green tree snake stealthily moving like a coil of
fresh-cut gr a s s and wherever there is a rocky kopje
you are sure to hear at nightfall the hideous screams
of the baboons, coupled with the laugh of the jackal.
But if you are not a naturalist these things pall upon
MAKING THONGS OF OX-HIDE
you after the sensation has been oft repeated, and
this was the case with us.
The monotony of the journey would now and
again be relieved by a cattle station, where the
servants of Sechele or Khama rear cattle for their
chiefs; and these always occur in the proximity of
water, which we hailed with delight, even if it was
only a muddy vley, or pond, trampled by the hoofs
|of many oxen. These cattle stations are generally
Barge circular enclosures surrounded by a palisade,
■with a tree in the middle, beneath which the inha-
bitants sit stitching at their carosses, or skin rugs, in
»splendid nudity. All manner of skins hang around ;
hunks of meat in process of drying ; hide thongs are
■fastened from branch to branch like spiders’ webs,
1 which they stretch on the branches to make ‘ reims ’
Ifo r waggon harness ; consequently the air is not too
I fragrant, and the flies an insupportable nuisance.
One evening we reached one of these kraals after
■dark, and a weird and picturesque sight it was.
¡¡Having penetrated through the outer hedge, where
Bhe cattle were housed for the night, we reached
inner enclosures occupied by the families and their
fhuts. They sat crouching over their fires, eating
‘- their evening meal of porridge, thrusting long sticks
into the pot, and transferring the stiff paste to their
mouths. In spite of the chilliness of the evening, they
Jfere naked, save for a loin-cloth and their charms
and amulets. A man stood near, playing on an instrument
like a bow with one string, with a gourd attached
to bring out the sound. He played it with a bit of
wood, and the strains were plaintive, if not sweet.
K Another night we reached a pond called Selynia,
famed all the country round, and a great point of
rendezvous for hunters who are about to penetrate
the desert. In this pond we intended to do great
things in the washing line, and tarry a whole day for
fcis PurPose; but it was another disappointment to
add to the many we had experienced on this road, for