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Pioneers in
South Africa

By SIR HARRY JOHNSTON

G.C.M.G., K.C.B.

WITH EIGHT COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS
BY IVAL PAGET

PIONEERS OF EMPIRE

BLACKIE AND SON LIMITED

LONDON GLASGOW BOMBAY

1914

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579*4

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PIONEERS IN SOUTH AFRICA

PIONEERS OF EMPIRE

SIR HARRY JOHNSTON, G.C.M.G., K.C.B.

FULLY ILLUSTRATED IN COLOUR AND IN
BLACK-AND-WHITE

PIONEERS IN TROPICAL AMERICA. 6;.

PIONEERS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 6s.

PIONEERS IN WEST AFRICA. 6s.

V RS IN CANADA. 65.

PI( >NI .! RS IN INDIA. 6;.

PIONE1 RS IN JTRALASIA. 6s.

IDONi BLACK.IE Si SON, Ltd., <;o OLD BAILEY, E.C.

PREFACE

The publishers of this book asked me to write a
series of works which should deal with "real
adventures ", in parts of the world either wild
and uncontrolled by any civilized government, or
at any rate regions full of dangers, of wonderful
discoveries; in which the daring and heroism of
white men (and sometimes of white women) stood
out clearly against backgrounds of unfamilar land-
scapes, peopled with strange nations, savage tribes,
dangerous beasts, or wonderful birds. These books
would again and again illustrate the first coming
of the white race into regions inhabited by people
of a different type, with brown, black, or yellow
skins; how the European was received, and how
he treated these races of the soil which gradually
came under his rule owing to his superior know-
ledge, weapons, wealth, or powers of persuasion.
The books were to tell the plain truth, even if
here and there they showed the white man to
have behaved badly, or if they revealed the fact
that the American Indian, the Negro, the Malay,
the black Australian was sometimes cruel and
treacherous.

A request thus framed was almost equivalent

lii

Preface

to a king me to write stories of those pioneers who
founded the British Empire; in any case, the first
volumes of this series do relate the adventures of
those who created the greater part of the British
1) .minions beyond the Seas, by their perilous ex-
plorations of unknown lands and waters. In many
instan- es the travellers were all unconscious of their

tinies, of the results which would arise from
their actions. In some cases they would have
bitterly railed at Fate had they known that the
ult of their splendid efforts was to be the en-
largement of an empire under the British flag.

haps if they could know by now that we are
striving under that Hag to be just and generous to
all types of men, and not to use our empire solely
for the benefit of Hnedish-speaking men and women,
th.- French who founded the Canadian nation, the
I , rmans and Dutch who helped to create British
\-- : .' a, Malaysia, and Australia, the Spaniards who
j,r- d US in the West Indies, and the Portuguese

in \V> . < entral, and East Africa, in Newfoundland
and Ceylon, might — if they have any consciousness
for things in this world — be not so sorry

r al! that we are reaping where they sowed.

[t is you will see) impossible to tell the tale
of th< irlydaysin the British Dominions beyond

th( S< , without describing here and there the
adventures «-t men of enterprise and daring who
were not of our own nationality. The majority,
nevertheless, were <>t British stock; that is to say,
they were English, Welsh, Scots, Irish, perhaps

here and there a Channel [slander and a Manxman;

Preface v

or Nova Scotians, Canadians, and New Englanders.
The bulk of them were good fellows, a few were
saints, a few were ruffians with redeeming features.
Sometimes they were common men who blundered
into great discoveries which will for ever preserve
their names from perishing; occasionally they were
men of Fate, predestined, one might say, to change
the history of the world by their revelations of new
peoples, new lands, new rivers, new lakes, snow
mountains, and gold mines. Here and there is a
martyr like Marquette, or Livingstone, or Gordon,
dying for the cause of a race not his own. And
others again are mere boys, whose adventures come
to them because they are adventurous, and whose
feats of arms, escapes, perils, and successes are
quite as wonderful as those attributed to the juvenile
heroes of Marryat, Stevenson, and the author of
The Swiss Family Robinson.

I have tried, in describing these adventures, to
give my readers some idea of the scenery, animals,
and vegetation of the new lands through which
these pioneers passed on their great and small
purposes; as well as of the people, native to the
soil, with whom they came in contact. And in
treating of these subjects I have thought it best
to give the scientific names of the plant or animal
which was of importance in my story, so that any
of my readers who were really interested in natural
history could at once ascertain for themselves the
exact type alluded to, and, if they wished, look it
up in a museum, a garden, or a natural history book.

I hope this attempt to be accurate will not

\ I

Preface

rhten away young readers, who will find in

between these zoological or botanical notes a variety

tciting incidents, and many a strange and

• inating glimpse of savage life; plenty of hair-
breadth escapes, deeds of heroism or of bloodshed,
and triumphs of courage and dogged perseverance.
There will be no maudlin sentimentality about my
I the same time they will contain nothing
that a healthy-minded boy or girl may not read
unharmed. There are cannibals in Robinson Crusoe,
and you will meet them — real ones — in these books;

ilps are taken and the prisoners are tortured by
I nimore Cooper's Red Indians: well, I will show

: the very originals of Fenimore's noble savages,

as des< ribed by the first Europeans who met them.

\ ou shall s<r what the pirates of the Spanish Main

and the seas of Borneo were really like; witness

sla Is in Central Africa, trials for witchcraft,

deaths from thirst, and terrible episodes of almost

iplete starvation. Yet you shall also behold rare

t kindness from savages towards white men

and white men towards savages, attend feastings

and froli well as deaths and scenes of torture.

shall not be unnecessarily harrowed,

you will learn much of geography and natural

histor) by the way; and, if you can have patience

with the author and his desire to instruct you

onally, yon will, by reading this scries of

books "ii the great pioneers of British West Africa,

I nada, Malaysia, West Indies, South Africa, and

Australasia, get a clear idea of how the British

Colonial Empire came to be founded.

Preface

VI 1

You will find that I have often tried to tell the
story in the words of the pioneers, but in these
quotations I have adopted the modern spelling,
not only in my transcript of the English original
or translation, but also in the place and tribal
names, so as not to puzzle or delay the reader.
Otherwise, if you were to look out some of the
geographical names of the old writers, you might
not be able to recognize them on the modern atlas.
The pronunciation of this modern geographical
spelling is very simple and clear: the vowels are
pronounced a = ah, e = eh, i = ee, o = o, 6 = oh,
o = aw, o = u in ' hurt ', and u = oo, as in Ger-
man, Italian, or most other European languages;
and the consonants as in English,

H. H. JOHNSTON.

CONTENTS

Chap. Page

I. South Africa as the White Man first saw it - - 15

II. Prehistoric South Africa 35

III. The Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 53

IV. The Portuguese in South Central Africa - - 88
V. The Explorations of the Dutch 116

VI. Paterson's Journeys 134

VII. Missionary Pioneers 160

VIII. Moffat and Bechuanaland ------ 177

IX. MOSILIKATSI AND THE BOERS 204

X. Livingstone and Oswell 233

XI. Livingstone's Great Journeys 268

XII. The Explorers of South-west Africa - - - 297

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

COLOURED PLATES

Page
" The Boers of the party boldly tackled a lion and lioness "

Fron tispiece 1 65

A South African Plain : Before the coming of the White Man - 32

The Portuguese and Hottentots ...... - 60

Dutch Sailors pursuing Dodos - - - - - - - -118

Moffat and the Zulus 216

Mauch discovering the Ruins of Zimbabwe ..... 230

Livingstone and Oswell reach the Zambezi at Sesheke ... 266

Livingstone and Stanley at Ujiji ....... 294

BLACK-AND-WHITE ILLUSTRATIONS

Mountain Zebra and Quagga ----..-.24

Cape Colony Bushman and Kalahari Bushmen .... 40

Ruins of the Great Mosque at Kilwa ..---- 80

Hottentot and Zulu Kafirs ........ 152

The Orange River (Namakwaland), and the Dry Bed of a Once

Powerful River in Namakwaland - - - - - - 170

Basutoland and the Highest Mountain in South Africa ... 224
A Water Hole in the Kalahari Desert: Selling Water Melons in

the Kalahari Desert --..-.--- 248

The Main Fall, Zambezi 286

Map of Central and South Africa - - 102

Maps of Africa, before Livingstone's Journeys, and by discovery or

report after Livingstone's last researches were published, 1874 290

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The works on South African history by G. McCall Theal, especially
his Records of South-Eastern Africa, mainly the reproduction and
translation of Portuguese documents; also The Beginnings of
South African History.

The Lands of the Cazembe: Lacerda's journey to Cazembe in 1798,
translated and annotated by Captain R. F. Burton, F. R.G.S.
(Deals also with the journey of the Pombeiros and of Monteiro
and Gammito.) London. John Murray. 1873.

Travels in Southern Africa in the years 1803, -4, -5, -6. By Henry
Lichtenstein. 2 Vols. London. 1815.

Narrative of a Voyage of Observation among the Colonies of Western
Africa, Kaffir-Land, &c, in 1836. By James Edward Alexander.
2 Vols. London. 1837.

Missionary Labours and Scenes in Southern Africa. By Robert
Moffat. London. 1842.

A History of Christian Missions in South Africa. By J. Du Plessis,
B.A., B.D. London. Longmans, Green, & Co. 1911.

The works of David Livingstone (Missionary Travels and Researches
in South Africa, Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambezi and
its Tributaries, and Last Journals).

Travels in the Interior of South Africa. By James Chapman, F.R.G.S.
2 Vols. London. 1868.

John Mackenzie, South African Missionary and Statesman. By W.
Douglas Mackenzie. London. Hodder and Stoughton. 1902.

William Cotton Oswell, Hunter and Explorer. By W. Edward Oswell.
2 Vols. London. William Heinemann. 1900.

Explorations in South-West Africa. By Thomas Baines, F.R.G.S.
London. 1864.

14 Bibliography

The works of Charles John Andersson. (Lake Ngami, Notes of Travel
in South Africa, and the Okavango River.)

A History of Geographical Discovery in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth
Centuries. By Edward Heawood, M.A. Cambridge. 191 2.

A History and Description of the British Empire in Africa. By Sir
Harry Johnston. London (National Society). 1910.

Livingstone and the Exploration of Central Africa. By Sir H. H.
Johnston. London. George Phillip. 1891.

British Central Africa. By Sir H. H. Johnston. London. 1904.

A History of the Colonization of Africa by Alien Races. By Sir H. H.
Johnston. Cambridge. 1913.

Historical Geography of the British Colonies. Vol. IV. (History of
South and East Africa.) By Sir Charles Lucas. Oxford. 1897.

The Garden Colony: The Story of Natal and its Neighbours. By
Robert Russell. London. J. M. Dent. 1903.

Besides other books mentioned specially in the text.

PIONEERS IN SOUTH
AFRICA

CHAPTER I

South Africa as the White Man first saw it

What was South Africa like in appearance, if this vast
country, from the tenth to the thirty-fifth degree of S. lati-
tude, could have been seen by an intelligent white man at
the close of the fifteenth century? Its surface features as
regards mountain, river, plain, swamp, and desert were no
doubt very much what they are to-day, except that there
must have been a little less desert and far more forest,
a little more swamp and somewhat fuller rivers than can
be seen now; for apparently the rainfall in the more
southern regions has been slightly diminishing. The
interior of this great projection of the continent is for
the most part a lofty plateau with an average eleva-
tion of 4000 feet south of the Zambezi basin, and 3000
feet in Zambezia, Nyasaland, and Southern Congoland.
This elevated tableland has been carved into lake depres-
sions, deep river courses, stony plains, table-top moun-
tains, gaunt peaks and crags, by the action of earth-
quakes, land-slides, wind and water through long ages.

The mountain ranges of Cape Colony rise to consider-

1 6 Pioneers in South Africa

able elevations, as much, here and there, as 8000 feet.
Those of Basutoland are the highest of all in South Africa,
their culminating point in altitude being about 11,000 feet.
There are high mountains between the Transvaal and
Natal, and along the eastern borders of the Transvaal.
But although South Africa is almost Alpine in aspect in
the south, and between the basins of its two great rivers,
the Limpopo and the Orange; and further rises to altitudes
of 8000 feet in parts of Southern Rhodesia, it smooths
down into flat or undulating plains in the southern basin
of the Zambezi, plains which undoubtedly once were
covered by vast sheets of shallow water, the last vestiges
of which are little Lake Ngami and the salt lakes or
pans of the Makarikari. In South-west Africa — Damara-
land — the mountains once more rise to altitudes of 8000 feet
in places, but the level sinks again in the vicinity of the
Kunene and towards the Upper Zambezi, to rise once
morr into lofty tablelands of 5000 feet above sea level and
mountains of over 8000 feet, in southern and central An-
gola. All along the Zambezi-Congo water-parting the
land is from 4000 to 6000 feet in altitude, as also on
the Muchinga Mountains of north-east Rhodesia and the
\'\ asa-Tanganyika plateau; while to the north and south
of the Nyasa trough the mountains exceed 10,000 feet or
marly attain to that elevation. 1 In the south-west of the
Mozambique province, near the borders of southern Nyasa-
land, there are ranges of precipitous, lofty, little-known
mountains (such as the Hamuli peaks) reaching to more
than 8000 feet in height, and very majestic in appearance.
The western half of southernmost Africa is a country of
poor rainfall, and consequently much of it is a desert as

1 Nfount Rungwe, to the north of I .nkr Ny.v.a, is about io.ioo feet, and Mlanje,
west of the lower Shire River (south-cast Nyasaland), is 9680 feet.

(0 687)

As the White Man first saw it 17

hopeless as parts of the Sahara. The eastern half of this
sub-continent, however, is provided with a more or less
abundant rainfall, which imparts a tropical character to
the vegetation, except where the land rises into high
plateaus or lofty mountains. Natal, for example, is for
the most part quite a tropical country in appearance,
though it lies at a considerable distance beyond the
Southern Tropic. The conditions of Cape Colony as
regards rainfall and vegetation are by no means uniform.
The northern parts of this region are either desert or at
any rate very arid in appearance. The eastern and
southernmost portions have a good rainfall, and are even
well forested, or would have seemed so 400 years ago.
The region just round about Cape Town itself is altogether
peculiar. It has a heavy rainfall which is well distributed
throughout the year, a perfect climate, somewhat like that
of Madeira, and an exceedingly rich vegetation, which is
quite unlike that of the rest of Africa, though a few ex-
amples of the Cape flora may be seen on the tops of the
highest mountains in Equatorial Africa.

The true Cape-of-Good-Hope flora in its affinities is
more related to that of Australia and temperate South
America than to the flora of Tropical Africa. It is particu-
larly rich in heaths, in geraniums and pelargoniums, 1
oxalises, everlasting-flowers, sunflowers, daisies, ground
orchids (scarlet, blue, orange, sulphur-yellow, and white
in the colour of their flowers), white-spathed arums
(Richardici), amaryllids and crinums and iris-like plants,
ixias, gladioli (of great and varied beauty of colouring),
"red-hot pokers" (Kniphofia), blue Agapanthus lilies,

1 The scarlet geranium of our greenhouses originally came from the Cape of
Good Hope, where it grows wild in profusion on the hills near the sea. It is really
a Pelargonium, a genus nearly allied to the geraniums.

( 587 ) 2

is Pioneers in South Africa

aloes with waxy blossoms of orange or scarlet, and gor-

ius Strelitzias — a distant relation of the banana — with
spikes of flowers brilliant in orange-and-blue, like a macaw.

Among the more remarkable-looking trees and shrubs
are numerous species of the Protea family, like those which
characterize so much of the Australian scenery. One of
the most noteworthy among the Cape Proteas is Leucaden-
dron argenteum, the celebrated " silver leaf", the beauty of
which is bringing it perilously near extinction. A very
tall Protea (P. grandifiora) is known as the Wagon tree,
because its hard, tough, red wood is used for the construc-
tion of the wheels and other parts of wagons which have to
bear the most strain. The most noteworthy native timber
trees of southern Cape Colony are the nearly extinct
"Cedars" of the high mountains (Widdringtonia cupres-
soides— really a species of juniper), the tall Podocarpus
yews (known locally as yellow woods), the various kinds
of wild olive ("Black Ironwood ", &c.), the Calodendrons
with magnificent clusters of flowers like those of a horse-
chestnut, the laurel-like Stinkwood (Oreodup/mc), the
Sneezewood {Pteroxylon)^ the Kafir "plum" (Harpophv/-
lum), the Cape Willow (Saltx), the Cape Ilex, the Red-
i'mtt), the White Ironwood (Vodda/ui), the Cape
I i ik {Sttychnos atherstonei), the White Milkwood (Sider-
oxylon allied to the Argan tree of Morocco), the Red Milk-
wood (Mtmuscps) and the Natal Mahogany {Kiggelarid).

The undergrowth of the forests in south Cape Colony
— there being no forests in the centre or north — includes
handsome tree-ferns and bamboos. These gradually re-
treat from the lowlands to the mountains as one travels

• and north from the southern < oastlands of Cape
Colony, until in the equatorial regions tree-ferns and
bamboos can only be found above 7000 feet altitude.

As the White Man first saw it 19

Over a great deal of inner South Africa, even 400 years
ago, a European traveller would not have observed much
dense forest on the mountains or plateaus. Trees in
masses would have been confined to the river courses, or
to valleys and areas of moist land where water stagnated
or was shut in by mountains. The principal type of tree,
besides the cactus-like Euphorbias and an occasional wild
fig, would have been the Kameeldorn or "Giraffe-thorn"
tree— a tall Acacia (A. giraffce). On the dry plains, where
it was not actual stony or sandy desert, the bushes of the
ugly, stunted Acacia horrida with its huge white thorns
were only too abundant. For the greater part of the year
these bushes and thickets would be bare of leaves and
glistening with their two-inch-long thorns. But still more
terrible for the traveller in a hurry, or the native pursuing
or flying from a wild beast, would be the "wait-a-bit
thorn bush"— Acacia deti?iens—a.s it was named by the
explorer Burchell in the early nineteenth century. The
spines of this bush are not straight daggers or needles, but
craftily arranged hooks curved and sheathed like the ex-
tended claws of a tiger cat.

In the arid regions of western South Africa the plants
most frequently seen would be mesembryanthemums of
the order Ficoidea, which is a group distantly related to
the Cacti of America, and resembling them very markedly
in their bright-coloured, many-petalled flowers, and their
usually grotesque appearance, being either leafless— with
squat swollen stems— or with the leaves developed into
huge swollen knobs or strange spines. Some of these
African Mesembryanthemums are like little groups of
stone, clusters of pebbles of greyish green. Others are
seemingly lichen-covered boulders, but consist really of a
large colony of tiny plants growing very close together and

Pioneers in South Africa

presenting a uniform roughened surface of flinty bracts or
leaflets, the intervals between the stems and the roots being
filled up bv sand. Several species of geranium in south-
west Africa resemble the Cacti and Mesembryanthema
in developing leafless, bulging, thorny stems. These
South African deserts also grow a variety of gourds and
wild pumpkins — relations of the Cucumbers — with brightly
painted fruit full of watery juice, which serves to quench
the thirst of the Bushmen and of antelopes when water
fails completely. To the north of the Orange River the
sandy deserts near the coast are the home of one of the
strangest plants that the world can show — the Welwitschia.
This is a member of a small order of cone-bearing plants,
distantly allied to the Conifers and Cycads. In the case of
the Welwitschia, from out of a short and woody trunk,
which expands into a saucer shape, there grow from the
rim of the saucer the cone-like fruits and two huge leathery
leaves which in course of time become split and frayed,
parched and brown. A good many of the plants found
in the South African deserts are allied to those of the

iiara.

The hills of Natal and the Transvaal, and of south-
east Africa generally, were in former times thickly covered
with bamboos, and in many districts are so still. They
also exhibit a variety of aloes, both low-growing plants
and tall, tree-like forms. There were besides — or are still
— the dracaenas or tree-lilies, and the immeasurably old-in-
type Cycads 1 (Encephalartos), like stunted tree-ferns with
the cones of pine trees. In Bechuanaland, Rhodesia,
and south-east Africa a commonly-seen tree is the huge,
gouty Baobab, while the candelabra laiphorbia grows in
isolated clumps, or forms thickets, and with other species
1 RHics of the earth's ■■ ■ Primary and Secondary Epochs.

As the White Man first saw it 21

of Euphorbia provides the natives with quickly-growing
hedges, thorny and poisonous enough to keep out wild
beasts or human trespassers.

Naiced and desolate as much of South Africa appears
during nine months of the year, in the three months of
spring — October to January — many tracts present a lovely
appearance with the ground vegetation in flower. In the
moist parts there are vast numbers of white Arum 4< lilies".
Real lilies and amaryllids, ixias, and irises of great beauty,
with flowers that are blue, red, yellow, pink, crimson,
mauve, or white, bloom all over the veld and on the moun-
tains. Open spaces of still water are studded with white
and blue water-lilies. The Acacias blossom with honey-
scented little puff-balls of white, yellow, or orange. The
Kaffir-boom {Erythrina) is ablaze with clusters of scarlet-
velvet bean flowers. There is an immense variety of
ground orchid and gladiolus, of daisy and sunflower.

Away to the north, beyond the fairly well-watered
country of south-east Africa, or the bare plains of Bechu-
analand and the sandy wastes of the Kalahari Desert, one
enters the basin of the Zambezi, which really includes the
lake and river system of Ngami, of the Makarikari salt
pans and the great Okavango-Teoge River, though the
two systems are only connected now by actual waterways
in the floods of exceptional rainy seasons. But once the
traveller has reached the basin of the Zambezi from the
south, he has definitely quitted the desert country of sand
or bare rock which prevails through so much of western
Cape Colony and of German south-west Africa. Even in
the days before Europeans saw this land, the southern
Zambezi basin was more a grass country than a region of
forests, though there were dense groves of tall trees at one
time around Lake Ngami. For the most part the land

2a Pioneers in South Africa

is covered with grass and park-like clumps of trees, pro-
minent amongst which are the tall Borassus palms and
the shorter, more bushy Hypha^ne fan palms. There are
many tall fig trees with multitudinous roots hanging from
the branches, or parasitic fig trees that cling to the rocks
or to the trunks of other trees. There is the Msuko or
Mochuchon {Uapaeci), which bears quantities of a delicious
fruit like a very sweet and honeyed medlar. There are
Kigelias with huge, useless seed vessels hanging, like
grey-green puddings or sausages, downwards from the
branches. The wild Date Palm is also found in all moist
localities, and extends its range down the east coast as
far as Natal. That elephant among trees, the Baobab,
is common ; Acacias of several kinds are numerous, and
sometimes grow into tall trees, giving harbourage to the
innumerable nests of weaver birds. A good deal of the
upper Zambezi region is a vast swamp of white-plumed
Pkragmites reeds, Papyrus rush, and the characteristic
marsh vegetation of Central Africa. The flora of Nyasa-
land and of north-eastern Rhodesia is a very rich one,
and the flower displays are of great beauty in the spring
season of the year. The vegetation here is so varied that
it would be impossible within the space at my disposal
to give any adequate idea of it. But it is fully described
by myself and others in a book on British Central Africa
written some years ago. 1 Along the east coast of Africa
and the east side of Tanganyika the vegetation is very
similar to that of Nyasaland. From the west side of Tan-
ganyika one enters the forest region of West Africa, in
v.hi( li the Oil palm is abundant, and in which the forests
are often of great density, and contain many species of
rubber-prodin ing trees and vines. Here, too, as in some

1 Pritith Central Africa. Second edition. Methuen.

As the White Man first saw it 23

parts of south-east Africa down to Natal, grow the mag-
nificent Raphia palms, without a tall stem, but with superb
fronds of immense length. 1 The farther one proceeds north
through the Congo basin the denser become the forests,
until in some parts they are almost too crowded with vege-
tation for the habitation of man, even for the specially
adapted Congo Pygmy. All this region of the vast cen-
tral Congo basin between the watershed of Tanganyika on
the east and the mountains and hills of Angola and the
Crystal Mountains on the west was once a huge inland
sea, which has only recently dried up into forest-covered
land ; and even now, at some seasons of the year, is as
much under water as the similar basin of the Amazon,
described in the volume of this series which treats of the
Pioneers in Tropical America.

But what would have struck almost any man with the
European type of mind, who could have seen this land
as it was some four hundred years — or even one hundred
years — ago, before it was despoiled of its wonders, would
have been its remarkable mammalian fauna. Then, nearly
the whole of South Africa was ranged by herds of huge
elephants, from the Congo forests and the Zambezi to the
southernmost parts of Cape Colony and the bush round
the Bay of Port Natal. Similarly, there were everywhere
buffalo, both of the typical Cape species and of a variety
less extreme in development of horns. 2 Long, long before

1 The Raphia does not rise from the ground with a tall, slender trunk, like the Date
Palm or the Borassus, but sends up, from a relatively short stem near the ground,
enormous fronds 20 to 30 feet in length, with huge, glossy red midribs and blue-green
plume-like filaments.

2 The true Cape Buffalo was a big beast, black-haired, and with horns which in the
bull developed enormous bosses over the forehead. These bosses grew together till
they united in one wrinkled mass of solid horn. The more northern and north-eastern
type of buffalo in South Africa has, however, the horns less abnormally developed,
with a distinct cleft between the two bosses in front. The kind first described is now
very nearly extinct owing to the attacks of sportsmen.

24 Pioneers in South Africa

the white man came to South Africa, but yet when this
part of the continent was already occupied by Man, there
existed a buffalo similar to the species Bos antiquus, also
present at the same period in Algeria; which last has been
depicted for us faithfully by prehistoric Man on the stone
slabs of North Africa and the Sahara Desert. Bos anti-
quus (or Bos baini, as it is called in South Africa) had
horns in the male which were occasionally 14 feet long,
measured round the curve.

There were also countless giraffes ranging over the
more open, less mountainous parts of South Africa and
Zambezia, though they were absent from southernmost
Africa and Nyasaland. There were millions of ostriches,
millions of sable antelopes, roan antelopes, blaubok, 1
elands, kudus, bushbuck, white-tailed gnus, blue gnus,
j alias, hartebeests, tsesebes, waterbuck, oryxes, spring-
bok, and all the smaller types of African antelopes (except
gazelles); zebras and quaggas, 2 wart-hogs and bush pigs,

' I ok i //.// eucophcBHs) or "blue buck" became extinct in Cape

Colony at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Its range was limited to the
southern and western parts of Cape Colony.

1 A few words should be said here as to the species of wild horse native to South
and Central Africa, for the better understanding of the narratives which follow. These
is "zebras" and "quaggas", the quagga (extinct since 1873) being
almost brown in general colour and only faintly striped on the neck and back; and
the zebra l>cing Striped boldly in black and cream-colour all, or nearly all, over the
body. As a matter of fact, there is practically no structural difference between the
« of the plains and the <if South Africa . the quagga is merely a Burchell's

1 in which most of the striping ha faded into 1 ruddy or dun colour above

and whitish below ; in fad the quagga is an intermediate stage between the extremely
I Iain-coloured wild ass. It was, indeed, called a "wild ass" by
: though much more like a horse in shape.

;ga was tin tit t of the African Wild horses with which I i) colonists

came in ■ ith Afri< a e and heavj equine, inhabiting low hills and

extensive plain! in Cipe Colony, south of the Orange River. The name was pro-
nounced in Dutch, "kwakha" and was derived from either t Hottentot or Bushman
word intended to imitate its neigh.

xt, the coloni of the existence of an extn mel) beautiful beast,

ind only in the high mountains of southernmost Africa,
but reappearing also on those of Damaraland and south Angola; and allied in the
large litem of striping, &c, to the magnificent Grevy's zebra of Somaliland

MOUNTAIN ZEBRA

QUAGGA

As the White Man first saw it 25

black rhinoceroses with pointed upper lips, and "white"
rhinoceroses with square muzzles and very long front
horns. Buffaloes, zebras, springbok, and several other
kinds of antelopes grazed over northern and eastern Cape
Colony and Bechuanaland, literally in millions — judging
by what the white pioneers saw a hundred, and even fifty,
years ago, and what some few white explorers (including
the present writer) have had the privilege of seeing as
lately as ten years ago in East Africa. There were like-
wise in every part of the country troops of lions, which
fed on the great herds of antelopes, zebras, and buffaloes.

According to Sir James Alexander, an early ex-
plorer of Namakwaland, who wrote in 1838, lions of four
different varieties were to be seen in south-west Africa
in the early nineteenth century; the ordinary pale-brown
kind, black lions (like black leopards), white — albino —
lions, and a fourth variety, the most interesting of all,
in which the dark spots and stripes of the leopard-like
ancestor still remained on the limbs and sides.

Leopards abounded in all the more rocky or forested
country; and on the open plains of South Africa there were
spotted chitas or " hunting leopards" (usually a red-spotted
variety, but some of them also black-spotted, like those
of India), which pursued their antelope prey with great
bounds, like a dog, instead of approaching it by stealth

and Galaland. Almost simultaneously, however, the pioneers who passed north ol
the Orange River reported the existence of a large zebra of the plains, in which the
body but not the legs was striped. This form and all the allied varieties — Chapman's
zebra, Boehm's zebra, and Grant's zebra — are all merely sub-species of the one distinct
type of small-eared zebra — Equus burchelli, first described by the celebrated pioneer,
William Burchell, who explored Cape Colony and southern Bechuanaland in 1811-12.
The skins he brought home were of the typical kind found between the Orange River
and Lake Ngami, with the legs unstriped. Chapman's zebra, of Damaraland and
southern Zambezia, has the legs more striped, but like the true Burchell' s zebra has
' ' shadow " stripes of brown on the body, between the white and black. Boehm's zebra,
like Grant's, has no shadow stripes, but is striped down to the hoofs. In Boehm's
the stripes are narrow and in Grant's broad.

Pioneers in South Africa

before making the spring. There were also packs of wild
dogs (Lycaon), which hunted down their prey with unavoid-
able persistency; and myriads of pretty little black-silver-
and-golden jackals, tiny little Kaama foxes, and large-eared
foxes {O/ocvon) of a very ancient type (speaking geologi-
cally). The spotted hyena, with its wild laugh, was to
be seen everywhere in the interior where game and lions
existed to furnish it with bones and offal. Less common
and more restricted to the south-eastern parts of Africa
was the brown hyena — related to the striped hyena of more
northern regions. There was also the Aard wolf, 1 a dwarf,
degenerate hyena, living on nothing but ants and insects.
And a strange-looking beast, the Aardvark (perhaps very
distantly related to the South American Armadilloes, as
big as a pig, with a long pig-like snout, a heavy tail, and
strong claws), would come out at dusk every night and
make for the nearest termite hill, which he would tear
open with his claws in order to devour the hosts of white
ants issuing forth.

Mention must also be made of the little hyraxes or
daisies — a very ancient type of mammal — dwelling amidst
the rocks of South Africa, or living in the trees of Congo-
land. They are the "coneys" of the English translation
of the Hebrew Scriptures; but coney in English means
"rabbit", and the hyrax only bears a superficial resem-

1 "White ants' nests are numerous. In shape they resemble a baker's oven, and
om two to four feet high. lustrious creatures have their enemies, especi-

ally a beast about the size of a fox (the aardwolf), which after piercing a hole in the side
of the nest, pushes in his tongue. When the unwary ants rush towards it in order to
pened, tin- tongue is withdrawn covered with these insects, which
are twallowed whole. This the bca-st repeats till he has devoured millions. Bees also
sometimes covet and take possession of the house the white ants have reared with so
much labour." — Campbell, 1813.

The "white ant" so much referred to by all African pioneers is not really an ant, but
ute, a very different type of insect belonging to the more ancient and primitive
group of insect orders which includes the crickets and cockroaches.

As the White Man first saw it 27

blance to a rabbit in its size, shape, and prominent incisor
teeth. Neither is the Dutch name " dassy " or " klipdaas"
any more appropriate, for daas means "badger", and the
hyrax (which last is a " scientific" name — a Greek word
meaning "shrew-mouse" 1 ) is utterly unlike a carnivore.
(There are, by the by, no badgers in South Africa, only
white and black weasels — Ictonyx and Pcecilogale — and the
big grey-and-black, honey-eating ratel.) The hyrax is in
reality the descendant of a primitive type of ungulate allied
to the stock of indeterminate mammals which produced not
only the elephants, tapirs, and pigs, but the rodents, siren-
ians, and lemurs. The short fingers of its paws are ter-
minated with tiny hoofs instead of claws; otherwise they
are not unlike the hands and feet of a lemur.

The order of the Rodentia is represented in South
Africa by the common porcupine; by mole-like burrowing
forms — "Strand moles" {Bathyergus)-, by the Ground- or
Cane- rat (Thryono??iys)— which is particularly toothsome
to eat; by dormice, striped mice, several kinds of rat;
by the large, leaping Springhaas, "Jumping Hare"
(Pedetes), like a clumsy jerboa; by squirrels, and by
hares. Amongst the insectivores there are shrews, ele-
phant shrews (Macroscelzdes), and the wonderful Golden
Moles (Chrysoc Moris). These burrowing beasts are allied
to the hedgehog-like tenrecs of Madagascar, and their
silky fur is unique (except perhaps for that of one or two
species of Marmoset in South America) in displaying tints
as vivid as those of birds' feathers — golden yellow, amber,
golden green, and purplish brown, almost reddish violet.

There were no great apes at any time in South Africa,
but the Chakma baboon grew to be as large as a chim-
panzee, and much more aggressive and formidable.

x The approved name for the existing genus is now Procavia.

28 Pioneers in South Africa

S ithem Africa was never in recent times a land popular
with monkeys, no doubt owing to the absence of tropical
forests. There are only three species of Cercopithecus
(small, long-tailed monkeys) 1 found to the south of the
Zambezi, in addition to the Chakma baboon. North of
that river there are many other kinds in south Central
Africa — the prettily-coloured Moloney's monkey from North
Nyasaland, Stairs's monkey from the Lower Zambezi,
Francesca's monkey from North Nyasaland, the Southern
Talapoin and Pluto monkeys from Angola and northern
Rhodesia, the white-tailed Colobus from the same region,
the Mangabeys from northern Rhodesia and Angola, and
the Yellow and Grey Baboons from Nyasaland and Zam-
bezi a.

Every river and lake contained herds of great hippo-
potami; and numerous otters, valued for their fur. Some
of the lakes and swamps of the north were peopled by the
strange water tragelaph, or Nakong, 2 a creature closely
related to the kudu, but adapted for living in the watery
swamps, with long splay hoofs and coarse, weed-like hair.

If heists were abundant — strangely abundant consider-
ing how arid much of the land must have appeared, even
in those days — so also were birds. I have already alluded
to the ostriches which at one time inhabited all parts of
South Africa except the high mountains. There were
cranes ol the beautiful Crowned species, and (in South
Africa only) the Wattled crane and the tall grey Stanley
crane. Flamingoes frequented the pools, the lakes, the
watercourses, and the lagoons of seacoasts, as did myriads
of pelicans, cormorants, darters, tufted umbres, saddle-
billed storks, black storks and white storks, white herons,

J CercopUhtcus albogvlaris, I . labiatut, and C. pygerythrus.
m ut r og u t itlouii.

As the White Man first saw it 29

grey herons, slaty-green herons, fawn and white heronlets,
iridescent ibises, black and white ibises, many kinds of
plover and stilt, and of duck and spur-winged geese.
On the open plains were bustards, large and small. The
clear air in daytime would seldom be free from soaring
vultures of the Griffon, the White-headed (Lophogyps),
the Eared {Otogyps) types, and smaller white and black
"Egyptian" vultures (entirely brown, north of the Lim-
popo and Zambezi), as well as eagles, lammergeiers, hawks,
and buzzards. The long-legged Secretary Bird, which
indicates to us how the great group of hawks, eagles, and
vultures arose from out of some crane-like ancestor, stalked
through the brushwood and the herbage looking for snakes.
Weaver-birds of brilliant colour built their nests over
every stream, or in great colonies in some forest tree.
Doves and pigeons were there in numbers, but in no great
variety of species. There was no striking show of parrots;
in fact, there are really only three species of parrot of the
green-and-grey Pyocephalus genus indigenous to South
Africa, and one or two species of love-bird (Agapomis),
but there are the parrot-like green-and-red turacos 1 and the
grey Schizorhis. A very remarkable bird in southern
Africa was the honey-guide (a distant ally of the cuckoos),
whose habit it is to attract the attention of human beings
by its cries and flutterings, and induce them to follow it in
search of wild bees' nests. The men are rewarded by the
honey, and the honey-guide gets the bee grubs. The
pretty little crested, grey-grown mouse-birds (Colitis),
creeping with all four toes in a line about the branches of
the trees and bushes, are amongst the most common birds
in South Africa; as are the brilliantly coloured shrikes and

1 Called "lories" by the South African Dutch from their resemblance to para-
keets.

30 Pioneers in South Africa

sun-birds and shrilly-singing buntings. Some of the
weaver-birds develop in the male immense plumes to their
tails during the breeding season. Guinea-fowl of the com-
mon type are abundant everywhere, except in the actual
desert (where may be seen the pretty little sand-grouse);
and there are purple-black and grey crested guinea-fowl
in Central Africa and Zambezia. Francolin — like large
partridges in appearance — must have been extraordinarily
abundant once, as in some parts they are still. They offer
a great diversity of species.

The rivers near the coast or the great streams of the
far interior within the Tropics at one time swarmed with
crocodiles of the common African species (C. niloticus).
These carnivorous leviathans, reaching perhaps in very
old individuals to a length of 16 to 18 feet, were even found
in smail pools and ponds far away from a watercourse, no
doubt travelling backwards and forwards during the floods
of the rainy season.

There are still poisonous snakes in abundance in South
Africa— puff adders, vipers, cobras or "spitting snakes",
and the deadly tree cobras or " mambas ". Formerly, also,
South Africa was remarkable for its giant pythons, perhaps
as much as 30 feet long in extreme cases. Snakes of such
a size, judging from the proportions of the men shown with
them, were pictured by the Bushman painters and en-
gravers on the rocks before white men invaded South
Africa in fore 100 years ago. There are also many forms
<>f smaller snakes, quite harmless to man, and even liked
<»r half-worshipped by the Negroes for their rat-killing
propensities.

I lie South African land tortoises are of the Testudo or
(rarden Tortoise type, and of the closely allied "areolated"
Jlovmpus genus, in which the scales on the carapace are

As the White Man first saw it 31

carved into six-sided facets, each deeply separated from
the other. The other land tortoises belong to the Cinyxis
genus, which is remarkable for having the hinder part of
the carapace hinged so that it shuts down tight over the
tail. In the Zambezi, and perhaps also the Limpopo, are
still found the side-necked water tortoises of the genus
Stemothcerus , akin to the freshwater turtles — Podocnemis —
of the Amazons; 1 and in the Zambezi and its affluents, the
rivers of Mozambique and Angola and the great Central
African lakes there are large water Chelonians of the soft-
shelled sub-order and the Trionyx family. These carniv-
orous, fierce, aquatic " turtle" are quite uneatable, even to
their eggs. The snout is prolonged into a short proboscis.

Lizards, chiefly of the Agama and Gecko families, are
common throughout this region and all else of Africa.
Even to-day the traveller will not go far into the South
African interior without hearing of or seeing the large moni-
tor lizards — 6 feet in length, sometimes, with long necks
and whip-like tails. They are falsely called "iguanas",
though there are no iguanas in continental Africa, only
in Madagascar, Fiji, and Tropical America. But these
monitor or Varanus lizards are, like the iguana, much
eaten by the natives, though their diet is not vegetarian,
but consists of fish and flesh. They are most destructive
to the poultry yards of the Negro villages and white men's
farms. Chameleons are very common throughout South
Africa, where they develop several peculiar species, one of
which is very small.

In short, as regards its vertebrate fauna, the southern
third of Africa was one of the richest regions of the world
when first seen by white men 400 years ago, and, later still,
down to the middle of the nineteenth century. Some dis-

1 See Pioneers in Tropical America.

32 Pioneers in South Africa

tricts were uninhabited by man because the beasts were
too numerous and too powerful. Lions, indeed, if there
was any temporary shortage of food — antelope, zebra, or
giraffe — might turn on some primitive human settlement
and eat up all the men, women, and children, despite the
attempts of the men to repel their attacks with arrows and
javelins. Some of the plains and grassy valleys of South
Africa must have resembled portions of North America
when the bison slowly passed along in herds which num-
bered a million or more individuals, only that the masses
of big game in South Africa, as seen and described by
white men in the early part of the nineteenth century, were
not restricted to a single species of wild ox, pronghorn, or
deer, but consisted of a vast assemblage of zebras, ante-
lopes, ostriches, rhinoceroses, elephants, buffaloes, and
pigs.

One point, however, must be impressed on the atten-
tion of the reader — the division of the land-area between
the equator in the north and the Cape of Good Hope in
the south into "regions" with peculiar fauna as well as
flora. Africa south of the Zambezi river and of the Kwanza
(in Angola) was in many respects very different in its
beasts and birds from Central and East Africa, outside
the Congo forests; and the Congo and Cameroons forest
region constituted a third region — the West Equatorial.
The fauna and flora of true South Africa (from which
again must be divided off the very peculiar Cape-of-Good-
Hope region of small extent) resembled those of Equatorial
East Africa and of Somaliland, the Sahara and Senegal,
far more than the adjacent fauna and flora of Central
Africa: the Zambezi and Kwanza being the boundary
between the two. Thus many beasts, birds, reptiles, and
insects of South Africa are not found north of the Zambezi

As the White Man first saw it 33

till the traveller has reached the drier regions of equatorial
East Africa or Somaliland or Senegal.

Attendant on these herds of big game in Central and
inner South Africa were swarms of flies, which occasion-
ally would drive buffaloes and rhinoceroses so mad that
they would resort to the mud of rivers and swamps as a
refuge from their persecutors. Amongst these flies was
the tse-tse, so inimical afterwards to the white man and his
imported horses and cattle, conveying through its pro-
boscis the germs of mortal diseases, derived from the
blood of the wild animals, which in course of time had be-
come immune to these maladies, as had also, to a much
less extent, the indigenous Negroes. Not only did flies
and mosquitoes transmit disease, often of a fatal kind — to
the Arab, the foreign Negro, the earliest Europeans (as to
the white men of the present day) — but several kinds of
tick performed the same malign purpose. These ticks — a
degenerate order of spiders to which our minute "harvest
bug" belongs — swarmed in parts of the Zambezi basin and
carried about the germs of a terrible form of fever with
which they inoculated white men and black men alike,
as well as domestic cattle and horses.

It must not be supposed that the Negro natives of
southern Africa were always immune from these germ
diseases, or even the wild beasts of the field. It can only
be said that they became inured to some of the maladies
produced by the multiplication of spores or animalcules.
No doubt, as in the case of sleeping sickness, which is now
about to spread right down into South Africa wherever
there is a tse-tse fly to transport its germs, epidemics
disastrous to man and beast have ever and again swept
over the surface of South Africa, temporarily depopulating
it till, from the actual dying out of the higher vertebrates,

( C 587 ) 3

34 Pioneers in South Africa

the disease and its carriers have ceased, and recolonization
from the north has begun again. This is no doubt the
explanation of why (when it seemed so well adapted by
climate to the support of large Negro populations) South
Africa was in some parts very sparsely peopled when the
white men or the Arabs first came there; for the immi-
gration of the vigorous Bantu Negroes seems to be but
an event of yesterday. There are indications that, with
intermissions, South Africa has had human inhabitants
over a great range of time — many thousand years. But —
we may suppose — ever and again, as with the beasts, so
with the races of South African peoples, an insect-con-
veyed germ disease has come along and wiped out a
numerous population in a few years, leaving the land
open to a fresh colonization.

Only the science of the white man can arrest this
disastrous fickleness of Nature and make South Africa
permanently a state of great, prosperous nations of men ;
a home for innumerable domestic beasts and birds; and
a region productive of immense supplies of vegetable food.

CHAPTER II

Prehistoric South Africa

The ancient peoples of the eastern Mediterranean — the
parents of our civilization — had no very clear idea of the
great continental divisions of Europe, Asia, and Africa.
They rather thought of these continents as more or less
connected areas of land grouped round the middle sea
of the earth, the Mediterranean. From about 1500 B.C.
onwards, however, the civilized peoples of Egypt, Syria,
Mesopotamia, Greece, and Italy were aware of the ex-
istence of Xorth Africa, and that it was separated from
Spain by a narrow strait. But Egypt was considered to
be, as we should phrase it, part of Asia; that is to say,
a region more nearly connected with Syria and Arabia
than with the territories to the west and south. But when
the Greek love of knowledge and desire to understand all
about the world had penetrated to Egypt in the days when
the dynasties of native Pharaohs were drawing to a close,
some interest began to be felt, not only as to the ultimate
source of the upper Nile, but as to the extent of land which
lay between Egypt and north-west Africa. The latest of
the Egyptian Pharaohs, when national independence was
recovering from Assyrian overrule, were vaguely curious
about the great ocean which lay to the west of the Medi-
terranean, and how far dry land stretched in a southerly
direction beyond the regions of the northern Sudan.

The Egyptians were already acquainted with Somaliland

36 Pioneers in South Africa

since the expeditions sent thither by Queen Hatshepsit
about 1500 B.C.; and Nubian and Ethiopian traders may
have brought to Egypt soon afterwards some account of
the Nile lakes and the coasts of the Indian Ocean. The
Somali and East African coasts from about 1000 B.C. were
beginning (we may assume on some slight evidence) to be
visited by sailing ships from western and southern Arabia.
There is, indeed, reason to suppose that in the time of the
Jewish King, Shelomoh (whom we miscall by the Greek
rendering of his name, Solomon), that is to say, about
950 B.C., the Arabs had already made their way in rowing
and sailing boats along the east coast of Africa, as well
as past the Arabian and Persian coasts to India. But
whether the land of Ophir, 1 from which came gold, spices,
monkeys, and a wonderful bird the name of which in
Hebrew is translated "peacock", was situated on the
shores of India or of East Africa is undecided. And
as yet the historical and archaeological evidence on this
question is so extremely slight that the matter is not worth
much disputation. It is only mentioned here because there
are indications that for several centuries before and after
the birth of Christ the Arabs of southern Arabia had been
in touch with the Zanzibar coast of East Africa, and even
with the north end of Madagascar, and that they had
formed certain ideas as to the extent of the great continent
of Africa, which they communicated to the Phoenicians of
the Red Sea and the Mediterranean.

According to Herodotos, who no doubt was telling the
truth, one of the last Egyptian Pharaohs, Niku II, about
600 B.C. commissioned some Phoenician sea captains to sail

1 "Ophir" itself bably a seaport in southern Arabia, whither were brought

gold, monkeys, ivory, peacocks, and sccntcl woods from India and East Africa to be
exchanged against the commercial products of the Mediterranean, over the land route
from Midian to Phoenicia through Judrea.

Prehistoric South Africa 37

down the Red Sea and out into the Indian Ocean in order
to ascertain the extent of land which stretched southwards
from Egypt across the Tropics. The legend recorded by
Herodotos, about 150 years afterwards, related that these
Phoenicians, after sailing southwards for some months,
rounded the southern extremity of Africa, and then sailed
north along the western coast of this region until, after
many months of voyaging, they reached the shores of
Morocco, already known to the Carthaginians, and so
passed through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediter-
ranean and back to Egypt. 1 This exploit took about
three years to accomplish, and included intervals of several
months, in which the Phoenicians landed somewhere on
the south coast of Africa, sowed corn, and stayed to reap
it. Except the phenomenon they observed of the sun
standing in the north at midday when they had crossed
the southern Tropic, very few details of their experiences
were recorded by Herodotos, and we know nothing as
to the character of the inhabitants seen by them as they
coasted along the southern extremity of Africa. Not long
afterwards Hanno, the Carthaginian, made an attempt to
sail westwards and southwards from Carthage, and thus to
explore the western side of Africa, but he got no farther
(if there is any truth in the slender story preserved for
us) than the vicinity of Liberia. And attempts made by
Persian notabilities of Egypt soon afterwards to circum-
navigate Africa, sailing from the Mediterranean westward,
resulted in failure.

Yet although it was submerged occasionally by other
theories, or overlooked, the general conception of Africa as

1 Of course, in using such words as Africa, Morocco, Gibraltar, &c, I am only
employing them so that the route followed by these early explorers may be clearly
understood by the reader; such terras were not in use by Herodotos.

38 Pioneers in South Africa

a huge island-continent, only connected with Asia by the
narrow Isthmus of Suez, haunted the imaginations of
Greek, Roman, and Arab geographers during the first
nine centuries which followed the birth of Christ. A story
was recorded by Arab historians of ships manned by Arabs
having sailed southwards past Cape Correntes (which was
generally the limit of classical Arab geography on the
south-east coast of Africa) and rounded what we should
call the Cape of Good Hope. Soon afterwards, being
beaten back by storms, they returned in an easterly direc-
tion, and did not circumnavigate the continent.

The mysterious stone ruins of Zimbabwe and some
other places in southern Rhodesia convey a very strong
impression that south-east Africa must have been known
at the commencement of the Christian era to some Asiatic
people, most likely of south or south-west Arabia. The
Arab traders voyaged along the Somali coast to the regions
of Zanzibar, trading with the naked savages for incense and
other valuable gums, for elephants' teeth, and, it may be,
for alluvial gold, long since exhausted in most of the East
African streams. The Phoenicians (only a kind of Arab,
after all) may also have been associated with the earlier of
these ventures. By a slow progress from one island-haven
and trading station to another, the merchant-seamen from
the Red Sea may have reached the vicinity of the Zambezi,
and have proceeded still farther south to the mouth of the
Sabi River. The basins of the lower Zambezi and of the
Sabi are both distinctly auriferous, and both Negro and
Bushman natives may have been seen with gold in their
possession, perhaps wearing small nuggets on their neck-
laces. Attracted by the gold, these people from Arabia
perhaps found their way up-country to such a place as
Zimbabwe, which they may have made one of the principal

Prehistoric South Africa 39

centres of their gold-mining industry. The religion of
such early Asiatic colonists of South Africa was probably
something like that of the Phoenicians. They had a cer-
tain skill in building with stone and making cement or
concrete. They practised much the same agriculture
as was then in vogue in Arabia, where the rainfall is
scanty, water has to be jealously preserved, and most of
the plantations are kept alive by irrigation. These un-
known Asiatic intruders may have built other strong
places besides Zimbabwe, but many of the stone ruins of
Rhodesia owe their origin to Negro imitators of these
Asiatic pioneers.

We have at present little clue to the condition of South
Africa at a period of — let us say — 2000 years ago, when the
Arabs were beginning to frequent the east and south-east
coasts of the continent. In all probability at that time
there were no Zulu tribes, and even no Negroes speaking
what are called "Bantu" languages. Some writers on
South Africa have assumed that as far back as 2000 years
ago there were no black Negroes at all in the region south
of the Zambezi and Kunene Rivers, but that the native
inhabitants all belonged to the Bushman or Hottentot
groups. Our means of determining this question, how-
ever, are so scanty at the present time that it is not neces-
sary to devote much space to this problem. From certain
skulls which have been discovered in cave deposits in
South Africa of considerable antiquity, it would almost
seem as though the south and south-eastern coastlands of
the continent had been reached many thousand years ago
by a semi-Caucasian race, similar to the ancient inhabitants
of Great Britain known as the " Galley Hill " type of man.
This type offers some affinities with the Tasmanian abori-
gines, who in their turn were a kind of link between the

40 Pioneers in South Africa

Australoid or basic Caucasian race and the Negro sub-
species. But these semi-Caucasian invaders — who may
also have been allied to the Hamites of north-east Africa 1
-were either preceded or followed by the Bushman.

The Bushman is a very peculiar and specialized de-
velopment of the Negro type. He is generally a short,
almost dwarfish man, and his skin, unlike that of the
true Negro, is a dirty yellow, never black. The shape of
his skull differs from that of the true Negro, being, as a
rule, more rounded, not long and narrow. The cheek
bones are excessively broad and prominent, the eyes deep-
set, narrow, and almost Mongolian in angle. In the ex-
treme type of Bushman there is no prominence of the
brows; and the jaws are not unduly prognathous. Yet
there are other types of Bushman existing at the present
day in south-west Africa, and seemingly more primitive,
less specialized, in which there is considerable prominence
of the brows, and some in which, so far from the type
being /ess prognathous or muzzle-faced than the average
Negro, the prognathism is more marked, more ape-like,
than in any recorded type of black Negro. Thus in head
form the Bushmen of to-day offer most variable aspects.
On the other hand, all Bushmen are agreed in having the
yellow skin, folded-over ears, rather tightly curled head-
hair, hairless faces and bodies, and a great backward pro-
tuberance of the upper part of the hips. This is carried
to such an extreme in the Bushman women (and the
Hottentot women likewise) that the children can literally
ride on their mothers' backs.

