A Land of Famine. 231 



Every one was ^ya.nti^o• them, no one had gc^t 

 them. Even mealies, good supplies of which are 

 essential for horses and mules, if these are to do 

 work, could not he ohtained except in scanty quan- 

 tities, with nuich difficulty and at great prices. I 

 was asked for a sack of mealies, 200 lb. in weight, 

 ol. lOy. There had been no oro-anization in this 

 country during the past season for collecting sup- 

 plies of grain or food. A little care, forethought, 

 and enero'v exercised since the close of the rainy 

 season, would have collected, stored, and economized 

 great quantities of forage and of food at the forts 

 and at the various post stations ; l^ut nothing had 

 been done, and the Company itself, for the feeding 

 of many animals, depended upon the uncertain and 

 precarious arrival of a waggon now and then bear- 

 in o; a few sacks of i>:rain. 



Nothing can be more serious than this state 

 of things in a country where locomotion depends 

 upon the health and strength of your animals, 

 and where the health and strength of your 

 animals depend upon abmidant and regular 

 supplies of food. The grass over miles and miles 

 of country had been burnt ; nightly conflagrations 

 of grass and IdusIi brilliantly illuminate the horizon 

 in all directions, and day after day the oxen had 

 to travel further and further afield in search even of 

 the " sour veldt " which this country throughout 

 its whole length and breadth alone produces. I 

 did not expect to be able to send much assistance 

 to my belated waggons, but determined to give up 

 shooting and return to Fort Salisbury by easy 



