CATTLE IMPOUNDED. 33 



lying debts, the weather, which had been wet and 

 stormy for many days past, assuming a more settled 

 appearance, I resolved to "inspan" and "trek," which 

 the reader will bear in mind mean to yoke and march. 

 I accordingly communicated my intentions to my fol- 

 lowers, and dispatched my leader Carollus to the neigh- 

 boring mountains, where my cattle were "supposed to 

 be pasturing, to bring them up. , He expended the great- 

 er part of the day in searching for them in vain about 

 their wonted feeding-ground : at length, late in the aft- 

 ernoon, he chanced to meet a comrade, who informed 

 him that the oxen he was seeking were safely lodged in 

 the "skit-kraal"' or pound, Colonel Somerset of "Ours" 

 having detected them in the act of luxuriating in a field 

 of green forage. This pleasing intelligence demanded 

 my immediate attendance at the skit-kraal, where, by 

 a disimbursement of 95^, I obtained their release. 



Having secured my oxen, my next business was to 

 find my servants, who were all missing. Long, as I 

 expected, was found gallantly assisting the dark-eyed 

 heroine of the mangle, and Kleinboy and Cobus were 

 discovered in a state of brutal intoxication, stretched 

 on the greensward in front of one of the canteens, along 

 with sundry other wagon-drivers and Hottentot Venus- 

 es, all in the same glorious condition, having expended 

 on liquor the pay which they had extracted from me in 

 advance on the plea of providing themselyes with nec^ 

 essaries. Drunk as they were, Carollus, who was so- 

 ber, managed to allure them to the wagons, and, Long 

 assisting, the inspanning commenced. As no man who 

 has not visited the Cape can form^ny idea of the man- 

 ner in which this daily operation is performed, it will 

 here tie necessary to explain it, and to say a fe% more 

 words concerning the structure of a wagon. 



B 3 



