,
they bad secured the ankles with rheimpys,
aud having converted them into. bags, they
had cranmed them with as many ostrich
eets as they would contain. They. left
Iabott half Of the number behind concealed
lin the sand, for which they returned on the
following morning. While camped at this
jyalley we fell in with several nests Of os-
triches, and here first ascertained q .singu-
llar propensity peculiar to those birds lfa
person discovers the nest, and does not at
once remove the eggs, on returning he will
most probably find them all smashed. This
The old birds almost invariably do, evenwhen
4 the intruder has not handled the eggs, or SO
much as ridden within five yards OF them
The nest is merelya hollow scoped in the
sandy soil, generally among heath or other
low bushes; its diameter is about seventeen;
litis believed that two hens often lay in one
nest. The Matching Of the eggs is notleft,
as is generally believed, TO the heat Of the
sun, but on the conthry, the cock relieves
1.-THE hen in the incubation. These eggs
4 lform considerable item in the Bushman's
lcuisine, aad the shells are converted into
llwater TASKS, cups. and dishes. l have Of
|ien seen Bushgirls and Bakalahari women
who belong 10 the wandering Bechuana
|tribes Of the Kalahari desert, come down q
Iihe fountains from their remote habitations
sometimes situated at an amazing distance
each carrying on their back a kaross or q
network containing from twelve to fifteer
ostrich egg-shells, which had been emptiet
BY a small aperture at one end; these tksy
l flI with water, and cork up the hole wild
grass. N = ia.iis4 " " iRA.s aesa 2,
IA fayofite method adopted by the viii,
Bushmaii for approaching the ostrich an
other varieties Of game, ID to clothe himsel
in the skin of one Of these birds, in which
taking care pfthe wind he stalks about thl
plain cnnningly Initiating the gait and mo
4 tions an ethf,- ostrich until within gianqe