BOER ENCAMPMENTS. 295 



River. Four Boers paid me a visit and drank coffee 

 with me. I questioned them concerning the recent en- 

 gagement between the rebels and the English. They 

 said that nearly all the latter had fallen on that occasion 

 and only six Boers, and told us many other equally 

 extravagant tales. It vi^as, hovrever, very clear, from 

 their remarks, that the Boers had received a lesson 

 which they would not soon forget of the utter vanity 

 of opposition to the English government. 



On the 24th our morning's march brought us into 

 the district where in the commencement of last winter 

 I had seen such overwhelming swarms of blesboks : 

 Boers were encamped on the opposite side of the river. 

 I outspanned beside some shady thorn-trees ; lions' spoor 

 was seen on the line of march. In the afternoon I lost 

 my march, being obliged to halt soon after I inspanned 

 to correct a bush of the iron axle-tree wagon, which 

 was loose. 



The 25th was a cloudy morning, with a cool breeze. 

 Our morning's march brought us to a forsaken Boer 

 encampment, around which lay the remains of the dif- 

 ferent varieties of game frequenting the district. We 

 halted for breakfast beside several acres of thorn-cover 

 on the bank of the river. 



As we were breakfasting on the 24th by the banks 

 of the river, a trader from the Pari (a district near 

 Cape Town), of .French extraction, passed us with his 

 two wagons laden with merchandise. He took a cup 

 of tea with me and gave me the news of the colony. 

 Observing the skull of an old bull buffalo fastened on 

 one of my traps, he asked me if it was the head of an 

 elephant. Another Boer had asked me a few days 

 since if a crocodile's heai, which was tied up at the 

 back of CaroUus's wagon^ belonged to an elephant. In 



