some poor dry stuff for the horses in a patch of scrub, the ground all round being stony and triodia-set.  To-day we came upon three Lowans’ or native pheasants’ nests.  These birds, which somewhat resemble guinea-fowl in appearance, build extraordinarily large nests of sand, in which they deposit small sticks and leaves; here the female lays about a dozen eggs, the decomposition of the vegetable matter providing the warmth necessary to hatch them.  These nests are found only in thick scrubs.  I have known them five to six feet high, of a circular conical shape, and a hundred feet round the base.  The first, though of enormous size, produced only two eggs; the second, four, and the third, six.  We thanked Providence for supplying us with such luxuries in such a wilderness.  There are much easier feats to perform than the carrying of Lowans’ eggs, and for the benefit of any readers who don’t know what those eggs are like, I may mention that they are larger than a goose egg, and of a more delicious flavour than any other egg in the world.  Their shell is beautifully pink tinted, and so terribly fragile that, if a person is not careful in lifting them, the fingers will crunch through the tinted shell in an instant.  Therefore, carrying a dozen of such eggs is no easy matter.  I took upon myself the responsibility of bringing our prize safe into camp, and I accomplished the task by packing them in grass, tied up in a handkerchief, and slung round my neck; a fine fardel hanging on my chest, immediately under my chin.  A photograph of a person with such an appendage would scarcely lead to recognition.  We used some of the eggs in our tea as a substitute for milk.  A few of the eggs proved to possess some slight germs of vitality, the preliminary process being the formation of eyes.  But explorers in the field are not such particular mortals as to stand upon such trifles; indeed, parboiled, youthful, Lowans’ eyes are considered quite a delicacy in the camp.

At early dawn there was brilliant lightning to the west, and the horizon in that direction became cloudy.  Thunder also was heard, but whatever storm there might have been, passed away to the south of us.  In the course of a few miles we left the limestone behind, and sandhills again came on.  We went over two low ridges, and five or six miles of scrub brought us to the hills we were steering for.  Some pine-clad bare rocks induced us to visit them to see if there were rock-holes anywhere.  Mr. Tietkens found a native well under one of the rocks, but no water was seen in it, so we went to the higher hills, and in a gully found but a poor supply.  There was every appearance of approaching rain, and we got everything under canvas, but in the night of the 9th October a heavy gale of wind sprang up and blew away any rain that might have fallen.  As, however, it was still cloudy, we remained in camp.