20 LODGES IN THE WILDERNESS 



surrounding the Copper Mines, and a narrow 

 strip of mountain land running parallel with, 

 and about sixty miles from the coast. This 

 strip is sparsely inhabited by European far- 

 mers. 



The occasional traversing of this vast tract 

 lay within the scope of my official duties. My 

 invariable travelling companion was Field 

 Cornet Andries Esterhuizen (of whom more 

 anon) and a small retinue of police, drivers, and 

 after-riders. We never escaped hardship; the 

 sun scorched fiercely and the sand over which we 

 tramped was often hot enough to cook an egg 

 in. Water, excepting the supply we carried 

 with us, was as a rule unobtainable; conse- 

 quently we had to eschew washing completely. 

 We often had to travel by night so as to spare 

 the oxen, and as the water-casks usually almost 

 filled the wagon, we then had to tramp, vainly 

 longing for sleep, through long, weary hours, 

 from sunset to sunrise. And after the sun had 

 arisen the heat, as a rule, made sleep impos- 

 sible. 



It was to the more inaccessible — and there- 

 fore comparatively inviolate — expanses of this 

 wilderness that I was always tempted to pene- 

 trate. Therein were to be found a scanty flora 

 and a fauna — each unusual and distinctive, — 



