June.] STRAYING OF THE OXEN. 39 
with the great family of the human race. Such 
an event would not only be a benefit to them- 
selves, but a temporal blessing to the surround- 
ing nations, to whom they have been a constant 
scourge from time immemorial. 
The first news that met me immediately on 
awaking at daybreak was rather of an unpleasant 
nature, viz. that all the oxen were gone, and Bush- 
men footmarks intermixed with those of the oxen. 
In a few minutes our men with the Matchappees, 
whose oxen also were gone, set off in pursuit of 
them. We naturally concluded that the Bush- 
men in the neighbourhood, two of whom we had 
seen reconnoitring us the evening before, were 
the robbers, but three of them soon visited us of 
their own accord, who declared they knew 
nothing of our oxen, that it must either be 
strange Bushmen, or the wolf. After giving 
them some trifling presents they went off, pro- 
mising to return with their wives and children ; 
but not ' returning soon we supposed they might 
be in league with the robbers, or the robbers 
might be their own sons, as they were all ad- 
vanced in life. Every hour that passed without 
intelligence from the pursuers, was an anxious 
one, and appeared long. Noon arriving, and no 
information reaching us, we were almost certain 
that Bushmen, and not the wolf, had driven 
them away, as that animal was not likely to 
