BEAl^Y SAND AND BAD TRAVELLING, 



243 



rival for the fair one's hand, so she spent her money 

 and time trecking about the land in search of her 

 reported recusant spouse. 



What between the attendants upon the grass 

 widow, the Griquas, and some wandering bush people 

 who had made their appearance, Mahalapsi, inde- 

 pendent of its numerous attractions, was not now a 

 desirable hunting centre for obtaining giraffes. 



The stranger who had joined us received informa- 

 tion from some of his own tribe (Massara), who were 

 on their way to Bamanwato, with feathers and ivory, 

 their annual subsidy to their chief, for the great 

 Kama was a slave owner, that caniile were numerous 

 at Matloutsi river, and in the velt to the southward 

 and eastward of it, that good rains had fallen, so 

 that water would be found abundant everywhere, 

 and, as a sequence, fresh grass for the oxen plenti- 

 ful. Thus that evening I broke up camp, so as to 

 get through the early part of our treck in the cool of 

 the night, for the first ten or twelve miles are remark- 

 ably heavy sand, after which, to Gowkive river, a 

 favourite outspanning place, the travelling is passably 

 good. 



The whole distance might be roughly estimated at 

 thirty miles, which we got over with four outspans of 

 about three hours each, so that the journey took 

 about thirty-six hours in all. When water is scarce 

 this part of the journey has to be hurried through, as 

 many of the Tati miners' and traders' bullocks have 

 known to their cost. Some portion of this journey, 

 especially the last half, is very pretty indeed, being 

 well covered with trees and bush. The lions of the 

 vicinity had, however, a very wide-knowr notoriety 

 for their daring and ferocity. This, doubtless, has 

 been caused through the banks of the Gowkive having 

 frequently been the scene of battles between the 

 hostile tribes of Bamanwato and Matabele Land. 

 Dead and wounded natives familiarize the wild 



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