AN UNENVIABLE SITUATION. 47 



discovered a small vley of rain water about two miles 

 to the southward of their position, where they had daily 

 refreshed themselves and the cattle. My situation was 

 by no means an enviable one, and my mind was bur- 

 dened with anxiety. One of the wagons was fast in 

 deep sand, with the dissel-boom broken, and the fore- 

 axle of the other was cracked, so that at any moment 

 it was likely to give way; and if this should happen on 

 the line of march while crossing the desert and far from 

 water, I should have had no alternative but to abandon 

 the wagon to its fate. ^loreover, owing to the indo 

 lent disposition of the Hottentots, every thing connected 

 with the gear was broken and out of order, while the 

 hatchets appeared to have been used in chopping gun- 

 flints, and all their handles were in similar condition. 

 I arose at dawn on the morning of the 27th, and, 

 having cast loose the horses and oxen, rummaged out 

 my tools, and in two hours I got out the broken dissel- 

 boom and put in a new one, which I formed from the 

 stem of a tough mimosa. This being accomplished, I 

 yoked twelve oxen to the wagon which was sticking in 

 the sand, but tried in vain to make them drag it out, 

 for the cunning animals knew that it was fast, and 

 would not exert themselves to attempt to extricate it. 

 After inconceivable trouble and repeatedly shifting the 

 positions of the various oxen in the span, I at length 

 made a fortunate arrangement of the oxen. The brutes 

 for once pulled all together, and once more the wagon 

 was in motion, I then inspanned the other team, and 

 we reached the water without further trouble. As v/e 

 neared the water I detected a giraffe browsing within 

 a quarter of a mile; this was well, for we required 

 flesh. Commanding silence, I hastily outspanned, and, 

 having saddled the Old Gray, I rode with Ruyter to 



