LIONS ROUND THE WAGGONS. 17 
" This is a most uninteresting country — all thorns 
and sand. The whole way from Pretoria here it is 
thick bush, composed mostly of stunted thorn trees, 
whose thorns are white and about four inches long. 
We stayed four days on the Crocodile River, as our 
oxen wanted rest. The lions were roaring round 
the waggons at night, in hopes of getting at the 
oxen. We have the latter carefully tied up to the 
waggons at night, and two or three immense fires 
lighted, to keep them off. 
" It is impossible, we find, to get to Lake Ngami 
now, as there are a hundred miles to go through 
heavy sand without water to get there. Frank still 
thinks of going to the Victoria Falls, through Mosili- 
katze's country, by way of the Tati River, and I 
intend to go as far as the Tati. . . . Every morning 
here lots of women go out to collect locusts, which 
swarm a short distance off, and are the only food 
the natives get now, as their crop of corn has 
failed, and they are half starving. They have a 
few little goats, but there is hardly any grass, and 
only one very small stream of water about two miles 
off." 
Frank Oates also writes the same day as follows : — 
" You have, I hope, got our letters written from 
Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. Since then 
we have not come more than 250 miles, if as much, 
and have been about a month in doing it. Buckley and 
Gilchrist have accompanied us, making, with our 
waggons, three waggons in all, and I think we shall 
probably go on together for some time at any rate. 
