OUTH J\f^ICA
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Vol. II.
Seven Years in South Africa
TRAVELS, RESEARCHES, AND HUNTING ADVENTURES,
BETWEEN THE DIAMOND-EIELDS AND THE ZAMBESI (1872-79).
BY
Dr. EMIL HOLUB.
TRANSLATED BY ELLEN E. FREWER.',
WITH ABOUT TWO HUNDRED ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
YOL. II.
Hontfon :
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1881.
[All rights reserved.']
Pretoria.
30. NOV 1933
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. . 3l2£l .
UNIVERSITY
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LONDON :
GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS,
st. John’s square.
H OJ Ljg
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo.
PAGE
Departure from Dutoitspan — Crossing the Yaal — Graves in
the Harts River valley — Mamusa — Wild-goose shooting
on Moffat’s Salt Lake — A royal crane’s nest — Molema’s
Town — Barolong weddings — A lawsuit — Cold weather
— The Malmani valley — Weltufrede farm ... 1
CHAPTER II.
From Jacobsdal to Shoshong.
Zeerust — Arrival at Linokana — Harvest-produce — The lion-
ford on the Marico — Silurus-fishing — Crocodiles in the
Limpopo — Damara-emigrants — A narrow escape — The
Banks of the Notuany — The Puff-adder valley . . 21
CHAPTER III.
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lares.
Khame and Sekhomo — Signs of erosion in the bed of the
Luala — The Maque plains — Frost — Wild ostriches — *
Eland-antelopes — The first palms — Assegai traps — The
district of the Great Salt Lakes — The Tsitane and
Karri-Karri salt-pans — The Shaneng — The Soa salt¬
pan — Troublesome visitors — Salt in the Nataspruit —
Chase of a Zulu hartebeest — Animal life on the Kata-
spruit — Waiting for a lion . . . . . .42
A 2
IV
Contents.
CHAPTER IV.
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze.
PAGE
Saltbeds in the Xataspruit — Poisoning jackals — A good shot
— An alarm — The sandy pool-plateau — Ostriches —
Travelling by torchlight — Meeting vrith elephant-
hunters — The Madenassanas — Madenassana manners
and customs — The Yoruah pool and the Tamafopa
springs — Animal-life in the forest by night — Pit’s
slumbers — An unsuccessful lion’s-hunt — "Watch for
elephants — Tamasetze . . . . . .70
CHAPTER V.
From Tamasetze to the Chobe.
Henry’s Pan— Hardships of elephant-hunting — Elephants’
holes — Arrival in the Panda ma Tenka valley — Mr.
Westbeech’s depot — South African lions — Their mode
of attack — Blockley — Schneeman’s Pan — Wild honey
— The Leshumo valley — Trees damaged by elephants —
On the bank of the Chobe . 95
CHAPTER VE
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi.
Vegetation in the valley of the Chobe — Notification of my
arrival — Scenery by the rapids — A party of Masupias —
My mulekow — Matabele raids upon Sekeletu’s territory
— Gourd-shells — Masupia graves — Animal life on the
Chobe — Masupia huts — Englishmen in Impalera —
Makumba — My first boat-journey on the Zambesi —
Animal life in the reed-thickets — Bleckley’s kraal —
Hippopotamuses — Old Sesheke . 110
CHAPTER VII.
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom.
My reception by Sepopo — The libeko— Sepopo’s pilfering
propensities — The royal residence — History of the
Contents.
Marutse-Mabunda empire — The various tribes and their
districts — Position of the vassal tribes — The Sesuto
language — Discovery of a culprit — Portuguese traders
at Sepopo’s court — Arrangements for exploring the
country — Construction of New Sesheke — Pire in Old
Sesheke — Culture of the tribes of the Marutse-Mabunda
kingdom — Their superstition — Pule of succession —
Resources of the sovereign — Style of building — The
royal courtyard — Musical instruments — War-drums —
The kishi dance — Return to Impalera and Panda ma
Tenka — A lion adventure . 136
CHAPTER VIII.
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
Return to Panda ma Tenka — Theunissen’s desertion —
Departure for the falls — Orbeki-gazelles — Animal and
vegetable life in the fresh-water pools — Difficult travel¬
ling — First sight of the falls — Our skerms — Characteris¬
tics of the falls — -Their size and splendour — Islands in
the river-bed — Columns of vapour — Roar of the water
— The Zambesi below the falls — The formation of the
rocks — Rencontre with baboons — A lion-hunt — The
Manansas — Their history and character — Their manners
and customs — Disposal of the dead — Ornaments and
costume — The Albert country — Back again . . 180
CHAPTER IX.
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom.
Departure for Impalera — A Masupia funeral — Sepopo’s wives
— Travelling plans — Flora and fauna of the Sesheke
woods — Arrival of a caravan — A fishing excursion —
Mashoku, the king’s executioner — Massangu — The pro¬
phetic dancer— Visit from the queens — Blacksmith’s
bellows — Crocodiles and crocodile-tackle — The Mankoe
— Constitution and officials of the Marutse kingdom —
A royal elephant-hunt — Excursion to the woods — A
VI
Contents.
PAGE
buffalo-hunt — Chasing a lioness — The lion dance —
Mashukulumbe at Sepopo’s court — Moquai, the king’s
daughter — Marriage festivities . . . . .214
CHAPTER X.
Up the Zambesi.
Departure from Sesheke — The queens’ squadron — Eirst
night’s camp — Symptoms of fever — Agricultural advan¬
tages of the Zambesi valley — Rapids and cataracts of
the Central Zambesi — The Mutshila-Aumsinga rapids —
A catastrophe — Encampment near Sioma — A conspiracy
— Lions around Sioma — My increasing illness . . 266
CHAPTER XI.
Back again in Sesheke.
Visits of condolence — Unpopularity of Sepopo — Mosquitoes
— Goose hunting — Court ceremonial at meals — Modes
of fishing — Sepopo’s illness — Vassal tribes of the
Marutse empire — Characteristics of the Marutse tribes —
The future of the country ...... 283
CHAPTER XII.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes.
Ideas of religion — Mode of living — Husbandry and crops —
Consumption and preparation of food — Cleanliness —
Costume — Position of the women — Education of chil¬
dren — Marriages — Disposal of the dead — Forms of greet¬
ing — Modes of travelling — Administration of justice —
An execution — Knowledge of medicine — Superstition —
Charms — Human Sacrifices — Clay and wooden vessels
— Calabashes — Basket-work — Weapons — Manufacture
of clothing — Tools — Oars — Pipes and snuff-boxes —
Ornaments — Toys, tools, and fly-flappers . . . 300
Contents.
CHAPTER XIII.
In the Leshumo Valley.
PAGE
Departure from Shesheke — Refractory boatmen — An effectual
remedy — Beetles in the Leshumo Valley — The chief
Moia — A phenomenon — A party of invalids — Sepopo’s
bailiffs — Kapella’s flight — A heavy storm — Discontent
in the Marutse kingdom — Departure for Panda ma
Tenka ......... 354
CHAPTER XIV.
Through the Makalaka and West Matabele Countries.
Start southwards — VLakvarks — An adventurer — The Tama-
sanka pools — The Libanani glade — Animal life on the
plateau — The Maytengue — An uneasy conscience —
Menon the Makalaka chief — A spy — Menon’s adminis¬
tration of justice — Pilfering propensities and dirtiness
of the Makalakas — Morula trees— A Matabele warrior—
An angry encounter— Ruins on the Rocky Shasha —
Scenery on the Rhamakoban river — A deserted gold¬
field — History of the Matabele kingdom — More ruins —
Lions on the Tati — Westbeech and Lo Bengula — The
leopard in Pit Jacobs’ house — Journey continued . 372
CHAPTER XV.
Prom Shoshong to the Diamond Fields.
Arrival at Shoshong — Z.’s chastisement — News from the
colony — Departure from Shoshong — Conflict between
the Bakhatlas and Bakuenas — Mochuri — A pair of
young lions — A visit from Eberwald — Medical practice
in Linokana — Joubert’s Lake — A series of salt-pans —
Arrival in Kimberley . . .418
A
CHAPTER XVI.
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields.
Resuming medical practice — My menagerie at Bultfontein —
Exhibition at Kimberley — Visit to Wessel’s Farm —
Contents.
Bushmen’s carvings — Hunting hyasnas and earth-pigs —
The native question in South Africa — War in Cape
Colony and Griqualand West — Major Lanyon and
Colonel Warren— Departure for the coast . . . 432
CHAPTER XVII.
Through the Colony to the Coast.
Departure from Bultfontein — Philippolis— Ostrich-breeding
— My first lecture — Eossils — A perilous crossing — The
Zulu war — Mode of dealing with natives — Grahams-
town — Arrival at Port . Elizabeth — My baggage in
danger — Last days in Cape Town — Summary of my
collections — Return to Europe . 454
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II.
Frontispiece. PAGK
Pond near Coetze’s Farm ....... 4
Graves under the Camel-thorn Trees at Mamusa . 6
Shooting Wild Geese at Moffat’s Salt Pan ... 9
Hunting among the Rocks at Molema
11
Baboon Rocks ......
14
On the Banks of the Matebe Rivulet
. 24
Crocodile in the Limpopo ....
. 32
Battle on the Heights of Bamangwato
. .43
Grottoes of the Luala ....
. 46
Troop of Ostriches .....
. 49
Masarwas chasing the' Eland
50
Pursued by Matabele
. 52
The Soa Salt Lake .....
57
Hunting the Zulu Hartebeest .
. 62
In the Tree ......
66
Startled by Lions .....
. 76
“ Pit, are you asleep ? ” .
. 91
Nocturnal Attack by Lion
. 102
Elephant Hunting .....
. 107
Elephants on the March ....
. 108
Boating on the Zambesi ....
. 110
Impalera .......
. Ill
Removal to New Sesheke
. 122
Masupia Grave .....
. 127
On the Banks of the Chobe
. 129
Hippopotamus Hunting ....
. 132
Game Country near Blockley’s Kraal
. 133
In the Papyrus Thickets ....
. 136
Reception at Sepopo’s ....
. 137
Port of Sesheke .....
. 140
VOL. II.
List of Illustrations.
PAGE
Musical Instruments of the Marutse . 147
Kishi-Dance . .169
Mask of a Kishi-Dancer ....... 170
On the Shores of the Zambesi ...... 176
A Troop of Giraffes surprised . 184
Aquatic Life in a still Pool by the Zambesi . . 187
The Victoria Falls . 194
The Lion expected ........ 201
Encounter with a Tiger . 213
Hunting the Spur-winged Goose . 214
King Sepopo ......... 220
The Prophetic Dance of the Masupias .... 229
Visit of the Queens . . . . . . . .232
Chase of the Water- Antelope . 249
Lion Hunt near Sesheke . . .... 253
Mashukulumbe at the Court of King Sepopo . . 258
Sepopo’s Doctor ........ 264
A Mabunda. A Makololo .... 265
Mankoe . 266
Types of Marutse . .267
A Mambari. A Matonga . . . . .271
Ascending the Zambesi ....... 274
My boat wrecked ........ 276
Night Visit from Lions at Sioma ..... 280
In the Manekango Eapids . .281
Otter-shooting on the Chobe ...... 283
Spearing Fish . .290
Walk through Sesheke ....... 292
A Masupia. — A Panda ....... 297
Singular Rock ' . 299
Drowning useless People ....... 300
Sepopo’s Head Musician ....... 302
Marutse-Mabunda Calabashes for Honey-mead and Corn . 305
Bark Basket and Calabashes for holding Corn, used by the
Mabundas ......... 308
Mabunda Ladle and Calabashes . . . .311
Marutse-Mabunda Pipes . 344
Pipes for smoking Dacha ....... 345
Scene on the Zambesi Shores at Sesheke . . .351
List of Illustrations. xi
PAGE
Camp in the Leshumo Valley . . . . . 354
Wana Wena, the new King of the Marutse . 357
Ruins of Rocky Shasha . 372
Boer’s Wife defending her Waggon against Kafirs . 402
Masarwas Drinking . 405
Lioness attacking Cattle on the Tati River . . . 409
Leopard in Pit Jacobs’ House . 415
Return to the Diamond Fields ...... 418
Koranna Homestead near Mamusa ... 420
Mission House in Molopolole ...... 424
Night Journey ........ 430
Fingo Boy ......... 432
My House in Bultfontein ....... 434
Rock Inscriptions by Bushmen . 438
Capture of an Earth-Pig . 440
Colonel Warren ..... ... 449
Bella . . 454
Narrow Escape near Cradock ...... 460
Main Street in Port Elizabeth . 468
Fingo Village at Port Elizabeth ..... 469
SEVEN YEARS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
THIRD JOURNEY INTO THE INTERIOR.
CHAPTER I.
FROM THE DIAMOND FIELDS TO THE MOLAPO.
Departure from Dutoitspan — Crossing the Yaal — Graves in the
Harts River valley — Mamusa — Wild-goose shooting on
Moffat’s Salt Lake — A royal ci'ane’s nest — Molema’s Town —
Barolong weddings — A lawsuit — Cold weather — The
Malmani valley — Weltufrede farm.
2 Seven Years in South Africa.
endurances and the renown of many an enthusiast, I
had now arrived at the time for putting into execu¬
tion the scheme I had projected. My feelings neces¬
sarily were of a very mingled character. Was I
sufficiently inured to the hardships that could
not be separated from the undertaking ? Could
I fairly indulge the hope of reaching the goal for
which I had so long forsaken home, kindred, and
friends ? The experience of my two preliminary
journeys made me venture to answer both these
questions without misgiving. I had certainly
gained a considerable insight into the nature of
the country ; I had learned the character of the
contingencies that might arise from the disposition
of the natives and their mode of dealing, and I
had satisfied myself of the necessity as well as
the comfort of having trustworthy associates on
whom I could rely. Altogether I felt justified in
commencing what I designed to be really a journey
of exploration. At the same time I could not be
otherwise than alive to the probability that some
unforeseen difficulty might arise which no human
effort could surmount.
It was a conflict of hopes and fears, but the
picture of the Atlantic at Loanda seemed to un¬
fold itself to my gaze, and its attraction was
irresistible ; hitherto in my lesser enterprises I had
been favoured by fortune, and why should she
now cease to smile ? I felt that there was every¬
thing to encourage me, and definitely resolved to
face the difficulties that an expedition into the
interior of Africa cannot fail to entail.
* * * * *
It was on the 2nd of March, 1875, that I left
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo.
3
Dutoitspan. I went first of all to a friend at Bult-
fontein, intending to stay with him until the 6th,
and there to complete my preparations. Not alone
was it my scheme to explore Southern-Central
Africa, hut I hardly expected to return to Cape
Colony at all, consequently my arrangements on
leaving this time were rather more complicated
than they had been on the two previous occasions.
Quitting Bultfontein on the day proposed, I pro¬
ceeded for eleven miles, and made my first halt
by the side of a sandy rain-pool, enclosed by the
rising ground that was visible from the diamond-
fields. We slept in the mimosa woods, through
which the road to the Transvaal runs for several
miles, and the deep sand of which is so troublesome
to vehicles.
On the 7th we passed the Rietvley and Keyle
farms, around which we saw a good many herds of
springbocks in the meadow-lands.
The next day’s march took us by the farms at
Rietfontein, and Pan Place, and we made our night
camp on Coetze’s land. Near these farms, which
lay at the foot of the considerable hill called the
Plat Berg, I secured some feathered game, amongst
which was a partridge. To me the most interesting
spot in the day’s journey was a marshy place on
Coetze’s farm ; it was a pond with a number of
creeks and various little islands, which were the
habitat of water-fowl, particularly wild ducks,
moor-hens, and divers. In the evening I called
upon Mynheer Coetze, and in the course of conver¬
sation mentioned his ponds with their numerous
birds. He surprised me somewhat by his reply.
“Yes,” he said, “the birds breed there, and we
4
Seven Years in South Africa.
never disturb them ; we allow strangers to shoot
them, but for our own part we like to see them
flying about.” I admired his sentiment, and wished
that it was more shared by the Dutch farmers in
general.
The property was partially wooded, and extended
POND NEAR COETZE’S FARM.
both into Griqualand West and into the Orange Free
State. Amongst other game upon it, there was a
large herd of striped gnus.
On the next day but one we made the difficult
passage of the Yaal at Blignaut’s Pont. From
the two river-banks 1 obtained some skins of birds,
and several varieties of leaf -beetles (Platycorynus) .
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 5
At the ferry, on the shore by which we arrived,
stood a medley of clay hnts, warped by the wind,
and propped up on all sides, claiming to be an
hotel ; on the further shores were a few Koranna
huts, the occupiers of which were the ferrymen.
For taking us across the river they demanded on
behalf of their employer the sum of twenty-five
shillings.
The rain had made the ground very heavy, and it
was after a very tedious ride that we reached
Christiana, the little Transvaal town with which
the reader has been already made acquainted, and
made our way to Hall water Farm (erroneously
called Monomotapa), where we obtained a supply of
salt from the resident Korannas.
We next took a northerly course, and passed
through Strengfontein, a farm belonging to Mynheer
Weber, lying to the east of the territory of the
independent Korannas. The country beyond was
well pastured, and contained several farmsteads;
although it was claimed by the Korannas, by
Gassibone, by Mankuruane, and by the Transvaal
government, it had no real ruler. The woods
afforded shelter for duykerbocks, hartebeests, and
both black and striped gnus, whilst the plains
abounded with springbocks, bustards, and many
small birds.
After passing Dreifontein, a farm that had only
a short time previously been reduced to ashes by
the natives from the surrounding heights, we
encamped on the Houmansvlev, that lay a little
further ahead. Hear the remains of the place were
some huts, from which some Koranna women came
out, their intrusive behaviour being in marked con-
6
Seven Years in South Africa.
trast with that of some Batlapins, who modestly
retired into the background. Not far off was a
yley, or marshy pond, where I found some wild
ducks, grey herons, and long-eared swamp-owls
( Otus capensis) . Houmansvley was the last of the
farms we had to pass before we entered the territory
of the Eorannas of Mamusa.'
GRAVES UNDER THE CAMEL-THORN TREES AT MAMUSA.
We reached the Harts River valley on the
evening of the 15th. Before getting to the river
we had to traverse a slope overgrown with grass,
and in some places with acacias which must be a
hundred years old, and under the shadow of which
were some Batlapin and Koranna graves, most of
them in a good state of preservation. The river-
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 7
bed is very often perfectly dry, but as the stream
was very much swollen, the current was too strong
to allow us to cross without waiting for it to
subside ; the district, however, was so attractive
that it was by no means to be regretted that we
were temporarily delayed. The high plateau, with
its background of woods, projected like a tongue
into the valley, and opposite to us, about three-
quarters of a mile to the right, rose the Mamusa hills.
We visited Mamusa, encamping on its little river
a short distance from the merchants’ offices under
the eastern slope of the hills. A few years back it
had been one of the most populous places repre¬
senting the Hottentot element in South Africa,
but now it was abandoned to a few of the descen¬
dants of the aged king Mashon and their servants.
Some of the people had carried off their herds to
the pasture-lands ; others had left the place for
good, to settle on the affluents of the Mokara
and the Konana, on the plains abounding in game
that stretched northwards towards the Molapo.
This small Koranna principality is an enclave in
the southern Bechuana kingdoms, a circumstance
which is not at all to their advantage, as any
mixture of the Hottentot and Bantu elements is
sure to result in the degeneration of the latter.
The merchants received me most kindly. One
of them, Mr. Mergusson, was a naturalist, and
amused himself by taming wild birds. He showed
me several piles, at least three feet high, of the
skins of antelopes, gnus, and zebras, which he in¬
tended taking to Bloemhof for sale. He and his
brother had twice extended their business-journeys
as far as Lake Ngami.
8
Seven Years in South Africa.
While in the neighbourhood, I heard tidings
of the two dishonest servants that I had hired at
Musemanyana, and who had decamped after robbing
me on my second journey.
Leaving Mamusa on the 17th, we had to mount
the bushy highland, dotted here and there with
Koranna farmsteads, and in the evening reached the
southern end of the grassy quagga-flats. The soil
was so much sodden with rain, that in many
places the plains were transformed into marshes ;
on the drier parts light specks were visible, which
on nearer approach turned out to be springbock
gazelles. On every side the traveller was greeted
by the melodious notes of the crowned crane, and
the birds, less shy here than elsewhere, allowed him
to come in such close proximity, that he could
admire the beauty of their plumage. The cackle of
the spurred and Egyptian geese could be heard
now in one spot and now in another, and wild-
ducks, either in rows or in pairs, hovered above
our heads.
Our next march afforded us good sport. It was
rather laborious, but our exertions were well re¬
warded, as amongst other booty, we secured a silver
heron, some plovers, and some snipes. I had
our camp pitched by the side of a broad salt-water
lake, proposing to remain there for several days, the
surrounding animal-life promising not merely a
choice provision for our table, but some valuable
acquisitions for my collection.
At daybreak next morning, I started off with
Theunissen on a hunting-excursion. There had
been rain in the night, and the air was somewhat
cool, so that it was with a feeling of satisfaction that
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 9
I hailed the rising snn as its early beam darted
down the vale and was reflected in the water. On
the opposite shore we noticed a flock of that stateliest
of waders, the flamingo, with its deep red plumage
and strong brown beak. Close beside them was a
group of brown geese wading towards us, and
screeching as they came was a double file of grey
cranes, whilst a gathering of herons was keeping
watch upon some rocks that projected from the water.
High above the lake could be heard the melodious
long-drawn note of the mahem, and amidst the
numbers of the larger birds that thronged the surface
of the water was what seemed a countless abundance
of moorhens and ducks. I stood and gazed upon
the lively scene till I was quite absorbed. All at
once a sharp whistle from my companion recalled me
to myself. I was immediately aware of the ap¬
proach of a flock of dark brown geese ; though un-
wieldly, they made a rapid flight, their heavy wings
making a considerable whirr. A shot from each of
my barrels brought down two of the birds into the
reeds ; the rest turned sharply off to the left,
leaving Theunissen, disappointed at not getting
the shot he expected, to follow them towards the
plain to no purpose. Great was the commotion
that my own shots made amongst the denizens of
the lake. Quickly rose the grey cranes from the
shallow water, scarce two feet deep, and made for
the shore where we were standing. In the excite¬
ment of their alarm, the crowned cranes took to
flight in exactly the opposite direction ; the flamin¬
goes hurried hither and thither, apparently at a loss
whether to fly or to run, until one of them catching
sight of me rose high into the air, screeching
io Seven Years in South Africa.
wildly, and was followed by tlie entire train soaring
aloft till they looked no larger than crows ; the black
geese, on the other hand, left the grass to take
refuge in the water, and the smaller birds forsook
the reeds, as deeming the centre of the lake the
place of safety.
We were not long out. We returned to break¬
fast, and while we were taking our meal we caught
sight of a herd of blessbocks, numbering at least
250 head, grazing in the depression of the hills on
the opposite shore. Breakfast, of course, was for¬
gotten and left unfinished. Off we started; the
chase was long, but it was unattended with success.
Our toil, however, was not entirely without compen¬
sation, as on our return we secured a fine grey crane.
Pit likewise in the course of the day shot several birds,
and in the afternoon excited our interest by saying
that he had discovered the nest of a royal crane.
I went to the reedy pool to which he directed
me, about a mile and a half to the north of our
place of encampment, and on a little islet hardly
more than seven feet square, sure enough was a
hollow forming the nest, which contained two long
white eggs, each about the size of my fist. I took
the measurement of the nest, and found it as nearly
as possible thirty inches in diameter, and six inches
deep.
While I was resting one afternoon in a glen be¬
tween the hills, I noticed a repetition of what
I had observed already in the course of my second
journey, namely, that springbocks, in going to drink,
act as pioneers for other game, and that blessbocks
and gnus follow in their wake, but only when it has
been ascertained that all is safe.
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 1 1
To the lake by which we had been making our
pleasant little stay, I gave the name of Moffat’s Salt
Lake. On the 23rd we left it, and after quitting its
shore, which, it may be mentioned, affords excellent
hiding-places for the Ganis mesomelas , we had to
pass several deepish pools which seemed to abound
with moorhens and divers. On a wooded eminence,
not far away from our starting-place, we came
across some Makalahari, who were cutting into
strips the carcase of ablessbock. On the same spot
was a series of pitfalls, now partially filled up with
sand, but which had originally been made with no
little outlay of labour, being from thirty to fifty feet
long, and from five to six feet wide.
In the evening we passed a wood where a Batlapin
hunting-party, consisting of Mankuruane’s people,
had made their camp. They commenced at once to
importune us for brandy, first in wheedling, and
then in threatening tones.
Game, which seemed to have been failing us for a
day or two, became on the 25th again very abundant.
The bush was also thicker. A herd of nearly 400
springbocks that were grazing not far ahead, pre¬
cisely across the grassy road, scampered off with
great speed, but not before Theunissen had had the
good luck to bring down a full-grown doe. As we
entered upon the district of the Maritsana River,
the bushveldt continued to grow denser, and the
country made a perceptible dip to the north-west.
Several rain-glens had to be crossed, and some broad
shallow valleys, luxuriantly overgrown, one of which
I named the Hartebeest Yale. In the afternoon we
reached the deep valley of the Maritsana. On the
right hand slope stood a Barolong-Makalahari village,
12 Seven Years in South Africa.
the inhabitants of which were engaged in tending
the flocks belonging to Molema’s Town. The valley
itself was in many parts very bushy, and no doubt
abounded in small game, whilst the small pools
from two feet to eight feet deep in the river-bed,
here partaking of the nature of a spruit, contained
Orange River fish, lizards, and crabs ; two kinds of
ducks were generally to be seen upon them.
As we passed through a mimosa wood on the
morning after, we met two Barolongs, who not only
made me aware how near we had come to Molema’s
Town, but informed me that Montsua was there,
having arrived to preside over a trial in a poisoning
case. I had not formed the intention of going into
the place, but the information made me resolve to
deviate a little from my route, that I might pay my
respects to the king and his brother Molema.
Descending the Lothlakane valley, where Mont¬
sua was anxious that his heir should fix his resi¬
dence, we reached the town on the 28th. The
Molapo was rather fuller than when I was. here last,,
but we managed to cross the rocky ford, and pitched
our camp on the same spot that I had chosen
in 1873.
As soon as I heard that the judicial sitting had
adjourned, I lost no time in paying my personal
respects to the Barolong authorities. I found the
king with Molema and several other chiefs at their
mid-day meal, some sitting on wooden stools
and some upon the ground ; but no sooner were
they made acquainted with my arrival, than they
hastened to show signs of unfeigned pleasure,
making me shake hands with them again and
again. Montsua at once began to talk about the
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 1 3
cures I had effected at Moshaneng, and begged
me to stay for at least a few days. After spending
a short time in Molema’s courtyard, we all ad¬
journed to the house of his son, which was fitted up
in European style, and where we had some coffee
served in tin cups. Molema was upon the whole
strong and active, but he was still subject to fits of
asthma, and requested me to supply him with more
medicine like that he had had before ; and so grate¬
ful was he for my services, that he gave me a couple
of good draught-oxen, one of which I exchanged
with his son Matye for an English saddle.
Molema is a thin, slight man of middle height,
with a nose like a hawk’s beak, which, in con¬
junction with a keen, restless eye, gives to his whole
countenance a peculiarly searching expression. At
times he is somewhat stern, but in a general way he
is very indulgent to his subjects, who submit im¬
plicitly to his authority ; this was illustrated in the
issue of the cause over which Montsua was now
visiting him to preside. He is very considerate for
his invalid wife, and, considering his age, he is
vigorous both in mind and body ; although his sons
and the upper class residents of the town have
adopted the European mode of fitting j up their
houses, he persists in adhering to the native style of
architecture.
During our stay here, Mr. Webb had to perform
the marriage service for three couples ; one of the
bridegrooms had a remarkable name, 'the English
rendering of which would be “ he lies in bed.” Sin¬
gular names of this character are by no means un¬
usual among the Bechuana children, any accidental
circumstance connected with their parentage or
14 Seven Years in South Africa.
birth being seized upon to provide the personal
designation for life. Taking a stroll through the
place late in the evening, I heard the sound of
hymns sung by four men and ten women, bringing
the wedding observances to a close.
Wandering about the town, I noticed that although
the garments worn were chiefly of European manu-
BABOON ROCKS.
facture, the inhabitants very frequently were dressed
in skins either of the goat, the wild cat, the grey
fox, or the duyker gazelle. Boys generally had a
sheepskin or goatskin thrown across their shoulders,
although occasionally the skin of a young lion took
its place ; girls, besides their leather aprons, nearly
always covered themselves with an antelope-hide.
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 1 5
As far as I could learn, the disputes between the
Transvaal government and the Barolongs had in
great measure subsided, owing to Montsua having
threatened, in consequence of the encroachments of
the Boers, to allow the English flag to be planted in
his villages.
I have already referred to the trial which had
brought Montsua to the town, and in order that
I may convey a fair idea of the way in which
Bechuana justice is administered, I will give a brief
outline of the whole transaction.
A Barolong, quite advanced in years, had set his
affections upon a fatherless girl of fifteen, living in
the town ; she peremptorily refused to become his
wife, and as he could not afford to buy her, he
devised a cunning stratagem to obtain her. He
offered his hand to the girl’s mother, who did not
hesitate to accept him ; by thus marrying the
mother, he secured the residence of the daughter in
his own quarters ; the near intercourse, he hoped,
would overcome her repugnance to himself ; but
neither his appearance nor his conversation, mainly
relating to his wealth in cattle, had the least effect
in altering her disposition towards him. Accord¬
ingly, he resorted to the linyaka. Aware of the
pains that were being taken to force her into the
marriage, the girl carefully avoided every action
that could be interpreted as a sign of regard. As
she was starting off to the fields one morning to her
usual work, her stepfather called her back, and if
her own story were true, the following conversation
took place, —
“ I know you hate me,” he said.
“ E-he, e-he !” she assented.
1 6 Seven Years in South Africa.
“ Well, well, so it must be !” he answered, but he
stamped his staff with rage upon the ground.
“ Yes, so it must be,” replied she.
“ But you must promise me,” he continued,
“ that you will not marry another husband.”
“ Ya-ya,” she cried, bursting out laughing,
“ na-ya.”
“ Then I’ll poison you,” he yelled.
The girl, according to her own account, was
alarmed, and went and told her mother and another
woman who were working close by the river. They
tried to reassure her, telling her that her stepfather
was only in joke, but they did not allay her appre¬
hensions.
That very evening, while she was taking her
simple supper of water-melon, he called her off and
sent her on some message ; when she returned she
finished her meal, but in the course of an hour or
two she was writhing in most violent agony. In the
height of her sufferings, she reminded her mother
and the friends who gathered round her of what
had transpired in the morning. Her shrieks of
pain grew louder and louder, and when they were
silenced, she was unconscious. Before midnight
she was a corpse.
The stepfather was of course marked out as the
murderer ; the evidence to be produced against him
seemed incontestible ; the old man had actually
been seen gathering leaves and tubers in the fore¬
noon, which he had afterwards boiled in his own
courtyard.
The accused, however, was one of Molema’s ad¬
herents; he had served him faithfully for half a
century, and Molema accordingly felt it his duty to
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 1 7
do everything in his power to protect him, and so
sent over to Moshaneng for Montsua to come and
take the office of judge at the trial. He was in the
midst of the inquiry when I arrived.
Meanwhile, the defendant had complete liberty
he might for the time be shunned by the population,
but he walked about the streets as usual, trusting
thoroughly to Molema’s clemency and influence,
and certain that he should be able to buy himself
off with a few bullocks.
The trial lasted for two days ; after each sitting
the court was entertained with bochabe, a sort of
meal-pap.
The evidence was conclusive ; the verdict of
“guilty” was unanimous. Montsua said he should
have been bound to pass a sentence of death, but
Molema had assured him there were many ex¬
tenuating circumstances ; and, taking all things
into account, he considered it best to leave the
actual sentence in his hands. Molema told the con¬
victed man to keep out of the way for a few days
until Montsua had ceased to think about the matter,
and then sending for him, as he strolled about,
passed the judgment that he should forfeit a cow as
a peace-offering to the deceased girl’s next-of-kin,
the next-of-kin in this case being his wife and
himself !
Before quitting the place, I went to take my leave
of Mr. Webb. While I was with him a dark form
presented itself in the doorway, which I quickly
recognized as none other than King Montsua. He
had followed me, and, advancing straight to my
side, put five English shillings into my hand, re¬
questing me to give him some more of the physic
VOL. 11. 0
1 8 Seven Years in South Africa.
which had done his wife so much good at the time
of my visit to Moshaneng.
On the afternoon of the 2nd of April we left
Molema’s Town, to proceed up the valley of the
Molapo. Next morning we passed the last of the
kraals in this direction, in a settlement under the
jurisdiction of Linkoo, a brother of Molema’s.
Early morning on this day was extremely cold,
and the keen south-east wind made us glad to put
on some overcoats. We made a halt at Bietvley,
the most westerly of the Molapo farms in the
Jacobsdal district, the owner of which was a Boer
of the name of Van Zyl, a brother of the Damara
emigrant to whom I shall have subsequently to
refer.
From this point the farms lay in close proximity
to each other, as far as the sources of the Molapo.
The river valley extended for about twenty-two
miles towards the east, retaining its marshy charac¬
ter throughout, but growing gradually narrower as
its banks became more steep and wooded. Although
its scenery cannot be said to rank with the most
attractive parts of the western frontier of the Trans¬
vaal, yet, for any traveller, whether he be ornitholo¬
gist, botanist, or sportsman, the valley is well worth
a visit.
The waggon-track which we had been following
led, by way of Jacobsdal and Zeerust, direct to the
Baharutse kraal Linokana, by which I had made up
my mind to pass. We kept along the road as far as
Taylor’s farm, “Olive-wood-dry,” where the density
of the forest and the steepness of the slopes obliged
us to leave the valley, and betake ourselves to the
table-land. Olive-wood- dry is unquestionably one
From the Diamond Fields to the Molapo. 1 9
of the finest farms on the upper Molapo ; it has a
good garden, and is watered by one of the most
important of the springs that feed the river, whilst
the rich vegetation in the valley, thoroughly pro¬
tected as it is from cold winds, forms quite an oasis
in the plateau of the western Transvaal. A dreary
contrast to this was the aspect of the Bootfontein
farm, where the people seemed to vegetate rather
than to thrive.
In the evening we crossed the water-shed between
the Orange River and the Limpopo, and spent the
night near a small spruit, one of the left-hand
affluents of the Malmani, which I named the Burger-
spruit. Next day we entered the pretty valley of
the Malmani, the richly-wooded slopes of which
looked cheerful with the numerous farms that
covered them.
Quitting the Malmani valley on the 5th, we jour¬
neyed on eastwards past Newport farm, along a
plain where the grass was short and sour. In the
east and north-east could be seen the many spurs of
the Marico hills ; the hills, too, of the Khame or
Hieronymus district were quite distinct in the dis¬
tance, all combining to form one of the finest pieces
of scenery in what may be called the South African
mountain system.
The slope towards the side valley, which we
should have to descend in order to reach the main
valley, was characterized by a craggy double hill, to
which I gave the name of Rohlf sberg. Further down,
I noticed a saddle-shaped eminence, which I called
the Zizka-saddle. The descent was somewhat diffi¬
cult, on account of the ledges of rock, but we were
amply compensated by the splendid scenery, the
c 2
20 Seven Years in South Africa.
finest bit, I think, being that at Buffalo’s-Hump
farm, where in the far distance rises the outline of
the Staarsattel hills.
By the evening we reached the valley of the
Little Marico, and the Weltufrede farm. This
belongs to Mynheer von Groomen, one of the
wealthiest Boers in the district. His sons have
been elephant-hunters for years, and have met with
exceptional success, having managed to earn a live¬
lihood by the pursuit. In the paddock of the farm
they showed me a young giraffe that they had
brought home with them from one of their expe¬
ditions.
2 1
CHAPTER II.
FROM JACOBSDAL TO SHOSHONG.
Zeerust — Arrival at Linokana — Harvest-produce — The lion-ford
on the Marico — Silurus-fishing — Crocodiles in the Limpopo
— Damara-emigrants — A narrow escape — The Banks of the
Notuany — The buff-adder valley.
little church, being all that this embryo town of
the- western Transvaal had then to show. After
leaving it we turned north, then north-east towards
Zeerust, the most important settlement in the
22 Seven Years in Soitth Africa.
Marico district. On our way thither we passed one
of the most productive farms in the neighbourhood ;
it belonged to a man named Bootha, and was tra¬
versed by the Malmani, which wound its way through
a low rocky ridge to its junction with the Marico.
I made a preliminary visit by myself to the little
town, but we did not actually move our quarters
into Zeerust till next day. It covers a larger area
than Jacobsdal, and any one devoted to natural
science would find abundant material to interest
him in its vicinity. We, however, only remained
there a few hours, and started off for Linokana,
outside which we encountered Mr. Jensen, who was
bringing the mail-bag from the interior. The mis¬
sionary received us with the utmost cordiality, and
gave us an invitation, which I accepted most grate¬
fully, to stay with him for a fortnight ; the time
that I spent with him was beneficial in more ways
than one, as not only did it afford me an opportunity
of thoroughly exploring the neighbourhood, but it
permitted my companions to enjoy a rest which
already they much required.
In 1875, the Baharutse in Linokana gathered in
as much as 800 sacks of wheat, each containing
200 lbs., and every year a wider area of land is
being brought under cultivation. Besides wheat, they
grow maize, sorghum, melons, and tobacco, selling
what they do not require for their own consumption
in the markets of the Transvaal and the diamond-
fields ; it cannot be said, however, that their fields
are as carefully kept as those of the Barolongs. A
great deal of their land has been transferred to the
Boer government, and they only retain the owner¬
ship of a few farms.
From Jacobs dal to S ho s hong. 23
On the 9th I went to the sources of the Matebe
and wandered about the surrounding hills, where
mineral ores seem to abound. The following day I
employed myself in drawing out a sketch-map of
my route, and when I had completed it, T amused
myself by an inspection of the plantations and
gardens which surround the mission-station. I
attended the chapel, where the service consisted of a
hymn, the reading of a portion of one of the gospels,
then another hymn, followed by a sermon ; the
impression made upon the congregation as they
squatted on their low wooden stools being very
marked, and the whole service in its very simplicity
being to my mind as solemn as the most gorgeous
ritual.
The native postman from Molopolole arrived late
on the evening of the 15th, the journey having
taken him three days ; he only stayed one night,
and started back again with the European mail that
came through Zeerust from Klerksdorf. To my
great surprise it brought me a kind letter from
Dr. A. Petermann, the renowned geographer at
Gotha.
An English major likewise arrived from the
Banguaketse countries ; he was in search of ore and
was now on his way to Kolobeng and Molopolole ; he
gave us an interesting account of the reasons that
had induced him and Captain Finlayson to explore
the north-eastern Transvaal.
The Baharutse girls seem to be particularly fond
of dancing, and we hardly ever failed of an evening
to hear music and occasionally singing in various
parts of the town.
One of the most picturesque spots in the whole
24 Seven Years in South Africa.
neighbourhood is in the valley of the Notuany,
about three miles below its confluence with the
Matebe ; it is enclosed by rocky slopes broken here
and there by rich glens and luxuriant woodlands
ON THE BANKS OP THE MATEBE RIVULET.
that afford cover for countless birds, whilst in the
sedge-thickets on the Matebe wild cats nearly as
large as leopards lurk about for their prey.
We left Linokana on the 23rd, and crossed the
Notuany, a proceeding that occupied us nearly two
From Jacobs dal to Shoshong. 25
hours, as the half-ruined condition of the bridge
made it necessary for us to use even more caution
than on my previous journey.
I spent a pleasant day in the Buisport glen, and
had some good fishing in the pools of the Marupa
stream, as well as some excellent sport on its banks.
The upper pools contain many more fish and water-
lizards than those near the opening of the glen, for
being deeper and more shady they are less liable to
get dried up. Some of the mimosas and willows
that overhang the stream were sixty feet high, and
as much as four feet in diameter.
Next day we passed the Witfontein and Sand-
fontein farms, both in the Bushveldt. The residents
at Witfontein were making preparations for a
great hunting- excursion into the interior, where
they expressed a hope that they might meet me
again. Zwart’s farm I found quite forsaken, its
owner having started off on a similar errand the
week before ; from his last excursion he had brought
back some ostriches and elands. Some Boers that
we met informed me that fresh stragglers from the
Transvaal were continually joining Yan Zyl, and
that the Damara emigrants would soon feel them¬
selves sufficiently strong to continue their north¬
westerly progress ; their place of rendezvous was
on the left bank of the Crocodile River between the
Notuany and the Sirorume.
Before the day was at an end we reached Fourier’s
farm at Brackfontein, and spent the night there,
encamping next day at Schweinfurth’s Pass, in the
Dwars mountains. By the evening we had come as
far as the springs in the rocks on the spurs of the
Chwene-Chwene heights, whence we skirted the
26
Seven Years in South Africa.
town of Chwene-Chwene itself, and after crossing
the valley on the Bechuana spruit, took up our
quarters on the northern slope of the spur of the
Bertha hills. On the hanks of the spruit I noticed a
deserted Barwa village containing about fifteen huts ;
they lay in an open meadow, and consisted merely of
bundles of grass thrown like a cap over stakes about
five feet long bound together at their upper ends.
The Great Marico was reached on the afternoon
of the 80th. We made our encampment at a spot
where a couple of diminutive islands, projecting
above the rapid, made it possible to get across with¬
out any danger from crocodiles. The probability
of there being an abundance of game on the
opposite side induced me to stay for two or
three days. Regardless of Pit’s warning that he
had seen a lion’s track close by, I selected a place
some hundred yards lower down, and resolved to go
and keep watch there for whatever game might turn
up. I took the precaution to enclose the spot with
a low fence.
Soon after sunset I proceeded to carry out my
intention. The passage of the river with its some¬
what strong current in the dark was troublesome
as well as fatiguing. I reached my look-out, which
I found by no means comfortable, and as the dark¬
ness gathered round me, I became conscious of a
strange yearning for my distant home, and the
image of my mother seemed to arise so visibly
before me, that I could hardly persuade myself that
she was not actually approaching. Phantasies of
this kind were altogether unusual with me, and as
the sense of awe appeared to increase, I began
to debate with myself whether I had not better
From Jacob sdal to Shoshong. 27
retire from my position and make my way back to
the waggon. It came, however, to my recollection
that this was just the hour when the crocodiles left
the water and made their way to the banks, in order
to avoid the rapids.
The night continued to grow darker, and dense
masses of cloud rose up to obscure the sky. I came
to the final decision that my watch would be to no
purpose, and was just about setting out to return,
when I became aware of the movement of some great
object scarcely ten yards away. Of course in the
dark no reliance was to be placed upon my gun ; my
long hunting-knife was the only weapon on which I
had to depend ; this I grasped firmly, and stooped
down, straining every power of vision to penetrate
the gloom ; but nothing was to be discerned ; only
a strange and inexplicable glimmer still moved
before my eyes. Again, with startling vividness,
the image of my mother rose before me ; I could not
help interpreting it to betoken that some danger
was near, and once more I determined to hasten
back at all hazards to our encampment. I placed
my foot upon the twigs with which I had built up
my fence, and it came down with a crash which
sounded sufficiently alarming. Gun in one hand,
and knife in the other, I proceeded to grope my
way along, but recollecting that my gun was use¬
less, and finding it an incumbrance, I threw it into
a bush ; after it had fallen I heard a noise like
scratching or scraping, and I am much mistaken if
I did not distinguish a low growl, and it occurred
to me that it was more than likely that some beasts
of prey had been stealthily making their way to
my place of retreat. Having no longer the shelter
28 Seven Years in South Africa.
of my fence-work I confess a feeling of tremor
came over me, and my heart heat very fast. Still
slashing about with my hunting-knife, I cut my
way through the overhanging boughs, pausing at
every step, and listening anxiously to every sound.
In spite of all my care I came from time to time into
collision with the branches, and I staggered in
wonder whether I had not at last encountered some
gigantic beast of prey.
It took me a considerable time to get over that
hundred yards by which I was separated from the
stream, but at length I accomplished it, and reached
a narrow rain-channel, that facilitated my descent
to the brink of the water. It was with extreme
caution that I placed one foot before another, as
my sole clue to the direction of the ford was
derived from the increase or decrease in the sound
of the current ; more than once I lost my footing,
and fell down bodily into the water, but after a
time, with much difficulty, managed to get on to the
first of the two islands ; upon this I did not rest for
a minute, but plunged at once into the main stream,
whence I succeeded in gaining the second island.
Here I paused long enough to recover my somewhat
exhausted breath, and then re-entering the seething
waters, tottered over the slippery stones till I found
myself safely on the shore. As I set my foot upon
the ground I could not do otherwise than experience
a great sense of relief, although I was quite aware
that there might be danger yet in store. I was so
tired that I should have been glad to throw myself
upon the ground then and there, but the chance of
exposing myself to the crocodiles at that hour was
too serious to be risked.
From Jacob sdal to Shoshong. 29
Just as I was on the point of clambering up
the bank I heard a rustling above my head ; I
kept perfectly silent, and soon discovered that the
noise came from a herd of pallahs, on their way
to drink. I recognized them by the crashing which
their horns made in the bushes, and by their peculiar
grunt. Swinging myself up by means of the
branches, I reached the top of the bank, and
wending my way along the glen, before long
recognized the barking of the dogs, which had
been disturbed by the antelopes. My whistle
quickly brought my faithful Mger to my side,
and his company agreeably relieved the rest of
my way back to the fires which marked the place of
our encampment.
Taking Pit with me next morning, I made an
investigation of the place where I had spent so much
of the previous dreary night. It was covered with
lion-tracks, and the little barricade was completely
trampled down. One of my dogs at this place fell
a victim to the flies, that settled in swarms on its
eyes, ears, and nose, so that the poor brute was
literally stung to death.
Shortly afterwards I took Pit on another long
excursion inland. Having heard that the colonists
are accustomed to creep into the large hyaena-holes
under ground, and that when they have ascertained
that the hyaena is “ at home,” they kindle a fire at
its mouth, so that the animal is obliged to make an
exit, when it is either shot or killed by clubs, I
made Pit put the experiment into practice. W e found
the hole, and we lighted the fire, but we did not secure
our prey ; somehow or other Pit was not able to
make the smoking-out process go off successfully.
30 Seven Years in South Africa.
We continued our journey tlie same day. A few
miles down tlie river I met an ivory-trader from
tlie Matabele country, who had instructions from
the Matabele king to convey the intelligence to
the English governor in Kimberley that a white
traveller had been killed amongst the Mashonas,
on the eastern boundary of his domain.
I had throughout the day noticed such a diversity
of birds, reptiles, insects, plants, and minerals, that
I was further disposed to try my luck at fishing,
and taking my tackle, I lost no time in dropping
my line into the river. I succeeded in hooking
three large sheatfish, the smallest of which weighed
over six pounds, but they were too heavy for me to
drag to land ; two of them broke my line, and the
other slipped back into the stream. I had almost
contrived to get a fourth safely ashore, when my
foot slipped, and overbalancing myself, I fell head
foremost down the bank; happily a “wait-a-bit”
bush prevented my tumbling into the river.
Guinea-fowl I observed in abundance everywhere
along the Marico, in parts where the bushes were
thick; but I noticed that they never left their
roosting-places until the heavy morning dew was
dry. The speed at which they ran was quite
incredible.
Proceeding on our way we came up with several
Bechuana families belonging to the Makhosi tribe,
who had been living on Sechele’s territory, near the
ruins of Kolobeng; but they had been so much
harassed by Sechele that they were now migrating,
and about to settle at the foot of the Dwars Moun¬
tains. Sechele had been preparing an armed attack
upon both the Makhosi and the Bakhatlas, but the
From Jacobsdal to Shoshong. 31
latter having gained intelligence of his scheme, took
prompt measures to resist him, and made him
abandon the design. It is in every way desirable,
both for traders and travellers, as well as for the
neighbouring colonies, that the integrity of the six
existing Bechuana kingdoms should be maintained.
Any splitting-up into smaller states would be
attended with the same inconveniences as the
European colonists and travellers have to suffer
on the east coast north of Delagoa Bay.
Whilst we were passing through the light woods
of the Marico on the 4th, we caught sight of a
water-bock doe in the long grass. Theunissen
stalked it very adroitly, but unfortunately his car¬
tridge missed fire, and before Pit could hand him a
second, the creature took to flight. In spite of our
having had frost for the last two days, the morning
was beautifully fine.
Leaving the Marico, only to rejoin it again at its
mouth, we traversed the triangular piece of wood
which lies between it and the Limpopo. On our
way we fell in with a party of Makalakas, who were
reduced almost to skeletons, having travelled from
the western Matabele-land, 500 miles away, for the
purpose of hiring themselves out at the diamond-
fields, each expecting in six months to earn enough
to buy a gun and a supply of ammunition. We
were sorry not to be able to comply with their re¬
quest that we would give them some meat, but as it
happened we had not killed any game for several
days.
The next morning found us on the Limpopo ; and
as I purposed staying here for a few days, we set to
work and erected a high fence of mimosa boughs,
32 Seven Years in South Africa.
for the greater security of our bullocks. In the
afternoon Theunissen and I made an excursion, in
the course of which we shot two apes and four
little night monkeys, that were remarkable for
their fine silky hair and large bright eyes. As a
general rule they sleep all day and wake up at night,
CROCODILE IN THE LIMPOPO.
when they commence spending a merry time in the
trees, hunting insects and moths, eating berries, and
licking down the gum of the mimosas.
One of our servants had a rencontre that was
rather alarming, with one of the crocodiles, from
which the river derives its name. He was washing
From Jacob sdal to Shoshong. 33
clothes upon the bank, when a dark object emerged
from the water, startling him so much that he let
the garment slip from his hands. He called out,
and had the presence of mind to hurl a big stone at
the crocodile’s head, and succeeded in clutching the
article back just as the huge creature was snapping
at it. An adventure of a somewhat similar cha¬
racter happened to myself. Finding that the Lim¬
popo was only three feet deep just below its con¬
fluence with the Marico, I determined to make my
way across. We felled several stout mimosa stems,
and made a raft ; but the new wood was so heavy
that under my weight it sank two feet into the
water. Convinced that my experiment was a failure,
I was springing from one side of the raft on to the
shore, when a crocodile mounted the other side — an
apparition sufficiently startling to make me give up
the idea of crossing for the present.
Taking our departure on the 7th, we proceeded
down the stream, having as many as fifteen narrow
rain-channels to pass on our way. The whole dis¬
trict was one unbroken forest, and we noticed some
very fine hardekool trees. On the left the country
belonged to Sechele, on the right to the Transvaal
republic.
Though our progress was somewhat slow, being
retarded by the sport which we enjoyed at every
opportunity, we reached the mouth of the Notuany
next evening, having passed the first of the two
encampments where the Damara emigrants were
gathering together their contingent. It contained
about thirty waggons, and at least as many tents ;
large herds of sheep and cows, under the care of
armed sentinels, were grazing around, while the
VOL. 11. D
34
Seven Years in South A frica.
people were sitting about in groups, some drinking
coffee and some preparing their travelling-gear.
I was rather struck by the circumstance that nearly
all the women were dressed in black. Some of the
men asked us whether we had seen any Boer wag¬
gons as we came along ; and on our replying that
we had passed a good many emigrants, they ex¬
pressed great satisfaction, and said that their num¬
bers would now very soon be large enough to allow
them to start. They all declared their intention
to show fight if either of the Bamangwato kings
attempted to molest them or oppose their move¬
ments. When I spoke to them about the difficulty
they would probably experience in conducting so
large a quantity of cattle across the western part of
the kingdom, where water was always very scarce,
they turned a deaf ear to all my representations.
It was just the same with the emigrants at the
other camp, whom I saw at Shoshong on my
return ; they would pay no attention to any warning
of danger; nothing could induce them to swerve
from their design.
When I pressed my inquiries as to their true
motive in migrating, they told me that the president
had taken up with some utterly false views as to the
interpretation of various passages in the Bible, and
that the government had commenced forcing upon
them a number of ill-timed and annoying innova¬
tions. If their fathers, they said, had lived, and
grown grey, and died, without any of these new¬
fangled notions being thrust upon them, why should
they now be expected to submit to the novelties
against their will ? And another thing which they
felt to be peculiarly irritating was, that these state
From Jacobs dal to Shoshong. 35
reforms were being brought about by a lot of
foreigners, and chiefly by a clique of Englishmen.
What President Burgers was aiming at effecting
would have an effect the very reverse of remedying
the deep-seated evils that oppressed them. It
seemed to me that the project which they consi¬
dered the most obnoxious was that for the forma¬
tion of a railroad which should connect Delagoa Bay
with the Transvaal.
Were it not for their own statements, it would be
quite incredible that men, who already have had to
struggle hard for their property and farms, should
for trivial reasons such as these, and at the instiga¬
tion of one man, give up their homes and wander
away into the interior. The first troop of them,
without including stragglers, soon amounted to
seventy waggons. They were anxious to get pos¬
session of the fine pasturage on the Damara terri¬
tory, and prepared, in the event of opposition, to
drive the Damaras away altogether. They ex¬
perienced so much difficulty through the scarcity
of water, that, after reaching Shoshong, they had
to return to the Limpopo, and wait until after a
plentiful rain had fallen upon the country they had
to traverse.
Under the impression that the emigrants in¬
tended to purchase whatever land they required,
both the Bamangwato kings granted them a safe
pass across their dominions ; but as soon as it trans¬
pired that they were going to establish themselves
by force of arms, Khame immediately withdrew his
promise. He could not see why his own territory
might not be subject to a like invasion. This led
the emigrants openly to avow their determination,
d 2
36 Seven Years in South Africa.
in the event of a long drought, to overcome the
Matabele Zulus, otherwise they would have to fight
their way through the eastern Bamangwatos.
At the end of my journey, after my return to
the diamond-fields in 1877, I took up this matter
publicly, anxious to do anything in my power to
prevent any overt conflict between the emigrants and
the noble Bamangwato king. The tenour of my
views will be apprehended from the concluding para¬
graph of my first article, published in the Diamond
News of March 24th : “ It is absurd for people like
these Boers, who are not in a condition to make any
progress whatever in their own country, and who
regard the most necessary reforms with suspicion, to
think of founding a new state of their own.” 1
Two months after writing that article, I heard they
were in expectation of securing the friendship of
Khamane, while he was living with Sechele at enmity
with Khame. Their scheme of raising him to the
throne failed, and no better success attended them in
their subsequent attempt to form an alliance with
Matsheng.
During 1876 and the following year, the condition
of the emigrants, as they still lingered about the
Limpopo, changed decidedly for the worse; they
had ceased to talk about the conquest of a hostile
country, but on the contrary took every means to
avoid a battle ; many of them had succumbed to
fever, and sickness continued to make such ravages
amongst them that they resolved to start once more.
Again they applied to Khame for a safe passage
through his land, but made a move in the direction
1 Boers of this kind are not to be confounded with the more
cultivated portion of the Dutch community in South Africa.
From Jacobsdal to Shoshong.
37
of the Mahalapsi River, instead of to Shoshong, in
order to mislead him. Khame meanwhile kept him¬
self all ready for a battle ; he drilled his people every
day ; and having kept spies on the watch, he soon
learnt that the emigrant party had fallen into a state
of complete decay ; but instead of taking advantage
of their condition, and seizing their cattle and pro¬
perty, he sent Mr. Hepburn to ascertain the facts of
the case ; and when he found that the statements
already brought to him were confirmed, he renewed
his guarantee to them that they should traverse his
country in security ; he was really afraid that they
would fail in the strength to move on at all. Their
difficulties increased every day. Between Shoshong
and the Zooga the district is one continuous sandy
forest, known amongst the Hutch hunters as Durst-
land; it contained only a few watering-places for
cattle, most of these being merely holes in the sand
or failing river-beds ; dug over night, they would
only contain a few buckets full of water in the
morning ; and this was all the provision they had
for their herds ; their bullocks, consequently, be¬
came infuriated, and ran away, so that when the
concourse reached the Zooga they were in a most
helpless plight.
Their want of servants, too, was very trying. I
saw quite little children leading the draught-oxen,
and young girls brandishing the cumbrous bullock-
whips. By slow and painful degrees, however, sadly
diminished in numbers by sickness, and having
suffered the loss of half their goods, they reached
Lake Ngami, only to begin another march as tedious
and fatal as that they had already accomplished. At
last, what might almost be described as a troop of
3 8 Seven Years in South Africa.
helpless orphans reached Damara, the sole represen¬
tatives of the wild and ill-fated expedition.
In London in the present year (1880) I heard
that the survivors of this wild enterprise were
in a condition so destitute that the English Govern¬
ment, assisted by free-will offerings from the Dutch
and English residents, had sent out to them several
consignments of food and clothing, despatched
by steamer, via Walvisch Bay. Such was the end
of the undertaking originated by a party of head¬
strong men, who, in ignorant opposition to reform,
and from motives of political ill-feeling, rushed
with open eyes to the destruction that awaited
them.
Before reaching the Notuany, I had found out that
the game which at the time of my last visit had been
very abundant on the Limpopo, had been consider¬
ably reduced by the continual hunting carried on by
the emigrants. I found only a few traces of hippo¬
potamuses and some giraffe-tracks in the bushes by
the footpath down by the river, but neither had I
opportunity for hunting myself, nor did I wish to
reveal their existence to the Boers.
During one of our excursions I had a narrow
escape of my life. We were chasing a flock of
guinea-fowl that were running along in front of us,
one of which kept rising and looking back upon
us. Coming to a broadish rain-channel about twelve
feet in depth, and much overgrown with long
grass, I called out to Theunissen, who was close
behind me, to warn him to be careful how he came ;
but his attention was so entirely engrossed by the
bird of which he was in pursuit that he did not hear
me, and at the very edge of the dip he stumbled
From y<xcobsdal to S ho s hong.
39
and fell forward. His rifle was at full cock, ready
for action; his finger slipped and touched the
trigger; the bullet absolutely grazed my neck.
Another eighth of an inch and I must have been
killed on the spot.
To explore the neighbourhood, we remained for a
few days upon the banks of the Notuany. I first
went southwards down to the confluence of the river
with the Limpopo. In striking contrast to the time
of my previous visit, when the entire district seemed
teeming with game, I had now to wait long under
the shade of the mimosas before getting any sport
at all; at length a solitary gazelle bounded out of
the grass in front of me, and as I was all ready with
a charge of hare-shot, I soon put an end to its
graceful career. Some Masarwas, dependents of
Sechele, residing in the wood close at hand,
brought me some pallah- skins, of which I made a
purchase.
The shores both of the lower Marico and the
Limpopo are composed of granite, gneiss, and grey
and red sandstone, the last often containing flints ;
these rocks sometimes assume very grotesque forms ;
one, for example, on the bank of the Limpopo, being
called “ The Cardinal’s Hat ;” occasionally they con¬
tain also greenstone and ferruginous limestone. To
the first spruit running into the Notuany above the
Limpopo I gave the name of Purkyne’s Spruit. Some
of the mimosas here were ten feet in circumference ;
here and there I noticed some vultures’ nests, and
the trees were the habitat of many birds, amongst
which we noticed Bubo Verreauxii and maculosus,
Goracias caudata and G. nuchalis and parrots.
I left the Notuany a day sooner than I intended,
40
Seven Years in South Africa.
moving about four miles down tbe valley of tbe Lim¬
popo, where the country seemed to promise me some
desirable acquisitions. Ou the 14th, I secured the skins
of two cercopithecus, one sciurus, two guinea fowl,
and two francolins. An ape that I shot was disfigured
and no doubt painfully distressed by two great
swellings like abscesses. It was impossible to go a
hundred yards along the bank of the river without
seeing a crocodile lift its head above the water, to
submerge it again just as quickly.
When we quitted the river-side, we proceeded to
cross the wooded heights, sandy on one side, rocky
on the other, that would bring us to the valley of the
Sirorume. On our way, Niger enjoyed the excite¬
ment of chasing two spotted hyasnas that crossed the
path, but he did not succeed in overtaking either of
them. By the middle of the day we reached the
pond which I have already mentioned as lying on
the top of these heights, and soon afterwards found
ourselves descending towards the river. The name
of Puff-adder valley, which I had given the place,
seemed still as appropriate as ever, for we killed two
of these snakes that were lying rolled up together just
where we passed along. Following a Masarwa track
that I remembered in search of water, I came upon
a pool some ten feet deep ; fastening my cap to my
gun-strap, I was about to dip my extemporized
bucket below the surface, when I caught sight of
something glittering half in and half out of the
water, which proved to be another puff-adder trying
in vain to escape from a hole.
To judge from the tracks, I should be inclined to
say that leopards are almost as abundant as snakes,
the thorn-bushes and the crevices in the rocks
Frovi Jacobsdal to Shoshong. 4 1
affording them precisely the kind of hiding-places
that they delight in.
In the course of our next day’s march we came to a
Bamangwato station. Sekhomo had not had sufficient
men at his disposal to keep a station there; the
consequence was that Sechele at that time looked
upon the locality as his hunting-ground. It appeared
to abound not only with giraffes, koodoos, elands,
and hartebeests, but likewise with gazelles and wild
swine, and numbers of hyaenas and jackals.
I reached Khame’s Saltpan on the 17th, and had
the bullocks taken to drink at the cisterns in the
rocks. Some Bamangwato and Makalahari people
were passing by, from whom I obtained several
curiosities, amongst which was a remarkable battle-
axe. I came across some of the venomous horned
vipers, which fortunately give to the unwary notice
of their presence by the loud hissing they make.
In the evening five gigantic Makalakas came to the
waggon, hoping that .1 should engage them as ser¬
vants, but I was too well acquainted with their
general character to have anything to do with them.
We remained at the saltpan until the 19th, and
reached Shoshong quite late at night. The town was
much altered since my last visit. Khame, after his
victory, had set it on fire, and had rebuilt it much
more compactly nearer the end of the glen in the
Francis Joseph valley. The European quarter was
now quite isolated. I was delighted to meet Mr.
Mackenzie again, and he kindly invited me to be his
guest during the fortnight that I proposed spending
in the place.
42 Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER III.
FEOM SHOSHONG TO THE GREAT SALT LAKES.
Khame and Sekhomo — Signs of erosion in the bed of the Luala —
The Maque plains — Frost — Wild ostriches — Eland-antelopes
The first palms — Assegai traps — The district of the Great
Salt Lakes — The Tsitane and Karri-Karri salt-pans — The
Shaneng — The Soa salt-pan — Troublesome visitors — Salt in
the Nataspruit — Chase of a Zulu hartebeest — Animal life on
the Nataspruit — Waiting for a lion.
It was quite obvious that since my previous visit
a great change for the better had taken place
in the social condition of the Bamangwatos. At
that time Sekhomo had been at the head of affairs,
and, indefatigable in promoting heathen orgies, had
been the most determined opponent of every reform
that had tended to introduce the benefits of civili¬
zation. Khame, his eldest son, who had now suc¬
ceeded him, was the very opposite of his father ; the
larger number of the adherents who had followed
him into his voluntary banishment had returned with
him and placed themselves under his authority, so
that the population of the town was increased three¬
fold. Khame’s great measure was the prohibition of
the sale of brandy ; it was a proceeding on his part
that not only removed the chief incentive to idle¬
ness, but conduced materially to the establishment
of peace and order, and made it considerably easier
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 43
for him to suppress the heathen rites that had been
so grievously pernicious.
In company with Mr. Mackenzie I paid several
visits to Khame, and had ample opportunity of
becoming acquainted with his good qualities. My
time was much occupied with excursions, in work¬
ing out the survey of my route between Linokana
and Shoshong, and in medical attendance upon sick
negroes. Khame offered me one of his own ser¬
vants to accompany me to the Zambesi, and upon
whom I could rely to bring back my waggon to
Shoshong, if I should determine to go further north.
As remuneration for the man’s services, I was to
give him a musket.
Mr. Mackenzie pointed out to me the various
places that had been of any importance in the
recent contest between the kings. I have already
mentioned how Khame, on leaving the town, had
been followed by the greater number of the Baman-
gwatos to the Zooga river, where the district was
so marshy that the people were decimated by fever,
and Khame was forced to abandon the settlement
he had chosen. Kesolved to return to Shoshong, he
proceeded to assert his claim, not in any underhand
or clandestine manner, but by a direct attack upon
his father and brother. He openly appointed a day
on which he intended to arrive ; and advancing
from the north-west, made his way across the
heights to the rocks overhanging the glen, and com¬
manding a strong position above the town. Sek-
homo meanwhile had divided his troops into two
parts, and leaving the smaller contingent to protect
the town, posted the main body so as to intercept
Khame’ s approach. Augmented as it was by the
44 Seven Years in South Africa .
people of tlie Makalaka villages, Sekhomo’s army in
point of numbers was quite equal to that of his son ;
but, as on previous occasions, these Makalakas,
fugitives from the Matabele country, proved utterly
treacherous; although they professed to be Sek-
homo’s allies, they had sent a message of friendship
to Khame, assuring him that they should hold
themselves in readiness to welcome him at the Sho-
shon pass. Khame’s attack was so sudden that
Sekhomo’s troops were completely disorganized,
and before they had time to recover themselves and
commence a retreat, the conqueror took advantage
of the condition of things to bring his men on to
the plateau where the Makalakas had been posted.
These unscrupulous rascals being under the impres¬
sion that Khame’s people had been worsted, and
being only anxious to get what cattle they could
find, opened a brisk fire, a proceeding which so
exasperated the Bamangwatos that they hurried up
their main contingent, and having discharged a
single volley, set to and felled the faithless Maka¬
lakas with the butt ends of their muskets.
In contrast to the incessant rain which had
marked my previous visit, the drought was now so
protracted that my cattle began to get rather out of
condition, but not enough to prevent my starting
for the Zambesi on the 4th of June. We proceeded
up the Francis Joseph valley, and turning north¬
wards, reached the high plateau on the following
day by the way of the Unicorn pass. The scenery
was very pretty, the sides of the valley being ever
and again formed of isolated rocks, adorned most
picturesquely with thick clumps of arboreal euphor-
biacese.
From Shoskong to the Great Salt Lakes. 45
On the 6th our course led us across a plain,
always sandy and occasionally wooded ; and it was
quite late in the evening when we reached the Let-
losespruit, a stream which never precipitates itself
over the granite boulders with much violence, except
after heavy rain. The upper strata of the adjacent
hills, where ground game is abundant, consist in
considerable measure of red sandstone, interspersed
with quartzite and black schist, the lower being
entirely granite.
The limit of our next day’s march was to be the
pools at Kanne. Ranged in a semicircle to our
right were more than thirty conical hills, connecting
the Bamangwato with the Serotle heights. There
was a kraal close to the pools, and the natives, as
soon as they were aware of our approach, drove
their cattle down to drink, so that by the time we
arrived all the water was exhausted, and fresh holes
had to be dug.
