The whole of it to the north for hundreds of miles was a famous desert--the desert of Kalihari--and these cliffs were a part of its southern border.
The "vee-boor" would have been rejoiced at such a sight under other circumstances.

But what to him now were all these fine pastures--now that he was no longer able to stock them?
Notwithstanding the beauty of the scene, his reflections were painful.
But he did not give way to despair.

His present troubles were sufficiently grievous to prevent him from dwelling much on the future.
His first care was to find a place where his horses might be recruited; for without them he could no longer move anywhere--without them he would be helpless indeed.
Water was the desired object.

If water could not be found, all this beautiful park through which he was passing would be as valueless to him as the brown desert.
Surely so lovely a landscape could not exist without that most essential element! So thought the field-cornet; and at the turning of every new grove his eyes wandered over the ground in search of it.
"_Ho_!" he joyfully exclaimed as a covey of large Namaqua partridges whirred up from his path.

"A good sign that: _they_ are seldom far from water." Shortly after, he saw a flock of beautiful pintados, or guinea-hens, running into a copse.