The Hottentots, it might he mentioned, are somewhat
like the Bushmen in physique, but rather taller and with
more mixed characteristic S. They obviously represent an

1 Gala, Somali, Agau, and Risharin.

-J

X
en

o
-J
o
u

Prehistoric South Africa 4 1

early hybrid between the pure Bushman and some invading
race of Negroes or Negroids. There is some reason to
think this invading race may have come from the vicinity
of the Victoria Nyanza (Equatorial East Africa) and have
been partly of Hamitic or semi-Caucasian race; for the
Hottentot language, though it possesses some of the Bush-
man clicks and some slight resemblances in vocabulary, is
nevertheless a speech of very superior type to that of the
Bushman. Like most of the languages originated by the
modern white man, it distinguishes carefully between the
masculine and feminine sex in the form of its words,
pronouns, and adjectives. It also has a neuter as well
as a masculine and feminine gender, and in these points
— or at any rate in the distinction between masculine and
feminine, as well as in others — it recalls similar features
in the Hamitic tongues of north-east Africa; while some
of its numerals and a few word roots in its vocabularies
suggest a distant relationship with another click-using
tongue, the dialect of the Sandawi still spoken in German
East Africa to the south of the Victoria Nyanza. The
ancestors of the Hottentots in their migration southwards
brought with them into South Africa the long-horned
cattle of ancient Egypt and the type of fat-tailed sheep
characteristic at the present day of Arabia, Somaliland,
and East Africa. The route of their migration seems to
have passed between Lakes Tanganyika and Nyasa in the
direction of the Upper Zambezi, and thence to the south-
west coast of Africa and the Kalahari Desert, where they
conquered and subdued previous black Negro settlers, and
also began to come into fierce conflict with the Bushman.
Gradually in the course of many centuries the Hottentots
journeyed southwards through the arid Damara and Na-
makwa countries to the Orange River, and thence up the

42 Pioneers in South Africa

Orange River to its junction with the Vaal, and south-
wards into the westernmost parts of Cape Colony.

Their further eastward migration along the South
African coast was checked by the arrival of another factor
in the racial problem of South Africa — the Bantu Negroes.
At what period Negroes of the dark-skinned type invaded
South Africa we do not know. Probably there were black
Negroes there long before the Bantu peoples came, espe-
cially in south-east Africa between the Lower Zambezi and
the Limpopo, 1 and in Damaraland, where their vestiges at
the present day are called the "Mountain Damara " (Ova-
lorotwa or Haukwoi), a people who at a later date were
conquered or influenced by the Hottentots and adopted a
Hottentot form of speech. In body and appearance, these
Haukwoi are entirely unlike the Hottentots, and much more
closely resemble the black Negroes of West and Central
Africa, just as there is another element in the Bantu Ne-
groes of south-east Africa which recalls in appearance the
Nilotic and Hamitic Negroes or Negroids of eastern Africa.

But about two thousand years ago, or a little earlier
(as near as we can guess) Africa south of the Zambezi was
invaded by Negro tribes speaking Bantu languages, tribes
no doubt of powerful physique, and armed with iron and
copper weapons, which enabled them to contend with great
superiority of strength against the Bushman (despite his
poisoned arrows) and the Hottentot, and to light on equal
terms with the Asiatic colonists of Zimbabwe, if such were
really there at that period.

In the classification of bodily appearance there is no

a value in the use of the term Bantu, which, strictly

'Some of these pre-BoatU black-skinned N< fro tribes of South Africa are perhaps
represented by extinct), which were called Ba-lala (the

" poor ones") by the L'. . [pens ("ashy-bellies"— from their lying in the

dust and ashes] by the fV.ers.

Prehistoric South Africa 43

speaking, only applies to a certain class of language.
Negroes using the various forms of Bantu speech may
be very different in appearance, tribe compared with tribe.
Some of them may be tall, handsome men and women,
with woolly hair, but with features almost recalling those of
ancient Egyptians or Moors, though with a warm-brown,
dark-chocolate skin. Others may be stunted like the
Congo Pygmies, or resemble the Forest Negro type, with
big, powerful bodies and short legs, or recall the Nilotic
Negroes in being very tall, with disproportionately long
legs and short bodies. The mass of the peoples speak-
ing Bantu languages, however, belong to what may be
styled the average Negro type, that is to say, they are
people of good stature, with no developments in the shape
of the body that are particularly unlike those of the average
European, dark chocolate or slaty black in skin colour,
possessing abundant head hair, not too tightly curled, and
a certain amount of hair on the body. Their facial features,
though distinctly those of Negroes, are not usually ugly;
indeed their tribes frequently exhibit examples of both men
and women who might be described as comely, even from
the point of view of the European. But this average
"Bantu" Negro type is found in many parts of West
and Central Africa, quite unconnected with the speaking
of Bantu languages. However, in all probability it was
some such mixed Negro race as this which first developed
the remarkable form of Bantu speech, and acquired at the
same time the use of iron weapons.

Driven from their original homes in the very heart of
Africa (somewhere on the borderland between the western
basin of the Nile, the eastern basin of the Niger, and the
northern basin of the Congo) the Bantu ancestors first of
all invaded the region of the great lakes in east-Central

44 Pioneers in South Africa

Africa, and then forced their way through the belt of
Congo forests till they reached the Atlantic coast, while
in an easterly direction they swept down the seaboard of
Zanzibar, and so on across the Zambezi till they plunged
into South Africa. Their first permanent settlements in
the southern parts of the continent would seem to have
been Karana-land (southern Rhodesia), Bechuanaland,
and Portuguese South-east Africa. For a long while
after the Zambezi had been crossed by their pioneers, the
Limpopo, the Orange River, the Vaal, and the Tugela
remained their frontiers; and Cape Colony, Basutoland,
Natal, and the Transvaal continued in the keeping of the
Bushmen. But little by little the Bantu absorbed the
Bushmen into their midst by marrying their women,
and killed out the men or starved them by taking away
their hunting-grounds. At length they had driven the
remnant of this little yellow people up into the inacces-
sible mountains or cold plateaus, where they continued
to exist more or less undisturbed till the colonization of
the white man began about 150 years ago. Between then
and now, owing to the combination against them of Dutch
and British colonists, Bantu Negroes and Hottentots, the
Bushmen have become extinct in most parts of South
Africa, only lingering in small numbers in the north-
west parts of Cape Colony, in Namakwaland and the
Kalahari Desert, perhaps also in the south-east parts of
Angola.

When the real white man of Europe first came to South
Africa, at the close of the fifteenth century, the black man
may be said to have become supreme there. Black Bantu
Negroes inhabited most of the- fertile regions between the
Zambezi and the southern shores of the Indian Ocean,
besides a good deal of south-west Africa. The western

Prehistoric South Africa 45

parts of Cape Colony were peopled by Hottentots and also
the coast fringe of south-west Africa up to the Kunene
River. The Kalahari Desert, so far as it could be in any
way the home of man, was inhabited by dark-skinned
Bantu in the eastern and northern oases, and by wander-
ing families and tribes of Bushmen. Natal and a good
deal of south-east Africa between the Sabi River on the
north and the Great Fish River on the south became
500 or 600 years ago the domain of the powerful " Xosa " l
(Kafir) and Zulu tribes; while the Bechuana group of
Bantu Negroes occupied most of the lower-lying and more
fertile districts north of the Orange River, and throughout
the western and northern Transvaal. The district now
known as Southern Rhodesia was peopled partly by
Bechuana, but mainly by the Karafia tribes, whose
Bantu dialects relate them more nearly to the peoples of
Nyasa and the Lower Zambezi. The rest of south-east
Africa, which is now the territory of the Mozambique
Company, had a very medley population, partly related
to the Karana and Nyasa groups, partly to the Bechuana
and Zulu, but here and there offering indications of an
older type of Negro or Negroid settler of different rela-
tionships, and possibly in origin of an older stock than
the Bantu.

And since so much use is made of the word Bantu, and
because the Bantu languages are of such immense political
importance in Africa at the present day, perhaps my
readers will bear with me if I say a few words on the
subject in a footnote. 2

1 This letter " X " is pronounced like a " k " or " h ", preceded by a sideways click
of the tongue. To those who cannot manage this " Kosa " is the best pronunciation.

2 The Bantu languages belong to a type of African speech which has numerous
other examples in West Africa, and which in some features resembles certain speech-
families in the Caucasus region, Baluchistan, and southern India (the Dravidian).
Nouns are not classed as being masculine, feminine, or neuter, but are grouped into

46 Pioneers in South Africa

[Those who wish to go deeply into the matter of African
languages and their affinities will find all the information
they desire in the books whose titles are given in the biblio-
graphy at the beginning of this volume.]

Before entering on the description of the work of the
great historical pioneers of South African discovery and
colonization, I might summarize here what was the general
condition of human settlement in Africa south of the
equator at the commencement of the fifteenth century,
when European enterprise was to initiate that tremen-
dous movement of expansion all over the world which is
still going on. On the west coast of Central Africa a
certain amount of culture — religious beliefs, improved arms
and implements, metalwork, and even a kind of hiero-
glyphic writing — had spread southwards from the Niger
delta and Benin, reaching perhaps as far as the mouth of
the Congo. Inland of this was what might be called the
Baya civilization of the northern hinterland of the Kame-

divisions which have no direct relation with sex qualities. In one or more of these
divisions, for example, may be included all objects that are big or strong, in another
all that are weak or womanly, or those which have to do with a mother, or appertain
to fatherhood ; other nouns, again, may be classed as long objects, as tree-like sub-
stances, as little or trifling objects, or a great mass of things collected together (such
as water, a herd of animals, or a tribe). It must be admitted that the meanings of
most of these categories in the Rantu languages, or in the Fula tongue of West Africa,
have been completely lost in the lapse of time, the divisions being now quite arbitrary,
though they certainly had a moaning once. Each category or class has its own type
of pronoun, suffix or prefix, and this usually follows the noun to which it refers all
through the sentence. The Rantu family of Class languages is specially noteworthy
for a great use of prefixes, rather than syllables tacked on to the end of words. Bantu
itself is simply the plural of muntu, a man, the root being «/«', and simply meaning
an object. Other adaptations of this root may l>e buntu— humanity, or kintu — ^ thing,
or luntu — a. long object. Most of the tribal names of Bantu people begin with a
prefix, which is different in the singular to what it is in the plural. Thus a Zulu man
may be I-zulu (a contraction of Ili-zulu), while the plural, meaning the Zulu people,
would be Am.wulu. The commonest prefix applied to peoples and tribes is Aba or
Ba- ; thus Bechuana is really a European corruption of Ba-tswana. In the same
way we have Bi-suto = Suto people. The Bantu languages are now the dominant
type of speech throughout all the southern third of Africa from the Albert Nyanzu
on the north to Cape Colony on the south, From Zanzibar on the east to the Kamerun
in the west.

Prehistoric South Africa 47

run. Hither also had penetrated some ideas of the Medi-
terranean white man from across the Sahara and the Sudan,
and these reached to the Mubangi River and the northern
basin of the Congo. In the centre of south Congoland
there was the remarkable Bushongo kingdom, founded, so
far as native traditions go, about 700 years after Christ,
by bands of invaders who had come from the region of
the Shari River, had crossed the Mubangi and the main
Congo, and had established themselves in the forest region
about the Sankuru River. At first these Bushongo people
spoke a language, now almost extinct, which was related
to the speech forms of the Central Sudan ; but soon after
they had become established in the heart of Congoland
they found themselves in contact with other great armies
of Bantu invaders coming from the east, and in course of
time the Bushongo (whose name really means "the People
of the Iron Spear") adopted a corrupt form of Bantu
speech. The impetus they gave to Negro culture extended
far to the south, affecting the tribes which we now know as
Lunda, Kongo, and Awemba. Some people have thought
that Bushongo culture, pushing far to the south across the
Zambezi, may have founded the kingdom or empire of
Monomotapa, and have even created the Zimbabwe civi-
lization of stone buildings, carved stone monuments, cylin-
drical pillars, and terraced agriculture (see pp. 38, 39).
Others, again, detect a resemblance between this early
civilization of south-east Africa and the Baya and Benin
culture of the Niger delta and the Kamerun hinterland.
But it is difficult to account for there being no traces of
these arts and monuments (more especially the use of stone
for building and for religious purposes) over the enormous
interval of about 2000 miles which separates south-east
Africa from the Old Calabar region.

48 Pioneers in South Africa

In addition to the Negro civilization just mentioned,
there had arisen at some such period as about the twelfth
or thirteenth century the powerful kingdom of the Mono-
motapa, just south of the River Zambezi. Whether this
was due to some far-off impulse from South Congoland
or, as is much more probable, to Arab influence coming
from the east coast, is as yet a matter of conjecture, as is
likewise the origin of the wonderful stone ruins of Zim-
babwe and similar places in the basins of the Limpopo
and Sabi Rivers. In any case a very powerful Negro
kingdom or confederation of kingdoms had arisen about
eight centuries ago, the leading tribe in which was the
Karafia people, whose descendants nowadays are known
amongst themselves as the Ba-kararia, and by the Zulus
as the Ama-shuna (Mashona). This Karana empire had
long since ousted any remains that may have lingered of
an Asiatic-Arab control over the gold mines of south-east
Africa, and itself worked the gold and traded with the
Arabs on the coast.

As to the condition of human culture in Africa, south
of the Zambezi, some 400 years ago, the Bushmen were
still leading the life of the primeval savage, the life that
our remote ancestors led in England in Palaeolithic times,
distant from the present day by twenty to one hundred
thousand years. They wore little or no clothing, ex-
cept it was a rudely dressed skin of some beast, as a
protection against the cold. They armed their arrows
with tips of bone or stone, and poisoned them with the
juice of some euphorbia, aloe, or amaryllis. They also
possessed knobkerries <»r clubs made from the stem of a
tree, but no other weapons. They used as their homes —
temporary or permanent — caves in the mountains or hollows
in the ground, and made no houses. On the open plains

Prehistoric South Africa 49

and in the deserts they were probably content with a shelter
excavated in the ground and surrounded by a few bushes.
Here they led a life that was perpetually migratory, fol-
lowing the herds of big game, and passing from water
place to water place, carrying with them occasionally
supplies of water in the shells of ostrich eggs, or doing
without water and living instead on the juicy gourds. In
the mountain districts no doubt the Bushman settlement
was of a more permanent character, and, unless disturbed
by hostile neighbours, a single clan might inhabit a single
cave for generations. They had no domestic animals, and
no arts beyond a wonderful gift for drawing and painting,
and for music derived from the twanging of a bowstring,
singing, and rude dancing.

The Hottentots of South Africa were more advanced.
They were a shepherd people, with herds of cattle and
flocks of sheep, who practised a little agriculture. The
Bantu Negroes in the Trans-Zambezian regions were a
stage higher than the Hottentots, but they too concen-
trated their thoughts mainly on their cattle, living much
on the milk and flesh of the herds, and in some cases
elevating their cattle almost to a divinity. The Bantu
Negroes, however — even the naked Kafir-Zulus — smelted
and worked iron and copper. They manufactured pot-
tery. They all knew basketmaking, and in some districts
they had a knowledge of primitive weaving: in short,
they were already possessed of much of the culture com-
mon to the rest of Negro Africa before the influence of
the Arab had brought in notions of clothing and better
house construction. The Hottentots dwelt in miserable
huts, and the huts or houses of the Bantu Negroes were
not much superior, being generally of the beehive type,
though no doubt in the more eastern part of the Zambezi

( C 587 ) 4

50 Pioneers in South Africa

basin and on the Sabi River better ideas of house con-
struction — with clay — prevailed, even 400 years ago. In
Southern Rhodesia undoubtedly the Negroes had learned
at a much earlier period from the vanished Asiatic
colonists the trick of building, more or less rudely, with
pieces of undressed stone.

Five hundred years ago, and perhaps earlier, all the
east coast of Africa from Somaliland to the vicinity of
Cape Correntes was dotted with Arab trading settlements,
some of which, like Mombasa and Malindi on the north,
and the Island of Zanzibar and Kilwa on the East African
coast, north of the Ruvuma River, had grown into more
or less powerful Arab States. Sofala, the farthest south of
all the important Arab trading settlements (situated near
to the modern Beira), was the principal port from which
gold was exported, although the Arabs were also settled
for gold-trading purposes at Sena, on the lower Zambezi,
and at Quelimane on the Zambezi delta, besides holding
the Island of Mozambique, the Island of Ibo, and, in fact,
most of the islands and islets off the east coast of Africa.
The Arabs had also, from the beginning of the Christian
era onwards, founded trading settlements and small chief-
tainships on the north and east coasts of Madagascar and
in the Komoro Islands, or "Islands of the Full Moon". 1
There were also Persian settlements — immigrants from
the south of Persia — at Lamu, Mombasa, Zanzibar, and
Kilwa. All these Asiatic trading posts had for the
most part grown up since the eighth century, for there
seems to have been a short period between the sixth and
eighth centuries after Christ in which Arab trading and
colonizing enterprise slackened. At any rate it increased

1 Komoro, the Portuguese name for these volcanic islands, is a corruption of the
Arabic h'amr, full moon.

Prehistoric South Africa 5 1

greatly after the establishment of the Muhammadan
religion.

Yet in South-east Africa it was not able to effect any
occupation of the interior, partly on account of the fevers
from which the Arabs suffered, and partly because of the
fighting strength of the Bantu tribes. South-west of Cape
Correntes (which lies some distance to the north of the
Limpopo River mouth) the Arabs made very little attempt
at maritime discovery. The seas were too stormy, the
winds and currents too much in opposition. They had
long since, however, informed the civilized world through
their travellers and men of letters that much of the coast
region of south-east Africa was inhabited by absolutely
naked savages of incoherent speech and dwarfish stature,
whom they called "Wak-wak"; but they also described the
big black Negroes who lived to the west and the south of
their earlier east-coast settlements, that is to say, along the
littoral opposite Zanzibar. These, on account of their
being heathen, they called "Kafir" (pi. Knfar = unbe-
lievers). The Portuguese picked up this cant name from
them, and were in turn copied by the Dutch and the
English, which is why we call the tall Negro population
of South Africa at the present day by the unmeaning and
foolish name of Kafir.

The Arabs had also sent to Europe, especially through
the great Venetian explorer, Marco Polo, and by similar
Italian travellers, stories of a gigantic bird — the Rukh —
existing in Madagascar: obviously the last living survivors
of the enormous j&pyomis, a huge flightless bird, bigger
than an ostrich, whose head must have been ornamented
by a tall crest, and whose eggs were the biggest ever
known of any kind of bird. The Arabs also, no doubt,
reported the wealth in gold and ivory of South-east Africa

52 Pioneers in South Africa

at that day. And these stories, together with the distorted
accounts of the great Christian King of Abyssinia, inspired
the Portuguese monarch with the desire of reaching the
South-east coast of Africa by his ships round the Atlantic
coast of the continent, and thus led to the European coloni-
zation of the southern third of Africa.

CHAPTER III

The Portuguese reveal Southern Africa

King Joao II of Portugal had read the travels of the great
Venetian explorer, Marco Polo, referred to in the last
chapter, as well as the reports of Italian and French mis-
sionaries to southern India who voyaged down the Red
Sea and made references to the Arab settlements on the
east coast of Africa. He was thus made aware of the
trade in gold and ivory which for some centuries had
been carried on in Arab ships between Sofala, Kilwa,
Mombasa, and India. King John — as we should call him —
had also been informed by widely travelled Portuguese
Jews (who collected the information in Egypt) that during
the last quarter of the fifteenth century this trade had
increased and was flourishing. The monarch felt instinc-
tively that Africa was insular; therefore "£ofala" must
be attainable by a sea voyage from Portugal round the
southern extremity of the mysterious continent. So as
soon as he came to the throne (in 1481) he urged the
further exploration of the South Atlantic coasts of Africa.
In the year 1482 Portuguese navigators had discovered
the mouth and lower course of the River Congo. In 1484
Diogo Cam had sailed on, past the coast of Angola, until
he came to the desolate region south of the Kunene River, 1

x The Kunene, the name of which means "the Great River", is a very important
feature in African geography. It is the parallel south of the Equator of the Senegal
on the north. Just as the Senegal marks the end of the Sahara Desert and the begin-
ning of the fertile regions of Guinea, with their tropical vegetation and abundant Negro

54 Pioneers in South Africa

reaching, in the early part of 1485, Cape Cross (Cabo da
Cruz), on the coast of German South-west Africa. Here
he set up a marble pillar, which remained standing till
the beginning of the nineteenth century.

In August, i486, there started from Lisbon the receiver
of customs at that port, Bartolomeu Diaz, who had been
charged by King John with the task of endeavouring to
circumnavigate Africa. He sailed from the Tagus with
two 1 vessels of only about 60 tons each — ships in which,
at the present day, one would not like to risk a voyage
from Lisbon to London. Yet with these he proposed to
sail for 6000 miles over the stormy seas of the Atlantic
and the mountainous waves of the southern Indian Ocean.
Without misadventure, however, his two small ships carried
his expedition along the west coast of Africa till they
reached Angra Pequena Bay, in 26 30' of south latitude.
Here Diaz cast anchor; and here for the first time, so far
as we know, "Christian men trod the soil of Africa south
of the tropic". 2 It was a desolate region, possibly with
no human inhabitants at the time of the Portuguese visit.
If there were any, they were straggling Hottentots or Bush-
men, probably much too frightened of the god-like visitors
in the great winged ships to show themselves. The many
small islands off the bay, which gave it its old name of

population, so in the same way the Kunenc, as one journeys from the south north-
wards, marks the northward end of the South African deserts, which extend otherwise
from the mouth of the Kunene to beyond the Orange River in the south. The Kunene
lias a course (700 miles) nearly as long as that of the Senegal, and, like so many other
important rivers of south-west Africa, rises in the knot of high mountains in central
Angola. In ancient times it probably flowed into the Okavango, and thus joined the
Zambezi basin, and even in the high floods of rainy seasons some of its waters Still
find their way to the Okavango. This river— very narrow and shallow in its lower
course, where it crosses the desert — was scarcely noticed by the early Portuguese
navigators. It was rediscovered at its mouth and named the Nourse about 1822 by
Commodore Joseph Nourse of the British Navy.

1 A larger storeship followed, and was left at anchor on the Angola coast.

3 Dr. G. M'CallTheal.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 55

"Angra dos Ilheos", were covered with nesting sea birds
— gannets, penguins, terns, gulls, and petrels; and from
these and their eggs, no doubt, the Portuguese seamen
obtained some fresh food.

But what, we may wonder, was the fate of the unfor-
tunate negress whom they landed at Angra Pequena, to
spread information about them amongst the natives, and
if possible to give information to any Portuguese ships
calling at a later date? For Bartolomeu Diaz had taken
with him on board four negresses convicted of crimes in
Portuguese Guinea, and destined to be landed at various
places on the African coast, to get into touch with native
tribes and to collect information for the subsequent visits
of Portuguese vessels. One of these unhappy women was
left at Angra Pequena, but whether she joined the Hot-
tentots, or perished of starvation and thirst, there is no
record to tell us. Apparently Diaz next stopped off the
mouth of the Orange River, having been much troubled
after leaving Angra Pequena by the conflicting winds and
currents. Then he set sail once more for the south and
south-east, and, after thirteen days' buffeting from the
boisterous winds and heavy seas, he sought hard to find
the land. But the more he sailed eastwards the more it
withdrew from his sight; so that at last he began to realize
he must have passed the southernmost extremity of Africa.
Steering then to the north, he sighted the south coast of
what is now Cape Colony, at a point probably near St.
Sebastian Bay. The little inlet where he anchored his
ships he named Angra dos Vaqueiros, or the " Bay of the
Cattle-keepers ", because he saw numerous cattle grazing
on the shore, and much-surprised, startled natives in charge
of them. These natives (Hottentots), who had no seagoing
canoes, were struck with amazement at the apparition of

56 Pioneers in South Africa

a great vessel with wing-like sails. Hastily driving their
cattle before them, they fled inland.

Diaz remained some time at Angra dos Vaqueiros re-
pairing his two ships, which had received considerable
damage from the stormy seas. Then he sailed on to the
east, calling at a place which he named Aguada de Sao
Bras (Mossel Bay) for fresh water, and once more anchored
for repose and the taking of counsel off an uninhabited
islet in Algoa Bay (a name corrupted from the Portuguese
title " Bahia da Lagoa" — the Bay of the Lagoon). On
this islet he set up another stone cross, bearing the arms
of Portugal. Savages were seen gathering shellfish on
the adjacent shore of the mainland; therefore Diaz landed
on the coast another of the negresses, who probably met
with a less miserable fate than her other companions in
captivity, for no doubt after a time she got into com-
munication with the Hottentots, and found a home
amongst them.

The coast farther eastwards was probably examined
for a distance of 30 or 40 miles by the two ships or by
boating expeditions. It was seen to trend steadily towards
the north-east, and the current of blue, warm water coming
from that direction was additional confirmation of the fact
that the African continent had been rounded, and that it
was only necessary to continue the journey north-eastwards
to arrive at the rumoured coasts of "Sofala" and " Zan-
guebar". Meantime the Portuguese pioneers had been
many months absent from their storeship of reserve sup-
plies, which had been left at a point off the Angola coast
of south-west Africa. The stock of provisions was run-
ning short, and the object of the voyage had been
achieved; they had found the southern extremity of Africa,
or would do so, at any rate, by sailing westward and

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 57

searching for the turning-point. However, Diaz, before
agreeing to return, obtained the consent of his officers and
crews to a little further eastward exploration, in the course
of which the ships reached the mouth of the Great Fish
River.

On the return journey the coast was followed as nearly
as the weather permitted, and thus they obtained a fleeting
sight of the terminal point of southern Africa, which, on
account of the bad weather, was named by Diaz " Cabo
Tormentoso " — the Stormy Cape. Somewhere to the north
of this promontory Diaz erected another marble pillar,
and dedicated it to St. Philip. He then rejoined his
storeship off the Angola coast, and returned to Portugal
after visiting the Gulf of Guinea and the Gold Coast.
King John II of Portugal, who had dispatched Diaz on
this errand, greeted his return with great satisfaction, and
changed the name of Cabo Tormentoso into Cabo da Boa
Esperanca — the "Cape of the Good Hope".

The next Portuguese expedition to deal with South
Africa was that under Vasco da Gama. King John, as
already mentioned, had heard through Portuguese Jews
trading with the Levant of the Arab establishments on the
east coast of Africa, as well as rumours of the powerful
Christian kingdom of Abyssinia. He had therefore (as
related in my Pioneers in India) sent on a mission of
enquiry in these directions two Portuguese gentlemen,
Affonso de Paiva and Joao Pero or Perez of Covilham.
De Paiva was killed at Suakin on his way to Abyssinia,
but Pero or Perez de Covilham voyaged safely to India,
and from India obtained a passage in an Arab vessel to
Sofala. After visiting this and other Arab establishments
on the east coast of Africa, he returned to Aden and Cairo,
where he gave his budget of news to the Portuguese Jews;

58 Pioneers in South Africa

but it is by no means certain that the report of his dis-
coveries ever reached the King of Portugal, or at any rate
that it got to the Portuguese Court in time to be of service
to Vasco da Gama.

King John II died, and was succeeded by his cousin
Manoel, who resolved to carry out his predecessor's design
of finding an ocean route to Sofala and India. Under the
superintendence of Bartolomeu Diaz, two ships were built
of timber that had been long in preparation; the larger,
named the Sao Gabriel, being of about 120 tons capacity,
and the smaller, Sao Rafael, 100 tons. 1 These ships were
fitted with three masts, the foremast and the mainmast
each carrying two square sails, while the mizenmast bore
a lateen sail projecting far over the stern. The outermost
end of the bowsprit was so tall that it was almost equiva-
lent to a fourth mast, and beneath it was a square spritsail.
The ships had bluff, rounded bows and square sterns, with
lofty poops and forecastles, low waists and great length
of beam ; but, though clumsy, they were stanch seaboats,
able to receive a surprising amount of buffeting from the
waves without damage. Besides the Sao Gabriel and the
Sao Rafael^ a little caravel or bark was added to the ex-
pedition as a swift dispatch boat; also a storeship of
considerable size (some 250 tons) which carried provisions
and merchandise sufficient for three years.

Vasco (or Velasco) da Gama, who was eventually

appointed admiral of the expedition, was a native of Sines,

in the southernmost province of Portugal (Algarve). He

then (in 1497) about thirty-seven years old, unmarried,

a sparely-built, cold-looking man of medium height, with

1 M < all Theal points out that the Portuguese tons were a greater measure of
capacity than tli>: Knglish, so that in estimating the size of Portuguese ships of this
period one must adrl a certain proportion to the tonnage. Probably these two ships
were respectively of 150 and 120 tons capacity.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 59

the long beard characteristic of the Portuguese at that
period. Though of indomitable will and great courage,
he was not liked by his officers or crew, being at all times
harsh and stern in manner and much to be dreaded when
he was angered. After the religious ceremonies usual in
that day, the expedition sailed from the mouth of the
Tagus on July 8, 1497, taking with it as chief pilot a
Portuguese who had been with Bartolomeu Diaz on his
voyage to the Great Fish River beyond Algoa Bay.

The total number of officers and men in the expedition
was about 170, and as usual they took with them a party
of condemned criminals to be set on shore " in remote and
dangerous places ", to gather information. The first spot
at which they touched the south coast of Africa was St.
Helena Bay, 120 miles north of the Cape of Good Hope.
This was a desolate site without inhabitants or fresh water;
but by pursuing their explorations farther south they came
to the mouth of a little river which they named Sant' Iago
or St. James. Here there were good fresh water, plenty
of firewood, and (on the strand) a number of seals. These
creatures lay about, basking in the sun, and were so little
used to attacks from man that they were easily killed, and
furnished excellent meat for the seamen. At this place
the Portuguese managed to capture a Hottentot, or Bush-
man, but his language was found to be perfectly unintel-
ligible. However, he was treated kindly on the ships and
landed with many small presents for himself and his
friends, with the result that he induced a number of other
natives to visit the Portuguese. These people are de-
scribed as having been armed with assagays or long
sticks, pointed with bone or horn. They were partially
clothed in karosses of beasts' skins. In appearance they
were stunted, ugly, and a darkish brown in skin colour.

60 Pioneers in South Africa

They supplemented their speech by so many and such
extravagant gestures that they appeared to be drunk when
they were talking. Their only domestic animals appa-
rently were dogs ; and they subsisted chiefly on wild roots
and the flesh of seals and stranded whales. From the
description given in da Gama's records, Dr. M'Call Theal
considers that these people were Hottentots of the Strand-
looper class, and not Bushmen, as the Bushmen are not
known to have possessed assagays — they only used poisoned
arrows — or to have used karosses of skin sewn altogether
— they only wore single skins.

Unfortunately, through misunderstanding and cowardice
on the part of a braggart sailor, a scuffle occurred with
these savages which put an end to their friendly relations
with the Portuguese. Da Gama's ships next sailed cau-
tiously round the Cape of Good Hope, without stopping
to investigate the land; and then — the weather being
very fine — followed the coastline eastwards as nearly as
possible, being able to descry on shore the cattle and
herdsmen mentioned in the reports of Diaz. On 26
November, 1497, the ships stood in to Mossel Bay to get
fresh water. This was the place named by Diaz the
"Aguada de Sao Bras". Here the natives — unquestion-
ably Hottentots — proved to be very friendly. They came
clown in numbers, men and women, most of them riding
on oxen. In return for the beads, trinkets, and scarlet
caps given by da Gama, they presented him with their
arm rings made of ivory or with some of their fat-tailed
sheep, which provided the seamen with excellent mutton.
They manifested very little dread of the Europeans at first,
and would play to them on their reed flutes. But, un-
fortunately, before many days the quarrelsome sailors and
soldiers of the fleet had picked quarrels with the natives;

THE PORTUGUESE AND HOI IK \ TOTS

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 61

scuffles and disputes spoilt the relations on both sides,
and da Gama, fearing that he was going to be attacked
and taken at a disadvantage, moved his ships to another
anchorage and fired at the natives with his cannon and
his crossbows till they fled into the interior.

On Christmas Day, 1497, after a fortnight of stormy
weather in which the ships were occasionally beaten back
from their eastern course, da Gama saw from his ship that
he was passing a beautiful land of wooded hills and flat,
green pastures, on which cattle were grazing. He recorded
the name of this country in his journal as Terra da Natal,
or the Land of the Nativity of Christ — " Christmas Land".
But he did not attempt to disembark anywhere, possibly
because no suitable harbour or anchorage was in sight.
On the contrary, he stood out to sea, and when he next
approached the shore it was opposite the mouth of the
great river (the Limpopo) which he called (on January 6,
1498) the River of the Kings; because that day was the
festival in the Church's calendar of the legendary Kings
of the East, who visited the Babe in the Manger. But
the Limpopo was also called — then or soon afterwards —
the River of Copper (Rio do Cobre), because the natives
coming down to the beach wore copper ornaments. These
people differed much in appearance from the yellow-
skinned, short-statured Hottentots. They were almost
black complexioned, but they were tall and comely. It
occurred to one of the men, a certain Martim Affonso, who
had been for some little time on shore on the Congo coast,
that they were very like the natives of that region and
perhaps spoke much the same language. He had picked
up, it would seem, something of the Congo tongue, and
he therefore offered to land with a companion and see if
he could get into communication with these tall, black-

62 Pioneers in South Africa

skinned Negroes. It turned out as he surmised. Strange
to say, though separated by nearly two thousand miles
from the lower Congo, they actually understood some of
the words which Martim Affonso uttered, while he in his
turn was able to grasp the meaning of some of their
phrases. We have here the beginning of the white man's
conception of that wonderful fact in Africa, the existence
of the Bantu language family, which provides the whole
of the southern third of Africa (with the small exception
of the south-west corner occupied by Hottentots and Bush-
men) with a single speech group, all members of which
offer a most decided resemblance one to the other, more
marked than is even the case with the Aryan languages
of Europe and Asia. Here, fortunately, no quarrels arose
between these Ronga 1 or Thonga folk and the Portuguese,
and consequently da Gama called this country the " Land
of the Good People ".

He did not again visit the East African coast till he
arrived at the mouth of the Quelimane River, the northern-
most branch of the Zambezi delta, attracted no doubt to
the vicinity by the obvious indications that he was off the
mouth of some unusually big river. As he sailed up its
Quelimane outlet (now by changes in land level only
connected in the height of the flood season with the main
Zambezi) he became aware that he had reached the con-
fines of Oriental civilization, for the natives on its banks
were not stark naked, as had been the Ba-ronga of the
Limpopo, but wore cotton loincloths; moreover, their
canoes had masts, and sails made of matting (like the
Mitepe of Zanzibar). They were not particularly aston-

1 In all probability the population at that period belonged to much the same stock
as exists there to-day — the tribes of the Ronga or Thonga (pronounced with an
aspirated /), who in their language are somewhat akin to the Zulu-Kafir stock.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 63

o
ished, and they were certainly not frightened at the sight
of his big ships, for many of them came on board at once
and some of them attempted to converse in Arabic — a
language, of course, which was then fairly well known to
the Portuguese, owing to their dealings with Morocco. In
fact, amongst them were half-castes obviously Muhamma-
dans and of Arab descent on one side, and some of these
were chiefs or notables wearing turbans of silk and satin.
One of these, a person of some prominence, when asked
for his name, replied " Kelimane " (or Kalimane), a word
which meant "interpreter". But the Portuguese (who
spelt it Quelimane — the qu to them being equivalent to
a k before an e) thought that was his proper name, and
consequently the chief settlement near the mouth of this
river bears the name of Quelimane to this day. 1

Except for the few words of Arabic they used, however,
no one on board could understand the natives' dialect,
which was a form of Makua speech, and although abso-
lutely Bantu, a very peculiar, isolated language, much un-
like the surrounding tongues. But the people seemed so
friendly that da Gama stayed here for a considerable time
to clean his ships and put them into better condition. A
good deal of sickness had broken out on board, especially
scurvy. Unfortunately, however, a number of his men con-
tracted malarial fever through the mosquitoes of this region,
and, alarmed at the mortality in his crew, da Gama made
haste to put out to sea again. Before leaving he erected a
pillar of stone as a memorial of his visit, and left behind
two convicts, to collect information from the inhabitants.

Because of the Arab dress worn by some of the people,
and their obvious acquaintance with the affairs of the
East and knowledge of the Arabic language, Vasco da

1 Not Quilimane, as it is incorrectly written in many geographical books.

64 Pioneers in South Africa

Gama christened the river at the port of Quelimane the
River of Good Omens. Some five days later his ships
again neared the mainland, this time in the vicinity of a
broad bay, with small coral islands to north and south.
The water was shallow, therefore the Portuguese ships
came to an anchor in order to find out more about the
harbour for which they were making. There had come
off to meet them a number of open sailing boats, manned
by dark-coloured Swahili Arabs clad in striped cottons,
with silken turbans on their heads, and daggers and
swords thrust into their girdles. They arrived in un-
suspicious friendliness, though with much curiosity; for
they naturally took the Portuguese for fellow Muham-
madans. If they were at all puzzled about the superior
aspect of the ships or the dress of the seamen, they decided
this must be part of an Egyptian fleet which had somehow
arrived from the Red Sea. In their Arabic conversation,
they related how their home was on a little island to the
north-west of the anchorage, called " Mocambique", 1 and
that it was subject to the Sultanate of Kilwa, far to the
north, and was a trading depot in the commerce which
ranged between India on the one hand and Kilwa and
Sofala on the other; mentioning "Sofala" as "the place
from which gold was obtained".

A Portuguese captain started in the caravel to inspect
the Island of Mocambique. The Arab sheikh or governor
of the island came off to pay him a visit. He was a tall,
slender man of middle age, whose clothes were very like
those still worn by Swahili notabilities in East Africa —
a long white cotton robe or kanzu, a sleeveless tunic of
embroidered velvet (the kisibao), a heavy turban of thick
silk material embroidered with gold thread, and richly

1 Musambiki.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 65

carved sandals trimmed with velvet. He also wore a
curved scimetar, the scabbard of which was studded with
large coloured stones, and a curved dagger in a hand-
some silver sheath.

The caravel was soon followed by the big ships of the
fleet; but the fact that they were entertaining Christians
now became apparent to these Swahili Arabs of Mocam-
bique. From the altered demeanour of the people, da
Gama feared that some treacherous attack might be made
on him, so he removed his squadron to the little island
of St. George, farther south, where he set up another
pillar, erected an altar, and held a religious service, which
was attended by all of the crews of the Portuguese squad-
ron. Meantime one of his Swahili pilots who came on
board at Quelimane had deserted. Da Gama, therefore,
with several officers and a number of men, went to Mocam-
bique in their boats to demand that the man should be
surrendered to them. They were attacked, however, by
parties of Swahili Arabs in sailing boats, and a sea fight
ensued; after which, having gained no advantage, da
Gama returned to his ships. But to his surprise, a day
or two afterwards an Arab came to him off the Island of
St. George, and offered to show him the way to the port
of Malindi, from which ships sailed direct to India. Da
Gama was obliged to get fresh water before starting, and
his attempt to do so by force from the mainland opposite
Mocambique led to a skirmish, in the course of which the
Arab pilot deserted. Da Gama, now thoroughly angry,
bombarded the Island of Mocambique and inflicted suffi-
cient damage to bring the Muhammadans to terms; so
that at last the sheikh or chief man of the place — Zakoeja
— came to terms with him and provided a pilot for the
northern voyage.

( C 587 ) 5

66 Pioneers in South Africa

After narrowly escaping shipwreck at one or two points,
which may or may not have been due to treachery on
the part of the pilot, da Gama sailed on northwards till
he reached the port of Mombasa on 7 April, 1498; and
here his reception was so dubious that he did not enter
the inner anchorage, but, guided by the Arab volunteer
who had come to him off Mocambique, he safely reached
Malindi, a place not more than 80 miles to the north of
Mombasa. Fortunately the Arab chief of Malindi was on
very bad terms with the Sheikh of Mombasa, and there-
fore received da Gama with great friendliness. An al-
liance was quickly arranged between them, in token of
which another marble pillar was erected. The stay at
Malindi was of the greatest advantage to the Portuguese,
for not only had they by this time lost nearly half their
crews from sickness, but the remainder were most of them
ill or weak, and certainly not any in a fit condition to
accomplish the voyage to India and then return to Por-
tugal. But their stay at Malindi, where provisions were
good and abundant, and the climate not particularly un-
healthy, completely restored them to vigour; and at
Malindi da Gama secured a pilot, a native of Gujrat, who
steered his vessels across the Indian Ocean to the port
of Calicut, a voyage which is dealt with in my work on
the Pioneers in India.

On his return voyage to Portugal, da Gama made his
way back to Malindi, where his treatment was as friendly
and as helpful as before, but in the course of the return
voyage the Sao Rafael struck on a shoal near the Island
of Mafia, and there she was left to go to pieces, her crew
being divided between the Sao Gabriel and the caravel.
He called in again at the Island of St. George, near
Mocambique, where once more divine service was held.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 67

Apparently he touched nowhere after that until he reached
Mossel Bay (Sao Bras). The Cape of Good Hope was
rounded without difficulty on 20 March, 1499, and the
two ships, the Sao Gabriel and the caravel Berrio (a vessel
probably of no more than 50 tons capacity) sailed across
the southern Atlantic, with a wide sweep to the westward,
till they sighted the Cape Verde Islands. Here, at the
Island of Sant' Iago, the Sao Gabriel was left to be re-
paired, as she was not in a condition to face the gales of
the northern Atlantic. So Vasco da Gama transferred
himself and his dying brother, Paulo (who had long been
suffering from consumption), to a caravel, or small sailing
vessel about the size of the Berrio. The winds blew him
out to the westward, so that he found himself amongst the
Azore Islands, and at this time his brother died. Da Gama
landed at the Island of Terceira in order to bury his
brother, and then sailed over the remaining thousand miles
that separated him still from Lisbon, which town he
reached at the end of August, 1499.

The knowledge he brought back with him, especially
that concerning the prevalent winds of the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans, now enabled the Portuguese to concert
plans for the discovery and conquest of the Indian coasts.
Accordingly, in March, 1500, less than seven months after
da Gama's return, a fleet of thirteen ships, manned by more
than 1200 soldiers, sailors, and officers, left Lisbon under the
command of the great admiral, Pedro Alvares Cabral
(with Bartolomeu Diaz in a subordinate post), to sail
round the Cape of Good Hope and definitely establish the
Portuguese power on the west coast of India. On his way
thither Cabral sailed so far to the west, in order to pick up
a good wind, that he accidentally discovered the north-east
coast of Brazil, which had already been reached from the

68 Pioneers in South Africa

west by the Spaniards (as related in my work on Pioneers
in Tropical America). But Cabral realized the full impor-
tance of his discovery, and consequently dispatched one
of his ships back to Portugal with the tidings. He then
steered approximately for the Cape of Good Hope, but in
mid-Atlantic his fleet was struck by a most terrible storm
and hurricane, in the course of which four of the vessels
foundered and were never seen again. One of these con-
tained the great discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope,
Bartolomeu Diaz, who was to have been placed in com-
mand of a fortified trading station at Sofala, to control the
gold output of South-east Africa. Another of the ships
parted company with her consorts, and, though she coasted
round the Cape of Good Hope and bravely sailed as far
north as Somaliland, she never succeeded in rejoining the
rest of the squadron, so in despair turned back at Mag-
dishu (Magadoxo), once more rounded the Cape of Good
Hope, and ultimately reached Lisbon with only six of her
crew surviving.

The remaining vessels of Cabral's fleet finally arrived
at the coast off Sofala on 16 July, 1500, in an almost des-
perate condition, owing to the damage they had received
from the storms encountered on the way. Nevertheless,
the Portuguese commander, soon after coming to an anchor,
captured a small Arab sailing vessel; but ascertaining that
the captain was the uncle of the Sheikh of Malindi, he
restored this vessel to its owner, and gave him many pre-
sents, on account of the alliance between the Portuguese
and Malindi. He then, in spite of the bad condition of
his ships (too weak to make any attempt on Sofala, a
settlement which lay hidden away beyond dangerous shoals
and mangrove thickets), sailed on to Mozambique, effected
some repairs there, and made his way to Kilwa, then the

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 69

capital city of all the Arab trading posts on the east coast
of Africa between Somaliland and Sofala. Here a bold
demand was made on the amir or sultan of the place that
he should become a Christian, acknowledge the suzerainty
of the King of Portugal, and surrender to the Portuguese
the gold trade of Sofala. These demands were refused,
and, as the town was too strong to be taken by these
damaged Portuguese ships with their weakened crews,
Cabral sailed away to Malindi. The sheikh of that
place, who grasped at any means of carrying his feud
with Mombasa to a successful conclusion, received him
rapturously, and was delighted with the splendid pre-
sents which had been sent to him from Lisbon. For-
tunately there returned with these presents a Swahili
Arab who had been dispatched from Malindi with da
Gama as an envoy. The Sheikh of Malindi, therefore,
publicly declared himself to be a vassal of the King of
Portugal.

Cabral then proceeded to India, but on his return
journey was unable to make any advance as regards the
occupation of East African posts, owing to the reduction
of his fleet by storms which separated the vessels. He
dispatched, however, one of his smaller ships to get into
touch with Sofala, and the captain of this vessel, Sancho
de Toar, crossed the bar of the little river (an arm, per-
haps, of the Gorongozi), and anchored before one of the
two Arab settlements, afterwards landing and visiting the
Sheikh Yusuf. He received a present of gold and a supply
of provisions. Then, having collected all the information
obtainable from the natives, he sailed on his way to Lis-
bon, and, wonderful to relate, reached that place only a
few hours after the remaining ships of Cabral's fleet had
got there, though these vessels had been separated from

70 Pioneers in South Africa

one another by months in time and had pursued devious
routes on the return journey.

Another fleet set sail for India from Lisbon in May,
1 50 1, and on its way out discovered the Island of Ascen-
sion, 1 and called at the watering place at Mossel Bay,
where its admiral caused a chapel to be built and dedi-
cated to Sao Bras (St. Blasius). This was the first Chris-
tian church to be erected in South Africa. On the return
journey of this fleet from India, round the Cape of Good
Hope, the Island of St. Helena was discovered and named
(in the summer of 1502). Another fleet, under a cousin
of da Gama's, by dint of an imposing show of force,
forced the Amir of Kilwa to agree to become a vassal of
the King of Portugal. Further relations had been opened
up with Sofala (which was even becoming friendly dis-
posed towards Portuguese visits, owing to the trade which
they brought about), but no attempt was made actually
to take forcible possession of any post on the east coast
of Africa till 1505.

Meantime an interesting episode occurred in the history
of South Africa. A great Portuguese sea captain, Antonio
i>i. Saldanha, in command of a squadron intended for
action against the Egyptian fleets at the mouth of the Red
Sea, paused to reassemble his vessels off the southern ex-
tremity of Africa, and chose as a safe anchoring place a
harbour which we now know as Table Bay. To the north-
east rose that most imposing of eminences, Table Moun-
tain, perhaps for its altitude the most majestic mountain
mass in the world, looking far higher than it really is, 2 the
predestined Acropolis of one of the world's great imperial

1 First called Concepcao, as its discovery was made on the Feast of the Conception.
It was afterwards rediscovered by the Portuguese on Ascension Day, and given that
name.

2 The highest Doint of Table Mountain is 3850 feet above sea level.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 71

cities. In the middle of this majestic mass of granite —
called, by Saldanha himself, Monte da Mesa, or Table
Mountain — there was a deep ravine which indicated a
means of ascent to the summit, in most other directions
guarded by sheer precipices of 2000 to 3000 feet. Up
this ravine, through the lovely vegetation of blooming
heaths, geraniums, and ground orchids (though these are
not mentioned in his accounts), Saldanha made his way
till he reached the highest ridge of the mountain, his pur-
pose being, not the investigation of one of the most re-
markable floras in the world, but to gain a vantage point
from which his gaze might stretch far and wide over the
south Atlantic in search of his missing ships. He per-
ceived them not, but he realized for the first time the
actual outline of the Cape of Good Hope, and much of
the geography of the coasts at the meeting-point of the
South Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

One of his sea captains, Ruy Lourenco Ravasco,
getting far ahead of Saldanha on his voyage, fetched up
off Zanzibar, and there boldly attacked the Arabs on sea
and on land, winning a victory and forcing the Arab
Sheikh of Zanzibar to become henceforth a tributary of
Portugal. Similarly he brought into vassalage the Swa-
hili settlement of Brava (Barawa), on the south coast of
Somaliland.

In July, 1505, Kilwa, which had repudiated its treaty
of vassalage, was attacked by a Portuguese squadron. The
amir fled into the interior, and the place was occupied by
the Portuguese with very little fighting. Here, first of all
on the East coast of Africa, 1 they established themselves as

1 Or, it might be added, anywhere on the coast of that great southern third of
Africa which extends from the Equator to the Cape of Good Hope ; for although the
Portuguese by 1505 had visited most places along the south-west coast of Africa
between the Niger delta and the Orange River, and had navigated the Congo as far

72 Pioneers in South Africa

a ruling power, and built a fort to protect their authority.
This fortress at Kilwa was dedicated to Sant' Iago or St.
James (a name which is often misspelled by the Portuguese
themselves as San' Thiago).

The Portuguese now resolved to attack Mombasa, the
rival city to Malindi, and a very important centre of Arab
power on the Equatorial East African coast. Although
they were only a few hundred in number, they gained an
easy victory, the chief forces sent against them by the
Arabs being Negroes from the mainland armed with bows
and arrows: ancestors, no doubt, of the Giriama and Nyika
peoples of to-day. Mombasa was destroyed and plun-
dered, but not occupied. Soon afterwards Barawa, on the
Somali coast, which had repudiated its vassalage to Por-
tugal, was attacked likewise. Here, however, the Portu-
guese met with a much more determined resistance from
the Arabs, Somalis, and Negroes, and in the attack more
than a hundred Portuguese were either killed outright or
wounded. However, Barawa was taken, numbers of Arab
men and women were slain, and the town was destroyed
by fire. Probably it never regained its original importance,
and with the fall of Barawa, and later of Magdishu, the
Arab civilization of southern Somaliland, which was be-
ginning to produce a considerable effect on East Africa,
was brought to a close. Although 150 years afterwards
the Arabs turned out the Portuguese, and reoccupied these
places, their settlements never attained to anything like
the wealth and importance which characterized them
(according to history and tradition) for something like
1000 years previously.

Madagascar had been sighted in 1500, and more fully

as the falls above Matadi, they had not as yet taken political possession of any place
east of the Gold Coast.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 73

explored in 1505 and subsequent years by Mascarenhas
and other Portuguese navigators. Mascarenhas also dis-
covered the islands of Mauritius, Reunion, and Rodriguez.
But Portuguese occupation of the actual south coast of
Africa was delayed — and, as events turned out, never
effected — owing to one of those curious episodes in history
which are utterly unforeseen and which spring from ap-
parently trifling causes. In 15 10 a Portuguese fleet called
at Table Bay to get fresh water and provisions. They
purchased cattle from the Hottentots, who there and else-
where along the coast had first showed themselves very
friendly disposed to European visitors. But some of the
Portuguese seamen (among whom there were a number
so pleased with the aspect of the land that they would
have liked to remain there permanently as settlers) got up
a trumpery quarrel with the Hottentots of Table Bay, no
doubt through offering indignities to their women. They
were thrashed by the men and returned to the beach with
bloody faces. The commander-in-chief of the expedition,
Dom Francisco d'Almeida, was vehemently urged by his
officers to avenge this insult to the European. In vain
he protested, pointing out that probably his seamen had
only been punished by the natives for misbehaviour. The
views of his officers prevailed, and he very reluctantly,
and as though with a presage of his fate, accompanied
an expedition on shore which was to make short work of
the Hottentot village. They captured this village, it is
true, and drove off most of its cattle towards the sea beach.
But the Hottentots rallied. The Portuguese arms, of
course, consisted of clumsy arquebuses, matchlocks, and
crossbows. The firearms were of a nature not to be used
in a hurry, and were consequently useless in a sudden
emergency. Apparently, also, the crossbows were in-

74 Pioneers in South Africa

effective, or a kind of panic seized the Portuguese. At
any rate they retreated in disorder to the sea beach, being
much impeded in their flight by the Hottentot cattle, which,
obeying the distant whistles of their owners, turned about
and knocked over many of the Portuguese, trampling them
underfoot. The Hottentots came on with their assagays,
poisoned arrows, and clubs. The boats which should have
been there on the beach, waiting to convey them back to
the ships, had left owing to rough weather, and did not
return in time to save the landing party from utter disaster.
Some of the noblest and most honoured men of the day
in Portugal were slain on the beach by the primitive
weapons of the Hottentot savages. Such of the Portu-
guese as escaped only did so by wading out through the
sea water up to their necks, or keeping themselves afloat
on the waves till the boats from their ships could come
to their assistance. 1

This episode created in the minds of the Portuguese
such a disgust for Table Bay and such a wholesome fear
of the Hottentots that they gave the southern extremity
of Africa a wide berth in their voyages, sailing as a rule
from St. Helena right round to Delagoa Bay or Sofala.
Even their watering place and chapel at Mossel Bay were

1 Picter Kolben two hundred years afterwards (see pp. 122-3) related the revenge that
the Portuguese took for this disaster. Their fleet anchored in Table Bay three yean
after the disaster, and knowing the fondness of the Hottentots for brass, a large I
cannon was carried on shore, loaded with pow der and crammed with heavy cannon balls.
The Portuguese then tied two long ropes to the mouth of the cannon, and applied
a slow match to the touchhole. Having done this, they announced to the crowd of
assembled Hottentots that they made them a present of this piece of brass with the

• of renewing friendship, and begged the Hottentots to drag it away by the ropes.
Very soon two long files of lusty men were tugging at the ropes with all their might,
dragging the cannon up the beach and full in range of the discharge, which presently
occurred when the match reached the powder. As the result, many were killed and
wound-'d, not only among those who pulled at the cannon, but in the crowd of spec-

. behind. Such as escaped fled to the mountain in the wildest consternation,
and for at least a century afterwards the natives retained the utmost dread of firearms.

