40 ///<; C.AME SHOOTING 



the bushes were leafless, the twigs dry, the grass dust, the 

 ground iron, and all animal, bird, and even insect life com- 

 pletely absent. In those two days we felt and knew the 

 abomination of desolation, and so did our poor beasts. 



Nothing particular happened during our journey between the 

 two rivers. We shot and trekked one day much like another 

 and stopped a short time at Kuruman, the station of that 

 grand old patriarch of missionaries, Mr. Moffat, where we re- 

 ceived all the kindly hospitality, attention and advice possible 

 from him and Mrs. Moffat verily the two best friends travel- 

 lers ever came across. I shall never forget their affectionate 

 courtesy, their beautifully ordered household, and their earnest 

 desire to help us on in every way. He advised us to go to 

 Livingstone, who was then stationed at Mabotse, 220 miles or 

 so to the northward, and obtain from him guides and counsel 

 for our further wanderings. 



We were once nearly in trouble, however, after leaving Kuru- 

 man. We had crossed a little stream called, I think, the Merit- 

 sani, and one of our men, while cooking some tit-bit of an 

 antelope Murray had shot far away from the camp, carelessly 

 set the grass on fire. Luckily we saw it two miles off, and by 

 clearing the ground, and burning the stubble round the 

 waggons, we escaped. It was a wonderful sight to watch the 

 wall of smoke and flame as it licked up the grass and bush and 

 coiled itself in folds about the tree stems ; birds, insects, and 

 beasts fleeing before it. As it approached our clearing, the 

 heat was intense, and we had some difficulty in restraining the 

 frightened horses and oxen ; but the roaring rolling flame 

 came within thirty yards of us, and then as it touched the edge 

 of our charmed circle died away into nothingness, its dis- 

 appointment seeming to goad it onward to right and left. 



The flat open country held till we reached the Molopo 

 River. The sketch very correctly represents this little stream 

 when we first saw it, and gives a good general idea of the 

 500 or 600 miles we had come. Seven different kinds of 

 animals were within view, some, especially the quaggas 



