40 
THEFT BY THE MASHOWS. [1820 
drive the cattle so far without obtaining a satis- 
factory meal from one or other of them. We 
had no doubt but our men could trace them by 
their track, but suspected the Bushmen would stab 
all the oxen when they found they were pursued. 
At length about one p.m. the two horsemen re- 
turned with the pleasing tidings that all the oxen 
had been found in the middle of an extensive 
plain to the S. W., which produced a change on 
every countenance, for our situation without cat- 
tle would have been rather alarming. We were 
four or five days' journey from any relief, and our 
provisions exhausted, for we had put off the killing 
of a cow I had received from the chief at Mobatee, 
till this morning, and that also was gone with 
the oxen. Our remaining stock was one small 
loaf, a quarter of a pound of coffee, two ounces of 
tea, a quarter of a pound of sugar, and two or 
three pints of churned milk, churned by the 
jolting of the waggon. This small stock would 
have been as nothing among so many. 
We discovered that the Mashows of our party 
had stolen several mats from the Bushmen kraal 
in the neighbourhood, which we obliged them to 
return, though they did it with reluctance. 
These more civilized nations are all accustomed 
to condemn the Bushmen as rogues, while they 
themselves steal when they have an opportunity. 
The only difference between them as to roguery 
