1 64 MATABELE LAND. 
there seems a possibility of my getting my waggon 
wheels shortened. I shall be glad if I can get this 
done, as wood in this country shrinks so much that 
the tire often becomes loose, and then a blacksmith 
is wanted to shorten the tire unless the wheel is 
wedged. 
" I am fortunate in having secured the services 
of the Dutchman and his little boy, whose engage- 
ment I informed you of in my letter from Bamang- 
wato. These people are very useful to have about 
a waggon. There are a thousand shifts, which 
any one who understands the subject can have 
recourse to. A Kafir is scarcely ever the slightest 
good, even if he has been working about waggons 
all his life. I have now, moreover, far more comfort 
in the waggon I appropriate to my own use, as it is 
no longer crammed to overflowing, half my cargo 
being stowed away in my second waggon, which the 
Boer occupies. My oxen too are, on the whole, in 
a very satisfactory state, and I have all the necessary 
stores. I don't suppose I need be more than a 
month in reaching the place where my waggons 
must stand, and then it is two or three days on foot 
to the Victoria Falls ; but of course I shall go slower 
than this, and may not be back here till November, 
or even later. I feel now as if all was going well. 
" I was eight days in coming here from the place 
where I last broke down, and had few incidents on 
the road. Van Roozen, the Dutchman, however, 
got a fright one morning from a couple of lions, and 
showed himself to be rather a coward. We were 
