Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 2
CHAPTER II.
FROM JACOBSDAL TO SHOSHONG.
We could see Jacobsdal from the Weltufrede farm, a few buildings on the banks of a brook, and a neat little church, being all that this embryo town of the western Transvaal had then to show. After leaving it we turned north, then north-east towards Zeerust, the most important settlement in the Marico district. On our way thither we passed one of the most productive farms in the neighbourhood; it belonged to a man named Bootha, and was traversed by the Malmani, which wound its way through a low rocky ridge to its junction with the Marico.
I made a preliminary visit by myself to the little town, but we did not actually move our quarters into Zeerust till next day. It covers a larger area than Jacobsdal, and any one devoted to natural science would find abundant material to interest him in its vicinity. We, however, only remained there a few hours, and started off for Linokana, outside which we encountered Mr. Jensen, who was bringing the mail-bag from the interior. The missionary received us with the utmost cordiality, and gave us an invitation, which I accepted most gratefully, to stay with him for a fortnight; the time that I spent with him was beneficial in more ways than one, as not only did it afford me an opportunity of thoroughly exploring the neighbourhood, but it permitted my companions to enjoy a rest which already they much required.
In 1875, the Baharutse in Linokana gathered in as much as 800 sacks of wheat, each containing 200 lbs., and every year a wider area of land is being brought under cultivation. Besides wheat, they grow maize, sorghum, melons, and tobacco, selling what they do not require for their own consumption in the markets of the Transvaal and the diamond-fields; it cannot be said, however, that their fields are as carefully kept as those of the Barolongs. A great deal of their land has been transferred to the Boer government, and they only retain the ownership of a few farms.
On the 9th I went to the sources of the Matebe and wandered about the surrounding hills, where mineral ores seem to abound. The following day I employed myself in drawing out a sketch-map of my route, and when I had completed it, I amused myself by an inspection of the plantations and gardens which surround the mission-station. I attended the chapel, where the service consisted of a hymn, the reading of a portion of one of the gospels, then another hymn, followed by a sermon; the impression made upon the congregation as they squatted on their low wooden stools being very marked, and the whole service in its very simplicity being to my mind as solemn as the most gorgeous ritual.
The native postman from Molopolole arrived late on the evening of the 15th, the journey having taken him three days; he only stayed one night, and started back again with the European mail that came through Zeerust from Klerksdorf. To my great surprise it brought me a kind letter from Dr. A. Petermann, the renowned geographer at Gotha.
An English major likewise arrived from the Banguaketse countries; he was in search of ore and was now on his way to Kolobeng and Molopolole; he gave us an interesting account of the reasons that had induced him and Captain Finlayson to explore the north-eastern Transvaal.
The Baharutse girls seem to be particularly fond of dancing, and we hardly ever failed of an evening to hear music and occasionally singing in various parts of the town.
One of the most picturesque spots in the whole neighbourhood is in the valley of the Notuany, about three miles below its confluence with the Matebe; it is enclosed by rocky slopes broken here and there by rich glens and luxuriant woodlands that afford cover for countless birds, whilst in the sedge-thickets on the Matebe wild cats nearly as large as leopards lurk about for their prey.
ON THE BANKS OF THE MATEBE RIVULET.
We left Linokana on the 23rd, and crossed the Notuany, a proceeding that occupied us nearly two hours, as the half-ruined condition of the bridge made it necessary for us to use even more caution than on my previous journey.
I spent a pleasant day in the Buisport glen, and had some good fishing in the pools of the Marupa stream, as well as some excellent sport on its banks. The upper pools contain many more fish and water-lizards than those near the opening of the glen, for being deeper and more shady they are less lable to get dried up. Some of the mimosas and willows that overhang the stream were sixty feet high, and as much as four feet in diameter.
Next day we passed the Witfontein and Sandfontein farms, both in the Bushveldt. The residents at Witfontein were making preparations for a great hunting-excursion into the interior, where they expressed a hope that they might meet me again. Zwart’s farm I found quite forsaken, its owner having started off on a similar errand the week before; from his last excursion he had brought back some ostriches and elands. Some Boers that we met informed me that fresh stragglers from the Transvaal were continually joining Van Zyl, and that the Damara emigrants would soon feel themselves sufficiently strong to continue their north-westerly progress; their place of rendezvous was on the left bank of the Crocodile River between the Notuany and the Sirorume.
