SOUTHERN AFRICA. 237 



become raw by drawing" in wet yokes^ we threw out every 

 article that could possibly be dispensed with^ amongst the 

 most bulky of which was a larg'e supply of Zceltoe faty 

 commissioned by our friends in the colony. 



On the 23rd^ having* skirted the river about five miles, 

 we unexpectedly found ourselves at the embouchure of one 

 of its principal tributaries, the Nama-Hari, or Donkin, a 

 river which takes its source one hundred and fifty miles to 

 the eastward, midway between Port Natal and Delag-oa Bay, 

 in the g-reat mountain rang-e that divides CafFraria fi'om 

 the Bechuana country. The point of confluence of these 

 streams is situated at the very apex of the bend already 

 described ; and the meeting* of their troubled waters, rolling* 

 towards each other from opposite points of the compass, 

 was an imposing* and unusual spectacle. As we were wit- 

 nessing* it from the bi*ink of the precipitous and well-rounded 

 scarp, which forms the salient ang-le. Behemoth at intervals 

 thrust out his broad snout for a moment to g*aze at us, or 

 suddenly emerg*ing*, with a snort and splash, from beneath 

 the belt of Chaldean willows* which graced the opposite 

 shore, plunged his shapeless bulk into the flood. About 

 sunset having* advanced ten miles up the rig'ht bank of the 

 Nama-Hari without discovering* a ford, we halted at a spot 

 ■\^ here the banks might with some labour have been pared 

 down sufficiently to admit of our waggons crossing* ; but 

 our scouts discovering a practicable road two miles higher 

 up, v,'e were fortunately spared the trouble. 



Two hours' toil the following morning placed us safely 

 on the southern bank of the Nama-Hari ; and after replen- 

 ishing* our water-casks, and endeavouring to persuade the 

 cattle to drink their fill, which at so early an hour they 

 refused to do, we resumed a south-westerly course, and again 



* Salix Babylonica. 



