108 THE LAST AND LONGEST JOURNEY. 



CHAPTER V. 



Start in June, 1852, on the last and longest Journey from Cape Town. — Compan- 

 ions. — Wagon-traveling. — Physical Divisions of Africa. — The Eastern, Central, 

 and Western Zones. — The Kalahari Desert. — Its Vegetation. — Increasing Value 

 of the Interior for Colonization. — Our Route. — Dutch Boers. — Their Habits. — 

 Sterile Appearance of the District. — Failure of Grass. — Succeeded by other 

 Plants. — Vines. — Animals. — The Boers as Farmers. — Migration of Springbucks. 

 — Wariness of Animals. — The Orange River. — Territory of the Griquas and 

 Bechuanas. — The Griquas. — The Chief Waterboer. — His wise and energetic 

 Government. — His Fidelity. — Ill-considered Measures of the Colonial Govern- 

 ment in regard to Supplies of Gunpowder. — Success of the Missionaries among 

 the Griquas and Bechuanas. — Manifest Improvement of the native Character. — 

 Dress of the Natives. — A full-dress Costume. — A Native's Description of the Na- 

 tives. — Articles of Commerce in the Country of the Bechuanas. — Their Unwil- 

 lingness to learn, and Readiness to criticise. 



Having sent my family home to England, I started in the be- 

 ginning of June, 1852, on my last journey from Cape Town. This 

 journey extended from the southern extremity of the continent to 

 St. Paul de Loando, the capital of Angola, on the west coast, and 

 thence across South Central Africa in an oblique direction to 

 Kilimane (Quilimane) in Eastern Africa. I proceeded in the usu- 

 al conveyance of the country, the heavy, lumbering Cape wagon 

 drawn by ten oxen, and was accompanied by two Christian Bechu- 

 anas from Kuruman — than whom I never saw better servants any 

 where — by two Bakwain men, and two young girls, who, having 

 come as nurses with our children to the Cape, were returning to 

 their home at Kolobeng. Wagon-traveling in Africa has been so 

 often described that I need say no more than that it is a prolong- 

 ed system of picnicking, excellent for the health, and agreeable to 

 those who are not over-fastidious about trifles, and who delight in 

 being in the open air. 



Our route to the north lay near the centre of the cone-shaped 

 mass of land which constitutes the promontory of the Cape. If 

 we suppose this cone to be divided into three zones or longitudinal 

 bands, we find each presenting distinct peculiarities of climate, 



