Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 3
CHAPTER III.
FROM SHOSHONG TO THE GREAT SALT LAKES.
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| VOL. II. | BATTLE ON THE HEIGHTS OF BAMANGWATO. | Page 43. |
In company with Mr. Mackenzie I paid several visits to Khame, and had ample opportunity of becoming acquainted with his good qualities. My time was much occupied with excursions, in working out the survey of my route between Linokana and Shoshong, and in medical attendance upon sick negroes. Khame offered me one of his own servants to accompany me to the Zambesi, and upon whom I could rely to bring back my waggon to Shoshong, if I should determine to go further north. As remuneration for the man’s services, I was to give him a musket.
Mr. Mackenzie pointed out to me the various places that had been of any importance in the recent contest between the kings. I have already mentioned how Khame, on leaving the town, had been followed by the greater number of the Bamangwatos to the Zooga river, where the district was so marshy that the people were decimated by fever, and Khame was forced to abandon the settlement he had chosen. Resolved to return to Shoshong, he proceeded to assert his claim, not in any underhand or clandestine manner, but by a direct attack upon his father and brother. He openly appointed a day on which he intended to arrive; and advancing from the north-west, made his way across the heights to the rocks overhanging the glen, and commanding a strong position above the town. Sekhomo meanwhile had divided his troops into two parts, and leaving the smaller contingent to protect the town, posted the main body so as to intercept Khame’s approach. Augmented as it was by the people of the Makalaka villages, Sekhomo’s army in point of numbers was quite equal to that of his son; but, as on previous occasions, these Makalakas, fugitives from the Matabele country, proved utterly treacherous; although they professed to be Sekhomo’s allies, they had sent a message of friendship to Khame, assuring him that they should hold themselves in readiness to welcome him at the Shoshon pass. Khame’s attack was so sudden that Sekhomo’s troops were completely disorganized, and before they had time to recover themselves and commence a retreat, the conqueror took advantage of the condition of things to bring his men on to the plateau where the Makalakas had been posted. These unscrupulous rascals being under the impression that Khame’s people had been worsted, and being only anxious to get what cattle they could find, opened a brisk fire, a proceeding which so exasperated the Bamangwatos that they hurried up their main contingent, and having discharged a single volley, set to and felled the faithless Makalakas with the butt ends of their muskets.
In contrast to the incessant rain which had marked my previous visit, the drought was now so protracted that my cattle began to get rather out of condition, but not enough to prevent my starting for the Zambesi on the 4th of June. We proceeded up the Francis Joseph valley, and turning northwards, reached the high plateau on the following day by the way of the Unicorn pass. The scenery was very pretty, the sides of the valley being ever and again formed of isolated rocks, adorned most picturesquely with thick clumps of arboreal euphorbiaceæ.
On the 6th our course led us across a plain, always sandy and occasionally wooded; and it was quite late in the evening when we reached the Letlosespruit, a stream which never precipitates itself over the granite boulders with much violence, except after heavy rain. The upper strata of the adjacent hills, where ground game is abundant, consist in considerable measure of red sandstone, interspersed with quartzite and black schist, the lower being entirely granite.
The limit of our next day’s march was to be the pools at Kanne. Ranged in a semicircle to our right were more than thirty conical hills, connecting the Bamangwato with the Serotle heights. There was a kraal close to the pools, and the natives, as soon as they were aware of our approach, drove their cattle down to drink, so that by the time we arrived all the water was exhausted, and fresh holes had to be dug.
On the 8th we reached the valley of the Lualaspruit, where the vegetation and surrounding scenery were charming. The formation of the rocks, and especially the signs of erosion in the river-bed were very interesting; in one place were numerous grottoes, and in another were basins or natural arches washed out by the water, which nevertheless only flowed during a short period of the year. The ford was deep and difficult. On crossing it I met with two ivory-traders, one of whom, Mr. Anderson, had been formerly known to me by name as a gold-digger; they had been waiting camped out here for several days, while their servants were ascertaining whether the district towards the Maque plain was really as devoid of water as it had been reported. The Luala and its affluents were now quite dry, and water could only be obtained by persevering digging. Mr. Anderson’s people brought word that the next watering-place could not be reached in less than forty-eight hours,
GROTTOES OF THE LUALA.
