KUMALO RIVER. 



57 



"September i^tk. — Fine bright morning; clear 

 sky. Two hours' trekking brought us to the Kumalo 

 River, now dry, which we crossed, outspanning a 

 mile or two farther on. The country here is open, 

 park-like, and undulating, extending away in a 

 nearly level plain to the right. After we had 

 stopped, a number 

 of impudent Kaffirs 

 crowded round the 

 waggon. One made 

 a fearful row, at last 

 coming to entreaties, 

 saying we had set the 

 veldt on fire. 



" Starting again at 

 4 p.m., we next went 

 over rising ground, 

 the country getting 



very clear of timber, and at half-past six stopped at 

 a small spruit with water in it, having crossed two 

 previously. A long, dry, treeless plain here stretched 

 before us, with kopjes rising into ranges against 

 the horizon. It seems the spruit we are now out- 

 spanned at is the head-waters of a river flowing 

 into the Limpopo, and where we were outspanned 

 this morning is the head -waters of the Kumalo 

 River, which flows into the Zambesi." 



The day afterwards a short trek of about three 

 miles brought the traveller to the king's town, as 

 related in the ensuing chapter. 



HEAD-DRESS OF ZEBRA-SKIN AND 

 FEATHERS. 



