of all a tropical garden of clear streams, tree ferns, 

 foliage plants, mosses, maidenhair, and sweet grass ! 

 I moved among the cattle myself, watching them feed 

 greedily and waiting to see them satisfied before in- 

 spanning again to trek through the night to some higher 

 and more open ground. I noticed then that their 

 tails were rather busy. At first it seemed the usual 

 accompaniment of a good feed, an expression of satis- 

 faction ; after a while, however, the swishing became 

 too vigorous for this, and when beads began to swing 

 round and legs also were made use of, it seemed clear 

 that something was worrying them. The older hands 

 were so positive that at night cattle were safe from 

 fly, that it did not even then occur to me to suspect 

 anything seriously wrong. Weeks passed by, and 

 although the cattle became poorer, it was reasonable 

 enough to put it down to the exceptional drought. 



It was late in the season when we loaded up for the 

 last time in Delagoa and ploughed our way through 

 the Matolla swamp and the heavy sands at Piscene ; 

 but late as it was, there was no sign of rain, and the 

 rain that we usually wanted to avoid would have been 

 very welcome then. The roads were all blistering 

 stones or powdery dust, and it was cruel work for man 

 and beast. The heat was intense, and there was no 

 breeze ; the dust moved along slowly apace with us 

 in a dense cloud men, waggons, and animals, all toned 

 to the same hue ; and the poor oxen toiling slowly along 

 drew in the finely-powdered stuff at every breath. 

 At the outspan they stood about exhausted and pant- 

 ing, with rings and lines of brown marking where the 



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