60 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



to obtain a shot. I found them extremely wild, and, 

 after expending a considerable deal of ammunition, firing 

 at distances of from six to eight hundred yards, I re- 

 joined my wagons, which I found drawn up on a Dutch- 

 man's farm, and left the antelopes scathless. 



Owing to exposure to the sun while working at the 

 Fish River drift on the preceding days, and also to hav- 

 ing discarded coat, waistcoat, and neckcloth since leav- 

 ing Grahamstown, my arms, neck, and shoulders were 

 much swollen, and severely burned "arid blistered, caus- 

 ing me much pain, and at night preventing me from 

 sleeping. The kind-hearted noe, or lady of the farm, 

 commiserating my condition, and wishing to alleviate 

 my pain, informed me that she had an excellent re- 

 ceipt for sunburn, which she had often successfully 

 administered to her husband and sons. One of the 

 chief ingredients of the promised balsam was green tea, 

 which was to be reduced to powder, of which she direct- 

 ed me to send her a little by one of my servants. I do 

 not know what the other components might have been, 

 but I well know that, on applying the ointment to the 

 raw and swollen parts, it stung mo as though it had 

 been a mixture of salt and vinegar, giving me intense 

 pain, and causing me to hop and dance about like one 

 demented, and wish the Boer noe and her ointment in 

 the realms of Pluto, to the infinite delight and merri- 

 ment of my sympathizing Hottentots. 



A peculiar expression in the eyes of these gentlemen, 

 and their general demeanor, inclined me to think that 

 •their potations had consisted of some more generous 

 beverage than water during the morning's march ; and 

 on examining one of my liquor cases, I found that I 

 was minus a bottle and a half of gin since yesterday.* 



• This is a common failing among tbis monkey-faced race, ninetecB 



