1 64 MATABELE LAND. 



there seems a possibility of my getting my waggon- 

 wheels shortened. I shall be glad if I can get this 

 done, as wood in this country shrinks so much that 

 the tire often becomes loose, and then a blacksmith 

 is wanted to shorten the tire unless the wheel is 

 wedged. 



" I am fortunate in having secured the services 

 of the Dutchman and his little boy, whose engage- 

 ment I informed you of in my letter from Bamang- 

 wato. These people are very useful to have about 

 a waggon. There are a thousand shifts, which 

 any one who understands the subject can have 

 recourse to. A Kaffir is scarcely ever the slightest 

 good, even if he has been working about waggons 

 all his life. I have now, moreover, far more comfort 

 in the waggon I appropriate to my own use, as it is 

 no longer crammed to overflowing, half my cargo 

 being stowed away in my second waggon, which the 

 Boer occupies. My oxen too are, on the whole, in 

 a very satisfactory state, and I have all the necessary 

 stores. I don't suppose I need be more than a 

 month in reaching the place where my waggons 

 must stand, and then it is two or three days on foot 

 to the Victoria Falls ; but of course I shall go slower 

 than this, and may not be back here till November, 

 or even later. I feel now as if all was going well. 



" I was eight days in coming here from the place 

 where I last broke down, and had few incidents on 

 the road. Van Rooyen, the Dutchman, however, 

 got a fright one morning from a couple of lions, and 

 showed himself to be rather a coward. We were 