After ascending the main valley of the little river, on the evening of the 10th we reached the sandy and wooded plateau thirty miles in length, that forms a part of the southern “Durstland.” The scarcity of water in front of us made it indispensable that we should hurry on, and after marching till it was quite dark, we only allowed ourselves a few hours’ rest before again starting on a stage which continued till midday, when the excessive heat compelled us once again to halt. No cattle could toil through the deep sandy roads in the hottest hours of the afternoon, so that rest was then compulsory. By the evening, however, we had reached the low Maque plains, remarkable for their growth of mapani-trees; in all directions were traces of striped gnus, zebras, and giraffes, and even lion-tracks in unusual numbers were to be distinctly recognized. We came across some Masarwas, who refused to direct us to a marsh which we had been told was only a few miles away to the right; they were fearful, they said, of being chastised by the Bamangwatos, if it should transpire that they had given the white men any information on such a matter.
The whole of the Maque plain, which is bounded on the west by table-hills, and slopes down northwards to the salt-lake district, consists entirely of mould, equally trying to travellers at all seasons of the year, being soft mire during the rains, and painfully dry throughout the winter season. In the hands of an European landowner, however, that which now serves for nothing better than a hunting-ground might soon be transformed into prolific corn-fields and remunerative cotton-plantations.
By the time we reached the pools our poor bullocks were quite done up. The ivory-traders had pushed on in front and reached the place before us.
We were here overtaken by a messenger from Khame, who had been despatched to visit all the Bamangwato farms, and to leave the king’s instructions that no hunters should be allowed upon any pretext whatever to remain at any watering-place for more than three days. This prohibition had been brought about by the conduct of the Boers, who had been going everywhere killing the game in the most indiscriminate manner for the sake of their skins, and leaving their carcases for the vultures. The order was probably reasonable enough, but it came at an unfortunate time for us, as the natives at once took us for hunters, and consequently were occasionally far from conciliatory in their behaviour. The very spot where we had encamped had been visited by the Boers only about two months before, and we found a number of the forked runners on which they had dragged the animals behind their waggons.
North of the Maque plain large serpents are often to be met with. Although they are by no means uncommon in Natal, they are rarely found on the hills of the southern Bechuana countries. Some plants of a semi-tropical form are here represented, not the least noticeable among them being the mapani-tree, with its oleaginous leaves and porous brittle wood. Nevertheless, the temperature in winter is often low, though perhaps not to the same extent as on the table-land on the Vaal and Orange rivers, which is 1200 feet higher.  | ||
| VOL. II. | TROOP OF OSTRICHES. | Page 49. |
Whilst hunting a large snake in a thicket on the afternoon of the day after our arrival, I was startled by a loud shout from the waggon. Hurrying back, I found Mr. Anderson all excited because a herd of wild ostriches had just rushed by him on their way to drink at the pool; the sight, however, of the waggon had somewhat alarmed them, and they had turned aside into the mimosa-wood, where they were being chased by the drivers. The pursuit was long and arduous, and the men at last had to return hot and tired, without having been able to get within gunshot of one of the birds.
Still keeping with Mr. Anderson, we started off again next morning, making our way northwards towards a spring seventy miles away, known to the Boers as Bergfontem. In these waterless districts glades of tall grass and rushes alternate with light mapani-woods, game being abundant everywhere. We were overtaken on our way by some Makalaharis and Masarwas proceeding to an eland-hunt, armed with assegais.