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 75

seldom visited after the disaster which occurred on the
site of Cape Town.

In the late autumn of 1505 a Portuguese squadron of
six ships was assembled outside the bar of the Sofala
River, with the determination of making an effective oc-
cupation of that place, believed then to be the capital of
an Arab principality, but as a matter of fact an outlying
part of the dominions of the King or Emperor of " Mono-
motapa ", who was a Negro potentate living near the
banks of the Zambezi, and ruling more or less loosely a
confederation of tribes speaking Bantu languages. 1 Here
the Arabs were merely tolerated as merchants who pur-
chased the gold dust brought down by the natives from
the many workings and old mines in what is now known
as Southern Rhodesia. The sheikh or elder of this
colony of Arab merchants was a very old man, much
respected by the Swahili Arabs.

The admiral in command of the Portuguese squadron
was Pedro d'Anhaya (the name is sometimes written
Anaya). As soon as his ships, which had been scattered
by various accidents and small disasters, were assembled,
he left the two largest in the roadstead and crossed the bar
of the river with the four smaller vessels, coming to an
anchor in front of the Arab settlement which was nearest
to the sea. From here, in boats and accompanied by a
large number of Portuguese soldiers, he proceeded to the
settlement higher up the river where the sheikh resided.
He was received in a large hall in which were gathered
an assemblage of Arab elders and merchants. These men
were mostly naked from the neck to the waist, except for
superb silk turbans on their heads, but the lower part of
their bodies was swathed in handsome striped cotton cloths,

1 A further description of Monomotapa is given on pp. 83 and 88.

76 Pioneers in South Africa

while the most of them wore girdles round the waist from
which depended curved swords with curved ivory hilts.
The sheikh himself, about seventy years old, blind and in
poor health, but a tall man of imposing demeanour, re-
clined at one end of the hall on silk cushions which were
laid on a kitanda or angarib (an oblong bed made of a
wooden frame strung with a tight lacework of strips of
ox hide). The wall behind this couch was hung with
silken fabrics ; and the old sheikh, Yusuf, was richly clad,
no doubt much after the style of well-to-do Muhammadans
of the present day at Zanzibar. D'Anhaya, leaving his
soldiers on the outer court of the sheikh's residence, the
boundary of which was a thorny hedge, possibly of
euphorbias, entered the hall, and as he did so the as-
sembled Arabs and Swahili Negroes rose from their three-
legged stools and bowed to him gravely. In previous
deliberations it had been decided by a majority of voices
not to resist the Portuguese. The Arabs knew that
Sofala was a very unhealthy place for the purer-blooded
Arabs, and consequently would prove even more deadly
for these white men from western Europe. They hoped,
therefore, that in course of time the climate would tell in
their favour and weaken or destroy the Portuguese gar-
rison. So that the Sheikh Yusuf greeted d'Anhaya with
much apparent friendliness, and as a proof of his desire
for an alliance with the Portuguese produced twenty for-
lorn Portuguese sailors who were the sole survivors of a
Shipwrecked party that had marched overland from near
Delagoa Bay to Sofala, and had been saved from starva-
tion by the sheikh's supplies of food.

Accordingly, a number of Negroes of the country were
engaged by the Portuguese, a fort was built in the course
of three months, and a garrison was left in it under the

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 77

command of Pedro d'Anhaya. Soon, however, malarial
fever began to work with dire effect on this company of
Europeans, who of course then and for nearly 400 years
afterwards took no proper measures to combat this disease.
The water supply inside the fort was foul; and although
mangrove mud has nothing more to do with malarial
fever than by serving as a breeding ground for mosquitoes,
nevertheless there is something in the exhalations from a
mangrove swamp which is particularly unwholesome.
After two months the garrison was apparently incapable
of fighting, numbers of the men having died, others being
greatly enfeebled by sickness.

The Portuguese had, however, made a great friend at
Sofala in the person of an Abyssinian named Akote, who
had probably been brought there some years before as
a slave and been forced to adopt Muhammadanism against
his will, but had acquired considerable influence over the
Arab merchants. Akote took up his residence with the
Portuguese after they built the fort; and by means of his
followers and spies he was able to warn the Portuguese
that a plan was being prepared to attack them. The
son-in-law of Yusuf, who had been hostile to the Portu-
guese from the very beginning, had enlisted a tribe of
Negroes as allies, and with them was advancing to attack
the fortress, which, amongst other defences, was sur-
rounded by a fairly deep moat — a moat, no doubt, breed-
ing the mosquitoes which introduced the germs of fever
into the blood of the Portuguese. There were at that
time only thirty-five Portuguese well enough to bear arms
or to work the clumsy but effective artillery. Akote, how-
ever, collected a hundred of his followers and marched them
into the fort just in time, for with little warning there
suddenly arrived a vast concourse of warlike Negroes (who

78 Pioneers in South Africa

were not, however, Zulus, as some writers have contended,
but more akin to the Makarana and Mashuna tribes at
the present day) led by a number of Arabs. The Negroes
were armed with bows and arrows and assagays or
throwing spears; the Arabs had only their curved swords
and daggers. But a portion of the Negroes carried boughs
of wood cut from the adjoining bush, and these they hurled
into the moat at places so as to make a rough bridge from
which they might scale the walls of the fort; whilst at the
same time they shot arrows to which blazing pieces of
cotton wool were attached, so as to set fire to the roofs of
the Portuguese buildings. However, Pedro d'Anhaya,
with great foresight, had provided for such tricks by re-
moving all the thatch from the most exposed houses and
laying in a good supply of water. The walls of the
Portuguese fort were defended with cannon, and the sol-
diers each wielded most effectively a crossbow. With
these they wrought such execution on the masses of
Negroes (the Arabs probably remained prudently in the
background) that the latter retired from the walls of the
fort discomfited, and withdrew for further consideration to
a grove of palms hard by. Pedro d'Anhaya, with fifteen
of the most vigorous amongst the Portuguese and a
number of the Swahili Negroes who followed Akote,
dashed out in pursuit from the fort and attacked the flee-
ing Negroes with their swords and lances, slaying many
o( them, and for a time securing a respite from attack.
Yet after a while the Negroes reassembled at night-time
in the palm grove, and during three days continued their
attempts to scale the walls of the fort and take the Portu-
guese by surprise.

But the Portuguese had with them big dogs, probably
of the bloodhound type; and these dogs rendered almost

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 79

as much service in foiling the Negroes' attacks as the
Portuguese artillery. This, however, achieved notable
results for the period. The palm grove, where the Negro
forces rallied ever and again, was not beyond the range
of the Portuguese cannon, and the projectiles of stone
which were hurled from the mouths of these guns sent
the palm stems flying into splinters which did nearly as
much damage as the impact of the stone cannon balls,
though these ploughed up the Negro ranks. Finally,
the savage allies of the Arabs got sick of the business,
believing that the Portuguese and the Arabs were in
reality allied and had only wished to lure powerful tribes
to their destruction in order to take complete possession
of the country. They therefore turned about, abandoned
the attack on the fort, and in revenge plundered the Arab
settlement higher up the river, and thence fled to their
homes in the interior.

Immediately they had gone, Pedro d'Anhaya manned
his largest boat with the more vigorous amongst the
Portuguese, and no doubt with Akote and some of his
men, and rowed up-river to the dismantled Arab settle-
ment, where he met with little resistance. Forcing his way
into the residence of the sheikh, he found the old Arab
chieftain lying on his couch, but with a bundle of assagays
by his side. One of these he hurled with all his force
in the direction from which he could hear the advancing
footsteps. The assagay struck d'Anhaya in the neck, but
immediately afterwards Manoel Fernandez — a daring and
capable Portuguese who then filled the position of factor
or business man at the fort — dealt a tremendous blow at
the old sheikh which severed Yusuf's head from his body
with one stroke of the sword. Impaling this head with
a lance the Portuguese returned in triumph to their

8o Pioneers in South Africa

fortress, where they displayed it on the walls. The next
morning the hostile Arabs, driven to desperation, attacked
the fort with desperate bravery, but in vain. They could
not climb over the wall in sufficient numbers to overpower
the Portuguese, whose artillery and crossbow practice were
deadly at such close quarters. The result was that the
survivors sued for peace and obtained it. Akote, the
friendly Abyssinian, was given a prominent place in the
local administration, and the Portuguese hold over Sofala
was never again contested by the Muhammadans.

But the unhealthiness of Sofala and its badness as a
port — the bar of its little river only admitting ships of
small size — made it unsuitable as a place of call for Portu-
guese ships voyaging to and from India. It was therefore
determined to choose the island of Mocambique for this
purpose; and in 1507, a powerful Portuguese squadron
arriving at that place, the great fortress of Sao Miguel
was commenced, the Muhammadans of the island offering
no objection or resistance. Before long, Mocambique
became the inevitable capital of the Portuguese dominions
on the East coast of Africa, owing to the unhealthiness
of Sofala and the disappointing results of the traffic in
gold.

It is evident that the supplies of alluvial gold were
becoming nearly exhausted in South-east Africa, and the
Bantu Negroes who had long occupied the old workings
and tunnels in the rock (commenced — one may be sure —
by adventurers of Asiatic race), were not sufficiently in-
dustrious to extract more gold than was necessary to satisfy
their simple needs in trade.

Kilwa, the once wealthy, prosperous and well-built
capital of Arab East Africa, was ruined in a very few
years by the rapacity of the Portuguese. First of all

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Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 81

they declared a monopoly of trade with India and even
with parts of East Africa, a monopoly to be reserved for
Portuguese vessels. Then, when they found the carrying
of this order into execution was making the whole popu-
lation of the East African coast bitterly hostile to them,
they rescinded it. They set up various puppet chiefs one
after the other at Kilwa, whilst the original sultan or
amir — Ibrahim — held his Court in the interior, assisted
and supported by the Negro chiefs. Sickened, after a few
years, by the constant attacks on the town by Ibrahim,
the Portuguese made peace with him and restored him to
his position as chief of the place, at the same time aban-
doning the fortress and leaving Kilwa to its fate. The
place never recovered its former prosperity, and in the
course of time passed away from the Portuguese dominions
for ever.

An interesting light is thrown on the Mocambique
mainland at this period by a passage in the writings of
the celebrated Italian traveller, Ludovico di Varthema,
whose journeys in India occupy such a prominent place
in my book on the pioneers of that region. Ludovico
di Varthema on his way back from India to Europe visited
Mocambique about the year 1508, just as the fortress,
church, and hospital on that island were being commenced,
in the frenzied zeal for dominion on the part of the Portu-
guese — a zeal which caused them to make what for the
period might be regarded as superhuman progress in these
constructions. Di Varthema, accompanying a party of
Portuguese bent on adventure, landed on the mainland
opposite the little island and explored the country for a
distance of between 20 and 30 miles back from the sea
coast. Their progress was stayed for a time by a great
troop of elephants, which showed themselves not only fear-

( C 587 ) 6

82 Pioneers in South Africa

less, but very much inclined to attack and destroy these
strange-looking human beings, whose clothes and odour
probably excited the surprise and suspicion of the intelli-
gent beasts, accustomed previously to naked Negroes.
Yarthema and his companions only warded off the attacks
of the elephants by making torches of reeds and waving
the fire in front of the animals. When this herd had
passed by, Varthema and his companions walked inland
for another 10 miles or so through a hilly or mountainous
country, where, as Varthema relates, they found caverns
inhabited by a strange Negro tribe, who spoke in a manner
which he could only compare to the clicking of a tongue.
It was a sound (he wrote) like that used by muleteers in
Sicily to urge on their lazy mules.

Obviously, di Varthema was just in time to record the
existence in the hinterland of Mocambique of a Bushman
or Hottentot people which soon afterwards must have
become extinct, through the action of either the Portu-
guese, or, more likely, the Bantu Negroes whom the Portu-
guese supplied with arms and encouraged to pursue a
trade in slaves. Other legends and traditions collected
by the author of this book in the adjoining regions of
Nyasaland would seem to point to the existence down to
a comparatively late period in the mountain regions of
Mocambique of a Bushman-like people which were of
short stature, yellow-skinned, and speaking a language
full of clicks, and usually defending themselves against
the aggressions of their big black neighbours by hurling
stones on them from the almost inaccessible heights on
which they lived.

The Portuguese had not long been in occupation of
Sofala when they became aware that there was a very
powerful Negro monarch wielding far-stretching influence

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 83

over the interior, and known usually as Monomotapa. 1
Unfortunately, for them, a terrible civil war was raging
between the tribes and clans over which the Monomotapa
ruled, and which occupied more especially the gold-yield-
ing region south of the Zambezi. This was due to a
disputed succession to the supreme chieftainship. Con-
sequently the Portuguese commandants of Sofala strove
to enter into relations with the natives of the far interior,
and see to what extent they could appease this warfare,
perhaps making themselves thereby masters of the land
of the gold mines. They had already attempted several
times to obtain a foothold on the banks of the lower
Zambezi, but their efforts had been checked by the
treachery of the Muhammadan Swahili traders, who, with
the aid of their Negro allies, succeeded in massacring or
driving away the Portuguese. However, at last, partly
by conciliating the Muhammadans and employing them
as trading agents, the Portuguese succeeded in establish-
ing a trading station at Sena, on the north bank of the
broad, swampy river a little distance above the confluence
of the Shire and the Zambezi. Another trading station
was founded soon afterwards at Tete, much higher up the
river, where the banks were rocky, at a distance of about

1 There has been much dispute as to the etymology of this name. The present
writer believes the following to be the most likely solution. The title is probably
derived from one of the Nyanja dialects of the Lower Zambezi, and should have been
written Mwene-mutapa, or Lord (Master) of the Mine. But there were other versions
more like Muna or Muina Mutapa or Bena-Motapa. In fact, the Portuguese often
referred to this potentate as the Beno Mutapa. I believe that this Muina, Mona, or
Mong is an old Bantu word, meaning brother or comrade, of which the plural is
Ba-ina. usually pronounced Bena. This prefix Bena is very common in south-central
Africa and the Congo basin, and is generally translated "clan". Therefore Bena-
mutapa would mean " the clan of the mining people". In all probability the Mutapa
people were originally represented by the Karaiia tribes, who possibly crossed the
Zambezi about 1600 or 1700 years ago, and took possession of the gold-mining estab-
lishments like Zimbabwe, which had been created in south-east Africa by enterprising
adventurers from southern Arabia.

84 Pioneers in South Africa

300 miles in a direct line from the seacoast. In 1544 a
still more important trading station was opened at Queli-
mane, on the River of Good Omens, where Vasco da Gama
met with such a favourable reception. All these stations
soon sent to the Portuguese headquarters at Sofala great
consignments of ivory, and a certain amount of gold ob-
tained from the workings north and south of the eastern
Zambezi.

Meantime the Portuguese were equally desirous of
ascertaining the kind of country that lay to the south of
Sofala, between that region more or less permeated by
Muhammadan traders and the land of the Hottentots, far
away to the south, where the Portuguese still maintained
a place of call at or near Mossel Bay (Sao Bras). About
1544 they founded a trading station at the mouth of the
Inyambane River (now known as the Inhambane), and
in the same year a great expedition was sent out to explore
the unknown country between the Sabi and the Limpopo,
commanded by Louren^o Marquez and Antonio Cal-
deira. Without any difficulty they reached the lower
course of the Limpopo River, and ascertained that the
country abounded in copper; this was worked by the
natives, who were rich in that metal, wearing it as orna-
ments, and making axes and other weapons from it.
Crossing the Limpopo, the two Portuguese made their
way to the seacoast, and discovered what had hitherto
only been vaguely known— the splendid harbour of Dela-
goa Bay, which they named Bahia da Lagoa, or the Bay
of the Lagoon. But in spite of the lake-like character of
this wide harbour, the name was not so much applied to
it as to one of the rivers it received, which the Portuguese
believed, from information given by the natives, came
from a great inland lake. On this river, the Umbelozi,

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 85

the Portuguese saw a vast number of elephants, which
browsed on the foliage of the trees and bushes with little
regard for the teasing human beings about them. Every
now and again an elephant blundered into a pit cunningly
dug for him by the natives, and was then done to death
by assagays and arrows. Ivory, consequently, was plentiful
amongst these naked, Zulu-like Negroes, who disposed of
it to the Portuguese for ridiculously small amounts of trade
goods. The chief of this region was known as the Inyaka,
and he at once showed himself very friendly to the white
men. He was an old man, but tall, erect, and of noble
bearing, with a thick, white, curly beard. The Portuguese
thought he resembled so closely one of their distant offi-
cials in Malacca that they gave him the same name—
Garcia de Sa.

Lourenco Marquez, the senior official in charge of this
expedition, decided to establish a trading station on this
beautiful bay, to which he gave his own name, a name
long afterwards revived as the title of the Portuguese city
on Delagoa Bay — Lourenco Marquez. The founder of
this station remained here for something like thirteen
years, living on the most friendly terms with this Thonga
or Ronga tribe, until, as a reward for his excellent services
to Portuguese commerce, he was given a higher post in
India. 1

In 1558 it was resolved to construct a fortress of the
first class at Mocambique, and thenceforward to make that
little island the capital of all the Portuguese dominions in
East Africa, and the principal calling place for ships on

1 Between 1550 and 1593 numerous great ships of the Portuguese, sailing to or from
India, were wrecked on the South African coast at different points of Kaffraria and
Zululand, and their passengers and crews (including frequently Portuguese ladies and
children) were obliged to walk overland to Delagoa Bay or even Inyambane. A con-
siderable knowledge was thus obtained and recorded about rivers and mountains of
South Africa.

S6 Pioneers in South Africa

their way to India after leaving St. Helena or rounding
the Cape of Good Hope. So in that year a Portuguese
architect, who had been trained to his profession at Antwerp,
came out and planned the great fortress dedicated to St.
Sebastian, which remains as the most conspicuous object
of Mocambique at the present day. It took about forty
years to build, but it was extraordinarily complete in its
arrangements for housing a large garrison of troops and
supplying them with fresh water. This last purpose could
only be achieved by excavating or constructing enormous
stone and concrete cisterns in the coral rock of the locality,
into which would be drained all the rainwater falling on the
vast extent of roofs in the fortress city. There is no fresh
water obtainable on Mocambique Islet, even that which is
got from wells being brackish; but as there is a somewhat
heavy rainfall in the summer half of the year, between
October and April, large quantities of rainwater are stored
in cisterns, and are sufficient for a relatively small popu-
lation. In planning and building this fortress of Sao
Sebastiao the Portuguese were wiser than they knew.
The work, it is interesting to note, was really inspired
by a woman, the Queen Regent of Portugal, Donna
Catarina. Had this achievement not been carried through
in the main before Portugal fell into the paralysing grasp
of Spain after the death of the young king (Dom Sebastiao),
the Portuguese dominion over East Africa would have
been completely ruined when it was attacked fiercely by
the Dutch and the Arabs in the seventeenth century.
Three times the Dutch besieged Mocambique — in 1604,
1607, and 1662 — and each time failed to take it, though
they occupied other parts of Portuguese East Africa for
a while. The Arabs of Maskat similarly failed in 1670.
At that time, or soon afterwards, the little island of Mocam-

Portuguese reveal Southern Africa 87

bique was all that was left of the Portuguese East African
empire; but it was never taken, and always served as the
nucleus from which the Portuguese power was once more
able to extend southwards, northwards, and westwards in
the eighteenth century, until it recovered a good deal of
what had been previously lost.

CHAPTER IV

The Portuguese in South Central Africa

In i 54 i the first Jesuit missionaries left Portugal to evan-
gelize India, and to their headquarters in Goa there was
sent in 1558 the request of a chief of the Karana 1 people,
in the interior of the Inyambane district, for missionaries
to come to that part of Africa to tell his people about
Christianity. This section of the Karana people had in
their tribal movements penetrated what might be called
the " Thonga " territory south of the Sabi River, and
partly to affirm their position there they desired to enter
into closer relations with the Portuguese. A son of the
chief had gone on a trading expedition with ivory to
Mocambique, and there had been converted to Chris-
tianity.

Accordingly the Jesuits' College at Goa sent over to
Mocambique two fathers and a lay brother, who were to
proceed to the evangelization of " Monomotapa ". The
senior member of this mission was Dom Goncaxo da
Silveira. The mission party suffered at first terribly
from fever, but at last managed to reach the village of
Otongwe, where there resided the Karana chief who had
made an appeal for missionaries, and whose name was
Gamba. The missionaries arrived (as Dr. M'Call Theal
points out 2 ) at a most opportune moment to realize one
amongst the many miseries and inconveniences of heathen-

1 Pronounced " Karang'a ". 2 The Beginnings oj South African History.

Portuguese in South Central Africa 89

dom. A son of the chief had just died, and the ceremony
of witchfinding was in progress. A local medicine man
had pointed out the supposed witch, and charged him with
causing the young man's death "by treading in his foot-
steps as he walked behind him ". The man, having been
indicated, was at once done to death with terrible torture.
The missionaries also noticed that in the kraal and else-
where in the country all sick people were at once deserted
by their friends and relations, lest they might die and any-
one who had helped them be charged with their murder by
witchcraft.

The chief, his family, and his people, however, ex-
pressed themselves at once as willing to embrace Chris-
tianity, and were speedily — 400 to 500 persons — baptized
and given Christian names. Then Dom Goncalo da Silveira,
leaving one of the members of the mission behind to con-
tinue the work, proceeded to carry out his much greater
plan of reaching the Court of the " Emperor of Monomo-
tapa ", travelling by way of Quelimane and the Zambezi
to Sena. From this place da Silveira sent his message
to the great Karana monarch, and receiving, after two
months, a favourable reply, continued his penetration of
the interior to Tete, higher up the Zambezi, and thence
southwards to the capital of Monomotapa, probably a
place on the Mazoe River, 1 near Fura. The Monomotapa
— a mere youth, who had only recently succeeded to the
title, and whose eastern dominions had been seized by a
rebel half-brother — received Dom Goncalo as an envoy of
the great Viceroy of Portuguese India, anxious to enlist
the help of that potentate in regaining complete control
of the Karana empire. He therefore willingly consented
to embrace Christianity, and, together with his mother,

1 The old name of the Mazoe was Manzovu — ' ' Elephants ".

90 Pioneers in South Africa

was at once baptized. Three hundred of his counsellors
and attendants went to the font with him, and likewise
accepted the Christian rite. The Monomotapa hoped that
when he had agreed to this ceremony (which he regarded
as a kind of entry into blood-brotherhood), the envoy would
go away and perhaps send him the arms and assistance he
desired for the prosecution of his family war. But Silveira,
of course, remained, and never lost an opportunity of
preaching Christianity.

At the Court of the Monomotapa there were numerous
Swahili Arab merchants and adventurers, who had taken
refuge there after the Portuguese had ousted them from
the coast ports. They naturally maligned Dom Goncalo
to the African chief, saying that he was a great worker of
magic, and was intriguing with the rebel half-brother.
The Monomotapa took alarm, and, as Goncalo refused to
obey his order to leave the country, he had him strangled.
But soon afterwards a terrible drought set in, which was
followed by a great plague of locusts, and the superstitious
chief now veered about to the belief that he had slain a
saint and was being punished by God. He therefore
arrested and slew the Muhammadans who had incited
him to this deed. The other Jesuit father, who had been
left behind at the village of Gamba, in the hinterland of
Inyambane, was also affected by this drought. Here the
natives ascribed the failure of the rains to their change of
religion, so that the priest was expelled from their country
and obliged to return to Mocambique.

Meantime the reports which various wandering Portu-
guese had transmitted to Mocambique and Lisbon as to
the gold resources of Monomotapa had inspired the young
king, Dom Sebastiao, with the idea of creating in South
Africa a gold-producing empire as rich as that which the

Portuguese in South Central Africa 91

Spaniards had acquired in north-western South America.
The king was further incited to do this as he considered
it was incumbent on him to avenge the death of Dom
Goncalo. Accordingly he ordained that the Portuguese
dominions in the Eastern world should be recast; that
they should be divided into three captaincies, the first of
which, an independent government from that of India, was
to consist of the whole East African coast from Cape
Guardafui in Somaliland, on the north, to Cape Correntes,
on the south. 1

Francisco Barreto, who had previously been Gover-
nor-General in India, was appointed to take command of
this great East African empire, and especially to devote
himself to the conquest of Monomotapa. After many
delays and an extraordinary series of misfortunes, occasion-
ing much loss of life amongst the men on board his ships,
Barreto reached Mocambique in May, 1570. After some
chopping and changing of plans, he then devoted himself
to the Monomotapa expedition, and following the advice
of the principal Jesuit priest in his company — Father
Monclaros — he resolved to reach the native capital of that
empire by way of the Zambezi.

He ascended the Luabo mouth of the Zambezi, and
sailed or towed his two vessels up to Sena, where he
landed more than 700 soldiers armed with the rude fire-
arm of the period — the arquebus — several cannon, which
were to be drawn by horses, a large number of horses
also, to mount his cavalry soldiers, and numerous asses

1 It was curious that this definition of claims should have left the Limpopo River,
Delagoa Bay, and Mossel Bay, with its watering station of Sao Bras, completely out-
side the Portuguese dominions, though the Portuguese still possessed the Islands of
Ascension and St. Helena, and had met with little or no native opposition to their
trade with the Bantu regions of South Africa. This delimitation was one of the argu-
ments employed by the British in the last century to prove that they had a perfect
right to instal themselves on the south coast of Delagoa Bay.

92 Pioneers in South Africa

and camels for transport purposes.' Cattle were obtained
from the natives and soon trained to work under the
yoke. They dragged stones to Sena from which a fort
was built. But the horses, the camels, and even the
donkeys began to die at an alarming rate from some mys-
terious sickness; the Portuguese also were racked with
fever. Barreto was puzzled as to the cause of this disease
in man and beast, but Father Monclaros — the evil genius
of the expedition — suggested it was due to the Muham-
madan traders at Sena having poisoned the wells and the
grass used as fodder. He found one of the Swahili half-
caste Arabs ready to support him in this statement, for
what purpose we do not know — for it was entirely false.
The sickness amongst the beasts was caused by the punc-
tures of the tse-tse fly, which terrible insect introduced
into the veins of the horses, camels, and donkeys, and of
the oxen brought down from the hill country, the fatal
trypanosome germs which are the cause of so many
diseases. At the same time the mosquitoes infected the
Portuguese with malarial fever. The water of either river
or wells had nothing to do with the sickness, though prob-
ably amongst the grass there existed various poisonous
lilies which may have added to the other causes of mor-
tality amongst the transport animals.

But Barreto readily listened to the suggestions of
Monclaros, who was the typical "unchristian-Christian"
missionary of that period, a man as un-Christlike in mind
as it is possible to conceive, athirst for slaughter and
cruelty towards all who did not immediately embrace the
dogmas of his Church. Accordingly, Barreto, without
warning, turned his soldiers on to attacking peaceful
Muhammadans at Sena and in the neighbourhood. These
were men of more or less pure Arab race, descended from

Portuguese in South Central Africa 93

the ancient Arab settlers on the east coast of Africa, or
they were what we term Swahili Arabs — that is to say,
people of mixed Arab and Negro blood. All adult Muham-
madan males were killed by the Portuguese, except a few
who were kept as prisoners and hostages. Their property
was seized and divided amongst the soldiers, though all
the gold to be found, amounting to nearly ^"7000 in
value, was reserved for the King of Portugal. As to the
seventeen hostages, who no doubt had been kept for the
purpose of revealing the hiding-places of wealth, they were
tried and sentenced to death. After this sentence they
were pressed to accept Christianity in order to save their
souls, but with one exception all had the fortitude to refuse
to accept a religion which could have such wicked ex-
ponents as Father Monclaros. They were then, without
even excepting the one who did consent to be baptized,
killed with circumstances of elaborate cruelty, by impale-
ment or by being blown to pieces at the mouths of the
great stone cannon. The only adult Muhammadan male
who survived this slaughter was the one who had given
the false information to Barreto in support of the theory
of Father Monclaros.

Meantime an envoy from Barreto had reached the
Court of the Monomotapa, and had proposed an alliance
with that chief against one of his enemies or rivals,
Mcngasi, who ruled the country along the south bank of
the Zambezi below Tete. In return for this assistance
the Monomotapa was to open the way for the Portuguese
to the gold mines of Manika. The Monomotapa accepted
both these proposals. Accordingly, Francisco Barreto,
having completed his fort at Sena, set out, on the return
of his envoy, to penetrate the Monomotapa empire. He
left Sena at the end of July, 1572, in a flotilla of boats and

94 Pioneers in South Africa

canoes which ascended the Zambezi as near as they could
be got to the turbulent waters of the Lupata gorge. Most
of the troops (about 650 in number, mainly Portuguese,
but with a few Indians and half-castes) marched along the
north bank of the Zambezi to opposite its confluence with
the Mazoe River. Hereabouts they crossed the Zambezi
and proceeded to attack Mongasi, whose capital was about
ten days' march up the Mazoe valley. On the eleventh day
of their march — the Portuguese army being then a force
of about 600 men, of whom 23 were mounted on horses
— they sighted the army which Mongasi had assembled
to oppose them. It was so numerous and so bold that
when spread out over the hillsides of the Mazoe valley
it made a considerable stretch of country look black with
men. The natives, however, allowed the Portuguese to
rest unattacked for nearly twenty-four hours. Then they
were lured on to storm Barreto's well-selected position on
a hill by a feint made in their direction. The warriors of
Mongasi led by an old sorceress who was reputed to be
immortal, rushed up the hill in a dense mass, the wizened
sorceress at their head scattering charms in the air from
a calabash in the belief that she could thus blind and
paralyse the white man. But a Portuguese arquebusier
shot her dead, and with a great shout of invocation to
St. James, the Portuguese sent against the compact mass
of yelling Negroes a storm of balls from their cannon and
their arquebuses. 1 This hail of death soon arrested the

1 It may be as well to consider at this juncture what firearms the Portuguese, and
later on the Arabs, possessed in their wars with the natives of South Africa. Prob-
ably the first type of gun to l>e used to any extent was the arquebus, or hackbutt,
originally G nnan invention. This was about 3 feet long, and differed from the
older forms of gun by having the stock bent down, with a wide end which might be
pressed against the right breast of the shooter. It was sometimes furnished with a
long spiked rod as a rest, from which it could be fired with greater accuracy, but as
a rule it was discharged from the shoulder. Instead of the gunpowder of the charge
being ignited by a match of hemp or cotton (boiled in saltpetre or the lees of wine

Portuguese in South Central Africa 95

progress of the Bantu. They hesitated, stopped, turned
about, and fled in disorder, while Barreto completed the
rout by charging with his few attendant horsemen.

After a brief rest the Portuguese left their hill and
proceeded to burn a large deserted village nearly sur-
rounded by forest. This seemed to be the opportunity
for Mongasi to retrieve the first disaster of his troops,
and his reorganized army advanced on the little band of
Europeans in the form of a vast crescent, much, in fact,
in the formation so familiar to us three centuries after-
wards in the Zulu wars. The Portuguese, who had
hastily cut down trees as a slight fortification in their
position, waited till the masses of Negroes were close to
them, and then once more discharged their artillery and
their guns. What impressed the natives on this occasion
was not only the number of their dead, but the fact that
their enemy, though so near to them, was completely
hidden by the volumes of smoke poured out from the

to make it very inflammable) the arquebus, which replaced the old matchlock gun,
was furnished with a wheel lock which struck sparks, when it was released, by striking
on iron pyrites. These sparks set fire to the powder in the pan, and so communicated
with the charge in the gun and exploded it. But the hackbutt was a complicated and
expensive construction, and it was soon superseded, in the middle of the sixteenth
century, by the flint-lock gun. This lock when released by the trigger struck a piece
of furrowed steel and emitted the necessary sparks for igniting the powder. A hundred
years later this invention was developed into the more modern flint-lock gun. There
was also a smaller form of arquebus about 18 inches long, which was the forerunner
of the pistol, a weapon invented in Italy in the middle of the sixteenth century. The
musket was a larger and heavier gun than the wheel-lock arquebus, which was invented
in Spain in the middle of the sixteenth century. It was fired by a match, and dis-
charged a ball weighing about i]/ 2 ounces. Considering the slowness with which these
firearms could be loaded and discharged, and the need for excessive deliberation if
there was to be anything like carefulness of aim, it is surprising that they produced as
much effect as they did on African savages of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
It was probably due as much as anything to the smoke, flame, and loud report as to
the occasional arrival of a bullet. Better service was usually rendered to the foreign
invaders by their stone mortars or their brass, bronze, or iron cannon. During the
sixteenth century these generally hurled stone cannon balls, which in the next hundred
years were succeeded by iron projectiles. Imperfect as all these firearms were they
nevertheless gave the white man dominion over Asia, Africa, and America.

96 Pioneers in South Africa

mouths of cannon and arquebuses. Once more they were
routed, and in the pursuit that followed the Portuguese
claimed to have killed 6000 of them, at a loss to them-
selves of only a few killed and sixty wounded.

The Portuguese went no farther in their southward
journey on this occasion, for they were obliged to estab-
lish a hospital to deal with their wounded men, and give
a chance to those who were sick to recover their vigour.
Moreover, once again mortality was beginning to set in
amongst the horses and cattle. After a respite of six days
they were again attacked by Mongasi's warriors. In a
long and obstinate defence of their fortified position they
beat off the Negroes with such heavy losses that their
chieftain at length sent a message to beg for peace.
Barreto "bluffed" the envoy in the characteristic Portuguese
manner, and consented to make peace with Mongasi
after receiving tribute from him to the extent of fifty oxen
and fifty sheep, some gold and some ivory. But he had
already made up his mind, as soon as he could make
peace, to retreat once more to the Zambezi, for his stock
of ammunition was nearly exhausted, his men were dis-
heartened, and they could evidently not count much longer
on keeping alive their transport animals. Accordingly,
as soon as peace was made with Mongasi, the expedition
turned back to the Zambezi, which it reached with the
greatest difficulty and on the verge of starvation.

Although Barreto afterwards came back from Mocam-
bique to Sena, and sent another embassy to the Mono-
motapa, he was foiled in his purpose by the terrible
mortality from fever which almost wiped out both the
old garrison and the new army assembled at Sena. He
was obliged, therefore, to renounce all idea of proceeding
farther; whereupon he was so bitterly reproached by the

Portuguese in South Central Africa 97

fanatic Monclaros that he took to his bed and died of little
else than a broken heart.

His successor as captain-general was his former lieu-
tenant, Vasco Fernandez Homem, who attempted to get
possession of the gold mines from the direction of Sofala.
His expedition penetrated to the Manika, to the frontiers
of what we should now call Southern Rhodesia. But the
so-called gold mines were found to be most disappointing.
They were shallow excavations in the rocks, from which
Negroes carried baskets of earth up to the surface. After
washing this earth in water they obtained, by much patient
toil, a few grains of gold or an occasional very small
nugget. Shortly after a search was made for the reported
silver mines of Chikova, said to exist near the south bank
of the Zambezi, beyond Tete. Nothing of the kind, how-
ever, was found, and as usual the Portuguese garrisons,
established here and there in forts, suffered such terrible
mortality from fever that the few survivors were at last
withdrawn.

Portugal was nearing her great eclipse, which followed
the death of Dom Sebastiao in Morocco, when the Portu-
guese kingdom came under the paralysing control of
Spain. The Monomotapa remained more or less friendly
to them, however, and Jesuit missionaries were permitted
to penetrate far into the interior of Zambezi, where they
obtained evidence, such as a Portuguese blanket, that
there was an overland trade with Angola and the west
coast.

But just as some slight progress was being made in
trade, and even in the spread of Christianity, an awful
disaster overtook all south-central and much of eastern
Africa — one of those human cataclysms which have struck
down civilization again and again in the past history of

(C587) 7

98 Pioneers in South Africa

Africa, and most of which are wholly mysterious as to
their origin. This was the invasion of South-central Africa
by a Negro tribe known mostly as the Ba-zimba. 1 Except
that the Ba-zimba were a people speaking a Bantu lan-
guage, we can only utter vague guesses as to their origin;
but on the whole it seems most probable that they came
from Katanga, or farther west in southern Congoland,
where they had acquired — like so many of the Congo
peoples — an intense love of human flesh as an article of
food.

The Ba-zimba first entered into the written history of
Africa when they appeared on the north bank of the
Zambezi, opposite Tete, in 1570. They were there in
immense numbers, perhaps half a million of men, women,
and children. As they had no canoes they found the
Zambezi an almost impassable barrier, so that more than
half their number turned away from it, swept across
southern Nyasaland (the Shire River being far more easily
traversable in the region of the rapids), and spread them-
selves out over the hinterland of Mocambique, depopu-
lating the country as they crossed it, and eating the bodies
of all whom they killed. 2 In this way, after fifteen years'

'The root of the name, of course, is Zimba, and the prefix varies much, according
to the fancy and the hearing of the writer, being Ba-, Va-, A-, or Ma-. One section
of them was known to the Portuguese as the Mumbo (no doubt the Bambo in the
plural). The Ba-zimba are described as being of fine physique, tall and robust, the
men armed with bows and arrows, throwing spears, and battleaxes. They defended
themselves with immense shields of ox or buffalo hide. The Portuguese chroniclers
describe them as coming from the region where rose the Zambezi and the Zaire
(i.e. the Kasai), which suggests that they were the Ba-jok or Va-kiokwe.

2 Whenever in the history of Negro Africa one reads of any region being "depopu-
lated " by these tremendous tribal movements, the statement must be taken with
qualifications. It would generally mean that the pre-existing population, which was
overwhelmed by a sudden invasion, fled wherever possible to inaccessible mountains
or forests ; and, although the "pen country may have been swept bare of people and
strewn with corpses, after the invaders had settled down into more peaceful ways, or
had disappeared from the country, the former inhabitants gradually emerged from
their shelters, and once more took up their former life with some modifications. But

Portuguese in South Central Africa 99

wandering, they arrived on the coast opposite the Island
of Mocambique, whither, no doubt, fled before them such
Portuguese and Swahili Arabs as may have been trading
in the interior. The Ba-zimba could not cross the strait
of sea that lav between them and the island, and so con-
soled themselves by attacking the Portuguese plantations
on the mainland. An attempt was made by about forty
Portuguese, with their armed Makua slaves, to defend
these plantations and to drive the Ba-zimba away; but
although the latter were very much scared at first by the
firearms, their numbers overwhelmed the Portuguese, of
whom only three or four escaped. Those who managed
to reach the island were soon aware that the savages on
the mainland were roasting and eating the bodies of their
companions and the slain amongst their Negro allies and
slaves.

This episode occurred in 1585, and in a very short
space of time afterwards the northern horde of the Ba-
zimba had crossed the Ruvuma River, captured the old
Arab-Portuguese town of Kilwa, destroyed all its citizens,
and had swept on in a devastating flood up the coast oppo-
site Zanzibar till they reached the vicinity of Mombasa,
which town, being on an island, surrounded by a branch
of the sea, and protected by many defences, was able to
resist their attacks. Their further ravages were only finally
checked — with terrific slaughter — by an alliance between
the Portuguese of Malindi and Mombasa, the Swahili
Arabs, and the warlike tribe of the Segejo, or Esengeju, a
branch of the Gala race which has penetrated far south of
the Gala domain. This coalition finally beat them back.

for this reserve it would be impossible to understand how there has undoubtedly been
great continuity of language, culture, and physical type in so much of South-central
Africa, at any rate for a period of 400 or 500 years.

IOO

Pioneers in South Africa

The other portion of the great horde which had stopped
on the north bank of the Zambezi, gazing across at the
town of Tete, managed to obtain a few canoes and sent
some of its warriors across the river. But they were so
terrified at the firearms used by the Portuguese that they
were easily driven away. Yet soon afterwards a much
larger band of Ba-zimba crossed the Zambezi and attacked
the Batonga people, the allies of the Portuguese, killing
and eating large numbers of them. But the Portuguese,
joining themselves with their native allies, made a deter-
mined attack, slew 5000 or 6000 of the cannibals, and
drove the remainder across the Zambezi, where in their
panic they fled northwards till they reached the other
sections of their tribe, who were harrying the Mocam-
bique hinterland.

There still remained behind, however, two clans of the
Ba-zimba on the north bank of the Zambezi between Tete
and Sena. One section of these 1 was attacked by Pedro
de Chaves, the Portuguese commandant of Tete, together
with his native soldiery and allies. The enemy had con-
structed a fortification of clay and tree stems around the
chief's village, but the Portuguese and their Negro army
were so determined to put an end to these ruthless canni-
bals that they stormed the defences of the village and
plunged into the enclosure, killing the cannibal chief and
his 600 or 700 warriors. They found the courtyard sur-
rounding the chief's hut completely paved with the skulls
of men and women whom he had killed and eaten. But
soon afterwards, in the same year (1592), a great disaster
followed the attempt of the Portuguese commandant of

1 Known as the Mumbos by the Portuguese chronicler. Mumbo was the name for
one man of the tribe in the singular: the proper plural was Bambo, which in course of
time became softened into Warn bo and Ambo ; and under this name the descendants
of the dreaded Ba-zimba still inhabit Zambezia, on the east bank of the lower Shire\

Portuguese in South Central Africa 101

Sena to deal with the other section of the Ba-zimba, under
a chief named Tondo, south-east of the band wiped out by
de Chaves. Andre de Santiago marched out from Sena,
but found himself too weak in numbers of men to attack
the very strong, fortified village which Tondo had con-
structed. He therefore sent to Tete for support. Pedro
de Chaves, just returned from his successful capture of the
other fortress, crossed the Zambezi and marched down its
northern bank to meet his colleague, but on the way his
force was suddenly attacked by the Ba-zimba and taken
unprepared. The Portuguese officers were being carried
in hammocks by their slaves, and could not immediately
get at and fire their arquebuses. Every one of them was
killed, except a Dominican friar who accompanied the
force as chaplain. He was taken to the fortified village
of the Ba-zimba and gradually shot to death by arrows.

After that the Ba-zimba appeared before the camp of
the commandant of Sena carrying the head of de Chaves
on the point of a spear. They spread out before the gaze
of the Portuguese all the spoil they had taken from the
expedition, and the severed limbs of black men and white
men alike, which were being got ready for cooking in a
great cannibal feast. The horrified expedition under Andre
de Santiago attempted to quit its camp at night and retreat
down the Zambezi, but they were followed up by the Ba-
zimba and overwhelmed, losing more than 130 white men
and mulattoes, besides several hundred Negro soldiers and
slaves. For about a year Portuguese power on the Zam-
bezi was completely extinguished. Then (in 1593) there
arrived the Captain-General of Mocambique, who reoccu-
pied Sena, and marched with a force of about 200 Portu-
guese soldiers armed with guns, and 1500 Negroes with
assagays, spears, bows, and arrows. With this force he

io2 Pioneers in South Africa

attacked the stronghold of the Ba-zimba chieftain, Tondo,
but the Ba-zimba defended themselves fiercely with arrows,
barbed darts, boiling water, and boiling fat. During the
long siege the native allies of the Portuguese grew tired
and disheartened, and finally deserted; so that the captain-
general was obliged to effect a retreat to Sena. The
Ba-zimba followed him up and captured his artillery and
nearly all his baggage, and it was with very great diffi-
culty that he regained Sena with his white Portuguese.
From this place he made his way back as quickly as pos-
sible to Mocambique, and left Zambezia to its fate.

But some of the Portuguese traders remained behind at
Sena, and to these— to their great surprise — the victorious
Zimba chieftain made proposals for a peace. Tondo said the
Ba-zimba had no desire to quarrel with the white man, pro-
vided they were allowed to do as they liked with the blacks.
If the Portuguese did not interfere in their dealings with
the natives of the country they would not attack the Por-
tuguese. Accordingly a kind of truce supervened, and
four years afterwards the forts of Sena and Tete were re-
occupied, strengthened, and armed with cannon. By the
end of the sixteenth century the Portuguese had almost
entirely regained their hold over Zambezia, while the
Ba-zimba were becoming rapidly absorbed into the pre-
existing native tribes and losing their ferocity. In the
seventeenth century they are heard of no more, though
they still linger in the traditions and folklore of the land,
and undoubtedly furnish an element in its population.

Whilst these events were taking place at the close of
the sixteenth century in what is now Portuguese East
Africa, great activity was being shown by the Portuguese
in penetrating Central Africa from the south-west coast.
The estuary of the Congo had been discovered in 1482 by

Portuguese in South Central Africa 103

Diogo Cam, and a second expedition under that great
commander had ascended the Congo River in 1485, and
at the highest point they could reach, nearest to the im-
passable Yelala Falls, had inscribed on the rocks the
record of their achievement. Diogo Cam took away with
him to Portugal a few Congo natives, who were baptized
and really became convinced Christians. In 1491 these
people returned to the Congo with Roderiga de Souza,
who brought with him a large number of Portuguese
missionaries to convert the kingdom of Kongo to Chris-
tianity. This Portuguese expedition proceeded inland
about 200 miles, till it reached the capital of the kingdom
of Kongo, Mbanza Kongo, which was forthwith named
Sao Salvador. Here the king and his principal wife were
baptized with the names of the then King and Queen of
Portugal, Joao and Leonora, while their eldest son was
christened Affonso. Early in the sixteenth century a
native of Kongo was actually consecrated as Bishop of
the Kongo. He was a connection of the king's family, had
been educated in Lisbon, and was probably the first Negro
bishop known to history.

However, after this brilliant opening, the fate both of
Christianity and of Portuguese influence in the kingdom
of Kongo was chequered. A reaction in favour of heathen-
ism and fetish worship took place, headed by a chieftain
who bore the nickname of Bula Matadi, the "breaker of
stones ", a name which, more than 300 years afterwards,
was conferred by the natives of Kongo on the great ex-
plorer, Stanley, and which has now become the native title
of the Government of Belgian Congo. But just as the
pioneering work of the Portuguese in east and south-east
Africa was overwhelmed and effaced for a time by the
terrible raids of the Ba-zimba, so in the middle of the six-

104 Pioneers in South Africa

teenth century — a little earlier — their civilizing work in
Congoland was brought to naught by the invasion of the
Jaga. The Jaga, indeed, may have been of the same stock
as the Ba-zimba, and both alike were no doubt akin to the
existing Ba-jok or Va-kioko tribes of south-west Congo-
land. The Jaga that overwhelmed south-west Africa for
a time, carrying their devastating raids as far north as the
vicinity of the Kamerun, and as far south as the hinter-
land of Mossamedes, were powerful men and ferocious
cannibals. They suddenly invaded without warning the
southern part of the Kongo kingdom, and the Christian
king and his Court fled before them till they reached their
last refuge, an island on the broad Congo not far from the
modern town of Boma. From this perilous retreat the
king sent an appeal to the Portuguese for help. His
message reached Lisbon, and the king (Dom Sebastiao)
sent out Francisco de Gova with 600 soldiers. With the
aid of this contingent, and above all the terror spread by
their guns and artillery, the cannibal Jaga were driven
out of the Kongo kingdom. Soon after this result was
achieved Dom Sebastiao himself was killed on the field of
Kasr al Kabir, in northern Morocco.

However, when Philip II of Spain assumed the crown
of Portugal, he sent out a Portuguese explorer, Duarte
Lopez, to report on the kingdom of Kongo. Lopez visited
most parts of that country and of northern Angola as well,
and after many adventures at sea he returned to Spain
with his report; but King Philip was too much occupied
just then with preparing the Armada against England to
listen to him. Consequently Duarte went to Rome, and
here an account of his adventures was taken down and
published by the Pope's secretary, Filippo Pigafetta. The
same work gives us a great deal of information as to what

Portuguese in South Central Africa 105

the Portuguese had been accomplishing in Abyssinia and
East Africa. In course of time the Court of Rome became
interested in Congoland, and many Portuguese Jesuits
proceeded thither, to be succeeded, when the Portuguese
became unpopular with the Kongo people, by Italians,
Belgians, and Frenchmen. But the Jesuits who were at
work in the kingdom of Kongo at the beginning of the
seventeenth century travelled far and wide, and no doubt
occasionally perished at the hands of the extremely savage
cannibal tribes of the far interior. Very likely they suc-
ceeded in discovering some of the secrets of Congo geo-
graphy which were afterwards revealed to us by the
explorations of Stanley, Grenfell, and Wissmann; but
they did not live to tell their story or to do more than
drop a few hints as to the great northward bend of the
Congo River. Portuguese traders in slaves and ivory,
however, seem to have penetrated as far inland as Stanley
Pool.

But the Portuguese made themselves much disliked
in Congoland by the native ruler and his people, and
many of them migrated southwards into Angola, which
had been colonized by their fellow countrymen from
1574 onwards. The coast of Angola had been visited by
the Portuguese as early as i486, when Bartolomeu Diaz
was commencing to feel his way to the Cape of Good
Hope. But no attempt was made to settle in that country,
south of the Kongo kingdom, until 1574. In that year
King Sebastiao sent out the grandson of Bartolomeu Diaz
— Paulo — in charge of a great expedition which was to
bring Christianity to Angola.

Angola, or Ngola, was the name of a vassal chieftain-
ship more or less connected with the kingdom of Kongo
which ruled the country immediately north of the Kwanza

106 Pioneers in South Africa

River. The chief of Angola used to be independent of
the more northern monarch, and consequently summoned
the Portuguese to his aid, and welcomed them at his Court,
where already there were signs that Christian missionaries
had been at work. Paulo Diaz had previously explored
Angola before he was commissioned by Dom Sebastiao
to become the " conqueror, colonizer, and governor" of
that country. He left Lisbon in 1574 with seven ships
and 700 soldiers, and, at the end of a three-and-a-half
months' voyage, had landed in the bay which is now
known as the harbour of Sao Paulo de Loanda. Here
he was joined by forty Portuguese refugees from Kongo,
and here he founded the fort of Sao Miguel and the city
of Sao Paulo, which ever since has been the capital of
the Portuguese dominion of Angola.

For six years perfect peace subsisted between the Por-
tuguese and the natives. Then, afraid that the country
was going to become a Portuguese possession, the suc-
cessor of the chief who had invited the Portuguese to come
there conceived a scheme by which he would get rid of the
white man. He appealed to the Portuguese to send a
large army into the interior to assist him in a war against
his enemies. Five hundred Portuguese went to his assis-
tance. They were ambushed, and eventually all were
massacred. This terrible misfortune, however, only served
to show the great qualities of the Portuguese leaders in
those days. Paulo Diaz left Loanda with all the soldiers
that remained under his command — 150 in number — and
marched against the army of the King of Angola near the
Kwanza River. He took with him all the muskets and
the cannon that he could manage to convey, and with the
aid of these firearms he won a great victory over the Negro
rabble, who were still greatly impressed by the noise of

Portuguese in South Central Africa 107

gunpowder and the terrible effect of the cannon-balls from
the stone mortars. Nevertheless, Diaz had to fight several
additional engagements, for ever and anon the natives
would return and attack his troops. But at last, by 1597,
he had made himself master of both banks of the River
Kwanza, and here he built towns with forts, houses, and
churches. The Flemish colonists who were sent out by
the King of Spain to assist him to colonize Angola all
died of fever, but in spite of this and other checks the
Portuguese soon spread their rule southwards from the
River Kwanza to Benguela, and in 1606 they actually
conceived the idea of opening up communications between
Angola and Zambezia, and sent an exploring expedition
to find the way. But the leader somehow drifted north-
wards till he reached Sao Salvador, and here he was
stopped by the King of Kongo, and found it impossible
to proceed farther into the interior. In 1625, however,
the Portuguese had to meet a serious revolt against them
in Angola proper, headed by a chieftainess named Jinga
Bandi, who was the sister and successor of the King of
Angola. Though she had been baptized as a Christian
some years before, she headed a great revolt against the
Portuguese, and carried on a war with them for thirty
years. Although she could not drive them away from
their stronghold on the coast and on the Kwanza River,
she paralysed any further attempts on their part to send
expeditions across the continent. On both sides of Africa
also at this time the Portuguese had to contend against
the Dutch, for besides attacking Mocambique, as already
related, the Dutch captured Sao Paulo de Loanda in 1641,
and ousted the Portuguese from all their coast establish-
ments between Loanda and the Gaboon. But after a
terrific struggle, and bringing reinforcements from Brazil,

io8 Pioneers in South Africa

the Portuguese succeeded in expelling the Dutch from
Angola and recovering Loanda. Their influence in Congo-
land, however, was at an end for nearly two centuries.
The remaining Portuguese missionaries in the kingdom
of Kongo left that country to settle in Angola, and the
Portuguese turned their energies southward towards Ben-
guela, and inland to the Kwango River. In this direction
their explorers (whose achievements were very often not
recorded definitely) penetrated the great Negro empire of
Lunda, the kingdom of the Mwata Yanvo, which had
grown into a very powerful state after the raids of the Jaga
and Ba-zimba had subsided.

