44 MATABELE LAND. 



as he usually makes one short trek during the day. 

 I followed in the evening, and shortly after midnight 

 crossed the drift of the Impakwe and outspanned. 

 There seems plenty of water in the river. Barking 

 of dogs ; encampment of Dutch hunters. Petersen 

 had turned in. Part of this trek was through a 

 somewhat sandy country, but on the whole we are 

 on a much firmer road than we were before reach- 

 ing Tati. Pitched into marmalade ; it is wonderful 

 how much one enjoys such things here, where the 

 coffee is without milk, the bread without butter, and 

 the meat dry as chips. 



"September 2d. — Pleasant breeze. Petersen called 

 me. I find I am likely to have great good luck. 

 Here lives the Dutchman whose family suffered so 

 much from fever on the Ramakwebani. He has 

 built a straw hut, cool, roomy, and snug, with a 

 higher entrance than the Kaffir huts, but shaped like 

 them. His wife and family are with him, his eldest 

 married daughter, and members of the next genera- 

 tion. He has cattle and goats, does his own black- 

 smith's work, and hunts. They go as soon as the 

 unhealthy season begins to John Lee's. They in- 

 tend, in four years I think, to return to their farm 

 on the Meriko. Petersen acted as interpreter, and 

 it is arranged that I wait for the Dutchman, who 

 intends going to-morrow in my direction to get wood 

 and hunt. He will lend me some oxen. I believe 

 it is nothing but the brackish water, especially the 

 Seruli water, that has made such a mess of my oxen. 

 The Dutchman says there is plenty of game along 



