180 EXPEDITION INTO 



hunting' party mainly depend upon the number and con- 

 dition of the horses — which are almost daily required also 

 for the recovery of stra^dng- cattle^ and, owing- to some 

 peculiarity in the Hottentot conformation, which ill-adapts 

 him for equestrian excellence, are invariably brought home 

 with g-alled backs — but its safety, in event of an attack from 

 the savage tribes, is equally involved. We could, therefore, 

 have found ample employment for forty, instead of sixteen 

 half-starved, shoeless Rozinantes, with nothing- but g'rass to 

 eat, and not so much even as a cloth to protect them from 

 the cold and wet during* a succession of inclement nights. 

 But whilst none of our many trading advisers, who had 

 doubtless experienced the difficulty of destroying on foot 

 sufficient game for the subsistence of their followers, had 

 suggested our g'oing' better provided, they had unfortunately 

 succeeded in dissuading- us from carrying- a supply of shoes 

 or grain, the absence of both of which essentials we never 

 ceased to deplore. The anxiety may be estimated with which 

 we watched the now daily improving- condition of our meagre 

 steeds, and assiduously endeavoured to free them from the 

 clusters of bursting- ticks, which, having' been contracted 

 amongst the bushes, threatened to relieve them of the little 

 blood that they possessed. A sturdy stall-fed Arab would 

 have now been worth his weight in gold ; yet rag-ged as the 

 Cape horses undoubtedly are, it is but justice to their manifold 

 merits to declare that they only require feeding- to render 

 them most useful alhes during- an African campaign. Hardy, 

 docile, and enduring, any number may be driven on the line 

 of march by a single Hottentot; and they are soon habituated 

 to graze unattended within sight of the wag-gons, wherever 

 ^ass is abundant. In the chase, the most formidable 

 animal does not inspire them with the slig'htest alarm ; and 

 the bridle being thrown over their heads, they may g-enerall}^ 



