Hans was saluted by a volley of questions, "Where have you been? What
detained you? What has happened to you? You're all safe and sound?
Not hurt, I hope?" These and a few others were asked in a breath.
"I'm sound as a bell," said Hans; "and for the rest of your inquiries
I'll answer them all as soon as Swartboy has skinned this `aard-vark,'
and Totty has cooked a piece of it for supper; but I'm too hungry to
talk now, so pray excuse me."
As Hans gave this reply, he cast from his shoulders an animal nearly as
big as a sheep, covered with long bristly hair of a reddish-grey colour,
and having a huge tail, thick at the root, and tapering like a carrot; a
snout nearly a foot long, but quite slender and naked; a very small
mouth; erect pointed ears resembling a pair of horns; a low flattish
body; short muscular legs; and claws of immense length, especially on
the fore-feet, where, instead of spreading out, they were doubled back
like shut fists, or the fore hands of a monkey. Altogether a very odd
animal was that which Hans had styled an "aard-vark," and which he
desired should be cooked for supper.
"Well, my boy," replied Von Bloom, "we'll excuse you, the more so that
we are all of us about as hungry as yourself, I fancy. But I think we
may as well leave the `aard-vark' for to-morrow's dinner. We've a
couple of peacocks here, and Totty will get one of them ready sooner
than the aard-vark."
"As for that," rejoined Hans, "I don't care which. I'm just in the
condition to eat anything--even a steak of tough old quagga, if I had
it; but I think it would be no harm if Swartboy--that is, if you're not
too tired, old Swart--would just peel the skin off this gentleman."
Hans pointed to the "aard-vark." "And dress him so that he don't
spoil," he continued; "for _you_ know, Swartboy, that he's a tit-bit--a
regular _bonne bouche_--and it would be a pity to let him go to waste in
this hot weather. An aard-vark's not to be bagged every day."
"You spreichen true, Mynheer Hans,--Swartboy know all dat. Him skin an'
dress da goup."
And, so saying, Swartboy out knife, and set to work upon the carcass.
Now this singular-looking animal which Hans called an "aard-vark," and
Swartboy a "goup," was neither more nor less than the African ant-eater
(_Orycteropus Capensis_).
Although the colonists term it "aard-vark," which is the Dutch for
"ground-hog," the animal has but little in common with the hog kind. It
certainly bears some resemblance to a pig about the snout and cheeks;
and that, with its bristly hair and burrowing habits, has no doubt given
rise to the mistaken name. The "ground" part of the title is from the
fact that it is a burrowing animal,--indeed, one of the best "terriers"
in the world. It can make its way under ground faster than the spade
can follow it, and faster than any badger. In size, habits, and the
form of many parts of its body, it bears a striking resemblance to its
South American cousin the "tamanoir" (_Myrmecophaga jubata_), which of
late years has become so famous as almost to usurp the title of
"ant-eater." But the "aard-vark" is just as good an ant-eater as he,--
can "crack" as thick-walled a house, can rake up and devour as many
termites as any "ant-bear" in the length and breadth of the Amazon
Valley. He has got, moreover, as "tall" a tail as the tamanoir, very
nearly as long a snout, a mouth equally small, and a tongue as extensive
and extensile. In claws he can compare with his American cousin any
day, and can walk just as awkwardly upon the sides of his fore-paws with
"toes turned in." Why, then, may I ask, do we hear so much talk of the
"tamanoir," while not a word is said of the "aard-vark?" Every museum
and menagerie is bragging about having a specimen of the former, while
not one cares to acknowledge their possession of the latter! Why this
envious distinction? I say it's all Barnum. It's because the
"aard-vark" is a Dutchman--a Cape boor--and the boors have been much
bullied of late. That's the reason why zoologists and showmen have
treated my thick-tailed boy so shabbily. But it shan't be so any
longer; I stand up for the aard-vark; and, although the tamanoir has
been specially called _Myrmecophaga_, or ant-eater, I say that the
_Orycteropus_ is as good an ant-eater as he. He can break through
ant-hills quite as big and bigger--some of them twenty-feet high--he can
project as long and as gluey a tongue--twenty inches long--he can play
it as nimbly and "lick up" as many white ants, as any tamanoir. He can
grow as fat too, and weigh as heavy, and, what is greatly to his credit,
he can provide you with a most delicate roast when you choose to kill
and eat him. It is true he tastes slightly of formic acid, but that is
just the flavour that epicures admire. And when you come to speak of
"hams,"--ah! try _his_! Cure them well and properly, and eat one, and
you will never again talk of "Spanish" or "Westphalian."
Hans knew the taste of those hams--well he did, and so too Swartboy; and
it was not against his inclination, but _con amore_, that the latter set
about butchering the "goup." Swartboy knew how precious a morsel he
held between his fingers,--precious, not only on account of its
intrinsic goodness, but from its rarity; for although the aard-vark is a
common animal in South Africa, and in some districts even numerous, it
is not every day the hunter can lay his hands upon one. On the
contrary, the creature is most difficult to capture; though not to kill,
for a blow on the snout will do that.
But just as he is easily killed when you catch him, in the same
proportion is he hard to catch. He is shy and wary, scarce ever comes
out of his burrow but at night; and even then skulks so silently along,
and watches around him so sharply, that no enemy can approach without
his knowing it. His eyes are very small, and, like most nocturnal
animals, he sees but indifferently; but in the two senses of smell and
hearing he is one of the sharpest. His long erect ears enable him to
catch every sound that may be made in his neighbourhood, however slight.
The "aard-vark" is not the only ant-eating quadruped of South Africa.
There is another four-footed creature as fond of white ants as he; but
this is an animal of very different appearance. It is a creature
without hair; but, instead its body is covered all over with a regular
coat of scales, each as large as a half-crown piece. These scales
slightly overlie each other, and can be raised on end at the will of the
animal. In form it resembles a large lizard, or a small crocodile, more
than an ordinary quadruped, but its habits are almost exactly like those
of the aard-vark. It burrows, digs open the ant-hills by night,
projects a long viscous tongue among the insects, and devours them with
avidity.
When suddenly overtaken, and out of reach of its underground retreat, it
"clews" up like the hedgehog, and some species of the South American
armadillos--to which last animal it bears a considerable resemblance on
account of its scaly coat of mail.
This ant-eater is known as the "pangolin," or "manis," but there are
several species of "pangolin" not African. Some are met with in
Southern Asia and the Indian islands. That which is found in South
Africa is known among naturalists as the "long-tailed" or "Temminck"
pangolin (_Manis Temminckii_).
Totty soon produced a roasted "peacock," or rather a hastily-broiled
bustard. But, although, perhaps, not cooked "to a turn," it was
sufficiently well done to satisfy the stomachs for which it was
intended. They were all too hungry to be fastidious, and, without a
word of criticism, they got through their dinner.
Hans then commenced relating the history of his day's adventure.