On the 8th we reached the valley of the Lua-
laspruit, where the vegetation and surrounding
scenery were charming. The formation of the
rocks, and especially the signs of erosion in the
river-bed were very interesting ; in one place were
numerous grottoes, and in another were basins or
natural arches washed out by the water, which
nevertheless only flowed during a short period of
the year. The ford was deep and difficult. On
crossing it I met with two ivory-traders, one of
whom. Mr. Anderson, had been formerly known to
me by name as a gold-digger ; they had been waiting
camped out here for several days, while their ser¬
vants were ascertaining whether the district towards
the Maque plain was really as devoid of water as it
46
Seven Years in South Africa.
had been reported. The Luala and its affluents
were now quite dry, and water could only be
obtained by persevering digging. Mr. Anderson’s
people brought word that the next watering-place
could not be reached in less than forty-eight hours,
GROTTOES OF THE LUALA.
and I immediately gave orders for food enough for
two days’ consumption to be cooked while we had
water for our use. We fell in with Mr. Anderson’s
suggestion that we should travel in his company as
far as the salt-lakes.
From S ho s hong to the Great Salt Lakes. 47
After ascending the main valley of the little river,
on the evening of the 10th we reached the sandy
and wooded plateau thirty miles in length, that
forms a part of the southern “Durstland.” The
scarcity of water in front of us made it indispensa¬
ble that we should hurry on, and after marching
till it was quite dark, we only allowed ourselves a
few hours’ rest before again starting on a stage
which continued till midday, when the excessive
heat compelled us once again to halt. No cattle
could toil through the deep sandy roads in the
hottest hours of the afternoon, so that rest was
then compulsory. By the evening, however, we had
reached the low Maque plains, remarkable for their
growth of mapani-trees ; in all directions were traces
of striped gnus, zebras, and giraffes, and even lion-
tracks in unusual numbers were to be distinctly
recognized. We came across some Masarwas, who
refused to direct us to a marsh which we had been
told was only a few miles away to the right ; they
were fearful, they said, of being chastised by the
Bamangwatos, if it should transpire that they had
given the white men any information on such a
matter.
The whole of the Maque plain, which is bounded
on the west by table-hills, and slopes down north¬
wards to the salt-lake district, consists entirely of
mould, equally trying to travellers at all seasons of
the year, being soft mire during the rains, and pain¬
fully dry throughout the winter season. In the
hands of an European landowner, however, that
which now serves for nothing better than a hunting-
ground might soon be transformed into prolific
corn-fields and remunerative cotton-plantations.
48 Seven Years in South Africa.
By the time we reached the pools our poor
bullocks were quite done up. The ivory-traders
had pushed on in front and reached the place before
us.
We were here overtaken by a messenger from
Khame, who had been despatched to visit all the
Bamangwato farms, and to leave the king’s instruc¬
tions that no hunters should be allowed upon any
pretext whatever to remain at any watering-place
for more than three days. This prohibition had
been brought about by the conduct of the Boers,
who had been going everywhere killing the game in
the most indiscriminate manner for the sake of their
skins, and leaving their carcases for the vultures.
The order was probably reasonable enough, but it
came at an unfortunate time for us, as the natives
at once took us for hunters, and consequently were
occasionally far from conciliatory in their behaviour.
The very spot where we had encamped had been
visited by the Boers only about two months before,
and we found a number of the forked runners on
which they had dragged the animals behind their
waggons.
North of the Maque plain large serpents are
often to be met with. Although they are by no
means uncommon in Natal, they are rarely
found on the hills of the southern Bechuana
countries. Some plants of a semi-tropical form are
here represented, not the least noticeable among
them being the mapani-tree, with its oleaginous
leaves and porous brittle wood. Nevertheless, the
temperature in winter is often low, though perhaps
not to the same extent as on the table-land on the
Vaal and Orange rivers, which is 1200 feet higher.
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 49
One morning during our stay the pools had a coat¬
ing of ice nearly half an inch thick.
Whilst hunting a large snake in a thicket on the
afternoon of the day after our arrival, I was startled
by a loud shout from the waggon. Hurrying back, I
found Mr. Anderson all excited because a herd of
wild ostriches had just rushed by him on their way
to drink at the pool; the sight, however, of the
waggon had somewhat alarmed them, and they had
turned aside into the mimosa-wood, where they
were being chased by the drivers. The pursuit was
long and arduous, and the men at last had to return
hot and tired, without having been able to get
within gunshot of one of the birds.
Still keeping with Mr. Anderson, we started off
again next morning, making our way northwards
towards a spring seventy miles away, known to the
Boers as Bergfontein. In these waterless districts
glades of tall grass and rushes alternate with light
mapani-woods, game being abundant everywhere.
We were overtaken on our way by some Makalaharis
and Masarwas proceeding to an eland-hunt, armed
with assegais.
Of all the antelopes the eland, especially the male,
is the most lusty and well-fed, its heart having been
known to be imbedded in a mass of fat weighing
twenty-five pounds ; the animal is consequently
generally so short-breathed that it can be readily
overtaken and speared. The Masarwas are very
fleet-footed and skilful in hurling their assegais so
as mortally to wound the heart or lungs. Mounted
Dutch and English hunters chase the elands in the
same way as giraffes right up to their waggons,
where they shoot them down, thus sparing them-
VOL. II. E
50 Seven Years in South Africa.
selves the trouble of having to transport the skins
or carcases from the hunting-ground. I have been
told both by hunters and natives, and I think it
quite credible, that without any great difficulty
elands may be tamed and trained to draw or to
carry light burdens.
Shortly afterwards we met two Bamangwatos
armed with muskets, and driving a couple of oxen
laden with meat. They were accompanied by five
Masarwas, each of them also carrying a load of meat
weighing over fifty pounds. The party was on
its way to Shoshong to get instructions from Khame
as to its future proceedings, as some of the Maka-
lakas, banished for their treachery, were prowling
about the northern confines of the kingdom, and
preventing the Masarwas from rendering allegiance
to their rightful master.
Bergfontein, at which we arrived early on the
17th, is a spring situated on a woody slope ; it is
regarded by the natives as the source of the Nokane
stream, which flows northwards, but only in the
rainy season. The slope, which is very rugged and
clothed with luxuriant vegetation, is the declivity of
the Maque plain down to the great salt-lakes. At
a short distance from the bank of the Nokane spruit
the traveller from the south is greeted by the sight
of a cluster of fan- palms, a foretaste of the wonders
of tropical vegetation ; overtopping all the surround¬
ing trees, they were probably the most southerly
specimens of that queen of palm-trees in Central
Africa. I shot down some examples of the fruit,
and added them to my collection. Encircling the
base of the slim stems that were crowned with the
magnificent foliage was a wonderful undergrowth of
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 5 1
young plants that had germinated from the fallen
fruit, the leaves of which had already assumed fine
proportions, and were rapidly developing into their
fan-like form.
In the broad but shallow bed of a spruit that lay
on the side of a gentle slope, I found a shrub that
reminded me of a baobab ; it was between four and
five feet in height, its lower part immensely thick
and fleshy, and covered with a yellowish bark ; but
scarcely a foot from the ground it contracted into
little branches only two or three inches thick, that
proceeded direct from the great superficial root.
Some of these stems weighed several hundredweight,
and on some future occasion I shall hope to obtain
a specimen for myself.
From the Makalaharis and Masarwas residing
hereabouts I obtained a variety of ornaments and
some domestic utensils made of wood and bone, but
I was unfortunate enough afterwards to lose them
all.
All around the hills for the most part were thickly
wooded, having no paths except the game-tracks lead¬
ing generally towards the Nokane. Over these tracks
the natives are accustomed to set assegai-traps for
catching the game at night ; a pile of underwood is
heaped up to bring the animals to a standstill; a
grass rope with one end very loosely attached to a
short stake is carried across the path about a foot
above the ground, and supported horizontally by
two uprights and a cross-pole placed on the opposite
side ; the rope is thence taken up to the nearest
overhanging bough, and an assegai left suspended
from the other end. The slightest jerk made by the
movements of the game suffices to detach the loose
E 2
52
Seven Years in South A frica.
end of tlie rope, and the assegai immediately falls.
The assegai nsed for this purpose is generally of very
rude construction, being nothing but a rough pole
with a rusty spear-head fixed at the end; but its
efficiency is due to the point being dipped in a most
PURSUED BY MATABELE.
deadly poison. The wound inflicted by the descend¬
ing weapon is generally slight in itself, and although
only a scratch may be made in the neck, the victim
is doomed, as the poison is sure to take quick effect.
In the winter months snares of this kind are con¬
tinually being set, and are always visited as frequently
as possible, that the carcase may be dissected soon
From Shoskong to the Great Salt Lakes. 53
after death ; the flesh close round the wound is cut
away, but all the rest is considered by the natives
to be perfectly fit for food. Once, while in pursuit
of some koodoos, one of Anderson’s people narrowly
escaped running into an assegai-trap, being only
warned by his servant just in time, and I have
myself in the course of my rambles come upon
several tracks stopped up in this way.
I wandered during the afternoon with the two
traders a considerable distance down the hill to the
north, crossing the Nokane and two other dry spruits
more than once. On the way I noticed some aloes
of unusual size, and some tiger-snails in the long
grass in the valleys.
Early on the morning of the 18th we came to the
south-east shore of the smallest and most southerly
of the three of the great salt-lakes that I was able
to visit. Away to the west this lake extended as
far as the eye could see, and it took me two hours
to travel the length of the eastern coast. It had an
uniform depth of barely two feet, and presented a
light grey surface edged with stiff arrow-grass, and
surrounded by dense bush-forest, whilst round about
it, in the very thickest of the grass, were considerable
numbers of miniature salt-pans. It is scarcely once
a year that it is full of water, for although after
violent rains torrents stream down from all directions,
very few of these make their way into the lake itself,
but stagnate in another and deeper bed close by ;
the overflow of this, however, escapes into the lake.
The name of this salt-pan is Tsitane, the same as
that of the most important of the rivers flowing
from the heights upon our left, which were the pro¬
jecting spurs of the slope from the table-land to the
54
Seven Years in South Africa.
lake basin. The greater part of the lake-bottom
consists of rock, partly bare and partly covered with
the deposit from the rain-torrents. While I was
taking the measurement of the eastern shore, I came
upon a herd of striped gnus, but without being able
to shoot one of them. In the brackish waters of the
river, and in the pools near its mouth, there were a
good many spoonbills and ducks, and for the first
time for a long while I noticed some grunters.
After finishing my sketch-chart of the Tsitane
lake next morning, I went out and shot a great
horned owl that I found in the trees on the bank.
Every depression in the soil round the smaller
pans contains salt. However short a time the rain¬
water may stand in them, vegetation is sure to be
checked ; the evaporation is rapid, and so great that
the ground is continually crusted with large patches
of salt some five inches above the soil, which break
in when trodden on. In high winds the salt and
salt earth are swept along in great white clouds
like dust. The edge of the lake was covered with
little chalcedonies and milk-pebbles that had been
washed down by the rain.
We quitted the shores of the Tsitane salt-pan on
the 21st, but as I had understood from the natives
that there would be much difficulty in getting water
farther on, and I did not wish to impede the pro¬
gress of the ivory-traders, we parted company, but
only to meet again after a fortnight in the valley of
the Panda ma Tenka, and yet again a year later at
Shoshong.
It was at the salt-pan that I saw my first baobab,
the most southerly specimen along my route, although
Mauch had seen some further south in the western
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 55
Transvaal on the right bank of the Limpopo. The
one I noticed was twenty-five feet in height, its
circumference measuring nearly -fifty-two feet.
On starting northwards we had first to cross the
small outlying salt-pans on the Tsitane, then the
river itself, and finally to take a course due north
right over the basin. The trees of the dense under¬
wood were all more or less stunted, the bush-land
alternating with meadow-land overgrown with rich
sweet grass and studded with flowers. Near the
pans and adjacent streams the soil was brackish,
and the vegetation for the most part of a prickly
character. Springbocks and duykerbocks, Zulu
hartebeests, and striped gnus frequented the woods,
which in some parts revealed clearly the vestiges of
lions.
All the next day our journey took us past a series
of large depressions in the soil, the middle of most
of them being marked by small salt-pans, of which
I counted no less than forty-two in the course of
the day’s progress. We halted for the night near
one of them known as the little Shonni; we also
crossed some fresh-water pools, at once to be dis¬
tinguished from salt-pans by the fringe of reeds
with which they were surrounded.
We now arrived at the eastern shore of a far
larger and deeper lake than the Tsitane, called by
the natives Karri-karri; its shores were circled by
a number of baobabs, and its geological formation
seemed very interesting. Like the Tsitane in shape
it was almost an isosceles triangle with its apex far
away out of sight in the west. On their western
side both these lakes are connected with the north
of the Soa salt-pan by means of the Zooga river.
56 Seven Years in South Africa.
Some Masarwas bearing traces of the red salt-
crust on their ankles came to us offering some
baobab-fruit, and asking for maize and tobacco in
exchange. We had not much time to spend either in
bartering commodities or in exploring the shore of
the lake, as the rain came on and compelled us to
hurry forwards, otherwise I do not doubt I should
have discovered a number of natural curiosities.
At the north-east end of the lake, at one of the
principal creeks I crossed the Mokhotsi river, which
flows northwards, and carries off the superfluous
water of the shallow salt-pan.
Our way next led through a dense mapani-forest,
after which we had to cross a dried-up stream sixty
feet wide, and from ten to sixteen feet deep, having
a decided fall towards the east, and on account of
the fine trees that adorned its banks called by the
Masarwas the Shaneng, or beautiful river. Parallel
to this was a spruit, which the Dutch hunters
called Mapanifontein ; it is fed by a number of
springs, and as it receives a portion of the water of
the Shaneng whenever that stream is overfull, its
deeper parts are hardly ever dry at any period of
the year. I cannot resist the opinion that the
Shaneng is an outlet either of the Zooga river or of
the Soa salt-lake, and that it empties itself into the
Matliutse or one of its affluents. In the course of
the afternoon I killed a great bird that was chasing
lizards, known amongst the colonists as the jackal-
bird.
Towards the evening of the 23rd Anderson over¬
took us again, and travelling on together we traversed
a wood called the Khori, and passing a . deserted
Masarwa village near the ford, we arrived in good
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 57
time next morning in sight of the Soa. This was
the third of the Great Salt Lakes. Near it we met
some Dutch hunters, on a chase for elephants and
ostriches.
Thanks to the dry weather, we were able to cross
several spruits that ran in and out the various creeks,
a proceeding that after much rain would have been
quite impracticable. Having chosen a good position
for our camping out, we resolved to stay there until
the 27th, as we ascertained that there was excellent
drinking-water to be found by digging holes in the
bed of the Momotsetlani, a river that flowed through
the adjacent wood. According to my habit when
halting for any longer time than usual, I made several
excursions, in the course of which I shot five ducks,
two guinea-fowl, that were in unusually large num¬
bers, and a brown stork, the first example of the
kind I had seen.
The Soa is the largest saltpan in the Great Lake
basin, extending westward beyond Lake N’gami, and
connected with the Limpopo system by the Shaneng ;
like the Karri-Karri and Tsitane, it is quite shallow,
being only four feet deep ; it is grey in colour, and is
rarely completely full, indeed a great part of it is
quite dry. In order to ascertain the exact relations
between the basin and Lake N’gami and the Zooga,
it would be necessary to take a series of observa¬
tions for an entire year ; during the rainy season,
however, travelling is extremely difficult and the
climate is very unhealthy, so that it is easy to account
for the task not having been accomplished hitherto.
The general uniformity of level of the great central
South African basin causes the Zooga at some times
to flow east and at others to flow west. When the
58 Seven Years in South Africa.
shallow bed of Lake N’gami is filled by its northern
and western feeders it sheds its overflow eastwards
down the Zooga to the saltpans, whence it is
carried off by the Shaneng, their natural outlet ; on
the other hand, if the N’gami should be low, it
receives itself the overflow of the Zooga, which in
its deep bed, overgrown as it is with weeds, is able
for a long period to retain the water received from
its many affluents ; nor is it impossible that it is
likewise occasionally fed by waters running over
from the western side of the saltpans.
It took our team more than three hours after our
next start to cross the numerous creeks and smaller
pans on the shore of the lake : we came to the end
of them, however, in the course of the forenoon,
and entered upon a plain stretching northwards as
far as the eye could reach, and bounded on the east
by a mapani-wood. Herds of game were frequent,
but not large. We noticed a good many clumps
of reeds, and were not disappointed in the expecta¬
tion of finding fresh-water in proximity to them,
inducing us to rest awhile in the place.
I was very busy arranging some of the curiosities
that I had collected on my recent rambles, when I was
startled by a loud cry of distress. On looking out
of the waggon I saw Meriko, my Bamangwato
servant, running with all his might through the
long grass, and shrieking, in the Sechuana dialect,
“They are killing me ! they are killing me ! ” He
cleared the bushes like an antelope ; in his hurry he
had lost both his grass hat and his caama mantle,
and had scarcely breath to reach the waggon.
Pointing to a number of natives at no great distance
from him, with their spears brandished in the air, he
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 59
gasped out, “ Zulus ! Matabele ! they want to kill
me ! ”
For my part I could not comprehend how it hap¬
pened that these Matabele should be on Khame’s
territory. I began to wonder whether it was pos¬
sible that war had broken out between the tribes,
and I confess that I was not without apprehension
that we were going to be attacked. The savages
advanced yelling and screeching, and looked like
wolves in human form. Unwilling to risk the
mischief that might ensue if I fired upon them, I
resolved to remain steadily where I was until I had
ascertained their real intentions. Meriko’s opinion
did not in the least coincide with mine ; he could
not bring himself to await their approach, but
bounding over the pole of the waggon, he scampered
off into the bush beyond, but without further outcry,
evidently anxious to conceal himself in the long
grass. I called out to him that he had more to
fear from the lions in the grass than from the
Zulus, and that he had better stay in the waggon ;
so terrified, however, was he at the prospect of falling
into the hands of the Matabele, that he turned a
deaf ear to my words, and rushed out of sight.
The savage band flocked round the waggon, still
flourishing their kiris. Excepting the two ring¬
leaders they proved to be not true Zulus, but
belonging to various plundered tribes, having been
stolen away as boys by Moselikatze, and brought up
as Zulu warriors. They had small leather aprons
with fringes, or occasionally a gourd-shell or piece
of basket-work on their bodies, otherwise they were
quite naked ; only some of them wore balloon-shaped
head-dresses made of ostrich feathers or other
6o
Seven Years in South Africa.
plumage. Their expression was exceedingly wild.
The fierce rolling eye was a witness that they
belonged to a warlike race, expecting that their
commands should be obeyed; and probably there
was not one amongst them who would have hesitated
to perpetrate a murder if he considered that any¬
thing was to be gained by it.
One of the leaders swung himself on to the pole
of the waggon, and speaking in broken Dutch gave
me to understand that they were “ Lo Bengulas,”
and that it was their wont to slaughter every captive
they made, except he were bought off by a ransom ;
they were now ready to put their rule into force
upon my servants ; and as for my dog they should
shoot him then and there, unless I paid them down
at once a handsome sum to save him.
I put as bold a face as I could upon the matter.
I told them that I was not going to be frightened
into making them any payment whatever, but that
if they would promise to go quietly away from the
waggon, I would make them a present all round.
I hoped by this device to anticipate their notorious
thievish propensities; but although Pit and Theu-
nissen were on the watch, they could not prevent
one of the fellows stealing a knife that was lying
close to my side, but I caught sight of him just in
time, and insisted upon his giving it up again.
After a brief consultation, the two captains drew
their followers apart, and made them acquainted
with my determination ; they all grinned cunningly,
and hailed the proposal with shouts of satisfaction.
Having had the whole body collected right in front
of the waggon, where I could keep my eye upon
them, I called the leaders forward and handed to
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 6 1
each of them a bowl of gunpowder and about two
pounds of lead. One of them first pointed to my
pocket-handkerchief, and then ran his finger round
his own loins. “ Lapiana ! ” he said, indicating the
purpose to which it could be applied. Accordingly
I brought out a few yards of calico, and tore it into
strips, which were immediately used for girdles,
except that a few of the men twisted the stuff round
their heads. They requested me to give the captains
an extra piece or two ; to this I willingly consented,
and they all expressed themselves perfectly satisfied.
Upon this I turned my back upon the clamorous
troop, and retreated calmly to my own people.
Soon afterwards they all began slowly to depart,
waving their presents over their heads. We were
greatly relieved. The hour that had passed since
Meriko had come and announced their approach had
unquestionably been an anxious time. A few of
them had bartered salt with Theunissen for to¬
bacco.
When Meriko could be induced to quit his hiding-
place, he informed us that we had now almost
reached the bank of the principal feeder of the Soa,
called the Nata, where salt may be most readily
procured, and whither the Matabele are sent by
their rulers every year to collect it. This was the
ostensible employment of the gang that had just
taken their departure. The Bamangwato king was
quite aware of the marauding habits of these parties,
but did nothing to control them, although they
perpetually disarm any Bamangwatos they may
meet, and delight in breaking the legs of the
Masarwas.1
1 It is well to bring this before the notice of any traveller in
62
Seven Years in South A frica.
To the great satisfaction of poor Meriko we decided
to push on immediately to the Nata river. As we
proceeded, the game became more and more plentiful.
The herds of springbocks were much larger than I
should have expected to see so far north, and we
noticed a surprising number of gnus, hartebeests,
HUNTING- THE ZULU HARTEBEEST.
zebras, and ostriches. Although Meriko had in
some measure recovered his nervousness, and walked
on contentedly with Niger at his side, he kept from
the district who may have native servants with him. I would
advise every one to make definite preliminary inquiries as to
whether the shores of the Nata may be traversed without
danger.
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 63
time to time jumping up from the ground to the
waggon, to look all round and satisfy himself that
no Matabele gang was in sight. While mounted up
for this purpose he cried out that he could see a
herd of “ sesephi ” (Zulu hartebeests). He described
them as about 600 yards to our right. I could
not see them myself, but both Pit and Theunissen
affirmed that it was a good-sized herd. We all
agreed that it would be best to allow the waggon to
advance some 300 yards further, and I could then
alight, and with my gun all ready for a shot, make
my way to a hardekool-tree about 200 yards from
the road, and from thence take my aim. Nothing
could be simpler than the plan, and I was soon
making my way through the long grass by myself
on foot.
I had not reached the hardekool-tree before I
heard a low whistle from Theunissen which I quite
understood was to inform me that the hartebeests
had been disturbed by the waggon, and were com¬
mencing a flight. Hurrying on, I made my way to
the tree, when the two foremost of the herd came in
sight at full speed. I aimed at the first, and fired.
The whole of our people raised a shout, and leaving
the oxen to take their chance started off in pursuit,
followed by the dogs. My own impression was that
I had seen the entire herd scamper off. I returned
to the waggon to satisfy myself that the bullocks were
grazing quietly, and then hastened after my friends.
My surprise was considerable when I discovered that
my shot had been successful, and that a magnificent
sesephi was lying dead upon the ground.
All the bullocks were so tired that I had quite
made up my mind to give them a good rest as soon
64 Seven Years in South Africa.
as we reached the Nataspruit, but there was the
preliminary difficulty to be overcome of finding a
proper drinking-place, nearly all the pools in the
bed being salt. We had, however, been assured two
days before by a Masarwa that there were several
fresh-water ponds in the district, and accordingly
Theunissen and I set out on an expedition of dis¬
covery. The river-bed varied in breadth from 100
to 150 feet ; it was about twenty feet deep, and
manifestly after rain was quite full up to the grass
upon its edge. We wandered about for some time
searching in vain, but at length Theunissen an¬
nounced that he had come upon a pool of fresh water,
a discovery that we considered especially fortunate,
as all the pools beyond appeared again to be salt.
The game-tracks were absolutely countless. For
the most part they seemed to belong to the same
species that we had noticed on the banks of the
Soa, but fresh lion'-tracks were quite conspicuous
among them. Pit suggested what looked like a
suitable place for encamping ; Theunissen and myself
agreed, but Meriko protested that it was too near
the quarters of the Matabele. His objection, however,
was not allowed to prevail, and his nervousness was
much moderated when he found he was to be
entrusted with a breech-loader to keep guard over
the bullocks. An extra strong fence was made,
considerably higher than usual, and four great fires
were lighted, which would keep burning till nearly
two o’clock in the morning.
Poor Niger was in a state of great excitement all
night. Lions were prowling around us, and the
hymnas and jackals kept up such a noise that sound
sleep was out of the question, and in my dreams I
From Shos hong to the Great Salt Lakes. 65
saw nothing but stuffed lion-skins dancing before
mj eyes. Just before morning the concert seemed
to rise to its full pitch; two jackals yelped hideously
in two different keys, the hyaenas howled angrily
with all their might, while the lion with its deep
and sonorous growl might be taken as choraegus to
the whole performance.
In the rambles that Pit and I took, the following
morning, the lion-traces were so many and so recent
that we felt it prudent to keep a very sharp look-out.
We crossed the river-bed several times, and observed
that the tracks were particularly numerous in the
high grounds that commanded a view of the place
where the various antelopes, attracted by the salt,
would be likely to descend. On our way we passed
a tree, the bark of which was torn in a way which
showed that it had been used by lions for sharpening
their claws ; the boughs of the tree were wide-
spreading, branching out like a candelabrum, and
forming what struck me as a convenient perch.
Here I resolved to keep a long watch, of some ten
or twelve hours. I was determined if I could to see
the lions for myself. Accordingly, just before sun¬
down, I took Niger, and accompanied by Pit I
returned to the tree, and having made myself
comfortable in my concealment, I sent Pit back to
the waggon in time for him to arrive while it was
still tolerably light.
The sensation of being alone in such a spot was
sufficiently strange. I soon began to look about
me, and noticed that the trees around were con¬
siderably higher than that in which I was perched ;
the ground was in some places elevated, but thinly
grassed, so that the light sand could be dis-
VOL. II. F
66 Seven Years in South Africa .
tinguished which covers the flaky strata of the salt
lakes. Just below me was a bare circular patch,
which bore no footprints at all except our own and
those of the lions that had passed by ; on my left
was a rain-channel some six feet deep and twenty
feet wide, much overgrown, and opening into the
Nataspruit about twenty yards away. The nights
IN THE THEE.
were now extremely cold, and appeared especially
so in contrast to the high temperature of the day,
and I took the precaution of tying myself to one of
the strongest boughs, in case I should fall asleep ;
to tumble off might bring me into closer contact
with the monarchs of the forest than might be
agreeable; but having made myself secure, I soon
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 67
settled down in the middle of the triple-forked recess
that I had chosen for my ambush.
The sun, meanwhile, had all but set ; only a few
golden streaks on the highest boughs remained,
and these gradually faded away. My insight that
night into scenes of animal life proved even far more
diversified than I could venture to anticipate.
Amongst the first of the sounds to arrest my
attention was the sonorous “ quag-ga, quag-ga” of
the male zebras ; they were on the grass-plains,
keeping watch over their herds ; with this was soon
mingled the melancholy howl of the harnessed jackal,
awakening the frightful yell of its brother, the grey
jackal; the beasts, I could not doubt, were all
prowling round the enclosure of our camp. For
some hours the various noises seemed to be jum¬
bled together, but towards midnight they became
more and more distinct, so that I could identify
them separately, and fancied that I could count the
beasts that made them. After a while a peculiar
scraping commenced, caused by rhyzasnas hunting in
the sand for worms and larvae ; it went on all night
except during the brief intervals when the busy little
creatures were temporarily disturbed by some move¬
ment near them.
The gazelles and antelopes came down quite early
to lick at the salt mud in the Nata-bed ; they
evidently were accustomed to get back to their
haunts in the open lands before the beasts of prey
quitted their lairs in the wood. Some of the little
steinbocks (those most graceful of South African
gazelles) came down so cautiously along the track
that it was only through accidentally looking down
that I was aware of their being near me. I think
68 Seven Years in South A frica.
there were three or four of them. They were
followed by some other gazelle, of which the move¬
ments were so light and rapid that I failed to catch
a glimpse of it. After a considerable time a single
antelope passed beneath me, of another species
larger than the others, making a succession of short
leaps, then pausing and bounding on again, but I
could not recognize what kind it really was.
The slow, steady tramp of a large herd on the
other side of the bank proceeding towards the salt
pools, and in the direction of the one freshwater
pool, could not be mistaken ; moreover, the crashing
of their horns against the wood in the thickets left
no doubt of the approach of a number of koodoos.
While I was listening to their movements I heard
another tread on the game-path beside the river ;
straining my eyes in that direction I saw a dark
form stealthily making its way towards the descent :
it was about the size of a young calf, and I could
have little doubt that it was a brown hysena ; it
sniffed the air at every step, and after stopping a
few seconds just beyond the channel started off at
a brisk trot.
As the hours of the night waned away I was
beginning to think that I should hear or see nothing
of the monarch of the forest. I had not, however,
to wait much longer before the unmistakable roar,
apparently about half a mile away, caught my ear.
I could only hope that the beast was on its way once
more to sharpen its claws upon the accustomed tree.
I had now no heed to give .to any other sound ;
neither the barking of our own dogs beside the
waggon, nor the yelling of the jackals around our
encampment could distract my attention, and I
From Shoshong to the Great Salt Lakes. 69
listened eagerly for at least half an hour before the
roaring was repeated ; it was now very much nearer ;
I listened on, and it must have been nearly twenty
minutes more when I distinguished its footsteps
almost within gunshot. The lion was not in
the ordinary track, as I had expected, but right in
the long grass in the rain-channel. Its strides were
generally rapid, but it paused frequently. I could
only hear its movements ; it was too dark for me to
see. I was sure that it could not be more than
about fifteen yards from me, and could hardly restrain
myself from firing. I feared, however, that a random
shot would only be fired in vain, and with no other
effect than that of driving the lion’ away. Accord¬
ingly I waited on. It came still nearer and crouched
down somewhere for about another quarter of an hour
without stirring an inch. At last I became con¬
vinced that it had caught sight of me ; I saw the
bushes shake, and the great brute looked out as if
uncertain whether to make a spring towards me, or
to effect its escape. It was a terrible mistake on
my part not to fire then and there, but my moment
of hesitation was fatal to my design ; the lion made
a sudden bound, and in an instant had disappeared
for good. It was no use to me that Niger’s frantic
barking made me aware what direction it had taken.
My chance was gone. I was much mortified ; but
there was no help for it. With the cold night air
and my cramped position I was stiff all over, and
much relieved when daylight dawned, and Pit
appeared with Niger to accompany me back to the
warmth and shelter of the waggon.
70
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER IT.
FROM THE NATASPRUIT TO TAMASETZE.
Saltbeds in the Nataspruit — Poisoning jackals— A good shot —
An alarm — The sandy-pool plateau — Ostriches — Travelling
by torchlight — Meeting with elephant-hunters — The Made-
nassanas — Madenassana manners and customs — The Yoruah
pool and the Tamafopa springs — Animal-life in the forest
by night — Pit’s slumbers — An unsuccessful lion-hunt —
Watch for elephants — Tamasetze.
After my night on the
tree, I was not so tired
as to prevent my starting
next morning on an excur¬
sion to examine the forma¬
tion of the banks of the
Hata. We soon noticed two fine storks ( Mycteria
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 7 1
Senegalensis ) wheeling in circles over the stream, on
the look-out for some of the fishes that hid them¬
selves under the stones in the shallow salt-pools. I
stooped down so as not to startle them, and had
the good luck to secure both the birds for my
collection.
In the afternoon I took a much longer walk,
crossing the plain to the south, curious both to see
the quarters of the Matabele people and to inspect
the place where they obtained their salt. About
three-quarters of a mile from the waggons, we
startled a herd ot‘ zebras, of the dark species ; so
impetuous was their flight that I quite expected to
see them all dash headlong over the steep bank,
but they suddenly stayed their course and turned
off short into a narrow rain-channel ; they raised a
great cloud of dust as they scampered down into
the river-bed, whence they clambered up again on
the other side where the bank was less steep. On
account of the great size of their head and neck
they look much larger at a distance than they really
are ; the peculiar noise they make, “ ouag-ga, ouag-
ga,” the last syllable very much prolonged, has
caused both the Masarwas and the Makalaharis to
call them quaggas.
When we got near the quarters of the Matabele
gang, I thought it needful to take care that we
should be unobserved. In the open plain of course
there was nothing to cover our approach, and I
turned into the bed of a side-stream that I reckoned
would take us in the right direction. I supposed
this to be a branch of the Nata leading to the Soa,
along which I proposed to go for a mile or so,
and then turn off, but we had not proceeded very
72 Seven Years in South Africa.
far before we found the camp of which we had
come in search right before us. It was now
deserted.
Standing in the middle of the river-bed, I could
see a considerable number of pools all full of a salt
fluid, the colour of which was a deep red ; the soil
around was covered with a salt deposit, and frag¬
ments of salt beautifully crystallized and resting
on a stratum of clay an inch or more thick, were
scattered about. Close to these were lying the
poles and stakes with which the salt had been
broken out of the pools. The departure of the
Matabele troop allowed us to examine everything
without fear of molestation.
In winter, when the water is low, the pools vary
from twelve to eighteen inches in depth; the breadth
and length range very widely from thirty to 900
feet. The deposit is sometimes as much as three
inches in thickness, extending from bank to bank
about six or eight inches under the surface of the
water like a stout layer of ice, which when broken
discloses the real bottom of the pool nearly another
foot below. To walk into the pools is like tread¬
ing upon needle-crystals, and the feet are soon per¬
ceptibly covered with a deposit. Where they are
very salt, they are never resorted to either by birds
or quadrupeds. Anything thrown into them quickly
becomes incrusted, but the beautiful red crystals
unfortunately evaporate on being exposed to the
air, and it was to little purpose that I carried a
number of specimens away with me.
I sent Pit again next day to get a supply of salt
for our use. This had first to be boiled to free it
from the particles of lime, and afterwards to be
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 73
crumbled up. We wanted it to preserve the flesh
of the game we killed.
The bed in which these pans are situated is really
an arm of the Nata, having branched off from it to
rejoin it again. As I followed it on my way back
to the waggon, I came across the last herds of
springbocks that we were to see so far to the
north ; I likewise saw several herds of striped gnus,
that here took the place of black gnus, none of
which had appeared this side of Shoshong.
A capital shot was made by Theunissen on the
following day ; he brought down a steinbock at the
distance of nearly 300 yards. Being anxious to
procure some jackals’ skins, I laid out. several bits
of meat covered with strychnine over night, and in
the morning, I found no less than four of the beasts
lying poisoned beside them ; the flesh of one of
these was afterwards devoured by some of its own
kind, and they too all died in consequence, and were
discovered in the bush close by. Palm-bushes and
baobabs, that flourish in salt soil just as well as in
mould, grow very freely about the lower part of the
Nata.
So large had my collection now become, that I
made up my mind to send a good portion of it to
Mr. Mackenzie at Shoshong by the first ivory-
traders whom I should meet and could trust to take
charge of it. We did not, however, just at this
time fall in with any parties returning to the south.
Although we knew that our encampment was
liable to attacks from lions, we found it in many
other respects so agreeable that we quitted it with
regret, and on the 3rd of July started up the left
bank of the Nata, along a deep sandy road on the
74 Seven Years in South Africa.
edge of the eastern plain. On our way we saw a
herd of zebras grazing about 500 yards off. Theu-
nissen was again anxious to try his skill as a marks¬
man, and creeping on some fifty yards or more,
fired from the long grass ; he had taken a good aim
and one of the zebras fell, but it sprang up and ran
for a dozen yards further, when it fell for the second
time. We hurried up, and Pit incautiously seized
the animal by the head, and narrowly escaped
being severely wounded, for the creature with its
last gasp made a desperate plunge and tried to bite.
As soon as it was dead, we set to work to skin it,
carrying away with us all the flesh, except the neck
and breast, to make into beltong. About two miles
further on, we came to a good halting-place in the
wood, where we could finish the process of preparing
the skin. Meriko, with his gun, kept watch over
our bullock-team, and whilst Pit helped Theunissen
to cut up the meat ready for hanging up, I worked
away at the skin, and afterwards at the skull.
The same afternoon I took a short stroll round
about, and found that although the bushes were
thick, the trees generally were scanty ; there were,
however, some very fine baobabs here and there.
Several beautifully wooded islands in the spruit had
steep high banks, and there was a pool some hun¬
dred yards long that apparently abounded in tor¬
toises and fish. Our time, however, did not allow
us to make any complete examination of the spot ;
it was desirable for us to hurry on with all speed,
and to get across the Zambesi, if we could, before
the middle of the month, so that we might stay
until December in the more healthy highlands on
the watershed.
From the N ataspruit to Tamasetze. 75
We looked about for lion-tracks, but could see
none ; and being unaware that lions are accustomed
very often to wander away from their usual haunts
for a day or more, we thought it would be quite
sufficient to put up a low fence; but as the night
set in cold and dark with a piercing S.S.W. wind
that made us all press closely round the fire, we
could only regret our mistake and own that we
ought to have made it higher. By eight o’clock
the darkness was complete, and the wind, still howl¬
ing, threatened a singularly uncomfortable night ;
but we consoled ourselves by recollecting that the
zebra-skin would be sufficiently dry in the early
morning, when we might move off.
Suddenly, so suddenly that we one and all started
to our feet, the oxen began to bellow piteously, and
to scamper about the enclosure, breaking down the
slight fence that bounded it. Niger commenced
barking furiously ; the other dog whined in mise¬
rable fear underneath the waggon, and the bullocks
that did not try to make off, crouched together in a
corner and lowed feebly. We could not do other¬
wise than conclude that we were attacked by lions.
It happened that Theunissen had only just left
us to shorten the tether of the bullocks, and, jump¬
ing on to the box of the waggon, I tried to see
where he was. I seized my breech-loader ; Pit and
Meriko in an instant each held up a firebrand, which
threw a gleam of light some distance around. But
I could not discover Theunissen. I called louder
and b louder, and hardly know whether I was more
relieved or terrified, when, from amongst the strug¬
gling cattle, I heard his voice crying, “ Help, help !”
We hurried out, and quickly ascertained the cause
together. It was undoubtedly due to Niger’s vigil¬
ance that the lion had retreated.
Theunissen was fortunately unhurt; and, while
we were releasing him from his critical position, the
two bullocks that had escaped came back of their own
accord. After seeing the whole of the oxen securely
fastened to the waggon, I had five large fires lighted,
76 Seven Years in South Africa.
of his alarm. While he was tightening the bullocks’
tethers, the roar of a lion, apparently close at hand,
had put the animals into such a state of com¬
motion, that two of them had got loose from the
enclosure ; and two others had so entangled Theu¬
nissen in the ropes, that he and they had all fallen
From ihe Nataspruit to Tamcisetze. 77
and, late as it was, felled several mapani-trees, with
which to raise the height of the fence.
In spite of the heavy rain, we proceeded as soon
as we could upon our journey. The downpour,
however, had the effect of making the travelling less
toilsome, by binding the sand together ; though it
was not without much difficulty that the bullocks
pulled through the deep sand-drifts at the ford
where we crossed the spruit. On the farther side we
found a deserted encampment, containing the rem¬
nants of a broken-down Boer waggon. We saw
comparatively little game— only two gnus, a few
zebras, and an occasional guinea-fowl or two, 01
which I brought down one.
During the after-part of the day we were quite
out of the woods, and upon a plain where the
mapanis stood only singly or in detached clumps with
the mimosas. Though reluctant to do so, we were
obliged to unfasten the bullocks and allow them to
graze awhile in the evening; but we took every
precaution to make them safe, so that there should
be no repetition of the lion panic. They had
hardly been freed from the yokes, when they were
startled by an animal dashing wildly at no great
distance across the plain. It was a hyaena, which
Pit and Theunissen, with my good Mger’s aid,
managed to knock over ; but it was far from being
a single specimen of its kind, as all night long our
sleep was interrupted by the incessant music of a
regular hyaena-chorus.
Throughout the next morning the journey was
very similar to that of the previous day; but in the
afternoon we passed along an extensive glade, sur¬
rounded with underwood and full of game. A heavy
yS Seven Years in South Africa.
shower provided us with the drinking-water which
the soil failed to supply. We saw some ostriches,
duykerbocks, and striped gnus on the plain, and, in
the distance, some lions on the look-out for zebras.
Coming to a wood that seemed a suitable resting-
place, I determined to spend the night there.
Before the following evening we arrived at a great
forest, stretching nearly 100 miles to the north, and
forming a part of the sandy-pool plateau. With
the exception of a few glades containing water, the
soil is entirely of sand, and is the western portion of
the district to which Mohr has given the name of
“ the land of a thousand pools.” I only apply the
term to the region without any appreciable slope,
where the rain can have no downfall to the rivers.
The pools are almost all fed solely by the rain, and
are generally small and overgrown with grass ; they
retain their supply of water very differently, some¬
times for eight months in the year, sometimes only
for two. A comparatively small number are fed
by springs, and such of them as are perennial have
special names given to them by the Madenassanas
who live in the underwood ; whilst others, full only a
part of the year, have been named on various occa¬
sions by Dutch or English hunters and ivory -
traders. The boundaries of this pool plateau are
the Nata and Soa salt-lake on the south, the Zambesi
on the north, the Mababi veldt on the west, and the
Nata and Uguay rivers on the east. It is the dis¬
trict of Central South Africa where the larger
mammalia, such as elephants, rhinoceroses, and
giraffes begin to be more abundant ; thence extend¬
ing eastwards and westwards, as well as northwards
beyond the Zambesi. In the winter, owing to the
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 79
deficiency of water, it is always difficult to cross it,
and even in tlie beginning of summer the transit is
always a matter of some anxiety, as a poisonous
plant which sprouts up amongst the grass from
October to December is very injurious to cattle ;
the evil is so great as very often to induce the
traders on their way to do business with the tribes
on the Zambesi, to choose the eastern route through
the Matabele and Makalaka district ; but this pro¬
ceeding has the disadvantage of exposing them
to the dishonesty and untrustworthiness of the
natives.
While we were crossing the last glade before
entering the forest, Meriko, who was walking on in
front with the bullocks, pointed suddenly to the left,
and called out something that I did not understand ;
he was evidently rather excited, and both I and
Theunissen, who was sitting with me on the box,
were curious to know what had disturbed him. He
soon managed to make us comprehend that he had
caught sight of two ostriches about 2-50 yards from
the road, and, on looking again, I saw one of them
standing near a high bush. Although I was quite
aware that, as matter of right, they really belonged
to the king of the Bamangwatos, my sportsman’s
instinct was far too keen to permit me to go my
way without having a chase ; accordingly, a very few
minutes elapsed before I was stalking them in the
grass. Almost directly I discovered the second
ostrich, which I had not seen before, squatting on
the ground and peeping at me ; it did not wait long
before it took to running off, but an intervening bush
prevented my getting a proper aim at it. I followed
on to the more open plain, and just as the two birds
80 Seven Years in South Africa.
together were entering the underwood about 400
yards in front of me, I fired ; but my bullet struck
a tree, quite close to them, without touching them.
Meriko had the laugh of me ; he could not refrain
from expressing his satisfaction that the property
of his liege lord had been uninjured, and pledged
himself to report the circumstance to the king on
his return to Shoshong.
The bullocks had not a drop of water all day long.
It was consequently of the most urgent importance
that we should get on to the next spring, and we
agreed that there was no alternative but to travel
on all night, if need be, in defiance of the difficulties
we might encounter. Niger, unbidden, took the
lead, followed by Pit carrying a breech-loader;
Meriko led the foremost oxen by the bridle, which he
held in his left hand, whilst he held up a flaming
torch in the other ; Theunissen took the reins, and
I sat on the box with one loaded gun in my hand,
and another behind me ready to be used in any
emergency. By eleven o’clock, however, we reached
some springs ; they proved to be the most southerly
of those known to the neighbouring Madenassanas
as the Klamaklenyana springs, and here we came
across several elephant-hunters whom I had seen
before, some of them a few weeks previously, and
others at the Soa lake. They were all full of com¬
plaints at the bad luck they had experienced.
As implied by their name “ four, one behind
another,” the Klamaklenyana springs consist of four
separate marshy pieces of water, between which, on
either hand, are numerous rain-pools, full at various
periods of the year. Close to the spring by which
we were halting there was a waggon-track, made by
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze.
the Dutch hunters, which branched off towards the
Mababi-veldt.
At this place, too, I fell in with one of Anderson’s
servants, named Saul; he was travelling with a
Makalahari who had four children, whom he had
met at the Nataspruit and invited to join him ;
he told me he was sure that his master would not
disapprove of what he had done, as the man would
be very serviceable to him in helping to hunt
ostriches.
“ Hunt ostriches ! ” I exclaimed ; “ how can such
a bad shot as you hunt ostriches ? ”
“ Ah, sir,” he answered, “ I manage to get at
them well enough.”
“ How so ?” I inquired.
“ Well, I always take a man with me, and we
look about till we discover a nest, and then we dig
a hole pretty close to it in which I hide myself.
The birds come to sit, and it doesn’t want a very
good shot to knock over an ostrich when it is just
at hand. Well, having made sure of one bird, we
stick up its skin on a pole near the nest, and except
we are seen, and so scare the birds away, a second
ostrich is soon decoyed, and I get another chance.
In this way I succeed very well ; besides, I get lots
of eggs.”
Whilst at the springs I learnt the meaning of
some of the Masarwa and Bamangwato appellations.
I might give numerous examples, but one or two
will suffice. I found, for instance, that Khori, the
district on the side arm of the Shaneng, means
“ a bustard,” and that Mokhotsi means “ a strong
current.”
On leaving our encampment on the 10th we had
VOL. it. G
Seven Years in South Africa.
to travel for two hours through the sandy underwood
to the next of the Klamaklenyana springs. Here I
met an elephant-hunter named Mayer and a Dutch¬
man, Mynheer Herbst, and only a little further on
at another watering-place I fell in with a second
Dutchman called Jakobs, and Mr. Kurtin, an ivory-
trader. Mr. Kurtin told me that on previous expedi¬
tions into this neighbourhood he had lost no fewer
than sixty-six oxen through the poisonous plant that
I have mentioned. Jakobs entertained us with the
accounts of his hunting-expeditions, and particularly
with some adventures of the famous Pit Jacobs.
Mayer and Herbst were in partnership, and had
recently had the satisfaction of shooting a fine
female elephant ; they had just engaged the services
of some Makalakas, who a few days previously had
offered themselves to me, but so bad was my opinion
of all that branch of the Bantus, and so evil was
the appearance of the men themselves, that not only
would I have nothing to do with them, but recom¬
mended their new employers to get rid of them at
once. To their cost, however, they acted without
regard to my advice. When I met Mayer some
seven months later, he told me that they had robbed
him freely and had then run away.
It was about this time that I made my first
acquaintance with the Madenassanas, the serfs of the
Bamangwatos. They are a fine race, tall and
strongly built, especially the men, but with a re¬
pulsive cast of countenance, so that it was somewhat
surprising to find from time to time some nice-
looking faces among the women. Their skin is
almost black, and they have stiff woolly hair which
hangs down for more than an inch over their fore-
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 83
head and temples, whilst it is quite short all over
the skull.
Whenever a Bamangwato makes his expedition to
the pool plateau, his first proceeding is to look up
some Madenassanas whom he may compel to go
hunting with him and assist him in procuring ivory,
whether for himself or for the king; but their
residences are generally in such secluded and remote
places, that it is often very difficult to find them,
unless conducted by some of the Madenassanas them¬
selves. The eldest inhabitant in each little settle¬
ment is regarded as a sort of inferior chief, so that
it is best for any white man, in want of Madenassana
help, to make direct application to him. If hired
only for a short period, they are sufficiently paid by
three or four pounds of beads, or by a few articles of
woollen clothing ; but if the engagement should
extend to anything like six months the remuneration
generally expected would be a musket.
Unlike many of the Bantu races, the Made¬
nassanas respect the law of marriage, which is
performed with very simple rites ; conjugal fidelity
is held in the highest esteem, but jealousy, I was told,
which rarely shows itself very prominently amongst
other tribes, often impels them to serious crimes.
They were uniformly spoken of as a very contented
people, and certainly they make far better servants
than either the Masarwas or Makalaharis. Dwelling
as they do, in the north-west corner of the kingdom,
far away from Shoshong, their relations with the
Bamangwatos are much less servile than those of the
Masarwas, who are found all over the country. They
have guns of their own, and are visited only once a
year by officials sent by the king to collect their
G 2
84 Seven Years in South Africa.
tribute, and to appoint them their share of hunting-
work.
The Makalakas (of whom I had so low an opinion)
were moving about in large numbers between the
Nata and Zambesi in 1875 and 1876; they were
chiefly fugitives from Shoshong, having been expelled
thence by the inhabitants, who were infuriated by
their treachery.
When we reached the third spring we found that
Jakobs and Kurtin had already settled there before
us. Another trader, whom I may distinguish as X.,
arrived after us on the same day ; he had visited
Sepopo, the king of the Marutseland, whither I was
directing my course, and he gave me an introduction
to a friend of his, whom I should be sure to meet
further north on the Panda ma Tenka. I asked him
to convey two of my cases of curiosities to Shoshong,
but although he promised to deliver them, I am
sorry to record that I never heard any more about
them. In exchange for 800 lbs. of ivory, Mr. Kurtin
sold him two cream-coloured horses, one of which I
had myself cured of an illness in Shoshong; the
ivory that X. was conveying in two waggons did not
weigh less than 7000 lbs., of which 5000 lbs. had
been obtained from Sepopo, the rest having been
procured by his own people during their excursions
on the southern shore of the Zambesi, between the
Victoria Palls and the mouth of the Chobe. He
warned me that there was great risk of getting fever
on the Zambesi, and that in the district ahead of us
there was great scarcity of water. In return for
some medicines with which I supplied him, he very
courteously sent me a good portion of a cow that he
had just killed.
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze . 85
After starting in the afternoon west by north
towards the most northerly of the Klamaklenyana
springs, we had to pass through a part of the forest,
where we saw some fine camel-thorn acacias and
mimosas ; also some trees like maples, some mochono-
nos, and bushes of fan-palms. The scenery remained
very much of the same character all through the next
morning’s march, until we reached the spring in time
for our midday halt. Between the first and the
last of the four springs, I counted twenty-five de¬
pressions in the ground that are all full of water'
after heavy rain.
As we came along, I made several little detours
into the woods, and saw buffaloes, striped gnus,
Zulu-hartebeests and zebras, and noticed that lion-
tracks were by no means wanting. At a point near
the spring, where a trader’s road brings them out from
the western Matabele, I met three hunters, named
Barber, Frank, and Wilkinson. Barber’s skill as a
hunter was notorious ; he had a mother who was not
only a keen observer of animal life, but was so gifted
with artistic power of delineating what she saw, that
she had published several little works on the subject.
Barber likewise showed me his own sketch-book, in
which he had made some very clever illustrations of
his hunting-adventures.
We went a few miles further before we stopped
for the night. Some of the trees that we passed
next morning were of remarkably well-deve¬
loped growth, several of the trunks being sixty
feet in height; they belonged to a species called
wild syringa by the Dutch, and “motsha” by
the Bamangwatos ; there is another sort quite
as common, which they call “ monati.” Near the
86 Seven Years in South Africa.
groves I observed a great many orchids with red
blossoms.
About noon we came to a slight hollow, containing
a pond known as Yoruah, where we again fell in with
our hunting acquaintances. X. had advised them to
make it their headquarters for a time, because he
had himself been extremely fortunate in killing
elephants there during his own stay. There were
traces from which it was clear that a herd had
passed along quite recently, and it was hoped that
they might soon return again. Not wishing that
my dogs should cause the hunting-party any annoy¬
ance, I pushed on at once without stopping, and
reached the Tamafopa, or Skeleton-springs, in good
time next day.
Here I made up my mind to stay for a few days,
and taking the waggon about half a mile into the
forest, fixed upon a station close to some rain-pools
that were generally more or less full of water through¬
out the year; one of my principal objects for this
rest was that I might try and get a skin of the
sword-antelope, the finest of all the South African
species.
Taking a stroll westwards I saw some steinbocks,
and observing countless tracks of animals of all
sorts, I could not doubt but that the whole district
was teeming with life, and accordingly I came to the
conclusion that I would spend another night of
observation in the open air; even if I failed to
accomplish my end with regard to the skin of which
I was in quest, I might at least reckon upon being
entertained. Instead of going alone as I did before,
I resolved this time to take Pit with me, and in
reply to my question whether he thought he would
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 87
be able to keep awake, he told me he had not the
least doubt on that point.
About an hour or two before sunset I saw that a
thoroughly good enclosure was made round the
waggon, and Theunissen undertook to keep a good
look-out against lions. I and Pit then made our
way towards the spot which I had already selected
in a forest glade about 500 yards in circumference,
partially overgrown with grass, and about ten feet
above the level of the woods ; in the centre was
a small rain-pool that had been full of water some
months back, but was now much covered with
weeds, and nearly empty. Near the edge of the glade
stood a fine hardekool-tree, and about fifteen yards
from this was an Acacia detinens thirty feet high, of
which the branches drooped nearly to the ground,
and partly sheltered and partly supported a great
ant-hill at its side. Altogether the place seemed well
adapted for my purpose.
The first thing I made Pit do was to collect some
of the branches of the trees, to make a sort of
breastwork about two feet high ; we reserved an open
space of eight feet or more of bare plain between
ourselves and the tall grass ; and then we carefully
examined our guns and put them in perfect
readiness for use. The sun was now sinking, and
all the birds had gone to roost except a few glossy
starlings that kept twittering around the nests which
they occupy all through the year. Pit offered a
piece of advice which I thought it advisable to follow,
and we left our retreat before it was absolutely dark
to fetch some branches of acacia to throw over the
enclosure as a light covering, and while we were
doing this the howling of the jackals at no great
88
Seven Years in South Africa.
distance made us aware that the hour was at hand
when the deer would be on the move to drink, and
when the beasts of prey would set forth for their
nightly prowl.
Taking his usual posture, Pit half lay down, while
I, for my part, preferred a squatting position as
being the least uncomfortable for a long period of
watching. For a little while we kept up a conversa¬
tion in an undertone, but soon afterwards I sug¬
gested that it might be better if we were quite quiet.
Half an hour or more might have elapsed when I
heard a peculiar sound that induced me to rise
cautiously and listen ; for a moment or two I was
puzzled, but hardly knew whether to be more
amused or disgusted to find that the noise had
no other origin than the open countenance of my
slumbering servant. The poke that I gave him was
not particularly gentle. At first he seemed inclined
to be aggrieved, but immediately recollected him¬
self, and apologizing for falling asleep, promised
now to keep wide awake. I knew his propensity
too well to have much confidence in his vigilant
intentions, but I really was surprised to find after
how brief an interval he had begun to snore again
as loud as ever.
Shortly before ten o’clock the moon had risen
so high that the whole glade was illuminated by
the beams. I was getting somewhat weary of Pit’s
music, when my ear caught a distant sound like the
trotting of a number of horses. I could see to a con¬
siderable distance, and after about a quarter of an
hour I found, as I conjectured might be the case,
that the noise proceeded from a herd of zebras
advancing towards the glade. Looking through the
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 89
opening between the mimosa and the ant-hill I could
make out all their movements. They came on with
the utmost caution. They pricked up their ears
and stopped at almost every second step, standing
awhile as motionless as if carved in stone. Two
of the herd were in front ; the rest followed at a
little distance. I hardly knew whether to fire at
once, or to wake up Pit to help me if necessary, but
while I was debating in my mind the fellow gave
such a tremendous snore that he woke himself ;
hearing me call, he started up so suddenly that he
pulled down the whole of our canopy of acacia
boughs, and made such a commotion that the whole
of the zebras scampered off without my getting
another fair chance of a shot.
My incorrigible man was not long in falling
asleep for the third time. Midnight had now passed
without any further signs of sport, and it was past
one when I fancied that I could hear, although a
long way off, the lowing of buffaloes. The sound
appeared to come gradually nearer, but after coming
almost close it receded again, making me suppose
that the herd had got scent of us and had altered
their course. It was hardly worth the trouble I
took to tell Pit about their movements, as he only
groaned in reply and rolled himself over on to his
other side.
After this 1 confess I began to feel somewhat
drowsy myself. Yielding to fatigue I fell into a
doze, from which I was aroused by what struck me
as the rustling of a coming storm. I listened for
quite twenty minutes, making out nothing beyond
the fact that the noise came from one of the neigh¬
bouring pools ; after a while, however, I found out
90 Seven Years in South Africa.
that the shrill trumpet-like splash and roar pro¬
ceeded from a herd of elephants that were enjoying
themselves in the water. To rouse Pit was now
indispensable. It was no easy matter to make him
aware of his position ; he muttered something about
my wrapping myself up because the wind was
blowing and it was cold. This time, however, I
was not to be put off, and by giving him a good
shaking I brought him to his feet.
My own desire was to leave our shelter and go
and set light to two patches of dry grass that I
recollected were close at hand. It was a proceeding
that I imagined would have the effect of putting the
brutes into a high state of alarm, and would bring
about a romantic scene such as is rarely witnessed
even in the heart of Africa. Pit, however, could
not be induced to view the proposal with any favour ;
he insisted upon what indeed was quite true, that to
accomplish what we intended, we should have to
cross a great number of the lion-tracks that we
knew were there, and that every step would leave us
liable to attack before we could be aware of it. As
no representations on my part could stir him, and as
the moon had set, and it was very dark, I came to
the conclusion that perhaps after all discretion was
the better part of valour, and yielded my own wish
to his. We both of us watched for a long time, but
experiencing nothing to keep our interest alive, we
at length, one after the other, began to doze again.
I am certain that I had been asleep for a very
short time when I was brought to consciousness
by a sound that ever makes one oblivious of any
other ; the roar of a lion was distinctly followed by
the low growl of a lioness, both unquestionably
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. g i
within thirty yards of where I was lounging. My
hands were benumbed with cold ; it was darker than
it had been all night, but I rose and dropped upon
my knee prepared to fire, having a most uncom¬
fortable consciousness that in all likelihood the
animals had been watching us for some time.
“pit, are you asleep?”
It did not now require much effort on my part to
wake my servant. At the first recognition of the
lion’s roar Pit was on his feet in a second. Standing
bait upright, he laid his hands upon the drooping
boughs of the mimosa ; his hint was worth taking ;
to escape the spring of the beasts of prey which were
92 Seven Years in South Africa.
only too probably close upon us, we should not lose
an instant in climbing up into the tree ; the difficulty
was bow to get there. I had a flat Scotch cap on
my head, a pair of long boots, and an overcoat that
reached my knees. To pull off my coat and make
it a protection for my face was the work of an
instant. Pit pushed me up from behind ; then he
handed me my gun. In my turn I lent him a
helping hand up, and as if by magic we found our¬
selves elevated in the tree, and at least temporarily
safe. Our height from the ground was not more
than ten feet, but the night continued so dark,
and the grass was so high that it was impossible to
make out where it would be of any avail to fire.
Until it was nearly morning the lions continued to
prowl round about, but when dawn appeared they had
made off in the same direction as the buffaloes. We
afterwards went to examine the pool ; there were no
longer any signs either of buffaloes or elephants,
except the footprints that plainly showed that at
least thirty elephants with their cubs had been there
during the night. From Theunissen I learnt that a
lion and lioness, no doubt the same, had been heard
growling within a stone’s throw of the waggon.
After breakfast next day I set out with Pit to
follow up the elephants ; finding, however, from the
condition of the tracks, that they must have had
several miles start, I considered that it would be
of no use to persevere in the pursuit. The fact,
however, of my having been so close to the ele¬
phants the previous night stirred up my eagerness,
and although I had quite intended to leave Tama-
fopa that day, I made up my mind to lie in wait a
night by myself as near as I could to the pool in
From the Nataspruit to Tamasetze. 93
which I had heard them disporting themselves. After
a good examination of the place I chose a fine harde-
kool-tree, nearly fifty feet high, from which to keep
my look-out, but the lowest branch of it was
so much above the ground, that Pit and Meriko
had to hoist me up with some strips of oxhide.
Once mounted, I was quite satisfied with the posi¬
tion, as it commanded a complete view of the pond.
The night was clear and bright, but decidedly wintry,
and after a time I felt the cold very severely. It
was verging towards midnight, when my hopes were
raised by the sound of the tramp which made me
sure that a herd of elephants was approaching ; my
best anticipations, however, had hardly been excited
before they were doomed to disappointment, for the
noise of the elephants was followed immediately
by the crack of a huge African bullock- whip. The
waggon of the hunters came nearer, but the herd
had turned off into the bushes, and was before long
quite out of hearing. I afterwards heard that it
was Kurtin, on his way to meet his brother in the
Panda ma Tenka valley, who had thus unwittingly
spoiled my night’s entertainment.
My sport on the 17th consisted chiefly in an
attempt to dig out an ant-eater. On the night of
the 18th we killed a couple of jackals. After passing
laboriously over great tracts of sand we arrived at
the pools at Tamasetze, where we stayed for a night ;
a very keen wind was blowing down the glade in
which the pools were situated, but I fancied I might
get the chance I wanted to secure a sword-antelope.
I kad the waggon removed to the most sheltered
place we could find. We were awakened shortly
after midnight by a loud cry from Meriko, who had
94
Seven Years in South Africa.
discovered a snake nestling against his legs ; the
reptile tried to escape, but he mutilated it so terribly
that its skin was useless for my collection.
After my recent exertions and nights without
sleep, I was not feeling at all well, and was very glad
to get as close as I could to the fire. I was occu¬
pying myself with my diary when Theunissen,
speaking very gently, told me to look behind me ; on
turning round, I found that I had been sitting with
a puff-adder close to my feet, probably enjoying the
warmth of the fire as much as myself. This time
we were much more cautious in our proceedings, and
I was very pleased to be able to enrich my collec¬
tion with a singularly fine specimen.
95
CHAPTER Y.
FROM TAMAJ3ETZE TO THE CHOBE.
Henry’s Pan — Hardships of elephant-hunting — Elephants’ holes
— Arrival in the Panda ma Tenka valley — ‘Mr. Westbeech’s
depdt — South African lions — Their mode of attack —
Blockley — Schneeman’s Pan — Wild honey — The Leshumo
valley — Trees damaged by elephants — On the bank of the
Chobe.
northwards across the grassy hollow. In the after¬
noon we were overtaken by a Dutch boy on horse-
96 Seven Years in South Africa.
back, very miserably clad. He was not more than
fourteen years of age, and in reply to my question
whither he was going, he told me that his father,
who lived in a hut near the next pool, had sent him
to take a waggon, and two negroes to attend to it,
all the way to the Makalaka country, to barter beads
and calico for kaffir-corn.
We arrived next day at the pool of which the lad
had spoken. It was called Henry’s Pan, after the
name of a hunter’s servant who had killed a giraffe
there. I found three Boer families settled at the
place, as well as three Dutch hunters, Schmitt and
the two brothers Lotriet. For the last month
Schmitt had been living in a grass-hut, and had
killed a sword-antelope on the day before our arrival.
His narratives of hunting-excursions were most
interesting.
One of the Henry’s Pan people had a cancer in
his lower jaw, and both the Lotriet families — one a
party of three, and the other of nine — were suffering
from fever. Their huts, wretched structures of dry
branches and grass, were quite inadequate to protect
them either from sun or rain, and as they lay upon
the ground, their condition seemed pitiable in the
extreme. They attributed all their hardships to a
trader who had unscrupulously enticed them into
the district, and wiped his hands of them almost
directly afterwards. The account they gave was
entirely substantiated by six hunters of whom I
subsequently made inquiries ; and so convinced was
I that the facts ought to be circulated as a warning
to others, that I sent the story of the Lotriets to
the Diamond News , in which it was inserted under
the title of “ Dark Deeds.” I am in possession of
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. 97
other narratives of a similar character, which I am
reserving for future publication.
So violent had been the fever that one or two of
the Lotriets were really dangerously ill, the condition
of the whole family being seriously aggravated by
the want of clothing and proper medicines. I sup¬
plied them with what covering I could, and prescribed
for their malady, in return receiving from them a
tusk weighing nearly eight pounds, about equivalent
in value to the quinine which I had given. Three
days previously they had had to part with quite as
much ivory for about six ounces of castor-oil.
I made an excursion in which I had the opportu¬
nity of getting very near to some koodoo-antelopes,
but unfortunately I lost my way in the forest, and
did not get back until it was quite late.
In another ramble I name upon a number of
holes that had been dug out by elephants, most
of them being more than a foot deep, some as
much as eighteen inches. Having scented out their
favourite roots and tubers, they go down on their
knees and use their tusks to make the excavations,
and as the soil is often very stony, and the slopes
full of rock, the tusks are apt to get very much
worn. Sometimes the result of the attrition is so
considerable that a difference of four pounds is
caused in their weight.
We left Henry’s Pan on the 26th. Water again
failed us on our route, and we were obliged to
resume a system of forced marches. For some days
our road lay through a very monotonous sandy
forest. The trees were not generally remarkable,
but we noticed one giant baobab, that just above
the ground had a circumference of twenty -eight
VOL. 11. h
98 Seven Years in South Africa.
feet ten inches. The variety of birds was very
great ; birds of prey were represented by the buzzard
and the dwarf owl ; singing birds by pyrols of two
kinds and fly-catchers, the males distinguished by
their long tails ; the smaller songsters being even
more numerous than in places where the vegetation
was more luxuriant and diversified. Shrikes were
especially numerous, particularly a large kind with
a red throat and breast, frequenting low thick
bushes. Yellow-beaked hornbills were not uncom¬
mon, neither were small-tailed widow-birds, hoopoes,
and bee-eaters. I likewise contrived to collect a
good many plants, and some varieties of seeds, fruits,
and funguses.
A wooded ascent brought us to a plain of tall
grass, enclosed on two sides by the forest. Every¬
thing about us, animal and vegetable, seemed more
and more to partake of a tropical character. I was
much struck by the peculiar way in which some of
the leguminous trees shed their seeds, the heat of
the sun causing the pods to burst with a loud explo¬
sion, and to cast the seed to a considerable distance
all about. The air was full of myriads of tiny bees,
that crept into our clothes, hair, and ears, and made
our noses tingle to our great discomfort.
Since leaving the Nata we had been making a
continuous ascent, and it seemed that we had now
reached the highest point of the plateau. Some of
the low hills that we passed contained traces of
melaphyr and quartzite ; and the soil generally was
so stony, that although the baobab throve very
fairly, all other trees and shrubs were of singularly
stunted growth.
It was on the evening of the 30th that we had
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. 99
the satisfaction of resting our eyes upon the first
affluent of the Zambesi, the Deykah. It was nothing
more than a little brook, rising close to the spot
where we encamped ; but it contained some pools of
which the water was deep enough to invite us to a
bath, had we not been deterred by a prudent con¬
sideration of the crocodiles that were said to lurk
there. In the adjacent glades the grass had been
burnt down ; indeed, there were some places where
bushes were still smouldering, the fire having un¬
questionably been kindled by the ostrich-hunters,
according to their wont.