Of all the antelopes the eland, especially the male, is the most lusty and well-fed, its heart having been known to be imbedded in a mass of fat weighing twenty-five pounds; the animal is consequently generally so short-breathed that it can be readily overtaken and speared. The Masarwas are very fleet-footed and skilful in hurling their assegais so as mortally to wound the heart or lungs. Mounted Dutch and English hunters chase the elands in the same way as giraffes right up to their waggons, where they shoot them down, thus sparing themselves the trouble of having to transport the skins or carcases from the hunting-ground. I have been told both by hunters and natives, and I think it quite credible, that without any great difficulty elands may be tamed and trained to draw or to carry light burdens.
Shortly afterwards we met two Bamangwatos armed with muskets, and driving a couple of oxen laden with meat. They were accompanied by five Masarwas, each of them also carrying a load of meat weighing over fifty pounds. The party was on its way to Shoshong to get instructions from Khame as to its future proceedings, as some of the Makalakas, banished for their treachery, were prowling about the northern confines of the kingdom, and preventing the Masarwas from rendering allegiance to their rightful master.
Bergfontein, at which we arrived early on the 17th, is a spring situated on a woody slope; it is regarded by the natives as the source of the Nokane stream, which flows northwards, but only in the rainy season. The slope, which is very rugged and clothed with luxuriant vegetation, is the declivity of the Maque plain down to the great salt-lakes. At a short distance from the bank of the Nokane spruit the traveller from the south is greeted by the sight of a cluster of fan-palms, a foretaste of the wonders of tropical vegetation; overtopping all the surrounding trees, they were probably the most southerly specimens of that queen of palm-trees in Central Africa. I shot down some examples of the fruit, and added them to my collection. Encircling the base of the slim stems that were crowned with the magnificent foliage was a wonderful undergrowth of  | ||
| VOL. II. | MASARWAS CHASING THE ELAND. | Page 50. |
In the broad but shallow bed of a spruit that lay on the side of a gentle slope, I found a shrub that reminded me of a baobab; it was between four and five feet in height, its lower part immensely thick and fleshy, and covered with a yellowish bark; but scarcely a foot from the ground it contracted into little branches only two or three inches thick, that proceeded direct from the great superficial root. Some of these stems weighed several hundredweight, and on some future occasion I shall hope to obtain a specimen for myself.
From the Makalaharis and Masarwas residing hereabouts I obtained a variety of ornaments and some domestic utensils made of wood and bone, but I was unfortunate enough afterwards to lose them all.
All around the hills for the most part were thickly wooded, having no paths except the game-tracks leading generally towards the Nokane. Over these tracks the natives are accustomed to set assegai-traps for catching the game at night; a pile of underwood is heaped up to bring the animals to a standstill; a grass rope with one end very loosely attached to a short stake is carried across the path about a foot above the ground, and supported horizontally by two uprights and a cross-pole placed on the opposite side; the rope is thence taken up to the nearest overhanging bough, and an assegai left suspended from the other end. The slightest jerk made by the movements of the game suffices to detach the loose end of the rope, and the assegai immediately falls.
The assegai used for this purpose is generally of very rude construction, being nothing but a rough pole with a rusty spear-head fixed at the end; but its efficiency is due to the point being dipped in a most
PURSUED BY MATABELE.
deadly poison. The wound inflicted by the descending weapon is generally slight in itself, and although only a scratch may be made in the neck, the victim is doomed, as the poison is sure to take quick effect. In the winter months snares of this kind are continually being set, and are always visited as frequently as possible, that the carcase may be dissected soon after death; the flesh close round the wound is cut away, but all the rest is considered by the natives to be perfectly fit for food. Once, while in pursuit of some koodoos, one of Anderson’s people narrowly escaped running into an assegai-trap, being only warned by his servant just in time, and I have myself in the course of my rambles come upon several tracks stopped up in this way.
I wandered during the afternoon with the two traders a considerable distance down the hill to the north, crossing the Nokane and two other dry spruits more than once. On the way I noticed some aloes of unusual size, and some tiger-snails in the long grass in the valleys.
