234 EXPEDITION INTO 



in an ampliitheatre enclosed by which we passed the nig'ht. 

 To Andries in particular this friendly spot wore an aspect 

 of charming* interest^ it having- been described by ^Ling-ap, 

 with what truth I know not^ as the scene of Truey's enslave- 

 ment. To me it is remarkable from the circumstance of 

 my having* there^ for the last time^ seen and destroyed the 

 rhinoceros. 



Thus far on our pilg;rimag"e we had been directed in some 

 measure by the course of rivers and mountains^ but during* 

 the remainder of our journey we were to be g-uided by the 

 compass alone. A perfectly unexplored country intervened 

 betwixt us and the colony, and the distance that we had 

 travelled south of the known latitude of Moseg*a, convinced 

 me that we were still much farther from it than the maps 

 would indicate. It was believed by the Hottentots that 

 a southerly course would have led us to Lishuani, the resi- 

 dence of Peter David, conjectured to be about one hundred 

 and fifty miles from the present position. In order to reach 

 the missionary station of Phillipolis, therefore, which was 

 supposed to be rather less than double that distance, it was 

 determined to adopt a south-westerly route. Day after day, 

 as I pricked off on the chart the prog-ress that we had made, 

 was I streng-thened in the opinion I had formed, and the 

 sequel fully confirmed its correctness. 



The first day we travelled over an uninterrupted plain 

 strewed with small land-tortoises, and covered with a pro- 

 fusion of g'ay flowers, red, yellow, purple, and crimson. 

 Amongst these the gaudy marig-old was predominant — 

 g-rowing" sometimes singl}^, and at others spreading* out into 

 beds of several acres in extent. A sultry and tedious 

 march of nine hours broug*ht us at length to a bog*, with 

 a scanty pool of excessively fetid minei'al water, which 

 nothing but the direst necessity could have induced us to 

 taste. The number of animals collected in the vicinity 



