ciiAF. VIII. JOURNEY ACROSS THE KARROO, OR DESERT. 207 



with several varieties of euphorbia and mesembryanthemum. 

 We saw a few birds, but all besides was a blank and dreary- 

 waste. Ever since leaving the pool of water one of our horses 

 had shown symptoms of disease, and about five o'clock our 

 driver said he did not think it would live, and that if it died 

 Ave should never get the waggon across the desert with the 

 rest. In this predicament we halted for the night, and per- 

 ceiving a tent and a couple of waggons at a short distance, 

 belonging to some boers who are in the habit at certain 

 seasons of the year of moving about the borders of the desert 

 Avith large flocks of sheep, we were truly glad to find, on in- 

 quiry, that they had a horse which they were mlling to ex- 

 change or sell. On this occasion we slept all night in our 

 waggon in the open desert, and having obtained a fresh horse 

 the next morning resumed our journey. In two or three 

 hours, however, two other horses became ill, and as the driver 

 said they could go no further we halted till the cool of the day. 

 We had walked a great part of the distance to relieve our 

 horses, every now and then passing, either on the road or near 

 it, the whitening skeleton of some poor toil-worn beast which 

 had there found its last resting-place. Towards evening we 

 set off again, proceeding at a slow pace until about nine 

 o'clock, when we gave our horses half the provender that re- 

 mained, but looked in vain for water. At midnight we had 

 thunder and lightning, and rain, but the tilt of our waggon 

 kept us dry. Soon after daybreak we were again moving, 

 and again in the course of a few hours our horses showed 

 signs of fatigue. We therefore walked on a considerable way, 

 and in about an hour and a half reached Braakfontayn, where 

 we found water and provender. The horses, as soon as they 

 were unharnessed, ran to the green grass growing by the side 

 of the fountain, and began to eat most voraciously ; they then 

 turned to the water, but drank less than I expected ; their 

 next enjoyment was a good roll in the dust. They afterwards 



