Chap. V. LAST JOURNEY FROM CAPE TOWN. 65 



cattle. At least two hundred slaves were carried off thai 

 year. In the course of the raid the Makololo met some 

 Arabs from Zanzibar, who presented them with three English 

 muskets, and received about thirty captives in return. 



As there was no hope of the Boers allowing the peaceable 

 instruction of the natives at Kolobeng, I resolved to save my 

 family from exposure to this unhealthy region and send them 

 to England, while I returned to explore the country in search 

 of a healthy district that might prove a centre of civilization, 

 and open up the interior by a path to either the east or west 

 coast. Our route to Cape Town, in April, 1852, earned us 

 through the centre of the colony during the twentieth month 

 of a Caffre war ; and those who periodically pay enormous 

 sums for these inglorious affairs may like to know that our 

 little unprotected party could travel with as little danger as 

 if we had been in England. Where does the money go, and 

 who has been benefited by the blood and treasure expended ? 



My visit to Cape Town was the first I had paid to the 

 scenes of civilization during eleven years. The Astronomer 

 Royal, Mr. Maclear, enabled me recall the little astronomical 

 knowledge which the engrossing nature of missionary duties 

 had effaced from my mind, and he taught me much more, 

 which was of great assistance in enabling me to lay down 

 geographical positions in my subsequent route. 



CHAPTER V. 



Last journey from Cape Town. — The Kalahari : its plants and 

 animals. griquas and bechuanas. 



Having sent my family home to England, I again started on 

 my travels in the beginning of June 1852. 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 usual conveyance of the country, the heavy lumbering 

 Cape waggon drawn by ten oxen, and was accompanied by 



