THWARTED PLANS. 



171 



proceedings, combined to hinder and delay him, again 

 throwing his journey into the unhealthy season of 

 the year; but these alone would not have been of the 

 same vital consequence, and the period of his mis- 

 fortunes dates from the time when the Makalakas — 

 the king's permission already plainly granted — first 

 turned him back, as related in the succeeding 

 chapter, and forced him to seek a fresh interview 

 with Lobengula. In such a country, with but a 

 brief healthy season, delays like this were little short 

 of fatal. 



But it is time to follow him in the first of these 

 ill-starred journeys. 



wattled starling. — Dilophus carunculatus. 



