34 WAGNER and TREVOR 



as this does not interfere with their care of the animals. They are 

 always willing to do so, but as a rule are very rough and ready 

 in their methods. A good personal boy with a knowledge of cooking 

 and valeting is therefore invaluable, and in any case such an adjunct 

 to one's comfort as to be a necessity for essential work. Such boys 

 are not easily had ready made, but with a little patience are 

 easily trained. 



Where several wagons and a large number of oxen are 

 employed a competent white conductor becomes an absolute essential, 

 and care should be taken that this conductor is selected either from 

 the inhabitants of the district to be traversed or is at least a man 

 accustomed to the conditions there prevailing. The ordinary Dutch 

 wagon conductor is an uneducated man, rough in appearance and 

 extraordinarily ignorant of everything not essential to his work, 

 but on the other hand, extremely "veld wise" and wonderfully 

 good at overcoming difficulties; having a natural gift for getting 

 on without what are usually considered essentials and at making 

 expedients. He is also an excellent pot hunter and will procure 

 game where no other European can find it. 



Oxen. The number of oxen required will depend upon the weight 

 of the wagon and the nature of the country to be traversed. As a 

 rule sixteen suffice, but for sandy country such as the Kalahari, 

 where in addition to the heavy going the animals have to do 

 without water for long periods, twenty or even twenty-four oxen 

 are required. 



For long treks it is always advisable to take a few spare oxen. 

 To negotiate exceptionally heavy stretches, such as the belts of 

 steep sand dunes met with in the Namib and the Kalahari, or 

 swampy ground, it is sometimes necessary to inspan as many as 

 forty oxen. When travelling with two wagons this is easily arranged 

 by detaching the trek-chain from the pole of one of the wagons 

 and fixing it on to the end of the trek-chain of the other. When 

 one wagon has successfully negotiated the obstacle the double span 

 is sent back for the other. 



The best way of getting a wagon, or for that matter any form 

 of wheeled vehicle, through a deep miry swamp is to corduroy" the 

 line of intended passage with logs, branches or reed faggots which 

 are picked up and used over and over again as the wagon advances. 



Good trek-oxen over most of the Union and Southern Rhodesia 

 are now worth from 9.0.0. to 12.0.0. In South West Africa 

 and Bechuanaland the price ranges from 7.0.0. to 10.0.0. The 

 selection of the oxen is a matter of considerable difficulty and it 



