CATTLE IMPOUNDED. 33 



lying debts, the weather, %Yhich had been wet and 

 stormy for many days past, assuming a more settled 

 appearance, I resolved to "inspan" and "trek," which 

 the reader will bear in mind mean to yoke and march. 

 I accordingly communicated my intentions to my fol- 

 lowers, and dispatched my leader Carollus to the neigh- 

 boring mountains, where my cattle were supposed to 

 be pasturing, to bring them up. He expended the great- 

 er part of the day in searching for them in vain about 

 their wonted feeding-ground : at length, late in the aft- 

 ernoon, lie chanced to meet a comrade, who informed 

 him that the oxen he was seeking were safely lodged in 

 the "skit-kraal" or pound, Colonel Somerset of "Ours*' 

 having detected them in the act of luxuriating in a field 

 of green forage. This pleasing intelligence demanded 

 my immediate attendance at the skit-kraal, where, by 

 a disimbursement of 95., 1 obtained their release. 



Having secured my oxen, my next business was to 

 find my servants, who were all missing. Long, as I 

 expected, was found gallantly assisting the dark-eyed 

 heroine of the mangle, and Kleinboy and Cobus were 

 discovered in a state of brutal intoxication, stretched 

 on the greensward in front of one of the canteens, along 

 with sundry other wagon-drivers and Hottentot Venus- 

 es, all in the same glorious condition, having expended 

 on liquor the pay which they had extracted from me in 

 advance on the plea of providing themselves with nec- 

 essaries. Drunk as they were, Carollus, who was so- 

 ber, managed to allure them to the wagons, and. Long 

 assisting, the inspanning commenced. As no man whc 

 has not visited the Cape can form any idea of the man 

 ner in which this daily operation is performed, it wi!I 

 here le necessary to explain it, and to say a few more 

 words concerning the structure of a wagon 



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