236 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AI^KICA. 



such melancholy associations? " Youngman" was the 

 only dying survivor of thirty selected trek-oxen which 

 T had chosen to accompany me into the far interior, all 

 of which I had seen pine away and die, and fail me in 

 the hour of need. The men who brought me "Young- 

 man" said that they had found him on the spoor of the 

 other cattle, and about two hours afterward I had the 

 satisfaction to behold all the missing truants recovered. 

 They had been seduced away by some young oxen I 

 had obtained at Bakatla, which seemed to have resolv- 

 ed to return to their former masters, perhaps not relish- 

 ing old Adonis's treatment of them in the yoke. 



We now held on to the Meritsane (rendered famous 

 among sportsmen by Harris's glowing description of its 

 charms), and found it full of water. Before reaching 

 this point, however, I left the old-established Kuruman 

 wagon-road about three miles from the drift, my line 

 of march being to visit Mahura, chief of the Batlapis, 

 residing about the sources of the Hart River. This 

 route is by many days shorter than by the old road 

 and has also the advantage of being through a firr. 

 grassy country. As we reached the Meritsane we 

 started a cock and hen ostrich, with a large troop of 

 extremely small young ones, which did not seem larger 

 than Guinea-fowls. 



We held on for several days through a country 

 abounding in game, and reached Mahura's town on the 

 25th. As we drew near to the town, Mahura was 

 pointed out to me. He was walking in company with 

 another old man, and carried a double-barreled per- 

 cussion rifle on his she ulder. He was dressed in a shirt, 

 waistcoat, and baggy trowsers, and wore a broad-brim- 

 med hat a la Boer. Halting my wagons, I wqnt up 

 and shook hands with him, anol asked his permission to 