The best part of the next day was taken up in
crossing a number of valleys the drainage of which
flowed into the Deykah, and in going over the
intervening hills, some of which were rocky, and
others equally sandy ; but before daylight failed us
we reached the valley of the Panda ma Tenka, a
small river, that after flowing first north and then
north-west, and taking up various spruits on its
way, finally joins the Zambesi below the Victoria
Falls. Since the English traders have opened
traffic with the natives the place has been a kind
of rendezvous alike for them and for the elephant-
hunters, and we found several waggons quartered
on the left bank. A depot, consisting of an enclosed
courtyard containing a hut and a square magazine,
has been built on the spot by Mr. Westbeech, the
Zambesi merchant, who resides there himself during
a certain portion of the year, and during his absence
leaves his business to be transacted by his agents
Blockley and Bradshaw. After he has disposed of
his ivory in the diamond-fields, he returns with
fresh goods, and makes this his starting-point
n 2
IOO
Seven Years in South Africa.
for his expeditions to Sesheke and along the
Zambesi.
I found Mr. Blockley at the depot. I also learnt
that one of the waggons belonged to Mr. Anderson,
who was very pleased to see me again. Noticing
at once the great height of the fences round the
enclosures, I was informed that the precaution was
indispensable, because “ lions ran about like dogs,”
the roads everywhere being covered with their tracks.
I am inclined to divide the South African lions
into three species ; first, the common full-maned lion
that is found in Barbary; secondly, the maneless
lion ; and thirdly, the kind called “ krachtmanetye ”
by the Dutch, distinguished by its short light hair,
and by a mane that never reaches below the shoulder.
I do not consider the “ bondpoote ” of the Dutch to
be a distinct species, inasmuch as its dark spots are
a characteristic of the full-maned lion, and disappear
as it advances in age.
The full-maned lions of the northern part of the
continent are very rarely to be seen in South Africa.
The maneless lions used to be common on the
Molapo, and are still to be found in the valley of
the central Zambesi and on the lower Chobe, their
colour being extremely light ; but the most common
are those of the short-maned species. They haunb
the valley of the Limpopo from the mouth of the
Notuany downwards, to the exclusion for the most
part of every other kind. It is said that they are
especially dangerous between the ages of two and
four years.
Ordinarily the South African lion is a most cau¬
tious beast. It might almost be supposed that he
calculates the chances of every conflict, very rarely
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. ioi
returning to any encounter in which he has once
been worsted. His usual tactics are to try to inti¬
midate before he attacks ; he will either approach
with a tremendous roar, or advance with head erect
gnashing his teeth ; or sometimes he will dash along
in a succession of long bounds ; or again he will
trot up briskly, uttering savage growls. But which¬
ever mode of aggression he may choose, he never
fails to keep his eye steadily fixed upon his intended
victim. A perfect immovability is the best defence.
The least sign of quailing is fatal ; and the smallest
movement will often infuriate a lion, especially a
young lion, and invite an immediate attack. Cases
are not unknown, but are comparatively rare, and
generally confined to old and experienced lions,
when they make their assaults without any of the
preliminary devices that I have mentioned. Perhaps
most of the instances of this kind would be when
the beasts are absolutely suffering from hunger, or
when they are exasperated after a chase, or when a
lioness is guarding her whelps. It is of great ad¬
vantage to a hunter, particularly to a novice in the
pursuit, to see a lion before the lion sees him, even
though it be for ever so short an interval. The
most experienced hunter is only too likely to lose
his composure if one of the giants of the forest is
found face to face with him before he has time to
prepare his weapon. Ho more unfortunate plight
can be imagined, than that of a naturalist or a
botanist engrossed in his studies, and suddenly
disturbed by the growl of a lion close beside him.
Natives seated round their fire may perhaps hope
to escape, but for the solitary individual in the
depths of the wood, there can be no reprieve.
102 Seven Years in South Africa.
In districts where they are much hunted, and
where they have consequently become familiar with
the sound of fire-arms, as well as in parts where
there is hardly any game of the kind for which they
care, lions are much more dangerous than in places
where their food is plentiful, and where human
NOCTURNAL ATTACK. BY LION.
footsteps rarely penetrate. Most notorious for their
audacity are those which haunt the banks of the
Maressana and Setlagole rivers, and those that are
found in the Matabele country. Except perhaps the
fox, no animal surpasses them in the craftiness with
which they set themselves to secure their prey.
Sometimes a group of them institutes a sort of
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. 1 03
battue. A few of them creep up and exhibit them¬
selves to the victims they want to catch, thus scaring
them back into the very clutch of the main body
that lurks behind ready to receive them. Instinct
prompts them to adopt this line of proceeding with
animals whose speed is too rapid for them to over¬
take in open pursuit, and with such as are tall and
can overlook their movements in the long grass.
Horses, zebras, and giraffes, and any animals with
solid hoofs form the favourite prey of all lions.
On the day after my arrival at Panda ma Tenka,
Blockley invited Anderson and me to sup with
him on buffalo-meat and pickled cod, prepared in
London by Morton and Co. He told me that Mr.
Westbeech had heard of my arrival from Mr.
Mackenzie nine months ago, and that he had re¬
ported it to King Sepopo, who had willingly granted
me permission to pay him a visit, adding that he
was pleased to understand that I did not intend
injuring his elephants. He said, moreover, that I
should be in every way as welcome as Monari — that
being the name by which I)r. Livingstone was
known in the Marutse district. Blockley had him¬
self spent several months at the royal residence,
and had also, at the king’s invitation, once gone out
to the relief of Westbeech, having taken a waggon
with the greatest difficulty as far as the Barotse
valley. I subsequently travelled with him, and
much enjoyed his genial company.
During our stay here, I fell in with a number of
Bakuenas, under the conduct of one of their princes,
on their way to take Sepopo an old mare as a present
from Sechele. They recognized me immediately, but
I had not retained any recollection of them.
104 Seven Years in South Africa.
It happened that Blockley was on the point of
starting to visit Sepopo, and I proposed to accompany
him. I made arrangements for Thennissen to stay
behind in charge of the waggon, gave stringent direc¬
tions to Meriko to look after the bullocks, and decided
to take Pit with me. At this time bullocks were
fetching a good price ; and I disposed of three of
mine, because I found it requisite to get some ivory
to replace my stock of ready money, that was all but
exhausted. I likewise sold one of my breechloaders
to Mr. Blockley, and spent the proceeds in replenish¬
ing our supply of tea, sugar, coffee, and other
articles of regular consumption. Mr. Westbeech
had commenced doing business with Sepopo four
years back, and it was through his influence with
the king that the Marutse domains had been thrown
open to other merchants. He had the advantage of
being able to speak with perfect fluency the three
native languages — the Sesuto, the Setebele, and the
Sechuana.
We started on the 3rd of August. Blockley took
a whole waggonful of wares, which he hoped the
king would purchase. The vehicle would be left
about nine miles from the mouth of the Chobe, and
the goods carried by bearers to the Zambesi, along
which they would be conveyed in boats to the new
residence of the Marutse- Mabunda sovereign.
For the first few miles our road lay along some
interesting hill country, intersected by a number of
spruits flowing east and north-east into the Panda
ma Tenka ; the higher parts were rocky, and generally
covered with trees. Overhanging one of the streams
was an immense baobab, close to which was said to
be the resort of a lion, a dark-maned brute, which
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. 105
tad sorely harassed the neighbourhood by its
depredations.
In the evening we halted facing a wooded ridge,
which would have to be crossed at night, on account
of the tsetse-fly with which it was infested. We
here met a half-caste, named “Africa,” who had
been hunting ostriches twenty miles further on, and
who was on his way to Panda ma Tenka, for the
purpose of making some purchases of Blockley.
Blockley accordingly had to return with him, but he
gave his people instructions to proceed on their way
for about thirty miles more, and then to wait for
him to overtake them again. Africa had seen some
of Sepopo’s people on the Chobe, and they had
informed him that the king had been very much
annoyed by the bad behaviour in his house of
the Bakuena prince who had been sent with
Sechele’s present.
Several times we heard the roaring of a lion, and
so near to us did it seem at the time of our halting,
that we not only made up unusually large fires, but
took care to keep our guns ready for immediate
service. The night was dark, and we could scarcely
see ten yards in front of us, but shortly after two
o’clock we ventured to start, and got safely through
the wood without any inconvenience from the tsetse-
fly, finding ourselves at dawn on the plain called the
Gashuma Flat. It contained a good many pools,
most of them moderately deep, frequented by water-
birds. Altogether I have now crossed this plain
three times, and never without noticing an abundance
of game, but this time I saw zebras, Zulu-hartebeests,
and harrisbocks, and, what I had never seen before,
an orbeki gazelle. Continuing our journey, we came
1 06 Seven Years in South A frica.
after a while to another plain, of which, like the last,
the soil is so rich as to be quite impassable in the
rainy season. Our next halt was near a wood, at a
rain-pool called Saddler’s Pan.
After altering our course from north to north-west
we came in the course of the following day to a dried
up rain-pool, with a number of fan-palms adorning
its banks. Westbeech subsequently told me that
many most elegant trees of this kind had been felled
by hunters and traders on the Gashuma Flat out of
pure wantonness.
That evening we reached Schneeman’s Pan, a rain-
pool at which Blockley had appointed that we should
wait for him. I amused myself by making some
inquiries about the. Manansas who were in the place,
ascertaining some particulars about their manners
and customs, and picking up a few fragments of
their language. Most of my information was obtained
from one of them who had been taken south by a
trader, and who had now hired himself to a farmer
here, where he had taken the opportunity of learn¬
ing Dutch, and by his help I made a list of 305
words and phrases in the dialect of the Manansas
or Manandshas. The hunters nickname them
Mashapatan.
One day after partaking of some round red-shelled
beans I had some very decided symptoms of colic, and
discovered that the colouring matter in the shells
was injurious, and that the first water in which they
were boiled ought to be thrown away ; it was always
quite violet. The natives, as I afterwards learnt, are
particular to observe this precaution.
During our stay some of the Manansas brought us
a lot of suet, which they wanted us to buy. When-
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. 107
ever a well-fed eland is killed the suet is ail melted
down in a clay vessel, and preserved in small bags
made of the platoides of the animal. Others brought
a quantity of greenish-brown honey with an acid
flavour, a mild aperient, having quite a stupifying
effect when eaten freely. The bees from which it is
procured are very small, and are without stings ; and
from the description which was given of them, I
should imagine that they are identical in species
with those that I saw in the north of the sandy
forest.
Blockley, with two servants, returned in good
time on the 8th, and we lost no time in proceeding
on our way, in order to get through another district
of the tsetse-wood during the night. In due time
we reached the upper Leshumo valley, a narrow
strip of land bordered by sandy heights, in which the
waggon was to be left behind ; the oxen were taken
out, and were driven back to Schneeinan’s Pan as
quickly as possible, so as to be clear of the trouble¬
some insects before daybreak.
A messenger was hence despatched to Impalera, a
village on the other side of the Chobe, requesting
Makumba, the chief of the Masupias, a subject tribe
to the Marutse, to send a sufficient number of bearers
to carry the merchandise to the Zambesi. Mean¬
while we went a little way down the valley, which
we found both marshy and rocky, with a number of
springbocks continually darting out of the grass in
one spot, to take refuge in another lower down.
On a slope which we reached in the course of the
next hour, we noticed an immense number of elephant
tracks, showing beyond a doubt that an enormous
herd had passed that way during the previous night.
108 Seven Years in South Africa.
The separate footprints were not more than an inch
deep in the sand, but they extended over an area
twenty yards or more wide. From the profusion of
stems, boughs, and bushes with which the ground
was littered, it was evident that they had rushed
along with furious impetuosity ; the stems in some
instances were as thick as my arm, and trees of
double the size had been snapped off, except as far
as they were kept from falling by a strip of bark ;
several of the larger trunks had been broken off with
such violence, that the remaining stump was left
cleft open to the very root ; many of the branches,
too, had been torn away with tremendous force, and
long shreds of the ragged bark hung waving in
the air.
Some fine mimosas afforded a delicious shade,
their crowns being too leafy for the sunshine to
penetrate ; and as we left the depression in which
they were growing, we found that the soil became
more and more level, till all at once it suddenly
sloped down again into the valleys of the Chobe
and the Zambesi.
Here was the realization of the vision of my youth !
Here I was actually gazing on the stream that had
mingled itself with my boyish dreams ! Never shall
I forget the panorama that then broke upon my view,
nor the emotion with which I gazed on the valley
beneath me.
It took me a few minutes to collect my thoughts.
The valley in front stretched away three miles to the
right, being bounded on the left by a plain that
seemed absolutely unlimited. On the side on which
I stood it was overhung by wooded rocks. In the
middle of it were two islands, formed by the imperfect
From Tamasetze to the Chobe. 109
junction of tlie two rivers, parting again to meet
finally further on. The eastern, or “ Prager ” island,
was flat and small, being only a few hundred yards
in breadth, and still less in length ; the other was
nearly six miles long, varying from two to three
miles wide ; it had several wooded hills, one peak of
which rose conspicuously by itself upon the east,
considerably above any of the contiguous heights.
Just below this was Impalera, the town of Makumba,
and, as it were, the southern “ watch-tower” of the
Marutse kingdom.
In front of Impalera, and about four miles from
me, the Chobe was gleaming beautifully. It was
there about 300 yards wide, and bordered with reeds.
The hills on the island are detached portions of
the long ridge that makes the rocks and rapids of
the Chobe, and which runs along further north so as
again to form the rocks and rapids of the Zambesi on
a larger scale, whence it is continued till finally
it joins the rocky declivity of the plateau beyond the
river at the Victoria Falls.
Towards the west the valley was bounded only by
the blue line of the horizon.
I gazed long with the intensest interest. There —
yes, there, only just beyond that single expanse of
reed-thickets — there, lighted up by the rich and
gorgeous red of the setting sun — there was the land
which from my early childhood it had been my
ambition to explore !
I fO
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER VI.
IN THE VALLEYS OE THE CHOBE AND THE ZAMBESL
Vegetation in the valley of the Chobc— Notification of my arrival
— Scenery by the rapids — A party of Masupias — My
mulekow — Matabele raids upon Sekeletu’s territory — Gourd-
shells — Masupia graves — Animal life on the Chobe — Masupia
huts — Englishmen in Impalera — Makumba — My first boat-
journey on the Zambesi — Animal life in the reed-thickets —
Blockley’s kraal — Hippopotamuses — Old Sesheke.
miles in breadth, and the valley of the Zambesi under
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 1 1
the hills above the Victoria Falls has very much the
same character. Except in places where the rocky
spurs abut directly on to the stream, the shores of both
rivers are sandy, corresponding with those of the
Zooga and most of the feeders of the highland basin
of central South Africa ; the rocks which I have
described above the confluence of the stream, being
chiefly the declivities of a sandy plateau. Down the
Chobe, and throughout the district in that direction,
we found the vegetation luxuriant and quite tropical
in its character, but upstream, so far as I went, this
feature seemed to be less marked. Upon entering
the valley a stranger can hardly fail to be struck by
the number of strange trees and bushes, nearly all
of them producing fruit that may either be eaten or
used for some domestic purpose. A notable exception
to the general rule is afforded by the moshungulu, a
tree of which the fruit, about two feet long and
several inches thick, something like a sausage, is
poisonous. The difference between the vegetation
of the Zambesi valley with its adjacent plateau, and
that of the more southern districts, is manifest from
the single circumstance, that throughout the entire
course of the river the natives can subsist all the
year round on the produce of their own trees, as
each month brings fruits or its edible seeds to
maturity. Animal life is everywhere abundant ;
birds, fishes, snakes, insects, and especially butter¬
flies, being too numerous to be reckoned. The
human race itself may be said to be in a higher state
of development.
Nearly opposite Impalera was a little creek over¬
hung by a fine moshungulu. Understanding that this
was the usual landing-place for natives coming across
1 1 2 Seven Years in South A frica.
the river, I gave orders for a little grass-hut to he put
up there for my use. The Chobe was here between
200 and 300 yards across, and so deep that its water
was of quite a dark blue colour. As I strolled along
beside it I saw considerable numbers of a small
water-lily floating on its surface ; the species seemed
to produce a very limited quantity of petals. The
masses of reeds were beyond a question the lurking-
places of many crocodiles.
Blockley’s people had been at the place several
times before, and at their suggestion I fired off
several shots to give the residents of Impalera
notice of my arrival. Before long two men put off
in a canoe and landed on our shore. The canoe was
only the stem of a tree hollowed out with an axe ;
it was about ten feet long, fourteen inches wide,
and ten inches deep. The men were tall and strongly
built, and wore the primitive vesture of the Bantu
family in the most graceful way I had ever seen,
their dark brown skins being set off by their leather
waistbands, to which one of them had attached three
small and handsome skins, and the other some yards
of calico, skilfully arranged before and behind, with
the ends gathered round his loins.
On their undertaking to report my arrival to their
chief, Makumba, I gave them each a knife. At the
same time one of our party made them understand
that Georosiana Maniniani (i.e. little George), the
name given to Blockley to distinguish him from
Westbeech (who, on account of his size, was known
as Georosiana Umutunya, or great George), was
waiting in the Leshumo valley, expecting a number
of bearers to convey the king’s goods to Impalera ;
also that they were to take down some corn with
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 1 3
them, for which Georosiana Maniniani would give
them sipaga, talama, and sisipa (small beads, large
beads, and strips of calico). All the time we were
talking the two men were squatting down on the
ground ; but as soon as the Manansa servant had
made them comprehend his instructions they rose,
and saying “ Autile intate ” (we understand you,
friend), proceeded to take leave of me, with the
further remark “ Camaya koshi ” (we go, sir).
.Next morning, in an early walk up the valley, I
found a surprising variety of traces of animals ;
there were tracks of buffaloes, koodoos, waterbocks,
dnykerbocks, orbeki gazelles, jackals, leopards, and
lions. I likewise observed a good many hyasna-
tracks, and kept continually hearing baboons barking
oh the hills, being induced several times to send a
stray shot among the bushes. Amongst the birds
I noticed two kinds of francolins, the guinea-fowl,
the scopus, three kinds of plovers, saddle-storks
(Mycteria Senegalensis, Shaw), several varieties
of ducks, a kind of plectropterus, some spurred
geese, a darter, and a kind of cormorant {PTiala-
crocorax).
To me the scenery that was most attractive was
just above the rapids, three miles from our encamp¬
ment, and about six miles from the mouth of the
river. Here it was quite possible to trace the con¬
nexion of the Chobe with the Zambesi. Natural
channels, full of calm flowing water, opened into the
vast expanse of reeds, and the stream spread itself
out over the wide marshy region. The rapids them¬
selves rushed through a multitude of rocks, of which
some were bare, some covered with sand, some
overgrown with sedge, some clothed with trees and
VOL. 11. 1
ii4 Seven Years in South Africa.
brushwood. In one place where the water had
worn itself a way between two of the rocky islands, I
noticed some well-constructed fish-weels very similar
to those we use in Europe. Birds, especially swamp-
birds, were very numerous, having taken up their
quarters both on the rocks and on the shore.
I was confirmed in my conviction that the river was
very full of crocodiles ; and at the rapids (which, by
the way, I named the Blockley rapids) I noticed some
water-lizards.
Our camp in the evening of the same day was
visited by a party of seventeen Masupias. They
were fine-looking men, with their hair tied up at
the top of their heads in little tufts, and adorned
with ornaments of great variety, bunches of the
hair of gazelles or other small animals, pieces of
coral, and strings of beads. They also wore brace¬
lets, mostly of leather, occasionally of ivory. I
bought everything that they had brought with
them in the way of assegais, knives, kaffir- corn
and beans, paying them in beads and calico. One
of the men to whom I had given a knife on the
previous day brought me a clay pitcher made by
their women and full of butshuala (kaffir-corn
beer) ; it was an offering on his part, I was given
to understand, that established between us the
relationship of “ mulekow,” that is to say, I had
henceforth the right to claim anything I liked in
his house ; it is a custom of the nation that some¬
times results in much that is evil, as even the
women of the household are included in the licence ;
and when a few days later I was in Impalera it
seemed to excite a good deal of astonishment that
I made no further use of my mulekow privilege than
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 1 5
to ask for fish, beer, corn, and a few insignificant
curiosities.
Through “August,” the Manansa servant who
acted as interpreter, the visitors informed me that
Makumba, the chief, was now on the farther side of
the Zambesi elephant hunting ; and, moreover, that
he was not at liberty to receive me until an answer
had been received from Sepopo authorizing my ad¬
mission. They even declined on this account to take
any present from myself to Makumba, and when I
afterwards saw the chief, he entered fully into the
particulars of the relations of his people with the
monarch of the Marutse.
It was soon very evident that our guests had very
little regard for the law of “ meum and tuum,” and
we had to keep a very sharp look-out upon their
proceedings throughout their visit.
Next day I received more visits from the Masupias.
They were continually asking the servants, who
understood their Makololo dialect, whether Georo-
siani Maniniani had any Matabele people with him
in the Leshumo valley, as they were forbidden to
permit them to enter the kingdom, even although
they might declare that they had the king’s pass,
and had I myself insisted upon taking any Matabele
attendants, it is quite certain that, like Stanley, I
should have had to make my way by force.
By the Marutse and Mashonas the Matabele are
held in just as much detestation as are the Moham¬
medan slave-dealers from the east coast by the
natives of Central Africa. Although it is quite
possible that with a party of Matabele servants I
might have traversed the whole continent from
south to north, any white man coming after me
1 2
1 1 6 Seven Years in South Africa.
would have had to suffer for my exploit. Twice
during the reign of Sekeletu on the central Zambesi
the Matabele attempted to carry their incursions
north of the river, but each time they failed. On
the first occasion they crossed the rapids above the
Victoria Falls, and got on to an island planted
with manza by the Batokas, a people subject to
Sekeletu, but the water rose and cut off their
retreat, leaving them no means of subsistence
except the roots of the manza ; the result
was that the whole of them died, for the roots,
although wholesome enough when dried, are poi¬
sonous if they are eaten fresh. The second of the
failures occurred to a party of Matabele that was
conveyed down the river by a Masupia, who, having
conducted them to an island, declared he was so
weary that he must go away and fetch some of his
people to help him. The Matabele, with a credulity
quite unusual to them, allowed the man to depart,
and soon found themselves in a trap. The man
did not turn up any more. They had a hard time
of it ; they were quite unskilled in the art of spear¬
ing fish ; they were afraid on account of the croco¬
diles to attempt to swim across the river ; they
could find nothing whatever to eat except the fruit
of a few fan-palms, and in a short time their hunger
became intense ; they were reduced to the emergency
of trying to sustain life by eating their leather san¬
dals, which they cut up into pieces with their spears,
and soaked; but most of them died, and the rest
were easily overpowered by Sekeletu, who sent a
few well-manned canoes from Linyanti and carried
them off to the Barotse valley, the mother-country
of the Marutse, who at that time were his subjects.
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 1 7
During my second visit to tlie Marutse royal quar¬
ters I had the opportunity of seeing some of these
Matabele, who had come to Sesheke to pay tribute.
They still wore the well-known headdress of feathers,
but seemed to have lost all the warlike spirit of the
Zulus, and Sepopo told me that they had become
first-rate husbandmen.
Amongst other visitors on the 12th was a Masupia,
a grey-headed little man, who prided himself upon
having served under the late king Sekeletu, during
whose reign the Makololo empire had been anni¬
hilated.
Various commodities were brought over to me
from Impalera with the hope that I might purchase
them, and I bought a goat for about four yards of
calico ; the creature was wretchedly thin, having
suffered from the stings of the tsetse-fly. It was
no sooner slaughtered than I found my mulekow
acquaintance sidling up to me ; he evidently ex¬
pected a portion of it as a present, and considered
that he had an unquestionable right to visit me as
often as he chose at meal-times.
During this day and the following about forty of
the Masupias started off in detachments to the
Leshumo valley to fetch Blockley’s goods, and to
take him the corn he had ordered. The corn was
packed in gourd-vessels containing about half a
peck each, slung upon poles, the gourd-shells being
covered with bast, and tied on with the same
material.
Utilized by all the South African tribes, gourd-
shells are nowhere put to more various uses
than in the Marutse district. By the Mabunda
tribe they are branded with ornamental devices
1 1 8 Seven Years in South Africa.
of men and animals, and nearly everywhere they
are employed for carrying water, being frequently
covered with a network of leather ; but the
vassal tribes of the Becliuanas, the Makalaharis,
Barwas, Masarwas, and Madenassanas, not practising
agriculture, use ostrich eggs instead. Most of the
Bantu tribes preserve fatty substances in the
medium-sized gourd-shells, and south of the Zam¬
besi the very small shells are made into snuff-boxes,
and some of a flattened cylindrical form are con¬
verted into musical instruments.
On the 13th I was joined by a Basuto named
April, who had been travelling with Blockley, and
was now on his way to get permission from Sepopo
to hunt elephants on his territory. He had come
in company with eighteen of the Masupias who were
returning with Blockley’ s merchandise, each man
carrying a load of about 60 lbs. They brought word
that probably Blockley himself would arrive in the
evening, but he did not appear.
That night, for the first time, I heard the deep
grunt of the hippopotamus.
In the course of a walk down the riverside
next morning I came to some deserted farms of
the Masupias, who had fled to the opposite shore
after the destruction of the Manansa kingdom, and
in several places along the valley I saw the graves
of some Masupia chiefs. These graves were mere
oval mounds, covered with antelope-skulls and
elephant-tusks, so arranged that the points pro¬
truded and bent downwards; some were bleached
and cracked by exposure, but the smaller ones,
weighing about 20 lbs., near the centre of the
graves, were generally in a better state of pre-
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 1 9
servation; those which had been deposited most
recently were only milk-teeth, and consequently
worthless ; in all probability they had been placed
there since the Marutse had become better ac¬
quainted with the value of ivory, so that the deeds
of reverence for the departed had not defrauded the
rulers of any portion of their revenue. As I re¬
turned I passed several sycamores growing on the
bank, their stems as well as their branches thickly
covered with figs, none of which, however, were yet
ripe.
Blockley arrived in the afternoon. He gave
each of his bearers a quarter of a pound of beads
as payment for their services, but the Masupias
rejected all the red beads, refusing to take any
but the dark blue. They wanted them, they said,
to purchase assegais, and the tribe from which they
bought them insisted on having blue beads and no
other.
The embarkation of the bearers on their return
was an interesting scene. Their canoes, about
twenty in number, had been waiting for them in the
creek, and late in the afternoon they all pushed off
to the opposite shore. They were very slim, varying
in length from seven to sixteen feet, and manned by
one, two, three, or four men, according to their size.
A few of them had to carry back the empty shells
that had contained the corn, several were full of
firewood, and some conveyed various pieces of the
carcase of a great buffalo-cow that had just been
killed. The last to leave were my mulekow friend
and four others. They were in a large canoe, while
he, anxious to display his skill in paddling, had his
canoe to himself. He made a great effort to outstrip
120 Seven Years in South Africa.
the others, who did not feel inclined to be left in the
rear. He had succeeded in getting a good start,
but just as he reached the middle of the stream, the
wind caught the folds of his kubu (mantle), and
getting entangled by it his movements were ob¬
structed, and he was easily beaten. It was his
vanity that had brought about his defeat. He had
sold me a couple of hatchets for seven yards of
calico, and had made Pit cut him out a garment,
which he insisted should use up the whole of it.
Without loss of time Blockley crossed on the
15th, but I was obliged to remain where I was until
I heard from the king. I roved about in all direc¬
tions, and discovered some warm salt springs, and I
likewise added to my collection some fish that the
Masupias had speared in the creek. Just as I had
done on the Limpopo, I stood and watched the
crocodiles raise their heads above the water, and
snap at the kingfishers and water-birds on the
bushes and reeds.
In order to watch the nocturnal movements of
the animals I spent the whole of the next night by
the river. I chose a sandy spot, shut off on the side
towards the water by a thicket of reeds, and waited
for the moonlight to enable me to see all that went
on in the lagoon. About eleven o’clock a herd of
pallahs made their appearance, the leader growling
with a low note by way of assuring the rest that all
was safe. But nothing interested me- so much as
the manoeuvres of a pair of large otters that emerged
from the reeds opposite, and began hunting all
round the margin of the creek, their success in
catching their prey being far greater than that of
the crocodiles. They stood for a few seconds about
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 2 r
two feet from the edge of the water, then darted
into the nearest clump of reeds, where they foraged
with their snouts, and kept returning to devour
their prey, which, as far as I could see, consisted
entirely of small fish.
Having time on my hands, I next made a longer
excursion; but though I much enjoyed my ramble, I
was disappointed in not being able to secure either
a pallah or a baboon. However I saw some very
fine kingfishers ( Geryle maxima ), as well as bee-
catchers and cuckoos.
In due time the “ rumela,” or salute, was fired
from the opposite shore by Makumba, as a signal
that the messengers had arrived from Sesheke,
bringing a favourable answer from the king. It
was my duty to acknowledge the salute by returning
it, and I took the opportunity of having a few shots
at the fruit of the moshungulu-tree ; and by knock¬
ing down some, and splitting others, I received great
applause from the Masupias who were present. A
short time afterwards two little canoes were sent
over to carry me across.
I estimated both the lower Chobe and the Zam¬
besi as having a depth of between thirty and forty
feet, and consequently being quite large enough for
ships of considerable burden, but the different
reaches are separated so frequently by ridges of
rock, that the rapids make all navigation impracti¬
cable.
On landing I was again greeted by Makumba
with a salute, which I had again to return in due
form. I was much struck as I entered the village
by the construction of the huts and their enclosures.
They were made of reeds, and built in the double
122
Seven Years in South Africa .
REMOVAL TO NEW SESHEKE.
style that I had noticed
in the ruins of Mosilili’s
town. Their diameter was
about nine feet, that of
the enclosure in which
they stood being twenty-
five. The ordinary height
of every fence was nearly
twelve feet. Never else¬
where had I seen any so
tall. The entire length of the reeds
was used partly as a protection from
the floods of the summer months,
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 123
but principally as a shelter from the wind. Some of
the huts were made of grass as well as reeds. They
were shaped like an oven, and consisted of two
rooms and a verandah.
On a grass-plot near the middle of the settlement
stood the council-hut, a conical roof of straw sup¬
ported on a few not very substantial piles. Under it
I noticed one of the morupas, or drums, that, as I
afterwards learnt, are to be found in most Marutse
and Masupia villages. The skin of the drum is
pierced, and a short stick inserted into the opening,
with another stick fixed transversely at its end, the
whole instrument being a cylinder of about a foot
to a foot and a half long. Their sound, which can¬
not be compared to anything much better than the
creaking of new boots, is made by rubbing the stick
with a piece of wet baobab-bast twisted round the
hand of the performer. They are rarely brought
into use except on occasions when the inhabitants
are celebrating the return from a successful lion or
leopard hunt with music and dancing.
Makumba himself, a dark skinned Masupia about
forty years of age, received me very kindly. He
was entertaining three other visitors, two English
officers, Captain McLeod and Captain Fairly, and a
Mr. Cowley, who had all come from Natal for the
sake of some hunting. They had already obtained
permission from Sepopo to enter his territory. They
had sent him their presents, and were now on the
point of returning to their waggon at Panda ma
Tenka to complete all their preparations for their
expedition. It subsequently transpired that they
were greatly disappointed, and received anything
but honourable treatment at the hands of the
124 Seven Years in South Africa.
Marutse king. Captain McLeod informed me that
he had killed an elephant with tusks weighing
100 lbs., and that Sepopo had taken them, under a
promise to give him two others instead on his return
to Sesheke.
We were entertained at one of Makumba’s resi¬
dences with butshuala (kaffir-corn beer), which was
brought in wooden bowls, and served out in
gourd-shell cups. He was a staunch supporter of
the king, and ultimately lost his life in his service.
While I was with him, he took the opportunity
of enlightening me as to some of Sepopo’ s pecu¬
liarities, that I might regulate my proceedings
accordingly.
Before leaving Impalera I took several walks
about the village, and found that it was divided
into three groups of homesteads ; that nearest
the river contained 135 huts ; another, where the
natives took refuge during floods, contained twenty-
five huts ; the third, made up of thirty-two huts,
lay farther to the west. The women did not
wear aprons like the Bechuanas, but had little
petticoats reaching to the knee. On the whole, the
people were decidedly superior in looks to the
Bechuana tribes.
Makumba left the village on the same day that
we arrived. His proper home was on the left bank
of the Zambesi, the residence at Impalera being
occupied by one of his wives and some maids who
attended to the fields, and kept the place prepared
for him whenever he might choose to pay it a visit.
The only reason for his being here now was that he
might welcome me in the king’s name; I thanked him
for his courtesy, and offered him a present, which he
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 2 5
declined, saying that it was as much as his head
was worth to accept a gift from either a black man
or a white before the king had received one.
Late in the afternoon of the 17th we made our
way to a great baobab close to the landing-place on
the Zambesi known as “ Makumba’s haven.” The
boatmen put up a temporary shelter for Blockley
and myself, and there I spent my first night on the
bank of that great river that for years it had been
my chief ambition to behold.
The landing-place was close to the rapids of
which I have spoken, and about four miles above the
mouth of the Chobe. Before us in the stream were
numbers of small islands, some wooded and others
overgrown with weeds. Darters were perching on
the overhanging branches, and cormorants had
taken up their quarters on the ledges of the dark
brown rocks. Carefully avoiding the deeper places
frequented by crocodiles, the birds kept on diving
for fish and returning to their old positions, where
they spread out their wings to dry. We shot
several of them, but only managed to secure two, as
the rest, like a bald buzzard ( Haliaetus vocifer ) that
I also killed, were carried down the stream and
devoured by crocodiles. Hippopotamuses could be
heard every ten minutes throughout the night, but
the large fire that we made deterred them from
coming close to us.
Soon after sunrise I took my first boat-journey
on the Zambesi. I found myself in a fragile canoe
made of a hollowed tree- stem scarcely eighteen inches
wide, its sides being scarcely three inches above
the surface of the deep blue stream, that made a
dark belt around the diversified verdure of the islets.
126 Seven Years in South Africa.
On the right, like a strong wall six feet in height,
rose masses of reeds, extending very often miles
away, and occasionally broken into regular arcades
by the passage of the hippopotamuses between the
river and their pasturage. Rose-coloured convol¬
vuluses, countless in number, twined themselves up
the reedstalks, and gave brightness and colour to
the rustling forest. On the other hand was a reedy
island, encircled with a hedge of the bristly papyrus,
the feathery heads of the outer clumps trembling
with the motion of the current ; in well-nigh every
gap of the fantastic foliage glimpses were caught of
gaily-feathered birds, crimson, or ' grey, or white ;
ever and again a silver or a purple heron would dart
out for a moment, whilst aquatic birds, in strange
variety, were watching for fish behind the sedge.
Whenever the boatmen turned into one of the
less frequented side-channels, there were always to
be seen flocks of wild geese and ducks, with spoon¬
bills, sandpipers, and three kinds of mews swarming
on the sand-banks ; nor could my attention fail to
be attracted by the long-drawn cry of the bald
buzzards, sitting in pairs upon the trees and hil¬
locks. Every instant seemed to bring to light some
fresh specimen of animal life, contributing new
interest to the mighty stream.
The very mode of travelling gave an additional
charm to the scene, as nothing can be imagined
much more picturesque than the canoes, always fleet,
however heavily laden, and manned with their dark-
skinned crews, deftly plying their paddles, while
their leather aprons, bound with coloured calico,
fluttered in the wind. The steersman was always at
the bow, next to him would sit the passenger,
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 2 7
behind whom the oarsmen, varying in number from
three to ten or eleven, would row in perfect time,
often regulating their movements to a song. Some
canoes that I saw were not less than twenty-two
feet in length.
Taking into account the dimensions of the islands,
I should estimate that the stream, in some parts
only 300 yards across, occasionally attained a width
MASUPIA GRAVE.
of 1000 yards. In many places the shores had been
washed away, so that there were no shelving banks.
In sedgy spots, about eight feet from the shore, the
water was six feet deep, and where the reeds were
thick, it got no deeper for twenty feet away from
land.
After paddling along for close upon three hours,
I found that the reeds and bushes on the right gave
128 Seven Years in South Africa.
way to a wide grass-plain, to which the Marutse and
Masupias had given the name of Blockley’s kraal.
It seemed to be full of game, and we left our canoes
for a time and went ashore. Herds of buffaloes
were visible on the outskirts ; here, too, for the first
time I saw some letshwe and puku antelopes ;
they were cropping the pasturage by hundreds;
the letshwes were larger and the pukus smaller
than blessbocks, and both, like all waterbocks,
had shaggy, light-brown hair, and horns bent
forward. I likewise saw some groups of rietbocks
in the long grass, and in the direction of the woods
were herds of zebras, as well as striped gnus, some¬
times as many as twenty together.
After re-embarking, we kept close to the shore,
with the object of avoiding the hippopotamuses that
in the day-time frequent the middle of the stream,
only rising from time to time to breathe. When¬
ever the current made it necessary for us to change
to the opposite side of the river, I could see that the
boatmen were all on the qui-vive to get across as
rapidly as possible, and I soon afterwards learnt by
experience what good reason they had to be cautious.
We had occasion to steer outwards so as to clear a
papyrus island, when all at once the men began to
back water, and the one nearest me whispered the
word “ kubu.” He was pointing to a spot hardly
200 yards ahead, and on looking I saw first one
hippopotamus’s head, and then a second, raised
above the surface of the stream, both puffing out
little fountains from the nostrils. They quickly
disappeared, and the men paddled on gently, till
they were tolerably close to the place where the
brutes had been seen. Both Blockley and I cocked
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 129
our guns, and had not long to wait before the heads
of two young hippopotamuses emerged from beneath
the water, followed first by the head of a male and
then by that of a female. We fired eight shots, of
which there was no doubt that two struck the old
male behind the ear. The men all maintained that
it was mortally wounded, and probably such was
the case ; but although we waited about for nearly
ON THE BANKS OF THE CHOBE.
an hour, we never saw more than the heads of
the three others again. It was only with reluc¬
tance that the men were induced to be stationary
so long ; except they are in very small boats and
properly armed with assegais they are always anxious
to give the hippopotamus as wide a berth as they
can.
Of all the larger mammalia of South Africa I am
VOL. 11. K
1 30 Seven Years in South A frica.
disposed to believe that to an unarmed man tbe
hippopotamus is the most dangerous. In its normal
state it can never endure the sight of anything to
which it is unaccustomed or which takes it by
surprise. Let it come upon a horse, an ox, a
porcupine, a log of wood, or even a fluttering
garment suddenly crossing its path, and it will fly
upon any of them with relentless fury; but let
such object be withdrawn betimes from view, and
the brute in an instant will forget all about it
and go on its way entirely undisturbed.1 Although
in some cases it may happen that an unprotected
man may elude the attacks of a lion, a buffalo, or a
leopard except they have been provoked, he cannot
indulge the hope of escaping the violence of a
hippopotamus that has once got him within reach of
its power.
When out of several hippopotamuses in a river
one has been wounded, the rest are far more wary in
coming to the surface ; and should the wound have
been fatal, the carcase does not rise for an hour, but
drifts down the stream. The Marutse have a very
simple but effectual way of landing their dead bodies;
a grass rope with a stone attached is thrown across
it, and by this means it is easily guided to the shore.
The whole river-side population is most enthusiastic
in its love of hippopotamus-hunting, and it is owing
to the skill of the Marutse natives in this pursuit
that they have been brought from their homes in the
Upper Zambesi, and established in villages down here,
where they may help to keep the court well supplied
1 This peculiarity may perhaps be physiologically accounted
for by the small weight of the brain as contrasted with the
ponderous size of the body.
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 131
not only with fresh and dried fish, but particularly
with hippopotamus-flesh.
The boats that are used as “ mokoro tshi kubu ”
(hippopotamus-canoes) are of the smallest size, only
just large enough for one ; they are difficult to
manage, but are very swift ; the weapons employed
are long barbed assegais, of which the shafts are so
light that they are not heavier than the ordinary
short javelins for military use.
While I was in Sesheke I heard of a sad casualty
that had occurred near the town in the previous
year. A Masupia on his way down the river saw a
hippopotamus asleep on a sandy bank, and believing
that he might make it an easy prey, approached it
very gently and thrust his spear right under the
shoulder. The barb, however, glinted off its side,
inflicting only a trifling wound. In a second, before
the man had time to get away, the infuriated brute
was up, and after him. In vain he rolled himself
over to conceal himself in the grass ; the beast
seemed resolved to trample him to pieces ; he held
up his right hand as a protection, and it was crushed
by the monster’s fangs ; he stretched out his left,
and it was amputated by a single bite. He was
afterwards found by some fishermen in a most
mutilated state, barely able to recount his misfortune
before he died.
Although I have often tasted hippopotamus-meat,
I cannot say that I like it. The gelatinous skin
when roasted is considered a delicacy ; in its raw
state it makes excellent handles for knives and
workmen’s tools, as it shrinks as it dries, and takes
firm hold upon the metal.
If a hippopotamus is killed within fifty miles of
k 2
132 Seven Years in South Africa.
Sesheke half of it is always sent to the king, and the
breast reserved for the royal table. It is at night¬
time that the hippopotamus generally goes to its
pasturage, in the choice of which it is very particular,
sometimes making its way eight or nine miles along
the river-bank, and returning at daybreak to its
resort in the river or lagoons, where its presence is
revealed by its splashes and snorts. Occasionally it
is found asleep in the forests ten miles or more away
from the water. In eastern and southern Matabele-
land, and in the Mashona country, where they are
found in the affluents of the Limpopo and the
Zambesi it is a much less difficult matter to capture
them, and Matabele traders have told me that they
have seen Mashonas attack them in the water with
broad-bladed daggers, and soon overpower them.
In time past hippopotamuses were common
throughout South Africa, and the carvings of the
bushmen would go to prove that they not only
frequented the rivers, but found their way to the
salt rain-pans ; they are still to be found in the rivers
of Natal, and I was told in Cape Colony that they
are in existence in Kaffraria ; but in Central South
Africa they are not seen south of the Limpopo.
The Zambesi abounds with crocodiles, but we did
not see one that day.
The shores of the river here consisted of alternate
strata of clay and earth, varying from two to
eighteen inches in thickness, the mould made up of
alluvial soil and decayed vegetable matter. In some
places where the outflow from some hollow in the
plain had made itself a channel to the river, the
natives had dammed it up by an embankment of
rushes ten feet high. We travelled at the rate of
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 133
three to three-and-a-half miles an hour ; and in the
course of the day crossed the river ten times, either
to cut off a bend in the stream or to avoid the full
current. Towards the right we had an extensive
view of Blockley’s kraal, full of life with its innu¬
merable heads of game and cattle, but towards the
south and west we were quite shut in by tower¬
ing banks of reeds grown up into thickets, which,
together with the lagoons they form, are the resort
of elephants as well as of hippopotamuses. Finding a
deserted hut upon a sandy bank, we resolved to spend
the night beneath its shelter.
Several of the men set to work immediately with
their knives and assegais to cut down a number of
reeds, which they tied together into bundles ; others
with the same implements dug a series of holes into
which the reeds were put upright as props ; mean¬
while three canoes had been sent across the stream
to fetch dry grass which was spread over the top
of the supports, and thus in marvellously quick
time some huts were erected from four to six feet
in height.
Next morning on the left-hand shore we passed
the mouth of the Kasha or Kashteja, the river called
by Livingstone the Majeela, the name by which it is
known amongst the Makololos. A few hundred
yards above its mouth the stream was in some places
hardly more than fifteen yards wide, but although it
was only three feet deep, it was quite unsafe to try
to wade across it, on account of the crocodiles with
which its seething waters abounded. We met
several canoes full of people from Makumba’s town,
who had been to Sesheke with ivory for Sepopo,
and were now returning, having received a pre-
134 Seven Years in South Africa.
sent of some ammunition and two woollen shirts
apiece.
We paused on our way to refresh ourselves with
a bath in a shallow place which we ascertained was
safe, and then hurried on with all speed, that we
might reach the royal quarters before evening.
Some small herds of cattle grazing along the river¬
side, under the close surveillance of their keepers,
apprised us of our approach to the new settlement,
which enjoys the advantage of being free from the
tsetse fly.
Old Sesheke lay on a lagoon about a mile and a
half west of the place where the river makes a
sudden bend to the east, and the original Marutse
royal residence was in the fertile mother-country of
the Barotse, which was eminently fitted for cattle-
breeding. Sepopo, however, the present king, had
made himself unpopular amongst the Barotse, and
had moved away into the Masupia country, although
it was a district which, except in a few detached
places, was much infested with the tsetse. He had,
however, another reason for the change he made ;
he was dissatisfied with the dealings of the Portu¬
guese traders, whose goods he found to be of very
inferior quality as compared with those brought by
Westbeech, and accordingly he was anxious to make
a move that would bring him into nearer connexion
with the traders from the south.
As we approached the royal residence, Blockley
proposed that we should announce our arrival by a
rumela. The echoes of our shots had hardly died
away before some groups of men gathered under the
trees, and our salute was answered by another ;
manifestly the king was amongst the people, super-
In the Valleys of the Chobe and the Zambesi. 1 3 5
intending the organization of the new settlement.
Our boatmen joined in the shouting that was com¬
menced upon the beach, where the clamour lasted
for a quarter of an hour, until we . reached the
landing-place, where several canoes were drawn up
under the trees.
In order to have audience of the ruler of the
Central Zambesi, I felt that it was becoming on my
part to dress myself in my very best, but it was
rather aggravating at the last moment to find that
my hat had been mislaid. Blockley. would scarcely
allow me time to overhaul my baggage to get at
the missing article, but dragged me off, telling me
that the sound of the myrimba was already begun.
I have already mentioned that Sepopo had been
expecting me for some months ; he had often
inquired of Westbeech and Blockley when the nyaka
was coming, to travel through the country like
Monari (Livingstone) ; and although since the visit
of the great explorer he had had interviews with
at least fifteen white men, he was desirous to give me
a more imposing reception than any of them..
136
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER VII.
FIRST VISIT TO THE MARUTSE KINGDOM.
My reception by Sepopo — The libeko — Sepopo’s pilfering pro¬
pensities — The royal residence — History of the Marutse-
Mabunda empire — The various tribes and their districts —
Position of the vassal tribes — The Sesuto language — Dis¬
covery of a culprit — Portuguese traders at Sepopo’s court
— Arrangements for exploring the country — Construction of
New Sesheke — Fire in Old Sesheke — Culture of the tribes
of the Marutse-Mabunda kingdom — Their superstition — Rule
of succession — Resources of the sovereign — Style of building
—The royal courtyard — Musical instruments — War-drums —
The kishi dance — Return to Impalera and Panda ma Tenka
— A lion adventure.
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 137
200 yards I stood face to face with his majesty.
He was a man of about five-and-thirty, dressed
in European style, with an English hat upon his
head, decorated with a fine white ostrich feather.
He had a broad, open countenance, large eyes, and
a good-humoured expression that betrayed nothing
of the tyrant that he really was. Advancing to
meet me with a light and easy tread, he smiled
pleasantly as he held out his hand, and after
greeting Blockley in a similar fashion, he be¬
stowed a nod of recognition on our servant April.
He was accompanied by some of the principal court-
officials, only one of whom wore trousers; two
others had woollen garments fastened across their
backs, whilst the rest were only to be distinguished
from the general mob by the number of bracelets on
their arms. The most noticeable part of the pro¬
cession was the royal band ; on either side of the
king were myrimba-players bringing out the most
excruciating sounds with a pair of short drumsticks
from a keyboard of calabashes suspended from their
shoulders by a strap ; these were preceded by men
with huge tubular drums, upon which they played
with their fingers, accompanying the strains with
their voices. Followed by this motley throng, we
were conducted to a tall mimosa, where we were
met by a man in European costume, whom Sepopo
introduced to me as Jan Mahura, a Bechuana,
who had resided three years with him as inter¬
preter.
Blockley was able to dispense with the services of
this corpulent, sly-looking individual, but to me he
proceeded formally to introduce his Majesty as
“ Sepopo, Morena of the Zambesi.” The king then
138 Seven Years in South Africa.
seated himself upon a little wooden stool that a
servant had been carrying for him, and made signs to
us to be seated on the ground; but seeingthat I hesi¬
tated about taking such a position in my best suit of
black, he sent for two trusses of dry grass upon which
Blockley and I had to sit down without more ado.
Sepopo began to besiege Blockley with question
after question, and as I was not sufficiently versed
in the Sesuto-Serotse dialect to follow their con¬
versation, I entertained myself by criticizing the
company. Presently the crowd opened to admit a
young man, preceded by a herald, and carrying a
great wooden dish which, after making an obeisance,
he placed on the open space between us and the king.
The odour was quite sufficient to make us aware
that the dish contained broiled fish. Sepopo picked
out a fish at random and handed it to the chiefs
Kapella and Mashoku, who had to eat a portion of
it ; and having thus satisfied himself that the food
was not poisoned, he handed one each to Blockley
and me, and took another himself. Our fingers had
to do duty in the absence of forks, the mighty
sovereign of many and many a thousand miles
setting us the example in a very dexterous fashion.
We had eaten nothing since breakfast, and were
consequently by no means disinclined to make a
good meal now ; but the etiquette of the country did
not permit us to eat more than half a fish, and we
were expected to pass over the rest to the chiefs
who were sitting next us, they in their turn taking
a bit and handing the remnant to their neighbours.
Ten fish constituted the whole repast, and the
servants were permitted to pick the heads.
The Marutse- excel in their methods of dressing
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 139
fish, some being stewed in their own oil, and others,
after they have been dried in the snn, being broiled
on ashes. The kinds that are stewed are those
known among the Zambesi tribes as tshi-mo, tshi-
gatshimshi, and tshi-mashona, all rapacious fish,
except the hard-lipped inquisi, being disliked by
them. I rarely saw them eat the common flat¬
headed sheat-fish ; they avoid it chiefly because its
flesh is so often perforated by a parasite, a sort
of spiral worm about an inch long, not unlike a
trichina. A great many fish, after being sun-dried,
are kept for months, and then packed in baskets and
sent to the north for sale.
When we had finished our repast, several servants
brought bowls of water, with which the inner circle
were expected to moisten their lips. After our
primitive method of feeding, it was quite necessary
that we should get rid of the grease from our
fingers ; and to assist us in this, one of the servants
brought a platter containing about twenty dirty
little green balls of the size of a walnut. The king
and the courtiers each took one and rubbed it over
their hands, which they afterwards washed. When
it came to my turn to help myself to one of the
balls, my curiosity to know of what it consisted
provoked very general amusement. By the king’s
direction Jan Mahura, the interpreter, called out to
me, “ Smell them, sir,” and I was at once aware
that they were of the nature of soap. After washing,
Blockley and I dried our hands upon our pocket-
handkerchiefs, but Sepopo and his officers scraped
the moisture off their fingers with their “libekos.”
The outer ranks of the assembly merely rubbed
their hands on the dry sand.
140 Seven Years in South Africa.
The libeko used by the Bantu tribes in the place
of our pocket-handkerchief is a miniature shovel
made of very different sizes, being from half an inch
to an inch wide, but varying from two inches to ten
inches in length. It is usually attached to a small
strap or a chain of grass or beads, and its effect is not
only to widen the nostrils, but to disfigure the
countenance generally.
As the afternoon was advancing, the king rose,
and attended by his vocal and instrumental per¬
formers, led the way to the landing-place, where we
all embarked in three canoes for an airing on the
water. We were not long upon the main stream
before we turned into a lagoon, whence, after about
a quarter of an hour, we entered another side lagoon,
which brought us to the landing-place of Old
Sesheke. This town, which the king was now
leaving for his new settlement, was on the border
of a sandy wood, and scarcely twenty-five feet above
the valley. Close to it, built of wood or reeds, were
the storehouses in which Westbeech put his goods
until Sepopo was ready to pay for them in ivory.
The courtyard contained three huts, one occupied
by Westbeech’ s cook, one by his other servants, and
a third used as his kitchen. Behind his own little
house, and between it and the hedge, stood a fourth
hut, about five feet high and seven feet in diameter,
similar in shape to a Koranna hut, with a doorway
that could only be entered on all fours. This was
assigned to me during my residence in the king’s
domains.
Before I took possession of my mansion, I was
invited, Blockley with me, to join the king at supper.
He was in a little cemented courtyard sitting on a
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 1 4 1
mat ; we were accommodated in a similar way, and
conducted to our seats upon his left hand, the queen
and some officials being placed upon his right. The
meal consisted of boiled eland flesh served upon
plates, and this time we found ourselves provided
with knives and forks, which had been introduced by
the traders from the west coast. As sauce to the
meat we were offered manza, a transparent sort of
meal-pap, that upon analyzing, I afterwards ascer¬
tained was very nutritious. After supper some
impote (honey-beer) was brought in a round-bodied
gourd-shell with a twisted neck, and poured out into
large tin mugs that had been a present from West-
beech. The butler, after clapping his hands, sat
down in the open space in front of the king and
drank off the first goblet ; the king took the next,
and, after sipping it, passed it to the queen on his
left, and then received it back from her and offered
it to us ; although several of the chiefs that were
present were allowed to partake of the beverage, no.
one but ourselves was permitted to put his lips to the
royal cup. When the drinking was over, the king
rose from his seat, took off his boots, and gave them
to the waiting-maid who had brought in the meat,
and retired to his house, though not until he had
invited me to breakfast with him in the morning.
I had been asleep in my new quarters for about
two hours, when I was roused by a noise in the
small front room of the storehouse, and looking out
I saw a glimmer of light, by which I could distinctly
make out that Sepopo and some of his people were
rummaging amongst the goods that Blockley had
just deposited there ; after waiting a little longer, I
saw Sepopo come out and walk off with a waggon-
142 Seven Years in South Africa.
lantern that Blockley had refused to give him during
the day. It was a transaction that opened my eyes
to the way which the Marutse king had of getting
possession of any articles that might take his fancy.
Before concluding my account of my first day at
Sesheke, I may mention a little incident that occurred
while we were sitting drinking the impote. Fo ur men
arrived laden with ivory, and after depositing the load
of tusks in the middle of the enclosure, they clapped
their hands and prostrated themselves five times
with their foreheads to the ground, crying out,
“ Shangwe ! Shangwe ! ” They then retired quite
into the rear of all the rest, to remain till the meal
was over. When the king summoned them, they
crept forward, and kept clapping their hands very
gently all the time the king was speaking to them,
and when he ceased they proceeded with great
volubility to recount all the particulars of the hunting-
excursion from which they had returned. They were
much commended, and told to come in the morning
to receive some ammunition and their proper reward.
The ivory was crown property, and the guns used
by the hunters were only lent to them, and were
liable to be recalled at any moment at the royal
pleasure.
It was quite customary for all white men, before
entering Impalera, to send the king a present by way
of securing a pass from the banks of the Chobe to his
territory. No such impost, however, was demanded
from me. It was entirely a voluntary act on my
part, that I made an offering of a Snider breech¬
loader and 200 cartridges.
Unlike supper, breakfast was not served in the
open air, but inside the house. The long grass-hut,
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 143
similar to a gabled roof some eight feet high, was
divided by a partition into two compartments, the
walls of the front one, in which we took our meal,
being decorated with guns, Marutse weapons,
elephants’ tusks, and various articles of apparel,
amongst which I noticed the uniform of a Portuguese
dragoon. I took advantage of the good humour and
communicative mood of the king, to gain from him
some information about Marutse history and the
growth of the kingdom ; and as various points were
afterwards confirmed by several of the chiefs, it may
not be inopportune to introduce them here.
Under the leadership of their chief Sebituani, a
branch of the Basutos between the upper courses
of the Orange and Yaal rivers emigrated north¬
wards. After forcing their way through the
Bechuana countries, and subduing various tribes on
the lower Chobe and central Zambesi (amongst
whom were the eastern Bamashi and Barutse, who
occupied an area of 2000 square miles), they not only
succeeded in exacting tribute from other tribes as far
eastward as the river Kafue, but they consolidated
themselves into the Makololo Empire. Their next
king was Sekeletu. The discords that sprung up
amongst the people during his reign opened the way
for the vanquished Marutse tribe to resume arms
against them, and that with such success that after
several battles the Makololos residing between the
Chobe and the Zambesi, already decimated by
disease, were reduced to two men and some boys,
while their male population south of the Chobe, who
had numbered more than 2000, were in like manner
brought down to a mere handful. Had they re¬
mained on the right bank of the Chobe, the Makololos
144 Seven Years in South Africa.
would probably have existed to this day ; but fear¬
ing that the Marutse would be reinforced by the
Mabundas and other subject tribes, they made their
way towards Lake N’gami in the territory of the
western Bamangwatos. There they were sadly
deceived ; they were received with apparent cor¬
diality, but were ultimately the victims of a cruel
stratagem; messengers from King Letshuatabele
greeted them with the salutation, “ If you come as
friends and not as foes, leave your spears and battle-
axes and come into the city;” in full confidence they
accepted the invitation, but no sooner had they
entered the kotla than the citizens barred the
entrance with poles and boughs, and massacred them
to a man. The women were divided amongst the
conquerors, the king having his first choice of the
most attractive ; the chiefs took the next pick,
leaving the rest to be distributed amongst their
subjects. From that time women of brown com¬
plexion have been found amongst the Bathowanas
and people north of the Zambesi, though the dark-
skinned tribes always regard it as a sign of degenera¬
tion of race. Sepopo subsequently took possession
of the whole of the Makololo country, with the
exception of the eastern Bamashi territory and their
land south of the Chobe, where he did not enter from
fear of the Matabele.
To the north of the Marutse was the Mabunda
kingdom, which was governed by members of the
Marutse royal family. The queen on her death-bed
some years before had designated Sepopo’ s eldest
daughter Moquai as her successor, but Moquai,
alarmed at the prospect of persecution from her
father, handed over the government to him; and
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 145
thus it happened that now I found a conjoint
Marutse-Mabunda rule, under the sovereignty of
Sepopo, a direct descendant of the original royal
family of the Marutse.
During breakfast Sepopo sent for the chief repre¬
sentatives of eighteen of the larger tribes and intro¬
duced them to me: These tribes are subdivided into
eighty-three smaller ones, and their chiefs are all more
or less in communication with Sesheke. In addition
to those that have been settled for some time within
the kingdom, there are the Matabele, Menon’s
Malalakas, and the Masarwas scattered in various
districts ; of these the two latter are fugitive tribes
from the south, the Matabele having been tributary
to the Bamangwatos, and Menon’s Malalakas to the
Matabele.
The Marutse occupy the fertile valleys of the
Barotse country on both sides the Zambesi, from
Sekhose to about 150 miles south of the confluence
of the Kabompo and the Liba. I believe the
Barotse valley to be the most productive portion of
the kingdom, and as well adapted for agriculture as
for cattle-breeding; it abounds in game, but is
likewise prolific in wild vegetable products, of which
india-rubber is not the least important. The country,
formerly the residence of various members of the
royal family, contains several towns ; the districts
east and north-east of it are occupied by the
Mabundas, so that it follows that the bulk of the
population that lies outside the Barotse is, for the
most part, to be found near the rivers Nyoko, Lombe,
and Loi;
The district joining the Mabundas on the north is
in the occupation of the Mankoe, but it does not
VOL. 11. 1
1 46 Seven Years in South A frica.
extend beyond the west bank of the Zambesi ; again
to the north of this is the settlement of the Mamboe,
on the lower Kabompo and Liba. Around the
town of Kavagola, on the upper Zambesi, are the
Bamomba and Manengo tribes, while the Masupia
region lies for fifty miles up the river from a point
about thirty miles below its junction with the Chobe.
East of this the Batoka people range for thirty miles
below the Victoria Falls, where their frontier is
joined by the Matongas, who reside near the middle
of the Kashteja, Livingstone’s Majeela. On the
lower course of the Kashteja, between the Matongas
and Masupias, are the western Makalakas, the
eastern Makalakas being farther down the Zambesi,
with Wankie’s kraal as their principal property.
The Luyana tribe is settled south of the Zambesi to
the west of the Masupias, and the other tribes either
extend in small districts thence towards the Barotse
valley, north of the Matongas, and east of the
Mamboe, or have scattered themselves about in
little detached settlements here and there over the
kingdom.
Nearly the whole of these which I have thus briefly
enumerated are, with the marked distinction of the
Marutse, held as vassals, the people being treated to
a certain degree as slaves. However it is not more
than a quarter of them who actually pay any tribute,
these being chiefly the eastern tribes, such as the
Batokas, eastern Makalakas and Mabimbis. As a
consequence of Sepopo’s oppression, many of the
natives have withdrawn from the kingdom, generally
going south, and the difficulty of collecting tribute
anywhere has very greatly increased. The imposts
levied upon such as can be induced to pay them
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS OE
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 147
consist chiefly of cereals, either wheat, kaffir-corn,
and maize, or of consignments of dried fruits,
gourds, india-rubber, mats, canoes, weapons of any
kind, wooden utensils, and musical instruments.
Ivory, honey, and manza are crown-property, and it
is a capital offence for any one to carry on any
transactions with regard to them on his own account.
Without exception, all the tribes are bound to supply
the Marutse sovereign with a stated number of
tusks, both of male and female elephants, and with
a stipulated quantity of the skins of a large dark
brown species of lemur.
The prevailing language of the kingdom, and the
principal medium of correspondence between the
different tribes, is that of the extirpated Makololos.
Overtaken as they have been by the arm of fate, and
swept away from existence as a recognized com¬
munity, they have yet bequeathed to their conquerors
the heritage of their dialect. The enlargement
of the kingdom by the annexation of the Mabunda
territory, and the ever-increasing traffic with the
population south of the Zambesi, have resulted in
the Sesuto of the Makololos being adopted as the
common tongue. It is of immense advantage to an
explorer to be familiar with it, as although it may
not be found in its purity, having been corrupted
more or less by the admixture of the Serotse, it will
rarely fail to enable him to make himself understood
in any quarter of the kingdom.
When I asked the king the extent of his domi¬
nions, he told me that it took his people fifteen
or twenty days to reach the northern frontier ;
and after making strict inquiries, first of the native
chiefs, then of the envoys from the Mashukulumbe,
l 2
1 48 Seven Years in South A frica.
and lastly from the Portuguese traders, and reducing
the days’ journeys to miles, I think that 1 am quite
borne out in assigning the boundaries as they are
marked in my map ; that is to say, with the Mashu-
kulumbe on the north and east, the Bamashis on the
west, and the Bamangwatos and Matabele country
on the south.
Sepopo’s name in the Serotse dialect means “ a
dream,” and his mother was called Mangala. After
introducing me to the principal chiefs and officials
that were then in Sesheke, amongst whom was
Kapella the commander-in-chief, he presented Ma-
shoku the executioner, a repulsive Mabunda, and his
two fathers-in-law, who were about to become his
sons-in-law as well, as, having married their daughters,
he was going to give them two of his own young
daughters as wives in return.
During the time that these introductions were
going on, honey-beer was being drunk, and it occurred
to me that Lunga, the handsomest of the ladies, took
an uncommonly large share. Yery shortly after¬
wards three Marutse came into the tent uttering a
loud cry of “ Shangwe,” and each carrying a buffalo’s
tail; they had been sent by the king to procure
some meat for Blockley and myself. Before I
left, Sepopo pointed out to me his two doctors
who provided him with charms when he went
hunting.
I spent the remainder of the day in making an
investigation of the town, returning in the evening
to the royal residence, where I found that Ma-
kumba had just come in from Impalera, bringing
the melancholy intelligence that Y., the trader that
I had met at Schneemann’s Pan, and had urged to
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 1 49
go on as quickly as possible to my waggon at Panda
ma Tenka, had died before reaching there.
On the night of the 20th an event occurred that
rather tended to disturb the harmonious relations
between Sepopo and myself. By Blockley’s hospi¬
tality a very lively evening had been spent in his
courtyard, and it was getting on for midnight
before his black guests of both sexes had emptied
the three great pitchers of beer with which he had
entertained them, and had set out on their way
home. For a long time afterwards the uproar they
made, and the harsh notes of their calabash key¬
boards, made sleep quite out of the question, but at
length I dropped into a doze, from which I was
almost immediately aroused by the barking of a dog.
I opened my eyes, and at once observed that my hut
was peculiarly light, although I had blocked up the
entrance with a chest. In another instant I made
out that there was a dark figure in the aperture, and
that a native was in the very act of taking my
clothes, which I had thrown on the top of the chest.
The only weapon that was at hand was an assegai
which I had bought on the previous day, but it was
hanging out of my reach ; and before I could get at
it, the thief and a partner he had with him had run
away towards the huts. I followed as quickly as
I could, but too late to see them. On my way
I found that they had left a stick and a fish behind.
It was not likely that I could get much more sleep
that night, and the first thing I did in the morning
was to go and tell the king what had happened. He
made a very evasive reply, and I could feel evidently
enough that my company that day gave him anything
but pleasure. Nevertheless I determined to do what
150 Seven Yeai's in South Africa .
I could to sift the matter to the bottom. In spite of
the absurdity of expecting to get an applicant, I sent
one of Blockley’s servants to the town to circulate
the report that I had found a stick, which I should
be happy to return to its proper owner. Late in
the afternoon a middle-aged man appeared and
claimed the stick, and as he said that the fish was
also his property, I took him off forthwith to the
king. Meanwhile the stolen articles had beeil con¬
cealed, and when the man’s hut was searched by the
king’s messenger nothing could be found, and accord¬
ingly the man was declared not guilty. I expressed
my dissatisfaction with the judgment, whereupon the
king said that if I wished it the man should be
punished, but as I quite understood that this punish¬
ment meant death, I acquiesced in his being released ;
nevertheless I made it thoroughly well known that
I should shoot the very next burglar that I found
trying to get into my hut. Sepopo assented to all
I said, and repeated my words aloud to the crowd
that had been drawn together by the affair.
Later in the evening some Barotse men arrived
with their subsidies of corn, one of them being
a Matabele who had been captured by Sekeletu.
Sepopo took them in and showed them over his
hut, of which he was not a little proud.
As it had been intimated to me by Masangu, an
official who might be described as the controller of
the arsenal, that the king was willing to grant me
some favour by way of compensation for my annoy¬
ance at the robbery, I considered it a good oppor¬
tunity to prefer my formal request for permission to
explore his dominions. For this purpose I was
conducted into the little courtyard, where I found
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 1 5 1
Sepopo sitting with about thirty men squatting
around him in perfect silence ; my eye, as I entered,
at once lighted upon one of these men who was bent
down in a peculiarly demure attitude. It struck
me immediately that he was not a Marutse
native, and on looking again I saw that he was a
half-caste.
Having asked the king whether he had heard of
my wishes from Westbeech, and receiving an answer
in the affirmative, I proceeded to explain to him, as
definitely as I could, the object of my journey.
He listened to me very attentively, and was silent
for some moments, after which he said,—
“ Can the white doctor speak Serotse or Sesuto ? ”
I replied that I knew neither.
“ Can he then speak the language of these men ? ”
and he pointed to two of the attendants squatting on
the ground beside him, one of which was the sly-
looking half-caste that I had already noticed.
On my asking who they were, the man servilely
raised his hat, and in a fawning voice informed me
that he and the companion at his side were Portu¬
guese traders and good Christians. I further
ascertained that they belong to the so-called Mam-
bari, of whom I had heard all kinds of unpleasant
stories. Sepopo introduced the man who had
spoken to me by the name of Sykendu, adding that
he was “a great man” and “a doctor,” but the
hypocritical look which the fellow put on only con¬
firmed me in the unfavourable impression I had formed
of his character. Finding that I was not acquainted
with their language, the king said that he considered
it was quite necessary I should learn something of it
before leaving Sesheke, as then these men might act
152 Seven Years in South Africa.
as my guides and interpreters, and would be able to
render me invaluable assistance.