Although the Portuguese through their seventeenth-cen-
tury explorations came to hear of the Central African lakes,
they mixed up their renderings of native information with
great exaggerations of Abyssinian geography, and with
distorted repetitions of Ptolemy's stories; 1 with the result
that such maps as they contributed to the world's know-
ledge (usually through the Catholic missionaries and the
geographers of the Papal Court at Rome) did not bear
much resemblance to the actual conditions of south-central
Africa, which they represented as a perfect network of
rivers communicating one with the other, and flowing
into and out of great lakes. The names on these maps
are mostly a corruption of Abyssinian or Gala terms, and
where they have any real locality at all require to be
removed north-eastwards from Central Africa for a dis-
tance of 1400 to 1500 miles. Here and there is a word,
however, which suggests Zambere or Zambezi, and there
is little doubt that the Portuguese of the seventeenth

1 This was the Roman geographer, Claudius Ptolemseus of Alexandria, who com-
piled his work on geography in the second century after Christ, and who repeated
stories with more precision than his predecessors concerning the sources of the Nile
and the Mountains of the Moon.

Portuguese in South Central Africa 109

and eighteenth centuries more or less guessed at the
existence of this great river, rising in the highlands of
South Angola and flowing thence to the Indian Ocean. 1
They also began, through the labours of Portuguese and
Italian missionaries, to realize that there was but one
family of tongues (the Bantu) stretching right across from
the kingdom of Kongo to Mocambique and Sofala.

Some revival of Portuguese exploration took place in
Zambezia in the seventeenth century when the effects of
the Ba-zimba and Jaga raids had died away. Silver had
apparently been discovered near Tete — at Chikova, or per-
haps in the direction of the Misale country — and specimens
of the ore had been obtained by one or other of the
independent Portuguese adventurers, such as Diogo Ma-
deira, who were penetrating the dominions of Monomotapa
at this period. Not wishing to share their profits with the
jealous captain-general at Mocambique, they wished to
convey their samples of silver ore by some other route to
Portugal. It was decided, therefore, to attempt an overland
march to the far north, to Mombasa or Malindi. Gaspar
Bocarro, a trader long resident in Zambezia, volunteered
to conduct this expedition, and carried it out successfully.
He narrowly missed being the first European to see Lake
Nyasa. In all probability, however, he crossed the River
Shire south of Lake Malombe without sighting the far
greater expanse of Nyasa. He then entered the Lujenda
valley, and after traversing a vast stretch of desolate

1 In their references to the Ba-zimba the Portuguese chroniclers of the early seven-
teenth century expressly state that they came from the region where the great rivers
Cuama (Zambezi) and Zaire (Congo) took their origin. Evidently the Musamba range
of mountains is meant, in the vicinity of which the western branches of the Zambezi
rise on the south, and of the great Kasai (which the Portuguese believed to be the
Congo or Zaire) on the north. The name "Zambeze", or Zambezi, was applied to
this river by the Portuguese in the sixteenth century, but they also called it the Cuama.
Cuama was used more specially sometimes for the delta of the Zambezi.

no Pioneers in South Africa

country, uninhabited since the Ba-zimba raids, 1 he reached
the great Ruvuma River and the port of Mikindani on the
Indian Ocean, whence he took an Arab dau to Mombasa.
But here he learnt that any idea of returning to Europe
through the Red Sea and Egypt was out of the question,
owing to the feeling of hostility prevailing in these regions
against Europeans; so most reluctantly he had to return to
the Zambezi by way of Mocambique, and his plucky over-
land journey proved to be quite useless.

But nevertheless a strengthening of Portuguese hold
over Zambezia took place in the first half of the seventeenth
century, greatly through the energy of the Jesuit and
Dominican missionaries. The Monomotapa Manuza (re-
christened Felippe) was converted to Christianity and
induced to acknowledge himself as vassal of the King of
Portugal. This led to revolts among his more powerful
rivals or sub-chiefs. Terrific battles ensued, in which
large armies of Negroes were led by a few Portuguese cap-
tains, traders, or missionaries. In one battle alone, in
which the forces of the Christian Monomotapa were vic-
torious, 35,000 Negroes on the other side are said to have
been slain (no doubt a gross exaggeration). On the other
hand, occasionally the Portuguese and their allies were
ambushed, and the white men — usually in such cases
priests — were done to death with fiendish tortures. At last
some degree of peace and settlement was brought about

1 This part of East Africa has positively lain under a curse for centuries : few regions
have l>een so harried by man warring against man. There are traces of pre-
historic raids prior to the ravages of 1 1 1 • - f>.i-zimi<a. When the Yao, Nyanja, and
Makua tribes had once more spread over this naturally fertile land and recommenced
to cultivate it in the eighteenth century, there began a hundred years ago the slave
raids of the Arabs and Swahili Negroes of Zanzibar, followed some time afterwards by
the incursions of the Angoni Zulus, who slew with such ferocity and causelessness that
they were styled "wild beasts" by the Nyanja population. Only since the establish-
ment of peace by the Germans and Portuguese is the Ruvuma basin ceasing to be
a depopulated de

Portuguese in South Central Africa in

by the recognition on the part of the Portuguese of three
Negro potentates in place of the single Monomotapa or
emperor. This last remained at the head of the Maka-
raria tribes; a former satrap, the Chtkanga, ruled over
the people of the mountainous Manika country; and the
coast regions between Manika, the lower Zambezi, and the
Sofala seacoast were the domain of the Kiteve. In these
three kingdoms churches and mission stations were built.
Westwards the missionaries and traders penetrated up the
Zambezi River as far as Zumbo, where a market and a
missionary establishment were founded. Beyond Zumbo
the Jesuits travelled into the country of the Batonga, where
they introduced fruit trees and a few notions of civilization;
but their work was soon uprooted, and they were either
killed or driven back to Zumbo by the restless, suspicious
savages. The expulsion of the Jesuits from Portuguese
East Africa in the middle of the eighteenth century (1760),
and the recall of the Dominicans to India in 1775, assisted,
together with the general decay of Portuguese trading
energy — or rather its concentration on the coast slave trade
— to weaken the Portuguese hold over Zambezia, reduced
at the end of the eighteenth century to a few forts on the
coast and garrisons at Tete and Sena on the Zambezi.
The Portuguese traders and officials of European birth
were gradually replaced by half-caste Portuguese or pure-
blood Indians from Goa (western India). These Asiatics
intermarried with Negro women of the country, and pro-
duced offspring of fine physique, but of entirely African
habits and morals and very cruel, men who devoted them-
selves to the slave trade as the most lucrative pursuit with-
in their reach.

In 1795, as will afterwards be narrated, a British army
landed at Cape Town and occupied the Dutch East India

u2 Pioneers in South Africa

Company's possession of Cape Colony. This event at
once arrested the attention of a university professor in
Portugal as very ominous of future developments in Africa.
The professor was a Brazilian by birth, Dr. Francisco
de Lacerda e Almeida. He had already explored
central Angola, and he taught mathematics, and perhaps
geography also, at Coimbra, the Oxford of Portugal.
De Lacerda addressed to the Regent of Portugal a letter
setting forth that the British landing at Cape Town would,
unless something was done by the Portuguese Govern-
ment, be followed by a gradual advance of British influence
from the south to the north of Africa, from the Cape to
Cairo, separating thus the Portuguese dominion of Angola
from that of Mocambique. 1 Convinced by his appeal, the
Regent entrusted Dr. Lacerda, in the name of the Queen
of Portugal, with the mission of crossing Africa from the
" Rios da Sena" (as the lower Zambezi district was then
called) to the source of the Kwanza River and thence to
the Angola coast. To give him the requisite authority
he was made governor of Sena (namely, Zambezia). On
his arrival at Tete he met two Portuguese-Indian half-
castes, the Pereiras, father and son, who had travelled far
to the north of Tete in search of gold. They had reached
the vicinity of Lake Mweru, and the Court of a great Negro
potentate, the Kazembe, who was a kind of lieutenant or
viceroy over the eastern part of Katanga, ruling in the
name of the Mwata Yanvo, the Emperor of Lunda. 2

1 Given the date of this letter — 1796 — and the limited geographical knowledge then
possessed by a Portuguese university, this is one of the most remarkable instances of
political foresight which can be quoted.

'The Lunda nation in south-west ' "ongoland had, during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries, after the raids of the Ba-zimba and Ba-joko had subsided, created
a great confederation of semi-civil. tween the Kwango River and the

Luapula. They were no doubt assisted in their conquests by the guns and gunpowder
introduced by the Portuguese slave traders of Angola.

Portuguese in South Central Africa 113

Acting on the advice of the Pereiras, Lacerda resolved
to make his way to the Kazembe, and, after winning him
over to the Portuguese cause, continue his journey west-
ward to Angola. Lacerda was the first scientific geo-
grapher who had entered Central Africa. He was able
to take latitudes and longitudes, but he does not seem to
have had much imagination or much interest in African
geographical problems. He reached a point which was
within a few miles of Lake Mweru, yet never saw the lake,
nor thought its existence worth a distinct mention in his
journal. He heard vague rumours of Lakes Tanganyika
and Nyasa, but did not care to direct his steps towards
either of them. Strangest of all, though he actually saw
the Luapula River (the head stream of the Congo) and
recorded its name in a corrupt form, it never occurred to
him that it was flowing north into the mysterious unknown
of Central Africa. He had with him no less than seventy-
five white and half-caste Portuguese and several hundred
black slave porters, besides numerous Goanese hunters,
traders, and guides, amongst whom were the Pereiras.
But the Kazembe seemed unwilling to allow him to pass
westward through the Lunda territories, and whilst arguing
and pleading with this bloodthirsty chieftain Dr. de La-
cerda fell ill and died. After his death his disorganized
expedition made its way back to Tete.

Three years afterwards, in 1802, the commandant of
a Portuguese trading post at Kasanji, on the Kwango
River (eastern Angola), sent two of his educated Negro
trading agents — the Pombeiros, as they were called —
Pedro Baptista and Amaro Jose — to find a way across
Africa to Tete on the Zambezi. They accomplished the
journey successfully, after visiting the Kazembe in his
capital. Then followed a long interval in which the

( C 587 ) 8

U4 Pioneers in South Africa

Portuguese did nothing, but rather lost hold over what
they had formerly governed. In south-east Africa the
rise of the Zulus as a warlike people nearly demolished
all the Portuguese stations, not only in the interior but
on the coast. However, the continued activity of the
British in the south and south-west led amongst other
things to another mission to the Kazembe from Tete,
undertaken by Major Monteiro and Captain Gamitto; but
like Lacerda, these explorers missed seeing the lakes of
south-central Africa, though they recorded for the first time
geographical names now famous. A Portuguese official
of Tete — Candido de Costa Cardoso — in 1846 made a
journey through south-west Nyasaland, and apparently
reached the coast of Lake Nyasa at its south-western,
shallow gulf. This he crossed in canoes in thirty-six
hours, the canoes being poled across the shallow water.
From that time onwards "Lake Maravi " began to be
hazily sketched on African maps; and in the same year
(1846) a Portuguese of mixed blood — Joaquim Rodriguez
Graca — penetrated across the Mwata Yanvo's empire of
Lunda to the region of Katanga. Silva Porto, a white
Portuguese trader who had settled in the mountain country
of Bihe, and Ladislaus Magyar, a Hungarian traveller
journeying under Portuguese auspices, also began in the
middle of the nineteenth century their travels across the
southern basin of the Congo. Those of Silva Porto were
quite unscientific, and resulted in no gain to European
knowledge; but like the unrecorded travels of many a
black or half-caste Portuguese slave-and-ivory trader of tin-
last century they prepared the way for more scientific
British and German explorers, who from 1855 onwards
were to reveal completely all the great facts in the geo-
graphy of Central Africa.

Portuguese in South Central Africa 115

Portuguese pioneers in South Africa achieved some
very wonderful feats of arms and of endurance, besides
opening to us the ocean route to the east and west coasts.
They discovered a good many secrets in geography,
zoology, and the hidden wealth of minerals. But their
intense jealousy of sharing any of the African trade with
other nations caused them to keep concealed the results of
their pioneer explorations. These in some cases were not
published to the world till the journeys of Livingstone had
made it necessary for Portugal to claim her share in the
revelation of South Africa.

The Portuguese inflicted much harm on south-west and
south-east Africa by their encouragement of the slave trade;
but they also conferred immense benefits on the Negroes
by introducing numerous domestic beasts and birds, and,
above all, valuable vegetable foodstuffs and useful drugs.
Thanks to them, the harmless tobacco was spread every-
where in place of the poisonous hemp previously smoked;
and even at the present day we are reminded that the Zulu-
Kafirs owe that invaluable food, maize, to the Portuguese,
because they call it by its Portuguese name milho.

CHAPTER V

The Explorations of the Dutch

The Dutch and their southern brothers, the Flemings, were
initiated into the colonization of Asia, America, and Africa
by the Spaniards. All the Netherlands region from East
Friesland to Calais belonged after 1516 to the King of
Spain. The northern parts, however, had become Pro-
testant afyer the middle of the sixteenth century, while
the southern part — Belgium — remained Roman Catholic.
The religious intolerance and the excessive cruelties and
oppression of the Spanish governors of the Netherlands
roused a furious revolt in the more Germanic stock of
Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland, with the result that, after
one of the longest and most terrible wars in history, the
Dutch (as we call them somewhat absurdly 1 ) won their
freedom from the Spanish monarchy. But even before
this achievement was recognized by treaties of peace, the
Dutch ships, already accustomed to visiting America, the
west coast of Africa, and the East Indies in the pay of
Spain or Portugal, now sailed to these regions to attack
Spanish and Portuguese commerce.

In 1595 their ships appeared for the first time as in-
dependent pirate-traders on the west coast of Africa, and
in the following year a Dutch vessel had rounded the Cape
of Good Hope and visited the coasts of Sumatra and Java.
In 1598 a portion of the Dutch fleet, commanded by

1 Dutch is simply the English rendering of Deutsch, Duitsch, i.e. " Teutonic".

The Explorations of the Dutch 117

Captain W. van Warwijck, took possession of the island
of Mauritius, south-east of Madagascar. This island —
which the Dutch named after Prince Maurice of Nassau
— had never received more than an occasional visit from
the Portuguese, who found and left it uninhabited. Ap-
parently no Malay sea rovers ever reached its shores.
Like the not-far-distant Reunion and Rodriguez, Mauritius
was once inhabited by gigantic land tortoises, and, further,
was the domain of a wonderful type of bird when first
examined by intelligent Europeans. Here, during the
later ages of the Tertiary Epoch, some ancient type of
fruit-eating pigeon had taken to a ground life, lost the use
of its wings for flying, grown to the size of a turkey (and
in Rodriguez had acquired the long legs of a bustard),
and, in short, become a Dodo. 1 It was in Mauritius
that the most extreme type of Dodo ground-pigeon had
been developed.

The beak had become enormous, nearly as big pro-
portionately as that of the whale-headed stork or the
pelican, blackish in colour, with a strong hook. The
cheeks were bare with a whitish skin, the plumage all
over the body was a dark ash grey, except on the breast,
which was a dirty white, and the useless, drooping, short
quills of the wings, which were yellowish white, as was
also the short tuft of curly feathers at the tail. The short,
stout legs were a bright sulphur yellow.

To the Dutch sailors, greedy for fresh food after a long
diet on salt meat and fish during the weary voyage from
India or Europe, these helpless Dodos, so easily pursued
and killed, were at first irresistible. Although Mauritius
is about the size of Surrey, and has the mountains of the

'"Dodo" or Dolido — meaning stupid— was the name given to it by the Portu-
guese.

u8 Pioneers in South Africa

English Lake district, and was also, at the time the Dutch
settled on it, covered with luxuriant forests, it only took
about eighty-three years to exterminate this huge flight-
less pigeon, even though, except when very hungry for
fresh meat, the Dutch soon decided the flesh of the Dodo
was nasty — in fact they called it the ivalgvogel, or "nasty
bird ". But a great many specimens were killed out of
wantonness, because the absurd-looking creatures could
not escape, could only waddle on their short legs, snap
with their beaks, and hiss squeakily like goslings. But
the chief agencies in the work of thoughtless destruction
were the pigs and dogs introduced by the Portuguese
(after 1507) and the Dutch.

The Dodo was in the habit of swallowing large pebbles
the size of a walnut for purposes of aiding digestion in its
muscular stomach or gizzard. These, when extracted by
the sailors, were prized as whetstones for sharpening
knives; so that a Dodo was often killed merely to provide
a means for putting a good edge on the knives and razors
of a ship's crew.

When the Dodos were all dead, and the forest near the
harbours had been cut down, the Dutch neglected and
abandoned this beautiful island — it is difficult to under-
stand why — and in 17 14 it was occupied by the French
East India Company, and became soon afterwards a
flourishing French colony (L'lle-de-France). Nearly one
hundred years afterwards it was captured by the British,
and has been a British possession ever since.

On the Atlantic side of the great southern prolongation
of Africa was the little island of St. Helena, 1 discovered

'St. Helena is the crater or craters of an extinct volcano which once crowned i
considerable area of land in the southern Atlantic, now submenu'] beneath th'
It is possible that at the distant time when West Africa was connected with Brazil,
St Helena and Ascension were connected with West Africa.

DUTCH SULORS PURSUING DODOS

The Explorations of the Dutch 119

about 1502 by the Portuguese, but only used by them
intermittently; though they sometimes put on shore here
turbulent men, and left them for years to play Robinson
Crusoe. At the same time they also landed pigs and
goats, which played the usual havoc with the native
fauna of birds and the interesting flora of trees and
shrubs.

The ships of the Dutch East India Company took to
calling here for fresh water and vegetables on their way
to and from India, and in 1645 definitely occupied the
island. But St. Helena was also coveted by the rival
English East India Company, whose captains uncere-
moniously seized it in 1655, whilst the Dutch were busy
over the foundation of their halfway house at the Cape
of Good Hope. At first, like the Portuguese, the Dutch
used St. Helena as their Atlantic basis, and attempted in
the season of the southern summer to sail right round
South Africa without stopping, their next calling place
being the island of Mauritius, whence they could continue
on a straight course to Ceylon and Java. 1 But the atten-
tion of western Europe was slowly converging on the Cape
of Good Hope as a point of vantage. Already, in 1620,
two British commanders, Shillinge and Fitzherbert, had
landed there and had taken possession of Table Mountain
and Table Bay on behalf of King James I of Great Britain
and Ireland. The passage of so many Dutch and English
ships on their way to India round this promontory was
bound to lead from time to time to their being wrecked,
and their crews having to live on shore until they could be

1 After peace had been made with Spain and Portugal, in 1648, the Dutch developed
with great energy their trading empire in Malaysia, and to get to these regions their
ships sailed ordinarily round the southern extremity of Africa, though the route past
Cape Horn (South America) and through the Pacific was also tried, as is related in the
volumes dealing with Pioneers in Australasia and Tropical America,

120 Pioneers in South Africa

picked up by other vessels. In this way, about 1649, the
attention of the Dutch was specially directed to Table Bay
and the Cape of Good Hope, because a shipwrecked party
had lived there in 1648 for five months, and had been very
kindly treated by the Hottentots, who seemed to have quite
forgotten their former hostility to Europeans, provoked by
the aggressive acts of the Portuguese. The report given
by these shipwrecked men decided the Dutch East India
Company to form a settlement near the Cape of Good
Hope which would act as an important halting place for
ships travelling to and from the East Indies, a port where
they could stop for repairs, and whence they could obtain
large quantities of fresh provisions. Accordingly, at the
end of 1 65 1, an important expedition was sent to South
Africa under a ship's surgeon, Jan van Riebeek, who,
with three ships and about no soldiers and artisans,
arrived at Table Bay on 6 April, 1652, and laid the
foundations of Cape Town (which, it may be mentioned,
is at the northern end of the little peninsula, about 27 miles
north of the actual Cape of Good Hope). Soon afterwards
other settlers were added, Dutch women were sent out,
and in 1687-9 nearly 200 (eventually 300) Huguenots,
expelled from France and Piedmont, were assisted by the
Dutch Government and the Dutch East India Company
to settle in what had become Cape Colony. Not a few
of these Huguenots were men of learning, and evinced
great curiosity as to the wonders of Nature. The Dutch
settlers who had preceded them were mostly of the farming
class, and, though excellent material for colonization, were
stupid, illiterate, and unenquiring. But the arrival of the
Huguenots was a great stimulus to the exploration of
southernmost Afri

A few other Huguenots decided to go on to the recently

The Explorations of the Dutch 121

discovered island of Rodriguez 1 , in the Indian Ocean;
or rather, they had proposed colonizing the much larger
island of Bourbon (now Reunion), which had been occu-
pied and annexed by the French in the first half of the
seventeenth century, but more than once abandoned.
Finding that Bourbon was once more under French con-
trol, the Huguenots proceeded to Rodriguez; and with
them, to the Cape of Good Hope and this volcanic and
coral island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, travelled
also a French naturalist, Francois Leguat, who after-
wards wrote an excellent description of the Dutch settle-
ment in the Cape peninsula, and of the island of
Rodriguez, with its large, long-legged Solitaire birds —
Dodos 2 feet 9 inches tall, with long necks, and laying a
single egg on a mound of grass. These Huguenot ex-
plorers of Rodriguez, however, abandoned the island
(owing to its hurricanes) after twenty months' stay, and
tried to settle on Mauritius; but the Dutch governor of
that island treated them with such brutality that those
who survived his ill usage returned to the Cape of Good
Hope.

In 1660 Van Riebeek sent out an expedition to traverse
South Africa from Cape Town to the Portuguese posts on
the Zambezi, but the exploring party got scarcely farther
than the Olifants' River (so named from the large herds of
elephants on its banks); two years afterwards another ex-
ploring party got a little farther north, and encountered the
wandering Bushmen for the first time. But in 1685 an
enterprising governor of the Cape settlement, Simon van
der Stel, crossed the western Olifants' River and pushed

1 Rodriguez, nowadays a British possession, is about 340 miles north-east of
Mauritius, and was generally overlooked by navigators till it was definitely located by
the Portuguese in 1645.

12 2

Pioneers in South Africa

on through little Namakwaland till he discovered the
copper- producing mountains nowadays known as the
Kamiesberg (about 5100 feet high). During the next
twenty years bold prospectors travelled north till they
reached the copper-mining district now worked by the
Port Nolloth railway. In this region they learnt, from
the Hottentots that a great river flowed (presumably) into
the sea at no great distance to the northward. This was
the Gariep or Orange River, which was not, however,
seen by the white man (so far as is known) till a Boer ele-
phant hunter (Jacobus Coetzee) reached its banks in 1760.

By the end of the seventeenth century the Dutch had
aroused a good deal of attention in civilized Europe as to
their discoveries in South Africa, and commenced to attract
thither that contingent of great botanists and zoologists
whose work is for ever commemorated in the scientific
names given to South African animals and to the beautiful
specimens of the South African flora which are now so
prominent in horticulture. One of the first of these was
the Prussian master of arts, Pieter Kolben, who had
been private secretary to the Baron von Krosick, a Minister
of the first King of Prussia. This Prussian statesman,
apparently at his own cost, resolved to send a competent
person to write a report on the Dutch colony at the Cape; 1
and he could scarcely have made a better selection at
that period than Pieter Kolben, whose little book in two
volumes 8 is one of the most interesting, and in some ways
accurate, books written about South Africa; though he

1 1 ither the Baron von Krosick died subsequently or lost his interest in t!

ns, f'T .it the end of his t>ook Kolben complains that the promises in

not maintain
1 The Present State of tk • mnt of the several

nations of th< Hotteni > . ' '■ . Written originally in High German by Mr. I
Kollx-n. A.M. Done into English from the original by Mr. Medley, London, 1731.

The Explorations of the Dutch 123

borrowed -- with full acknowledgment — a portion of his
materials from the previous writings of Father Tachart, a
French missionary priest who made a long stay at the Cape
at the end of the seventeenth century.

Kolben's own journeys probably did not extend beyond
Saldanha Bay on the one hand and Mossel Bay on the
other. But in his eight years of residence in South Africa,
between 1705 and 17 13, he recorded a remarkable amount
of accurate information regarding the Hottentots and the
plants and animals of Cape Colony.

The first Dutch colonists that ranged afield, ahead of
what might be called official explorations, were often termed
"freebooters", from the lawless way in which they plun-
dered the Hottentots whenever they felt strong enough to do
so. But from the first the Dutch authorities endeavoured to
impose some degree of justice on the dealings of Europeans
with this people. It was some time, however, before the
latter became reassured, and Kolben relates that one of
the first parties of Dutch that went out to trade honestly
for cattle amongst the Namakwa, north of Saldanha Bay,
met with a very discouraging reception. The Hottentots
forced them to fight in self-defence, and then lured them
into a defile between precipitous ranges of rocks, up which
the active Namakwa sprang with the agility of baboons,
and from the top of which they showered down on the
Dutchmen arrows, assagays, and stones. But by the time
of Kolben's arrival the two races were undoubtedly on
good terms, and single Dutchmen or Germans were able
to adventure themselves far afield in exploration without
danger to their lives, except from wild beasts. In this way
they had already, by the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, begun to learn something of tribes that were not
Hottentots, living far away to the north; of the Bushmen,

124 Pioneers in South Africa

whom they first of all described as Boschesmans, Bosjes-
mans. or "Forest men", "so abhorred (for their cattle
stealing) by all the Hottentot nations, that when any one
of them is taken, though he be the first-born of the prin-
cipal man in the territory, he is instantly put to death,
not a soul daring to say one word for him" (Kolben);
and of the " Damakwa " or Bantu-speaking Ova-herero
Negroes far away to the north of the Namakwa, whose
territory produced abundance of water melons and wild
hemp, was rich in cattle, and swarmed with game, the
only incommodity being the scarcity of wood. To the
east of the Damakwa were the "Gauro" or " Gaurikwa "
(some Bechuana tribe), and beyond them the Karafia
people of Monomotapa.

The Dutch during the first hundred years of their
colonization did not make slaves of the Hottentots to any
extent, partly because of the friendly terms on which they
lived with them as a rule. It was only when the colony
expanded greatly and there grew up the class of Boers,
or country farmers, whose settlements lay more and more
beyond the bounds of the Company's authority, that the
Hottentots from willing retainers became serfs. By this
time they were beginning to perish of smallpox and other
diseases introduced by the European, and of alcoholic
excess. 1 But there had been a good deal of intermarriage
going on between them and the Dutch settlers, from which
actual nations of half-castes or "bastards" arose, who,
under the names of Grikwa and ^Oerlam, subsequently

'There was some recovery, however, in their general condition, and the fir t
British military officers and missionaries who came to South Africa thought very
highly of the Hottentots. " I have seen families in London Living in more dirty
hovels than ever I saw Hottentots" (wrote the Rev. John Campbell in 1813), "and
many in London committed more dreadful crimes than ever I heard Hottentots
charged with. I think the Hottentot mind is better cultivated than many of the
lowest ranks in London; I should expect to be more safe in travelling with twenty
Hottentots than with twenty Europeans."

The Explorations of the Dutch 125

plaved a very considerable part in the history of South
Africa. A shrewd observer of the Dutch colonists of
South Africa at the beginning of the nineteenth century
(Lichtenstein) wrote as follows: —

" The Boers are never satisfied unless they have twenty
or thirty Hottentots running about after them. Many of
the Boers have four or five stout sons who, in consequence
of the crowd of Hottentots about the house, have no occa-
sion to put their hands to any work; wherefore they sit
with their legs crossed the greater part of the day, or go
to sleep. They sometimes bestir themselves to shoot game
for an hour or so. In this way their days and years pass
on in miserable idleness. They feel life a burden because
they have nothing to do or to talk of. Being miserable
themselves, they endeavour to derive pleasure from making
others miserable also."

But inasmuch as in the early days of Dutch coloniza-
tion the Hottentots were not much inclined to work steadily
at various industries, and public opinion was strongly
opposed to their being forced to do so, the Dutch imported
numbers of slaves from Mocambique, from the Malay Archi-
pelago, and from Madagascar. These slaves they treated
with the same cruelty that was characteristic of the Dutch in
Guiana and the West Indies. Kolben describes the slaves
of Madagascar, who were not pure Negroes, but a proud
people at least half Malay in origin, as "the most untract-
able, revengeful, and cruel wretches that he ever heard
of", simply because they bitterly resented their condition
of servitude, and were always striving to escape from it.
If they could not run away into the interior, they would
either kill those who impeded them or commit suicide.
Any attempt at murder, arson, or escape was met with the
most fiendish punishments.

126 Pioneers in South Africa

Kolben relates how a party of Madagascar slaves got
together in Cape Town, elected a king and queen, and made
regulations for the preserving of order amongst themselves;
then effected their escape at night, carrying off with them
a quantity of guns, gunpowder and balls, and swords.
They made their way towards Saldanha Bay on the north,
with a design to settle in some part beyond the reach of
Europeans, "and so raise a new people". They snatched
sheep with violence to satisfy their hunger on the way,
and having encountered a European who was the overseer
of a plantation and who had issued from his house in the
early morning to set his slaves to work, they wrenched his
gun from him and announced that he must die. He begged
they would give him a minute or two in which to say his
prayers. His request was granted, and he fell on his
knees; but he prayed for such a long time that they lost
patience, ripped him up, tore out his entrails and hung
them upon the bushes. But at Saldanha Bay they were
overpowered, secured, and conveyed back to the Cape;
tried, convicted, and sentenced to be broken alive (the
woman in the party, however, was hanged). Before being
broken on the wheel they were severely flogged with split
canes and branded with red-hot irons.

Another slave, having attempted to burn down his
master's house, was fastened by a chain to a stout post
in such a way that he could run round the post. Then
there was kindled a great fire all about him, stretching to
the utmost limit of the chain. The flames rose high; the
heat was vehement; the wretched slave ran to and fro for
some time round the post, but gave not one cry. At last,
being half-roasted, he sank down, and, exclaiming in Portu-
guese: "Oh, God, my Father:" expired.

Even as early as the end of the seventeenth century

The Explorations of the Dutch 127

shipwrecked Englishmen were found wandering here and
there in the land of the Kafirs, especially in what is now
the colony of Natal, and Kolben (hearing of it from a
Dutch skipper) relates the following story. An English
sailor had deserted his ship off Natal and settled amongst
the Kafirs. He had been given two wives, and had a small
family of children by them. He went about unclothed like
the Kafirs, and lived exactly their life, having acquired the
use of their language. When a Dutch ship crossed the
bar of Port Natal, and the captain came on shore, the
Englishman showed him piles of elephant tusks, and huts
packed full of pieces of silk which had been obtained by
a distant trade up the south-east coast with the Arabs or
with Madagascar. He proposed to the Dutch captain that
he should take on board all this wealth of ivory and silk
and give him (the Englishman) a passage to the Cape,
where he would be able to dispose of these goods and
then return to England. But the native king or chief of
the district, hearing of his intention, sent for him and
upbraided him for his ingratitude and treachery towards
a people who had received him and cherished him after
so generous a manner. The king asked him what would
happen to his family of half-caste children if he abandoned
them? They would become outcasts and be a constant
reminder of their father's ingratitude. He further admon-
ished him so warmly on the affection and tenderness he
owed to his wives and children, and on the cruelty of desert-
ing them, "that the fellow's heart melted" ; he fell at the
king's feet, begged for pardon, and gave up his design.

He must, however, have been of a sneaking disposition,
for not content with breaking faith with the captain of the
ship, he persuaded one of his Dutch seamen to desert and
settle with him amongst the Kafirs. All through the

128 Pioneers in South Africa

records of South Africa in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and
eighteenth centuries there are stories of sailors — shipwrecked
or deserters, English, Dutch, or Portuguese — settling
amongst the Kafirs in Natal and Zululand and becoming
the fathers of large families of children. These facts must
to a certain extent explain the good looks and more Euro-
pean cast of features to be met with amongst the coast
tribes in this direction.

Of course the Dutch were aware, from their coasting
voyages as far east as Natal (where they had tried to found a
colony in 1705) and Delagoa Bay (at which they built a fort
in 1720), that South Africa was not inhabited exclusively
by Hottentots and Bushmen. But they were a long time
before they actually encountered tall, dark-skinned Bantu
Negroes in their inland explorations. At Delagoa Bay
they heard rumours of the existence of gold in the region
we now know as the Lebombo Mountains, and an expedi-
tion started in that direction in 1725 from the shores of
Delagoa Bay. But the Thonga natives were very hostile
and drove them back. Another attempt to reach the heart
of Kafirland from the Cape was made in 1736 under Her-
mann Hubner (probably a German). He had become an
elephant hunter, and gathering round himself a band of
other bold pioneers, used to the grave risks in those days
of such big-game shooting, he penetrated as far east as
Pondoland, the borders of Natal. But on the return
journey his party was treacherously attacked by the Xosa
Kafirs and destroyed to a man. They had travelled with
wagons, as was the custom of the Dutch settlers from the
first, and these were carefully burnt by the Xosa, who
seem to have been animated by some prophetic apprehen-
sion of what was likely to ensue from this penetration of
their country by the white man.

The Explorations of the Dutch 129

Ryk van Tulbagh is one of the great names in South
African history. He was the best governor of Cape Colony
ever sent out by the Dutch East India Company. He
ruled this land for twenty years, from 1 751 to 1 771 , and
although he was no great explorer himself he was the
cause of much scientific exploration taking place, both
towards Kafirland and along the west coast regions of the
Namakwa country. Before he had been a year in office he
resolved to know more about the lands lying to the east
of the Hottentot country; so in 1752 he sent a very well-
equipped and really scientific expedition under an officer
named Beutler, an expedition which, amongst other things,
was to study the botany of the lands it passed through.
Beutler reached as far east as the Kafir-Hottentot boun-
dary, the Kei River. Inland, on the return journey, they
ascended the Great Fish River to near its source, and
passed beyond the more settled Hottentot country to the
open lands of the Bushmen at the foot of the lofty Sneeuw-
bergen, and saw vast herds of wild beasts wandering over
the grassy plains.

In the year 1761 the Orange River was located, and
crossed about 100 miles from its mouth by Captain Hen-
drik Hop, who commanded a scientific expedition dis-
patched by the great governor, Tulbagh.

Hendrik Hop's expedition, when it got to the north of
the Orange River, encountered and killed giraffes. The
complete skin of one of these strange beasts (only so far
known to Europe by vague descriptions in Roman literature
and the stories of travellers who had seen them in Egypt
or Persia), brought thither from the Sudan, was sent to
Leiden in 1762 by Governor Tulbagh, and I believe exists in
that wonderful Dutch natural history collection down to the
present day, carefully shielded from the bleaching daylight.

(C587) 9

130 Pioneers in South Africa

Hendrik Hop, when he got to a distance of some
140 miles beyond the Orange River, heard of a black-
skinned, goat-keeping people in the farther interior who
were named Biri-kwa (Goat people) by the yellow-skinned
Hottentots (themselves keepers of oxen and sheep). These
first-mentioned Birikwa were probably either the Ova-
herero or Damara already reported by Coetzee in 1760;
or the savage Haukwoi (Hill-Damara); or they may even
have been the Bechuana, for the country of the black-
skinned, Bantu Bechuana begins at no very great distance
beyond the middle course of the Orange River.

By 1 775 the Dutch, after 123 years of settlement in the
south-west extremity of Africa, knew something about the
coast country between the Orange River and the Cape of
Good Hope, and between the Cape of Good Hope and
Xatal, and they had explored inland as far north as the
innermost of the parallel mountain ranges which form a
series of steps or ridges between the vast tablelands of the
Orange State, Bechuanaland, and the Transvaal and the
seacoast: in fact they had on the north-east reached to
the imposing Sneeuwbergen (Snow-mountain-range) with
its altitudes of 7800 feet, and on the north-west to the
Kamiesberg and Copper Mountains of Namakwaland.
The vagrant " Boers" (as the country farmers had come to
be called, in distinction from the officials and tradesmen of
the few towns) continued to explore, whether they were
• iKouraged or forbidden to do so by the CompanvV
administrators ; and without recording their wonderful
journeys, which probably took them far inland. But the
information they gleaned and transmitted verbally (for as a
rule they were quite uneducated) was often of great use to
the scientific explorers, who now began to find their way to
South Africa from Scotland, England, Sweden, and France.

The Explorations of the Dutch 131

Before dealing with the adventures of these notable
discoverers, it might be as well to finish in a few words the
record of native Dutch work in South African exploration
before the British occupation of Cape Colony in 1795.
WlLLEM VAN Renan (or Reenen) penetrated north of
the Orange River mouth in 1791 till he reached the neigh-
bourhood of Walvisch Bay; and his companion, Pieter
Brand, in spite of the opposition of the Namakwa Hotten-
tots (always very much disposed to quarrel with the white
man), rode on northwards for another fortnight until he
reached the mountainous country inhabited by the Bantu-
speaking Ova-herero (whom the Hottentots called Damara),
and the Hottentot-speaking Haukwoi or Ghau Damap.
[This last-named tribe, called by the missionaries the Hill-
Damara, has long been a puzzle to ethnologists. Its
language is a dialect of Bushman or Hottentot, with clicks,
but the appearance of the tribesmen is that of a race of
black — mostly tall — Negroes, resembling those of the
Forest region. 1 ] Sebastiaan and Dirk van Reenen
(see p. 144), brothers or cousins of Willem, made a coast-
ing trip along the shore of Great Namakwaland in 1792-3,
in the course of which they reached — perhaps discovered —
Walvisch Bay, the only good harbour on a thousand
miles of desert coast. They named this bay " Walvisch "
because the shore was strewn with the bones of innumer-
able great whales which had been cast up by the sea for
thousands of years, and the flesh of which was the prin-
cipal food of the miserable Hottentot tribes living on this
desolate coast of endless sandhills.

Colonel R. J. Gordon (as will be related in the next
chapter) had reached the Orange River near its junction with

'Their origin and appearance are well described by Francis Galton in his
Tropical South Africa.

i32 Pioneers in South Africa

the Vaal in 1777. With him there were, amongst other
followers, Dutch-speaking Hottentot half-castes — the cele-
brated " Bastaards " of South African history. Indeed he
found these ''Christians" (as they were often called to dis-
tinguish them from the heathen Negroes) established in
considerable numbers to the north of the Orange River, in
the Kimberley district, defending themselves against the
furious attacks of the dispossessed Bushmen. The Bas-
taards or " Grikwa " spread the news of this route towards
a great hunting country among the roving, lawless "free-
booters", Dutch and German, who, in spite of prohibi-
tions issued by the Company at Cape Town, were yearly
ranging farther and farther afield into Inner South Africa
in search of ivory and cattle. Amongst these mighty
hunters was a German named Johann Blum or Bloem,
an escaped soldier who became a bold robber chief, and
attracted to his camp numbers of hungry natives willing
to serve him for the meat of the wild beasts he killed.
Bloem made his way across the upper Orange River much
more to the east, and eventually fixed his camp at a
pretty little spring of fresh water which thenceforth be-
came known as " Bloemfontein ", and is now the site of
the capital of the Orange State.

A wandering half-caste hunter named Cornelius Kok,
and after him several Boers, among them the Vischers,
father and son, had by about 1796 penetrated due north
of the middle Orange River till they reached the fertile
country round Kuruman, and made the acquaintance of
the southernmost of the " Birikwa" or Bechuana clans, and
that of the Matlapin or "Fish" people. They effected
this important discovery — the beginning of a great march
of Europeans to the Zambezi, and to the heart of Central
Africa — just after the British had taken possession of Cape

The Explorations of the Dutch 133

Colony: for in 1795 a fleet under Admiral Elphinstone
arrived at the Cape Peninsula, captured Simonstown, and
landed several thousand British troops under the com-
mand of Sir James Craig. This action was taken nomi-
nally on behalf of the Prince of Orange, who was the
Stadhouder or President of the Confederation of Dutch
States. But in reality the occupation of Cape Colony
had long been planned by the British, and was carried
out in the summer of 1795, after the French had invaded
Holland. The fleet under Elphinstone sailed very shortly
after the French troops entered Holland in the winter of
1794, with the intention of preventing France from stealing
a march on England and making South Africa a French
possession. The French, between 1780 and 1785, had
garrisoned Cape Town to ward off an earlier British attack;
and during this period the French naturalist, Francis
le Vaillant, had made two journeys in South Africa
between Cape Town, the Orange River, and the borders of
Kafirland. His books, published about 1795, had in-
creased French interest in these regions, which France
realized, all too late, should have been her objective, rather
than Madagascar or India.

CHAPTER VI
Paterson's Journeys

Dr. Axdreas Sparrman, a learned Swede, and a worthy
pupil of the great Linnaeus, visited Cape Colony in 1772,
and again in 1775-6, having in the meantime (as related
in my Pioneers in Australasia) been a member of Cook's
second expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Sparrman's
journeys in South Africa cannot be classed as explora-
tions, as he only travelled with a Dutchman to the borders
of Kaffraria and the Sneeuwbergen, besides visiting the
country round the Cape peninsula. But his book, which
was published in Swedish in 1780, and in an English
translation in 1785, is a work of the greatest interest and
accuracy of observation in its description of the Hottentots
and Bushmen, and of the zoology of Cape Colony. It will
be a good deal quoted from in the course of the present
chapter.

In the spring of 1777 Lieutenant William Paterson,
an Englishman who tells us very little about himself or
his origin, but whose journey to South Africa seems to
have been prompted by a love of scientific research,
arrived at Cape Town, to find himself let in for an unusually
severe South African winter, the hills and mountains
round Cape Town being covered with snow for days at a
time, while excessively heavy rain prevented any explora-
tion of the lower-lying country. Soon after his arrival
Paterson was fortunate in meeting Captain Robert Jacob

134

Paterson's Journeys 135

Gordon, a Scottish officer, who, like so many of his
nation in the eighteenth century, entered the Colonial
service of Holland, and was sent out by the Dutch East
India Company as second in command at Cape Town (the
immander-in-chief being a French officer). Colonel
Gordon, as he afterwards became, had taken a great
interest in South African exploration from 1774 onwards,
and had acquired the Hottentot language, besides being
very fluent in Dutch. He had apparently made extensive
journeys in the interior of South Africa, though no records
of these have been left for our perusal. On one of these
explorations he is stated to have reached a distance of 1500
miles from the Cape of Good Hope. 1

On 6 October, 1777, Gordon and Paterson left Cape
Town for the north. Paterson, amongst other talents,
possessed those of painter and botanist. Consequently the
region round Table Mountain was a source of delight and
interest to him, with its numerous species of heaths,
geraniums, ground orchids, ixias, proteas, gladioli, silver-
leaf trees, and, among shrubs, the Myrica cerifera, the
berries of which produced a waxy substance that made
client candles, similar to the wax produced by certain
types of laurel in South America. Their journey took an
easterly course through the flat district called Hottentots'
Holland, to the Breede River, and the country round the
Swellendam. In entering Hottentot Holland— at no great
distance from Cape Town — they already encountered the
great black buffaloes of South Africa. These are de-
scribed as being excessively fierce and dangerous to
travellers. They would lie quietly concealed in the shade

1 It is said that Gordon was so loyal to the Dutch, whom he had served for twenty-
one years in South Africa, that when the British force under Sir James Craig effected
landing at Cape Town in 1795, ne committed suicide.

136 Pioneers in South Afriea

of the woods and rush suddenly on passing caravans,
knocking over pedestrians, horsemen, and even the
draught oxen of wagons, and attempting to trample
them under their feet. Even after having killed or
wounded their victims they would sometimes return and
lick the bleeding bodies, no doubt attracted by the salt
taste of the blood. Lions sometimes attacked these
buffaloes, but found much more difficulty in killing them
than the domestic oxen. It was said that the lions could
only overcome these Cape buffaloes by leaping on their
backs and suffocating them by fixing their great paws
with all the claws extended round the noses and mouths
of the beasts. Even then the lion was sometimes killed
by the buffalo rolling over and crushing it. Paterson
also observed herds of eland.

On the upper waters of the Zwart River, under the
Zwarteberge or Black Mountain, there was — and is still
— a natural warm bath. Here the Dutch Company had
erected a house for Europeans who came to bathe in these
hot springs impregnated with iron. The fountains of
hot water gushed from the base of a granite hill at a
temperature as high as 133 F. But there was also a
stream of cold water which could be let into the hot bath
to reduce the temperature if necessary. The country
round these hot springs was very agreeable — grassy
meadows swarming with antelopes and francolin. The
commonest antelope was the Bontebok. 1 Farther on they
encountered ostriches and kudus, and then lions began to
make their presence known, so that Gordon and Paterson

1 Damaliuus pygargus, one of the most beautiful of antelopes, a member of tin-
group of lesser hartebeests, with heads that are not disproportionately long, white
faces, rumps, bellies, and limbs, and the rest of the hide warm brown, deepening into
black, the horns gazelle-like. The closely allied Blesbok (D. albifrom) is only white
on the face and abdomen. 1 i mtebok is now nearly extinct.

Paterson's Journeys 137

were obliged to ride in front of the wagon with their guns
loaded lest the lions should attack the draught oxen.

All this part of the country was inhabited by Hotten-
tots. The men were as tall as average Europeans, but in
general more slender in build, with very small hands and
feet. The eyes were set very wide apart, the root of the
nose was low down, and the tip was flattened. Their skins
were yellowish brown, but the lips were not so thick as
amongst the true Negroes. The head hair was more
tightly curled than that of the ordinary Negro, and grew
in little separate tufts. Their skins were smeared with
mutton fat mixed with soot, and with strong-smelling
leaves of certain herbs reduced to a powder, giving to
them, in conjunction with the mutton fat, a rank and yet
aromatic smell. The herb in question was called by them
bukku or bukhu, and was considered so valuable for its
medicinal properties that a thimbleful of powder made
from the best kind was sold for a lamb. This mixture
of grease, soot, and bukku powder, well rubbed into the
pores of the skin, enabled the Hottentots to go about
naked, or almost naked, without feeling too much the
changes of temperature from hot to cold. The men wore
in front a small bag or kilt made of jackal fur, and two
flaps of leather behind, which were used to sit on. These
flaps of leather, when the Hottentot ran, were thought to
produce an agreeable coolness by their flapping motion.
The women wore aprons of leather, generally two or
three at a time, the outermost and largest being carefully
decorated with glass beads. In cold weather both sexes
fastened round their necks a big cloak or pelisse of sheep-
skin, called "kaross", with the woolly side turned inwards.
This was worn over the back and tied round the chest.
The married women had theirs fitted with a peak or hood,

138 Pioneers in South Africa

which usually hung down over the back, and served to
carry the infant child. Both men and women generally
went bareheaded, but the men occasionally donned caps
of greased skin, and the women sometimes used a cone-
shaped cap without a seam, made of a piece of ox or
antelope stomach, and coloured a deep black with soot and
fat. Over this cap they sometimes placed another orna-
ment, consisting of a wreath or crown of buffalo's hide,
with the hair standing outwards. These wreaths were
sometimes decorated with small sea shells or kauris. They
wore no ornaments in the ears nor in the nose, but the
nose was sometimes marked with a streak of black soot,
or occasionally with a large spot of red lead, of which also
they put some on their cheeks. The men's necks were
bare, but the women wore as necklaces thongs of leather
upon which shells were strung. Their arms and legs were
decorated with rings made of leather. These were also
worn by the men on the arm only. Both sexes carried a
jackal's tail as a fly flapper and a handkerchief with which
they wiped the sweat from their faces. When loaded with
grease and dirt the jackal tail was easily washed in a stream
and whirled round and round till it was dry.

The huts of the Hottentots, made of withes and sticks,
and roofed with mats of woven reeds, were mostly circular,
but occasionally there was a larger dwelling of an oval or
rounded oblong shape. The doorway was barely 3 feet
high, and the house was always entered by stooping and
crawling through. The fireplace was in the middle of the
hut, and there was no way of egress for the smoke but
through the door, so that no one but a Hottentot, inured
to this atmosphere from his infancy, could endure the
smarting caused to the eyes.

Tlif Hottentots fought with clubs, throwing spears

Paterson's journeys 139

(assagays or javelins), and bows and arrows, the arrows
being very often poisoned. 1

The Hottentot manner of drinking water from a pool
was curious. They threw up water with the right hand
into their mouths, seldom bringing the hand nearer than
the distance of a foot from the lips, yet doing this so
quickly that, however thirsty they were, they were soon
satisfied.

When first visited by Europeans they were found to
possess cattle and fat-tailed sheep similar to those of north-
east Africa. They also had dogs, but no other domestic
animals, no goats and no fowls. The Hottentot dogs
were of the greatest service to them in managing the cattle
and sheep, especially the cattle. When the herds were on
their way to pasture, the dogs were incessantly running to
and fro along their flanks and at the rear, barking to keep
them on the line along which their masters intended them
to proceed. Without orders from these masters they would
run out and fetch in stragglers, and scour the fields where
the herds were grazing to give warning of the approach
of lions or leopards. At night, when the Hottentots had
retired to their huts, the dogs mounted guard round the
cattle kraals. Should any lion or leopard venture to attack
the kraal, the dogs so harassed him that he rarely succeeded
in getting off with any booty. These Hottentot dogs are
described (by Pieter Kolben) as being very like foxes in

'The Hottentots made an arrow poison by mixing the virulent juice of the
Euphorbia candelabrum with the compounded bodies of caterpillars frequenting
Rhus bushes. They mixed this compound and then set it out to dry, after which
their arrow tips were rubbed with it in the form of a paste. They also used branches
of euphorbia to poison water frequented by wild beasts. After drinking this water the
animals seldom got farther away than a thousand yards before they fell down and
expired. Their flesh apparently was none the worse for eating purposes. But this
habit of poisoning water in the pans and vleis was very dangerous to European
travellers, who might be unaware that the water was poisoned until too late.

140 Pioneers in South Africa

appearance, with pointed snouts, erect ears, long, narrow,
and rather drooping tails. The hair, which was thin,
stood out in a fuzzy fashion, being nowhere sleek. The
resemblance to the fox was, of course, only accidental,
these dogs being descended from the same pariah type
as the ancient domestic dogs of Egypt, East Africa, and
India.

From Swellendam the travellers (Paterson and Gordon)
journeyed north-eastwards till they left the delightful and
fertile territory south of the great mountain ranges and
the Tauw and Olifants' Rivers, and entered the Karroo
district, which extends for hundreds of miles northwards
till it emerges into the Kalahari Desert. The border region
of this sterile land was then known as the "Channa"
country, Khanna being the name of a species of Mesem-
bryanthemum 1 greatly prized by the Hottentots, who
either chewed its leaves or dried and smoked them, mixing
the dried leaves with a proportion of hemp, this giving
the mixture a very intoxicating effect.

Reaching to the crest of a lofty mountain range — the
Black Mountains (Zwartebergen) — they could see far to
the south the sea of the Indian Ocean and the beautiful
fertile country they had left, while on the north there lay
before them the rugged barren Karroo. Yet when they
examined this country closely they found it abounding
with plants of a thick and fleshy character — many species
of geraniums with gouty stems, sharp spines, small leaves

1 The many plants of the genus Mesembryanthemum are distant relations of the
Cactus family, and are very characteristic of the sterile or desert regions of Africa,
where they often assume the appearance of stones, boulders, and pebbles, cither by
their thick and tutted leaves looking like segments of a split pebble, or by the plant
:ng in an immense colony of tiny stems and abortive leaves, between which sand
accumulates so that the whole mass in time is as hard as a stone, and with a flinty,
prickly outer surface, which is pale greyish green, like the lichen which covers so many
'9

Paterson's Journeys 141

and bright pink flowers, euphorbias like cacti in growth,
mesembryanthemums, and plants of the house-leek family.
On the banks of the great Olifants' River 1 grew tall
acacias. In the vicinity of this river Gordon parted com-
pany with his companion, who was ill and wished to rest.
Consequently Paterson travelled up and down the valley
of the Olifants' River alone or in company with Dutch
surveyors (Boer farmers), or a German who had settled
amongst the Hottentots, and like them clothed himself in
sheepskins. In this region of the eastern Olifants' River
Paterson first saw the Bushmen, who at that time were
regarded as wild beasts by both the Hottentots and Boers,
and treated mercilessly because they attempted to steal the
cattle or sheep of the settled populations.

The Bushmen had been already described by Sparrman
as "sworn enemies to the pastoral life". Their maxims
were (according to him) to live on hunting and plunder,
and never to keep any animal alive for the space of one
night. Their weapons were poisoned arrows shot from
a small bow, the poison being of such a virulent kind that
a beast pierced with the arrow would begin to languish
and die a few minutes afterwards. The arrow poison,
according to Lichtenstein, who wrote in 1808, was derived
from the venom glands of snakes, mixed with the acrid
poisonous juice of a Euphorbia, but also from a variety
of fleshy plants. Perhaps the most deadly and the
commonest of these poisons was extracted from the
Hcemanthus toxicarins bulb, an Amaryllid frequently mis-
called a " lily ". The juice of this Hasmanthus is strongly
alkaline, and disintegrates the blood. The Bushman arrows
were \\ feet long, made of reeds and armed with polished-

1 Not to be confused with the other Olifants' River on the west coast of Cape
Colony.

[42 Pioneers in South Africa

bone tips 5 or 6 inches long, and barbed by means of a
piece of quill bound on to the tip with sinews, so that the
arrow could not be easily drawn out of the flesh, but must
stay there long enough for the thickly smeared poison
to spread from the wound. The Bushmen also carried a
quiver of about 2 feet long, made of bark or sometimes
of the scooped-out trunk of the Aloe dichotoma, or branch-
ing aloe — which the Dutch therefore called the " Quiver-
tree ". The quiver had a leather bottom and top, and was
smeared outside with a thick resinous substance which
grew perfectly hard when dry. Each quiver contained,
besides a dozen arrows, a slender hone of sandstone for
sharpening the iron head, which — no doubt after contact
with Europeans and Kafirs — was adopted by the more
southern Bushmen as an additional point to the arrow.
There also were the poison paste wrapped up in leaves,
a brush for laying on the poison, and the necessary sticks
for making fire by friction. 1

The Bushmen in preference dwelt in caves or clefts of
the rocks; but when far away from any such shelter they
would build rude structures of sticks, grass, and leaves.
They mostly went — at that day — entirely naked, but when-
ever they could obtain the skin of a beast, great or small,
they turned it into a cloak for the back. Their food con-
sisted of wild routs, berries and plants, the grain of wild
grasses — all of which they ate raw — of beetle grubs, cater-
pillars, white ants, locusts, snakes, and some kinds of
spiders; and, of course, of all the meat they could obtain

1 Wry similar are the quivers, and indeed the life, habits, and disposition, of tin-
dw.irf Andorobo, or nomad hunters of eastern Equatorial Africa, with whom also the
bowstring is not :.]«• fibre but of twisted gut. In rainy weather, it might

be mentioned, neither the Bushmen nor their distant relatives, the Andorobo, could
defend tl against man or beast, for their bowstrings, being made of the

entrails of animals, stretched and broke with the moisture of the air.

