"What is there?" one of the Boers would exclaim, pointing to an object
about four miles distant, and on a slight elevation. Before I had
obtained the correct focus of my glass, the object would by them be
decided as a hartebeest, without two opinions about it. If I looked
through my glass, I always found that their decision was correct. Upon
asking how they could know an animal at such a distance, they answered
by giving me a great deal of valuable information, amongst which I
remembered the following as the most useful:--Elands always look light
fawn-coloured when they turn, whereas hartebeest look red, buffaloes
black; these three animals being the most commonly met with in these
plains. The wild-boar (the "vleck vark" of the Dutch) is told by its
dark colour, and because it is not so large about the head and shoulders
as a buffalo; besides, four or five are generally found together. When
the sportsman becomes acquainted with the habits of the animals, the
positions which they occupy, as also their way of moving, will generally
show to what class the game belongs.