26 ADVEKTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



about to proceed. He and I had sent in our resigna- 

 tion of her majesty's service at the same time, and, fortu- 

 nately for us, by some mistake our papers were mislaid 

 at Cape Town, and not forwarded in the usual course, 



whereby we gained several months' pay. H , who, 



like many others of the military, entertained a profound 

 disgust for the colony and every thing connected with 

 it, at first could hardly believe that I was in earnest 

 when I spoke of going up the country ; and when con- 

 vinced that such was my determination, he said, with 

 a strong lisp which was habitual to him, " Good G — , 

 Cummin ! you are thurely mad to remain longer in 

 thith country after you have obtained leave to return 

 to dear old England. I athure you, I had rather be a 

 thoe-black in England than live in thith beathtly coun- 

 try," 



Notwithstanding these friendly dissuasions on tho 

 part of my acquaintance, I continued to prosecute my 

 affairs so unremittingly, that on the 22d I considered 

 my manifold arrangements complete, and, being much 

 harassed and annoyed by the unavoidable delays to 

 which 1 had been subjected, I was full of impatience to 

 make a start. These delays were in a great measure 

 occasioned by the weather, heavy and constant rains 

 having fallen during the previous fourteen days, accom- 

 panied with a cold wind off the Southern Ocean. This, 

 of necessity, materially interfered v/ith and delayed me 

 in my arrangements, and had also the effect of render 

 ing the country perfectly unfit for locomotion, in many 

 places cutting up the roads with rugged, impassable 

 water-courses, and in low-lying districts converting 

 them into deep, impracticable quagmires. 



It will here be necessary to give a detailed account 

 of my outfit, to put the reader at once in possession of 



