The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-04-29

teln" to which the bush doves gather In
the early morning to drink, and should it
happen that foraging or scouting party
is there and the bush doves swoop aside
in affrighted crowds. he is on the alert and
takes the hint There is reason TO be
doulby cautious now. Should the smoke
of campfire DO permitted incautously to
arise, his eyes will first discern IL, and
separate 1T, small though it be, from the
morning mist that is climbing round the
hillside. Should a scout indulge in the
strong but withal fragrant and pleasant
Boer 'baccy," the native will detect it
from afar, should the wind carry Vt down
the kloof He knows, too, all the alarm
notes of bird or beast. Yonder, in the
kopje or krantz, he hears the sharp alarm
note of a dassie or rock rabbit, or down
in the recesses of kloof he notes the
cessation. suddenly,of two louris answer
ing or challenging one another Or lie
knows that such and such a cliff IS the
haunt of the rock ''spreeuw", or startling.
Why do they leave their haunts and go
elsewhere?
Even the balloons among the lodges of
the hill may give their tocsin of alarm,
not the rating they give the Cape leopard
that may be creeping after one OF the un-
wary and incautious youngsters, but
something quite different, at the sight OF
man. The vultures, too, may have their
eyries in the krantzes, and give signs of
being disturbed; or, far away in the clear
African sky, these birds themselves,
swinging In great, lazy circles almost out
of sieht ION the Garage OF their wings"
may at last descend upon a certain spot
for their obscene feast But they can tell
a story to a watchful observer. who, like
the native, will guess from their very
flight the presence or absence of man. as
the case may be. Then in the rhinoster
bush on the hillside a scolding "knor-
haan" may spring up with loud, discord-
ant cry, heard far and near. What does
this mean? 1t may be a jackal returning
from It's midnight pfowl, or 1t may be
that arch-enemy man. Or a "clumpjie'
Of guinea fowl may have started up from
the river side suddenly where they had
been roosting Their very flight will tell
what has disturbed hem, and made them
depart. So. too, the Kaffir crane, the har-
r.er hawk, sitting motionless in the mis-
~ morning on some tall bush, will each
in their way aid the backwoodsman's
search, who will draw his omens from
bird and beast alike. Who will deny that
the lore of the veldt and the cunning of
the primitive naturalist are useful some
times? We who have scarcely a bowling
acquaintance with the dawn know very
little. The child Of the veldt knows much.
Then, of course, the native has local
knowledge. We may be trying to guess
what is on the other side OF mex or
kopje but the native knows what IS
there. Has he not, as a wandering herd,
minding the hocks of merino sheep or An
CORA goats, spent hours in the sunshine
On the very slope you wish 10 know abou'.
grooming out the while some old Kaffir re-
frain, or carving a wooden pipe? He must
know every stone. cave and hollow that
IL there
Then there is the art OF "spooring." or
tracking. The veldt OF South Africa, in
dry spells, looks. and really IS. hard and
almost adomantine. Seldom VIII a soft
place appear for the foot OF man or beast
10 leave its imprint. In such a country
old Red Rube," Of Exmoor fame, would
be bopeiessly out Of IL. and be no better
or worse fhan the most purbllnd child Of
civilization. othough he might have been
able always 10 "siot" GEd horbor his deer
ia Homer woods. Not - the South Afri-
can native. who. Indeed, has taught The.
Beers themselves much OF Their savage
cunning ana crafty ways. lie VIII rea
the brown surface 81 the yeldi % easily
an an open book. LEI hun quarter the
ground end give him time, ana BE- VIII
soon toll you whether men Or horses hive
gone Up ycnder gorge or kloof. ~ they
have, Indeed passed tbof way. ~ vii -
40 far as 10 make a shreWd guess bow
many OF them there were and how long