186 KECAPTUEE OF RUNAWAY CATTLE. 



party being seized with fever. I had seen this disease before, 

 but did not at once recognize it as the African fever ; I imagined 

 it was only a bilious attack, arising from full feeding on flesh, 

 for, the large game having been very abundant, we always had a 

 good supply ; but instead of the first sufferers recovering soon, 

 every man of our party was in a few days laid low, except a Bak- 

 wain and myself. He managed the oxen, while I attended to the 

 wants of the patients, and went out occasionally with the Bush- 

 men to get a zebra or buffalo, so as to induce them to remain 

 with us. 



Here for the first time I had leisure to follow the instructions 

 of my kind teacher, Mr. Maclear, and calculated several longitudes 

 from lunar distances. The hearty manner in which that eminent 

 astronomer and frank, friendly man had promised to aid me in cal- 

 culating and verifying my work, conduced more than any thing 

 else to inspire me with perseverance in making astronomical ob- 

 servations throughout the journey. 



The grass here was so tall that the oxen became uneasy, and 

 one night the sight of a hyama made them rush away into the 

 forest to the east of us. On rising on the morning of the 19th, 

 I found that my Bakwain lad had run away with them. This I 

 have often seen with persons of this tribe, even when the cattle 

 are startled by a lion. Away go the young men in company with 

 them, and dash through bush and brake for miles, till they think 

 the panic is a little subsided ; they then commence whistling to 

 the cattle in the manner they do when milking the cows : having 

 calmed them, they remain as a guard till the morning. The men 

 generally return with their shins well peeled by the thorns. Each 

 comrade of the Mopato would expect his fellow to act thus, with- 

 out looking for any other reward than the brief praise of the chief. 

 Our lad, Kibopechoe, had gone after the oxen, but had lost them 

 in the rush through the flat, trackless forest. He remained on 

 their trail all the next day and all the next night. On Sunday 

 morning, as I was setting off in search of him, I found him near 

 the wagon. He had found the oxen late in the afternoon of 

 Saturday, and had been obliged to stand by them all night. It 

 was wonderful how he managed without a compass, and in such a 

 country, to find his way home at all, bringing about forty oxen 

 with him. 



