370 TRAVELS IN 
addrefs to conceal himfelf till he found an op- 
portunity of reaching the colony. 
Notwithftanding the reafons 1 had to be of* 
fended with him, I could not avoid pitying 
his fate. 1 little thought at that moment that 
a misfortune of another kind, but ftill more 
alarming, awaited us all. 
By encamping on the fite of the kraal, I 
fought to confole myfelf for my fatigues. The 
coolnefs of the wood, the water by which it 
was w^aflied, the various flowers that adorn- 
ed it, of which the fragrance delighted my 
fenfes— every thing, in fhort, feemed to con- 
cur in fixing me for a while in this enchant- 
ing abode. It was apparently an elyfium ; 
but, alas I hell itfelf was fituated by its fide. 
We encamped on an efplanade, about four 
hundred feet in circumference, and fmooth 
as if it had been levelled by art ; but it 
had long ferved as a fold for the cattle of the 
horde. 
The excrements of the animals, gradually 
accumulating, had at length formed a layer 
feveral feet thick, which, brayed by their hoofs 
and moiftened w^ith their urine and the rain, 
was 
