28 MATABELE LAND. 
blossoms very beautiful and sweet. Pleasant breeze 
where W.'s waggon is outspanned, mine being hot 
in the river-bed. Some people came here, but had 
neither eggs nor feathers for sale. As usual they 
carry muskets. It is a wonder they find anything 
to shoot, as they seem to be spread all over the 
^country. At the Gokwe we were told that the 
Bamangwato hunters were hunting about in that 
district, but could get nothing. At this time of 
year the people seem to come out to hunt from all 
the kraals, leaving only those unfit for that work at 
home. A giraffe was killed near here by some 
Bushmen, who gave us meat in exchange for 
tobacco. When out this morning I saw some kind of 
melon, which at first looked like ostrich-eggs, grow- 
ing by the river-bed — the kind, I think, which the 
oxen eat in times of drought. 
''August 2A^th. — Trekked for three hours, then 
rested, and started again at 1 1 a.m. . . . Reached 
the Shashe about two, and outspanned. We had 
come extremely slow ; sun hot, sand heavy, road 
bad, bullocks tired. Ground broken and stony, 
and falling towards the Shashe. Many crags crop 
up around, and in front of us are some kopjes — 
Hendrik says where the Tati is. The Shashe is a 
very broad river, all deep sand, with water in one 
place where it has been dug for, both for cattle and 
people. We enlarge the hole (hard work under the 
heat of the sun), and let the cattle drink. . . . 
There is an old Bushman here, destitute and alone. 
He says the Mungwato men took his gun. The 