On further conversation I learnt that the Portu¬
guese traders from Loanda, Mossamedes, and Ben-
guela are thoroughly acquainted with the district
between the west coast and Lake Bangweolo,
and with all the country eastwards as far as the
mouth of the Kafue, the whole of which we are
accustomed to consider as “ terra incognita they
not only are acquainted with the rulers of the native
states, but are intimate with all the sub-chieftains,
knowing their individual peculiarities; they are
familiar with the winding of every hill, and the
passage of every river ; but meanwhile they are most
careful, in conjunction with their white colleagues, to
keep all their knowledge to themselves, always fear¬
ful that the traders of other nations may be attracted
to what they are wont to consider their own proper
fields for ivory and caoutchouc.
Overhearing that Sepopo was speaking to me
about my having the services of two guides, Sykendu
came up and put in his word again. He raised his
hat, bowed almost to the ground, crossed himself,
and swore by the Holy Virgin that he and his brother
were two of the best Christians in the interior, and
as such would be the most suitable guides I could
find. Probably this attestation on his part was
made in answer to the suspicious look with which I
regarded him and his associate.
Sepopo waited a moment or two to see whether I
had more to say, and then remarked that he was
satisfied it would be a good thing for me to learn
either the Serotse or the Makololo dialect, as it
might enable me to avoid what had happened to
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 153
Monari (Livingstone), who, in consequence of not
being able to make himself understood by the
chiefs, had been taken for a magician who had
come down from heaven with the rain, an impres¬
sion which he only removed by making them a
present of some muskets.
Again Sykendu interrupted the conversation
between the king and myself, by saying he supposed
that I was aware that the guides always expected a
good remuneration for their services, and although
Sepopo told him that that would be settled all right,
he went on to say that they would require four
tusks weighing eighty pounds apiece. I told him that
I should give four tusks weighing forty pounds
apiece, and that only on condition that I should
deposit them with Sepopo, to be handed over to
them on their return from Matimbundu, whither
they were to conduct me.
However, after all these arrangements had been
made, when I really went on my tour from Sesheke,
it was not with the two Mambari for my guides. I
had meantime learnt that they were slave-dealers,
and having various other reasons for distrusting
them, I declined their services altogether.
After I had made what I then supposed would be
my final contract with the guides, Sepopo promised
to provide me with canoes and boatmen to convey
me to the Barotse valley, beyond which I should
have to procure a change of crews in every fresh
district as far as the Mamboe country. The Mamboe,
who would ultimately accompany me to the great
water, i. e. the sea, would have to be recompensed for
their services by a musket apiece; but the boat¬
men who took me only for the short stages I should
154 Seven Years in South Africa.
find would be satisfied with shirts or pieces of calico.
The king moreover undertook to order all the tribes
along the river to supply my party with whatever
provisions should be requisite. He strongly advised
me to wend my way northwards towards Lake
Bangweolo, a route, he said, by which I should be
able to dispense with canoes and to travel with
bearers, and which would be at once more convenient
to him and less dangerous to myself.
I have since very much repented that I did not
follow this advice, but at that time I was under the
conviction that I should be doing much more for
the advancement of science by following the Zambesi
to its source ; I likewise thought that I should find
the canoe-voyage less fatiguing to myself, so that
my strength might be reserved for the prolonged
land-journev that would come after.
My next proceeding might have been at once to
return to Panda ma Tenka to conclude my necessary
preparations, but I did not leave Sesheke for another
day or two, and amused myself ou one occasion by
going to inspect the site selected for the new town.
I came upon a very animated and interesting scene ;
the building-operations were in full swing, and the
river was alive with canoes laden with grass, stakes,
and reeds, some going straight along the stream,
and some . crossing from bank to bank. On the
shore, men and women in single file were carrying
loads of grass in bundles that almost swept the
ground behind them; others were conveying long
poles, from which were suspended the great clay
vessels, in which the store of corn was being removed
from the old granary to the new. Every here and
there was what might be called a peripatetic roof,
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 155
being a thatch in the course of removal, nothing of
its means of locomotion being visible but the thirty
or forty feet of the bearers, the foremost of whom
had some holes pierced in the roof by which they
could see their way ; many of the people were singing
at their work, and some of them carrying heavy
burdens passed me at a good smart trot. The very
queens found work to do, and I noticed them,
assisted by their maids, moving large bundles of the
grass. Hearing the words “ moro, nyaka makoa,”
(good morning, white doctor), I turned and found
that the greeting came from Makumba the chief, who
was passing by with a number of his people.
Nearly all the residents in the old town were
taking down their huts and preparing to migrate,
none more busy than Blockley, who was packing up
all his goods in readiness to transfer them from his
present enclosure to a grass hut that the king
had directed should be built for him in the new
settlement.
While I was sitting in my hut writing my journal
on the following day, I was startled by the cry of
“ molemo, molemo ! ” (fire, fire ! ) and immediately I
rushed outside ; a single hut was in flames, but as it
was standing in the midst of some hundreds more,
the reed-thatch roofs of which were all extra dry
from the heat of the weather, there was every
reason to fear that others would catch fine, and
that the brisk east wind that was blowing would fan
the flames into a general conflagration. Crowds of
women and children came shrieking and holloaing
down the pathway from the river, and to increase the
commotion, as the fire spread there were the constant
reports of the guns that had been left in the huts,
156 Seven Years in South Africa.
the bullets flying about in all directions, and im¬
perilling the lives of all the bystanders. I had
hardly managed to get my own little property into a
safe place outside the hut, when Blockley came
running up to fetch some shovels. All Westbeech’s
gunpowder, as well as what he had sold to Sepopo,
had been stored in a hut at the edge of the forest,
and as nothing was more likely than that the forest
itself would catch fire, he was anxious to get the
powder away, and to have it buried underground as
quickly as possible.
To the west of our quarters and about thirty yards
away stood the king’s stable, a building composed of
stakes, and on the west was a group of huts, like¬
wise at a considerable distance, so that from these
there was no particular danger to be apprehended ;
but on the north, which was the direction of the fire,
there were two huts so close to us, that should they
catch light our safety must be seriously com¬
promised ; luckily they remained ' intact, but the
crackling flames were getting nearer and nearer
to them, lighting up the figures of the men who
were doing their utmost to arrest their progress.
I had only Pit and one of Blockley’ s servants with
me; they did what they could to carry up our
gourds and clay pitchers full of water from the
river, though they smashed a good many of them in
their excitement ; but I called them off, and made
them help me tear down the fence of our enclosure,
thus putting a very effectual check upon the spread
of any flames towards us. Others of the natives
took the hint and did the same, but in spite
of all efforts, more than half of Old Sesheke was
destroyed.
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 15 7
Sepopo’s mode of showing his annoyance at what
had occurred was somewhat extraordinary. He was
in New Sesheke at the time, and when he heard what
had happened, and saw the flames rising above the
old town, he set to work and vigorously belaboured
all his attendants with a thick stick, only giving up
from sheer fatigue.
In course of time Blockley came back with the
satisfactory intelligence that he had succeeded in
saving the gunpowder, and on receiving my con¬
gratulations, returned the compliment by expressing
his gratification at my having prevented the destruc¬
tion of the warehouses. I little thought to what a
risk I had been exposed, for I was not aware until
afterwards that Blockley had a chest containing
700 lbs. of gunpowder in the courtyard itself.
On the following day several canoes arrived from
the Barotse, and were placed at my disposal by
Sepopo, who urged upon me to lose no time
in returning to Panda ma Tenka, completing my
preparations, and getting back to Sesheke ready to
start. However I did not set out until the 30th,
being resolved first to see Blockley settled in his new
quarters ; my time was fully occupied in making
additions to my ethnographical collection, in study¬
ing the habits of the native tribes, as exhibited by the
representatives who were staying in the place, and
especially in learning the Sesuto language. Relying
upon the king’s promise that the way to the west
coast should be open to me, I now arranged with
Blockley for him to take my waggon and various
collections back to Shoshong, and to deposit them
there until my arrival, and as he was in want of
bullocks, I let him have my team in exchange for ivory
158 Seven Years in South Africa.
and articles that I should be likely to find serviceable,
such as calico and beads.
Before continuing my personal narrative, and con¬
cluding my account of my first visit to the residence
of king Sepopo, I think it desirable to give some out¬
line of the characteristics of the various tribes
dwelling in his dominions.
With the exception of the Mashonas, on the east
of the Matabele, there are none of the South African
tribes that exhibit so much energy, as these in the
Marutse-Mabunda kingdom. The various products
of their handicraft to be found throughout the
country mark them out to a student of comparative
ethnology as people of a relatively high state of
culture, an inference which is further illustrated and
confirmed by their skill in boating, fishing, and other
similar pursuits. Their aptitude in manipulating
metal, horn, bone, wood, or leather, augurs well
for their mental capacity, and they are very quick
in receiving instruction. Compared with the tribes
south of the Zambesi it must be confessed that
their moral standard is low, but this proceeds so
much from their primitive ignorance, and from their
long seclusion from the outer world, and not, as is
the case with the Hottentots, from wilful and
degraded corruption, that I do not hesitate to express
my belief that in this respect they will gradually
show many signs of improvement.
Perhaps the evil which is most deeply rooted
among them is their superstition. In this they are
far worse than most other South African tribes, the
Zulus and Matabele being hardly their match in this
respect. The effect of the vice is both demonstrated
and aggravated by the multitude of human lives that
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 159
are sacrificed to its demands. The royal house on
the Zambesi is the very hot-bed of superstition;
magic is the pretext under which the worst of bar¬
barities are perpetrated, and the people, associating
the enormities with the sovereigns who sanction them,
learn at once to dread and hate their rulers. To
deliver the people of the district from their super¬
stitious credulity, would be to remove the greatest
hindrance that exists to their future civilization.
Among the Marutse the king has a despotic power
extending to the land as well as to the population ;
until the time however of the present ruler, whose
rule is that of a tyrant, it has very rarely happened
that any king has stretched his right to interfere
with private property. During their own lifetime
the reigning sovereigns appoint their successors ;
these may be of either sex, provided they are born of
a Marutse mother— and women are especially wel¬
come as sovereigns among the northern tribes, on
the presumption that they are less cruel than men.
Amongst the Bechuanas, who are more conserva¬
tive in their instincts, the eldest son of the principal
wife is always recognized as the rightful heir, and
so strictly is this rule enforced, that even if the king
should die before the heir is born, the eldest son
of the widowed queen by another husband would
still be held to be the legitimate successor to the
throne. In 1875 Sepopo appointed his little daughter
of six years of age to be queen at his own demise ;
by right his eldest daughter Moquai should have
been nominated, but as she had been formally
designated as the proper sovereign of the Mabun-
das, he feared that she already had too many
friends and supporters in that district, to make it
160 Seven Years in South Africa.
advisable for him to name her as successor to the
joint kingdom. The king’s principal wife is always
called “ the mother of the country.”
The king holds the offices of chief doctor and chief
magician, and under the cloke of these two arts, he
works upon the credulity of the people by the most
hideous crimes, being himself quite aware of the
hollowness of his pretences.
Large sources of revenue are open to the king of
the Marutse people. Besides his own extensive
territories, which are cultivated partly by colonies of
subjects, and partly by the royal wives with their
staff of labourers, the direct taxes, which include
contributions of every article which a prince can
require, yield an immense revenue. As a consequence,
moreover, of ivory and india-rubber, the staple
commodities of the country, being crown property,
the king is the chief merchant, and from time to time
he makes large purchases of goods to the amount of
3000Z. to 5000Z., which he gives away to the people
who reside near him, or to the chiefs or subjects who
may happen to visit him, always stipulating that any
guns that may be distributed shall be considered not
given, but lent. Notwithstanding his wealth, it will
often happen that the king looks with a covetous eye
upon some property, perhaps a fine herd of cattle,
belonging to one of his more well-to-do subjects, and
although he considers he has a perfect right to it,
he hardly likes to carry it off by force, but proceeds
to get the owner convicted of treason or witchcraft,
and put to death, after which he appropriates to
himself the property he wants.
Quite undisputed is the king’s power to put to
death, or to make a slave of any one of his subjects
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 1 6 1
in any way he chooses ; he may take a man’s wife
simply by providing him with another wife as a
substitute, and he is quite at liberty to demand any
children he may wish to devote to the purposes of
his magic. Reigning queens may choose any husband
they like, perfectly regardless of the consideration
whether he is married or not. It is high treason for
any subject to retain possession of an article that is
either more handsome or more valuable than what
belongs to the king, and anything of exceptional
quality, whether it has been purchased from neigh¬
bouring tribes or from white men, or even manu¬
factured in the country, belongs to the king, or at
least is free for him to claim as a matter of course.
I could not offer anybody a present of anything the
least unusual without finding it invariably refused,
the excuse being that no one dared to take for
himself what he was not quite sure that Sepopo
already possessed.
In their style of building, as in other respects, the
Marutse-Mabunda people surpass most of the tribes
south of the Zambesi. This remark, however, applies
only to the stationary tribes, and does not include the
temporary erections put up by those who come for
hunting and fishing, either on their own sites or in
places marked out for them by the chief or king ;
such structures are generally found on the river-
banks, or on wooded slopes, or in glades where game
is likely to resort ; but the permanent settlements
are scattered over the kingdom, the larger towns
being mainly in the Barotse country. The houses in
these established towns are as a general rule equally
strong and comfortable, and they have the advantage
of being very quickly constructed. It may be said
VOL. II. M
1 62 Seven Years in South Africa.
that the material required is very abundant, and
most conveniently close at hand, but so it is in the
case of the tribes much farther south. The northern
people are much more adroit in turning their natural
advantages to good account. No better example is
needed than that of New Sesheke to prove the
rapidity of their building-operations ; nor can it be
objected that their huts are more liable to be burnt
down than those of the Bechuana, Zulu, and
Hottentot races ; the truth is that when any of these
are destroyed, they are so easily replaced that the
damage is quite inappreciable.
The river-system of the Marutse district is just of
the character, on account of its extensive marshlands,
to provide the inhabitants with most admirable and
productive sites for their settlements ; all around is
an abundance of reeds for building purposes, wood
for framework and for laths, besides bast, palm-
leaves for making ropes and twine, metal for nails
and bolts, and sand and clay for cement. Even if it
should happen that in any particular spot there
should be a deficiency of any one of these materials,
the light canoes are so available, and the natives so
ready to assist one another, that the want is soon
supplied. The towns are built as close to the rivers
as the annual inundations will permit, and are
generally surrounded by villages that are for the
most part tenanted by the vassal people, who till the
fields and tend the cattle of the masters who reside
within the town itself. That cleanliness is com¬
paratively great, both in the settlements and amongst
the population, is probably to be attributed to the
abundance of water always at their command.
I observed that the Marutse themselves were
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 163
always to be credited with a more masterly style of
workmanship than any of the servile tribes around
them and in their employ. They had three distinct
classes of buildings, one of a double concentric form,
another cylindrical, and a third long and low. That
which I designate the concentric hut consists of two
compartments, the inner being the loftier and in
shape like the inferior half of a cone, the outside one
considerably lower and cylindrical in its form. The
inner hut is covered by a low vaulted roof of its own,
over which is placed another roof, conical in its
design, and projecting five or six feet beyond the top
of the outer compartment, supported at its extremity
by a series of upright posts that form a shady
verandah running round the whole. After the
owner, with the help of his vassals, has procured the
materials, and prepared the foundation by making a
layer of level cement, the construction of the edifice
is left to the women. A royal residence is always
built by the royal wives. The circular sites upon
which the structures are reared vary from twenty
to forty feet in circumference ; round their edge a
trench is dug some ten or twelve inches deep and
about five inches wide, into which are planted
loose bundles of strong reeds, when the trench is
filled up with soil again. To bind the loose reeds
together several palm-leaf cords are woven amongst
them, and as these are drawn tighter and tighter
they have the effect of giving the structure a
conical form, arising from the tapering character
of the reeds themselves; these are then trimmed
off evenly at a height of about twelve feet from
the ground, after which the outside, and not
unfrequently the inside also, is plastered over with
m 2
164 Seven Years in South Africa.
cement. Meanwhile a low conical roof has been
woven by the men, which is placed in position, and
left to be cemented on by the women. The door¬
way, which generally faces the entrance to the
enclosure, is a semi-oval aperture cut in the reeds,
and finished off all round with a cement moulding.
This completes the inner compartment.
For the outer building the foundation is made in
precisely the same way ; the trench is dug, but the
reeds inserted are some two feet at least shorter than
before; in consequence however of this being the
wall which has to maintain the great burden of the
roof, it is always strengthened by a number of peeled
stakes driven in firmly against it at intervals of only
a few inches apart, and when the whole has been
thoroughly cemented over on both sides, the material
of which it has been formed is quite undistinguish-
able. The doorway is cut so as to correspond
exactly with that of the inner compartment, and is
generally about six feet high and three feet wide.
While the outer wall, ordinarily from forty to sixty
feet in circumference, is being finished by the
women, the men drive in the verandah-poles about a
yard or a yard and a half away, and then proceed to
put together the upper or principal roof, the lifting
of which into position is the greatest difficulty of the
whole ; the operation is effected by about fifty men
raising it from the ground by long levers and
gradually getting it supported all round on a number
>f short stakes ; these stakes are then replaced by
ionger ones, which in their turn are exchanged for
others yet longer, until the roof has been elevated by
degrees to such a height that its edge can be laid
above the top of the inner roof ; it is then driven
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 165
carefully onwards by main force until it properly
covers tbe two enclosures. The ends of the reeds
have then to be clipped off even all round the top of
the verandah, after which the entire roof is covered
with a layer of last year’s grass five or six inches
thick, and bound over with a perfect network of palm-
cord to make it firm against the wind. Great pains
are bestowed upon getting a smooth surface to the
cement, particularly where it is laid over the cornice
of the inner doorway, which not unfrequently is
very delicately moulded. I was told that the former
royal residence in the Barotse valley had been very
prettily built.
Of the kind of houses that I have been describing
the king has three for his own use ; they are sur¬
rounded by an oval fence, and form the centre of
several circles of homesteads, the nearest circle con¬
taining eight residences for the queens, built in the
Masupia style like ovens, and accommodating two or
three ladies apiece; beyond these are placed the
storehouse, the culinary offices, and the huts for the
royal musicians ; the fourth and outer circle con¬
sisting of the huts for all the servants of both sexes,
and containing likewise the council-hall, which is
fitted up very much in European fashion. Ordinarily
the chiefs would have their abodes in a wide circle
outside the court, but here in New Sesheke, where
the royal buildings are bounded on one side by the
river, the dwellings are arranged in a semi-circle, the
ground assigned to each being very accurately
marked out. For protection against wild beasts the
entrance to the king’s courtyard is closed every night
by a strong palisade of reeds.
The second kind of huts, which I have specified
1 66 Seven Years in South Africa.
as the cylindrical, are chiefly used by a branch tribe
of the Marutse. If the walls of these are cemented
at all, it is only on the inside, and they are rarely
more than about eleven feet in diameter ; their tops,
however, are occasionally decorated with ornaments
made of wood, grass, or straw.
The other description of huts, the gabled, have
a low doorway generally in the middle, opposite
the entrance to the courtyard, and their reed-roof
projects, so as to form an eave that serves to
throw off the rain. In the larger erections of this
kind, the gable is supported by stakes, and the
interior is divided by matting into two apart¬
ments, the larger being used for sleeping in, and
the other as a reception-room. Any enclosure
larger than usual would often be found to contain
two of these huts. The more wealthy inhabitants
sometimes have a detached granary as well, and
chiefs not unfrequently provide themselves with an
additional erection which serves as a consultation
hall. As a general rule the courtyards are oval, and
the principal building exactly faces the entrance.
I should say that two-thirds of the Marutse in
Sesheke live in houses such as I have here described,
under their chief Maranzian. The huts of the
Mabunda people are in many respects not unlike
them, but they are shorter and broader, with flatter
roofs, and the courtyards in which they stand are
quadrilateral instead of oval, composed of stakes
about six feet high, driven into the ground five feet
or less apart, and connected by a fence of reeds
braced on to strong cross-poles.
Besides the three principal houses of the king’s
residences, I noticed within the enclosure three
i6 7
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom.
small huts, one of which served the double purpose
of bath-room and laboratory. It had a straw roof
about two feet in diameter, supported on thin
stakes, and in the centre was a post five feet high,
covered all over with a most promiscuous collection
of articles; there were antelopes’ horns, bones,
strings of coral, calabash baskets of herbs, bags of
poison used for executions, magical instruments in
great variety made of wood or ivory, scales of
pangolins and crocodiles, a number of snakes’
skins, and a lot of rags. The floor was strewn with
miscellaneous things of a similar character, and up
in the roof was a small medicine-chest, which had
been a present from a Portuguese trader. Several
musical instruments were hanging against the sides
of the hut. An immense wooden tub was brought
in every evening, in which Sepopo took his bath.
In front of the laboratory -hut stood another, with
a roof in the form of a prism; this was devoted to
the reception of any deformed elephants’ tusks, and
to the storing of the many vessels containing the
different charms employed by the king when he went
out hunting.
Beyond this again was another hut, also with a
prism-shaped roof supported by the stem of a tree,
where was deposited a collection of elephants’
tails, trophies of the number of animals that had
been killed in the neighbourhood ; it was also the
place of security for a large number of assegais,
the finest and best made in the country.
Between the huts and the high reed fence there
were several wooden stands holding the clay
vessels, and gourds containing the ordinary hunting-
charms; and whatever court I entered I never
i68
Seven Years in South Africa.
failed to notice a branch of a tree or small dry stem
planted in the ground, where the master of the
house hung the skulls of antelopes or the upper
vertebrae of the larger mammalia as trophies of his
prowess. After a hunter’s death these are always
placed upon, his grave.
While walking along the river side on the 26th,
I saw a crocodile rise from the river and snap at a
man in a canoe. Fortunately he observed his
danger in time, and managed to save himself by
leaping on to the sandy bank.
During this day the king gave a Mabunda dance
in my honour — a performance of so objectionable a
character that the negroes themselves are quite con¬
scious of its impropriety, and refuse to dance it
except in masks. In their ideas of music the
Marutse-Mabundas seem to be comparatively well
advanced. It is quite true, indeed, that in the
skilful handling of their instruments they are sur¬
passed by some of the tribes on the east coast, who
have more constant intercourse with the Portuguese,
and in singing they are not a match for the Mata-
bele Zulus ; but here was the first instance that I
found of a king with a private band composed
entirely of native artistes. Altogether the band
consisted of twenty men, but it was very rarely that
more than eight or ten of them performed at the
same time, the rest being kept in reserve for the
night. There were several drummers among them,
who played with the palms of their hands or with
their fingers upon long conical or cylindrical kettle¬
drums, over which they walked astride, or upon
double drums in the shape of an hour-glass, which
were suspended from their necks by a strap. The
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 169
principal instruments were the myrimbas, or cala¬
bash pianos, which were carried in the same way
as the double-drums. The two royal zither-players
very seldom performed together. All the musicians
were obliged to be singers as well, having to screech
out the king’s praises between the intervals in the
KISHI -DANCE.
music, or to the muffled accompaniment of their
instruments.
The band was never allowed to perform without
express orders from the king, but was required to
hold itself in constant readiness ; its services were
always brought into requisition on his entry into
the town, and whenever he honoured any public
1 70 Seven Years in South A frica.
dances, weddings, or other festivities with his pre¬
sence. Besides the three kinds of drums, the myrim-
bas, and the zither-like sylimbas, I noticed that the
orchestra included some stringed instruments made
of the ribs of fan-palms, as well as some iron bells ,
one sort being double and without clappers, some
rattles made of fruit shells, and various pipes
MASK OP A KISHI-DANCER.
formed of ivory, wood, or reeds. The stringed
instruments are used at the elephant-dance, the
bells at the kishi-dance, and the rattles at weddings.
On the occasion of the Masupia prophetic dance, the
king lends a number of hollow bottle-shaped gourd-
shells filled with dry seeds, which, when they are
rattled, are exceedingly noisy. Battles, bells, and
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 171
pipes, as well as guitars of a simple make, were to
be found amongst the ordinary population, but all
the larger and more elaborate instruments were
confined to the royal band, consequently I was
unable to get hold of any proper specimen of this
class of native handicraft for my collection. In
nearly all settlements small drums are kept in the
council-hut, and are beaten on the occasion of any
successful hunting-excursion, and at funerals.
The Marutse-Mabunda melodies are somewhat
monotonous, but they are very numerous, and are
of a character that make it evident that a little
cultivation would soon effect a decided improvement
in them. Of course the ordinary manipulation, of
the different instruments is purely mechanical ; but
amongst the king’s zither-players I observed two
grey-headed old men, who really displayed some
amount of taste. As they hummed I could hear
that their voices were precisely in time with their
instruments, gradually sinking to a whisper in the
pianissimo part, and as gradually rising to a forte
when the tune required it. Their performance was
a pleasant contrast to the discordant shouts of the
head drummer, who strove to compete with the
noise of his own huge instrument.
There is one more instrument which I much
regret to have met with in the Marutse country at
all, but which must not be omitted from the enume¬
ration. I allude to the war-drum. In the council-
hall there were four of these ghastly-looking ob¬
jects. The skins were painted all over with red, to
represent blood, and they were filled with fragments
of dry flesh and bones, these bones being princi¬
pally the toes and fingers of the live children of
172 Seven Years in South A frica.
distinguished parents, and supposed to be amulets
to protect the rising town of Sesheke from fire and
sword, and to guard the kingdom generally from
assault and rapine.
Singing amongst the Marutse-Mabunda people is
better than amongst the Bechuanas, and may be
said in many respects to equal that of the Matabele
Zulus, though still inferior in the great songs of
war and death.
The dance to which I have said the king invited
me on the 26th was called the kishi-dance, and is
never performed except by the king’s order. Its
main object seems to be to inflame animal passion,
and it is danced by two men, one of whom is sup¬
posed to represent a woman, or occasionally by two
couples. The performers step forward from a group
of young people, who are all singing most vigor¬
ously, and clapping their hands in time to the
great tubular drums that are being sounded.
Having turned their faces towards the king, they
commence a series of gestures indicating, with many
contortions, the advances of one party coquettishly
rejected by the other. The costumes being royal
property I failed to get possession of any of them.
They consist of a mask with a network attached
to it, and a peculiar covering for the loins. The
masks, which are a speciality in Mabunda handi¬
craft, are modelled by boys from clay and cow-dung,
and painted with chalk and red ochre. They are
considerably :arger than the head, completely cover¬
ing the nec] .. Altogether they bear a sort of resem¬
blance to a helmet with a vizor ; small openings are
left for the eyes and mouth, and sometimes for the
nose ; upon the top are knobs adorned in the middle
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 1 73
with an ornament made from the tail of a striped
gnu, and at the sides with bunches of feathers ; the
tout ensemble is not unlike that of a gurgoyle.
Attached to the head-piece, and covering the shoul¬
ders, is a long, tight jacket of netted bast, with
close-fitting sleeves. Gloves and stockings of the
same material are likewise worn. The performer
personating a woman wears a woollen skirt, reach¬
ing from the waist to the ankles, over which is the
skin of an animal hanging down before and behind.
The only distinction between the male and female
mask is that the ornament on the male is more
elaborate, and that a wisp of straw is twisted round
the neck of the female. A steel girdle is worn
round the waist, to the back of which a number of
small bells is attached, keeping up a tinkling upon
the slightest movement. The dance is repeated in
public almost every fortnight. It attracts a large
number of spectators at every performance, but
children are not allowed to be present.
On the 27th I saw some people of the Alumba
tribe, who had their hair dressed in a very peculiar
fashion. Over the scalp it was divided into four
rows of tufts, nearly two and a half inches long,
which were so thickly plastered over with a mixture
of grease and manganese that the mass of the hair
was completely embedded, and nothing left to ap¬
pear but the ends of the tufts. Some of the Marutse
wore pangolin scales round their necks, or pieces
of a kind of tortoiseshell, with which they are
skilful in stanching blood. I was^lso shown a
piece of wood, which is a remedy fok whooping-
cough, being sucked by children with good effect.
Sepopo made repeated visits to us, always accom-
1 74 Seven Years in South Africa.
panied by a number of servants bringing great
quantities of ivory, which he bartered with Blockley
for guns and ammunition. Whenever he was going
to send his hunters on an excursion, he always had
the men into his residence over-night, and gave them
about a quart of gunpowder each, taking an account
of what he had done. Blockley made great com¬
plaints because the king always required a present
after every transaction. It was a custom that West-
beech had introduced when he was the sole trader
who did business on the Zambesi, and could demand
what terms he liked for his goods ; but now that
other dealers had found their way to Sesheke they
were all completely in the king’s power; and the
result of the competition was to make them bid such
high prices for the ivory that they had good cause
to grumble at the bad state of trade.
When I went to the king next day to consult him
again about my journey, I found that he had just
had an altercation with Blockley, and was conse¬
quently rather cross ; but by interesting him in some
of my travelling experiences, I managed to put him
into a good temper again, and he began to show me
my proper route, by drawing a map of the Upper
Zambesi and its affluents with his stick on the sand.
He was much pleased with the interest I took in his
communications, and calling to him two Manengos
from the Upper Zambesi, who were passing through
the place, and who had several times traversed the
country, he made them also describe the localities ;
and to my satisfaction I found that their delineations
corresponded precisely with his.
Whatever I had that was new to Sepopo, he not
only inquired of what use it was, but almost invari-
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 175
ably wanted to Have it. He made a great many
inquiries about my compass. In order to explain
its object I drew a plan of the eastern hemisphere ;
and then pointing out Africa, showed him the direc¬
tion I took through the Bechuana countries.
I was invited to pay a visit to the royal kitchen,
a department that was under the superintendence of
a woman, who had several assistants. Everything
was very clean, and the huge corn-bins were placed
on wooden stands in little separate huts made 01
matting and reeds. A fire was kept continually
burning on a low hearth in the courtyard, at which,
during the time of my visit, a servant was boiling a
piece of hippopotamus-flesh. The meat, which was
nearly done, was afterwards served on a large
wooden dish, then cut up into fragments, placed upon
smaller dishes, and so sent in to the queen.
A messenger that evening arriving from Panda ma
Tenka brought word that Westbeech and another
trader had arrived there from Shoshong, and as I
hoped to be off next morning, I sat up nearly all
night to work at my drawings. It was quite early
when I was summoned to the canoes which were to
take me to Makumba’s landing-place, and then wait
for Westbeech. The passage down the river was just
as pleasant as it had been on the way up. I gave
my chief attention to the different varieties of birds,
finding some interesting subjects for study in the
speckled black-and-white skimmers ( Rhynchojpince ),
with their lower mandible much elongated, in the
huge marabouts, and in the fine kingfishers. The
reeds were covered with snails, and the banks lite¬
rally perforated by crabs. Pools lay close together
all along the shore, the stream having fallen eighteen
176
Seven Years in South Africa.
inches in the interval of the few days since I had last
passed over it.
We spent the night in a creek, starting off again
ON THE SHORES OF THE ZAMBESI.
betimes next morning. The boatmen exerted them¬
selves to their utmost, and our progress was not
much short of five miles an hour. On reaching
Impalera I found that Westbeech,with a considerable
First Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 1 77
party, had arrived before me ; they were now on the
point of starting to pay their respects to Sepopo.
Their waggons had been left at Panda ma Tenka.
Westbeech, who had married the daughter of a
farmer in the Transvaal a few months before, had
his young wife with him, and was attended by his
clerk Bauren ; Francis, the merchant who was
travelling with him, had likewise, according to
his custom, brought his wife, who had already
done much to secure the respect both of the
white residents and the natives. They were ac¬
companied by a distant relative named Oppenshaw,
who acted as Francis’s clerk. Besides Bauren,
Westbeech had also brought a man of the name
of Walsh, who had formerly been a soldier, and
subsequently a gaoler in Cape Town ; he was a
proficient in the art of preserving birds’-skins, and
had come out to carry on business in that way in the
Zambesi district, under the arrangement that he was
to share his profits with Westbeech.
The two merchants were anxious to get their visit
to Sepopo over as quickly as possible that they
might get back to Panda ma Tenka, and start with
their wives on a visit to the Victoria Falls. They
had brought with them all my correspondence, and
I had welcome letters, not only from home, but from
various friends in the diamond- diggings. I received
about sixty newspapers, the broad white margins of
which were subsequently of great service to me,
in the dearth of writing-paper ; amongst them was
a copy of the Diamond News, containing my first
article on the subject of my present journey.
My own departure was somewhat delayed by
Makumba’s absence from the town ; without his
VOL. 11.
N
178 Seven Years in South Africa.
assistance I could not procure the bearers wbicli,
after crossing the river, I should require to convey
the articles that I had collected in Sesheke, and the
ivory which I had received from Blockley as payment
for my bullocks.
The passage across the river gave me no small
amount of anxiety, as independently of my uncertainty
about getting bearers, I was much concerned at
finding a leak in the ferry-boat as large as my fist,
which threatened to do material injury to a good
deal of my property. Fortunately, however, on
reaching the Leshumo valley I again met Captains
M‘Leod and Fairly, the English officers, who most
considerately, during the time of their visit to
Sepopo, allowed me the use of their waggon to take
me to Panda ma Tenka. I waited a little while until
the team could be fetched, and started off on the
night of the 3rd of September. As I went along I
noticed that the burning of the grass in the district
had caused a diminution in the number of tsetse fly,
although the herbage was already beginning to
sprout afresh.
When on the following day we reached the Ga-
shuma Flat, we found plenty of game still lurking
in places where the grass had not been burned.
With the waggon were two horses that the English
officers had left in charge of a servant, who seemed
to me unpardonably careless. Notwithstanding my
warnings, he would persist in riding on considerably
ahead. Approaching the baobab I told Pit and the
driver to keep a sharp look-out ; I had a kind of
presentiment that the horses might invite an attack
from the lion that was notoriously haunting the spot.
We had gone but a very short distance farther, when
First Visit to the Marutsc Kingdom. 179
the driver called out that he could see Captain
M‘Leod’s servant up in a tree and only one horse
beside him; another moment and his keen eye
detected a lion retreating to the bushes on our right ;
I was sitting on the box, and almost immediately
afterwards caught sight of the other horse lying
disembowelled on the ground, the few small wounds
in the neck revealing too clearly how the poor brute
had met its end.
The servant’s tale was simple enough. About
300 yards from the tree he had been attacked by the
lion and thrown, whereupon the lion, taking no notice
of him, began the pursuit of his horse ; the horse¬
cloth had entangled itself in the horse’s legs, and the
creature was quickly overtaken and killed. The
servant had betaken himself to the first mapani-tree,
where we found him. The other horse was grazing
quietly close at hand.
We all went some way in pursuit of the lion, but
without success.
i8o
Seven Years in South A frica.
CHAPTER VIII.
TRIP TO THE VICTORIA EALLS.
Return to Panda ma Tenka — Theunissen’s desertion — Departure
for the falls — Orbeki-gazelles — Animal and vegetable life
m the fresh-water pools — Difficult travelling — First sight
of the falls — Our skerms — Characteristics of the falls —
Their size and splendour — Islands in the river-bed — Columns
of vapour — Roar of the water — The Zambesi below the falls
— The formation of the rocks — Rencontre with baboons —
A lion-hunt — The Manansas — Their history and character —
Their manners and customs^Disposal of the dead — Orna¬
ments and costume — The Albert country — Back again.
On my arrival at Panda ma Tenka, I found West-
beech’s enclosure in a state of great animation ;
several waggons were there, hosts of servants
were hurrying about in every direction, and
certainly not less than twenty dogs were yelping
and running amongst them. Most unfortunately
for me the rain during my absence had made its
way through the roof of my waggon, and had done
so much damage to the leather cases inside that
nearly all the dried insects, plants, and seeds
that they contained were spoiled. Some of the
traders that I had seen here before were seriously
ill with fever, and a servant of Khame’s, who had
been hired by Africa, the hunter of whom I have
already spoken, had been killed by an elephant, a
misadventure for which, on his return to Shoshong,
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 1 8 1
Africa found himself obliged to pay a fine of 50Z. to
the Bamangwato king.
Westbeech and Bauren intended, after their visit
to the Victoria Falls, to stay three months at
Sesheke ; Blockley contemplated at the same time
doing some business with the Makalaka princes to
the east of the falls, Bradshaw being left meanwhile
in charge at Panda ma Tenka to purchase any
ivory he could from the Madenassanas and Masar-
was. Theunissen at this time had quite enough to
occupy him in preparing medicines for the patients
laid down with intermittent fever, while I, after
having been busy all day in completing my prepa¬
rations for the Zambesi expedition, spent the hours
far into the night in answering my letters and con¬
tinuing my diary.
It was on the 10th that Westbeech and Francis
came back ; they each brought about 50 lbs. of
ivory, which Sepopo had sent as presents to
their wives. On their way they had killed thirty
crocodiles and five hippopotamuses. One of the
latter had attacked them.
My temporary sojourn was full of anxiety and
annoyance. Not only was I harassed by my unsuc¬
cessful endeavours to procure bearers, but I was
called upon to sustain a disappointment, which I
could not do otherwise than feel very keenly. The
report was brought to me by one of the traders
that Theunissen had made up his mind that he
would go no further, but that he should forth¬
with return to the south. I could not believe
it ; he had always shown himself so staunch an ally,
that I had learnt to confide in him entirely ; more¬
over, I had chosen him out of a number of volunteers
1 82 Seven Years in South Africa.
as being in every way the most reliable of them
all; and now to be told that just at the critical
moment when most of all I required a trustworthy
associate he was going to forsake me, was a thing
that seemed incredible ; but on referring to Theunis-
sen himself, I ascertained that the report was only
too true.
To add to my difficulties Pit had begun to behave
himself in various ways so badly that I had been
obliged to get rid of him.
Thus it was that on the very eve of what pro¬
mised to be the fulfilment of my long-cherished
plan, my hopes appeared suddenly dashed to the
ground. I was utterly at a loss to know where
I could apply for bearers ; alone and friendless
as I was, I was not even in a position to go and
search for them in any of the native villages in the
woods to the east. My condition was altogether
disheartening.
In my dilemma Westbeech and Francis most
considerately came to my assistance. Under the
condition that I should first accompany them to
“ the splendid ' falls,” they guaranteed to find me
bearers enough amongst the Manansas or Batokas
that we should fall in with on our way. I felt
that I had no alternative but to accept their offer.
Before starting I engaged a man as my servant in
the place of Pit ; he was a Masupia, who had come
from the Zambesi to seek employment. I gave him
the name of “ Elephant.”
As the Victoria Falls were fifty miles to the right
of the route which I had proposed taking, it was not
part of my original scheme to visit them at all ; it
was only the circumstances in which I found
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 183
myself that led me to undertake the journey, but I
have since congratulated myself very much upon
the decision to which I came.
Leaving my waggon in the charge of Westbeech’s
people, I started off with my new friends. The
party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Westbeech, Mr. and
Mrs. Francis, Bauren, Oppenshaw, Walsh, and
myself, besides four Cape half-castes, my own
Masupia servant, and twenty Makalalas and Mata-
bele, who were engaged as bearers, and carried
our provisions, cooking-apparatus, and wraps. We
travelled in a couple of waggons as far as the
Gashuma Flat, the way thither being attractive
and pleasant for travellers. It was about three
o’clock in the morning when we reached the first
pools on the plain, whence we altered our course,
which previously had been north-north- west, to east-
north-east towards the falls.
The next portion of our route lay through a
district known to be so much infested by the tsetse-
fly, that we left our bullocks and waggons, and pro¬
ceeded in a cart drawn by six donkeys. We did
not, however, start until the 15th, waiting till we
had put up a thoroughly substantial fence around
the waggons, because we had noticed a number
of lion-tracks in the neighbourhood. The plain
was adorned with some splendid fan-palms and
dense palm-thickets. The grass had been nearly
all burnt down, but here and there, in patches where
it had begun to sprout again, pretty little orbeki-
gazelles were lying in twos or fours quite flat on
the ground, and would suddenly start up at our
approach and bound away, turning round to gaze
at us when they were at a safe distance. Oppen-
184 Seven Years in S 021th Africa.
shaw and I started off in pursuit of them, and
were induced to go a very considerable way from
our party ; we were obliged to give up the chase as
unsuccessful, and were making our way back, when
scarcely thirty yards in front of us, a pair of orbekis
sprang up. Oppenshaw fired at one of them as it
was turning to look at us, and broke its fore leg just
above the ankle ; it bounded away on three legs ;
we fired again, but missed ; the gazelle continued its
flight, and seemed likely to escape altogether, when
a third shot from me caught it on its side and
brought it down. It died just as we got up to it,
and as we had no servants in attendance, we had to
carry it in turns for two hours under a burning sun,
till we came to the spot where our companions were
camping in the wood.
In the course of the afternoon we went six
miles farther, making altogether an advance of
thirteen miles in the day. Beyond the 'Gashuma
Flat and a sandy forest, we crossed four shallow
valleys, and made our camp for the night in a fifth,
that in point of size was more important than the
others ; all the spruits except the last two were dry
and overgrown with grass, the whole of them
becoming deeper towards the south-east, the direc¬
tion which they took to join the Panda ma Tenka.
As we crossed the third of these valleys we saw a
herd of giraffes, about 600 yards away.
Between the Gashuma Flat and the place where
we encamped we came across the following sorts
of game, or their traces : — Orbekis, rietbocks, stein-
bocks, waterbocks, zulu-hartebeests, koodoos, giraffes,
buffaloes, elephants, and zebras.
The little river beside which we were staying was
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 185
called the Checheta. At one part it rippled in
narrow streamlets over stones, and at another
flowed through a reedy morass, where its clear
waters formed a deep broad pool. The soil of
the valley was rich, and the grass in some places
as much as five feet high. These limpid pools in
the upper affluents of the Panda ma Tenka are
some of the most interesting spots in the hilly
district around the Victoria Palls, and many an
hour have I spent by their side stretched upon
the grass and investigating the multiplied examples
of animal and vegetable life beneath the glittering
surface, so clear that I could feel assured that no
crocodile was lurking below.
Nevertheless since the long grass on the borders
of the South African rivers is very frequently
the resort of various animals of the feline race,
it is always advisable to throw a few stones into
the middle of it before venturing to enter; but
this precaution taken, it may be approached with
security.
The pond that was closest to our encampment
was thirty feet long and twelve feet wide, its
depth about six feet. It was fed by a tiny thread
of water scarcely three inches wide; its outlet
in a reedy thicket being somewhat wider. The
water was as clear as crystal, so that every object,
even to the bottom, was plainly discernible. Half
the pond, or nearly so, was occupied by a network
of delicate algae, — here of a light colour, there of a
..dark green — and everywhere assuming the most
fantastic forms. In some places it seemed to lie in
strata one above another like semi-transparent
clouds in the azure depths ; in the part near the
1 86 Seven Years in South Africa.
outflow it formed a dark labyrinth of grottoes;
whilst on the right it might seem to represent a
ruined castle, so well defined was the foundation
from which rose the square watch-tower with its
circular turret, the tender weeds turning them¬
selves into a Gothic doorway, through which
small fish kept darting to and fro. On the top
of the tower were some projecting growths, that
kept up the similitude of broken battlements.
Making a dark green background were the lower
stems of the reeds that rustled above the water, and
in the open space between the water-weeds and the
margin of the pond rose the three spiral stalks of a
large flowering nymphoea, two of them throwing
out their flat glossy leaves, and the third a beautiful
pale blue lily, that lay like a gleaming star upon the
surface of a crystal mirror. Besides the algse that
I have described, there were others at the bottom of
the pool, with their lobulated and dentated leaves,
rivalling ferns in the gracefulness of their form.
At first this miniature plant-world appeared to
lie in motionless repose, and it was not until the eye
grew quite accustomed to the scene that it detected
the gentle current that the streamlet made. Once
perceived, the effect was very charming ; the reed-
stems were seen to vibrate and quiver with ever-
varying degrees of motion, the fictitious towers of
algae were observed to tremble without any disturb¬
ance to their general outline ; the very grottoes had
the appearance of being , impelled forward by some
secret force to seek admission to some other pool.
From the bottom of the water, plants with bright
yellow blossoms and serrated cryptogams, stretched
up their heads as if they aspired to share the honours
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 187
of the water-lily, the acknowledged queen of all, and
longed, like her, to rock upon the bosom of the lake,
to be greeted by the sunbeams, to be refreshed by
the morning dew, and sheltered by the shades of
night.
Equally fascinating was the exhibition of animal
life. In the more open spaces where the range of
vision was widest lay some dark-striped fish not un¬
like perch, perfectly motionless except for the slight
vibration of the hinder fins ; from the dim recesses
of the algae, bearded sheat-fish would emerge,
generally in pairs, and sometimes side by side, some¬
times one behind the other, would roll themselves
in sport from side to side; and far away right
across the reeds by the opposite bank stretched
itself as though lifeless a yellow-mottled object,
that might at first have been mistaken for a snake,
but which on further scrutiny turned out to be a
water-lizard biding its time to secure its prey.
Nor were the lower orders of creation less fully
represented. Water - beetles and water - spiders
abounded; the beetles were species of dytiscus
and hydrojpJiilus ; the spiders were all activity,
some towing themselves up, some with glistening
air-bubbles letting themselves descend, and hasten¬
ing to conceal themselves amidst the intricacies and
entanglements of the algae. The larvae of the
beetles as well as of the dragon-flies were clamber¬
ing over the filaments of the plants and the stems
of the lilies like rope-dancers, whilst the pupae of the
shore-flies were slowly emerging from their mummy¬
like cases.
The variety of the scene was infinite, and made one
loth to turn away.
1 88 Seven Years in South A frica.
We went on the next morning across a great
many small streams, the valleys of which were
covered with deep dark soil and generally much
overgrown ; the streams appeared to flow in various
directions, south, south-east, south-west, but the
whole of them, I imagine, ultimately found their
way into the Panda ma Tenka. The valleys were
divided from one another either by rocky hills or
sandy woods. We saw traces of koodoos, steinbocks,
waterbocks, bushvaarks, and of a great many
elephants. In the after part of the day we came to
a forest in a somewhat more extensive valley, with
side- valleys opening into it on either hand. We
made our camp for the night close to a perpetual
stream, that received the waters both of the main
valley and its branches, and was called the Matopa
river by the Manansas who formerly lived there.
For three-quarters of its course it is a mountain-
torrent not more than twenty feet wide and from
three to four feet in depth, but towards its mouth,
which is below the Victoria Falls, its width mate¬
rially increases.
On the following morning (September 7th) we
left our encampment betimes, in order to reach
the falls the same day. All day long and through¬
out the remainder of the trip, I had to get along
in great discomfort. In making provision for my
longer journey I had reserved all my good boots,
and for immediate use had bought a pair of shoes
from a trader at Panda ma Tenka, but after two
days wear they fell to pieces, and I was obliged to
fasten the fragments together by straps bound round
my feet, while, as if to make the difficulty more
trying, the road became extremely rough and
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 189
thorny, and the rocks were heated by the glow¬
ing sun.
Arriving at a point where the Matopa valley took
a sudden turn to the east, I became conscious of a
dull heavy noise, as it might be the rumbling of
distant thunder. I was considerably in advance of
the others, as the condition of my feet induced me to
get a good way forward every now and then, so that
I might have the benefit of a rest. Being alone I
had no one to explain the cause of the noise, but I
was not long in satisfying myself that it must be the
roar of the famous cataract. Several times, and in
places where the passage was difficult, the Matopa
had to be crossed, but in spite of my suffering I
kept pushing on ahead, buoyed up by the prospect
of a long rest afterwards. I noticed some zebras
running on the declivity of the left hand shore in
the direction of the cloud of vapour which I could
now distinctly see, and I came to the conclusion
that it would be well to follow them ; they made for
a wooded glen leading to the valley, and though of
course I could not overtake them I kept to their
track. The farther I went the more painful my feet
became, until at last I took off the soles of my shoes
altogether and made my way barefoot. All day
long I had taken no food, and at four o’clock, after
forcing my way through a dense thicket, I began to
feel very faint. By another effort I mounted a hill,
and scrambled through another thicket, when all at
once I found myself on the brink of the abyss, into
which the seething waters were rolling with a
tremendous plunge. The impression of that scene
can never be effaced !
But glorious as was the spectacle, bodily ex-
190 Seven Years in South Africa.
haustion made me retire from contemplating it.
Crawling rather than walking, clinging to bush after
bush to save myself from falling, I made my way
along the river-bank in search of some wild fruit to
sustain me. I had not gone far before I spied out a
fruit hanging down from a half-withered stem. I
threw up some stones and brought it down, and sure
that its thin yellow shell covered a sweet fleshy pulp,
I greedily swallowed it, when all at once it occurred
to me that the seeds bore a great resemblance to
nux vomica ; my fear was only too well founded, in
a very few minutes I was seized with a most violent
sickness, and sunk powerless and prostrate to the
ground. It was some time before I could rouse
myself sufficiently to creep to the bank of the Zam¬
besi, where I took a large draught of the clear
water, which revived me very considerably. To
attract the attention of my friends I fired off several
shots, but receiving no response had to resign myself
to wait awhile.
After about half an hour I felt so far recovered
that I ventured to make a move, and had hardly
proceeded more than fifty yards when I saw one of
our party coming in my direction. We returned
together, and before night set in we had chosen our
position beneath three wide- spreading trees, rather
more than a quarter of a mile from the river, and
about half a mile from the falls, and proceeded to
erect our “ skerms.”
Skerms is the name given to the screens that
are put up every night for protection against
wild beasts. In districts infested by buffaloes,
elephants, or lions, travellers erect one or more
of them according to their numbers; they are
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 191
semi-circular in form, and are made of stakes six
feet long driven firmly into the ground, after which
branches are twisted in amongst them; along the
outer side a line of fires is lighted, and the servants
are made to sit up in turn and keep them from going
out. In our case we had four skerms, one enclosing
a couple of huts for the married folks, another for
the four bachelors, a third for the half-castes, whose
dignity would not allow them to lie down with Zulus
and Makalakas, who consequently required a fourth
for themselves.
The spot upon which we had fixed for our en¬
campment was almost in the centre of the real Zam¬
besi valley, between the river and a sandy wooded
elevation of the ground, the slope of a high plateau
and mountain-system that runs more or less parallel
to the stream from the mouth of the Chobe. Along
the river-side was a thicket of saro-palms, and be¬
tween these and the rising ground lay the valley
proper, overgrown with long grass, bushes, and
trees, amidst which majestic fan-palms and huge
baobabs rose predominant.
In spite of the suffering which I continued to
endure from the state of my feet, I look upon the
three days which I spent in the vicinity of the
falls as the most satisfying and enjoyable part of
my sojourn in South Africa. To my mind the
Victoria Falls of the Zambesi are one of the most
imposing phenomena of the world. At many
cataracts, particularly at Niagara, our wonder is
excited by the stupendous volume of the plunging
water; at others, by the altitude of the per¬
pendicular rocks over which the torrent is precipi¬
tated ; but here our amazement is aroused by the
192 Seven Years in South Africa.
number of cascades and jets into which the down-
rushing stream is divided, as well as by the narrow¬
ness of the deep ravine into which the raging waters
are compressed. The width of the current below
the falls is but a thirteenth part of what it is above.
After flowing from west to east, the Zambesi
here makes a sudden bend to the south, so that the
side on which we were stationed had become the
western shore. As the river below does not cover
the full breadth of the valley, it is quite practicable
for a spectator to take his stand almost anywhere
at no great distance below the level of the shore
above, and so to view the cataract with his face
turned to the north. Unfortunately the constant
dash of the spray renders the soil too slippery to
allow any one to approach the actual branch of the
abyss into which the waters are hurled, but many
an effective point of view is to be found within a
few hundred yards of the cataract.
Let the reader then imagine himself to have taken
his position upon a spot facing a rugged dark
brown rocky wall about 200 yards away, rising
400 feet above its base, which is out of sight.
Over the top of this are dashing the waters of
the Zambesi. About 100 yards from the western
bank he sees several islands adorned with tropical
vegetation in rich abundance ; further on towards
the eastern shore and close to the edge of the abyss
his eye will light upon nearly thirty bare brown
crags that divide the rushing stream into as many
different channels. To the left again, between the
bright green islands and the western shore, he
will observe that the great wall of rock is con¬
siderably lower, allowing a ponderous volume of
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
193
water to rush, impetuously as it were into a corner,
whence it is precipitated in a broad sheet into the
gulf below; beyond this and the next cascade he
will see another portion of the surface of the rock,
and as he carries his eye along he will be struck
with admiration at the jutting peaks that stand out
in vivid contrast to the angry foam that seethes
between them. The countless jets and streams
assume all colours and all forms ; some are bright
and gleaming, some dark and sombre ; some are
wide and some are narrow ; but as they plunge
impetuously into the depth below they make up a
spectacle that cannot fail to excite a sensation of
mingled astonishment and delight.
Of the jets of water some are so thin that they
are dispersed before they reach the lower flood, and
bound up again in vapour ; others are from ten to
fifteen feet in breadth ; these dash down with tre¬
mendous fury, their edges curled up and broken into
angry foam and spray ; the largest streams, especially
those that pour along from the eastern shore, are
caught by the jagged peaks and torn asunder,
ending their career by rolling over and over in
cascades. In the diversity of the forms the water
takes, I believe that the beauty of the Victoria
Falls is quite unparalleled.
Nor does the magnificence of the view end with
the prospect of the giant waterfall itself. Let us
raise our eyes towards the blue horizon ; another
glorious spectacle awaits us. Stretching far away
in the distance are the numerous islands with which
the river-bed is studded, the gorgeous verdure of
their fan-palms and saro-palms standing out in
striking contrast to the subdued azure of the hills
vol. ir. 0
194 Seven Years in South Africa.
behind. All around them, furnishing a deep blue
bordering, lies the expanse of the mighty stream
that moves so placidly and silently that at first it
might seem to be without movement at all; but
gradually as it proceeds it acquires a sensible in¬
crease in velocity, till checked by the rocky ridge
that impedes its flow, it gathers up its force to take
its mighty plunge into the deep abyss. Especially
beautiful are the islands immediately at the edge of
the falls ; they are overgrown with palms, aloes, and
creepers, and surrounded on three sides by the
surging water. As Livingstone had bestowed the
name of “Victoria” on the falls in honour of his
sovereign, I ventured to call the adjacent hill-
district by that of “the Albert Country,” and to
designate the various islands after the royal princes
and princesses of England.
Not less striking is the effect when we turn
towards the chasm or rocky trough that receives
the rolling flood. The rock on which we stand is
rich with varied vegetation ; gigantic sycamores
and mimosas on the verge of the declivity, taller
than the loftiest poplars, afford a welcome shade,
their wondrous crowns of foliage springing from
the topmost section of the stem and spreading wide
their grateful canopy. Creepers as thick as one’s
arm, sometimes straight, sometimes spiral, clamber
up to the elevated tree-tops, and make a playground
where the apes can sport and exhibit their antics to
the spectators concealed from them below. Palm-
bushes and ferns contribute to the charm of the
scene ; the soil is an elastic carpet of moss, adorned
at intervals with tiny flowers, or, where the naked
rock reveals itself near the brink, interspersed with
*age 194.
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
195
dark green algae, singly or in clumps, some small as
a pea, some of the size of an egg, lying loosely on
its surface.
In a large measure this peculiar vegetation owes
its existence to the perpetual fall of spray from the
cataract ; from every separate cascade clouds of
vapour incessantly ascend to such a height that
they may be seen for fifty miles away; at one
moment they are so dense that they completely
block out the view of anything beyond; another
moment and a gust of wind will waft them all aside,
and leave nothing more than a thin transparent
veil ; as the density of this increases or diminishes,
the islands that lie upon the farther side will
seem alternately to recede or advance like visions in
a fairy scene.
The effects at sunrise and at sunset are incom¬
parably fine. Arched rainbows play over and
amidst the vapoury wreaths, and display the bright¬
ness of their hues. The movement of the spray is
attended by a suppressed hissing, which, however,
is only audible when the wind carries off the
deafening roar that rises from the bottom of the
abyss. I do not know that it would be absolutely
impossible to make one’s way through the bushy
thickets to the very edge of the precipice and so to
look down to the base of the cataract, but certainly
it is not visible from any of the best standpoints for
viewing the general scene. The incessant roar that
rises from the mighty trough below fills the air for
miles around with a rolling as of thunder ; to hear
it and not see from whence it comes never ceases to
be bewildering ; the seething waters before us crash
against the crags ; we find the ground beneath our
0 2
196 Seven Years in South Africa.
feet tremble as though there were some convulsion
in a subterranean cave beneath; we become every
moment more conscious of a desire to witness the
origin of the strange commotion ; it is hard to
suppress the sense of nervousness ; no infernal
crater in which the elements were all at strife could
produce a more thrilling throb of nature ! Truly it
is a scene in which a man may well become aware
of his own insignificance !
There is still another direction in which it remains
for us to look. We have yet to make our wonder¬
ing inspection of the great ravine into which the
water in its massive volume is precipitated. That
huge ravine is a long zigzag. At first it proceeds
for 300 yards due south ; it then makes an angle
and runs for 1000 yards to the west-south- west ;
again it turns for 1100 yards to the south-east, and
thus it continues to vary its direction. Except
where deep chines break in, too precipitous to be
crossed, it is not difficult to walk along the edge
and to see how perpetually the rugged walls of rock
present some fresh diversity of form ; at one time
they are absolutely perpendicular as though they
had been hewn by a mason’s hand, at the next turn
they slope like the glacis of a gloomy rampart, and
then suddenly they assume the aspect of a huge
garden- wall dotted over with clusters of green and
crimson in striking contrast with the dull brown
ground. Every here and there particles of earth
containing the seeds of aloes have been carried into
the clefts of the rock, and, nourished by the fertiliz¬
ing matter already there, have germinated and
thriven admirably, as their fine trusses of bloom are
present to testify ; meanwhile their own seeds are
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
197
ripening, destined to be conveyed on the bosom of
the stream to districts far away, where they may
flourish on an unaccustomed soil.
There are places in which the cliffs take the
formation of horizontal ledges of bare rock alter¬
nating with belts of thriving vegetation ; in other
parts, notably upon the western shore, may be
observed a luxuriant growth of foliage that extends
half-way down the surface or occasionally right to
the edge of the stream, covering also the sides of
the numerous chines that pierce the rocky mass,
and afford an outlet for the accumulated rain.
But while I thus describe the general character
of the scenery along the entire course of the zigzag,
I would not have it overlooked that its peculiar
attractiveness arises from the great diversity of
conformation which it perpetually presents. This I
hope may be better appreciated if I depict one or
two of the reaches of the ravine more in detail.
The first short reach on the right or western
shore, below the falls and close to them, is hemmed
in at first by a perpendicular wall of rock, which,
after receding so as almost to form a creek, suddenly
juts out into a promontory against which the full
torrent of the gathered waters breaks with all its
vehemence. The opposite shore upon the eastern
side is a range of rocky heights connected with the
mainland beyond ; upward from its base for about a
third of its height it is naked and precipitous, but
all above are terraces richly clad with tropical vege¬
tation ; its ragged peaks are very striking, and as
often as I contemplated it I could not help asso¬
ciating it with the idea I had formed of the hanging
gardens of Semiramis.
1 98 Seven Years in South A frica.
Between the second and third longer reaches is a
short arm, midway in which there rises a huge
projection, steep as any of the rocks around, but
consisting of enormous blocks piled one above
another ; on the north, on the south, and on the
east it is lashed by the torrent of the stream ; on
the west it stands detached from the mainland by a
deep dry gully. Upon this isolated eminence, rearing
itself to an altitude of 800 feet, not a leaf is to be
seen ; Flora and all her progeny have been utterly
banished from its inhospitable soil, but it bids
defiance to the flood : for thousands of years the
elements have wreaked their fury on its mass ;
lightnings have burst upon its summit ; iEolus and
all his crew have spent their efforts upon its
sides; floods of water, that deadliest foe to all
the strongholds of earth, have done their utmost
to sap its foundations ; but yet it stands immo¬
vable ; it holds its dry valley inviolate, and impe¬
riously bids the rushing stream to seek another
channel.
Nor can the waters of the torrent itself fail to
arrest our attention as they tear along, with the
speed of an arrow, through the deep ravine. The
channel along which they flow gradually narrows to
about a third of its original width, and the very
compression gives intensity to the current, which
strikes against one impediment only to gather fresh
impetus for dashing against another. The billows
roll over the boulders that project above the suface
of the flood, or they part asunder as they come in
contact with some jutting promontory that impedes
their course ; but though centuries elapse, they avail
not to displace the rocky walls by which they are
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
199
confined, nor to wear down the barriers by which
they are opposed.
It was a subject of much regret to me that our
stay could not be prolonged beyond three days.
Adequately to explore all the features of the cata¬
ract, to visit the islands, and to investigate the
character of the opposite shore would be the work
of weeks, if not of months ; and I am quite resolved
that if ever I return to the Victoria Falls my visit
shall not be hurried, and I hope that no such
drawback as arose from the painful condition of my
feet will again interfere to mar my enjoyment of the
magnificent scene.
On one of the days that we stayed, I and my ser¬
vant had a rencontre with a herd of baboons. We
caught sight of them in one of the glens or chines
which I have mentioned, and to which I afterwards
assigned the name of “the baboon glen.” They
were on the farther side, and being anxious to obtain
a specimen of their skulls, I fired and killed one
baboon ; but, unfortunately for me, the creature fell
into the river. At my second shot I wounded two
more. This induced the right wing of the herd to
retreat ; but the main body kept their ground, and
the left flank, moreover, assumed the aggressive,
and commenced pelting us so vigorously with
stones, that, remembering that I had only one car¬
tridge left, I considered it far more prudent to
withdraw than to run the risk of a hand-to-hand
encounter. Accordingly we retired, most igno-
miniously defeated.
Some of the Batokas who resided upon the farther
shore, under the dominion of their chief Mochuri,
came over to us in their canoes, bringing goats,
200 Seven Years in South Africa.
kaffir-corn beer, and beans for sale. I afterwards
met one of them again at Sesheke ; he was a sub-
chieftain, and a relation of Mochuri’s. Sepopo,
supposing that I had never seen a Batoka before,
introduced him to me ; I recognized the man at once,
but he took care not to show that he knew me, as he
was conscious of having bought guns of us in direct
contravention of the king’s commands, an offence
for which he was liable to the sentence of death.
Whilst I was engaged in completing my carto¬
graphical survey of the falls, I came across several
herds of grazing pallahs. The Cape servants suc¬
ceeded in shooting one of the graceful creatures,
which are the most common of all the antelopes of
the Zambesi.
On the evening before our departure we had an
adventure with a lion, which terminated in a way
that was somewhat amusing. I had returned from
an expedition to the falls, and was followed by
Walsh, who was coming back from one of his bird-
hunts ; he came in rather excited, declaring that in
crossing a meadow on his way towards the river, he
had seen a lion. The spot which he described was only
about three-quarters of a mile away, and it did not
require a very long consultation before we resolved
forthwith to commence a lion-hunt. I confess I was
not a little concerned when I heard that the ladies
proposed to accompany us ; but my objections were
soon overruled, Mrs. Francis urging that she had
already seen several lions killed, and Mrs. West-
beech, the bride of a few months, insisting that her
husband should not go without her.
The greater part of the Zambesi valley is thickly
wooded, but as I have described, there are occa-
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 201
sional tracts of meadow, almost bare of trees, bor¬
dered towards the stream by hedges of saro-palms.
It had been in coming over one of these that Walsh
had seen the lion spring from behind a tree, and
disappear into the palm-thicket. On reaching the
tree we found another tree close beside it, only
about fifteen feet high, against the stem of which a
pyramidal ant-hill had been erected.
We lost little time in making our arrangements;
we divided into four detachments, the first including
Westbeech, Francis, Walsh, and myself ; the second,
Oppenshaw, Bauren, and two of the Cape servants ;
the third, two more Cape servants, and two Mata-
bele with guns ; whilst the fourth was made up of
the rest of the servants, who were armed with asse¬
gais, kiris, and sticks. The three former detach¬
ments were to march upon the thicket from opposite
directions ; the fourth was to remain at a distance
outside to give warning of any movement they
should see.
Hardly had we gone ten yards towards the assault,
when the ladies’ voices brought us to a stand ; they
had come to the conclusion that they were unsafe
beneath the tree, and requested their husbands to
help them on to the top of the ant-hill.
Again we started, proceeding very slowly and with
much caution. Just as we got within a few feet of
the palm-bushes we were startled by a tremendous
roar, sonorous enough to try the nerves of the
most experienced hunter, and to make him realize
the essential difference between a felis leo and a felis
domestica. The hero of the forest was so close to
Francis, that it might easily have pounced upon him
before we could render any assistance.
202 Seven Years in South Africa.
We stood still and gazed upon tlie bush, but no
lion could be seen. Some one suggested it might
be prudent to retire a little, and everybody seemed
ready enough to act upon the suggestion ; accord¬
ingly, with our guns cocked and our eyes fixed upon
the spot from which the roar had proceeded, we
stepped gradually backwards ; still no signs of the
lion ; we resolved to fire, but we fired in vain ; we
determined to set light to the bush, but all to no
purpose ; the lion had escaped.
On turning round to look for the other detach¬
ments, we discovered that the sound of the roaring
had thrown them into a state of dismay ; some of
them had disappeared entirely ; the whole of the
fourth company had climbed up into the trees.
Just at this moment our attention was arrested
by another cry from the ladies ; the wind had fanned
the flames of the bushes to which we had set light,
and the smoke was driving so densely towards them
that they were in danger of being choked ; we soon
rescued them from their unpleasant situation, and
were all but agreed to give up the chase, and to go
back again to our camp.
Westbeech, however, made the proposition that
the hunt should be continued higher up the river ;
he was an experienced and daring hunter, and per¬
haps was a little anxious to exhibit his capabilities
to his young wife. In order to carry out the pro¬
posal, it would be necessary to cross the meadow
over which Walsh had been passing when he first
saw the lion. After some hesitation it was settled
that the party should undertake a second chase, with
the exception of Mrs. Westbeech, who was left in
charge of some of the Matabele servants, who were
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 203
quite content to undertake so pleasant a part of the
enterprise.
But although we crossed the meadow, we did not
arrive at the bushes ; startled by a cry of distress
we looked back, but no trace of Mrs. Westbeech
could be seen. Our amazement was great; West-
beech himself was the first to recover his com¬
posure, and started back with all speed to ascertain
what had happened; we followed after, but what
was our surprise, when all at once we found that he
too had disappeared ! We did not notice that the
Matabele were in fits of laughter, nor for a while
could we understand what Francis, who had run on
some way in front, could mean when he turned
round and threw his gun upon the grass before our
feet, and bade us stop. In another moment West-
beech emerged from under ground, and directly after¬
wards Mrs. Westbeech reappeared after the same
fashion. The explanation of the mystery was not
hard to find. The natives had dug pitfall after pit-
fall to catch game ; having no guns, they make great
holes in the ground, sometimes ten or twelve feet
long and nearly as many deep, so much narrower at
the top than at the bottom, that it is impossible for
any animals to get out when once in. Into one of
these Mrs. Westbeech had had the mischance to fall,
and Mr. Westbeech, in his eagerness, had run into
another.
