276 EXPEDITION INTO [Chap. XXXI. 



severely on the knee and ankle^ besides dragging 

 me a sufficient distance over the loose stones, to 

 remove the whole of my clothes, and a large portion 

 of the skin from my back. 



Merciless and repeated applications of the whip- 

 cord and double thong, enabled us, with the loss of 

 another ox, to achieve twenty-five miles more by 

 four o'clock in the afternoon. The blue mountain 

 range, now on our left, had gradually ass|jpied a 

 deeper and deeper tint, and as we advanced over 

 the broad bosom of the trackless plain, like a ship 

 through the ocean, was fast developing its rugged 

 character. At length, lifting up our eyes, we beheld 

 before us afar off, a long dark streak of bushes, 

 stretching parallel to the horizon, and marking the 

 course of the stream of which we were in search. 

 Shouts of exultation burst from the mouths of the 

 Hottentots, as they sprang from the waggon boxes 

 from which they had been gazing, and cracking 

 their long whips with increased energy. The patient 

 oxen broke into a trot — the object upon which all 

 eyes were riveted became better and better defined, 

 our friendly pilot stream rapidly increased inbreadth, 

 and as the sun disappeared below the horizon, we 

 were standing on the banks of the river Vaal. 



This remote arm of theGareep, or Great Orange 

 River, forms the southern limit of the territory to 

 which Moselekatse lays claim. Rising nearly oppo- 

 site to Delagoa Bay, about three degrees to the 

 westward of that port, and joining the parent stream 

 some two hundred and fifty geographical miles 



