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FIFTY YEARS IN SOUTH
AFRICA:

Being some Recollections and Reflections of a
Veteran Pioneer.

of NICHOLSON.

ILLUSTRATED.

LONDON :

W. W. GREENER.
1898.

7)r

FIFTY YEARS IN SOUTH AFfilCA.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Introductory.

PASE

Early Memories — Some Reminiscences — Celebrities I
Met — Chats with Naval and Military Veterans of the
Napoleonic Wars— Paris in 1830— The Street Fighting —
Costumes of the English and French Working Classes
contrasted — Boating — Fencing — Archery— A Visit to the
Highlands -.--i

CHAPTER n.

First Years in South Africa.

The Voyage Out — Cape Town — Its Inhabitants — Fox-
hunting on "The Flats" — Unsuitable Immigrants^Trip
to Graaf Reinet — Sport — A Bivouac — Stock Farming —
Game — The "Totties" — Kaffir Warfare — Game on the
Limpopo — Gordon Gumming — Oswell — David Living-
stone— Kuruman — Motits — Then and Now - - - 12

CHAPTER III.

Game and Sport in South Africa.

Available Sport in South Africa — The Game Lands-
Best Localities — Equipment for Travel — A Trip into
" The Great Thirst Land " 33

CHAPTER IV.

Lions.
Lions and Methods of Hunting Them— An Awkward
Rencontre — Boers as Lion Hunters — As Game Shots —
Fate of an Englishman in Lion Hunting— Boer Com-

VI CONTENTS.

mandos against Lions — Personal Encounters — North-
Eastern Transvaal as a Field for Sport — Man-eating Lions
— My Losses from Lions ----.--47

CHAPTER V.

About Sporting Guns and Military Weapons.

Various Sporting Arms— Military Weapons — Best Fire-
arm for Travellers — The "Smooth" Bore — Oval Bores —
The Bottle-necked Cartridge Condemned — "Old Brown
Bess " — Novelty v. Efficiency — Large Bore Rifles Obsolete
— Hints as to the Build of Rifles and Guns — Effective
Charges — Express Rifles — Smooth-bore Underrated —
Sporting Distances— Blundering at Majuba Hill— Results 68

CHAPTER VL

The Great Thirst Land.

The Kaliharri Desert — Soil — Climate— Pasturage — In-
habitants— Game — Dunes — The T'samma Melon — A
Scientific Exploration Advocated — Ancient River Beds —
The Road to Lake N'Gaami— Botletle River — My Friend

D 's Adventures— Hunting Trips in the "Thirst Land"

— Ostrich Hunting— As Practised by the Native "Bas-
taards"- ---..--..-gi

CHAPTER Vn.

Natal.

Essentially an English Colony — Natal contrasted w^ith
Cape Colony — Variable Climate — Water Abundant —
Sugar Industries — Horse-sickness — The Highlands —
Zulus — Missions— Durban— Pietermaritzburg- Hotels —
Ladysmith — The Boers and Dingaan — The Klip River and
Drakensberg— Harrysmith — Natal no place for the For-
tune-hunter— Sport not good— In the Zulu Country better
— Tsetse Fly— Snakes— The Native Question - - - 115

CHAPTER VIIL

The Orange River Free State.

Offers few attractions to Sportsmen — Bloemfontein —
Ecclesiasticism— Climate Healthy— A Prosperous State —
Scarcity of Fuel — Presidents — Tne Power of the Dutch
Clergy — Diamonds — Sport — Agriculture — Grazing —
Horse-sickness - - - -128

CONTENTS. Vll

CHAPTER IX.
How THE Diamond Fields were acquired by

England. page

A Land Swindle — Incompetence of the Orange River
Free State Government — Difficulties — David Arnott —
Cornelius Kok — Waterboer — The Scheme — Arnott's
Triumph — Result — A Royal Commission Appointed —
Losses of the Kaffirs — Redress — Major Lanyon — " Hush
Money " — Ultimate Purchase — The Griqua War - - 135

CHAPTER X.
The Transvaal.
The Political History— Gladstone's Mistakes — The War
— Boer Tactics — Loss of an Opportunity after Majuba —
Administration Inexcusably Ignorant — A Boer Account
of Majuba Hill — Boers will not Fight in the Open— What
the War cost Me — My Stay in the Transvaal during the
War — My Escape — A Midnight Adventure — How the
News was received at Mafeking — Topography — Pastur-
age— Agriculture — Horse-sickness— The Gold Fields —
Kaffir Labour— Paul Kruger— His Thrift— His Youth—
His Hatred of the Blacks — His Cruelties — His Rise —
Poverty of the Boers — Cheating the Kaffirs — Native Wars
— Ignorance of the Boers — The cause of the strained re-
lations between the Transvaal and England — The Con-
vention— The Characteristics of the Transvaal Govern-
ment— Big Game necessary to Boer success — "Treks" —
Boers would have been massacred but for Sir Bartle
Frere — Robbing Kaffirs — Transvaal Government a Dis-
grace to Civilisation — British Supremacy a " Dead Letter"
— Some Characteristics of the Boer — Crime — Sins —
Library of a Transvaaler — Immigration to Johannes-
burg— Famine, Fever, Rinderpest — Its National Debt —
Delagoa Bay 148

CHAPTER XL

Rhodesia.
Rhodesia in 1897— Native Question — The Chartered
Company — Mineral Resources of the Company — Mata-
beleland as a Stock Raising Country— Agricultural Suc-
cess Depends upon Mines being worked profitably —
Difficulties of Transport — Horse-sickness — The Ass —
Camels — Game in Rhodesia — Shooting Licenses —

VIU CONTENTS,

PAGE

Hunting Parties— Restrictions — Lions still Plentiful —
The Limpopo — Rhodesia not a Poor Man's Country — The
Native Rising — Nomad Farming — Village Sites— Kaffirs
Successful as Stock-breeders — Their System worth a
Trial 198

CHAPTER XH.

On Emigration to South Africa.
The Outlook not Cheerful— Superabundance of Cheap
Native Labour — South Africa no place for the Poor
Settler — Life of Shop Assistants — Employment Unobtain-
able in most Healthy Districts— South Africa, generally,
Unfit for Invalids — No Hospitals — Unskilled Labour
wholly in hands of Natives— Cape Colony a "Sleepy
Hollow" — The Diamond Fields — A Monopoly — No De-
mand for White Labour — Kruger — Future of the Diamond
Fields — Note for Intending Settlers — The Situation in
the Transvaal— Kruger and Germany — Paramountcy—
Sufferings of the Boers — Locusts — Droughts — Rinder-
pests—Starvation of Farmers — A Rush to the Rand- - 217

CHAPTER XIII.

Boer Marksmanship.
A Vulgar Error — Boer no longer a Shot — Never re-
markably Good — "The Aggregate Fair" — The Exter-
mination of Big Game ends Boer Supremacy — Skill
Deteriorating — Some Instances — No Love of Sport — No
Target Practice — Some Experiences when Hunting — The
Buffalo— A Boer "Trek"— N'Gaami Land— The Riding
Ox — An Uninviting Country --...- 238

CHAPTER XIV.

Postscript — The Political Situation.
Kruger's Re-election — British Paramountcy — " Suzer-
ainty" to be Defined— Continuance of Krugerian Regime
Inimical to British Interests — The Indemnity for the
Jameson Raid — Vote some Relief for Starving Boers —
Boers ought to be Grateful to England— Boer Inroad into
Stellaland — Boer Misrule — Liberties — Kruger and the
Justices— Releasing a Convict — Mr. Chief-Justice Kotze
and Oom Paul — The Population of Johannesburg "Helo-
tised" — Two-thirds of the Transvaal owned by English-
men— A Suggestion to the Chartered Company — An
Enticement to " Trek." - ----- -255

Fifty Years in South Africa*

INTRODUCTION.

Many books have been written about South Africa.
Its people, its resources, its politics, and more par-
ticularly its future as part of the British Empire, are of
ever increasing interest, and no apology is needed for
any writer who has had long acquaintance and intimate
knowledge of the Colonies stating his experiences and
opinions. The author is a man who has lived the ordi-
nary life of a South African pioneer settler ; for more
than half a century his interests have been identical
with those of the Colonists, and he, if anyone, is able to
judge from actual experience , what may be beneficial
and what has proved harmful. Unlike many who have

X INTRODUCTION.

written on South African aflfairs, he has " no axe to
grind," has no prejudices, and whatever there may be of
bias in his arguments pro and con the claims of Uit-
lander and Boer is but the natural outcome of a long
study of evidence received at first hand in daily inter-
course with men belonging to different races and parties.
As an expert, his opinion deserves attention and his
suggestions for ameliorating the present tension merit
consideration.

No one can read the chapters on game and shooting
without being convinced that although a hunter for the
market the author is a thorough sportsman. Of personal
adventures he is slow to write, remarking that one
episode is very much the same as another ; many
sportsmen will regret that one who has killed so many
lions and much other large game is so reticent on
the subject of his sporting exploits, but those who
intend visiting South Africa in search of sport will
read with greater profit the particulars he gives of the
game-lands, and his remarks on the subject of game pre-
servation should be borne in mind by those who have
the interest of South Africa at heart. To the Boer large
game has been a source of wealth, and its rapid extinction
in the Transvaal will probably result at no distant date
in a " trek" of the Boer stock-raisers to districts within
British territory, and this must react on the division of
parties within the Transvaal and so has a political as
well as an economical aspect.

INTRODUCTION. XI

It is the intending emigrant the author more par-
ticularly addresses. His advice to those about to try
their fortune in South Africa is pertinent and sound. In
no sense can he be considered an emigration agent ; he
has the interests of his adopted country at heart, and
wishes to attract those only who are likely to succeed
and make the Colonies more prosperous, and at the
same time better their own positions. In his desire to
disillusion the sanguine he may have coloured too
darkly the difficulties which beset the intrepid settler,
but, in all, there is nothing set forth that will deter those
of the right sort who resolve to make a fair livelihood in
South Africa, and there is much that will help them to
decide upon the best districts, seasons, and means for
making a beginning.

The author's simple recountal of his journeyings and
doings in the Great Thirst Land and on the banks of
the Limpopo bring vividly to mind the wild, weird,
waterless waste of sand dunes and the thick jungles
on its eastern edge. His recollections of the im-
mense herds of large game on the veldt and the
mention of his intercourse with hunters like Gordon
Gumming and Oswell are as interesting as instructive.
We seem to see these mighty hunters, and the shadowy
form of the intrepid explorer, David Livingstone, standing
before the erect and wiry man who writes of him.
The native Kaffirs, the bastard Hottentots and wild
bushmen gather round his lumbering ox-drawn waggon

XU INTRODUCTION.

as it is slowly moving across the loose stones and sand
of the grassless burning waste. Thrilling in its simplicity
is the description of the flight by moonlight from the
Transvaal in the time of war, and no mere multiplication
of words could give the imaginative reader a better idea
of the crude, ignorant, retiring Boer than the outline the
author has given when seen by the sidehghts he has
thrown upon his family life, his religion, and his hopes
of betterment. In reading what the author has written
one feels that it is not of the Boer he is learning, but
that it is the Boer himself with whom he is brought face
to face. And what is true in respect of the Dutch race
in Hke manner appHes to the rest of the book ; it is in
truth Africa in its crude reahty — that, and no more.

THE EDITOR.

PREFACE.

This little book owes its existence to what is
usually called an accident It came about in this
v\'ay. A gentleman, personally unknown to me,
himself an author, very kindly sent me a copy of
one of his works on a technical subject of interest
to me, and the fact of this book having reached
its sixth edition is a sufficient proof of its merits.
As some little return for this act of kindness, I
posted to him a bundle of the MS. memoranda
into which this book has developed. I acceded
to my friend's request to publish, and agreed to
furnish him with some additional copy, so as to
bring it up to date.

If the public endorse my editor's opinion of this
crude attempt to amuse or interest some of them,
one more pleasure will have been added to those
enjoyed by one who is now far on his way to
complete an existence passed among three genera-
tions of fellow mortals of divers colours and
nationalities.

The natural "camaraderie" of my brother
sportsmen induces me to hope that they at least
will treat my shortcomings leniently.

XIV PREFACE.

Of the sympathies of Exeter Hall enthusiasts 1
hardly hope to be a recipient: for they are
generally as cocksure of the infallibility of their
own fads as if their community consisted wholly
of Popes, and I have my doubts as to the validity
of their claims. Anyhow, I hear that my editor
has excised many of my remarks on missionary
enterprise in South Africa. I endorse his action,
without, however, altering my private opinions —
which do not count

I am no enemy to Missions qua Missions, and
these remarks mostly applied to a past period, when
the chief occupation of the reverend functionaries
seemed directed towards accentuating the normal
antipathies between the white and coloured races.
Undoubtedly too many missionaries of former days
used their alleged converts as tools to obstruct
trade, a good deal of which they for a time
monopolised by these means. At present such
practices are no longer in vogue, and the personnel
of the missionary enterprise are most respectable
men. However, the consensus of South African
opinion seems to be that but little beneficial
impression has been made on the pure African
negro race, whatever may be said on the subject
in regard to benefits conferred on and accepted
by the " off-coloured " Colonial population.

PREFACE. XV

As regards my dissertations on outstanding
disputes between the Imperial Government and the
Transvaal Autocrat, I can only hope they may give
effect to criticism, and thus draw public opinion.

The notes on the prospects of the Chartered
Company's Territory (Rhodesia) may be read with
advantage by intending investors and settlers ; and
my opinion of the country is, shortly, that its
prosperity as a field for European immigrants is
dependent on the amount of its possible gold
output, but that from an African point of view, it
being a fairly well watered land, superior as regards
its capabilities for stock-raising and agriculture to
most other parts of South Africa, it will at no
distant date attract a considerable population of
Africanders, both of Boer and English blood.

Finally, I trust that the reader will perceive that
I have not written up to any special objective, but
with a view to express honest opinions, in it may
be rather blunt terms. And here, perhaps, it will
be as well to mention that I have no pecuniary
interests in South Africa, but, notwithstanding
this deficiency, the welfare of the country enlists
my sincerest best wishes.

G. NICHOLSON.
Robertson, Cape Colony.

FIFTY YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS.

Over sixty years have passed since I was a
Cantab of Trinity Hall, and during this time
greater changes in political and social life have
been wrought than in any other like term at any
previous period,

I did not care for the life of a London resident.
I had a fixed aversion to crowds indoors ; avoided
balls, theatres, and frivolities generally. Studying
law was not more to my fancy, and my chief
amusement was fencing, which I took up with
great zest, frequenting Angelo's Rooms, near the
Horse Guards. There I met few men who could
successfully compete with me, and but one who
could beat me easily. This was Sir George
Duckett, a short, middle-aged man of great strength

B

2 SOUTH AFRICA.

and remarkable activity — ^in fact, the best man
with the foils I ever met.

Of soldiers and sailors, of English country life,
too, I saw a good deal At my father's place in
Devonshire, and elsewhere, I met such well-known
people as Sir Robert Peel, Bulwer, Lord Mahon,
Lord Melbourne, and the great and good " Iron
Duke," and many of his Peninsula and Waterloo
heroes.

Often I would take a trip to Greenwich, for a
long chat with some of the armless or legless old
pensioners who had fought under Nelson and other
naval heroes of the great war. Of these veterans
there were at that time two thousand comfortably
cared for in the grand old palace, and it was de-
lightful to sit under a tree in the park and, while
filling their pipes with the best tobacco, listen to
the well-told yarns of these cheery old Vikings,
whose conversation was far more instructive than
that with which one is usually bored in more polished
circles. With many of the non-commissioned
military officers of the armies led by Wellington
in the Peninsula and at Waterloo I struck up a
close acquaintance and acquired much informa<»on.
These men generally were remarkable for broader

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 3

views than their fellow heroes in the naval service,
and I especially remember three of them — Ser-
geant-Major Fairbrother, of the Life Guards ;
Sergeant Biggs, 14th Light Dragoons ; and Ser-
geant-Major Robertshaw, Life Guards — all fine
men physically, in the prime of life, and of superior
intelligence. Fairbrother and Biggs died in the
service of two of our titled landed proprietors,
as land stewards with salaries of ;£^500 a year.
Robertshaw was a fine old soldier, but a "roue,"
and was comfortably settled as instructor of a
yeomanry regiment, and died in that service.
Biggs was attacked at Waterloo when temporarily
separated from his regiment by three Cuirassiers,
all of whom he killed. His Colonel had his sabre
engraved with an account of the exploit on the
blade, which I have often handled. I remember
being much impressed with one of his remarks to
the effect that if we had had a cavalry force equal
in numbers to that of the enemy at Waterloo, we
should have won the battle in two hours, because
our cavalry would at least have neutralised that
of the enemy, and enabled our infantry to fight
continuously in Hne, and thus inflict fearful loss
on the French who attacked in columns. As it

4 SOUTH AFRICA.

was the French cavalry were able to force our
infantry into squares, when, of course, their
offensive powers were minimised and their losses
increased by artillery fire,

I was a good horseman, a crack shot, and un-
usually strong and active for a man who never
weighed more than 164 lb. in his best days. Coarse
dissipation was never a temptation to me, and
all kinds of gambling distasteful, nor were society's
frivolities much more attractive.

Law I hated from my soul, and although I had
exceptional opportunities of a brilliant career by
following its thorny and miry ways, I threw away
the unwelcome chances, and hankered after a life
of adventure and more freedom than is consistent
with existence in civilised lands.

In 1830 I went to Paris on a visit to Bishop
Luscombe, in company with my father and a Mr.
Kemble ; during our stay there the Revolution
by which Charles lost his crown occurred.

On the first of the three days' battle we were
returning from a visit to a chateau some miles from
the city, and when near the Champs Elysees were
startled on hearing heavy firing in the direction
of the Place Vendome, near which was our hotel

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 5

There was nothing for it but to endeavour to reach
it and get shelter as soon as possible. Our hired
carriage was seized by the insurgents, and we were
politely but firmly ordered away — the carriage
being wanted to add to a barricade. There was
a good deal of firing going on between the troops
and the mob all round. I remember noticing the
blue marks made by the bullets which struck the
pavement, and the appearance of wounded men
slowly trickling out of the fight. Being foreigners,
we were not molested, but rather assisted on our
way by the mob, and at last reached the corner
of the Rue de la Paix, but found it impossible to
get to our quarters in the Place Vendome, where
a furious battle between the Royal Guards and
the mob was just beginning.

In spite of the surrounding terrors, any number
of heedless gamins were mixed up with the com-
batants, and seemed to enjoy the hubbub im-
mensely— although every now and then one of
them would fall from a shot, and die murmuring a
farewell to his mother, who is much more sacred
to the average Frenchman than " le bon Dieu "
himself. Our party came in for lots of chaff from
these gamins, and Kemble, who, like Saul, towered

6 SOUTH AFRICA.

a full head and shoulders above everybody — stand-
ing about 6 ft. 7 in. — and a very fine man to boot,
came in for more than his share, but retaliated with
effect, and was rapidly becoming inconveniently
popular when we were obliged to halt now and then
under shelter to let a passing shower of mitraille
and bullets pass by. By dodging into doorways
and taking such chances to progress as we could,
we at length found temporary lodgings in a small
hotel where Kemble was known. It was not far
from the Tuileries, and it served us until the long
battle ended and the crown of the Bourbons passed
to the newer regime.

On subsequent visits to Paris I was very much
struck with the superior taste in costume shown
by the French working classes, in contrast with
English of the same grade. The French work-
man aims at appearing what he is, and on Sunday
and other gala days in a neat cap and a clean
blouse is a far more agreeable spectacular object
than the English workman encased in a bad copy
of the costume of a higher class, including a cheap
and hideous " top-hat," generally a misfit, and
evidently very uncomfortable, but none the less
an object of worship to its suffering wearer. And

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 7

then the " grisette " — small, sallow, and seldom
pretty — she trips along with infinite grace in the
neat and tasteful costume of her class, and is far
more attractive than her insular sister, albeit the
latter is generally of superior physique and good
looks, but spoils all by a vulgar unsuccessful
attempt at copying the costume of the classes
above her, and only succeeds in exhibiting herself
as the personification of a fraud, often slatternly,
and always pretentious and vulgar. Chat for five
minutes with a French "grisette," and you will
find that she can speak her own language
pleasantly and correctly. Converse with an
English girl of the same class, and you will hear
Cockneyisms which will make you wish you were
deaf.

At this period Paris, taken as a whole, was by
no means a handsome city ; its best and brightest
quarters were but of relatively small extent.
Grouped, however, as these parts were, closely
together, and visible almost at a glance by visitors,
the effect of the first sight of the place was cer-
tainly cheery, and at the same time imposing ; and
as the visitor's carriage rolled down the Champs
Elysees, along the Rue de Rivoli, and through the

8 SOUTH AFRICA.

Place Vendome on to the boulevards, he could not
but feel that he was gazing on a charming picture.
The rest of the vast city consisted mainly of very
narrow streets, bordered by high houses, and were
without any foot-pavement for the comfort and
protection of the pedestrian. Down the middle
of each street was a malodorous sewer, and at
distant intervals dingy-looking oil-lamps swung
on cords, and by night served only to make
darkness visible.

Coming from England, one missed the numerous
neat and well-finished carriages, splendidly horsed,
common then with us. In Paris, rope traces
generally formed part of the harness of the few
carriages to be seen, and the horses were either
round, chubby Norman cobs — good enough in
their way, but decidedly out of place in anything
but a country cart — or were lean, gaunt equine
specimens of a washy nondescript breed, un-
attractive and dejected in aspect. To compensate
for these things, every one seemed light-hearted
and cheerful, with little to do — and doing that
little rather as if acting in a drama than as a
serious matter of business. " Vive la bagatelle ! "
seemed to be the universal motto ; young as I

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. 9

was, I was much interested by witnessing its
practical application on a national scale. Here
and there only was a horseman to be seen, and
he almost invariably turned out to be an English-
man who had brought his own cattle and eccen-
tricities across the Channel wherewith to astonish
the natives.

A happy interlude of travel and sport in the
Scottish Highlands occurred in 1837, and this
started again my natural bent for adventure.

I never cared for the usual school games, such
as cricket, football, or, indeed, any pastime in-
volving disciplined action. Boating I delighted
in, and could manage a small craft under sail or
oar to perfection. At the University I occasionally
pulled an oar in our college boat, and participated
in several winning races (bumps), but much pre-
ferred solitary excursions. Of archery I was
passionately fond — not in the shape of formal
target-shooting, but when roaming away over the
fields, practising at any tempting mark, and doing
a little poaching when opportunity offered. A
pheasant or two, or a hare, killed with my bow
afforded more pleasure than a whole bagful
obtained with the guiL Sometimes a little mischief

lO SOUTH AFRICA.

tempted me while out with the bow, and once I
tried a long pull at a huge pig, which fell to the
shot However, I sought the irate owner and
got out of the scrape by paying rather more than
the value of the animal.

Experience proved to me that many of the
marvellous feats attributed to ancient archers,
disbelieved in by modern votaries of the art, are
nevertheless approximately true, making, of course,
a little occasional allowance for an abnormal pull
at the " long bow " by the historians. If any
modern archer should read this, he will know that
a bow with a pull of between fifty and sixty
pounds is quite as strong as an average man can
effectually use, but it must be allowed that practice
is now only occasional, and merely intended to
facilitate " hits " at the target, whereas not only
accuracy but range were desiderata when the bow
was a weapon of war, and the art of shooting was
practised with a view to the attainment of success
on those lines. By practice I eventually found
that a bow of ninety-five pounds draw was quite
within manageable limits ; that a range of four
hundred yards could be attained ; and that at forty
or fifty yards an arrow with a square pyramidal

EARLY RECOLLECTIONS. II

steel head could be sent through an iron
spade.

For foxhunting I never cared much, as the
ostentation, the crowd, and the absence of oppor-
tunity for the exercise of any individual hunting
instincts in the participator were distasteful con-
comitants. To be obliged to concentrate all one's
energies and strain the powers of one's horse :n
overcoming artificial obstructions, to the exclusion
of any of the more legitimate operations of real
hunting, seemed to verge on boredom, and hardly
repaid one for wearing the conspicuous red coat
and uncomfortable leg-gear.

CHAPTER II.

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA.

In January, 1844, I found myself on board ship,
beating out against a tremendous adverse gale
across the Bay of Biscay, bound for the Cape —
which we reached early in March.

Cape Town in those days was a quiet, pros-
perous, but old-fashioned non-progressive place.
The coloured working population, principally of
Malay extraction, wore a costume of their own,
and looked wonderfully clean and well fed. There
seemed to be an entire absence of bustle or hurry,
and soon after the noontide meal every one turned
in for a comfortable " siesta," which possibly
accounted in some measure for the total absence
of that haggard, worn expression so observable in
most of the urban inhabitants of all classes at home.
A few substantial merchant firms, headed by cour-
teous well-bred gentlemen, transacted the exten-
sive wholesale and shipping business of the place,

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 13

and, strange to say, the ordinary official classes
repudiated the manners and customs of bumble-
dom, and were genial and polite. Showy plate-
glassed shop fronts were unknown, but a sufficiency
of dark, cool retail shops, containing good stocks,
supplied luxuries and necessaries at moderate
prices. Upon the whole, the place, with its sur-
rounding villages, villas, and climate, impressed
the visitor pleasantly, notwithstanding a great
dearth of hotels, the paucity of the clerical
element, and the prevalence of that quiet content
which the modern age of progress abhors.

At that time — and until the overland route to
India was available — the Cape was the great
sanitarium where military and civil officers of the
Honourable East India Company came to recover
from wounds or to freshen up exhausted con-
stitutions. Some two thousand of these visiters,
with wives and families in proportion, enlivened
the place, and circulated a very appreciable amount
of welcome coin while recovering their health.
Tasteful carriages, well horsed, and driven by
stately Indian coachmen clad in turbans and
spotless white muslin, were numerous in the town
and suburbs ; railways were unknown, and active

14 SOUTH AFRICA.

little Cape hacks were the general locomotive
factors employed by the more sturdy classes.
Society was based on unostentatious principles;
manners were decidedly better than those of the
modern type, and morals probably no worse,
although less encased in the fortifications of more
modern cant and pretension. A member of the
heroic Napier family, who had left an arm on one
of the grand battlefields of the Peninsula, worthily
represented Royalty, and made the shabby old
Government House a pleasant and hospitable
centre liberally accessible.

On the Cape flats jackals did duty for foxes,
and v/ere hunted by a good subscription pack, well
ridden to by a not too numerous field, including
both sexes. Some of the good old Cape Dutch
families — now, I regret to say, hustled out of the
position they then so worthily occupied — allowed
their charming daughters, splendidly mounted, to
participate in the pleasures of hunting and flirta-
tion. One of these young Africanders captured
an English military officer — the heir to a duke-
dom— and would no doubt have fulfilled perfectly
all the wifely and aristocratic duties of a duchess
had not a hard fate and a swift transport ship
intervened to forbid the banns.

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 15

All these things are mere matters of memory;
most, if not all, of the gallant men and charming
women are in the "Land of the Leal," but not
yet forgotten by the solitary survivor. Meanwhile
responsible government has been acquired, and as
one of the results a heavy debt weighs the taxpayer
down — bankruptcy once impended, and could not
have been averted but for the timely discovery of
the diamond fields — long lines of railroad have
been constructed; fine public buildings and grand
hotels erected ; magnificent fast steamships ply
to and from the Table Bay ; capacious docks afford
shelter from the terrific north-west hurricanes
which are imminent at certain seasons, and were
formerly terribly destructive. Tramways and cabs
abound in the city and its suburbs ; gas and electric
lights dispel the darkness of the old-time nights ;
and aggregate wealth has been largely increased
no doubt. As a natural consequence, millionaires
have been evolved, and the struggle of life has
been painfully intensified for those who do not
belong to that species ; dire poverty exhibits
ghastly evidences of its prevalence, and coarse vice
is obtrusively apparent

Crowds of the unemployed, too often invalids,

l6 SOUTH AFRICA.

who have come out in search of a genial climate
and suitable work, loaf about helpless and hungry ;
unless the sextons of the cemeteries can account
for their disappearance at intervals, their fate is
likely to remain an unsolved mystery in the
majority of cases.

South Africa is not the place for such immi-
grants, and indeed the existing fixed population
is more than numerous and capable enough to
supply any present or probable demands for work
of any kind. Whether upon the whole this state
of things is preferable to that of the olden time,
when none were very rich and none painfully poor,
I decline to assert I may, however, avow a per-
sonal preference for a life of reasonable content,
with easy labour, to one involving any amount of
deferred hope expended in a fearful struggle, and
terminated too often by heart-sickness and
despair.

Well, cifter a pleasant sojourn in and around the
Cape for some months, I got on board the old
Phoenix steamer, bound for Algoa Bay. This little
ship was a model of comfort and safety, commanded
by a genial captain named Harrington, and was the
only coasting steamer then on the coast

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 1 7

A more dreary looking place than Port Elizabeth
could hardly be imagined. The town consisted of
substantial stone-built barracks for a detachment
of troops, the Phoenix Hotel, a general store or
two, a post-office, some three or four private resi-
dences scattered about among barren sand dunes
and pretty close to the furious breakers for which
the bay is notorious. Whether there was a church
and the orthodox drinking-bar I forget, as I was
not addicted to frequenting such places.

This place I left as soon as possible, and went
on to the then pretty and primitive village of
Uitenhague. Here gardens, fruit, and greenery
prevailed ; a comfortable inn kept by a worthy
English couple provided for one's wants amply,
and I stopped for two months, enjoying, at first,
some excellent bush-buck and snipe shooting, then
afterwards got a fine lion and several buffalo, about
twenty miles from the village.

Hyasnas used to come to the outskirts of the
village in such numbers that one moonlight night
I killed seven of them as they arrived in detach-
ments to gorge on a dead horse.

Later I bought three good horses, and started
for Graaf-Reinet, which pretty village I reached

C

1 8 SOUTH AFRICA.

in about three days. I had a Hottentot " after-
rider " with me, and was armed with a good double
gun. The spare horse carried blankets, a change
of clotlies, and some food ; we had, too, a small
sharp axe wherewith to cut thorny bushes to form
a defence for ourselves and the horses from the
very possible attacks of lions or hyasnas at night.

During the first day's journey I shot a fine cow
elephant with good tusks, which was standing
knee-deep in a muddy pool close to our track.
Creeping up to within a few yards, I got a side-shot
at the head between the eye and the ear, and the
huge beast collapsed at once. We could not then
spare time to cut out the ivory, but having marked
the tusks— which the Hottentot told me nobody
would then abstract — we left them till our return
journey, and then easily drew them out by hand,
as not a particle of flesh was left on the skeleton
— the vultures, wild beasts, and corruption having
completely denuded the bones.

I shall never forget our first night's bivouac in
the veldt, near a large pool of water in thick bush.
Having made a strong kraal for the protection of
ourselves and horses, and collected plenty of dry
wood for keeping up the fire all night, I felt fairly

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. ig

easy till darkness came on, when the whole neigh-
bourhood seemed to swarm with animals coming
to quench their thirst at the pool. Fiendish hyasnas
made the air tremble with their loud, weird howls,
varied at intervals by indulgence in the peculiar
tittering laugh characteristic of their base race ;
jackals joined in additional discordant vocal per-
formances ; and a few lions roared magnificently
at intervals. A troop of elephants came to the
water, and could be heard splashing about, at
times uttering a peculiar squealing noise indicative
perhaps of enjoyment. I can't boast of having felt
easy enough to make an attempt at sleep, but
busied myself in keeping up a blazing fire during
the greater part of the night, and occasionally fired
a shot when the lions came too near. As for my
yellow attendant, he took these things as a matter
of course, and although he did not sleep much,
was evidently quite indemnified by an indulgence
in unlimited coffee and tobacco, with a " soupie "
of the beloved " Cape Smoke " which I threw in.
I got a couple of hours' sleep after the bright
morning star appeared, and, having let our horses
graze a bit, as soon as it was light enough to do
so safely, we started in the early sunshine, and soon

20 SOUTH AFRICA.

reached a Boer farm, where we got some forage
for the nags, and some hot milk and rusks for
breakfast.

After this the country became more open, and
at distant intervals we found farm shanties, or
Boer camps, and although ostriches and spring-
bucks were plentiful on all sides, we heard no more
lions ; soon I learned to despise the cowardly
hyaenas which howled round our sleeping quarters,
for I preferred the ground to those offered by the
kindly but not very cleanly Boers.

Having passed a few days in GraafI Reinet, I
crossed the great Sneeberg range to look at a
farm, which I shortly bought for ^^"2,000, and
stocked with 4,000 sheep, 150 head of horned
cattle, and sixty horses of sorts. The farm
consisted of about 30,000 acres of mountain and
plain, with about two and a half acres of arable
land near the house — this, rough but comfortable
enough. There was water sufficient for the stock,
but none available for the indispensable irrigation
of more arable land than the patch mentioned.

Here I vegetated for two years ; then sold the
place and stock at a good profit, and shortly cleared
out for the interior.

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 21

On and around this farm black gnus and spring-
buck grazed in thousands on the plains ; among
the mountains rhebuck and klipspringer were to
be had ; leopards and hyaenas added to its sporting
charms ; and bustards of various species, francolin,
and quail abounded Whilst there I longed to
explore the then mysterious interior, and in due
time, well equipped with waggons, draught oxen,
horses, and all necessaries, crossed the Orange
River, beyond which, to unknown distances, native
rule — or misrule — prevailed in all directions. Little
Boer Republics in an embryonic and tentative
condition, in the territories now known as the
Orange Free State and Transvaal, were in course
of incubation ; here and there small parties of
leather-breeched, semi-nomadic whites were to
be met with, and, if possible, " passed by " by any
one at all sensitive in the matter of dirt and rags.
Missionary stations, too, were pushing onwards,
and, to my great surprise, the Gospellic adven-
turers in charge, instead of being, as I had been
led to suppose from glancing at some of their
literature, overworked and underfed crossbearers,
were enjoying a good deal more of leisure and
comfort than people of their class could have
attained to at home.

22 SOUTH AFRICA.

I do not pretend to appraise the value of the
spiritual results of African missions, but my im-
pression is that if their cost was judiciously
applied to ameliorate the social and moral con-
ditions of our myriads of home-bred heathen, the
money would be better employed, and yield a more
abundant harvest in far more important localities.

In 1845-46 the plains of the Orange Free State
were covered with herds of gnus, Burchell's zebras,
blesbuck, and springbuck in numbers which, if
approximately hinted at now with absolute truth,
would wrinkle the countenance of the reader with
a derisive smile. These plains were very well
supplied with water, either in the form of rivulets
or chains of deep pools, and the herbage, though
kept short by the game herds, looked infinitely
superior to any I had seen within Colonial limits.
Here and there quaint rock mounds and low stony
ridges dotted over more or less with bush varied
the scene, and afforded well-tenanted lairs to the
numerous lions and other predatories, whose abun-
dant food supplies were always within easy grip.
It was indeed a charming loafing-ground for any
man of contemplative instincts dashed with hunting
proclivities. I spent many enjoyable months on

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 23

these plains, shooting just enough game to supply
camp requirements, and now and then going in
for a lion-hunt by way of a little desirable excite-
ment. On that trip twenty-seven of these animals
fell to my double smooth-bore flint-and-steel
" Purdey " in seven days' shooting, besides a few
others at odd times. So numerous, indeed, were
they, that once, near Kaffir River, I counted over
forty of all sizes in a single troop. Wart hogs, too,
abounded and afforded good bursts for a mile or
so, when they generally came to bay and fell to
the thrusts of a bayonet fixed on a bamboo shaft
— a poor substitute for a spear, but the best at
hand.

