The Vee-Boers (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | Mayne Reid | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

A vast plain, seemingly bounded but by the horizon; treeless, save where a solitary cameel-doorn (Note 1) spreads its feathered leaves, or a clump of arborescent aloes, mingled with rigid-stemmed euphorbias, breaks the continuity of its outline. These types of desert vegetation but proclaim its sterility, which is further evinced by tufts of whiteish withered grass, growing thinly between them. Over it three waggons are moving; immense vehicles with bodies above four yards in length, surrounded by an arching of bamboo canes covered with canvas. To each is attached eight pairs of long-horned oxen, with a driver seated on the box, who flourishes a whip, in length like a fishing-rod; another on foot alongside, wielding the terrible jambok, while at the head of the extended team marches the "foreloper," reim in hand, guiding the oxen along the track. Half a score horsemen ride here and there upon the flanks, with three others in advance; and bringing up the rear is a drove of milch cows-some with calves at the foot-and a flock of fat-tailed sheep, their tails full fifty pounds in weight, and trailing on the ground.