238 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



times round my left wrist it would point a little to the 

 left-hand side of the country I required. On hearing 

 this, the savages looked at one another with surprise, 

 and pressed round me to see if my needle possessed the 

 power I represented. Slipping my fingers into my 

 shooting-belt, I then pulled out my pocket compass, 

 and, passing it three times round my left wrist with 

 the utmost gravity, I whistled shrilly ; and on opening 

 the compass, I placed it on the ground before them. 

 Snatching one of their assagais, I placed it beside the 

 compass a little to the east of north, and told them that 

 it was there Bamangwato lay. They were struck with 

 astonishment, and at once considered me as working 

 by supernatural agency. 



Having done this, I inquired of the guides if they 

 would lead me to waters in that direction. They all 

 shouted that that was the desert, and that no man had 

 ever found water there. Having said this, they all 

 turned right about, and, retreating for about two hund- 

 red yards, they squatted on the ground. Isaac and I 

 then approached them ; but they sat in silence, and 

 looked on the ground. I asked them why they all sat 

 thus. They answered that they would proceed no fur- 

 ther with me. I replied that I was happy to hear it, 

 and that I could find the way better without them. I 

 returned to my wagons, and ordered my men to turn 

 about and retrace their steps to the nearest water. 

 The savages then requested me to halt and speak with 

 them. I told them to go home to their captain, as 

 their presence troubled me ; and having proceeded a 

 few hundred yards, I encamped beside a pool of water. 



It was plain to me that Isaac, my interpreter, was 

 in league with the Baquaines in their designs against 

 me ; but as I did not then intend to part with him, bc; 