Early on the morning of the 18th we came to the south-east shore of the smallest and most southerly of the three of the great sait-lakes that I was able to visit. Away to the west this lake extended as far as the eye could see, and it took me two hours to travel the length of the eastern coast. It had an uniform depth of barely two feet, and presented a light grey surface edged with stiff arrow-grass, and surrounded by dense bush-forest, whilst round about it, in the very thickest of the grass, were considerable numbers of miniature salt-pans. It is scarcely once a year that it is full of water, for although after violent rains torrents stream down from all directions, very few of these make their way into the lake itself, but stagnate in another and deeper bed close by; the overflow of this, however, escapes into the lake. The name of this salt-pan is Tsitane, the same as that of the most important of the rivers flowing from the heights upon our left, which were the projecting spurs of the slope from the table-land to the lake basin. The greater part of the lake-bottom consists of rock, partly bare and partly covered with the deposit from the rain-torrents. While I was taking the measurement of the eastern shore, I came upon a herd of striped gnus, but without being able to shoot one of them. In the brackish waters of the river, and in the pools near its mouth, there were a good many spoonbills and ducks, and for the first time for a long while I noticed some grunters.
After finishing my sketch-chart of the Tsitane lake next morning, I went out and shot a great horned owl that I found in the trees on the bank.
Every depression in the soil round the smaller pans contains salt. However short a time the rainwater may stand in them, vegetation is sure to be checked; the evaporation is rapid, and so great that the ground is continually crusted with large patches of salt some five inches above the soil, which break in when trodden on. In high winds the salt and salt earth are swept along in great white clouds like dust. The edge of the lake was covered with little chalcedonies and milk-pebbles that had been washed down by the rain.
We quitted the shores of the Tsitane salt-pan on the 21st, but as I had understood from the natives that there would be much difficulty in getting water farther on, and I did not wish to impede the progress of the ivory-traders, we parted company, but only to meet again after a fortnight in the valley of the Panda ma Tenka, and yet again a year later at Shoshong.
It was at the salt-pan that I saw my first baobab, the most southerly specimen along my route, although Mauch had seen some further south in the western Transvaal on the right bank of the Limpopo. The one I noticed was twenty-five feet in height, its circumference measuring nearly fifty-two feet.
On starting northwards we had first to cross the small outlying salt-pans on the Tsitane, then the river itself, and finally to take a course due north right over the basin. The trees of the dense underwood were all more or less stunted, the bush-land alternating with meadow-land overgrown with rich sweet grass and studded with flowers. Near the pans and adjacent streams the soil was brackish, and the vegetation for the most part of a prickly character. Springbocks and duykerbocks, Zulu hartebeests, and striped gnus frequented the woods, which in some parts revealed clearly the vestiges of lions.
All the next day our journey took us past a series of large depressions in the soil, the middle of most of them being marked by small salt-pans, of which I counted no less than forty-two in the course of the day’s progress. We halted for the night near one of them known as the little Shonni; we also crossed some freshwater pools, at once to be distinguished from salt-pans by the fringe of reeds with which they were surrounded.
We now arrived at the eastern shore of a far larger and deeper lake than the Tsitane, called by the natives Karri-karri; its shores were circled by a number of baobabs, and its geological formation seemed very interesting. Like the Tsitane in shape it was almost an isosceles triangle with its apex far away out of sight in the west. On their western side both these lakes are connected with the north of the Soa salt-pan by means of the Zooga river.
Some Masarwas bearing traces of the red salt-crust on their ankles came to us offering some baobab-fruit, and asking for maize and tobacco in exchange. We had not much time to spend either in bartering commodities or in exploring the shore of the lake, as the rain came on and compelled us to hurry forwards, otherwise I do not doubt I should have discovered a number of natural curiosities.
At the north-east end of the lake, at one of the principal creeks I crossed the Mokhotsi river, which flows northwards, and carries off the superfluous water of the shallow salt-pan.
