had I not determined to work them very
lightly, in view of the long, toilsome journey that lay before me.

And here, for the gratification of the curious, I may as well describe
the manner in which these animals were attached to the wagon. I suppose
everybody by this time knows, either from pictures or from having seen
the thing itself, what a South African wagon is like; and also knows
that it is drawn by a team of from twelve to eighteen oxen yoked
together in pairs, the cleverest pair being yoked next the wagon to the
disselboom--which answers to the ordinary carriage pole where a pair of
horses are driven abreast--while the remainder of the team are yoked,
also in pairs, to the trek chain, which is attached to the extremity of
the disselboom. Now, oxen pull upon a yoke which rests upon their necks
and is attached thereto by a strip of rein passing under their throats,
and this constitutes the whole of their very primitive harness. But it
was obvious that such an arrangement would be quite unsuited to my new
team of zebras: consequently harness had to be especially made for them,
consisting of a breast and shoulder strap, the former being made long
enough to form a pair of traces attachable to a splinter bar; there was
also added a headstall with a single rein, which was fastened to the
trek chain. This arrangement served for all but the leading pair of
zebras, the off animal of which was fitted with a saddle upon which the
driver sat postilion fashion, guiding the leaders and regulating the
pace of the whole team.

During the first two days a Bandokolo drove the team, while 'Ngulubi, my
Bantu voorlouper, rode beside him on one of my horses, watching the
process and receiving instruction; but after that 'Ngulubi himself
undertook the driving, while the Bandokolo rode alongside and continued
his instruction. Thus, by the time that we reached the frontier,
'Ngulubi was quite qualified to act as driver, while he, Jan, and Piet
had also learned to look after the zebras when they were outspanned.

With such a spanking team to draw the wagon, we took only eight and a
half days to cover the distance between Masakisale and the frontier,
instead of seventeen days, as on the outward journey; and here Pousa and
his squadron regretfully bade me farewell, the captain's regrets at
parting from me being mitigated to a great extent by the gift of a
shaving mirror and a burning-glass, the latter being esteemed by him at
about