hair is to be taken, in ox-gall till quite free from grease. Then snip the hairs off close to the skin, put them points upwards resting in a box, and pick out the long hairs. When a quantity are obtained of precisely the same length, a piece of string is knotted tightly round them, and pulled as firm as possible, with the aid of two sticks. A quill, that has been soaked for a day in water to soften it, is then taken, and the pinch of hair is put into the large end of the quill, points forward, and pushed right through to the other end with a bit of stick; and so the brush is made. Several can be made at the same time with little more trouble than one.

Pencils.-Saw charcoal into narrow strips and lay them in melted wax to drench for a couple of days; they are then ready for use, as a makeshift.

§ 4. Ink, lampblack, ox-gall. An excellent writing-ink may be made most readily in the bush. The simplest way, and one which is also clean, is to blacken sticks in the fire and rub them well in a spoonful of milk, till the milk has been made quite black. Gunpowder or lamp-soot will do as well as the burnt stick; and water, with a very little gum, glue, or fish-glue (isinglass) is cleaner than the milk, and will not so soon turn sour. Indian ink is stated to be simply lamp-soot and glue, and it is one of the best of inks. If water only be used, instead of gum or glue and water, the writing will rub out very easily as soon as it becomes dry: the use of the milk, gum, or glue, being to fix it. Anything glutinous will do as well as these. Strong coffee and many other vegetable products, as the bark of trees boiled in water, makes a very legible mark, which stains the paper and will not rub.

Lampblack.-Hold a piece of tin, or anything, over a flaring wick in a cup of oil, and plenty of soot will collect.

Ink. To make 12 gallons of good common writing-ink, use 12 lbs. of nut-galls, 5 lbs. of green sulphate of iron, 5 lbs. of gum, 12 gallons of water (Ure).

Sympathetic ink.-Nothing is better or handier than milk. The writing is invisible until the paper is almost toasted in the fire, when it turns a rich brown. The juice of lemons and many other fruits will also do.

To make ink or paint take upon greasy paper, a very little ox-gall should be mixed with it. It is very important to know this simple remedy, and I therefore extract the following information from Ure's Dictionary.

Gall of animals, or ox-gall, to purify.-"Take it from the newly-killed animal, let it settle for 12 or 15 hours in a basin, pour the liquid off the sediment into an earthenware pot, and set the pot into a pan of water kept boiling, until the gall liquid becomes somewhat thick. Then spread it on a dish, and place it before the fire till nearly dry. In this state it may be kept, without any looking after, for years. When wanted, a piece the size of a pea should be dissolved in water. gall removes all grease spots from clothes, &c."

Ox

§ 5. Wafers, signets.-Wafers are made of flour and water suddenly baked hard. From a sheet prepared in this way the wafers are punched out. Gum wafers are made by pouring thick gum and water on a slightly-greased surface (a looking-glass, for example), and another greased glass is put on the top of the gum, to make it dry even. Out of this, when dry, the wafers are punched.

Signets. Allusion has been made to the fact that many excellent and worthy bushmen have the misfortune of not knowing how to write. Should any such be placed in a post of confidence by an explorer, there might be great use in his cutting himself a signet out of soft stone, such as the Europeans of by

gone generations, and the Turks of the last one, very generally employed. The name or device is cut on the seal, and before using it, the paper is moistened with a wet finger, and ink is dabbed over the ring with another. The impression is then made just as in sealing a letter.

In setting a man to keep count who cannot reckon, give him a string of beads. The boxes and parcels that travel by the overland route are, or were, counted in this way by an Arab Overseer. He was described as having a cord with great beads strung on it, and the end of the cord was thrown over his shoulder. As each box passed him, he jerked a bead from the fore part of the cord to the back part of it, over his shoulder.

CATTLE.

§ 1. Merits of different Beasts.

§ 2. Kraals and Cattle Bells. § 3. Facts about Mules.

§ 4. Milking wild Cows.

§ 5. Horse-breaking and Charming、 § 6. Breaking in Oxen.

§ 7. Vice and Temper.

8. Et Cetera.

Happy is the traveller who has the opportunity of hiring his cattle with their attendants; for his delays and cares are then reduced to those of making a bargain, and of riding what he has hired, and when one set of animals are tired or worn out, he can leave them behind and ride on with others. But, for the most part, explorers must drive their own beasts with them; they must see to their being watered, tended, and run after when astray; help to pack and harness them; fatigue themselves for their benefit; and drudge at the work of a cowherd for, it may be, some hours a day.

In fitting out a caravan, as few different kinds of animals should be taken as possible, or they will split into separate herds, and require many men to look after them. Mules and camels must never be taken together-they have a mutual aversion, which time will seldom, if ever, overcome.

§ 1. Merits of different beasts.-The ass is an excellent and sober little beast, far too much despised by us. He is not only the most enduring, but one of the quickest walkers among cattle, being usually promoted to the leadership of a caravan. He is nearly equal to the camel in enduring thirst, and thrives on the poorest pasture, suffers from few diseases, and is unscathed by African distemper. The long desert

roads and pilgrim-tracks of North Africa are mostly travelled over by means of asses.

Mules require men who know their habits; they are powerful beasts, and can only be mastered with skill and address. A savage usually fears their heels, and will not assist in packing them. They have odd secret ways, strange fancies, and lurking vice. When they stray, they go immense distances, and it is almost beyond the power of a man on foot to tend them in a wild country. He can neither overtake them easily, nor, when overtaken, catch them. The female is in most breeds much the most docile. They suffer from African distemper, but in a less degree than horses.

Oxen, though they are coarse, gross, and phlegmatic beasts, have these merits-they are eminently gregarious animals, and they ruminate their food. The consequence is, first, that one, two, or more are very seldom missing out of a drove; and secondly, that they pick up what they require in a much shorter time than horses, mules, &c., who have to chew as they eat. In fact, oxen require less tending than any other beasts of burden.

Brands. In buying oxen out of the herds of pastoral people, it is very difficult to remember each animal so as to recognise it again if it strays back to its former home; indeed it requires quite a peculiar talent to do so. A cattle trader in Namaqua Land took red paint, and tied a brush on to a long stick; with this he made a daub on the hind quarters of the freshly-bought and half-wild (cattle as they pushed through the door of his kraal. It naturally excites great ridicule among natives to paint an ox that he may be known again; but for all that, I think the trader's plan well worth adopting. The same might be done to sheep, as a slit ear is not half conspicuous enough; a good way of marking a