246 MATABELE LAND. 



which Messrs. Truscott and Willmore were to take 

 with them when they returned to Tati. It was the 

 last he wrote: — 



" Pandamatenga, December 27th, 1874. 



" I am just about to set off to walk to the Vic- 

 toria Falls, which are only three days from here. 

 This place is somewhere about fifteen miles to the 

 north-westward of Daka, a place you will probably 

 see in any recent map. Neither place is a town of 

 any sort, but each is merely a river flowing to the 

 Zambesi. At both rivers waggons stand, as they 

 are both out of 'the fly.' The place where I now 

 am is quite civilized, as it is a trading-station, and 

 the man in charge here has a snug little house, well 

 thatched, to keep out the rain. He has lived here 

 three years, and is in the employ of Westbeech, who 

 is at present at the residence of Sepopo, the Zam- 

 besi chief, some distance up the river. His man, 

 Blockley, undertakes the charge of my effects whilst 

 I proceed to the Falls. 



" You will be delighted to hear that there is a 

 doctor here, who is going to accompany me in my 

 walk, and is a great stickler for comforts. He was, 

 I think, doctor on a steamer, and at last got to the 

 Diamond Fields, and thence came here with West- 

 beech and has been here now two years. He 

 spends a good portion of his time in collecting 

 beetles, and is apparently very good-natured. He 

 never loses an opportunity of telling you that a 

 thing is very unwholesome, the next thing being its 

 rapid disappearance into his own interior. There 



