WINTER IN THE VELDT. 169 



" Winter has now fairly set in ; it is extremely 

 cold at night, and not hot even during the day — at 

 least not hot for Africa. The rivers are dry and the 

 bush withered, and all is yellow and autumnal looking, 

 and will remain so till the rains fall in October and 

 the fresh vegetation springs up. Then the trees will 

 soon be all green, and many of them blossoming, and 

 there will be many wild flowers. Now things are 

 bleak and barren looking enough. 



" Before I leave here I shall write a few lines 

 more. ... I hope every one is well, and shall live in 

 hope, for what else can I do ? I can't expect to get 

 any more letters till my return from the Zambesi. 

 It may be some little time before you hear from me 

 again, as I don't know that any waggons will return 

 till November, though there are no end of them gone 

 to the Zambesi. Should any precede me back I can 

 send a letter by them. If, however, you don't hear, 

 you must take for granted all is going well with me. 

 Humanly speaking, there seems no reason for uneasi- 

 ness." 



On the 8th of June, his waggon at last ready, 

 Frank Oates added a few lines to this letter, announc- 

 ing his intended departure on the following day, and 

 on the 9th he started for the Zambesi. There seemed 

 now no reasonable probability of anything occurring 

 to interfere with the successful issue of his journey, 

 yet in reality, as things turned out, this was only the 

 first of three separate attempts he made to reach the 

 Zambesi from this point the present season. By 

 the shorter route now to be adopted — for he was not 



