also--though I called the region a desert--there were
extensive patches of bushes, above which here and there rose clumps of
trees of considerable height. This large amount of vegetation, however,
managed to exist without streams or pools, and for miles and miles
together we had met with no water to quench our own thirst or that of
our weary beasts. My uncle was engaged in the adventurous and not
unprofitable occupation of trading with the natives in the interior of
Africa. He had come down south some months before to dispose of the
produce of his industry at Graham's Town, where I had joined him, having
been sent for from England. After purchasing a fresh supply of goods,
arms, powder, and shot, and giving a thorough repair to his waggons, he
had again set off northward for the neighbourhood of lake Ngami, where
he was to meet his partner, Mr Welbourn, who had with him his son
Harry, with whom I had been at school, and who was about my own age. We
had, beyond the borders of the colony, been attacked by a party of
savages, instigated by the Boers, two or three of whom indeed led them.
They had deprived us of our cattle and men, we having escaped with a
small portion only of our goods, two of our horses, a single ox and our
one faithful Bechuana. To get away from our enemies we had taken a
route unusually followed across the Kalahari desert. We were aware of
the dangers and difficulties to be encountered, but the road was much
shorter than round either to the east or west; and though we knew that
wild animals abounded, including elephants, rhinoceroses, lions,
leopards, and hyaenas, yet we believed that we should be able to contend
with them, and that we should not be impeded by human savages. Day
after day we trudged forward. The only water we could obtain was by
digging into certain depressions in the ground which our guide pointed
out, when, having scraped out the sand with the single spade we
possessed and our hands, we arrived at a hard stratum, beyond which he
advised us not to go. In a short time the water began to flow in
slowly, increasing by degrees until we had enough for ourselves and our
cattle.

We had now, however, been travelling sixty miles or more, without
finding one of these water-holes; and though we had still a small
quantity of the precious liquid for ourselves, our poor horses and ox
had begun to suffer greatly. Still Jan urged us to go forward.

"Water come soon, water come soon!" he