side of the river. Have you a
mind to try your skill?"

"No, not particularly," replied Alexander; "I have had enough of
hippopotami. By the by, the river is much wider than it was."

"Yes, by my calculation we ought to travel no more to the westward after
to-day. We must now cut across to the Yellow or Val River. We shall
certainly be two days without water or pasturage for the cattle, but
they are in such good condition that they will not much feel it. There
is a river which we shall cross near its head, but the chance of water
is very small; indeed, I believe we shall find it nowhere, except in
these great arteries, if I may so call them."

"Well; I was thinking so myself, Swinton, as I looked at the map
yesterday, when I lay in my wagon," said the Major; "so then to-morrow
for a little variety; that is, a desert."

"Which it will most certainly be," replied Swinton; "for, except on the
banks of the large rivers, there are no hopes of vegetation in this
country at this season of the year; but in another month we may expect
heavy falls of rain."

"The Bushmen have left us, I perceive," said Alexander.

"Yes, they have probably remained behind to eat the lion."

"What, will they eat it now that it has been poisoned?"

"That makes no difference to them; they merely cut out the parts
wounded, and invariably eat all the carcasses of the animals which they
kill, and apparently without any injury. There is nothing which a
Bushman will not eat. A flight of locusts is a great feast to him."

"I can not imagine them to be very palatable food."

"I have never tasted them," replied Swinton; "but I should think not.
They do not, however, eat them raw; they pull off their wings and legs,
and dry their bodies; they then beat them into a powder."

"Do you suppose that St. John's fare of locusts and wild honey was the
locust which we are now referring to?"

"I do not know, but I should rather think not, and for one reason,
which is, that although a person in the wilderness might subsist upon
these animals, if always to be procured, yet the flights of locusts are
very uncertain. Now there is a tree in the country where St. John
retired, which is called the locust-tree, and produces a large sweet
bean, shaped like the common French bean, but nearly a foot long, which
is very palatable and nutritious. It is even now given to cattle in
large quantities; and I imagine that this was the locust referred to;
and I believe many