17 
to the line we should take^ it was settled that we should 
fit out at Pieter-Maritzburg, and then travel in wagons 
through Natal and the Transvaal Republic to Leydenburg, 
a small town on the edge of the Drachensburg range, 
close to which the new gold fields had just been opened. 
Then we were to proceed a few days further to the point 
where the Oliphant river leaves the hills, and descending 
by a pass at this point into the low country, follow the 
course of this river on foot, leaving our wagons and oxen 
in some sheltered nook near the head of the pass. Erskine 
had come out by this route two years before, and declared 
that he had seen plenty of game down the Oliphant and 
Tabi rivers, and that it was quite practicable for E. to go 
with me ; but the wagons and oxen could neither descend 
by the pass, and if they could would find themselves in 
the Tsetse" fiy country at starting, so that he recom- 
mended me to buy some donkeys, which alone, of any 
beasts of burden, were supposed to be able to live in the 
^^fly;" and also he assured me it would be quite possible 
to take a small cart for donkeys to draw, and in which E. 
could travel, when not inclined to walk or ride. As he 
could not go himself he strongly recommended his friend, 
Mr. E. Dubois, as a substitute, who would undertake the 
general management of the expedition, being an old 
hunter, a first-rate hand at the Cafire languages, and used 
to oxen and travelling generally. The next day I got the 
rifles and cartridges, &c., through the custom house, after 
some trouble, the regulations as to importation of fire- 
9.rms being rather stringent. A permit from the governor 
to land them had first to be obtained, a tax of ten shillings 
a barrel on the fire-arms to be paid, and then all the 
weapons had to be stamped and registered. A permit is 
also required to land gunpowder, of which I had 
fortunately brought very little, as a good deal of time, 
trouble, and expense (there being a considerable tax 
B 
