A SECRET OF THE ORANGE RIVER. 173 



" ' Are you really speaking truth, Klaas ? ' said I 

 severely. 



"'Ja! Ja ! sieur, I am, I am,' he earnestly 

 and vehemently reiterated, ' you saved my life 

 from the " rhenoster " the other day, and I don't 

 forget it.' 



"Again and again I questioned and cross- 

 questioned the little Bushman, and finally convinced 

 myself of his truth, and I had too much respect for 

 his keen intelligence to think he was himself misled 

 or mistaken. 



"'Well, Klaas,' said I at last, 'I believe you, 

 and we'll trek down to the Orange River and see 

 this wonderful diamond valley of yours.' 



" Shortly after this conversation we came back to 

 Shoshong, where I sold my ivory, and then with 

 empty waggon, and the oxen refreshed by a good 

 rest, set our faces for the river. From Shoshong, 

 in Bamangwato, we trekked straight away across the 

 south-eastern corner of the Kalahari, in an oblique 

 direction, pointing south-west ; it was a frightfully 

 waterless and tedious journey, especially after passing 

 the Langeberg, which we kept on our left hand. 

 Towards the end of the journey, we found no water 

 at a fountain where we had expected to obtain it, and 

 thereby lost four out of twenty-two oxen (for I had 

 six spare ones), and at last, after trekking over a 

 burning and most broken country, we were beyond 

 measure thankful to strike the river some way below 

 the great falls. Klaas had led us to a most beautiful 

 spot, where the terrain slopes gradually to the river 

 (the only place for perhaps thirty or forty miles, 

 where the water, shut in by mighty mountain walls, 

 can be approached), and where we could rest 



