354 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



became acquainted with the dust. Those who had 

 not mounted seemed to think that the unsuccessful 

 candidates for equitation honours were duffers, so 

 in rotation, even to that fat goose Umganey, they 

 got on the ox, and were as rapidly unseated. "When 

 unmounted the bullock was as quiet and gentle as 

 an old cow ; get on his back and he appeared to 

 go crazy. It was one of the most amusing episodes 

 I had witnessed for a long time; in fact, so much so 

 that I brought on a violent headache by giving way 

 to excessive laughter. 



There are to-night at least seventy or eighty bush- 

 people around the fires ; where they all come from is a 

 marvel to me, for the country seems to be entirely 

 uninhabited, and nowhere will you find evidence of 

 man's presence. 



The country about here is most beautiful, yet unlike 

 anything I have ever seen, for every mile or less out of 

 the flat velt rise coppies, some to the elevation of a 

 hundred feet, some to double that height, and all are 

 clothed with vegetation to the summit, although there 

 appears to be no soil to give it nourishment. On 

 the plains the trees are not numerous, standing about a 

 hundred yards apart, with immense baobabs at almost 

 every quarter of a mile. The underbrush is very scant, 

 what there is being mapaney. 



While traversing this plain I commenced to think 

 what a dreadful place it would be to get lost in, for 

 not only did all the coppies look alike, but each tree 

 appeared a fac-simile of the other. 



Spoor of game was very abundant, yet so far we had 

 seen none, when one of the Massara touched me gently 

 on the hand and pointed to the left. Beneath a 



