240 EXPEDITION INTO 



every thing" betwixt me and it was wrapped in uncertainty^ 

 and that to arrive there I should have to pass alone through 

 an unknown and inhospitable region ; but on the other hand, 

 I had already done all that human ing-enuity could devise, 

 without the smallest success. I estimated my distance fi'om 

 the New Hantam to be about two hundred miles ; and being* 

 well provided with ammunition, there was a fair prospect of 

 my being* able to reach that district in six or seven days, 

 unless the scarcity of g-ame should oblig-e me to sacrifice my 

 steed. Taking' into consideration, however, the long" and 

 dismal state of uncertainty that the measure would entail 

 upon my companion, I finally determined to make one more 

 huntsman-like cast, before giving* up the search in despair. 



Another day dawned, and ag"ain I saddled my trusty beast, 

 and struck into the pathless waste, intending* to make a wide 

 SAveep to the northward and westward, where it was possible 

 that rain mig"ht not have fallen. Far and wide, however, the 

 enamelled carpet g'listened beneath the reviving* effects of the 

 recent showers ; the Sun, as he rose, imparting* to the face of 

 nature a more than magic beauty, which seemed to laugh at 

 my wretched and forlorn condition. Well do I recall to me- 

 mory that resplendent sunrise — that canopy of purple clouds 

 retiring* before the g'olden orb, and resolving* itself into a 

 million fantastic fig'ures, whilst by the roseate and crimson 

 g'round disclosed be3"ond it the surrounding* heavens were 

 tinted with every variety and depth of shade. About noon, 

 lifting* up my eyes from the g"round, on which they had vainly 

 sought for any indication of the party having* passed, to my 

 unutterable joy and delight I recognized the sedge-grown 

 fountain at which we had breakfasted on Christmas mornino- ! 

 Vaulting into the saddle, I eagerly dashed towards the spot, 

 and instantly hit upon the trail of our waggons, steadily fol- 

 lowing* up which, I shortly fell in with a party of Bechuana 

 of both sexes, who proved to be members of the remnant of 



