T/ISMAL FOnEBODINGS, 49 



of trekking on the following day, and could not divest 

 myself of the most dismal forebodings, for I felt certain 

 that the heavier wagon would again stick fast, or that 

 the cracked axle-tree would come in contact with some 

 tree, and leave me in the desert a hopeless wreck, re- 

 mote from water or any assistance. I had certainly 

 good reason to be uneasy. On the 29th I waited till 

 the sun was up, that the cattle might drink plentifully, 

 when I immediately inspanned, and commenced my 

 anxious journey. For the first ten or twelve miles we 

 proceeded along a hollow, where the soil was in general 

 tolerably firm; but on leaving this hollow we entered 

 upon a most impracticable country, the wagons sinking 

 about four inches in the soft sand. Though I held on, 

 I had not the slightest hope of getting through it, for 

 every hundred yards required the utmost exertion both 

 of ourselves and oxen ; yet I had the best of two days 

 more of it to expect before I could reach the promised 

 water. To increase our difficulties, our progress was 

 presently opposed by an interminable forest, where the 

 trees stood so close together as often to bar the possi- 

 bility of the wagons passing between them. 



On these occasions it became imperative upon me to 

 turn pioneer, and in the course of the day I felled with 

 the ax not less than fifty trees. In this manner I held 

 on till the sun went down, when I halted in dense for- 

 est and cast loose the oxen for an hour; after which, 

 with infinite trouble, I lassoed the two teams and made 

 them fast on the trek-tow, in their proper places, ready 

 to inspan at dawn of day. I had also nine horses to 

 catch and make fast, and none to assist me but the 

 little Bushman; for the savages were so lazy, awk- 

 ward, and disobliging, that one Hottentot would havo 

 assisted me more than the whole pack of them. 



Vol. it.— C 



