Robert Michael Ballantyne

Six Months at the Cape Robert Michael Ballantyne

The Karroo is not an animal. It is a spot-at present a lovely spot. I am surrounded by- by nature and all her southern abundance. Mimosa trees, prickly pears, and aloes remind me that I am not in England. Ostriches, stalking on the plains, tell that I am in Africa. It is not much above thirty years since the last lion was shot in this region, (see note 2), and the kloofs, or gorges, of the blue mountains that bound the horizon are, at the present hour, full of "Cape-tigers," wild deer of different sorts, baboons, monkeys, and-but hold! I must not forestall. Let me begin at the beginning.