smounting and capturing it, he passed
a large pin through its body, and placed it in his waistcoat-pocket.
Whenever the damaged eye smarted, he pulled the locust out of his
pocket, and passed the pin through it in a fresh place: so hard-lived
was this poor wretch, that I was assured the eye became quite well
before the locust died.

Birds also frequently annoy the Kaffir gardens; and these people's power
of defence against them is so limited, that it is absurd to see the
importance they will sometimes place upon their destruction.

I once won the heart of an old Kaffir and all his wives, by lulling two
birds that had persecuted him for a considerable time.

He came from a great distance to request my aid, and I rode out with him
and shot two crows that had made a regular joke of him for several
weeks. These two birds had established their quarters near his kraal,
and were going to build a nest in a large tree. The Kaffir would soon
have destroyed their eggs, but in the mean time the birds took every
opportunity of stealing any mealeas that might be put out to dry, or
bits of meat that might be left in the sun, and were for a moment
unwatched; his gardens, also, were examined occasionally for seed. When
the old Kaffir rushed out at the birds with his knob-kerries, they would
fly away quickly, giving an ironical sort of "caw," and settling high up
in the tree, look down upon him and continue their jokes. I witnessed
this proceeding on first arriving at the kraal, and laughed immoderately
at the old women's expressions, as they shook their fists with rage at
the birds, and told me the crows were so cunning, that they would not
walk into a trap, and that they always served the man in the same manner
in which I had seen them behave. I walked quietly down to the tree on
which the birds were perched, they little suspecting the new dodge that
was going to be practised on them: they gave some very jocular caws as I
came near them, and eyed me with a sort of supercilious bend of the
head. The excitement of all the Kaffirs was intense, as they looked on
from a distance to witness the effect of my attack.

I walked round the tree until both birds were nearly in a line, they
meanwhile watching all my proceedings most carefully, and I have no
doubt flattering themselves that they were not going to be humbugged by
me. Suddenly a charge of shot rattled through the branches, and down
the crows both dropped, fluttering, to the