330 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



Driver ; "And our king has given it us." 



Guide : " Yes, he has given it us." 



Driver : "It must b.e milked." 



Guide : "It must be milked." 



The reader will scarcely require to have it explained 

 to him that I was the fat cow. 



They might designate me what they chose fat cow 

 as well as anything else but I was resolved they 

 would find me the most difficult of any of the bovine 

 family to reduce to submission that they had ever pre- 

 viously to deal with. I would abide my time ; be 

 patient but watchful; and, above all things, keep my 

 temper. Nothing so delights a Kaffir as to be able to 

 put a white man in a rage ; and another and quite as 

 potent a reason that you should not give way is, that 

 an angry excited man lays himself open to injury, where 

 if he had been cool he could have avoided it. 



That night, by the camp-fire, I placed new cartridges 

 in my revolvers. The suspected characters were around 

 me at the time, and I could note how they exchanged 

 with each other looks of anything but approval. 



Oar next treck took us round the base of two large 

 coppies covered with beautiful vegetation. Here I saw 

 the first palm, also the wild fig, both of which continued 

 to increase in numbers the farther we progressed. 

 Numerous dry river-beds marred our course, and gave us 

 much trouble in crossing their treacherous bottoms. In 

 the evening we entered a most lovely park -like country, 

 having more of the artificial than natural look about 

 it. Although we have not yet come to water ; vegeta- 

 tion seems to flourish without it, for the grass is green 

 and the foliage of the trees of a colour that denotes 

 perfect health. Here I selected the most charming 