Our way next led through a dense mapani-forest, after which we had to cross a dried-up stream sixty feet wide, and from ten to sixteen feet deep, having a decided fall towards the east, and on account of the fine trees that adorned its banks called by the Masarwas the Shaneng, or beautiful river. Parallel to this was a spruit, which the Dutch hunters called Mapanifontein; it is fed by a number of springs, and as it receives a portion of the water of the Shaneng whenever that stream is overfull, its deeper parts are hardly ever dry at any period of the year. I cannot resist the opinion that the Shaneng is an outlet either of the Zooga river or of the Soa salt-lake, and that it empties itself into the Matliutse or one of its affluents. In the course of the afternoon I killed a great bird that was chasing lizards, known amongst the colonists as the jackal-bird.
Towards the evening of the 23rd Anderson overtook us again, and travelling on together we traversed a wood called the Khori, and passing a deserted Masarwa village near the ford, we arrived in good  | ||
| VOL. II. | THE SOA SALT LAKE. | Page 57. |
Thanks to the dry weather, we were able to cross several spruits that ran in and out the various creeks, a proceeding that after much rain would have been quite impracticable. Having chosen a good position for our camping out, we resolved to stay there until the 27th, as we ascertained that there was excellent drinking-water to be found by digging holes in the bed of the Momotsetlani, a river that flowed through the adjacent wood. According to my habit when halting for any longer time than usual, I made several excursions, in the course of which I shot five ducks, two guinea-fowl, that were in unusually large numbers, and a brown stork, the first example of the kind I had seen.
The Soa is the largest saltpan in the Great Lake basin, extending westward beyond Lake N’gami, and connected with the Limpopo system by the Shaneng; like the Karri-Karri and Tsitane, it is quite shallow, being only four feet deep; it is grey in colour, and is rarely completely full, indeed a great part of it is quite dry. In order to ascertain the exact relations between the basin and Lake N’gami and the Zooga, it would be necessary to take a series of observations for an entire year; during the rainy season, however, travelling is extremely difficult and the climate is very unhealthy, so that it is easy to account for the task not having been accomplished hitherto. The general uniformity of level of the great central South African basin causes the Zooga at some times to flow east and at others to flow west. When the shallow bed of Lake N’gami is filled by its northern and western feeders it sheds its overflow eastwards down the Zooga to the saltpans, whence it is carried off by the Shaneng, their natural outlet; on the other hand, if the N’gami should be low, it receives itself the overflow of the Zooga, which in its deep bed, overgrown as it is with weeds, is able for a long period to retain the water received from its many affluents; nor is it impossible that it is likewise occasionally fed by waters running over from the western side of the saltpans.
It took our team more than three hours after our next start to cross the numerous creeks and smaller pans on the shore of the lake: we came to the end of them, however, in the course of the forenoon, and entered upon a plain stretching northwards as far as the eye could reach, and bounded on the east by a mapani-wood. Herds of game were frequent, but not large. We noticed a good many clumps of reeds, and were not disappointed in the expectation of finding fresh-water in proximity to them, inducing us to rest awhile in the place.
I was very busy arranging some of the curiosities that I had collected on my recent rambles, when I was startled by a loud cry of distress. On looking out of the waggon I saw Meriko, my Bamangwato servant, running with all his might through the long grass, and shrieking, in the Sechuana dialect, “They are killing me! they are killing me!” He cleared the bushes like an antelope; in his hurry he had lost both his grass hat and his caama mantle, and had scarcely breath to reach the waggon. Pointing to a number of natives at no great distance from him, with their spears brandished in the air, he gasped out, “Zulus! Matabele! they want to kill me!”
For my part I could not comprehend how it happened that these Matabele should be on Khame’s territory. I began to wonder whether it was possible that war had broken out between the tribes, and I confess that I was not without apprehension that we were going to be attacked. The savages advanced yelling and screeching, and looked like wolves in human form. Unwilling to risk the mischief that might ensue if I fired upon them, I resolved to remain steadily where I was until I had ascertained their real intentions. Meriko’s opinion did not in the least coincide with mine; he could not bring himself to await their approach, but bounding over the pole of the waggon, he scampered off into the bush beyond, but without further outcry, evidently anxious to conceal himself in the long grass. I called out to him that he had more to fear from the lions in the grass than from the Zulus, and that he had better stay in the waggon; so terrified, however, was he at the prospect of falling into the hands of the Matabele, that he turned a deaf ear to my words, and rushed out of sight.
