It is painful in the extreme, to
be obliged to subject them to such hardships, but alas, in such a
country, what else can be done.
In the evening, I directed the overseer to have every thing got ready for
breaking up our encampment on the morrow, as the party had been fifteen
days in depot, and little else than mud remained in the hole which had
supplied them with water.
August 25. - Slight showers during the night, and the day dark and cloudy,
with rather an oppressive atmosphere. The horses had strayed during the
night, so that it was nine o'clock before we got away.
We had scarcely left the place of encampment, when shoutings were heard,
and signal fires lit up in every direction by the natives, to give
warning I imagine of our being abroad, and to call stragglers to their
camp. These people had still remained in our immediate vicinity, and were
now assembled in very considerable numbers on the brow of one of the
front ridges, to watch us pass by.
