SOUTHERN AFRICA. S33 



skin_, " and applied his shoulder to the wheely'' three hours 

 were provoking-ly passed in abortive attempts to extricate 

 it. Whips^ shin-bones^ and trek-touws, were alike fruitlessly 

 broken^ and fresh oxen repeatedly applied without the small- 

 est advantag'e ; and the river rising- rapidly^ we had almost 

 despaired of saving- our propert}'^ when cracks and yells^ 

 followed by the simultaneous strug-giing- of twenty-four of 

 our sturdiest beasts^ were answered by the g-rating* of a 

 wheel. An interval of intense anxiety succeeded. One 

 after another^ the fore and hind nave on the same side^ rose 

 slowly above the surface of the water, and the fall of the 

 slanting" vehicle appeared inevitable. To our joy, a sudden 

 jerk restored it, tottering", to the perpendicular — pair after 

 pair of the long" string" of oxen obtained their footing" on 

 the bank — once ag"ain the whips resounded in the hollow, 

 and the dripping" van emerg-ed in safety from the flood. 



Another hour had passed away before our little flock of 

 sheep could be reclaimed. These stubborn animals, having* 

 in the first instance been forced into the stream by dint 

 of much pelting' and persecution, had been carried down a 

 considerable distance ; and, as a matter of course, whilst 

 all hands were eno-ao^ed in extricatino" the wao-o-on, had 

 strayed into the thicket. At leng'th ever3'thing" was ready. 

 Little dreaming' of the distance that still divided them from 

 their beloved g*in-shop, the Hottentots cheered and fired a 

 salute, as they turned their backs upon the ^^ yellow river," 

 and upon the execrated dominions of his beer-drinkino* 

 Majesty. 



We had not advanced more than three miles before our 

 progress was opposed by a furious storm of hail and thun- 

 der. Many of the stones were half an inch in diameter, 

 and the oxen being- unable to face them, tm-ned their backs 

 to the pitiless shower, and stood in the j^okes. With some 

 difiiculty we at last gained the shelter of a neighbouring- hill. 



