27 
seems as uncertain as the remedy. Here I may give a 
short description of our wagons and their fittings. To 
begin with ours. — A ^^buck" wagon, 18-ft. long and 
3-ft-lO wide in the floor; a strong plank fixed on its 
narrow end forms the side, and to this is fixed the rails, or 
buck," which projects over the wheels l^^-ft. Woodroffe 
had a den 6 -ft. taken off this in the front, leaving us 
12-ft. by 3-ft-lO. Our house is 4-ft. from the ground, and 
is reached by a little step-ladder, which hooks on to some 
staples at the back of the wagon, and when we move is 
put inside ; our bedstead is fixed, raised on iron supports, 
and is 6-ft. by 3-ft-6, and partly projects over the near 
hind wheel, thus leaving us just room for a passage on the 
other side into the interior of the wagon. Two large 
lockers are fixed on the ^^buck," so that they don't 
interfere with the standing room, and also serve as tables 
or seats ; one is filled with E.'s sundries and small stores, 
the other is given up to the rifles, cartridges, &c. I was 
glad now I had all the weapons in their canvas covers, and 
not packed in the ordinary gun cases, as they would have 
been in the way and sadly knocked about. Our personal 
luggage is lashed tightly under the bed, and small hoUand 
bags are fitted up round the canvas walls. The wagon is 
covered from end to end with a double ply of canvas 
stretched over iron bows, which were always breaking, and 
are not so good as wooden ones nor so neat looking. The 
back and front of the wagons are closed at night by 
canvas flaps, fastening inside and out with hooks and 
eyes, and cannot be made too secure against such windy 
weather as we encountered on the higher lands. The 
other wagon much the same size was covered in about 8-ft. 
over the hind part, where Kemp and Dubois lived, and 
some of the perishable stores were stowed. A large 
tarpaulin being used as a cover for the front of the wagon, 
and reaching down to the ground, served as a shelter for 
