The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-12-13
NIGHT ON THE vELDT.

EFrom the London NALL
There is absolutely nothing on earth
more beautiful and SOlemnly impressive
than the starlit serenity of a South AZ
r1can night. The sky is cloudless, the
air is fresh and cool the silence is full
OF busy cummings of insects and sug-
gestlons Of life on all sides. And yet
there is the sense of complete isolation,
of certain alOOfness from mundane
things, which is awesOme and inspir-
ing.
The veldt rolls out it's great waves of
short stUbble from horizon to horizon.
broken here and there by sugarloaf
shaped antheaps and a sparse vegeta-
ton OF Zu1kerbOSch or dwarf mimOSa
The Southern Cross shines in the sky
and the Milky Way seems to have ire
oIed its myriads of tiny scintillating
consultations.
Anon a cicada cheeps with a shrill
high vibrating note which is repeated
with the mOnOtony of a tightly strung
tomtom. A couple of nachtaapies, cur
ious little beasts, part monkey, part
mouse and part bat. drop from the
zuikerbOsch and dart through the
thOrnbush. A meercat sits up in the
starlight, its Whitley gray breast shin
ing like silver. 1t looks around in an
impudent way, and takes stock of the
Veldt and the human intruders. A
spr1nghaan, or locust, heralds a pass
ing swarm of silent ghostly, violet
winged spirits of the departed. a thou
sand soft sounds seem to heighten
rather than to break the stiffness OF the
night.
Creeping along the side of the near
est antheap comes a curious, uncanny
insect, with a long neck and a longer
body, misshapen like a cricket bat, and
very similar to it in color. This is a
'HOttentOt god" so called because the
Hottentots are supposed to worship it.
The little BOer boys often catch these
funny insects and set them on to fight,
one another, which they are easily per-
suaded to do, with an amount of feroc-
which
little creatures.
From the distance comes the hoarse
cry of a great baauw. or bustard re-
sem bling that of a peacock, but less
shrin. They are good shooting, and
even better eating, partaking of the
character of the turkey, to which, in
deed, they are nearly allied. Another
veldt bird which is game in every sense
of the word is knOrrhaan. also spelled
koran, something between a partridge
and wild duck. Its prefix ''knorr''
IS said to be. derived from the curious
kind of rafting purr which it makes
when it thinks itself in any danger.
The honeybird is well known deni-
zen OF many parts of the TranSVaal. It
has the unique POPULARITY that it does
not fear men and women, but actually
flies up to them, uttering a plaintiVe
low note, and, flying about their heads
tries to lead them on to the nearest
clump of rocks or kopje. The bird
knows full well that under a certain
rock lies a store of honey, concealed
by the cunning bees, and, rock honey
being as much esteemed by birds as by
human beings, the clever little fellow
tries to induce a friendly being with
two strong hands to push aside the
rock, so that it may get the honey.
If it succeed in its object and the
traveller, on the veldt, attracted by the
birds hutterings to and fro between
himself and the rocks, finds the honey.
the bird changes its plaintive tone to
one of joy and pleasure as much as
to say, Thank you very much"