88 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XL 



of people importuning for tobacco. They entered 

 the tent and clambered into the waggon without 

 ceremony, leaving a host of vermin behind them, 

 and becoming at length so troublesome, that we 

 were compelled, in self-defence, to drive them away 

 with the waggon-whips. A long hne of women 

 and girls, however, still continued to stand at 

 a distance on tiptoe, attempting to gratify their 

 curiosity by peeping in at the back of the waggon ; 

 whilst others sat and loitered about as if their time 

 were valueless. The governor invited himself to 

 dinner in the evening, and as it rained again, sat 

 so late, that we were at last obliged to send the 

 Parsee outside to start him, which he did by poking 

 a stick under his person from below the walls of 

 the tent, a hint which he good-naturedly took, and 

 departed. 



We embraced an early opportunity of mentioning 

 to the Missionaries our intention of leaving the 

 country by the Vaal River ; a scheme which they 

 discountenanced as fraught with peril. But whilst 

 they felt sure that Moselekatse would never listen 

 to such an arrangement, they obligingly consented 

 to allow one of their domestics, Baba, a converted 

 Bechuana who had accompanied Dr. Smith's ex- 

 pedition as interpreter, to attend us as far as the 

 king's residence, in the like capacity. 



The next morning we rode through a pass in the 

 hills behind the mission-houses, towards the Mimori 

 Lakes, in order to obtain food for the people; it being 

 an object to husband our resources, as far as possible, 



