, cutlery, and not
unfrequently firearms and powder and shot, which they exchanged for
skins and oxen.

However, we will return to our friends. At a short distance from the
spot selected by Umgolo for the camp was a wood from which fuel for the
fires could be obtained, and which would have afforded materials for
throwing up a fortification, had such been considered necessary. But
the sturdy owner of the waggon, with his band of expert marksmen,
believed himself well able to cope with any natives who might venture to
interfere with him.

Having outspanned, or in other words the oxen being unyoked, they
hurried of their own accord down to the stream to drink, attended by two
of the men, with their guns in hand, in case any lion or other savage
beast should be lurking in the neighbourhood. The water was too shallow
for crocodiles, which in many parts have to be guarded against. The
rest of the men were engaged in collecting fuel for the fire, and
cutting stakes and poles to form a temporary enclosure in which the oxen
might be penned during the dark hours of night.

Meantime the trader, attended by Umgolo, set off in search of a
springboc or a pallah, called also the rooyaboc, or a wild boar or a
water-buck, whose flesh might serve the party for supper and breakfast.
There was no fear of starving in a country where numberless varieties of
animals abounded. They made their way towards a thicket which extended
from some distance up the hill, across the valley, almost down to the
river. Game of some sort was sure to be found within it, while at the
same time they themselves would be concealed by the thick bushes, and be
enabled to get sufficiently close to an animal to shoot it with
certainty.

It was only, however, in some places that the thicket could be
penetrated; for below the large mimosa trees there grew thorny creepers
and bushes, among which it was impossible to force a passage without the
certainty of having to emerge with garments torn to shreds, and legs
bleeding from lacerations innumerable. Here in wild profusion grew the
creeper known as the "wait-a-bit," because its hooked thorns will catch
the clothes of any person brushing by it, and compel him to wait a bit
until he has released himself by drawing them out one by one. The
natives give it the still more honourable title of "catch tiger," as
they affirm that even that savage creature, who may unwarily leap into
it, will find itself trapped in a w