colleague, Mr. Hepburn, and Mr. Thompson and Mr. Helm, the two missionaries from Matabele-land, who were going to attend a conference at Molopolole.
At Khame’s Saltpan we were honoured by a fare-well visit from the king himself, who said he could not resist coming once more to shake hands with Mr. Mackenzie, the friend to whom he owed so much. When he arrived he found several waggons belonging to a trader who asked permission to pass through his country, but recognizing him as a man who had been disposing of some brandy to his people about a year ago, he peremptorily refused to comply with his request, and sent him back immediately to the south.
The deficiency of water made our journey to the Limpopo extremely toilsome. Instead of crossing the Sirorume as usual, we made a circuit to avoid the arid and sandy woods upon its bank. We halted at the mouth of the Notuany for three days, and whilst there I made the acquaintance of Captain Grandy, the African explorer, then on his way to Matabele-land. He died some time afterwards of fever.
The track that we followed up the Limpopo valley bore every indication of not having been used for years; it was painfully bad, being everywhere either blockaded by stones or covered with deep sand. On the 1st of July we halted, and stayed the next day as well, at one of the pools on the Notuany, that I have elsewhere described as being fed by springs as well as by the overflow of the river, and consequently contain water long after the stream itself is dry. This pool was about 150 yards long, and about twenty yards wide, and full of fish.
