66 Notes on South African Htinting. 
Horses knock up—Tobacco. 
turned up ; but to my horror Ayton reported 
his horse going slack. We rode slowly on, 
and just managed to overtake the boys about 
six or eight miles on, when Ayton’s horse 
knocked up entirely. We off-saddled and held 
a council of war. 
Our situation at this juncture was as follows : 
We were about sixty miles from Pondamatenga, 
about three hundred from Shoshong, and my 
leave would be up in ten days’ time. It was use¬ 
less to go back to Pondamatenga, as no wagons 
were going out for at least four months, and it 
was equally hopeless to dream of getting back 
within my leave. Our victuals consisted of 
about qlb. of coffee, a small roll of fresh, and a 
larger one of very dry, biltong, some giraffe fat, 
and a few bits of bread ; our wardrobes consisted 
of what we stood in; Ayton had besides a 
service blanket, and I had a horse blanket; we 
had also some very poor tobacco, of the 
sort called Makalaka. This tobacco is indi¬ 
genous—mercifully—to the most distant and 
inhospitable parts of Africa. It is grown by a 
people called the Makalaka, and consists of a 
very bad tobacco leaf, dried in the sun, and 