A large section of what is now the Orange Free
State then belonged to a Hottentot tribe under
Adam Kok, whose capital was a village called
Phillipolis. These people professed Christianity,
and upon the whole were not a bad lot. Some of
them were rich in flocks and herds, and one I
knew possessed about five hundred horses, mostly
of a useful, hardy stamp, many of which were
admirably broken in as shooting horses, cheap at
£10 usually asked for them. No visible poverty
of depravity was observable, as " Cape Smoke '*

24 SOUTH AFRICA.

was, if not an unknown, at least a very scarce
article of consumption.

Since those days Adam Kok's territory has been
sold to the Orange Free State, and he and his
people removed to the coast between Natal and
the Kafhr tribes on the eastern frontiers of Cape
Colony. This yellow race displays essentially
imitative tendencies when brought into contact
with white people, and as a consequence has
decreased in numbers by at least 90 per cent
within the last fifty years ; indeed, within Colonial
limits a pure-bred Hottentot is now very rarely
seen. As servants in many capacities they were
far superior to Kafhrs, excelling more especially
as grooms, trackers of lost cattle, shikar work, and
so forth.

They might easily have been saved from extinc-
tion by appropriate legislation, but the anti-slavery
enthusiasts insisted on drastic treatment, and the
poor " Tottie " succumbed to a full dose of freedom,
administered without timely preparation. Whether
the darker-coloured aboriginal African races will
ever adopt our form of civihsation or not is
problematical. Shoddy specimens of converted
Kaffirs in considerable numbers are on show at

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 25

missionary centres, and while kept " kraalled "
within institutional limits they look very like the
real article, but once outside the sacred limits the
veneer is found to be very thin, and the missionary
product compares unfavourably with his more
simple heathen brethren in their normal state.
Exceptions there are no doubt, but exceptional
excellence on the lines I am treating of is but
rarely worth its cost price, and does not much
influence the general quality of the output.

The reading of the social barometer (1894) indi-
cates approximate perils, the advent of which will
probably lower values all round in England, and
gradually convert the possession of riches into that
of competence, and poverty will mean a graduated
scale of pauperism, arising in some measure from
what we call natural causes, but accentuated to an
acute degree by the short-sighted and hysterical
legislation of these modern days. Far from being
in a position to throw away money to pay for the
assumed spiritual necessities of African races, every
available fraction of it will be less than enough
to provide for the bodily necessities of an excessive
population mainly owing its origin to an artificially
stimulated system of manufactures and commerce,

26 SOUTH AFRICA.

successful for a longer period than might have been
expected, but now on the down grade of gradual
decay owing to successful and ever-increasing
foreign competition, which is itself based on the
cheaper wages at which foreign labour is
obtainable.

Radical changes in the political programme
touching foreign affairs, although severely ignored
by public opinion, are answerable for the deadlock
in commerce now soon to become a sad fact —
unless trade reports are mere printed sheets
pubhshed by the father of lies himself or by a very
apt staff of his subordinate employees. For a long
period, to be counted by generations, England
steadily pursued a course of foreign policy having
for its aim the perpetuation of a state of unrest
and war on the Continent, which she successfully
carried out, not without great cost, but still within
limits which permitted a very sensible increase
in wealth, population, and prestige.

Geographical position counted for much of the
success attained by acting on the lines of policy
indicated, and people troubled themselves very
little about the morality or otherwise involved.

In, or rather shortly after, 1815 England had

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 27

obtained about all she wanted, and was desirous
of gathering up and employing her loot to the
best advantage, and soon bloomed into the position
of the autocrat of the world's commerce. The
elite of the Continental populations had been
sacrificed on the war altar, and of capital for indus-
trial purposes little was available. In view of
recently passed experiences and of minatory
prospects, the necessary capital for manufacturing
and commercial enterprise was unobtainable
abroad ; England plied her work unmolested by
competition, and many years elapsed before
foreign capital accumulated and driblets of it
were applied to the exigencies of trade develop-
ments. America, too, was only in its adolescence,
and but yesterday, counted by historical periods,
attained the giant station and strength which now
characterise her as a nation, bringing qualities
which bid fair shortly to enable her successfully
to defy competition in all fields of production.

The moral of this digression is that in view of
the natural and apparent course of events it would
seem prudent for John Bull to diminish, or, better
still, forego, expensive luxuries in the unproductivie
regions of Negrophilism, not forgetting meanwhile

28 SOUTH AFRICA.

to practise all other possible economies in other
directions.

And now I am sure the time has fully come to
offer my best apologies to the reader for very
numerous and disorderly digressions, past, present,
and to come, which I trust will be accepted on the
plea that I have no claim to belong even to
the rank and file of the disciplined corps of
litterateurs, and that they flow from my pen
without premeditation, and guiltless of malice
prepense.

The period between this first trip and 1848
was spent in a succession of journeys both in
and outside the Cape Colony, during which, as
an amateur, I saw a little of the operations of the
great Kaffir war in the East Province, and in self-
defence had to kill two of the native warriors, who,
if they had not been vile shots, ought to have
settled my affairs in this world. My custom there
was, when in thick bush, to carry a double 12-bore
gun, one barrel loaded with ball and the other
with a charge of S.S.G. shot, and the latter charge
proved most effective up to about sixty yards.

I had visited the Limpopo, killed a number of
elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, and other big game

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 29

which then swarmed on its banks, and made the
acquaintance of Gordon Cummings, Dr. Living-
stone, and Mr. Oswell.

Cummings did not strike me as a man with
whom any one would care to become intimate.
He was a mighty hunter, and although the book
he wrote was supposed by critics to contain a good
many " unveracities," I don't think such was the
case ; none of his performances in the hunting-field
amounted to much more than usually fell to the
lot of most sporting wanderers in the same
localities. As an elephant hunter he was certainly
not A I, as any one may gather from his own
accounts of the number of shots he usually fired
before bringing his quarry to the ground. In fact,
when in pursuit of very large game he was handi-
capped by his weight in the saddle and by his
habit of using a rifle, that weapon in those days
being a very inferior arm to a smooth bore, as
it could not be used with a sufficient charge
of powder to ensure the necessary amount of
penetration.

Oswell, on the contrary, was a very light weight,
a splendid horseman, always well mounted, and
invariably shot with a smooth lO-bore, which in

30 SOUTH AFRICA.

his hands made short work of all kinds of big
game. Indeed Oswell, as an all-round man, was
hard to equal and more difficult to beat — a grand
specimen of a thorough cultured English gentle-
man. Brave he was to the verge of temerity, but
brimming over with kind-heartedness, courtesy, and
geniality. He died only three or four years ago,
much regretted by every one who knew him, but
hardly known to any outside his own small circle.

The world owes more to him than it is aware of,
as he was the first man to appreciate the great
qualities of Livingstone, who was indebted to him
for the necessary outfit with which to commence
his wonderful career as an explorer.

Livingstone was a little, dark, tough-looking
man, with a countenance every lineament of which
denoted the possession of courage, pertinacity, and
intellect. He, in common with his kind, had his
faults too, and had he not been a sincere Christian,
my impression is that a competitor in his own
peculiar vocation would have met with but little
mercy if he crossed his path. Personally, the
little intercourse I had with Livingstone was very
pleasant, but then I do not belong to the com-
petitive order, and am anything but ambitious of

FIRST YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 31

notoriety even of the best quality, and therefore
do not clash with those who are.

Now any old — or, for that matter, young — lady
may travel over the length and breadth of South
Africa with as much safety from human annoy-
ance as in any part of the world perhaps, quite
unconscious of the cost in life to the old pioneers
whose unrecorded exertions smoothed the way,
and many of whose bones rest in the unmarked
sepulchres of the wilderness.

I am not concerned here to indulge or bore the
reader with a recital of the personal adventures
either in contest with savage men or animals which
fell to my lot, as African literature is replete
enough with stories of that kind from more facile
pens than I can wield, but it may perhaps be per-
missible to mention that my wanderings of more
than thirty years ago had already made me
acquainted with immense tracts of the countries
bounded to the north by the Zambesi, to the west
by the Great Thirstland, and to the east by the
Indian Ocean. Umsillegasse (Mossilikatze of the
Boers) had settled down in the territories now
annexed by the Chartered Company of Mr. Rhodes
and conquered all the neighbouring tribes with

33 SOUTH AFRICA.

Zulu troops, invincible by any less powerful
opponents than the white invader. Varied by an
occasional visit to England, and other parts of the
world, the greater portion of half a century has
been passed by me under canvas on African soil
with unusual immunity from the endemic diseases
prevalent in so many parts of the Dark Continent
or being once laid up from any other cause than
an occasional fracture or strain. Within the last
five years, however, a wandering life has been
succeeded by retirement in the sleepy hollow of
a Colonial village, in view of the educational
advantages for a young family growing up around
me. In such places life undergoes a process of
oxidation, and the only excitements indulged in
by tlie inhabitants apparently consist of a chronic
round of religious dissipation, either in corybantic
or other forms which I fail to appreciate at their
possible value, but in the midst of which fate seems
to have ordained me to grasp the fag end of a
long life.

CHAPTER III.

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Visitors to the Cape and Natal Colonies consist-
ing for the most part of town dwellers with but
little of the cacoaethes venandi in their disposition^
and confining their travelling operations to the
few but much frequented lines of rail and road
between the coast and the great mining centres,
would, no doubt, if answering an enquiry as to the
prospects of shooting in these countries, honestly
reply that the prospects were anything but bright.
But no country in any comfortably accessible part
of the world is better supplied with greater variety
of game animals and birds than are many vast
tracts within Colonial limits ; nowhere may good
sport be more freely indulged at a minimum of
expense or fewer vexatious restrictions.

There are laws restricting the pursuit of game
within certain times and seasons, according to the

D

34 SOUTH AFRICA.

shillings, has to be procured, but as a rule, in
answer to a civil request, few are churlish enough
to refuse permission to shoot on their properties.

Few of the Africander population care much
about shooting anything, but now and then an
antelope if an easy pot shot is available ; but to
work for feathered game on foot in English fashion
has no sufficient attraction. Once outside a radius
of a few miles from the larger towns shooting is
practically free, and information as to the best
kinds of game specified ; a licence, costing ten
nature of various localities, and the habits of the
localities for sport easily obtainable. Even within
eighty or one hundred miles of Cape Town these
remarks apply, and very fair bags of francolin, of
two varieties, and of a bustard, called koorhaam,
are to be made in many localities ; nor are the
smaller antelopes, such as grysbock, steinbuck, and
" duiker " by any means scarce on the more level
parts of the country, and wildfowl of various sorts
are a certain find in sufficient numbers in suitable
places.

On the lower slopes of the mountains the buck
antelopes (which weigh about 60 lb., clean) are
mostly to be found in small troops of from three

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 35

or four to a dozen or so, but as they usually frequent
open ground devoid of bush they must be stalked,
and a good rifle is the weapon to carry.

Higher up among the precipitous rocks near the
summits the African chamois (klipspringer) is
always to be found, and being but seldom disturbed
is easily approachable.

This very beautiful little antelope is a miracle
of activity, and the soles of its hoofs being more
like indiarubber than horn in texture, it is able
to poise itself safely on rocky pinnacles which
would only seem to afford sufficient foothold for
a bird. This antelope, when clean, weighs from
281b. to 321b., if in good condition. Its sharp
little horns are about five inches long, and its coat
is composed of even, quill-like hair about two inches
"in length, of a grayish colour with a yellowish
tinge. This hair is easily detached from the skin
by a very slight pull when the animal is freshly
killed, and makes the very best stuffing for saddles,
as it never packs or felts from the effects of pressure
or perspiration, and, indeed, acts as efficient venti-
lation, thus preventing that tendency to sore backs
so prevalent in all warm climates.

To any one with a taste for the labours and risks

36 SOUTH AFRICA.

of Alpine climbing klipspringer shooting ought to
be a very attractive sport, notwithstanding the
absence of snow generally, and the almost certain
prevalence of fine open weather, in which it is rather
pleasurable to sleep — " al fresco " if necessary.

In the rough mountain ravines leopards are now
and again to be shot, especially where the large
ursine baboons are numerous. Only two days
previous to penning this a fine one was killed on
a mountain close to the village I dwell in, which,
as the crow flies, is about ninety miles from Cape
Town. In the George district, and in the jungly
country near the coast of the East Province, bush-
bucks abound, but, unless " driven," are difficult
to find or get a shot at

In any marshy locality, where the water is fresh,
good bags of snipe of three varieties may be made.
Of these the common European sort is the most
plentiful, but at certain seasons a good many couple
of the " great snipe " are to be had, and in low
warm marshes the painted snipe is common
enough.

Hares are plentiful in places, and of the two
varieties, the largest, which often weighs nine
or ten pounds, is seldom found far from a good

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 37

supply of running water ; the smaller and more
common kind very little exceeds an English wild
rabbit in size. Both sorts are indifferent for table
use.

In the northern parts of the Colony and in
Griqualand West a few large bustards, called locally
" pauws," are occasionally seen, and afford sport
for the bullet. Springbucks are also to be had in
those districts, and are still to be found in troops
of a hundred, or more, in suitable places, i.e. vast
bare plains, where they are quite unstalkable, and
must be ridden into, or driven, when a, to me
very unsatisfactory, random shot into the brown
is often obtained.

Boers are very fond of springbuck shooting, as
the majority of them are very poor shots at single
objects unless they get a rest for the gun. It is
true that by dint of an unlimited expenditure of
ammunition they certainly destroy a great deal of
game. In the year 1879 I hunted for two months
in company with some Boers who made game
shooting their business and were considered crack
shots. Out of curiosity I kept an account of the
number of shots they fired ; the result was that
every head of game bagged cost them thirty-two

38 SOUTH AFRICA.

shots on an average. All the same they loaded
up their waggons with hides, etc. I have met three
Boers only who. would be considered really good
game shots by the average English sportsman,
and I have hunted with Boers many times.

Francolin shooting very much resembles sport
on a grouse moor, and the birds are of the same
size, but I think the former are, if anything, quicker
on the wing than grouse. The largest bag of
francolin I ever made in one day amounted to
thiity-four brace. This was in the Graff Reinet
district. My reason for shooting so many was that
a large supply was wanted for commissariat
purposes ; otherwise I have always abstained from
possible slaughter except as a matter of sheer
business in the case of ivory, rhino horns, valuable
hides, and so on.

A few specimens of almost all kinds of African
big game, except giraffes, still exist in protected
districts within Colonial limits, but they cannot be
considered as objects of sport now, and no sports-
man under the rank of a Royal, or perhaps a
Serene, Highness should ever even wish to kill
any of these survivors. These Colonies are hardly
suitable hunting grounds for people addicted to

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 39

the slaughter of semi-tame pheasants at hot corners,
or even of deer enclosed within wire fences, but
quite up to the mark aspired to by the real hard-
working sportsman of reasonably developed de-
structive instincts, and it would be hard to find a
better field than South Africa for the exertions of
such men if properly equipped and capable of
enjoying gipsy life in a splendid climate. For a
man fond of hunting with hounds, exclusive, I
mean, of the mere swelldom involved in the
" get-up," I can fancy no sport to surpass that which
could be obtained in South Africa with about five
couple of staunch hounds of good speed and ex-
ceptional staying powers ; a steinbuck or " duiker "
as the quarry, and I speak from the experience of
a few enjoyable runs of the kind in " auld lang
syne."

In England it is indeed a very beautiful sight
to witness the meet of a pack of hounds of twenty
or more couple, but for the mere purpose of hunting,
many dogs are superfluous, and tend rather to riot
and the multiplication of checks than to successful
sport. Fashion in this respect is probably irre-
sistible, but that it is necessary to use such
exuberant power to kill a miserable little fox, or

40 SOUTH AFRICA.

even a deer, is more than questionable. Now both
the antelopes I have mentioned are very superior
to any fox, or deer, in speed and staying powers,
and not seldom run horses and hounds to a stand-
still, which could not be evaded by the participa-
tions in pursuit of any number of hounds, however
good. On the other hand, kills are often effected
by a small good pack, but never, as far as my
experience goes, without a long and severe run.
In such a country as this, not being almost ex-
clusively occupied in fencing, opening gates,
galloping into and out of deep blind lanes, and so
forth, as in England, hunting pur et simple can
be thoroughly enjoyed when attainable, which,
however, is too seldom the case. Strange to say, in
such an arid climate scent is generally good, except
in very hot noontide, by which time it is advisable
to be getting home to breakfast.

For shooting purposes a good, strong,
acclmiatised pointer is the best kind of dog, if a
man is content with an imperfectly educated animal
not difficult to pick up at a moderate figure. For
two men bound on a shooting trip in the regions
I have indicated, a light spring waggon with, say,
eight good mules should be procured. A suitable

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 41

waggon affording comfortable sleeping quarters
and plenty of space wherein to stow impedimenta,
need not cost more than £40 secondhand, and
is often to be got for much less. Good mules cost
about £10 each in the Cape districts, and at the
end of, say, a six months' trip the whole equipage
would realise within a trifle of the price paid for
it if sold further up the country. Meanwhile, no
hotel expenses need be incurred. Almost every
coloured boy of from fourteen to any age can drive
six in hand well, and such hands are procurable
for from £1 to £1 lOs. a month, with food thrown
in, of course. Two such boys should be taken —
one to look after cattle and saddle horses, and the
other drive, cook, and do all kinds of odd jobs.
When extra help is temporarily required, it is
generally to be had at the cost of a few shillings.

In some of the north-west parts of the Colony
and in Griqualand West large bags of sand-grouse
are to be made in the proper season.

The fishing to be had in South Africa is poor
indeed as regards the eatable qualities of the spoil,
which is usually either very coarse or flavourless
and bony. One fairly good fish of the perch tribe
is occasionally to be had, and, for anything I know

42 SOUTH AFRICA.

to the contrary, is the only exception to the general
rule ; but then, I am bound to add, my piscatorial
tastes are but feebly developed.

But it is time to offer a few remarks on the
sport to be obtained at no great distances from
Colonial limits, or at all events now easily acces-
sible. In the settled parts of the Transvaal all
kinds of game are very scarce. If desirous of
getting a few specimens of the large class, the
only reliable localities must be sought in or near
the Lebombo boundary and along the line which
marches with the Gaza country towards the lower
waters of the Limpopo. Here a few elephants
still roam restlessly, a rhino may be shot, and
giraffes are not difficult to be found, as well as
a few buffaloes and, in suitable places, hippos.
Lions are also fairly represented, but owing to long
grass and dense bush are difficult to find. Elands
are not quite extinct, and fair numbers of koodoos,
sable antelopes, brindled gnus, quaggas, road ante-
lopes, waterbucks, hartebeestes, palla, bushbucks,
ostriches, reitbucks, and wart-hogs inhabit the
veldt here and there. The drawbacks in these
parts are great mortality among horses at all times
(exclusive of perhaps a few weeks in June and

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 43

July), occasional patches of the deadly tsetse fly,
various and severe and endemic cattle diseases,
and, lastly, the presence of severe African fever
except during the months of from June to October,
during which period, however, there is no certainty
of immunity from an attack.

Another trip from Cape Town to Beira by
steamship is now easily practicable, and all kinds
of big game still abound within moderate distances
of the port. Waggon travelling is unavailable
there, as draught animals all speedily succumb to
the effects of tsetse bites, and for the same reason
all hunting must be done on foot Impedimenta
are usually carried by natives, who, however, are
now only more or less reliable, but perhaps a light
cart drawn by six donkeys (to be imported from
the Colony) might be advantageously employed
for the transport of a limited amount of baggage
for a trip not exceeding about six weeks in
duration, as donkeys usually live for that space,
or a little longer, in a tsetse country, although all
die from the effects of the poison eventually. In
this part of the world an attack of fever is by no
means uncommon at any season, but is most
imminent in acute form from November to June,
inclusive.

44 SOUTH AFRICA.

In the Chartered Company's territories all
species of African game animals are represented
here and there, and sometimes good sport is to
be had, under certain restrictions as to seasons
and amount of slaughter. Those parts of the
country consisting for the most part of highland
plateaux are mostly healthy enough for men, but
horses are decimated by the African distemper.
Near the Zambesi the country is always feverish,
and game not very abundant now.

A trip in the Great Thirst Land of the Kalliharri
I have found pleasurable enough, given a good crop
of the indigenous watermelon, which is uncertain,
or an imusually good rainfall. This desert is
exceptionally healthy for man and beast at all
seasons, and the pasturage is the very best to be
found in Africa. Here, in various parts, giraffe
and eland are to be got, the stately gembuck is
often plentiful, and brindled gnus, hartebeestes,
and springbuck are denizens of these dry lands.
Of running water there is none, and in other forms
that element is rare, but by good management, and
under experienced guidance, a very pleasant time
may be spent in the Kalliharri and good sport
obtained. The smaller game to be always found

GAME AND SPORT IN SOUTH AFRICA. 45

consist of steinbucks and duikers, bustards (both
large and small), innumerable sand-grouse near
pools, and, when the hollows have been converted
into lakelets by a heavy fall of rain, these are
covered with all kinds of wildfowl, and fine sport
is obtainable. Francolin are unknown in or near
the Kalliharri. An occasional lion is not un-
common, and leopards are in some places excep-
tionally numerous and aggressive. In tlie absence
of surface waters these carnivora satisfy thirst by
absorbing wild watermelons, which are always
obtainable in some parts of this vast tract of
country. Immense surfaces of the desert are
covered with high sand dunes, the sides of which
are grassy and thinly sprinkled over with bush,
and even large timber trees are not rare. In such
localities first-rate stalking sport is more prac-
ticable than in any other part of Africa I am
acquainted with. And now it occurs to me that
in my enumeration of African game birds I omitted
to mention guineafowl, which are in some places,
especially on the Limpopo, very numerous, but
give better results in the pot than as objects of
sport, as they are desperate runners, and difficult
of approach except when treed by a dog. On

46 SOUTH AFRICA.

the subject of personal adventures I feel disinclined
to write, as tliey have very generally resembled
those so graphically treated by Mr. Selous and
others of the South African guild of hunters and
pioneers.

THE ENU OF AN ADVENTURE.

CHAPTER IV.

LIONS.

It has been suggested to me that a few additional
remarks on some of the characteristics of Hons, and
of the hunting of them, might be acceptable to
brother sportsmen, and it occurs to me that I can
hardly do better than commence by giving some
account of the facts and inferences with which a
long intimacy with the leonine family has stored
my memory.

It has, I have noticed, become the fashion of
many modern sportsmen, who have had the good
fortune to kill a few lions with impunity, to shower
abusive and contemptuous epithets on the head
of this very prominent member of the upper circles
of animal society ; just as in former times so many
absurd stories of his magnanimity and courage were
current and credited. The fact remains that he
is pre-eminently a very crafty beast ; when circum-

48 SOUTH AFRICA.

stances warrant it a very reckless and dangerous
one to deal with offensively, and I feel confident
in stating this upon the strength of the evidence
that between 1847 and the sixties upwards of
eighty casualties, many of them fatal and all very
serious, occurred to white hunters, inhabiting
chiefly the Marico district and its neighbourhood,
solely attributed to the results of contests with
this despot of the plains. Since then accidents of
this kind have been rare, as the Boers have
annihilated, for the sake of their hides, the vast
herds of ruminating game which had covered the
bare plains of the Free State and Transvaal.

During the period alluded to not only had many
lions fallen victims to " vile saltpetre " influence,
but, their food supplies rapidly diminishing to a
vanishing point, the surviving regal beasts betook
themselves to safer quarters in the northern and
eastern bushbelt, where it is very difficult to find
them, and more so to get a fair shot. Within a
short time the lions will disappear entirely in the
absence of adequate food supplies, as, what between
rifles and rinderpest, little game of any suitable
kind will exist. In my early hunting days, in the
bush country of the lower part of the Marico River,

LIONS. 49

and all along the course of the Limpopo and its
tributaries, lions in considerable numbers existed
and made night hideous with their incessant
roaring. It was the same in the bush country
along the courses of Oliphant's River and its
affluents, but by day they were seldom visible, and
it was rather rare to bag one. On the High Veldt,
or open plains, I have mentioned it was hardly
possible to ride about in likely places for an hour
or so without seeing several lions either singly or
in family groups more or less numerous. Whilst
rumbling along the wheel tracks which then did
duty as roads, the waggon often disturbed their
siestas in the sun, when they would generally make
off at a leisurely walk, but if very replete with
food would sometimes refuse to move, and oblige
the traveller to make a detour to avoid collision.

On such occasions to fire at them was to run
the risk of causing the emission of angry growls,
and a consequent panic among the draught oxen,
resulting most likely in a bolt and a general smash-
up. As a rule the lions escaped scathless. In
such cases single lions were generally more apt
to become aggressive than when met with in a
troop, and I well remember that an acquaintance

E

50 SOUTH AFRICA.

of mine, by name Cornelius Botha, while travelling
with another man in a cart near Pretoria, which
was then a very tiny village, had his pair of horses
killed by a lion while leisurely ascending the bank
of Pinaar's River after fording it. In this case
the pair had only one M.L. single-barrel gun with
them, and it refused to do more than explode
several caps, otherwise the lion could have been
easily killed as he was deliberately breakfasting
on one of the horses, which was still attached to
the cart by the harness. This sort of thing lasted
for half an hour or so, and whenever the
occupants of the cart moved an ominous growl
warned them to remain stationary. After a time
a waggon came up, and while fording the river the
tremendous Boer whip cracked so loudly that tfie
lion retired into a heavy reed bed hard by, and
thus escaped being penalised for felony. On this
occasion the brute had ensconced himself behind
a low bush close to the road, in waiting, evidently,
for anything or anybody of appetising appearance
passing by, and he omitted the usual spring by
which he mostly brings down a quarry, and merely
stepped out near enough to throw a paw over the
withers of the near-side horse and pulled it over,

LIONS. 51

finishing the operation with a few bites through
the neck of the victim. Meanwhile the off-horse
had got mixed up with the harness and had fallen,
failing to regain his feet before the lion had him
by the throat in a fatal grip.

The new arrivals, after clearing the road of the
dead horses, attached Botha's cart to the waggon,
and towed it and its belongings to Waterberg,
whither he was bound on official business, I believe.
The whole of that road between Pretoria and
Zoutpansberg was then infested by a very daring
lot of lions, and one man-eater had his habitat a
few miles to the north of the Waterberg settle-
ment. He killed at least nine white travellers, not
to mention a lot of Kaffirs, previous to his
execution by special commands. These lions did
their evil deeds mostly in broad daylight, and
durmg a journey along that road with Zoutpans-
berg as my objective, shortly after Botha's adven-
ture, three of them refused to allow my people to
fetch water from a little spring west of the road,
and I had to knock over one of the trio before
getting a supply. The other two disappeared after
sniffing at their dead friend and while I was re-
loading my single muzzle-loading duck gun, which

52 SOUTH AFRICA.

I had got altered to percussion before leaving
England. As it weighed fourteen pounds, it
was not ideally handy on horseback, but I shot
an immense quantity of game with it, ranging from
elephants to the small steinbuck antelope, and lost
very few animals wounded by its large spherical
bullet, which it shot accurately at quite outside
distances.

Lions are very skilful strategists, and do not
as a rule show much dangerous fight unless in a
well-selected position. When attacked on rough
stony ground they are very reluctant to charge and
thus endanger the integrity of their claws, upon
which they are in a great measure dependent for
a livelihood ; but when on the open alluvial plains,
although they generally try to elude pursuit by a
sulky retreat, if pressed upon too rudely they soon
become very ugly customers to deal with, and
straight powder becomes an essential element on
the hunter's side.

I will now allude more especially to the Boer
method of lion hunting, when it is customary to
assemble as many men as possible (generally
twenty or so) and ride on the quest in more or
less close order. When a view of the game is

LIONS. 53

obtained, if he declines to move, the horsemen
ride towards him in a body and dismount at about
one hundred yards, tie their horses' heads together,
with rumps towards the Hon, and one or two of
the men at a time fire from the flanks of the body
of horses at any exposed part of the quarry, which
is generally very small, as lions instinctively select
any little depressions they may come across to lie
down in, from which they can see without exposing
themselves to be clearly viewed, or in default of a
hollow any good-sized bunch of herbage serves
their purpose. If the lion, on becoming aware of
the advance of his enemies, beats a retreat he never
puts on much steam, and a couple of the best
mounted Boers gallop along at a safe distance
from each of his flanks, but a little ahead of him
if possible ; then the lion usually drops flat into
the first available hollow, and the main body of
horsemen collect together and proceed to action
in the before-mentioned manner.

I have been a spectator of this sort of hunting
several times, but always remained mounted, and
never cared to fire a shot. On these occasions very
poor shooting is generally the order of the day,
and if the lion is peppered ineffectually for any

54 SOUTH AFRICA.

length of time he often charges into the brown
of his assailants effectively, I once witnessed a
performance of the kind in which three horses got
fearfully torn up, and one young Boer had his foot
seriously crushed by the hoof of a panic-stricken
horse.

1 have known only four Boer hunters who ever
venture a conflict with lions when on foot, or
not well within reach of a horse. Personally, my
impression is that the safest and most effectual
method of lion hunting is alone, with a gun-bearer
carrying a spare weapon, or at most with one trusty
fellow hunter, and I have never had occasion to
complain, as I have heard many do, of the
behaviour of a native attendant, if isolated from
companions of his own race. And here I may
remark that although I have been in many tight
corners when hunting lions I have never been
mauled, nor has any casualty befallen any of my
" boys " on these occasions.

And now perhaps it may be well briefly to
describe the first rather serious trying incident I
experienced, although previously several lions had
fallen to my gun in the usual order of such events.
On the occasion about to be mentioned my camp

LIONS. 55

was pitched on a game-covered plain in the (now)
Orange Free State, not far from Kaffir River.
A nice pool of rainwater was close at hand ; and,
at some few hundred yards off, a low rocky ridge
clotted with thorn clumps here and there bounded
the view to the north. Hundreds of black gnus
were capering about in all directions ; long columns
of blesbucks occasionally swept by in orderly
array ; quaggas in smaller troops were busily
cropping the dewy grass of the early morning ; and
thousands of springbucks varied the ever shifting
scene of animal life visible from the camp. It is
safe to say that no future traveller will ever view
the like, as not only was the vast plain beautifully
green in consequence of late heavy rains, but not
a tree or a bush intervened to obstruct the sight of
the animated panorama till the eye was fatigued
by peering into the distance.

The time I allude to was the month of May»
1853, and a young Englishman, who was a
taxidermist in my employ, and myself were sitting
by the fire enjoying an early cup of coffee and
a chat, when the cackling of a large troop of guinea-
fowl from the stony ridge attracted our attention
and promised a welcome change of diet, everybody

56 SOUTH AFRICA.

having become weary of the dry antelope meat we
had so long fed on. My companion had work in
hand — of which fact I was rather glad, as he was
about the worst shot in South Africa, albeit one
of the pluckiest fellows I have met. So I started
alone for the " randt " before mentioned, taking a
favourite little i6 double gun (by Beckwith, of
Snow Hill, London), with 26-inch barrels, loaded
with No. 5 shot, and some spare ammunition, in-
clusive of a few bullets, to be in a position to
defend myself from molestation in case of need,
as the lions had been very noisy all night.

Before getting to the stony ridge, I could see
the guineafowl were busily making rapid tracks
towards the summit, and just as I gained it were
disappearing down the other side, as the top of
the ridge was only about forty yards wide.
Stumbling along in pursuit, suddenly I trod on
something soft, and instinctively took a good spring
ofi it. Before I could look round a fearful growl-
ing became audible, and two lion cubs, about the
size of an ordinary sporting spaniel, became
visible, evidently in a fury at being so roughly
disturbed. Not wishing to kill them, I was just
about to signal for assistance to the camp, with

LIONS. 57

a view to catch them, when I caught a glimpse
of a lioness rapidly but cautiously making for me.

There was no time to put bullets in the gun,
and I swiftly decided to stand perfectly still till
it became clear that the lioness meant to seize
me, and as a last chance then to send a charge of
shot at her head, in the hope of blinding her at
least. In a few moments the brute was within four
yards or so of me, growling and showing her teeth
ominously. But she halted, so I decided to remain
still, lest any movement should indicate hostile
intentions on my part, and thus invite an attack.
The cubs now joined their dam, and she just
looked down at them for a moment, but maintained
a menacing attitude for some time, then turned
slowly round, and, followed by the cubs, made for
a huge boulder about twenty yards distant, and
passing round it, lay down on the other side, as
I could see by the black tail tuft which protruded
beyond the edge of the rock.

This boulder was about twelve feet high, and
of proportionate diameter, but appeared fairly
climbable for stockinged feet from my standpoint,
so I hastily rammed down two bullets on the top
of the shot charge, kicked off my shoes, stuck the

58 SOUTH AFRICA.

little gun through my belt at the back, and,
creeping stealthily, soon reached the big round
top of the stone, and, peering over, saw the lioness
close under me, on her belly, in form for a spring,
and with her head well up, evidently in a mood '
to resent any further molestation. Her youngsters
were pottering about, no doubt staring with great
yellow eyes in the same direction as their dam,
but, like her, evidently unaware of my position.
It goes without saying that I took every possible
care to get my gun into firing position without
disturbing the trio, and then immediately let drive
at the lioness, aiming between the shoulders.
The combined charge of shot and ball rolled her
over at once, and not only smashed the backbone,
but made a terrible mess of the contents of her
chest. By this time, and before quitting my
position of vantage, my companion and some of
the " boys," having heard the row at the waggon,
were coming up, after arming themselves, some
with guns, and others with assegais ; so the cubs
were soon caught at the expense of a few bites and
scratches, and, together with the skin of the slain,
carried into camp.

These cubs were male and female, and became

LIONS. 59

inhabitants of a rough but strong cage of bush
scrub, in which they dwelt for some months, and
grew before reaching Port Ehzabeth to the size
of large mastiffs. There they were bought by
an American skipper, and realised fifty guineas.

The last time I came into unpleasant contact
with a lion occurred some eight years ago in the
Setabi country, Zoutpansberg district, when re-
turning from a very poor hunting trip, during which
I had lost a number of trek oxen, my only horse,
and five donkeys from local disease. All the rest
looked half starved, although the whole country
was covered with grass varying from a foot to seven
feet high. Some Boer hunters we met with had
been even more unfortunate in these respects ;
moreover, several of their number were down with
fevei:, and one died. His grave I helped to dig,
and noticed that the soil, although perfectly dry,
emitted a vile smell when disturbed.

There was a fair enough show of game, consist-
ing of a few elephants, rhinoceros, buffaloes, sable
antelopes, ostriches, pallahs, and others of smaller
note. Giraffes, too, abounded, and the Boers
massacred twenty-four in one day, wasting most
of the meat of course, as few or no natives inhabit

6o SOUTH AFRICA.

this pestiferous country to take advantage of the
reckless and cruel slaughter these hunters in-
variably commit from the mere love of bloodshed
— especially that which can be effected with safety.

