SOUTHERN AFRICA. 205 



occasional correction from the now broken pocket sextant, 

 had determined our position in so lovely a country with 

 sufficient accuracy. Rude as it may appear, few inland 

 portions of this vast continent have been surveyed by a 

 more scientific process ; and during^ the early part of our 

 journey, especially while travelling* between known points, 

 I had frequent opportunities of satisfying" myself of its 

 practical correctness. 



Judg'ing-, therefore, from a minute daily register kept 

 throug-hout our jom'ney, we must now have been about the 

 tropic, our distance to the north of the known latitude of 

 Moseg"a being' upwards of one hundred and fifty miles. We 

 retraced our steps on the 1st December, the previous nig-lit 

 having" been passed at a kraal of starving* Baquaina, for 

 whom Ave had killed a rhinoceros. Fearful indeed was the 

 uproar that attended the division of the carcase — a larg-e 

 party of ladies, possessing* remarkably slender wardrobes, 

 rushino' forth like witches, and leaving" nothino* in the 

 course of a few hours but a pool of blood. 



Thus far we had been treated by the g'uides with tolerable 

 civility. No sooner, however, had we turned to the south- 

 ward than they beg-an to evince the g'reatest impatience at 

 their detention, complaining- loudly of their limited rations 

 of snuff and bread, and insolently urging" our return to the 

 Cashan mountains with all expedition, upon the i:>lea that 

 the king* would be displeased at our making- so long* a stay ; 

 his Majesty having*, they said, instructed them that we were 

 only to hunt during* one moon. Knowing* this to be false, 

 we continued hunting* g'iraffes, and paid little attention to 

 their remonstrances j but on arriving* opposite the scene of 

 the Griqua defeat, we were joined, on the Cth, by four 

 Matabili warriors fi"om Kapain, who stated that they had 

 been following" our wag"g*on-tracks, by command of the king*, 

 for ten days past, in order peremptorily to direct our return 



