HOSPITALITY. 
441 
a very good repast, if they would only have allowed 
me to take it in my own manner, and help myself, 
but Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder took every opportunity, 
when my attention was called away, to load up 
another spoonful or two of anything that came to 
hand. I had once or twice the satisfaction, by sud¬ 
denly whipping my plate away, of letting a few 
compounds fall on the table, to be snapped up by 
the numerous black progeny, immediately after grace 
was said. 
I reached Merico in due course, where I left my 
two lads, Meercat and Ngami, in Mr. Zimmerman’s 
charge. I got my fresh oxen there, and made good 
play once more to Durban, where I arrived all right 
in about a month, without any occurrence of note, 
invested in two fresh and fat horses in Mooi Biver 
Dorp, and kept the wagon and my Maccalacas sup¬ 
plied with wildebeest, blesbuck, and springbuck, until 
we crossed the Drakensberg. My Kaffirs turned out 
active, clever, intelligent fellows in no time, trust¬ 
worthy and honest in every respect, capital hands 
with then* long needles at sewing, and excellent 
cattle and horse-herds. Two whom I turned into 
grooms were wild with joy at the success of the 
horses in their charge at the Durban Bace Meeting, 
and their consequent reward, and when I left for 
England immediately after, they returned again to 
their native homes on the Cashan Mountains, some 
700 miles NW. 
My missing, and, as I thought, lost wagon, came 