Before the day was at an end we reached Fourier’s farm at Brackfontein, and spent the night there, encamping next day at Schweinfurth’s Pass, in the Dwars mountains. By the evening we had come as far as the springs in the rocks on the spurs of the Chwene-Chwene heights, whence we skirted the town of Chwene-Chwene itself, and after crossing the valley on the Bechuana spruit, took up our quarters on the northern slope of the spur of the Bertha hills. On the banks of the spruit I noticed a deserted Barwa village containing about fifteen huts; they lay in an open meadow, and consisted merely of bundles of grass thrown like a cap over stakes about five feet long bound together at their upper ends.
The Great Marico was reached on the afternoon of the 30th. We made our encampment at a spot where a couple of diminutive islands, projecting above the rapid, made it possible to get across without any danger from crocodiles. The probability of there being an abundance of game on the opposite side induced me to stay for two or three days. Regardless of Pit’s warning that he had seen a lion’s track close by, I selected a place some hundred yards lower down, and resolved to go and keep watch there for whatever game might turn up. I took the precaution to enclose the spot with a low fence.
Soon after sunset I proceeded to carry out my intention. The passage of the river with its somewhat strong current in the dark was troublesome as well-as fatiguing. I reached my look-out, which I found by no means comfortable, and as the darkness gathered round me, I became conscious of a strange yearning for my distant home, and the image of my mother seemed to arise so visibly before me, that I could hardly persuade myself that she was not actually approaching. Phantasies of this kind were altogether unusual with me, and as the sense of awe appeared to increase, I began to debate with myself whether I had not better retire from my position and make my way back to the waggon. It came, however, to my recollection that this was just the hour when the crocodiles left the water and made their way to the banks, in order to avoid the rapids.
The night continued to grow darker, and dense masses of cloud rose up to obscure the sky. I came to the final decision that my watch would be to no purpose, and was just about setting out to return, when I became aware of the movement of some great object scarcely ten yards away. Of course in the dark no reliance was to be placed upon my gun; my long hunting-knife was the only weapon on which I had to depend; this I grasped firmly, and stooped down, straining every power of vision to penetrate the gloom; but nothing was to be discerned; only a strange and inexplicable glimmer still moved before my eyes. Again, with startling vividness, the image of my mother rose before me; I could not help interpreting it to betoken that some danger was near, and once more I determined to hasten back at all hazards to our encampment. I placed my foot upon the twigs with which I had built up my fence, and it came down with a crash which sounded sufficiently alarming. Gun in one hand, and knife in the other, I proceeded to grope my way along, but recollecting that my gun was useless, and finding it an incumbrance, I threw it into a bush; after it had fallen I heard a noise like scratching or scraping, and I am much mistaken if I did not distinguish a low growl, and it occurred to me that it was more than likely that some beasts of prey had been stealthily making their way to my place of retreat. Having no longer the shelter of my fence-work I confess a feeling of tremor came over me, and my heart beat very fast. Still slashing about with my hunting-knife, I cut my way through the overhanging boughs, pausing at every step, and listening anxiously to every sound. In spite of all my care I came from time to time into collision with the branches, and I staggered in wonder whether I had not at last encountered some gigantic beast of prey.
It took me a considerable time to get over that hundred yards by which I was separated from the stream, but at length I accomplished it, and reached a narrow rain-channel, that facilitated my descent to the brink of the water. It was with extreme caution that I placed one foot before another, as my sole clue to the direction of the ford was derived from the increase or decrease in the sound of the current; more than once I lost my footing, and fell down bodily into the water, but after a time, with much difficulty, managed to get on to the first of the two islands; upon this I did not rest for a minute, but plunged at once into the main stream, whence I succeeded in gaining the second island. Here I paused long enough to recover my somewhat exhausted breath, and then re-entering the seething waters, tottered over the slippery stones till I found myself safely on the shore. As I set my foot upon the ground I could not do otherwise than experience a great sense of relief, although I was quite aware that there might be danger yet in store. I was so tired that I should have been glad to throw myself upon the ground then and there, but the chance of exposing myself to the crocodiles at that hour was too serious to be risked.
