LOSS OF THE " LION" AND THE "CROSS." 367 



According to the advice of the Bushmen, therefore, we now 

 left it to the right, and struck out in a northerly direction 

 through an intensely dense " Wacht-een-bigte" (thorn-jun- 

 gle). After a few hours' travel, "we packed-ofF" to the 

 eastward of some dilapidated limestone pits ; but, though they 

 contained water, from the depth of the cavities, and the dif- 

 ficulty of access to them, it occupied the men several hours 

 to supply the wants of our small herd of cattle. The next 

 stage — a short one — we slept without water. 



In the course of the following day's march we had tra- 

 versed dense brakes which annoyed us excessively, for the 

 thorns not only tore our flesh and clothes, but subtracted 

 several articles of value from the pack-saddles. Among other 

 losses, I had to bewail that of two magnificent flags — the 

 British and the Swedish — which had been expressly made 

 for and presented to me by my friend, Mr. Letterstedt, the 

 Swedish consul-general at the Cape, and which I hoped to 

 have unfurled on the shores of the far-famed Ngami. All my 

 efforts to recover these valued standards proved fruitless, some 

 hyaenas having probably swallowed the Anglo-Saxon Lion 

 and the Swedish Cross. 



At dusk, after having been ten hours in the saddle, we 

 reached a famous place called Ghanze', where we pitched our 

 camp. 



