34 MATABELE LAND. 



English fruit-tree. The thorns which defend nearly 

 every tree here are a great impediment in travelling 

 through the bush. 



" The nights are now cool, though not so sharp 

 as they were a while ago. The thermometer seldom 

 falls much below 50 . It is coolest just before sun- 

 rise. At midday and in the afternoon it gets con- 

 siderably above 8o° in the shade, in fact I should set 

 the point reached at nearer 90 . As I sit writing in 

 my tent, I hear the engine working — an odd sound 

 up in these remote regions." 



Three days later, September 2d, W. E. Oates 

 supplements this letter : — 



" I am just adding a line to the above, to leave 

 it before I go. Frank left the day before yester- 

 day, to go to the king's town. The king (Lobengula) 

 is the great native chief here, and behaves very 

 well to all white men. I am staying with Buckley 

 and Gilchrist, and we are now going to the Sha- 

 shani River, about five days' journey. I think 

 Frank will be all right. He has a Cape Colony 

 black man with him, who knows this country well 

 and speaks excellent English. 1 He was up here 

 with Sir John Swinburne, who owns the gold-mine, 

 so I am not afraid for Frank if he takes care of 

 himself. . . . 



" The country here is regularly burnt up now, 

 and will continue so till the rains fall in November. 

 The river is nothing but a dry bed of sand, with a 

 little pool of water in it about three miles off — the 



1 This refers to Hendrik, the man of that name above alluded to. 



