XII WOMEN CARRIERS 233 



hippos passed down the river close to our boat. 

 They were very wary, however, and gave but Kttle 

 chance of a shot, even had we wished to kill them, 

 which I, at any rate, did not. The weather had 

 now completely changed, the sky being overcast 

 with an unbroken sheet of cloud, whilst the tempera- 

 ture had become quite cool and pleasant, with a 

 strong breeze blowing from the south. It looked 

 to me as if we were going to have a day or two of 

 cloudy weather, which would end in rain when the 

 wind dropped ; but as it was very early in the 

 season for rain, Mr. Wissels thought it was only a 

 cool spell which would blow off again in a day or 

 two. However, all progress by boat being im- 

 possible as long as the southerly wind lasted, my 

 companion, knowing that my time was limited, 

 advised me to get some carriers and push on at 

 once on foot to his station, which was about thirty 

 miles distant, and in the vicinity of which inyala 

 were to be found. This proposition entirely co- 

 inciding with my own wishes, one of our two Zulu 

 boatmen, an excellent fellow named Longman, was 

 sent off to engage four carriers, and soon after mid- 

 day returned with four Amatonga women ; for, in 

 in this part of the country, the women act almost 

 exclusively as porters. 



Of the ladies who, after a considerable amount 

 of haggling, at length agreed to carry my baggage 

 to the junction of the Usutu and Pongolo rivers, 

 three were already in the afternoon of life — gaunt, 

 bony, wrinkled, hideous hags. The fourth was a 

 younger and pleasanter-looking woman, who, in 

 addition to her load, which weighed about forty 

 pounds, carried a two-year-old child, slung in a goat- 

 skin, at her back. It took some time to arrange the 

 price which was to be paid for their services, but 

 at last, after testing the weight of the loads, they 

 agreed to carry them to Mr. Wissels's store for a 



