Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/329

 approach of the unhealthy season made it necessary to hurry forwards, and quite prevented me from drawing up either a proper map or detailed plan of the river-bed. The shore, sandy and sloping, was covered with a layer of turf and clay about a foot deep; and during the first part of our voyage I noticed several plants that I should very much have liked to stay and gather; but I could not venture to stop, as I was anxious to overtake the queens, who had started some hours earlier.



Towards evening we arrived at a place which required very careful navigation; some trunks of trees that had been washed down by the stream had become imbedded in the ground, and formed dangerous impediments in the line of traffic; we succeeded, however, in passing them with safety, and just about sunset reached the spot where the royal