270 EXPEDITION INTO 



abetting" to our ruin from the very commencement^ our 

 pluckless followers had fled — not from the overwhelming- 

 hostj which their heated imag-inations hnd conjured into 

 existence — but from the empty challeng-e of a woman^ g-iven 

 fi'om a position to which^ either on horseback or on foot^ 

 they could have ascended without the smallest difficulty ! 



Completely frustrated in our endeavours to chastise the 

 authors of our heavy misfortunes^ we at leng-th descended 

 the hill in order to muster the remnant of our ill-fated teams ; 

 and little less melancholy was the prospect that there awaited 

 us. Exclusive of the old cow^ and the equally useless black 

 bull^ neither of which were touched^ seventeen drooping* 

 wounded wretches, with g-lazed e^^es, and fallen crests, were 

 huddled tog-ether, their coats standing* on end — some shiver- 

 ing" in the last ag"onies of death — and many others barely 

 a1)le to rise. In addition to sundry wounds which had been 

 inflicted by our merciless and malicious foes whilst urg'ing* 

 them across the plain, the unfortunate animals had recently 

 received many cold-blooded g*ashes, bestowed, apparently, 

 with the desig"n of rendering" them unserviceable to us ; and, 

 thus crippled, it was not without infinite labour and difficulty 

 that we eventually succeeded in driving* them to the camp, 

 which we reached long* after the sim had sunk in the west. 

 On our way thither, visiting* the demon kraal, we found a 

 filthy area, inclosed by masses of rock heaped tog"ether by 

 the hand of nature, and overg"rown with wild olives ; but 

 inhabited only by meag"re curs, which had been left, by the 

 vindictive sprites, to g"uard, during* their absence, from the 

 assaults of vultures, the g"arbag-e and putrid skins with 

 A\ hich the trees were festooned. 



Taking* a review of the whole of this most melancholy 

 aff'air, it was poor consolation to reflect that the catastrophe 

 had been brought about by a tissue of the grossest neg-lect, 

 pusillanimity, and mismanag*ement on the part of our fol- 