The savage band flocked round the waggon, still flourishing their kiris. Excepting the two ring-leaders they proved to be not true Zulus, but belonging to various plundered tribes, having been stolen away as boys by Moselikatze, and brought up as Zulu warriors. They had small leather aprons with fringes, or occasionally a gourd-shell or piece of basket-work on their bodies, otherwise they were quite naked; only some of them wore balloon-shaped head-dresses made of ostrich feathers or other plumage. Their expression was exceedingly wild. The fierce rolling eye was a witness that they belonged to a warlike race, expecting that their commands should be obeyed; and probably there was not one amongst them who would have hesitated to perpetrate a murder if he considered that anything was to be gained by it.
One of the leaders swung himself on to the pole of the waggon, and speaking in broken Dutch gave me to understand that they were “Lo Bengulas,” and that it was their wont to slaughter every captive they made, except he were bought off by a ransom; they were now ready to put their rule into force upon my servants; and as for my dog they should shoot him then and there, unless I paid them down at once a handsome sum to save him.
I put as bold a face as I could upon the matter. I told them that I was not going to be frightened into making them any payment whatever, but that if they would promise to go quietly away from the waggon, I would make them a present all round. I hoped by this device to anticipate their notorious thievish propensities; but although Pit and Theunissen were on the watch, they could not prevent one of the fellows stealing a knife that was lying close to my side, but I caught sight of him just in time, and insisted upon his giving it up again.
After a brief consultation, the two captains drew their followers apart, and made them acquainted with my determination; they all grinned cunningly, and hailed the proposal with shouts of satisfaction. Having had the whole body collected right in front of the waggon, where I could keep my eye upon them, I called the leaders forward and handed to each of them a bowl of gunpowder and about two pounds of lead. One of them first pointed to my pocket-handkerchief, and then ran his finger round his own loins. “Lapiana!” he said, indicating the purpose to which it could be applied. Accordingly I brought out a few yards of calico, and tore it into strips, which were immediately used for girdles, except that a few of the men twisted the stuff round their heads. They requested me to give the captains an extra piece or two; to this I willingly consented, and they all expressed themselves perfectly satisfied. Upon this I turned my back upon the clamorous troop, and retreated calmly to my own people. Soon afterwards they all began slowly to depart, waving their presents over their heads. We were greatly relieved. The hour that had passed since Meriko had come and announced their approach had unquestionably been an anxious time. A few of them had bartered salt with Theunissen for tobacco.
When Meriko could be induced to quit his hiding-place, he informed us that we had now almost reached the bank of the principal feeder of the Soa, called the Nata, where salt may be most readily procured, and whither the Matabele are sent by their rulers every year to collect it. This was the ostensible employment of the gang that had just taken their departure. The Bamangwato king was quite aware of the marauding habits of these parties, but did nothing to control them, although they perpetually disarm any Bamangwatos they may meet, and delight in breaking the legs of the Masarwas.[1]
To the great satisfaction of poor Meriko we decided to push on immediately to the Nata river. As we proceeded, the game became more and more plentiful. The herds of springbocks were much larger than I should have expected to see so far north, and we noticed a surprising number of gnus, hartebeests,
HUNTING THE ZULU HARTEBEEST.
zebras, and ostriches. Although Meriko had in some measure recovered his nervousness, and walked on contentedly with Niger at his side, he kept from time to time jumping up from the ground to the waggon, to look all round and satisfy himself that no Matabele gang was in sight. While mounted up for this purpose he cried out that he could see a herd of “sesephi” (Zulu hartebeests). He described them as about 600 yards to our right. I could not see them myself, but both Pit and Theunissen affirmed that it was a good-sized herd. We all agreed that it would be best to allow the waggon to advance some 300 yards further, and I could then alight, and with my gun all ready for a shot, make my way to a hardekool-tree about 200 yards from the road, and from thence take my aim. Nothing could be simpler than the plan, and I was soon making my way through the long grass by myself on foot.