And at the expense of a little further digression
I may mention that giraffe meat and marrow,
when obtained from any but the old bulls, would
be a treat to an alderman even after a rib-
distending dose of turtle soup. Well, when we
were at the Setabi drift (or ford), and about to
leave the game country, a camp was pitched for a
rest and some perch fishing. The " boys " got
leave for a day's hunt, which resulted in the death
of a fat quagga — to their intense delight. Un-
fortunately I lent them my guns, and was quietly
reading in the waggon, when a young English
Africander who was travelling in our company,
and had gone out with two Boers before I awoke,
brought in the news that they had wounded a
lion not half a mile off, which, with his mate, they
had found feeding on a captured Sassabi antelope,
begging me at the same time to help them to
kill him if possible.

Having loaned a very dilapidated Martini and a
few cartridges, I mounted my friend's horse, and

LIONS. 6l

he walked alongside. Thoughtlessly enough I
put the cartridges into a pouch attached to the
saddle, as the " boys " were absent with my
bandolier. Off we went, soon reaching up with
the two Boers, who were sitting waiting for us
with bridles in hand and smoking like young
furnaces. It appeared that my young friend, who
was chock full of pluck, could not persuade his
companions to approach the lions within less than
three hundred yards ; then they insisted on firing,
with the result that one lion was hit, and both beat
a retreat, loudly protesting against the assault
and battery.

Getting on the spoor, we followed it, and shortly
sighted one lion trotting away straight ahead, and
immediately gave chase, but soon lost him in a
deep nullah full of savage thorns and creepers
which in the local patois are called monkey ropes.
The country was only here and there studded with
a few bushes, and the grass was short, but we had
evidently left the wounded or dead Hon in the
rear, so the horses were turned, and the Boers led
by some fifty yards or so at a smart walk, and,
crossing a little sandy nullah, were invisible in
the bush on the other side when we crossed it

^2 SOUTH AFRICA.

We had hardly done this, when a fine yellow-
maned lion emerged from behind a large tree,
cleared the nullah at a bound, and laid down
seven paces (as we found afterwards) in front of
my horse, who became fractious, turned tail, bucked
me off, and bolted, when I was attempting to
dismount to join my friend, who stood like a rock,
but fortunately refrained from firing at my request,
as I by no means relied on his shooting powers,
although he was armed with an excellent 8-bore
rifle which I had sold him.

I was hors de combat, my Martini having opened
and thrown out the cartridge when I fell. As it
was absolutely necessary to recover this cartridge,
I crept forward in unpleasant proximity to the
lion, but got it. My friend covered me well during
this operation, and indeed the lion was looking
at the Boers, who had heard the row and galloped
to a large tree two hundred yards off, whence they
opened fire and duly missed several shots, thus
giving us an opportunity of reaching with impunity
a mound hard by, affording a clear shot at thirty
paces. Having promised the shot to my com-
panion— ^who had never before seen a wild lion —
he sat down, and, as the lion was now end on,

LIONS. 63

fired at the nose, which, to my astonishment, he
hit The ball, after blowing the brain to atoms,
smashed the lower neck bones and a couple of feet
of the backbone, finally lodging in the loins, and
the lion died without even a visible convulsive
motion. On examination we found that the first
hit had merely ripped up the skin of the left thigh
for a few inches and scarcely drawn a drop of
blood

This lion was just full grown and in fine con-
dition, and weighed by estimation about four
hundred pounds. I sent the skin and skull as a
present to a gentleman in Scotland. During the
trip these were the only lions I saw, although we
often enough heard them both in the night and
early morning. Shortly after this rumpus we came
into the camp of a young English transport rider
named Daniels, who had brought loads to
Barberton Mine, and had gone down into the
plains along the Oliphant's River to rest and
recruit his wearied oxen. Here a lion killed one
of his beasts, and Daniels, taking his Martini and
a Boer, the animal was soon found and wounded
by a shot fired by Daniels, who, after inserting
another cartridge, followed up the wounded beast

64 SOUTH AFRICA.

and found him lying in some grass behind a small
bush. Being uncertain whether the lion was dead
or not, he asked his Boer friend to throw a stone
at him, and this brought on a charge at once.
Daniels' rifle missed fire, and he dropped it and
seized the lion by the ears and surrounding mane,
and, being a very powerful young fellow, held him
for some little time. This, however, could not
last, and soon Daniels was thrown down and bitten
severely in the knee and calf of his leg — after which
the lion left him.

Had the Boer been anything better than a sorry
cur, he could easily have killed the lion, or tried
to do so, before any serious damage was done,
but the fellow got a panic, and made at tip-top
speed for a Boer waggon camp a mile or so
distant, with his loaded gun in his hand. Here,
upon hearing the story, six or seven Boers
mounted, and after a while killed the lion, and
carried Daniels to his tent, where we found him
reduced to a skeleton, and evidently crippled for
life.

Of course we camped at once and did what
was possible for the poor fellow, despatching a
messenger to Barberton asking for help, and a

LIONS. 65

few days afterwards some Kaffirs appeared with
a stretcher and carried the sufferer to the mine,
where he got medical assistance. Whether he
lived or died I never heard.

What with the long grass, full of hidden boulders,
and of the unusually good supplies of water, the
greater part of the country near the Lebombo is
very difficult, and more or less dangerous to hunt.
Fresh " spoor " is always to be seen, but all kinds
of game know well how to avail themselves of
cover, and but few shots are obtainable. As a
wholly impenetrable jungle, not to mention
tsetse-fly, extends from the eastern side of the
range at intervals down to the coast, all kinds of
game will find in these parts secure sanctuary for
an indefinite but most probably long time.

Man-eating lions were never numerous in South
Africa, but they existed, and a Kaffir of mine, by
name Aaron, was killed by one while washing
clotlies, against my positive orders, in the Marico
River; I think in 1864. We had been warned
of the lion's probable presence near at hand by
some Kaffirs, whose kraal was not far from the
waggons, who had lost seven of their number from
his attacks within a short time. This was indeed

F

66 SOUTH AFRICA.

a cunning old brute, as he took up poor Aaron,
after killing him, and carried him off to a distance,
and although we pursued him and found pieces
of the victim's clothes along the spoor for more
than a mile, we eventually lost all trace of the
murderer, owing to the very thick bush and the
abundance of other lion spoor, as well as that of
much other game quite fresh. Returning some
months afterwards, I was glad to find that the
Kaffirs had killed him by planting several assegais
in a slanting direction in the ground and placing a
dog as bait. To get at this he was obliged to
jump a low fence just in front of the sharp blades,
two of which went right through him as he landed
from jumping the fence the same night the trap
was laid. Notwithstanding this, he killed the
dog, and got some fifty yards away from the kraal
before he fell dead with the dog still in his mouth,
and was so found by the Kaffirs next morning.

My losses from leonine depredations have been
small, and included one Kaffir, one horse and four
oxen in all. Nevertheless, I consider lions very
dangerous brutes under treatment with gunpowder,
in spite of all that has been lately written about
their insignificance and cowardice. I fancy Dr.

LIONS. 67

Livingstone started the idea I advert to, although
he had one arm completely smashed by a lion
bite, and he even went so far as to write that the
being mauled by an animal of the kind was by
no means a very unpleasant sensation. Well, the
Doctor was certainly one of the most intrepid of
men, but I have heard him say that he was a very
poor shot, and generally deficient in sporting
proclivities.

CHAPTER V.

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS.

With rapid and relatively cheap travel, English
sportsmen have opportunities to visit countries
where good sport offers. In spite of the available
information on the subject of foreign sport, I have
observed that men intending to obtain it usually
encumber themselves with batteries as expensive
as they are superfluous.

In all wild countries it may be taken for granted
that transport is more or less difficult, imperfect,
and expensive, and the obligation to be constantly
on the alert to watch over the safety of a costly
battery soon becomes intolerable, and a waste of
energy in a profitless direction. I venture, there-
fore, by virtue of my experience of half a century,
in many lands, but chiefly in Africa, to offer some
items of advice to brother sportsmen who con-
template "going foreign." Having used nearly
every kind of weapon of portable dimensions from

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 69

the flint-and-steel days up to 1894, perhaps I may
lay a claim to some practical knowledge of the
subject Previous to giying an opinion on the
arms which seem to me most efficient, a few
remarks on those which appear to me to be
unnecessary or inefficient may not be misplaced.
As to weapons, I have found a strong plain
i6-bore, one barrel cylinder and the other modified
choke, twenty-four inches long, best in every way.
The cylinder barrel of any well-bored double gun
with a suitable quantity of metal, if fitted with a
leaf folding-sight on the rib, and loaded with a
thick soft wad below a hardened spherical bullet,
will, if the bullet is a close but not tight fit, shoot
accurately enough to hit anything of or about the
size of a rabbit at one hundred yards or there-
abouts. I have a gun of the size mentioned which
weighs six and a quarter pounds, and I find it is
as serviceable as any ordinary gun of 12-bore, and
very handy. I don't think there is practically
much difference in the killing powers of guns of
from twelve to twenty bore, unless the larger bore
is heavy enough to be used with four drams of
powder and one and a half ounce of shot Indeed,
with a 28-bore I have killed satisfactorily small

70 SOUTH AFRICA.

antelopes, geese, and wildfowl, besides several
large bustards, with shot of suitable size (No. i
for choice), but as it was an extra stout little
weapon, I used a powder charge of two drams of
C. and H. No. 4 powder in it, and the same
measure of shot

It is as well for each man to have a spare gun
on an African trip, to provide for contingencies.
A good sightly double gun can be procured from
any Birmingham maker for from ;^io to £\'2, and
an equally efficient but plainer one for £"] los.
(non-ejectors, of course), and I really cannot see
the use of paying London gunmakers high prices
for their wares.

Personally, for general use even with ball, I
prefer a suitable cylinder smooth bore for all kinds
of game, elephants to snipe inclusive ; but I have
also shot with all kinds of rifles, and have a
decided preference for the smooth oval bored
weapons on Mr. C. Lancaster's principle, which
are quite as accurate at sporting distances as
grooved rifles, retain their shooting qualities in-
definitely, foul and recoil very little, and are
especially easy to clean, besides being available
for use with shot when expedient. The new

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 7 1

much-bepraised -303 rifle is, for its size, a very-
powerful weapon, with indeed superfluous powers
of range and penetration, for sporting purposes ;
it soon goes off its shooting under stress of work
and cleaning, its unique advantage consisting of
the lightness of its ammunition.

For foreign use, especially in hot, dry climates,
it is very important to select such as are chambered
for what gunmakers call the straight taper cartridge
case, as tliese never jam, can be reloaded an in-
definite number of times without resizing, and thus
obviate the portage of a set of implements easily
mislaid or lost, or, if resizing is repudiated as a
nuisance, the necessity of carrying about a very
cumbersome amount of cartridges. I have found
that one hundred straight cartridge cases can be
reloaded fifteen times at least without resizing,
but that bottle-necked ones must be put through
that process after each shot or thrown away ;
another objection to them is that if made in an
extreme form — such as that of the regulation
cartridge for the Martini — recoil is very much
increased.

Soldiers both in the Soudan and Boer wars
very justly complained of these vagaries, but

72 SOUTH AFRICA.

attributed them to effects caused by the nature of
the action, and not to those incidental to the faulty
form of the chamber and the cartridge case, which
was, however, a mistaken idea. Most probably
a gunmaker with a very keen eye to the sale of
cartridges and implements introduced these bottle-
necked abominations. That department of the
Goverrmient entrusted with the selection of the
small-arms and ammunition for military equipment
has, from all time within living memory, been
afnicted with a chronic affection for the time-
honoured practice of the art of " how not to do
things" in accordance with the rules of common-
sense. When old " Brown Bess " was the weapon
of the infantry, although the barrel was of excellent
form, material, and make, the lock was at least of
twice the needful weight, carefully fitted with an
impossible trigger, and the stock so shaped as
to be quite certain to inflict a very severe blow
on the cheekbone of any soldier with nerve enough
to try to take aim when firing. The bore of this
obsolete weapon was eleven, and it was charged
with four and a half drams of powder behind a
ball of fourteen, no less, that is, than three sizes
too small, the consequences of which were that.

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 73

owing to the needless excess of windage, the
balHstic energy of, at most, two and a half drams
of powder was applicable to propulsion of the
bullet, and the rush of the gases of the rest of the
powder past the projectile ensured all possible in-
accuracy and a very short range. I had the curiosity
to try one of these obsolete weapons with the service
cartridge, and the result was that it was just possible
very occasionally to hit a rock, six feet by three,
at one hundred yards. The same weapon fired
from the shoulder, and reasonably loaded although
clumsily sighted, and with the worst possible
" come up " and " pull," would, at a hundred yards,
put every bullet into a fifteen-inch bull ; even at
three hundred yards shot quite well enough to
entitle it to rank as a very useful implement in
military operations.

Mutatis mutandis the same appetite for inutilities
is still rampant; our troops are now armed with
a rifle whose life ends in infancy, not to mention
numerous minor defects carefully elaborated to
ensure inefficiency.

Owing to the vast improvements in modern rifles
in the direction of increased powers of penetration
and of low trajectory, the modern gunner is in a

74 SOUTH AFRICA.

much better position than his predecessors, and
in order to deal successfully with the biggest game
animals it is no longer necessary to be encumbered
with heavy large-bore rifles and the corresponding
weight of ammunition. A rifle with 26-inch barrels
•577-bore, and lolb. weight is quite efficient, and
I have observed that elephants, rhinos, and other
big game fall to the shots from •450-bore rifles in
the most satisfactory way. Nor is it necessary
to charge a •577-bore rifle with more than 4 or
4^ drams of powder — (black, or its equivalent in
nitro) — or the •450-bore with more than 85 grains.
Personally, I prefer smaller charges for all
purposes except elephant or rhino shooting.
Moderate charges of powder give quite sufficient
penetration, and are not so liable to cause a
premature breaking-up of the projectile, while they
minimise recoil, which is a fertile source of error,
and in all respects undesirable. For all-round
purpose an express rifle is an ineflicient tool,
although when a very fair shot can be obtained
all soft-skinned animals may be killed with it.
However, in the field it is very often necessary to
fire raking shots at the stern of good-sized
antelopes and gnus, and in that case the short

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 75

express bullet fails to do more than inflict a large
superficial wound, with which the poor animal
usually escapes. On two occasions I have known
an express bullet break up and fail to fracture the
neckbone of antelopes at close quarters, one of
which was a waterbuck weighing probably four
hundred pounds, and the other a pallah of about
one hundred and twenty-five pounds. Both the
animals escaped, but were shot some days after-
wards and examined. It was not impossible for
both to have recovered from the effects of the
express bullet after a prolonged period of suffering.
In wild countries like Africa, where the game is
seldom within very short range, is extremely wary,
active, and tenacious of life, and must be fired at
in any position or left alone, the express projectile
is worthless. Two double expresses, one by
Purdey and the other by Holland and Holland,
were tried by me in the field, but I found them
useless except for very easy side shots when
using the regular express projectile ; with a solid
one the performance of these rifles was excellent.
Of all the different kinds of rifles I have tried in
the field, I distinctly prefer the Lancaster oval
smooth-bore. I never got one from the maker

76 SOUTH AFRICA.

direct, but was fortunate enough to buy one
of •577-bore at an auction of a deceased officer's
effects, which served me well for some seasons,
but, tempted by a high bid, I at length parted with
it regretfully. These rifles are not only accurate,
but stand rough wear and tear and neglect much
better than any grooved ones, which latter kind
soon go off their best shooting unless kept in
tip-top order ; moreover, the oval bore, for obvious
reasons, recoils less than a grooved one, and what
fouling there is, which is very little, is evenly
distributed over the smooth inside surface of the
barrel, instead of packing in patches as is the case
with all grooved rifles more or less. They are
therefore much easier to clean. Barrels of sporting
rifles need never exceed twenty-six inches in
length, both on account of handiness and because
short guns can be held much steadier during the
aiming period, or in high winds, than long ones.
To facilitate quick focussing of the sights, the
stocks of all rifles should be much more bent than
usual. A man of 5ft 10 in. cannot do his level
best at quick or running shots with a bend of less
than three inches. One turn of the rifling in
twenty-six inches is ample for sporting weapons,

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 77

as up to 1,000 yards, or more, such a "pitch" is
quite sufficient to obviate any risk of the
upsetting of the projectile. Any excess in the
pitch of the rifling means increased recoil, fouling,
and leading. To fire at game at distances in
excess of two hundred and fifty yards is un-
sportsmanlike, and tends to the infliction of much
unnecessary cruelty. Indeed, after the exertion
entailed by a gallop or a stalk, no man is fit
enough to shoot with tolerable accuracy at more
than point-blank distances, unless he by chance
gets a rest before being obliged to fire. Where
cost is of no importance, a first-rate double-barrel
is the best and most reliable rifle yet invented ; if
economy is an object, the Colt and Winchester
repeaters are efficient weapons. As repeating
rifles are made in wholesale fashion, a purchaser
should be careful to subject such weapons to a
good trial previous to acquisition, as although most
of them shoot with strength and accuracy, I have
met with some eminently unsatisfactory as regards
accurate performance, although, to all appearance,
of excellent material and workmanship. For all-
round work, ball and shot guns of the Colindian
or "Paradox" type are very satisfactory weapons.

78 SOUTH AFRICA.

and if made as 12-bores heavy enough to carry
a charge of from 4 to 4}^ drams of powder easily,
they will kill satisfactorily any and every kind of
game animal. A battery consisting of a double
rifle of gj4 lb. weight, and one of these ball-and-
shot guns of 8 lb., is an efficient armament for
use in any part of the world, and for any kind of
game. And here I may remark that the modern
craving for very light guns is carried to excess.
It surely matters very little to any man of ordinary
powers whether he carries a 12 -bore of 7 lb. or a
little more, or one of 5 lb. ; and after all the
heavier gun is the safer and more efficient. If
weight must be reduced, it is better done by
shortening the barrels than by a reduction of
substance ; or, better still, go in for smaller bores.
Reverting to the subject of rifles, I would remark
that nickel-coated projectiles are in no degree
superior to those made of well-hardened lead,
except when the pitch of the rifle is excessive and
the bore smaller than -450. When such arms are
used, the coated bullet is absolutely necessary, as
the enormous friction created by the propulsion
of a long, slender bullet by means of 40 grains
of powder through such tubes would melt or crush

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 79

up an uncoated projectile. A great deal of dis-
cussion on the merits or otherwise of the -303
rifle has taken place, and upon the whole it may
be admitted that its merits as regards penetration
and flat trajectory are undeniable ; its accuracy
is also uncontestable but limited in duration, as
a few months' hard work is sufficient to wear out
the rifling, and thus displace it at short date from
the position of a weapon of precision. The easy
portability of its ammunition is a great point in
its favour as a military arm, or as one for the
defensive purposes of exploring parties in wild
countries where the means of transport are limited,
as is usually the case, and where it would only
exceptionally be used for special services of in-
frequent occurrence. The action of this rifle when
made on magazine lines is decidedly clumsy, and
not unlikely to get out of order under stress of
work ; and upon the whole, although for long shots
in an open country it may be effective, it is hardly
the right sort of weapon for the wandering sports-
man. The difficulties in keeping such small bores
in an efficiently clean state are accentuated in
the case of the -303 rifle by the extreme, and as
it seems to me quite unnecessary, pitch of the

8o SOUTH AFRICA.

rifling, which naturally retains and packs the
fouling to an inordinate degree, difficult to over-
come satisfactorily.

Upon the whole, this rifle is the very last
weapon I should care to be armed with when in
conflict with an African buffalo, or even an angry
lion. A campaign can alone test its value as a
military weapon. It would seem that extreme
range and the flattest possible trajectory are only
obtainable at the cost of destructive friction.
Extreme range is a matter of no importance to
the sportsman who, if well advised, will never find
it pay to make a habit of firing at game distant
more than two hundred and fifty yards, and as an
actual fact will only occasionally kill much over
one hundred and fifty yards, no matter what sort
of rifle he uses. As regards penetration, any good
rifle of -577, '500, or -450 is quite up to require-
ments, and the same remark applies to smooth-
bore guns of from 10- to i6-gauge loaded with
hard, close-fitting spherical bullets, assuming the
gun to be sufficiently solid to use with an effective
charge of powder.

Some years ago, when specially bent on a
buffalo hunt, my battery consisted of one M.L.

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 8 1

single 8-bore rifle, by Daw, of Threadneedle
Street, London, and a good strong smooth-bore
double M.L. of i6-bore, by Osborne and Sons,
Birmingham, the latter being fitted with a back
sight and an ivory front sight. Shortly before
reaching the buffalo ground, the trigger of the
8-bore was accidentally broken, and I had to rely
on the little smooth-bore, with which, however,
in a few days forty-three of these animals were
brought to bag, very few indeed escaping which
were hit, and several were knocked over by raking
shots from behind. Moreover, three full-grown
cow elephants fell, during the same trip, to bullets
from the same gun, which improved the profit of
the hunt by the value of about fifty pounds of
ivory. On another occasion, when on an elephant
hunt, I found a plain but specially built smooth
i2-bore double, with 26-inch barrels, weighing
about 91b., as effective as any weapon I ever
handled when charged with ^% drams of fine
grain C.H. powder. Indeed, I was astonished at
the penetrating powers of this gun, which on one
occasion drove its hard spherical ball through the
left side of one of the bones of the dorsal column
of a huge bull elephant, cut the large artery

G

82 SOUTH AFRICA.

beneath, and was extracted from the muscles of
the heart. The elephant when he received the
shot was crossing a deepish nullah, and I fired
from the saddle, having pulled up at the edge of
the steep descent at about twenty yards distant
from the bull, which collapsed at once. On another
occasion, with the same gun, I fired at the stern
of a giraffe, striking her a few inches below the
tail, and the ball traversed the body, passed up
the long neck between skin and muscles, and fell
out from under the ear when the Kaffirs were
cutting off the head. No doubt a conical pro-
jectile from a rifle will penetrate a block of wood
much deeper than a spherical ball can be made
to do, but, judging from my own experience and
published records on the subject, the conclusion
come to is that in penetrating the elastic tissues
of which animals are composed there is no very
essential difference between the results achieved
by either form of projectile at sporting distances.

Assuming that in many foreign countries a
supply of cartridge cases is often difficult to obtain,
and that to carry a very large quantity about is
inconvenient, it behoves the "globe-trotter" to
economise by reloading his cases instead of throw-

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 83

ing them away, as probably he would do at home.
Therefore an ejector gun is rather a nuisance than
otherwise, especially when on horseback, and even
on foot having to stoop to pick up the cases is
troublesome. As regards cartridges, I prefer
Kynoch's best paper ones to any I have tried, as
I find that by omitting to "turn over," each case
will serve for three shots, and sometimes for four.
In fact, it is much better to omit the turning-over
process whether the cases are required for re-
loading or not, with a view to minimise recoiL
To retain the wad over the shot in position, my plan
is to pour over it a thin layer of melted paraffin
wax as hot as possible, and cartridges so loaded
may be carried, in a shoulder-bag or in the pocket,
without damage for an indefinite time. In the
absence of paraffin, gum will hold the shot wad
in place, but if made too thick, or applied m
excess, it sometimes damages the end of the case
more or less, although not nearly so much as the
turning-over process.

Spherical bullets are firmly retained in place by
the use of a thin flannel patch ungreased.

Kynoch's best soHd drawn cases for rifles will
last for reloading at least fifteen times, as proved

84 SOUTH AFRICA.

by experiment with a '360 rifle charged with 40
grains of powder and a projectile of 200 grains.
Upon the whole I have found it better to arm
any of the "boys" who may have the wish or
ability to shoot with plain single-barrel smooth-
bore guns ; with rifles they get into the habit of
blazing away at all kinds of distances and waste
ammunition : besides, by giving them a shot
cartridge or two, they often bring in a toothsome
bird for the larder when one is satiated with
dry antelope meat Such guns can be bought for
about £Sy s-J^d should be sighted for ball shooting
up to one hundred yards.

A day's shooting now and then serves to stave
off the sulks — a complaint to which all Africans
are liable, especially when lying idly encamped
for some time, with little to do but smoke in the
intervals unemployed in gorging themselves to
repletion.

In ordering guns or rifles for rough work, the
maker should be persuaded to make the hand grip
considerably thicker than usual, and it should be
oval instead of round. Personally, I dislike a
pistol hand grip, as being superfluous and tending
to impede the hand when the left barrel is wanted
in haste for a double shot

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 85

A white foresight is the best for game shooting,
but those made of ivory are very fragile and apt
to shrink and fall out in dry, hot weather.
Enamelled steel answers perfectly, and a touch of
white paint, if chipped, is all that is required to
repair it. Platina-lined back sights are a mistake
in a sunny climate, as they glitter too much to
allow of focussing the front sight distinctly, unless
it is taken full, and thus are often the cause of a
miss by firing too high. In fact, the back sight
should be as black as possible, and if file-cut,
so as to be always dull, so much the better.
Assuming that game should not as a rule be
fired at beyond two hundred yards, and that
indeed very little is killed by even first-rate shots
beyond one hundred and fifty, it is quite
unnecessary to use any but the hundred yards*
sight in the field. With a little practice — up
to the distances mentioned — experience proves
that the most effective shooting is made by taking
as fine a sight as possible, and raising it a Httle
above the spot usually aimed at when the object
is out of the point-blank range of the weapon in
use.

Distances are usually overestimated in the field.

86 SOUTH AFRICA.

and the attempt to adjust elevating sights to the
required nicety within the distances mentioned
will result in firing over the object in nine shots
out of ten. At all events, the very best game
shots in South Africa whom I have known have
found it better to restrict themselves to the use
of a single standard sight for all shots within
sporting distances. In war, as a general rule,
soldiers should be discouraged from using the
elevating sights unless when pelting an enemy's
battery or any stationary post or object at
distances ascertainable by trial shots. Our
disaster at Majuba Hill would never have
occurred had no elevating sights been on the
rifles; simply because it is fair to conclude that
out of the thousands of shots fired by our men
when the enemy were within two hundred and
fifty yards, at least a score or so would have been
hits if the rifles had not been oversighted — and
in that case the Boers would not have persevered
in the attack, as they freely admit. On that sad
occasion all the rifles taken by the Boers were
found sighted either for four hundred or seven
hundred yards, and the bullets actually flew clean
over the horses which the Boers left between our

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 87

position and their camp, to facilitate the hasty
retreat which they expected would be compulsory.
The probability is that if our troops had been
armed with the old " Brown Bess " the Boers
would not have been able to take the position, as
then at all events the bullets would not have
passed over them, and many would necessarily
have struck amongst the enemy. As it was,
even if our men had confined their defence to
throwing stones they would probably have put
more than one assailant hors de combat, which
was all they achieved by their rifles.

As a weapon of war the Martini was certainly
in abstract qualities far superior to any earlier
model, and no doubt the new '303 rifle with
which our troops are armed is, as long as it lasts,
even better. Nevertheless, if our military autho-
rities are allowed to persist in keeping their men
innocent of the requisite knowledge of how to
use it effectually, it will be a mere " dummy " —
an indication only of the ascendency of the
obstinate stupidity which is so obvious in all our
military arrangements, except such as are intended
for mere display. In spite of anything said on
such subjects, it is, however, certain that nothing

88 SOUTH AFRICA.

tending to teach our soldiers the efficient use of
the weapons placed in their hands will be
attempted until some fearful defeat in the field
again occurs, attributable to the want of skill in
shooting on the part of our soldiers, and attracts
the attention of the press, and thus elicits an
expression of irresistible public opinion. It never
seems to be the duty of any of our Administrations
to give any attention to those details upon which
military efficiency in front of an enemy depends,
and if the numerical condition of the army is
satisfactory, and it is supplied with the best
modern arms, the public is satisfied. The instruc-
tion of the soldier in his peculiar vocation is
supposed to be a matter of course, and this state
of things is probably destined to last until really
responsible officers are appointed and allowed a
free hand within reasonable limits.

It is, I think, conceded by most experienced
military men that in future warfare success will
mainly depend, as far as mere fighting is con-
cerned, on the individual powers of the combative
units of an army, or, in simpler words, on efficient
rifle shooting. Assuming this to be a correct view
of the case, it would seem as imperative as it is

ABOUT SPORTING AND MILITARY WEAPONS. 89

easy to endeavour to double the efficiency of
every regiment by making every man at least a
fair rough shot. At present most regiments
probably contain a few men of exceptional skill
as riflemen, and to these few all the prizes and
credit are accorded — to the disgust of the unskilled
majority, who find no encouragement to improve
themselves. I am not concerned to offer any
advice on the details bearing on reforms in the
direction hinted at, but I trust that I may escape
being condemned as presumptuous on the plea
that my opinions have been formed wholly
independent of any professional bias, and based
upon facts of which all concerned are, or ought
'to be, cognisant

CHAPTER VI.

THE GREAT THIRST LAND.

Within the boundaries of British Bechuanaland
the immense tract of country known as the Kalli-
harri covers a space of at least five hundred and
fifty miles north and south by about four hundred
in breadth. Where surface waters in the form of
pools, wells, or springs exist on its south-west edge,
here and there a few white settlers live as stock
farmers ; and small communities of Bastaards,
Kaffirs, Korannas, Hottentots, and wild bushmen
lead a semi-nomadic life dependent on their scanty
flocks and herds, eked out by the produce of an
occasional hunt.

No cultivation is attempted, as every drop of
water has to be economised for the use of the
people and their live stock, the numbers of which,
are limited by the quantity of water available for
their use. The pasturage is far superior to any

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 9I

to be found elsewhere in South Africa, and some
day, when the requisite means for tapping the
subterranean supplies of water have been seriously
and scientifically applied, this desert will probably
supply more exportable produce in the form of
wool, hides, and tallow than the whole of the
Cape Colony, as the endemic diseases so fatal to
the interests of the South African stockbreeder are
here unknown, and the severest drought but
slightly deteriorates the nutritious quahties of the
herbage.

The soil of the large plains varies very Uttle in
any of the explored parts of the vast territory, and
in such situations the herbage is very suitable for
sheep, which here attain a size and weight fcir in
excess of the Colonial average. The plains are,
however, intersected by vast tracts of sand dunes
resting on a white limestone formation, which
probably covers a supply of water that, if tapped,
would at once render the country habitable. These
dimes are composed of heavy red sand, immovable
by the winds, covered luxuriantly with nutritious
grasses and shrubs, and here and there decked
with a few large trees. They resemble huge
Atlantic waves in form ; the hollows between them.

92 SOUTH AFRICA.

being often two or three hundred yards wide,
would afford space for sheltered homesteads, per-
haps eminently picturesque, but certainly admirably
suited for Boer occupation. Really copious rains
fall in the Kalliharri at intervals of about three
years, and when this occurs the whole country is
covered with a crop of succulent watermelons, upon
which live stock thrives exceedingly, and is quite
independent of the absence of drinking-water.
Showers no doubt fall every season in various
parts of the desert, and the game, consisting chiefly
of giraffe, eland, brindled gnu, gemsbuck, ostriches,
and hartebeeste, swarm to those localities, safe from
pursuit — as unless the melon harvest is general,
and extends to the edges of the desert, no one
dares • penetrate it beyond the distance to which
water can be carried to sustain life.

These melons are called by the natives " tsamma,"
and are about the size of a round Dutch cheese.
The flavour is insipid, and the water which the
traveller obtains from them by cutting them up
and simmering them in a pot over a slow fire is
rather flat, but sweet and wholesome. The whole
of this desert is singularly healthy for man and
beast, except that portion on the north-east side

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 93

immediately abutting on Lake N'Ghaami and the
Botletle River. Even horse-sickness, although not
unknown, is not very destructive in the Kalliharri,
except in the districts I have mentioned above,
and these parts are quite unfitted for settlement by
white people. Strange to say, as "yet no organised
attempt has been made to explore the central parts
of the " Thirst Land," which is only known to have
been occasionally (in tsamma seasons) traversed
by native hunting parties in search of ostrich
feathers, and as a general rule few white men have
done more than make flying excursions from the
fringe of scanty waters on its south-west side,
extending some thirty miles or so into its recesses.
Nor does it appear likely that this region will be
thoroughly explored until Government or some
public body takes the matter up and goes to the
expense of a properly equipped expedition for the
purpose. Personally, I have travelled completely
round the Kalliharri, starting from Uppington, on
the Orange River, to Oliphant's Kloof, on the
Lake, and back to the Transvaal via Khama's
country. During the trip, which lasted over a
year, by taking advantage of information derived
from the wild bushmen of the desert, as to patches

94 SOUTH AFRICA.

of available tsamma and an occasional pool of
rainwater, I was enabled to penetrate these
mysterious solitudes occasionally to some thirty
miles or so distant from my stationary camp near
permanent water — but in the absence of the
necessary implements I was, of course, unable to
explore for water, and certainly found none on
the surface.

The pasturage, especially among sand dunes,
was everywhere simply splendid, and grand sport
with gemsbuck, eland, and ostrich rewarded well
the risk and toil encountered. Giraffe were seen,
but we did not hunt them, as at that time the
waggons were heavily laden with meat and goods,
with which it was necessary to hurry on to camp
as fast as possible to avoid waste During the
current year (1894) an exploring expedition, under
the auspices, I believe, of Mr. Rhodes, and con-
ducted by a Dutch Church minister, made a faint
attempt to penetrate the desert, principally with a
view to ascertain the capabilities of the country
bordered by the Botletle River for immigration
purposes. As I have said before, that part of the
country is, and must remain, unsuitable for
colonisation on account of the prevalence of fever

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 95

and of tHe most virulent thorn jungles to be met
with in South Africa. It is said that on this
occasion two faint attempts to tap underground
waters were made without success, and the
expedition was a failure — as I fully expected it
would be under the circumstances.

In fact, no expedition of the kind should be
undertaken in a perfunctory manner, and when on
the edge of the desert some weeks should be
expended in acquiring all the information possible
from natives and other residents. No reliable
information is, as a rule, obtainable in Africa in a
hurry, or, in the absence of the last, it is necessary
to " pump " without seeming to do so, or exciting
suspicion. As a rule, the autocratic bearing of
the ordinary cleric is a very undesirable quality
in an explorer ; the easy, luxurious lives of South
African ecclesiastics are but poor preparations for
travel off the high roads.

In ancient days the Kalliharri must have been
about the best watered part of South Africa, with
at least two deep broad rivers flowing slowly
through the west part of it, and hundreds of smaller
streams, in the beds of which the rounded stones
prove that the water must have flowed for

96 SOUTH AFRICA.

centuries. In some parts of the courses of the Oop
and Nossop Rivers the banks of the channels look
as perfect as if the waters had only left them a few
years ago, and the water marks on the rocky side
indicate that a depth of one hundred and fifty feet
was attained in places, with few fluctuations. These
rivers were evidently navigable for hundreds of
miles without a break, and an examination of their
beds ought to reveal some interesting secrets at
least, in the absence of more tangible clues. In
these river-beds all the usual indications of
diamondiferous deposits are plentifully strewed
on the surface at all events, and it is possible that
an explorer with the means of sufficient water at
hand to allow an efficient search might reap a rich
harvest

In some few spots along the courses of the river
mentioned water has been obtained by digging
very shallow wells ; while in other parts a well or
two dug by natives during a rainy season failed to
supply water at about eighty feet. Frequently
the natives will dig several pits pretty close to
each other, some of which will furnish clear fresh
water, while that in others will be brackish or even
too salt for the use of cattle.