Beyond a few scratches, the lady happily had sus¬
tained no injury, but the contretemps naturally had
the effect of making us abandon all further thought
of the chase.
As for the lion, we were informed by some Batokas
who came to visit us as usual in the evening, that it
204 Seven Years in South Africa.
was quite true that one was lurking in the neigh¬
bourhood ; but it was so accustomed to human
beings that it gave no cause for anxiety, and the
natives were not afraid to pass it, even at night.
Before quitting the vicinity of the Victoria Falls,
I may say a few words about the Manansas, the
native tribe that is to be found in various parts of
what I call the Albert country, and who formerly
possessed a kingdom of their own.
The Manansas occupy the hill-country south of
the falls, a district that although it may belong by
right to the Bamangwatos is always claimed by the
Matabele rulers, the inhabitants themselves being
invariably the greatest sufferers by the contention.
The Bamangwatos ordinarily call them Masarwas,
although the two tribes have really nothing in
common. They cultivate sheltered spots in the
valleys, or pass their lives in hunting without any
settled place of residence. When oppressed by the
Bamangwatos they take refuge with the Matabele,
and when persecuted by the Matabele, they seek
protection under the Bamangwatos ; or if, as some¬
times happens, there seems no way of escape, they
submit themselves in the most abject and servile
manner to their conquerors. Thus it comes to
pass that the Albert country is a sort of debateable
land, and it follows that the Bamangwatos are per¬
petually claiming the Manansas for their vassals,
although the Manansas do not actually render them
any vassal-service.
Until the year 1838 they had their own in¬
dependent kingdom that extended as far south as
the western Makalakas, and a long way up the
Uguay and Kwebu rivers. The kingdom was
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
205
governed by “a great chief,” who made every
sacrifice he could to come to reasonable terms with
the encroaching Matabele. But the time came
when the bloodthirsty Moselikatze, a very tiger
amongst men, having ruined the Makalaka empire
and half devoured the Mashonas, proceeded to anni¬
hilate the Manansas also. No credence had he to
give to the conciliating proposals of the good honest
chief ; as a Matabele he was quite incapable of
putting faith in any promise, or appreciating any
right feeling ; he was sure that some ulterior motive
lurked behind the proposals that were made, and
that the chief was only temporizing while his forces
were collecting ; and so he overpowered him in his
own courtyard, pierced him with assegais, tore out
his heart, pressed it to the still quivering lips, and
shrieked aloud, “ You had two hearts ; one was
false, and you shall eat it !”
Practically this victory and deed of Moselikatze
put an end to the Manansas as a nation. Most of
the boys were carried off to be trained as Matabele
warriors, while of the men who escaped some took
refuge with Sepopo, some with the Batoka chief
Mochuri to the north, and others with Wankie, the
ruler of the north-eastern Makalakas.
While I was in daily intercourse with them, I
made repeated inquiries as to whether they had now
any recognized chief, but I had great difficulty in
getting a definite reply. They always appeared to
suspect me; and any one of whom I asked the
question seemed to fear that I wanted to put his
name down in my “ lungalo ” (book) in order
to betray him to the Matabele king. At length,
however, they acknowledged that they all, wherever
206
Seven Years in South Africa.
they might be, owned allegiance to the son of their
basely-murdered chief, who had been permitted with
a small number of their tribe to settle on a piece of
land in the eastern quarter of Wankie’s territory.
On my expressing my wonder that they did not all
go and join him instead of staying where they were
to be worried like dogs, they replied that this was
their own country ; and I learnt that like the Bush¬
men of the south they regarded with affection and
reverence the wooded heights and pleasant valleys
where they first saw the light of day.
In many of their customs the Manansas differ
from other South African tribes. Like the Marutse,
they treat their women in a way that offers a very
favourable contrast to either the Bechuanas or the
Matabele. They have a somewhat peculiar mode
of wooing ; when a young man has been captivated
by a maiden of his tribe and has ascertained that he
has secured her affection in return — an assurance
for which neither Betchuana nor Zulu thinks it
necessary to wait — he sends an aged woman to
carry the proposal that she should become his wife ;
this agent is commissioned to portray the young
man in glowing colours, to extol the excellence of
his temper, to praise his skill in procuring “ nyama ”
(game), to describe the productiveness of his garden,
and to enumerate the skins with which he has made
his bed soft and comfortable. Hereupon a family
council is held ; the father, mother, and daughter
all have a voice, and if no objection is alleged, the
old woman is sent away with the message that the
suitor may be admitted. When he enters the hut
he must never fail to bring a present ; until quite
recently this was nearly always a valuable skin of
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
207
a rare monkey, but since tbe introduction of beads
into the country they have been used as a substitute,
and a handful of small blue beads is now the usual
offering ; when this has been accepted, the girl is at
liberty to speak to the man, and is held to have
pledged herself to him as his wife. There is an
entire absence of those hideous orgies which cha¬
racterize both the betrothal and marriage ceremonies
among other South African tribes, and nothing
transpires beyond this simple form before the
marriage is deemed to be settled. The next step is
for the parents every night to vacate their own hut
and retire to another in the courtyard, leaving their
usual abode for a week or two at the service of the
newly- wedded pair. Every morning the bridegroom
goes out to his work, and the parents reoccupy
their proper dwelling for the day. Meanwhile the
young man continues to acknowledge every favour
by repeated gifts of beads ; even the ablutions of
the morning are recompensed in this way ; but at
the end of a fortnight or thereabouts, the son-in-
law brings the father-in-law either four couples of
goats, or eight rows (about 2 lbs.) of beads, where¬
upon they set to work to build a hut — or two if
there were not one already in the possession of the
bridegroom — which henceforward he makes his
home.
Any breach of conjugal fidelity was, I understood,
extremely rare ; on the part of the husband indeed
it was quite unheard of ; the Manansas in this
respect being superior to the more cultivated
Marutse, amongst whom the demoralizing system
of “ mulekow ” drives the wives into unfaithfulness
even against their will.
208 Seven Years in South Africa.
When any woman is near her confinement a host
of the old women in the neighbourhood come to her
house. Their first business is to remove the
husband’s gun or assegai into his other hut, or if
it should happen, which is rarely the case, that he
has not a second, into the hut of one of his neigh¬
bours ; he is then prohibited from entering the sick
chamber for a period of eight days ; at the end of
that time he is conducted by the bevy of old nurses
back to the hut, where he finds his wife and infant,
washed in warm water, ready to receive him. The
visit, however, which he is thus allowed to make is
only temporary ; he is not permitted to take up his
quarters in his home permanently for another month.
Altogether the cleanliness that prevails throughout
is a great contrast do the filthiness and impurity of
the Hottentots and Makalakas.
When any one dies, his burial takes place in the
evening near his own enclosure, the grave, if the
soil permits it, being dug to the depth of five feet.
An adult is wrapped in his mantle of skins and his
assegai is buried with him. The interment is con¬
ducted in silence that is broken only by the sobs of
the women. Should the deceased be the master of
a household all his effects are collected on the day
after the funeral, and in the presence of the entire
population the eldest son comes forward to take
formal possession. If there be a failure of legiti¬
mate heirs, some near relative or close friend is
appointed, who takes the property and the name of
the deceased.
As a general rule it may be said that the Ma-
nansas are of middle height and slightly built, but
it is somewhat difficult for a traveller to distinguish
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 209
them, as since the dismemberment of their country
they have become very much crossed with the fugi¬
tive Matongas and Masupias, and with the tribes
north of the Zambesi. Their complexion is dark
brown ; their heads are small, and they have mild-
looking eyes and thick lips.
In their more palmy days their ornaments had
probably been more elaborate ; but I noticed that
the lower classes wore bracelets and ankle-rings
of gnu or giraffe-hide, and sometimes of iron wire.
Their earrings, always simple in form, were mostly
made of some better material. For clothing the
men usually had nothing more than a bit of calico
about the size of one’s hand, and only rarely was
a skin of some small animal fastened round their
loins ; the women wore a short petticoat of tanned
leather.
As servants the Manansas are to be preferred to
any other of the South African tribes. I found
them remarkably skilful in tracking game, their
quiet, cautious method of proceeding often proving
more effectual than greater dash and daring. As
far also as my experience went, I must say that
they are civil and beyond the average for honesty
and fidelity. By the more powerful tribes they
are regarded with great contempt, and laughed
at as “the simpletons of the north,” but nothing
worse seems to be alleged against them than
their habitual courtesy and good-nature — qualities
which, since the Matabele rule has spread from
the Limpopo to the Zambesi — have become synony¬
mous with hypocrisy and cowardice. Not con¬
tent with murder and rapine, the savagery of the
Matabele Zulus has gone far to stifle every noble
VOL. 11. p
210 Seven Years in South. Africa.
impulse, and to cast mistrust oyer every friendly
word.
Whenever the Manansas are being pursued, and
find themselves cut off from every prospect of es¬
cape, they will stop, turn round, and advance towards
their adversaries with the points of their assegais
lowered, and as soon as they come near their con¬
querors they will lay down their weapons, squat
upon the ground, and wait until the enemy has
done his worst. During the time when Moshesh
was the Bamangwato king, they could gene¬
rally manage to appease him and stay his acts
of oppression by gifts of ivory ; but Moselikatze
carried off their boys and a great number of their
women, while the present Matabele despot com¬
missioned his hordes to plunder everything upon
which they could lay their hands. It is only when
they have been put in charge of some white man
whom the missionaries have introduced as a person
of importance to be protected as far as the falls, that
orders are given to refrain from robbery or vio¬
lence. Such, for instance, was the case when Major
S. was escorted through the district in 1875 ; the
object of the king in such cases being that the
traveller should have no tales of cruelty to tell
“the great white queen” of England on his
return.
I used to talk to a Manansa who was hired every
year by one of the traders, and appeared to be
above the level of his fellow-tribesmen in intelli¬
gence. Happening to say something about the
cowardice imputed to his race, I saw him shake
his head and smile. “ Ho,” he replied, “ we are
not timid pallahs, nor ever have been; but we
Trip to the Victoria Falls.
211
love our village life and oar hunting ; we catch
our game in pits and not by arms ; we give up
our elephants’ tusks to the remorseless Matabele;
we show them where to hunt the elephants; let
them hunt as they will ; we want not the blood of
the beasts, much less do we thirst for the blood
of men ! ”
It had been a Manansa custom, after the death of
a king, for the men to meet together and conduct
the heir to the royal residence ; then they brought a
handful of sand and small stones from the Zambesi,
and a hammer ; these they gave him as tokens of
his sovereignty over the land and over water and
iron, symbolizing industry and labour. At the same
time they reminded him of the obligation that rested
upon him that from the day of his accession to
the throne he was to eat the flesh neither of the
rhinoceros nor the hippopotamus, as these being
“ mischievous ” animals, would be likely to impart
their own evil qualities to him.
Even regarded as unassociated with the magnifi¬
cence of the Victoria Falls, the Albert country, with
its wooded rocks and grassy valleys, is undoubtedly
one of the most attractive districts in the whole of
South Africa. Intersected by the Zambesi, it is
bounded by the sandy pool plateau on the south,
and extends as far as the mouth of the Chobe on
the west. Geologist, botanist, mineralogist, all alike
must find it full of interest. Except the springbock,
blessbock, and black gnu, all the larger kinds
of mammalia are to be seen that Southern and
Central Africa can show. Reptiles are numerous,
and crocodiles haunt the banks and troubled waters
of the remotest mountain streams. Insects of
p 2
212 Seven Years in South Africa.
various sorts abound, the lepidoptera especially
exhibiting new species. Let proper means be taken
to exterminate the tsetse-fly, and to guard against
the prevalence of summer fever, and the rich soil and
mild climate of the valleys would be found amply to
repay a liberal cultivation, and would yield a profit¬
able return of tropical produce.
It was by a slightly different route that we made
our way back to Panda ma Tenka. On the Matopa
river our servants shot a wild pig; and a little
further up the valley some of our people dis¬
covered a dead elephant. Their attention was
caught by a disgusting smell, which they thought
they recognized ; and pushing into the bushes they
found the carcase of a huge male elephant, dead
from gun-shot wounds. The adjacent flesh had
been gnawed by lions, and one of the blacks de¬
clared that he saw a lion making off as we ap¬
proached. Westbeech and Francis took possession
of the ivory, leaving the carcase to the servants who
had smelt it out. They cut off the feet, intending
to carry them off as a dainty for their next meal,
but the stench of them was so intolerable that we
soon made them throw their tit-bit away. When
cooked fresh the fleshy substance enclosed beneath
the tough skin of the elephant’s foot is accounted
as choice a morsel as a bear’s paw, but it is the only
fragment of the brute that is in any way suited for
human food.
So sore did my feet continue that it was with the
greatest difficulty that I dragged myself along. The
ladies, as they had done on the way out, walked
the greater part of the distance between the falls
and the Grashuma Flat ; and apart from my own
Trip to the Victoria Falls. 213
trouble, the whole of us were in perfect health when,
on the 24th of September, we reached Panda ma
Tenka. There I found two Matongas and a
Manansa on the look-out for employment. I en¬
gaged them at once, and Westbeech and Francis
did their best to assist me in procuring what
was requisite for my start again to the Leshumo
valley.
ENCOUNTER WITH A TIGER.
214
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER IX.
SECOND VISIT TO THE MARUTSE KINGDOM.
Departure for Impalera — A Masupia funeral — Sepopo’s wives —
Travelling plans— Flora and fauna of the Sesheke woods —
Arrival of a caravan — A fishing-excursion — Mashoku, the
king’s executioner — Masangu — The prophetic dance — Visit
from the queens — Blacksmith’s bellows — Crocodiles and
crocodile-tackle — The Mankoe — Constitution and officials
of the Marutse kingdom — A royal elephant-hunt — Excursion
to the woods — A buffalo-hunt — Chasing a lioness — The lion
dance — Mashukulumbe at Sepopo’s court — Moquai, the
king’s daughter — Marriage festivities.
When I found my¬
self once again sit¬
ting in my waggon
at Panda ma Tenka,
HUNTING THE SPUE-WINGED GOOSE. J mySelf in
writing my journal, but I was altogether much
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 215
dispirited and out of sorts, the continued pain in
my feet tending in no slight degree to aggravate
my sense of depression. I was temporarily cheered
by the companionship of my good dog Niger, who
returned to me after having been left behind at the
falls ; but I felt very keenly the prospect of soon
losing him altogether for a time ; I was unwilling
to expose him to the attacks of the tsetse-fly, and
accordingly had arranged for my Bamangwato
servant, Meriko, to take him back with him to
Shoshong and confide him to the care of Mr.
Mackenzie. Could I have foreseen that I was
parting with the creature finally, I would not have
suffered him to leave my side ; I paid Meriko well
to attend to him, and took care that he had a proper
supply of provisions, but unfortunately it turned
out that Mr. Mackenzie was away from home ; poor
Niger was entrusted to a waggon-driver in the
employ of Messrs. Francis and Clark, who just then
was starting for Grahamstown, and from that time
forward, notwithstanding all my inquiries, I never
could ascertain what became of him.
By this time I had come almost to the end of the
stock of goods that I had procured for bartering ;
it was absolutely necessary that the supply should
be replenished, and in spite of the exorbitant
prices that were asked I had no alternative but to
buy what calico, cloth, and beads I could.
On the 27th I had an attack of dysentery, which
happily did not prove very serious.
During my stay I made the acquaintance of a
man named Henry W., who came from the neigh¬
bourhood of Grahamstown ; he was an experienced
hunter, but somehow or other I could not take to
216 Seven Years in South Africa.
him ; I could not get over the barbarities which he
permitted during his excursions. On one occasion,
after wounding a female elephant that had been
pursuing him, he allowed his servants to torture it
for a couple of hours with their assegais before he
put the poor brute out of its miseries by shooting it
dead.
Although there had been no rain in the district for
several months, the two days before we left Panda
ma Tenka were wet and stormy. When we started
we made but a very short progress on the first day,
as my baggage proved too heavy for the cart, and I
was obliged to halt and send back for a waggon;
this did not arrive until the afternoon of the follow¬
ing day, but we lost no time in moving forwards
again, and spent the night on the Gashuma Flat.
Our encampment was an attraction to several lions
that prowled around, ready to pounce upon any
animal that might be scared from the enclosure.
Three out of my four servants spoke as many
different dialects, Sesupia, Setonga, and Senansa,
but they all understood the Sesuto-Serotse, so that
from the chatter which they kept up I was able to
pick up a number of colloquial expressions.
A short distance before we reached Saddler’s
Pan, one of Westbeech’s servants had a narrow
escape ; having seen some zulu-hartebeests grazing
a little way off, he approached them by degrees, and
was about to fire when he found himself almost
within the clutches of a lion that was watching the
very same herd. He was glad enough to make a
timely retreat.
Late in the evening of the 4th of October, all safe
and sound we reached the Leshumo valley. Next
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 2 1 7
morning I sent my servants forward to the Chobe,
and as Westbeech had placed the eight donkeys at
my disposal, they took the greater part of my
baggage. I myself followed on later in the day,
and on my way fell in with two English traders
named Brown and Cross, who were pleased to see
me ; they were returning from a fruitless visit made
in the hope of seeing Sepopo; they told me that
they had been fortunate enough to kill two magnifi¬
cent lions, one of them a full-grown male of the
maneless species.
I found sixteen boatmen waiting my arrival at
the Chobe, and next morning Sepopo sent six more ;
they were to take both Westbeech’ s goods and mine
to Sesheke, where the king was very anxious to
inspect everything, having been already informed
that Westbeech had brought a considerable number
of elephant-guns. I should have been quite ready
to cross the river that same morning, but the wind
was too high for the passage to be attempted
prudently ; setting aside the prospect of being
capsized, which would have been sufficiently un¬
pleasant, there was the risk of falling a victim to
the numerous crocodiles. I myself subsequently
witnessed some casualties of this kind at Sesheke.
Strolling about, I observed that the poisonous
mushungulu-tree was now in full bloom, covered
with large crimson blossoms. On my way back
from my ramble my attention was arrested by a suc¬
cession of gun-shots, which I was told were part of
a funeral ceremony that was then taking place. A
Masupia was being buried, and on an open space
between two trees, about 400 yards from the settle¬
ment, I saw a dozen or more men running about
2 1 8 Seven Years in South A frica.
wildly and letting off their guns, shouting aloud
during every interval between their shots : under
one of the trees a number of people were sitting
drinking beer, and under the other tree was the
grave that had been just closed in.
The Masupias are accustomed to make their
graves six or seven feet deep and two feet wide, and
to bury with the deceased his coat, his mattock, and
other weapons ; a little corn is likewise thrown into
the grave. The friends always spend the rest of
the day at the place of interment, and if the buried
man has been wealthy a large quantity of meat is
consumed as well as the beer. The shouting and
running about and the discharge of the guns are
supposed to scare away the evil spirits from the
spot. I asked one of the bystanders how the person
just buried had come by his death ; he only raised
his eyes to signify that it was all owing to Molemo.
In the course of the day some of the people
brought in a quantity of the flesh of a hippopotamus
that they had killed ; they considered it quite a
young animal, but its teeth were full ten inches
long.
In the conveyance of my baggage to Makumba’s
landing-place I was assisted by a brother of the
chiefs, named Ramusokotan ; he resided some miles
further up the left bank of the Chobe, and was
entrusted with the duty of guarding the lower
course of the river. On my way to the landing-
place I saw several pallah-gazelles, being twice so
close to them that I could observe all their move¬
ments.
The Zambesi was lower than I had seen it be¬
fore. As we crossed it we had a narrow escape
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 219
of being upset by a hippopotamus, another of the
three animals of which Blockley had killed the
largest on our previous voyage to Sesheke. Re¬
membering the spot, we were trying to pass along
as quietly as possible, when Westbeech’s boatmen
felt a sudden jerk at one of the paddles close under
their canoe ; the creature was probably startled for
the instant, and allowed the boat to proceed with¬
out attacking it; the next moment, however, it
made a furious dash towards my boat, which was
following close behind. But my men had fortunately
been put on their guard by the cries of Westbeech’s
crew, and made so vigorous a spurt that when the
head of the hippopotamus emerged from the water,
it was several yards in the rear.
On arriving at Sesheke I was informed that I was
at liberty, if I liked, to occupy one of the new huts
just erected by the king, but I preferred accepting
Westbeech’s invitation to take up my quarters in
his own courtyard, where Blockley also had put up
a small warehouse for himself. My first greeting
from the king was that I had been too long coming,
that I was too late now, and that he could not keep
his Marutse men waiting for me ; but I went to see
him in the afternoon, and took him a variety of little
presents, which seemed to put him in a very much
better temper, and he was evidently pleased when. I
tried to speak a few sentences to him in the Sesuto-
Serotse language.
It was getting towards evening when Blockley
called me out of my hut to witness a curious scene.
The king was receiving a visit from his wives who
resided in the Barotse valley, and from his daughter
Moquai, the Mabunda queen ; they were arriving
220 Seven Years in South Africa.
with about forty canoes, those occupied by the royal
ladies being covered in the middle by a mat to pro¬
tect them from the sun and rain. Many of the
canoes had thirteen oarsmen, who all rowed stand¬
ing, such of them as did not convey passengers
being laden not only with great mats, pots, and
KING SEPOPO.
provisions for the way, but with baskets full of
presents for the king.
I called the next morning upon Captain M‘Leod,
Captain Fairly, and Cowley, whom the king had ac¬
commodated in a round hut near the royal enclosure ;
they were full of complaints because Sepopo per¬
sisted in putting off the great elephant-hunt for
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 2 2 1
which they had come the second time. I also went
with Westbeech to pay my respects to the newly-
arrived queens, most of whom he had already seen
in the Barotse valley. Amongst them was the chief
wife, Mokena, or “ mother of the country.” Alto¬
gether I made acquaintance with sixteen of the
wives. Sepopo’s favourite was a Makololo named
Lunga. The third wife was Marishwati, the mother
of Kaika, already nominated as the future heiress to
the throne. The fourth wife was named Makaloe ;
the fifth, Uesi; the sixth, Liapaleng; then came
Makkapelo, on whose account two men were put to
death in 1874; next in order were Mantaralucha,
Manatwa, Sybamba, and Kacindo. The twelfth was
called Molechy ; this wife, as well as another named
Sitan, had been all but drowned by Sepopo for
faithlessness.
A seducer of any of the royal wives is at once
handed over to the executioner’s assistants, with
the instruction that he is “ to be sent to fetch
buffalo-meat for the king,” meaning that he is to be
taken to the woods, and there assegaied. The mode
of dealing with an adulterous wife may be illustrated
by Sepopo’s proceedings with Sitan. He ordered a
number of canoes full of people to push off into the
middle of the stream, taking his place in one of
them with the culprit. He then had her bound
hand and foot, and ducked under the water
repeatedly until she became insensible ; on her
recovering consciousness, he asked her to tell the
people how she liked being drowned, and warned
her that if ever her offence should be repeated, he
should simply put her under water, and leave her
there.
222 Seven Years in South A frica.
The fourteenth wife was Silala, and there were
two others, but both of these had been presented by
the king to two of his chiefs. The true heir to the
throne had died two years previously. His name
was Maritella, and he was the son of Marishwati.
Just before his death he was lying on his bed, and
complained of being thirsty, whereupon the Barotse
chieftain, who happened to be "present, poured him
out some drink from a pitcher standing by ; the
lad died very soon afterwards, and Sepopo imme¬
diately accused the chieftain of having poisoned
him, and condemned him, in spite of his being
universally beloved by his people, to be poisoned
himself.
The king’s daughter, Moquai, had married
Manengo, one of the few Makololos who had sur¬
vived the general massacre. The king of the
Makololos, Sepopo informed me, had died a miser¬
able death, his body having become a mass of ulcers,
and after his demise the whole tribe had been dis¬
tracted by party squabbles.
I was determined to give the king no peace on the
subject of my journey, and on the 12th I had a long
conference with him and the Portuguese. He told
me that although I might make up my mind to stay
only two days at each of the towns in the Barotse,
the whole boat- journey through his kingdom could
not take me less than two months, and that after I
had reached the kingdom of the Iwan-yoe, where I
should find the sources of the Zambesi, I should
have to go on for about another nine weeks to get
to Matimbundu.
I went more than once to visit the queens, and
always found that they were treated with great
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 223
respect, their quarters being nearly always sur¬
rounded by residents patiently waiting their turn to
be admitted to an audience.
On the 14th I received a visit from a dancer.
The calves of his legs were covered with bells made
of fruit-shells, and his dancing consisted of little
more than shaking himself so that the bells were all
set in motion.
Amongst the other inmates of Sepopo’s court was
a Mambari named Kolintshintshi, who held the
office of royal tailor; he had been taken prisoner
during one of the raids of the Marutse to the
west; two companions who had been captured at
the same time had been restored to their home
after receiving a liberal present of cattle, whilst
Kolintshintshi had been detained.
During the time that I was delayed at Sesheke I
took several opportunities of rambling into the sur¬
rounding woods, and found a number of trees and
bushes that were quite new to me, whilst a great
proportion of the kinds that I had already seen in
the Bechuana forests appeared here to attain double
the height that they did elsewhere. Four-footed
game was very plentiful, and I noticed a hartebeest
with flat compressed horns, different from any kind
with which I was acquainted. Birds, likewise,
seemed tolerably numerous, and I found a singular
kind of bee-eater (Merops Nubicus ), a grey medium¬
sized hornbill, the great plotus, and two species of
spurred plovers with yellow wattles.
Returning from a walk I came across one of the
caravans that arrive from the more distant parts
of the kingdom, bringing in the periodical tri¬
bute for the king. It consisted of about thirty
224
Seven Years in South Africa.
people, but very often a caravan of tbis kind will
include considerably more, because whether the men
come voluntarily, or under the compulsion of a chief,
they are always obliged to bring their whole house¬
holds with them. On making their entry into
Sesheke the party was arranged mainly with regard
to the stature of the people who composed it ; a
leader went in front, carrying nothing but his
weapons and a great bell, which he continued ring¬
ing without intermission ; following him were the
men laden with the elephants’ tusks, the manza-
roots, and the baskets of fruit that composed the
tribute; then came the women in charge of the
travelling-apparatus and provisions, the children all
trudging on behind.
On the 19th Westbeech, Bauren, Walsh, and my¬
self made up a party to go and fish in one of the
lagoons. We arranged to go two and two in
separate boats, but we were so unlucky' in our
choice that we soon found that we were in perpetual
danger of losing our equilibrium, and had to return
and exchange into craft of safer dimensions. We
had an opportunity during our excursion to observe
the way in which the Marutse and Masupias manipu¬
late their nets. Made of bast, with meshes that are
somewhat wide, each net is cast out with its ends
secured to two boats, which are stationed at a dis¬
tance from each other, and manned by four oarsmen
apiece; when the net is sunk the two boats are
made to approach each other at the same point upon
the shore where the net is drawn up ; the fish are
stupified by being knocked with kiris, and then
brought to land.
We were witnesses on our way back of a scene
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 225
that was anything but pleasing. Some girls had
been bathing in a creek, and one of them had stolen
some beads belonging to another. On discovering
that she had been robbed, the owner of the beads
fell upon the unfortunate thief, and belaboured her
so savagely with the reeds that she tore from the
stream, that the culprit fell down and sued for
mercy. A man who was standing near attempted
to interfere, but nothing could pacify the anger of
the infuriated girl ; she persisted in administering
chastisement, and was not deterred from her
violence till she had actually snatched off the
leather apron from the victim’s loins.
The same evening I was again invited to supper
with the king. On this occasion an episode took
place which unfortunately was by no means rare in
Sepopo’s court, and which serves to illustrate his
habitual cruelty. It was about an hour after sun¬
down, and there was no lack of merriment in the
royal enclosure. The king was sitting in his usual
fashion — crossed-legged upon a mat. The wives
whose turn it was to entertain him were on his
right. On his left was spread another mat for
myself, his nephew, and his immediate attendants.
The rest of the company were arranged opposite to
him, in a semicircle. The intervening space was
left free for Matungulu, the royal cup-bearer, to
dispense the honey-beer, a beverage peculiarly
belonging to the court ; all honey, as crown pro¬
perty, being sent to the royal kitchen. Men, more¬
over, are sent out to collect it by the aid of the
honey-cuckoo, their expeditions frequently lasting
several days. The king took a little draught
of the beer, and handed the remainder to Lunga,
VOL. II. Q.
226
Seven Years in South Africa.
his favourite wife, with a remark universally sup¬
posed to be so witty, that the whole assemblage,
according to etiquette, burst into roars of laughter.
Meanwhile one of the inferior chiefs took advantage
of the noise to approach the king ; and, clapping
his hands gently without cessation as he spoke,
said : “ There was a man in my village, my lord
king, too weak in his legs to hunt polocholo (game).
It has pleased Nyamba (the great god) that all his
wives should die ; so that he can no longer procure
any mabele (corn). This man has now come to
settle here with you in Sesheke ; but he is old, very
old, and his relations are far away in the Barotse.”
Sepopo nodded to signify that he quite understood
the story. While he had been listening, his eye
had again and again glanced towards a distant
quarter, where the general crowd were gathered ;
and when the chief ceased to speak, the king cried
out “ Mashoku ! ” In an instant the executioner
hastened towards him and received his com¬
mission to take care that the old man should no
longer be permitted to be a burden to the neigh¬
bourhood.
Throughout the kingdom no one was more feared
or more hated than the executioner Mashoku. He
was a Mabunda ; but the peculiar aptitude he had
shown for his office had induced the king to raise
him to the rank of a chieftain. He was over six
feet high, and of a massive build; so ill-shaped,
however, was his head, and so repulsive his cast of
countenance, that I could never do otherwise than
associate him in my mind with a hyaena.
Nothing could be more odious than the way in
which Mashoku received his orders. Crawling up
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 227
on all fours to tlie royal presence, lie grinned with
satisfaction at the instructions he received. He
kept clapping his hands softly while he was attend¬
ing ; and having taken a sip from the goblet offered
him by his royal master, he crawled back to his
former place. The king was in high good humour ;
and after a few more jokes, retired to his bed¬
chamber, whilst the band played their usual serenade
from their adjacent hut.
Only too faithfully was the king’s sentence
carried out next morning. Before it was light, five
men wended their way towards the old man’s hut,
one of whom, Mashoku himself, went in and seized
his victim by the leg. Quite incapable of making
any resistance, the poor man trembled like a leaf.
He was dragged off to the river- side, and there
thrust into a canoe that was lying in readiness. A
few strokes of the paddle brought it into mid¬
stream ; and while three of the assistant execu¬
tioners kept it steady, Mashoku and the other man
lifted the helpless creature by the shoulders and
legs, and held him in the water. A gurgling noise,
a few bubbles on the surface of the stream, and all
was over. The body was hauled back into the boat,
to be thrown into the water again at a spot near
the bank where the king’s scavengers always flung
their refuse to the crocodiles.
Such is an example of the summary way in which
Sepopo would dispose of the friendless and infirm;
and as the number of strangers that gathered round
the king at Sesheke was considerable, executions of
this kind were more frequent than in many other
places. Under certain rulers — such for instance as
Sepopo’s grandfather, who was much respected by
Q 2
228
Seven Years in South A frica.
the people — these cruelties fall into disuse, nor
are they often practised when a queen holds the
reins of government.
Next day I paid a visit to Masangu, to whom,
as being responsible for the control of the guns
distributed to the king’s vassals, I have already
given the designation of governor of the arsenal.
He was likewise superintendent of all the native
smiths. I found him employed in repairing a gun,
for which he was using hammers, chisels, pincers,
and bellows, all of his own making, and of the most
perfect construction that I had yet seen in South
Africa.
He asked me whether I had ever seen the Masu-
pias dance, and drew my attention to the sound of
the drums in the royal courtyard. On hearing that
I had never been present when any dancing was
going forward, he invited me to go with him to the
performance that was then about to commence.
All the inhabitants of the Marutse kingdom are
fond of dancing, most of the tribes appearing to
adopt a style peculiar to themselves. In common
with the Bechuanas they have a dance which is
performed by girls on reaching the age of maturity.
This is repeated day after day for weeks at a time,
and, accompanied by singing and castanet playing,
is sometimes kept up till midnight, and is supposed
to answer the design of uniting the girls of the
same age and born in the same neighbourhood in a
bond of friendship. There are also betrothal dances
and elephant dances, at which a great quantity of
butshuala is consumed, the ill-effects of which soon
become apparent. On these occasions the instru¬
ments of fan-palm are beaten very rapidly with
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 229
reeds, the time being marked by striking gloves of
steel, or bells without clappers. Besides these,
again, there are the lion and leopard dances, which
are performed by hunters returning from successful
expeditions, in conjunction with the villagers, who
go out to meet them. In an elephant dance the
THE PROPHETIC DANCE OF THE MASUPIAS.
king himself occasionally takes a part, as likewise in
the mokoro, or boat dance.
That to which Masangu now invited me to
accompany him was known as “the prophetic
dance.” It was one of several juggleries pecu¬
liar to the Masupia tribe. The largest drums of
the royal band are brought out, and while they
are beaten about thirty performers stand round,
singing and clapping their hands with all their
230 Seven Years in South Africa.
might. Two men then commence dancing in
the middle of the open space, and continue
their performances for hours together, sometimes
from sunrise to sunset, till they sink down
almost in a state of exhaustion. In this con¬
dition they have to deliver their prophecies about
any royal hunt or raid that may be coming . off. As
a general rule these predictions are favourable, and
the dancers are rewarded with presents of beads or
calico ; but if the event should belie the anticipa¬
tion, they take good care to keep themselves out of
the way, to escape the chastisement that would be
sure to fall to their lot.
The two Masupia dancers that I saw had their
heads, arms, and loins fantastically adorned with
the tails of gnus and zebras. The dance itself
seemed to consist principally in hopping from one
foot to another, varied by the performers occasion¬
ally laying themselves flat on the ground, at one
time falling suddenly, at another sinking so gradu¬
ally that no joint appeared to stir, although the
head was kept in a perpetual agitation. Attached
to the calves of the legs were little bells and a
number of gourd-shells, which acted as rattles ; and
when the dance is. executed in their own homes, the
Masupias very often introduce some conjuring
tricks, one of which consists in giving a tremendous
gash to the tongue, from which flows a stream of
blood : but the tongue is immediately afterwards
exhibited, and shown to have sustained no injury.
After having devoted some days to a general
examination of the fish in the Zambesi, I took an
opportunity to make a more precise investigation of
several varieties, applying my attention particularly
231
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom.
to the sheat-fish ( Glanis siluris ), which, however, I
could not discover differed in any respect from the
same species in the more southern rivers, except
that it was of a somewhat darker colour. We set
some ground-lines in places that appeared to be free
from crocodiles, and were successful in getting a
very fair haul.
A loud clamour of women’s voices that broke the
silence of the night was explained to me to betoken
that a Marutse had just died in the village of Katan,
a chief on the west. This was followed in the
morning by the discharge of guns, indicating that
the deceased was being buried.
In the course of that day the king sent a boat to
convey Blockley and Bauren to Impalera, to enable
them to start on their trading-expedition to the
territory of the Makololo prince Wankie. The
offer, however, of a single boat to carry a white
man, several servants, and all the merchandise, was
regarded by Blockley as little less than an insult,
and did not tend to heal the unpleasantness which
Sepopo’s recent want of courtesy and consideration
had provoked. He was not long in visiting our
quarters again, coming not only with his full band,
but attended by a company of 120 servants, that
completely filled our courtyard, his design evidently
being to make us sensible how thoroughly we were
in his power.
Sepopo had hardly taken his departure, and I had
seated myself to finish some sketches that I had
begun, when twelve of his queens pushed into my
liut. They had heard that I had taken the like¬
nesses of the king and his executioner, and were
not only very curious to see them, but anxious
232 Seven Years in South Africa.
to learn how they were done. In their eagerness to
handle everything, I almost thought they would
squeeze the breath out of my body ; one of them
took hold of my pencil, several of them felt the sur¬
face of my paper, whilst those behind, who could
not see, pushed those in front, till their breasts
VISIT OF THE QUEENS.
pressed against my shoulders. Certainly they were
more obtrusive in their behaviour than any of the
Bechuana or Zulu women that I had elsewhere seen.
When the royal ladies entered, one of our black
servants, who was in the hut, prepared to leave, but
knowing the jealous disposition of the king, I
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 233
thought it advisable to make him remain where he
was.
My guests remained with me for about half an
hour, when they betook themselves to the small
warehouse next door, and began to pester West-
beech very much as they had pestered me. As soon
as they had gone, I hung a mat over my door¬
way, leaving only aperture enough to admit a little
light, but the expedient was an utter failure ; I had
taken much too moderate an estimate of woman’s
curiosity. Almost immediately afterwards one voice
was heard, “ Sikurumela mo’ ndu ” (a curtain is
hung up), followed by another, “Nyaka chajo ”
(doctor gone out), and two of the queens were in¬
side, much disconcerted, no doubt, at finding the
doctor at home.
Altogether, I consider the Marutse to be the
cleanest of all the South African tribes that I came
across. Although there are but few shallow sandy
spots in the river near the larger settlements, and even
these are dangerous on account of the crocodiles, the
people will not allow themselves to be deprived of
their bath ; if the stream is deep or the bank preci¬
pitous, they pour the water over their heads. Wash¬
ing is to them an absolute necessity, and they rinse
their mouths and clean their hands after every meal.
I made an excursion on the 23rd to the plain
known as Blockley’s kraal, and there saw some
puku, letshwe, and water-antelopes. The plain lies
under water during the floods ; but at its edge,
close to the woods, I noticed a number of fields
under cultivation ; women and children were digging,
and men were felling trees, the clearance they made
being an enlargement of their master’s estate. On
234
Seven Years in South Africa.
my way back I saw several homesteads already
finished, and close beside them some rude, conical
huts of grass and reeds, so slightly put together
that they could have taken only a few hours to con¬
struct. They were intended for the female slaves,
and were not allowed to have any enclosure, so that
the ingress and egress of their occupants might be
under supervision.
Going into a hut next day I found a Mambari
doing blacksmiths’ work with some tools that Ma-
sangu had lent him ; he was sharpening mattocks,
and kept his fire alive by means of a pair of the
bellows that are in ordinary use among the Marutse.
These bellows were somewhat peculiar, and may
claim a detailed description. They had two com¬
partments, formed of circular boards covered with
leather, and with an aperture in the sides ; these
were alternately raised and lowered by handles, the
air being forced into two wooden tubes that ran
parallel to each other into the two compartments ;
fixed into the ends of the wooden tubes were two
shorter tubes made of antelopes’ horns, but these,
instead of running parallel, converged in front, and
met in a clay nozzle, which was applied to the fire.
I was taking an afternoon stroll along the river¬
side, when I saw a crowd of natives manifestly in
great excitement ; it appeared that the body of a
girl, who had been killed by a crocodile a few days
before, had just been washed ashore. Crocodiles
have the habit of drowning human beings, or any
animals that they are unable to swallow, by hold¬
ing them down at the bottom of the water
until the cessation of all struggling seems to make
them aware that no resistance is to be expected,
Second Visit to tJie Marutse Kingdom. 235
when they open their jaws and let free their prey.
Unless one crocodile is assisted by another, it can¬
not by itself tear a fresh corpse in pieces ; but it has
to wait until the process of decomposition sets in,
when the gaseous exhalations raise it to the surface
in a condition that permits it to be torn asunder and
devoured piecemeal. If a crocodile’s attention
should be attracted by a fish, or anything else that
seem3 fit for food, it will forsake its larger prey in
the daytime, but only to return to it in the even¬
ing. I was told by Sepopo and by many of his
people, that these reptiles are more dangerous near
Sesheke than in most other parts of the kingdom.
Shortly before my arrival a man had been dragged
by one of them from his boat, and a boy of six years
of age had been snapped up while bathing ; and
during my stay I heard of no less than thirty
deaths that were attributed to the rapacity of these
creatures.
Small crocodiles are occasionally caught by acci¬
dent in the fishing-nets ; the larger ones have to be
captured by an arrangement of great hooks. The
crocodile-tackle is very ingenious, and probably may
be more easily understood from an illustration than
from any verbal description. The bait which con¬
ceals the hook is covered by a net, which is attached
to a strong bast rope more than twelve feet long by
a number of twisted bast threads, the other end of
the rope being wound round a bundle of reeds that
serves as a float. It is only now and then when the
casualties have been unusually numerous that the
king gives orders for the tackle to be brought into
use, and then the bundle of reeds is laid upon the
bank ; the hook is generally baited with a piece
236
Seven Years in South Africa.
of putrified dog’s flesh, of which the Marutse
believe the crocodile to be especially fond, and is
supported on a tripod of reeds, three or four feet
above the water, and almost close to its edge. After
a crocodile has scented the bait, it usually hovers
round it for a long time, sometimes until late in the
evening, before it makes a snap at it ; but when it
attempts to swallow it, the projecting points of the
hook prevent the closing of the jaws, and the
water rushing into the throat and windpipe makes
the brute sink to the bottom, where it soon becomes
exhausted ; its carcase floats down the stream,
either towards the shore or against a sandbank, its
position being indicated by the float which it drags
after it. Two or three crocodiles have been re¬
peatedly known to be taken in this way during a
single night from the setting of five hooks. Except
they are found alive on the hook, or are accidentally
wounded by fishermen or hunters, they are never
speared. Crocodile-snares, like fishing-nets, are all
royal property.
On one occasion, when the hooks had been
baited overnight, I went down to the river to ascer¬
tain the result, and met three large canoes with two
men apiece, each of them conveying the carcase of a
crocodile big enough to contain a human body. As
soon as the carcases were brought to shore, some of
Sepopo’s people proceeded to cut off their heads ;
the eyelids, the coverings of the nostrils, and a few
of the scales from the ridge of the back were
reserved for the king, to be used as charms.
I did what I could to induce the crowd that had
found the body of the poor girl to have it buried,
but my pleading was to no purpose ; her relatives
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 237
declared that it was Nyambe’s will that the croco¬
dile should seize her, and therefore the crocodile
must be allowed to have her. The body was
accordingly left to be devoured at sunset.
Queen Lunga took an opportunity of calling upon
me, to introduce her daughter Nyama. She was
a girl of fourteen, and had just been married to
Sepopo’s eldest son, Monalula, who was half an idiot.
Before the wedding she had been sent to reside with
her mother and some other of the royal wives in a
retired hut in a neighbouring wood, where she was
made to fast, and to spend her time in working and
in learning her domestic duties ; her hair meanwhile
had been all shaved off, except an oval patch that
was rubbed with manganese. Nyama’s father was
Sekeletu, the Makololo prince.
In one of my next rambles through the woods, I
came upon a little Mankoe settlement. The people
were perhaps the finest men in the Marutse empire.
They had long, woolly hair, which they combed up
high, giving their heads the effect of being larger
than they really were. Their purpose in coming to
Sesheke was to assist the king in his projected great
hunting-excursion. I noticed that their travelling-
utensils of horn and wood were ornamented with
carvings scarcely inferior in execution to those of
the Mabundas. The four huts in which they were
residing were about seven feet in height, and
the same in width, and were arranged in the shape
of a horseshoe. On my way back I saw several
graves of Masupia chieftains, all adorned with ivory;
I likewise noticed some calabashes, with sticks
thrust right through them, resting mouth down¬
wards on a small ant-hill, and filled with pulverized
238 Seven Years in South Africa.
bone. They were supposed by the Marutse to bring
rain.
From a conversation with Sepopo I gathered
some information about the constitution of the
country and the ranks of the officials. The
hierarchy may be divided into four classes ; first,
the officers of state ; secondly, the koshi or viceroys
of the tribes in the different provinces ; thirdly, the
kosanas or makosanas, sub-chieftains who serve under
the koshi ; and lastly, the personal attendants of
the king, whose rank may be said to be intermediate
between the two latter classes.
The officers of state were, first, the commander-
in-chief, who in Sepopo’s time was a Marutse re¬
lation of his named Kapella, and whom he afterwards
condemned to death; secondly, there was the con¬
troller of the arsenal, having, as I have explained,
the supervision of the ammunition and guns dis¬
tributed to the vassals, an office that under Sepopo
was shared by two Masupias, Masango and Ramako-
can ; next there was the captain of the body-guard,
a post then held by Sepopo’s cousin, Monalula, but
whose services were only required in time of war ;
and fourthly, the captain of the younger warriors,
who had the command of a special division of the
army during a campaign ; this office was at present
held by a man named Sibendi.
The second class of officials includes all the
governors of the more important provinces. They
are invested with both civil and military powers.
In some of the more extensive districts, as the
Barotse, there are several of these chiefs appointed,
but they are all subordinate to the one who is
chosen to reside at the principal town, and in all
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 239
cases they are accountable to the head governor of
the Barotse, who is regarded as ranking next to the
king. In Sepopo’s time this office was filled by
Inkambella.
Officials of the third grade were such as held
control as deputy-viceroys over separate towns or
small villages where cattle-breeding, hunting, or
fishing, was carried on in behalf of the king. Their
principal duty was to look to the proper payment of
the royal tribute ; the contribution of cereal pro¬
ducts was ordinarily sent to the koshi, who were
responsible for forwarding it to the sovereign. It
is the law of the land that when a vassal kills a
head of game, and even when a freeman slaughters
any of his own cattle, the breast must be given to
the kosana, or must be sent to the koshi if he
should happen to be in the neighbourhood, or must
be reserved for the king himself when the royal
residence is within reach. The law likewise de¬
mands that all matters of importance should be
submitted at once to the deputies, who refer them
to their superiors to transmit, if need be, to the king
himself.
Dignitaries of what I have called the fourth class
comprise what may be designated as the king’s
privy-council. Nominally they are reputed to rank
below the koshi, but practically the monarch holds
them as their superiors ; they include the state
executioner, five or six private physicians, the royal
cup-bearer, one or two detectives, the superintendent
of the fishermen, and the overseer of the canoes.
There was likewise a kind of council belonging to
Moquai. Although the king had virtually withdrawn
the sovereignty from his daughter, the Mabunda
240 Seven Years in South Africa.
people persisted in regarding her as their proper
ruler, and she was allowed to retain her court-re¬
tinue, of whom her husband, Manengo, was the
bead; she had moreover a chancellor and a captain
of the guard, both of whom were appointed viceroys
in her dominions. I myself made the acquaintance
of Sambe, her premier, as well as of several of her
chiefs, Nubiana a Marutse, Moquele, Mokoro, and
two Masupias, Monamori and Simalumba.
Sepopo had both a privy-council and a general
council. Under a queen a privy-council has no
existence at all, and in Sepopo’s hands it was
entirely his tool, composed of men as cruel as
himself. Nor in his time was the general council
itself, made up mainly of state officials, much better
than a farce ; whatever decisions it might arrive at,
and whatever sentences it might pass, were com¬
pletely overruled in the other chamber. Besides
the state officials the larger council always included
any chiefs or subordinate governors who might be
resident near the royal quarters.
Although Sepopo had several times changed his
residence he had hitherto generally succeeded in
getting a council fairly amenable to his authority ;
recently, however, his barbarities, and especially the
wholesale way in which he was putting people to
death upon the slightest pretext, had brought about
a spirit of dissatisfaction. Conscious of the grow¬
ing . opposition, the king proceeded to yet greater
severity in his dealings, and condemned a number of
the leading counsellors, both of the Marutse and
Barotse kingdoms, to be executed, an arbitrary
measure which only served to hasten his downfall.
By the tribes of the Marutse kingdom in general
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 241
the larger council was held in high esteem, the
privy-council being regarded only with detestation
and servile fear.
In Sepopo’s employment there were likewise two
old wizen-looking magicians or doctors, Liva and his
brother, who exercised almost a supreme control
over state affairs. They had practised their craft
for more than sixty years ; they had served under
previous sovereigns, and their experience enabled
them now to minister to Sepopo’s suspicions, to
manage his temper, and to foster his superstitions.
They enjoyed a kind of hereditary reputation, as in
spite of the atrocities which they were known to
have encouraged, they were regarded by the various
tribes with awe rather than with hatred. That
there had not been a revolt long ago against
Sepopo’s tyranny was mainly to be attributed to
the belief that he had those in his secret council
who could divine any plot beforehand and frustrate
any stratagem that could be devised, and even
when his despotism grew so great that the life of
the highest in the kingdom was not secure for a
day, not a man could be found to lift an assegai
against him. At last it happened that a certain
charm which he had publicly exhibited and pro¬
claimed to be infallible failed to produce its proper
effect; scales as it were fell from the eyes of the
populace; they discerned that all his pretensions
were hypocrisy and deceit, and proceeded forthwith
to expel him from the throne.
The elephant-hunt, so long talked of, came off on
the 27th. At dawn of day all Sesheke was in
commotion ; the royal courtyard, where the king
was distributing powder and shot, was so full of
VOL. II. R
242 Seven Years in South Africa.
men equipped for the excursion that I could only
with difficulty make my way across. I hurried to
tell my English friends the news, but I found that
they had already been apprised of the hunt by one
of the chiefs, and that although they had not been
invited by the king, they were preparing to join the
throng. The excitement between the royal enclosure
and the river was very great ; as the people ran
backwards and forwards they shouted and laughed,
and I had never seen them in such high spirits and
so generally blithe and genial. A hunt on this ex¬
tensive scale was very rare; the present occasion
had been anticipated for months, and it had a special
interest of its own from the circumstance that some
white men and the king himself were to take part in
the sport. Long rows of canoes lined the river
bank, another flotilla having collected on the oppo¬
site side, the crews on the sand ready to embark
at a moment’s notice. Hurrying on their way
to the Kashteja to await the arrival of canoes to
take them across were caravans of men, chiefly
Mankoe, Mabundas, and Western Makalalas ; every
chief made his own people arrange themselves in
proper order, and despatched the proper contingent
to look after the embarkation of the clothes and
water-vessels, and especially to look to the guns,
which necessarily engrossed a good deal of atten¬
tion.
As the king was leaving his residence he was con¬
fronted by the party of Englishmen, who remon¬
strated with him very severely because he had failed
to keep his promise of inviting them to the hunt.
His behaviour towards them had really been abomin¬
able. After endeavouring to fall in with his wishes
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 243
in every way, and having twice come from Panda ma
Tenka on purpose, and, moreover, having submitted
to be fleeced by him till they had little more than
the clothes on their backs, they now found that he
was about to start without them. This could not
be. No doubt Sepopo had his own motives for his
conduct; he was accustomed to consider all ele¬
phants as his own property, whether shot by himself
or not, and probably he was anxious to conceal what
numbers of elephants there were in the country, lest
the visits of white men should become too frequent ;
but he was bound to keep his word, and at length,
in deference to the representations of some of the
chiefs who were in attendance, he consented that
the three sportsmen, as well as a trader named
Dorehill, who had paid him a visit the year before,
should have a canoe placed at their disposal.
It was about noon when the king and his flotilla
started off. He was accompanied by his band, and
at least two hundred canoes set out from Sesheke
alone, apart from those that joined at other parts
of the river. It was with no little reluctance that
I refrained from going, but I considered it prudent
to do nothing to arouse Sepopo’s suspicions, and
feared that by taking part in the hunt I might
lead him to suppose that my proposed expedition in
his country had some design of interfering with the
elephants.
My general rule at this time was to spend my
evenings with Westbeech, where with his assistance
I tried to converse with the natives, and gathered
many particulars about their manners and customs.
In his hut I met a Marutse named Uana ea Nyambe,
i. e. the child of God, who prided himself very
e 2
244 Seven Years in South Africa.
much upon his wisdom, and was often consulted by
Sepopo.
On the 29th I stayed at home to keep guard while
Westbeech and his servant went out hunting; they
were more fortunate than I had been on my last
excursion, and returned with a letshwebock that
had no less than ten bullets in its body. I believe
that the muscles of the neck are more strongly deve¬
loped in this species of antelope than in any other.
The next day we received a visit from several
Marutse who had their foreheads and chests tied up
with bandages of snake-skin, to keep off pain, as
they explained ; they told us that they not unfre-
quently fastened the bandages round their waists to
allay the pangs of hunger ; the Makololos use leather
straps, and the Matabele strips of calico for the
same purpose.
Two boatmen came in a. little before sunset to
fetch some provisions for the white men on the
hunting-rground ; they reported that hitherto the
chase had been somewhat unsuccessful, but that it
was to be resumed in the morning. But about
another hour later we were much surprised to see
Cowley and Dorehill turn up ; they were disappointed,
and consequently angry ; they told us that they had
been stationed in a reed-thicket with the king and
the principal members of his suite, and had been
waiting for the elephants to be driven up ; Sepopo,
however, grew so impatient that he fired while the
herd was more than sixty yards distant ; the con¬
sequence was that they immediately took to flight ;
there were nearly 800 huntsmen following the
king, and almost as many beaters, and when the
elephants began to run, a sort of panic seized
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 245
everybody, guns were fired in every direction, often
without an aim at all, and in the general pell-mell
it was no great wonder that only five elephants
should be killed altogether. Cowley and Dorehill
affirmed that they had been obliged to throw them¬
selves on the ground to escape the random volley
of shot; and they declared, moreover, that the beaters
had utterly failed in their work, which would have
been done far more effectually by a couple of Masar-
was than by the whole host of them. The king had
given vent to his anger at the bungling in his usual
fashion by thrashing every one within reach with a
heavy stick till his arm ached. Before starting, he
had been smeared with a variety of ointments which
he called a “ molemo ” to give him influence over
the elephants.
Wishing to make rather a longer excursion into
the Sesheke woods than I had previously done, I
started off before sunrise, and having passed the
site of Old Sesheke, turned to the west. On my left
lay the Zambesi valley, an apparently boundless
plain overgrown with trees and clumps of reeds, and
intersected in various places by side-arms of the
river, some of them several miles in length. The
woods to which I was bending my way were about
twenty feet above the level of the water. Some of
the lagoons extended right up to the trees, stretch¬
ing along the edge of the forest for miles, though
the river itself was at an average distance of three
miles away. Near one of the lagoons I saw a couple
of darters, and very singular their appearance was
as they perched upon a bare projecting bough, their
stumpy bodies and short legs being quite out of
proportion to their long, thin necks, that never
246 Seven Years iu South Africa.
rested from their snake-like contortions ; but a still
stranger sight it is to see them swim, the whole
of the body being immersed and nothing but the
upper part of the neck with the head and sharp
beak visible above the water. Until arriving at the
Zambesi, I had not seen the darter ( Plotus congensis )
since I left the eastern parts of Cape Colony. In a
way that is scarcely credible without being witnessed,
their long, narrow throats are capable of swallowing
fish as large as a man’s hand. I shot several, but
they all fell into the water, and as the lagoons
abounded with crocodiles, it was not without risk
that I and my four servants contrived to fish them
out again. Shortly afterwards I shot a Francolinus
nudicollis,
Noticing some buffalo tracks that apparently led
down to the river I determined to follow them, and
found that they soon turned back to the woods,
past a native village. We continued our way about
three miles beyond this, when we observed how the
grass alongside the tracks had been quite recently
eaten away, and drew an inference that the buffaloes
were not likely to be far distant, and that we ought
to be on our guard ; the trees around us were not of
any great height, but the underwood was dense, and
the bushes round the glades were rather thick, so
that our progress was not at all easy.
We kept on our way, however, and at length
came to a spot where the tracks were so unmis¬
takably new, that it was certain the buffaloes must
be close at hand. We moved forwards with increased
caution, keeping only a few yards apart.
“ Narri ! narri ! ” (buffalo ! buffalo !) suddenly
whispered Chukuru, and beckoned to us to halt.
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 247
“ Kia hassibone narri,” (I see no buffalo), I
answered, and kept on.
But Chukuru touched me on my shoulder as a
sign that I should crouch down ; the others took
the hint and concealed themselves instantly in the
grass.
“ Okay ? ” (where) I asked.
He pointed to four dark objects lying on the
ground about 120 yards distant. There could be no
mistake. They were four buffaloes. One of them
had its head towards me. I took aim and fired ; up
jumped every one to see the effect. Up sprang the
buffaloes, and made off in a gallop. One of them
however lagged behind ; it rolled over for a moment,
but sprang up quickly and overtook the rest ; then
again it seemed to linger. We had no doubt that it
had been wounded, but whether mortally or not we
could not tell.
Nothing can exceed the cunning that a buffalo
will exhibit when it is wounded or infuriated.
Having better powers of discrimination, it is more
wary than a hippopotamus, and consequently is not
so dangerous to an unarmed man, but once provoked
it will fight to the bitter end. It generally makes a
little retreat, and conceals itself behind a bush,
where it waits for the hunter, and when he comes
up makes a dash at him. Attacks of this kind are
by no means unfrequent, and huntsmen of con¬
siderable experience have been known to be out¬
witted and seriously injured by these South African
buffaloes. Sometimes the angry brute will content
itself with tossing its victim into the air, in which
case the mischief is generally limited to the disloca¬
tion or fracture of a limb, but far more often it
248 Seven Years in South Africa.
holds its antagonist down upon the ground, whilst
with its feet it tramples him to death. I heard of
an instance on the Limpopo, where a white man and
three negroes were killed, and a fourth negro much
injured, all by a single buffalo bull.
The buffaloes of which we were in pursuit came
to a standstill after about 200 yards ; the leader of
them turned, and seemed to be scenting us out ;
then again they started off, but after a very short
run the one that was wounded fell behind and
appeared anxious to conceal itself under the shelter
of a tree. I made my servants approach and attract
its attention, while I crept up unobserved till I was
within proper range, when I immediately discharged
both my barrels. The first shot entered the breast,
the second hit the shoulder ; and tottering forwards
on to the open ground, the animal almost directly
fell upon its knees. With shouts of glee my ser¬
vants ran up to the spot, but on discovering that
the buffalo was not dead, they were careful not to
go too near, nor would I allow them to touch it
until I had contrived to get sufficiently close to send
a bullet behind its ear, when it fell back powerless,
and its limbs were stiffened in death. The delight
of my negroes was unbounded ; they danced round
the carcase for a few minutes, and then set to work
to light a fire, at which they roasted the best part
of . the heart, and cutting off one of the feet toasted
the marrow.
I went home with one of the men in the evening,
leaving the rest to dismember the buffalo’s body.
There were many lion-tracks about, and as they
cut up the joints they were obliged to hang them
up out of the lions’ reach. In the midst of their
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 249
operations a heavy storm came on, which made it
quite impossible for them to light a fire, so that
they were themselves obliged to spend the night on
the branches of a tree.
Before I reached my quarters the wind had begun
to blow violently, and just as I was entering the
town, I saw a boat capsize with two fishermen and
a quantity of fish. Fortunately the men managed
to get safely to shore, but the surface of the water
was covered with the dead fish, which the current
carried inland. In a moment, almost like magic,
from every direction there started up a crowd of
boys, who began taking possession of the unexpected
haul ; they tore off their leather aprons, and were
filling them with the best and biggest they could
find, when all of a sudden their mirth was checked,
and they were as eager to scramble out of the water
as they had been to plunge in. The well-known
red coat of the overseer of the fishermen had been
observed in the distance, and the dread of the thick
stick of that important official was for the tribe of
juvenile freebooters a sufficient notice to quit.
The next morning I was somewhat startled by
seeing a large number of men all carrying arms, and
hastening towards the woods. I was beginning to
wonder whether there had been an alarm of some
enemy approaching, when the mystery was solved
by the arrival of some young men with a message
from their chief that they were going out on a lion-
hunt, and inviting us to join them. Four lions had
made an attack upon the royal herds, and had killed
four cows.
The scene of the disaster was not far away.
About 150 yards above our courtyard the Zambesi
250 Seven Years in South Africa.
made a sudden bend from west to north, and then,
after awhile, turned at right angles to the east, past
New Sesheke ; on the opposite side at this last bend
was a lagoon that branched off into two arms, and
it was on the strip of land between these that the
havoc had been committed. Neither Westbeech nor
Walsh cared to join the hunt, but I and Cowley
accepted the invitation.
Cowley was a good-natured young fellow of
eighteen, with a face round and rosy as a girl’s ; his
manners were very genial, and he had nothing to
spoil him, except perhaps a little weakness in his
desire to be a Gordon Cumming; he had already
killed two lions, and was quite ready to risk his life
in adding a third to the number.
Although about 170 natives had assembled with
their chief, only four of them were provided with
guns. It was not much more than half an hour
after I had received my invitation that I arrived
at the lagoon, where the whole troop advanced to
meet us. It had been already decided that the track
of the largest lion should be followed, and the herds¬
men were being questioned about the details of the
attack. It appeared that they had thought it im¬
possible for any lions to come so near the town, and
leaving their herds in a place that was quite unen¬
closed, they had all gone to sleep in some huts
close by.
I understood that it is only when lions have
done some injury that the Marutse ever go out to
attack them.
Our arrival was the signal to commence opera¬
tions. The procession was opened by a few natives
and a couple of dogs that were put on the lion-
Second Visit to the Mar tit se Kingdom. 251
track ; Maranzian, the chief, went next, followed by
Cowley and myself ; the rest of the throng came on
without much order behind. But it was only in the
open places that any particular rank could be kept ;
the thorn-bushes were often so thick that even the
dogs could hardly make their way through, and
every one got forward as best he could. The bushes
however hardly impeded us so much, or were so un¬
comfortable as the tall reeds in the dried-up hollows.
We persevered for more than an hour without
coming in sight of our prey, and the negroes began
to joke about the lion feeling itself guilty, and said
that it was ashamed to show its face, and glad to
hide away ; but on leaving the next hollow the dogs
commenced growling angrily, and made a rush into
another hollow beyond again, about ten feet deep
and thirty feet wide. The condition of the trail
satisfied us that the lion was concealed here close at
hand. We made the crowd of natives halt, Maran¬
zian and I hastened round to the farther side and
prepared to fire, Cowley staying on the nearer
side, and sending the dogs into the reeds ; but
we schemed to no purpose, the baying of the
hounds made us aware that the lion had got
round behind us, and we were obliged to change our
position.
Followed by the throng, we proceeded to the open
space beyond the reeds, close to the spot in which
we imagined that the lion was now concealed, and
having chosen our places where we thought we had
the best chance of firing at it on its escape, we made
the whole crowd shout to the top of their voices,
and throw in bits of wood ; and when that proved
ineffectual we ordered them, whether they liked it
252 Seven Years in South Africa.
or not, to go into the thicket and rummage about
with their spears.
It was a very pandemonium. The screaming and
yelling of the negroes was quite unearthly, and the
noise seemed to grow louder and more frightful as
their courage increased at not finding any lion to
alarm them. Maranzian, with his four men that had
guns, was standing about twenty yards in front of
me. We were beginning to think that we were
again baulked, when, like a flash of lightning, a
lioness made a tremendous spring out of its conceal¬
ment, and then another spring as sudden into the
very midst of the excited crowd of hunters. Tliere
were so many of them scattered about between me
and the angry brute, that it was out of the question
to think of firing, and it made a third bound, and
disappeared into another thicket close behind ; if
knocked over several of the men, but fortunately
it did not hurt any of tliem seriously.
Without the loss of a moment, Maranzian sent his
men to drive the lioness to the very extremity of her
new retreat. It rather surprised us to find the dogs
perfectly silent as we followed them into the thicket,
but before long we heard them barking vehemently
in the open ground beyond ; they had driven out the
brute, and were in full pursuit.
As he saw the lioness bounding away in the dis¬
tance, with tlie dogs at her lieels, Cowley was terribly
chagrined at having abandoned his former position,
and sighed over his lost chance of adding to his
rising renown as a lion-hunter.
Only an artist’s pencil could properly depict the
scene at this moment. The plain was more than
half a mile long, and nearly as wide ; bushwood
f
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 253
enclosed it on tlie north, reed-thickets on the south
and west ; far in front was the fugitive lioness ; the
dogs were pressing on at various intervals, whilst
the frantic crowd of well-nigh 200 negroes was
scampering in the rear ; nothing could be imagined
more motley than their appearance ; their aprons of
white, or check, or brown, or red contributed a
variety of colour ; their leather mantles on their
shoulders fluttered wildly in the wind ; many of them
brandished their assegais as if ready for action ;
others kept them balanced evenly in their hands ;
some of them continued to yell at the very top of
their voices, and a few could be heard chanting, as
if by anticipation, the strains of the lion-dance.
The climax was now at hand, and full of excite¬
ment it was. Again the lioness took refuge in a
triangular thicket, with its vertex farthest from
us. Close beside it was a sandbank, some ten feet
high. Maranzian, with a number of men, placed
himself on the right side of the thicket ; I took up
my position on the left, Cowley stationing himself
on the sandbank at a point where he conceived the
lioness when pressed by the negroes would try to
escape. By encouraging words, and where words
failed by the free use of a stout stick, Maranzian
made a lot of the men go and ransack the reeds,
and as they tumbled about they gave the place
almost the aspect of a battle-field. The excitement
became more intense when there remained but one
little corner of the thicket to be explored. Now or
never the lioness must be found. Suddenly there
was an angry growl, and the beast leaped towards
the pursuers. A shot was fired at that moment, but
it only struck the sand; the negroes, taken by
254 Seven Years in South Africa.
surprise, fell back, some of them disappearing
altogether, a few of them desperately hurling their
spears. Once again tbe lioness retreated, and when
the natives had recovered themselves, they saw her
crouching down as if prepared for another spring.
Here was my chance ; catching sight of her head, I
took deliberate aim and fired ; my shot took good
effect, and at the same time a couple of spears
hit her on the side. One more growl and she was
dead.
It was only for greater precaution that Cowley
and I, before we permitted the carcase to be moved,
each put another bullet into it, but it was subse¬
quently pierced by more than twenty spears ; many
of the negroes, as they approached the lifeless body,
thrust the points of their assegais into it, mutter¬
ing some mysterious formula. As it was the king’s
cattle that had been slaughtered by the lions, the
skull of the brute we had now killed would be
employed as a charm, and hung up in the royal
kraal.
Cowley and I returned home, leaving the carcase
to be brought in afterwards. When it arrived it was
received with much shouting and singing. It was
carried by four of the strongest of the men on a
couple of poles, its paws tied together, and its head
hanging down well-nigh to the ground ; it was
brought into the town just as my own servants were
returning with the buffalo-meat, and a large propor¬
tion of the male population turned out to greet the
hunters. The next thing to be done was to beat the
lion-drums, and to announce that the lion-dance
would be performed. The procession advanced in
two groups, one consisting of the bearers, with tbe
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 255
carcase as a trophy of success ; the other being the
hunters. The leader of the expedition opened the
dance, and he was followed by such of the hunts¬
men as had been nearest at the death ; they were
accompanied in their performance by the beating of
a drum. The dancers next gave a representation of
the lion-hunt, running in all directions, and pre¬
tending to hurl their spears ; the singing was taken
up by the two groups alternately, and though it was
not so monotonous as some that I heard at other
times, yet any melody it might have had was utterly
destroyed by the painful discord of the instruments
that accompanied it.