Paterson's Journeys 143

from the chase, besides what they could steal from the
Hottentots or Boers. They never tilled the ground, and
kept no domestic animals except a dog with prick ears,
very like a jackal in appearance. Their existence usually
was a half-starved one, and from want of food their skins
were strangely wrinkled. But it required only a few weeks
of good fare to bring starving Bush men or women into
a thriving state and make them quite fat, their stomachs
being strong enough to digest the great quantities of food
with which they crammed themselves when the opportunity
was favourable; and as they fattened, most of the wrinkles
in their skin disappeared. They usually went about in
companies of from ten to fifty, or even a hundred.

It was not, however, always sought to kill them; but
raids were sometimes made by Boers as well as the Hotten-
tots to keep them as slaves, as they often became the most
faithful and useful servants. The Boers would occasionally
get up a great hunt for this purpose, surround the wild
Bushmen at night when they were asleep either in their
caves or under their rude shelters of sticks and leaves,
and then give the alarm by firing several guns. The
noise of firearms created such consternation amongst the
Bushmen that they were usually too frightened even to
flee. Thus they were easily captured, carried off, and
distributed amongst the Dutch farmers, where they soon
became reconciled to captivity by being given abundant
food and tobacco. In course of time, however, they
would grow so corpulent from good living that they
became lazy. Then they would be beaten and abused,
and after much ill treatment would usually make their
escape. But it is recorded that whenever they ran away
they never stole anything that was the property of their
master. We now know that this unfortunate race has

144 Pioneers in South Africa

been much sinned against by the black Bantu Negroes,
the yellow Hottentots (who were more than half Bush-
man in blood), and by the Dutch Boers. All these
forces combined have during the last hundred years
almost brought the Bush race to extinction.

Returning to Cape Town, Paterson in the spring of 1778
started once more for the interior, on this occasion either
travelling alone or with a Dutch companion, Sebastiaan
Van Renan (the name is thus spelt in his book, but the
more modern version is Renen or Reenen — see p. 131).
He again entered the Karroo to the north of East Olifants'
River, crossed the Roggeveld Mountains, and entered Little
Xamakwaland. Travelling was dangerous in parts owing
to the numbers of lions and leopards. In the Roggeveld
district (where the snow lay thickly on the mountain peaks)
there were wandering caravans of Boers, who had come
down at this winter season to the Karroo from the hills on
account of the scarcity of firewood 1 and the great cold.
Those of them who remained in the mountains employed
their Hottentot and Negro slaves to collect firewood from
the plains during the summertime and store it round their
houses, but such as had not made this provision were
obliged to resort to the Karroo and lead a camp life. Some
of them dwelt in huts similar in shape to those of the Hot-
tentots, while others slept in the wagon. "Even under

1 There seems to have been a sufficient rainfall in the Roggeveld Mountains to

nourish timber, and tl raised great crops of corn; but the corn was ruined

■ ntlv by hailstorms, while locusts arrived in such swarms that they not only

finished up the corn, but were probably the reason of there being no trees, since

ry form of vegetation except the toughest Mescmbryanthemums.

Another disadvantage in this hilly country was the presence in abundance of a

very poisonous plant, the Amaryllis distieha, a lily-like bulb with a short, thick,

n, and at the top a cluster or crown of small red flowers. The fleshy

leaves of this Amaryllis as well as its bulb were intensely poisonous. The cattle

attracted by the green leaves, but died after eating them. From the bulb

men obtained some of their arrow poison.

Paterson's Journeys 145

these conditions, the Boers appeared to be the happiest
of all human beings." When a stranger visited them
he was treated with the greatest hospitality, and every-
thing they had was at his command.

Paterson crossed the Rhenoster River in a region
where rhinoceroses were then very abundant, and entered
Little Namakwaland — a low-level country covered with
small succulent plants, chiefly a spiny geranium. On this
vegetation were browsing the handsome oryxes of South
Africa, called, by the Boers, gemsbok, both sexes with
long, straight, slender horns some 3 feet in length, and
only separated at the points by a space of about 14 inches.
The coloration of these antelopes is very handsome, chiefly
a reddish grey, with bold black markings and white under
parts. They have long tails with plumes of black hair at
the end. Paterson thought their flesh excellent, though it
is generally considered to be rather dry. When attacked
by dogs (he wrote) the gemsbok — like the sable antelope
— would squat on its hams and defend itself by sweeping
movements of its long, sharp horns.

Along the northern route the water was often brackish,
except when it was derived from freshly fallen rain. The
country was generally hilly, rising here and there into
lofty mountains which provided water even in the dry
season. The hills were covered with tall, branching
aloes, and in the valleys, where the plants were mostly
succulents, there were brilliant ixias with spikes of crimson
flowers.

As the route descended towards the Orange River the
hills gave way to a sandy plain, in which the cattle some-
times sank to their knees 1 . On the banks of this great

'The aspect of the country, especially the mountains in the vicinity of the Orange
River, was " so naked that scarcely a plant was to be seen". Some of the mountains
(C587) 10

146 Pioneers in South Africa

stream they found a hut which had been built by a Euro-
pean (possibly Jacob Coetzee) who had lived for some time
in this neighbourhood. The Orange River had been dis-
covered in its middle course by Captain R. J. Gordon in
1777, who had named it after the Prince of Orange. Sparr-
man had reported in the previous year that it flowed at no
great distance from the Sneeuwbergen, to the north, and
Gordon had followed his indications. When Paterson
reached its lower course in 1778 it was swarming with
hippopotami, and he and his companion, Van Renan,
could get no rest at night for the cries of these beasts,
"which were really frightful". Large numbers of Hot-
tentots frequented the banks of the stream to hunt the
hippopotami.

Paterson was delighted with the many beautiful birds
which he found along this lower course of the Orange
River. The country had not been shot out then as it
has been to a great extent now, and no doubt the bird
life was singularly abundant and varied. For in Africa
birds are not usually so numerous or so visible in the
densely forested regions of luxuriant vegetation as they
are in the more open, and even somewhat barren,
country. The swarms of locusts and grasshoppers which
then infested southern Africa provided food for many
types of bird; and this open country gave much less
concealment to snakes and lizards, which were therefore
not so well able to escape their flying pursuers. Along
the banks of the Orange River after it had left the moun-
tains and cold plateaus of the interior, and was flowing
through the desert region of south-west Africa (so similar

consisted of a sp. quartz, others of ironstone with visible strata of copper ore.

Along the banks of the river Paterson found many pebbles of hard agate ; yet the river
banks evidently nourished sufficient bushes, willows, and other trees, and succulent
plants for the sustenance of such vast herds of game as abounded here.

Paterson's Journeys 147

in many respects to Egypt), there were flocks of the tall,
blush-pink flamingoes, 1 much larger, though less vividly
coloured, than the dwarf flamingoes of Central Africa;
similar, in fact, to the flamingoes of the Mediterranean.
There were saddle-billed storks, black storks and white
storks, pelicans, crowned cranes, wattled cranes, and para-
dise cranes, secretary birds with their long legs, short,
powerful toes, eagle-like beaks, and crests like quill pens.
There were bustards and francolin, guinea fowl and quails,
sand grouse and pigeons, vivid blue-green, red-brown,
peach-coloured roller birds, grey turacos and green tura-
cos, and small hornbills flapping from one withered bush
to another, mouse birds or colies running up and down
the green branches of the acacia trees by the river bank;
innumerable ducks and spur-winged geese, clumsy green-
and-grey parrots feeding on the fruits of the annaboom
and msuku trees, bee-eaters of crimson and sea blue, black-
and-white kingfishers, sunbirds more beautiful and more
vividly coloured even than the humming birds of America,
griffon vultures, eagles of several kinds, kites and hawks.
Ostriches were numerous in the open country away from
the river banks. It was indeed at that time one of the
many bird paradises of Africa, of which all too few remain
at the present day. Elephants were numerous in spite of
the scanty vegetation. Tall giraffes moved about almost
fearless of man, in the region to the north of the Orange

Mt is a curious fact in the geographical distribution of birds that the large Mediter-
ranean flamingo of Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia should be absent from
the interior of all really tropical Africa, at any rate south of Lake Chad, but should
reappear again in the extreme south-west of Africa. Paterson shot some, on his return
journey from the Orange River to Cape Colony, which measured 5 feet from the tip of
the bill to the end of the tail. The dwarf flamingo (Phceniconaias) nevertheless extends
its range as far to the south as the vicinity of the Orange River, where its presence was
duly noted by Paterson, who observed it frequenting the same water pools south of the
Orange River as the big flamingo. This last was abundant on the seashore close to
Cape Town at this period.

148 Pioneers in South Africa

River. There were herds of zebras and elands. The kudu,
generally alone or in couples, was frequently observed, as
was the rhinoceros. The rocks swarmed with big chakma
baboons. And all this wonderful fauna was hunted in the
daytime (rather than at night) by lions, leopards, caracal
lynxes, servals, chitas, hyenas, and black-backed jackals.
The river itself swarmed with hippopotami, which were very
bold and aggressive, and made any attempt to cross the
Orange River by swimming or resting on floats some-
what dangerous.

Paterson and Van Renan did not push their exploration
far beyond the Orange River, but returned again south-
wards, making excursions in various directions to the
Kamiesberg and into the Bushman country due west of
the Kamiesberg. Here they found Dutchmen already
settled, but liable to constant attacks from the Bushmen,
who frequently killed their Hottentot slaves and carried
off their cattle.

At the close of 1778 Paterson started on his third
journey of exploration. This time he intended to reach
the land of the Kafirs, of the tall dark-skinned Negroes
speaking Bantu languages, who dwelt to the east of the
Hottentot country and of the Great Fish River. He be-
lieved himself to be the first European to explore much
of this country, but, as we know, he had really been
preceded by several Dutch travellers, though some of
these had lost their lives at the hands of the Kafirs, who
from the first had shown themselves very jealous about
white men entering their land, no doubt with an anxious
foresight that some day the regions their ancestors had con-
quered from the Bushmen might be taken from themselves
by the European. Once more Paterson crossed Khanna-
land, the southernmost Karroo beyond the Zwartebergen.

Paterson's Journeys 149

"This country had a very barren appearance, scarcely
any vegetation being visible, except a few dwarfish shrubs
without verdure. In the course of the evening I was
much surprised by the appearance of cultivated land.
This belonged to one Okker Hynns, an industrious farmer,
who in this dreary situation had erected a good house, and
planted gardens and vineyards, which produced tolerable
wine and excellent fruit, such as almonds, figs, peaches,
apricots, &c, which he dries and sends to the Cape for
sale. About three weeks before our arrival there had been
a very heavy storm of hail and wind ; the hailstones, which
were of an enormous size, and the impetuous wind, had
destroyed everything about his house. His corn, vine-
yard, and fruit trees were totally spoiled ; one of his
children, who was at the time keeping a flock of sheep
at some distance from any shelter, was very much hurt,
and many of the sheep were killed."

This extract gives a just idea both of the results
achieved by the patient agriculture of the Boer settlers
and of the frightful revenges inflicted on them from time
to time by recalcitrant Nature. Long and hard has been
the struggle on the part of the white man to subdue
Nature sufficiently to make South Africa a fruitful, happy,
well-populated country. But our own ancestors had no
doubt much the same experiences in the Neolithic Age,
before Europe was brought under reasonable control by
man.

Paterson next travelled through what would now be
called the Knysna Forest, till he reached the Gamtoos
River. Along the banks of this stream were forests of
very large trees, especially acacia and albizzia. The
woodland glades were frequented by fierce buffaloes,
which rendered travelling very dangerous, though the

150 Pioneers in South Africa

buffaloes would occasionally come out and stand alongside
the oxen as if they would like to be friends. The river-
side forest was also full of the beautiful green turacos,
which the Dutch called lories, mistaking them for the
lory parrots of the East Indies. On the plains near the
mouth of the Gamtoos was an immense variety of wild
game — herds of eland, quagga, 1 zebra, and hartebeest.
There were also many rhinoceroses, probably of the white
or square-lipped kind. At the Zwart-kop River, Paterson
met the first Kafirs he had seen. The frontier of the
Kafirs at this time lay to the east of the Great Fish River,
and it was rare to find them wandering so far afield.

In this region there were flocks of wild dogs, 2 which were
very destructive to the sheep of the few Boer and German
settlers. Between Sunday River and the Great Fish River
the country swarmed with game— lions, leopards, elephants,
rhinoceroses, buffalo, springbok and other antelopes.
The only human inhabitants — and they were not abundant
—belonged to a tribe of Hottentots (since extinct) which
bore the name of Khonakwa. They had arisen from
border intermixture between Kafirs and Hottentots, were
much darker in complexion than the ordinary yellow-
skinned Hottentot, and better shaped. Nevertheless they
spoke a dialect of the Hottentot language and consequently

J The Quagga is now extinct. It was really only a southern form of Burchell's
Zebra, in which the black and white stripes on the body and legs had faded or
deepened in tone to brown ; so that the animal looked like a hog-maned horse with
narrow, whitish stripes on the neck and fore quarters, and with brown dappled hind
quarters, and whitish legs and belly. It was often known as the "wild ass" by
early English and German writers on South Africa. The black and white zebra
was only found in the eastern and northern part of Cape Colony, and the Quagga
was not found north of the Limpopo River. It became extinct in 1876.

■ The Lycaon pietus of Zoology. This curious beast is found all over Tropical
Africa outside the forest region. It is the size of a small wolf, with large erect ears, ;i
dog-like muzzle and face, longish legs, and a bushy tail. The body is most curiously
marked with irregular blotches of dark colour on a light dun or fawn colour. This
dog hunts in packs. It existed in Kngland in the days of Palaeolithic man.

Paterson's Journeys 151

fought with their Kafir relations. Although much less
numerous, they held their own in these encounters, be-
cause they employed a subtle poison for their arrow tips
(see p. 139), whereas the Bantu Kafirs used no poison on
their weapons, relying only on their bodily strength and
on the sharpness of their steel assagays and spears.

In the middle of this constant turmoil between Hotten-
tots and Kafirs, alternately raiding each other's cattle,
there contrived to exist plucky Germans and Boers. In-
deed, from the tenor of the narratives of Paterson and
other travellers of the eighteenth century, one arrives at
the conclusion that there were almost as many German
colonists at that period in South Africa as Dutch. It was
no doubt very difficult then to draw the line between a
Dutchman and a German. Many of the so-called Germans
came from Friesland or the Lower Rhine, and spoke either
a Low Dutch or a Friesisch dialect.

Along- the lower course of the Great Fish River
Paterson noted what he thought was a kind of palm,
growing upwards of 20 feet in height, in reality a species
of Encephalartos, a Cycad, from the pith of which the
Hottentots made bread, 1 after allowing the pith to lie for
a time and ferment.

The country on both sides of the Great Fish River
was a most agreeable land. The grass in some places
was so high that it reached to the horses' bellies, but it
was diversified in a park-like fashion with pleasant woods
on the slopes of the low hills. The open meadows were
gay with lovely flowers, especially various kinds of crinum,
with deep pink, white, or white and pink flowers. There
were also real lilies of vivid crimson, besides irises,

1 The Cycadacece are a very remarkable order of plants, related distantly and
anciently to ferns, palms, conifers, and flowering plants.

IS2

Pioneers in South Africa

gladioli, and ground orchids. Some of the trees were
gardenias with beautiful white, richly scented flowers;
others were Erythrina or " Kafirboom " trees, with clusters
of large, velvety, crimson-scarlet blossoms. On the hills
there grew bamboos. Everywhere the land seemed to be
permeated by streams, producing excellent pasture for
cattle; for hereabouts began the well-watered regions of
south-east Africa, with a flora more truly African, less
peculiar and specialized, than that of the south-western
portion of Cape Colony. On the east side of the Great
Fish River, moreover, it was "Kafir-land", and inhabited
somewhat densely by tall black Negroes very different in
appearance to the Hottentots. Some of these Kafirs had
then never seen a white man or heard a gun fired.

They received Paterson and Van Renan very hospit-
ably, and were even offended if they refused whole herds
of cattle offered to them, and merely contented themselves
by killing one or two oxen for food. The soil was a
blackish loam in which could be grown anything. The
climate was genial and water everywhere abundant, as in
addition to the copious summer rains the high mountains
in the north sent innumerable rivers and rivulets to
percolate this beautiful land on their way to the Indian
Ocean.

Once more, in the summer of 1779, Paterson set out
to travel northwards from Cape Town, again accompanied
by the Dutchman, Van Renan. On their way they en-
countered Colonel R. J. Gordon, and arranged a meeting
in Little Namakwaland, thenceforward to pursue their
explorations in company. Once again Paterson visited
the Kamiesberg Mountains, which were then the most
northern district of Cape Colony in which any European
settlers existed, and from here he journeyed in zigzags

HOTTENTOT

Paterson's Journeys 153

north-westward to the Atlantic coast. Along the shore
of the ocean he noted the strata "of the most beautiful
rocks I ever beheld, some of them white as snow, others
veined with red and other colours ". Here also he ob-
served that there were ancient huts or shelters constructed
from the ribs of stranded whales and elephants' bones.
Such are supposed by tradition to have been inhabited
by the Strandloopers, a vanished race, whose remains are
occasionally found in caverns along the seacoast, and who
seem to have belonged to two quite different human types
— one something lower and more Xegro-like than the
Bushman, and the other more resembling a generalized
Caucasian, perhaps the Hamitic (Somali, Gala) races of
north-east Africa. Near these weird-looking bone habita-
tions were often to be seen immense shell heaps, con-
structed by the gradual accumulation of the empty shells
of mussels, oysters, whelks, &c, the contents of which had
been eaten by the Strandloopers, who threw the shells
aside till at last these accumulations of refuse rose to a
considerable height. Numbers of seals frequented this
coast, which, however, was apparently quite uninhabited
by man at that time, and along the shore were the bones
of seals which had died of old age.

Farther north, however, they came across traces of the
recent presence of human beings, probably Hottentots.
They often suffered from lack of water. Every now and
again they would spend nine or ten days in crossing an
absolutely arid stretch of country, in which they were hard
put to it to feed and water their cattle. But whenever they
were getting near despair they would reach the banks of
a river coming down from the mountains of the interior,
in which there was sure to be water to be had by digging,
or lying in isolated pools. Along the banks of these rivers

i54 Pioneers in South Africa

there were willows, acacias, and various kinds of Rhus,
also ebony trees {DalbergiaY); and in the vicinity of these
streams a somewhat moister atmosphere nourished a great
variety of succulent plants — geraniums, asclepiads, and
mesembryanthemums. They found occasionally an ostrich
nest containing a large number of fresh eggs — a most wel-
come food, as the present writer can testify with gratitude.
They also occasionally saw quaggas, zebras, and elands.
At last they reached the Orange River near its mouth.
Colonel Gordon had brought with him a boat in one of
his wagons. This was launched on the Orange River,
and the Dutch colours were hoisted. Colonel Gordon
then drank to the health of the States -General of the
United Provinces (Holland, Zeeland, and Friesland), then
proposed a toast to the Prince of Orange, the Stathouder,
and finally gave to the Great River the name of Orange
River, in honour of the chief magistrate of the Dutch
State.

The next day they crossed the river in a boat, and
journeyed northwards towards the seacoast. The land
was low and extremely barren, sandy in the direction of
the sea and rocky towards the interior. There was a
small settlement of Hottentots near the seacoast, who were
so shy of Europeans that they fled at their approach, only
leaving behind a little dog, extremely scared at the sight
of white men.

The huts of this village were superior in structure to
those of the Hottentots farther south; they were loftier and
thatched with grass, and were furnished with stools made
of the vertebra? of whales. Fish were suspended to dry
from poles stuck into the ground. Skins of seals were
lying about, as well as a quantity of dried aromatic plants,
which no doubt were to be rubbed up into the substance

Paterson's Journeys 155

with which the Hottentots' bodies were powdered. After
much persuasion, through Hottentot interpreters, some of
the natives were induced to return to their village. It was
found that they were clothed with the skins of seals and
jackals. Whenever a whale was cast up ashore they re-
moved their huts to the vicinity of the dead body, and
subsisted on it as long as any part of it remained. They
might in this way be nourished for nearly six months,
quite indifferent to the fact that their meat had become
horribly putrid. They smeared their skins with train oil,
the odour of which in course of time became so horrible
and powerful that their approach could be smelt almost
before they became visible. Their water was carried about
in the shells of ostrich eggs and in the bladders of seals.
Many of them had lost the first joint of their little finger,
a curious custom prevailing among Hottentots and Bush-
men, and many of the savage Amerindian and Australian
tribes. The fingers are mutilated either as a record of
great sorrows — the death of much-loved relations — or in
the hopes of curing sickness. Like most Hottentots and
Bushmen, they seemed to be always short of food and
always ravenously hungry, so much so that when they
paid a return visit to the camp of Gordon and Paterson
they actually ate old shoes which were given to them, and
which, of course, were made of leather from the hides of
antelope or oxen.

Gordon and Paterson seem to have been easily dis-
suaded from pushing their explorations any farther to the
north, simply because out of these eleven scared natives
they could not get anyone to act as a guide. Therefore,
after spending a few days in the vicinity of the Orange
River, trying to get hippopotami in order to store up the
flesh as food for their men, they set out for the southward.

156 Pioneers in South Africa

The two explorers travelled together till they had
crossed the desert regions and once more reached the
outlying Boer settlements on the verge of Little Nama-
kwaland. Here — in a land which, after their journey of six
weeks through dry and sultry deserts, seemed a paradise,
adorned as it was with flowers of the most beautiful colours
(ixias, gladioli, geraniums, and ground orchids) — Gordon
and Paterson parted company, Gordon going off on an
undescribed journey to the north-east in search of the
"Birikwa", or Bechuana people, 1 while Paterson decided
to journey once again to the Orange River, and penetrate
into Great Namakwaland. He reached the Orange River
for the last time at a place farther to the east than where
he had seen it on his first visit, and in the neighbourhood
heard once more of Colonel Gordon, whose journey had
been deflected westwards [or it may be that the "Birikwa"
whom he was trying to find were not the Bechuana, but
outlying members of the Berg-Damara race, who, though
black-skinned, tall, and very like the Bechuana in appear-
ance, nevertheless had long been Hottentotized and spoke
a Hottentot dialect (see p. 42)]. Paterson crossed the
Orange River where the stream was rapid but shallow,
and encamped under a huge ebony tree about 8 miles to
the north. Farther on he reached a tributary called the
Lions' River, from the great numbers of lions frequenting
its banks. The country here, extremely barren, was covered
with small sharp stones, which were very injurious to his
horse's hoofs. He met natives in search of wild honey,

1 Biri, in some Hottentot dialects, means "goat". It is a corruption of the old
1 Buri or Buti. Kwa is the plural suffix, therefore Birikwa meant "the goat
people", and this designation covered, in the language of the Hottentots, the wide-
I congeries of Bechuana tribes who have long inhabited central South Africa.
1 Hottentots themselves had only cattle, sheep, and dogs as domestic animals; the
Bechuana and most of the BantU-speaking Negroes of South Africa were well provided
with goats.

Paterson's Journeys 157

and here he saw one of the most remarkable of the South
African succulent plants. It grew 6 feet high, with a very
thick stem set with innumerable long, sharp spines. At
the top there was a crown of dark-green, dentelated leaves,
and inside this spreading fringe of foliage was a cluster of
singularly handsome flowers — long, tubular, and yellow
green, but with deep-red petals. The acacia trees in this
neighbourhood (which Paterson, like most writers on South
Africa, wrongly terms "mimosa" — the mimosas being
mainly confined to Tropical America) produced quantities
of gum, which was not only eaten by the human inhabi-
tants of the district, but greedily devoured by birds and
baboons. Paterson noted that the branches of the tall
acacia trees were sometimes chosen by the weaver birds 1
for building one of their immensely large colonies of nests.
These nest colonies are thatched with a thick roof, the
ridge of which forms an angle so acute and so smooth
that it is impossible for any reptile to pass along it. The
roof also projects considerably over the entrance to the
nests or holes in the body of the house, of which there
may be as many as 500 in one colony.

The Hottentots of this region clothed themselves in
karosses made of the skins of jackals and hyraxes (see
pp. 26, 27).

Paterson, who was a keen and accurate observer,
noticed that the sheep possessed by the Hottentots of Great
Namakwaland were different from those of the Hottentots
of Cape Colony in that they had much longer and pre-
sumably less fat tails. They were, in fact, derived from
a more West African type of domestic sheep than those of
the southern Hottentots, which came to them originally

1 Philetcerus socius, a dull-brown bird with a very thick horn-coloured beak, the size
of a hawfinch.

158 Pioneers in South Africa

from north-east Africa and are remarkably similar to
the domestic sheep of Somaliland.

In this region to the north of the Orange River (and
from various indications I should think that Paterson
travelled much farther north and east than he represents
on his own map) Paterson's faithful Boer friend, Van
Renan, succeeded in killing a giraffe. From the measure-
ments given, this specimen must have been rather larger
than the biggest giraffe as yet exhibited in the Zoological
Gardens in London. It belonged probably to the variety
known as the Cape Giraffe. It is interesting to observe
from notes in Paterson's book that he presented the skin,
and possibly parts of the skeleton, of this giraffe to the
celebrated John Hunter, who assisted to found the Royal
College of Surgeons; and in all probability there remains
to this day in the Hunterian Collection, in that remarkable
Museum, portions, at any rate, of the first giraffe ever sent
to England from Africa.

The British occupation of Cape Colony between 1795
and 1803 provoked much further researches into the geo-
graphy and natural history of South Africa. John Barrow,
Secretary to the Administration of Lord Macartney and
General Dundas, travelled within the limits of the Dutch
colony; and in 1S01 two British Commissioners, Triiter
and Sommerville, were sent out to penetrate the interior
and reach the country of the " Beetjuaan" 1 people reported
by the Boer freebooter, Cornelius Kok. The three years'
renewal of Dutch control over Cape Colony — 1803 to 1806
— was marked by the important investigations of the Prus-
sian traveller, Dr. HEINRICH Lichtenstein. Lichtenstein
travelled into Bechuanaland as far as Kuruman, and

1 Beetju nounced Bechu&n, was the first form of the name used by the

Dutch and German explorers of South Africa. It is supposed to be a corruption
of a native tribal name, Batyuana or Batsuana.

Paterson's Journeys 159

examined nearly all Cape Colony. He wrote a most
interesting and valuable book on South Africa, and was
the first person to illustrate the " Bechuana" language
and to exhibit its near affinity with the Zulu-Kafir.

But 1806 saw the return of the British forces and the
departure of the Dutch governor, General Janssens, with
Lichtenstein and a few Dutch officials. The red-white-
and-blue flag of the Netherlands was never again to be
hoisted over South Africa, though the effects of the Dutch
colonization of Cape Colony have been as considerable
and as lasting as those of the French settlement of eastern
Canada.

CHAPTER VII
Missionary Pioneers

The first missionaries of Christianity who landed in
South Africa were those of the Roman Church, belonging
principally to the Order of St. Benedict and the Society
of Jesus- Their work in Angola and south-east Africa in
association with the Portuguese has already been described.

The first Protestant missionaries belonged to the
Moravian Church of eastern Saxony, an organization
first founded in 1722 and especially devoted to teaching
the backward peoples of America and Asia. The Mora-
vians sent out Georg Schmidt in 1736 to settle among
the Hottentot tribes of Cape Colony. Schmidt founded
his first station in a deep valley near Swellendam, called
at that time the Glen of Baboons, a name changed by
Schmidt to Genadendal, the "Vale of Grace". His work
made such progress among the Hottentots, and he became
so much their champion in defending them against oppres-
sion by the Dutch settlers, that the Netherlands' East
India Company obliged him to leave Africa in 1743 and
return to Europe. After that there was a complete gap
in missionary settlement until 1792, when three German
Moravian missionaries sailed for the Cape of Good Hope
and re-established the Moravian mission in Genadendal,
where it persists to this day.

The London Missionary Society, which has played such
an important part in the opening up of South and Central

160

Missionary Pioneers 161

Africa, was founded in London by a body of non-denomi-
national Christians in 1795. Encouraged by the British
occupation of Cape Colony, they decided in 1798 to send
missionaries to South Africa, more especially with the idea
of placing them among the teeming populations of Kafir-
land, and the tribes of the unknown centre of Africa.
They chose, in 1798, as their principal agent a Dutch
physician, Van der Kemp, who had been ordained as a
clergyman at Oxford, and appointed to go out with him
a number of Englishmen, Dutchmen, and Germans;
among whom, for the importance of their exploring work,
may be mentioned Anderson, Read, Kicherer, and Ul-
bricht. Stations on the Tak River, Rietfontein, &c, and
at Klaar Water near the Orange River, were founded in
that no-man's-land, the Bushman's former domain, to the
north and south of the middle Orange River, which was
becoming known as " Grikwaland". Some of the Dutch
and Afrikander 1 missionary colleagues of Kicherer and
Anderson, associating themselves with the adventures of
Boer elephant hunters and traders, had penetrated into
Bechuanaland before the expedition of Triiterand Sommer-
ville reached that region. They stayed for some time at
Kuruman, but owing to troubles aroused by the suspicion
of the Bechuana they withdrew once more to Grikwaland.

Dr. Van der Kemp made his way far into Kafirland,
but being rather an impracticable fanatic he was driven

out by the Xosa Kafirs and settled instead at Bethelsdorp,
on Algoa Bay. Here, after twelve years of strenuous and
thankless work among idle Hottentots, he died. The Rev.
John Campbell, minister of Kingsland chapel in the
north of London, was sent out, with Read, to inspect and

1 Afrikander or Afrikaner means, in Cape Dutch, African-born, and is applied to
all white men born in South Africa and not in Europe.

(C587) 11

162 Pioneers in South Africa

extend the work started by Van der Kemp. 1 He reached
Cape Town in October, 1812.

On his arrival Campbell found Cape Town a thoroughly
slave-holding city; in fact, the movement which had begun
under the Dutch for the emancipation of slaves and the
employment of free labour was being actually checked
by the British authorities, most of them military men who
held rather retrograde views. An important element in
the town also were the Malays introduced by the Dutch
from Java. Many of these people were free men and
were earnest Muhammadans. They had already founded
mosques and were Muhammadanizing a number of the
Negro slaves by treating them with kindness and sympathy.
Campbell, however, notes that the Dutch and British in
the more settled parts of Cape Colony treated their slaves
kindly. The negro children were even put to school, and
were allowed to play with the white children of their
master's family. But as soon as they grew up they were
made to feel the rigour of their position. They were not
allowed to marry, and were often very much overworked.
Many of the slaves, however, had become Christians and
undoubtedly were of great service to the missionaries, who
either redeemed them or otherwise obtained their freedom;
they then served as interpreters with the natives of the
interior, whose languages they either knew already or
acquired with the linguistic facility of all types of Negro.

1 Dr. Van der Kemp marie many interesting researches into the botany of Cape
Colony, and was constantly trying experiments, one of which had a very curious result.
He was at that time suffering very badly from his eyes, one eye seeming to be so
diseased that it must shortly lose the power of sight. Whilst investigating a species
of euphorbia with an acrid, milky juice, a spurt of this white sap darted into the
diseased eye, causing the most excruciating pain. But in a short time the pain sub-
I and the eye was healed, the sight being perfectly restored. It would be interest-
ing if this fact recorded by Mr. Campbell could be followed up, for there may be a still
undiscovered drug to be derived from some South African euphorbia which would lie
a valuable eye medicine.

Missionary Pioneers 163

Campbell set out on his journey to Van der Kemp's
station of Bethelsdorp, on Algoa Bay, with two wagons,
and of course travelled after the fashion of the Boers.
There were twenty-four oxen to each wagon. They usually
halted from nine in the morning till the late afternoon,
because the heat in the midsummer season of South Africa
was almost insupportable. Campbell was often able to
sleep in the wagon, and therefore much appreciated the
night travel until the road became hilly, rocky, or sandy,
when he and his companions were obliged to walk for fear
lest the wagons be overturned. But he thoroughly en-
joyed this mode of travel — the pitching of the camp at ten
in the morning, the Hottentot servants soon afterwards
bringing to the white men grateful cups of coffee and milk,
til*- ramble round the precincts of the camp when the sun
became less fierce, and when they were able to see many
interesting beasts, birds, trees, and plants; then the hearty
meal of the early evening, and once more the journey
through the cool night. He noted in some places the
quantities of shells of tortoises, apparently the remains
(from all the information he could gather) of the feasts of
certain birds of prey, who, carrying up the tortoises to a
great height in their claws, let them fall on the hard rocks,
where they were smashed, after which their soft parts could
be more easily eaten. He observed the parasitic fig trees
arising from a minute seed dropped into a crack in the
bark of some big tree, which, germinating with the
moisture of the rainy season, soon became a clinging
parasite, and finally ended by choking its great host with
its innumerable roots and branches, and reigning in his
stead.

"At six in the evening the oxen are yoked to the
wagons ready to render us all the service in their power.

1 64 Pioneers in South Africa

They serve silently without ostentation, boasting, or desire
of reward ; allow them to eat grass and they ask no more.
During the night, after they have browsed awhile, they
draw round our wagons for safety and sleep."

The Boer farmers they met on the way he describes
as without mental resources, with no taste for reading,
and mostly without any books to read. "They have few
subjects, therefore, on which to converse, and consequently
are under the necessity of murdering time by smoking
pipe after pipe. I know not how many of them would
be able to consume their time were it not for the aid of
tobacco."

The Hottentot leader or head man of his party bore
the inappropriate name of Cupido. He was a very earnest
Christian and zealous convert, and fortunately on this
account absolutely refused to touch Cape brandy or any
other spirit such as had already begun to wreck the
constitutions of the Hottentot people. Campbell and his
fellow missionaries, however, were far from being fanatical
teetotallers. They had usually wine with them as a medi-
cine, and did not hesitate to prescribe it for sick natives.

From Bethelsdorp, in April, 1813, Campbell and his
party set out on a journey to the north. The appearance
of the country inland was beautiful, as it abounded with
hills, trees, and very verdant grass. They were travelling
through the borderland which was partly settled by Kafirs
and partly by the Gonakwa (Hottentot hybrids with the
Kafirs). On the plains the missionaries saw for the first time
springboks, which afforded great entertainment. These
graceful gazelles would leap six feet in height from the
ground at every spring, and in these jumps cover several
yards in length. However near a person might be to
them, so rapidly did they rise again and again that their

Missionary Pioneers 165

feet did not appear to touch the ground and their motion
resembled flying. They also saw droves of quaggas and
of eland. The road in places was strewn with the dung
of elephants. Farther on, nearer the seacoast, there were
ostriches and buffaloes. Now and again the caravan
stopped so that the meat from the slain animals might
be made into biltong. This was done by cutting the
flesh of the animals killed into thin slices, which were
then hung upon thorn trees so that they might be dried
in the sun ; after which the meat would keep for months,
if it were not allowed to get wet.

At Graaff Reynet, the farthest to the north-east of all
the towns or settlements founded under the Dutch rule
at the Cape, they met a remarkable personality, William
Burchell, who must be regarded as one of the noteworthy
pioneers in South African natural history research. He
had already returned from important journeys to the in-
terior of South Africa for the collection of fauna and flora,
though he had been preceded in Bechuanaland by Triiter
and Sommerville and by the unfortunate Dr. Cowan and
Lieutenant Donovan. 1 Campbell and his companions
crossed the range of the Sneeuwberg or Snow Mountains,
where the cold was sometimes severe. As they advanced
more towards the interior they began to come into contact
with lions, and on one occasion the wagons were stopped,
the wheels were chained, and the oxen secured, whilst the
Boers of the party boldly tackled a lion and lioness con-
cealed in the reeds. They killed the lioness, but only

1 In 1806 Lord Caledon, then Governor of the Cape, sent a party consisting of
Dr. Cohen, Lieutenant Donovan, twenty Hottentot soldiers of the Cape Regiment, a
Dutch Boer, and some other persons as interpreter to start from the north-eastern
boundaries of Cape Colony, and make their way across Africa to Mocambique. This
expedition reached the large Bechuana settlement of Litaku, but the whole party
was subsequently murdered by the Bawanketsi clan farther to the north-east, near
the modern town of Kolobefi.

166 Pioneers in South Africa

wounded her mate, who, though he fled from his pur-
suers, afterwards haunted the camp, with the desire, the
Boers said, of eating the body of his dead companion.
The Boers also told Campbell that the Bushmen when
pursued by lions would throw their children to these
ravenous beasts to save their own lives, and that this had
so fixed the lion's fancy on Bushman flesh that if in a
camp a white man and a Bushman lay sleeping side by
side, the lion would carry off the Bushman and leave the
white man alone. They also told Campbell that in this
particular district the lions killed more Bushmen than they
did sheep. In fact, from this and other stories, and the
present writer's own experience, one can well realize that
before the coming of the white man or the Arab with fire-
arms, the lions must have done much to keep down the
human population of many parts of Negro Africa.

To Campbell it seemed that the Bushmen whom he
now encountered in increasing numbers, as they passed
out of the Hottentot country into the regions within the
basin of the Orange River, possessed more lively and
interesting countenances than the Hottentots. They were
keenly intelligent and deeply interested in all the white
man could show them.

11 When preparing to shave, I held my looking-glass
before each of them. All expressed astonishment at be-
holding their faces, which they knew to be their own, by
opening their mouths wide and by holding out their
tongues. This they perceived to be done at the same
time by the figure in the glass. They turned away their
heads and held up their hands before their heads when
they first saw themselves, as if disgusted with the sight.
The woman, in order to be quite certain it was herself
she saw in the glass, turned round her babe, that was

Missionary Pioneers 167

tied to her back, and on seeing it also, she seemed
satisfied."

" When our wagon set off, one of the young Bushmen,
who had expressed a desire to accompany us to see other
lands, on condition that we should afterwards send him
back to his own country, rose up from the fire around
which his friends were sitting, without taking the smallest
notice of them, or bidding them farewell; indeed, one
would have thought by the manner of his departure, that
he intended to return in five minutes. I did not think
he was gone till one of our people told me he was in the
first wagon that had moved. Before parting, I took their
child in my arms for some time, stroked it and restored
it to the rightful owner. Not one of them had a name
except the father, whom they called Old Boy in their
language. I advised the woman to wash her face, which
was extremely dirty; but by a significant shake of her
head, she expressed aversion to such an operation : upon
which our Hottentots, by way of apology for her, said,
that Bushmen thought dirt upon their skin kept them
warm. Each of them had a jackal's tail fixed on a stick
to wipe the sweat from their faces in hot weather. They
had also a quiver of poisoned arrows. They had left the
old woman, the mother, in the cave where they had slept
during the night."

Campbell goes on to relate that this young Bushman's
volunteering to accompany them was providential. Had
he not been with the party they would frequently never
have found grass, water, or firewood, at night, for the way
as they approached the Orange River now led them over
exceedingly sterile country, and the whole party looked
on the Bushman as Elijah may be supposed to have
looked on the ravens who fed him in the wilderness.

1 68 Pioneers in South Africa

Nevertheless this red rocky country, so lacking in water
and seemingly so barren, was not without vegetation.
Heather grew in nooks and crannies, and where the
ground was less rocky the sandy soil contained quan-
tities of a crocus-like bulb, which when roasted tasted
like a chestnut and was excellent eating. This was called
the Bushman's plant, and by the Bushmen was known
as Ok.

The smell arising from the aromatic bushes crushed
down by the wagon wheels resembled that of an apothe-
cary's shop, yet it was hard indeed to find grass for the
oxen, who from time to time went for two and three days
without any proper food. After one such trial they came
to a group of thirteen peaked hills, and to their intense
relief observed smoke rising at the bottom of them. This
was a signal from their Hottentot horsemen that, aided
by the cunning little Bushman, they had found water,
and not only water, but plenty of grass, a most gratifying
sight to the travellers, who remembered their half-starved
oxen.

The caravan passed a small lake or pool, which they
called Burder's Lake, along the shores of which was an
immense variety of game, antelopes of numerous kinds,
quaggas, and ostriches. A quagga, having been only
wounded, ran away lame, but the Bushman, who was
very partial to quaggas' flesh, leaped from the wagon,
threw off his sheepskin, and ran after it. With great
exertion he threw a stone with such force that it sunk
into the beast's forehead. It staggered and fell. The
Bushman flung himself on it with his knife and stabbed
it to death. This shows what use primitive man could
make of stones as weapons.

But the expedition was now entering the country of the

Missionary Pioneers 169

Wild Bushmen, who were supposed to be absolutely inimical
to all persons, 1 white or black, and equally cruel to strange
Bushmen of other clans. Consequently their Bushman
guide without warning slithered away from them here,
and no doubt returned to his own country. In this land
the wagons had several narrow escapes from falling into
pits made by the Bushmen for catching beasts. These
were 5 or 6 feet deep, and at the bottom of them was
a poisoned stake, the mouth being concealed by a slight
covering of branches so cleverly strewn over with grass
that the unsuspecting man or beast walking over would
suddenly fall into the chasm below. 2

Approaching the Orange River, Campbell remarks that
the wagons passed over sand mixed with stones of various
kinds, "many of which would probably have been prized
by European lapidaries. A few of these I picked up."
Very probably he may all unconsciously have found some
of the diamonds which were afterwards to make this part
of South Africa world-famous, and to bring an abundant
population to a most desolate region, at that time only
scantily inhabited by Bushmen.

"Arriving at the summit of a long ascent, about two
o'clock, we had a view of the long-wished-for river.
The eyes of all were directed towards it, admiring its

1 Two brothers of the name of Bergover, half-caste Grikwa Hottentots, with their
families, were journeying north of the Orange River, about 1800, when they were
attacked by a party of Wild Bushmen, and one of the two brothers was killed. The
other defended the wagon with his gun, whilst the wives and children yoked the oxen.
Then he drove it, and defended it for a long time by firing off his musket with powder,
merely to frighten the Bushmen, not having time to load it with ball. But when he
reached a water-place, some of the Bushmen, who had got there before him, lay con-
cealed behind a bush and shot the man dead with their poisoned arrows. The con-
sternation of the two helpless widows and their children was paralysing when they saw
the only remaining man of the party breathe his last. At this crisis a landdrost, who
was travelling in the interior, came in sight with his caravan, and the wild Bushmen
made off without obtaining the plunder they had so eagerly desired.

2 See pp. 259-60.

170 Pioneers in South Africa

grand and majestic appearance, and expressing a strong-
desire to drink of its pure waters. . . . Everyone drank
eagerly till satisfied. Being accustomed to thick and
brackish water for weeks past, the party extolled the
purity and sweetness of the great river. Neither the
steepness of its banks nor the abundance of trees with
which they were covered, seemed any impediment to the
oxen approaching. They pushed eagerly forward till
their mouths reached it, when the rapid motion of every
tail indicated satisfaction and enjoyment. . . . The cattle
had thousands of acres of high grass at hand, to which
they constantly ran after quenching their thirst. The
river here was as broad as the Thames at London Bridge
and deep and rapid, so that the crossing with wagons
appeared a formidable operation."

Along the Orange River the Bushmen seem to have
been more amenable and friendly than in the wilder
district to the south, and the chief man of a Bushman
village came to offer his services to conduct the missionary
party to a ford across the river. He had no doubt already
made the acquaintance of Europeans, for he possessed cattle
and was accompanied by nine of his people riding on oxen.
He himself wore a hat, a short blue coat, and skin trousers,
and could speak something of the Dutch language. He
had, in fact, once been at a missionary settlement, but had
left it because polygamy was not permitted.

On the other side of the Orange River, Campbell first
made the acquaintance of the celebrated Wait-a-bit thorn.
This is a low-growing species of acacia {Acacia detinens,
as it had just been named by William Burchell), very
seldom in leaf, with its gnarled twigs and branches thickly
set with thorns exactly the shape of a fishing hook. " If
they catch hold of your clothes as you pass, you must stop

THE ORANGE RIVER (NAMAKWALAND)

C587

THE DRY BED OF A ONCE POWERFUL RIVER
IN NAMAKWALAND

Missionary Pioneers 171

awhile, sometimes a long while, before you can get clear
of them. . . . And clearing one arm from a thorn the other
is caught, and without the cautious assistance of a second
person there is no escaping the hold of these thorns except
by main force and losing part of your dress."

In this country on the north side of the Orange River
were Grikwa — Hottentot hybrids with Dutch settlers —
mostly possessing horses and riding them. Escorted
by these Christian Grikwa, Campbell and his party
reached the mission station, which was at a Grikwa
village, where a certain amount of civilization was evi-
dent, especially in agriculture. The people had small
gardens producing pumpkins, cabbages, beans, peas,
tobacco, Indian corn, and excellent potatoes. Plum and
peach trees were also tall and thriving, and a vineyard
had already begun to yield grapes. All this was due to
the work of the first missionaries, who had originally
been sent out in 1798 and had found their way in this
direction.

From Grikwaland, Campbell had resolved to make a
journey to a place called Litaku, at a considerable distance,
and in what we should now call Bechuanaland. This was
the region of the Birikwa, or goat-keeping Negroes, of
whom the white men had first heard from the Hotten-
tots: Negroes speaking a widespread group of Bantu
languages which are known by the general term of
Bechuana.

One hill that they passed on their way was called by
the Dutch-speaking half-castes Shining Mountain, for it
had great outcrops of a brilliant-red ferruginous clay and
a mineral substance, probably of a kind of manganese of
iron, which gleamed in the sun a bluish-grey, somewhat
the colour of lead in lead pencils. Campbell and his

172 Pioneers in South Africa

principal companion, Mr. Read, with the aid of the
Hottentots, explored a cave in this mountain which was
regarded as a mine by natives, especially Bechuana, who
came great distances to collect the bluish-black powder,
using it to rub into their hair and to decorate their bodies.
After having descended with some difficulty, the party
entered the bowels of the mountain with candles, and
soon lost sight of the world, sometimes wading halfway
up their legs in black lead dust. The arched roof was
full of projecting pieces of the gleaming metal, and large
caverns appeared on each side as they advanced. In some
places the roof of these caverns appeared to be carved into
pendentives, as in Moorish architecture; but on touching
this carved work it was found to be nothing but rows and
rows of sleeping bats, hanging one above the other from
the projections of the roof. It did not even awake them
to move them backwards and forwards, nor did they lose
their hold of the rocks to which they clung with the claws
of one hind leg. At the bottom of their descent the travellers
entered a vast cavern, the floor of which was strewn with
the bones of animals, and in parts with the traces of fires
having once been made in it. [It would be interesting to
know whether this mountain could be identified, as ex-
ploration of the caverns might reveal very interesting semi-
fossil remains of vanished beasts or of human types.] The
country they were traversing in this neighbourhood was
that of the Korana Hottentots, though it also contained
wandering Bushmen.

Kuruman was the place where at the very beginning of
the nineteenth century there had settled a Boer missionary
named John Mathias Kok, amongst the Matlapin people.
Kok, in shooting, but above all in trading with the natives,
had collected a great supply of ivory, with which he jour-

Missionary Pioneers 173

neyed to the Cape, where he obtained for it ^2000 or ^3000.
This he spent foolishly on horses, clothes, and worse ex-
travagances, before he returned to Kuruman, where he was
murdered in some obscure scuffle by the natives. His wife
(apparently a Hottentot half-caste) ran away to Cape Colony,
but subsequently returned on the entreaty of the Matlapin
chief, who had captured her husband's murderers. Pointing
them out to her, he said: "There they are at your mercy.
Take this assagay and stab them to death." But the woman
refused to avenge herself. Therefore the chieftain himself
seized the assagay and slew the murderers in her presence.
But apparently Kok left several half-caste descendants
behind him who figured in the history of this region during
the nineteenth century. The celebrated Adam Kok 1 who
was now accompanying Campbell was, however, the son
of Cornelius Kok, one of the earliest pioneers in Bechuana-
land (see p. 132).

The Matlapin people of Bechuana stock received
Campbell's caravan with friendliness and escorted it to
the headquarters of their principal chief at Litaku (about
60 miles north-east of Kuruman). They were all well
shaped, their bodies were painted red with the red clay
obtained from the "Blinklip" or "Shiny" Mountain, and
their hair was powdered with the blue sparkling mineral
powder from the caves already mentioned.

The approach to the important settlement of Litaku
showed the missionary travellers that they were entering
Bantu, agricultural Africa, for there were enclosed fields
of Indian corn or sorghum. They crossed the small
Litaku stream of excellent water, ascending rising ground
where many footpaths became visible, all converging in

1 There is a portrait of this man in my History and Description oj the British
Empire in Africa. National Society, 1911.

174 Pioneers in South Africa

one direction, and, reaching the summit of a hill, saw all
at once Litaku in a valley stretching about 3 or 4 miles
east to west. On descending the hill towards this African
city they were surprised at meeting no inhabitants except
two or three boys. But when they got to the entrance to
the principal street or lane a man appeared who made
signs for them to follow him. "Proceeding amidst the
houses, everything remained as still as if the town had
been forsaken of its inhabitants: this was the case till we
came opposite to the king's house, when we were con-
ducted into a square, formed by bushes and branches of
trees laid one above another, in which were several hun-
dreds of people assembled together, drawn up in military
order on the north side of the square. In a few minutes
the square was filled with men, women, and children, who
poured in from all quarters, to the number of a thousand
or more. The noise from so many tongues, bawling with
all their might, was rather confounding after being so
long accustomed to the stillness of the wilderness. We
were soon separated, and lost sight of each other in the
crowd. At first the women and children fled if we onlv
looked at them, but they gradually became bolder. I
observed some of the children, whose heads I had stroked,
throwing themselves in my way, that I might do it again;
when they looked at their more timid companions, as if
they had said: 'Are not we courageous?' The crowd so
increased, that we could hardly find out each other, and
wondered when we should be permitted to take some
refreshment We adopted a scheme, which after a while
answered our purpose; we drew up the wagons in the
form of a square, and placed our tent in the centre. We
were introduced to Munanetsi, the uncle, and to Salakutu, 1

1 The modern spelling for all these names is given.

Missionary Pioneers 175

the brother of the late King Malayabafi, who stood in the
middle of the spearmen. A house in the square, used by
them for some public purpose, was assigned to us for a
kitchen.

"On getting into our tent a crowd of the chief men
followed us and filled the tent to the outside, and the
square formed by our wagons was like a beehive, in which
the confused noise rendered conversation almost impos-
sible. On something being put down on our table, we
were agreeably surprised to find the crowd immediately
retire. Whether this proceeded from a sense of decorum,
or in consequence of orders from Munanetsi, the uncle and
deputy of the king, I could not learn.

"We were now completely at their mercy, and our oxen
had left the town for pasture; but we considered ourselves
safe. At the same time we judged it prudent to establish
a regular watch for the protection of our property."

Campbell, a short, ugly, dark-eyed Londoner, despite
his Scottish name, was a shrewd, quiet, plucky little man,
never flustered by boisterous savages, by a charging white
rhinoceros, or by prowling lions. He made excellent
sketches in black-and-white and water-colour, jotted down
specimens of languages and many notes on native customs
and history. On this journey of one and a half years (1812
to 1814) he travelled east from Kuruman and discovered
the Malalarin River — afterwards named the Vaal by the
Boers — and then journeyed through the Korana country,
down the Orange River to near the Atlantic coast, and
thence through Little Xamakwaland to Cape Town. He
revisited Bechuanaland a second time in 1818-20, and ex-
plored as far north as the Nwaketsi and Hurutse countries.

His impressions a hundred years ago of the region
north of the Orange River and near the Vaal (then called

176 Pioneers in South Africa

the Yellow or the Malalarin River), which was to become
the centre of the diamond-mining industry and dotted with
important towns, such as Kimberley, are worth recording.

"We kept close by the Yellow River. The first part
of the ride was uncommonly pleasant. The day was fine;
small parties of cattle, sheep, and goats were now and then
visiting the river to drink of its crystal water; the wide
stream glided silently along, as if afraid to interrupt our
discourse; the banks were ornamented with trees decked
in green and yellow. The whole scene appeared charm-
ing and enchanting, surpassing the heaven described by
Mahomet. In an hour we came unexpectedly on a Korana
kraal of sixty or seventy persons, dwelling in a beautiful
hollow, close by the river. . . . The Koranas are not con-
fined to any particular spot, but move up and down the
river as provision for their cattle is plentiful or scarce.
These people never heard of Europe or any of its distrac-
tions, but like hermits live without care . . . contented
with their ignorance of God . . . and of the rest of man-
kind. About a dozen women were busy in digging a
certain kind of root which emits a pleasant smell. This
they pound down and mix with their red paint and
grease. . . .

