154 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



the Kalahari. We only saw and bagged a few eland, being 

 obliged very soon to give it up on account of the great loss in 

 horse flesh. Horse after horse died of the dread disease, which 

 in that year was most prevalent and deadly. A terrible thing it 

 is to see a horse afflicted ; if loose he generally trots into camp 

 as if to ask for help ; he looks frightened, the eyes are swollen, 

 his flanks move with hurried breathing. He is restless, stamps 

 on the ground, snorts as if to clear his nose. As the disease 

 advances thick white foam comes from the nostrils increasing 

 rapidly in quantity, the horse is in an agony of suffocative terror, 

 throws himself on the ground, as rapidly to bound up again, 

 and paralysis of the lungs closes the painful scene. That it is 

 malaria there can be no doubt, but no method of cure has as 

 yet been proved. A very few get over it and are then " salted" ; 

 these have always a dull, lifeless appearance, but even they are 

 not absolutely safe from another attack. 



The country looked very fresh and green, the maize fields were 

 laden with golden fruit, and grass, many feet high and in bloom, 

 clothed hill and dale, relieved here and there by patches of shiny 

 m'opani bush and giraffe mimosas with fragrant flower. The 

 rain had turned the country into a garden but made the roads 

 very heavy indeed ; the low-lying swampy meadows retarded 

 progress greatly, and mud-holes were abundant, into which the 

 wheels sank deeply, necessitating a great deal of hard work and 

 unloading often to get the wagon through. 



At last we arrived at Palatswie, the capital of Khama, that 

 most charming man and kind ruler of his people, the Bamang- 

 wato. Here were the headquarters of the Bechuanaland Ex- 

 ploration Company, who run a mail coach down to Kimberley 

 650 to 700 miles according to paper, in six days six hours, 

 travelling night and day. I believe it is done easily now, but 

 our memorable journey was made during the rains and altogether 

 at a most unfavourable time, when horses and mules were dying 

 all along the road and the coach management was changing 

 hands. 



The two-wheeled cart had a canvas roof and side curtains, and 

 contained three benches, one behind the other, each intended for 

 three persons. Thus, counting the two drivers, the cart carries 

 nine people, and when full, which luckily it was not in our case, 

 there is absolutely no room to move, every one is tightly 