Just as I was on the point of clambering up the bank I heard a rustling above my head; I kept perfectly silent, and soon discovered that the noise came from a herd of pallahs, on their way to drink. I recognized them by the crashing which their horns made in the bushes, and by their peculiar grunt. Swinging myself up by means of the branches, I reached the top of the bank, and wendine my way along the glen, before long recognized the barking of the dogs, which had been disturbed by the antelopes. My whistle quickly brought my faithful Niger to my side, and his company agreeably relieved the rest of my way back to the fires which marked the place of our encampment.
Taking Pit with me next morning, I made an investigation of the place where I had spent so much of the previous dreary night. It was covered with lion-tracks, and the little barricade was completely trampled down. One of my dogs at this place fell a victim to the flies, that settled in swarms on its eyes, ears, and nose, so that the poor brute was literally stung to death.
Shortly afterwards I took Pit on another long excursion inland. Having heard that the colonists are accustomed to creep into the large hyæna-holes under ground, and that when they have ascertained that the hyæna is “at home,” they kindle a fire at its mouth, so that the animal is obliged to make an exit, when it is either shot or killed by clubs, I made Pit put the experiment into practice. We found the hole, and we lighted the fire, but we did not secure our prey; somehow or other Pit was not able to make the smoking-out process go off successfully.
We continued our journey the same day. A few miles down the river I met an ivory-trader from the Matabele country, who had instructions from the Matabele king to convey the intelligence to the English governor in Kimberley that a white traveller had been killed amongst the Mashonas, on the eastern boundary of his domain.
I had throughout the day noticed such a diversity of birds, reptiles, insects, plants, and minerals, that I was further disposed to try my luck at fishing, and taking my tackle, I lost no time in dropping my line into the river. I succeeded in hooking three large sheatfish, the smallest of which weighed over six pounds, but they were too heavy for me to drag to land; two of them broke my line, and the other shpped back into the stream. I had almost contrived to get a fourth safely ashore, when my foot slipped, and overbalancing myself, I fell head foremost down the bank; happily a “wait-a-bit” bush prevented my tumbling into the river.
Guinea-fowl I observed in abundance everywhere along the Marico, in parts where the bushes were thick; but I noticed that they never left their roosting-places until the heavy morning dew was dry. The speed at which they ran was quite incredible.
Proceeding on our way we came up with several Bechuana families belonging to the Makhosi tribe, who had been living on Sechele’s territory, near the ruins of Kolobeng; but they had been so much harassed by Sechele that they were now migrating, and about to settle at the foot of the Dwars Mountains. Sechele had been preparing an armed attack upon both the Makhosi and the Bakhatlas, but the latter having gained intelligence of his scheme, took prompt measures to resist him, and made him abandon the design. It is in every way desirable, both for traders and travellers, as well as for the neighbouring colonies, that the integrity of the six existing Bechuana kingdoms should be maintained. Any splitting-up into smaller states would be attended with the same inconveniences as the European colonists and travellers have to suffer on the east coast north of Delagoa Bay.
Whilst we were passing through the hight woods of the Marico on the 4th, we caught sight of a water-bock doe in the long grass. Theunissen stalked it very adroitly, but unfortunately his cartridge missed fire, and before Pit could hand him a second, the creature took to flight. In spite of our having had frost for the last two days, the morning was beautifully fine.
Leaving the Marico, only to rejoin it again at its mouth, we traversed the triangular piece of wood which lies between it and the Limpopo. On our way we fell in with a party of Makalakas, who were reduced almost to skeletons, having travelled from the western Matabele-land, 500 miles away, for the purpose of hiring themselves out at the diamond-fields, each expecting in six months to earn enough to buy a gun and a supply of ammunition. We were sorry not to be able to comply with their request that we would give them some meat, but as it happened we had not killed any game for several days.
