ACROSS CAMDEBOO TO NAROEKAS POORT. 63 



have tempted Providence. In fact this is one of the 

 very nastiest and most dangerous drifts met with in 

 the whole of our journeys, and as Mynheer Stols, 

 the Boer to whose house we went, remarked to a 

 friend of ours a day or two after, " It could only 

 have been English umhingos * or drunken men who 

 would have taken the drift on such a night." 



We at once made our way to the house, and to 

 our disgust found, after much trouble (for we could 

 then speak no Dutch, and the Boer who came to the 

 door very little English), that we had in the darkness 

 missed the Englishman's house, which stood on the 

 other bank of the river. Here was a pretty mess. 

 We had now to make that horrible crossing again, 

 and we didn't half relish the idea. However, there 

 was nothing for it ; if we wanted supper and a shake- 

 down in comfort, we must return. This time I got 

 out and went to the near horse's head, and with a 

 good deal of snorting from the nags, who relished 

 the business as little as ourselves, a long sliding 

 flounder, a rush, and a scramble, we managed more 

 by good luck than judgment to regain the other 

 bank. For myself, I emerged from the operation 

 wet to the middle. However, we soon found Mr. 

 Boyce's house, and having outspanned, and seen the 

 nags stabled and fed, sat down to a comfortable 

 supper, and after a chat turned in. Our host, an 

 old 72nd man, was Field Cornet t of the district, 

 and gave us a good deal of information concerning 

 the neighbourhood. 



* Umlungo is a very expressive Kaffir word, signifying a sort of gentle- 

 manly know-nothing or green-horn. 



t Field Cornet, a kind of deputy magistrate, who frequently acts as 

 postmaster, and undertakes minor administrative offices. 