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 97

In the interests of the Cape Colony nothing
can be plainer than that a thorough experiment of
the practicability of obtaining water in this fertile
Thirst Land should be speedily made, as it is well
known that the old Colonial pastures are over-
stocked, and that the herbage generally is
deteriorating in quality, as well as in sufficiency.
As the country must eventually rely on wool and
other pastoral products for revenue, the capture
of additional pasture lands of first-rate quality,
and nearly as large as France in extent, is a matter
of paramount importance, more especially as those
lands lie close to the Colonial boundary, and are
approachable without danger to health or losses
from tsetse-fly, or indeed any hindrance to easy
locomotion and transport.

For my own part, I am under the impression
that the sand-dune district should first be tested
for water, which there would probably be found
plentifully by boring through the limestone floor,
which, though hard, is evidently not very thick.
It is a curious fact that in these sand-dune
districts the grasses are always green at the
bottom, even when owing to droughts those on
the hard plains are quite parched, thus presumably

H

gS SOUTH AFRICA.

indicating approximate underground flow of the
precious element so necessary to all kinds of life.

My first visit to this great Thirst Land occurred
early in the fifties, shortly after the discovery of
Lake N'Ghaami by Livingstone and Oswell. On
this occasion I was accompanied by a valetudinarian
whose acquaintance I made during a visit to Cape
Town, and who had been sent out by his doctors
to recuperate his very delicate lungs. I have
reasons for withholding his name, although he
joined the majority at a very good old age some
few years since. He was a pleasant, clever fellow,
but eccentric and obstinate to a degree typical of
John Bull in excelsis. In those days no railway
facilitated progress towards the far interior, and
we jolted patiently along in our bullock waggons
over the thinly settled old Colony, enjoying
occasional sport, till we reached a large native
kraal called Kange, a little to the south of Mang-
watto, where Seiomi, the father of the well-known
Khama, then reigned. My plan was to stick to
the hunting-road via Mangwatto, then reach the
lower part of the Botletle, where it loses itself
in reedy swamps of immense extent, and where
elephants abounded. This road, which is still in

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 99

use, crosses a corner of the desert, and the sand
is very heavy, but water is found independently
of rain at two places — Klobala and Tlacani —
which, however, are about one hundred and twenty
miles apart, and this distance must be covered
without a chance of obtaining a drop of water for
the labouring draught oxen, whose sufferings from
thirst are intensified by the necessity of keeping
them going night and day over this stretch of
desert This struggle involves great labour for
man and beast, to say nothing of the anxiety
and want of sleep for the four days and nights
consumed on the waterless road. As a matter of
fact, oxen seldom die of thirst if properly driven,
on this route, and having reached the Tlacani
Spring, the Botletle is then only thirty miles off,
and all troubles with regard to water are over for
the traveller bound for the Lake, as the track
thence simply skirts the banks of the full river
for the whole distance, except at spots where curves
are avoided to shorten the distance. After striking
the Botletle, at a kraal called Pompey, it takes
about sixteen days, without stoppages, to reach
Lake N'Ghaami, and even now there is no dearth
of giraffe and smaller game, although the vast

100 SOUTH AFRICA.

buffalo herd have deserted the river since a
numerous Boer " trek " passed through the country-
some fourteen years ago and wantonly shot some
thousands of them merely to glut the love of
slaughter so characteristic of the race.

Most of the big game of South Africa stick to
the localities where they have been bred till
exterminated. The buffalo is the exception, and
if he is much disturbed and cut up by mountain
hunters he migrates at once, to be seen in his
place no more, unless perhaps that locality is
deserted for years by his human enemies.

However, to return to Kange : here I found that

my friend D determined to take a bee-line

across the desert for the Lake — ^which was sup-
posed to be distant about twenty days — ^whereas
by the usual track forty or more days would be
consumed on the road. I found it quite useless
to point out that there could be no water in the
desert, or other hunters would have taken the

short cut as a matter of course. D felt certain

of finding water and reaching the Botletle without
much difficulty. After a day or two arguing pros

and cons we decided to part company, and D

started, accompanied by an Irish servant named

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. lOI

Luck and three native " boys." Fortunately his
waggon was, although roomy, very light — it having
been built to my order and design in the Cape —
and fourteen oxen in fine condition took it easily

through the heaviest sand. D also took one

horse, and a shower or two having lately fallen,
he started in great spirits, and we agreed to meet
on the Botletle at a kraal called Sibitan, where,
while waiting for me, he would have any amount
of hunting, as he was now quite strong, thanks
to the effects of the desert air.

For my part, being a poor man, I did not feel
justified in risking the loss of my nags, two waggon
horses, draught cattle, and outfit, and so jogged
along on the well-marked hunting track, eventually
reaching the Botletle without loss, but not without
a severe struggle, occasioned by the distances
between the waters and heavy sand. All along
the course of the river towards Sibitan elephants
were very numerous, and as no other hunters had
yet come up, they were unusually easy of approach
— although the jungle was in places 'extremely
difficult for a horseman to get through.

Having at length reached the rendezvous, and
en route loaded my waggons with ivory, I waited

102 SOUTH AFRICA.

a month for D , but hearing nothing of him,

at length turned towards the Colony, sadly

satisfied that D had perished in the desert

he so madly tempted. Meanwhile I reached Port
Elizabeth in due time, sold my ivory, and fitted
out again for the interior, meaning to hunt along
the Limpopo and its tributaries. Having passed
Sechele's kraal, while outspanned at a spring called
Manhock, just eighteen months since parting with

D , all at once a waggon, with a very ragged

white man leading the oxen, and an old Hottentot
driving, came up. Going to see who it was, to
my utter astonishment I found that the forlorn

white man was my friend D , very hungry,

naked, tired, but in robust health. As I was well

supplied, D was soon clothed, fed, and in his

right mind, and we spent three joyous days
together, during which he gave me the history of
his strange adventures in the desert, and his final
escape.

It appeared that after parting with me at Kange
he got along on his course famously for some days,
having found a few rainpools, which, however, soon
dried up, and then suffering and danger loomed
ahead. Of course he had loaded up a good supply

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. I03

of water for the use of himself and his people for
some days, but as he would not listen to Luck,
who wished to turn back, a mutiny broke out, and

Luck and the " boys " determined to kill D ,

take his properties, inclusive of ;^200 in hard cash,
and endeavour to get back to Kange. Fortunately,
however, one of the " boys " could not make up his
mind to carry out the murderous plan, and gave

D such detailed information that he decided

if Luck's actions corresponded with those arranged

to be acted on, that he, D , would shoot

Luck. About midnight D saw him creeping

stealthily, gun in hand, towards his sleeping

quarters. Then D , who had taken a shot

gun to bed with him, hesitated no longer, and
Luck was killed on the spot. The " boys," with

the exception of the one to whom D no doubt

owed his life, at once fled, taking with them the
horse, and as nothing more was ever heard of
them, most likely they perished of thirst in the
desert. By this time the oxen were outrageously

thirsty, and when D and the " boy " tried to

yoke them, they broke away and disappeared.
No chcince of saving life was now left, except the
very faint one of leaving the waggon with such

104 SOUTH AFRICA.

supplies as could be carried and tramping all
through the sand on the course indicated by
compass as leading to the Botletle. Therefore,
taking with them a gun and some ammunition,
some water in a large can, some dried meat and
biscuits, with three bottles of champagne, which

D had saved to drink with me when we should

meet on the Botletle, the forlorn wanderers forged
ahead painfully for forty-eight hours, when, just
as all hope was lost, they crossed a thickly trodden
game path along which a rhinoceros had lately
passed. As the rhino is dependent on a daily
supply of water for life, the travellers now knew
that at least they would be saved from the awful
fate of dying from thirst, and, stepping along with
renewed energy, in a couple of hours a large deep
and glittering pool of water was reached, and
death was, for the time, cheated. Here elephants,
rhinos, and other game evidently came to quench
thirst, so that no danger of hunger was to be

dreaded at all events, although poor D was

about the worst shot with ball I ever saw, and
ammunition was, of course, scarce until they could
revisit the waggon and bring back the supplies.
After quenching his intense thirst, and bathing,

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. IO5

D said he felt very hungry, as all the food

brought from the waggon was consumed. No
game, except a few hartebeestes and brindled gnus,
was in sight, and after two fruitless shots they
also took to flight

Finding a huge and hideous puff adder, D

killed it, cut off its head, and quickly grilled it
on the ashes of a fire the Hottentot had made in
the little thorny " skerm " which was to be their

sleeping quarters. D and the " boy " supped

royally on the beastly reptile ; found it very much
to resemble eel, but hardly comparable to the club

dinners in London, the thought of which, D

says, were a constant source of annoyance to him
during his long sojourn in the desert With the
advent of night, elephants, rhinos, lions, and other
game crowded the margin of the pool, and seemed

to care very little for the huge fire which D

kept blazing, and eventually a huge rhino came

so close to the " skerm " that D thought it

incumbent to fire at him. The rhino bolted off
a few yards and fell dead ; but it at length became
necessary to scare the huge pachyderms by barking
like dogs by turns, and thus by alarming the brutes
gain a little exemption from the chance of being
trampled upon, and a modicum of sleep.

I06 SOUTH AFRICA,

Night after night these troubles were repeated,
but gradually the skerm became impregnable to
anything but an elephantine attack, and the game
took to using the opposite side of the pool. The
second day after arriving at this pool was wholly
occupied by butchering the rhino and hanging up
the meat to dry in the arid atmosphere, during
which process a few wild bushmen arrived
and made themselves useful. Fortunately the
Hottentot could partially understand the bushmen's
gibberish, and they were hired, for meat payment,

to accompany D and his " boy " to the waggon

to bring up supplies.

By a short cut the waggon was reached by one
day's long march (say thirty miles), and everything
was found untouched. With the help of the
bushmen a good supply of things was brought
into camp at the pool, but as the bushmen now

knew all about the deserted waggon, D , as

a precaution against predatory instincts, previous
to leaving it, had arranged a large heavily loaded
pistol so that it would explode and hit any one
climbing over the box-seat. This saved the cargo,

as when D again visited the waggon the

remains of a bushman were found in front of the

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 107

waggon and the pistol had exploded. This un-
accountable occurrence, indeed, so scared the
thieves that they fled in dismay, and the cargo
was saved.

For months D and his " boy " lived on

monotonously, with fair comfort in a way, but at
length some strange bushmen paid them a visit,
and reported that early in the hunting season a
white man from Walfish Bay intended trying to
reach this water bent on elephant shooting. These

people also told D that he had done well to

remain stationary, as, in consequence of the failure
of the melon (tsamma) crop, it would have been
impossible for him to have reached the Botletle.

D therefore very wisely decided to remain

and wait the arrival of the elephant hunter, who
in due time arrived, and turned out to be Mr.
Anderson, a Swedish traveller and hunter of
renown.

Here D and Anderson remained for some

time together, and with the help of oxen the long-
deserted waggon was brought into camp. Then
rain at last fell, and a crop of tsamma soon ren-
dered travelling possible, D bought two

oxen from Anderson, and at last got out of the

I08 SOUTH AFRICA.

desert, if not without trouble, at least safely ; and
we met accidentally as I have mentioned,

Anderson was a first-rate elephant hunter, and
I believe made a good bag at this pool, which has
ever since been marked on the map as Anderson's
Vlei.

The last of my visits to the Kalliharri was in
1879, and although the absence of tsamma circum-
scribed the extent of my wanderings from the
beaten track via Twaart Modder, Kabeum, and
Abekus Pits, I still found plenty of the superb
gemsbuck and eland antelopes, and as these can
be easily ridden into with a fairly good nag, they
afford first-class sport. The gemsbuck is about
the size and weight of a large donkey, and his
action at a gallop is essentially asinine, although
he gets along at a good pace and has no end of
"stay." The straight horns are often fifty-two
inches or more long, and, sharp as a rapier, are
splendid trophies comparatively rarely included
among the spolia of the African hunter, as the
habitat of this animal is confined almost exclusively
in South Africa to the desert, although now and
then one may be found in or near Matabililand.
Formerly I have hunted them on the south of the

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. I09

Orange River, in the Kenhardt district, where
they were very numerous, but are now probably
extinct.

When driven to bay gemsbuck are apt to become
dangerous and to use their horns with effect On
one occasion the horse of a Boer comrade of mine
was transfixed and killed on the spot by a charge,
the rider only escaping being pinned to the saddle
by the position of his leg between the horns.
These antelopes seem very indifferent to the
attacks of dogs, as I once saw one which was
pursued by a host of large native curs fight his
way through, leaving five of his assailants dead
or wounded behind him after an encounter which
lasted only a few minutes. Natives assert that the
lion is very averse to attacking the gemsbuck, and
only assails him when no other game is available,
very often coming to grief in the contest — ^which
is, however, usually fatal to both combatants, if
reports are trustworthy. The skin of this antelope
is in parts more than an inch thick, and very much
valued, being worth at least £2. in barter.

A rifle or gun to be good for gemsbuck should
therefore have strong penetrating power, especially
as most of the shots will be fired from behind
although not necessarily from a great distance.

no SOUTH AFRICA.

I mention this because I once saw a hunter
empty the magazine of his '38 Winchester (model
1873) in vain on one of these animals, which I
had to put out of its misery with a ball from my
16 smooth-bore while it was still struggling along
at a canter with some six bullets in it.

The ostriches of the Kalliharri are not only
numerous, but furnish the finest feathers in the
market, most of which are procured by Bastaard
and native hunters, who ride them down and knock
the whole troop of birds over with sticks, choosing
a hot day for the hunt, as the birds are then more
or less deficient in staying power.

Very fast horses are not required to run ostriches
to a standstill, as the hunters never attempt closing
with the birds till having rattled them along at a
good pace the horses begin to get blown, when
a halt is made, saddles removed, and the nags
refresh themselves with a roll in the sand, their
masters meanwhile enjoying a pipe. The birds,
of course, very often disappear, but are also by
this time glad to pull up not very far away, and
this rest is fatal to them, as in cooling down they
get stiff. When the hunters put on the next spurt
the horses are soon among them, and the sticks

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. Ill

busily applied to their necks with fatal effect. On
these occasions no birds are spared, whatever may
be the state of their plumage, as it seems that when
run to a standstill ostriches pine away and die
from the effects of over-exertion.

Some years ago the best white feathers were
worth between £^0 and ;£'6o per lb., and the others
in proportion. Some hundreds of natives were
employed by storekeepers to hunt every season,
and many closely packed waggon-loads of this
costly product of the desert annually arrived at
the Cape, but since ostrich farming has become
an industry the price of feathers has declined at
least by 80 per cent, and the hunt no longer pays
expenses, although wild feathers still sell for more
than those of tame birds.

Few white men have joined in this sport, as
they are generally too heavy for their mounts, but
as the natives of this part of the world are usually
very light weights and capital horsemen, they had
it all to themselves, and could have made lots of
money had they not indulged recklessly in all
kinds of extravagance as soon as they drew their
pay. One Englishman of the historic name of
Tom Jones, however, went into the desert boldly.

112 SOUTH AFRICA.

and at the risk of his hfe reached localities where
ostriches luxuriated in some natron-covered " pans "
in vast numbers, and by shooting from cover he
managed to get feathers which he sold for, I
believe, ;£"3,ooo during his hunt, although only
equipped with an old waggon, draught oxen, and
an old Snider rifle. His adventures were mar-
vellous, as were his escapes from death and thirst ;
but the wild bushmen gave him able assistance,
and supplied him with various watery bulbs, which
they dug in sufficient numbers to keep him and
some of his oxen alive, and he at last emerged
safely with his spoils, which he sold well. Even-
tually he invested the proceeds of his hunt in
breeding cattle, and settling down at a spring on
the outskirts of the desert, his herd increased so
rapidly that when I last saw him he was a rich man
in the prime of life, but quite determined to forego
ostrich hunting for the future. He was a shrewd,
uneducated man, who had travelled a good deal
in South Africa, and had made a little fortune by
diamond digging, of which fortune he was robbed.
He gave it as his opinion that the Kalliharri
country was the only part of the country where
really successful stock ranching could be carried

THE GREAT THIRST LAND. II3

on, with, of course, the proviso that sufficient water
can be raised. Brackish water is very healthy for
man when once used to it, but its beneficial effects
on cattle are very evident and indisputable, and
probably the majority of waters tapped in this
part of the country by the artesian or any other
process would turn out more or less " brak," and
in most cases admirably suitable for cattle, the
market for which, as before stated, is chronically
under-supplied throughout South Africa to such
an extent that not only is beef a luxury, but con-
densed milk, Irish and Dutch butter and cheese,
have to be largely imported for the supply of the
mere handful of inhabitants peopling the immense
areas within Colonial boundaries.

Blame for this state of things is undeservedly
thrown on the Boers and farmers, but it would be
more just to take rational account of the natural
sterility of the country generally, the prevalence
of diseases, and the results thus entailed on stock-
breeding. By a successful opening up of the
possible waters of the Kalliharri, and its occupation
by settlers, the Cape would be far more enriched
than by the discovery of any likely amount of
gold — ^which naturally merely passes through the

I

114 SOUTH AFRICA.

channels of commerce with Europe and returns
no more to Colonial coffers.

Doubtless the success of the Transvaal goldfield
has largely benefited the Colonies as regards credit
and speculative profit, but it is an open secret
that the interest of the aggregate capital employed
to produce the gold output amounts to much less
than the same amount of capital would produce,
without any of the numerous mining risks, if
invested in Consols. In the nature of things too
numerous and abstruse to be here treated, it must
be confessed that largely increased amounts of
produce from the surface of the settled parts of
South Africa can hardly be reasonably hoped for,
whatever may be the value of the mineral resources
of the country, and that in the interests of the
future, when mining may — as is usually the case
in the long run — be a fading and bygone industry,
some strenuous effort should be made to open up
new pasture lands within measurable distance of
the old Colonial boundaries.

CHAPTER VII.

NATAL.

Of all the South African Colonies, Natal is the
most essentially English, and as a residence for
people with small independent means in search of
a beautiful climate, fine scenery, and quiet but
cheerful surroundings it would be hard to beat in
any part of the world. A certain buoyancy of
life seems to prevail in Natal strangely in contrast
with the austere, puritanical surroundings which
are so depressingly conspicuous in most parts of
the old Colony ; in fact, a good laugh and a
cheering glass may be enjoyed in Natal without
reproach, and the local Mrs. Grundy, albeit quite
as estimable, is less positively conspicuous and
oppressive than amidst other social coteries of
South Africa. Young people flit about here in the
fairly good spirits which it would be nearly
criminal to exhibit in the west part of the Cape

Il6 SOUTH AFRICA.

Colony, or even among the " serious " populations
in and around the more Anglicised East Province.
Living, as I have done for the past three years,
in a village in the Western Province of the old
Colony, I can safely say that outside my own little
household I have never heard a pleasant rippling
laugh ; and I suspect any attempt in such decried
art would impose not only a painful physical strain
on the rigid facial muscles of the ordinary Africander
but probably subject him to the censure of the
Church, which he may possibly love, but most
certainly abjectly fears. Cricket, football, races,
and athletics are enjoyed in Natal ; in the old
Colony they are simply and gravely performed —
not without skill, but entirely destitute of zest.
Irrespective of mere years, Natalians are mostly
young ; Cape Colonists are generally aged. Such,
at least, were my impressions formed during a
residence of some duration in Natal some years
ago, but I hear that gloomy moral clouds so
strikingly at variance with the bright physical
atmosphere of South Africa now to a great extent
overshadow the town populations, and that the
envy, hatred, and malice so characteristic of the
" unco guid " communities are gradually ousting

NATAL. 117

the spirit of " bonhomie " formerly characteristic of
the little community of this little Colony. Be that
as it may, the picturesque beauty of the country
and the fertility of the limited areas of soil avail-
able for cultivation are unaltered. Fringing the
principal lines of traffic, well-built, trim, and
cheerful-looking homesteads rejoice the eye of the
traveller from the more sterile districts of the
greater part of South Africa.

The fruit and flowers of temperate and tropic
climates abound in suitable localities, and nowhere
perhaps within the small extent of a country —
hardly so large as Scotland — can such varieties
of climate be found and enjoyed, being, as it
is, essentially healthy throughout. The great
Drakensberg mountain range dominates the whole
Colony, except on the Zululand border, and its
spurs and rocky undulations are the chief com-
ponents of this settlement Everywhere pure
water abounds, but although large streams, such
as the Tugela, Umgeni, and Moie Rivers, flow
through the land, they are not, and never can be,
made navigable.

On the coast-line between Durban and the
Tugela the sugar industries flourish to some

Il8 SOUTH AFRICA.

extent in the rich alluvial plains, and tea is grown
with an amount of success which bids fair to enrich
the Colony substantially.

The higher parts of the country between Pieter-
maritzburg (the capital) and the boundaries of the
Orange Free State and the Transvaal are, as
stockbreeding areas, about on a par with the Cape
Colony. In many localities the sheep do fairly
well, but the runs are not very extensive. Cattle,
if not of too heavy a breed, also do well in these
parts, and although " horse-sickness " is sometimes
prevalent, it is not so destructively fatal as in the
Transvaal, and, indeed, its visits are fitful — ^with
intervals of a year or two between them. Cereal
crops grow well enough, but large spaces suitable
for the plough are rare, and on most farms only
amount to a few acres. Maize and millet are
largely cultivated by the farmers and the numerous
natives, as such crops do well in situations un-
suitable for other cereals, and on them the Zulus
thrive, and have generally a surplus for sale.

The Zulus, although living almost exclusively
on "meahes" (maize), supplemented with a little
milk, are a splendid race physically, and, although
not of remarkable stature, are almost universally

NATAL. I ig

strong, active, well-built fellows, as sleek as moles.
Satisfied as they are with their simple mode of
life, they feel too well off to care to work steadily
for any greater length of time than that required
to earn enough to buy some specified coveted
article. Unlike many other South African races,
they appear naturally averse to imitating the
white man in the matter of clothes, and are there-
fore but sorry customers to the " slop " seller when
living in their kraals ; the law compels them to
wear at least a pair of trousers when in the towns
or villages, and here and there a Zulu in a
"go-to-meeting" suit is to be seen, but seems
hardly to enjoy the costume.

Missionaries are not successful among the
Zulus, who seem deficient in religious emotion-
alism, as contrasted with the mixed coloured races
who are town-dwellers ; but an unregenerate Zulu
is generally honest and truthful, which can hardly
be said to be characteristic of the native convert
as a rule. Zulus are much employed as domestic
servants in Natal, and, as they are very cleanly,
honest, and fond of children, they do well in that
capacity, but as their women are not allowed to
hire themselves out, the office of nurse has often

110 SOUTH AFRICA.

to be conferred on a stalwart semi-nude male, who,
however, treats his young charges with solicitous
kindness and skill.

Durban, Natal's port, is the prettiest town in
South Africa, situated as it is on its lakelike bay
and surrounded by gentle elevations covered with
rich foliage, from amongst which charming villas
peep out of the Beria and elsewhere. The bay
unfortunately is rather shallow, and its entrance
is impeded by a bar which has seldom more than
fifteen feet of water on it, so that large vessels
cannot come in. Smaller craft, with the assistance
of an able tug service, accomplish a passage easily
and without danger, and discharge or load at a
quay about a mile or so from the town, whence
there is a railway.

Although the climate here is warm and
apparently relaxing, the mortality is very low,
comparing favourably with that of most English
and Colonial towns. The streets and roads being
now metalled, the sandy soil no longer impedes
locomotion as in earlier times.

The public buildings and churches are sub-
stantial and handsome, and are, I think, built with
a view to future exigencies rather than to the abso-

NATAL. 121

lute requirements of the present Pietermaritzburg,
fifty miles inland, the capital of the Colony, is
also a nice town, laid out with Dutch symmetry,
and nearly surrounded by high and picturesque
mountains. The climate is cooler than that of the
seaport, owing to the altitude, and tropical fruits
and produce are no longer seen growing, but the
slopes of the mountains and hills are dotted with
the pretty red-tiled cottages of small farmers, who
seem prosperous, and at all events live in plenty
and comfort

The hotels in the towns and along the main
roads are replete with all reasonable requirements,
and no traveller need now fear having occasion to
" rough " it more than in Europe.

Having ascended the mountain above Maritz-
burg (by rail), a very cool atmosphere immediately
makes itself felt before the little hamlet at Moir
River, nestling in a warm and fertile hollow, is
reached. Ascending again, the road to Ladysmith
passes through rather a rugged country, where
small Zulu kraals abound ; here the first Boer
immigrants fought many successive battles with
Dingaan, and had to suffer also from a dreadful
massacre, which cost six hundred or more lives, at

122 SOUTH AFRICA.

the place where the village of Weepen (Weeping)
now stands and rejoices in a quietude which
approaches the oppressive, A little further on,
and the spot where some five hundred Boers
achieved their final victory over Dingaan is passed.
Here, on my first visit to Natal, the bones of at
least three thousand Zulu warriors covered the
ground and attested the severity of the final
struggle. Only a few Boers fell (I think eleven)
on this occasion. The Zulus were unable to
penetrate the Boer entrenchment of waggons and
thorn bushes, although they renewed their assaults
without ceasing for hours, and were swept away
by the smooth-bore guns of the Boers, loaded with
buckshot, till their bodies formed an extra rampart
of defence.

Thence to the village on the fine Tugela River
is not far, and crossing it, the traveller soon reaches
Ladysmith, having covered one hundred miles
since leaving Maritzburg, over a rugged upland
country mostly suitable to pastoral pursuits on a
limited scale. The parts of the country mentioned
were not long since very difficult to travel over
with waggons, and the fords over the rivers men-
tioned were often impassable for weeks at a time

NATAL. 123

even by the ferries (ponts), and always more or
less dangerous. Now bridges cross all these rapid
streams, and the traveller rejoices on his way
oblivious of the labours and perils of his pioneer
predecessors.

Ladysmith is a nice neat village on the Klip
River, but without much alluvial soil for gardens
or much room for expansion. Many flourishing
homesteads beautify the neighbourhood, but as a
rule rocks and stone-covered hills prevail, and the
towering Drakensberg range is always in sight on
the way to the Orange Free State, and, at about
seventy miles from Ladysmith, has to be crossed
just beyond the village of Newcastle to reach the
boundary of the Transvaal. On the road to the
Orange Free State the range is also crossed, and
the descent on the other side reveals the Boer
village of Harrysmith, which is about the coldest
inhabited spot in South Africa, as it is so over-
shadowed by mountains that it enjoys only a few
hours of sunshine every day, when the sun is
visible only through the thick mountain mists.

Upon the whole, the modern fortune-hunter
should avoid Natal, where he would find himself
out of place ; but it is a nice little colony for small

124 SOUTH AFRICA.

capitalists of moderate views seeking where the
climate is good, living cheap, and native labour,
especially of the domestic kind, plentiful. It is,
however, a colony wholly unsuitable to the
dumping- down of the ordinary emigrant de-
pendent on wages, as on the coast coolies from
India abound, and do all the heavy labour at a
cheap rate, and the large Zulu population
abundantly supplies other departments of the
labour market. Clerks and shopmen are not in
demand, and must not try their luck in Natal, as
the ranks are full.

Sport in Natal is not very good as a rule, but
in some parts heavy bags of francolin may be
made with the help of a good pointer. Bushbucks
are to be found in most of the rocky ravines, and
leopards are not extinct in the same localities, but
are difficult to get at unless beaters are employed.
A few bustards, both large and small, are to be
had here and there, as are also duiker and stein-
bucks, and now and again a reitbuck. Wildfowl
are found wherever suitable pools exist, but such
places are not numerous. A good stout 1 2 smooth-
bore C.F. gun, which will shoot ball well with one
of the barrels, is all that is required in Natal, as

NATAL. 125

although in the Ladysmith and Newcastle districts
a few herds of protected hartebeestes roam about,
it is difficult to get permission to shoot one, and
a rifle is therefore a useless encumbrance unless
for target practice. In the Zulu country, not far
from the Natal boundary, hippos and alligators
are fairly plentiful, in places, and even a few rhinos,
buffaloes, and lions are still to be had in the eastern
bush of Zululand near the coast, as are also elands,
koodoos, brindled gnus, and smaller antelopes —
such as reitbucks, impalas, and rosebucks. The
country there away is feverish during the greater
part of the year ; all hunting must be done on
foot, as the tsetse-fly abounds. The Natal
country is unpleasant to ride over on account of
the excessive prevalence of holes, stones, and
impracticable " dongas " or nullahs. Everywhere
snakes, too, are more plentiful than agreeable, and
are both large and very venomous. Two species
of mambas, one of the most deadly of the serpent
tribe, ranging from six to eight or more feet in
length, are often met with, and puff-adders,
mountain adders, and yellow cobras are in places
very numerous. Pythons are to be found near the
coast, averaging from twelve to fifteen feet in

126 SOUTH AFRICA.

length, but very thick in proportion. They are
fairly numerous, and I must say that in two years
spent in this Colony I saw more snakes than during
the whole of my long sojourn in other parts of
Africa.

The population of Natal may be taken at about
35,000 whites and perhaps 400,000 Zulus, but I
do not anticipate any serious native outbreak in
the future, as the intercolonial natives are con-
tented and happy, and even if inclined for an
outbreak, are so scattered in small kraals that
combination would be impossible before efficient
means for defence could be organised. The
country throughout owes a great debt of gratitude
to the late Sir Bartle Frere for breaking up the
military organisation of the Zulu regime, although
the cost entailed was great in consequence of the
grievous shortcomings of Lord Chelmsford, which
entailed the wholesale massacre of our 24th
Regiment at Inshandwana, not to mention that
of the Natalian Colonists who fell with them.
The fact is, military officers are, as a rule, quite
unfit for command in warfare with brave savage
tribes, as has been proved by too many sad
reverses in South Africa. The severe training for

NATAL. 127

spectacular purposes prevalent in all regular armies,
to the neglect of teaching the men the use of their
weapons and habituating them to cultivate the
hunter's instincts, militates against successful opera-
tions till some horrible mistake has to be repaired
at a cost which need never have been incurred.

In the Zulu War the general in command
seemed to ignore the fact that the enemy was
essentially a brave one, as swift in its operations
as good irregular cavalry, and as cunning as
jackals. As a matter of course, ultimate victory
could only be achieved at a great and unnecessary
expense. These remarks may be taken for what
they are worth, but anyhow our ultimate victory
at Ulundi saved the lives of the Natal Colonists
and the Transvaal from the effects of an invasion
which would have been destructive at least of
great numbers of isolated and defenceless people,
although probably with very small loss to the Boer
commanders, who would have made very short
work of the Zulu hordes. Peaceful as things now
are in and around Natal, it would be a great
mistake for the Colonists to neglect training every
man of capable physique in the efficient use of
his horse and rifle, with the least possible amount

128 SOUTH AFRICA.

of useless military pageantry. An elementary
knowledge of a few simple movements is all that
is required for actual warfare, but tTie ability to
shoot steadily and accurately is of paramount
importance, supplemented as it ought to be with
practice in taking every advantage of cover and
acquiring a good rough idea of unmeasured
distances. Artillery is hardly worth the cost and
trouble of transport in African warfare, but
machine-guns are very valuable weapons, with
which all fighting bodies of men, whether troops
or civilians, ought to be adequately supplied.
Natal is now enjoying responsible government
and its cost. However, as the country is not very
extensive, and the natives pay a very appreciable
amount of taxes, administrative expenses ought
to be, relatively to those of the other extensive
and thinly populated Colonies, much less burden-
some, and let us hope the spouting community
in the House will be able to enjoy its pastime
economically.

CHAPTER VIII.

ORANGE FREE STATE.

As a field wherein to give vent to the special
aspirations of the globe-trotting sportsman, this
little Republic holds out few attractions. Its vast
bare and shelterless prairies are denuded of the
countless herds of game life by which they were
formerly tenanted, and the whole territory is now
dotted with the rather widely detached homesteads
of stock farmers, the majority of whom are, of
course, Boers, although not a few of them are of
English descent A few villages, mostly inhabited
by general storekeepers, represent the urban
element Bloemfontein, the seat of Government,
is a thriving little place, and is adorned with public
buildings of dimensions seemingly exuberant for
its requirements, but very creditable, nevertheless,
to the aspirations of such a Liliputian Republic.

K

130 SOUTH AFRICA.

The place is reputed to be unusually healthy,
and a considerable number of consumptive sufferers
use it as a roadside resting-place on their way to
more permanent quarters. The whole place, how-
ever, is enveloped in a dense ecclesiastical atmo-
sphere, which eclipses the brilliant sunshine of the
natural article, and is hardly exhilarating to
visitors not in urgent search of vicarious ghostly
assistance. English " very-High- Church " officials
in queer hats and sacerdotal garb appear
spasmodically alert, and their immaculate philac-
teries flutter on the breeze in all directions, and are
no doubt effective instruments of edification to the
worshippers of clerical millinery. Fragile-looking
nuns, seemingly in sadly depressed spirits, glide
about the streets, and are, I believe, quartered in
a neighbouring nunnery, which, however, was not
built when I was last in this little metropolis.
Monks there may be too, for aught I know to the
contrary, as they are undistinguishable to the
profane eye from the present High Church priest-
hood. Anyhow I can strongly recommend the
place as splendid hunting quarters for aspirants
to the honours and emoluments of monkhood, or
appearances are more than usually deceptive.

ORANGE FREE STATE. I31

The general condition of the inhabitants of the
Orange Free State appears prosperous; although,
perhaps, fortunes are not accumulated, wellbeing
and content is a general characteristic of social
life. The absence of wood for fuel in most parts
of the country does not enhance the comforts of
either the traveller or inhabitant, especially as for
many months of the year a keen air prevails during
the day and the nights are decidedly cold. For
cooking purposes dung is but a poor substitute for
wood, and the scent of it in a calcined state
impregnates the food and atmosphere to an extent
only to be ignored by long-acquired habit.

The Free State has been fortunate on the whole
in the selection of its Presidents, and to young
republics nothing is more essential than the com-
petence of the head of the State, as his real
position is autocratic. His Parliament is helpless
as an initiating factor in politics, attributive to the
prevalent narrow-mindedness incidental to the
very limited education encouraged, or I may say
hitherto permitted, by the omnipotent Dutch
clergy. Signs are not wanting that the cleric will,
in this respect, soon have to simulate a change of
views, however disinclined he may be in reality.

132 SOUTH AFRICA.

Diamonds have been discovered and mined with
success in this Republic, but it does not appear
that any very marked results affecting the general
welfare have as yet occurred in consequence.
Indeed, the palmy days of diamond mining and
dealing are visibly on the wane. The market for
these indestructible gems has evidently been
glutted by the Kimberley output, and although
great skill has been employed to minimise the
natural, and eventually inevitable, effects of an
oversupply of such purely ornamental material,
prices have ominously declined of late, and stocks
in hand have accumulated to such an extent as to
threaten the necessity of selling at any price at
short date, or submitting to a ruinous retention
of dormant stock for an indefinite period. Un-
fortunately, diamonds do not wear out, and are
rarely lost, and the consequences of a glut of
mere ornamental gems are not difficult to foresee,
although likely to be lamentable enough to the
holders of stock, either in the shape of scrip or
stones, at no very distant date. In fact, the
prosperity of the diamond industry depends on the
maintenance of a very fragile artificial combination
of contingencies, not easily controllable even by

ORANGE FREE STATE. 133

a Rhodes, who is certainly a man of incomparable
business capacity in more ways than one, and who
is, I have no doubt, perfectly aware of the fact
that the existing diamond mines, if worked at
anything like high pressure, would swamp any
market reasonably to be reckoned on during the
next century. As a matter of fact, the output of
diamonds by the hundredweight is merely re-
stricted by the interests of a monopoly.

