The next day was a bad one, rain making our progress slow and miserable. I wanted to reach a certain point, and we forced the oxen until noon before stopping. This trek had been too long and hurt the brutes so that their spirit seemed broken. We camped among some very rugged hills, and here Dr. Sugden showed us all how to handle tents and ropes in wet weather. The ease with which he tied and untied knots in the ropes astounded our kaffirs and filled the rest of us with envy. The rain increased, and soon everything became soaked. It was such a downpour that we decided to wait for it to slacken and ended by remaining in this camp for two days. Our only amusement was to watch Tuis, the Basuto-Bushman kaffir, in his perpetual conflict with the other boys. Being of a different breed, he did everything in a way all his own and, in addition, was naturally antagonistic and sulky. [Illustration: ON THE WAY TO THE ROYAL KRAAL AT ZOMBODE Dr. O'Neil and party going through the Valley of Heaven. The barren mountains in the distance show the rugged nature of the country] [Illustration: THE SECOND TRIP INTO SWAZILAND The O'Neil caravan shortly after the draft-oxen had died and were replaced by mules and donkeys] [Illustration: MOTHER FEEDING HER BABY] [Illustration: MAIDEN SINGING TO THE CROWN PRINCE SEBUZA She is playing on the native instrument which consists of a bow and one string] In spite of the picturesqueness of this camp, we were very glad to leave it. We were now in the wild country, with no farms, and the only break in the monotony was a little wild goose shooting shortly before we reached the Swaziland border. Our real troubles began about this time. The oxen began to die, and it was not long before we were absolutely stalled. We were then in camp on the border, and it looked as though we would stay there unless I was able to get some other animals to pull the wagon. Finding further progress impossible, I scouted about and ran into a kaffir living on the border who had a horse. I hired this steed--a sorry one it was--and, following a tip given me by its owner, rode twelve miles to see if I could talk business with a small Swazi chief who was said to have a number of donkeys. At first this old chief did not want to talk about donkeys at all, and it was not until I began to talk payment first and donkeys last that he consented to get down to business. We finally made a deal, and it was this: I was to pay him the equivalent of one pound sterling in gin for every day I used his donkeys. This was not such a bad bargain because I had to have about forty of the little animals to make up for the oxen I had lost.