"In this part of Africa there are everywhere to be
found inexhaustible magazines of materials for rearing
great cities, especially stone, lime, and slate; there is also
a great river, adapted to navigation by small craft, which
seems providentially to prognosticate great things to
Africa; for the all-wise Creator makes nothing in vain.
If what He has made in one quarter does not suit the
purpose and pursuits of one generation, it may suit those
of another. At present all is lying as useless as the ruins
of Palmyra or Persepolis."

CHAPTER VIII
Moffat and Bechuanaland

Ix 1817 there came out to South Africa a very notable
personality amongst missionaries, the Rev. Robert Moffat,
born at Ormiston, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, who, in
January, 18 18, arrived at the head village of the Hotten-
tot chief, Christian Afrikaner, 1 in Great Namakwaland,
across the Orange River. But the constant drought
afflicting this region, the fickleness of the Hottentots, and
other unfavourable conditions made Moffat resolve to
journey to the north-east in search of a better populated,
more fertile region in which his work might progress on
a greater scale.

He travelled over a very sterile country, sandy from
the abundance of disintegrated granite, with outcrops of
ironstone, quartz, and slate. The hills in some places
presented a mass of confusion, the strata bending and
dipping from the perpendicular to the horizontal, and in
others extending in a straight line from one hill to the

1 The origin of the Afrikaners, who were in later days noteworthy Hottentot chiefs
in Great Namakwaland, is recounted by the Rev. J. Campbell and by Moffat. The
original Jager Afrikaner (here called Christian by the later name he received when
baptized) was the chief of a small clan of Hottentots who dwelt with his brothers and
people under the control of a Boer squatter named Pienaar, in the north-west of Cape
Colony. After enduring abominable ill treatment at the hands of Pienaar and his
friends, Afrikaner and his brothers rose in revolt, shot several Boers, and then fled to
the north of the Orange River, to Warmbad. They pursued the career of successful
bandits until tamed by the shrewd, kind, and manly young Moffat, who, though he
began life as a gardener, could turn his hand to many useful trades, could play the
violin, and was a very tolerable surgeon.

(C587) 177 12

178 Pioneers in South Africa

other. Native iron in a pure state was found in these
formations, and, what is very interesting to note, Moffat
also discovered embedded in the rocks large pieces of trees
in a fossil state, showing that this region must once have
been a well-watered forest country. The plains were in-
variably deep in sand, and there were even low hills con-
sisting of nothing but blown sand held together by sparse
vegetation. Nevertheless, though the country seemed so
desolate and devoid of vegetation, it swarmed with herds
of wild beasts. Zebras in thousands and quaggas in
hundreds were to be seen; giraffes were frequently met
with, thirty to forty together in a troop; besides elands,
kudus, and many species of smaller antelope. The rhino-
ceros was present, but scarce, and buffaloes had been
nearly destroyed since the natives had got guns.

Water was in general very scarce, sometimes stagnant
in small pools, and often covered with green froth. More
than once they had to dispute with lions the possession of
a pool. At one place they found the honey of wild bees
in the fissures of the rocks, which they ate with no little
relish. Soon afterwards, however, one of the Hottentots
of the party complained that his throat was becoming very
hot, then a second and a third, till all who had eaten felt
as if their throats were on fire. A wild Namakwa native
coming up and seeing the hands and faces of the mission-
ary and his Hottentot followers besmeared with honey,
remarked: "You had better not eat the honey of this
valley. Do you not see the poison bushes [euphorbia],
from the flowers of which the bees get honey, but also
poison too?" Alarmed at this, all members of the party
had recourse to the little water which remained in their
vessels to allay the terrible heat of their throats and
stomachs. But the immediate effect of the water was

Moftat and Bechuanaland 179

only to make them worse, and the pain became almost
unbearable, till by degrees it lessened, and at the end of
several days no one was any the worse, though for a time
they suffered with dizziness and sore throat.

Lions were as abundant proportionately as the herds
°f °i& g ame » and seemed more* inclined to attack the
giraffes than other beasts. Moffat was able to testify to
the truth of the following native story. Near a small
spring of water stood a low-growing acacia thorn tree,
about \2 feet high, with a flat, bushy top, and the thick
hedge of branches and twigs beset with the most terrible
long white thorns. The native who told him the story
was once, many years previously, coming to the fountain
for a drink, when he saw a giraffe browsing on the leafy
shoots of the acacia, whilst a lion was slowly creeping up
to him preparing to spring on to his neck. After eyeing
the giraffe for a few moments, the lion's body gave a quiver
and he bounded into the air, expecting to descend on the
neck of the giraffe; but at that moment the giraffe turned
aside abruptly, and the lion, missing his aim, performed
a curious somersault, and fell on his back in the centre
of the mass of thorns, like spikes, on which he was literally
impaled, whilst the giraffe bounded away unharmed. There
the lion lay for days, till he died of starvation, and the
vultures consumed all that was eatable, his bones and some
of his hair remaining still on the top of the tree, to be seen
by Moffat and noted in confirmation of the story. Moffat
remarks that the lion, having successfully bounded on to
the back of a giraffe, fixes his claws into each shoulder and
bites away at the vertebra? of the neck until he has severed
them, and the giraffe falls in a heap to the ground, often
laming the lion as he does so. Several giraffes shot by
Moffat showed the healed wounds of a lion's claws in their

i8o Pioneers in South Africa

shoulders and the marks of his teeth in the back of the
neck, proving that they were sometimes able to rid them-
selves of their enemy. The party was often exposed to
danger from lions. One night they were quietly camping
at a small pool on the Oup River. They had just closed
their evening worship and were finishing the final psalm,
when a terrific roar was heard, and the trek oxen, which
before had been quietly chewing the cud, rushed through
the camp, knocking everyone down, putting out the fires,
scattering hats, hymnbooks, bibles, and guns in wild
confusion. But through the bravery of the chief, Afri-
kaner, who had armed himself with a firebrand, the lion
was driven away, and the oxen were finally brought back.

But interesting as this region may have been to the
explorer and the naturalist, it offered no safe or easy access
to a dense population, therefore Moffat eventually returned
to Cape Town, accompanied by Christian Afrikaner. In
Cape Town he married Mary Smith, the daughter of a
former employer of Moffat in Lancashire; and after various
delays proceeded to Bechuanaland through the Grikwa
country, settling at the Kuruman River in 182 1 with his
wife and children, the eldest of whom was afterwards to
become the wife of Livingstone.

The native customs, especially the ceremonies carried
out when young girls were growing into women, and boys
into manhood, and, above all, the condition of the women
and polygamy, were all great obstacles at first in the way
of the teaching work of the mission, the Bechuana men
being very jealous lest the mission influence should rouse
the women to assert themselves. Going to war, hunting,
watching the cattle, milking the cows, and the making of
karosses or mantles were the men's occupations. The
women had the heavy tasks of all the agricultural work and

Moffat and Bechuanaland 181

the raising of food crops, building the houses, planting the
fences, searching for and bringing in firewood, and all this
time, of course, having to care for their children, seldom
being without a babe fastened to their backs whilst cultivat-
ing the ground, sowing and weeding their gardens, and
tving up great bundles of firewood. The women at first
were perfectly amazed at being told that they might be
happier in a single state or in widowhood, instead of as
mere concubines or drudges of a haughty husband, who
spent the latter part of his life in lounging in the shade,
while his wives were compelled to labour under the rays
of an almost vertical sun in a tropical climate.

Their houses, which required considerable ingenuity as
well as hard labour to build, were entirely the work of the
women, who were thankful to carry home even the heavier
timbers if their husbands would only take their axes and
fell them in the thicket, which might be many miles distant.
The centre of the conical roof was, in many houses, 18 feet
high, and it required no little scrambling, in the absence
of ladders, for females to climb such a height; but the men
passed and repassed and looked on with the utmost in-
difference. It never entered their heads that their wife,
their daughter, or their mother might fall and break a leg
or neck. These houses did not last long, required great
labour to keep them constantly in repair, and were not
very well adapted to the climate of hot summers and cold
winters. They admitted little light — which was not desir-
able in hot weather, as it attracted millions of house flies —
and during the winter season they proved to be uncom-
fortably airy and cold. Yet they were far superior in
structure to the Hottentot or Kafir dwellings.

"While standing near, the wife of one of the grandees",
wrote Moffat, "was, with some female companions, building

182 Pioneers in South Africa

a house, and making preparations to scramble by means
of a branch on to the roof. I remarked to the women
that they ought to get their husbands to do that part
of the work. This set them all into a roar of laughter;
Mahuto, the queen, and several of the men drawing near
to ascertain the cause of the merriment. The wives re-
peated my strange and, to them, ludicrous proposal, when
another peal of mirth ensued. Mahuto, who was a sensible
and shrewd woman, stated that the plan, though hopeless,
was a good one, as she often thought our custom was much
better than theirs. It was reasonable that Woman should
attend to household affairs and the lighter parts of labour,
while Man, wont to boast of his superior strength, should
employ his energy in more laborious occupations; adding,
she wished I would give their husbands medicine to make
them do the work."

Before Moffat had been long a resident in southern
Bechuanaland he discovered that the weather was as
engrossing a topic as it is in England, only there it was
not a lament over the lack of sunshine, but a constant
demand for more rain. Increasing drought was making
the country uninhabitable. Frequent thunderstorms oc-
curred in the springtime of the year, but they were dry
whirlwinds of dust accompanied by much electric dis-
turbance. " During tremendous thunderstorms, I have
known the natives of Namakwaland shoot their poisoned
arrows at the lightning in order to arrest the destructive
fluid. I knew a man who, though warned of the danger
of this practice, persisted, and was struck dead by the
lightning. I have also heard of Bushmen throwing old
shoes at the lightning, or anything they may happen to lay
hold of." Another trouble arose from the "rainmakers",
and the appeals to the missionaries to vie with them in

Moffat and Bechuanaland 183

producing rain in a land wherein crops were withered, live
stock were starving, and starvation was menacing. The
rainmaker or magician — who was also the sorcerer-
medicine-man of the tribe, and sometimes the chief crafts-
man — was, until something aroused the people to a sense
of his want of power, the most important person amongst
the Bechuana nations. When specially lucky in foretell-
ing or "producing" rain, he was more powerful than any
king or chief. The rainmaker was not only a priest and
a doctor, but also the sexton of the district, and without his
orders no dead person might be buried. Corpses often lay
outside the villages, to be devoured by hyenas and jackals,
because these functionaries insisted on elaborate ceremonies
accompanying the burial of a dead person. Yet although
in this and other parts of South Africa the graves were
frequently furnished with supplies of food and little shelters
(apparently with the idea that the spirit still survived and
might need nourishment and a refuge), the rainmakers
and medicine-men did not believe in a life after death.
" What is the difference", they would ask Moffat, pointing
to their dogs, "between me and that animal? You say
I am immortal. Then why not my dog or my ox? They
die. Do you see their souls? What is the difference
between man and the beasts? None; except that man is
the greater rogue of the two."

At the time of Moffat's first settlement at Kuruman
seven years of comparative drought had succeeded one
another, and the natives, "tenacious of their faith in the
potency of man, held a council, and passed resolutions to
send for a rainmaker of renown from the Bahurutsi tribe,
200 miles north-east of the Kuruman station. Rainmakers
have always most honour among a strange people, and
therefore they are generally foreigners." The one in

1 84 Pioneers in South Africa

question had been very successful among the Bahurutsian
mountains, which, lying near the sources of those rivers
emptying themselves into the Indian Ocean, were visited
not only with great thunderstorms, but steady rains coming
from the under strata of clouds (which the natives call
female ones) that rested on the summits of the hills. The
ambassadors received their commission with the strictest
injunction not to return without the man; they were to
offer lucrative pay and to make lavish promises. The rain-
maker soon succumbed to these allurements, a result which
was not surprising; for the envoys assured him that, "if
he would only come to the land of the Batlapin, and open
the teats of the heavens — which had become as hard as
stone — cause the rains to fall and quench the flaming
ground, he should be made the greatest man that ever
lived ; his riches should be beyond all calculation ; his
flocks covering the hills and plains; he should wash his
hands in milk, while all would exalt him in the song, and
mothers and children would call him blessed".

When a period had elapsed sufficient to allow the
messengers time to return, it was rumoured through the
town that they had been murdered, a common event in
those days. "The gloom which this cast over the native
mind formed a striking contrast to the dazzling rays
pouring forth from an almost vertical sun blazing in a
cloudless sky. The heavens had been as brass, scarcely
a cloud had been seen for months, even on the distant
horizon. Suddenly a shout was raised, and the whole
town was in motion. The rainmaker was approaching.
Every voice was raised to the highest pitch with acclama-
tions of enthusiastic joy. He had sent a harbinger to
announce his approach, with peremptory orders for all the
inhabitants of the town to wash their feet. Everyone

Moffat and Bechuanaland 185

seemed to fly in swiftest obedience to the adjoining river.
Noble and ignoble, even the girl who attended to our
kitchen fire, ran. Old and young ran. All the world
could not have stopped them. By this time the clouds
began to gather, and a crowd went out to welcome the
mighty man who, as they imagined, was now collecting
in the heavens his stores of rain. Just as he was descend-
ing the height into the town, the immense concourse
danced and shouted so that the very earth rang, and at
the same time the lightnings darted, and the thunders
roared in awful grandeur. A few heavy drops fell, which
produced the most thrilling ecstasy on the deluded multi-
tude, whose shoutings baffled all description. Faith hung
upon the lips of the impostor, while he proclaimed aloud
that this year the women must cultivate gardens on the
hills, and not in the valleys, for these would be deluged.
"After the din had somewhat subsided, a few indivi-
duals came to our dwellings to treat us and our doctrines
with derision. ' Where is your God? ' one asked with a
sneer. We were silent. He continued, ' Have you not
seen our Morimo? 1 Have you not beheld him cast from
his arm his fiery spears, and rend the heavens? Have
you not heard with your ears his voice in the clouds?'
adding, with an interjection of supreme disgust: 'You
talk of Jehovah, and Jesus, what can they do?' " How-
ever, the rainmaker himself visited the mission and
proved to be an affable person, with a certain dignity
and politeness of manner. He avoided quarrelling with
the missionaries as much as possible, and accepted small
presents of tobacco from them. But for a long time his
efforts to induce the clouds to form and distil the longed-
for moisture were unsuccessful. The Kuruman people

1 God, great spirit.

i86 Pioneers in South Africa

began to lose faith in him. He then angrily declared
that as they had only given him goats and sheep for
presents he could only make " goat-rain ", but that if
they would provide him with a fat ox he would let them
see " ox-rain". One day, when he was taking a sound
sleep, a shower did fall, upon which one of the principal
men of the town went to his hut to congratulate him, but
found him fast asleep and insensible to what was hap-
pening. "Halloo, by my father, I thought you were
making rain," said the intruder. The medicine-man
awoke, and taking in the situation, and seeing his wife
shaking a milk-sack in order to obtain a little butter to
anoint her hair, he replied, pointing to the operation of
churning: " Do you not see my wife churning rain as fast
as she can?"

This reply gave entire satisfaction. However, the mois-
ture caused by the little shower was soon dried up, and
many long weeks followed without a single cloud. The
rainmaker, getting anxious as to his personal safety, tried
to put off the angry people with one pretext and another.
Once he said that he could not make the proper sacrifice
for rain unless he possessed a baboon "without any
blemish ", knowing, as he proposed this, that baboons
were wary and extremely difficult to catch; nevertheless
a large party of young men set out for the neighbouring
hills, and with great difficulty actually did capture and
bring in alive a young baboon. But the rainmaker,
pointing to one of its ears, which had a deep scratch,
declared it was no good, as it did not answer to his
description. There was, however, one infallible method,
&c., &c, and that was the roasting and eating of a lion's
heart. This seemed at such a moment even more difficult
to procure than a living baboon without a blemish.

Moffat and Bechuanaland 187

Nevertheless, by a coincidence, a lion was seen in the
neighbourhood. A large party of men started out to
pursue it, and succeeded in killing it with a gun. They
returned, "singing a great chorus of victory, which wells
up from their deep chests on such an occasion ". The
heart was roasted and eaten, but no rain fell. The rain-
maker did not hesitate next to implicate the missionaries,
Moffat and Hamilton, saying it was their white faces or
their long beards that scared away the clouds. But for
the fact that so many women had grown to like the
missionaries for their kindness and their medical care,
and that in some way they possessed the respect of the
chief Mothibi, the vengeance of the drought-stricken
people might have fallen on them instead of on the fraudu-
lent rainmaker. As it was, however, all the women's
influence set in the direction of killing and eating the
rainmaker, who had disappointed all their hopes and
consumed so much of their property. They would have
carried out their purpose but for the intervention of Moffat,
who went straight to the king, Mothibi, and his council,
charged them with the contemplation of this deed, and
begged for the rainmaker's life. It was actually granted
to him, the king himself escorting the rainmaker a con-
siderable distance on his homeward journey.

Still the rain did not fall, and now the people in their
anguish turned on the missionaries. The drought must be
due to their coming into the country and upsetting all the
former religious beliefs, and thus offending the God of the
Sky. At last they were told that it was the determination
of the chiefs of the tribe that they should leave the country.
The head man who gave the message raised a quivering
spear in his right hand, which, it seemed, little restrained
him from hurling at Mrs. Moffat, who stood at the door

1 88 Pioneers in South Africa

of her cottage with a baby in her arms. The missionaries
refused to go: the natives might kill them or burn down
their houses if they liked; they believed that they would
not injure their women or their children. The Bechuana
chiefs said: "These men must have ten lives, when they
are so fearless of death ; there must be something in
immortality ".

Then the people talked of the happy days of the far past,
traditions of which had been handed down by their an-
cestors, of the floods of ancient times, the incessant showers
which clothed the very rocks with verdure, and the giant
trees and forests which once studded the brows of the hills
and neighbouring plains. They boasted of the Kuruman
and other rivers, with their impassable torrents, in which
the hippopotami played, while the lowing herds walked to
their necks in grass, filling their milk-sacks with milk,
making every heart to sing for joy.

Moffat was a shrewd philosopher. He pointed out
that these long periods of drought had devastated the
country for a century or more before the arrival of the
missionaries, and that the whole of the land between the
Orange River and the Kalahari Desert presented to the
eye of a European something like an old neglected garden
or field. The innumerable immense stumps and roots of
what had once been tall acacia trees testified to the exis-
tence of former forests. He pointed to the few milk-
woods 1 and a variety of shrubs, all of which were held
sacred by the natives in the fear that if they were cut
down rain would desert the country. He told them that
they had adopted this superstition too late, that they
and their ancestors had been a nation of levellers, cutting
down every species of tree without regard to scenery or

1 Sideroxylon.

Moffat and Bechuanaland 189

economy, in order to build their houses and fences, and
to procure for themselves firewood, and to burn them in
clearing the ground for cultivation ; also, to deprive the
birds (who might otherwise feed on their grain) of any
shelter. Their bush fires which destroyed the grass in the
dry season equally destroyed the saplings which might
some day have grown into tall trees. In short, he de-
livered to them an excellent lecture on the influence which
the destruction of forest has on climate. 1 Although no
rain seems to have fallen at this time, the crisis of the
natives' hostility had passed, owing to the missionary's
bold attitude.

Soon afterwards Moffat determined to make a journey
to the north, to try to get into touch with Makaba, the
chief of the Bafiwaketsi, a powerful Bechuana tribe on
the borders of the Zambezi watershed. He therefore de-
cided, against the wish of Mothibi, to start on this journey
to the north. By so doing he came into touch with the
outlying stragglers of an extraordinary horde of maddened
Negroes, the Mantati or Mantatisi — really a section of the
Batlokoa tribe.

The Mantatisi were the followers of a Negro chieftainess
of the Basuto country far to the south-east. 2 According
to the fashion of all the Bechuana clans, she was called,
after the name of her eldest child, Ma-ntatisi, or the
"mother of Ntatisi ", just as Mrs. Moffat at that period

1 Moffat, in fact, shows conclusively that much of the disforesting of South
Africa, and the consequent creation of deserts, has been the work of man rather than
of any natural agency.

' Basutoland — once an extensive region between the Vaal River and the northern
slopes of the Kwathlamba or Drakensberg Mountains — was perhaps 200 to 300 years
ago peopled only by Bushmen. Then there drifted into it from the Transvaal
numbers of Bechuana emigrants, mostly refugees from tribal disturbances. These
emigrants belonged to all the principal Bechuana clans, and gradually they consoli-
dated into one nation, known as the Basuto, or "Brown", people from their lighter
skin colour.

190 Pioneers in South Africa

was called Ma-mary, or "the mother of Mary" (the future
wife of David Livingstone), who herself, many years later,
was known as Ma-robert, "the mother of Robert". The
Basuto country, some years before, had been invaded by a
clan of Kafirs known as the Amahluti, who were followed
up by their enemies the Amangwane, who in turn were pur-
sued by a horde of Zulus under Umsilikazi. Maddened
with terror, this section of the Basuto, the followers of
Mantatisi (who, it was said, in their famine had become
cannibals), fled wildly to the north-west, beyond the Lim-
popo. From being pursuers they gradually settled down
to becoming ravagers and conquerors on their own ac-
count; and, partly through the despair of famine, they had
devastated a good deal of the Bechuana country to the
east of the Kuruman district, and were now turning back
from the north and carrying their ravages westwards.
The extraordinary course they had pursued had led some
people to imagine they were a cannibal tribe of Central
Africa coming down from the north, but their real history
was as related. 1

After consultation with the chief men at Kuruman,
Moffat proceeded to the limits of Cape Colony, and

1 Moffat describes the Mantatisi as a tall, robust people, in features resembling the
other Bechuana tribes. Their dress consisted of prepared ox hides, hanging double
over the shoulders. The men during a battle were nearly naked, having on their
a round cockade of black ostrich feathers. Their ornaments were large copper
rings, sometimes eight in number, worn round their necks, with numerous arm-, leg-,
and ear-rings of the same material. Their weapons were war axes of various shapes,
spears, and clubs; into many of their knob-sticks were inserted pieces of iron resem-
bling a sickle, but mof curved, sometimes to a circle, and sharp on the outside.
Their language was only one of the several Sechuana dialects. Moffat understood them
nearly .is well as the people among whom he lived. They appeared more rude and
barbarous than the tribes farther west, but they were formerly part of the Batlokoa
clan of the northern Transvaal. Although their ferocious cannibalism was the out-
come of the disorganized state of Basutoland, they and most of the Bechuana clans
■ : ir eating human flesh in their nature. Even the more civilized
Batlapifi of Kuruman and I.itaku ate portions of the bodies of men slain in battle. A
section of tlokoa became known as tli-' Makololo, and under Mantatisi's son,

;>iane, conquered the upper Zambezi regions.

Moffat and Bechuanaland 191

returned with a force of iooo Grikwa (Hottentot half-
castes), who had received a certain amount of discipline
and training in the use of arms from the English and the
Boers. With this force and the Bechuana of Kuruman
the Mantatisi were attacked with firearms. Though at
first resisting the attack with the bravery of despair, the
Mantatisi horde left their encampment and attempted to
retreat. "At this moment an awful scene was presented
to the view. The undulating country around was covered
with warriors, all in motion, so that it was difficult to say
who were enemies or who were friends. Clouds of dust
were rising from the immense masses, who appeared flying
with terror, or pursuing with fear. To the alarming con-
fusion was added the bellowing of oxen, the vociferations
of the yet unvanquished warriors, mingled with the groans
of the dying, the widows' piercing wail, and the cries from
infant voices." Moffat estimated there must have been
40,000 of these Mantatisi divided into two great armies.

"As soon as they had retired from the spot where
they had been encamped, the Bechuana (Batlapin), like
voracious wolves, began to plunder and dispatch the
wounded men, and to butcher the women and children
with their spears and war axes. As fighting was not my
province, of course I avoided discharging a single shot,
though, at the request of Mr. Melvill and the chiefs, I re-
mained with the commando, as the only means of safety.
Seeing the savage ferocity of the Bechuana, in killing the
inoffensive women and children, for the sake of a few
paltry rings, or of being able to boast that they had killed
some of the Mantatisi, I turned my attention to the objects
of pity, who were flying in consternation in all directions.
By my galloping in among them, many of the Bechuana
were deterred from their barbarous purposes. It was

192 Pioneers in South Africa

distressing to see mothers and infants rolled in blood, and
the living babe in the arms of a dead mother. All ages
and both sexes lay prostrate on the ground.

"Shortly after they began to retreat, the women, seeing
that mercy was shown them, instead of flying, generally
sat down, and, baring their bosoms, exclaimed: 'I am
a woman, I am a woman!' It seemed impossible for the
men to yield. There were several instances of wounded
men being surrounded by fifty Bechuana, but it was not
till life was almost extinct that a single one would allow
himself to be conquered. I saw more than one instance of
a man fighting boldly, with ten or twelve spears and arrows
fixed in his body. The cries of infants which had fallen
from the breasts of their mothers, who had fled or were
slain, were distinctly heard, while many of the women ap-
peared thoughtless as to their dreadful situation. Several
times I narrowly escaped the spears and war axes of the
wounded, while busy in rescuing the women and children.
The men, struggling with death, would raise themselves
from the ground, and discharge their weapons at anyone
of our number within their reach: their hostile and re-
vengeful spirit only ceased when life was extinct. Con-
templating this deadly conflict, we could not but admire
the mercy of God that not one of our number was killed,
and only one slightly wounded. One of the Batlapin lost
his life while too eagerly seeking for plunder. The slain of
the enemy was between 400 and 500."

The years of drought which had afflicted southern
Bechuanaland at the commencement of Moffat's mission
work had been at length followed, in 1826, by plentiful
rains, which once more restored some semblance of verdure
and a tolerable abundance of vegetation to these bleak
plains. But this relief was soon followed by anotJier plague

Moffat and Bechuanaland 193

— swarms of locusts. They had not been known in the
country for more than twenty years, but now came from
the north, passing over the land like an immense cloud
extending upwards to a considerable height into the atmos-
phere, and making an ominous rustling noise with their
wings. They always proceeded in the direction of the
wind, those in advance descending to eat anything they
alighted upon, and rising in the rear as the cloud ad-
vanced beyond them. "They have no king," wrote
Moffat, " but they go forth, all of them, by bands, and are
gathered together in one place every evening, where they
rest, and from their immense numbers they weigh down
the shrubs, and lie at times one on the other, to the depth
of several inches. In the morning when the sun begins
to diffuse warmth, they take wing, leaving a large extent
without one vestige of verdure; even the plants and shrubs
are barked. . . . When a swarm alights on gardens, or
even fields, the crop for one season is destroyed. . . .
They eat not only tobacco, but everything vegetable, also
flannel and linen."

But these swarms at any rate provided some nourish-
ment for the other animal inhabitants of this desolated
land. The great flights of locusts were followed up in their
passage over the country by serpents, lizards, frogs, kites,
vultures, crows, and numerous large insect-eating birds.
Whenever a cloud of locusts alighted at a place not far
distant from a native town or village, the natives turned
out with sacks and even with pack oxen, and returned to
their homes with millions of locusts, which were soon
afterwards prepared for eating by being boiled, or rather
steamed, in a large pot with a little water, closely covered
up. After boiling for a short time they were taken out and
spread on mats in the sun to dry. Then, by winnowing,

(C587) 13

194 Pioneers in South Africa

they were rid of their legs and wings, and were after-
wards packed into sacks or thrown in heaps on the clean
floors of huts. The natives either ate them whole with
a little salt, or pounded them in a wooden mortar into a
kind of meal, which they afterwards mixed with water and
made into a cold porridge of locusts. On food like this
the natives would become fat, and even the missionaries
did not refuse to eat the locusts; for, when well fed on new
vegetation, they were " as good as shrimps". 1

But there was one species, with reddish wings, which
was an unmitigated plague, because it was not eatable.
This type of locusts, larger than the others, was much
more destructive, especially in the immature stage before
it could fly. The eggs of the mature individuals would be
laid in the sand, where they would remain in a dormant
condition, not hatching until rain had fallen, which at the
same time produced the vegetation for the minute larva?
to feed on. In the course of a few weeks they grew rapidly
in size, and were a dark-reddish colour, quite unable to fly.
They progressed by hopping, and when they set out on
their migrations in search of food the dust of the semi-
desert for miles around would appear to be alive with these
ugly, hopping creatures. Nothing but a very broad and
rapid river could arrest their progress. They were able to
swim any small stretch of water. Even a line of fire was
no barrier, as they leapt into it until it was extinguished,
after which the survivors in the rear walked over the dead
vanguard. Walls and houses formed no impediment;
these insects could climb perpendicularly or obliquely. "It
is enough to make the inhabitants of a village turn pale to
hear that they are coming in a straight line to their gardens."

1 Livingstone does not quite endorse this praise. He intimates that boiled locusts
were repulsive and the fried ones just bearable.

Moffat and Bechuanaland 195

At the end of 1826 Moffat set out on a long journey to
the north, to visit the country of the Barolon, on the Molopo
River. His route lay over a wild and dreary country in-
habited scantily by the Balala nomad tribe, referred to on
p. 42. 1 On the night of the third day's journey, having
halted at a pool on the lonely plain, his men let loose the
weary oxen to drink and graze. But as there was no sign
of native habitation, it occurred to them that the pool might
be frequented by lions, and on inspecting it by the light of
firebrands they discovered abundant traces to show that
these beasts resorted thither in large numbers, no doubt to
attack wild game as well as to drink. Moffat immediately
saw to the driving in of the oxen and their being fastened
to the wagon with the strongest thongs, lest they should
stampede at the sight or smell of a lion. Their Barolon
guides had with them a young cow, which Moffat advised
them to tie up in a similar manner, but they would not
take the trouble to do so.

The consequence was that, soon after Moffat had retired
to the wagon to undress and sleep, a lion seized this un-
attached cow and dragged it to a distance of 30 or 40
yards, where it at once set to work eating the animal
alive, breaking its bones whilst it still bellowed with
fright and agony. Moffat aimed at the spot where the
devouring jaws of the lion could be heard munching
and cracking, and fired again and again with his gun, an
attack to which the lion replied with tremendous roars
and rushes at the wagon. The two Barolon men with
great courage took firebrands, advanced a few yards,

•The Balala (the " poor ones"), like the Ba-kalahari, were classes of outcast nomadic
Rechuana who wandered as hunters and herdsmen on the outskirts of the Kalahari and
Namakwa deserts. They were by tradition the descendants of the first Bantu invaders
of central South Africa, and had mingled their blood with the preceding Bushmen and
adopted their habits.

196 Pioneers in South Africa

and hurled them at the lion; but the flames went out,
and the enraged beast rushed at them with such swift-
ness that Moffat had barely time to fire again without
shooting the men. The lion then returned to continue
his meal, everyone in the camp having decided to let
him alone. As there was no firewood, however, and
the maintenance of the fire was absolutely necessary for
the safety of the camp, Moffat himself stole out to the
edge of the pool to collect dry sticks, hoping that the
lion would be too busy eating to take any notice of him.

But looking up towards the skyline of the pool's rim
he saw four large, round, hairy-headed lions, "appearing,
as they always do in the dark, twice the usual size ", look-
ing at him. He was obliged to retreat on hands and knees
to his wagon, going somewhat out of his way to warn one
of his men who was also out searching for firewood. This
man he found paralysed with terror, pointing to the glow-
ing eyes of two lions and a lion cub eyeing them from
another direction. However, they managed to get back
to the wagon and sat down to keep their scanty fire
alive, whilst the first lion could still be heard tearing
and devouring his prey. If any of the other seven lions
dared approach, he would pursue them for some paces with
a horrible howl, which made the unfortunate oxen tremble.

Before the day had dawned the lion had consumed the
whole of the meat off this cow's carcass, and in addition
dragged away with him the head, backbone, leg bones,
and entrails of the cow, as well as the two firebrands
which had been thrown at him! He left nothing behind
but a few fragments of bone. The portions which he
dragged and carried away he deposited in a thicket of
thorn bushes, into which he retired to sleep.

11 I had often heard how much a large, hungry lion

Moffat and Bechuanaland 197

could eat, but nothing less than a demonstration would
have convinced me that it was possible for him to have
eaten all the flesh of a good heifer, and many of the
bones, for scarcely a rib was left, and even some of the
marrow bones were broken as if with a hammer."

The next day was a Sunday, and Moffat broke his rule
of not travelling on the day of rest because of the absolute
necessity of leaving such a dangerous place. After some
hours' slow progress he arrived at a miserable encampment
of the hungry Balala. They only regretted that the lion
should have had such a feast while they were so hungry.
" I talked long to them, to convince them that there was
something else beyond eating and drinking, which ought
to command our attention." "This was to them inexpli-
cable, while the description I gave of the character of God,
and our sinful and helpless condition, amused them only,
and extorted some expressions of sympathy, that a Khosi
(king), as they called me, should talk such foolishness."
"The people were kind, and my blundering in the lan-
guage gave rise to many bursts of laughter. Never in one
instance would an individual correct a word or sentence
till he or she had mimicked the original so effectually
as to give great merriment to others. They appeared
delighted with my company, especially as I could, when
meat was scarce, take my gun and shoot a rhinoceros
or some other animal, when a night of feasting and
talking . . . would follow. . . . Bogachu, whom I might
call my host, daily allowed me a little milk for tea. He
was an interesting character, and though not tall had great
dignity about his person, as well as much politeness of

manner."

But the people gave very little attention to Moffat's
preaching and teaching, and would gravely ask him if

198 Pioneers in South Africa

he was in earnest and really believed what he was saying.
"One day while describing the day of judgment, several
of my hearers expressed great concern at the idea of all
their cattle being destroyed, together with their ornaments.
They never for one moment allow their thoughts to dwell
on death, which is according to their views nothing less
than an annihilation. Their supreme happiness consists
in having abundance of meat. Asking a man who was
more grave and thoughtful than his companions what
was the finest sight he could desire, he instantly replied:
'A great fire covered with pots full of meat;' adding,
'how ugly the fire looks without a pot!'

"Having once shot a rhinoceros, the men surrounded
it with roaring congratulation. In vain I shouted that it
was not dead ; a dozen spears were thrust into it, when up
started the animal in a fury, and tearing up the ground
with his horn, made everyone fly in terror. These animals
were very numerous in this part of the country; they are
not gregarious, more than four or five being seldom seen
together, though I once observed nine following each other
to the water. They fear no enemy but man, and are fear-
less of him when wounded and pursued. The lion flies
before them like a cat; the mohohu, the largest species,
has been known even to kill the elephant, by thrusting
the horn into his ribs. The genus is called by the
Bechuana, Chukuru; and the three distinct species have
more than once been pointed out to me when they have
all been within sight, the mohohu, kheitlua, and the
borila or kenengyane. 1 The last, though the smallest with

■There are really only two species of rhinoceros in Africa at the present day: the
White or Square-lipped [Rhinocena Hmus) and the Black or Pointed-lipped. The so-

■ 1 " White" ihinoceros is bigger than the Black and has a longer front horn. The
Black rhinoceros (Ketiloa) has a smaller local variety called the Horele or Kenengyane.
See pp. 2 ) ; 6 and 311.

Moffat and Bechuanaland 199

the shortest horns, is the most fierce, and consequently
they are the last that retire from populous regions, while
the other species, owing to their more timid habits, seek
the recesses of the interior wilds."

The following is a picturesquely described episode in
big-game hunting. Being in want of food to supply his
caravan as well as his friends in the village, Moffat went
one night, accompanied by two of the Balala, to a pool
near the native village where the cattle were generally
watered in the daytime. It was half-moonlight and rather
cold. They remained lying in a hollow spot near the
spring for two hours without anything happening, then
a loud lapping at the water announced the arrival of
thirsty lions, who, having satisfied their thirst, fortunately
withdrew.

"Our next visitors were two buffaloes, one immensely
large. My wagon driver, Mosi, who also had a gun,
seeing them coming directly towards us, begged me to
fire. I refused, having more dread of a wounded buffalo
than of almost any other animal. He fired; and though
the animal was severely wounded, he stood like a statue
with his companion, within ioo yards of us, for more
than an hour, waiting to see us move, in order to attack
us. We lay in an awkward position for that time, scarcely
daring to whisper; and when he at last retired we were so
stiff with cold, that flight would have been impossible had
an attack been made. We then moved about till our blood
began to circulate. Our next visitors were two giraffes;
one of these we wounded. A troop of zebras next came;
but the successful instinct of the principal stallion — who
surveyed the precincts of the water, galloping round in
all directions to catch any strange scent, and returning
to the troop with a whistling noise to announce danger —

200 Pioneers in South Africa

set them off at full speed. The next was a huge rhino-
ceros, which, receiving a mortal wound, departed. Hear-
ing the approach of more lions, we judged it best to leave;
and after a lonely walk of 4 miles through bushes, beset
with hyenas and jackals, we reached the village, when I
felt thankful, resolving never to hunt by night at a water-
pool, till I could find nothing to eat elsewhere. Next day
the rhinoceros and buffalo were found, and afforded us a
plentiful supply."

Having reached the Barolon country, Moffat, amongst
other new acquaintances, met with the refugees of the
Bahurutsi clan from the north-western parts of the vast
range of the Bechuana tribes. The Bahurutsi are said
(though some deny it) to have given their name to the
Barotse country along the Upper Zambezi, by having
occupied that region in a successful raid at the beginning
of the nineteenth century. More in touch with northern
Bechuanaland and the Zambezi region, and consequently
with the older civilization of metal working which existed
there, some of the Bahurutsi refugees were superior in
intelligence and crafts to the hunting and herding Barolon
and Batlapin. One of these men of the Bahurutsi, inter-
viewed by Moffat, proved to be a native smith or metal
worker of great ingenuity.

The whole of his implements consisted of two small
goatskins for bellows, some small broken pots for crucibles,
a few round greenstone boulders for his anvil, a hammer
made of a small piece of iron about f inch thick and rather
more than 2 inches by 3 inches square, a cold chisel, two or
three other shapeless tools, and a heap of charcoal. " I am
not an ironsmith," he said, "I work in copper;" showing
Moffat some of his copper and brass ornaments, consisting
of ear-rings, arm-rings, &c. Moffat wished to do a piece

Moffat and Bechuanaland 201

of blacksmith's work and asked for the use of his forge.
" I told him I only wanted wind and fire. He sat down
between his two goatskins, and puffed away. Instead of
using his tongs, made of the bark of a tree, I went for my
own. When he saw them, he gazed in silent admiration ;
he turned them over and over; he had never seen such
ingenuity, and pressed them to his chest, giving me a
most expressive look, which was as intelligible as ' Will
you give them to me?' My work was soon done, when
he entered his hut, from which he brought a piece of flat
iron, begging me to pierce it with a number of different-
sized holes, for the purpose of drawing copper and brass
wire. Requesting to see the old one, it was produced,
accompanied by the feeling declaration: 'It is from
Kurrechane' (his old home). Having examined his man-
ner of using it, and formed a tolerable idea of the thing
he wanted, I set to work; and finding his iron too soft for
piercing holes through nearly a |-inch iron plate, I took
the oldest of my two handsaw files to make a punch, which
I had to repair many times. After much labour, and a
long time spent, I succeeded in piercing about twenty
holes, from the eighth of an inch to the thickness of a
thread. The moment the work was completed, he grasped
it, and breaking out into exclamations of surprise, bounded
over the fence like an antelope, and danced about the
village like a merry-andrew, exhibiting his treasure to
everyone, and asking if they ever saw anything like it."
Next day Moffat told him, that, as they were brothers
of one trade, the Bahurutsi smith must show the mis-
sionary the whole process of melting copper, making
brass, and drawing wire. The broken pot or crucible,
containing a quantity of copper and a little tin, was pre-
sently fixed in the centre of a charcoal fire. The smith

202 Pioneers in South Afriea

then applied his bellows till the contents were fused. He
had previously prepared a heap of sand, slightly adhesive,
and by thrusting a stick about | inch in diameter, like the
ramrod of a musket, obliquely into this heap, he made
holes, into which he poured the contents of his crucible.
He then fixed a round, smooth stick, about 3 feet high,
having a split in the top, upright in the ground. Then,
taking out his rods of brass, he beat them out on a stone
with his little hammer, till they were about £ inch square,
occasionally softening them in a small flame, made by
burning grass. Having reduced them all to this thick-
ness, he laid the end of one on a stone, and rubbed it to
a point with another stone, in order to introduce it through
the largest hole of his iron plate; he then opened the split
in the upright stick to hold fast the end of the wire, when
he forced the plate and wire round the stick with a lever
power, frequently rubbing the wire with oil or fat. The
same operation was performed each time, making the
point of the wire smaller for a less hole, till it was reduced
to the degree of thickness wanted, which was about that
of thick sewing cotton. The wire was, of course, far
inferior in colour and quality to that made by Europeans.
These native smiths, however, evinced great dexterity in
working ornaments from copper, brass, and iron.

"When I had thus assisted the old man, and become
sociable, I talked to him about the power of knowledge;
explaining the bellows and other mechanical improve-
ments, which insure accuracy as well as save time and
labour. To this he listened with great attention, but
when I introduced Divine subjects, man's misery, and
man's redemption, he looked at me with mouth dilated,
and asked, ' A ga u morihi pula?' Art thou a rain-
maker?"

Moftat and Bechuanaland 203

Nevertheless, if Moffat were alive now he and the
other missionary pioneers would have seen that their
labours had not been altogether wasted. For nearly all
the Bechuana tribes are now Christians and are prosperous
and happy, no longer tortured by famine or killing each
other in constant quarrels. It must not be forgotten —
and that is the reason why I have related this incident
iengthily— that the missionaries first got a hearing by
showing that they were men of their hands, that they
could be, if need arose, blacksmiths and carpenters, brick-
makers and bricklayers, good shots with the rifle, horse-
men, and cattle keepers. Not many years elapsed after
these episodes before they had become throughout South
Africa, from Cape Colony to the Zambezi, the trusted
advisers and allies of the native tribes.

CHAPTER IX

Mosilikatsi and the Boers

In the year 1829 two traders had journeyed through
southern Bechuanaland towards what we should now call
the northern part of the Transvaal, for the purpose of
shooting elephants and trading with the natives. Passing
through the Bahurutsi tribe near the upper waters of the
Limpopo, they had heard of a Zulu people farther to the
east possessing much cattle, and on travelling thither had
found themselves in the presence of the great raiding
chief Mosilikatsi, or, as he was called in the Zulu version
of his name, Umsilikazi. Through these traders and also
through the Bechuana clans, Mosilikatsi heard of the
establishment of white missionaries at Kuruman. Accord-
ingly, when the traders were returning to civilization, he
sent back with them two of his head men for the purpose
of obtaining a more particular knowledge of the white
people. On the arrival of these two Zulus at Kuruman
they were astonished beyond measure with everything
they saw, while on their part they created some astonish-
ment and dismay amongst the more civilized Bechuana
by appearing in a state of primitive nudity. At the
suggestion of the missionaries, however, they willingly
adopted the requisite amount of clothing, and in other
ways showed a politeness "to which we had been entirely
unaccustomed amongst the Bechuana", showing that the

204

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 205

wearing of clothes did not always produce the higher
qualities of mind and manner.

Everything calculated to interest was exhibited to them.
The missionaries' houses, the walls of their folds and
gardens, the leat or canal of water conveying a large
stream out of the bed of the river to the mission station,
and above all the smith's forge, filled them with admiration
and astonishment. These feelings they expressed not in
the wild gestures generally made by the more plebeian
natives, but by the utmost gravity and profound venera-
tion, as well as the most respectful demeanour. "You
are men, we are but children," said one; while the other
observed: "Mosilikatsi must be taught all these things."
When standing in the hall of one house, looking at the
strange furniture of a civilized abode, the eye of one
caught a small looking-glass, on which he gazed with
admiration. Mrs. Moffat handed him one which was
considerably larger: he looked intensely at his reflected
countenance, and, never having seen it before, supposed
it was that of one of his attendants on the other side; he
very abruptly put his hand behind it, telling him to be
gone; but looking again at the same face, he cautiously
turned it, and seeing nothing, he returned the glass with
great gravity to the missionary's wife, saying that he
could not trust it.

As it was feared if these Matebele indunas returned
to Mosilikatsi by themselves they would be killed on the
way in revenge for the many raids committed by that
Zulu chief, 1 Moffat decided to escort them himself through

1 Mosilikatsi had been in command of a Zulu army under the bloodthirsty King
Chaka. Hearing that he was suspected of having made a false return of loot to his
king, and was consequently in danger of being arrested and slaughtered, he resolved
to save himself by starting off for the north with all the followers and warriors he
could gather together. He devastated much of the western Transvaal and Basutoland,

206 Pioneers in South Africa

the eastern parts of Bechuanaland. After leaving Litaku,
they travelled in empty wagons with more than usual
speed, over the Barolon plains, in many parts of which
the traveller, like the mariner on the ocean, sees the
expanse around him bounded only by the horizon.
Clumps of acacias occasionally met the eye, while the
grass, like fields of tall wheat, waved in the breeze; amidst
which various kinds of game were found, and lions roamed
at large. Some of the nomad Balala, who subsisted en-
tirely on roots and the chase, occasionally intercepted the
course of the missionary party, and begged a little tobacco,
or for safety would occasionally pass the night at the white
man's encampment. These Balala were, indeed, the com-
panions of the lion, and seemed perfectly versed in all his
tactics. " As we were retiring to rest one night", wrote
Moffat, "a lion passed near us, occasionally giving a
roar, which softly died away on the extended plain, as it
was responded to by another at a distance. Directing the
attention of the Balala to this sound, and asking if they
thought there was danger, they turned their ears as to a
voice with which they were familiar, and, after listening
for a moment or two, replied: 'There is no danger; he
has eaten, and is going to sleep'. They were right, and
we slept also. Asking them in the morning how they
knew the lions were going to sleep, they replied: 'We
live with them; they are our companions'."

Entering the western limits of what is now the Trans-

but his principal army having been severely defeated and driven off by the Boers in
1837, he passed far to the north and settled down in what is now the Pietersbun:
trict of the Transvaal. A few months later he was driven away from here by another
Boer attack, and finally he colonized the outskirts of the Mashuna or Karafia country
within the watershed of the Zambezi. The name ultimately given to his warriors,
Vbaka-Zulu, who became in time a powerful Zulu tribe, was Amandebele, which
the Bechuana people rendered n^ Matebele. The son of Mosilikatsi was Lobcngula,
who lost his lif<- righting against the British South Africa Company in 1893.

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 207

vaal, the country became of a very different character to
the bleak, treeless plateaus of Bechuanaland. It was
mountainous, and the mountains were wooded to their
summits. Evergreen vegetation adorned the valleys,
through which numerous streams of excellent water flowed
towards the Limpopo River. As it was the rainy season,
everything was fresh, the clumps of trees that studded the
plains being covered with rich and flowery verdure. But
this lovely land was almost deserted by man, and "vocal
with the lion's roar ". The country had once been in-
habited by a dense population, only recently extirpated
bv the invasions of the Mantatisi, and next the Matebele.
The lions, who had revelled in human flesh after these
fearful massacres, had become daring in the extreme, roam-
ing at large during the daytime, a terror to the travellers,
and making the hills at night re-echo with their roaring.
Buffaloes and rhinoceroses rushed at the caravan from the
thickets.

Having travelled ioo miles in five days, after visiting
the Bahurutsi settlement of Mosega — a village or station
still existing — they came to the first cattle outposts of the
Matebele, and halted by a fine rivulet at a beautiful spot
where the attention was arrested by a thickly foliaged,
gigantic tree. This stood in a defile which terminated
in an extensive and woody ravine between high ranges
of mountains. A few natives were squatting on the
ground under its shade, and the conical points of what
looked like houses in miniature protruded through its
evergreen foliage. The tree itself proved to be inhabited
by several families of Bakona, the aborigines of the
country. Moffat ascended by the notched trunk, and
tound, to his amazement, no less than seventeen of these
aerial abodes, and three other huts unfinished. On reach-

208 Pioneers in South Africa

ing the topmost dwelling, about 30 feet from the ground,
he entered and sat down. Its only furniture was the
hay which covered the floor, a spear, a spoon, and a
bowl full of locusts. Not having eaten anything that day,
and eager to try the locusts from the novelty of his situa-
tion, he asked permission from a woman who sat at the
door with a babe at her breast, and, this being granted
pleasantly, he dipped his hand in the bowl and ate some
locusts. The woman also brought him more in a powdered
state. Several more females came from the neighbouring
roosts, stepping from branch to branch, to see the stranger,
who was to them as great a curiosity as the tree was to
him. The structure of these tree houses was very simple.
An oblong scaffold, about 7 feet wide, was built of straight
sticks. On one end of this platform a small cone-shaped
hut was formed, also of straight sticks, its roof thatched
with grass. A person could nearly stand upright in it,
and the diameter of its floor was about 6 feet. The hut
stood on the back end of the oblong platform, so as to
leave a little square space before the door. On the pre-
vious day the missionary caravan had passed several vil-
lages, some containing forty houses, all built on poles,
about 7 or 8 feet from the ground, in the form of a circle,
the ascent and descent being by a knotty branch of a tree
placed in front of the house. In the centre of the circle
there was always a heap of bones of the game the in-
habitants had killed. Such were the domiciles of the
impoverished thousands of Bechuana aborigines of the
western Transvaal, who, having been scattered and plun-
dered by Mosilikatsi, had neither herds nor plantations,
but subsisted on locusts, roots, and the chase. Yet this
mode of architecture had been adopted before the Matebele
came, to escape the lions which abounded in the country.

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 209

During the day the families descended to the shade beneath
the tree-huts to dress their daily food.

Arrived at the first of the Matebele outposts, Moffat was
again implored by the two "indunas" to accompany them a
little farther and enter the presence of their king; they de-
clared that if he did not do so they themselves would prob-
ably be killed for being the cause of his refusal. His own
attendants watched the discussion as if the destinies of an
empire were involved, and heard with strong emotion the
missionary's consent to visit Mosilikatsi. The further
journey eastward was made along a range of mountains
running in that direction. The country to the north and
east became more level, but was studded with ranges of
little hills, many isolated, of a conical form, along the
bases of which lay the ruins of innumerable towns, some
of which were of amazing extent. The soil of the valleys
and extended plains was of the richest description. The
torrents from the adjacent heights had, from year to year,
carried away immense masses of rock and soil, in some
places laying bare the substratum of granite or heaping
up a mass of rich humus from 10 to 20 feet deep, where it
was evident native grain had formerly waved, and water
melons, pumpkins, kidney beans, and sweet reed had once
flourished. The ruins of the towns showed signs of im-
mense labour and perseverance; stone fences, averaging
from 4 to 7 feet high, had been raised apparently without
mortar, hammer, or line. Everything was circular, from
the inner walls which surrounded each dwelling or family
residence to those which encircled a town. In traversing
these ruins, Moffat found the remains of some houses
which had escaped the flames of the marauders. These
were large, and displayed a far superior style to anything
he had witnessed among the other aboriginal tribes of

(C5ST) 14

210 Pioneers in South Africa

southern Africa. The circular walls were generally com-
posed of hard clay, with a small mixture of cow dung, not
only well plastered and polished on the inside, but there
mixed with a kind of ore, so that the interior walls of the
house had the appearance of being varnished. The walls
and doorways were also neatly ornamented with a kind of
architrave and cornice. The pillars supporting the roof
were in the form of pilasters, projecting from the walls,
and adorned with flutings and other designs, showing
much taste in the architectresses (for all the building was
done by women). This taste, however, was exercised on
fragile materials, for there was nothing of stone in the
building except the foundations. The houses were round
in shape, with conical roofs extending beyond the walls
so as to afford considerable shade, or what might be called
a veranda. 1

The raising of the stone fences must have been a work
of immense labour, for the materials had all to be brought
on the shoulders of men, and the quarries where these
materials were probably obtained were at a considerable
distance. "The neighbouring hills", wrote Moffat, ''also
gave ample demonstration of human perseverance with
instruments of the most paltry description." In some
places were found indigenous fig trees, growing between
squares of stone left by the quarriers. " On some of these
we found ripe figs, but, from the stony basis and unculti-
vated state, they were much inferior to those grown in the
gardens of the colony. Many an hour have I walked,
pensively, among these scenes of desolation, casting my

'This superiority of architecture and design, coupled with the use of stone as a
building material, suggests a Karafia element in the population of this part of the
Transvaal, which is mostly populated elsewhere by Bechuana clans. The Ba-karana
(Makalalca, Makarafia, Mashuna) acquired some ideas as to the employment of stone
for building purposes from the mysterious race which constructed Zimbabwe.

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 211

thoughts back to the period when these now-ruined habi-
tations teemed with life and revelry, and when the hills
and dales resounded to the bursts of human joy. Nothing
now remained but dilapidated walls, heaps of stones, and
rubbish, mingled with human skulls, which, to a con-
templative mind, told their ghastly tale. These are
now the abodes of reptiles and beasts of prey. Occa-
sionally a large stone fold might be seen occupied by the
cattle of the Matebele, who had caused the land thus to
mourn."

