Diary of a tour in South Africa . ce into Transvaal territory, we were unableto follow it. From a sportsmans point of view, 112 Diary of a Tour in South Africa. this, and the two following days were, I supposeanything but a success ; but it was a charmingexperience roving about in the wide and ap-parently boundless veldt, and none of us willreadily forget the days we spent under suchnovel conditions. It was again dark when wereached home, and after we had wished ourfriend Cowan a good passage across that nastyford in the dark, we were quite ready fordinner and bed. May lo. , To-day has been pr
Diary of a tour in South Africa . ce into Transvaal territory, we were unableto follow it. From a sportsmans point of view, 112 Diary of a Tour in South Africa. this, and the two following days were, I supposeanything but a success ; but it was a charmingexperience roving about in the wide and ap-parently boundless veldt, and none of us willreadily forget the days we spent under suchnovel conditions. It was again dark when wereached home, and after we had wished ourfriend Cowan a good passage across that nastyford in the dark, we were quite ready fordinner and bed. May lo. , To-day has been pretty much of a repetitionof yesterday, driving in another direction ; al-though in this flat plain round about Mafeking,different points of the compass do not count formuch to the stranger, it not being easy to geta landmark. In this respect the veldt bears astrong resemblance to the sea, one having todepend mostly for ones bearings on the sun byday, and the stars at night, unless of course LUNCH ON THE VELDT. VAm AWY ViO \\0^\JA. % Diary of a Tour in South Africa. 113 one is familiar with the district. It was thisfact that orave the Boers such an advantageover our troops in the late war. To-day hasbeen chiefly remarkable for the large numberof paauw (Dutch for peacock) we have bird is really a bustard, and is next insize to the ostrich. A cock bird sometimesstands five feet in height, and weighs aboutforty pounds, but we heard of one that hadbeen shot weighing sixty-five pounds, whichhad figured at the previous Christmas dinnerin Dicksons Hotel. Our first introduction tothe paauw was yesterday, when the keen eyesof the Major detected one about a quarter ofa mile ahead. We made an attempt to stalkit, but unsuccessfully. It is a difficult bird toshoot, and it is almost impossible to get nearit with a shot gun. Standing as it does somefour to five feet in height, it has a very widerange of vision, and once in the air it flies ata great height. During to-day we saw fully
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