Bushmen, who afterward proved very serviceable. The rains had been
copious, but now great numbers of pools were drying up. Lotus-plants
abounded in them, and a low, sweet-scented plant covered their banks.
Breezes came occasionally to us from these drying-up pools, but the
pleasant odor they carried caused sneezing in both myself and people;
and on the 10th of March (when in lat. 19d 16' 11" S., long. 24d 24' E.)
we were brought to a stand by four of the party being seized with fever.
I had seen this disease before, but did not at once recognize it as the
African fever; I imagined it was only a bilious attack, arising from
full feeding on flesh, for, the large game having been very abundant, we
always had a good supply; but instead of the first sufferers recovering
soon, every man of our party was in a few days laid low, except a
Bakwain and myself. He managed the oxen, while I attended to the wants
of the patients, and went out occasionally with the Bushmen to get a
zebra or buffalo, so as to induce them to remain with us.

Here for the first time I had leisure to follow the instructions of my
kind teacher, Mr. Maclear, and calculated several longitudes from lunar
distances. The hearty manner in which that eminent astronomer and frank,
friendly man had promised to aid me in calculating and verifying my
work, conduced more than any thing else to inspire me with perseverance
in making astronomical observations throughout the journey.

The grass here was so tall that the oxen became uneasy, and one night
the sight of a hyaena made them rush away into the forest to the east
of us. On rising on the morning of the 19th, I found that my Bakwain
lad had run away with them. This I have often seen with persons of this
tribe, even when the cattle are startled by a lion. Away go the young
men in company with them, and dash through bush and brake for miles,
till they think the panic is a little subsided; they then commence
whistling to the cattle in the manner they do when milking the cows:
having calmed them, they remain as a guard till the morning. The men
generally return with their shins well peeled by the thorns. Each
comrade of the Mopato would expect his fellow to act thus, without
looking for any other reward than the brief praise of the chief. Our
lad, Kibopechoe, had gone after the oxen, but had lost them in the rush
through the flat, trackless forest. He remained on their trail all the
next day and all the next night. On