An Amusing Trio. 



195 



in this way very useful. Their loaggage consists 

 of three dried pumpkin shells, in which they carry 

 a scanty supply of mealies and water. With a 

 little old sacking and half an old blanket found 

 among our odds and 

 ends, they are now fit 

 to appear in Rotten 

 Row. An expression of 

 anxiety and melancholy 

 overcasts their counte- 

 nances, otherwise intelli- 

 gent ; grave and serious 

 gestures mark their de- 

 meanour, not without 

 grace and dignity. They 

 seldom smile, and never 

 lauoii. A dreary and 

 tedious journey is the 

 one designated under 

 the headino- of this 

 chapter. Five days and 

 a half were occupied in 

 getting over the distance 

 of 125 miles to Fort 

 Charter, though, if the 

 road had been at all 

 decent, less than four 

 clays would have sufficed 

 for my horses and mules, 

 at from a distance at Fort Victoria, seemed so 

 fair, is an endless and most wearisome tract of 

 barren sand, covered with dry, cOarse grass, with 



2 



One of our boj's (ia sackcloth, 

 drawing water. Round his neck 

 are two biscuits, gifts mistaken 

 as intended for use as ornambnt 

 instead of for food). 



The plain which, looked 