Having Matebele with him, Moffat found it extremely
difficult to elicit local information from the dejected and
scattered aborigines who occasionally came in his way.
"These trembled before the nobles, who ruled them with
a rod of iron. It was soon evident that the usurpers were
anxious to keep me in the dark about the devastations
which everywhere met our eyes, and they always endea-
voured to be present when I came in contact with the
aborigines of the country, but as I could speak the lan-
guage some opportunities were afforded."

One of the three servants who accompanied the two
Tebele ambassadors to the Kuruman station had been
a captive among the Mantatisi when they were defeated
at Old Litaku. He felt a pleasure in conversing with
Moffat in Sechuana, his native tongue; and, being a native
of the regions through which the caravan was now pass-
ing, would sometimes whisper information explaining the
desolation of his fatherland. The nations he described as
being once numerous as the locusts, rich in cattle, and
traffickers, to a great extent, with the distant tribes of the
north. Then came the invasion of the Zulu armies under
the great destroyer Chaka, the destruction of the Bakona
towns, the sweeping away of cattle and valuables, and

212

Pioneers in South Africa

the butchering or enslavement of the inhabitants. The
''Commandos" 1 of Chaka in the beginning of the nine-
teenth century had made frightful havoc; but all they
had done was as nothing to the final overthrow of the
Bakona tribes by the soldiers of Mosilikatsi. With the
terror of the monster Chaka behind them, the Amande-
bele — as Mosilikatsi's Zulu regiments were called — like an
overwhelming torrent rushed onward to the north, mark-
ing their course with blood and carnage.

"On a Sabbath morning I ascended a hill", wrote
Moffat, "to spend the day. I had scarcely reached the
summit, and sat down, when I found that my intelligent
Bakona companion had stolen away from the party to
answer some questions I had asked the day before, and to
which he could not reply, because of the presence of his
superiors. Happening to turn to the right, and seeing
before me a large extent of level ground covered with
ruins, I enquired what had become of the inhabitants. He
had just sat down, but rose, evidently with some feeling,
and, stretching forth his arm in the direction of the ruins,
said: 'I, even I, beheld it!' and paused, as if in deep
thought. 'There lived the great chief of multitudes. He
reigned among them like a king. He was the chief of the
blue-coloured cattle. They were numerous as the dense
mist on the mountain brow; his flocks covered the plain.
Our king thought the number of his warriors would awe
his enemies. His people boasted of their spears, and
laughed at the cowardice of such as had fled from the
towns (farther south). "We shall slay the Matebele and
hang up their shields on our hill. Our race is a race of
warriors. Who ever subdued our fathers? They were

'"Commando" is a Dutch word borrowed from the Spanish, and meaning a
detachment of soldiers.

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 213

mighty in combat. We still possess the spoils of ancient
times. Have not our dogs eaten the shields of the Zulu
nobles? The vultures shall devour the slain of our ene-
mies." Thus sang our warriors while they danced; till
they beheld on yonder heights the approaching foe. The
noise of their song was hushed in night, and their hearts
were filled with dismay. They saw the clouds ascend from
the plains. It was the smoke of burning towns. The
confusion of a whirlwind was in the heart of our great chief
of the blue-coloured cattle. Some at first shouted: " They
come as friends"; but others shouted later: "No, they
are foes", till their near approach proclaimed them to be
naked Matebele.

" 'Our men seized their arms, and. rushed out, as if to
chase away antelopes. The onset was as the voice of light-
ning, and the clash of spears as the shaking of a forest in
the autumn storm. The Matebele lions raised the shout of
death, and flew upon their victims. It was the shout of
victory. Their hissing and hollow groans told their pro-
gress among the dead. A few moments laid hundreds on
the ground. The clash of shields was the signal of triumph.
Our people fled with their cattle to the top of yonder mount.
The Matebele entered the town with the roar of the lion ;
they pillaged and fired the houses, speared the mothers,
and cast their infants to the flames. The sun went down.
The victors emerged from the smoking plain, and pursued
their course, surrounding the base of yonder hill. They
slaughtered cattle; they danced and sang till the dawn of
day; they ascended, and killed till their hands were weary
of the spear.'

"Stooping to the ground on which we stood, he took
up a little dust in his hand; blowing it off, and holding
out his naked palm, he added: 'That is all that remains

214 Pioneers in South Africa

of the great chief of the blue-coloured cattle!' It is im-
possible for me to describe my feelings while listening to
this descriptive effusion of native eloquence; and I after-
wards embraced opportunities of writing it down, of which
the above is only an abridgment. 1 I found also from other
aborigines that his was no fabled song, but merely a com-
pendious sketch of the catastrophe.

"The Matebele were not satisfied with simply capturing
cattle, nothing less than the entire subjugation, or destruc-
tion of the vanquished, could quench their insatiable thirst
for power. Thus when they conquered a town, the terrified
inhabitants were driven in a mass to the outskirts, when
the parents and all the married women were slaughtered
on the spot. Such as have dared to be brave in the defence
of their town, their wives, and their children, are reserved
for a still more terrible death; dry grass, saturated with
fat, is tied round their naked bodies and then set on fire.
The youths and girls are loaded as beasts of burden with
the spoils of the town, to be marched to the homes of their
victors. If the town be in an isolated position, the help-
less infants are left to perish either with hunger or to be
devoured by beasts of prey. On such an event, the lions
scent the slain and leave their lair. The hyenas and
jackals emerge from their lurking places in broad day and
revel in the carnage, while a cloud of vultures may be seen
descending on the living and the dead, and holding a
carnival on human flesh. Should a suspicion arise in the
savage bosom that these helpless innocents may fall into
the hands of friends, they will prevent this by collecting
them into a fold, and, after raising over them a pile
of brushwood, apply the flaming torch to it, when the

1 t have further slightly condensed this vivid .mil truthful example of South Afi
Negro narrative

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 215

town, but lately the scene of mirth, becomes a heap of
ashes."

As the caravan neared the district in which Mosilikatsi
was encamped, it had frequent visitors bringing abundant
supplies of milk and grain, borne on the heads of women
belonging to the subjugated Bechuana tribes; but though
there was plenty in the camp, the dark cloudy weather
awoke gloomy forebodings in the minds of Moffat's Bat-
lapiri followers, some of whom would gladly have escaped
from the power of the dreaded Matebele, but the distance
from home was too great. Proceeding slowly on account
of the rain and clayey soil through a fertile country to the
banks of the Limpopo (here called the Uri), they saw the
scaly crocodiles (absent, apparently, from the Orange
River) protruding their ugly snouts on the sedgy bank
of the river.

In this neighbourhood they were not a little surprised
to find a large hunting party of Berend Berends (a half-
caste Grikwa) and his people, with a number of wagons.
With Berend was the Rev. Mr. Archbell, a Wesleyan
missionary, who had travelled thus far to look out for a
suitable spot at which to found a station. Mr. Archbell
(with whom travelled his brave wife) had wished to visit
Mosilikatsi, but the Matebele king had refused to receive
him till the arrival of Moffat, whose approach had already
been announced by one of the two indunas. The Arch-
bells and Moffat therefore joined company and proceeded
eastwards by a circuitous route over a hilly, trackless,
and woody country, receiving every demonstration of the
pleasure Mosilikatsi anticipated in welcoming them at his
capital. In the early part of the day they came within
sight of the vast encampment or army town of the Mate-
bele under a range of hills, and not far from a precipitous

216 Pioneers in South Africa

gorge of the Limpopo River. One of the indunas had left
the caravan several days previously to appear in person
before the king, and, as he expressed it, "to make the
white man's path straight to the abode of his sovereign ".
"There," said this man, Umbate, pointing to the town,
"there dwells the great king Pezulu, 1 the Elephant, the
Lion's paw," following up these titles with ascriptions of
extravagant praise. As the wagons had to make a circuit
to arrive at a ford through the river, Entsabotluku — the
other induna — Moffat, Archbell, and two of their atten-
dants mounted their horses to go a more direct road.
When they reached the river they found people bathing,
who, seeing horsemen, scampered off in the greatest terror;
but the white man's party rode straight for the centre of
the military kraal or town encampment. This was a very
large enclosed area, capable of holding 10,000 head of
cattle. Moffat and Archbell were rather taken by surprise
to find it lined by about 800 warriors, besides 200 which
were concealed on each side of the entrance as if in am-
bush. They were beckoned to dismount, and then advanced,
holding their horses by the bridle. The warriors at the
gate instantly rushed on them with hideous and disconcert-
ing yells, and this, combined with their leaping from the
earth with their kilts of cats' tails waving and the raising
of their huge shields, frightened the horses of the little
party and made it very difficult for the two missionaries
to preserve an unruffled demeanour. But this demonstra-
tion was only a rough salute, and as soon as it was over
the young warriors fell into rank with as much order as if
they had been accustomed to European tactics. Many of
them had kilts of baboon skins, and their legs and arms
were adorned with the hair and tails of oxen ; their shields
1 J'ezulu means " up above", " the heavenly one".

■

MOFFAT AND THE ZUL1 S

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 217

reached to their chins, and their heads were surmounted
with ostrich and marabu feathers.

But in the centre of the town all was silent, and the
soldiers stood motionless as statues. Eyes only were
seen to move, and there was a rich display of fine white
teeth. After some minutes of profound stillness, which
was only interrupted by the breathing of the horses, the
war song burst forth. "There was harmony, it is true,
and they beat time with their feet, producing a sound
like hollow thunder; but some parts of it were music
befitting the nether regions, especially when they imi-
tated the groanings of the dying on the field of battle,
and the yells and hissings of the conquerors. Another
simultaneous pause ensued, and still we wondered what
was intended, till out marched the monarch from behind
the lines, followed by a number of men bearing baskets
and bowls of food."

Mosilikatsi came up to the missionaries, and having
been instructed as to the white man's mode of salutation,
gave each a clumsy but hearty shake of the hand. He
then politely turned to the food, which was placed at
the feet of his guests, who were invited to partake of it.
By this time the wagons were seen in the distance, and
the visitors having intimated their wish to be directed to
a place where they might encamp on the outskirts of the
military town, Mosilikatsi himself went with them as a
guide, keeping fast hold of Moffat's right arm. "The
land is before you," he said; "you are come to your son.
You must sleep where you please." When the "moving
houses", as the wagons were called, drew near, he took
a firmer grasp of Moffat's arm, and looked on them
with unutterable surprise; "and this man, the terror
of thousands, drew back with fear, as one in doubt as

2i8 Pioneers in South Africa

to whether the wagons were not living creatures". When
the oxen were unyoked, he approached the wagon with
the utmost caution, still holding his guest by one hand,
whilst he placed the other on his own mouth, indicating
his surprise after the native fashion. He looked at every-
thing very intently, particularly the wheels, and when told
of how many pieces of wood each wheel was composed,
his wonder was increased. After examining all very
closely, one mystery yet remained, how the large band
of iron surrounding the fellows of the wheel came to
be in one piece without either end or joint. Umbate,
one of the induna guides, whose visit to the mission
station had made him much wiser than his master, took
hold of Moffat's hand, and related what he had seen.
"My eyes," he said, "saw that very hand", pointing to
that of the missionary, "cut these bars of iron, take a
piece off one end, and then join them as you now see
them." A minute inspection ensued, to discover the
welded part. "Does he give medicine to the iron?" was
the monarch's enquiry. "No," said Umbate, "nothing
is used but fire, a hammer, and a chisel." Mosilikatsi
then returned to the town, where the warriors were still
standing as he left them, who received him with immense
bursts of applause.

" During one of my first interviews with Mosilikatsi,
the following incident took place, which shows that, how-
ever degraded and cruel man may become, he is capable
of being subdued by kindness. He drew near to the spot
where I stood, with some attendants bearing dishes of food;
the two chiefs who had been at the Kuruman were with me,
but on the approach of their sovereign, they bowed and
withdrew, but were instantly desired to return. Mosili-
katsi, placing his left hand on my shoulder, and lii.^

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 219

right on his breast, addressed me in the following lan-
guage: 'Machobane, 1 I call you such because you have
been my father. You have made my heart as white as
milk; milk is not white to-day, my heart is white. I
cease not to wonder at the love of a stranger. You
never saw me before, but you love me more than my
own people. You fed me when I was hungry; you
clothed me when I was naked; you carried me in your
bosom;' and, raising my right arm with his, added,
'that arm shielded me from my enemies.' On my
replying, I was unconscious of having done him any
such services, he instantly pointed to the two ambassa-
dors who were sitting at my feet, saying: ' These are
great men; Umbate is my right hand. When I sent
them from my presence to see the land of the white
men, I sent my ears, my eyes, my mouth; what they
heard I heard, what they saw I saw, and what they
said, it was Mosilikatsi who said it. You fed them and
clothed them, and when they were to be slain, you were
their shield. You did it unto me. You did it unto
Mosilikatsi, the son of Machobane.'"

Moffat took advantage of this outburst of gratitude
and fine language to deliver a short address on the love
of God, "to which Mosilikatsi at first listened with ap-
parent attention, but his countenance soon betrayed a
truant mind, while his eyes looked with delight on the
droves of sleek cattle approaching the town, and which
possessed charms infinitely more captivating than the
topics of our conversation." Presently, with a polite
bow, he intimated that he had heard enough for the
present, and withdrew from the society of the mission-
aries amidst the shouts of his attendants. The next

1 His real father's name.

220 Pioneers in South Africa

morning, however, it was evident that some effect had
been produced by Moffat's words, for he behaved with
great moderation and restraint at the trial of an induna
for a very grave offence.

The following is Moffat's description of Mosilikatsi:
"In his person he was below the middle stature, rather
corpulent, with a short neck, and in his manner could
be exceedingly affable and cheerful. His voice, soft
and effeminate, did not indicate that his disposition was
passionate."

The Zulus of Mosilikatsi were literally bloodthirsty.
After every success in war, days of feasting were held,
when they glutted themselves with flesh and drank bowls
of blood from the slain oxen. A bowl of blood was the
portion of such as could count ten men whom they had
slain in the day of battle. As a great honour Mosilikatsi
sent to Moffat one evening an enormous basket of the
tightly woven kind which holds liquids. Its contents
were blood and suet, the former smoking hot from the
veins of a just-killed ox. Moffat begged to be excused,
as he never ate blood. The refusal was taken graciously,
and the whole breast of an ox well stewed was immediately
sent in place of "the bloody bowl". Not that this was
returned to the king. To do so would have given offence.
But the Zulus who brought it, and others who were stand-
ing by, had scarcely heard that they might do what they
liked with it, when they rushed upon it, scooping it up
with their hands, making a noise equal to a dozen hungry
hogs around a well-filled trough.

Moffat completely won the heart of this bloodthirsty
monarch, as much by his prompt and witty replies in
the Sechuana language as by his straight speaking and
dignity of attitude. "As he was rather profuse in his

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 221

honorary titles, especially in calling me a king, I re-
quested him rather to call me teacher. . . . Then he
said: 'Shall I call you my father?' 'Yes,' I rejoined,
1 but only on condition that you are an obedient son.'
This drew from him and his nobles a hearty laugh."

On the return journey Mosilikatsi himself escorted
Moffat over a portion of the route, soon becoming accus-
tomed to the jolting of an African wagon, and finding
it convenient to lay his well-lubricated body on the
missionary's bed, and take a nap.

For the rest of the journey back to the limits of the
Bechuana country Moffat was treated with the utmost care
and attention by the Matebele. Having to pass through
the lion-infested country already described, a number of
warriors constantly attended the wagons to see that they
came nowhere near enough to cause any alarm or annoy-
ance.

Moffat wrote enthusiastically of the northern part of
the Transvaal, declaring that minerals abounded there.
Iron ore lay scattered over the surface of the hills, some
of which were entirely composed of iron, while little
hillocks consisted entirely of loadstone, every fragment
of which possessed a north and a south pole. Copper
mines also abounded, and the country yielded tin, which
the natives called moruru. These observations were made
on the occasion of his second visit to Mosilikatsi, at which
time also, through the Zulu warriors having got into touch
with the Bamangwato country far to the north and within
the basin of the Zambezi, Moffat heard of "the great lake"
beyond the Kalahari Desert, which may have meant Lake
Ngami, but more likely bore a general reference to the
numerous rivers, swamps, and lakelets of the Upper
Zambezi.

222 Pioneers in South Africa

Moffat's journey in 1829-30 to visit Mosilikatsi may be
regarded as the first step in the opening up of eastern
South Africa by the white man. He had been preceded
by the half-caste, Christianized Grikwa, and no doubt by
a few uneducated, harum-scarum Boer, English, or Ger-
man hunters and traders — some of them ex-soldiers. But
these left little impression on the natives, though they
brought back stimulating news. Moffat was soon followed
by other missionaries — American, English Wesleyan and
Anglican, French Evangelical, and Norwegian Lutheran —
and by hundreds of Boer emigrants, hunters, and warriors,
who in turn were succeeded by British big game hunters,
mining prospectors, and Government agents.

As to Robert Moffat himself — one of the most remark-
able missionary pioneers in the history of the British
Empire — when he had returned from a second visit to
the Matebele king, he settled down again for a time in
southern Bechuanaland, then journeyed to Cape Colony
to print his translations of the Scriptures. In 1839 he
and his wife and children went to England, where he
took a much-needed rest for three years. He afterwards
laboured in central South Africa, journeying several
times into the Matebele country, towards the eastern
Zambezi, and renewing his acquaintance with Mosili-
katsi under happier circumstances, when that great con-
queror had settled down as the monarch of the west
Karafta country. In 1870 he and his wife came back
to England to "rest" for the remainder of their lives,
though Moffat up to his eighty-seventh year travelled con-
tinually about England and Scotland, and even visited
France and addressed large audiences in Paris. He had
left behind him a consolidated and Christianized Bechuana-
land, whose subsequent history has been an ample reward,

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 223

a striking justification, of the faith, hope, and works of his
wife and himself. It is pleasant to record that this achieve-
ment was recognized on the return to England of Dr. and
Mrs. Moffat, and that the former (his wife died in 1871)
was presented with a testimonial of ,£5000, on which he was
able eventually to retire to the delightful Kentish village
of Leigh, near Tunbridge Wells, where he lived for the
last four years of a serene old age, till his death in 1883
at the age of eighty-eight.

Native movements in the first half of the nineteenth
century, in the countries which are now known as Natal
and Zululand, actively promoted the laying bare of eastern
South Africa to the white man's gaze. At the very end
of the eighteenth century there dwelt in Zululand a clan
or tribe known as the Abatetwa. To this tribe there re-
turned after a long period of exile (possibly in the neigh-
bourhood of Delagoa Bay) the descendant of one of their
chiefs, whose name in his youth was Ngodongwana. In
the legendary accounts of him, he is said to have returned
to the neighbourhood of his birthplace riding on a horse;
in any case he had come back to Zululand full of new and
strange ideas, derived probably from the Portuguese. He
assumed the chieftainship and called himself Dingiswayo,
a name which is supposed to mean in Zulu "He who is
puzzled " (how to act). Dingiswayo attracted to his side
the younger son of another Zulu chief, a youth named
Chaka or Shaka; and Chaka developed Dingiswayo's
ideas about army organization to a wonderful extent,
besides bringing under his sway, after Dingiswayo's death
in 1818, nearly all the clans of Zululand. His invasions
of Natal sent some of the Natal Kafir tribes over the
Drakensberg Mountains into Basutoland and the Trans-
vaal.

224 Pioneers in South Africa

These invasions caused one convulsion after another.
They started the extraordinary movement of the Mantatisi
already described, and they led to the rise in power of
another South African chief of great subsequent fame —
Mosheshe — who united numbers of Bechuana refugees and
fragments of tribes under his control with the new name of
the Basuto people. Mosheshe and his Basuto following
were enabled to exist amidst all this turmoil, all these
terrible devastating wars, by their having taken possession
of an impregnable mountain — the Mountain of Night —
Thaba Bosigo.

But Chaka followed the Kafir refugees into Basutoland
and the Orange State (as it afterwards became), and raided
a good deal of the southern Transvaal, besides nearly de-
populating Natal with his passion for wholesale slaughter.
As already related, one of the greatest of his captains,
Mosilikatsi, had fled from his rule, and in his turn had
become a great conqueror in the north.

Chaka, though he was so ruthless in his cruelty towards
his fellow Negroes, had a high opinion of white men, and
was anxious to enter into an alliance with them. Some
notion of this got abroad, and in 1823-4 there arrived at
Port Natal (the modern Durban) the English pioneers who
founded the country of Natal. The principal persons in
this venture were Lieutenant Francis George Fare-
well, 1 James S. King, and Henry Francis Fynn. They
obtained a grant of land from Chaka, and although their
enterprise was frowned on by the British Government it
did not cease to make some progress in the ensuing years,

1 Farewell had been in the Royal Marines, and King had served as a midshipman —
l>oth in the Royal Navy. King died at Durban eventually, of disappointment that the
British Government would not hoist their flag over Natal. Farewell, in 1831, was
murdered by a Kafir chief in Pondoland, but Fynn lived long to assist in the moulding
of Natal as a colony.

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 225

although once or twice it was nearly destroyed by the
arrogance of the Zulus.

Chaka was murdered in a conspiracy got up by his
brothers in 1828, and was succeeded by his brother, Din-
gana. Chaka — if we may take as true the sum and sub-
stance of native tradition and the written accounts of Dutch
and English pioneers and missionaries — was a monster of
cruelty, an African Xero; but his brother and successor,
Dingana, is described by a great Norwegian missionary
as having been even worse — "a beast on two legs".

Whilst the Negro population of Natal was being re-
duced from an approximate 100,000 to 10,000 in number
through the slaughters ordered by Chaka, Mosheshe, across
the Drakensberg Mountains, was gradually and craftily
building up that Basuto power which at the present day
is one of the most ominous things in South Africa. He,
too, wished to have the advice and education which white
men alone could give, without at the same time handing
over his country to them. So he decided to invite mis-
sionaries to settle at his principal kraal. At this period,
about 1830, there had arrived in South Africa the fore-
runners of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society, sup-
ported by the Protestant Church of France. Amongst
these pioneers were the Revs. E. Casalis, T. Arbousset,
and Gossellin, who, after consultation with the British
and American missionaries already in the field, decided
in 1833 to plant themselves in what is now called Basuto-
land, and to teach the southern clans of the Bechuana
people. 1

1 Members of a French-Swiss mission afterwards settled in the Tonga country in
the vicinity of Delagoa Bay, and did much to increase our knowledge of south-east
Africa. The Paris Evangelical mission to the Basuto led to an interest being taken in
the allied Makololo people on the Upper Zambezi, and eventually to the foundation of
the Barotse mission under such men as Francois Coillard, who was certainly one
(C587) 15

226 Pioneers in South Africa

In 1834 there came out to Natal a band of American
missionaries, noteworthy among whom as pioneers were
Grout, Lindley, and Dr. Adams. They journeyed to the
royal kraal of Umgungudhlovu, near Ulundi, and obtained
permission from Dingana to establish schools in Natal and
western Zululand. In 1837 a clergyman of the Church
of England, the Rev. Mr. Owen, representing the Church
Missionary Society, visited Zululand, and remained there
unscathed amid massacres of both white men and black
men. The most noteworthy of these massacres was the
murder of the Boer emigrants under the leadership of
Pieter Retief.

The action of the British Government in Cape Colony
caused a great deal of discontent amongst the Boer settlers
in the eastern districts of that region. They had been
encouraged to settle in certain devastated and depopulated
frontier districts on the borderland between Hottentot and
Kafir. Yet when they were attacked, plundered, and mur-
dered by Kafir raids, the British Government abandoned
them to their fate or ordered them to withdraw nearer the
more settled regions of the colony, besides coming into
conflict with them in other ways nearer Cape Town. The
result was the great "treks" to the north-east undertaken
by the discontented Boers, with the intention of getting
far beyond the limits of British power and founding new-
states of their own. One such movement, under Rens-
burg and Triechard, which started with the vague idea of
getting at the back of the Portuguese possessions to the
gold-producing regions of Monomotapa, ended in a mas-

of the great nineteenth-century pioneers in Africa. To Coillard and his colleagues
we owe the pacification and civilization of the Barotse kingdom, and the fact — which
would have filled Livingstone with II nt and rejoicing — that the king of the

ise nation — Lewanika — was present at the Coronation of King Edward VII in
Westminster Abbey.

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 227

sacre of the white adventurers by the Magwamba people
in the eastern Transvaal. But a much better led party
of Boers under Pieter Retief, Carl Celliers, and
others first of all defeated, with desperate valour, an un-
provoked attack by Mosilikatsi's warriors south of the
Vaal River, and then crossed that stream and rode far
north into the western "Transvaal" (as it was coming to
be called) and delivered a crushing blow at Mosilikatsi's
power near his camp of Mosega. This was in 1837; by
the end of that year the emigrant Boers had reached
Natal, and a party of them, under Retief, had decided to
treat with Dingana for land in devastated Natal. On their
second visit to his Court, in January, 1838, they were
induced to lay aside their arms upon entering the king's
enclosure, where they were at once set upon and done
to death, only one or two of the entire number of men
escaping.

Less than a year afterwards this deed of blood was
avenged most splendidly by Axdries Pretorius (after
whom one of the great capitals of South Africa, Pretoria,
is named). At the Blood River, 460 Boers, mounted on
horseback and with their wagons as fortified places to
fire from, inflicted a tremendous loss of life on a great
Zulu army. Their victory resulted in the assassination
of Dingana and the Boer conquest of Natal, a conquest
they were not allowed to enjoy by the British, who claimed
the country on behalf of the concessions granted to the
first British pioneers. Some of the Boer conquerors of
Natal settled down under the British flag, but the dis-
contented majority crossed the Drakensberg Mountains
and founded the Transvaal State, so called because this
territory lay beyond the Vaal or Yellow River.

Another party of Boers, under the leadership of A. H.

228 Pioneers in South Africa

Potgieter, had entered Basutoland (and what is now the
Orange Free State) in 1836, just after one of the periodical
Zulu devastations. They encountered a runaway chief, and
bought from him for a small sum his sovereign rights.
This they made good by inflicting (as already mentioned)
their tremendous defeat on Mosilikatsi's armies, which
came down from the north to drive them back into Cape
Colony. They followed up their bold challenge to the
Matebele by other actions which ended in Mosilikatsi's
crossing the Limpopo with all his army and settling down
in what is now called Southern Rhodesia. The ultimate
consequence of the courage and boldness of these Boer
pioneers was the creation of the Transvaal and Orange
Free State Republics.

The progress of knowledge, however, though it owed
much to the explorations of the Boers (often themselves
illiterate and quite indifferent to the honours accorded to
great explorers), was still more deeply indebted to the
journeys of great Englishmen and Frenchmen — mission-
aries, hunters, and more scientific explorers. Among these
should be mentioned Dr. John Philip, of the London
Missionary Society; the Frenchman E. Delegorgue, who
travelled through Zululand, Swaziland, and Basutoland in
1848; and George Angas, an artist as well as a sports-
man and naturalist, who explored northern Zululand and
the eastern Transvaal in 1847 8, and discovered one of
the most beautiful antelopes in all Africa, the Inyala or
Angas's Bushbuck. [This is something like a kudu in
appearance, only the horns have not so many turns, and
the sides of the body in the male are hung with a tremen-
dous mane or growth of hair, like a fringe all round the
body.] Great pioneers of the 'fifties were James Chapman,
who crossed the Transvaal in several directions, and who

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 229

is best remembered by his journeys along the Zambezi,
round Lake Ngami, and into Damaraland ; and William
Baldwin, who, like Sir William Harris, ten years or
more earlier, greatly increased our knowledge of the
antelopes of South Africa. In the 'sixties and early
'seventies Mr. St. Vincent Erskine and Captain Fred-
erick Elton 1 explored and mapped the lower course of
the Limpopo and the regions round Delagoa Bay. And at
the same period two very remarkable men, Adam Renders
and Henry Hartley, were examining the Transvaal and
southern Matebeleland. Renders was a German American
— a fine big man, who made himself so liked by the
Makarana natives north of the Limpopo that they called
him " Sa-adamu " or "Father Adam". They led him to
the marvellous ruins of Zimbabwe, and in a cave near to
the ruins he took up his abode for two or three years.
Hartley often crossed the Limpopo in his hunting excur-
sions, and as early as 1863 he noticed the gold-bearing
rocks of Tati and southern Mashonaland.

But the two most noteworthy of the great pioneers in
this region of eastern South Africa were Karl Mauch
and Thomas Baines, though both of these owed much
to Hartley.

Mauch was a native of Stetten, near Stuttgart, in
southern Germany, who had come out in 1858 as a geolo-
gist, surveyor, and engineer to the Transvaal. He dis-
covered indications of gold and coal in the Transvaal, and
in 1865 accompanied Hartley to the district of Tati, on the
borderland between the Matebele and Bechuana territories.
Mauch's reports induced Sir John Swinburne (an English
baronet) to come out in 1866-8 and start a company to

1 For further accounts of Captain Elton's journeys see his own works and the
present writer's book on British Central Africa.

230 Pioneers in South Africa

work the Tati gold. In 1868 Mauch walked from Pretoria
to Lydenburg, in the eastern Transvaal, where he laid the
foundations of the gold-mining industry of Barberton. But
the most sensational of Mauch's discoveries was that made
in 187 1 of the ruins of Zimbabwe. This wonderful dead
city — a vast fortress in stone and cement, some 2 miles by
i£ miles in area, half-hidden by the forest which has sprung
up in and around it, and situated not far from the head-
waters of the Sabi River — had been first reached (amongst
modern white men) by Adam Renders, the American
elephant hunter, who told Mauch of his discovery.
Mauch, however, was the first European to give a clear
and definite description of this wonderful place and to fix
its position on the map. [Zimbabwe, of course, had not
only been known to and mentioned by the early Portu-
guese, but its existence had been heard of by the natives,
and recorded by Dr. Livingstone twenty years before
Mauch's discovery.]

Mauch, accompanied by an Englishman (Phillips),
travelled from Zimbabwe to Sena on the Zambezi, whence
he returned to his native land (Wiirttemberg); but he died
there in 1875 as the result of his hardships.

Thomas Baines, who was born at King's Lynn in
Norfolk and had been a sailor, had a considerable gift
for drawing and painting, but never having had any
proper training, his work was sometimes a little hard and
grotesque, wanting in perspective and in proportion. He
first came out to South Africa in 1842. His attempt to
do survey work in the Transvaal led to his being declared
an outlaw by the Boers. He accompanied a surveying
expedition to North Australia, and in 1857 was selected to
serve with Livingstone on his second Zambezi expedition.
But he quarrelled with Charles Livingstone (secretary to

MAUCH DISCOVERING THE RL INS OF ZIMBABWE

Mosilikatsi and the Boers 231

his much greater brother) and was dismissed most un-
fairly. He afterwards journeyed throughout Damaraland
and along the Zambezi with the expeditions of James
Chapman and other travellers. In the 'sixties of last
century he set himself to work to follow up the truth of
the many native stories regarding the existence of gold
in south-east Africa, and in these researches he derived
much information from Karl Mauch.

Baines in 1873 obtained a concession for gold mining
from Lobengula, the son and successor of Mosilikatsi,
and the company which he founded continued in various
forms to work the gold supply of Tati, and to keep alive
the idea of the supposed wealth in gold in Matebeleland
until the great Rhodesian movement in the following
decade, the 'eighties; but Baines himself died of dysentery
at Durban in 1875. He was a pioneer of right good
quality, and has never yet received his due recognition.

What is remarkable to remember in connection with
both Baines and Hartley, his inspirer, is that Hartley, the
first modern person to prove the existence of gold in the
rocks of south-east Africa, actually lived in a farm on
the Witwatersrand, unconscious of the millions in wealth
around his house; and that Baines several times camped
on this richest gold-bearing region of the Transvaal with-
out realizing that here was a region far more worth ex-
ploration and settlement than the Matebele country, from
the point of view of gold production, though it is true
that he did detect the existence of gold in the Witwaters-
rand reefs. The work of Karl Mauch was continued, and
gold in paying quantities was soon afterwards discovered
in the eastern part of the Transvaal, near the Portuguese
frontier, by Edward Button, the principal pioneer in
this direction.

232 Pioneers in South Africa

The discovery of diamonds in the valley of the Orange
River in 1869 and subsequent years had led to a great
extension of British rule to the north over Grikwaland
and Bechuanaland. And the wealth of gold in the Trans-
vaal first suggested by Henry Hartley and made evident
by Karl Mauch, Thomas Baines, and Edward Button,
brought about in its after-train of events the South African
War of 1899-1902, and that Union of all British South
Africa under one flag which followed the war.

We will next trace the career and adventures of that
most remarkable explorer, David Livingstone, who was
to carry the lamp of knowledge and the zeal for law
and order not only to the Zambezi, but beyond, to the
regions of Equatorial Africa.

CHAPTER X

Livingstone and Oswell

The greatest of South African pioneers is undoubtedly
David Livingstone; and if only a moderate amount of
space is given up to a description of his journeys and
adventures, it is because they have been treated of fully
in his own easily accessible books and in many other
works dealing with the history of South and Central
Africa. 1

David Livingstone was born at Blantyre, in the valley
of the Clyde, in south-west Scotland, in the year 1813.
As he grew up to manhood he showed himself to be of
that bodily type not uncommon in western Scotland,
which belongs rather to the Iberian stock than to that of
the Caledonian, Scandinavian, or Teutonic components of
the Scottish population. He was not a tall man — perhaps
5 feet 7 inches in height at most — and is often referred to
by his taller contemporaries as "the plucky little mission-
ary", "the determined little fellow". With his black
hair, brown eyes, dark moustache, and somewhat sallow
complexion he might easily have passed for a Spaniard ;
and this Spanish look reappeared in the faces of one or
two of his children. His grandfather was a Highlander
from an islet off the west coast of Mull.

1 A general resume of Livingstone's work as an explorer was written by the author
of this book some years ago, entitled Livingstone and the Exploration of Central
Africa. It has recently been republished in a shilling edition.

233

234 Pioneers in South Africa

In his boyhood he had thirsted for knowledge and
adventure, and even then took the deepest interest in
geology and botany. First he thought of going out as
a medical missionary to China, but, a war with that
country having arisen, he turned his thoughts towards
South Africa. His services were accepted by the London
Missionary Society, and having qualified as a doctor of
medicine (wishing from the first to be a medical mis-
sionary) he left for South Africa in December, 1840, and
by the year 1842 was established as a missionary at Mole-
polole, in central Bechuanaland. At this period the
French Protestant missionaries referred to in the last
chapter had been doing a great work amongst the Basuto
section of the Bechuana people, and had been gradually
carrying their stations farther north into Bechuanaland
proper. Here, like Moffat, they had heard of the well-
watered region of lakes and rivers beyond the Kalahari
Desert; 1 and Livingstone in 1841 and 1842 listened eagerly
to similar rumours, and burned with a very natural desire
(as it was necessary to carry on the work of missionary
exploration) to reach the rumoured lake before the French
missionaries lighted on it. He therefore set himself to
work to gain a thorough insight into the habits and
customs, the laws, and above all the language, of the
Bakwena section of the Bechuana people. Thus equipped,
he made a northward dash in 1842 which brought him to
within a short distance of Lake Ngami. But after this he
was dispatched to found a station at Mabotsa, in what is
now the western Transvaal. He had already made the
acquaintance of the Moffats, and in 1844 he married their
eldest daughter Mary, and with her led a somewhat

1 Probably from men who were in touch with Sebituane, the son of Mantatisi,
who had become a great conqueror at the head of the Makololo tribe. See p. 236.

Livingstone and Oswell 235

wandering life in the north and middle of the Transvaal,
being thus brought into close contact with the Boers, who
by this time had driven Mosilikatsi across the Limpopo,
and were colonizing the Transvaal in increasing numbers.

Livingstone, however, found the proceedings of the
Boers towards the Bechuana people almost as objection-
able as those of Mosilikatsi, and he resented most strongly
their assumptions that the regions north of the Vaal and
Orange Rivers were their exclusive domain, and that
Englishmen were not to enter them. Livingstone, in
fact, began the "Cape to Cairo" ideal, and proposed, in
1 841, to march overland to Abyssinia as soon as he had
acquired the Sechuana language.

After his marriage Livingstone built with his own
hands a large strong house at Mabotsa, but could not get
on well with a missionary colleague named Edwards, who
had been appointed to reside with him, but who proved
to have a jealous and disagreeable disposition. 1 The
Livingstones therefore moved northwards to a place called
Chonuane, the headquarters at that time of a well-known
Bechuana chief, Sechele, of the Bakwena or "Crocodile"
tribe. 2 From Chonuane, Livingstone travelled to the
Kashane or "Magalies" Mountains of the central Trans-
vaal, but the country here was too disturbed at that time
for the establishment of a mission station. He therefore
returned to his residence at Sechele's country, amongst the
Bakwena, but established himself still farther to the north
on the River Koloben, in order to get into a region with
a better supply of rain, where the Bechuana could be
taught agriculture more effectively. Sechele was under

1 Yet Edwards and his wife proved afterwards noteworthy pioneers, and were
written of in high terms by James Chapman and other explorers.

2 i.e. with the crocodile as their totem or fetish.

236 Pioneers in South Africa

obligations to another Bechuana chief, Sebituane — the
son of Mantatisi, at the head of the Makololo tribe. This
fact may be said to have opened to Livingstone the explora-
tion of south-central Africa, for Sebituane was destined
to be a great conqueror and to establish the Makololo
Basuto in control of the Upper Zambezi. [Sebituane was
a young Suto chief belonging to the wild tribes of the
Ba-tloka who followed the chieftainess Mantatisi. When
the Mantatisi horde met with its great defeats by the
Grikwa and the Banwaketsi, it split into two portions.
Sebituane led one lot to the north, past the Ngami region
to Barotseland, and Mantatisi herself returned south once
more to Basutoland.]

Sechele of the Bakwena made a fast friendship with
Livingstone. He was so anxious to learn to read that he
acquired a knowledge of the alphabet in one day, and com-
pletely abandoned his favourite pastime of hunting to learn
all that he could from Livingstone, Mrs. Livingstone, and
the English visitors to the station. Amongst these was
the celebrated traveller, William Cotton Oswell (see page
242), who during his first stay at Koloben taught Sechele
the elementary rules of arithmetic. In consequence of his
rather sedentary life Sechele became too corpulent, but
his subsequent journeys with Livingstone, either to Cape
Town or far north to Ngami, once more restored him to
good condition.

Before he conceived this passion for learning and this
enthusiasm for Christianity he had been an equally en-
thusiastic hunter of big game. Livingstone had the good
luck to see this part of Bechuanaland whilst it still swarmed
to an almost incredible degree with wild beasts, and he has
left for us a vivid description of the way in which Sechele's
people drove the zebras and antelopes of the district into

Livingstone and Oswell 237

the hopo trap for the purpose of obtaining meat at the time
when their cattle and crops were dying from one of the
frequently recurring droughts.

"The hopo consisted of two hedges in the form of the
letter V, which were very high and thick near the angle.
They did not, however, actually join at this point, but
were extended parallel along a narrow lane, at the ex-
tremity of which a pit was formed 6 or 7 feet deep and
about 12 or 15 feet in breadth and length. The trunks of
trees were laid across the margins of the excavation, and
more especially over the brink nearest to the end of the
lane where the animals were expected to leap in. Tree
trunks formed an overlapping border, and rendered escape
impossible. The fragile surface was carefully strewn with
short green rushes and grass and twigs, so as completely
to conceal the pitfall. As the hedges were about 1 mile
long, and nearly that distance apart at their extremities,
a tribe making a circuit 3 or 4 miles round the country
adjacent to the opening, and gradually closing up, were
almost sure to encircle a large body of game. Driving
the animals with shouts to the narrow part of the hopo,
the men who were secreted there would throw their
assegais into the affrighted herds, while the poor beasts
rushed on and into the opening presented at the con-
verging hedges, and, unable to stop their impetus, would
smash through the frail covering of boughs and grass and
collapse into the pit, until that excavation was full to the
brim with a fighting, struggling, suffocating mass of
antelopes, buffaloes, and zebras. Then the natives would
close in and spear the animals at their leisure. In this
way between sixty and seventy head of large game
were often killed at the different hopos in a single
week."

238 Pioneers in South Africa

About this time the writings of George Thompson, 1
Sir James Alexander, Sir Andrew Smith, Robert Moffat,
and other missionaries had revealed to the world the mar-
vellous zoological gardens of inner South Africa. In those
days, and until long afterwards, the Cape of Good Hope
was the halfway house between England and India. The
climate of the Cape was exceedingly healthy, and parti-
cularly well suited to restoring strength and vigour to
those who had suffered from one or other of the numerous
germ diseases of India. It was frequently the custom of
Indian officers and officials to stop for a month or so at the
Cape of Good Hope on their way back to England. Most
of them confined their journeys to the settled parts of Cape
Colony, where they could still get quite sufficient shooting
to please the ordinary man. But such as were enthusi-
astic sportsmen began to find their way up-country past
Grikwaland and the more settled regions into Bechuana-
land and the Transvaal. In this last-named region English
hunters were not always welcomed by the jealous Boers,
who were already suspicious of English intentions, and
desirous of retaining all the country they could ride over
for themselves and their descendants. They were already
beginning to view with great disfavour missionaries like
Livingstone and Moffat, who put ideas into the natives'
heads of independence, civilization, and fair treatment.
After 1855, however, this hostile attitude of the independent
Dutch colonists died away.

Perhaps the first in the list — as regards priority of

1 George Thompson travelled between Cape Town and Kuruman to the borders
of Kafirland 'as did also Dr.— afterwards Sir Andrew— Smith). Thompson came out
to the Cape about 1818, and in 1823 was with Moffat in southern Bechuanaland assist-
ing him to repel the Mantatisi invasion. Thompson's book, in two volumes— Travels
and Adventures in Southern Africa —contains many thrilling lion stories, and gives
the first truthful pictures of the quagga, kudu, gnu, hunting-dog, hippopotamus, find
aardvark that were published.

Livingstone and Oswell 239

appearance — among the great English sportsmen pioneers
was Captain (afterwards Sir) William Cornwallis
Harris, an officer of the Indian army, who, fired by the
accounts given to him by missionaries and officials whom
he met at Cape Town, undertook, with a companion of the
Indian Civil Service, a journey into central South Africa
in quest of big game. They started from Port Elizabeth
in the summer of 1836, and made their way to Moffat's
station at Kuruman, passing, before they crossed the
Orange River, large troops of white-tailed gnus and un-
countable myriads of springboks. This beautiful creature,
the only representative of the gazelle group in Africa,
south of the eastern Equatorial regions, was sometimes
driven beyond the Orange and the Vaal Rivers by
droughts and scarcity of vegetation in the interior, and
its ravages then were almost like those of locusts. Harris
saw the plains south of the Orange River " literally white"
with springboks (white being a very prominent feature in
the colours of this antelope, especially on the hind quarters).
North of Kuruman, Harris found the troops of springbok
varied with many ostriches and giraffes, with elands, bush-
buck, the real quagga, the gemsbok oryx, the white-faced
blesbok ("in vast herds"), the handsome Cape harte-
beest (strikingly coloured in black, white, orange red, and
cream), and the blue or brindled gnu, the warthog, and
the bush pig. Farther north, and nearing the Transvaal
border, the quaggas gave place to the southern Burchell's
zebra, and in addition to the hartebeests were seen their
beautiful satiny-skinned, mauve-tinted ally, the tsesebe or
sassaby, near relation of the blesboks and bonteboks of
Cape Colony and southern Bechuanaland. As they
entered the more forested regions of the Transvaal (at
that time Mosilikatsi's country) the zebras and antelopes

240 Pioneers in South Africa

moved in such swarms over the plains that Harris and his
companion on horseback were almost carried away with
the mass; and their rifle bullets — for they shot and shot
with that lust of slaughtering beautiful or wonderful crea-
tures which is so characteristic of Englishmen, the most
pitiless hunters the world has ever known — left the plains
strewn with the dead or dying bodies of gnus, zebras,
tsesebes, roan antelopes, waterbuck, hartebeests, mpala,
reedbuck, springboks, warthog, lions (these carnivores were
inextricably mixed up with the moving herds), jackals,
wild dogs, leopards, chitas, and hyenas.

Harris noted the tree habitations of the Bakona which
had so impressed Moffat, and further observed the enor-
mous "colony nests", containing 300 or 400 birds, of the
Sociable Weaver-bird (Philcetems socius), which were built
in the tall "giraffe" acacias, amid the delicate pinnate
foliage, the white thorns, and the brilliant yellow tufts of
small sweet-scented blossoms. Farther to the east the
giraffe became plentiful, and enormous herds of quagga
were seen — mostly progressing, like wild duck, in single
file. The "black" rhinoceros exhibited himself daily in
"numbers almost exceeding belief", and the "white"
rhinoceros was then quite common (twenty or more
together, it might be), and sometimes, in its irritability,
attacked their caravan. The rivers, and even quite small
streams, were full of enormous crocodiles, to cover which
there seemed in places scarcely enough water. These rep-
tiles — said to have been as much as 16 to 17 feet long —
evidently lived mainly on the mammals of the district,
capturing them when they approached a watering place
to drink. The crocodiles, however, would not hesitate to
leave the rivers at night and wander in search of prey over
the flats. They actually found their way into Harris's

Livingstone and Oswell 241

camp and ate all the leather of the wagons and all the
boots they could reach, and would certainly have devoured
the men could they have got at them. At this period the
Limpopo so swarmed with crocodiles that it was known
as the " Crocodile River" on the maps.

The Limpopo, Vaal, and Orange River contained
numbers of exceptionally large hippopotami (we can judge
of their size by the skulls sent home). Deep pits for catch-
ing the rhinoceroses as well as large numbers of smaller
beasts had been dug by the natives everywhere near the
Limpopo, each pit being excavated at the end of a narrow
path between fences of thorn bushes. Harris thought that
the natives' idea in making these "hopos" was to rid
the country of the extraordinary superfluity of wild beasts,
quite as much as to procure food for themselves. He
found some of the great pits half-full of whitened skeletons
of fifty or more beasts of different kinds, which had evi-
dently been left there to rot and be feasted on by the
vultures and hyenas. The valley of the Limpopo swarmed
with buffalo, as will afterwards be described in connection
with Oswell's adventures. In the centre of the Transvaal,
about the region where Pretoria and other big towns exist,
elephants were met with in such numbers, sometimes, that
the "whole face of the landscape was literally covered with
them ". Or they were seen — a hundred or so at a time —
moving slowly and majestically through the forests, each
elephant carrying in its trunk a fly whisk — a leafy branch
broken off from the trees or shrubs. In the Magalies
Mountains the elephants were observed climbing with the
agility of goats to the topmost summits, where from time
to time they stood out like great statues of basalt against
the blue sky.

It was in the centre of the Transvaal that Harris made

(0587) 16

242 Pioneers in South Africa

that discovery of the most beautiful of all the antelopes
which has made his pioneering journey specially famous.
This was the Sable or Harrisbuck (Hippotragus niger).
The male sable is the size of a red-deer stag, and is
coloured black and white — jet black above and snowy white
below, with vivid white markings on the face. Its superb
horns rise from just above the eyes, and sweep backwards
in a bold curve. 1

Harris left South Africa in 1838, after penetrating to the
northern verge of Zululand — he enjoyed to a great extent
the protection of Mosilikatsi. In 1841 he set out to explore
the south of Abyssinia, for which service he was knighted.

Another great traveller sportsman was William Cotton
Oswell, the son of a merchant residing in Essex, who had
made a small fortune in the Russian trade. Oswell, when
a youth, had obtained an appointment in the Indian Civil
Service, becoming, like so many other Englishmen in
India, an enthusiastic hunter of big game. Having con-
tracted a very severe illness in India, he was sent to the
Cape of Good Hope to recover his health. He reached
Kuruman in June, 1845, in company with an Indian friend,
Mungo Murray, and stayed for a time at Kuruman as
the guest of "that grand old patriarch of missionaries,
Mr. Moffat". " He and Mrs. Moffat are verily the two
best friends travellers ever came across. I shall never
forget their affectionate courtesy, their beautifully ordered
household, and their earnest desire to help us on in every
way. Moffat urged us to go straight on to Mabotsa —
220 miles or so to the northward."

1 The Sable Antelope is only found in the eastern half of southern Africa, except in
the Zambezi regions, wherein it extends as far west as the vicinity of the Kunene
River. In East Africa its range reaches northward to Unyamwe/.i and opposite
Zanzibar, and, in a different sub-species, north of that again to the Mombasa hinter-
land.

Livingstone and Oswell 243

The third day after leaving Kuruman they stayed at
Motito, a station of the French evangelical missionaries.
"You here first begin to meet with the mimosa tree
(acacia, he should have written) in abundance, and the most
uninteresting of all scenery — the open plain — is in places
converted by its verdure into most picturesque and park-
like country."

Livingstone he described as "the best, the most intelli-
gent, and the most modest of the missionaries ".

Just after they reached his station of Koloben they saw
in the vicinity an episode which Oswell justly described
as creditable to Negro womanhood. The women, as was
their custom, were working in the fields, and a young man
standing at the edge of the bush was chatting with them.
A lioness sprang on him, and was carrying him off, when
one of the women seized her from behind, and was
dragged for some little distance. Hampered by the man
in her mouth and the woman behind her, the lioness
slackened her pace, whereupon the Mokatla 1 woman
jumped on to her back, and, straddling across it, hit her
over the nose and head with a heavy short-handled hoe,
till the lioness dropped her prey and slunk into cover.
The man was the woman's husband!

On this journey, amongst the negroes engaged at
the coast was one who was a "cool, tall, handsome lad",
born of slave parents, of the Cape of Good Hope (possibly
from Mocambique). When out after a lion in the Bafiwa-
ketsi country Oswell took note of this negro youth as
one of his gunbearers, and realized from his manner that
here was the stuff to make a henchman of. "From that
day forth he was my right-hand man in the field, and
never failed me — a grand specimen of manhood, good-

x The Ba-katla were another Bechuana tribe of the " Baboon " clan. Katla = baboon.

244 Pioneers in South Africa

natured, faithful, and cheerful in endurance. I never met
his equal, black or white. Plucky to a fault, he was the
least quarrelsome of men." This man, who was named
John Thomas, lived long afterwards in Oswell's service,
and finally became a butler in an English family. It is
not out of place mentioning his name in this record, be-
cause such faithful servants as these of the Negro race
have played a far greater part in the success of African
explorations and pioneering work than is often understood
by writers who describe the history of the opening up of
Africa.

On this journey Oswell and his companion Murray
reached as far as the Limpopo River. In the following
year (1846) Oswell joined forces with another Indian
officer, Captain Frank Vardon, and the two made their
way together to the Marikwa affluent of the Limpopo.
Vardon is described in Oswell's letters as the boldest and
bravest-hearted of men, the most trustworthy of mates, a
perfect sportsman, and a crack shot. After him Living-
stone subsequently named the pretty Puku antelope the
Cobus vardoni, a small waterbuck of central Zambezia.

When the two sportsmen reached the Marikwa the
buffaloes were in immense herds. One bright moonlight
night they beheld the forest by the river bank one mass
of struggling buffaloes jammed together as in the pictures
of American bison which Oswell had seen in books de-
scribing the Far West. They were there in thousands,
and the two travellers in the moonlight rode alongside this
jostling herd for a considerable distance, "horn and hoof
rattling one against the other", the outside ones startled by
the shots from the rifles, but the great mass of these beasts
too much concerned with their own struggle for place to
notice the existence of man. Elephants, too, were in such

Livingstone and Oswell 245

large numbers that the sportsmen halted for ten days, and
shot every day, whilst the ivory was gradually piled up
under the wagons. At this juncture they were visited by
some of the Boer pioneers, who were travelling north from
the headquarters of their great leader, Pretorius, then
settled on the Magaliesberg. The Boers were astounded
at the good luck and the skill of Oswell, and not a little
jealous. They dreaded lest he or any brother sportsman
should furnish the natives with guns and ammunition,
which might be used to resist the Boer advance.

Oswell and Yardon, however, at this juncture first
made the acquaintance of the terrible tsetse fly and the
effects of its bite on cattle and horses. " The poison intro-
duced by the proboscis", he writes, " is zymotic" — not
altogether a bad guess for those days of the distant 'forties ;
but, as we learned sixty years afterwards, what the tsetse
fly really introduces is not a ferment but the germ of a
minute organism, a trypanosome, which afterwards multi-
plies in the veins of the beast punctured by the tsetse,
and sets up a disease which causes its death. This disease
is usually called nagana in South Africa. It is not com-
municable to man, but the tsetse of one or another species
can introduce a similar disease — sleeping sickness — equally
deadly, into the human veins. Maladies closely akin to
nagana devastate humanity in many lands.

On the banks of the Mokolwe tributary of the Limpopo
Oswell met with what he believed to be a special variety
of the white rhinoceros, known as the Kebaba, because its
front horn, instead of being curved backwards from the
line of the nose, was bent forward in exactly the opposite
direction, so that, if the animal's head was held low, the
point would touch the ground before the muzzle did. But
this downward-curved front horn was met with in many types

246 Pioneers in South Africa

of white rhinoceros in South Africa, in Zambezia (where
the creature is now extinct), and in Equatorial Africa.

