hirteen hands high pony with eleven stone on his back, and a
bull-buffalo sixteen hands high with a feather weight. Now what are the
odds--who will bet two to one on the buffalo? No takers! An even bet I
name the winner. What is the opinion of the jackal, I wonder, who is
peeping over the shoulders of his young family from out of the hole that
has been his residence since the ant-bear who built it was killed last
year by a leopard? What will the Bushman lay against the _inthumba_
(buffalo) being dropped in the first two miles? This fellow does not
care much which is the winner, he only wishes to see one or the other
killed. From his hiding-place in the rocky crannies, he watches the
race with great excitement. If the buffalo is killed, he is sure to
fall in for a share of the meat. If the white man breaks his neck in
some of the jackals' holes or game-pits, it will be hard lines if this
own brother to the baboons does not manage to have a good ride that very
night on the saddle that the _umlungo_ (white man) lately occupied.

Now they are all ready for the start,--great excitement in the crowd.
Jackals shuffle and shriek; even the hyaena, that has hitherto appeared
asleep, wakes up and gives an hysterical laugh; the vultures and eagles,
from the top of their grand stand high up in the clouds, have a capital
view, wheeling slowly round, in readiness either to gorge the flesh of
the buffalo or pollute that of the white hunter. The hoofs of the horse
striking on the ground act the part of starting-bell; the hunter's
approach is thus discovered; the buffalo whirls his tail, and the
Umlungo bends in his saddle; and "They're off!" would be the remark were
any there to make it. But no, not a living soul is seen; all is earth,
sky, and wild animals. One white man is the only thing bearing God's
image that is now within ten miles, and he is employed in fulfilling the
ordinance that "over every beast of the field shalt thou have dominion."
The Bushman, on the distant rocky mountain, sees the race plainly
without the aid of a telescope, and watches intently what is so
intelligible to his experienced eyes, but what would be to some of our
highly scientific savants' visions like two indistinct specks. The
fight weight takes the lead at a rattling pace, and leaves the eleven
stone far behind; he trusts to his speed, but still thinks it may be
necessary to keep those rocky mountains under his lee, in which to
retreat, as a