SOUTHERN AFRICA. 49 



Their horses and oxen were perfect skeletons, and then* 

 wag-g-ons literally tumbling- to pieces. Tireless wheels were 

 lashed tog-ether with strips of raw hide, and festoons of sun- 

 dried meat termed Biltong, occupied the place of the awn- 

 ing- • whilst a number of filthy women and children were 

 stowed away with an odoriferous melange of g-arbag-e and fat. 

 These people had approached to the western limit of Mosele- 

 katse's territory Avithout molestation, — a circumstance which 

 seemed to inspire our timid followers with confidence. Larg-e 

 parties are annually formed for the purpose of hunting- the 

 cameleopard and eland — the flesh of these animals being- 

 held in g-reat estimation, and their skins applied to the manu- 

 facture of shoes and a variety of other uses. We would 

 g-ladly have purchased some of the miserable horses, but the 

 owners declined receiving- anything- in exchang-e but g'un- 

 powder, which we could not have g-iven without incurring- 

 the risk of twelve months' imprisonment on our return to 

 the Colony, althoug-h a sing-le pound AA-ould have g-iven us 

 the choice of the stud. 



After crossing- the Saltpan, we passed a long- line of pit- 

 falls used for entrapping- g-ame. Upwards of sixty of these 

 were dug- close too-ether in a treble line : a hio-h thorn fence 

 extending- in the form of a crescent a mile on either side, 

 in such a manner that g-noos, quag-g-as, and other animals 

 may easily be driven into them. They are carefulty con- 

 cealed with g-rass, and their circumscribed dimensions render 

 escape almost impossible. Heaps of whitened bones bore 

 ample testimon^^ to the destruction they had occasioned. 



We now entered upon the Chooi Desert, an extensive flat, 

 denuded of trees— broken occasionally^ by low ridg-es, but 

 still remnrkable for its scorched and sterile uniformity. After 

 travelling* tAventy miles across this "reg-ion of emptiness, 

 howling- and drear," we reached Loharon, at which there 

 was a prospect of obtaining- water, but unfortimately the 



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