RETURN PARTIES FROM THE ZAMBESI. 203 
Bond and Robertson — arrived on their return from 
the Zambesi, having gone there early in the year. 
They had shot elephants near the river, and the 
former had made some pretty sketches of the Falls, 
Other parties also now came in from the Zambesi. 
At length, on the 3d of November, Frank Oates 
once more set off into the veldt — not to the Shashani, 
however, as he had intended, but again in a northerly 
direction, for reasons shortly to be stated. Before 
starting on this occasion, he wrote home some letters 
of considerable length, reviewing his experiences 
of the past three months, since the date of his last 
departure from Tati on the 25th of July, which may 
here be given almost as they stand, entire. The 
first of these, written to his mother, is as follows : — 
"Tati, October \st, 1874. 
"When you see the above date, you will per- 
haps think that I have returned from the Zambesi ; 
but the fates seem to have conspired against my 
reaching that river. After last writing home I left 
here on the 25th of July in company with Stoffel, 
the trader I told you of, and with every prospect of 
a most successful trip. The series of mishaps which 
led to my final (for this season at any rate) return 
here on the i8th of September, I will presently relate. 
I say, * this season at any rate,' but I think I shall 
now give up the Zambesi altogether, consoling myself 
with the adage — ' 'Tis not in mortals to command 
success.' I read somewhere of some one replying to 
this — 'But they can deserve it;' and a third party, 
who I think showed his wisdom, suggested, as an 
