OUTFIT FOR JOURNEY. 131 



Bat, as I had always believed that, if we serve God at all, 

 it ought to be done in a manly way, I wrote to my 

 brother, commending our little girl to his care, as I was 

 determined to " succeed or perish" in the attempt to open 

 up this part of Africa. The Boers, by taking possession 

 of all my goods, had saved me the trouble of making a 

 will; and, considering the light heart now left in my 

 bosom, and some faint efforts to perform the duty of Chris- 

 tian forgiveness, I felt that it was better to be the plun- 

 dered party than one of the plunderers. 



When I committed the wagon and remaining goods to 

 the care of the Makololo, they took all the articles except 

 one box into their huts; and two warriors — Ponuane and 

 Mahale — brought forward each a fine heifer-calf. After 

 performing a number of warlike evolutions, they asked 

 the chief to witness the agreement made between them, 

 that whoever of the two should kill a Matebele warrior 

 first, in defence of the wagon, should possess both the 

 calves. 



I had three muskets for my people, a rifle and a double- 

 barrelled smooth-bore for myself; and, having seen such 

 great abundance of game in my visit to the Leeba, I 

 imagined that I could easily supply the wants of my 

 party Wishing also to avoid the discouragement which 

 would naturally be felt on meeting any obstacles if my 

 companions were obliged to carry heavy loads, I took only 

 a few biscuits, a few pounds of tea and sugar, and about 

 twenty of coffee, which, as the Arabs find, though used 

 without either milk or sugar, is a most refreshing beverage 

 after fatigue or exposure to the sun. We carried one small 

 tin canister, about fifteen inches square, filled with spare 

 shirting, trousers^ and shoes, to be used when we reached 

 civilized life, and others in a bag, which were expected to 

 wear out on the way ; another of the same size for medi- 

 cines ; and a third for books, my stock being a Nautical 

 Almanac, Thomson's Logarithm Tables, and a Bible; a 

 fourth box contained a magic lantern, whhh we found of 



