On the evening of the 24th of September he accordingly started with his waggon, remaining the night with Mr. Thomson, the missionary, at Hope Fountain, a short distance from the kraal. The night was very close,--the first which had been so,--and on the following evening, after they had trekked some miles from Mr. Thomson’s in the direction of Inyati to the north-east, there was heavy rain and wind, accompanied by thunder and lightning. This rain, the first there had yet been, was said to be earlier than usual in its commencement by about two months. The other conditions, however, of the projected journey to the Zambesi, all of them, still appeared favourable. It was the traveller’s long-cherished desire at least to reach the Zambesi, and see the Falls, if he found it inexpedient on the present occasion to cross the river and penetrate into the less known territory to the northward. But there were difficulties, not only of climate, but from the obstructiveness of native character, to be encountered, and endless was the opposition which he met with from the latter cause. Four distinct attempts did he make at various times from this date to reach the river, and in each of the first three was he destined to disappointment. His present effort, made in September, was the first of these; his fourth and last attempt was made at the end of the succeeding year, nor was it till the last day of 1874 that he actually beheld the white spray of the great cataract breaking through the trees upon the river’s bank. That effort truly was rewarded with success, yet a success how dearly purchased--with his life! Before leaving Hope Fountain, to resume the journey, he wrote home the following letter to his mother:-- “MR. THOMSON’S, NEAR GUBULEWEYO, “_September 25th, 1873_. “You will, no doubt, have more recent news from Willie than from me. I left him with Buckley and Gilchrist at the Tati, meditating a short journey in the neighbourhood before leaving, and came on myself to the King’s Town, Gubuleweyo, the site, or somewhere near the site, of the place marked in the maps as Mosilikatze’s Town. Mosilikatze was the father of the present king, and conquered this country. The name of the nation is the Matabele, which is always shown in the maps. The former inhabitants of the country were divided into various nations, but it is all called the Matabele country now from the name of its powerful owners. The country reaches to the Zambesi, and produces a great deal of ivory and ostrich feathers. There are a good many white men at Gubuleweyo, trading. Mr. Fairbairn, a young Scotchman, is my agent there.