Chap. XXXII.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 285 



mercy to expect. The prevailing scarcity of fuel 

 in this part of the country, induced us to take in a 

 good supply before again leaving the river ; and in 

 order to make room for it, and relieve the oxen as 

 much as possible, nearly all their necks having 

 become raw by drawing in wet yokes, we threw 

 out every article that could possibly be dispensed 

 with, amongst the most bulky of which was a large 

 supply of Zeekoe fat, commissioned by our friends 

 in the colony. 



On the 23rd, having skirted the river about five 

 miles, we unexpectedly found ourselves at the em- 

 bouchure of one of its principal tributaries, the Nama 

 Hari, or Donkin, a river which takes its source one 

 hundred and fifty miles to the eastward, midway 

 between Port Xatal and Delagoa Bay, in the great 

 mountain range that divides Caffraria from the 

 Bechuana country. The point of confluence of these 

 streams is situated at the very apex of the bend 

 already described ; and the meeting of their troubled 

 waters, rolling towards each other from opposite 

 points of the compass, was an imposing and unusual 

 spectacle. As we were witnessing it from the brink 

 of the precipitous and well-rounded scarp, which 

 forms the salient angle. Behemoth at intervals thrust 

 out his broad snout for a moment to gaze at us, or 

 suddenly emerging, with a snort and splash, from 

 beneath the belt of Chaldean willows * w^hich graced 

 the opposite shore, plunged his shapeless bulk into 

 the flood. About sunset, having advanced ten 

 • Salix Babylonica. 