I had not reached the hardekool-tree before I heard a low whistle from Theunissen which I quite understood was to inform me that the hartebeests had been disturbed by the waggon, and were commencing a flight. Hurrying on, I made my way to the tree, when the two foremost of the herd came in sight at full speed. I aimed at the first, and fired. The whole of our people raised a shout, and leaving the oxen to take their chance started off in pursuit, followed by the dogs. My own impression was that I had seen the entire herd scamper off. I returned to the waggon to satisfy myself that the bullocks were grazing quietly, and then hastened after my friends. My surprise was considerable when I discovered that my shot had been successful, and that a magnificent sesephi was lying dead upon the ground.
All the bullocks were so tired that I had quite made up my mind to give them a good rest as soon as we reached the Nataspruit, but there was the preliminary difficulty to be overcome of finding a proper drinking-place, nearly all the pools in the bed being salt. We had, however, been assured two days before by a Masarwa that there were several fresh-water ponds in the district, and accordingly Theunissen and I set out on an expedition of discovery. The river-bed varied in breadth from 100 to 150 feet; it was about twenty feet deep, and manifestly after rain was quite full up to the grass upon its edge. We wandered about for some time searching in vain, but at length Theunissen announced that he had come upon a pool of fresh water, a discovery that we considered especially fortunate, as all the pools beyond appeared again to be salt.
The game-tracks were absolutely countless. For the most part they seemed to belong to the same species that we had noticed on the banks of the Soa, but fresh lion-tracks were quite conspicuous among them. Pit suggested what looked like a suitable place for encamping; Theunissen and myself agreed, but Meriko protested that it was too near the quarters of the Matabele. His objection, however, was not allowed to prevail, and his nervousness was much moderated when he found he was to be entrusted with a breech-loader to keep guard over the bullocks. An extra strong fence was made, considerably higher than usual, and four great fires were lighted, which would keep burning till nearly two o’clock in the morning.
Poor Niger was in a state of great excitement all night. Lions were prowling around us, and the hyænas and jackals kept up such a noise that sound sleep was out of the question, and in my dreams I saw nothing but stuffed lion-skins dancing before my eyes. Just before morning the concert seemed to rise to its full pitch; two jackals yelped hideously in two different keys, the hyænas howled angrily with all their might, while the lion with its deep and sonorous growl might be taken as chorægus to the whole performance.
In the rambles that Pit and I took, the following morning, the lion-traces were so many and so recent that we felt it prudent to keep a very sharp look-out. We crossed the river-bed several times, and observed that the tracks were particularly numerous in the high grounds that commanded a view of the place where the various antelopes, attracted by the salt, would be likely to descend. On our way we passed a tree, the bark of which was torn in a way which showed that it had been used by lions for sharpening their claws; the boughs of the tree were widespreading, branching out like a candelabrum, and forming what struck me as a convenient perch. Here I resolved to keep a long watch of some ten or twelve hours. Iwas determined if I could to see the lions for myself. Accordingly, just before sundown, I took Niger, and accompanied by Pit I returned to the tree, and having made myself comfortable in my concealment, I sent Pit back to the waggon in time for him to arrive while it was still tolerably light.
The sensation of being alone in such a spot was sufficiently strange. I soon began to look about me, and noticed that the trees around were considerably higher than that in which I was perched; the ground was in some places elevated, but thinly grassed, so that the light sand could be distinguished which covers the flaky strata of the salt lakes. Just below me was a bare circular patch, which bore no footprints at all except our own and those of the lions that had passed by; on my left was a rain-channel some six feet deep and twenty feet wide, much overgrown, and opening into the Nataspruit about twenty yards away. The nights
IN THE TREE.
were now extremely cold, and appeared especially so in contrast to the high temperature of the day, and I took the precaution of tying myself to one of the strongest boughs, in case I should fall asleep; to tumble off might bring me into closer contact with the monarchs of the forest than might be agreeable; but having made myself secure, I soon settled down in the middle of the triple-forked recess that I had chosen for my ambush.
