CHAP. IX.] PREPARE FOR SPORT. 273 



these about twenty were identical with those in my 

 dictionary, twenty were somewhat like them, and the 

 other twenty I could not find. I presume, therefore, 

 that their language is Sichuana, or a dialect of it. 

 The Bushmen were unanimous in saying that our 

 next stage to the east was longer than the one we 

 had just travelled. The season was so excessively 

 dry that all the wells were exhausted. The Kubabees 

 Hottentots had passed by this place in the dry season, 

 but it was subsequent to an ordinarily rainy summer, 

 and they left 'Tomiobis in the afternoon, travelled all 

 night, and next midday drank water with reeds, after 

 theii- manner, from a place where the sand was damp ; 

 on the ensuing day they came to a Bushman werft, 

 and so on every day till the fifth, when they reached 

 a Mationa cattle post ; they call it Eisis in Hottentot, 

 Chuesa in Mationa language; from there the hills 

 that border the great water (river or lake I am not 

 sure which) can be seen. There is said to be much 

 game there. 



We had great difficulty in making the Bushmen 

 distinguish between the lake and the rivers; they 

 called the whole water-country by one name — Tl' 

 Annee. However, I will not enter at length into these 

 details, as more accurate information will certainly be 

 received before long from the whites, or whiter races, 

 who are now steadily pushing northwards. 



We repaired the circular walls of loose stones that 

 were to form our shooting-screens. The lower they 

 are the better, generally speaking, as being less likely 

 to attract attention ; but when it can be managed, a 



N 3 