After the body of the lioness had been deposited
on the ground under a mimosa, we took the oppor¬
tunity of investigating the wounds. It turned out
that my first bullet had passed completely along the
left side of the skull, and that immediately on
receiving it the wounded beast had fallen so as to
leave only the lower part of its face exposed ; this
we had both struck, and we traced one bullet into
the vertebrae of the neck, while the other, Cowley’s
we presumed, had shivered the lower skull-bone to
splinters.
In making my memoranda of this lion-hunt I used
up the last of my writing-paper ; it was some that
Westbeech had torn out of his own journal and
given me. It was now that I found the newspapers
that I had received from Shoshong very useful ; the
parts that were printed on were very serviceable for
pressing plants, and I was only too glad to fasten
the margins together into sheets by means of
mimosa-gum, and to use them for writing on.
After our hunting triumph Maranzian honoured
256 Seven Years in South Africa.
me with a visit next day. In the course of his con¬
versation with Westbeech and myself, he gave us
some fresh information about the Barotse, the
mother country of the Marutse. Noticing how I
made entries in my “ lungalo ” (book) of all that
I had seen in Sesheke, he told me that when I
got to the towns of the Barotse I should see many
objects much more worthy of being recorded ; the
buildings, he assured me, were very superior, and he
referred especially to the monuments of the kings.
What he described, added to what I had heard from
Westbeech, as well as from the king, from Moquai,
from the chiefs Rattan and Ramakocan, and from
the Portuguese, only served to increase the longing
with which I looked forward to the journey before
me. The conversation afterwards turned upon
Maritella, the heir to the throne, who had died.
Maranzian said that after his death the king had had
all the cattle from the town and environs driven to
the grave, and left standing there until they bel¬
lowed with hunger and thirst ; whereupon he ex¬
claimed : “ See, how the very cattle are mourning
for my son ! ”
When the king returned from his great hunting-
expedition he was extremely discontented with the
result, and consequently very much out of temper.
On one of the days the party had sighted more than
a hundred elephants in the swamps near Impalera,
but although at least 10,000 shots had been fired
only four elephants had been killed. I called to see
him and he showed me the tusks that had been
brought back ; there were two weighing 60 lbs., six
between 25 lbs. and 30 lbs., four small female tusks,
and four from animals so small that they were
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 257
comparatively of no value. The two largest tusks
had been much injured by the bullets.
On the 7th I started off on the longest pedestrian
excursion I had yet taken, rambling on for fifty-two
miles. Leaving Sesheke in good time, I crossed the
western part of Blockley’s kraal and made my way
to the Kashteja, where I had to go a long way up
the stream before I could find a fording-place.
The lower part of this affluent of the Zambesi is flat
and meadow-like and bordered with underwood.
On my way thither I noticed zebras, striped-gnus,
letshwe and puku antelopes, and rietbock and
steinbock gazelles. In the river- valley itself the
orbekis and rietbocks had congregated in herds,
a mode of living which I had never seen before, nor
do I think that any other hunter had.
Altogether dissatisfied with their visit to Sesheke,
the English officers were now very anxious to leave ;
but Sepopo would not provide them with canoes,
and though they urged their request again on the
following day, they were again refused. Blockley
returned from Panda ma Tenka on the 9th. I was
much pleased to greet once more a man who had
shown me so much kindness ; and I accompanied
him when he paid his visit to Sepopo.
The king at length rejoiced my heart by acceding
to my long-cherished wishes; he told me that
Moquai and the queens who had come from the
Barotse country were about to return, and that I
was at liberty to go with them. Fellow-travellers
more influential than these distinguished ladies
could not be desired.
On my next visit to Sepopo I found the royal
courtyard crowded with people. As soon as I en-
vol. 11. s
258 Seven Years in South Africa.
tered the house the king asked me whether I had
ever seen any Mashukulumbe ; and understanding
that I had not, he took me by the hand and intro¬
duced me to six men who were squatting on the
ground. Their appearance was strange, and seemed
to invite a careful scrutiny. Their skin was almost
black, and their noses generally aquiline, though
they had an effeminate cast of countenance, to be
attributed very much to their lack of beard and to
the sinking in of the upper lip. All hair was care¬
fully removed from every part of their bodies, except
the top of the skull, where it was mounted up in a
very remarkable fashion.
The Mashukulumbe, Sepopo informed me, were
the people who lived to the north and east of his
territory ; and the men who had now arrived were
ambassadors who were sent every year to the
Marutse court with complimentary presents, and
who would go back in a few weeks carrying other
presents in return. When at home they go perfectly
naked, the women wearing nothing but a little lea¬
ther strap, hung with bells and fastened round their
waists. Their pride is their coiffure , which consists
of a Conical chignon that fits tight round the head,
and is composed of vertical rolls or horizontal tiers,
the tresses being most ingeniously plaited toge¬
ther, sometimes crossing and recrossing each other,
sometimes kept quite parallel ; the whole being
finally matted together with gum, which gives it the
appearance of really growing from the crown of the
head. But this is by no means the case ; the hair
that is periodically shaved off the entire body,
except from the patch of ten or twelve inches in
circumference on the head, is all carefully preserved
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 259
until enough, has been accumulated for the head-
gear ; and the master of the bouse will not unfre-
quently add the hair of his wives and slaves, twist¬
ing it up into bands that are intertwined with his
own. I saw a coiffure twelve inches round, worked
into a tail more than a yard long that inclined
towards the right shoulder ; so that every time the
man moved, and especially when he stooped, the
head-dress appeared to be toppling over with him.
The average height to which the hair was trained
was about ten inches ; but in all cases the unusual
weight upon the skull had the effect of developing
the muscles of the temples till they stood out like
cords, not unfrequently as thick as one’s finger.
The falling in of the top lip was caused by ex¬
tracting the upper incisor-teeth, an operation
with the Mashukulumbe that corresponds with the
boguera of the Bechuanas, and is practised upon
youths when attaining the state of manhood, being
part of their discipline. One of the Makalaka tribes
north of the Zambesi, as well as the Matongas on
its bank, break out their top incisor-teeth from the
sheerest vanity. Their women say that it is only
horses that eat with all their teeth, and that men
ought not to eat like horses.
With the help of his attendants, the king was
engaged in manufacturing a musical instrument out
of the leaf-ribs of a saro-palm. Except just at the
ends, the concave surface was hollowed into a fur¬
row, the convex side underneath being scored with
a number of little incisions about the thirtieth part
of an inch in width. When played, the instrument
is struck with small sticks, and is used particularly
at the elephant-dance.
260 Seven Years in South Africa.
Westbeech, Dorehill, and Cowley left on the 10 th
for Panda ma Tenka ; but Sepopo still refused to
provide any canoes for the English officers, who
were becoming more impatient than ever to get
away.
On the 11th he had a mokoro, or boat-dance,
executed through the town. It was supposed to
represent a boating-excursion, the principal feature
being a boat-song that was sung in chorus. On this
occasion the king himself took the leading part, and
went through all the gesticulations of a steersman,
whilst about seventy of his people had to follow him
and imitate the movements of rowers.
Not doubting that the English officers would very
soon be permitted to depart, I had devoted some
time to the preparation of several articles for inser¬
tion in various journals in England and at home ;
but I now began to fear that the opportunity of
entrusting my correspondence to their charge would
be again deferred. At length, however, the desired
boats were forthcoming, and they were suffered to
take their departure. Sepopo made a last effort to
detain, them, but finally yielded to their solicitations.
The boatmen, taking their cue from the king, were
at first inclined to be disagreeable ; but I interfered
and checked their insolence, and they were all
brought to reason before the officers proceeded on
their way.
My next excursion was towards the north-east.
I shot a steinbock, and secured a good variety of
coleoptera.
Rising before daybreak on the 21st, I set out on
a ramble to the north, not returning till after sunset.
The dew in the morning was very heavy ; and I was
Second Visit to the Marutse
26^
tired in the evening by my long exertions ; but I
was amply compensated for all inconvenience and
fatigue by the many objects of interest that I saw
and collected. Many parts of the wood were over¬
grown with a tall spreading shrub covered with
large white blossoms that perfumed the air with
their fragrance. In one of the glades I found two
new kinds of lilies, one with a handsome violet-
coloured flower. A leaf-beetle of a yellow-ochre
tint had settled on the other lily ; and I likewise
discovered another species with red and blue stripes,
and two new species of weevils on the young sprouts
of the musetta bushes. As I went back I caught
three sorts of little rose-beetles on the white-flower¬
ing shrubs ; and in a dry grassy hollow I found the
species of Lytta which I had already seen in Sechele’s
country during my second journey.
Having arranged to join a buffalo-hunt on the
24th, I retired to my hut rather earlier than usual
on the previous evening ; and it was scarcely nine
o’clock when I was roused by a noise like sounds of
weeping coming from the river. At first I did not
take any particular heed ; but finding that the noise
continued, and that there was a murmur of voices
that seemed to increase, I had the curiosity to send
Karri, one of my servants, to ascertain the cause of
the disturbance. In a few minutes he came running
back with the news that Queen Moquai was having
one of her maids drowned. Unable to believe that
she could be capable of such an act, I hurried out,
determined to convince myself by the testimony of
my own eyes before I would credit so shameful a
report.
A crowd of men and women, brawling, screeching,
262 Seven Years in South Africa.
aud. laughing, was gathered on the shore ; and just
as I arrived, the body of a girl, apparently lifeless,
was being lifted up the bank. In a few moments,
however, she recovered consciousness and was
dragged away towards Moquai’s quarters.
I followed in the train, and as I went I elicited
the facts of the case. The girl was a slave of
Moquai’s, and on the day before had been informed
by her mistress that she was to marry a hideous old
Marutse wood-carver. Folding her hands upon her
breast, she had expressed her desire to be sub¬
missive as far as she could, but was quite unable
to conceal her aversion to the husband that had
been chosen for her ; she burst into piteous sobs,
which had the effect of making the queen extremely
angry, and she dismissed the girl from her presence.
Altogether unused to have her wishes questioned,
the queen presently had the girl recalled. Again
she protested that she was anxious to serve her
mistress with all fidelity, but pleaded that she might
have nothing to do with the odious old man she was
expected to marry. Moquai’s fury had known no
bounds; she had sent for the proposed bride¬
groom, 'and given him instructions to carry off
the girl that very night from the royal hut to the
river, to hold her under the water till she was half
dead, and thence to take her to his own quarters,
where she would wake up again a “mosari” — a
married woman.
The orders were duly executed; and I had not
been awake long next morning before I heard
the singing and beating of drums that betokened
that the nuptial dance was being performed in
Moquai’s courtyard before the door of the newly-
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 263
married pair. On going to the spot I found ten
men kicking up their heels and slowly twisting
themselves round in an oval course, while a man in
the middle pirouetted in the contrary direction,
and beat time with the bough of a tree ; they all
wore aprons of roughly-tanned leather, mostly the
skins of lynxes and grey foxes, and many of them
had the calves of their legs, as in the other dances,
covered with bells or fruit-shells. The singing of
the man in the middle was accompanied by the
beating of two of the large drums ; and four more
dancers were squatted on the ground, ready to
relieve any of the ten men that were tired out.
Two boys of about ten years of age were amongst
the dancers ; and various passers-by stayed and
took a turn at the performance for the sake of
having a share in the kaffir-corn beer which the
queen would distribute when the dance was over.
Every now and then the whole of the dancers would
put shoulder to shoulder, sing aloud in chorus, and
quicken their pace to a great rapidity. The dance
would be repeated at intervals for no less than three
days.
I passed the place again on the afternoon of the
following day as I was on my vay back from the
woods, and found the huts appropriated to the atten¬
dants in the queen’s enclosure still in a state of
uproar ; there was still the group of dancers ; a
number of extra performers were drinking from
the brimming pitchers of butshuala that were con¬
tinually replenished; while many spectators, at¬
tracted by the sound of the drums, added the hum
of their voices to the general merriment. The un¬
fortunate bride alone seemed to have no enjoyment
264 Seven Years in So'iith Africa.
of the festivity ; dejected and miserable, she sat in
front of her hut, with her head resting on her
hands, and her eyes gazing vacantly towards the
next enclosure ; manifestly she neither saw nor
heard anything that was going on.
A day or two afterwards we were surprised by a
serenade from Sepopo and Moquai, who were accom¬
panied by a band of eight musicians, including two
SEPOPO^S DOCTOR.
performers on the myrimbas, or gourd-shell pianos,
and four on the morupas, or long drums. Not to
offend the king, I stayed at home all day.
At noon on the following day Westbeech returned
from Panda ma Tenka with guns for the king. Two
Portuguese also made their appearance in the town.
They called themselves Sehhores ; but one was as
black as a Mambari, though he indignantly repu¬
diated the appellation. His name was Francis
Second Visit to the Marutse Kingdom. 265
Roquette, and including some black women, he had
twenty servants in his train, who all had their woolly
hair shaved off, except a small tuft standing up at
the top of their head like a back-comb. Both the
Portuguese had arrived from the north, having come
from one of the Mashukulumbe countries, where they
had bartered the great bulk of their goods, and had
brought the small residue to Sesheke, consisting of
flint-guns, cases of coarse gunpowder, some lead and
iron bullets, and a little calico.
A MABUNDA. A HAKOLOLO.
Long before this time my servants had finished
making the canvas coverings for my baggage ; and
as far as I was concerned I was ready to set out.
It was therefore with unbounded satisfaction that
I saw the council-chamber being furbished up,
the great drums being put into readiness, and the
various other indications that the queens were really
about to take their departure.
Expectation was not much longer deferred. On
the 1st of December I started on the expedition for
which I had waited so eagerly and so long.
266
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER X.
UP THE ZAMBESI.
Departure from Sesheke — The queens’ squadron — First night’s
camp — Symptoms of fever — Agricultural advantages of the
Zambesi valley — Rapids and cataracts of the central Zambesi
— The Mutshila-Aumsinga rapids — A catastrophe — Encamp¬
ment near Sioma — A conspiracy — Lions around Sioma —
On the morning fixed
for the start one of
the Marutse sub¬
chieftains came to me
with a message that
I was to accompany
him to the river side.
There I found three
of the royal canoes
waiting for me ; but
as they barely suf¬
ficed to carry my
baggage, I had to
ask for a fourth, my
servants for the present having to follow on foot.
It was about noon when we quitted Sesheke.
¥e proceeded at good speed past a number of
islands, creeks, and lagoons, at which I should have
been glad to linger, and could only regret that the
Up the Zambesi .
267
approach of the unhealthy season made it necessary
to hurry forwards, and quite prevented me from
drawing up either a proper map or detailed plan of
the river-bed. The shore, sandy and sloping, was
covered with a layer of turf and clay about a foot
deep ; and during the first part of our voyage I
noticed several plants that I should very much have
liked to stay and gather ; but I could not venture
TYPES OF MARUTSE.
to stop, as I was anxious to overtake the queens,
who had started some hours earlier.
Towards evening we arrived at a place which
required very careful navigation ; some trunks of
trees that had been washed down by the stream had
become imbedded in the ground, and formed dan¬
gerous impediments in the line of traffic ; we suc¬
ceeded, however, in passing them with safety, and
just about sunset reached the spot where the royal
268 Seven Years in South Africa.
ladies had landed. It was a bare sandy place on
the bank, enclosed on two sides by sedge, and
sheltered from the wind by tall bushes. The
serving-maids had already lighted several fires, and
had commenced their cooking, and a number of
boats had been despatched to fetch reeds to build
the huts for the night’s accommodation.
In the course of the day’s progress I had noticed
a great many water-birds and swamp-birds, as well
as starlings, finches, and kingfishers, all along the
river.
Had I followed my own inclinations I should
have stayed close to the spot where the queens had
landed; but my boatmen recommended a place a
few miles further on. Not suspecting any artifice
on their part, I acceded to the proposal, though it
turned out that their only motive was to separate
me from the royal flotilla, that I might not have the
protection of the queens if they should be inclined
to be insolent or misconduct themselves in any way.
It was quite late before we reached the landing-
place to which they carried me, and which was a
Mamboe settlement, containing a few huts occupied
by fishermen and hippopotamus-hunters ; their cha¬
racter being sufficiently indicated by the nets hung
out on poles ornamented by crocodiles’ heads, and
by the quantities of fish that were lying about. We
found our quarters for the night in a grass-hut
thirty yards long, but not more than ten feet wide
and about ten feet high.
While we were reloading our boats in the morning
the royal squadron came in sight, and we awaited its
arrival. The Mamboe in the place sent the queens
a bullock which had been slaughtered the evening
Up the Zambesi.
269
previously, and Mokena, “ the mother of the coun¬
try,” was courteous enough to send me one of the
hind- quarters. I made my own boatmen keep up
with the others all the morning, and we made our
way along with good speed. The boats were all
well manned ; and as they darted about, sometimes
in the rear and sometimes well to the front, thread¬
ing their way between the islands on the dark blue
water, and past the luxuriant mimosas on the banks,
they formed a picture that I should willingly have
done my best to transfer to paper if I had not felt
that every available moment ought to be employed
in making the best survey I could of the carto¬
graphical features of the stream.
When it was necessary to give the energetic boat¬
men a rest we lay to for something under an hour
against a sandbank opposite a Marutse settlement
on the right-hand shore. They all enjoyed their
dacha-pipes, while the queens partook of some light
refreshment ; one of them, Mamangala, thought¬
fully sending me some broiled fish for my luncheon.
The river- scenery, and the examples of animal life,
corresponded very much withr what I had noticed
the day before.
Towards evening we arrived at a place where
some recent travellers had left about twenty huts.
Here we resolved to land ; and, indeed, it was high
time that we did so, as a storm was gathering, and
it began to rain before I could get my baggage on
shore. The fourth boat for which I had asked was
here awaiting me. The storm continued till near
midnight ; and as the huts were not waterproof I
was induced to. use my wraps to protect my pack¬
ages. While sitting dozing upon one of my boxes
270 Seven Years in South Africa.
I slipped off, and woke to find myself lying in a
great pool of water tkat had dripped through the
thatch. Of such a night’s rest it was hardly to be
expected that I should escape the consequences.
I yielded next morning to the solicitations of the
boatmen, and started, much against my inclination,
on a hunting-excursion across the plain stretching
far away from the Sesheke woods towards the west.
Overgrown with grass four or five feet high, the
plain was full of swamps, and was subject to floods
that left nothing unsubmerged except the few hil¬
locks on which the Marutse had erected some strag¬
gling villages, the largest of which is called Matonga.
The whole expedition was damp and dreary, and as
far as sport was concerned absolutely fruitless.
Before I reached our encampment, when we had
only about another mile to go, I was seized with a
sudden weariness, which increased so rapidly that I
was unable to move a step, and my servants had
to carry me the rest of the way back. I understood
the symptoms only too well, and could come to no
other conclusion than that I was in the preliminary
stage of fever.
The- boatmen were inclined to be very angry
because we had come back without bringing a
supply of game, and were also ready to make a
disturbance with the villagers in Matonga for not
procuring them enough corn and beer. I began
to fear that I should have a difficulty with them ;
but happily Sekele, the sub-chieftain who had the
oversight of things, took my part and brought them
to reason.
During the night one of Moquai’s waiting- women
was reported to be missing, and it was soon found
Up the Zavibesi.
271
that she had taken her way back towards Sesheke.
Some messengers were sent, who quickly overtook
her ; she proved to be the bride who had been forced
into marriage against her wishes.
Continuing our voyage, we entered a narrow side-
arm of the river lying between the left shore and
the most northerly of a wooded group of islands, to
which I gave the name of Rohlf’s Islands.
Upon the mainland was Sekhose, the most wes¬
terly of the Masupia settlements, where for many
A MAMBARI. A MATONGA.
years there has been a good system of husbandry,
manza and beans being grown, as well as other
crops. The Marutse only grow what they require
for their own use, and to make up their tribute ; but
the Masupias, Batokas, and eastern Makalakas do
somewhat more than this, selling the overplus to the
hunters and traders who come from the south ; but
even they hardly cultivate more than the sandy slopes
and the wooded declivities in the neighbourhood
of ant-hills, leaving the marsh-lands completely
untilled; yet these are the districts which would
272 Seven Years in South Africa.
prove most fertile, and with, the mild climate and
the means of irrigation at their command, seem to
me to hold out a grand prospect for the future.
Away in the interior of the country are vast tracts
of meadow-land, often miles in extent, that are now
enclosed with primaeval forest, but which might be
transformed into prolific fields, while the rivers
might, like the Zambesi, be utilized for watering
them. The tribes are all ambitious and industrious ;
and if once the plough shall be introduced, and a
free trade opened either to the south or east, the
Marutse kingdom, it may be predicted, will exhibit
a rapid development.
About twelve miles from Sesheke the woods came
right down to the river bank, a foretoken of the
chain of hills that accompanied the stream from the
Barotse valley. East of Sesheke, half way between
the Makumba rapids and the mouth of the Kashteja,
where the country began to rise, I had noticed a
cessation of the palms and papyrus, and west of Sek-
hose, where the stream has a considerable fall, was
the commencement of the southern Barotse rapids
and the cataracts of the central Zambesi. They are
caused by ridges of rocks running either straight or
transversely across the river, connecting links, as it
were, between the hills on either side. The peaks
of these reefs made countless little islands ; and the
further we went the more interesting I found their
variety, some being brown and bare, whilst others
were overgrown with reeds, or occasionally with trees
of no inconsiderable height. Within fourteen miles
I counted, besides a cataract, as many as forty-four
rapids. In some cases the river-bed beneath them
presented a continuous, sloping surface of rock,
Up the Zambesi.
2 73
while in others it fell abruptly in a series of steps ;
rapids again were formed by great boulders that pro¬
jected above the water, and I noticed one instance
where the rocks made almost a barrier across the
river, whilst only here and there were the gaps
through which the current forced its way.
Were it not that the rapids are avoided by croco¬
diles, they would be impassable for canoes ; but the
absence of crocodiles makes it possible for the natives
to disembark, and push or drag their craft across the
obstacle. In places that are especially dangerous,
it is found necessary to stow the baggage on the
top of the boulders, and to take the boat over the
rapid empty.
The first rapids at which we arrived were called
by the natives Katima Molelo. Our oars sufficed to
carry us over the first stretch of them, but after¬
wards the boatmen were obliged to get out and pull
every canoe after them, taking care to lose no time
in jumping in again, well aware that the deep water
just beyond was almost sure to be a lurking-place for
crocodiles.
On the 5th we crossed the rapids known as Mut-
shila Aumsinga, which, as I found to my cost, only
too justly had the reputation of being the most
dangerous of any of the Sesheke and Nambwe
cataracts. I was still feeling very unwell, and could
not even sit in my canoe without much pain ; but
there was nothing in my condition that alarmed
me, and I continued to work at my chart of our
course.
The Mutshila Aumsinga rapids are formed by a
considerable slope in the river-bed, combined with
the projection of numerous masses of rock above the
VOL. II. T
274 Seven Years in South Africa.
water. But the chief danger in crossing them arises
from another cause. Between a wooded island and
the left-hand shore are two side-currents, about fifty
yards broad, formed by some little islands at their
head ; and as no part of the rapids is sufficiently
shallow for boats to be lifted across them, the
ASCENDING THE ZAMBESI.
strength of the rowers has to be put to the test by
pulling against the full force of the stream, and is
consequently liable to be exhausted.
The boat in which I was sitting happened to be
the third in the order of procession. It carried my
journals, all my beads and cartridges, and the pre¬
sents intended for the native kings and chiefs. Like
Up the Zambesi.
275
all my other boats it was too heavily laden, and not
adequately manned. The second boat just ahead of
me conveyed my gunpowder, my medicines, and pro¬
visions, and all the plants and insects that I had
collected at Sesheke, the bulk of my specimens
having been left with Westbeech to send back to
Panda ma Tenka. Observing that the crew in front
were experiencing the utmost difficulty in holding
their own against the current, I shouted to them
to catch hold of the branches of some overhanging
trees ; I was most anxious to see them at least keep
their bow in the right direction. My voice was lost
in the roar of the waters. I could see that the oars
of the men were slipping off the surface of the rock
that was as smooth as a mirror, and that the men,
although obviously aware of their peril, were paddling
wildly and to no purpose at all. My heart misgave
me. Nothing could save the boat ; still I could not
bring myself to believe that fate was about to deal
so hardly with me. I could not realize that just at
the moment when a threatening fever made me
especially require my medicines I was about to lose
them all. I could not face the contingency of having
my stock of provisions, on which I depended not
only for the prosecution of my journey, but for my
very maintenance, totally destroyed ; neither could
I resign myself to the loss of all the natural
curiosities that I had laboured for so many days to
accumulate. I called vehemently upon my own crew
to hasten to the rescue ; but they, in their alarm at
the desperate plight of the others, were quite power¬
less ; they were utterly bewildered, and were letting
themselves drift into the fury of the current ; but
happily they were within reach of the drooping
t 2
276 Seven Years in South Africa.
branches of a tree, at which they clutched only
just in time to make their boat secure. By this
time the boat in front had twisted round, and pre¬
sented its broadside to the angry flood. Nothing
could save it now. Heedless of the state of fever I
was in, I should have- flung myself into the current,
MY BOAT WRECKED.
determined to help if I could, had not the boatmen
held ine back. Not that any assistance on my part
could have been of any avail, for in another moment
I saw that the paddles were all broken, the men lost
their equilibrium, and, to my horror, the boat was
overturned.
At the greatest risk, by the combined exertions
Up the Zambesi.
2 77
of both crews, the capsized canoe was after some
time set afloat again, and a few trifling articles
were gathered up, but the bulk of my baggage was
irrecoverably lost.
Thus ended all my schemes ; thus vanished all
my visions for the future.
No one can conceive the keenness of my disap¬
pointment. The preparations of seven previous
years had proved fruitless. Here I was, not only
suffering in body from the increasing pains of fever,
but dejected in spirit at the conviction that I must
forthwith abandon my enterprise.
An hour after that deplorable passage of the Mut-
shila Aumsinga, which never can be effaced from my
memory, we landed on the right-hand bank of the
Zambesi, just below a Mabunda village called Sioma.
My servants, who had continued following on foot,
were ferried across, and we made our encampment
before it grew dark. We were rather surprised to
be told by the residents that the neighbourhood was
infested with lions, and that the village was night
after night ravaged by their attacks ; and, for my
own part, I was inclined to believe that the stories
were made up as a pretext to induce us to move on.
In exchange for some beads I obtained a quantity of
kaffir-corn beer, which I distributed to the boatmen
in acknowledgment of the exertions they had made
in my service. Finding that I was not intimidated
by the representations they made, and pleased
moreover with the beads I had spent among them,
the natives became more hospitable, and gave us
their advice and assistance in collecting the roofs of
seven deserted huts, which we placed closely side by
side in a semicircle, resting one edge on the ground.
278 Seven Years in South Africa.
and propping up the other on poles, so that from the
wood the encampment looked merely like a lot of
grass-piles. I had several large fires lighted in
front.
During the voyage that had ended so disastrously,
I had noticed some trees on the river-bank with a
whitish bark, growing from twenty to forty feet in
height. What was most remarkable about them was
the way in which, from the boughs that overhung
the river, masses of red-brown roots descended like
a beard, sometimes as much as six feet in length.
The rain fell heavily all the next morning, and
in the afternoon the wind blew so icy cold, that
although the servants did all they could to cover up
the front of my hut with mats, my body suffered
from repeated chills. My illness increased so much
that I was quite unable to turn myself without
assistance. I had a sort of couch extemporized
out of some packing-cases, on which I reclined and
got what rest I could. While I was lounging in
this way, I heard a conversation going on outside
the hut amongst my servants, who supposed that
I was asleep. One of them, Borili, was saying
that it was a lucky thing that Nyaka (the doctor)
was sick, and proposed that they should all make
off with my property to the southern bank of
the Chobe. The rest of them did not seem
altogether inclined to acquiesce, but I made up
my mind to nip anything like a conspiracy in the
bud. Calling them all in, I made each of them a
present of beads, except Borili, whom I asked
whether he expected a gun from me when we
parted, as a remuneration for his services. Of
course he told me he should reckon on his gun :
Up the Zambesi.
279
but be looked somewhat surprised when I replied
that he was much mistaken, and that haying found
out that he was a bad servant and a thief, I should
keep my eye on him, and that if he repeated his
misconduct, I should send him back to Sesheke for
Sepopo to punish. He knew what that meant.
Towards evening, the fever having slightly abated,
I made the servants lift me on to the ground, where
I sat with my back supported against the bed. In
this position I received a visit from some Mabundas,
from whom I obtained various specimens of their
handicraft. To one of the boatmen I was able, out
of the very limited stock of drugs that I had left, to
give an emetic that proved very effectual. He had
made himself ill by eating too freely of the fruit of a
shrub called ki-mokononga; the symptoms of the man
and the smell of the fruit made me inclined to believe
that he was suffering from the effects of prussic acid.
The fruit itself was about an inch long, and half-an-
inch thick ; it had a yellowish pulp, an oval kernel,
and in flavour was not unlike bitter almonds. The
emetic soon relieved the sufferer, and next day he
was ready for work again.
The Mabunda chief from Sioma came to see me,
and in the intervals between the attacks of fever I
took the opportunity to ask him, as well as the
guides and boatmen, all the questions I could about
the land and population of the Marutse empire. Our
conversation generally turned upon the Livangas,
Libele, and Luyanas, the tribes between the
Chobe and the Zambesi, and upon the independent
Bamashi, on the lower Chobe, who are also called
Luyanas, and are subject to three princes of their
own, Kukonganena, Kukalelwa, and Molombe.
280 Seven Years in South Africa.
Our experience at night proved that the Mabundas
had not exaggerated much in what they told us
about the lions. After sunset we heard their chorus
begin, and it did not cease till dawn. I should not
think the animals were more than 150 yards away
from us. Up in the little village the people had to
be on the watch to keep them at bay, and kept on
shouting and beating a drum, while nearly every
enclosure was illumined by a fire. My own boat¬
men sat up, spear in hand, nearly all night, and
weird enough their shadows were as they fell upon
the fence. No lions, however, ventured to attack
us.
For the next two days I was worse rather than
better, and vain were my efforts to amuse myself
with either my diary or my sketch-book. My dis¬
order was aggravated by the ungenial weather, and
even in the most violent fits of fever I was con¬
scious of a feeling of shivering under the keen north¬
east blast. I endeavoured to keep up my spirits,
but writing, which was my sole resource, was a
painful trial to me, and the fines danced before my
eyes.
I could not bear the thought of going back to
Sesheke, and determined to make a vigorous en¬
deavour once again to go ahead. Accordingly on
the 8th we started, but the exertion was too much
for me, and in the evening I had to be carried ashore.
Scarcely had I been laid down in a grass-hut left by
some previous passengers, when I was seized with
such an attack of sickness and diarrhoea, that I
really began to fear that I should not live till
morning.
Except at the Victoria Falls, the part of the river ,
Vol. II.
NIGHT VISIT FROM LIONS AT SIOMA.
Page 280.
Up the Zambesi. 281
over which we had been passing was in itself the
most interesting that I had jet seen. We had
crossed fortj-two rapids, and had now come to the
most southerly of the Barotse cataracts, here about
1000 feet wide. I was removed on the following
morning to a more roomy hut that had been pre¬
pared for Queen Moquai, and in which she had
waited my arrival ; imagining, however, that I had
turned back, she had proceeded on her way, but
when she heard where I was, she sent her husband
Manengo back from her next landing-place to
inquire after me.
The last rapids that I crossed were the most
dangerous of all in the Marutse country ; one of them
was known as Manekango, the other was Muniruola.
They were formed by ridges of rocks extending
right across the river, with an average height of not
much over two feet and a half, but the openings were
so few and narrow that the water dashed through
with the fiercest violence. I had to submit to be
laid upon the reef while the men dragged the boat
through the rifts at the most imminent peril.
The sickness, which had a little abated, returned
again towards evening, and I had considerable
difficulty in drawing my breath. In the morning
I was so far relieved that I was able to take a few
spoonfuls of maizena.
In the course of that day Inkambella, the most
important man in the country next to Sepopo,
passed down the river.
To hold out any longer was simply impossible.
I grew worse and worse. I felt that I had no
alternative than to yield to necessity, and calling
the boatmen together, I announced my intention
282 Seven Years in South Africa.
of going back. To my surprise I found that my
resolution had been forestalled ; boats were already
waiting, ready to retrace our course. In spite of
my weakness I was inclined to take my people to
task for presuming to decide for me, but I was
given to understand that they were only obeying
orders ; it transpired that Sepopo had given defi¬
nite instructions that my health was to be par¬
ticularly studied while I was in his country; as I
was a doctor, the king had been anxious that no
mischief should befall me, and regarding me as a
sort of magician, he feared that some dire calamity
would happen to his kingdom if I were to die while
under his protection.
When the men had placed me in one boat, and
my servant Narri in another, they declined to start
until I had distributed some presents amongst them,
and I heard an. altercation going on, which I was too
weak to check, because my servants had detected
them trying to steal some of my goods.
All day long the sun glowed fiercely down, and I
was tortured with the most agonizing thirst. Once,
in the hope of obtaining a little relief, I let my
fevered hands hang from the boat’s side in the water,
but my people instantly replaced them on my knees,
with the warning that I must not entice the croco¬
diles. to follow us.
After a painful night in an encampment a few
miles to the east of Katonga, I was put on board
again and carried on to Sesheke. I was conveyed
by the boatmen to Westbeech’s hut. He did not
recognize me.
CHAPTER XI.
BACK AGAIN IN SESHEKE.
Visits of condolence — Unpopularity of Sepopo — Mosquitoes —
Goose-hunting — Court ceremonial at meals — Modes of
fishing — Sepopo’s illness — Vassal tribes of the Marutse
empire — Characteristics of the Marutse tribes — The futux-e
of the country.
that I should soon
be convalescent and able to start afresh upon the
284 Seven Years in South Africa.
journey I had been compelled to give up. But I grew
worse instead of better, and as the unhealthy season
was now coming on, both Westbeech and Sepopo
advised me to leave the Marutse district altogether,
to return to the south, and not to resume my travels
until my health was completely restored. To me,
however, this suggestion looked tantamount to a
proposal to postpone my project indefinitely, and I
was loth to acquiesce.
I received visits, not only from the king, but
from a number of the chiefs with whom I had made
acquaintance, and while they all expressed their
sympathy with me in my illness, they declared they
had foreseen it. It was their unanimous opinion
that I had stayed too long in Sesheke, the king
himself reprimanding me for having taken my
trip to the Victoria Falls and losing my chance of
starting earlier, although every one knew that the
blame rested entirely with himself, and that he
had detained me from October to December, and
even then had furnished me with boats only at
Moquai’s solicitation.
Since my departure the hut that I had occupied
had been appropriated to another purpose, but West-
beech kindly found me accommodation at his store.
Sepopo’s unpopularity was very much on the
increase. Inkambella, the great chief whom I men¬
tioned as passing as I lay at the Hambwe cataract,
had been on his way to Sesheke to pay homage
to the king, but the reverence and affection with
which he was regarded made him an object of aver¬
sion to Sepopo, who would willingly have disposed
of him. No one, however, could be found to assassi¬
nate him, and the only resource was to have him
Back again in Sesheke. 285
accused of high treason, the other Barotse chiefs
being included in the charge ; they were, however,
all adjudged not guilty. Westbeech and Jan Mahura
were present at the trial, and, as an instance of how
Sepopo’s authority was on the wane, they told me
that Mahura had plainly called him a fool, and
denounced him as the greatest traitor in the country.
When Sepopo next visited me he was indulging
in the excitement of the mokoro-dance, and was
attended by a large court retinue. He was in a
patronizing mood, and made a great fuss with me,
calling me his mulekow ; but when Inkambella
arrived shortly afterwards, he moved off at once to
Westbeech’ s quarters.
On the evening of the following day I was attacked
with such violent spasms in the chest that I writhed
upon the ground in agony, and it was as much as
four men could do to hold me still ; it was not until
Westbeech had administered a dose of ipecacuanha,
which made me sick, that I could draw my breath
at all freely. Subsequent attacks of a similar kind
recurred at intervals during the sixteen months
that my illness lasted, but I always found that
the same remedy gave me relief.
For several days I was unable to rise from my
bed. As I lay all alone I had only too much time to
brood over my disappointment and frustrated scheme.
I found, however, that in the way of sickness I was
not by any means a solitary sufferer ; some people
that came from the Chobe brought the intelligence
that M‘Leod, Fairly, Dorehill, Cowley, with several
of their attendants, and my late servant Pit, were all
ill with fever at Panda ma Tenka.
It was not until the 19th that I was able to leave
286 Seven Years in South Africa.
my room at all, but, with the help of my servants, I
then made an effort to walk a little way on the grass
outside our enclosure. A fresh inconvenience was
now beginning to annoy us, for we were perpetually
tormented by the mosquitoes, which at certain
seasons are quite a plague on the Zambesi ; every
evening, and especially at night, these bloodthirsty
little pests renew their attacks upon man and beast,
and even woollen coverings form no protection from
their sharp beaks. The only stratagem by which
I could escape the irritation they caused was the
unsavoury one of allowing my servants to burn a
heap or two of cow-dung inside my hut.
In order to get something fresh for our larder,
Westbeech and Walsh went out for a morning’s
goose-hunting. It was vexatious that my state of
health did not permit me to go even a little way with
them. At this time of year the geese, and other
birds of the duck breed, frequented the open parts
of the marshes, and sportsmen, guided by their
cackle, had to get at them in boats, pushing their
way through the reeds. The best time for hunt¬
ing them is when there is a moderate wind, as
then the rustle of the reeds overpowers the noise
made by the boats. When Sepopo heard of the
success that had attended the expedition, he bought
a lot of Westbeech’ s shot, and sent some of his own
people on a similar errand, and I should suppose
with similar good luck, as when I breakfasted with
the king a morning or two afterwards, I noticed
several geese upon the table.
From the manner in which they were served, I
could perceive that it was a dish to which the
Marutse were by no means unaccustomed. The
Back again in Sesheke.
287
people generally take their meals sitting on straw or
rush mats, sometimes inside the huts, and sometimes
just in front of the entrance. All solid food is
taken up with the fingers, but anything of a semi¬
fluid character is conveyed to the mouth by means
of wooden spoons.
There is little to add to my previous account of the
royal meals. The queens and white men invited to
breakfast sat facing the east, but at supper, which
was nearly always taken in the open air, they had
their seats always placed on the king’s left hand.
The king sipped the goblet of kaffir-corn beer before
passing it first to the favourite wife, and then to the
other lady-guests, and if no ladies were present, it
was handed on to the court officials at once. Besides
the kaffir-corn beer, honey-beer was occasionally in¬
troduced at supper, and the cup-bearer invariably
tasted it before offering it to the king. As the whole
of the honey in the country belongs to the crown,
the beverage made from it is only consumed at court ;
and on occasions of festivity it is not passed beyond
the circle of the royal family and certain distinguished
guests, except to those from whom the king had
already asked or was about to ask a favour. The
honey is not purified for its preparation, but the beer
is made by simply pouring water on to the honey¬
comb thrown into gourd-shells, and left to stand for
about twelve hours in the sun.
After the 24th I was able to take more regular
exercise, and went several times into the town with
the object of exchanging my travelling-gear, now
unfortunately of no service to me, for some local and
ethnographical curiosities. Two-thirds of the plants
that I collected were new to me, and most of those
288 Seven Years in South Africa.
that were found on the river-hank belonged to the
Zambesi highland.
As the mosquitoes prevented us from sleeping,
I used to sit up and talk with Westbeech. I obtained
from him all the information I could about the
western Makalakas who resided on the Maitengwe as
subjects of the Matabele. Some of these people I had
already seen at Shoshong, and I had heard a good
deal about them from Mr. Mackenzie.
About this time, Sepopo, not feeling very well,
sent out instructions that no white men were to be
admitted to his courtyard until further orders. No
doubt Sykendu was at the bottom of this prohibition ;
he was always on the alert to do anything to revive
the failing trade of his fellow-countrymen, and lost
no opportunity of damaging the character of the
merchants from the south.
Sepopo’s fishermen came to us every day with fish
for sale. The Marutse fisher-craft may be divided
into the two sections of reptile-hunting and fishing
proper. It is only a few tribes that devote them¬
selves systematically to the pursuit of the great
reptiles, the crocodile and the water-lizard ; but fish¬
ing proper is carried on by everyone of the Zambesi
tribes, from the Kabombo to far beyond the Victoria
Falls, their skill in their art being superior to that of
the residents on the coast, or even of the natives at
Lake N’gami, who are said to be by no means
wanting in expertness. Besides its importance as
an article of diet, fish constitutes a regular portion
of the royal tribute.
There are five principal ways of fishing. The
first method consists in net-fishing, and may be
estimated as the most remunerative. The nets used
Back again in Sesheke.
289
by the Marutse are of excellent quality; they are
made with meshes of different sizes from bast twisted
into cords about as thick as a man’s finger ; they
vary from fifteen to twenty-five feet in length, and
are provided with proper weights ; they are carefully
cleaned and dried whenever they have been used,
and this contributes very much to their durability.
It is in the larger lagoons that they are generally
supplied, especially in those of which the confines are
not marshy. The Marutse, Manubas, and Masupias
have the highest reputation for skilfulness, and have
established fishing-stations, some permanent, others
only for a season, all along the river.
A second way of catching fish adopted by the
Marutse people is by weels, which are used either
when the river is very low or very high, in which
latter case they are placed against the dams ; but at
seasons when the water is low and parted into
several streams at the rapids, they are fixed right in
the current between two blocks of rock ; in con¬
struction they are obliged to be narrow, seldom more
than a foot in diameter, and they are mostly about a
yard and a half long ; in shape they are much like
those used in Europe; they are made of strong
reeds, and are fixed with their mouths facing the
stream.
Another method consists in enclosing certain
portions of the inundated plains, just at the time of
the first abatement of the waters, with circular dams
or embankments of earth. The flood subsides rapidly,
and the fish are easily secured, the muddiness of
the water facilitating their capture. In level places,
especially near towns or villages, I noticed the
remains of a good many of these dams, and I was
VOL. 11. u
290 Seven Years in South Africa.
told that the inquisi is very often caught in this
way.
A fourth plan practised in the country is the
simple device of blocking up the mouths of the small
lagoons, where sedge is either wanting altogether or
very scanty, with coarse mats made of strong rushes.
SPEAKING PISH.
This mode of fishing, which is carried- on from May
to August, while the floods are going down, is said
to be very successful. The rain-channels that make
their way to the river are not unfrequently stopped
up in the same fashion.
But next to net-fishing there is no kind of fishing
Back again in Sesheke.
291
that can compare either in attractiveness or in
efficiency with the last of the five methods to which
I refer. The Zambesi people are all remarkably
dexterous in fishing with the spear, and sometimes
can secure water-lizards as well as fish by this means.
Otters are likewise captured in this way, the assegais
employed being proportioned in size to the purpose
for which they are used; generally the point is not
above four inches long, attached to a quadrilateral
shaft, one barb being affixed to each side.
Sepopo’s annoyance at his illness daily increased ;
he considered that it was brought about by sor¬
cery on the part of some of his subjects, and
with a view of liberating himself from the spell
under which he imagined he was lying, he gave
orders for a large number of executions, a proceed¬
ing that opened the way for any one to get rid of
an enemy or rival, as he had only to accuse him of
high treason, and sentence of death was pretty sure
to be passed forthwith. Still finding that he did
not recover his health, the king sent for Sykendu,
and told him that he would have him executed too,
if his disorder did not quickly take a turn for the
better. The Mambari promised to effect a speedy
cure, but stipulated that it must be on condition
that Sepopo gave him a handsome Makololo or
Masupia woman for a wife; he had frequently
made the same request before without effect, but
succeeded now in extracting the promise from the
anxious king.
I held out as long as I could, but yielding at
length to the general advice, I consented to leave
Sesheke, and to return to Panda ma Tenka.
There had been many days on which I had been
u 2
292
Seven Years in South Africa.
unable to leave my bed or my hut, but during these
I received a number of visits from the chieftains,
and learnt many particulars about the social life
of the Marutse people. It appears to me a con¬
venient place here to insert some of the facts that
I elicited.
Except they have been declared free by the sove¬
reign, members of all the subject tribes, except the
WALK THROUGH SESHEKE.
Marutse and Mabundas, are regarded as slaves, but
even the Marutse, although exempt from vassal-
service, may be condemned to it for any mis¬
demeanour, or by falling into disgrace with the
king. The children of any vassal who may have
married a Marutse wife are also regarded as vassals,
and bound to perform the same service as their
father. The price of a slave in Sesheke is a boat,
Back again in Sesheke.
2 93
or a cow, or a couple of pieces of calico ; in the
western part of the kingdom it is much lower, and
in the north, in the upper Kashteja, a slave may be
purchased for a few strings of beads. There are
no public slave-markets, but slaves may be bought
in any of the villages. The Mambari, who are the
chief buyers and vendors, set the negroes the vilest
of examples. With their prayer-books in their
hand, they endeavour to represent themselves as
Christians to any one who can read or write, but
they are utterly unworthy of the name they pretend
to bear, and so far from advancing in any way the
civilization of the superstitious tribes on the Zambesi,
they only minister to their deeper degradation.
Unless a man is an absolute vassal in the strictest
sense, he may, with his master’s permission, have
several wives, and free women who have not been
given away or sold as slaves are allowed to choose
what husbands they please. The preference given
to female rulers causes the weaker sex to be treated
with far more consideration than they receive
amongst the Bechuana and Zulu races, where they
are reckoned as servants, not to speak of the Ma-
sarwas, who treat their women as mere beasts of
burden.
On the 10th we received the melancholy news
that Bauren, Westbeech’s assistant, had died of
fever at Panda ma Tenka.
The next day, Kapella, the commander-in-chief,
came to our quarters with a message from the king
to say that he was sending six boats to convey
Westbeech’s ivory to Impalera. Westbeech sent
word back that he required double that number of
boats, and moreover that he was not ready to start
294 Seven Years in South Africa.
for a day or two ; but I took tlie opportunity of pack¬
ing up my own baggage and departing, relying on
the promise given me by Westbeech that he would
follow me in three days. We did not doubt that the
extra boats would be duly sent, and I only carried
the provisions that were requisite to supply my
wants for the time; I little dreamed that Sepopo
would be five weeks before he provided the ad¬
ditional boats, and the consequence was that I was
exposed to the severest privation that I had ex¬
perienced throughout my journey.
I propose devoting the following chapter to a
description of the manners and customs of the
various tribes in the empire at large, but before
bringing my account of Sesheke to a close, I may
be allowed to mention some of the chief charac¬
teristics of the more important tribes that reside in
Marutse-land proper.
For courage and bravery none of the Marutse-
Mabunda tribes can compete with the Zulus and
Amaswazies of the south; but leaving the Matabele
colony in the Barotse out of the reckoning, the
Mamboe and Masupias may in this respect be con¬
sidered to bear the palm. The Masupia elephant-
hunters exhibit great fearlessness in all encounters
with wild beasts, though even they are surpassed by
the Mamboe in their adroitness in killing hippopo¬
tamuses and crocodiles. Both Mamboe and Mabun-
das are well qualified for hard labour and for employ¬
ment as bearers, the former being probably the
finest and most muscular men in the whole empire.
The Manansas have the reputation of being some¬
what cowardly, but I found them very good and
trustworthy servants. With all native races, pride
Back again in Sesheke.
295
goes very much hand-in-hand with courage, and
consequently while it is highly developed amongst
the Matabele, it is at a very low ebb amongst the
Marutse-Mabundas ; and notwithstanding that the
Marutse make the other tribes feel that they are a
dominant race, they exhibit nothing of the arrogance
of conscious power that characterizes the Zulus.
Even the Matabele settled in the Barotse have been
influenced by their peaceful surroundings, and have
exhibited something of the qualities of tamed lions ;
and altogether the relations between master and
servant in the districts about the Zambesi are much
more friendly than amongst the tribes to the south.
The Mamboe, and all the more northerly tribes
that seldom come to court, are particularly un¬
assuming in their demeanour; and although the
natives of the Chobe district, the Batokas and
Matongas on the Zambesi, as well as the Marutse,
can be very overbearing with white men, the blame is
more often than not to be attributed to the white
men themselves. But haughtiness of this kind can
scarcely be called pride, and I observed that a
little firmness and severity rarely failed to bring the
offenders to reason, and to check their disposition
to be insolent.
The blindness of the obedience which is ordi¬
narily rendered to rulers is exemplified by the
fidelity of the people to Sepopo ; but I am obliged
to record that a corresponding faithfulness does not
extend itself to conjugal life. Although I am pre¬
pared to allow that marriage in many instances may
be the result of mutual affection, I am convinced
that marriage-vows are very rarely considered bind¬
ing, as the mulekow system too plainly testifies.
296 Seven Years in South Africa.
This odious regulation is like a plague-spot amongst
the people ; it not only destroys anything like con¬
jugal felicity, but has the most demoralizing effect
upon the rising generation, as bringing them up
with the idea that affection has nothing to do with
married life. Though originally confined to the
western and south-western tribes, it has now gene¬
rally spread all over the kingdom.
With regard to affection between parents and
children, I have no hesitation in saying that it is
displayed chiefly on the side of the parents, who
often lavish a care upon their offspring that is
very ill-requited when they become old and
infirm.
From my own experience I should not advise any
traveller in the Marutse-Mabunda kingdom to trust
himself unreservedly to servants provided by the
king ; it is far better to ask a chief or some other
person of importance to act as guide, and to chas¬
tise with the kiri all unruly boatmen and bearers ;
but before starting it is necessary that all stipula¬
tions with the sovereign should be definitely settled.
It is unadvisable to be over-liberal, and each
tribe should be treated as its character demands.
From what I have already said it may be inferred
that a little kindness prevails much with the Mam-
boe and Manansas ; but more reserve must be used
with the Marutse and Mankoe. The Matabele
require a serious if not a stern demeanour ; and it
is necessary to recollect that with the Makalakas
everything must be kept under lock and key.
Whoever the ruler is, he should be treated with
marked civility ; and if there should be any differ¬
ence of opinion with him, it is best to try and
Back again in Sesheke.
29 7
conceal it ; but should courtesy fail, and lie begins
to be in any way overreaching in his demands, he
should be resisted calmly and firmly, without preci¬
pitate recourse to forcible measures. As so few of
the tribes are remarkable for bravery, it follows that
whenever a traveller finds his progress interrupted,
or his designs thwarted, he will best surmount the
difficulty, or provide for his safe retreat, by preserv¬
ing a resolute and fearless bearing.
. A MASUPIA. A PANDA.
Their human sacrifices, their manner of slaughter¬
ing their domestic animals, and the use of barbed
assegais for destroying game, demonstrate that a
brutal cruelty is one of the predominant failings of
these people ; and yet malice and perfidy are ex¬
tremely rare, the Makalakas alone being guilty of
the latter vice. All tribes profess a certain amount
of indebtedness to the white men, the measure of
2 98 Seven Years in South Africa.
gratitude increasing in proportion to tlie simplicity
of their mode of living, or the farther they are
removed to the north, north-east, or north-west of
the Victoria Falls and the mouth of the Chobe.
Vanity is common, no doubt, to all savage races,
but the Marutse-Mabunda tribes indulge in it with
greater tact than the people farther south. Their
moral standard is very low, but this, as I have
before had occasion to remark, is the result of
ignorance rather than of corruption ; and I believe
that instruction and good example, combined with a
little gentle pressure put upon the rulers by white
men, would in a very few years work a marvellous
amendment ; but to bring about a reformation,
it must be confessed that the kings should be
very different men from Sepopo. The first thing
that it behoves a stranger to do is to set his face
against the mulekow system. It is the proper
way in which he should seek to gain respect
for himself ; and it is of great advantage to let the
people know that no such custom is tolerated in any
other country.
The system, too, by which the sovereign takes for
wives any women he will, must also be broken down
before any great moral improvement can be ex¬
pected. They nearly always have to marry him in
defiance of their own wishes, and are only free to
refuse under the penalty of death; consequently
they are seldom otherwise than unfaithful. Sepopo
took care to expose every breach of fidelity that
came to his knowledge ; but the general example of
the queens was so utterly bad, that even women who
had been free to marry at their own choice, never held
themselves bound to keep the marriage vow inviolate.
Back again in Sesheke. 299
As one proof that the few white men who have
visited the Zambesi district have exercised some
influence on the habits of the population, it may be
recorded that the natives have begun to wear a kind
of clothing, however primitive, instead of going,
like their northern neighbours, the Mashukulumbe,
absolutely naked.
SINGULAR
;oo
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER XII.
MANNEES AND CUSTOMS OP THE MAEUTSE TEIBES.
Ideas of religion — Mode of living — Husbandry and crops — Con¬
sumption and preparation of food — Cleanliness — Costume —
Position of the women — Education of children — Marriages —
Disposal of the dead— Forms of greeting — Modes of travel¬
ling — Administration of justice — An execution — Knowledge
of medicine — Superstition — Charms — Human sacrifices —
Clay and wooden vessels — Calabashes — Basket-work —
Weapons — Manufacture of clothing — Tools — Oars — Pipes
and snuff-boxes — Ornaments — Toys, tools, and fly-flappers.
In the several pre¬
ceding chapters I
drowning useless people. have had various oc¬
casions to refer to different customs and character¬
istics of the Marutse-Mabunda people that attracted
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 30 t
my attention ; but I propose to devote the present
chapter to some further details before resuming the
account of my travelling experiences.
Before it was split up into its present large
number of tribes, the Bantu family believed in the
existence of a powerful invisible God ; and by no
people has the conception been so well preserved as
by the Marutse, inasmuch as they retain an idea,
however indistinct, of an Omnipotent Being who ob¬
serves every action and disposes of every individual
at his own will.
They shrink from pronouncing His name, gene¬
rally substituting for it the word “ molemo,” which
has a very comprehensive meaning, as besides signi¬
fying God, it is used to denote good and evil spirits,
medicines, poisons, charms, and amulets. Their
real designation of the unseen Deity is “ Nyambe,”
and if ever they pronounce it they raise both hands
and eyes to the sky, and not unfrequently they use
the same gestures without mentioning the name at
all. They assume that the Supreme Being resides
“ mo-chorino,” i.e. in the azure of the heavens, and
I have heard them allude to him as “ He who lives
above,” or simply as i( He.” If a man dies a natu¬
ral death, it is said that Nyambe has called him
away, or if any one is killed in battle or by wild
beasts, or by the fury of the elements, it is all sup¬
posed to have occurred at the bidding of Nyambe.
A criminal sentenced to death meets his fate with
submission, not doubting that Nyambe is sending
the punishment due to his crime, or if any innocent
person is condemned, as often happened during
Sepopo’s government, both he and his friends will
hope to the last that Nyambe will interfere for
302
Seven Years in South Africa.
his protection from the poison, or from whatever else
is to be the means of death.
The people also believe in good and evil spirits,
the latter of which they endeavour to exorcise, or at
least to propitiate, by means of charms, such as
bones of men or beasts, hippopotamus’ teeth, bits of
wood, pieces of bark, and calabash-gourds, which
are enclosed in baskets made of bast, and hung up
on poles three or four feet high.
Most of the Marutse-Marunda tribes hold the
belief of continued existence after death, and the
principal reasons alleged by the Masupias for depo¬
siting great elephants’ tusks on the grave of a chief
are that he may be consoled for his separation from
his property, and may be induced to extend to them
his protection, now more powerful than ever by
reason of his nearness to Nyambe.
Besides ascribing their calamities to the operation
of evil spirits, they often think that they arise from
the displeasure of a departed chief, who conse¬
quently has to be propitiated by certain ceremonies
at his grave. For instance, if a member of the royal
family is ill, he is carried, by the permission of the
authorities, to the grave of the most important chief¬
tain deceased in the neighbourhood, and there some
dignitary, not unfrequently the king himself, will
repeat a form of prayer supplicating the departed on
behalf of the patient, and entreating him to inter¬
cede with Nyambe that he may be restored to
health.
The mode of living throughout the empire is
certainly less rude than that of the tribes south
of the Zambesi. Agriculture is so remunerative,
and cattle-breeding in two-thirds of the country is
Vol. II.
SEPOPO’S HEAD MUSICIAN.
Page 302.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 303
so successful, the other third, iu spite of its being
infested by the tsetse-fly, is so abundant in game,
the rivers and lagoons produce such quantities of fish,
and the forests yield so many varieties of fruits and
edible roots and seeds, that, unlike many of the
Bechuana tribes, the natives never suffer from want
during the summer rains. In husbandry and in
cattle-breeding alike they have great advantages in
their abundance of water, their fertile soil, and their
genial climate.
The fields are weeded with great assiduity by the
women, and most of them are sufficiently drained
by long furrows. As harvest-time approaches huts
and raised platforms are erected in the vicinity, so
that guard may be kept over the produce ; children
as well as adults are set to perform this office,
which has to be maintained night and day. The
corn is threshed by laying the ears on large skins
or on straw mats, and then beating it with sticks.
A certain proportion of the ingathering is allotted
to the women to dispose of as they please ; and to
judge from the hard bargains they drove with my¬
self and the white traders, they seem to manipu¬
late their property with considerable advantage to
themselves. The men, too, always' demanded more
for the goods that belonged to the women than
they did for their own, saying the wife had fixed
the price, and that if they could not obtain it they
were to carry the things back again.
Apart from the tribute which they have to provide
for the king and for the local chief, a family of
five people, to meet their own requirements, will cul¬
tivate, according to their means, one, two, or three
of the ordinary plots of ground, running about
304 Seven Years in South Africa.
three-quarters of an acre each. Two-thirds of the
tilled soil are in the wooded parts of the country,
and the land is first cleared by the men and boys,
who cut down the underwood and the lower
branches of the trees, the wood thus obtained
being used for the fences, and the weeds and fag¬
gots being burnt for manure. September and Oc¬
tober are the usual months for sowing ; but gourds,
leguminous plants, and tobacco are sown any time
up to December ; the growth of the two latter crops
being so extremely rapid that they often ripen by
January, whilst kaffir-corn and maize are ready by
February, beans coming in during both these
months.
The crops most extensively cultivated are the two
kinds of kaffir-corn, the red and the white ; they
both thrive admirably, and form the staple of the
cereal impost, and the chief material of external
traffic. Both sorts are identical with those that are
found throughout South Africa.
There is a third kind of corn which is only occa¬
sionally seen in the district, called “ kleen-corn ” by
the Dutch hunters, and “ rosa ” by the Marutse.
The grains are small, not unlike hemp-seed, and
when ground they produce a black flour that binds
better for bread-making than either of the two sor¬
ghum-like species. The Marutse regard it as being
especially choice, and it is double the price of the
others.
Maize is very frequently cultivated, and with good
success ; but there is a still larger preponderance of
crops of the gourd tribe, such as various species of
water-melons, edible gourds, and bottle gourds,
which are only grown for the sake of their shells.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 305
About as common as these are two species of beans,
one small and almost colourless, the other larger and
of a crimson or purple tint. Like mabele (common
corn), rosa, and imboni (maize), these beans, known
respectively as the “li-tu” and the “ di-no wa,”
MARUTSE -MABUNDA CALABASHES EOR HONEY-MEAD AND CORN.
form a certain part of the contribution to the royal
revenue. When boiled with meat or with hippopo¬
tamus-bacon they have a flavour which is reckoned
superior to our European species.
Three other vegetable products must be added to
the list, viz. manza, masoshwani ( Arachis hypogcea)
and cotton. The manza is all crown property, and is
VOL. 11. x
306 Seven Years in South Africa.
sent to the royal quarters whole ; it is there ground
and used for a kind of pap without salt. The arachis,
which forms part of the tribute, being identical with
the ground-nut of the West Coast, is grown nearly
everywhere ; it is eaten by the natives after it has been
roasted in the shell, and not unfrequently utilized
by Europeans as a substitute for coffee. The
cotton is cultivated for domestic use, and is woven
into good strong fabrics ; but it is hardly ever seen
except in the eastern districts. The growth of all
these crops furnishes a proof that rice might be cul¬
tivated with advantage.
Round about the huts and amongst the corn and
maize may be seen luxuriant masses of sugar-cane
(imphi) which is grown not so much for food as for
a means of relieving thirst ; it is the same sort that
is found throughout South Africa, and here ripens
between December and February.
The spots chosen for the tobacco plantations are
generally hollows, from ten to twenty square yards
in area. After being dried and pounded, the to¬
bacco is slightly moistened and made into conical or
circular pellets, in the corn-mortars. As a general
rule, that which is grown by the Marutse tribes is
of closer substance, keeps better, and contains a
larger amount of nicotine than that produced amongst
the surrounding people.
Considering the climate and the ample means of
irrigation, I cannot help being of opinion that all our
cereals, especially wheat, would thrive perfectly well
in this country, and that not only rice and coffee in
the eastern districts, but likewise the vine and many
descriptions of European fruits could hardly fail to
ripen admirably.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 307
Taking all the various articles of food into account,
we find that, after game, ordinary kaffir-corn, kleen-
corn, maize, and gourds hold a foremost place ;
next comes fish ; then follow in diminished propor¬
tions, sour milk, fresh milk, beef, mutton, goats’
flesh, forty-two species of wild fruits, the two
kinds of beans, ground-nuts, fowls, wild birds, manza
and honey. Meat is generally boiled in covered
earthenware pots, or roasted in the embers, either
with or without a spit. In their way of dressing
meat, the people are really very clever, and I do not
believe that dishes so savoury could be found
throughout South Africa as those which are served
in the better-class residences of the Marutse, and
this is the more surprising when it is remembered
that they lead a far more secluded life than any of
the Bechuana tribes.
Wild birds are either roasted or boiled, and served
up with their head-feathers or crests unremoved, on
handsome perforated dishes. Many tribes reject
certain kinds of wild game through superstitious
motives ; some will not touch the pallah ; others will
not eat the eland; and still more refuse to taste
hippopotamus-meat ; while, on the other hand, there
are some of the Marutse people who enjoy the flesh
of certain wild beasts of prey which the great
majority of South Africans would hold to be utterly
revolting. Both meat and fish are dried and pre¬
served without undergoing any salting process. The
various kinds of corn are either boiled or pounded
in mortars, and then made into pap with milk or
water, maize being boiled or baked, both in its green
and dried state. Beans are boiled, and earth-nuts
baked ; gourds and water-melons are cut up and
x 2
of any kind. Wild fruits are baked, both when
fresh, and when they have been dried in the sun ;
sometimes, too, they are stewed in milk, and occa¬
sionally they are reduced to pulp ; some sorts are
ripening at all periods of the year, so that there is
an unfailing supply of this means of subsistence.
308 Seven Years in South Africa.
boiled, the latter being also eaten raw. Manza
requires a somewhat careful preparation ; when
green the roots contain poisonous properties, but
after being thoroughly dried and finely pounded
they may be safely mixed into a pap something like
arrowroot, which forms an excellent sauce for meat
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 309
Salt has to be brought from such long distances,
either from the west or south-west, that it is only
the wealthier people that can afford to use it at all.
The poorer people have only one regular meal a
day, which is taken in the evening ; the well-to-do
classes have two daily meals ; the first an hour and
a half or two hours after sunrise, and the other at
sunset. Beer is usually drunk after every meal. Of
the two kinds of beer made from kaffir-corn, one is
strong, called matimbe ; the second sort, known as
butshuala, being much weaker ; besides these, there
is a sweet beer made from wild fruits, that produced
from the morula fruit being like cider ; and there is
likewise the honey -beer, or impote, which I have had
to mention several times before.
Besides being clever in their cooking, the Marutse-
Mabundas are very clean ; they always keep their
materials in well-washed wooden or earthenware
bowls, or in suitable baskets or calabashes. They
were the first people that I saw making butter.
Their cleanliness in their work only corresponds to
that of their persons, and I am repeating what I
have elsewhere observed in stating that rather than
lose their bath they are always ready to run the risk
of being snapped up by crocodiles.
They smoke more tobacco than any of the tribes
among whom ithas been introduced by the white men,
accustoming themselves to it from their earliest
youth, and all of them, including young girls, take
snuff. The snuff which they use is a compound of
tobacco ashes, pulverized nymphaea- stalks, and the
secretion from the glands of the Rhabdogale
mustelina. Tobacco is usually made up into little
cakes, which are strung together in rows.
310 Seven Years in South Africa.
In spite of its simplicity the costume of the
Marutse may be pronounced more graceful than
that of the majority of South African tribes.
Instead of the leather fringe of the Zulus, or the
narrow strap of the Bechuanas and Makalakas,
the men wear leather aprons, which are fastened
round their waist-belts, from the front to the back.
Tribes like the Batokas, Manansas, Masupias, and
Marutse, who frequently visit the southern side of
the Zambesi, and consequently come more in contact
with white men, wear cotton aprons, for which they
generally require nearly three yards of calico ; they
are by no means particular about colour, but if they
are unable to procure a piece of sufficient length
(which they call a sitsiba), they make a point of
getting at least enough for an apron to reach down
to the knees in front. Those who wear leather
aprons make them of the skins of the smaller
mammalia, the Marutse and Masupias using those
of the scopophorus and cephalopms, which are pierced
all round the edge with square or circular holes,
and the head part thrust through the girdle. The
Manansas wear a small flap about as wide as their
hand, made of calico, cloth, or leather.
In the style of their mantles, too, the Marutse
subjects show a marked difference from the other
branches of the great Bantu family. They prefer
those of a circular shape, something like a Spanish
mantilla, and reaching to their hips. Small mantles
made of letshwe and puku skins are also worn. The
sovereign and some of the principal officials occa¬
sionally attire themselves in European costume, but
more often than not they wear nothing but their
aprons, covering themselves in a woollen wrap in
Boys go entirely naked until some time between
their sixth and tenth years of age. Little girls on
attaining their fourth year begin by wearing tiny
aprons made of twisted cords about ten inches long,
and sometimes ornamented with brass rings ; when
ten years old they have small square leather aprons
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 31 1
rainy weather. The waistband is made of every
variety of material ; sometimes of the hide of gnus,
gazelles, or elephants, sometimes of the skins of
water-lizards, boas, cobras, and other snakes, and
occasionally of simple plaited grass or straw.
312 Seven Years in South A frica.
fastened to a belt. Many of them, who are affianced
when very young, wear two aprons, a short one in
front, and a longer one behind.
Married women have short petticoats of roughly
tanned leather, generally cowhide, with the hair in¬
side ; these reach to their knees, and are fastened
on by double waistbands. A red-brown substance
that is prepared from bark, and has a somewhat
agreeable odour, is rubbed into the outer surface.
Women who are suckling their infants wear mantles
of letshwe-skin like the men, which are generally
thrown across their back, and drawn over their
bosom on the approach of a stranger.
In bad weather the women, and sometimes the
men too, wrap themselves up in a huge circular
leather cloak reaching to the ankles, and fastened at
the throat with a strap or a brooch of wood or
metal ; it requires to be held together in front by
the hand. As a rule the people go barefooted, which
is much more practicable on their sandy soil than in
the thorny districts south of the Zambesi ; for long
journeys, however, they wear sandals made of rough
leather, which are fastened to the great toe and ankle
by a strap across the instep.
