THE BANAJOA 
41 
vest of ns. The supply of water in the wagons had been 
wasted by one of our servants, and by the afiornoon only 
* small portion remained for tho children. This was a bit- 
terly anxions night; and next morning tho loss thcro was 
of water the more thirsty the little rogues became. The 
idea of their perishing before our eyes was terrible. It 
would almost have been a relief to mo to have been re- 
proached with being tho entire causo of tho catastrophe; 
but not one Syllable of upbraiding was uttered by their 
mother, though tho tearful eye told the agony within. In 
the afternoon of the fifth day, to our inexpressible reliof, 
8 °me of the men returned with a supply of that fluid of 
which we had never before felt the true value. 
I’he cattle, in rushing along to tho water in the Mahabo, 
probably crossed a small patch of trees containing tsetse, 
ar * insect which was shortly to bcconio a perfect pest to us 
Sliobo had found his way to the Bayoiye, and appeared, 
when we came up to tho river, at tho head of a party; 
an d, as ho wished to show his importance before his friends, 
bo walked up boldly and commanded our whole cavalcade 
10 »fop, a,,d to bring forth fire and tobacco, while he coolly 
®at down and smoked his pipe. It was such an inimitably 
natural way of showing off that wo all stopped to admire 
th e acting, and, though ho had left us previously in tho 
lurch, wo all liked Shobo, a fine specimen of that wonder- 
*nl people, tho Bushmen. 
Next day we came to a village of Banajoa, a tribe which 
•xtonds far to the eastward They were living on the hor- 
des of a marsh in which the Mahabe terminates. They 
bad lost their crop of com, ( Holcus sorghum,) and now sub 
alsted almost entirely on tho root called “tsitla, a kind of 
anoidoua, which contains a very largo quantity of sweet-tasted 
•torch. When dried, pounded into meal, and allowed to fer- 
n'ont, it forms a not unpleasant article of food. The women 
•have all the hair off their heads, and seem darker than the 
B ®chuanas. Their huts were built- on polos, and a firo i» 
* l *de beneath by night, in ordor that the smoke may drive 
D i* 