The outlook for the roving sportsman in the
Orange Free State is no longer a very tempting
one, although here and there a fair day's shooting
may be had. Springbucks are still visible in
places, bustards of four varieties are not very
scarce, and steinbuck, duiker, and rhebuck are far
from extinct. With a good dog a fair bag of
francolin may often be made, and in suitable places
wildfowl are plentiful enough. I hear there are
a few gnus and blesbucks still, but strictly
preserved in a few localities.

Agricultural pursuits are but faintly in favour
here, as the nature of the country and climate is
not as a rule suitable for these occupations on a
profitable scale. Here and there arable ground is
worked, and a fair crop (mostly oats) is to be seen

134 SOUTH AFRICA.

now and then. Maize, too, is to some extent
grown, but the crops are not strikingly luxuriant
in general. The Kaffirs also grow a little millet,
but the needful supplies of these cereals are mostly
imported from Basutoland.

The staple industry is therefore that of the
grazier, and considerable quantities of wool and
angora hair are exported. Upon the whole, as a
stockbreeding country, the Free State is second to
none, and superior to most of the pasture fields
of South Africa. Horses, too, are successfully
reared here, as the fatal African distemper, rightly
termed " horse-sickness," if not unknown, is at least
rarely destructive, and as its annual ravages in the
Transvaal cause a considerable demand for
remounts, a thriving business in horseflesh is a
considerable element of profit to breeders.

CHAPTER IX.

HOW THE DIAMOND FIELDS WERE ACQUIRED BY
ENGLAND.

Contemporaneously with the progress of the
trial of the Claimant for the illegal means he had
employed in the endeavour to substantiate a false
claim to the Tichborne estates, a land swindle of
infinitely more importance, if gauged by its
pohtical bearing and consequences, or by the value
of the interests involved, was being carried on with
success in a remote comer of South Africa. It
attracted very httle public attention at the time,
and has since been relegated to obHvion by a
profuse application of " hush-money," which
Government found it expedient to provide in
order to evade an exposure which represented
national disgrace, and by the obliterating effects
due to the lapse of time, combined with the
extreme excitement caused by the development

136 SOUTH AFRICA.

of the diamond mines. These mines absorbed the
attention of the South African public for some
years, during which the swindle was a working
factor for the benefit of its originators.

At the period alluded to a Gladstonian
Administration ruled the political roost, and Lord
Kimberley was at the head of the Colonial Office.
Mr. Gladstone was then a member of the " Little
England " party, and therefore bitterly averse to
Colonial extension as a principle; but the
apparent value of the diamond fields proved an
irresistible temptation to depart from the course
of policy which was then in the ascendant
Annexation was decided on finally, the excuse
offered being that by Imperial occupation only
could the confusion locally prevalent owing to
the weakness and incompetency of the Orange
Free State Government, which was in possession,
by purchase, of the richest diamondiferous area in
Griqualand West, be reduced to order.

The real motive probably was that by a cheap
acquisition of this glittering prize the Administra-
tion hoped to obtain an accession of popularity
and votes.

The difficulties of the assumed situation were

THE DIAMOND FIELDS. I37

very considerable, and involved the consideration
of the claims of the Orange Free State as well
as those of a multitude of settlers occupying
property within the diamondiferous area. Clearly
the position taken up by the Imperial Government
was one of usurpation, and the only way to convert
it into that of legal occupation was by the purchase
of existing rights, or, failing that, by invalidating
them in some less honest way. Government was
apparently very averse to pay in coin for these
properties, and thus the position was becoming
rapidly untenable. At this crisis, however, an
adventurer, by name David Arnott, came to the
rescue ; for a consideration he offered to invalidate
the claims above mentioned, by a pecuhar process,
provided he was allowed a free hand and no
questions were asked.

Upon these terms a bargain was struck, and the
fellow commenced his nefarious job. This Arnott
was a mulatto, reputed to be an illegitimate son
of a former Chief Justice in the Cape, named
Menzies, by a sable dam. Anyhow the Judge
behaved well in the matter, gave Arnott a good
education, and started him in life as a law agent
in the village of Colesberg, where his maternal

138 SOUTH AFRICA.

ancestress resided To the considerable mental
powers Arnott possessed others less admirable
were added, and after a few years of practice in
Colesberg, he found it advisable to remove to
Griqualand West, where he became Secretary and
adviser to Waterboer, one of the two reigning
chiefs in that country. The name of the other was
Cornelius Kok.

Arnott's scheme was to assert and endeavour
to substantiate an " ex post facto " claim on the
part of Waterboer to the position of having always
been paramount chief, and that, as a natural con-
sequence, all acts done by Cornelius Kok un-
authorised by Waterboer's sign manual were
invalid "pro facto."

This claim was an entire novelty — as fictitious
as new — and if Lord Kimberley had taken the
trouble to examine certain musty documents in
his office, he would have become cognisant of facts
proving the position of Kok as an independent
chief, acknowledged as such formally by the
British Government, and that Waterboer was never,
in the native sense of the word, a chief at all, but
inherited merely a "quasi" right to the position,
as being the son and heir of his father, who was

THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 139

a headman appointed by the London Missionary
Society to maintain order among the native
converts in and around their station at Griqua-
town.

Kok's chief village was, and is, called Campbell's
Dorp, and a deliminating line between his terri-
tory and that presided over by Waterboer was
established. The existing dilemma was an
awkward one, but Arnott solved it by forging some
documents, by the destruction of others, and by
falsification of the rest bearing evidence adverse
to the claim of paramountcy. For reasons which,
as Lord Dundreary says, " no fellow could under-
stand " without implying a charge of their dis-
honesty against the Administration, Arnott's
scheme was accepted and acted on. Officialdom
on the fields was remodelled ; two men — Bowker
and Buskes — in prominent positions too honest to
become " particeps criminis " in the swindle were
dismissed.

The claims of the Free State and of the numer-
ous British settlers who had acquired property
xmder titles conferred by Cornelius Kok thus
lapsed, in default of the signature of the fictitious
paramount chief, and Arnott triumphed all along

140 SOUTH AFRICA.

the line. In justice to Waterboer, it must be said
that he resisted for a time and ridiculed the position
imposed on him, but Arnott found means, by con-
verting him from a decent, respectable man into
a sodden idiotic inebriate, to obtain his assent to
the fraud in the end, and he consented to become
a Government pensioner to the tune of ;£^i,ooo per
annum. Most of the British settlers were ruined
and the Orange Free State ignored by the action
taken by Government ; but what of that ? It
obtained the diamond fields, and Arnott the
hundred square miles of land (supposed to be
diamondiferous) which was to be his reward for
successful bravado. Within the above mentioned
hundred square miles were many farms belonging
to British subjects ; most of them were persuaded
by armed parties of natives under Arnott to quit,
a small minority only holding out, and retained
possession in spite of sanguinary threats. Not
daring to resort to actual violence, Arnott deter-
mined merely to ruin these people by forcibly com-
pelling some small Kafhr tribes in the neighbour-
hood to quit their own kraals and standing crops
and encamp on the farms of the recalcitrant
settlers with their flocks and herds, and then, by

THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 141

destroying the pasturage, annihilate the live stock
belonging to the proprietors. This plan suc-
ceeded. Great numbers of cattle died of starva-
tion, but the stubborn Britons, although much
distressed, held on tenaciously till they were
relieved, four years afterwards, by the results of
the enquiry by the Royal Commission appointed
by Mr. Disraeli, very shortly after his accession,
and all the titles granted by Cornelius Kok were
confirmed.

Meanwhile these men had lost four years mere
profits, most of their live stock, and had to begin
life again. One of them I know computed his
losses incident on the Arnott swindle at ;6^ 12,000.

As for the poor devils of Kaffirs employed as I
have mentioned, their losses were even more
severe than those of the white settlers they were
compelled to ruin. Their standing crops were
destroyed during their enforced absence from home
by straying cattle, springbucks, and other causes ;
a great number of their live stock died ; and such
was the scarcity of food among them, that about
three hundred of their number perished from ex-
posure and starvation during the ensuing year.

All these enormities, with many others with

142 SOUTH AFRICA.

which I will not bore the reader, were perpetrated
under the auspices of the Imperial Government,'
which for once in a way made a very judicious
selection of its local representatives, in Griqualand
West, for the purpose in hand. As a matter of
fact, the appointees to office were, with few excep-
tions, men " under a cloud " more or less opaque.
One Richard Southey, who had been a protege
and hanger-on of Sir Harry Smith when that
gallant general was Governor of the Cape Colony,
was appointed Administrator of Griqualand West
This man belonged to a family of farmers in the
East Province, Cape Colony, noted for enterprise
and bravery in Kaffir warfare, and was himself
brimful of any amount of resolution and audacity.
Government could count on him implicitly to carry
out his instructions without any weak reference
to morality, and he was therefore no doubt the
right man in the right place during the Arnott
regime. Fastidious people might not exactly
admire his manners or his deficiency in education,
but at all events he was a good servant to a bad
Administration, and never, I believe, but once
incurred censure, and that was for a trifling charge
of ;i^i,500 expended by him at an orgie " all among

THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 143

the Hottentots" at Griquatown. On this occasion
this elderly Lothario capered about with his
Hottentot Venuses, in full uniform as Her
Majesty's representative, and no doubt had a good
time of it, albeit rather a costly one to taxpayers.

Another official obtained a most responsible
situation through the influence exerted to that
end by a personage who shall be nameless here,
on the ground that he had effectually aided in the
escape of an alleged criminal of high degree, and,
in fact, the whole lot, with perhaps one exception,
were brilliant examples of the skill Government
too seldom exhibits in the selection of its sub-
ordinate officers. At that time law in the diamond
fields was only an obstacle to be trampled under
foot at the caprice of the Administrator, justice
a subject of ridicule, and order — of a kind — only
enforced by the presence of troops occasionally
requisitioned from the Cape when, by sheer
tyranny, the diggers were at times driven to
extremities. This state of things continued till,
in consequence of the proceedings of the Royal
Commission and the judgment pronounced by
Judge Stockenstrom, a sudden end was put to it
by the Cape High Commissioner, Sir Henry

144 SOUTH AFRICA.

Barkley, who, by virtue of orders from home,
arrived at Kimberley in hot haste, and summarily
dismissed the Administrator, and almost all the
other officials — ^much to the joy of everybody else.

Shortly after this Major Lanyon was appointed
Administrator, and if he was deficient in tact and
talent, he was at least free from all tendency to
turpitude. In view, however, of the national
disgrace which disclosures made by the actors in
the Arnott swindle might make public, it became
imperative to provide against the probable danger
by making satisfactory provision for those in
possession of a dangerous knowledge of disgraceful
secrets. Arnott was silenced by a pension of, I
believe, ;£"i,ooo a year; Southey was not forgotten.
Indeed, all the subordinate actors in this disgraceful
affair were provided for at public expense, in some
shape or other.

This was certainly a chivalrous act on the part of
Mr. Disraeli's Government, if somewhat lacking in
wisdom considered from an ethical point of view and
in defiance of the sturdy maxim of " Fiat justitia,
ruat coelum." For my part, oblivious of possible
political exigencies, I, after reading Judge Stocken-
strom's summing-up speech, interviewed Major

THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 145

Lanyon with a view to enquire whether criminal
proceedings against Arnott were contemplated.
His reply to my question was in the aJEhrmative ;
he attributed delay simply to the non-arrival of
necessary documents hourly expected. I can't
explain this, but confine narration to facts. Per-
sonally, I was entirely disinterested in all Griqua-
land properties or affairs, but I shall never regret
having been able to give information to the Com-
mission which went far to expose this gigantic
swindle.

As a natural consequence, the Orange Free State
rights had to be acknowledged, and after some
delay the Imperial Government purchased these
for ;;^90,000 down and a promise of an additional
;£"i5,ooo at some future time to aid in railway con-
struction. The cheap and nasty Gladstonian
policy in Griqualand in the end turned out an
extravagantly costly business. From first to last
it is computed by competent judges to have cost
in mere money a loss of about two millions, in-
clusive of nearly ;^500,000 for the Griqua war
charges, about six hundred human lives, and the
loss of all confidence in the honesty of the British
Government Hush money has been annually

L

146 SOUTH AFRICA.

paid, at the expense of the taxpayers, for the last
twenty-one years. I have no means of estimating
the last-mentioned item with any precision, but
these payments can hardly have amounted to less
than ;^ 1 5 0,000 in addition. We are supposed to
be governed by responsible Ministers, but perhaps
this is only one of the prescriptive fictions John
Bull so dearly loves — and pays for. It may be
objected, with some show of plausibility, that the
cost of the Griqua war should not be included as
one chargeable to Gladstonian misdeeds, as the
actual outbreak occurred during Major Lanyon's
tenure of office as Administrator, but the fact
remains that the real "casus belli" was the dis-
affection of the Griquas at having been " sold " by
Arnott The first shots fired were caused by the
action of a magistrate appointed under the Arnott
regime, in conjunction with two other persons
whose acts of alleged injustice excited the natives
into a state of frenzy. Two of these gentlemen are
still living, but as I have eaten their salt I can do
no less than decline mentioning names or giving
publicity to the details of this lamentable episode.
There is, I suppose, an unwritten statute of
limitation absolving public men after the lapse of

THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 147

an undefined period from their responsibility for
political misdeeds ; in many cases it must be a
fortunate thing for them. The memory of the
electorate is notoriously very short, and the lapse
of time affords ample opportunity for the conceal-
ment of evil deeds by very old-fashioned methods.
Be that as it may, I have thought that an exposure
of this great but little-known swindle may be of
interest as marking distinctly the period at
which the political degeneracy of Mr. Gladstone
commenced

CHAPTER X.

THE TRANSVAAL.

Historically considered, the Transvaal is the
scene of disasters and disgrace to British prestige
which will long be remembered, the ultimate effects
of which have yet to be endured, and paid for, but
cannot be recouped at a price reasonably approxi-
mate to the value of the material interests involved.
It is difficult to pen a word on the subject of the
craven action by Mr. Gladstone after the fight on
Majuba Hill with any approach to patience or
equanimity, and it is still more difficult to under-
estimate the crass stupidity and ignorance of facts
exhibited in the instructions given to the officers
who were, in the course of duty, compelled to
conclude the humiliating Convention which ter-
minated the Boer war.

The action taken by the Imperial Government
in this case, fairly considered, admits of no excuse

THE TRANSVAAL. 149

or palliation — unless, indeed, abject panic can be
pleaded as such; it was a flight from imaginary
dangers very terrible to the eminently nervous
constitution of the then Prime Minister, but at
which a Lord Palmerston would have laughed.

Mr, Gladstone's rubbishy cant expression of his
extreme desire to avoid blood-guiltiness at the
expense of the Boers, and of his own magnanimity
to an enemy by whom he had been ignominiously
" sat upon," deceived none but those of his own
" goody-goody " admirers, whose supreme pride is,
it seems, to listen to and obey the eloquent and
generally mysterious utterances of his unmatched
capacity in casuistic dialectics. One of the " betes
noirs" which precipitated the cowardly action of
the Administration was a visionary idea that
possible action in the only • right direction would
cause a rebellious rising of the Africander popula-
tions of the Cape Colony and the Free State.
This was simply a " bogey " dressed up for a pur-
pose. Even upon the assumption that racial ten-
dencies might to a certain extent have influenced
the sympathies of Africander relationship, the
natural canniness of the race would in itself have
been sufficient to confine hostile demonstration

150 SOUTH AFRICA.

within the limits of speech, or at the utmost of
negligible action. As a mere matter of fact, the
passive weight of the British Colonial population
was more than sufficient to neutralise any of the
possible antagonistic dangers arising from the
causes named, and every man of British origin or
relationship in South Africa would have risen in
support of just and patriotic action on the part of
the Imperial Government. But peace at any
price was the order of the day.

The Transvaal war was a warning as exemplify-
ing the utter absurdity of the laborious and
disheartening system of the prescriptive military
training we so servilely copy from foreigners.
Our regiments — or at least those I then saw — ^were
composed of good-looking, serviceable young men,
faultless in "get-up," "military bearing," and so
forth ; good marchers, too, but, as it turned out,
utterly ignorant of the art of rifle-shooting, although
adepts at the "manual exercise." Both men and
officers were brave to an excess which astonished
the Boers, less in the way of admiration than as
indicative of a deficiency in common-sense.
Indeed, in every combat they stood their ground
till absolute slaughter, amounting once or twice

THE TRANSVAAL. 151

to more than 50 per cent of their scanty numbers,
compelled disaster. In the defence of the little
isolated camps occupied our tiny garrisons were
invincible, and it was in such places that they
managed, at the expense of an incredible amount
of ammunition, to inflict the greater part of the
loss sustained by the Boers during the war —
which amounted in all to about fifty men. In the
battles fought in the open the Boers lost at
Bronker's Spruit one man killed (a German named
Keyser, whom I knew), and their losses at
Lang's Neck, Ingogo, and Majuba could easily
have been counted on the fingers of two hands —
and leaving a digital balance to boot. Our losses
by shot amounted in killed and wounded to some-
thing like 1,200 men, if the statistics I have seen,
but have not now at hand, are correct. The Boer
army consisted of perhaps 5,000 or 6,000 men
scattered over a vast extent of country, and every
man not disabled by age or sickness served in it
Of these numbers perhaps half were growing lads,
and the rest of all ages up to sixty or upwards.
Our troops were well armed with Martini rifles.
The arms of the elite of the Boer army consisted
chiefly of Westley Richards' breechloading car-

152 SOUTH AFRICA.

bines of an obsolete pattern, with paper cartridges.
The remainder had a few breechloading rifles of
various descriptions and bores, but muzzle-loaders
of various sizes and sorts predominated until they
were replaced by captured weapons.

Not a unit in the Boer army knew anything
about "goose-steps," the "manual exercise," or
military formations, but every one obeyed primary
orders, and afterwards acted as his own general.
The result was that, strange as it may seem, they
actually out-manoeuvred our officers on all occa-
sions when tactics became a feature in the game,
and their fire was most destructive. I have warred
and hunted with Boers a good deal since making
their acquaintance some fifty years ago, and
observation of their shooting abilities impresses
me with the idea that although there are fair
numbers of very good shots among them, the
average performance is not by any means so
striking as that with which they are usually
credited. Indeed, I can see no reason why any
man with the necessary physique should not be
able to attain to their average standard in this
respect after, say, a fortnight's practice at varying
objects at reasonable distances. Mere formal

THE TRANSVAAL, 1 53

target-practice is in a general way merely a waste
of ammunition, regarded as instruction for field
work, and the absurd distances at which soldiers
are compelled to expend the greater part of their
far too scanty ammunition allowances a direct
cause of deficiency in skill applicable to warfare.
Inequalities in ground, woods, banks, hedges, and
other obstacles will always compel real fighting
to be restricted to within four hundred yards or
thereabouts, allowing, of course, an occasional
exception, rarely of much importance, in deciding
the event of an action.

After our defeat at Majuba the victors were
thoroughly ruined by the Fabian victories, their
food was completely exhausted, their cattle and
horses at Lang's Neck (chief camp) reduced to
skeletons — ^which would have become carcases
if they had been only exposed to one of the
storms of wind, rain, or snow to which they would
have been subjected by the advent of winter, which
in that elevated region sets in early in April,
one month after our causeless surrender on con-
ditions. Ten pounds would have amply repaid
Kaffirs for setting fire to the long dry grass on
the line of the retreat, which weather alone would

154 SOUTH AFRICA.

have compelled the Boers to attempt on the advent
of winter ; in fact, without firing another shot, they
must have surrendered at discretion, or succeeded
in finding shelter by capturing our strong fortified
positions in Natal — ^which to them would have
been certainly impregnable.

Our Goverrmient was either inexcusably ignorant
of the nature of the country, the climate, and of the
straits the enemy were reduced to, or wilfully
ignored these things from unpatriotic motives.

Shortly after peace was concluded, I sojourned
on a farm near the Oliphant's River for a few
months ; as the two sons of the Boer proprietor
had fought at Majuba, conversation often turned on
the recent campaign. I am bound to admit that
the Majuba exploit was never spoken of in a
boasting spirit by these young men, or, indeed, by
any of the victors with whom I came in contact.
From these conversations it was easy to gather the
opinion that when the Boers began to attack the
hill it was mainly with the intention of trying to
discover the nature and numbers of the troops
occupying the summit, and of taking pot shots at
long range at any of the very conspicuous white
helmets exposed. As the rocky nature of the

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 55

ground was favourable to a safe advance, and as
none of the English bullets hit anybody, the
assailants crept on till within easy shooting
distance, and then, being undismayed by the
harmless showers of shot which passed yards over
everybody's head, a rush for the top was made,
and here at last one Boer fell. Then the English
position was discovered to be mainly occupied
by the dead and wounded who had succumbed
to the accurate rifle fire of the Boers and a small
disordered mass of men still on their legs, which
soon dissolved under a deadly fire, took to pre-
cipitate flight, or surrendered as prisoners.

Such is a summary of a Boer account I heard of
this miserable action ; having conversed with many
of those who participated in the victory, I come
to the conclusion that the consensus of Boer
opinion is that if our troops could only have used
their rifles with moderate skill, the Majuba Hill
could not have been stormed with success. The
Boers, although individually brave, are traditionally
averse seriously to contest a battle in which a heavy
loss of life must be expended, and on occasions
when such a result seems probable they, as a rule,
very wisely retire and husband their scanty

156 SOUTH AFRICA.

numbers for a more propitious opportunity. I see
that in the opinion of those experts whose experi-
ence ought to count, the number of hits Hkely to
result from rifle fire in a general action is calculated
to amount to one-fifth of one per cent, of the
ammunition fired from the new magazine rifle. If
such is the case, or even if only a moderately
increased probability of improvement in the effects
of infantry fire may be assumed, it would really
seem advisable, considering the very scanty
numerical force of our army in proportion to the
work required of it, to take some effectual steps
to increase individual efficiency in the use of the
rifle, even if such a reform should infringe on the
excess of spectacular but somewhat frivolous and
vexatious occupations of our brave warriors.

As a matter of course, the retrocession of the
country inflicted a ruinous blow on those who had
put their faith in the permanency of Imperial
occupation, and invested capital on the strength of
their convictions, to say nothing of the losses in-
curred by individuals under the rank of capitalists,
who, actuated by the best motives, spent a good
deal of money in support of Government interests
during the war.

THE TRANSVAAL. 157

Personally, the war cost me about ;£"400, and
as, judged by an English standard, I am almost
criminally impecunious, the blow was at least
serious. Claims for compensation were indited it
is true, and I put in one for about £soo, which I
previously submitted to the opinion of a Resident
Magistrate, who pronounced it valid. Absence
compelled me to act vicariously, and, not being " up
to the ropes," I left no instructions for the applica-
tion of palm oil — a lubricant very effective, I sub-
sequently discovered — so I only netted a Govern-
ment cheque for the magnificent sum of £2y lOs.
in full discharge of my claim. Multitudes of
fictitious claims for large amounts, duly lubricated,
passed easily, and were paid to people who after-
wards freely boasted of their superior business
knowledge and of its accruing benefits, not
forgetting to inflict telling jokes at the expense
of less astute people.

As a matter of fact, the slippery, dishonest, and
cowardly conduct of the Gladstonian Government
of the period demoralised almost everybody, and
might be fairly pleaded as an excuse in mitigation
of mere minor delinquencies.

During the first months of the Transvaal war

158 SOUTH AFRICA.

I suffered very little annoyance from the Boer
authorities, and as it was conceded that I had done
the country some service in former days, Vilgours,
the Commandant of the Lechtenberg district, an
old friend, allowed me to retain my battery of
sporting weapons, besides giving me a protection
from all requisitions of war. As a recipient of such
favours I was then the only Englishman in the
country. As a prisoner on parole I therefore
quietly encamped on a vacated farm near
Lechtenberg, where blesbuck and other game was
plentiful, and passed a pleasant time awaiting the
effects of the British triumph which I could not
doubt as an approximate event.

However, a few weeks of this pleasant life
having passed, Jan Vilgours was ordered to the
front, and left this district. A rich, notorious
miscreant named Greiffe being appointed in his
stead, things got speedily unpleasant. Greiffe
stole my horses, and threatened ominously when
I complained, so I determined to break through the
Boer outposts at any risk, and if possible reach
the Kaffir territory of the Chief Monsioua. Of
course I knew that if taken in the attempt I should
be shot on the spot, but after consultation with

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 59

my son, we decided to try and save, by decamp-
ing, the rest of our property, consisting of two
waggons with their contents and twenty-four good
draught oxen.

Having decided on this step, we spanned-in the
waggons at once, and began our journey of fifty
miles through a hostile country. Fearing to travel
by the road, we bumped laboriously over rocks
and other impediments till the first midnight
arrived, when it became necessary to give the
oxen a rest, and for that purpose drove into a
thicket which completely concealed the bivouac.
A good watch on a cross road one hundred yards
in our front was kept in the bright moonlight, and
soon, to our dismay, a patrol of three men was
descried riding along slowly towards us. We
hurriedly decided to shoot these fellows if we
suspected they had discovered us, but seeing that
they passed on towards the village, quite uncon-
scious of our presence, we let them go in peace.
As soon as possible we then spanned-in, and,
after much fatigue and anxiety, approached the
frontier line just at nightfall on the next day.

Here we met a patrol of two men, but as our
force, inclusive of " boys," was superior, they were

l6o SOUTH AFRICA.

content to chat over matters in a friendly way,
and after accepting a " soupie " of smoke passed on
to their distant post. All was then plain sailing
enough, although the remainder of the journey
was performed in a tremendous thunderstorm, in
the midst of which we reached a Kaffir outpost,
where we met with hospitable welcome and re-
cruited by a twelve-hours' rest before leaving for
the Chief's kraal.

If any gentleman is curious to know the exact
condition of his nerves, and has the opportunity
of travelling through a hostile country at the rate
of two miles an hour, with his little " all " stowed
in two lumbering ox waggons likely enough to
smash up at any moment, I strongly advise him
not to neglect the opportunity, especially if he is
in the act of breaking his parole.

At Mafeking we were received by Mr. Bethill
and the Chief most kindly, and here we encamped
till the news of the English defeat arrived.

To describe the rage and shame, caused by the
surrender insisted on by Mr. Gladstone, through-
out South Africa is beyond my powers. I am by
no means an excitable man, but I must confess that
on this occasion I could not help giving way to a

THE TRANSVAAL. l6l

paroxysm of rage and humiliation of which even
now I do not feel at all ashamed.

The Transvaal mainly consists of an immense
elevated plateau, shelterless, and exposed to
terrific cold gales during the winter season, which
oblige the stock farmers to migrate to the low
bush country by which these vast prairie lands are
encircled. Waving crops of coarse sour grass
cover this elevated district, which are in a great
measure burnt off during the winter in order that
the stock returning from the bush veldt on the
advent of spring may have the benefit of the young
^ass — then green and succulent. When ripe, this
grass becomes unpalatable to stock of all kinds,
and then, of course, condition rapidly deteriorates,
and early in autumn very little milk is to be had,
and but very few cattle are fit for butchers' use.

The pasturage in the low-lying encircling bush
veldt is generaly of sweeter and better quality than
that of the " high veldt," but in summer much of
that country is scarcely healthy enough to attract
permanent settlers, and insect pests so annoy live
stock that they are not able to graze in the
leisurely way essential to animal prosperity.

Agriculture in the Transvaal is only possible to

M

l62 SOUTH AFRICA.

a limited extent, as arable land with water sufficient
for necessary irrigation is only to be found in
small patches, most of which are already worked
assiduously by the owners, although perhaps not
in the best possible manner. Every farm
almost has a few acres under cultivation — limited
by the amount of soil and water available, very
rarely exceeding ten acres, but generally of less
extent — ^possibly on a few farms one hundred acres
may be under the plough, and I have once seen
seventy-five acres of various crops on one farm in
the Zeerust district. As farms generally consist
of six thousand English acres, and often extend tfi
twenty or thirty thousand, agriculture cannot be
counted as a very prominent industry in a country
the whole, or nearly the whole, of which is settled
up to the mark of its competency to supply half
of a white population of perhaps a little more or
less than sixty thousand Boers of all ages and
forty-five thousand Europeans, mostly adults, with
the staple necessaries of life — the rest, together
with all luxuries, being imported. It may be that
some addition to the home-produced food supply
might be obtained by the employment of adequate
capital, more skilful methods, and increased

THE TRANSVAAL. ^ 1 6

O

industry, but at best the capabilities of the country
from an agricultural and pastoral point of view
are very limited and are handicapped by an unusual
number of adverse contingencies. In the years
which intervened between the cessation of British
occupation and the opening up of the gold fields
the sufferings of the people from poverty were very
distressing to witness, although some of them had
received considerable sums of money for land sold
to English speculators during the occupation, and
thus mitigated the severity of the situation. Had
the discovery of these gold fields been delayed a
^ttle longer, actual starvation affecting almost
everybody except the clergy and a few trading
firms would have made fearful havoc among the
poorer Boers, as the herds of game on which they
had mainly depended for food and hides had
disappeared, the victims of the most wasteful
slaughter imaginable.

As a desirable field for agricultural operations
the Transvaal is valueless, generally speaking,
although individuals near the gold fields, and other
favourable localities, are said to have made con-
siderable moneys at times by a species of market
gardening incapable of much extension. Stock-

1 64 SOUTH AFRICA.

farming is simply a waste of time, money, and
comfort, if the results of the business are calculated
on the average profits of periods extending over,
say, ten years, although at unfrequent intervals
a slice of luck may turn up. Owing to the
magnificent distances between villages and farms,
the services of horses or mules are indispensable
to all residents in this country, more especially to
farmers. As the ravages of the fatal " horse-
sickness " are annual causes of the loss of at least
half of this description of stock throughout the
whole territory, the item of deficit caused by this
inevitable scourge seriously affects the prosperity
of the country. About ninety-five per cent of
the animals attacked by this fell disease die, and
the survivors, however defective in desirable
qualities, being then considered acclimatised,
become high-priced mokes of decreased spirits.
Horses and mules exposed to the summer climate
of the low bush veldt generally die off en masse
during that and the autumn seasons. On high
elevations the sickness is also fatal, but not to
such a ruinous extent. Stabling seems to diminish
the liability to disease to some extent, but in that
case exposure to night air and dew, hardly to be

THE TRANSVAAL. 165

avoided by the horses or mules of travellers,
generally proves fatal. Indeed, in 1887, which was
the last time I visited Pretoria, nearly every stabled
horse in the town died, although at an altitude of,
I believe, about 4,000 feet above the sea-level.
How horse-owners have fared since I know not

The rapid development of the gold fields at
Johannesburg and elsewhere is one of the
historical events of the age, and if the output
continues to increase at the rate it has hitherto
done, these gold mines will rank as the most
productive in the world at no distant date. There
is, indeed, little fear of any falling-ofE in the
quantity of gold for an indefinite time, as the
auriferous area still untouched is simply immense.
Continued success is, however, mainly dependent
on an uninterrupted supply of cheap Kaffir labour,
in default of which most of the mines would have
to " close down," and a case exemplifying the
theory of the " survival of the fittest " would soon
become the order of the day. Meanwhile there is
little apparent cause for much fear on these
grounds. These gold mines are entirely worked
by companies, and as there is no alluvial deposit,
they are wholly unsuitable for the working miner

l66 SOUTH AFRICA.

of any European race, who would certainly starve
on the wages which satisfy the Kaffir.

Very few individual Kaffirs work more than a
few weeks or months on the gold fields, which they
come to with a view to obtain a certain fixed sum
previously determined on, and having achieved
their specific object, depart, and are replaced by
fresh arrivals. Indeed, the majority of these black
labourers are sent by their Chief to work for his,
and their, own benefit conjointly, and on their
return to the kraal a division of the acquired spoil
ensues as a matter of course. House rent, taxes,
and the other expenses of a white man on these
fields are very serious amounts, only earnable by
skilled artisans, of whom there is always rather
more than an ample supply.

The a'dministration of the government of this
Republic is wholly in the hands of the President,
Paul Kruger, and a clique of his favourite
Hollanders. There is a Parliament, Council, or
Raad, but, although not quite dumb, any re-
calcitrant member is very effectually silenced by
the omnipotent Paul, who, on any symptom of
opposition, rages in fierce texts from the Old
Testament at the offender, who then incontinently

THE TRANSVAAL. 167

trembles in his shoes in anticipation of wrath to
come. Oftentimes these little scenes are varied
by threats of Presidential resignation, and on such
occasions apologies, regrets, and promises of
amended behaviour for the future is the scene upon
which the curtain is lowered, as the President picks
up his stove-pipe hat, retires to enjoy a smoke,
and, if in a liberal mood, indulges in a cup of
coffee. His Honour Paul Kruger would in any
other country than that in which he rules be looked
upon as an extremely eccentric personality, repre-
sentative of ideas long since obsolete, but manfully
adhered to in defiance of the presence of modem
"progress." His great popularity with that large
majority of his constituents called " Doppers " is
based on the profession and practice of a hard
and fast puritanic regime, resembling that of
Cromwellian times, upon the possession of a large
amount of common-sense, a good reserve of
"cunning," and undeniable personal courage. His
literary acquirements are, or were till very lately,
limited to a very intimate acquaintance with the
sacred Hebraic records B.C. As a personification
of extreme thrift he excels, and as far as mere
utility is concerned ;^500 a year would supply him

l68 SOUTH AFRICA.

with every enjoyment just as well as the ;^8,CK)0
he earns as President. But perhaps dissipation
in the form of hoarding may be very pleasant
pastime to the initiated, if they can only manage
to ignore the extreme uncertainty of life, and the
speed with which it passes on to the extreme limits
only occasionally accorded.

In his younger days Paul was a " mighty hunter
before the Lord," and flourished exceedingly on
the profits made by the extensive tanning work
he was skilled in. Game of all kinds abounded
near his large estate in the Rustenberg district,
and any quantity of hides was easily obtainable,
as were also bark and other necessary articles.
On this estate several hundred Kaffirs, under a
headman named Kamian, were located and
educated so far as to know that they were to
perform all the varied duties of Gibeonites to
the utmost endurable limits. These people were
not ruled with rods of iron, and I never heard
that whips of scorpions were employed to discipline
them, but other instruments made of rhinoceros or
hippo hide are very effective persuaders when
wielded by muscular feocrS, and the muscle and
the whips were always to hand when requisite.

THE TRANSVAAL. 169

Gibeonites, and black ones at that, generally had
to put up with a good allowance of " Sambok "
treatment in those days, especially at the hands
of the elite of the puritanical pietists, whose
principles and practices were then in the ascendant.
Kamian and his people at last got tired of this sort
of thing ; suddenly fled over the Marico, in a body,
locating themselves very comfortably in a suitable
place, where the tribe still lives in peace. Soon
after this Kafhr exodus Paul began to take an
active part in the curious politics of the country,
and acted as Commander-in-Chief in several little
wars, mostly with success. Shortly after the
Transvaal war he was elected as President, and,
in spite of his antiquated notions, the Republic has
thriven wonderfully.

No deficiencies on the part of the Government
could have arrested the prosperity of a country
containing such successfully developed gold fields
as those of Johannesburg, which began to attract
efficient capital some three or four years after the
signing of the Majuba Convention. Till that time
poverty had reigned supreme, and unless the
discovery of profital , gold mines had been
timely made, the country would soon have been
depopulated by emigration and starvation.