The white rhinoceros was at first considered to be a
timid animal, not given to the fits of fury that are so
characteristic of its smaller relation, the black two-horned
rhinoceros. But Oswell afterwards had a very disagreeable
experience which caused him to take a different view,
though more likely than not it really referred after all to
the darker-coloured, smaller form. He was returning to
camp one evening on a much beloved horse named Stael,
the fastest, the most sweet-tempered and fearless that he
had ever ridden in Africa — a horse that would without
whip or spur carry him right up to a lion and stand
perfectly motionless within a few feet whilst his master
fired at the ferocious charging beast — when he saw a large
rhinoceros and fired both barrels of his gun at it. Instead
of falling to this discharge, or turning round and bolting
away into the bushes, it began to walk towards the horse
and rider.

Oswell turned his horse round and attempted to ride
away, but found himself confronted by a thick bush,
and before he could make off in some other direction the
rhinoceros drove its long front horn 1 right through the
horse's body, so that the tip actually pierced through the
saddle. Both horse and rider were flung into the air,
and as Oswell fell he was partially scalped by the stirrup
iron. As he scrambled to his knees he actually saw the
rhinoceros insert its horn within the bend of his leg.
With great agility he leapt away, then tripped and tell
to the ground, while the rhinoceros passed in a rush close
by, but without hurting him. At this moment there came
up his negro after-rider with another gun. Oswell pulled

1 Some 'if those obtained or measured by Oswell were nearly 5 feel long.

Livingstone and Oswell 247

in his horse, mounted it, and though the blood was stream-
ing down his face and a piece of his scalp hanging over
his eyes, he dashed the latter back into position with his
hand, held the gun to his shoulder, and shot the rhinoceros
dead. Then, after a brief pause to collect his senses, he
rode back to his dying horse, with whom (as he wrote in
his letters) he had talked affectionately only that morning,
promising him when the hunting was over that he should
have a happy time and grow fat on good pasture. " I had
played with him and he with me. It was with a very sore
heart that I put a bullet through his head, then took the
saddle from his back, and started wagonwards, walking
half the distance, 10 miles, and making my after-rider do
likewise."

Scarcely had he recovered from this accident when on
his return journey towards Cape Colony he was chased
on foot by a female rhinoceros. As its snout was lowered
to toss him into the air, he rested his gun on the broad
nose and fired both barrels into the brain. Nevertheless
he was tossed high into the air and fell to the ground un-
conscious, to find three hours afterwards that his thigh was
ripped up to the bone. He actually had to lie, near where
he fell in the bush, for four weeks whilst the gash slowly
healed, his servants covering it incessantly with wet rags.

Another year's service in India followed, but the call
of Africa was too strong, especially the letters he received
from South Africa making mention of Bechuana stories
of big lakes and running waters in the far interior. He
gave up all idea of further work in India and returned
once more to the Cape of Good Hope at the end of 1848.
Accompanied by another Anglo-Indian, his friend Mungo
Murray, he rejoined the Livingstones at Koloben in the
spring of 1849.

248 Pioneers in South Africa

The exact position of Lake Ngami had during the first
half of the nineteenth century been correctly pointed out
by the natives who had visited it when rains were copious
in the Kalahari Desert. Livingstone communicated his
great desire to find this lake, by going round the Kalahari
rather than across it, to Colonel (Sir) Thomas Steele,
formerly an African sportsman -traveller, who had gone
out to Madras, and Colonel Steele imparted this in-
formation to William Cotton Oswell amongst others. In
the meantime Livingstone had arranged with Sechele,
the Bakwena chief, that if he would furnish and pay for
guides to show the way to Lake Ngami, the missionary
wagon should be used on the return journey to bring back
to Sechele the ivory which would be bought from the
Ngami people, who had that commodity in abundance.

The Kalahari — perhaps more correctly called in native
speech the "Karikari" or "fierce, sharp" — region was a
vast wilderness without tall trees or hills, which stretched
between the western parts of Bechuanaland and the moun-
tains of Namakwa and Damaraland. But though quite
without flowing rivers it had stagnant rainwater in holes
and under the surface, and at certain times of the year it
was covered with several kinds of juicy wild melons. The
best of these was a small scarlet-coloured gourd about
4 inches long and ih inches in diameter. Some specimens
were bitter, others quite sweet. There was also another
plant named Lcroshua, which was a blessing to the semi-
nomad Bechuana clans known as the Ba-kalahari. This
had linear leaves and a stalk no thicker than a quill, but
on digging down a foot or more beneath the surface it^
stem was found to broaden out into a great turnip-like
tuber as large as the head of a young child, and filled
with a cool and refreshing liquid. Another plant, named

A WATER HOLE IN THE KALAHARI DESERT

SELLING WATER MELONS IN THE KALAHARI DESERT

Livingstone and Oswell 249

Mokun\ a herbaceous creeper, developed, over a circular
space of ground, tubers as large as a man's head, which
grew out horizontally from the underground stem. The
natives would strike the ground on the circumference of
the plant with stones, and by hearing a difference of sound
they know the water-bearing tuber to be present. They
then dug down a foot or so and found it. But the chief
water-supplying plant of the desert was the Kenwe or
water-melon {Cucitmis caffer). This for its juicy pulp
was devoured not only by man but by elephants, rhino-
ceroses, antelopes, lions, hyenas, jackals, and mice. Yet
not each one of these fruits was edible; some were very
bitter, though they might grow from the same plant that
produced other gourds of delicious taste.

The mammals most commonly frequenting the Kala-
hari Desert were relatively independent of water and could
ordinarily be content with such moisture as they obtained
from the vegetation. Of such were the gemsbok or South
African oryx, the eland, kudu, the little steinbok and
duiker, the springbok, and the porcupine. The ostrich
was also abundant, but ostriches, kudus, elands, and
springbok were obliged at intervals to travel great dis-
tances for a drink. Livingstone noted, however, that
whenever the spoor of a rhinoceros, buffalo, zebra, mpala,
or gnu was encountered, the traveller could be pretty
sure by following it up that he would reach water before
he had travelled any very great distance, as these creatures
were of a thirstier nature than the others mentioned. The
Kalahari Desert swarmed with mice and other small
rodents, and consequently nourished large numbers of
buzzards, hawks, eagles, and snakes, which fed on the
mice.

The human inhabitants of this desolate region, besides

250 Pioneers in South Africa

families of Bushmen, consisted of the outcast, semi-nomad
Ba-kalahari, who spoke a dialect of the Bechuana tongue,
and consequently belonged to the Bantu group. They
sometimes presented physical resemblances to the Bush-
man due to early intermixture, but in the main they were
the descendants of the first Bechuana immigrants into
central South Africa. They had originally brought with
them from the north enormous herds of large, long-horned
cattle, similar to the oxen originally possessed by the
Damara and to those which are found at the north end
of Tanganyika, in Madagascar, Uganda, Galaland, and
eastern Nigeria. But the other Bechuana clans who
followed in their footsteps robbed them of all this cattle,
some of which, however, remained down to Livingstone's
day in the vicinity of Lake Ngami. Apparently this breed
in course of time died out amongst the southern Bechuana,
who found it more convenient to keep goats, and thus
acquired in the vocabulary of the Hottentots the name
of " Birikwa" or the "goat-keeping people". The Ba-
kalahari derived their chief sustenance from hunting,
though they still retained a love of agriculture and
domestic animals, and maintained gardens of melons
and pumpkins. In the way of trade and industry they
devoted themselves chiefly to the killing of cats, foxes,
jackals, lions, leopards, panthers, hyenas, and small
antelopes, and making up their well-dressed skins into
karosses.

When the Ba-kalahari wished to draw water up from
the wet sand below the surface of the soil, they acted as
follows. Their water vessels consisted of empty ostrich
egg shells, each with a small hole at the top as large as
a finger tip. The women would tie a bunch of grass to
one end of a reed about 2 feet long, and insert it in a

Livingstone and Oswell 251

hole dug also to a depth of about 2 feet, ramming the wet
sand tightly round it; then, applying the mouth to the
top of the hollow reed, they would suck out the air and
form a vacuum in the grass beneath, which, like a sponge,
had already been soaked with water. The water in this
way would rise up the hollow reed into the mouth of the
woman sucker, into which again would be inserted a straw
which hung down and entered the egg shell placed just
below the woman's chin. As she sucked, the water ran
out of the corner of her mouth down the straw into the
egg shell. The egg shells full of water were then
stoppered and carefully buried for future use.

"We should have liked to have quenched our thirst
(at a Bushman water-hole), but the water was dyed red
with the blood of their gums, so strenuous had been their
efforts at sucking it up."

Before starting with his family and a trader acquain-
tance from Cape Town (J. H. Wilson) in search of Lake
Ngami, Livingstone fastened to the wheel of each wagon
an instrument which recorded the number of revolutions
made. Multiplying the number recorded by the measure-
ment of the circumference of the wheel, the actual distance
traversed was at once ascertained. By this species of dead
reckoning he became remarkably accurate in his computa-
tion of distances, before the time when he possessed the
necessary instruments for taking latitudes and longitudes.

The missionary party left Koloben in May, 1849, and
joined Oswell and Murray at Shokuane. Whilst journey-
ing through northern Bechuanaland they suffered much
from scarcity of meat. This was felt more especially by
the Livingstone children, and the natives, to show their
sympathy, often gave them a large kind of caterpillar,
which the children ate with relish, and which the Bechuana

252 Pioneers in South Africa

themselves devoured in large quantities. Then there were
locusts, ''quite a blessing to the country; so much so that
the rain doctors sometimes promised to bring them with
their incantations". Livingstone and Oswell tried the
locusts and found them to be strongly vegetable in taste,
the flavour varying with the plants on which they fed.
Roasted and pounded into a meal and eaten with honey
they were excellent, but if boiled, distinctly nasty.
Another item in the native dietary which was very
palatable to the Livingstone children was a very large
frog, called mat!a??ietlo. 1 This frog was 5^ inches long
and 4^ inches broad. The width of the head on the top
was as much as 3 inches, and the hind legs, apart from
the body, were 6 inches long. When cooked its flesh
looked like that of a chicken. After a heavy thunder-
shower the pools of water suddenly formed became in-
stantly alive with these loud-croaking frogs, and that in
a place where to an ordinary observer the dry desert was
without a sign of life. The matlametlo would make a
hole at the root of certain bushes and hide himself there
as long as the drought lasted. Across the opening to
his burrow a big spider would make its web, which was
a great protection to the frog from the penetrating search
of the hungry Bushmen. Directly the rain fell and the
hollows filled, the large frogs would rush from their
burrows and plunge into the water so quickly that the
natives believed that they fell from the clouds.

The north-eastern part of the Kalahari Desert was a
country of heavy sand, with scattered thorn bushes and
clumps of tall acacia trees ("Sand distressingly heavy and
sun fiery hot." — Osxvell). At times the party were made
anxious about the poor thirsty cattle which tugged the

1 Pyxicephalm adspersus.

Livingstone and Oswell 253

heavy wagons across this loose soil. Every now and
then two days would pass before they could get water,
even by digging holes in the sand, and then these exca-
vations only produced a pint in an hour by slow filtration,
so that, though there might be just enough for the needs
of the humans, there was no water to give to the cattle.
But at last it was evident that they were gradually de-
scending to a lower level from the Kalahari plateau.

"We proceeded down the dry bed of a river called
Mokoko. We had now the assurance from our guide
that we should suffer no more from thirst. Twice we
found rainwater in the Mokoko before we reached Mokoko
Nyani, where the water generally below ground elsewhere,
comes to the surface, in a bed of tufa. Three miles farther
down we met with the first Palmyra trees (Borassus) 1 which
we have seen in South Africa, twenty-six in number."

They were here, as Livingstone guessed, in the bed of
a vast lake of ancient times, of which Ngami is only a
small remaining pool. But at this point their guide was
at a loss as to which direction to take. Oswell, whilst
riding in front of the wagon, happened to spy a Bush-
woman running away in a bent position in order to
escape observation. Thinking it was a lion, he galloped
up to her, when the poor thing surrendered and began
hurriedly to give up her poor little property, which con-
sisted of traps made of cords for catching small beasts.
She was brought back to the camp, and Livingstone

1 The Borassus palms, at any rate in south Central Africa, bear orange-sized nuts
containing a milky fluid like that of the coconut. Explorers (writes Chapman) fre-
quently drank this. The brown, fibrous rind tasted like sweetish gingerbread, and was
much liked by elephants. The Borassus has a tall, white, smooth trunk; the Hyphasne
Fan palm, on the other hand, is not so tall, and the trunk is often hidden by the black,
radiating stalks of the crushed, withered fronds. Chapman also alludes to the
Hyphsene palms "with their black trunks, radiating crowns, and curved leaves high
up in the sky".

254 Pioneers in South Africa

explained that all they wanted was water. The Bush-
woman then consented to conduct them to a spring,
walking briskly before their horses for 8 miles. As
a reward they gave her a large piece of meat and a big
bunch of beads, so that she burst into a merry laugh
and remained with them for a little while longer. She
led them past a thick belt of mopane trees to a great
salt pan, Lake Kumadau or Chapo, one of a number
of similar vestiges of the dried-up freshwater sea of
central South Africa. When the pan first burst upon
their view, the setting sun was casting a beautiful blue
haze over the white incrustations, making the whole look
exactly like a lake. Osvvell threw his hat up in the air
at the sight, and shouted a hurrah which made the poor
Bushwoman and the Bechuana men think he was mad.
Livingstone was just behind him and quite as much
taken in by the wonderful mirage, which presented them
with an unreal picture of dancing waves, and trees reflected
in the water, while a distant herd of zebras were magni-
fied to the size of elephants. Even the horses, dogs,
oxen, and Hottentot followers of the party believed they
gazed on a vast lake and ran towards the deceitful mirage,
which suddenly broke up (no doubt under the influence
of a rising breeze) and revealed the flat surface of the
dry pan. Yet westwards there rose columns of black
smoke to the very clouds, and these, the guide said,
were due to the burning of the reeds by the natives
along "the great water".

A few days afterwards, on 4 July, 1849, the party came
to the veritable running water of the Zouga or Botletle
River, which flowed north-eastwards and bore the same
name in the speech of the natives as Lake Ngami, out
of which it flowed, to lose itselt eventually in the salt

Livingstone and Oswell 255

pans and swamps of the Ntwetsi and Makarikari country.
To reach Ngami they had only to follow this river up-
stream in a westerly direction for about 280 miles, meet-
ing with no difficulties except the hidden pitfalls for
catching game.

"The scenery generally along the River Zouga (the
outlet of Ngami) was magnificent. Trees of great size,
rich in foliage, fringed it on either side; now it is shut
in between high steep banks, and runs black and deep;
now it opens up into a broader and shallower bed dotted
with banks and islands. Its vegetation is distinct from
that of the country from which we came; palms, flower-
ing trees something like lilacs, and a species of the
Ficus indica (Banyan tree) were abundant; in places that
giant the mowana or baobab was found. Of this tree
I have spoken to you before, but those seen this year
exceeded our old friends in size; the largest measured
was upwards of 75 feet in circumference at 4 feet from
the ground!" 1 (Oswell.)

As they approached Ngami they noticed tribes new to
them in speech, which lived under the rule of the Bechuana
clans of the Bahurutsi and the Batowana. 2 These were
the Batletle, whose language had a click borrowed from
the Bushmen, and the Bayeye or Bakoba, whose speech

iThe Baobab (Adansonia) so often referred to in these pages is found nearly
throughout Tropical Africa, except in the densely forested regions, or the absolute
desert. It is really a member of the Mallow order, which includes the cotton plant
and the splendid Bombax trees of America and West Africa. The large, white, many-
stamened flowers of the Baobab hang from long pendulous stalks, and the fruits are
like huge gourds. The tree is illustrated in colour in my work on the Pioneers in
West Africa.

2 The Batowana may be the clan whose misheard name gave rise among the Boer
pioneers at the end of the eighteenth century to the general term for all this section of
the South African Bantu — the "Bechuana" (derived from the Dutch, Beetjuaan).
" Bechuana" is not a recognized native term, but is supposed to be a corrupt form of
Ba-taowana, which means the " Little Lion people". The Batowana were sometimes
called by their neighbours the " Baroa" or Bushmen.

256 Pioneers in South Africa

seems to have been more related to that of the Subia people
of the Upper Zambezi. These last were mostly water people
living in their rude dug-out canoes, on the prow of which,
in a receptacle of clay, a fire was always burning. They
preferred sleeping in the canoes to spending a night on
shore, where they were exposed to risks from lions, hyenas,
snakes, and human enemies.

Whilst ascending the Zouga with its beautiful wooded
banks, the travellers came to its confluence with the large
stream flowing into it from the north. This was the River
Tamunakle or Tamalukane. Livingstone enquired whence
it came, the reply being: " From a country full of rivers —
so many that no one can tell their number; and a country
full of large trees". This was the first confirmation he
had of the native stories that had been already transmitted
to England, to the effect that the interior of south-central
Africa was not the large sandy plateau suggested by
English armchair geographers, but a well-watered region
of abundant vegetation.

The members of this memorable expedition — William
Cotton Oswell, Mungo Murray, David Livingstone, his
wife and three of their children, and a trader, J. H.
Wilson, reached the north-east end of Lake Ngami 1 on
1 August, 1849. "None", wrote Oswell, "save those
who have suffered from the want, know the beauty of
water. A magnificent sheet (Lake Ngami) without bounds
that we could see, gladdened our eyes." Animal life — which
had in the desert been confined to one or two of the ante-
lope tribe that do not require water, and to Bushmen, who,
inserting a reed 3 or 4 feet below the surface, suck it up —

'The name is really pronounced Nami, and is said to be derived from a Mai-
or a Bushman word, Nahe, meaning "giraffe" — "because the waters when the lake
w.is full and stormy rocked to and fro like a giraffe" (James Chapman). It is also
called Noga.

Livingstone and Oswell 257

was greatly increased here and there along the river. A
new nation, the Makoba or Bakuba, l speaking a language
totally distinct from that of the Bechuana, inhabited the
islands, moving across the water in their canoes, and living
principally on fish, and beasts taken in the pitfalls which
lined the banks of the stream. Among the great game the
elephant and buffalo were the most numerous, the latter
roaming in immense herds, and every accessible drinking-
place in the river being trampled with the spoor of the
former.

Lake Ngami (since more than half dried up and much
shrunk in its dimensions) was found to be a shallow piece
of open water about 75 miles in circumference. Living-
stone, however, promptly realized that the extent of the
lake as he then saw it, was more an accident of the rainy
season. He also appreciated the fact from his barometric
observations that they had descended 2000 feet in coming
from Koloben on the high Bechuana plateau. Lake
Ngami, in fact, was nothing but the remains of a huge
shallow expanse of fresh or brackish water, which was
originally formed by the junction of the Okavango, the

1 These Bakuba or Bayeye seem to have been related to the tribe of Baviko (who are
also known as the Bakuba), whose country, with Libebe as its capital, lay in about
18 S. lat. , some distance west of the Upper Zambezi. According to native tradi-
tions, the " Makoba", Bakuba, or Bayeye people emigrated a hundred years ago or
more from the Okavango and Kwito Rivers, 200 miles farther south, to the shores and
islands of Lake Ngami. They numbered in the middle of the nineteenth century about
200,000 souls, and dwelt along the banks of the Botletle, the Tamalukane, the Teoge,
and the other network of streams and lakes between Ngami and the Chobe. They
had many peculiar customs. Their manner of greeting appeared highly ridiculous to
Europeans. For instance, a man meeting his father-in-law after an absence, took
a mouthful of water, and running up to him, spat it all in his face; then, grasping his
hands, kissed them most rapturously. At other times, when friends had long been
absent, on meeting they would rush at each other and wrestle, to see which of the two
was superior in strength since they last met. After the trial the stronger expected
respect from the weaker. In the many trials and troubles of this changing region —
drought, famine, and Hottentot, Bechuana, and Matebele raids — the Bayeye have
almost died out.

(C587) 17

258 Pioneers in South Africa

Upper Zambezi, and even the Upper Kunene, before
the Zambezi had forced a way through the hills of the
Butonga country and had effected a junction with the
Kafue, which carried its waters no longer into a central
depression in the heart of South Africa, but into the
Indian Ocean. Ngami, the Zouga or Botletle, the Tamu-
nakle or Mashale, the Teoge or Moremi, and the Ntwetsi
and Makari-kari salt pans at the present day are only a
vast backwater receiving the overflow of waters in the
rainy season which is too great to be carried off at once
by the Chobe into the Zambezi system.

Livingstone's principal object in reaching this lake was
to make his way by one of the northern watercourses to
the residence of the great chief of the Makololo tribe of
the Bechuana, Sebituane. But it was realized that without
a boat of some description further progress was impossible.
So the party resolved to return to Kolobefi, whilst Oswell
would proceed to Cape Town and bring back with him a
boat, which would serve to carry them across the broader
rivers or lakes.

The travellers noticed on the return journey that the
banks of the Zouga were very beautiful, perpendicular,
and in high cliffs on the side to which the water swung,
and sloping and grassy on the other, where the current
was less strong. The trees on the banks were magnificent
to the eyes of men long accustomed to the dreary low scrub
of the Bechuana plateau. There were enormous baobabs,
borassus palms, the mokuchofi (A T afiaca), with its pleasant
fruit and its handsome foliage, parinariums of dark ever-
green foliage — cypress-like in shape and bearing pink-
plums with an acid juice— and tall acacias with light-green
trunks and branches. Wild indigo abounded amongst
the bushes, and was used by the natives to dye their

Livingstone and Oswell 259

straw ornaments. But the caravan had to proceed with
great caution owing to the numerous pitfalls for catching
big game which were dug in the more open country away
from the trees on the river bank.

Elephants were in prodigious numbers, coming down
at nighttime to slake their thirst and pour water over their
heated bodies, "screaming with delight whilst enjoying
the refreshment ", l Great shoals of fish entered the lake
and the Zouga annually with the floods of the rainy season.
There were said to be no less than ten different kinds,
nearly all good to eat, at any rate in the opinion of the
natives, though the huge fat Mosala or siluroid cat-fish
would probably be distasteful to Europeans. A species of
harmless snake, feeding on fish, frequented the waters of
the lake, which also contained many otters of two species,
large and small. These were respectively yellow-spotted
and dark brown. They pursued the fish, but were them-
selves pursued by the natives, who ate them with zest.
The shores of the lake where it was not swampy and the
banks of the adjacent rivers were very dangerous in
those days on account of the native pitfalls for catching
big game.

" The pitfalls of the Bayeye are about 7 or 8 feet deep,
3 or 4 feet wide at the mouth, and gradually decrease
till they are only about 1 foot wide at the bottom. The
mouth is an oblong square, and the long diameter at
the surface is about equal to the depth. The decreasing
width is intended to make the animal wedge himself more

1 Livingstone notes, in reference to the game of the Ngami basin, that the average
height of elephants in the region about the Upper Limpopo River was 12 feet at the
shoulder, in the Ngami district n, but farther north in Central Africa only 9. The
party also discovered on the Ngami banks an entirely new species of antelope, the
beautiful Lechwe, a relation of the waterbuck, and the strange water-dwelling tra-
gelaph, the Nakofi (Limnotragus selousi).

260 Pioneers in South Africa

firmly in by his weight and struggles. The pitfalls are
usually in pairs, with a wall i foot thick left uncut between
the ends of each. So that if the beast, when it feels its
fore legs descending, should try to save itself from going
in altogether by striding the hind legs, he would spring
forward and leap into the second with a force which
ensures the fall of his whole body into the trap. They
are covered with great care; all the excavated earth is
removed to a distance, so as not to excite suspicion in
the minds of the animals. Reeds and grass are laid
across the top; above this the sand is thrown, and watered
so as to appear exactly like the rest of the spot. Some
of our party plumped into these pitfalls more than once,
even when in search of them, in order to open them to
prevent the loss of our cattle. If an ox sees a hole he
carefully avoids it. And old elephants have been known
to precede the herd and whisk off the coverings of the
pitfalls on each side all the way down to the water. We
have known instances in which the old among these
sagacious animals have actually lifted the young out of
the trap."

Livingstone and his wife, without waiting for Oswell's
return from the Cape, travelled once more from Koloben
to the Zouga River with the idea of crossing it with the
wagons where it was narrow, and proceeding straight away
to the residence of Sebituane, 200 miles northwards. But
this project was defeated by two unforeseen obstacles: the
country along the north bank of the Zouga was incessantly
beset with pitfalls dug by the Bayeye for catching the big
game, and very obstructive to the oxen and wagons; and,
worst of all, in the neighbourhood of the Tamunakle or
Tamalukane River they came into contact with the tsetse
fly. Hastily retreating south, they revisited Lake Ngami

Livingstone and Oswell 261

because a party of English sportsmen 1 had arrived there
for elephant shooting, and Livingstone heard they were
all down with fever. Amongst them was a young English
artist, Alfred Ryder, who had come out to make drawings
of the newly discovered lake, but who was dead before
Livingstone could reach him. The others, nursed by
Mrs. Livingstone and attended to by her doctor husband,
recovered and went their way. The fever then began to
attack Livingstone's children, and so, abandoning his
plans of reaching Sebituane, he and his family returned
southwards, where they encountered Oswell, hunting ele-
phants on the Zouga. 2

The next spring Oswell and the Livingstones made
another journey together northwards, Sebituane in the
meantime having bribed the Bamangwato chiefs in the
intervening country to assist the white men by every
means in their power, a recommendation only very slightly
carried out because of the intense jealousy these chiefs felt
of the white men reaching the Zambezi region and trading
direct for its wealth in ivory — an obstacle often placed in
the way of the European's exploration of Africa. How-
ever, partly through Livingstone's skill in gun mending
— there was scarcely anything, apparently, to which he
could not turn his hands or his talents — they obtained a
guide (afterwards most liberally rewarded by Oswell) who

1 This party included noteworthy South African pioneers : William Webb of
Newstead Abbey and Captains Codrington and Shelley. Webb became after-
wards one of Livingstone's dearest friends. Shelley, on returning from the Ngami
basin, lost his wagons and his way, and had to walk 400 miles alone and with only
such food as he could get from the natives till he reached Kuruman !

2 As early as 1850 the Governor of Cape Colony, Sir Harry Smith, was anxious that
the Boers should not extend their authority or influence through the Transvaal west-
ward to Lake Ngami, lest it should "seriously impede the progress of commerce and
geographical research in Central Africa ", and invoked Oswell's influence to persuade
the native chiefs in that direction to enter into no treaties which would bring them
under Boer control. This was one reason why Oswell returned to attempt once more
the journey from Bechuanaland to the Zambezi.

262 Pioneers in South Africa

would take them more or less direct to Sebituane; and
they travelled in their wagons and with their horses over
the watercourse-intersected plain of the ancient lake (led
chiefly by a Bushman) till they reached the banks of the
Chobe, doing all they could to cross the belts of tsetse-
infested country at nighttime. The plains along both
banks of the Chobe were dotted with little mounds on
which grew borassus palms, wild date palms, bushes of
wild cotton, and indigo. On the Chobe River they met the
Makololo people of Sebituane, who led them to their chief.
They found him on an island on the broad Chobe, engaged
in a singing party when they arrived. He had travelled
something like 200 miles to meet them.

Oswell gives the following account of the meeting with
Sebituane.

"Presently", he writes, "this really great chief and
man came to meet us, shy and ill at ease. We held out
our hands in the accustomed way of true Britons, and I
was surprised to see that his mother wit gave him im-
mediate insight into what was expected of him, and the
friendly meaning of our salutation. Though he could
never have witnessed it before, he at once followed suit,
and placed his hand in ours as if to the manner born.
I felt troubled at the evident nervousness of the famous
warrior (for he had been, and still was, a mighty fighter
with very remarkable force of character). Surrounded by
his tribesmen he stood irresolute and quite overcome in
the presence of two ordinary-looking Europeans.

" Srbituane was about forty-five years of age; of a tall
and wiry form, an olive or coffee-and-milk colour, and
slightly bald; in manner cool and collected, and more
frank in his answers than any other chief I ever met.
He was the greatest warrior ever heard of beyond the

Livingstone and Oswell 263

colony, for, unlike Mosilikatsi, Dingana, and others, he
always led his men into battle himself. When he saw
the enemy he felt the edge of his battleaxe and said :
'Aha! it is sharp, and whoever turns his back on the
enemy will feel its edge '. So fleet of foot was he, that
all his people knew there was no escape for the coward,
as any such would be cut down without mercy. In some
instances of skulking, he allowed the individual to return
home; then calling him, he would say: 'Ah, you prefer
dying at home to dying in the field, do you? You shall
have your desire.' This was the signal for his immediate
execution."

Livingstone entered at once into conversation with
Sebituane ; but throughout that day and the next a sad,
half-scared look never faded from the chief's face. He had
wished the white men to visit him, but the reality of their
coming, with all its possibilities and advantages, seemed to
flit through his mind as a vision. He killed an ox for his
guests and treated them royally. "He was far and away
the finest Kafir I ever saw," wrote Oswell. "The beloved
of the Makololo, he was the fastest runner and the best
fighter among them; just, though stern, with a wonderful
power of attaching men to himself, he was a gentleman
in thought and manner. He had allotted to us a bright
clean kotla for eating and sleeping, and after supper we
lay down on the grass which had been cut for our beds by
the thoughtful attention of the Chief."

In the dead of the night he paid the white men a visit
alone, and sat down very quietly and mournfully at their
fire. Livingstone and Oswell woke up and greeted him,
and then he dreamily recounted the history of his life, his
wars, escapes, successes, conquests, and far-distant wan-
derings. By the fire's glow and flicker among the reeds

264 Pioneers in South Africa

that tall, dark, earnest speaker in subdued manner and
low voice discoursed through the livelong night till near
the dawn, occasionally interrupted by an enquiry from
Livingstone. He described how when he had left the
Ngami region, and had arrived at the Zambezi River near
the Victoria Falls, the whole Butonga country was then
densely peopled. The Batonga had a curious taste for
ornamenting their villages with the skulls of strangers,
and when Sebituane appeared near the great falls an
immense army collected to make trophies of the Makololo
skulls. But instead of succeeding in this, they gave him
a good excuse for conquering them. He captured so
many cattle that his people were quite incapable of taking
any note of the sheep and goats. He overran all the high
lands towards the Kafue, and settled in a pastoral country
of gently undulating plains, covered with short grass, and
with but little forest. The Makololo never lost their love
for this fine healthy region.

But the Matebele Zulus, under Mosilikatsi, crossed the
Zambezi ; and, attacking Sebituane in this choice spot,
captured his cattle and women. Rallying his men, he
followed and recaptured the whole. A fresh attack was
also repulsed, and Sebituane thought of going farther
down the Zambezi to the country of the white men. He
had an idea that if he could only get cannon he might live
in peace. This was why he had been so eager to open up
communications with white men in the south, and why he
had sent so many invitations to Livingstone.

But his desire to see white men and make a firm friend-
ship with them was scarcely gratified when he was seized
with inflammation of the lungs, originating from an old
wound. Not long after this talk all through the night in
the hut with Livingstone and Oswell he fell ill, and in a

Livingstone and Oswell 265

few days was dead. His last spoken words were an order
to a servant to take Livingstone's little boy Robert to one
of his wives that he might be given milk to drink.

His death occurring at this juncture was a great blow
to the hopes of Oswell and Livingstone. Sebituane's
immediate successor was his daughter, who lived at a
distance of twelve days to the northward. But this
woman sent them permission as quickly as possible to
pursue their explorations.

Mrs. Livingstone and her children were left behind at
the camp on the south side of the River Chobe, out of reach
of the tsetse fly. Livingstone and Oswell on horseback
rode in a north-east direction over a flat country dotted
with clumps of borassus palms and euphorbias, with evi-
dence in all directions of the extensive inundations. As
they got near their destination (the main Zambezi) they
had to pass through 15 miles of marsh, covered with rank
tall grass reaching to their shoulders, even as they travelled
on horseback.

On the afternoon of 4 August, 1851, they stood by the
banks of the beautiful " Sesheke "- 1 " We thanked God",
wrote Livingstone in his journal, "for permitting us to
be the first to see this glorious river. All we could say to
each other was . . . how glorious, how magnificent, how
beautiful ! And grand beyond description it really was
— such a body of water — at least 400 yards broad and deep
and 300 to 500 yards wide. There were numerous banks
of white sand with crocodiles on them, and the hippopo-
tamus appeared in the middle of the river. The town of
Sesheke was on the opposite bank. The waves were so
high that people were afraid to venture across, but by and

1 It was some time before they realized that the Sesheke was no other than the Zam-
bezi, flowing through the middle of south Central Africa.

266 Pioneers in South Africa

by a canoe made its way to where we stood, and in cross-
ing the waves lifted it up and made it roll beautifully."
Livingstone goes on to write that the emotion was so keen
that he felt himself not far from tears; but he restrained his
emotion for fear lest the old negro who had come to ferry
them across might think that he was in terror of the
numerous crocodiles.

On landing at the town of Sesheke they received a
most cordial welcome from the people, though many of
these were tipsy with native beer or palm wine. Their
coming was greeted as a sign that at last the country
"would have sleep"; that is to say, that intercourse with
Europeans would bring guns and commerce and enable
the recently founded kingdom of the Makololo to defend
itself against the attacks of Mosilikatsi's Zulus. Three
guns of English manufacture were shown to Livingstone,
which had reached Sesheke by the overland trade with An-
gola and had been brought to the Makololo by " Bajoko"
traders. (See p. 270.)

With the first enthusiasm of this discovery Livingstone
proposed that he should take up his residence then and
there (sending for his wife to join him) amongst the Mako-
lolo on the Zambezi, whilst Oswell traced the great river
down to the Portuguese settlements and the sea. But
they soon reconsidered this idea. The region all round
about Sesheke was far too swampy and malarial for a
missionary station, and the fear of the tsetse made Oswell
hesitate as to a journey down the Zambezi valley to the
east. They therefore rejoined Mrs. Livingstone at the
Chobe camp, and arrived just in time to greet two English
traders, Edwards and Wilson, who had come very near
forestalling Oswell and Livingstone in their discovery of
the Zambezi. Mrs. Livingstone gave birth to a son on

■J-.

: y.

Livingstone and Oswell 267

the return journey down the Zouga River, who was
christened William Oswell after their generous companion,
and who was destined years afterwards (1872) to return to
Africa on a futile attempt to search for his father. 1 Oswell
now decided to return to England, and after consulting
with Livingstone proposed this generous plan : that he
should convoy the whole Livingstone family down to
Cape Town, Mrs. Livingstone and her children should pro-
ceed to England, whilst Livingstone, after studying at the
Cape observatory to perfect himself as a geographical
surveyor (namely, in regard to the taking of latitudes and
longitudes by astronomical observations), should return to
the Zambezi to pursue his explorations further. But for the
disinterested kindness of Oswell, Livingstone could not have
come down to the Cape. Oswell had already furnished
him with supplies for previous journeys, and with a
wagon ; but he now presented Livingstone with oxen
worth ;£6o, without which his family could not have
made their journey. At Cape Town he insisted on giving
Livingstone ^170, as a contribution towards the outfit
and the passage money of his wife and children, alleging
that he regarded the money — which was derived from the
sale of his ivory — "as a royalty due to Mrs. Livingstone

for shooting elephants in her preserves ".

1 Livingstone had five children : Robert, who went out as a volunteer to fight
in the American Civil War and died in 1865; Tom or Thomas, who died at Alex-
andria in 1878; Oswell, who died in 1889; Agnes (Mrs. Bruce), who died in 1911 ;
and Anna Mary (Mrs. Wilson), who is still living.

CHAPTER XI
Livingstone's Great Journeys

Even with due acknowledgment of Oswell's help, it is
difficult to understand from what quarter Livingstone
obtained sufficient funds in 1852 to purchase outfit for his
great journey to the Zambezi, his tent, his trade goods,
guns, and gunpowder. He had drawn all his meagre
salary as a missionary (about £100 a year) due to him
up to date; but he was helped a little by selling the
handsome presents of ivory made to him by Sebituane
and other chiefs. He sold these tusks to merchants in
Cape Town, but invested the proceeds partly in return
presents for the chiefs, usually in the form of useful
domestic animals. The balance he applied to the ex-
penses of the journey which could not be defrayed out
of his year's salary. Possibly he may have received a
small sum of money from the Cape Government, but
there is no mention of this. At any rate, after a month
or so of study under Sir Thomas Maclear at the Cape
observatory, he left Cape Town at the beginning of June,
1852, in a heavy lumbering wagon drawn by ten oxen,
and accompanied by two Christian Bechuana from Kuru-
man, " than whom I never saw better servants anywhere",
and by two Bakwena Bechuana from Koloben. " Wagon
travelling . . . is a prolonged system of picnicking, ex-

celleot for the health, and agreeable to those who are not

Livingstone's Great Journeys 269

over-fastidious about trifles and who delight in being in
the open air."

Joined in Bechuanaland by a merchant of Cape Town,
H. E. Rutherford, Livingstone left Kolobefi on 20 No-
vember, 1852, and reached the marshes of the Chobe in
the middle of May, 1853.

By means of his pontoon 1 he crossed the Chobe and
arrived suddenly amongst the Makololo at Linyanti, at
that time their capital town. The people looked upon
him as almost a supernatural being, saying: "He has
dropped among us from the clouds, yet came riding on
the back of a hippopotamus (the pontoon had slithered
over one of these submerged animals). We Makololo
thought no one could cross the Chobe without our know-
ledge. But here he drops among us like a bird." The
young son of Sebituane — Sekeletu — was found to have
been installed by his sister as chief over the Makololo.
He received the two white men in royal style, setting
before them a great number of pots of country beer. The
court herald stood up, and, after leaping and performing
other antics, shouted at the top of his voice: " Don't I see
the white man? Don't I see the comrade of Sebituane?
Don't I see the father of Sekeletu? We want sleep: let
your sons sleep, my lord." 2

Sekeletu was about 5 feet 7 inches in height, with a
pale-brown skin, but not so good-looking or so able as his
father Sebituane, though equally friendly to the English.
He survived to welcome Livingstone again to the Zambezi

1 Livingstone had been given a pontoon by Captains Codrington and Webb, which
was of great service to him on this journey.

- A passionate plea constantly uttered at this juncture by several harassed African
tribes, both victors and vanquished. What they wanted, craved for, was a cessation
of war, the establishment of the Pax Britannica which was eventually to follow
Livingstone's journey.

270 Pioneers in South Africa

in i860, but after his death in 1864 the rest of the Mako-
lolo disappeared in an uprising of the indigenous Ba-lui
tribes. The Makololo dynasty was replaced by the pre-
sent line of Ba-lui or Barotse kings, 1 though the Sekololo
dialect of Bechuana still remains more or less as a Court
language.

Just before Livingstone's arrival the Mambari slave
traders (Portuguese-speaking Negroes from the district of
Bihe in south Central Angola), who had come to the
Makololo country to trade in slaves, took a precipitate
departure. Livingstone, however, refers to another type of
" Portuguese " Negroes as the " Bajoko " ; these were prob-
ably the Ba-kioko or Ba-chibokwe and the Ba-jok, so
vividly described in recent years by the Hungarian ex-
plorer Emil Torday. The Ba-jok were the Jaga who in
the sixteenth century overran Angola and the western
Congo, devouring all the people they did not sell as
slaves to the Portuguese, and (as already stated on p. 98)
the Ba-zimba who carried their cannibal raids to the Zam-
bezi, Kilwa, and Mombasa. Already they had done great
damage in these regions of the upper Zambezi by inciting
the Makololo, who were previously quite guiltless of any-
thing like a slave trade, to raid far and wide in order to
procure slaves for sale to the Portuguese, receiving in
return guns and gunpowder and the trade goods of Europe.
So extended were these raids that they actually brought

' There is a great deal of dispute about the name Barotse. On the wholft th<-
following seems to be the correct version. Before the Makololo clan of the Bechuann
people proceeded to invade Zambezia, a northward raid had been undertaken by
another of the Bechuana clans, the Bahurutsi (see p. 200). These in course of tim<-
had fused with the natives of Upper Zambezia, and their name had been shortenc!
to Barotse. So that when the Makololo ruled the country the Barotse were reckoned
amongst the native tribes, others of which were the Ba-lui, the Ba-tonga, Ba-subia, and
the Ba-nyeti. The Makololo differed from all these by their much lighter brown skin.
The Barotse are very black. The ruling family at the present day is more Ba-lui than
Barotse in race.

Livingstone's Great Journeys 271

the Makololo into touch with the Zanzibar Arabs of
Katanga. Thus at this juncture the Makololo actually-
served as a link between East and West Africa, and un-
consciously, acting for evil purposes, promoted the epoch-
making journeys of Livingstone by the information they
had collected and the relations they had entered into with
the Arabs and Portuguese.

Livingstone in a very short time had taught the Mako-
lolo to ride oxen as he did, and when Sekeletu had agreed
to accompany him to the Zambezi, and up the Zambezi,
they proceeded in that direction riding on oxen. " Through
having neither saddle nor bridle they were perpetually fall-
ing off."

After some delays Livingstone, accompanied by Seke-
letu and 160 native attendants, ascended the Zambezi in
canoes to the Barotse capital of Naliele or Nalolo (not far
from Lialui), situated on the west bank of the Zambezi, on
a mound which had been constructed artificially by a former
Barotse chief.

Finding, in all his exploration of the Liambiye or upper
Zambezi, no suitable and healthy site for the establishment
of a mission station, and having with him an old Portuguese
map which gave interesting suggestions as to the sources
of the Kwanza River, it occurred to Livingstone, who had
reached the junction of the Kabompo and the Liba, to
follow the latter river as far as he was able north-westwards
and thence make a journey across the upper Kwanza, and
so down to the Portuguese coast at Loanda. He returned,
however, first of all to Linyanti on the Chobe, where he
proposed at a public meeting that a number of Makololo
should go with him on this venturesome expedition. The
general voice was in his favour, so a band of twenty-seven
were appointed. "The men were not hired, but sent to

272

Pioneers in South Africa

enable me to accomplish an object as much desired by
the chief and most of his people as by me."

At this time his frame was shaken by the terrible fevers
of the upper Zambezi valley, one of the most deadly parts
of Africa; though no doubt much of the appalling ill health
which afflicts Europeans may eventually be avoided when
we understand better how to destroy or avoid the insects
that convey the diseases to the human system. Living-
stone had with him three muskets or flint-lock guns, a
rifle, and a double-barrelled smooth-bore. With the
first he proposed to arm three men of his party, and
with the two others to shoot game on the way for the
sustenance of the expedition. He took a few biscuits,
a few pounds of tea and sugar, 20 pounds of coffee, and
a small tin canister which contained spare shirts, a pair of
trousers, and shoes, to use when he reached civilized life,
while other clothing was carried in a bag. Another bag
contained medicines, and a third books, chiefly those
necessary for his astronomical observations. In a box
he took a magic lantern, which he found of much use;
then he had a sextant, a chronometer, and other instru-
ments for taking observations, and about 20 pounds of
beads in case he could not maintain life on what he shot
and would be obliged to purchase food from the natives.
He had one small tent, sufficient to sleep in, a sheepskin
mantle as a blanket, and a horse rug as a bed.

He left Linyanti on 11 November, 1853, and reached
the confluence between the Liba and the Kabompo on
27 December; but instead of continuing his journey up the
Liba by water he was persuaded instead by a woman-chief,
Manenko, of the Balunda race, to visit her brother, Shinte.
Manenko treated him in a motherly fashion, calling him
" my little man " and advising him " to do exactly as she

Livingstone's Great Journeys 273

told him ". The country through which they passed
(Livingstone on oxback) was a succession of forest and
open lawn, with occasional small hamlets surrounded by
gardens of maize and manioc, each village having a
hideous crocodile fetish made of clay plastered over a
framework of grass, with two kauri shells as eyes, a
number of bracelets, and the tail of an elephant stuck in
about the neck. "It is called a lion, though if one were
not told so one would conclude it to be an alligator." This
village idol was sheltered under a shed, and the Balunda
prayed and beat drums before it all night in cases of
sickness. Manenko's escort of Lunda or Londa people
carried shields made of reeds, neatly woven into a square
shape, about 5 feet long and 3 feet broad, and were armed
with short broadswords, bows, and sheaves of iron-headed
arrows. The country as they proceeded north became more
elevated — about 4000 feet — and the forests loftier and more
dense. No passage existed on either side of the narrow
path made by the axe, and large climbing plants entwined
themselves around the branches of gigantic trees like ser-
pents. Some of the trees ran up to a height of 50 feet
before the trunks branched. Great numbers of edible
mushrooms were met with and eagerly devoured by the
hungry Makololo, some of them attaining a diameter of
6 inches. They were quite white and were very good
to eat, even when raw. Others, not edible, were brilliant
red or light blue. Every now and then the party emerged
from the deep gloom of the forest into a pretty little valley.
The chief, Shinte, they found in his capital town sitting
at the place of audience on a sort of throne covered with a
leopard skin. He had a cotton jacket of check pattern and
a kilt of scarlet baize edged with green; many strings of
large beads hung from his neck, and his limbs were

(C587) 18

274 Pioneers in South Africa

covered with iron and copper armlets and bracelets. On
his head he wore a helmet of beads sewn neatly together
and crowned with a bunch of feathers. Behind him sat
about a hundred wives clothed in their best — a profusion
of red baize. His chief wife was a Matebele or Zulu
woman, come all the long way from south-eastern Zam-
bezia. There was a party of musicians consisting of
drummers and performers on the marimba, a musical
instrument sounding like a rather faint piano, made of
slabs of resonant wood fixed over hollow gourds.

"We were particularly struck, in passing through the
village, with the punctiliousness of manners shown by the
Balonda. The inferiors, on meeting their superiors in
the street, at once drop on their knees and rub dust on
their arms and chest; they continue the salutation of
clapping the hands until the great ones have passed.
Sambanza knelt down in this manner, till the son of
Shinte had passed him."

The magic lantern 1 was afterwards shown with much
effect at the Court of Shinte, this important Lunda chief
ruling over the region between the Kabompo and the
Liba. The first picture exhibited was Abraham about to
slaughter his son Isaac; the figures appeared as large as
life, and the uplifted knife was in the act of striking the
lad. The Balonda men remarked that the picture was
much more like a god than the things of wood or clay they
worshipped. " I explained that this man was the first of
a race to whom God had given the Bible we now held,
and that among his children our Saviour appeared. The
ladies listened with silent awe; but, when I moved the slide,
the uplifted dagger moving towards them, they thought

'Given to Livingstone by Mungo Murray, and now, after many adventures, ex-
hibited among the Livingstone relics in the Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh.

Livingstone's Great Journeys 275

it was to be sheathed in their bodies instead of Isaac's.
'Mother! mother!' all shouted at once, and off they
rushed helter-skelter, tumbling pell-mell over each other
and over the little idol huts and tobacco bushes: we could
not get one of them back again. Shinte, however, sat
bravely through the whole, and afterwards examined the
instrument with interest."

Westward of the Liba River was the swampy Lubale
country, covered with grass mainly, but with little islands
surmounted by scraggy trees, and almost uninhabited be-
cause covered with stagnant rainwater for nearly half the
year. Yet in the dry season this was a land of thirst, a
vast heath wherein it was only possible to obtain water by
digging down to about 12 feet. This region is a morass
of vast extent, a sponge from which leaked away on the
south and west many affluents of the Kwando-Chobe, and
on the north the head streams of the Kasai and other
Congo tributaries. Great numbers of hungry fish of the
barbel type spread themselves over the plains in the floods
of the rainy season, and as the waters retired would strive
to flap back over the herbage till they once more reached
a river course, but they would usually be intercepted by
innumerable native traps or weirs. Thus the Balunda
secured large quantities of fish, which when smoke-dried
made a good relish for their otherwise insipid food. On
the spongy plains there were many buffaloes, elands,
kudus, roan antelopes, gnus, and other game, but from
being hunted by the gun-possessing natives they were
very difficult to approach, and probably by now are nearly
or quite extinct.

The traveller now began to hear stories of a great
Central African potentate, the Mwata Yanvo, or Mati-
amvu; amongst others that this emperor over the Lunda

276 Pioneers in South Africa

peoples — fortunately he had died just before Livingstone
entered into northern Zambezia — was insane with blood
lust. He was reported to have a passion every now and
then for running amok through his capital town, behead-
ing whomsoever he met, until he had bordered the roads
with hedges of dead bodies (the Negro always likes to
exaggerate these horrors)! He excused these attacks to
his counsellors by complaining that his people were too
numerous, and that he wished to diminish them. He had
absolute power of life and death, and whenever certain
charms for his magic rites were required by him, he
would have a man slaughtered for the sake of obtaining
some small part of his body to be used in various nasty
practices. Whenever he took a fancy to some curiosity
brought by the Portuguese or Arab slave traders, he
would order a whole village of people to be captured and
brought in as slaves to pay for the object he desired. Yet
slave traders were not easy in his presence, for it was his
custom, as soon as they arrived, to take possession of all
their trade goods. He would then fix the price of them
himself in slaves, and send out a party of his soldiers to
collect them. This was done by taking forcible possession
of one or more villages, killing the head men, and driving
all the inhabitants into the capital to be sold as slaves.

It was probably fortunate for Livingstone that his
journey was made just after the death of this monster, as
he might otherwise have been forcibly haled to his Court
and obstructed in his object of reaching Angola. From
the Lubale country he reached Lake Dilolo, a small
swampy area of water and marsh, which was found to
feed, by the overflow of its waters, both the upper Liba
(or western branch of the Zambezi) and the Kasai, one of
the great tributaries of the Congo. Near the shores of

Livingstone's Great Journeys 277

Lake Dilolo was a powerful chief over the northern Balu-
bale — one of the many satraps of the Mwata Yanvo —
Katema, whom Livingstone fortunately found to be a jolly
person, brimming over with good humour and friendliness.
But "it was a misery to speak through an interpreter, as
I was now obliged to do ", for he was far beyond the limits
which the Sekololo dialect had reached.

The people of Katema experienced a delight, compara-
tively rare amongst Negro tribes, in the sweet singing of
birds. They were especially fond of the yellow and grey-
green serin finches, near relations of the wild canary, and
kept these in neatly-made cages, feeding them on grain.
In this region, in fact, as in Nyasaland, the singing of the
birds in the bush was so beautiful as to attract the special
comment of Livingstone, as it has done that of the writer
of this book in his work on British Central Africa. It is
a great mistake to suppose that song birds are confined to
the temperate regions. They are a very noteworthy feature
in most parts of Tropical Africa between the northern and
southern tropics, though less remarkable in the equatorial
parts; and the sweetest singers are warblers, thrushes, and
finches, not very distantly related to the European types.

Here is a word picture by Livingstone of the landscapes
between Dilolo and the Kasai, just as he was entering the
Congo basin : —

" The valley, named Kandehai, is as picturesque a
spot as can be seen in this part of Africa. The open
glade, surrounded by forest trees of various hues, had a
little stream meandering in the centre. A herd of reddish-
coloured antelopes (mpala) stood on one side, near a large
baobab, looking at us, and ready to run up the hill; while
gnus, tsessebes, 1 and zebras gazed in astonishment at the

1 Bastard hartebeests (Damaliscus).

278 Pioneers in South Africa

intruders. Some fed carelessly, and others put on the
peculiar air of displeasure which these animals sometimes
assume before they resolve on flight. A large white rhino-
ceros came along the bottom of the valley with his slow,
sauntering gait, without noticing us; he looked as if he
meant to indulge in a mud bath. Several buffaloes, with
their dark visages, stood under the trees on the side oppo-
site to the pallahs. It being Sunday, all was peace, and,
from the circumstances in which our party was placed, we
could not but reflect on that second stage of our existence
which we hope will lead us into scenes of perfect beauty."

On arriving at the banks of the Kasai, about 220 miles
to the north-east of its source, Livingstone found that this
most important affluent of the great Congo had a width of
over 100 yards. It was winding slowly in loops through
a beautiful green glen, flowing towards the north-east.
The slopes of its valley were finely wooded, and in some
places they receded to a distance from the banks, and the
river flowed through rich grassy meadows. The natives
on the banks told Livingstone that one might sail down
this stream for months and yet turn back without seeing
the end of it — a truthful piece of information if one con-
siders the course of the giant Kasai — lake-like in places,
as we find it represented on the latest maps. This river,
as regards volume of water, with all its giant affluents,
such as the Sankuru, Lulua, Kwilu, and Kwango, is more
important to the Congo system than the lengthy Mubangi
River on the north.

After crossing the Kasai, Livingstone's party had to
make their way due west across the extensive country oi
Kioko, or Chibokwe. This is the land of the Ba-jok (as
they are called by the tribes farther north), or the Va-kioko
referred to on pp. 98 and 104. They were, as their ancestors

Livingstone's Great Journeys 279

and descendants have proved to be, a turbulent, ill-con-
ditioned people. It needed on Livingstone's part infinite
patience and a quiet determination to pass through their
country without a disastrous quarrel. During this part of
the journey he suffered incessantly from attacks of fever.
Almost daily he had to cross streams or rivers — sometimes
twice or thrice a day — and on these occasions was wetted
up to the thighs, if not up to the neck. Occasionally he
had to swim rivers in his clothes, or pass them by holding
on to the tail of an ox. On emerging from the water he
usually attempted to dry himself by walking on through
the blazing sunshine. Very often, however, he had to
stop still in his wet clothes to watch the progress of his
men behind, in