SOUTHERN AFRICA. 08 



devoured by lions ; but the former did not make their 

 appearance until noon^ a\ hen they informed us that the oxen 

 had divided into two parties^ and being- dreadfully alarmed, 

 would not stop in all probability until they should reach the 

 Kuruman ; adding-^ that if we wished to recover them, each 

 Hottentot must be provided with a horse and a supply of 

 ammunition. Knowing- from sad experience the fate that 

 awaited our steeds, upon whose well-being- our sport entirely 

 depended, we resisted the application ; upon which all but 

 Claas and Ethaldur beg-g-ed to throw up their commissions. 

 No one had any complaint to alleg-e except April, who 

 objected to the fatness of the mutton, and Andries, who 

 felt ag-g-rieved by a threat of retribution extended at Chooi. 

 The latter looked particularl}^ black, and it was not until 

 after he had been despatched with Cobus on horseback in 

 quest of the oxen, that we discovered him to have been the 

 instig-ator of a plot, which had been joined by all, to desert 

 us in the wilderness, and to return to the Colony with the 

 horses and whatever else they could lay their hands upon. 



Apprehensive of another attack from lions, we moved in 

 the afternoon to the opposite side of the river, drawing- up 

 the wag-g'ons on the top of a hillock, in such a manner as 

 to flank the cattle enclosure— an arrang-ement Avhich we ever 

 afterwards observed. Our friends the Batlapi retm-ned about 

 sunset with the oxen, which they had found twelve miles 

 off, a piece of service for which, according- to ag-reement, 

 they were rewarded w ith a yard of tobacco and a tinderbox. 

 Cobus and Andries also came back during- the nig-ht, having- 

 g-alled the backs of both the horses, without obtaining- any 

 tiding-s of the lost one. The whole of the following- day 

 was passed in fruitless endeavours to recover the truant, and 

 it was not until six months afterwards, that we ascertained 

 he had returned to the farm on which he had been bred in 

 the NeAV Hantam, a distance of five hundred miles. 