1 70 SOUTH AFRICA.

The country is eminently a black man's land,
except as regards its mineral resources, as here the
Kaffirs can in many situations, and without
irrigation, raise the scanty crops of maize, millet,
and, pumpkins upon which they contrive to live
and thrive ; and, living as they do under chiefs
who administer their traditional semi-criminal
laws, they are enabled to mitigate to a great
extent the evils of indifferent pasturage by the
frequent shifting of their flocks and herds, which
seems, indeed, to be indispensable to the best
attainable success in African stock-breeding
operations.

Each white farmer in the country, of course, lives
on his own property, and is thus debarred from
the advantages the Kaffirs enjoy under their own
social system, which suits them well, as they are
by no means so addicted to litigation and
quarrelling as their white Christian co-inhabitants.
Of course Kaffirs indulge more or less in tribal
warfare, which, however, is generally of a very
bloodless character (except when Zulus are con-
cerned), and each man in his own tribe lives
peacefully with his fellows. In spite of heathenism
and polygamy, I have never witnessed in their

THE TRANSVAAL. I7I

kraals any of those outbreaks of brutality or
indecency so prominently characteristic of large
sections of our civilised community. The Kaffir
population of the Transvaal greatly outnumbers
that of the whites, and upon the whole they now
enjoy good times, although in outlying districts,
such as Zoutpansberg, they are, or were a short
time ago, miserably fleeced by the officers employed
to collect the taxes.

The Government has persistently winked at
these practices, and allowed the local officers a
free hand. As a consequence, war broke out this
year (1894), which might have taxed the Boer
power very severely for years to come had the
Kaffirs taken united action. As it was, they mis-
managed matters, failed to support the common
cause by concerted action, and were defeated.
Had the paramount Chief, Magato, supported his
feudatories, as it was expected he would, the war
might have been prolonged for years, and, whether
victorious or not in the end, the Republic of the
Transvaal would have been by far the heavier
loser, as Magato's territory is singularly capable
of defence from its inaccessible nature to horse-
men, or wheel transport, and so forth. If,

172 SOUTH AFRICA.

previously to the war with Malabock, to which I
am now alluding, the Kaffirs had been able, or
wise enough, to have made their case a subject
of arbitration by disinterested judges, the Boer
claim of sovereignty over the greater part of the
Zoutpansberg district could not have been main-
tained As it is, the Kaffirs have possibly
forfeited, or at least very much enfeebled, their
right to discuss the general question of ownership.

Upon the whole, looking the fact in the face
that two-thirds of the revenue of the Transvaal
is raised by the oppressive taxation of resident,
capitalists and others of the European races
(chiefly British), who are refused political rights,
and for many other reasons too numerous to go into
here, the life of this Republic, on its present footing
at least, is unlikely to be a prolonged one, especially
if the extension and consolidation of European
power and influence on the African continent is
to emerge from the tentative, and assume a
definite and permanent character.

It is simply absurd that a little community of
the most narrow-minded and ignorant people on
the face of the earth should be allowed to occupy
a position giving them control over interests in

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 73

the country worth at least ninety-five per cent, of
those of the Boers — of powers of obstruction and
annoyance in many directions, which, as shown by
experience, they have a strong inchnation to make
use of on every possible occasion. Meanwhile, it
is also high time that the meaning of the term
suzerainty should be accurately defined — the duties
and powers of the suzerain elucidated, in order
that they may be carried efficiently into action
when requisite for the protection of that important
section of the Transvaal population now kept
outside the pale within which the " Chosen People "
monopolise the right of inflicting any amount of
exorbitant taxation, and of exacting military
service ad libitum, minus pay, food, medical
attendance, or, indeed, any of the arrangements
necessary to the welfare of troops in a campaign.
This has been prominently evidenced lately by
facts in connection with the late Malabock war,
Her Majesty's High Commissioner at the Cape
having had occasion to make a special journey to
Pretoria to supplicate for the more indulgent
treatment of British subjects by His Honour Paul
Kruger and his myrmidons. Some sort of arrange-
ment has been patched up in consequence, but it

174 SOUTH AFRICA.

still remains optional with Paul Kruger to evade
performance should caprice incline him to that
line of action. We are in duty bound, I hear, to
be thankful for the smallest mercies, and, if so,
we ought to feel grateful that Uncle (Oom) Paul
abstained on this occasion from " sitting on " our
Queen's representative, which he would certainly
have done had Mr. Gladstone been Prime
Minister, if only to gratify the well-known taste
for " long-suffering " characteristic of the G.O.M.,
and as some acknowledgment of the debt owing
on the score of the " magnanimity " treatment of
which he (Paul) was the imaginary recipient after
his Majuba victory.

Paul is not a man to laugh much at any time,
but he is said for once to have resisted the
impulse to indulge in that weakness most
boisterously, and that was when some one was
kind enough to read to him Mr. Gladstone's
exculpatory speech on the subject of the notorious
Convention with the Boer Triumvirate of which
Paul formed the prominent unit.

And now it may not be amiss to add a few lines
embodying my opinions on the strained relations
so long existing between the Transvaal oligarchy,

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 75

the Imperial Government, and the Chartered
Company, with the addition of an attempt to
delineate the Boer character, and some of his
habits, of which, for the most part, the authors of
books on South Africa seem to me to entertain
very elementary and superficial ideas, merely
touching on such obvious facts and appearances
as the most secretive, clannish people in the world
expose to the view of Philistine travellers and
sojourners within their gates.

It may be taken for granted that the British
public is by this time quite sufficiently acquainted
with the principles and details influencing the
questions at issue between the Uitlanders and the
Krugerian Government, and not a little wearied
of being spectators of casuistic combats between
Paul Kruger and Mr. Chamberlain, which combats
are prolonged by the former merely with a view
to gain time and concentrate any strength Kruger
may acquire as the result of intrigues with any
important European Power, or of those which are
quietly but unremittingly employed to stir up
hostile demonstrations among the rustic Africander
population of the Cape Colony.

Surely the time has come when, if the Convention

176 SOUTH AFRICA.

of 1884 is to be maintained as the groundwork
of British paramountcy in South Africa, it should
be made apparent that the position is one of right,
and not as that of a mere claim to be disputed,
evaded, and frittered away by the Transvaal
Government as being a concession on its part,
enforced under protest, and therefore to be ignored
at will whenever the opportunity for doing so may
seem propitious. Until the position above alluded
to has been defined specifically, and thus removed
from the field of controversy, the elements of strife
between the Imperial Government and the Trans-
vaal will continue to smoulder, and unrest possibly,
or rather probably, culminate in hostilities. But
without prophesying, it is certain that if the Trans-
vaal Government continues to play fast and loose
with the Uitlanders' demand for an amelioration
of their grievances, and to impose upon them the
contemptible position of its mean Gibeonites to
hew its wood and draw its water to order, so long
will the peace of South Africa be dangerously
jeopardised, and a minimum development of its
resources, which are mainly mineral, will naturally
result

Taking all things into consideration, I think the

THE TRANSVAAL. I 77

Uitlanders would, for the present at all events,
do well to drop active agitation for the franchise, as
even if it were granted it would be so surrounded
by limitations as to be useless. Instead, insist, to
the limits of peace, on just and fair recognition
of the material grievances as affecting commercial
interest, and on a total change in the attitude of
the Transvaal Government as it affects adversely
their just interests and possible prosperity.

To use a slang but expressive Yankeeism, the
Transvaal President, who is practically an autocrat
of a pronounced type, is actuated by a spirit of
pure "cussedness" in all his dealings with any
community outside the little class of those he
fanatically believes to be the " Chosen People,"
and of whom he is the archpriest and prophet.
The immunity from penalties, which he has so
many times incurred, warrants him in supposing
that the patience of the Imperial Goverrmient
knows no limits. If its officials allow themselves
to be deceived by specious words and promises,
they incur the responsibility of the issue of dealings
with a man who recognises no obligation to keep
faith with Philistines. The spirit I have alluded
to as the actuating factor of Kruger, and his clan,

N

178 SOUTH AFRICA.

is not one which can be referred to as expressive
of a mere exigency meant to confront an
emergency, but is an ingrained irreducible article
of faith which knows of no doubt or limitation.
The mischief which must one day, sooner or later,
result from persistence in such fanatical actions
must be prevented by the use of force in some
shape or other — amoral if possible, physical if
necessary. Unless this principle is acted upon,
evil days, with civil war, and a struggle for
supremacy in South Africa are imminent

That the Transvaal Government is prepared to
show its teeth, and use them too, if a favourable
occasion presents itself, is quite clearly proved by
the excessive amount of arms of every description
it has lately imported ; and I use the term excessive
advisedly, I think, as not only is the Transvaal abso-
lutely immune from the remotest danger of hostile
aggression from any quarter, but the armament it
possesses is sufficient for the equipment of four
times the number of burgher warriors it could put
into the field. In the absence of exact statistics
this may be approximately estimated at between
fifteen and eighteen thousand men between the ages
of sixteen and sixty — and of these at least one-

THE TRANSVAAL. I 79

third would be physically unfit for anything but
sedentary employment for defensive purposes.

This being so, it naturally follows that without
being unduly suspicious it may be concluded that
the Transvaal Government has, or thinks it has,
arranged for outside support The enigma as to
the quarter from whence it is to be obtained, and
as to the objective of hostile aggression on its part,
remains unsolved, but is nevertheless worthy of
the consideration of the Imperial Government
Possibly, when the question as to the amount of
the indemnity to be paid to the Transvaal on
account of the Jameson Raid comes under dis-
cussion, some light may be thrown on these
questions, as the extravagantly insulting amount
claimed can be considered only as a direct challenge
intended to raise an issue, but by no means as an
account likely to be seriously entertained with a
view to payment I may, of course, be mistaken,
but surely all the evidence we have goes to prove
that the main object of the Transvaal Government
for the present is to gain time to formulate and
organise with a view to future hostile action; and
if so, it most certainly follows that the first duty
of the Imperial Government is to insist on a prompt

l8o SOUTH AFRICA.

settlement of all matters in dispute on a practical
and satisfactory basis. Failing which, an ultimatum
is the only alternative — always supposing that all
demands on the Transvaal are framed in a
thoroughly just and even a conciliatory spirit

However, I am not concerned to go into details
as regards the present accumulating political
troubles in South Africa. I trust that public
opinion in England is becoming aware of the fact
that all these complications may be traced to the
effects of Mr. Gladstone's imbecile and sentimental
policy, consequent on the result of our miserable
little disaster at Majuba, and that safety for the
future can be secured only by reverting to a course
within the bounds of practical politics.

To attempt a description of the Transvaal, com-
pressed within the limits which I have decided on,
would be a vain endeavour, but it may suffice to
say that in appearance at least it would compare
favourably with any part of South Africa. A
traveller passing over its upland in the summer
season, looking over a boundless expanse of grass
waving in the wind like a corn crop, would at once
naturally conclude that, limited as its arable area
is, at any rate it is surely a rich pastoral country.

THE TRANSVAAL. l8l

He would fail to realise the fact that this herbage
is coarse, sour, and unacceptable to domestic cattle
except for the few weeks in the year when the
young grass springs up on patches which have been
burnt off during the winter. Then bleak weather,
with violent gales, oblige the Boers to take, or
send, their cattle into the sheltered belts of low
bush veldt by which this immense plateau is sur-
rounded at a lower level, and where the grass, if
not very nutritious or plentiful, is at any rate not
unacceptable to cattle.

Under these adverse circumstances the Transvaal
Boer contrived to exist while the myriads of
ruminating game, such as elands, blesbucks, and
other antelopes blackened the plains and not only
provided him with meat but with hides which he
could readily barter away for the few groceries
and clothes he required, without diminishing his
scanty arid gradually decreasing herd of cattle by
killing or selling out of it The squalor in the
midst of which the generality of the Transvaal
Boers were quite content to exist during what
may be termed the " Game period " was something
which can hardly be imagined by Europeans —
even if perchance they have visited the very worst

1 82 SOUTH AFRICA.

parts of the West of Ireland. There were, of
course, exceptions to this rule, but they were few
and far between, and in these individual instances
consisted of men who had left the Cape Colony
comparatively rich in flocks. Hundreds were
eating up their capital in a country where to hope
for any reasonable increase of live stock from mere
breeding sources is a delusion. In spite of the
frequent mention of " Our beloved country " and
so forth in official documents, the Boers have really
no attachment to it in the patriotic sense of the
word, and since the final extermination of the game
their only wish has been to " trek " to any available
country now suitable to the successful pursuit of
the only industry of which they are capable — that
of stock farmers.

With a view to a wholesale exodus, they have
been continually fitting out expeditions for the
discovery of a promising country ; all expeditions
have been disastrous failures from one cause or
another, but chiefly from the enmity of the fever-
fiend and thirst No doubt they would have anti-
cipated Mr. Rhodes and occupied Matabeleland
long ago could they have persuaded their leaders
to organise an expedition strong enough to attempt

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 83

an invasion, but as the leaders were mostly men
in official positions, who were, as a rule, making
their small piles by a systematic pillage of the
Kaffir tribes within or near the Transvaal
boundaries, an organised movement in sufficient
strength became hopeless. Shortly after the
restoration of the country by England, poverty
and famine prevailed to an extent which will never
be known to any but eyewitnesses, of whom I was
one ; and had the discovery of gold been delayed
for a very few years, the Transvaal would have
become a huge cemetery for the majority of its
inhabitants. This may seem now to be an
exaggerated view of the situation prevailing at
the period alluded to, but it is nevertheless a sub-
stantially correct one. The providential discovery
of gold alone averted a catastrophe in the very
nick of time, just as Sir Bartle Frere's destruction
of the Zulu power had previously saved the Trans-
vaal from wholesale massacre, which, ruined and
but poorly furnished with obsolete arms, and no
ammunition to speak of, the Boers would have been
powerless to escape from, or at best could only
have saved their Uves by flight and by sacrificing
the whole of the live stock on which they were

184 SOUTH AFRICA.

dependent for a living. The usual result of in-
debtedness thus incurred has intensified the enmity
of the Boers towards their benefactors, and
although they must know that every one of them
is indebted in a greater or less degree to the
industry, skill, and enterprise, to say nothing of
capital of Englishmen, the only acknowledgment
they have made has been signally displayed by an
accentuated expression of contempt, hatred, and
oppression for the very people to whom most of
them are indebted for their lives, and all for the
prosperity they now enjoy.

Notwithstanding the facts which prove the
justice of the above allegations, these wretched
and intensely ignorant people have conciliated the
admiration of a considerable clique in England
and on the Continent, by whom they are credited
with all kinds of patriotic and domestic virtues.
If a love of their country can be assumed from
the fact that they have already sold almost every
square mile of it, of any present or prospective
value, to mining companies or speculators, they
may claim the title awarded to them, but on no
other grounds. Meanwhile, the much-abused
Uitlander is the proprietor of more than half of

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 85

the Transvaal area and of nineteen-twentieths of
the entire assets of the territory which I have just
managed to escape calling a republic.

Having previously adverted to the system of
plunder of which the Kaffirs are the victims at the
hands of the minor officials of the Goverrmient, I
will mention one instance of it which is within my
own knowledge, and which occurred just previously
to leaving the Transvaal, some eight or nine years
ago, and while I was on a visit to Zoutpansberg.
In this case a party of some twenty Kaffirs were
returning to their homes from the Randt gold
fields, which were then just beginning to promise
a rich harvest, and had nearly passed an official
residence when they were halted to order and
called upon to answer a charge of having washed
in the water-furrow belonging to the official in
question at a point some two miles or so distant
from the homestead. They were at once summarily
convicted without trial, and had to submit to having
their packs opened, the confiscation of the cash
found in them, and, if memory does not deceive
me, the exact sum extracted was a few shillings in
excess of £47. The Kaffirs were then allowed to
proceed on their way, and to retain their blankets

l86 SOUTH AFRICA.

and other trifles. But to go into details of the
isolated cases of sheer barbarity of which parties
of Kaffirs travelling home after a spell of work —
either on the sugar plantations of Natal or from
the gold fields — ^have been made the victims, would
be to write a series of " shockers " differing only
from those usually published under that title as
being narratives of fact as distinguished from
fiction. For many reasons I decline the task in
favour of the historian of the future, should such
an individual turn up.

It must be borne in mind, too, that any narrative
of mine would be strictly confined to circumstances
within my personal cognisance, and therefore in-
complete, and would relate to events of past times
, occurring some time between 1 870 and 1 890. If
we may judge from current reports and occasional
newspaper paragraphs, the system has been per-
petuated— although possibly the more flagrant acts
of barbarity may have been eliminated as a rule.

In fact, the animus and actions of the Transvaal
Government are a disgrace to civilisation, and that
it is allowed to control the lives and fortunes of
the British and other Uitlanders upon whom it
preys is discreditable — to use a mild term — to the

THE TRANSVAAL. 187

Imperial Government The sufferings are evidently
irritating to the French Government at least, many
of whose subjects are largely interested in the
gold industry, the prosperity of which it is the
policy of the Transvaal Government to minimise
or destroy, with a view of depressing the share
market till measures are ripe for bringing out the
companies and converting the property so secured
into a huge Government monopoly.

Indeed, in the existent state of things it is simply
absurd to prate about British supremacy, para-
mountcy, conventions, and the rest, unless such
pressure is applied as will compel the Transvaal
oligarchy to abandon its Chinese attitude once for
all and link hands with all concerned in developing
the latent resources of South Africa. However
inferior the country may be in what I will call
surface value, it is more or less throughout a highly
mineralised country but very slightly prospected.
Whether such a disagreeable state of things can
be consummated peaceably or otherwise remains
to be revealed, but the sooner a crisis of some sort
is brought about the better. Otherwise dangers
and difficulties will continue to increase, and it
can hardly be wise or creditable to defer finalities

l88 ^ SOUTH AFRICA.

till we may possibly be involved in the great
contest which seems to threaten the peace of
Europe within measurable time.

It must not, however, be inferred from the tone
I have adopted that I am in favour of heroic
action. It is certain that if the Imperial Govern-
ment fails to enunciate a definite policy embodying
the principle of continuity as a basis, all assertion
of paramountcy will amount to a farce very likely
to terminate in a tragedy.

The perusal of many works on South Africa
has led me to conclude that among the authors of
those productions a very decided and favourable
opinion of the religious and moral character of the
Boers is usually expressed. For my own part, in
the absence of any definite standard which
authorises one to pronounce judgment on such
very recondite matters, or to appraise the value of
any man's religious belief, or practice, I feel
incompetent to advance any decided opinion. I
shall confine myself to a narrative of the impres-
sions gathered from a close observation of overt
facts during a residence among these peculiar
people extending over at least a generation.

The real unsophisticated Boer is perhaps more

THE TRANSVAAL. 189

priestridden than it is easy for an ordinary
Englishman to understand. When you know him
intimately, and are careful to avoid controversial
topics, it very soon becomes apparent that his
religion is largely conventional, and so interwoven
with superstition that an expert alone could assign
it an adequately descriptive name, or appraise
approximately its spiritual value. The priesthood,
or ministers, among these people enjoy the advan-
tage of being credited by their congregations
with semi-supernatural endowments as being the
accredited brokers or agents through whom alone
all spiritual business can be effectually transacted,
and are habitually spoken of as " Gezent van den
Heires " (Heaven-sent Messengers), and it is there-
fore not surprising that these envoys accept the
position with its accruing advantages, acquire a
good deal of property, and enjoy to the fullest
extent at least " otium " and locally at least a large
allowance of the " dignitate." I use the word
locally advisedly, as neither their manners nor
culture would suffice as claims to a share of the
latter distinctions amongst any other than the
semi-civilised community they exploit. These
reverend persons as a rule confine themselves to

1 90 SOUTH AFRICA.

the performance of ritualistic duties, and ignore
all intimacy with their disciples outside the church
walls, or, if they do pay an occasional visit to some
of the richest of them, that is the extent of their
extra-mural labours. A poor Boer family need
never fear being made the objects either of their
charity or condescension.

The criminal statistics of the Transvaal may be
ignored as any guide to the amount of existent
oflFences against the law, but as a matter of justice
I feel bound to say that crimes of violence or
larceny are of rare occurrence among the Boers
(always exclusive of their dealings with the
natives), neither can they justly be accused of
drunkenness or rowdyism.

On the other hand, it is a matter of notoriety
that incest prevails amongst them to an extent
happily unknown elsewhere. Such at least was
the case when I was a Transvaaler. As sub-
stantiating this charge, I may mention that some
of the last months I spent in the Transvaal were
passed in the district of Middelburg ; that within
a radius of not more than ten miles from my camp
three abnormally atrocious cases of the crime
alluded to were notorious, and had been so for

THE TRANSVAAL. 191

some years. The law was in none of them used
as a deterrent agent ; stranger still, the guilty
parties forfeited no social standing as a conse-
quence of their universally admitted guilt — although
illicit connection with coloured females entails a
sentence of the severest form of ostracism. So
much for the prevalent habit of the almost
universal customs of straining at gnats and
swallowing camels as easily as oysters. Obviously
I am compelled to omit mentioning the names of
all these criminals, but am not precluded from
indicating their personalities. Sad to say, perhaps
the worst offender was a rich old Boer of pious
proclivities, inasmuch as at his homestead church
services were usually performed once a quarter,
and that he was an elder of the congregation.
Another of those to whom I allude was a field-
cornet in Goverrmient service ; and the third
implicated was, I must admit, considered
a loose character all round, and was only
just tolerated by his neighbours, but the
objection to his society was consequent on
rowdyism, not on the guilt incurred by
the commission of the crime I name. I have
no reason to think that these practices were at

192 SOUTH AFRICA.

all more prevalent in the district I have mentioned
than in any other, and if I were inclined I could
enumerate many cases quite as notorious and
easily to be authenticated in various other parts
of the country. The subject is, however, a dis-
tasteful one to dilate upon in detail ; I should
have avoided mentioning it had it not been
necessary to elucidate the very peculiar features
of the religious and moral life of the Boers — some
of whom I have known to quote texts from the
Old Testament exculpatory of those guilty of this
sin.

The library of a Transvaaler is one of the com-
pactest possible, and is often comprised in the
possession of a huge brass-bound Family Bible.
The most treasured is one full of engravings repre-
senting Biblical events and personalities, not to
mention others whose habitat is said to be either
in more blissful regions than we are at present
acquainted with, or in the horrible depths of the
infernal territories. The normal Boer firmly
believes that these engravings are as correct in
details as photographs. Sometimes, or perhaps
generally, a few hymn-books swell the tale, and —
that is all. The clergy discourage as much as

THE TRANSVAAL. I93

possible the perusal of any other kind of literature ;
the Boers have no desire to disobey their behests.
These people, indeed, rarely read anything but
Old Testament records, and profess to find in them
all the spiritual nutriment they need, evidently
considering the New Testament as a work of
secondary importance, although they are by no
means inclined to forego the title of Christians.
Right or wrong, such is a sketch of the impressions
in regard to Boer religion which have been forced
upon me by obser\'ations, and I merely mention
them for what they are worth, be it much, little,
or nothing.

The insane rage for the acquisition of territory
in Africa which prevailed a few years ago seems
fortunately to be abating as the knowledge of the
unfitness of the country generally for permanent
occupation by European races increases, but even
now the influx of immigrants in search of the
rapid fortunes they so foolishly hope to make
either at Johannesburg or in Rhodesia is threaten-
ing a catastrophe of serious import in the near
future, as the Cape Colony, the Transvaal, the
Orange River Free State, and Natal are being
rapidly denuded of a sufficient supply of food for

o

194 SOUTH AFRICA.

the existing sparse populations. If the rinderpest
should, in the southern parts of the country, rage
with the virulence it has done in the more northern
districts, actual famine will certainly result. The
territories I have mentioned are, even at their
best, too sterile to support a sufficient supply of
live stock adequately to supply present demand.
It is fruitless to expect that the gaps already made
in the cattle stock by rinderpest and increasing
droughts can be filled up within the necessary time.
Unpopular as my opinion may be, it is full time
to confess that South Africa is, if we except its
mineral productions, one of the poorest countries
on earth, and that everywhere Nature opposes
successfully all attempts at improvements on
anything like an important scale.

People point in vain to the speed with which
countries like Australia and Argentina recuperate
after suffering severe losses of stock from drought,
and argue that South Africa might do the same.
They forget the fact that in the countries alluded
to the herbage is all, or nearly all, acceptable to
all kinds of live stock, which therefore rapidly
increases; that in South Africa the exact reverse
is the case, at least eighty per cent of the grass"

THE TRANSVAAL. 1 95

and bush being distasteful, and in many districts
even poisonous, to the live stock. These remarks
do not apply to some of the Karroo districts, where
the herbage, although very sparse, is fairly good
for sheep.

At the present moment, although the revenue
shows well, thousands of natives and hundreds of
white people are dying of fever and famine in
various directions, and but little notice is taken of
these horrors — and the end is not yet. To an
English reader this state of things seems para-
doxical, but is explained by the fact that the
Government coffers are filled by the rush of trade
to the diamond and gold centres over Govern-
ment lines of rail ; by customs dues and the like
on goods in transit. These goods are paid for in
gold and gems, and the profits become the property
of foreign or English shareholders and speculators ;
only the fraction of a small percentage remains
in the country to benefit the Colonist, who, as a
rule, lives in a hand-to-mouth fashion perforce.

If the country could pay for its imports in wool
or other pastoral products, naturally all surplus
profits would be enjoyed by the inhabitants of
the land, but as these products are only worth

196 SOUTH AFRICA.

between three and four millions per annum, com-
parative or actual poverty stares the South African
colonist full in the face, and in the event of any-
thing occurring to preclude the profitable working
of the diamond and gold mines nothing could save
the country from insolvency, seeing that its debt
alone amounts to more than twenty-seven millions.
The interest on this debt is mainly dependent for
realisation on the output of minerals. If this or
anything like it is true as regards the present and
prospective situation, how then is it that Cape
securities rule so high? We live in a gambling
age, and no amount of financial temerity is sur-
prising. Anyhow, intending emigrants to this
country, or to Rhodesia, will do well to pause
before they decide to embark, and to bear in mind
that living in the golden city costs at least three
times as much, and in Rhodesia ten times as much
as in England ; that the prices for provisions,
and as a consequence of all necessaries, are rising
rapidly, and such comforts as a well-to-do artisan
in England is accustomed to are the monopolies
of the millionaires.

A glance at the map of South Africa is sufficient
to convince any one that eventually, and even

THE TRANSVAAL. 197

very soon, Delagoa will become the port of entry
for almost all imports destined for the Transvaal
markets; Natal will probably retain a certain
share in the business, especially if it is practicable
to reduce harbour dues and other shipping charges
and the railway tariff, but the Cape Colony will,
I fear, be left out in the cold, and the revenue now
derived from rail traffic will shrink to a vanishing
point in as far as it may be affected by an almost
total loss of all but intercolonial business.

I hope this may prove a pessimistic view of the
prospects of the Cape in the near future, but fear
it will turn out to be more correct than desirable
to well-wishers for the prosperity of the Colony.
Meanwhile we are living in a fool's paradise ; our
legislators seem much more inclined to authorise
expenditure than to advocate economy.

CHAPTER XL

RHODESIA.

My last visit to the vast regions now comprised
under this name having taken place in 1879, I
cannot pretend to enlighten the reader on subjects
connected with the development of the country
since it has become a British possession. The
acquisition of Rhodesia reflects honour on all
concerned in the operation from its conception to
its completion; and whether looked at from a
military or administrative standpoint, it is unique
in the absence of that increment of blundering
stupidity which has generally been so prominent
a factor in the conduct of all South African
affairs of a prominent character, in which a
"native question" has been an integral com-
ponent Indeed, the whole business is not only
creditable to the gallant men employed in the

RHODESIA. 199

acquisition of the country and its retention in spite
of the determined efforts of the warhke Matabele
to eject them, but to the Home Goverimient, which
for once in a way was wise enough to ignore " red
tape" and allow a free hand to competent men,
with the result that the Chartered Company may
fairly lay claim, as far as past action is concerned,
to adopt " Sans peur et sans reproche " as its
motto.

The financial success of the Chartered Company
will, I think, depend entirely on the amount of
profitable gold exhumed within its territories, as,
although the capabilities for pastoral and agri-
cultural operations of many parts of Matabeleland
and Mashonaland are at least on an equality with
those of any of the settled parts of South Africa,
it is obvious that the success of the farming popula-
tion must depend on a good local demand for
produce. Mining centres will, if successful, ensure
the prosperity of the farming community as a
matter of course, and the cost of living on these
mining centres will compare very favourably with
such expenses on the Johannesburg gold fields,
situated as they are in a part of the country where
the commonest necessities of life have to be

200 SOUTH AFRICA.

imported loaded with all the charges of lengthy
transport. Other things being equal, the mining
camps within the Company's territory will reap the
benefit of a local supply of the necessaries of life
equal to any demand likely to occur, and when
the Beira Railway is completed machinery and
other imported goods will in all probability be
delivered at the townships or camps at moderate
cost, and without the ruinous delays incidental to
waggon transport

To obtrude my personal impressions in the form
of opinions on the special value of the auriferous
areas within Rhodesia would be an act of
inexcusable rashness, as when I travelled in these
parts my objects were simply those of the ordinary
nomadic sportsman, and I was then, as now, quite
innocent of any practical knowledge bearing on
mineralogical subjects. However, I was impressed
as early as 1853 with a floating idea that the
greater part of what is now the Chartered Com-
pany's territory was more or less auriferous, and,
indeed, obtained from the natives several vulture
quills full of " gim " — ^more or less rounded grains
of gold, evidently the produce of what I believe
Cornish miners call streaming. The specimens

RHODESIA. 201

mentioned were obtained from Malakas wandering
over the plains to the south-west of Matabeleland,
and were probably the product of river beds to
the north-east, where gold has been obtained by
both washing and mining from pre-historic times,
until the Zulu raids under Umziligazi gradually
put an end to native industry in this direction.

The immense auriferous area within Rhodesian
limits forbids the idea that the mines have been
worked to exhaustion by native processes, and
there must be an almost inexhaustible number of
virgin reefs awaiting development in any case ; and
that such is the confident opinion of those who
have already invested in properties of various sorts
here is evidenced by an apparently lavish scale
of expenditure on public building, etc., by the
emigrants, although tangible gold results have
not yet been handled, owing to the enormous
difficulties of transport by ox-waggon via the
Transvaal, the great extent of unhealthy country
to be slowly plodded through before reaching the
healthier heights of Matabeleland and Mashona-
land, and the occurrence of the late war with Lo
Benguela and his bloodthirsty ruffians. The
Beira Railway, when complete to Salisbury, will

202 SOUTH AFRICA.

at once clear away all transport difficulties affect-
ing the north-east parts of the country, which have
probably the richest gold-bearing possibilities,
with the advantage of agricultural facilities at
hand in a fairly healthy climate.

Reverting to golden prospects, it is quite on the
cards that the lately annexed Matabeleland may
become the chief mining centre of the country.
Practically this part of the country has never been
prospected for gold, owing to the strict prohibi-
tions of Umziligazi and his son Lo Benguela, who
visited with relentless vengeance any attempts to
obtain a practical knowledge of gold prospects
within his immediate territories. Even the super-
ficial examinations of Matabeleland which date
from the very recent conquest of the country
disclose the undeniable fact that gold-bearing
quartz-reefs abound in all directions, and the only
question bearing on the future importance of the
country at present partially unsolved is simply
that of the percentage of the precious ore in its
matrix of quartz, as although Matabeleland proper,
in the absence of the high altitude of the Mashona-
land plateau, can hardly be expected to possess
the great advantages of a bracing climate, it is

RHODESIA. 203

upon the whole healthy enough to be comfortably
and safely inhabitable by the northern European
races.

As a stockbreeding country Matabeleland is
at least equal to the best settled parts of any
portion of South Africa, and in that respect my
impression is that it will be found superior to the
more elevated country of Mashonaland. Upon
the whole, the prospects of pastoral and agri-
cultural settlers in any parts of Rhodesia likely
to be permanently occupied by immigrants are
decidedly cheery, conditional of course on the
success of mining operations. In the absence of
such success I must candidly confess that I do
not think that any settlements in tropical Africa
of national importance will achieve enough
success to compensate adventurers for the numer-
ous difficulties and drawbacks incidental to the
general nature of these countries, where up to the
present a conspicuous dearth of exportable com-
modities in adequate quantities is at all events
the rule. Here and there, even in the absence of
gold, the energy of modern progress will doubt-
less eventually dot over the whole of the healthier
portions of the African continent with isolated

204 SOUTH AFRICA.

trading posts, mostly dependent on the ivory
trade, which, however, must be considered, from
its very nature, to be rapidly advancing towards
a vanishing point.

Should success become the eventuality of the
efforts of the Chartered Company, the results
will in all probability be more far-reaching and
important, both financially and politically, with
the advantage too of an unprecedented rapidity
of consummation, than any yet recorded in
Colonial annals.

As a base of action commanding the route
through Africa to the Nile sources, with a view
to the speedy substitution of legitimate commerce
for the interior slave trade so long carried on
with impunity by the Arabs and natives in their
employ, Rhodesia is invaluable, connected as it
soon will be with the Blantyre settlements on
Nyassa by a chain of military posts, whence a
junction with forces to be organised in Uganda
will ensure the prosperity of the greater part of
Central Africa in as far as peace can do so. The
distances between the Chartered Company and
the Nile sources are certainly "magnificent," but
so also are the promised results, if indeed England

RHODESIA. 205

really means to make a great national effort
to introduce civilisation and commerce as a
dominating power in the Dark Continent

It is also obvious that nothing but brute force
should compel us to evacuate Egypt, which in our
absence would speedily become a mere raiding-
ground of the Dervishes until again helped out
of her troubles by the energetic action of France^
which she would only be too glad to exert in
reconquering the Soudan, and thus acquiring an
indisputable and permanent claim to the occupation
of Egypt

The presence of a settled system of Government
extending from the confines of Zambesian Rhodesia
to the sources of the Nile is now easily within the
region of possibility if the requisite energy is
available; and the moral effect of action on the
indicated lines would go far to weaken and
demoralise the Dervish position on the Nile, and
extinguish all hope of a rallying point in the rear
of the North Soudan,

In a country like Rhodesia, next to the profit-
able output of gold comes the question of certain
and reasonably speedy means of transport and
communication, and along what may be considered

206 SOUTH AFRICA.

the main arteries of communication which are to
supply the wants of the country as regards
travellers and merchandise for given centres of
business, provision is being made by the approach-
ing completion of the railway from Beira and of
the projected continuation of the line from British
Bechuanaland, but the difficulty of maintaining
essential intercourse between the various scattered
villages and homesteads still remains to be pro-
vided for, not to mention the necessity of providing
the means of swift locomotion for the semi-
military police force which is an indispensable
requisite in such a country as Rhodesia.

