306 OXEN ATTACKED BY HYENAS. 



the same necessity of remaining on its banks, until 

 this quiet and secluded spot presented the lively 

 scene of a populous village. On the next morning, 

 the flood having considerably subsided, we enter- 

 tained hopes of being able immediately to cross the 

 river ; but a farmer attempting to pass over with his 

 waggon, the oxen and vehicle were both borne down 

 by the current, and it was with the utmost difficulty 

 that they escaped destruction. A party who had 

 attempted the passage a day or two before, at a lower 

 point of the river, were less fortunate, as, in addition 

 to the loss of their waggon, several persons were 

 drowned. In the afternoon of this day, however, we 

 determined upon proceeding; but the Hottentot, sent 

 in search of Mr, Atkinson's oxen which had been 

 missing for two days, brought intelligence that the 

 hyeenas had attacked, driven them to a consider- 

 able distance, and destroyed several of the num- 

 ber. Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson, therefore, unable to 

 proceed in their own waggon, accompanied us in 

 ours to Bethelsdorp, which we reached the same 

 evening. 



On visiting Algoa Bay, or Port Elizabeth, which 

 is distant only a few miles from Bethelsdorp, I found 

 that it had undergone considerable alteration and 

 improvement since I had first seen it in 1826. From 

 hence we proceeded to Uitenhage, the capital of the 

 district situated on the slope of a hill, backed in the 

 distance by a range of lofty mountains, on the bank 



