240 ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



extreme pain from a swelled ankle, I was unable to fol- 

 low them up and ascertain their success, as I wished 

 iO have done. My ankle became daily worse. I ap- 

 plied leeches to it at Mahura's, which helped me a lit- 

 tle, but the number was too small to be of great ben- 

 efit. I was now entirely unable to set my foot to the 

 ground. Carey thought it was erysipelas, and I was 

 very apprehensive that it would end in something ex- 

 tremely serious. 



On the 29th we again set out, and in about three 

 hours we reached the fair, long-wished-for, yet much- 

 dreaded Vaal River. I say much dreaded, because, 

 from the constant rains which had continually been 

 falling this season, I had made up my mind that it was 

 not improbable I might have to lie for many months 

 upon the banks of this often impassable river. On this 

 occasion, however, to my great satisfaction, and quite 

 contrary to my expectations, I found the river low, and 

 the drift, which I had never seen before, very good, and 

 free from rocks or very large stones, l^he descent from 

 our side was easy, but the ascent from the drift on the 

 opposite side was steep and muddy ; and some smart 

 showers of rain, which had been falling during the last 

 two hours, had rendered it so slippery that I deemed it 

 best to outspan, and defer taking the drift until the 

 ground should dry a little in the afternoon, when I got 

 my wagons through in safety, taking one at a time with 

 twenty steady oxen. 



We now made the Vet River, which flows into the 

 Vaal a little above the drift, and followed its course to- 

 ward Colesberg. This we found to be an excellent road, 

 but inclining too far to the east. Our march led us 

 through vast herds of game, which I have before spoken 

 of as frequenting the northern boundaries of the col- 



