i88i.] On the Way to the Zambesi. ii 
and flocks of sheep suffer greatly at times from the severity of 
the weather. At one season of the year they experience biting 
east winds with much hail, rain, and snow ; and at another they 
have strong hot winds from the west, heavily charged with sand 
from the southern Kalahari Desert. 
Dece?nber i^th. — About thirty miles from the Vaal River. We 
now meet with many Boers' waggons, coming from the north, 
laden with firewood, for which they find an excellent market in 
the few townships scattered over the Orange Free State. The 
great scarcity of fuel in these South African Boer districts no 
doubt accounts for their custom of eating dried meat uncooked. 
THE TRANSVAAL. 
Potchefstroom, December 28/^. — The journey from Maritzburg 
to this place has occupied thirty-four days. Though long, it has 
been pleasant, and I have got on well thus far. I did not leave 
Natal with a light heart ; it cost me much thought to do so. 
Though wining to go on working amongst my own countrymen 
there for a year or two, in hope of being joined by a fellow- 
labourer before proceeding northward, it was incumbent upon 
me, as it is at all times, to seek to ascertain the mind of the 
Lord, and to act accordingly. When the friends in Maritzburg 
were of one mind as to my proceeding forward alone, and were 
willing to encourage me, not only with words but with means, I 
took it as a token from God to move quietly onwards. 
My desire was to get among the Sechuana-speaking people, 
as both in customs and language they much resemble the tribes 
of the interior; in fact their language is almost identical. It 
was on this account I thought of Shoshong in Bamangwato, 
and accordingly shaped my course in that direction, but at the 
same time I was willing to take up the work wherever the door 
seemed to be opened. 
POTCHEFSTROOM. 
Arriving in Potchefstroom on the 23rd, I pitched my little 
tent in the Market Square, with the intention of remaining there 
until the Lord made the next step plain. I got some information 
about Bamangwato from several persons who had been there, 
and who knew the country well. 