The eastern vassal tribes who grow cotton make
pieces of calico of all sizes, from handkerchiefs to
sheets. The smaller pieces are used for men’s
aprons, and the larger, which are one or two yards
wide, and from one and a half to two and a half
yards long, are used for domestic purposes ; their
narrower ends are all finished off with fringes, vary¬
ing from four to sixteen inches in length. The
Mashonas weave similar articles of clothing, but
employ bast for the material instead of cotton.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 313
The position held by the women of the Marutse
empire is better than that of their southerly neigh¬
bours. Although they till the soil, and assist in the
erection of huts, all the hardest work, such as hunt¬
ing, fishing, and the collection of building materials,
is performed by the men. I generally found the
elder people at work, the men gathering wild fruit
in the woods, and the women in the fields, either
superintending the young or engaged in some of the
less arduous labour. The sons of the poorer people,
and slave boys, usually act as shepherds, sometimes
by themselves, but more generally under supervision,
whilst boys of the upper class go hunting, either
with assegais or guns. At harvest-time a very
serviceable occupation is found for them in watching
over the crops and scaring away the gazelles and
birds ; they are likewise employed to warn the
villagers of the approach of any antelopes, buffaloes,
or elephants.
It is not the habit of the Marutse to indulge in
much sleep ; they generally retire to rest late, and
go to their work an hour or two before sunrise.
Their recreations seldom begin until the close of
the day, the lower their rank the later. They
sleep chiefly upon mantles, skins, or straw mats.
The king’s bed consisted of forty-five splendid
mantles, piled one upon another, and three or four
of the queens were appointed every night to keep
watch over his slumbers.
The training of the children is entrusted to the
women, though the boys soon escape the maternal
eye, and associate more with the fathers. The
children of freemen are allowed to have slave-
children as companions and playmates, and as
314 Seven Years in South Africa.
these are to form their future retinue, they often
have a great influence upon the rising generation,
who become much more attached to them than to
those who have the natural authority oyer them;
in fact, the children in this way are often so much
indulged that I have known boys of only twelve
years of age have quite the upper hand of their
fathers. Boys are instructed in the use of weapons
while they are quite young, and soon acquire the art
of building a hut. The girls are kept strictly to
their work, and the householder always expects the
daughters to take a share in the maintenance of the
family as soon as possible. Until ten or twelve
years of age they are chiefly employed in fetching
water.
Marriages are celebrated by noisy demoralizing
orgies, of which, as at funerals, a large consump¬
tion of kaffir- corn beer and a special dance are
the principal features. Children, as I have re¬
marked, are often affianced at an early age, and
the marriage is consummated as soon as the girl
arrives at maturity. Not unfrequently a man of
rank, although already he may have several other
wives and a number of children, obtains the daughter
of a friend for a wife, arranging meanwhile to give
one of his own daughters to his new father-in-
law in return, thus making him his son-in-law like¬
wise. Sepopo, it has been mentioned, held this
double relationship to several of the koshi and
kosanas.
When a girl reaches her maturity, the fact is
formally announced to all her companions, an invi¬
tation is sent round, and they visit her at her own
home every evening for about a week, and execute
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 315
a dance, which is accompanied by singing and
castanet-playing. The performance is generally kept
up until a very late hour. If the girl is a daughter
or near relation of the king or a koshi, she is carried
off by her people to some out-of-the-way place in a
neighbouring wood or reed-thicket, where she has
to reside in seclusion for eight days, attended only
by her own maid, except that in the evening she
is visited by her friends, who perfume her head,
and instruct her in her conjugal duties, so that
at the end of her probation she may be ready to
go to her husband. I have already described the
marriage-dance, in which only men take part. As
a rule, even in the case of vassals, it lasts for three
days and nights. A vassal may only marry by the
consent of his lord, who assigns him one of his slave
women as a wife.
In complete contrast to the tribes south of the
Zambesi, who bury their dead at night in secluded
spots near their homes, or under the hedges ; the
Marutse-Mabundas celebrate their funerals with
music, singing, shouting, and firing of guns. Many
of them mark the place of interment by depositing
on it the hunting-trophies of the deceased, such as
the skulls of gazelles and zebras, that during his
lifetime have been preserved upon poles. Sometimes
trees are planted in an oval form round the grave,
which never fails in being protected by some means
or other from desecration by wild animals. The
ceremonies observed at funerals, it is only reasonable
to suppose, are associated with certain ideas of a
future existence. Monuments of more elaborate
construction are said to exist in the Barotse, the
mother country of the dominant tribe, where a
3 r 6 Seven Years in South Africa.
mausoleum is erected to the memory of every im¬
portant member of the royal family. It is a matter
of much regret to me that I failed to get far enough
north to enable me to inspect these monuments ; the
only accounts that I received of them were from
Sepopo and several of the chiefs, and from West-
beech and Blockley, who, under the king’s authority,
had visited the district in 1872 and 1873.
Audiences with the king are conducted in pre¬
scribed form. When subjects who have come from
distant provinces enter the royal courtyard they keep
repeating the cry “ tow-tu-nya ” over and over again,
and then squat down close to the entrance in silence,
and wait until they are summoned; in course of
time they are generally introduced by their own
koshi or kosana residing in Sesheke, who crawls up
to the king and announces their arrival; on their
admittance they have to creep forwards on their
knees, and when within a few yards of the king they
have to halt and keep clapping their hands gently,
while their leader acts as spokesman. As soon as
they have received the royal answer, the audience is
at an end, and they have to retire in the same way
as they advanced. Visitors from the neighbour¬
hood greet the king with the cry of “ shangwe-
shangwe;” other forms of salutation are “ shangwe-
koshi,” and “ rumela-rarumela intate,” the former
of these being more particularly addressed to white
men.
There is one form of salutation to a stranger
which is observed by every householder, from the
king downwards. After a few words have been
exchanged, the host produces a snuff-box that
hangs from his neck or his waistband by a strap, or
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes . 317
from his bracelet, and having opened it, offers it
to his guest ; though, sometimes, instead of passing
the box, he empties its contents into his own left
hand, from which he takes a pinch himself, and
then extends his half-opened palm to those about him.
Travelling is performed with the help of bearers,
who are either hired for the entire distance, or from
tribe to tribe, the conditions being rigidly investi¬
gated by the king. In return for a supply of bearers
the king expects a present of a breechloader and
200 cartridges, or three elephant-guns, or muzzle-
loaders, and recently looks for some articles of
clothing in addition; and every governor of a
province that is traversed has to be presented
either with a gift of clothes or with a good blanket.
If hired for two months a servant receives a cotton
sheet, or three yards of calico, or a pound of small
blue beads. No subject may be engaged as servant
to a white man for a period of more than six months
without the consent of the sovereign, except the
transaction be a private one between a koshi and his
slave. For a year’s service the remuneration on the
Zambesi was usually a musket, the servant of course
being kept by the employer, and receiving an occa¬
sional present of tobacco, or dacha. If bearers and
boatmen are under the supervision of a good over¬
seer they do their work very well, are contented with
one meal a day, and with intervals of one rest of
half an hour, and about five more of a quarter of an
hour each, they will march or row from daybreak
until after four o’clock in the afternoon. Imme¬
diately upon halting they light a fire with a brand
which they always carry with them, and commence
smoking their dacha-pipes.
Seven Years in South Africa.
But without a good makosana or overlooker
the case is very different. Then the traveller,
especially a white man, is exposed to all sorts of
annoyances, and not only will the servants do all
in their power to hinder his progress, but the more
indulgently he acts, the worse they will be. The
baggage is generally carried on their heads, or on
a stick placed across the shoulder, very heavy
packages being conveyed on a long pole by two or
four men. They travel on an average at the rate of
nearly three miles an hour. On the river, boats
make from three and a half to four and a half miles
against the stream, and from five and a half to seven
miles with the stream, if unimpeded by rapids, and
not interfered with by hippopotamuses.
When travelling alone the natives take very
few provisions. The small two-oared boats that
convey the corn-tribute to Sesheke are nearly
always so heavily laden that the boatmen take
nothing with them but a little fish, satisfied to get
what food they can upon their way by gathering
wild fruits from the banks, and by knocking over
with their thoboni-sticks, which they use with an
aim that seldom errs, some of the birds in the
rushes, which their noiseless advance allows them
to approach without disturbing.
The administration of justice in the Marutse
kingdom is a topic not without its interest. By the
formation of the greater council the cause of judicial
equity was materially advanced, but unfortunately
this institution, founded by a constitutional ruler
now long deceased, has latterly lost much of its
prestige, and has received almost its death-blow under
the despotism of Sepopo. For the last ten years
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 319
justice has been set at defiance more and more.
Long established customs, having the sanction of
law, are fondly clung to by the natives, who
naturally resent any interference with their privi¬
leges, and it was Sepopo’s attempt to suppress the
ancient usages that first estranged him from his
subjects. The laws of property, the social relations
between the tribes, the law of succession to the
throne, the recognized rule of treaties, and the
criminal code, were all completely subverted by him,
being either abrogated altogether, or remodelled to
suit his own fancy. It seems, however, a matter of
certainty that under Wana-Wena, his successor, the
greater part of the old Marutse law will be re¬
established.
Minor differences are adjusted by the kosanas and
makosanas, more important charges being referred
to the governing chiefs ; but all offences of a serious
character, if they are committed within moderate
distance of the royal residence, are tried before the
king and the greater council. Murder, which is of
rare occurrence, is always punished with death.
More executions took place at the royal quarters
than in any other part of the country, because any
one who incurred any unpopularity in the provinces
was tolerably sure to be dragged thither upon a
charge of high treason. When once Sepopo’s sus¬
picions were aroused against an individual, he had
no respect of persons ; neither close relationship,
faithful service, nor official rank had any weight
with him, and he would credit no evidence ; in such
cases the mere accusation of high treason, murder,
desertion, selling ivory or honey, stealing royal pro¬
perty, adultery with one of the queens, or man-
320 Seven Years in South Africa.
slaughter, was quite enough to secure a conviction,
and the accused would forthwith be condemned to
be poisoned and burnt. Brawling, causing bodily
injury to others, and pilfering, were punished by
hard labour in the king’s fields, or by slavery for life.
When the king had no personal interest in a case he
suffered the council to pass sentence without inter¬
ference on his own part, and when any criminal was
declared to be worthy of death, the sentence ran that
he was to be poisoned by the judgment of God.
I was myself a witness of an execution under this
sentence. It was a singularly calm morning, and
after a night disturbed by a grand carousal of the
people, there was perfect silence. Before day¬
break, however, the stillness was broken by the
noise of the Mamboe starting off with their canoes
and nets to get the daily supply of fish for the
court, and being aroused, I went out, as I had occa¬
sionally done before, to watch their departure. As
I was returning I met a group of about twenty
people hurrying off towards the woods ; a second
glance explained the cause that had brought them
out so early. At the head of the party was that
Mabunda hyaena, Mashoku, the king’s executioner ;
he was attired in a gaily checked woollen shirt,
reaching almost to his heels, and close behind him
was a dejected-looking man of middle age; then
followed two old creatures, like walking mummies,
who, by their fez-like headgear, were at once known
as the king’s physicians, and the ruling spirits of his
secret council ; next came four young men armed
with assegais. Two little clusters of people brought
up the rear ; in the foremost of these was a woman
and two children ; the last batch was screeching and
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 321
shouting with excitement. As I stood watching the
proceedings I heard a voice whispering close behind
me — it only confirmed what I had already supposed
— “ Camaya mo mositu, ku umubulaya mona mo ”
(they are going to the woods to kill that man there).
Hooked round, and found that I was being informed
of what was going on by one of the Sesheke boys
who used to sell me his fish for beads.
I ascertained that the unfortunate who was being
dragged to execution had been accused of high
treason by some of his neighbours, who were jealous
of his crops, and Sepopo had condemned him to
death in spite of the general wish of the council to
acquit him ; but it happened that Sepopo was more
unwell than usual, and it was made a part of the
charge that his illness was brought about by some
charms that the man had devised.
On reaching the woodland glade that was the
place of execution, Mashoku tore off the condemned
man’s leather apron, and broke his wooden and
ivory bracelets, the four young men in attend¬
ance fastening on him another apron made of some
leaves that they gathered on the spot. In the middle
of the glade stood a sort of low gallows, consisting
of two upright posts, five feet high and three feet
apart, with one horizontal crossbar along the top,
and another about a third of the way up. There
were several piles of ashes lying about, from which
projected some charred human bones.
Mashoku made his victim sit down upon the lower
cross-bar and take hold of the uprights with each
hand. One of the four assistants then brought out a
small gourd-bottle, and he was followed by a second
carrying a wooden bowl. Having poured out into
VOL. TI. Y
322 Seven Years in South Africa.
the bowl a black decoction with which he had been
supplied by the king, Mashoku ordered the man to
swallow it. The order was immediately obeyed ; but
no sooner had he drunk the contents of the bowl
than all his relations who were present rushed up in
the hope of seeing him vomit the draught. “ Father,
husband, brother, friend ! ” they cried; “ fear not !
you are innocent. Your foes were jealous ; they
grudged you your mabele ! Nyambe knows you are
a good man ! Yyambe grant you to vomit the
poison !” But meanwhile the accusers took advan¬
tage of any opportunity they could get to revile the
poor creature bitterly ; they shook their fists at him ;
they spat in his face; they called him scoundrel,
thief, cheat ; declared that he was getting only
his deserts, and that his bones should be burned as
the bones of a traitor.
According to the old Marutse law, every con¬
demned malefactor has to drink a bowl of poison ;
if after swallowing it, he falls down, succumbing to
its influence, he is declared guilty, and his body is
at once burnt ; if, on the other hand, he vomits
what he has taken, he is discharged as innocent ;
the respite, however, is practically only temporary,
as the poison is almost certain to have caused such
a disorder in the blood that death ensues in the
course of a year or two. In his general subversion
of all the long established ordinances of the king¬
dom, Sepopo set aside this rule just when he pleased,
and often gave his executioner private orders to
proceed to burn the accused under any circum¬
stances.
Several instances of this were related to me.
When he moved from the Barotse to Seshelce he
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 323
was unable, on account of the tsetse-fly in the
neighbourhood, to bring his cattle with him ; some
large herds belonging to one of the chieftains
aroused his envy, and the owner was soon a doomed
man. He was brought to judgment and condemned,
but evacuating the poison, he escaped ; he was
brought to trial again with the same result; the
third time he was not permitted to get off, but his
body, by private orders, was exposed to the fire
till he was dead. On another occasion, after I left
Sesheke, the wife of the chief Mokoro was sentenced
to death ; the poison test declared her innocent, but
the executioner informed her that he was commis¬
sioned by the king to burn her alive next day all
the same. To avoid her fate the wretched woman
flung herself into the river, where a huge crocodile
seized her and mangled her body frightfully before
carrying it to the bottom.
But to resume my account of the victim in the
wood. When the clamour around him ceased a
little, and the accusers grew tired of reviling
him, the two old doctors came forward and
twisted him round and round, to make the
poison, as they said, work itself into his system.
They then made him resume his old position on the
scaffold, where all the hubbub of the sympathizers
and enemies was again renewed, the impatience of
both parties continually increasing till they saw
whether the poison would act as an emetic or a
narcotic. Their curiosity was not set at rest for
half an hour, when the man at last fell senseless
to the ground. This was the signal for the
executioner’s deputies to proceed to business ;
without losing an instant they pounced upon the
y 2
324 Seven Years in South Africa.
body and carried it off to the fire already kindled ;
it was in vain for wife or friends to protest ; the
poor wretch’s head was held over the flames until
the face was half-burned away, and he was choked.
A quantity of brushwood was then added, and
the body, as rapidly as possible, was consumed
in the bonfire. The relations, uttering loud lamen¬
tations, began to return homewards, but they were
careful to suppress all their wailing on reaching
the town, lest their tokens of grief should excite
the king’s anger, and provoke him to further bar¬
barities.
During this reign of terror many who thought
themselves likely to come under suspicion tried to
leave the country, and some even committed suicide
to avoid coming under the royal sentence. Run¬
aways who were caught were either assegaied by
their pursuers, or brought back to Sepopo for
execution ; if any of them were interceded for either
by an important chief or by any of the white men,
it was very likely that the application would be
received with a very gracious acquiescence, but the
chances were that a few days afterwards he would
be again accused and convicted afresh.
In cases of theft neither the king nor any of his
officials will punish a man except upon his own
confession, or upon the evidence of a number of
witnesses. No pains are ever taken by the autho¬
rities to discover or apprehend a thief ; they simply
say to a complainant, “ Bring your man here, and
then we can deal with him.”
I have already mentioned that two respited
criminals acted as scavengers at the royal resi¬
dence. These men had always to be up and to com-
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 325
plete their work before any one was stirring ; and
occasionally they had to remove corpses out of the
thoroughfares, as Sepopo regarded all dead bodies,
except those of his own people at the court, merely
as offal, and gave orders that they should be treated
as other rubbish.
It is only giving the Marutse people fair credit
for their medical knowledge to say that it is cer¬
tainly in advance of that of other South African
tribes ; on this superior knowledge the physicians
in the secret council have devised their sorceries in
such a way as to gain for themselves a kind of awe
from the common people; their acquaintance with the
medicinal or poisonous properties of many plants is
such as might enable them to be of universal service,
were they not actuated by the desire to maintain
their hold upon the ignorant by the old routine of
magic. Apart, however, from this, I found that
they quite understood the treatment of dysentery,
fever, coughs, colds, wounds, and snake-bites, al¬
though their remedies were always accompanied by
mysterious ceremonies to inspire the faith which,
perhaps, after all, contributed very largely to the
cure. As with the Bechuanas, bleeding was quite
a common operation ; it was performed with metal,
horn, or bone lancets upon the temples, cheeks,
arms, breast, and shoulders, the blood being drawn
out by bone suckers ; it was adopted in cases of
neuralgia to relieve any local pain, and was sup¬
posed to reduce inflammation in any of the neigh¬
bouring organs. Plants of which the medicinal
qualities had been ascertained were dried and used
in powder and decoctions, or sometimes they were
burnt and reduced to charcoal. The animal sub-
326 Seven Years in South Africa.
stances employed for medicine were bone-dust,
scales of the pangolin, and tbe glandular secretions
and excrements of certain mammalia. In one respect
tbe Mabunda doctors differed from tbe Becbuanas,
in having no external indication to mark tbeir pro¬
fession, unless tbeir extreme old age might be
interpreted as a badge of their calling.
Tbe prevalence of superstition is no doubt tbe
principal and most serious obstacle to tbe intel¬
lectual development of tbe Marutse-Mabunda tribes.
It was tbe awe with which bis subjects regarded
him that enabled Sepopo, in spite of bis atrocities,
so long to maintain bis power over them ; tbe aged
doctors that be kept about him never failed to
inculcate tbe most superstitious notions upon tbe
people, and tbe influence they exercised was very
largely increased by the manifest efficacy of many
of the remedies they used ; there was no room left
to question tbe sacredness of the person of tbe
sovereign.
It would be absolutely impossible to enumerate
all tbe charms that are employed, and I will only
pause to recapitulate a few of them.
At tbe commencement of a war, after tbe com¬
pletion of a new town, or in any season of general
calamity, certain portions of tbe human body,
removed during life, are deposited in special places
in vessels designed for tbe purpose.
Bracelets and cbestbands made of buffalo fat are
supposed to keep off various disorders, and to act
as a protection in cases of pursuit.
Fat, taken from tbe heart of a domestic animal,
and fastened crosswise to a stick, and placed near
the but of any fugitive from bis country, is
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 32 7
imagined to be sure before long to overpower bis
senses and to make him reel home again like a
drunkard to receive his proper punishment.
Pulverized and charred bones of mammalia, birds,
and amphibious animals are sold to hunters to en¬
sure their fleetness in the chase, the powder being
either carried in bags about the person, or rubbed
into incisions made in the arms and legs.
All kinds of pharmaceutical preparations obtained
from white men are regarded as possessing magic
properties, as are also the skins of rare animals,
such as the great black lemur, the eyes, nostrils,
and ridge of the tail of the crocodile, the horns of
the Cephalopus Hemprichii and of the Scopophorus
TJrebi , beads of any scarce sort, and any abnormal
growth in the hair, on the bones, or on the horns of
animals.
Other charms consist of small bags made of the
skin of the python, belts and chestbands cut from
the skins of snakes and lizards, and little, shells
fastened together into headbands, necklaces, brace¬
lets, and girdles. The shells, as well as other
products of marine animals, have been introduced
by the Portuguese, and are in great demand.
Instead of being worn about the body, charms
and amulets are often deposited in some secret
place known only to the master of the house. All
along the enclosure at the back of his reception-
hut, Sepopo had a row of clay-pots and calabashes
containing a great collection of charms, besides
those that were stored in his laboratory. The
receptacles were very diversified. Those that were
uncovered consisted of bags and baskets made of
bast, grass, or straw, rude wooden dishes of many
328 Seven Years in South Africa.
sizes, pots and pans of baked or unbaked clay,
generally covered with patterns and glazed, either
supported by wooden legs or hung upon poles, and
calabashes that were generally arranged under little
roofs of their own. The closed receptacles were
makenke baskets, tiny baskets made of palm-leaves,
small calabashes in the shape of an hour-glass
with wooden stoppers, horns of gazelles with the
end plugged up, goats’ horns engraved all over,
and the horns of the larger kinds of antelopes, such
as harrisbocks and gemsbocks, neatly carved and in
shape like powder-flasks. All of them were pro¬
vided with straps by which they could be hung up.
I also noticed some boxes that had been carefully
carved out of wood, reeds, birds’ or animals’ bones,
hippopotamus’ and elephants’ tusks, fruit-shells, and
various sorts of claws ; and there were bags made
of skins, and even the intestines and the bladders of
certain animals, while some were merely fragments
of woollen cloth or cotton sewn together. The
greatest care seemed to be bestowed on the pre¬
servation of every article of this character.
If it could be transferred to a European museum,
Sepopo’s medicine-hut would be in itself a very
remarkable and promiscuous ethnological collection ;
but, unfortunately, it is very difficult for any one to
obtain objects of this sort at all, as the natives are
extremely reluctant to part with the most trifling
thing that is credited with the possession of magic
properties.
Liquids, poured out in front of the entrance of a
house or courtyard, are supposed to act as a spell
upon the master or any one who may inadvertently
step across the place while it is still damp. Illness,
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes . 329
as I have had occasion to remark, is nearly always
presumed to be the result of magic or malevolence.
My own profession, and the general character of my
occupation, as well as my success from time to time
in relieving certain cases of sickness, caused me to
be regarded in the Marutse kingdom as a magician,
and at least had the satisfactory result of ensuring
me more respect than white men generally get. The
nostrums used for medical purposes were known
only by the king, his confidential doctors, and the
executioner, who did not fail to extort a large price
for their commodities.
Before any inhuman measure on which the king
had set his mind could be carried in the council, it
was frequently found unavoidable to have several
sittings ; but if any of the members were ascertained
to be persistently obstructive, measures were soon
found for getting rid of them, and they were per¬
petually being accused of high treason or some other
crime, and thus removed out of the way. Sepopo’s
propensity for human sacrifices was by no means in
accordance with the usual practice of the country,
and it was only by coercing his secret council that
he succeeded in perpetrating his superstitious bar¬
barities.
In this way it was that while New Sesheke was
being built, Sepopo brought it about that a resolu¬
tion should be passed by the secret tribunal to the
effect that in order to save the new town from the
fate of the old, the son of one of the chiefs should
be killed; but that his toes and fingers should
first be cut off, and preserved as a charm in a war-
drum.
In spite of the secrecy which was enjoined, the
330 Seven Years in South Africa.
rumour of the resolution came to one of the chiefs,
who communicated it privately to many of his
friends. This was about the end of September,
when Blockley was the only white man left in Se-
sheke. Night after night groups of men were to be
seen stealthily making their way past his quarters
to the woods ; they were the servants of the chiefs,
carrying away the young boys whither they hoped
to have them out of the tyrant’s reach, and some
little time elapsed before either the king or his
executioner was aware of the steps that were being
taken to frustrate the bloody order.
The appointed day arrived. Mashoku’s emissaries
were sent to ascertain from which of the chieftains’
enclosures a victim might most readily be procured,
but one by one they returned and reported that not
a child was to be found. At last, however, one of
the men brought word that he had seen a solitary
boy playing outside his father’s fence. Apprised of
this, the king immediately sent directions to the
father to go out at once and procure some grass
and reeds for a hut that he was building, and then
charged Mashoku to lose no time. As soon as he
had satisfied himself that the man had left his home,
Mashoku sent his messenger to fetch the child to
the royal courtyard, where, although the place was
full of people, a perfect silence prevailed. The king
was in a terribly bad temper, and no one dared to
breathe a word. The executioner’s assistant made
his way to the abode of the chief, and was greeted
by the mistress of the house with a friendly
“ rumela ; ” he then proceeded to tell her that the
kosana, her husband, was just setting out in his
canoe, and that he had sent him to say he wished
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 331
his little son to go with him. The mother acquiesced,
and the boy was delighted to accompany the man,
who of course took him off to the royal courtyard,
where a sign from Mashoku announced their arrival
to the moody king. Sepopo started to his feet,
and accompanied by his band, made his way
towards the river, the child being led behind him.
Bewildered as the poor little victim was, he was
somewhat reassured by the direction they were
taking; but all at once he was alarmed at the
shrieks of a chieftain’s wife, whose house they were
passing, and who, knowing the purpose on which
they were bent, cried out in horror.
At the river the whole party, numbering nearly
seventy, embarked and crossed to the opposite side.
The myrimbas were left behind, but the large drums
were taken over. Shortly after landing the king
seated himself on a little stool ; he made the execu¬
tioner, a few of his own personal attendants, and
the members of his secret council form an inner
circle ; beyond them he placed the drummers ; and,
outside these, he ordered the rest of the company
to group themselves, so as to conceal from the town
the deed that was being perpetrated. The poor boy
by this time had almost fainted from fear; but
when, at a nod from the king, the executioners
seized him, he began to scream aloud with terror.
The drummers were ordered to play with all their
might, so that the piteous shrieks should not be
heard ; several assistants were then summoned to
hold the child, so that resistance was impossible,
and the two doctors set themselves deliberately to
work to amputate finger after finger, and toe after
toe.
332 Seven Years in South Africa.
No drumming could drown the heart-rending cries
of the sufferer. The people of Sesheke could hear
him, in the midst of his torture, calling out, “Ra, ra,
kame, ra, ra ! ” (Father, 0 my father !) and “ umu
umu bulaya” (they are killing me !) ; but though a
large crowd was thus made aware of what was going
on, no one dared to raise a hand to rescue the
miserable sufferer.
"When the doctors had finished their cruel opera¬
tion, the hapless boy was strangled, and knocked
on the head with a kiri. The whole party then re¬
turned to their boats, which were pushed off into mid¬
stream, where, as if by accident, they were formed
into a circle ; but, in reality, with the design of
concealing the corpse as it was dropped into the
water. Meanwhile the weeping mother had made
her way down to the bank, and regardless alike of
the crocodiles and of the displeasure of the tyrant,
waded into the stream and demanded her son — her
darling Mushemani. But to Sepopo a mother’s
grief was nothing ; he landed quite unconcerned,
and proceeded with his myrmidons to enjoy his pots
of butshuala, while the doctors stored away the dis¬
membered toes and fingers in a war-drum.
This narrative I give as related to me in its
general outline on my second return to Sesheke by
two of the resident chiefs, the details being filled in
by Blockley, whose quarters were just opposite to
the scene of the murder.
Before crossing the Zambesi I had been told
about the industrial skill of Sepopo’ s people, and
had been given to understand that amongst the
southern tribes the Mashonas particularly excelled.
Prevented as I was from visiting the country, I
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 333
had no opportunity of forming an opinion that is
conclusive ; but, judging from various specimens
that I saw, I am inclined to believe that there are
some of the Marutse tribes, that in certain branches
of industry surpass even the Mashonas.
Amongst cooking-utensils, those that are made of
clay form an important class. Many of them are in
the shape of vases, some ornamented round the neck
with patterns of a lighter or a darker colour, others
polished so that they seemed to be entirely covered
with glaze ; the lower parts were never ornamented,
nor did I see any with handles. The clay vessels
that are used as corn-bins are immensely large, and
most frequently urn- shaped ; they are made more
roughly than the cooking- vessels, and always of un¬
baked clay ; they are shut in at the top by a lid
made also of clay, and in front, close to the ground,
they have a semi-circular opening about as wide as
one’s hand, protected by an interior slide which may
be raised and lowered by means of horizontal
handles ; occasionally they are made so large that it
requires as many as sixteen men to lift them, and,
when moved, they are carried on poles. For the
most part clay utensils are manufactured by women,
and are used in the preparation of kaffir-corn beer,
for holding water and milk, and for ordinary culinary
purposes.
Utensils of wood are most commonly made by
men, particularly by the men of the Mabundas ; they
are burnt all over inside with red-hot irons, a pro¬
cess which is so skilfully performed that it gives
them the appearance of ebony ; many of them are
ornamented with raised carvings, running in sym¬
metrical patterns round the edge and neck; and
334 Seven Years in South Africa.
some of them have perforated bosses, which serve
the purpose of handles. All of them are provided
with carved lids.
The variety of wooden vessels is as large as that
of the earthenware, and their shapes quite as diver¬
sified. The dishes used for minced meats are good
specimens of their kind, and exhibit some of the best
carving of the Mabundas. As a general rule wooden
pots are either conical or cylindrical in shape,
rounded inside at the bottom, and are used for hold¬
ing meal, beans, small fruits, and beer. As an inter¬
mediate production between the pots and the dishes,
there are bowls with lips or spouts.
Wooden dishes are either oval or round, those to
which I have just alluded are oval, and are hollowed
into the form of a boat, and are repeatedly to
be seen with a horizontal rim of fretwork ; they
are perfectly black, and without handles. Ex¬
cept in the houses of the upper classes they are
rarely to be met with, and the most elaborately
worked of any that I saw belonged to the king ; but
although all the oval dishes are large, I noticed a
good many amongst the Matabele that were double
or treble the size of any of Sepopo’s ; all of them
had handles at the end, and they were usually kept
for serving heavy joints to a number of guests.
Not unfrequently they are ornamented with a kind
of arabesque carving, raised about half an inch
above the surface, a mode of decorating their work
in which I believe that the Mashonas carry off the
palm.
Of round dishes there are a good many varieties ;
all of them appeared to have bosses projecting more
or less, to serve as handles, and they were nearly
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 335
always curved at the bottom, though in some rare
cases they had a small flat surface at the bottom
about the size of a crown-piece ; the edges are
generally notched. No household is ever without
them, as they are especially serviceable for holding
milk and oil, and all substances of a fatty nature.
The dried shells of nearly all the gourds are uni¬
versally utilized as vessels, and on account of their
light weight, there is no purpose to which they are
so generally applied as that of carrying water, both
for domestic use and for travelling. In variety of
natural form, as well as in their artificial adaptations
to use, they exhibit a still greater diversity than
either the clay or the wooden wares. For common
purposes they are polished to yellow, various shades
of brown and brick red, and are often covered with
a network of grass or bast ; but those that are re¬
served for rare or more important occasions, are
generally branded with well-executed devices. The
Mabundas are notoriously skilful in this kind of
work, particularly in figures. Amongst the designs
thus burnt in I saw arabesques that were sometimes
very elaborate, figures of men, animals, birds, rep¬
tiles, fishes, and insects ; representations of huts,
oars, weapons, and implements of many kinds;
pictures of the sun and moon, besides scenes of
hunting or of fighting, of which two especially
attracted my attention, depicting with considerable
minuteness the capture of a besieged town, and sho w-
ing the stone breastworks that have now ceased to
be erected as defences in warfare.
It must be confessed that on the whole the
designs were executed with a certain amount of
skill, and, considered as the production of savages,
336 Seven Years in South Africa.
indicated a kind of artistic power ; though I could
not pretend to compare them in this respect with
the carvings of the Bushmen. Occupying, as they
do, a prominent place in the industrial products of
the central Zambesi, these carved calabashes must
be allowed to indicate a decided advance upon any¬
thing of the kind that is to be seen on the southern
side of the river. The gourds chosen for the pur¬
pose are partly grown in the maize-fields, and partly
close round the huts. The smallest-sized gourds
were made into snuff-boxes, but not so frequently
as among the Bechuanas.
I observed also some very handsome spoons, and
some large ladles, made from a peculiar kind of gourd
that grows thick at one end ; not a few of these
were ornamented with devices elaborated with much
patience; their general colour was yellow, brown,
or chocolate. Not all their spoons are made from
gourds, as I saw some made of wood, two feet
long, and used for serving out meal-pap or stewed
fruit ; many of those used for meals are also
wood ; and altogether I am disposed to think that
throughout the savage tribes of Africa none would
be found to use wooden utensils more neatly
finished off than the spoons of the Mabundas. I
may add, that in addition to other wooden pro¬
ductions, I saw some well-made mortars for pound¬
ing corn, and some sieves, dexterously put together
with broad wood-shavings, to be used for sifting
meal.
The Marutse-Mabunda people likewise do a
good deal of good basket-work. Perhaps the
simplest specimen of this would be found in the
circular corn-bags, made of grass or baobab rind,
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 337
about two feet long and not quite so wide ; another
sort of bag, hardly more elaborate in its make, is
woven from reeds, from the stalks of plants, or from
fan-palm leaves ; these are of larger dimensions, and
are really sacks for carrying dried fish and the
heavier descriptions of fruit. Most of the tribes are
skilful in making bags of thick bast, and in putting
together very rapidly a kind of sweep-net. A basket
that is of very easy manufacture is made from
pieces of a bark very much resembling our red
birch, sewn together with bast. It is nothing more
than a tube closed at one end, and having a piece of
wood thrust through the other, or a strap attached
to form a handle. It is generally used at the in¬
gathering of fruit. Basket-making of a superior
character is exemplified in the makuluani baskets
which are manufactured from the lancet-shaped
leaflets of the fan-palm; these are very strongly
made, and with their close-fitting covers and firm
texture, are sufficiently solid to serve the purpose of
boxes or chests ; so various are they in form, that it
is rare to see two alike. The Matabele who have
settled in the Barotse valley weave grass and straw
into basket-work, so fine and compact that it is quite
watertight, and can be used for drinking-cups.
The best specimens of this kind of handicraft are
found in the makenke baskets made by the tribes in
the Barotse, in spite of the material out of which
they are formed being somewhat unmanageable.
This material is the root-fibre of the mosura, a tree
not unlike a maple. There are two kinds of them,
one without any covering, and generally of uniform
shape and size ; the other with a close-fitting lid,
and found in endless diversity of form and dimen-
vol. 11. z
33 8 Seven Years in South Africa.
sions. As works of skill, there is not much to
choose between them ; they always have elaborate
patterns woven into them with fibres that have
either been burnt black or dyed of a darker colour
than the rest. Except in the Barotse, they are very
scarce, and in Sesheke there is the greatest difficulty
in obtaining one at all.
Knives of the kind used by men in their daily occu¬
pations, and for ordinary domestic purposes, are worn
without any sheath, and consist of a thin pointed
iron blade, often bent round into a sickle shape, with
a handle made of the skin of snakes or lizards.
Weapons of offence are assegais of various kinds,
daggers, hatchets, knives, and kiris ; those of de¬
fence being shields and sticks.
There is a large variety of assegais, all of them
exhibiting good form and workmanship, and care¬
fully adapted to the different uses for which they are
designed. Altogether they struck me as the best
specimens that I had seen in South Africa, and they
are far superior to those of either the Bechuanas or
Makalakas. Amongst the stronger and more un¬
common of the assegais are those belonging to the
chieftains, and serving as insignia of their office ;
they vary from five feet to six and a half feet in
length, a third part of which is iron ; the shafts are
the most substantial that are made north of the
Zambesi, and are generally carved or ornamented
with indented lines or circles.
The assegai that is used for hand-to-hand fights
is a most formidable weapon, especially as wielded
by the Matabele. It has a kind of gutter running
along the blade ; the neck is formed of embossed
rings ; the shaft is short and strong, and weighted
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 339
at the end with an iron band as thick as one’s
finger. When it is to be hurled as a javelin, an
assegai has a different character ; it is much lighter,
and has a longer shaft, the length being frequently
as much as seven feet ; the blade is quite plain, and
the neck altogether slighter.
For hunting purposes there are assegais of a good
many different sizes; the necks of these are fur¬
nished with either single or double barbs, and the
blades are sometimes harpoon-shaped, and sometimes
like an ordinary spear-head. They may be divided
into two leading groups, one being such as are used
for killing gazelles and the smaller mammalia ; the
other including those adapted to buffaloes, lions,
zebras, panthers, and wild game generally.
Of all the various sorts of assegais, perhaps the
longest is the crocodile spear, of which the most
remarkable feature is the head, which carries four
barbs, two close to the blade, and the other two,
which are bent upward, just where the neck joins the
shaft. There are also two special javelins adapted
for killing otters ; the blades of these are narrow,
but very sharp, and averaging about six inches in
length. The water-lizard assegai corresponds with
the war assegai in every respect, except that its blade
is only half as long. Not unlike this is the weapon
used for spearing fish, only it has a point much
more rounded ; all the upward bent barbs, and those
projecting outwards from the sides, exhibit very
clever workmanship, and every one of the many
kinds seems to answer its purpose well.
In its construction no assegai is more simple than
that used in hippopotamus-hunting; the shaft of
this is made of soft wood, and from two to three feet
340
Seven Years in South Africa.
long. The elephant assegai is entirely of iron,
becoming thicker and broader at its lower end, and
covered in the middle with a piece of leather. There
is a very rude sort of assegai which is often buried
in pits, point uppermost, and succeeds occasionally
very well as a stratagem for trapping water-antelopes.
Before concluding my summary of thrusting
weapons, I must not omit to mention the Marutse-
Mabunda daggers. They are distinguished from
those of the Bamangwatos, which are by no means
despicable weapons, and from those of the Matabele,
which are singularly formidable, by the tastefulness
of their workmanship. They are remarkable, too,
for their perforated sheaths, which, like the handles,
are covered with ebony -like carvings ; the blades are
of iron, and generally of inferior quality to those of
either assegais or hatchets.
The sticks which are employed as missiles are
from a yard to a yard and a half long ; they are
double, as thick at one end as they are at the other,
the lighter extremity being in the usual way about
as thick as one’s finger.
Hatchets are made of different shapes by different
tribes ; not only are they better than those of the
southerly tribes as regards form, lightness, and
choice of material, but they possess a decided ad¬
vantage in being firmly set in their sockets, which
the tomahawks of the Bechuanas, Kaffirs, Maka-
lakas, and Matabele seldom or never are. The
handles are cut out of strong well-seasoned wood,
with ornamental patterns burnt in. The weapon
generally is so light, that it seems like a toy in the
hands of a man, though it can perform very effectual
service in close encounters.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 341
Such knives as are used for particular purposes,
like wood-carving, and those that are worn as
weapons of defence, are longer in the blade, and
altogether more carefully made than the common
domestic knfves ; slightly curved at the end, they
are made very strong at the back, and are often found
highly ornamented, the handles, into which they are
well secured, being usually flat, and occasionally ela¬
borately carved.
The kiris, just as they were elsewhere, were short
round sticks, with a knob at one end. Amongst the
Marutse they were made either of some hard kind
of wood or of rhinoceros horn. Those of wood are
the more common. The knobs are about as large as
a man’s fist, and are not unfrequently scooped out.
Ordinarily, the stick part is about two feet long, and
from one inch to two inches thick ; it is more often
than not highly polished ; its extremity is sometimes
sharpened, sometimes rounded, and examples are met
with from time to time in which the end is finished
off by an iron ferule.
No weapon of defence is so important as the
shield. The Marutse, however, do not excel in its
manufacture, like the tribes farther south ; what
they use is generally made of black and white cow¬
hide, and is upon the whole very like the shield of
the Bechuanas, though larger than that of the Zulus
or Masarwas.
As the last in my list of weapons, I may refer to
the long sticks that are used for defensive purposes ;
many of these run from six to eight feet in length,
their usual thickness being only about an inch;
both ends terminate in a ferule of twisted iron.
At the time of my brief sojourn in the district, the
34 2 Seven Years in South Africa.
number of guns tbat had been introduced into the
country from the south and west amounted to 500
flint muskets, 1500 ordinary percussion muskets,
eighty percussion elephant-guns, 150 rifles, thirty
double-barrelled guns of various sorts, ten breech¬
loaders, and three revolvers. After I left, the great
bulk of these were thrown into the Zambesi by the
people in revolt, and as they were not replaced, I do
not suppose that the entire number of firearms in the
kingdom would exceed 1100 or 1200 at the most.
In the manufacture of such clothing as they wear,
the Marutse tribes fail to exhibit anything like the
same skill as in other branches of handicraft. The
shape of the various articles of their attire is not
bad, but they have not the knack, elsewhere com¬
mon, of arranging a number of skins so that a
garment has the appearance of being formed out of
one single fur ; nor do they ever think of mending
any holes or rents with pieces of skin that corre¬
spond in kind or colour with the surrounding parts.
The Bechuana sorts his skins with much care, ac¬
cording to their colour, size, or length of hair, and
only uses those of one species of animal for the same
garment ; among the Marutse, on the other hand,
we find all kinds of fur patched promiscuously
together without any regard to symmetry. Their
mantles, too, are not finished off by being orna¬
mented with claws or tails like those of the
Bechuanas. In the matter of sewing, the tribes
north and south of the river may be said to be about
on a par ; it is done by means of an awl and the
finest animal sinews that can be procured.
Such skins as have to be prepared for making into
aprons, sandals, straps, or bags, are thoroughly
Manners and Cits toms of the Marutse Tribes. 343
clamped, and kept rolled up for some time; the
hair is then scraped off with the hand, or a blunt
knife ; each skin is then turned face downwards to
the ground, where it is fixed firmly with wooden
pegs ; with the help of a wedge-shaped piece of iron,
or a scraper made on purpose and called a “ pala,”
or, in cases where the hide is very thick, with a sort
of brush made of ten or twenty nails some five or
six inches long, every particle of flesh or sinew is
cleared away, after which some oily substance is
rubbed thoroughly in upon both sides. The process
is finally completed by the men, who, in time to a
tune, apply the friction of their hands till the skin is
quite dry and supple.
The handkerchiefs and sheets that I have men¬
tioned must rank amongst the best specimens of the
industrial skill of the country ; without being in any
degree coarse, the texture is substantial, and dark
stripes are often woven with very good effect upon a
lighter ground.
For agricultural work there is hardly any other
implement except the mattock, which however is a
much more efficient tool than is generally met with
to the south. The hatchet employed for cutting
wood is very similar in shape to the battle-axe ; it
is made of very good iron, and is sometimes orna¬
mented with raised patterns ; the handle is quite
straight, and about two feet long. In hollowing
out canoes and wooden bowls, and in preparing
planks, the people use hatchets of various sizes,
nearly all of them made in the same shape as the
“ pala.” Their hammers are made of iron of
superior quality, and are better than any used by
the Bechuanas. The chisels, both the hard chisels
344 Seven Years in South Africa.
for working metal, and those for soft materials,
are of many different sizes, and are either curved or
straight ; their nails are both round and square.
For boring and drilling they use gimlets very like
our own, these as well as their screws being all
manufactured by a file. Their tongs and pincers
seem of a very primitive character, nevertheless,
they answer their purpose sufficiently well; the
anvils at which the smiths work are all of the rudest
construction.
I observed three different kinds of oars in use, the
long, the short, and the hunting-oars. The last are
the exclusive property of the king, and in common
with some of the others, form part of the tribute.
The long oars are over ten feet, the short about six
feet long, and are made of stout straight stems ; at
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 345
their paddle ends the short are usually broader than
the long, and have their extremities run out to a
point instead of being cut straight off ; both these
kinds are occasionally carved or branded with orna¬
mental designs, although not so often as the hunting-
oars. These hunting-oars have a forked end, and
are bound together by an iron clamp across them, to
keep them from splitting ; they are generally about
ten feet long ; the principal time for using them is
during floods, when they are brought out for letshwe
and puku chasing.
Tobacco-pipes are of two kinds, the one that is
least elaborate being of more common use in the
west of the country, the other in the south. The
346 Seven Years in South Africa.
former is not unlike a Turkish pipe, consisting of a
straight stem about a yard long, of the thickness
of a man’s thumb, occasionally carved, attached to a
small clay bowl, that is likewise generally decorated
with carved devices. The second form differs from the
first solely in having a calabash for a stem, the
smaller end of which constitutes the mouthpiece.
A native rarely forgets his pipe, even on his shortest
journeys, especially if he is travelling with a white
man, and carries his tobacco in a little cotton or
leather bag that is tied to his mantle or waistbelt.
Tor longer journeys the dacha-pipe is an indispen-
sible companion ; the water reservoirs of these
exhibit an infinite variety of form. Dacha is com¬
posed of the dried leaves of a kind of hemp, which
is planted round nearly all the South African huts ;
when smoked through water it is slightly intoxicat¬
ing in its effects. The pipes consist of three parts ;
the bowl, the stem, and the horn containing the
water, the broad end of the horn forming the mouth¬
piece by which the smoke is inhaled. An inclination
to cough is induced by the inhalation, and the more
violent the tendency the greater the enjoyment.
Although snuff-boxes of home manufacture, as
well as those introduced by white men, are found
throughout South Africa, I nowhere saw such a
variety as amongst the Marutse. The materials
utilized for this purpose are almost too diversified
to enumerate ; ivory, hippopotamus tusks, the bones
of animals and birds, stag’s horn, rhinoceros horn,
claws, snakes’ skins, leather, wood, reeds, gourd
shells, and any fruit husks that were either globular
or oval ; besides all these, not a few metal boxes
were to be met with that were of foreign make,
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 347
and had been brought into the country by Euro¬
peans.
The boxes made of iyory most frequently have
small circular patterns burnt in, and they are
attached to the mantle or bracelet by a string of
beads, a piece of bast, or a strap ; they were, as
far as I could judge, used exclusively by the upper
classes. The most like them were the boxes made
of rhinoceros horn. Both kinds have only one small
aperture at the top, while those of the Bechuanas
have a second opening at the bottom.
Of all the kinds, that which struck me as most
simple is made of reeds and the bones of birds ; it is
the sort commonly used by boys and young girls ;
but another form, hardly less simple, is that in
ordinary use amongst the Makalakas, made of the
horns of animals, either wild or domestic, and nearly
always more or less carved ; undoubtedly, however,
the kind which is most frequently to be seen
consists merely of fruit- shells, and of which four
or five at once are often attached by a strap to the
mantle, all of them polished carefully into a shining
black, or a dark violet or plum colour. The most
elaborate carvings appear to be lavished on the
wooden boxes, which are worn by the Mamboe and
Manansas, but the poorer classes amongst these often
carry their snuff in little cotton or leather bags.
Indispensable as I have said the dacha-pipe is to
the native on his longer journeys, and his tobacco-
pipe when he leaves home at all, yet no necessity of
life is so absolutely requisite to him as his snuff-box,
and whether at work or at leisure, at home or
abroad, sleeping or waking, he never fails to have
it within reach.
348 Seven Years in South Africa.
Besides snuff-boxes, amulets and cases for charms
are continually worn as ornaments, the materials of
which they are composed being of the most hetero¬
geneous character, and in addition to the variety
already enumerated, comprising teeth, scales, tor¬
toise-shell, husks, seeds, feathers, grass, and tallow.
Amongst metal ornaments, besides rings, brace¬
lets, and anklets, I saw a good many earrings of
iron, copper, and brass ; gold I never saw. The
iron and copper articles were partly produced from
the native smelting-furnaces, and partly composed
of the wire introduced by Europeans ; all the brass
things were made of imported metal. Foreign
jewellery was rarely worn in its original form, but
the material was almost invariably melted down, and
reproduced in a design to suit the taste of the
country. Nothing in this way is in greater requisi¬
tion than the anklets, of which the queens and the
wives of men of rank wear from two to eight on each
leg. The poorer classes have their bracelets and
anklets generally made of iron, and do not wear so
many of them. It is comparatively rare to see any
made of copper. Ordinarily only one or two rings
are worn on each foot, but the wives of the koshi
and kosanas are not unfrequently to be seen with
four. As the king makes a rule of buying all the
best and strongest imported wire for himself, the
subjects have to be satisfied with the inferior quali¬
ties; the result is that all the good jewellery is
found near Sesheke and in the Barotse, and amongst
the tributary Makalakas and Matongas, and its
quality degenerates altogether in the more remote
east and north-east countries, where it is seldom
anything better than what is produced from the
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 349
native iron. The little earrings, whether of iron,
brass, or copper, hardly differ at all from those of
the Bechnanas.
Not a few ornaments are made of bone and ivory ;
amongst these again bracelets and anklets predomi¬
nate. All rings in ivory are turned upon a lathe,
and made precisely to fit the part on which they are
to be worn ; their finish is little short of faultless,
and even when left plain, without any carvings, they
are really elegant examples of workmanship. I
obtained a few of them as curiosities, but only with
great difficulty. Ivory is also worked up into
little oblong cases, bars, and disks, that are fas¬
tened to the hair by bast strings passed through the
holes with which they are perforated. Hair-pins
in great variety are made from bone and hippo¬
potamus ivory, and trinkets of all sizes are cut
out of the tips of large horns and the thicker
substance of the horns of the gazelle ; they are
either twisted into the hair, or strung together to
form bracelets. The delicate long-toothed combs
of the Marutse are a striking illustration of their
skill, and amongst the finest specimens of wood¬
carving in all South Africa.
Slaves make their bracelets and other ornaments,
whether for the neck or feet, from the untanned
skins of gnus, zebras, and antelopes, with the hair
outside; the Masarwas also make head-bands from
the manes of zebras. Hair of all kinds, and the
bristles of many animals, are worked up into tufts,
fringes, bosses, balls, and pads, which are fastened
to straps and bound round the chin for dancing ;
many of them are, however, used like the trinkets,
for the decoration of the hair. Plumes of two
350 Seven Years in South Africa.
or three handsome feathers are often fastened on
the head, especially on such occasions as a -visit
to the royal residence, the festival dances, or expe¬
ditions either for hunting or for war. Amongst
the Matabele people these plumes are a remarkably
conspicuous feature, and I succeeded in procuring
one which was considerably larger than the head of
the man who had been accustomed to wear it.
Another art in which the Marutse excel is that of
weaving grass, wood-fibre, bast, or straw, into the
neatest of bracelets, in a way even superior to the
Makalakas, who have the repute of being very adroit
in work of this kind. The boys who do the greater
part of this weaving are very particular in their
choice of material, and will only gather certain kinds
of grass at the right season, which, after being dyed
most carefully yellow or crimson to suit their taste,
they make up with great patience into elaborate
designs; it is in this respect that their work is
superior to that of the Makalakas, who although
they are dexterous enough in manipulating the
fibre, are comparatively indifferent to the quality
of the substance they are weaving.
Threaded so as to be worn as bracelets, or
fastened together in pairs so as to fit the back
of the head, claws of birds and of many animals
are used as ornaments, and I have known three
small tortoise-shells placed in a row along the top
of the skull. The little shells brought by the
Portuguese, small round tarsus and carpus bones
polished black, seeds, and small fruits with hard
rinds, are further examples of the almost endless
variety of decorations in which the Marutse-Mabun-
das delight.
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 351
Although several of the ornaments that have been
introduced by the traders pass as currency, nothing
in this respect can compare with beads, of which
different tribes exhibit a preference for certain
colours. Hereabouts the violet, the yellow, and
the pink were reckoned as of no value at all ;
those which were most highly appreciated were
the light and dark blue, after which rank the
vermilion, Indian red, white, black, and green. The
whole of these are of the kind of small beads about
one-twentieth of an inch in diameter. Amongst the
medium-sized beads, about one-fifth of an inch long,
those seem to be most sought after which are
variegated, or have white spots on a dark ground,
but sulphur-coloured and green are likewise in
good request. To every tribe alike the shape of
the beads is quite a matter of indifference.
No matter how ill a traveller in the Marutse dis¬
trict may be, nor how many bearers he may require,
if only he has a good stock of blue beads, he may
always be sure of commanding the best attention
and of securing the amplest services ; his beads will
prove an attraction irresistible to sovereign and
subject, to man, woman, and child, to freeman and
-bondsman alike.
It may fairly be claimed for the Marutse that they
have decidedly better taste in the use of beads as
ornaments than any of the tribes south of the Zam¬
besi. They avoid crowding them on to their lower
extremities, like the Bakuenas and Bamangwatos,
or huddling them round their necks and arms, like
the Makalakas ; but they string them, and arrange
them with considerable grace on different parts of
their body.
352 Seven Years in South Africa.
Nearly all the tribes bestowed great pains on
the arrangement of their hair. Some of them
combed it ont regularly ; others, the Mankoe for
instance, whose hair was extra long, kept it pow¬
dered in a way that helped to set off their well-
formed figures to advantage, and many plaited it
into little tufts containing three or four tresses
each ; but I did not observe that any of them
covered it with manganese, like the Bechuanas, or
twisted it into a coronetted tier like the Zulus.
A good deal of ingenuity is exhibited in making
playthings of clay for the young. Very often these
take the shape of kishi dancers in various attitudes,
or of hunters, or of animals, particularly those with
horns, or of elephants and hippopotamuses. The
clay selected for the purpose is dark in colour, and
the puppets vary from two to five inches in length.
Toys are likewise made of wood, especially by the
Mabundas, spoons and sticks ornamented with
figures being great favourites with the children.
Mats form another item in the native industry, '
and are used for different purposes, according to the
material of which they are made — it may be of
rushes, grass, straw, or reeds. They are always
neatly finished off, and frequently have darker bands
or borders of some sort woven into the pattern ; in
colour they are usually a bright yellow, and the
ornamental part black or red.
Bolsters are carved of wood, and however pri¬
mitive they might be in design, I saw many of
which the details were very elaborate in execution.
The stools in common use are simply short round
blocks of wood, about ten or twelve inches high, and
five or six inches broad, slightly curved at the top ;
Manners and Customs of the Marutse Tribes. 353
but some of these were very laboriously carved, and
stood upon carefully cut fluted pedestals. Wherever
a man of rank goes it is part of his dignity to be
followed by an attendant carrying his stool.
My list of the Marutse handicraft would hardly
be complete if I omitted to mention the fly-flappers.
These are made in two parts, the handle and the
whisk; the handles are either wood, reed, hippo¬
potamus, rhinoceros, or buffalo hide ; or occasionally
they are formed of the horns of a gazelle or a rhino¬
ceros ; the whisks are composed of the long hair of
the withers or tails of animals, of manes or feathers,
no material being more common than the tails of
bullocks, gnus, and jackals. The brush is fastened
either inside or outside the handle, with bast, grass,
horsehair, or sinew ; and in most cases the handle is
carved, though sometimes it is decorated instead
with rings of horsehair or bands of snake -skin.
VOL. 11.
a a
354
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER XIII.
IN THE LESHUMO VALLEY.
Departure from Sesheke — Refractory boatmen — An effectual
remedy — Beetles in the Lesburao Valley — The chief Moia —
A phenomenon — A party of invalids — Sepopo’s bailiffs —
Kapella’s flight — A heavy storm — Discontent in the Marutse
kingdom — Departure for Panda ma Tenka.
Convinced that to re¬
main any longer in
Sesheke would be to en¬
danger my life, I had
camp in the leshumo valley. consented, but with ex¬
treme reluctance, to take my departure. The
In the Leshumo Valley.
355
boatmen who were conveying me knew perfectly
well that I was going away from Sepopo for good,
and did not allow many hours to pass before they
began to show that they did not care what became
of me, and insisted on drawing up at a place where
there was no better accommodation than a couple of
miserable huts, that had been put up for the use of
the fishermen who periodically visited the lagoons.
I made my servants carry me on shore, and sent
them out to get some fish. They only procured
five, of which I gave them four, and had the other
broiled for myself.
After dinner I discovered that the boatmen had
made up their minds to go no farther that day,
although nothing could be more unhealthy or less
suitable for a night encampment than the spot
where they had pulled up. The two huts were
on a reedy island just opposite a swamp ; and, to
make matters worse, I found that as my boat
had been the last to arrive, they had both been
appropriated by the crews that had landed before
me, so that I was obliged to wait while my ser¬
vants erected me another. This took them about
two hours and a half ; and when with the help of
the boatmen they had put my baggage inside, they
found that they had made it so small that it was
with the utmost difficulty that they squeezed me in
afterwards and laid me upon my boxes. It was so
low that my face actually touched the roof, which
was made of the grass that had been washed
ashore by the last year’s floods, and, being still
damp, emitted a most unpleasant smell, which,
combined with the exhalations from the swamp,
made the atmosphere intolerably oppressive. Sleep
A a 2
356 Seven Years in South Africa.
under the circumstances was quite impossible, and
I lay brooding sadly over my frustrated plans and
my final disappointment. The snorting of the hip¬
popotamuses in the water, and the cry of the herons,
were the only sounds that broke the stillness.
Before midnight some small dark clouds arose,
and gradually overspread the heavens, till not a star
was to be seen. To my exhausted system the sul¬
triness became more than ever trying, and the
hours wore away without affording me the least
refreshment.
Soon after sunrise we resumed our journey down
the stream, but the slovenly and care-for-naught
way in which the boatmen handled the baggage, and
the general tone of their behaviour, warned me what
I had to expect. The more I hurried them, the
slower they went, and after a while, finding that a
slight breeze was getting up, they pulled up all of a
sudden at a sandbank, and declared that they would
not proceed another inch.
I promised them beads, I threatened them with
punishment from Sepopo, my servants blustered and
stormed; but it was all to no purpose, the men only
laughed ; some of them went away and laid them¬
selves down to sleep on the sand ; others remained
where they were, and appeared to chuckle over my
weakness, enjoying the helplessness of my condition.
This was a state of things that I was not disposed
to allow. The remedy was not far to find. I was
quite aware that the Marutse people were acquainted
with very few guns better than the old musket.
Taking my seat at the bow of my boat, I began
handling my breechloader. After letting it flash
for a few minutes in the sun, I took aim at a reed-
In the Leshumo Valley.
357
stalk standing just between two groups of the refrac¬
tory boatmen, who, whether they were really asleep
or not, in a moment started to their feet. Not
many minutes afterwards I fired again, hitting the
mark I had selected with due precision. My third
shot grazed the stump of the reed I had already
broken . The little expedient I had adopted answered
admirably, every one of the fellows seemed instanta-
WANA WENA, THE NEW KING OF THE MARUTSE.
neously to return to his senses ; the boats began to
glide off into the water as it were by some secret
magic, and we were very soon on our way again.
The boatmen begged me not to fire any more ; they
did not like the noise ; they would pull hard, and
would bring me very quickly where I could shoot
plenty of “ polocholo ” (game). Within three hours
I landed at Makumba’s baobab.
The sky was now quite clear, and the refreshing
358 Seven Years in South Africa.
breeze that blew down from the hills over the Impa-
lera Island acted on me like a stimulant. I took
my gun and brought down some of the baobab fruit
that was hanging over me, and whilst the crews
were unloading the boats, my own people made their
way to the woods to get more fruit.
For crossing the Chobe on the 15th I was obliged
to pay three times the ordinary amount of passage
money. This extortion was practised on me simply
because it was known that I was leaving the
kingdom.
Having a great dread of passing the night in the
marshy Chobe district, I sent my servants forward
at once with a portion of my baggage to the Leshumo
valley, where Blockley had placed two waggons at
my disposal until Westbeech should arrive. For
myself I required a little rest, but quite intended to
follow them before the evening. I engaged a num¬
ber of Masupias to conduct me and carry on the
rest of the luggage to the place of rendezvous, but
just as we were on the point of starting a violent
storm came on, and compelled me after all to remain
where I was ; I was consequently obliged to spend
the night in the miserable hut where Bauren, who
had died at Panda ma Tenka a few days since, had
first been taken ill. In the morning I began my
slow and painful march, and found myself neces¬
sitated to take a whole day in accomplishing a
distance which is ordinarily traversed in a few hours.
Almost every hundred yards I was obliged to stop
and rest, while the perspiration poured from my
body, and as a consequence of my exertions I had
to lie by completely all the next day.
As I felt myself tolerably well recruited on the
In the Leshumo Valley.
359
17th, I was very anxious to go out and do a little
botanizing in the immediate neighbourhood of our
waggons; the rain, however, came down so con¬
tinuously, that I had no chance of indulging my
wishes. For the last few days I had been expecting
Westbeech, and his non-arrival was giving me some
uneasiness, as my small stock of tea, sugar, and salt
had come to an end ; accordingly it was a pleasant
surprise to me when my servants returned from one
of their rambles and brought a good supply of
honey.
During the night which I had been forced to
spend on the bank of the Chobe, my forehead and
my hands had been stung all over by some very
venomous mosquitoes, and the places now came into
pustules, of which I carried the scars for months. I
had much to harass me and to contribute to my dis¬
comfort, but amidst all my grievances I had the
satisfaction of being attended by trustworthy and
industrious servants ; I could only regret that they
were not to be induced to take my breechloader and
procure some game from the woods ; their assegais
were quite unfit for the purpose of killing gazelles,
elephants, or buffaloes, which were the animals that
chiefly haunted the locality. Only two nights before
our arrival a large herd of elephants had passed
quite close to the spot where the waggons were
stationed.
With the assistance of my people, I took a little
walk on the 19th, and collected some plants and
insects. For pressing my botanical specimens I used
the only two books that I had saved, and as these
were octavo volumes instead of quarto, many of the
plants had to be divided under the prospect of being
360 Seven Years in South Africa.
joined together again at some future time ; I was
careful to keep a special note-book, in which, besides
other particulars, I recorded the different names by
which the plants were called by the Masupias, the
Manansas, and the Matongas respectively. Of such
funguses as I could neither press nor dry I took
sketches, an employment that gave me occupation
on a number of sleepless nights. My entomological
curiosities had to be stored away in a wide-mouthed
pickle-jar that Westbeech had given me, having
thoughtfully filled it with slips of writing-paper,
which he knew would be useful; the insects were
killed by plunging the jar several times into boiling
water in my coffee-pot.
The beetles that seemed to me to be most
abundant were the ground - beetles ( Cicindela ,
Mantichora granulata, Car abided), scarabceidce, leaf-
beetles, weevils, and sand-beetles ( Psammodes ). Of
this last genus there are such countless varieties
that they excite the astonishment of even the
phlegmatic Dutch farmers ; they have thick hard
tails, which they raise every few seconds, and give a
tap to the ground or floor on which they are crawl¬
ing ; this habit has made the Dutchmen say that they
are knocking, or calling for one another. I was glad
to find the Mantichora and the Anthia thoracica,
which are very interesting ; they live in holes already
made in the ground, or in cavities scraped out by
themselves, often so deep that it was quite a wonder
how they could be pierced in the loose sand ; their
industry seemed to keep them at work all day long,
and they had a habit of rearing themselves up on
their long legs, as though they were making a survey
of what was going on all round. Another habit they
In the Leshumo Valley. 361
have — well known to the Dutch, but of which I, as a
novice, had an experience far from pleasant some
years previously — whenever they are captured they
discharge a very offensive fluid from their body ; and
I can testify that it is ill-luck for the entomologist if
this flies into his face and eyes.
On the next day Westbeech’s servant Diamond,
accompanied by some Manansas, arrived at the
waggons. They had all been out on a hunting-
excursion.
I felt myself again a little better, and would not
lose the opportunity of going out for a few miles. I
was particularly anxious to obtain some birds’ skins ;
but although I had the best assistance of my people,
I was quite unequal to follow a bird to any distance,
so that I only succeeded in bagging a black swallow-
tailed shrike. My exertions, however, were rewarded
in another way, as I made a good collection both of
plants and insects. During my stay in the Leshumo
Valley I added nearly 3000 botanical and about 500
entomological specimens to my collection. During
my walk I came upon several smelting-furnaces,
made of the smallest of bricks; they were about
six feet long and three feet wide, and had, I con¬
jectured, been put up fifty or sixty years before by
the Marutse vassals, who had resided on this side
of the Zambesi before the settlement of the free-
booting kingdom of the Matabele Zulus.
A day or two afterwards some Masupias came
from Impalera bringing corn for sale, and Diamond,
as a contribution from his hunting-expedition, brought
me some buffalo-beef ; he seemed inclined to grumble
at the alacrity the buffalo-bulls displayed in getting
out of his way, and said that the density of the
362 Seven Years in South Africa.
summer foliage made it very hard to get at them.
We were thus well supplied for the time, but
I had been so long debarred from taking animal
food, that the buffalo-meat did not at all agree
with my digestion. My servants, however, were all
delighted at the change in their accustomed bill
of fare.
I had indulged the hope that I should find the
higher ground adjacent to the little Leshumo river
much more healthy than the mouth of the Chobe.
My disappointment was consequently great to find,
that morning after morning the whole valley was
full of fog, which after rain was always especially
dense. The result was that I felt deplorably ill all
the early part of every day ; and although I revived
somewhat later on as the fog lifted a little, I re¬
mained so extremely sensitive to the least breath ot
wind, that even in these hottest months of January
and February, I always had to wear two coats
whilst I was engaged in writing or botanizing.
On the 23rd I received a visit from a company of
Marutse men, who rather surprised me by saying
that they had come from the south. The party
consisted of a chieftain named Moia and several
adherents. Moia was the brother of Kapella,
Sepopo’s commander- in-chief, and had been con¬
demned to death by Sepopo about a year before.
Some liquid had been poured in front of the king’s
residence, and as the king was feeling more than
usually unwell, he came at once to the conclusion
that he had been bewitched, and Moia’s enemies
had taken advantage of the circumstance to charge
him with the deed, the consequence being that in
order to escape being sentenced to be burnt or
363
In the Leshumo Valley.
poisoned he had to fly the country. He had betaken
himself to Shoshong, where Khame had received
him most kindly and allowed him to remain; but
discovering after a while that the fugitive was being
consumed with the desire to get back to his home,
the king resolved to send him to Sepopo, with an
autograph letter demonstrating Moia’s entire inno¬
cence of the crime that had been laid to his charge.
For my own part I was convinced that Sepopo
would never be persuaded, and I advised the chief
to beware how he placed himself within the tyrant’s
reach ; but the longing to return to his wife and
children was too intense to allow him to listen to
any voice of caution, and he continued his home¬
ward way.
By this time I was so destitute of provisions that
I was obliged to send two of my servants to the
Zambesi, and get them to bring me some of the
Masupia people from whom I might purchase a
supply of kaffir-corn and maize, and I requested
them if possible to buy me a goat. Unfortunately
the servants missed their way, and I had to send
two others instead of them, so that there was a
delay of four- and- twenty hours before the Masupia
dealers arrived. When they came, they brought
besides the corn a number of interesting curiosities,
amongst which was the horn of an enormous
rhinoceros. ♦
A celestial phenomenon occurred on the following
evening, so remarkable that I think it ought to be
recorded. It was almost sunset ; in the west and
south there was a narrow strip of blue sky, whilst
in the east, where a storm was rising, there were
repeated flashes of lightning. When only a small
364
Seven Years in South Africa.
section of the sun’s disk was visible, a strange fiery
glow arose about 45° above the eastern horizon, and
seemed entirely to overpower the central portion of
the arch of a rainbow opposite, leaving only the
extremities to be seen down in the east-north-east
and south-east ; as the sun disappeared, the glow
faded gradually away, but so remarkably that
every tint in the rainbow seemed to be absorbed in
the prevailing colour, and the entire arch was a
gorgeous red. In the course of the next few
minutes the glow reappeared, but this time only to
rise about 10° above the horizon. The entire
spectacle was not of long duration ; the brilliancy
became gradually dim, and in the course of about
a quarter of an hour, the valley was shrouded in the
obscurity of night.
