Ciiap. III. SLOW PROGRESS. 59 



nonsense without any one daring to contradict him. They probably 

 have ascertained, from that same interpreter, that this relative of 

 the white chief is very poor, having scarcely anything in his waggon. 



I sometimes felt annoyed at the low estimation in which some 

 of my hunting friends were held ; for, believing that the chace is 

 eminently conducive to the formation of a brave and noble cha- 

 racter, and that the contest with wild beasts is well adapted for 

 fostering that coolness in emergencies, and active presence of 

 mind, which we all admire, I was naturally anxious that a higher 

 estimate of my countrymen should be formed in the native mind. 

 "Have these hunters, who come so far and work so hard, no 

 meat at home ? " — " Why, these men are rich, and could slaughter 

 oxen every day of their lives." — " And yet they come here, and 

 endure so much thirst for the sake of this dry meat, none of 

 which is equal to beef?" — "Yes, it is for the sake of play be- 

 sides " (the idea of sport not being in the language). This pro 

 duces a laugh, as much as to say, " Ah, you know better ;" or, 

 " Your friends are fools." When they can get a man to kill large 

 quantities of game for them, whatever he may think of himself 

 or of his achievements, they pride themselves in having adroitly 

 turned to good account the folly of an itinerant butcher. 



The water having at last flowed into the wells we had dug, 

 in sufficient quantity to allow a good drink to all our cattle, we 

 departed from Serotli in the afternoon ; but as the sun even in 

 winter, which it now was, is always very powerful by day, the 

 waggons were dragged but slowly through the deep heavy sand, 

 and we advanced only six miles before sunset. We could only 

 travel in the mornings and evenings, as a single day in the hot 

 sua and heavy sand would have knocked up the oxen. Next day 

 we passed Pepacheu (white tufa), a hollow lined with tufa, in 

 which water sometimes stands, but it was now dry ; and at night 

 our trocheamer * showed that we had made but twenty-five miles 

 from Serotli. 



Eamotobi was angry at the slowness of our progress, and told 

 us that, as the next water was three days in front, if we travelled 



* This is an instrument which, when fastened on the waggon-wheel, re- 

 cords the number of revolutions made. By multiplying this number by the 

 circumference of the wheel the act u al distance travelled over is at once 

 ascertained. 



