FIRST MAKALAKA KRAAL. 2 1 1 



been received from the king, I was all ready to con- 

 tinue my journey towards the Zambesi, which I 

 fondly hoped to see in a few weeks. On the 10th 

 of August I was again en route, and on the 1 8th I 

 reached the first Makalaka kraal, travelling slowly. 

 This was the same point I reached before, when I 

 started with the Boer and his boy. Here we decided 

 to stay, to lay in our store of corn, — enough to keep 

 our Kaffirs when game could not be got, our dogs, 

 and, above all, our horses. At the place where the 

 waggons stand when they are left by people going 

 to the Zambesi, the journey having to be completed 

 on foot, no corn is to be bought, nor any on the 

 road, as there are no corn-growing people between 

 these Makalakas and the Zambesi. Therefore 

 enough must be taken at this point to last till one is 

 amongst the Makalakas again on one's way back. 



" Here my companion was laid up with a bad 

 finger. He had run the head of a needle into it 

 whilst sewing, and not feeling much at the time had 

 taken very little notice of it till it began to give him 

 pain, and then he suffered terribly. The end of the 

 finger appeared dead, and I was so much afraid of 

 mortification setting in, that I advised him to lose 

 no time in trying to reach Thomson, the missionary, 

 in order that he might have the first joint of the 

 finger amputated if necessary. I should have gone 

 back with him, but he begged me not to do so, 

 assuring me that I should be of no use to him, which 

 indeed seemed likely to be the case. I therefore 

 determined to push on. 



