Excursion into the Savanna--Two Horsemen--The
Ostrich Hunt--The Nest--The Land
Turtles
We began our march at daylight, and, after having journeyed on for
about two hours, I gave the signal for a halt, as about gunshot from
the defile which separated the two countries appeared to me to be a
favourable spot for our encampment. It was situated on an elevated
point that commanded a far extended prospect, and was defended on one
side by a thick pine forest.
Fritz wanted me, before quitting the place, to leave, as a mark
of our passage, a fortress, after the manner of the Kamschatkans,
which is simply composed of some boards, elevated by stones at each
corner, to a height sufficient to keep out all savage animals. Before
commencing this work, we made an investigation of the forest round
about; but we discovered nothing but two “margays,” or wild cats, who
fled into the forest before we could level a gun at them.
The rest of the morning was devoted to the fortification of our
encampment. We then dined; but the heat was so powerful that we were
obliged to postpone our excursion into the savanna until the morrow.
Nothing troubled the repose of the night. We were up at daylight,
and in a few moments our preparations were complete. I took with me
my three eldest sons, as I wished to be in force on entering into a
country as yet unknown. Francis remained with his mother to take care
of the baggage; and, after breakfast, we packed some provisions, and
took leave of our good mother, who saw us depart without uneasiness.
We passed through the defile, at the extremity of which we had
erected a palisade of bamboo and thorny palm; but it had all been
torn down, and we could easily trace on the sand the spiral imprints
of the boa, clearly demonstrating that he had come from savanna
through this passage. I intended to erect a solid rampart here, that
should be proof against the attack of any animal; but I was obliged
to defer the execution of the plan until some other time.
We had now ventured into a country we had entered but once before.
Jack recognized the place where we had taken the buffalo; the river
which divided the plain was bordered by a rich line of vegetation.
We followed its course for some time, and arrived at the grotto
where my son had taken the young jackal; but the farther we advanced
vegetation disappeared, and we soon found ourselves in the middle of
an immense plain, only bounded by the horizon. The sun beat right
down on our heads, the sand burned our feet--in one word, it was a
desert--a desert without a single tree--a desert of sand, the only
green things being a few withered geraniums and some sort of grass
that contrasted strangely with the aridity of the soil. On crossing
the river, we had filled our gourds with fresh water, but the sun had
heated it so that we could not drink it, and we were obliged to throw
it away.
[Illustration: “Francis remained with his mother.”]
After two hours of painful journeying we arrived at the foot of a
hill that we had perceived afar off: it was a rock that elevated
itself in the middle of the desert, and afforded us a refuge
against the rays of the sun. We were too fatigued to climb the
rock and reconnoitre the country: we could scarcely stand against
the overpowering rays of the sun, and our dogs were as tired as
ourselves; we were isolated in the middle of the desert, and could
see the river in the distance, like a silver thread, winding through
its green banks. It was like the Nile, beheld from a mountain under
the burning sun of Nubia.
We had scarcely been seated five minutes when Master Knips, who had
accompanied us, suddenly disappeared over the rock, having probably
scented some brother monkeys in the neighbourhood; our dogs, also,
and the jackal deserted us; but we were too tired to call them back.
I brought out some morsels of sugar-cane and distributed them among
the boys, for our thirst was terrible. This refreshment restored our
appetites, and some rounds of roast peccary furnished us with an
excellent repast.
Suddenly Fritz, whose excellent sight was always making discoveries,
cried out,
“What do I see! There are two horsemen galloping up towards us.
There, a third has joined them--doubtless they are Arabs of the
desert.”
“Arabs!” said Ernest! “Bedouins you mean.”
“Bedouins are but one division of the great family of Arabs, and your
brother was right,” said I; “but take my spy-glass, Fritz; your news
astonishes me.”
“Oh, I see now a number of waggons loaded with hay; but they are so
distant I can scarcely distinguish anything; something extraordinary
is certainly going on.”
“Let me have the glass,” cried Jack, impatiently; and he declared he
saw a crowd of cavaliers who carried little lances, with banners at
the point.
“Come, give me the glass now,” said I; “your imaginations are too
poetic to be relied upon.”
I applied the glass to my eye, and, after having looked some time
attentively--
“Well,” said I to Jack, “your Arabs, your cavaliers with lances, your
hay-carts, what do you think they have been transformed into?”
“Camelopards, perhaps.”
“No; although not a bad idea, yet they are ostriches, and chance
has thrown a splendid chase into our hands; and if you will take my
advice, we will not let these beautiful inhabitants of the desert
pass us by without measuring our strength with theirs.”
The ostriches were rapidly approaching, and it was time to think of
some mode of capturing them. It seemed to me that the best way would
be to wait until they came up, and then attack them by surprise. I
ordered Fritz and Jack to go in search of the dogs, whilst Ernest
and I sought some shelter to conceal us from the ostriches. We threw
ourselves down behind some large tufts of a plant that grew among
the rocks, and which I recognized as the euphorbia, commonly called
wolf’s milk, and the juice of which is one of the most active poisons
in the world.
