EXCESSIVE HEAT. 231 



. . . Trekked to where Stoffel and Dorehill were 

 standing with their waggons. Found Stoffel at 

 waggons ; Dorehill out hunting. Young Smit and 

 another Boer coming from the hunting-veldt there 

 too. Had a hut made of branches by my boys to 

 lie in, as the heat in the waggon was insufferable. 



"November 12th. — Excessively hot again, but in 

 afternoon cloudy and looking like a shower. Went 

 out to hunt, crossing the Ramakwebani, and shot a 

 fine bull-quagga. . . . Sent three boys with meat 

 straight to the waggon, and returned with one boy 

 by a different way. Matlangwani had seen, he said, 

 and wounded a buffalo, one of a troop. I had had 

 a pleasant rest under some big shady trees and a 

 bathe in the river, where I saw a lot of fish. My 

 boys brought some fine barbel to the waggon. I 

 rolled them in meal with pepper and salt, and fried 

 them in fat and oil ; they were delicious. Very 

 much tired ; decide to rest next day. 



"November 13th. — Again very hot, though cloudy 

 and cooler than yesterday ; a breeze too. . . . The 

 flies are perfectly maddening. One wakes early, 

 when it is comparatively cool, and has coffee, looking 

 forward without much pleasure to the coming day 

 of heat and discomfort — no comfortable spot to 

 retire into from the heat, and every place dirty and 

 crowded. How different from the luxuries experi- 

 enced in some hot countries ! " 



This same day (November 13th) Frank Oates's 

 old ally, Van Rooyen, arrived with Piet Jacobs, the 

 Dutchman, from the direction of the Makalakas, the 



