chap. viii. 
MORTALITY AMONG HORSES. 
221 
reached, near Daggerboers hoek, a neat-looking stone house, 
with Hotel written over the door. 
The house was kept by Mr. Maskell, an Englishman who 
had formerly resided as a trader at one of the missionary 
stations. He received us courteously, and expressed surprise 
that we had kept the same horses all the way from Cape 
Town. We found that a kind of epidemic had been raging 
amongst the horses in the districts through which we had 
passed, and had caused such destruction that travelling was 
exceedingly difficult. Most of the public conveyances had 
been discontinued, and many farms were almost entirely des¬ 
titute of horses. This disease had been very severe in many 
parts of the colony, especially along the road which we had 
travelled on this day, where a dead horse or a dead ox was 
frequently to be seen. One day, in particular, we passed 
many; and observed several places in the bush where nothing 
but the bones were left, the bodies having been burned to 
prevent contagion. On the farm adjoining Mr. Maskell’s, 
only thirteen horses remained out of fifty. Another farmer 
near had lost all. Mr. Maskell had only one left. So far ours 
had escaped; but we became every day more apprehensive of 
losing them. Mr. Masked led us into a nice clean parlour, 
wed furnished with bookcases ; and amongst the pictures on 
the wads I noticed a good portrait of the late Mr. Wilber- 
force, and another of the venerable Eowland Hid. 
In our journey the next day, which lay for the most part 
over an exceedingly bad road covered almost continually with 
loose stones, we halted near a bend in the Fish river, when a 
number of Fingoes came to our waggon, bringing for sale 
honey and milk, which we readily purchased, and found 
very good tasted. I had frequently observed the curious 
resorts of the bees, and had more than once been attracted 
towards them by the cad of the honey-bird, which Pringle 
has so graphically and amusingly described in a note to one 
