30 
TIMIDITY OF CHILDREN. — EXTENSIVE PLAIN. 
2 March, 
five inches in diameter, had been cut or ground, very regularly to 
a round form, and perforated with a hole large enough to receive 
the stick and a wedge by which it was fixed in its place. A figure 
of the " digging-stick" may be seen at the end of the chapter. 
These two men, seeing that others of their countrymen were 
in our company, approached us without fear, and were in all respects 
friendly. We rejoiced at these symptoms of confidence, and I was 
mindful to profit by every opportunity of confirming them, that they 
might be induced to report favorably of us at their return to their 
homes. I gave them food, of which they seemed to be much in 
need ; and gratified them not less by a present of a small quantity of 
dakka. 
But I found it not so easy to gain the good-will of the children^ 
as of their parents ; for, wishing by caresses to please one of them, 
I offered it a biscuit, but looking for an instant in my face, it 
turned away in fright and cried most sadly ; nor could the mother, 
who seemed much pleased by my taking notice of lier child, overcome 
the poor little infant's terror at the sight of a white-man ; a terror of 
which we may sometimes behold tlie counterpart with English 
children when they are caressed by a black. To me these infants 
were interesting, from their small and delicate make, and their in- 
nocent playfulness. Even their crying was not disgusting, because 
it had not the tone of petulance or vulgarity : but this may be easily 
accounted for ; their tempers had certainly not been spoilt by over- 
indulgence. 
In compassion to our oxen, horse, and sheep, we rested six 
hours at Freshwater Halt, that they might be sufficiently recruited 
by the wholesome water and pasture ; as we knew not whether they 
would meet with the same good fortune at our next station. 
In the afternoon we resumed our journey, still over a plain 
without either eminence or hollow, or any visible termination 
either on our left hand or before us. In this pathless expanse, 
we advanced as a ship on the ocean ; and, to keep my party from 
wandering from the right course, I steered in a direct line, by select- 
ing two bushes ahead of us, and keeping them both in one, till we 