Jack and Fritz now returned with our faithful companions, whom,
from their wet skins, we easily judged to have been taking a bath
somewhere.
The ostriches were now within eyesight, and I could distinguish that
the family was composed of three females and a male, who was easily
recognized by the long white feathers of his tail. We crouched closer
to the ground, and held our dogs close to our sides, for fear lest
their impatience should defeat our stratagem.
I now perceived that the ostriches were aware of our presence--they
appeared to hesitate in their march; but, as we remained immovable,
they at last seemed reassured, and were advancing directly to us,
when our dogs, whom we could not keep quiet, suddenly sprang out upon
them. Away went the timid birds, with a rapidity that can be compared
to nothing else but the wind driving before it a bundle of feathers.
Their feet did not appear to touch the ground, their half-extended
wings had the appearance of sails, and the wind greatly accelerated
their velocity. I then ordered Fritz to unhood his eagle; he did
so, and the noble bird soon lit upon the head of the male ostrich,
and, attacking his eyes, brought him to the ground. The dogs and
the jackal ran up, and when we arrived the gigantic bird was just
expiring under the numerous wounds that the ferocious animals had
inflicted.
We were greatly disappointed at this issue of our chase; but, as the
evil was without remedy, we contented ourselves with preserving the
lifeless corpse. The eagle and jackal were immediately taken away, as
being the most ferocious. We then deprived the unfortunate animal of
the white plumes in the tail, and we placed them proudly in our hats.
The rich and sumptuous feathers contrasted strangely with our old
worn-out beavers; but they were an excellent protection against the
rays of the sun.
“What a pity,” said Fritz, as we examined the gigantic proportions
of the bird, “what a pity to have put such a magnificent bird to
death!--how beautiful it would have looked stalking among our
domestic animals!”
While we were talking, Jack and Ernest, who had followed the jackal,
made some great discovery, and we soon saw them waving their plumed
hats in the air, and shouting to us to hurry on,
“A nest!” they cried, “an ostrich’s nest!--Quick--quick!”
We hurried on, and found the two boys standing over a large
ostrich-nest--if we can dignify a hole dug in the ground by the name
of nest--in which were symmetrically arranged from twenty-five to
thirty eggs, each as large as a child’s head.
My sons wanted to carry away the ostrich-eggs; they would hatch them,
they said, by exposing them in the daytime to the rays of the sun,
and wrapping them up as warm as possible at night.
I observed to Fritz, who made the proposal, that each of these
eggs weighed about three pounds, and the whole number about one
hundred pounds, and that, having neither equipage nor beast, it
would be impossible to transport them across a desert, through which
we could hardly drag our arms and knapsacks; besides, I doubted
whether artificial heat could replace the natural influence. But
the children had got the idea into their heads, and they agreed
that each one should take one egg, which he should carry in his
pocket-handkerchief. The little boys soon repented of their
agreement, and they changed their burden from hand to hand, with
all the signs of ennui and fatigue. I came to their assistance, and
advised them to cut some branches from a low sort of pine that grew
about the rocks, and make a basket to carry their eggs, as the Dutch
milk-women carry their milk-pots. My plan succeeded admirably, and my
boys began their march without the slightest complaint.
We then arrived at the borders of a swamp that seemed to be formed
by the confluence of several springs that flowed from the rocks;
we could trace the marks of the dogs and the monkey, and recognized
this as the place where they had wet themselves. We could perceive,
in the distance, troops of buffaloes, monkeys, and antelopes, but so
far from us that we took no further notice of them; nothing, however,
indicated to us the presence of a boa, or that such animals resided
here. We halted at this marsh, and refreshed ourselves with some
provisions; and then, filling our empty gourds with water, prepared
to depart, when we perceived the jackal had made a discovery. It
was a round object which he had dug out of the sand with his paws;
it resembled a mass of moist earth, and I threw it into the water
to clean it, when, what was my astonishment to see it move! I took
it out, and, on examining it, discovered it to be a turtle of the
smallest kind, scarcely as large as an apple.
“How is this?” said Fritz. “I thought that turtles inhabited the sea
only.”
“Who knows?” said Ernest; “perhaps there has been a shower of turtles
here, as the Romans formerly had a shower of frogs.”
“Stop there,” said I to the philosopher; “your irony does not show
your learning. Perhaps you do not know that there are land as well as
sea-turtles. They are not only found in swamps, but even in gardens,
where they subsist on snails, caterpillars, and all sorts of insects.”
“Well, then,” replied Ernest, “let us carry some home to mamma. She
would like them to put in her garden; we will also put one in our
cabinet of natural history.”