we pitched our tents on a burning plain; and never did I enjoy anything so much as a bathe that evening in the gloomy crocodile-suggesting-stream, called Sunday River, whose sluggish water, overhung by deep forest, scarcely moved the twigs that dipped into it. After this refresher, we all dined together at the little lonely inn; the rooms of which were covered, from the ceiling to the floor, with the skins of lions and tigers; shot, as the host assured us, "within sight of the house." During the night, my tent pole, which had already shown rickety symptoms, gave way from the overstraining of the canvass, tightened by the dew, and down came the wet tent on our faces, nearly smothering C——n, my companion in misfortune. We cut an odd figure in the moonlight, in our shirts and red woollen caps, creeping from under the fallen tent, and in that airy costume clearing away the wreck, turning in again between our blankets on the open plain; where, at the risk of being walked over by orderly officers and stray horses, we slept soundly until réveillé, when awaking, I found every article of clothing thoroughly saturated with dew; in spite of which, it was impossible to resist laughing at the autumnal appearance of my comrade, whose nightcap, hair, and eyebrows were heavily loaded with sparkling dewdrops.

After about an hour's marching, the sun rose, and we met a returning party of traders going down to the Bay with several waggon-loads of skins, escorted by about a score of naked Fingoes. In the forenoon we arrived at Commando Kraal, where was an encampment of Fingoe Levies, stationed at the entrance of the dangerous Addo-bush, in which, a short time previously, one or two rencounters with the Kaffirs had taken place. A small party of them joined us, armed with flint-locks and assegais, and dressed in the most grotesque manner possible.

This dense and beautiful bush extends for miles on every side; its solitary depths impassable except to Kaffirs and wild beasts, hundreds of which latter roam through it undisturbed. Tigers, hyænas, wild-cats, and jackals abound; and buffaloes and elephants are still occasionally seen, of which we had convincing evidence in the fresh spoor of three of the latter, whose enormous foot-prints were distinctly visible, and made one's heart beat with excitement at the idea of being in a country where such noble beasts roamed wild and unrestrained. The waggon track was in many parts very beautiful, sometimes so narrow that the overhanging trees, covered with festoons of grey pendant lichen, met above it; in others, opening out into smooth green lawn-like patches, surrounded by brilliantly flowered trees and shrubs (as the crimson boerboon,[3] and the yellow mimosa, with its gigantic milk-white thorns); everywhere clusters of the beautiful pale blue plumbago, with numberless aloes and occasional euphorbias, rising to the height of thirty feet; the underwood filled with the "stapelia," "gasteria," and other varieties of cactus. The heat of the sun was again most oppressive, shut in as we were between walls of bush, so close, that not a breath of air found its way through. The oxen were so completely done up, that they could scarcely draw the heavily-laden waggons through the deep sand, and numbers fell, to die on the roadside, or were abandoned a prey to the wild beasts and vultures.

Halting for half an hour to rest the cattle at the top of a heavy hill, a lovely view presented itself: in the foreground, the road we had just passed, winding down into the bush below; beyond that, a vast extent of flat, thickly-wooded country; and far off, a fine chain of rugged mountains, mellowed by the purple atmosphere of the distance, into a mistlike softness.

Late in the day, we entered on an extensive grassy plain, affording a grateful relief to the eye, after the close smothering road through the bush. Three distant specks on the vast level proved, when we came up, to be as many waggons outspanned by a large "vley" or pool of water; their owners, a company of traders, cooking supper and smoking their pipes, looked a picture of ease and comfort, strongly contrasted with our dusty and way worn appearance. We saw several "duykerbok," and encamped at sunset, driving in our last tent-pegs by the light of a beautiful moon.

Across this plain, thinly covered with brown burnt-up grass, we marched the following day, for twelve miles, in clouds of fine sand, borne along by a hot wind that rendered it disagreeable and wearying in the extreme; and without seeing anything to enliven or interest, excepting a fine secretary bird and a number of tortoises; two large cobra capellas were killed, one of which bit a pet terrier-dog, that immediately began howling and barking, running round and round, falling down and foaming at the mouth. Its body swelled out enormously, and it soon afterwards died. We encamped for the night at Bushman's River, where we were only able to get a little thick stagnant water of the colour and consistence of a dose of rhubarb, and were on the road again by four, A.M.; outspanning after five miles for breakfast, by a pool of fresh water, which was most welcome, after having had nothing to drink for the last twenty-four hours but the single draught of liquid mud. While searching in the thicket for dry firewood, we came upon a colony of monkies, which highly resented our intrusion, chattering and gesticulating in the most angry manner.

Towards mid-day we came in sight of a small settlement, with the exception of the solitary inn, the first sign of human habitation we had seen for four days. The houses, seven in number, standing in the open plain, were enclosed by stockades, and barricaded with boxes, bags, chests and barrels, filled with sand, and piled up against the doors and windows; the neat little English church, about which we found the few inhabitants just assembling for divine service (it being Sunday,) was loop-holed, and barricaded within by furniture of all descriptions, an indication of our approach to the neighbourhood of the disturbed districts.

Our route the following day lay for some miles through an uninteresting succession of low, undulating grassy hills, totally devoid of tree or bush, but thickly covered with enormous ant-hills, many of them four feet high, neatly built, rounded, and baked as hard as stone.

At Assegai Bush we were met by a convoy of twenty additional waggons, sent from Graham's Town, to lighten our own, and enable us to proceed with greater dispatch. They were escorted by about fifty Fingoe Levies, armed as usual, with guns and assegais; their felt hats ornamented with the feathers of the Kaffir crane, the ostrich, vink, and lorie, jackall's brushes, or strips of tiger skin; and wearing suspended from the waist by steel chains of their own manufacture, bags or purses, called daghasacs, ingeniously made without a seam, of the entire skin of the wild cat, dossie, or monkey (the opening at the neck being the only one, through which the whole of the flesh and bone is removed); in these they carry their pipes and tobacco, the iquaka or snuff box (made of a small gourd, with bead ornaments, and horn or metal spoons attached, similar to those in use in the Highlands); with their flint and steel, charms, and other odds and ends.

Thus relieved, the oxen jogged cheerily on, and the march was prolonged several hours beyond our usual distance. At sunset, on leading our horses to drink at a small vley, near the edge of the bush, we found the fresh spoor of a tiger, the prints of his massive feet being quite plain in the mud. After nightfall we crept more slowly on;