saddles, while the bits were removed from the horses' mouths and the animals allowed, Cape fashion, to take the customary roll in the grass. This luxury to a Cape horse seems indispensable, and without it he will rarely enjoy his grass or corn. No sooner, however, had the steeds rolled than each was again saddled, and, with the exception of the still slackened girths, was ready to be mounted in half a moment. Rifles and revolvers were carefully examined, to see whether the night dew had done any mischief, and then, having made a careful sweep round the horizon with his field-glasses, the commander gave the order for the morning meal, which consisted of a little cold tea, some bread, and "beltong" (sun-dried game). After half an hour's rest they again started as silently as before. The day had broken with all the splendour of an African morning. The day before had been rainy, and the showers had refreshed the ground and filled the various pools with water, and all kinds of wild animals were busy and cheerful in the plains. A number of parrots and monkeys were screaming and chattering with content, and the sportsmen of the party were much exercised at hearing the pleasant double whistle of the quail sounding from various patches of long grass. Figures which it was first thought were Zulus were seen on the summits of the rocks, but Piet Uys declared that they were merely baboons, whose early morning custom was to come from the heights to search for and dig up roots, which seemed to grow here in abundance. Vultures, sweeping aloft, were circling in the air above where there had evidently been a skirmish, for the carcasses of some horses still remained uneaten and poisoning the pure air. Here and there a black-breasted and magnificent eagle sat on some withered branch, and, seeming quite indifferent to the soldier's presence, scanned the ground below him as if to select the daintiest morsel for his morning meal. Mounting to the head of the kloof the party came to a splendid prospect and panorama stretching out below. The plains seemed to roll away to the north-east as far as the eye could see, while the bright, glowing tints of the rugged foreground were mellowed away into the middle distance, until, quite far away, the bold outlines of the mountains assumed, not a purple, as in Europe they would have done, but a rich blue tint, yet standing out in fine clear relief against the distant sky, the dry atmosphere failing to give the subdued effect of distance usually observed in other climates. These mountains were the Tobomba range, which run northward, and almost parallel to the coast-line. Amidst small groves of what seemed in the distance to be acacia, and near the banks of many tiny streams that wound along the plain, were groups of game. Herds of various kinds of bok were there, and here and there some solitary and not gregarious animal was to be seen, now bounding away from some imaginary danger, and now calmly browsing on the sweet veldt.