upon it, and thus, although we dismounted without loss of time and beat off the hounds, we were too late to prevent the prey being lacerated, and it was in a very mangled condition that it fell to the lot of the fleet-footed Basutos.
Two more porcupines, a jumping-hare, and a South African skunk, all had a similar fate, and then the dogs took a circuitous route back again to the hills, and started an earth-pig (Orycteropus capensis). To escape its pursuers, the creature made an effort to burrow in the earth, and had partially succeeded, when we came up to it. Our men did their very best to secure it, but it rolled them over and over like so many balls, and got clean away.
The earth-pig is undeniably the strongest of all the edentata. Its body is long and round, and it has long powerful nails at the end of its claws, of which the sinews are remarkable for their strength; its fleshy wedge-shaped tail acts as a great support to its body, and though it sometimes uses it as a means of defence, it seems to be of most service when the creature is bounding away in flight. The tail likewise comes into requisition when, squatting on its hind quarters, it digs away at an ant-hill, for it is known to be one of the largest ant-eaters in South Africa. Its skin is tough and bristly, defying the fangs of the jackal, and it has a pair of long ears that are keenly alive to sound. The skin is used in the colony for making certain parts of harness. Other enemies to ants are the short-tailed pangolins, the hyæna-wolf, the mangusta, and the plover.
After our last failure we gave up our chase, and rode slowly home; but my friends were unwilling
