338 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



did not want to keep him for a slave, and that if he 

 would carry for me as far as the Zambesi, he might 

 go where he liked afterwards, or continue working 

 with me for wages. 



January i^th. — At last, about lo a.m., we managed 

 to make the first steps in our retreat from this 

 accursed spot, where we had spent eighteen miserable 

 days. Having had a relapse during the night, I felt 

 very ill and weak ; but necessity has no law, so we 

 crawled along as well as we could, and during the day 

 must have accomplished several miles. 



January l^^tli. — Both of us very much knocked 

 up ; in the course of the day we managed to crawl 

 along about five miles. Nothing to eat but bare 

 Kafir corn and two small green pumpkins ; heavy 

 rain during the night. The whole country was now 

 covered with grass about six feet high, and the 

 veg'etation was much ranker than I had seen it 

 anywhere south of the Zambesi ; the dew, too, fell 

 in wonderful quantities, and, added to the constant 

 heavy rain, made everything " demmed wet, moist, 

 and unpleasant," as Mr. Mantalini would say. 



January 26th. — Staggered along a few miles 

 farther. Three very heavy thunderstorms, with 

 deluges of tropical rain, took place during the day. 

 With the weak and insipid food we had now to live 

 upon, we could gain no strength. 



January i-jtli. — Forced to it by downright hunger, 

 we had to give the most exorbitant price of tour 

 yards of calico for a little kid, which, when cleaned, 

 was no larger than an English hare. 



January 2'ith. — During the night one of the 

 heaviest storms of rain burst upon us that it has ever 

 been my luck to have anything to do with. For 

 hours the rain poured down in torrents, and, as our 



