160 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



" It was a great day for Ireland intirely!" he re- 

 peated to Hendrick and Pater and William three or 

 four times at least ; and those worthies thought that if 

 a country was to be affected by my conduct, I was cer- 

 tainly a big man and deserving of great respect. There 

 was a marked change in their manner towards me from 

 that day. 



A short treck over a very bad road brought us at 

 length close to the Yaal river, when William, making 

 a short turn and attempting to take the wagon over a 

 grip caused by sun-cracks, broke the dissel-boom about 

 a foot from where it enters the eye. I was present 

 when the accident happened, and it was the result of 

 utter carelessness. So, as might be expected, I did 

 not bless him; no, on the reverse, I pitched into 

 him most sharply. I was able to do this now, for 

 if the worst had come to the worst, I could have 

 myself driven to Potschefstrom, for I had not lived 

 the last month for nothing. Again, it was too near 

 pay-day for him to take serious notice of what I said. 

 A splice, therefore, had to be constructed to get us 

 to the margin of the river, still some miles off; and 

 as this is ever a tedious operation, we were engaged on 

 it upwards of two hours. 



While thus employed, several families of trecking 

 Boers passed us, their wives, families, stock, and lares 

 and penates being all with them. They were a rough 

 and dirty -looking lot, still well-grown, not bad-looking, 

 people. The women wear a greased white cloth tied 

 close over their faces, covering all from the eyes to 

 the end of the chin. This is supposed to be a pro- 

 tection to their complexions, and gives a very strong 

 reminder to the observer of Turkish women in their 