Experience obliges me to assume that the
severity of the fatal " horse-sickness " which pre-
vails in many parts of South Africa, and with more
intensity in tropical South-East Africa probably
than anywhere else, precludes the hope that the
country can ever be supplied with acclimatised
horses or mules at all nearly adequate to the
demand. The introduction of unacclimatised
animals means a death-rate at short date among
them of probably ninety per cent at least, and
may be regarded as a fruitless and ruinous
expedient It is true that in the Transvaal a

RHODESIA. 207

few acclimatised horses may here and there be
picked up if expense is no object, and that perhaps
one-half of the number of these animals may-
have survived an attack of the real "horse-
sickness," which the Boers designate as " dikkop
sikte," and many — perhaps indeed a majority of
those animals — will be able to withstand the
effects of the Rhodesian climate. The remaining
half of the horses sold as " salted," or acclimatised,
have perhaps survived an attack of the milder
form of the disease, locally known as the " din
sikte," and all or most of these will speedily die
during their first experience of a Matabeleland
summer, the result being that the price of a well-
known acclimatised horse, without reference to
quality, may be quoted at about four times his
selling price as an "unsalted" animal. Indeed,
the most miserable old moke, if really " salted,"
readily commands prices ranging from £^0 to £7$-
Good hacks may be bought in any requisite number
in the Cape Colony, Natal, or the Orange Free
State for from ;^io to £1^ — minus, of course,
pedigree qualifications — as in these parts epidemic
" horse-sickness " is of too unfrequent occurrence
to affect prices.

208 SOUTH AFRICA.

Such being the case, it is evident that the time
is fast approaching when it will become imperative
for those interested in the country to look the
question in the face, and, discarding prejudice, to
consider whether it would not be wise and profit-
able to follow the example of the Queensland
(Australia) colonists, who, under pressure of the
same kind — resulting, however, from a different
cause, imported camels, ten thousand of which
are already doing satisfactory work in that Colony.
I do not think, however, that the heavy transport
camel chiefly in demand there would find favour
here, but the light, swift camel which the Arabs use
only for riding would be the ideal animal, not only
for police mounts, carrying of posts, and keeping up
communication throughout the north-west portions
of British Bechuanaland and the Rhodesian terri-
tory generally, but as a means of rapid locomotion
for individuals whose business requirements pre-
clude the possibility of sedentary habits. Subject
to experiment, there can be little doubt, moreover,
that these animals would breed and thrive in any
part of the country, and it is incontestable that
upon the coarsest and scantiest food they will cover
more groimd in three consecutive days than any

RHODESIA. 209

but an exceptionally good horse can in four, or
even five, upon the best food. In all respects, in
fact, they are, for the purposes of African travel,
far more suitable than horses, even if horses
could live in these parts of the country I am
just now treating of. True, these beasts are not
attractive in appearance, and are deficient in good
manners, but they are eminently fitted by nature
for African travel, and, in short, where horses will
not live, are, I submit, indispensable to the safety
and wellbeing of settlers in such countries as
Rhodesia.

So much has been written on the subject of the
game animals of the country that I will only
remark that, although pretty well stocked in parts,
sad and wasteful havoc has already reduced the
numbers of the larger and more valuable of the
fauna in the more accessible districts, and unless
effective measures are speedily adopted to preserve
the existing remnants, extermination will speedily
be accomplished.

If, however, the £"100 license to shoot the larger
species of game animals which has been lately
imposed by the Chartered Company is made
strictly obligatory, under heavy penalties for in-

210 SOUTH AFRICA.

fraction or evasion, the destruction of the game
animals will be averted, as hunting parties cannot
traverse the African veldt without detection, at
least by natives, who would be only too glad for
a small remuneration to report the presence of
such as might seek to enter the country by routes
unprotected by police stations or the presence of
permanent officials.

English hunting parties will not be deterred by
the payment of ;^ioo from gratifying their tastes,
and it may be added that such parties, composed
as they naturally are of men with true sporting
instincts, as a rule avoid committing the un-
necessary and cruel slaughter which Boer hunters
delight in, and universally practise. These people,
armed with long-range small-bore rifles, indeed,
never can resist the temptation' of pumping a
stream of lead " into the brown " of any troops of
game within sight, picking up only those animals
which fall on or near the spot where they were hit,
and taking no trouble whatever to try and secure
any of the numerous wounded which are left to
die miserably without compunction.

The almost universal use of small-bore rifles
(inclusive of ^SO-bores) has played the mischief

RHODESIA. 211

with the game all over the country, without, I
think, increasing the number of animals actually
brought to "bag." The reason for this is that
animals of a certain size (say up to three hundred-
weight) do not afford sufficient resistance to pro-
jectiles to cause an expansion of the bullet, and
therefore make but a small external wound, in
consequence of which little or no " blood spoor "
is visible generally, to enable or encourage a man
to follow up wounded game, which is thus left
to perish from internal hemorrhage, but is lost
to the hunter, as under such circumstances the
extraordinary vitality of almost all African game
animals, with the exception perhaps of elands,
suffices to enable them, although mortally wounded,
to escape actual capture.

Personally, and for the reasons mentioned, after
sufficient trial I soon gave up the use of small-
bore long-range rifles, and reverted to one gauge,
1 2 bores, specially made smooth-bores or rifles,
or *577-bores, for all kinds of game with satis-
factory results. One of the mischiefs attending
the use of small-bores is that, in spite of oneself,
one is often tempted to fire a lot of risky and
ineffectual shots at long range and without taking

212 SOUTH AFRICA.

sufficient pains to obtain a fairly certain shot, thus
disturbing the game over a vast extent of country
to very little purpose. In fact, in the interests of
real sport, it would be advisable, where a rule can
be enforced, to prohibit the use of small-bore long-
range rifles altogether, and to oblige all hunters
and sportsmen applying for a license to confine
themselves to weapons of not less than -577.

I suggest this as the result of experience in the
African hunting veldt extending over upwards of
forty years, and although I am well aware that
exceptional individuals I could name, and could
count on my fingers, can and do make effectual
and sportsmanlike use of the weapons I condemn,
and restrict themselves to firing at distances up to
which it is possible to calculate on hitting fatal
spots. The ;^i(X) license will certainly be effective
in prohibiting the ravages of Boer hunting parties,
especially if such parties are not allowed to consist
of more than two hunters each, besides their
necessary attendants.

Lions are still plentiful enough in many parts
of Rhodesia, although incomparably few in number
as compared with those which used to frequent
parts of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal

RHODESIA. 213

in my earlier sporting days, where game then
positively swarmed. However, the English globe-
trotting sportsman bent on killing a lion or two
need not fear disappointment, although the
prevalence of high grass and pretty thick bush
militate against making a large bag of such
cunning and wary beasts.

No part of tropical South Africa, indeed, ever
within my recollection exhibited such a show of
all kinds of game as could be seen on the banks
of the Limpopo and on the lower parts of its
tributaries further south, where it was, during the
fifties, impossible to look from any vantage point,
such as an anthill, without seeing numbers of
rhinos, giraffes, buffaloes, and smaller game among
the thickets of low white thorns which are almost
peculiar to the narrow alluvial valley through
which the Limpopo winds its tortuous course.
Elephants, too, often frequented the banks of the
river, but were chiefly abundant on the higher levels
of the country around, much of which was then
infested by the tsetse fly, which disappeared as the
big game became gradually exterminated.

The valley of the Limpopo and the neighbouring
country abounds in the finest pasturage in South

214 SOUTH AFRICA.

Africa, if some parts of the Kalliharri be excepted,
but the presence of an acute form of African fever
precludes the hope that it will ever be settled by
stock farmers, although some of them may make
use of it during the healthier season — ^from May
till about November.

At present Rhodesia, great as its ultimate possi-
bilities may be, is not, I think, a country to which
a poor man can be conscientiously advised to go
unless under a contract providing work of a
specified kind and for a certain term. Mere un-
skilled labour is sufficiently supplied by the natives
at a very low rate of pay, and as time advances
this source of labour supply will be always adequate
to meet any possible demand for the rough
work requisite in mining or agricultural pursuits.
Englishmen have every reason to be proud of the
success of the brave few who have added Rhodesia
to the Empire, and every inducement to aid and
assist the development of this promising territory
is fairly within view of the speculative classes who
have supplied the impetus to which such great
success in South African enterprise is due.

RHODESIA. 215

Since writing the foregoing remarks on Rhodesia,
another serious Httle war has involved Matabele-
land and Mashonaland in a costly and cruel
contes~t Rinderpest has utterly destroyed all the
cattle, and, great as may be the wealth and talent
at the command of the Chartered Company, it is
difficult to entertain any great hope of its ability
to develop the country satisfactorily within any
reasonable time, especially as permanent peace
appears improbable ; and, indeed, a very un-
satisfactory contest is still raging in Mashonaland.

It suggests itself to my minU that if these
territories are to be successfully colonised, the
system of giving out farms to individuals for
isolated occupation must be abandoned as un-
suitable to the nature of the country and as
dangerous to an unwarrantable degree. The
prosperity of stock-farming in South Africa depends
mainly on the ability to shift live stock from post
to post as frequently as may be necessary or
expedient To keep stock in any paying quantity
in any circumscribed area in South Africa is to
cause the herbage, of which only a very limited
percentage is of any value, to become stale, and
thus invites disease and intensifies its effects. I

2l6 SOUTH AFRICA.

would, therefore, with deference, suggest that it
would be well for the Chartered Company to take
this suggestion into consideration, and to select
suitable village sites for the occupation of settlers,
allotting, of course, a fair amount of arable land
(Erven) to each homestead. Each such village
should possess a right of common of as large an
extent as possible or necessary, suitably provided
with the necessary waters, to which localities stock,
under the direction and control of the village
Council, should be allotted in suitable lots and
shifted fiom place to place as may be expedient.
This is, in fact, the native system, and as regards
success the main results are unquestionable, and
the Kafnrs have as a rule raised two beasts for
every one on detached private farms — equal
numbers of breeding cattle being taken into con-
sideration, and in spite of the fact that the KafHr
management of important details is very faulty.

Indeed, some such scheme is worthy of being
seriously thought out and applied to further the
best interests of Rhodesia, if the country is to be
converted into a colony instead of being, as it now
is, a mere area for disreputable bogus speculations
and intrigue.

CHAPTER XII.

ON EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA.

Many sources of really valuable statistical and
general information on the subject of emigration
to South Africa are now available to enquirers, but
the points of view on which writers approach the
■question vary so much that it may not be super-
fluous to treat of it from a novel but perhaps
somewhat eccentric standpoint, intended not only
to be descriptive of things as they exist but
•explanatory of the causes of which they are the
■effects.

As the poorer class of emigrants are more in
need of reliable information than others, it is but
just and right to address them first, and seriously
to point out the dangers and difficulties which are
incurred by those who are destitute of helpful
friends already settled in the country, or such as
take a leap in the dark and have neglected to

2l8 SOUTH AFRICA.

secure a situation previously to leaving an endurable
existence at home. At present — that is to say,
early in 1898 — no fairly well employed artisan nor
unski]led labourer should imagine he will achieve
betterment by coming to South Africa, and the
same advice applies even more forcibly to
mercantile clerks and shop assistants.

In fact, the supply of labour in these industries
very much exceeds any demand likely to arise
within the near future.

Above all means let nothing tempt any intend-
ing emigrant of limited means to entertain the
idea for a moment of bringing out a wife and
family to any part of South Africa if he is not in
the situation to place them in a home at once.
Preliminary expenses during the time usually spent
in search of a billet are ruinous, and generally
previously to getting settled a stranger to the
country will have to do a lot of costly travelHng.

I may mention, too, that in commercial establish-
ments employers generally make it a rule never
to employ a married man when a bachelor is
available. In the mining centres, in many of the
towns, and here and there on farms, a limited and
fluctuating demand for skilled labour exists, with

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 219

wages varying with localities, and as a rule slightly
in excess of the home rate. In exceptional cases
the remuneration for that class of labour rules very
high on paper, but then the enhanced expenses of
hving in localities where these excessive wages are
paid is antagonistic to an improved balance to
credit.

Shop assistants work generally about sixty-four
to seventy hours in the week, but in most parts
of the country and villages get a weekly half-
holiday, and as a certain thing throughout the
country a certain latitude as regards dress and
bearing prevails, and men and women of this class
are allowed to express themselves with the best
language and with the best pronunciation their
individual culture permits of — ^which would be an
offence in England to certain high-class customers.
However, the demand for this kind of work is very
limited, as the Colonial-born youth of both sexes
are filling up vacancies efficiently ; and inasmuch
as they not only speak Dutch but generally better
English than is usually heard in the same class
at home, they compete successfully, especially in
country districts, with newly arrived emigrants. I
think aspirants of the class alluded to would do

220 SOUTH AFRICA.

well to take " Punch's " advice to aspirants to
matrimony, which was — " Don't! "

It is observable that many of the numerous
clerkly class who have lately poured into these
Colonies are not physically fit for Colonial
exigencies, and have come out upon the assumption
that the climate is a specific in cases of pulmonary
complaints. This idea is erroneous as regards the
infinitely greater part of inhabitable South Africa,
although true as to certain localities, where, as a
rule, employment is unobtainable, the population
doomed to be eternally sparse, and discomfort of
all kinds endemic among the dreariest aspects of
nature. For instance, on the bare, windy, and dust-
coloured Karroo district, where life becomes a
burden to all except to stolid Boer or native, and
here and there a European who has lowered his
standard of life to a state of chronic endurance
mitigated by Cape smoke or Dop brandy. I have
thought it a duty to offer these opinions on the
prospects of the uncapitalised hordes of immigrants
which have for some time been dumped down on
South African soil, and are, in largely increasing
numbers, in a pitiable condition of at best semi-
starvation, with the near prospect of fatal results

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 221

as their best hope, for there is no provision in these
countries for actual pauperism, and with the
exception of here and there a milHonaire who has
made his pile by speculations to which various
descriptive epithets might be applied, the mass of
the population is living from hand to mouth,
though very generally hardly up to a standard
worthy of being classed within the sphere of
financial morality, but amply fulfilling the duties
of that vulgarised ostentation which has become
of late the dominating religion. This leaves no
margin for the effective application of the funds
necessary to mitigate the miseries of Colonial
paupers, and so these poor creatures disappear in
squads into as yet unexplored depths, and their
fate is as little mentioned or noticed as possible,
although no doubt shrewdly suspected.

Free hospitals for the sick poor are conspicuously
absent in South Africa, and the sufferings of the
impecunious invalid surpass in misery my powers
of description, or any parallel adduced by com-
parison of what we hear of in the slums of great
European cities.

Unskilled labour in these Colonies is delegated
as a rule to the coloured population, .and paid for

222 SOUTH AFRICA.

by a pittance upon which few Europeans could
sustain health, or even life, but which suffices to
supply the less elaborate necessities of the coloured
races.

It would be vain to attempt to name the average
earnings of the coloured working classes, differing
as they do to such extraordinary extents in divers
localities. In and around the village in which this
has been penned efficient agricultural labour
commands from los. to £i a month, and light
work, such as driving and the care of stock, is
performed by youngsters at various prices accord-
ing to age and capacity. Near the seaports wages
for rough labour and domestic service commands
a price commensurate with the increased expenses
of living, but by no means approaching the EngUsh
standard if we take into consideration the relative
prices and qualities of necessaries which in South
Africa are very much dearer than in England.

Coloured people seem to be able to Hve and
dress fairly well somehow, but herd together in
groups and spaces which would be revolting, if
not impossible, to any decent English workman,
and would even be considered " hard lines " by the
submerged residuum of the slum population.

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 223

Indeed, the prevalence of " dress " among the young
coloured females in the towns is somewhat start-
ling as contrasted with the wages they receive as
domestic servants, but it is quite possible that
experts " in the know " may be able to account for
the discrepancy.

Up to the time of the discovery of diamonds,
some thirty years since, the Cape Colony repre-
sented a vast Sleepy Hollow with two moderately
well-t(?-do seaports, a few somnolent villages, and
a rural white population composed chiefly of Boers
and the minority of the descendants of the English
settlers of 1821 inhabiting the best portion of the
Eastern Provinces. Here and there, in the desolate
and sterile Karroo and in its bordering moun-
tain ranges of the Nieufeldt and Sneeberg, a few
adventurers were settled as sheep-farmers, and
were struggling manfully with the adverse nature,
inherent in the African soil and climate everywhere
as far as I know, with a measure of success just
sufficient generally to keep their pots boiling, but
poor enough as representing cash dividends on the
capital invested. A restful state of stagnation pre-
vailed, and millionaires, misery, and progress were
unknown entities. Serious native wars had ceased,

224 SOUTH AFRICA.

and the loss of the Imperial expenditure since the
advent of responsible government was keenly felt,
as the Colonists began to find out that a white
elephant was a very expensive and dangerous
acquisition to maintain.

In the sixties and in the beginning of the
seventies the Colony was fast drifting into absolute
insolvency.

Capital flowed quickly out of the country ;
immigration had entirely ceased; the profits de-
rivable from agricultural and pastoral enterprise
were insufficient to meet the demands of the
Exchequer and other creditors ; people began to
see that in such a generally sterile country any
material increase in these productions might be a
matter of hope but not of expectancy. When
financial matters were nearing their very worst, the
richest diamond field was discovered in the Orange
Free State, a few miles out of the Colonial
boundary; emigrants flocked in, capital accumu-
lated, the Imperial Government jumped the
diamondiferous territory in the manner previously
treated of in detail, Colonial bankruptcy was
avoided, and progress initiated in its stead. Then
extraordinary activity prevailed for some years at

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 225

the great diamond camp, Kimberley, and gave an
impetus to trade such as had never before been
anticipated.

In the then absence of the omnipotent rail, the
roads from the seaports were choked with waggons
slowly dragging up supplies of all kinds, inclusive
of all sorts and conditions of men, to the desolate
semi-desert wheire the glittering gems teemed.
Employment at remunerative rates abounded, and
although disease and death in those early days
claimed a heavy tribute. South Africa was jubilant
at emerging from stagnation. But the diamond
fields are no longer the hunting-grounds of the
immigrant, as the mines are now owned and worked
by the great De Beers Company, whose one aim
is to limit production to within the demands of
the world and thus keep up prices, and as long
as this powerful company retains its monopoly
diamonds will rule at high prices, but if by any
chance this monopolistic power comes to grief the
world could (I do not venture to predict that it
would) be so over-supplied with diamonds as to
bring down prices probably to less than fifty per
cent of those which now rule. This is not a mere
opinion, but those who know better than I profess

Q

226 SOUTH AFRICA.

to do the amount of possible production consider
it a certainty. Kimberley is still a prosperous little
place, no longer, indeed, progressing by leaps and
bounds, but very well to do.

Little or no demand for additional white labour
exists, then, at present, neither is the locality
attractive to the eye, although it is only just to
say that it would be difficult to discover anywhere
in South Africa a heartier or more genial set of
people than the inhabitants of the diamond-
producing centre.

A curiously marked characteristic of the South
African situation is that when ruin seems inevitable
something which may be called, for the want of a
better term, a fluke occurs, and the crash is
averted. The discovery of diamonds saved the
Cape Colony; and just as the Transvaal had
reached the lowest grade of poverty and degrada-
tion, some ten years or so ago, the discovery of
the wonderful deposits of gold in and around the
Witwater's Randt district saved the country from
the utter smash which seemed so nearly impending,
and Johannesburg has become — ^in spite of every
possible obstacle the Transvaal autocrat, Kruger,
and his myrmidons could oppose — a handsome

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 227

and prosperous city, which bids fair to take high
rank some day in the civilised world. That day
will not be during the Krugerian reign, if any
human antagonism counts.

This brutally ignorant tyrant is the very worst
danger to his state — it is more than absurd to call
it a republic — possible. His own dear burghers
are too ignorant to discover the patent fact that
he is, as far as they are concerned, simply acting
the wolf costumed as a sheep, and that he is quite
cunning enough to carry on his ruthless game
likely to be undetected by them for an indefinite
period, so they must pay the penalty as best may
be. As for the European and advanced Africander
population, those of their numbers who are un-
subsidised in some way know full well that their
noses will be put to the grindstone by Oom Paul
when opportunity serves, and for the present make
the best use they can of things in general. Every
intending immigrant to the Transvaal should be
made aware of the fact that at present he would
represent a superfluity, as hundreds of capable
aspirants for work, skilled a»d unskilled, are
incapable of finding it, and, although the wages of
those already employed look tempting in print.

228 SOUTH AFRICA.

they represent a very insufficient purchasing power
in a place where almost everything is three times
dearer than in England.

Comfort, except in the case of rich people, is an
unknown quantity in or near the gold fields, and
upon the whole, or for the present at least, I should
feel guilty of cruelty if I held out any encourage-
ment for immigration thither in the general sense
of the word, although perhaps an exceptionally
lucky skilled artisan may do well.

Had Mr. Gladstone after Majuba subordinated
his sentimental proclivities to the maintenance of
the interest, the honour, and the prestige of his
country, and refrained from giving back the
Transvaal to the Boers, he could easily have done
so without bloodshed, and in all probability tens
of thousands of Englishmen in excess of the
present population would have made South Africa
their home ; but instead of that he preferred
perpetrating one of the very few jokes he has been
guilty of, and labelled it " Magnanimity." The
joke fell flat : it was too grim for any but Boers
to appreciate, but they at least laughed as heartily
as their gloomy temperaments permitted. It may
be taken for granted that South African prosperity

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 229

depends wholly and solely on her mineral resources,
as her other assets are too insignificant, and too
unsusceptible of any really material augmentation,
to count for much relatively to her indebtedness.
Fortunately there seems to be no reason to fear
that the output of gold will show any decrease for
many years to come, and every reason to feel
confident that a great increase in that output will
be annually realised for an indefinite but certainly
long period.

The future of the diamond fields, although
hopeful, is less certain of a lengthy state of
prosperous endurance, simply because the supply
of these stones largely exceeds demands, and the
profits on them at present rates are only main-
tained by artificial means — some of which are
iniquitous, and all in conflict with the tradition
and customs of modern commerce. Moreover,
these gems do not wear out, and at best are merely
ornamental adjuncts of the toilettes of the more
foolish or of the more vulgar classes, bear no
interest, and lock up a very considerable amount
of capital, which would otherwise be more bene-
ficially employed.

Intending settlers in any part of South Africa

230 SOUTH AFRICA.

may possibly bear the foregoing remarks in mind,
as the prosperity of individuals here hinges
entirely on that of these mining centres and the
commerce they engender.

British capital is already invested to an enormous
amount in these mining industries and in the com-
merce they have initiated, but there is plenty of
room for an indefinite amount of increased invest-
ments if only means could be found to induce,
or compel, the Transvaal autocracy to modify its
intense animosity to Britons and their interests,
originating, or at any rate intensified, by the fact
that Paul Kruger and his burghers are indebted
to English generosity for their present position
and for every shilling they own, and are, for no
other reason than the fact that they are under the
greatest obligation to her, determined to verify
the old adage that an obligee is usually not only
ungrateful but hostile to the benefactor.

The present Transvaal situation is about as

follows: —

A flourishing mining centre has been established
by Britons and other Europeans (Uitlanders), and,
if unchecked in its prosperous course, a largely
increased population of these detested Gibeonites

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 231

is certain, and will not only threaten the con-
tinuance in power of the notoriously corrupt Boer
officialdom but the existence of the state itself.
The policy of its rulers therefore is, if possible, to
limit progress within its present bounds, by render-
ing it impossible to work at any profit any but the
very best mines, which are already numerous enough
to afford a sufficiently manageable looting area for
Paul and his Bashi-Bazouks, out of which he and
his constituency have realised many ill-gotten
millions. As a field for immigration at present South
Africa may be considered congested so long as the
Transvaal Executive is allowed to persist in
obstructing the influx of capital with a view to
maintain present conditions as near as possible
intact, and the revenues derivable from the working
of the best class of mines only being quite sufficient
to satisfy even the personal miserly characteristics
of the President, to provide handsome fortunes for
the higher officials, and to square such members
of the Raad as may be necessary to secure a
majority when requisite.

To allow the less profitable grade of reefs to be
developed — ^which they most certainly would be
with improved political and legislative circum-

232 SOUTH AFRICA.

stances — ^would simply mean the influx of the
hated Uitlanders in sufficient numbers to imperil
the existence of the miserable force which under
the name of government is allowed to paralyse
South African industries and commerce, and which
will some day bring about a tragedy should any
little pretext be found — say, for instance, a noisy
political meeting or a street riot — for ordering a
rifle fire to be poured on the helpless Johannesburg
crowd.

The desire for such an opportunity has more
than once been expressed by the members of the
Raad ; in it are men who would be delighted to
earn promotion by any barbarity of the kind, and
the perpetration of which would be a sure method
of obtaining it. That such a Liliputian with such
a mere handful of ignorant Boers should be allowed
to dominate the destinies of South Africa is not
merely ludicrous but palpably dangerous, not only
in the way above mentioned, but even more so as
being another perilous trial of the loyalty of the
British and advanced Africanders, who have so
often been made the scapegoats of temporary
Imperial exigencies. To limit the discussion of
Transvaal questions within a radius of quibbles

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 233

about suzerainty, conventions, and paramountcy is
absurd, and a mere waste of time. Mental
ophthalmia is prevalent enough in South Africa,
but, after all, the complaint is not so eternally
endemic as to obscure the vision of intelligent
Colonists, who are rapidly losing faith in
palliatives, and demand a cure. Let it not be
supposed that I advocate a warlike solution of
the Transvaal question, which indeed might be
necessary but certainly regrettable.

Paul Kruger is puffed up with the ideas of assist-
ance from Germany, but although the Kaiser is
a very amusing and accomplished young gentle-
man, he would not count for much as a meddler
in South African affairs, even could he be unwise
enough to run the risk of active interference. It
is safe to assert — and prove — that ever since the
Transvaal retrocession the attitude of its rulers
has been one of undiluted hostility to England,
augmenting day by day in proportion to the
impunity extended, till it has now reached a point
■which, as regards the interests of commerce, is
fast becoming unendurable. In addition to this,
on every possible occasion insults such as no other
country than England would for a moment have

234 SOUTH AFRICA.

hesitated to demand and obtain satisfaction for
have been submitted to by the so-called "para-
mount" South African Power. A member of the
President's family, in the service of the Executive,
has been ostentatiously promoted simply because
he vituperated our Gracious Queen, not only as a
sovereign but as a woman, in language which would
have shocked even the most erudite in Billingsgate
slang. Other officials of less note have been
equally fortunate in that they supplied our enemies
in war-time with ammunition and other assistance.
And so things jolt along somehow for the present,
but the time must soon come when everybody
interested in the prosperity of South Africa or in
the honour or prestige of the Empire will demand
that the Transvaal Government shall be wheeled
into line, compelled to become a humble unit in
the ranks of civilised nations, or be incorporated
once for all within Imperial limits. I sincerely
hope that no one will come to the conclusion that
I am prejudiced against the Boers, as a community.
Indeed, I ought to know them well, and I feel
convinced that under improved political and social
circumstances they are capable of unlimited im-
provement, as their faults, such as they are, are

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 235

mostly the outcome of traditional education and
by the influence of a narrow-minded, essentially
bigoted, and self-seeking hierarchy acute enough
to take every advantage of the superstitious
elements so naturally resulting from ignorance and
isolation in the grim solitudes of African surround-
ings and scenery, and to exploit them for its own
peculiar benefit. The Boers have been accused
en masse of invincible laziness and want of enter-
prise by those of our countrymen who have
gathered ideas of them during flying visits, and
failed to estimate the distinction between causes
and effects. It is true enough that the Boer is
devoid of that bustling and restless activity so
remarkable in the Briton ; it is also true that when
his experience of the nature of things he has to
deal with permits him to hope for reward he is as
industrious as anybody else, and so thrifty by
nature, or habit, as to make the most of the very
moderate success which an adverse nature allows
on the Dark Continent The year 1897 has been
one of frightful suffering to the poor Boers,
thousands of whom have lost their all from
rinderpest, locusts, and drought.

Hundreds of these poor people have died of sheer

236 SOUTH AFRICA.

stan'^ation ; thousands have succumbed to fever and
other diseases incident to an insufficient diet
largely composed of wild roots. The quality of
brave and silent suffering is wonderfully developed
in the Boer race; as an eyewitness I might cite
many harrowing proofs in evidence. If only a
modicum of the distress and misery among the
Boers inhabiting the northern and western districts
of the Transvaal had occurred in any British
dependency, effective steps would have been taken
to meet the situation. Imbued with the convenient
creed that Providence has decreed these mis-
fortunes, and that it would savour of sin seriously
to assist the sufferers, the Transvaal Government
has only ventured on applying the most homoeo-
pathic palliatives, with, of course, little or no
beneficial result.

The wealth-gorged President groaningly con-
tributed £^ to help his dear burghers ; at last a
small show was made to avoid the scandal of
appearing utterly indifferent

A mass of the surviving Boer sufferers has surged
into the mining centres in search of employment,
but as the Government doggedly clings to its
policy of limiting the industry there, these poor

EMIGRATION TO SOUTH AFRICA. 237

people have merely exchanged the frying-pan for
the fire ; if press accounts are credible, the existing
misery and mortality among them is awful, and
is much more likely to continue than to abate.

I will therefore venture to reiterate my advice
to intending emigrants to South Africa by a.
repetition of the word " Don't"

CHAPTER XIII.

BOER MARKSMANSHIP.

The idea that every Beer is a first-class rifle shot
seems to have become a form of faith, in its way,
in England, and I am afraid that no observations
of mine will have much effect in dispelling the
prevalent credulity on this subject

It is, however, perfectly true that when the
Transvaal was a game country the majority of
these people acquired a certain amount of aptitude,
as distinct from exact skill, in the use of their
weapons, and that the natural deficiencies of their
country, from every agricultural and pastoral point
of view, made it more or less necessary, in order to
fill the pot and neutralise the vituperative instincts
of the " Vrouw," that the males of the family should
stand to their arms ; thus many of them attained

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 239

a certain amount of skill in the use of guns,
although very few could claim to be really good
shots.

Upon the whole, however, it may fairly be
conceded that a formidable amount of aggregate
skill in the use of their weapons was a noticeable
characteristic of the Boers of the period I allude
to (say twenty years ago), and at the time of the
Boer war with us all the middle-aged men, and a
good many of the youngsters, were as a rule, and
as compared with trained soldiers, very efficient
shots and formidable as guerillas, not only on
account of their marksmanship, but from the
possession of that skill in choosing positions, and
taking advantage of every chance offered, which
is acquired by all hunters sooner or later, but is
hardly susceptible of being taught on systematic
lines to large bodies of men.

While the game lasted in the Transvaal, every
hale man was more or less a hunter, and the
majority of the burghers lapsed into poverty, very
nearly approaching absolute pauperism, when about
seventeen or eighteen years ago the game herds
were no longer numerous enough to be profitably
exploited.

240 SOUTH AFRICA.

Gradually but swiftly extinction has supervened,
and the Transvaal is no longer a happy hunting
ground for any but Jews. With the virtual
extermination of the larger kinds of game in the
Transvaal, the Boers in a great measure ceased
the pursuit of the scattered remnants of the
survivors, and soon became but little interested in
keeping up their efficiency as riflemen.

As a matter of fact, since the general introduction
of long-range, breechloading weapons, their shoot-
ing powers have steadily deteriorated, and from
having been as a rule fairly good rough performers,
the younger members of this generation have ceased
to take any interest in field sports, and as regards
rifle shooting are mere duffers. Indeed, ever since
the modern rifle came into general use in the
Transvaal, the Boers have gradually lost that
amount of skill as shootists upon which their
prestige was founded in former days.

The extreme ease with which breechloading
rifles can be loaded, and the long range of these
weapons, contributed largely to the deterioration
of their original skill by inducing habits of care-
lessness as to distances, and a preference for
pumping a stream of lead into the " brown "

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 24 1

without much regard to aim. This soon makes
the game animals very wild, and, in proportion to
the number of cartridges expended, very little game
is gathered, and an enormous waste by wounding
occurs, as few hunters care to follow game animals
wounded at distances which mean, at any rate, a
long and uncertain stern chase, and mostly end
in failure.

Even in their palmiest days as hunters very
few Boers could be reckoned as first-class shots,
although most of them could account for a good
deal of game, the result not so much of their
shooting skill as their aptitude in negotiating
difficult and somewhat dangerous ground on
their active and well-trained shooting horses.

At times I have hunted a good deal with the
Boers, but of first-class performers among them
can only remember some half-dozen who came
nearly up to that mark, and strangely enough none
of that number used modern weapons. Indeed,
two of them stuck to flint and steel till their deaths
some few years ago.

In support of my poor opinion of Boer shooting,
I may mention that shortly after the introduction
of breechloading rifles with brass cartridge-cases

R

242 SOUTH AFRICA.

I Spent a month or so with some Boers who were
hunting on the banks of the Limpopo. Their
party consisted of three brothers, who with their
wives and children had camped for the winter, to
hunt chiefly for hides, and for the benefit of their
cattle, as the pasture was good, and game suffi-
ciently plentiful. They were a good, kindly lot,
and considered first-rate shots. Being men of only
average weight, and well mounted, they did a lot
of hunting every forenoon except on Sunday.
Their arms consisted of breechloading -450 rifles.

Observing the vast number of cartridges they
expended, as compared with the tale of game
brought in, I took the opportunity of ascertaining
approximately the number of shots fired during one
week, and the result was that each head of game
gathered had cost about thirty cartridges, and I
think this fairly represents the average perform-
ances of Boer hunters.

On a previous occasion, when in want of buffalo
hides, I hired a young Boer with a good reputation
as a game shot to help me, .and although he killed
some game to feed our Kaffirs before we found
buffaloes, I noticed that he wasted a good deal of
ammunition. As I had to feed his 12-bore gun,

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 243

I counted the bullets supplied daily when we at
last got among the buffaloes and shot at no other
game. Upon these animals my companion ex-
pended fifty-six bullets, of which about fifty were
wasted.

As we shot on foot (on account of the presence
of the tsetse-fly), this was very poor work, taking
into consideration the abundance of the game,
their unusual tameness, and that the locality was
admirably adapted to stalking requirements.

On this occasion, instead of being in one huge
mass, the buffaloes were scattered about in more
or less small groups all over the country, near the
numerous rain pools, and were almost as easy to
kill as if they had been domestic cattle. Probably
this lot had never before been under fire, as they
merely shifted about, instead of quitting the ground
en masse as big game usually does when it has
smelt powder.

As I have an aversion to shooting in company, I
did not witness my friend's operations, but his
Kaffir attendants said that his want of success was
occasioned by his predilection for long shots ; and
to make a good bag of big game, close quarters
and very straight powder are a sine qua non.

244 SOUTH AFRICA.

The extraordinary vitality of all kinds of African
game animals counts, however, for much as regards
the usual discrepancy between the amount of
ammunition expended and its practical effects.

Details on such subjects are, however, rather too
ghastly to be put into type, and would moreover
approach the incredible too nearly to venture on
in print with any hope of escaping imputations of
an undesirable nature.

For my own part, on this occasion I used a heavy
smooth-bore double gun, and did not fire a shot
at more than about forty yards, and never pulled
off till the sights focussed on a fatal spot, as a
wounded buffalo is the most dangerous animal in
the world, bar none — in my opinion.

The reader must not, however, conclude that the
Boers are nearly such vile shots as the figures I
have quoted would indicate, bearing in mind the
fact that all African game animals, with the excep-
tion of the pachyderms and buffalo, are very much
wilder, swifter, and more on the alert than those
in any other parts of the world I have seen or read
of, and that a steady shot at a motionless animal
is of very rare occurrence.

