nessed to a strong chain. The Hottentot drivers
were artists in handling their terribly long whips. Besides the oxen and
fifteen wagons, was a mule team with the officers in charge. Three
days after leaving Cape Town, the train drove into Wellington, fifty
miles north. Soon after they entered the mountain, Bain's Kloof. They
had great difficulty passing over this road through the mountains.
Frequently they were obliged to double the ox teams on a single wagon
in order to climb some steep ascent. The scenery through the mountains
was exceedingly wild and picturesque, and the Hottentot driver with whom
Paul was conversing, assured him that far away in the mountain tops were
leopards and fierce baboons. The mountains being passed after a hard
day's travel they entered the little village of Ceres where they
outspanned for the night. From Ceres they passed on over a level plain
occasionally passing a kail or cottage. At some places on the road the
natives sold them hot coffee and cakes. The country over which they
traveled was thinly populated. Occasionally a tramping adventurer or two
would come with the wagons, all heading in the same direction. About
ten days later the train entered Caroo Port, a vast desert, horribly
desolate and forbidding. It was dead level and lay like a sea asleep.
The heat was overpowering. Before entering the desert, a large supply of
water was laid in and the order of travel was changed so that they ran
at night instead of in the day time. This wilderness is about sixty
miles wide and it took them five days to cross it. Whenever a wind rose
on this desert the mouth, eyes, ears and nose were filled with dust,
making life miserable. At Durands, a solitary farmhouse stood like an
oasis. They got a fresh supply of water there. After leaving the Caroo
they entered a desert called Kope. In crossing this waste, they
stumbled on many and many a skeleton of poor fellows, who had no doubt
succumbed on account of the heat and lack of water. The crossing of
these two deserts cost them many oxen. These were replaced at Beaufort
by a relay that was in reserve for such an emergency. After leaving
Beaufort they struck into a thickly wooded country that was a relief.
Sometimes during the day, while the train was slowly wending its way
onward, the superintendent and Paul would ride ahead for a hunt. They
got some antelope and a large number of partridges. Paul was much
surprised to