“... When we left Bamangwato,” he writes, “whence I last wrote, Buckley and Gilchrist went on with W. I followed two or three days later, having been busy seeing people and making arrangements. I soon picked W. up, who was waiting for me, the others having gone on in advance--of course, as we thought, to Tati. We, however, met a trader with a note from Buckley saying they had turned off at the Seruli River.... We have been here now two or three days, and to-night Buckley and Gilchrist arrived, having abandoned their new route. “The road we have come crosses a number of sandy river-beds. These rivers are large streams in summer, but are now dry, except occasionally there is a little pool in some, or water may be sometimes obtained by digging. This tract of country through which we have come is called by the Dutch the ‘thirst land,’ and is now at its worst. On our return it will no doubt be easy enough to cross, but now it is hard work, especially for the oxen. We trek about three hours at a time, doing perhaps seven or eight miles in a trek. Generally two treks are enough in the twenty-four hours, one in the morning and one in the evening, but in going through the ‘thirst’ we have to push on and trek as much by night as possible. [Illustration: TATI SETTLEMENT.] “I was in advance of W. when I reached the Shashe, and, as it happened, had then only one man, Hendrik, my black servant, with me; for my driver and his boy had decamped, though they afterwards returned--as of course they were likely to do--the same evening. They will not have their wages paid till they return to Maritzburg, and then not unless they have behaved properly, and they would have had a miserable time if they had actually deserted me. Hendrik can drive, and knowing, as I did, the hold I had on the others and the folly of giving way, I let them go, telling them the sooner they left me the better, and the result of this treatment proved satisfactory. The difference originated in the driver asking me for tobacco when I told him to inspan, and refusing to comply till I had supplied him, which of course I would not do, as I treat them quite liberally enough, and indeed too well. Hendrik was a little poorly at the time, but behaved very well, and we reached the Shashe, where we dug for water.