The extraordinary tenacity of life in all African

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 245

game, with the exception of the obese eland, also
counts for much in extenuation of the small bags
as compared with the ammunition expended in
obtaining them, and all I wish to make clear is that
the Boers are by no means the marvellous riflemen
they are supposed to be, although in their way good
enough to compare favourably in shooting powers
with the brave but inept British Tommy Atkins,
and that every day they are " going off " their
shooting, for the reasons given above, inclusive of
the fact that the cost of modern rifle ammunition
mihtates against sufficient practice with their
weapons for the mere purpose of keeping up to the
mark as rifle experts.

The extermination of game in and near the
Transvaal has also reduced the majority of the
poorer and more efficient burghers to the position
of unskilled labourers too hard pressed to keep
the wolf from the door to afford leisure for the
practice of rifle shooting, and they may now be
fairly considered as " out of it " as regards anything
approaching exceptional skill as marksmen.

My opinion in these respects is, I think, cor-
roborated by the results of their fire in the late
combat with Dr. Jameson's raiders. On this

246 SOUTH AFRICA.

occasion the Boers fired from behind rocks, which
protected them completely from the effects of the
horizontal fire of the enemy, whom they could pot
at on an exposed plain on which marks indicating
distances had been placed. Moreover, the poor
raiders and their horses were too exhausted by
hunger, thirst, and long marches to be able to
attempt either an assautl or a retreat ; and yet,
with all this in their favour, these redoubtable
burghers were only able to kill twenty-two of
Dr. Jameson's men, in addition to a few minor
casualties, with an expenditure of, at the very least,
6,000 cartridges. The result can, therefore, only
rank as a record of very poor shooting at best.

Had these burghers shot up to anything like
their reputation for skill, they would have swept
the plain of all but the killed and wounded in a
few minutes — ^with, perhaps, a very few exceptions.

Reverting to some of the incidents which occurred
during the buffalo hunt in the fly country, I can
confidently say that although since then more years
have elapsed than I care to count, my recollection
of the experience is as vivid as if the occurrence
had been quite a recent event, as many of the
eventualities were exceptional and unique among
my experiences.

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 247

For instance, just before reaching the edge of
the " fly " district, some of the wild Kaffirs known
to hunters as "Vaalpense" reported the arrival in
the infested country of an unusually numerous herd
of buffalo, which they thought had migrated from
distant lands unknown to hunters with firearms,
as they appeared very tame, and had located them-
selves in sparse bush, which is quite exceptional
with the habits of these animals when they have
once smelt powder.

Naturally the marvellous accounts these people
gave us of the incredible numbers of the herds
were received with numerous " grains of salt," but
having completed camping arrangements, and
arranged for the portage of the necessary
impedimenta, we were soon tramping for the
indicated locality, accompanied by a large gang of
Kaffirs, with their wives and such of their children
as were big enough to stand the fatigue of a long
day's waterless march with impunity ; and having
started at dawn, we duly arrived at the indicated
locality soon after dark, and were glad, after coffee
and a scanty meal, to curl up in the best shelter
available, without troubling to make the usual
shelters (skerms), and soon were in the land of
Nod amid the blazing fires of the bivouac.

248 SOUTH AFRICA.

Next morning, numerous fresh " spoors " of
buffalo were visible near our night quarters, and
soon we viewed such numbers of the game we
were in quest of, scattered in groups all over the
country within the range of vision, that the Kaffirs'
reports were amply verified.

Leaving my companion to choose his own
course, I went on in the opposite direction, and
before noon had killed nine buffaloes, and returned
alone to the bivouac to recruit, leaving Kaffirs at
each carcase to skin and cut the meat into
portable shape.

I met with no adventures of a dangerous nature
during this hunt, probably because of the absence
of any thick cover. In a jungly country buffaloes
are the most dangerous of all African game, as
in such situations wounded animals have a habit
of concealing themselves and of pouncing out upon
any one they catch a glimpse of with extraordinary
rapidity, and unless a suitable tree is at hand to
climb into, the man is nearly certain to come to
grief even if well armed, as a front shot at a
charging buffalo, owing to the peculiar position
the head is then held in, is rarely effective, although
it sometimes turns the enraged brute out of his

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 249

direct course, and saves the man who is near a
climbable tree, which is then sometimes blockaded
by the buffalo, perhaps for hours, in the event of
the loss of his weapons by the intended victim
during the scrimmage or the climb. As I have
been " treed " more than once, I can assure the
reader that the entire evolution is sufficiently
unpleasant until one is at least several feet above
the pursuer's reach.

In a fairly open country buffaloes rarely charge
home, and on the hunt I am now treating of no
accident happened, but after we returned to the
waggons, and were busy drying the hides, a couple
of Kaffirs offered to barter a hide, and we came
to terms. The couple then left the camp to bring
in the spoil, and late on the following day only
one returned, looking abject enough.

The story was that he and his chum thought
they had seen a badly wounded buffalo during our
march back to the camp, and that they should find
him dead and strip him of his armour. In fact,
they found him lying apparently defunct, and one
of them, to make sure, threw an assegai at him,
on the receipt of which the dying animal suddenly
sprang up, pinned the poor Kaffir, and shortly

250 SOUTH AFRICA.

pounded him into pulp. During this horrible
process the survivor had "treed" close by, and
when the wounded beast had again lain down,
decamped from his perch and made hasty tracks
for the camp, leaving the dead to be buried by the
vultures and other carnivora.

Subsequently we heard that the bony remains
of this buffalo and his victim had been found,
and so ended the tragedy.

In the days I have alluded to, troops of buffaloes
of from fifty to two hundred or so were common
enough, but the numbers met with on this trip far
exceeded anything of the kind within any of my
experiences in the hunting fields, and, moreover,
several more or less numerous troops of giraffe
were dotted over the parklike country, not to
mention abundance of minor game, such as brindled
gnus, hartebeest, sassabi, a few ostriches, and a
lot of the pallah antelope, multiplied the attractions
of the show.

As usual in " fly " districts, lions did not turn up,
and only a few stale spoors of them were seen.
This may be accounted for, probably, by the fact
that lions spend their nights in hunting and gorging
and their days in slumber, the enjoyment of which

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 2$l

is materially diminished no doubt by the incessant
and painful attacks of the tsetse.

A few days sufficed to dry and pack our hides
and other spolia, the amount of which severely
taxed the transport department, even after leaving
the Kaffirs happy in the possession of several tons
of their favourite " naama " (meat), with which the
trees and bushes around were festooned in strips,
in process of becoming " belting " in the dry and
fervid atmosphere. Not a scrap of meat was
wasted, and we left our sable friends secure of
enjoying their ideas of Utopia for several weeks
at least.

Having of late noticed in the sporting press that
various attempts are being made to establish
sanctuaries for the protection of African game
animals, in which a restricted amount of shooting
will be conditionally permitted, I may say that i
cordially approve of the proposed action to be
taken by those interested. Perhaps I may escape
a verdict for presumption if I venture to suggest
that the effective protection of African game is
hardly possible if permits are granted to mounted
hunters, and that therefore no horses should on
any pretext be allowed to be taken within the

252 SOUTH AFRICA.

prescribed limits of game sanctuaries, as it is a
patent fact that horsemen cause a very appre-
ciable amount of destruction by random firing, and
wounding, without gathering, vast numbers of the
game, and perhaps even more by driving the herds
out of the limits of accessibility.

In fact, it is safe to say that whereas foot hunters
merely decimate game, mounted parties exter-
minate it permanently and rapidly. Moreover, it
should be made obligatory on all persons receiving
permits to hunt in protected localities to remove
all elevating back sights from their weapons other
than a fixed standard one for one hundred yards,
and that the sights so removed be deposited for
safe keeping with a duly accredited official,
responsible for their return to the owners at a
period to be arranged for.

Furthermore, it would be most desirable to get
a law made by the dominant power in the localities
adverted to, making it a penal offence for any
unlicensed person, irrespective of colour, to be
found in possession of firearms (revolvers and
pistols for defensive purposes excepted) within
limits to be made known by proclamation.

Even where expense is only a secondary con-

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 253

sideration, I think wire fencing would fail to confine
game within definite limits, as pachyderms and
buffaloes would go through it with little more
inconvenience than they would feel in passing
through cobwebs — barbs notwithstanding — and
through outlets made by them lighter game would
levant too.

Before closing this chapter, it may interest some
readers to be informed that the inherent pioneering
instinct of our Dutch fellow colonists is again
finding vent in a " trek " of considerable dimensions
to N'Gaamiland, which is probably now (May, 1 898)
struggling through the Great South African Thirst
Land towards its goal in the north-west.

This " trek " was initiated by a Dutch padre
named Hoffmeyer, and it is said he is to join it
in the capacity of the pastor of the adventurers.
If this is true, he will achieve a record, as his
reverend brethren in South Africa have hitherto
been mainly distinguished for a limpet-like
adherence to localities, where this position secures
them a degree of comfort, and even luxury
uncommon enough hereaway, outside the million-
aire ranks, and abundant leisure, the normal con-
dition of their professional existence ; and it is safe

254 SOUTH AFRICA.

to say that in N'Gaamiland a totally different state
of things will prevail at least for a very long time.

Be this as it may, let us hope the " trekkers " will
have better luck than those who preceded thera
some years ago, and of whose sufferings from sick-
ness, hunger, and thirst I was an eyewitness during
the retreat of the survivors from their hoped-for
Canaan.

Personally, I think the immense district I am
alluding to is unfit for settlement for whites, as
the more fertile parts, such as the Botletle Valley
and near the lake, are eminently malarial, a very
fatal form of fever prevailing during the greater
part of the }^ear, and the healthier parts are but
scantily watered by little springs, with immense
intervals between them as a rule.

From an African point of view, the pastoral
capabilities of the country now in question are
decidedly better than the usual average in South
Africa, and all species of stock flourish, with the
exception of horses and mules, which die like
flies during and after the rains, and if the Boer
immigrants want to ride they will have to content
themselves on the backs of trained oxen, or, in the
case of light-weights, on the dorsal ridge of asinine
mounts.

BOER MARKSMANSHIP. 255

A more uninviting country to the eye would
indeed be difficult to find outside the Arctic
regions, but the Boer is utterly insensible either
of the charms of the picturesque or of their absence.
Good pasture and a sufficiency of indifferent water
suffice to make him a happy smoker of the calumet
of content

Gold, or diamonds, or both, may possibly be
discovered, but the possibility of converting them
into profitable assets is hardly obvious.

CHAPTER XIV.

POSTSCRIPT: THE POLITICAL SITUATION.

Since the foregoing chapters have been in the
printer's hands Paul Kruger has been re-elected
nominally as President of the Transvaal, but really
as its Autocrat; no doubt the majority of that
large section of the British public interested in
South African affairs will consider the fact as a
more or less genuine expression of the public
opinion of the Burgher constituency as especially
accentuated by the immense majority of votes
polled for this rustic potentate. The sooner, how-
ever, that opinion is discarded by Officialdom, and
by those interested in the expansion of British
commerce, in the reinstatement of the indispensable
" prestige " so recklessly thrown to the winds by
Mr. Gladstone's Administration, and in the peace
and welfare of the country generally, the better
for all concerned.

POSTSCRIPT. 257

The re-election itself was a foregone conclusion,
and merely the natural result of the utter absence
of public opinion on political and social exigencies
among the ignorant and superstitious majority of
the miserable little electorate. Those who know
the inner workings of the Boer mind (such as it is)
are well aware of the fact that although Paul
Kruger is by no means so popular among them
as he is generally supposed to be by outsiders, they
have been drilled to attach to his name a sort of
loyalty as representing a personage specially
appointed by Providence as one to be obeyed, and
that disobedience to this mandate would simply
mean sin and its punishment. The small section
of the electorate who are more or less sceptical
on this point is, of course, easily dealt with by
such a man as Dr. Leyds at the helm of the
state's ship, and the humble helot Uitlander, in the
absence of efficient recognition by representatives
of his national government, as easily made to pay
the piper.

It has been said that nodiing short of a surgical
operation is effective to enable a Scot to appre-
ciate a joke, and it is clear to my mind at least
that, whatever may be the truth as regards the

S

258 SOUTH AFRICA.

gallant Scot, the Boer as represented by Paul
Kruger will never be capable of understanding his
own interests as they are affected by political
action. Much less will he care to expend a thought
on those of others, in the absence of the fear of
surgical appliances to the traditional endemic
disease of his mental constitution.

The present condition of things in the Trans-
vaal under the existing regime is bad enough, and
will sooner or later become intolerable unless
radically reformed from the outside. It would
seem advisable, in the interests of South Africa
and of Imperial Britain, that no more time should
be wasted in hairsplitting and futile controversy
on questions as to the meaning of the word
"suzerainty," or as to that of this or that clause
in the miserable Conventions of which we know,
and ought to be ashamed.

It has always been apparent that one of the
chief impediments to adequate action in South
African affairs on the part of the Imperial Govern-
ment has been an exaggerated fear of the con-
sequences of meddling with an assumed racial
antipathy between the English and Africander
population of the Cape Colony and of South Africa

POSTSCRIPT. 259

generally. I by no means endorse this idea, and
have every reason to believe that the two races
would get on extremely well together were it not
for the action of certain political agitators and
minor cliques interested in the maintenance of a
profitable fiction. It must, however, be admitted
that in South Africa the Imperial Government in
bygone days committed about as many blunders
as the nature of the situation admitted, and that
this has complicated the existing knot to such an
extent that attempts to untie it can only end in
its severance once for all, and the adoption of less
tortuous and more honest action in the future.

The present situation of South Africa as affected
by the inimical action of the Transvaal potentate
is briefly this. An immense auriferous area exists
which if developed would in a very short time
double the present value of all the commercial
interests of the country and make a very consider-
able advantageous increase in English commerce
generally, and increasingly as the years pass by.
At present, large as the export of gold is, only
a few first-class mines pay dividends, but the
majority of inferior grades would soon do so were
it not that the Transvaal policy is to take effectual

26o SOUTH AFRICA.

measures to overburden the industry with exces-
sive taxation in various forms. The natural
influx of capital is thus effectually dammed, immi-
gration stopped, and trade seriously depressed.

There is no excuse for this condition of things,
which, while it obstructs general progress of the
Uitlanders, will also soon pauperise the Boers.
The continued vitality of the Krugerian regime is
fostered by the non-interventionary attitude of the
Imperial Government, which, however, can hardly
be condoned in view of the manifest dangers which
augmentingly threaten the peace and prosperity
of the entire South African dependencies.

That such a state of things should be allowed
to exist in this century, simply that one notorious
miser, who has never known the meaning of one
generous impulse, may pile up his useless hoards,
and that a few of his satellites may accumulate
large fortunes by pillaging the helot Uitlanders,
is, to say the least of it, disgraceful, especially
when we know that the necessary administrative
expenses of government in the Transvaal, under
proper control, need not cost much more than
one-third of the revenue now exacted. At least
two-thirds of the Transvaal revenues represent

POSTSCRIPT. 261

merely funds for corrupt practices, or loans and
casual assets are applied to pay for armaments
as useless as they are minatory. I may say that
the South African public has confidence in the
existing Imperial Ministry, and add, with equal
sincerity, that it is pretty certain that any recur-
rence to the tortuous sentimental impolicies of
former days would be illustrated by the sorry
spectacle of " wigs on the green."

Although cornered by the result of the unfor-
tunate Jameson raid (which would, perhaps, have
been dubbed a " coup d'etat " if it had been suc-
cessful), and as a consequence of the advantage of
position accruing to Paul Kruger from the cata-
strophe, the vulpine cunning of the old Boer was
more than a match for the diplomatic forms by
which Mr. Chamberlain was bound in the sub-
sequent discussion of the matter. Every one here
who is worth recognition places the utmost con-
fidence in his (Mr. Chamberlain's) honesty, ability,
and patriotism.

Certain Ministerial utterances on the subject of
the ridiculous and insulting terms of the indemnity
demanded of the Chartered Company by the
Transvaal Government encourage the hope that

262 SOUTH AFRICA.

this subject will be treated on its merits without
reference to any propitiatory sacrifice to Transvaal
proclivities. That the details of the bill of costs
handed in by Dr. Leyds could not be sworn to
as correct without the commission of perjury by
its concocters I feel sure, as I have some remem-
brance of the very small expense of calling out
" commandos " in that part of the world, and am
convinced that all costs of that kind have been
covered by the fines inflicted on the officers impli-
cated and by the value of the captured loot, and
that a very nice little balance has been left over
for the benefit of others. The charge of ;£'2 8,000
for the benefit of the families of the five or six
casualties to burghers in the fight with Dr. Jim
is exorbitant, unless the Transvaal Government is
prepared to stultify itself by proving that its
official report of these casualties was false, and that
the real losses of the Boers by death and wounds
in the skirmish were infinitely greater than those
on account of which the claim is based. For my
own part I believe in the approximate correctness
of the report, and that the loss of life among the
burghers did not exceed five men, as not only are
the Boers expert tacticians, but they are most

POSTSCRIPT. 263

unlikely to accept battle in any situation where
they would not be comparatively exempt from
danger.

As for the million demanded as compensation
for the outraged moralities of the Transvaal, it
would be beneath the dignity of either the Imperial
Government or of the Chartered Company to
discuss the item, but it will be difficult for those
who will be called upon to adjudicate on the sub-
ject in question to restrain a hearty laugh when this
item is reached. Statesmen, and men of business,
are not generally supposed to be experts in the
observation or delineation of such microscopic
nebulosities as Dr. Leyds, Kruger, and Co. have
so insolently presumed to introduce. Indeed, upon
the whole, the Chartered Company might do worse
than refuse to pay any fraction of the indemnity,
but offer to close the matter by a handsome
donation to the families of the dead and wounded
Boers who suffered in the fight. Further, it would
be a graceful act to vote a liberal sum for the relief
of the semi-starvation of the multitudes of the
Transvaal burghers who have suffered from the
effects of rinderpest, locusts, drought, have been
decimated by disease, hopelessly pauperised, and

264 SOUTH AFRICA.

to whom but scant charity has been shown by
their own Government Some such course would
probably commend itself to the British people.

Impartial readers of any true history of South
Africa (assuming an entity which I doubt) will not
fail to conclude that of all people the Boers, and
more especially the Transvaal section of them,
have every reason to be grateful to England, not
only as having preserved their then helpless com-
munity from obliteration by Zulu assegais in
Chetewayo's time, but as having conquered for
them a valuable extent of country known as
Seecoceonie's Country, where they had suffered
severe defeat. It might also be well to remind
the public at this juncture that although a large
number of Boers took up raiding on British
territory as an occupation, and during two years
ravaged Stellaland and murdered British subjects,
whites and blacks, in great numbers, only relin-
quishing the practice when the expedition under
the command of Colonel Warren was sent against
them, at an expense to England of more than a
million of money, perfect immunity from punish-
ment was granted to them, and no indemnity was
even asked for. In view of these facts, it is

POSTSCRIPT. 265

difficult to estimate the amount of cheek which
prompted the delivery of such an abnormal demand
for indemnity on the part of the Transvaal, which,
even if we exclude the morality item, amounts to
no less than a fraud. The Jameson raid was over
in a few days ; no cattle or other property was
looted; every Boer met with was treated well;
and the raid itself was only an episode of the
revolutionary attempts at Johannesburg, made with
a view to mitigate intolerable conditions imposed
by a Government living on a legalised system of
plunder, and applying the greater part of the
funds so acquired to enrich its personnel.

Even Paul Kruger, destitute as he is of any of
the refined or generous instincts of an ordinary
civilised Christian, might, one would think, reflect
advantageously on the fact that at least ninety-nine
per cent, of the herd of golden calves he is now
enabled to worship are the produce of the sweat
and industry and capital of the hated Uitlander,
without which the treasures of the land would have
been still embedded in its rocks, and he himself
could have achieved no better position than that
of the Presidency of a bankrupt state on a salary
of, say, ;^8oo a year at the utmost, the half of

266 SOUTH AFRICA.

which would have been paid in mealies (maize)
and other farm produce, collected with difficulty,
and paid in reluctantly, as in the cases of former
Presidents. No ; if any case of the repudiation
of a claim was ever justifiable, the Chartered
Company and the Imperial Government would
only be exercising a right by refusing to discuss
the indemnity question in its present shape, if at
all, except perhaps in the form of a petition as
distinguished from a demand.

It might also be as well while existing differences
prevail to definitely express the precise meaning
of the word suzerainty by Act of Parliament, seeing
that the attitude of the Government of the Trans-
vaal has now become a source of serious danger
to her Majesty's dominions in South Africa, and
has already compelled the augmentation of the
naval and military forces in this part of the world,
the extra charges for which ought to be debited
to the Transvaal failing a complete change for the
better in the attitude of its Autocrat and his chque.
To dilate in detail on the prevalent system cf
misrule in that country is beyond my present
purpose, but I hope I have said enough to be some
guide to the British public in forming its opinion

POSTSCRIPT. 267

of the causes, and probably dangerous conse-
quences, of the existing muddle in South African
affairs which originated in the lamentable and
disgraceful course of action of the Imperial
Administration in power when white - feather
politics were paramount No Englishman wishes
to interfere with Transvaal liberties or independ-
ence, but the authorities there ought to be candidly
told that political liberty and licentiousness are
two very distinct things, and that a persistence in
the latter line of action will no longer be permitted
as hitherto. This is the only sort of language
which can be made comprehensible to the ordinary
Boer brain, and it is devoutly to be hoped that he
will not compel the meaning of it to be hammered
into him, but will do justice to the Uitlander,
repudiate his Chinese policy and habits of thought,
bury the hatchet once for all, and put his sturdy
shoulder to the wheel of progress instead of
attempting to hinder its revolution as he has
hitherto been taught to do.

For the second time during the last two years
Paul Kruger is engaged in a serious quarrel with
the Judicial Bench of the Transvaal, with the
object of subjecting the decisions of the Courts

268 SOUTH AFRICA.

to revision or annulment at the hands of the
Executive — ^whenever it may appear desirable to
the wirepullers, who are quite up to the ways and
means of securing a majority in the Raad sufficient
to pass any law dictated by its despot This has
always been the aim of Oom Paul Kruger, who
about ten years ago exercised this species of
dispensing power without even the pretence of
having it legalised, in the case of one Nelmapius,
a Hollander, and protege of his, who had been
sentenced by the High Court to imprisonment for
embezzlement of public funds. In this case the
President personally went to the gaol and released
the prisoner without vouchsafing any explanation.
The then Chief Justice resigned as a matter of
course, and although a little flutter of excitement
occurred, and a few adverse comments on the sub-
ject appeared in the local Press, Kruger triumphed,
and Nelmapius shortly afterwards died a free man
in the country whose criminal laws he had been
found guilty of outraging. In the case now
pending the Chief Justice Kotze has been dis-
missed summarily for attempting opposition to
the Krugerian will. Mr. Kotze, who is respected
for his acknowledged legal abilities and for his

POSTSCRIPT. 269

upright character, is now fighting for the general
principle involved by the attempt of the Executive
to legalise the dispensing power, and deserves the
unstinted support of the public ; as, if this attempt
on the part of Kruger is successful, all security for
life and property in the Transvaal vanishes, and
the President and his clique supersede the law to
all intents and purposes.

Comment on such a possible state of things is
superfluous. It will be a question for jurists to
decide whether such an infraction of the law is
or is not an infraction of existing Conventions ;
but there can be no doubt that should the Trans-
vaal Executive become paramount, the interests of
the whole of the people of South Africa, and those
of investors in South African properties, will be
seriously endangered. In such circumstances it
seems clear that the question changes its character
as a local grievance and becomes of national
importance, and, as such, one to be dealt with by
the Imperial Government.

The population of Johannesburg and of other
mining centres here has been so helotised of late
that any energetic local action is hardly to be
expected in the absence of effectual outside

270 SOUTH AFRICA.

support, but surely petitions to the Imperial
Government embodying a statement of all
existing grievances and requesting its assistance
in an endeavour to procure substantial reforms is
indicated, and should be attempted.

Expert jurists may perhaps be able to discover
the difference between a state subject to the
suzerainty of a monarch and of a feudatory one
"pur et simple." Any plain man of fairly good
mental capacity will probably come to the con-
clusion that although some possible difference
may be discoverable, no adverse distinction is
obvious. Assuming this as a fact, it becomes clear
that the right to interfere in supreme cases is
unquestionable ; it is equally clear that the question
at issue between the British population of the
Transvaal and of the Government of the
Uitlanders generally, and of all investors in
property in South Africa, renders the case urgent
Surely a monarch is within his or her right in
interfering with a view to avert a palpable danger
to the peace and prosperity of an Kmpure and its
dependencies when these are threatened by the
action of an unfriendly feudatory state.

It must be by no means inferred from the

POSTSCRIPT. 271

foregoing expression of my opinion on the subject
treated that I am advocating any interference with
the conduct of the internal affairs of the Trans-
vaal Her Majesty's Ministers are not scavengers,
and cannot be supposed to have any wish
to bedaub themselves by any attempt to inter-
meddle with such an accumulation of Augean
corruption as such action would entail. The
actions and animus of the Transvaal Government
are as hostile to British interests as a declaration
of war would be, and no temperate but firm
defensive remonstrances or measures taken by the
Imperial Government to put an end to, or at least
to mitigate the evils of the situation can by any
means be construed into an interference with the
internal government of the country. It must not
be forgotten that approximately two-thirds of the
Transvaal soil is owned by Englishmen and a few
Europeans of other nationalities, whose sole
dependence for protection in very probable
emergencies depends upon the action of the
paramount power in South Africa. These people
will soon be at the mercy of a vindictive despot
and his subordinates, should Paul Kru'ger obtain
the power of dispensing with the paramountcy of

272 SOUTH AFRICA.

Law and the substitution of Executive action in its
place, although duly formulated by the farce of its
endorsement by a Raad he has made wholly sub-
servient to his orders — ^for a consideration. A few
individuals of this body may be considered as in
opposition to Krugerian policy, but they are only
an impotent minority, with whom Oom Paul
sometimes condescends to get into one of his
ludicrous passions, but generally ignores, as he
can well afford to do.

I have described the existent situation in the
Transvaal as dangerous, and knowing as I do the
characters of some of the prominent members of
this precious Raad, and of the atrocious conduct
they were prepared to exhibit at a certain
memorable crisis in Transvaal history had the
expressing the opinion that I am justified m
expressing the opinion that I am justified m
considering that allegation is well founded. The
future of South Africa will be, I think, largely
dependent on the action of the Chartered Com-
pany, if Rhodesia is proved to be the valuable
country it is believed to be. Undoubtedly as a
pastoral country it is infinitely superior to the
Transvaal, and if the company could see its way

POSTSCRIPT. 273

to encourage Boer immigration, it would soon
drain off the greater part of the best sort of
the burghers of that nominal republic. Liberal
monetary sacrifices as regards quit rents, and the
like, would certainly be necessary on the part
of the Company as a commencement, and a
minimum employment of the red tape so hateful
to the Boers would be prudent ; but the ultimate
success of some such well-devised scheme may, I
think, be safely predicted.

In that case the company might justly consider
itself as having been the factor of the much-to-be
desired union of the white races in South Africa,
which would be a consequence of the action hinted
at ; and this great objective of the founder of
Rhodesia would be in a fair way to become another
of his achievements, should he incline to use the
great influence he possesses in favour of the plan
of campaign here indicated.

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COMB! NATION K
BALL^AND SHOT 0UN5,

NON FOULING SMOOTH OVAl^ BORE, ^

^'303'S6i EXPRESS'S^

ROOK AND RABBIT RIFLES,

CLAY PIGEONS- TRAPS-CARTRI DOES. Etc.

.I5JJ4EW.BjOND.SIWJ

LONDON,ENGLAND.

SPORTING

CARTRIDGES.

Eley's Waterproof Cartridge Case,

'• PEQ AMOIO " PATENT.

• ■W%^^^faFI.Wi^Si%W^%^i^WV^iWi^W

ADVANTAGES:

Absolutely unaffected in wet weather.

Moisture cannot possibly get to the powder charge.

Cases do not swell even after being left on damp ground all
night.

The turnover does not become loose.

To be bad from ALL GUNM&KERS. Wholesale only.

W. W. Greener.

GUNS AND RIFLES.

THE LARGEST STOCK IN GREAT BRITAIN, READY FOR
IMMEDIATE DISPATCH.

GUNS.

Ejector from 25 Guineas.
Hammerless „ 13 „

RIFLES.

Double Express from 20 Guineas.
„ Hammerless „ 25 „
Martinis [vtwed],, 6 „

Ladies' Guns, Wlldfowling Guns and Guns for Boys, Hammerless

Rector Rifles. Lee Metford Magrazlne Rifles and Martini Rifles of

every price, bore and description.

ILIUSTRATED PRICE LIST OF EITHER BUNS OR RIFLES, SENT POST FREE.

W. W. qpiENER'S BOOKS ON qU|JS J\fiD piFLES.

8. d.

"The Gun and its Development." TheCyclopacdiaof Guns »nd Shoot-
ing, including also Rifles. 6th Sditlon. Cloth 10 6

" Modern Shot Ouns." A scientific treatise on Shooting, Load ng and
Patterns. Cloth 5 0

"The Breechloader and how to use it." The handy book for all
•hooters. How to buy. handle, preserve, and obtain best results from
any gun 2 6

To be obtained from Ca5sell & Co., London, or the Author,

68, HAYMARKET, LONDON,

AND

ST. MARY'S SQUARE, BIRMINGHAM.

THE NEWCASTLE CHILLED SHOT Co., Ltd.

SOLE MAKERS OF NEWCASTLE

**CHllil^HD SHOT/'

BEWARE OP IMITATIONS*

CHILLED SHOT

Special attention is called to the Trade Mark, as imitations of the

Company's manufacture are being offered and sold as

Chilled Shot.

NEWCASTLE CHILLED SHOT has no equal for hardness,
rotundity, uniformity in shape, and evenness in size.

This Shot is now being used by all the leading English and
Continental Pigeon Shooters. It gives greater penetration,
superior pattern at long ranges, and keeps its shape better than
any other kind of Shot. See records of the London Gun Trials
of 1875, 1877, 1878, 1879, as to its superiority.

Manufactured by improved machinery, it is without equal for
use in Choke bores or Cylinders, and has no deleterious effect
upon the Gun Barrels.

The Official Report of the French experiments with spoptine arms,
carried out by the Government in 1892, says, "THE BEST SHOT
TRIED WAS THE NEWCASTLE CHILLED SHOT."

The Company an the SOLE MANUFACTURERS of CHILLED SHOT,
which is composed of lead only, and free from any poison.
Offices and Works :

GATESHEAD-ON-TYNE, ENGLAND.

THE GUN AND ITS DEVELOPMENT,

By W. W. GREENER.
The Standard Work on Guns and Shooting.

Sixth Edition.

Revised and brought down to Date with many

Additions, containing some 550 Illustrations,

750 Pages.

Price 1016.

** TTHE GUK AND ITS DEVELOPMENT " contains a full history of Early
1 Firearms, Cannon, and Gunpowder, and traces the evolution of tha
Modern Military Bifle and Sporting Shot Gun. No point of interest is left un-
noticed, and the work has been thoroughly revised, added to, and brought down
to date by varied additions. A voluminous Index enables the reader to refer
instantly to any subject treated of in this Cycloptdia of Gunnery.

MODERN SHOT GUNS.

,/l Scientific Treatise on Guns and their Shooting,
By W. W. GREENER.

Second Edition- Cloth, Gilt Letters, Price 5s.

This treatise tells Bi>ortsmen just what they wish to know about guns; by
reading it they will learn which guns to avoid, how to load their weapons to
best advantage, how to keep them in repair, and how to benefit from their use.

Also to be obtained in German. Spanish and Italian Languages.

THE BREECHLOADER AND HOW TO USE IT.

WITH NOTES ON RIFLES. By W. W. GREENER.

Seventh Edition just published. Price 3s. 6d. Cloth, 2». 6d. Paper

boards. Post Free.

S90 Pages, eopunuly Illustrated \,CasseU !f Co.i {1/ie First Editim of 6,000 told in

tour Months.)

The Book contains much information relative to the choice of guns, the
detection of spurious and worthless we^ipons, and many practical hints on the
handling and use of guns.

The text is illustrated with numerous woodcuts, many of them specially en-
graved for this work.'the positions taken by renowned trap shots are shown, and
the handling of the gun is pictorially illustrated ; the aim of tlie author being
to induce all who are interested in shooting to take an active part in this manly
■port, and to advance the interests of all who look to the gun for pleasure,
health or recreation.

Hay be obtained from all Booksellers, or the Author,

At 68, Haymarket, London, S.W., and St. Mary's Square, Birmingham.

rrUf 17 mi IT M A Romance of the " Wars of the
M. SlLMid KllM^Vi Roses," being the story of the
rvp most gallant defence of the last

^^^ =r = XI ■ castle in the Kingdom to hold
"JLW II 'Of ir/^lJr out for the lost cause of Lan-
Xl.jnJI[\JLi<JCuwfm* caster; also the true history ot

the surprising adventures that
befell a forgotten son of the Royal House, and of the strange
fortunes of his beauteous lady-love in Wales and elsewhere ; an
account of the famous assault by the King's Own Master Gun-
ner, and the wreck of his mighty engines before Harlech Castle;
of the cunning stratagems of the cruel besiegers happily foiled
by the bravery and prowess of our Welsh swordsmen ; together
with other wondrous happenings both within and without the
castle walls, now for the first time set forth.

BY WIRT GERRARE.

A new edition of this notable novel, in one vol., crown 8vo, with 12
illustrations, 334 pages, price Six Shillings.

" . , , T)iere is littH but praise to bestow on Mr. Gerrare. He knows Lis
Merionethshire well, his topography is accurate, liis descriptions are vivid and
not too Ions'. He has given us a fine ^t0Iy which will be read with eager interest.
The passages that charm most are those describinsr the manner in which Kyffiu
moves the stakes that were to guide the Yorkist Euglish as they floated Ineir
big gun across the marsh ouriugr the siege, the account of the bursting of Qas-
pard Chevysse's great gun, ' Tlie King's Da\»ghter,' and the story of the battle in
the pass. These are, there is no question about it, thoroughly good; and the
man who can describe a fight as Mr. Uerrare can describe it is a distinct gain,
and a man worth knowing in literature." — National Observer.

" In every sense a novel out of the beaten ways of fiction." — The Morning,

" An excellent and interesting tale." — Black and White.

" Mr. Gerrare is a writer with the historical sense; he has the imagination and
the knowledge to reconstitute a period, and the rude life of the times is brought
before the reader in a succession of animated scenes. 'The Men of Harlech' is
strenuously written and the author's style will please those who have the taste for
good writing as surely as the book will engage the attention of those who read
only for the story."— iJe/Vree.

"To be ungrudgingly commended." — SheJ/ield Telegraph.

" Mr. Gerrare describes a battle with great power. The fight in the pass is
a clever piece of work, and the romance of the pretty Alls is distinct with grace
and feeling," — Daily Chronicle.

" Whose pulse will not beat the quicker as he reads of the first cannon that
woke the echoes of Harlech, and the terror which it spread within the castle
walls? There is a wholesome breeziness about Mr. Gerrare'a tale of the old
world, developed with an intensity worthy of Charles BxaAe,"— Academy.

W. W. GREENER, 68, HAYMARKET, LONDON, S.W.

DATE DUE

BPU

NOV

! 0 1987

IfCD M.

\Y 1 d 198

9

UN HtblUNAL LlbMAH* hAOILMV

A 000 826 521 7

i