The sun, meanwhile, had all but set; only a few golden streaks on the highest boughs remained, and these gradually faded away. My insight that night into scenes of animal life proved even far more diversified than I could venture to anticipate.
Amongst the first of the sounds to arrest my attention was the sonorous “quag-ga, quag-ga” of the male zebras; they were on the grass-plains, keeping watch over their herds; with this was soon mingled the melancholy howl of the harnessed jackal, awakening the frightful yell of its brother, the grey jackal; the beasts, I could not doubt, were all prowling round the enclosure of our camp. For some hours the various noises seemed to be jumbled together, but towards midnight they became more and more distinct, so that I could identify them separately, and fancied that I could count the beasts that made them. After a while a peculiar scraping commenced, caused by rhyzænas hunting in the sand for worms and larvæ; it went on all night except during the brief intervals when the busy little creatures were temporarily disturbed by some movement near them.
The gazelles and antelopes came down quite early to lick at the salt mud in the Nata-bed; they evidently were accustomed to get back to their haunts in the open lands before the beasts of prey quitted their lairs in the wood. Some of the little steinbocks (those most graceful of South African gazelles) came down so cautiously along the track that it was only through accidentally looking down that I was aware of their being near me. I think there were three or four of them. They were followed by some other gazelle, of which the movements were so light and rapid that I failed to catch a glimpse of it. After a considerable time a single antelope passed beneath me, of another species larger than the others, making a succession of short leaps, then pausing and bounding on again, but I could not recognize what kind it really was.
The slow, steady tramp of a large herd on the other side of the bank proceeding towards the salt pools, and in the direction of the one freshwater pool, could not be mistaken; moreover, the crashing of their horns against the wood in the thickets left no doubt of the approach of a number of koodoos. While I was listening to their movements I heard another tread on the game-path beside the river; straining my eyes in that direction I saw a dark form stealthily making its way towards the descent: it was about the size of a young calf, and I could have little doubt that it was a brown hyæna; it sniffed the air at every step, and after stopping a few seconds just beyond the channel started off at a brisk trot.
As the hours of the night waned away I was beginning to think that I should hear or see nothing of the monarch of the forest. I had not, however, to wait much longer before the unmistakable roar, apparently about half a mile away, caught my ear. I could only hope that the beast was on its way once more to sharpen its claws upon the accustomed tree. I had now no heed to give to any other sound; neither the barking of our own dogs beside the waggon, nor the yelling of the jackals around our encampment could distract my attention, and I listened eagerly for at least half an hour before the roaring was repeated; it was now very much nearer; I listened on, and it must have been nearly twenty minutes more when I distinguished its footsteps almost within gunshot. The lion was not in the ordinary track, as I had expected, but right in the long grass in the rain-channel. Its strides were generally rapid, but it paused frequently. I could only hear its movements; it was too dark for me to see. I was sure that it could not be more than about fifteen yards from me, and could hardly restrain myself from firing. I feared, however, that a random shot would only be fired in vain, and with no other effect than that of driving the lion away. Accordingly I waited on. It came still nearer and crouched down somewhere for about another quarter of an hour without stirring an inch. At last I became convinced that it had caught sight of me; I saw the bushes shake, and the great brute looked out as if uncertain whether to make a spring towards me, or to effect its escape. It was a terrible mistake on my part not to fire then and there, but my moment of hesitation was fatal to my design; the lion made a sudden bound, and in an instant had disappeared for good. It was no use to me that Niger’s frantic barking made me aware what direction it had taken. My chance was gone. I was much mortified; but there was no help for it. With the cold night air and my cramped position I was stiff all over, and much relieved when daylight dawned, and Pit appeared with Niger to accompany me back to the warmth and shelter of the waggon.
- ↑ It is well to bring this before the notice of any traveller in the district who may have native servants with him. I would advise every one to make definite preliminary inquiries as to whether the shores of the Nata may be traversed without danger.