The next morning found us on the Limpopo; and as I purposed staying here for a few days, we set to work and erected a high fence of mimosa boughs, for the greater security of our bullocks. In the afternoon Theunissen and I made an excursion, in the course of which we shot two apes and four little night monkeys, that were remarkable for their fine silky hair and large bright eyes. As a general rule they sleep all day and wake up at night, when they commence spending a merry time in the trees, hunting insects and moths, eating berries, and licking down the gum of the mimosas.
CROCODILE IN THE LIMPOPO.
One of our servants had a rencontre that was rather alarming, with one of the crocodiles, from which the river derives its name. He was washing clothes upon the bank, when a dark object emerged from the water, startling him so much that he let the garment slip from his hands. He called out, and had the presence of mind to hurl a big stone at the crocodile’s head, and succeeded in clutching the article back just as the huge creature was snapping at it. An adventure of a somewhat similar character happened to myself. Finding that the Limpopo was only three feet deep just below its confluence with the Marico, I determined to make my way across. We felled several stout mimosa stems, and made a raft; but the new wood was so heavy that under my weight it sank two feet into the water. Convinced that my experiment was a failure, I was springing from one side of the raft on to the shore, when a crocodile mounted the other side—an apparition sufficiently startling to make me give up the idea of crossing for the present.
Taking our departure on the 7th, we proceeded down the stream, having as many as fifteen narrow rain-channels to pass on our way. The whole district was one unbroken forest, and we noticed some very fine hardekool trees. On the left the country belonged to Sechele, on the right to the Transvaal republic.
Though our progress was somewhat slow, being retarded by the sport which we enjoyed at every opportunity, we reached the mouth of the Notuany next evening, having passed the first of the two encampments where the Damara emigrants were gathering together their contingent. It contained about thirty waggons, and at least as many tents; large herds of sheep and cows, under the care of armed sentinels, were grazing around, while the people were sitting about in groups, some drinking coffee and some preparing their travelling-gear. I was rather struck by the circumstance that nearly all the women were dressed in black. Some of the men asked us whether we had seen any Boer waggons as we came along; and on our replying that we had passed a good many emigrants, they expressed great satisfaction, and said that their numbers would now very soon be large enough to allow them to start. They all declared their intention to show fight if either of the Bamangwato kings attempted to molest them or oppose their movements. When I spoke to them about the difficulty they would probably experience in conducting so large a quantity of cattle across the western part of the kingdom, where water was always very scarce, they turned a deaf ear to all my representations. It was just the same with the emigrants at the other camp, whom I saw at Shoshong on my return; they would pay no attention to any warning of danger; nothing could induce them to swerve from their design.
When I pressed my inquiries as to their true motive in migrating, they told me that the president had taken up with some utterly false views as to the interpretation of various passages in the Bible, and that the government had commenced forcing upon them a number of ill-timed and annoying innovations. If their fathers, they said, had lived, and grown grey, and died, without any of these new-fangled notions being thrust upon them, why should they now be expected to submit to the novelties against their will? And another thing which they felt to be peculiarly irritating was, that these state reforms were being brought about by a lot of foreigners, and chiefly by a clique of Englishmen. What President Burgers was aiming at effecting would have an effect the very reverse of remedying the deep-seated evils that oppressed them. It seemed to me that the project which they considered the most obnoxious was that for the formation of a railroad which should connect Delagoa Bay with the Transvaal.
Were it not for their own statements, it would be quite incredible that men, who already have had to struggle hard for their property and farms, should for trivial reasons such as these, and at the instigation of one man, give up their homes and wander away into the interior. The first troop of them, without including stragglers, soon amounted to seventy waggons. They were anxious to get possession of the fine pasturage on the Damara territory, and prepared, in the event of opposition, to drive the Damaras away altogether. They experienced so much difficulty through the scarcity of water, that, after reaching Shoshong, they had to return to the Limpopo, and wait until after a plentiful rain had fallen upon the country they had to traverse.
