6 OUR PROGRESS IMPEDED. 
A. few ostriches were the only living objects to be 
distinguished on the plain: we observed eighteen or 
twenty at no great distance from our waggon; but 
on perceiving us they made off with great speed. 
The weather was pleasant for travelling, the ther- 
mometer at noon standing at 59° in the shade. On 
the 23rd, we found the road so wretched, that we 
selected, as the best part of it, the bed of a river, 
where a number of persons had been destroyed about 
six months before by the bursting of a water-spout, 
while they were halting on their way to the interior 
from Cape Town. 
Jackals’ Fountain was the spot of our evening 
encampment, from whence we advanced on the en- 
suing day to the Turtle-Dove River, after having 
passed over one of the worst roads that imagination 
can conceive. We left this place about nine in the 
evening, intending to avail ourselves of the moon- 
light, by travelling the whole night. We had not 
proceeded on our route above half an hour, when 
our conductor drove the waggon into a bank of heavy 
sand; and the oxen being unable to draw it up the 
ascent, we were obliged to put our spades to work, 
and dig a path, by which we succeeded in extricat- 
ing it after nearly three hours’ labour. No sooner 
was this difficulty overcome, than we fell into 
another of a similar description, which compelled us 
to abandon all further attempt to proceed until day- 
light. Starting again about eight o’clock, we con- 
