Chap. II.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 7 



that appeared to have scarcely sufficient stamina to 

 carry us to Graham's Town. The recent Kafir 

 war having trebled the price of every thing, and of 

 live stock in particular, the demands upon us were 

 exorbitant. With the assistance of Colonel Tripp, 

 the Commanding Officer at Algoa, from whom we 

 experienced great kindness and hospitality, we also 

 became the proprietors of a comfortable travelling 

 waggon, seventeen feet in length, and a span or 

 team of twelve tough little Faderland oxen. The 

 former owner, an honest Yorkshireman, named 

 Matthews, Avhom I specially recommend to all 

 persons requiring a similar conveyance, was with 

 difficulty induced to part with it, and after twelve 

 months' experience of its comforts, we had no hesi- 

 tation in pronouncing it to be a cheap and valuable 

 purchase. 



With this vehicle, driven by a drunken Hottentot, 

 we took the road to Graham's Town under convoy 

 of Joe Butler, a merry Irishman, of whom we had 

 hired a second waggon for the conveyance of our 

 wares. The activity and skill displayed by Joe in 

 the guidance of his straggling team of oxen, and the 

 unerring dexterity with which he wielded his long 

 and formidable whip, did not fail to excite in us the 

 same astonishment that has been expressed by every 

 traveller in South Africa. Richard, my new valet, 

 voluntarily assumed the office of cook, conceiving 

 himself also, in virtue of the experience he had ac- 

 quired during a trip to Litakoo, a few years before, 

 with a party of Indian gentlemen, specially charged 