Under the impression that the emigrants intended to purchase whatever land they required, both the Bamangwato kings granted them a safe pass across their dominions; but as soon as it transpired that they were going to establish themselves by force of arms, Khame immediately withdrew his promise. He could not see why his own territory might not be subject to a like invasion. This led the emigrants openly to avow their determination, in the event of a long drought, to overcome the Matabele Zulus, otherwise they would have to fight their way through the eastern Bamangwatos.
At the end of my journey, after my return to the diamond-fields in 1877, I took up this matter publicly, anxious to do anything in my power to prevent any overt conflict between the emigrants and the noble Bamangwato king. The tenour of my views will be apprehended from the concluding paragraph of my first article, published in the Diamond News of March 24th: “It is absurd for people like these Boers, who are not in a condition to make any progress whatever in their own country, and who regard the most necessary reforms with suspicion, to think of founding a new state of their own.”[1]
Two months after writing that article, I heard they were in expectation of securing the friendship of Khamane, while he was living with Sechele at enmity with Khame. Their scheme of raising him to the throne failed, and no better success attended them in their subsequent attempt to form an alliance with Matsheng.
During 1876 and the following year, the condition of the emigrants, as they still lingered about the Limpopo, changed decidedly for the worse; they had ceased to talk about the conquest of a hostile country, but on the contrary took every means to avoid a battle; many of them had succumbed to fever, and sickness continued to make such ravages amongst them that they resolved to start once more. Again they applied to Khame for a safe passage through his land, but made a move in the direction of the Mahalapsi River, instead of to Shoshong, in order to mislead him. Khame meanwhile kept himself all ready for a battle; he drilled his people every day; and having kept spies on the watch, he soon learnt that the emigrant party had fallen into a state of complete decay; but instead of taking advantage of their condition, and seizing their cattle and property, he sent Mr. Hepburn to ascertain the facts of the case; and when he found that the statements already brought to him were confirmed, he renewed his guarantee to them that they should traverse his country in security; he was really afraid that they would fail in the strength to move on at all. Their difficulties increased every day. Between Shoshong and the Zooga the district is one continuous sandy forest, known amongst the Dutch hunters as Durstland; it contained only a few watering-places for cattle, most of these being merely holes in the sand or failing river-beds; dug over night, they would only contain a few buckets full of water in the morning; and this was all the provision they had for their herds; their bullocks, consequently, became infuriated, and ran away, so that when the concourse reached the Zooga they were in a most helpless plight.
Their want of servants, too, was very trying. I saw quite little children leading the draught-oxen, and young girls brandishing the cumbrous bullock-whips. By slow and painful degrees, however, sadly diminished in numbers by sickness, and having suffered the loss of half their goods, they reached Lake Ngami, only to begin another march as tedious and fatal as that they had already accomplished. At last, what might almost be described as a troop of helpless orphans reached Damara, the sole representatives of the wild and ill-fated expedition.
In London in the present year (1880) I heard that the survivors of this wild enterprise were in a condition so destitute that the English Government, assisted by free-will offerings from the Dutch and English residents, had sent out to them several consignments of food and clothing, despatched by steamer, viâ Walvisch Bay. Such was the end of the undertaking originated by a party of headstrong men, who, in ignorant opposition to reform, and from motives of political ill-feeling, rushed with open eyes to the destruction that awaited them.
Before reaching the Notuany, I had found out that the game which at the time of my last visit had been very abundant on the Limpopo, had been considerably reduced by the continual hunting carried on by the emigrants. I found only a few traces of hippopotamuses and some giraffe-tracks in the bushes by the footpath down by the river, but neither had I opportunity for hunting myself, nor did I wish to reveal their existence to the Boers.
During one of our excursions I had a narrow escape of my life. We were chasing a flock of guinea-fowl that were running along in front of us, one of which kept rising and looking back upon us. Coming to a broadish rain-channel about twelve feet in depth, and much overgrown with long grass, I called out to Theunissen, who was close behind me, to warn him to be careful how he came; but his attention was so entirely engrossed by the bird of which he was in pursuit that he did not hear me, and at the very edge of the dip he stumbled and fell forward. His rifle was at full cock, ready for action; his finger slipped and touched the trigger; the bullet absolutely grazed my neck. Another eighth of an inch and I must have been killed on the spot.
