5s8 A JOURNEY IN
Having remained some time for the purpose of refreshing
their almost, exhausted cattle on the delightful banks of the
Kourmanna river, they again set forwards on the 23d, and,
haying passed through straggling thickets of a new species of
Mimosa, which was the only tree that appeared in this part
of the country, and said to be that on which the Camelopardalis
is particularly fond of browsing, they halted in the evening
at another clear and copious spring called Mapoolie.
Here they were met by a deputation from the King, to say
that he was anxiously expecting their arrival The face of
the country now began to assume a very different appearance
to what it had hitherto done. It was tolerably well clothed
with grass, and with thickets of shrubby plants; and the Mimosa
Camelopardalis, spreading its branches like a large umbrella,
was a remarkable and a distinguished feature. Game of all
kinds was very abundant, and every hour brought in sio-ht
considerable herds of gaoos and quachas-
A short sk o f or day’s journey carried the expedition, on
the 25th, to another copious spring called the Gataikamma,
the country still improving as they proceeded, and abounding
with every sort of wild beast peculiar to this part of Southern
Africa. Being now informed by the guides that the distance
to the residence of their Chief was only a short day’s journey,
it was considered expedient to halt the waggons, while the
two commissioners should proceed on horseback. Accordingly
having selected a present for the Chief, which they
carried in knapsacks and their pistol holsters, they set out
with an in te rp re te ra n d about the middle of the day, after
passing through open fields that for a very considerable extent
were under a rude sort of cultivation, they entered a
large town composed of cottages or huts, not laid out in
streets, but placed in an irregular manner, and each hut
enclosed within a sort of palisade. The sight of so great an
assemblage of human habitations, after so long and dreary a
journey, was equally as unexpected as it was agreeable. In
a country so desolate as Southern Africa, where so few human
beings are met with, and these few in the last stage of misery,
the pleasure must be doubly felt of encountering a large
society of mankind whose condition has the appearance of
something like comfort. Riding at a cjuick pace among the
houses, preceded by the interpreter and those which had
been sent to invite them, the commissioners soon came to the
spot where the Chief had assembled the elders of the people
to receive them. This venerable man, whose name. Is Moo-
liahaban, was sitting in the midst of his council in a circular
space, surrounded with wooden paling. He received the
commissioners without the least embarrassment, and in the
most friendly manner; accepted their present, which excited
the curiosity of the elders, and of the crowd that by this time
had assembled in vast numbers round the enclosure. They
examined every article with minute attention, and were desirous
of. being made acquainted with their respective uses.
In return they presented the commissioners with thick
curdled milk. The ceremony of introduction being ended,
the Chief invited the commissioners to his own house, where
he presented them to his two wives and twelve children.
Great crowds of people pressed after them, -but the women