168 EECAPTUEE OF EUNAWAY CATTLE. Chap. VIII. 



by four of the party being seized with fever. I had seen tins 

 disease before, but did not at once recognise 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 Bakwain lad and myself. He managed the oxen, 

 while I attended to the wants of the patients, and went out occa- 

 sionally with the Bushmen 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 longi- 

 tudes from lunar distances The hearty manner in winch that 

 eminent astronomer and frank friendly man had promised to aid 

 me in calculating and verifying my work, conduced more than 

 anything else to inspire me with perseverance in making astrono- 

 mical observations throughout the journey. 



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

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

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

 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 tliink 

 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, without 

 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 

 then 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 waggon. 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 liis way home at all, bringing about forty oxen 

 with him. 