To explore the neighbourhood, we remained for a few days upon the banks of the Notuany. I first went southwards down to the confluence of the river with the Limpopo. In striking contrast to the time of my previous visit, when the entire district seemed teeming with game, I had now to wait long under the shade of the mimosas before getting any sport at all; at length a solitary gazelle bounded out of the grass in front of me, and as I was all ready with a charge of hare-shot, I soon put an end to its graceful career. Some Masarwas, dependents of Sechele, residing in the wood close at hand, brought me some pallah-skins, of which I made a purchase.
The shores both of the lower Marico and the Limpopo are composed of granite, gneiss, and grey and red sandstone, the last often containing flints; these rocks sometimes assume very grotesque forms; one, for example, on the bank of the Limpopo, being called “The Cardinal’s Hat;” occasionally they contain also greenstone and ferruginous limestone. To the first spruit running into the Notuany above the Limpopo I gave the name of Purkyne’s Spruit. Some of the mimosas here were ten feet in circumference; here and there I noticed some vultures’ nests, and the trees were the habitat of many birds, amongst which we noticed Bubo Verreauxii and maculosus, Coracias caudata and C. nuchalis and parrots.
I left the Notuany a day sooner than I intended, moving about four miles down the valley of the Limpopo, where the country seemed to promise me some desirable acquisitions. On the 14th, I secured the skins of two cercopithecus, one sciurus, two guinea fowl, and two francolins. An ape that I shot was disfigured and no doubt painfully distressed by two great swellings like abscesses. It was impossible to go a hundred yards along the bank of the river without seeing a crocodile lift its head above the water, to submerge it again just as quickly.
When we quitted the river-side, we proceeded to cross the wooded heights, sandy on one side, rocky on the other, that would bring us to the valley of the Sirorume. On our way, Niger enjoyed the excitement of chasing two spotted hyænas that crossed the path, but he did not succeed in overtaking either of them. By the middle of the day we reached the pond which I have already mentioned as lying on the top of these heights, and soon afterwards found ourselves descending towards the river. The name of Puff-adder valley, which I had given the place, seemed still as appropriate as ever, for we killed two of these snakes that were lying rolled up together just where we passed along. Following a Masarwa track that I remembered in search of water, I came upon a pool some ten feet deep; fastening my cap to my gun-strap, I was about to dip my extemporized bucket below the surface, when I caught sight of something glittering half in and half out of the water, which proved to be another puff-adder trying in vain to escape from a hole.
To judge from the tracks, I should be inclined to say that leopards are almost as abundant as snakes, the thorn-bushes and the crevices in the rocks affording them precisely the kind of hiding-places that they delight in.
In the course of our next day’s march we came to a Bamangwato station. Sekhomo had not had sufficient men at his disposal to keep a station there; the consequence was that Sechele at that time looked upon the locality as his hunting-ground. It appeared to abound not only with giraffes, koodoos, elands, and hartebeests, but likewise with gazelles and wild swine, and numbers of hyænas and jackals.
I reached Khame’s Saltpan on the 17th, and had the bullocks taken to drink at the cisterns in the rocks. Some Bamangwato and Makalahari people were passing by, from whom I obtained several curiosities, amongst which was a remarkable battle-axe. I came across some of the venomous horned vipers, which fortunately give to the unwary notice of their presence by the loud hissing they make.
In the evening five gigantic Makalakas came to the waggon, hoping that I should engage them as servants, but I was too well acquainted with their general character to have anything to do with them.
We remained at the saltpan until the 19th, and reached Shoshong quite late at night. The town was much altered since my last visit. Khame, after his victory, had set it on fire, and had rebuilt it much more compactly nearer the end of the glen in the Francis Joseph valley. The European quarter was now quite isolated. I was delighted to meet Mr. Mackenzie again, and he kindly invited me to be his guest during the fortnight that I proposed spending in the place.
- ↑ Boers of this kind are not to be confounded with the more cultivated portion of the Dutch community in South Africa.