Each Person Knows
The Station He Is To Occupy, In Reference To The Post Of Honor At The Fire
In Front Of The Door Of The Tent.
The two Makololo occupy my right and left,
both in eating and sleeping, as long as the journey lasts.
But Mashauana,
my head boatman, makes his bed at the door of the tent as soon as I retire.
The rest, divided into small companies according to their tribes,
make sheds all round the fire, leaving a horseshoe-shaped space in front
sufficient for the cattle to stand in. The fire gives confidence to the oxen,
so the men are always careful to keep them in sight of it. The sheds
are formed by planting two stout forked poles in an inclined direction,
and placing another over these in a horizontal position. A number of branches
are then stuck in the ground in the direction to which the poles are inclined,
the twigs drawn down to the horizontal pole and tied with strips of bark.
Long grass is then laid over the branches in sufficient quantity
to draw off the rain, and we have sheds open to the fire in front,
but secure from beasts behind. In less than an hour
we were usually all under cover. We never lacked abundance of grass
during the whole journey. It is a picturesque sight at night,
when the clear bright moon of these climates glances on
the sleeping forms around, to look out upon the attitudes of profound repose
both men and beasts assume.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 387 of 1070
Words from 111046 to 111303
of 306638