Two of my own servants and some of Diamond’s
party were here attacked by influenza, but the com¬
plaint was soon relieved by the administration of
emetics. The weather was unfavourable, and brought
on several relapses of my own fever, which, although
I managed in various ways to alleviate them, in¬
variably left me extremely weak and incapable of
any exertion. A short time afterwards several of
Diamond’s people began to sicken with typhus.
All through this dreary time, the occasional hunt¬
ing-excursions were all we had to look to in the
way of excitement. April, the Basuto, had the
good-luck to kill a buffalo-bull, and when the flesh
was brought to the camp there was a regular
banquet in the evening, accompanied by singing
and dancing ; even the invalid negroes sucked some
fragments of the half-cooked meat which they were
quite unable to swallow. Diamond likewise went
In the Leshumo Valley. 365
out, but returned on tbe 2nd of February without
bringing any material contribution to our stores ;
he had come upon a herd of elephants, but they had
startled him so completely by their rush, that he did
not recover himself in time to get a shot at them.
When it was announced to me that part of West-
beech’s ivory had arrived at Impalera, I was much
cheered by the expectation that Westbeech himself
would immediately follow. My means of purchasing
corn were now so nearly exhausted that I could not
help growing more and more anxious.
On the 7th I was equally surprised and distressed
by the arrival of a party of about thirty Masupias,
who proved to be bailiffs on the hunt for Moia and
Kapella. Moia had carried Khame’s letter to
Sesheke, where his appearance caused a great
sensation, as the return of a condemned fugitive
was a thing quite unprecedented. The particulars
of what ensued I afterwards learnt from Westbeech,
who told me that he had been summoned to the
royal enclosure, which he found in great commotion.
The king had just received Khame’s letter written
in Sechuana, professed himself to be highly grati¬
fied by the contents, and had sent for Westbeech to
write a reply, in which he gave his assurance that
Moia should have a free pardon. But that very
night he sent Mashoku a list of twelve names of
chiefs who were to be executed forthwith, amongst
them Inkambella, Maranzian, Kapella, and Moia.
This was too much even for Mashoku. Alarmed
at the prospect of such wholesale slaughter, the
executioner immediately let Kapella know what
was in store for him, and without the loss of a
moment the commander-in-chief aroused his two
366 Seven Years in South Africa.
wives, his brother, who was sleeping in an adjoining
hut, his young son, and three of his most trust¬
worthy servants, and took to flight. On the way
to the river-bank Kapella had called upon West-
beech, and informed him of the desperate step he
was driven to take ; and he, ever a friend in need,
had supplied him with ammunition and a number
of necessaries for the journey.
Taking possession of the first two canoes they
could find, the fugitives hurried down the stream,
and while it was still dark found themselves twenty
miles away from Sesheke ; here they landed, sent
their boats adrift, and proceeded on foot towards
the Masupia settlement above Impalera. This was
under the jurisdiction of a brother of Makumba’s, a
staunch ally of Sepopo’s ; but Kapella hoped to
reach the place while the natives were still in bed,
and to make use of their boats to cross the Chobe.
It was a most difficult journey ; the passage through
the reeds was in some places dangerous in the ex¬
treme, and Kapella would never have risked it but
in the greatest emergency. However, nothing went
amiss, and the party all arrived safely before dawn;
but early as it was, some of the Masupia fishermen
were already on the move. Terrified at the sight
of two armed chiefs, and probably recognizing who
they were, they water-logged their canoes, and
ran off to raise an alarm in the town. This was
Kapella’ s opportunity ; quick as thought he had
the canoes dragged to land, emptied them of the
water, and made use of them to ferry his party
to the opposite shore.
The chieftain, on hearing what had occurred, took
no immediate action. He was aware that Kapella
In the Le shunto Valley.
367
was a wonderful shot, and this rather indisposed
him to take any precipitate measures to arrest him.
He came to the decision that a council of the village
should be called, and during the hours of delibera¬
tion the fugitives were getting safely far away, so
that when the bailiffs arrived at our quarters they
had no chance of overtaking them, and after ran¬
sacking the woods for a short time they gave up
the pursuit and took themselves off.
Diamond’s next hunting-expedition proved a
great success ; and he shot a fine buffalo. He
made his servants put him up a grass hut close to
the place where the carcase was lying, that it might
be guarded from the attacks of any beasts of prey ;
but not only had the old sportsman now lost much
of his former zest, but he had contracted rather too
great a love for brandy, so that although he dis¬
tinctly heard the beasts gnawing at the prey, he did
not rouse himself to go to the rescue. The con¬
sequence was that in the morning it was found that
the carcase had been considerably mangled by lions,
the entrails especially having furnished the materials
for their feast. We were, however, all glad to see
the hind -quarters, quite free from mutilation, con¬
veyed safely to our camp.
A few eveniugs afterwards Diamond came to me
in great haste, and told me that two Marutse men
had just come in search of Kapella and Moia, with
strict orders from Sepopo to kill them at once if
they could find them. I did not wait to see the
men, but sent out peremptory instructions that they
were to be off about their business, or they would
have to rue their delay. My vexation was very
great when I afterwards ascertained that Diamond,
368 Seven Years in South Africa.
through his ignorance of the Serotse dialect, had
quite misunderstood their errand. It turned out
that instead of being bailiffs acting on behalf of
Sepopo, they were two of Kapella’s own servants,
whom their master had sent to beg for some food.
The 12th was quite a day of bustle ; both in the
morning and in the afternoon several troops of
Masupias arrived from Impalera with ivory, and one
of Westbeech’s servants passed through on his way
to Panda ma Tenka to fetch bullocks for the
waggons. That night I slept better than usual;
the feeling that Westbeech was really on his way
towards me revived my drooping spirits, and I was
inclined next morning to rise at an early hour, and
as soon as JNarri had dressed me, I took my seat
upon the box of the waggon, enjoying the morning
air, which although probably by no means healthy,
certainly seemed very refreshing. As Narri was
preparing the kaffir-corn coffee, he drew my atten¬
tion to the sound of voices a long way down the
valley. I inquired of the other servants what it
meant, and after listening for a few seconds they
unanimously affirmed that it was Westbeech’s caval¬
cade, carrying their burdens of ivory and singing as
they marched.
As I sat pondering, only occasionally saying
a word to Narri, my attention was suddenly
arrested by the dusky form of a man advancing
towards the camp, and within fifty yards of
us. He was quite unarmed. I hardly believed
my eyes, and yet I felt that I could not be
mistaken. The man undoubtedly was Kapella,
no longer the powerful commander, but a sad and
dejected fugitive. I was too weak to alight from
In the Leshumo Valley.
369
the waggon and go to meet him, but he was
immediately at my side. “ Help me, help me, intate
(friend),” he cried ; “ I am hungry ; my wife, my
child, my brother are starving in the woods ! ”
Probably he would have said more, but his keen ear
caught the sound of the Masupias singing almost
close at hand, and he paused ; his face, ordinarily
beaming with good nature, became distorted with
terror. The excitement of the moment seemed to
give me renewed strength. I can hardly tell how
I did it, but T leaned back, and catching hold of a
sack containing about a bushel of corn that was
lying in the waggon, I lifted it into Kapella’s arms.
He smiled, and made a hasty gesture of thanks ; and
before the Masupias had come in sight he had made
his way into the long grass towards his retreat.
One of the heaviest storms that I ever re¬
member in South Africa occurred a few days
afterwards. It came on suddenly, and so violently
that my servants were obliged to throw sand
and earth upon the fires, that the wind should
not carry the flames into the dry grass ; and the
downpour of rain was so great, that I had to use all
my wraps and extra clothing to protect my collec¬
tions. The top of the waggon swayed to and fro in
the gale ; and cumbrous as the vehicle was, it rattled
and shook as if it were the plaything of the hurri¬
cane. One of the grass-huts was completely over¬
turned, and several others in which my people had
sought shelter had their sides blown in, and it was
only owing to the lightness of the material of which
they were constructed, that no injury was done to
life or limb. When the storm had subsided in the
evening, they found that it was necessary to build
VOL. 11. b b
370
Seven Years in South Africa *
two entirely new huts, one for themselves and one
for my baggage, so that the waggons which we had
been occupying should be left free for Westbeech’s
ivory.
Westbeech’s long-anticipated arrival took place on
the 16th. He complained very much of Sepopo’s
behaviour to him after my departure, and avowed
his intention of never going so far as Sesheke again,
but of disposing of his goods in the valley of the
Chobe. He gave me all the latest news, and said
that the disposition to revolt, and the determination
to dethrone the king, were fast gaining ground
among the chiefs. A recent proceeding on Sepopo’s
part had done much to accelerate the growth of the
general disaffection. In his rage at Kapella’s
flight, he had not only, as usual, vented his temper
on his attendants by laying about him with his kiri,
but he had openly declared his intention of preparing
a charm which should have such an effect upon the
senses of the fugitives that they would be sure to
make their way back to Sesheke ; once there, they
should be handed over to Mashoku. Accordingly
he gave orders that an ox should be slaughtered,
that the fat from the region of the heart should be
affixed to the end of some cleft-sticks, and that the
sticks should be planted in front of the doors of the
huts of the runaways. It was the first time that
Sepopo had ever prepared any incantations, or even
mentioned his system of charms in public, and the
eyes of his people were only now opened to the
detestable humbug which was the chief feature of
his character.
Nor was it only his own subjects that had become
thoroughly dissatisfied with his proceedings. The
In the Leshumo Valley.
37i
Portuguese traders had failed to get payment for the
goods they had supplied, and had been put off time
after time with equivocal excuses.
It was further reported, that most likely Jan
Mahura, with his brother, would find his way next
day to the Leshumo valley. He had just received a
payment, after five years, for his services as inter¬
preter, and felt only too certain that his life was now
quite insecure beyond the Zambesi.
Westbeech had still left a small portion of his
property in Sesheke, under the charge of Fabi, his
half-caste cook, who could not accompany him,
because Asserat, the wife Sepopo had given him,
refused to go to the south. But the bulk of West-
beech’s ivory, weighing altogether 11,080 lbs., had
now arrived at the Leshumo valley.
On the 17th my servant Elephant was taken ill
with inflammation under the knee, a disorder that is
very common among the Masupias and Matongas.
It is called “ tshi kana mirumbe,” and may generally
be cured by the application of bean-flour poultices.
Two days later the waggons were packed. The
bullocks arrived at midnight, and we started without
delay for Panda ma Tenka.
3 7 2 Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER XIV.
THROUGH THE MAKALAKA AND WEST MATABELE COUNTRIES.
Start southwards — Ylakvarks — An adventurer — The Tamasanka
pools — The Libanani glade — Animal life on the plateau —
The Maytengue — An uneasy conscience — Menon the
Makalaka chief — A spy — Menon’s administration of justice
— Pilfering propensities and dirtiness of the Makalakas —
Morula-trees— A Matabele warrior — An angry encounter —
Ruins on the Rocky Shasha — Scenery on the Rhamakoban
river — A deserted gold-field — History of the Matabele
kingdom — More ruins — Lions on the Tati — Westbeech and
Lo Bengula — The leopard in Pit Jacobs’
ruins or rocky shasha. route, we drove on to
Schneeman’s Pan, where we halted for the rest of
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries . 373
the day. Throughout the early morning, nothing
could be more agreeable than the odour of the
white cinque-foiled blossoms of the mopondo shrubs.
In the evening we started off again, and travelled
all night and some part of the next day until we
came to the edge of the Gashuma Flat. Here we
were obliged to pause for a time, because the recent
rains had transformed the meadows into perfect
swamps. The grass, known by the natives as ma-
tumbe, was in many places six or seven feet high, so
that we did not see a great quantity of game. Whilst
we were halting, we were overtaken by six Marutse
who had hastened after us to bring some buffalo
horns of mine that Westbeech had accidentally left
behind at Sesheke, as well as an elephant’s tusk
weighing 25 lbs. They followed us as far as Panda
ma Tenka, under the excuse that they wanted to get
some lucifer-matches for Sepopo, but their real
motive was to ascertain whether Kapella had joined
our party.
Ever since I had become aware of Kapella’s cir¬
cumstances I had endeavoured to keep him supplied
with corn from my own and Westbeech’ s store, and
he had left the Leshumo valley, going on ahead of
us towards the Gashuma Flat, where we again fell
in with him and with Moia. Amongst their
attendants I recognized one of the boatmen who
had behaved so badly to me after starting from
Sesheke.
As not a single head of game had been shot by
one of our party for some days, the arrival of a
goat, which Bradshaw sent us from Panda ma
Tenka, was a very agreeable surprise. Another
night’s journey took us beyond the tsetse district,
374 Seven Years in South Africa.
and after putting up the heavy waggons beside
one of the Panda ma Tenka affluents, we proceeded
in advance to the settlement itself. It was sad to
see how fever had reduced both Bradshaw and my
former servant Pit to the merest skeletons.
Soon after our arrival Westbeech made me the
unwelcome communication that the tsetse-fly had
committed such havoc amongst his bullocks that
he was absolutely unable to fulfil the contract he
had made when he purchased my team. He could
not take my waggon to the south, and had no
alternative but to ask me to transfer my packages
to one of those in which he was conveying his own
ivory. The removal of my property occupied me
some time on the 27th.
We here met an ivory- dealer who had just come
from Shoshong. He told us that Khame was still
using all his influence to check the importation of
brandy, and with regard to myself he observed that
the people of Shoshong would be much surprised to
see me back again, as they had been quite sure that
I should never return to the south.
After clearing out my waggon, I spent the rest of
the day in trying to make good any deficiencies in
my collections. I bought 1300 beetles from Brad¬
shaw, for which I gave him 20 1., and paid him in
ivory for forty bird-skins besides; Walsh also for
some of my ivory let me have sixty-three more
bird-skins.
On the following afternoon we left the valley.
Westbeech showed me every possible consideration
on the way to Shoshong, but naturally I could not
feel anything like the same independence as when
travelling in my own waggon ; there were many
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 375
places in which we only halted a few hours where I
should have been glad to stay on indefinitely, and I
saw enough of the West Matabele country to satisfy
me that an explorer might find things of interest in
it to occupy him for a year at least.
During our passage along the valley our dogs
started two vlakvarks. White men seized their
guns, black men followed with their assegais, and
a hot chase lasted for twenty minutes before the
creatures were brought down. Although it has
more formidable tusks than any other of its species,
in comparison with the European wild boar, the
vlakvark is a feeble, spiritless creature ; its skin is
extremely thin, and nothing gives it so remarkable
an appearance as its conspicuous white whiskers.
I did not get much sleep on the first night after
the transfer of my boxes ; they had been so shaken
about in their day’s journey that I could not lie
down to rest until I had properly rearranged them.
Next morning while passing over the last of the
grassy glades that are so frequent between the
Zambesi district and the sandy pool plateau, I
observed that herds of ostriches had been along
the game-tracks. Had I been independent I should
certainly have stayed a day or two and made a
deliberate investigation of some of the habits of
these birds by following up their traces into the
woods ; but here, as along the rest of the way,
although I took every available opportunity of
seeing what I could, and devoted much of the
night to recording what I had seen by day, I was
constantly deploring the rapid pace at which we
had to travel.
Before reaching Henry’s Pan on the 3rd of
376 Seven Years in South Africa.
February, I noticed that a herd of at least twenty
giraffes had preceded us on our road. As we
approached the Tamasetze pools we were met by
a horseman whom we recognized as a trader named
Webster, who had formerly been an associate of
Anderson, an ivory-dealer that I have already
mentioned. Anderson had now gone back, and
Webster, as he informed us, was here in the
neighbourhood of Tamasetze hunting ostriches,
being encamped almost close by with two others,
one of whom, named Mayer, I had met at one
of the Klamaklenyana springs whilst travelling
northwards ; the other I will simply designate as
Z. This Z., who professed that he had once been
a trader, had now come into this district under
rather peculiar circumstances. The Zoological
Society of London had written out to Cape Town
for a young white rhinoceros, for which they offered
the sum of 5001. , and attracted by the liberal bid¬
ding, Z. had resolved to try his- chance of securing
the prize.
His first proceeding was to provide himself with
a supply of barter goods which he reckoned he
could dispose of at a profit of some 500 per cent.,
including a very considerable proportion of “ fire¬
water,” for which he felt certain the demand would
be great. He was quite aware that the likeliest
place in which to obtain a rhinoceros such as he
wanted was in the Mashona country ; but he had
been guilty of some offence in Matabele-land, so that
he was afraid to apply to the king for permission to
re-enter his dominions. Accordingly he betook him¬
self to Shoshong, but as it came to Khame’s know¬
ledge that he was bringing brandy for sale, he was
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 377
forthwith ordered to return to the south. However,
he was unwilling to be diverted from his purpose,
and went to Khame and gave him a distinct promise
that he would carry back all the spirit and dispose
of it to the Damara emigrants on the Limpopo.
Khame, not apprehending the ruse that was to be
played, expressed himself satisfied. Z. started off
towards the Limpopo, but was back again so quickly
that his return awakened some suspicion ; however,
by pointing to his empty waggons, and declaring
that he had found a readier sale than he anticipated,
he succeeded in making the king believe that it was
all fair. The truth was he had only concealed his
casks in the woods.
Receiving the king’s permission to proceed, Z.
now started on his venture. He lost no time in
picking up his contraband goods, and made bis way
north-west through West Matabele and Makalaka-
land towards the sandy pool plateau, giving out to
the Zulus that he was Captain Y., and that he was
anxious to obtain permission to visit the Victoria
Falls. He sent messengers to Lo Bengula, the Zulu
king at Gubuluwayo, to that effect, but spending
several months afterwards on the pool plateau, he
lost the four horses he had brought with him ; how¬
ever he succeeded in disposing of all his goods
except four kegs of spirits of wine.
Meanwhile Khame had heard of his proceedings
through some travelling Bamangwatos, and from the
Masarwas and Madenassanas, who resided near the
plateau, and Z., aware that his smuggling had been
discovered, was in a state of great alarm lest he
should be prohibited from returning to the south ;
for reasons already stated, he was even more afraid
378 Seven Years in South Africa.
of falling into the hands of Lo Bengula, and as he
was obliged to abandon his scheme of getting the
rhinoceros, he hailed our arrival as a circumstance
that might be turned to his advantage.
Poor Mayer was terribly altered since I saw him
last ; the ravages of fever in a few weeks had pulled
him down so much that I hardly knew him. Several
of Z.’s servants were also suffering from weakness
which the fever had brought on, and he wished me
to prescribe for them. I could only tell him that
I had not a grain of medicine left, having given the
last which I had bought of Bradshaw to Pit and
Jan Mahura’s son ; at the same time I instructed
him that he would materially benefit the men’s
muscles if he would make them rub their ankles
with some of his brandy. It was then he told me
that he had no brandy left, having sold everything
except some spirits of wine. That, I replied, would
answer the purpose just as well.
But Z. had no idea of employing his spirits of
wine for any such beneficent object; he diluted
his alcohol as freely as he dared with water, and
took an early opportunity of selling it to my
fellow-travellers, principally to Westbeech, for 33Z.
The atrocious stuff completely overpowered West-
beech, and Z. took advantage of his condition
to induce him to purchase his team, thereby
ensuring that it should not fall into Khame’s
hands.
I am only too ready to draw a veil over the pro¬
ceedings of the rest of that sojourn at Tamasetze ;
they are even now painful in the retrospect ; suffice
it to say, that they ended in an arrangement by
which Z. was to be conveyed to the south as West-
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 379
beech’s guest. He seemed to rejoice in the recol¬
lection that although his expedition had not brought
him any vast profit, at least it had entailed no
serious loss.
Leaving Tamasetze on the 7th, we went on past
the Tamafopa and Yoruah pools towards the most
northerly of the Klamaklenyana springs, where a
road branched off to the south-east to the Makalaka
country. The deplorable effects of Z.’s alcohol
extended beyond our stay at Tamasetze, and the
man who drove the waggon in which I was riding
remained so drunk that several times the vehicle
was in danger of being overturned, and more than
once I was obliged to take the reins, thus exposing
myself in a way which in my condition of health
proved very bad.
At the Yoruah pools Bradshaw had a relapse ;
Diamond and a waggon-driver fell ill; my own ser¬
vant, Elephant, had an attack of dysentery, and two
more of Westbeech’s people showed symptoms of
fever ; in consequence of such an amount of sickness
we halted for nearly two days, an interval of which
I took all the advantage I could to add to my store
of natural curiosities. We did not reach the springs
until the 12th, and started again the same evening.
Game was very scarce on the plateau, obviously
owing to the fact that the hollows in the woods were
so full of rain-water that the animals had no occasion
to resort to the springs near the roads.
As the result of my premature exposure I had a
severe shivering fit next night, and to add to my
misfortune our tipsy driver failed to get out of the
way of a bough that protruded across the road, and
the concussion was so severe that all the coleoptera
3 Bo Seven Years in South Africa.
that I had collected during the last five days were
damaged, and many of them quite destroyed.
We had a toilsome march next day through a
dense sandy underwood. In the night a herd of
rhinoceroses and some elephants crossed our path,
and shortly afterwards we came to a glade called
Tamasanka, containing some pools that never dry
up. The water in them was clear, but Westbeech
told me that if kept in a vessel for two or three days
it always begins to thicken. I had no opportunity
of proving the fact for myself.
In the afternoon I for the first time saw a widow-
bird {Vidua jparadis ea), a species of finch which is
very common on the west coast ; I also found fly¬
catchers, pyroles, small speckled-green woodpeckers,
and the Vidua regia. As a general rule birds
abounded more in the open parts of the pool plateau
than in the densely wooded district where the ponds
lay in small glades.
For the two succeeding days the track was so
thickly overgrown with grass that we had some
difficulty in determining our proper route. The
servants, in investigating the path, were highly
delighted at finding the half-eaten carcase of a
giraffe that had probably been killed by lions.
On the 16th we came to a region which is almost
a precise counterpart of the Maque plain, being
covered with mapani- trees and abounding in pools
full of fish. The natives call it the Libanani, and it
forms the south-eastern extremity of the plateau.
It now belongs to the eastern Bamangwatos and the
Matabele ; but in Moselikatze’s time it belonged ex¬
clusively to the Matabele, being the most westerly
part of their territory ; its outlying parts, however,
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries . 381
were so continually ravaged by lions, that no safety
could be secured for cattle, which consequently had
all to be withdrawn. The woods are thick only at
the edge of the ponds, which I imagine are all in the
line of what was the bed of a river, that in all likeli¬
hood has now been dry for centuries.
From the open character of the adjacent country
the Libanani glade has a special charm for sportsmen.
It abounds in many varieties of game, from the
duykerbock to the elephant, and here, as in other parts
of the plateau, the ornithologist will find a most
interesting field for study in the waders and swim¬
ming-birds. Both by day and by night, too, birds
of prey are perpetually to be observed, and in the
moist places, where the soil is carpeted with flowers,
sun-birds and bee-eaters may be seem in swarms,
while in the boughs that overhang the water, the
bright blue Alcedo exist at a, the Halcyon Swainsonii
and the black-and-white Ceryle rudis are perpetually
sporting. I must also include in my list the giant
heron ( Ardea Goliath), and the beautiful little Netta-
pus Madagascariensis. This is of the goose tribe ; it is
from twelve to fourteen inches long ; its head, neck,
and back are of a glossy dark green; underneath it
is white, except the breast and sides, which are of
a reddish brown ; its face and throat are also white,
and it has a bright green spot on either side of
its neck.
Attractive as the diversity of animal life makes the
Libanani, there are two reasons why it is very un¬
desirable to make^ a lengthened stay there ; in the
first place the pools at the end of summer exhale a
very malarious atmosphere, and in the second, it is
infested with yellow cobras, which, in the way to
382 Seven Years in South Africa.
which I have elsewhere referred, lie in wait in the
trees overhanging the game tracks. Westbeech told
me that in dry winters the ponds contain so little
water that the fish in them, of which the glanis is
the most common species, can be easily caught with
the hands. It was here that for the first time for
many months I heard the howl of the silver jackal
(Canis mesomelas). I found that many of the plants
were identical with those that grew in the salt-lake
basin, and was consequently confirmed in my
opinion that the Libanani is one of the lowest parts
of the whole pool-plateau district. I noticed also
some handsome palm-bushes, the first I had seen
since I left the vicinity of the Zambesi.
Winter was said to be the best time for game, and
this was confirmed by the small amount of success
that some of our party had in going out to shoot for
the replenishment of our larder; but even at this
period of the year I noticed the tracks of a consider¬
able number of animals across our path, amongst
them those of the black rhinoceros.
A long drive on the 18th brought us into the
valley of the Nata, which we should subsequently
have to cross. The river here had all the charac¬
teristics of a sandy spruit, opening at intervals into
pools, the banks being overgrown with grass six or
seven feet high, and containing a number of hollows,
which after floods are left full of water, corresponding
in this respect with many South African streams,
particularly those included in the Limpopo system.
Our road next lay through a dense mapani-wood.
Four years previously, Westbeech had been the first
traveller to use this route by the Nata and Maytengue
rivers to the Matabele country, and I accordingly
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 383
gave the track the name of the “ Westbeech road.”
In the evening we came to a grass plain almost
entirely enclosed by woods, where the Maytengne
river in its course from the Makalaka lands is said to
lose itself in the soil.
The Maytengue appears to diminish both inbreadth
and depth towards its mouth, and its banks are
literally riddled with pitfalls. We crossed a great
many deep but narrow dry rain-channels, hundreds
of which find their way to the river, but flow for so
short a time that they hardly make any appreciable
difference to the stream, which consequently dwindles
away in the lower part of its wide sandy bed ; the
longer section of its course runs through the fine hill-
country occupied by Menon’s Makalakas.
Throughout the whole of the next day we followed
the right hand bank of the stream. Bradshaw had
an attack of dysentery, and Westbeech was so far
from well that I insisted upon his coming for a time
under my immediate charge. Ever since we left
Panda ma Tenka the weather had been very trying,
the days, and especially the afternoons, being ex¬
tremely sultry, the nights bitterly cold.
Just before we crossed the Maytengue on the
21st, my attention was called to a tall hollow mapani-
tree, beneath which a Makalaka chief had been buried.
The people had a superstition that their “ morimo,”
or unseen god, resided in the tree, and as they passed
by were in the habit of dropping their bracelets into
the hollow trunk. They had the same belief about
one of the caves in the hills, and carried presents
every year to the spot.
The country became more elevated as we pro¬
ceeded, and some hills of granite rose in front of us,
384 Seven Years in South Africa.
though not lofty enough to shut out the view of the
real Makalaka heights in the background. On
arriving at the first of these hills, Westbeech, with
Bradshaw, walked off to obtain an interview with
Menon ; he was anxious to get the chief to provide
him an escort as far as Gubuluwayo the capital,
where he wanted to see a friend of his, named
Philipps, who was staying with Lo Bengula, and to
induce him to go on with him to Shoshong, and
assist him in settling his accounts. The high
esteem in which Westbeech was held by the Maka-
lakas ensured him a kind reception from Menon, who
not only granted the request that was made, but lost
no time in paying a return visit.
Ever since we had entered the Maytengue valley,
Z. had been in a perpetual fidget. Whether we
were on the move or at rest his uneasiness continued
just the same ; he was always on the look-out, and
there seemed no end to his fancies. He had never
been a favourite with any of our party, and West¬
beech openly avowed his disapproval of all his
business transactions ; finding, therefore, that there
was no one on the road who cared for his society, he
would try and seek refuge with me, confined as I
was to my waggon. But even here his nervousness
did not desert him : as he sat beside me he would
continually ask whether I did not hear a noise in the
woods, or had not seen some one disappearing in the
bushes. At night, too, when we were all round the
camp-fire I generally found that he took his place at
my side, although he was never still long together,
but kept creeping away to peer into the darkness. I
remonstrated with him for his strange behaviour,
without succeeding for a long time in getting any-
The Makalaka and West Matahele Countries. 385
thing out of him ; after a while, however, he told me
that on a previous visit, as he and his servants were
returning single file from an elephant-hunt, a gun
had accidentally gone off and killed one of Menon’s
people, and he now feared that he might be recognized
and accused of the deed. Understanding that we
were here encamping close to Menon’s residence, his
alarm became more intense than ever, and he kept
most cautiously in the rear of the waggons, not
suffering his face to be seen until the chief’s visit
was over.
Menon was a gaunt-looking man of about fifty
years of age, and an arrant hypocrite. All his
attendants had countenances as ignoble as his own.
It is in order that the tribe may be distinguished
from their brethren north of the Zambesi that I have
designated them as Menon’s Makalakas. Together
with their southern compatriots they were subju¬
gated by the Matabele Zulus in 1837. Up to that
time they had been peaceful agriculturists and cattle-
breeders ; but now they do very little in the way of
rural pursuits, and have become the most notorious
thieves and the greatest rascals in South Africa, a
change entirely to be attributed to the demoralizing
and vicious influence of their oppressors.
The six attendants of the chief squatted round our
fire, and Menon, wrapped in a mangy mantle of wild
cats’ skins, remained standing. He scanned every
one so carefully, that it was quite apparent he was
looking for some one in particular, and an expression
of dissatisfaction rested on his face as he closed his
scrutiny. He spoke of the death of his servant,
saying that he had heard all about the affair from a
man who had been in company with the victim,
vol. 11. c c
386 Seven Years in South Africa.
adding that he had been assured by one of his spies
that the perpetrator of the deed was a white man,
who had joined our party at the Nat a river. Dis¬
appointed at not identifying the individual he wanted,
Menon began to vent his annoyance by demanding
toll from Walsh and myself, under the pretext that
we had entered his territory for the first time.
Westbeech, who was the only one among us who
understood the Makalaka dialect, told us to be quiet
and to take no notice of the chief, and then proceeded
to give him such a lecture on the duty of hospitality,
that he very soon altered his tone, and promised
that he would send us a goat, adding that he was
sorry that he was unable to give us a cow, as the
Matabele had stolen all his cattle. We acknowledged
his politeness by making him a present of powder
and shot, which he accepted as graciously as
he could.
After he was gone, one of his attendants, a mean¬
looking creature, lingered behind with our servants
near the fire ; the behaviour of the fellow was pe¬
culiar, and I kept my eye on him. He was pre¬
tending to warm himself, but it was easy to see that
he was looking behind the waggons. All at once he
stirred the fire into a blaze. He had caught sight of
Z., who, not observing that a stranger was amongst
our party, had returned from his retreat in the rear.
He inquired nervously of me whether Menon had
asked any questions about him, and when I replied
that he had alluded to the death of the Makalaka,
he jumped up and swore that Menon was a great
liar. At this moment Menon’s man, who most
probably had heard what passed, got up and walked
quietly away.
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 387
“Look,” I said to Z ., “that fellow is one of
Menon’s spies ! ”
Z. clenched his fist and made a movement as if he
would run after him, but his courage failed him, and
he remained where he was.
When we retired at night to our waggons, it was
manifest that Z. was still very uneasy, and by the
.glances he threw in all directions he showed that he
was apprehensive of some sudden attack.
Of the men who came with Menon, two were
armed with assegais, and four carried kiris. Some
of the Makalakas have muskets.
The Makalaka women wear short leather petti¬
coats, covered with white and violet beads ; they are
fairly expert in various kinds of handicraft, but the
specimens I saw were on the whole inferior to the
work of the Bechuanas.
It appeared to me that the Maytengue valley has
all the elements of a future El Dorado. There is
excellent pasturage on the wooded downs, and for
the naturalist it is a region full of delight ; the great
drawback to its being properly explored is the un¬
satisfactory character of the natives.
When Westbeech, accompanied by a servant on
horseback and a few Makalakas on foot, set out
on his visit to Gubuluwayo, the rest of us pro¬
ceeded on our way, but only for about three
miles. We halted under a morula- tree, staying for
the double purpose of purchasing corn and melons,
and receiving the goat that Menon had promised us.
We soon came upon a great assembly of Makalakas,
and at first imagined that some festival was being
celebrated. We were not long, however, in being
informed that Menon was about to hold an assize, and
c c 2
388
Seven Years in South Africa.
that Z. was forthwith to he summoned to take his
trial. And so it proved; Z. was sent for, and as the
cause was to be tried in Sechuana, Jan Mahura was
appointed to act as interpreter. The trial was of
short duration, and Z. was adjudged guilty. Menon’s
sentence was somewhat remarkable ; it was to the
effect that it did not matter whether the white man
had really shot the Makalaka or not ; it did not
matter whether the gun had or had not gone off
accidentally ; the white man must make compensa¬
tion, both to the dead man’s relatives and to himself,
the dead man’s master.
Great was Z.’s alarm; his face turned crimson ;
he trembled with agitation ; he began to assert his
innocence with such volubility that Jan Mahura in
vain tried to keep pace with him. At last, finding
that the defendant was only damaging his own case,
the interpreter took up the matter independently,
and argued with such good effect, that in spite of
the outcry of the relations of the deceased, Menon
ruled that a fine should be inflicted, consisting of a
coloured woollen shirt, a blanket, and seven pocket-
handkerchiefs, instead of the musket and ammu¬
nition and the lot of woollen goods he had intended
to demand. He insisted, moreover, that the shirt
should fall to his own lot as arbitrator ; and as soon
as he received it, he doubled it up and was walking
away quite content . But the relations were not
to be pacified quite so easily ; they flung the blanket
and the handkerchiefs down before Z.’s feet, and
abusing him vehemently as a murderer, made such an
outcry that Menon was obliged to come back. Jan
Mahura’ s tact again proved adequate to the occasion.
He whispered to Z. that he should offer blanket and
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 389
handkerchiefs all to the chief, and so secure him as
an ally. Menon accepted the contribution, sent all
the complainants quickly to the right about, and thus
put an end to the whole affair.
The Makalakas appear to have very much the
same aptitude for pilfering as the Masupias have
for conjuring, and I was told of a circumstance
which may serve to illustrate their thievish propen¬
sities. An ivory-trader purchased a tusk of a party
of them and stowed it away in his waggon ; another
party soon afterwards brought a second tusk, but
they asked a price for it so much higher that the
trader hesitated ; they urged him to have it weighed,
and in the middle of the weighing process another
lot of Makalakas arrived bringing a third tusk.
Meantime, the first tusk was being deftly abstracted
from the waggon. The men represented that they
were in a great hurry, and induced the trader to
buy the two tusks together. Having got their
payment, the sellers made their way off quickly into
the woods. The trader carried off his new purchase
to compare what he had just bought with the tusk
he had left in the waggon, and his chagrin may be
better imagined than described when he found that
the ivory had disappeared, and that after paying for
three tusks he was only in possession of two.
As ivory can only be sold by clandestine means,
when the natives want to dispose of any of the con¬
traband article they generally come to a traveller
in a party, and while some of them carry on the
negotiations, the others watch their opportunity for
laying their hands upon anything and everything
within reach. It may almost be affirmed that
nothing is safe except it has been tied or screwed to
390
Seven Years in South Africa.
the panels of the waggon. Their dishonesty, as I
have said, is ingrained, so thoroughly has it been
instilled into them or forced upon them by the
Matabele. During any conversation with them it
is advisable to keep them at a distance, and to take
care that at least one servant is left on each side of
the waggon, and that even he is prohibited from
talking with them. When, however, they find
themselves baffled, and obliged to retire without
securing any plunder, or when any of them has
been detected in a theft, they will go back to their
people, and declare that it is of no use trying to rob
the white man, because he has “a good medicine;”
meaning that he possesses a charm which enables
him to see what is going on in one place while he is
engaged in another.
In addition to their other disgusting qualities all
theMakalakas south of the Zambesi, especially those
under Matabele rule, are indescribably dirty. With
the exception of those who have been in service
under white men, I believe the majority of them
have not washed for years, and I saw women
wearing strings upon strings of beads, several pounds
in weight, of which the undermost layers were lite¬
rally sticking to their skins.
Since their subjugation to the Matabele, their
mode of building their huts has very much degene¬
rated, and most of their little villages are not much
better than collections of ruins. Some few of them
may be said to be fairly industrious ; but almost the
sole remaining virtue at all conspicuous in this
sunken people is their extreme modesty and de¬
corum, which is hardly equalled in any other of the
South African tribes.
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 39 1
Above the underwood through which we passed
in the afternoon rose a great number of granite
hills, varying from twenty to seventy feet in height,
and either pyramidal or conical in form. The
further we advanced along the bank of the May-
tengue, the finer the scenery became. From time
to time we passed some more of the morula-trees
that I have mentioned ; each family in a village is
allotted one or more of these, according to the popu¬
lation of the place, for its own special use ; they are
usually enclosed by a fence placed about three yards
away from the stem, the object of which is to save
the wild fruit from being devoured, by animals as it
falls. The pulp of the fruit is made into a beverage
which has very much the character of cider, and
the kernel, if I am rightly informed, is occasionally
pounded and used as meal.
Our road several times brought us quite close to
the Maytengue, and the country in the valley was
often very charming. On the way I chanced to be
a witness of a very affecting meeting between a
negro and his aged mother; and various incidents
were related to me by Diamond and others that all
tended to confirm my belief that many a native has
really refined feelings lurking in his breast which
are only waiting for civilization to draw forth.
Our afternoon camp was made in the vicinity of
several villages, of which the residents told us that
a few days previously Menon had received a visit
from a troop of Matabele soldiers, who had come to
demand boys as recruits for their last-formed regi¬
ment. Menon had refused to comply, and it was
only too likely, they said, that the refusal would
cost him his life, as although the Makalakas are
392 Seven Years in South Africa.
fairly supplied with guns, their villages are so small
and scattered, that they are soon overpowered by
such a force as the Matabele can bring against
them. It was by mere force exercised in this way,
and by carrying off the young lads violently from
their parents, that in 1837 Moselikatze with a com¬
plement of only forty warriors began to found a
kingdom which at present has an aggregate of
about 20,000 fighting-men.
On the following day our route lay amongst the
numerous granite hills, every few hundred yards
opening a new and pleasant prospect to our view.
At our first halting-place we fell in with a sub¬
chieftain named Henry, who was an old acquaint¬
ance of Westbeech’s, and out of regard to him
provided sorghum, maize, and melons for the benefit
of Bradshaw, who remained far from well. Henry
had his people under very good control, and as long
as we were near him we felt pretty secure against
any great annoyance ; during our halt, however, we
were surprised by the sudden appearance of one of
those scourges of the district, a Matabele warrior,
who came blustering up and shouting, “ Hulloa,
white men ! you have some of Sepopo’s people there.
Give them up, or pay for them. If you don’t, one
by one I’ll kill them all.” He had his gun in one
hand, and in the other he brandished his kiri, which
once very nearly touched my face. I was inclined
to be angry, but controlled my temper, and warned
the swaggering idiot off in a way that made all the
Makalakas roar with laughter. Finding that he
could make no impression upon me, he went to
Bradshaw and Walsh, who merely laid their hands
upon their rifles, an action which the fellow pre-
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 393
tended that he was to take as a challenge, where¬
upon he began to storm more furiously than ever ;
but when they advanced towards him and showed
that they were in earnest, he lost no time in beating
a retreat, to the unbounded amusement of the
lookers-on.
The next drive took us through fresh mountain
scenery, the heights being clothed with the cande-
labra-euphorbias as I had seen them on the Ba-
mangwato hills. The fields that we passed were
of considerable extent; the farmsteads were large
and well enclosed ; the dwelling-houses situated in
their most prominent parts. At intervals of about
every eighty yards in the enclosure was a simple
wooden pitfall. The whole of the Makalaka villages,
however, were but a mere wreck of what they had
been before the Matabele invaded the Matoppo
mountains.
The village that we had last passed was called
Kasheme, and before the day was gone we came to
another named Bosi-mapani. The settlements here¬
abouts were very numerous, and the next morning
we arrived at another, where, although we halted and
unyoked our teams half a mile away from the resi¬
dences, we were soon visited by a number of the
people, who wanted to sell us provisions. Bradshaw,
after bargaining with a party of the Makalakas,
bought a goat and a sheep, but it happened at the
moment that all our servants were engaged at the
waggons, and that there was no one at hand to
drive the purchase home to our encampment. After
a while one man was procured, but before he could get
near them, the animals had all scampered off. The
cunning Makalakas had set their shepherd-boys to
394 Seven Years in South Africa.
sound their pipes close by, and as soon as the goat and
the sheep heard the accustomed note they galloped
away, each to its separate herd. Our man succeeded
in overtaking and capturing one of the sheep, but the
other two creatures got clean away. It was in vain
that we threatened to report the dealers to Lo
Bengula. They took our threats in the calmest
way, and walked off to their homes, contriving, before
they went, to get possession of ’Westbeech’s pocket-
knife. It is scarcely necessary to say, that neither
the goat nor the sheep was ever recovered.
By the 25th we had diverged somewhat from the
Maytengue. Most of the granite hills were now on
our left ; but we could see others still more impor¬
tant rising on the southern horizon in front of us.
The visits that from time to time continued to
be made to us by Matabele soldiers were a per¬
petual source of uneasiness to Z. ; he appeared to
dread them much more than the Makalakas, and the
mere sight of any Zulu made him creep back as
rapidly and as stealthily as he could to his waggon.
None of them ever recognized him, but it happened
once during a noonday halt, that he came into col¬
lision with two of them in a way that almost cost
him his life. Distinguishable at once as Matabele
by their feather head-dresses, and by their aprons of
wild cats’ tails, two young fellows came to the
waggon begging for a “ lapiana” (a piece of calico).
Z.’s little dog flew at them, growling and barking,
and one of them in his annoyance was about to give
the animal a tremendous blow with his kiri, which
probably would have dashed its brains out. Z.
came rushing forward, flushed with rage, to protect
his dog, and shook his fist in the face of the in-
The Makalaka and West Matabelc Countries. 395
traders. It was just the excuse for a fight which the
Matabele wanted ; a regular scrimmage ensued, and
two to one as they were, a kiri would inevitably very
soon have descended on Z.’s head if Bradshaw and
I had not interfered in time. We held our guns
in our hands, but when the young rascals saw that
we did not raise them, they struck their kiris upon
the ground and broke out into a storm of abuse,
which they were still continuing, when an old Mata¬
bele, his rank as a warrior indicated by his leather
circlet covered by hair, made his appearance on the
scene. Hearing what had transpired, he caught
hold of a good stout bough of a tree, and laid it
vigorously about the shoulders of the offenders. He
treated them exactly like naughty little boys, and
they, like little boys, crept back in disgrace, keeping
their grumbling to themselves.
In the course of the afternoon we came to a
village named Kambusa. It consisted only of about
fifteen huts, and belonged to a man of the name of
Tantje, whom Westbeech knew very well, so that we
had no fear of meeting with any annoyance in it.
Tantje’s residence had two enclosures, one of stakes
round his hut, and another of thornbushes outside his
fields. This was the last of the Makalaka villages
we had to pass ; five-and-twenty years ago they
extended another hundred miles to the south, but
now we were close to the boundary of the province
and before the evening we had crossed the existing
frontier.
Upon the shore of the little river Ashangena,
about 600 yards away from the road, Diamond drew
my attention to a bush, beneath which he informed
me that Mr. Frank Oates, an Englishman, had been
39& Seven Years in South Africa.
buried. He had been hunting in the district, and
had taken fever and died. His death had really
occurred in the Makalaka country, but it was neces¬
sary to bring him to be buried at the frontier. His
brother, Mr. William Oates, in 1874 erected a grave¬
stone over the spot.
We had two small streams to cross before we
came to the Matliutse, which crossed our path
transversely. During the last stage of our journey
through Makalaka-land we had crossed no fewer
than seventeen rain-streams, all of them flowing into
the May tengue, and yet forming, I believe, not more
than a tenth part of the affluents of that river.
The scenery was as fine as any I saw during
my hurried journey through the country. The soil
was chiefly granite, thickly veined with quartz, and
in many places marked with dark slate-coloured
mica, the strata being variously horizontal, vertical^
or oblique, generally towards the top of the hills
slanting downwards at an angle of seventy degrees
to the south-west. I saw nothing more interesting
than the picturesque masses of granite that crowned
the slopes of the hills ; so strange and fantastic were
their forms that I could not resist entering them upon
my chart with names corresponding to what seemed
to be their shapes. One on the Matliutse I called
“ the cap another on the next spruit/' the two spar¬
rows;” another, “the club;” and a fourth, to the
right of the road, the most striking of all, I named
“the pyramid.” The scenery gave me some idea
how charming the country must be in the highlands
in the upper parts of the Matliutse, Shasha, Tati,
and Rhamakoban, which are all of them affluents of
the Limpopo.
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 397
As I crossed the two Shasha rivers next day it
became perfectly clear to my mind that the Shaneng
must flow either into the Matliutse or one of its
tributaries. The district seemed full of game, but
not to the same extent as in former years. The
animals of which I saw most were pallahs, zulu-
hartebeests, harrisbocks, and zebras.
In the evening we halted on the right-hand shore
of the rocky Shasha, a stream that has derived
its name from the character of its bed. I took
the opportunity of getting out a little distance
towards the east, where, on one of the granite
mounds, I found some ruins that had played their
part in the history of central South Africa. The
hill was isolated, and not so high as those near it,
and it had been fortified by a wall composed of
blocks of granite laid one upon another, without
being fixed by cement of any kind. The wall was
about 140 feet long, and enclosed a space of ground
as nearly as possible on the top of the hill, being
built on the natural crags in such a way that the
artificial rampart it formed hardly rose in some
parts many inches from the ground, whilst in other
places it was six feet high ; in thickness it varied
from twelve to eighteen inches. It had an entrance
facing the north, and there it projected so as to
make a kind of avenue. The blocks of which it was
made were flat, and varying in size from four to ten
inches in length, three to six inches in width, and
two to ten inches in depth, the flat sides being
irregular trapeziums. My impression was that the
occupants of this limited fortress — whether permanent
or temporary there was nothing to decide — had also
erected a superior palisade of wood or bushes above
398 Seven Years in South Africa .
the top of the masonry ; but as we were bound to
recommence our journey in about two hours and a
half, I had no opportunity of making a deliberate
survey, or of commencing any excavations which
might throw more light upon the subject. We had
only time that evening to go a little farther, and
the gathering twilight brought us to a halt on the
left-hand shore of the river, which we crossed.
After traversing as many as twelve tributaries of
the rocky Shasha, we crossed the sandy Shasha,
which is connected with its fellow-stream, finding
the scenery at the point where we quitted the river
as beautiful as any in the whole West Matabele
country. The abundance and variety of plants
were truly marvellous ; and on the slopes where
the stems of the euphorbias were mouldering, I
found numerous scolopendra, two kinds of scor¬
pions, some lizards, and many sorts of insects.
Since I had entered the Makalaka country I had
had no return of fever; and although I was still
very weak, I persevered in my naturalist’s pur¬
suits, finding that the enjoyment refreshed me
and more than compensated for a little extra
fatigue. In many places the river was sandy, but
not unfrequently the bed was of granite, that formed
a sort of basin, or opened in a channel, by which the
water threaded its way to the south, to lose itself in
the marshes of the valley. The next stream at
which we arrived was the Tati, and its bed was not
only sandy, but so deep, and the banks so steep,
that we had very considerable difficulty in getting
across.
Two days later we found ourselves pushing our
way along the right-hand bank of the Rhamakoban,
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 399
crossing fourteen of its little tributaries, besides
three of the Tati, the whole of which after heavy
rain are sure to be full of water. The district about
the fthamakoban is noted amongst elephant-hunters
for its great abundance of game ; giraffes, zebras,
grey pallahs, harrisbocks, gnus, hyaenas, and bus¬
tards are frequently to be seen, lions, ostriches, and
rhinoceroses being by no means rare. We were
making our way forward with the best speed we
could, because Bradshaw, who was in charge during
Westbeech’s absence, had announced that his stock
of corn, meal, tea, sugar, and salt was running
short, and that it was necessary that we should
reach the next settlement to procure fresh supplies.
After crossing eight of its right-hand tributaries
we kept along the valley of the fthamakoban until
we turned into another valley, which led us under
the highlands back again to the bank of the Tati.
On our way I noticed some more of the remarkable
rocks, and gave to one of them the name of w the
tablets,” and to another that of “ the white boundary
stone,” close to which our road was joined by the
road leading to the central Matabele-land. All this
time we were passing a number of mapani-trees,
constituting almost a forest, occasionally broken by
extensive glades.
At the place where we again came upon the Tati,
we saw on the slope of two low hills several build¬
ings in the European style; only two of these,
however, were occupied, one by Pit Jacobs, the
elephant-hunter, the other by a Scotch ivory-trader
named Brown. A few years back there had been
no lack of life in the place ; gold-diggers had con¬
gregated from all parts of the world in search of the
400 Seven Years in South Africa.
precious metal, but the discovery that only quartz
gold, and not alluvial, was to be obtained, damped
their ardour and soon thinned their ranks. Various
companies were formed to carry on the work, but
they were ultimately obliged to abandon it on account
of the insufficiency of machinery. The real cause of
the failure was the distance from the coast, every
piece of machinery, however simple its character,
costing five or six times its own value for its trans¬
port up the country.
As a general rule not more than seven ounces of
gold were found in a ton of quartz, though I was
told that exceptional cases had been known where
the ton had yielded twenty- four ounces. As well as
carrying on his own business, Mr. Brown was now
acting as agent for the companies in liquidation, as
some of their property was still undisposed of. I
saw the remains of the steam-engine by which the
quartz had been pounded still standing in the Tati
valley, a short distance below the settlement ; the
rock containing the gold had been brought from a
spot some way inland, but when the pits, although
they were by no means deep, once became filled with
water, there was no second engine to empty them,
and consequently the whole work was brought to a
standstill.
Mr. Brown was away from home at the time
of our arrival, having gone to Gubuluwayo to be
married by Mr. Thompson, the resident missionary,
to Miss Jacobs ; his managing clerk, however,
received us very courteously, and we were invited
to take up our quarters in the place until West-
beech’s return.
Besides these two residents, I was not a little
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 401
surprised to find that the Lotriets, whom I had met
at Henry’s Pan, had settled at Tati, and were living
in some grass-huts.
All waggons on their way from the Bamangwato
country to the Matabele are bound to stop at Tati
for a change of bullocks, and most of the traders
keep extra teams of their own there to avoid
unnecessary delay. The Matabele had at one
time possessed immense herds of cattle, plundered
for the most part from their neighbours, but the
Roi- water plague, which had been brought in from
the south, had made such frightful ravages among
them that the king had ordained and enforced the
measure to check any further spread of the disease.
There is always a guard of Matabele troops
stationed at Tati, who are supposed to have sur¬
veillance over the countries to the south-east; but
as far as I could make out their chief business
consisted in annoying every white man who arrived,
and in arresting all Makalakas on their way back
from the diamond-fields, and after administering a
severe flogging, seizing their guns and ammunition
in the name of the king.
At this time the Matabele kingdom was only
second in power to any of the native tribes south
of the Zambesi, and now, since the subjugation
of the southern Zulus, it must rank as absolutely
the most powerful of all. It is considerably more
than 300 miles long, and from 250 to 300 miles
broad. According to Mr. Mackenzie, Moselikatze,
the founder of this extensive kingdom, was the
son of Matshobane, a Zulu captain in Natal ; he
was taken prisoner by Chaka, the most powerful
of the Zulu chiefs, who subsequently, when he
VOL. 11. d d
402 Seven Years in South Africa.
found out the courage of his captive, gave him the
command of one of his marauding expeditions ; but
Moselikatze, instead of returning with his booty,
carried it off to the heart of what is now the
Transvaal country, subdued the Bakhatlas, Baha-
rutse, and other Bechuana tribes, and finally
boer’s wife defending her waggon against kafirs.
settled in the highlands round the Marico and its
tributaries. Here he was attacked by the Griqua
chief, Berend-Berend, whom he defeated and killed.
All this, however, was but the beginning of a series
of engagements. Two Zulu armies in succession
were sent after him as a recreant, one by Chaka,
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 403
and the other by his successor Dingan, but both
failed to dislodge him. His next assailants were the
Boers, who were most anxious to get rid of such a
dangerous neighbour, and to drive him from the
beautiful Marico country, which they coveted for
themselves. To accomplish their aim they sent out
a considerable force in 1836, and attacking the Zulu
at the foot of one of the hills, completely defeated
him. Moselikatze gathered together the little
remnant of his force, including only forty “ ring-
heads ” (full grown warriors), and quitted the
district, making his way to the north, and laying
waste the whole country as he proceeded. It was
his plan to found a new settlement on the other side
of the Zambesi; but the tsetse-fly did what it
seemed forbidden to human hand to do, and checked
his career. He was in consequence obliged to fall
back, and began to attack first the Makalaka villages,
and then to carry his ravages on to the Manansas
and others. His mode of dealing with these agri¬
cultural settlements was to set fire to them in the
middle of the night, to kill the men as they rushed
out of their burning huts, and to carry off the
women and children, as well as the cattle. In this
way his power began again to increase, until after a
while South Africa had a new Zulu empire. All
the stolen boys were brought up as soldiers, and
such as were capable of bearing arms were at once
incorporated into the army ; the women were given
to the warriors, the cattle being deemed the king’s
special property, and serving to maintain his ever in¬
creasing regiments. Whenever Moselikatze observed
any signs of his warriors treating the women
better than their cattle he came to the conclusion
d d 2
404 Seven Years in South Africa.
that the men were growing effeminate, and at once
gave peremptory orders for the dangerous women
to be slaughtered. During his annual marauding
expeditions into the neighbourhood, thousands of
helpless creatures lost their lives, for besides the
men, all people incapable of work, young children,
and babies, and some of the women, were relentlessly
massacred.
From my own observation, and from what I
gathered from Mr. Mackenzie, Westbeech, and the
traders, I should describe the Matabele Zulu govern¬
ment as a military despotism, with supreme control
over every man and beast, and every acre of land in
the country. Each division of the army is under
the command of an “ induna ” or chief, with several
sub-chiefs holding commission as officers. The rank
and file fulfil their commanders’ orders with blind
obedience, but the superior and inferior chiefs are
always at rivalry, and if they fail to win the appro¬
bation of the king by their feats of bravery, they try
and curry favour with him by carrying him tales of
slander against each other. The king keeps several
executioners, who perpetrate their deeds under cover
of night ; and as the kaffir-corn beer which is
served out with the meat at supper rarely fails to
induce a sound sleep, the opportunity is readily
found for what is known as “ the king’s knife ” to
do its work.
Mr. Mackenzie told me of an instance that will
serve as an illustration of what I have been saying.
The bravest man in Moselikatze’s army was Monyebe,
one of the superior chiefs, who in acknowledgment
of his services had been rewarded by the king with a
number of presents. This so far aroused the jealousy
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 405
of the other chiefs that they conspired to accuse him
to the king of witchcraft and treachery. Moselikatze
allowed himself to listen to their slander, and with¬
out giving Monyebe a chance of exonerating himself,
kept the accusation a thorough secret from him, and
gave permission to the chiefs to kill him. Next
MASARWAS DRINKING.
morning nothing more remained of the king’s favourite
than a few ashes smouldering at the door of his hut.
When Mr. Mackenzie visited Matabele-land in
1863, he found very few real Zulu soldiers ; the
flower of the army consisted of Bechuanas, who as
boys had either been stolen or exacted as tribute
by Moselikatze during his residence in the Trans¬
vaal, the younger regiments being principally
406 Seven Years in South A frica.
composed of Makalaka and Mashona lads recently
enlisted.
In times of peace the boys are sent out to take
care of the cattle, but on their return home they are
always carefully instructed in the use of weapons.
This constant exercise makes them so strong and
muscular that a Masarwa straight from the Kala¬
hari Bushveldt, and another having undergone his
training with the Matabele, could not be recognized
as belonging to the same tribe. The Matabele
warriors live in barracks, and domestic life is quite
unknown ; only in very exceptional cases is it allow¬
able for any one but a chief to treat his wife other¬
wise than as a slave, though it must be allowed that
there is hardly any appreciable difference between
the two conditions. The king does not prevent
people of other tribes from practising their own
religious and superstitious ceremonies, subject to the
general prohibition that no subject of his may be a
Christian. The ivory-traders followed the mis¬
sionaries into the country ; they found a ready sale
for guns and ammunition, but the natives were little
disposed to purchase any articles of clothing.
Every year before starting on their expeditions of
plunder the Matabele perform their Pina ea Morimo,
or religious war-dance. The warriors assemble on
the parade-ground in full military costume, their
heads, breasts, and loins being adorned with coverings
made of black ostrich feathers. A black bull is led
forward and baited till it is angry ; it is then chased
by the soldiers, until, covered with blood, it sinks
lame and exhausted to the ground ; a few practised
strokes then sever the muscles ; the flesh is stripped
off in cutlets and held for a few minutes before a
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 407
fire, and the men proceed eagerly to devour the half
roasted meat, convinced that in swallowing it in this
semi-raw condition they are acquiring the strength
and courage that will equip them for their under¬
taking.
The European settlement on the Tati was sur¬
rounded by low hills, partly formed of ferruginous
mica, quartz, and granite, some being isolated mounds,
whilst others were portions of the slope of the river-
valley. I made excursions to them in all directions,
although I was warned to be on my guard against
the lions that haunted the neighbourhood.
On arriving at the settlement I found that Pit
Jacobs, like Mr. Brown, was away from home.
He had gone elephant-hunting with one of his sons.
I went to the hills next day and saw numbers of
pits, some fifty feet deep, that had been made by the
diggers in their search for gold ; and on one hill, to
the north, contiguous to the slope of the Tati valley,
I found another ruin, consisting of the remains of a
wall that formed a rampart round the hill-top, joined
on to a second wall three times its size that ran round
the next hill a little lower down. It was over
three feet thick, and, like what I had previously
seen, made of stones, blocks of iron mica, piled
together without cement. On the inside it could
be seen how the erection was made of oblong
lumps of various dimensions, but outside, probably
with some view to symmetry and decoration, there
had been inserted double rows of stone hewn into
a kind of tile, and placed obliquely one row at
right angles to the other. Each inclosure had an
entrance facing the north, that of the largest being
protected by the wall on the right projecting out-
408 Seven Years in South Africa .
wards, whilst on the left it curved inwards towards
the centre. Altogether the resemblance between
these ruins and those we had seen before on the
Shasha was very striking ; to my mind they conveyed
the impression that the walls might originally have
been put up with some reference to the gold that was
being found in the locality ; but I look for a future
visit, in which I may be able to make such investiga¬
tions as may settle whether they were erected by
the Mashonas in the east or by the people of
Monopotapa.
Hearing on my return that Pit Jacobs had come
home, I called and stayed some hours with him. It
could hardly be otherwise than with intense inte¬
rest that I listened to the recounting of the many
episodes in the experience of five-and-twenty years
of a man who had acquired the reputation of being
the second-best elephant-hunter in all South Africa.
Numerous as lions are in other parts, I never heard
of them being so bold as they notoriously are in the
neighbourhood of the Tati station. The gold-
diggers suffered greatly from their depredations, and
they had been known to get inside kraals enclosed
by a thorn-fence six feet high, and the same thick¬
ness at its base. Brown and Pit Jacobs had often
seen them prowling in the night in the space between
their houses, and one morning, while the mining ope¬
rations were going on, a native labourer on entering
the coal-cellar to get fuel for the engine, was pounced
upon by a lion, that would certainly have torn him
to pieces if it had not been that it was old and its
teeth blunt. On another occasion a lioness had
been shot at midday; and within the last few
days Mr. Brown’s horse had been dragged from the
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 409
stable, which was well protected by a strong fence,
except on the side facing the house. These are
facts that illustrate the persistent daring of the lions
in the locality, and of which an example now came
within my own experience.
I had occasion to make some purchases, and on the
LIONESS ATTACKING CATTLE ON THE TATI RIVER.
morning of the 2nd of April called at the office of
Mr. Brown’s foreman. Whilst we were transacting
our business, a negro came rushing in with the
intelligence that lions were among the cattle. No
time was to be lost in giving chase. I hurried with
what speed I could down to our camp, nearly a
410 Seven Years in South Africa.
quarter of a mile away, to get my Snider and some
cartridges, and communicated the news to Bradshaw,
who entered into the spirit of the thing at once, and
seized his double-barrelled muzzle-loader, a weapon
with which he had often done wonders. We quickly
made up a party of about twenty, including besides
ourselves a lot of half-armed negroes, Pit Jacobs’
son, and the half-caste hunter Africa, the two latter
being on horseback. Leaving the hill surmounted
with the ruins on our left, we worked our way up the
river-valley, which was here from 200 to 300 yards
wide, to a spot close to the river where there was a
mass of mimosas. On our way the negroes told us
that the lions, only the day before, had attacked some
cattle down at a watering-place that had been dug
in the sand at the river-side, not very distant from
where we were ; a lioness had seized a cow by the
heel in a very unusual way, and had dragged it to the
ground. Acting upon this information, we turned
our course in that direction, and in a short time
arrived at a mimosa, upon which we were told that
the terrified herdsmen had taken refuge on the
previous day. We discovered the herdsman’s dog
still lingering near the tree, and guided by its
barking, we followed on to a glade, where, we
caught sight of the head of a cow above the long
grass, and in another moment ascertained that it
was being mangled by a great lioness. Without a
word of warning, before we were aware of his
intention, Africa fired. No luckier shot was ever
aimed. The bullet hit the brute in the back, and
shattered the vertebral column ; it rolled over in the
grass behind its prey. The dog, which was famous
among the Tati people for its courage, and which
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 41 1
already had been disturbing the lioness at its meal,
now darted forward, and seizing it by the ear drew
back the head, while the negroes pummelled away at
its sides. The ill-fated cow was not quite dead,
although the lioness had begun to gnaw at its
entrails ; we put the poor thing at once out of its
misery. Africa was kind enough to make me a present
of the skin of the lioness.
Since I met Africa on the Chobe, Khame had
banished him from the Bamangwato country on
account of his poaching propensities with regard to
elephants and ostriches ; he had now come to Tati,
and hoped to induce Lo Bengula to accept payment
from him and allow him to hunt ostriches on his land.
Until the 7th my time was fully occupied in
making a geological investigation of the neighbour¬
hood, and in making records of some of the interest¬
ing adventures of Pit Jacobs, Bradshaw, and another
Boer hunter, who had just arrived. One day Africa
received a visit from his son, who brought him some
puku-meat ; he cautioned us to be more than ever
on our guard against lions, saying that at his own
encampment, only a few miles away, he hardly ever
passed a night without being disturbed by them.
Another ivory-dealer arrived next day from the
south, by way of Shoshong ; he seemed to be a keen
man of business, but nothing more ; like other
people, he complained of the number of lions in the
neighbourhood, and mentioned that water was
scarce between this place and Shoshong.
Westbeech arrived from Gubuluwayo on the
following day. He was accompanied by his friend
Philipps, and by F., an ivory-trader. Mr. Brown
and his young bride returned likewise at the same
412 Seven Years in South Africa.
time. Westbeech brought a document attested by
Lo Bengula’ s mark, granting permission for elephant¬
hunting on his western territory in consideration of
the payment of a salted carcase of a horse. Mr.
Brown and the trader both told me several things
that entertained me about Lo Bengula. The king
had a very corpulent sister, who exercised a very
considerable influence over him. On being asked one
day why she did not get married, she replied that
she was too fat to walk, and as her brother was the
only person in the country who kept a waggon, she
thought it was far better for her to remain where
she was, and not to entertain any idea of having a
husband.
It is my own impression about Westbeech that he
never turned to such good account as he might the
favour he enjoyed with Lo Bengula; I think too
that he yielded over much to Sepopo, and failed to
manage Khame judiciously. In the course of his
twelve years’ residence amongst the various tribes
he had mastered all their languages in a way that
could not fail to give him a great advantage at the
different courts. As a proof of his familiarity with
Lo Bengula, I was told that during his last visit
he and some friends (probably some of the ivory-
traders, or the two missionaries who resided in
the vicinity of the royal quarters) went to call upon
the king just at the moment when the dish (which,
by the way, I may mention was rarely washed) was
brought in containing the dinner for the high table.
Without waiting for any invitation, Westbeech
calmly proceeded to help himself, and to hand
some of the food to his companions. The indunas,
who were waiting in expectation, began to grumble;
The Makalaka and West M at abele Countries. 4 1 3
“ George,’’ they said, “ is treating the king like a
child.” “ Yes,” replied Westbeech ; “ I have been
trusted by Moselikatze himself to drive his waggon
and treat him as a child ; and surely if I may do
this with Moselikatze, I may do it with his son too ;
I am treating Lo Bengula as my child.” The answer
seemed thoroughly to satisfy the chiefs, and they
clapped their hands in applause.
I asked the Masupia servant whom Westbeech
had taken with him to Gubuluwayo, whether the
Matabele women were handsome ? “0, not at all,”
was his answer ; “ they wear no aprons, and are not
tattooed.” Their well-built forms and comely
features had evidently made no impression upon
the man.
Before closing my notes about Tati, I cannot help
mentioning an incident that occurred in Pit Jacobs’
house, in February, 1876. Jacobs himself, with two
of his sons and his elder daughter, had gone on a
hunting-excursion to South Matabele-land, leaving
his wife, his younger daughter, just now married to
Mr. Brown, his two little boys, and a Masarwa
servant in the house. The house was what is
locally known as a “ hartebeest ” building, its four
walls consisting of laths plastered over with red
brick earth, and covered in with a gabled roof made
of rafters thatched with grass. Inside, of the same
material as the walls, was a partition dividing the
house into two apartments, of which the larger was
the living-room, and the other the sleeping-chamber
of the family. In the larger room, amongst other
furniture, stood a sewing-machine that Mr. Brown
had just bought as a present for his intended wife ;
in the other room, opposite the door, were two beds.
414 Seven Years in South Africa.
On this particular evening, the door of the house,
which was made in two parts, had the upper division
open ; the window in front was likewise open, and a
kitten was sitting on the sill. Mr. Brown had just
called to pay an evening visit, and Mrs. Jacobs had
gone to put the two boys to bed, laying herself down
for a few minutes beside one of them.
Now the whole village was aware that a half-
starved leopard was haunting the place, trying one
cattle-kraal after another, and doing serious mischief
amongst the poultry ; every fence ought to have
been well guarded, but somehow or other the leopard
had gained an entrance into Jacobs’ enclosure, and
catching sight of the kitten in the open window, made
a spring to seize it. The kitten, however, was not
taken unawares, but leaping from the window-sill hid
itself under the sewing-machine, and the leopard,
missing its aim, bounded through the window right
into the middle of the room, where the two lovers
were sitting.
They called out in alarm, but were hardly more
terrified than the brute itself, which, in order to
escape, rushed into the bedroom, and under the bed
where Mrs. Jacobs was lying. Catching sight of it,
she cried out to know what it was, and in order to
pacify her, Mr. Brown and her daughter replied
that most likely it was a dog. Satisfied in her own
mind that a dog would not have made them scream
out in such alarm, and concluding that it was a
hyaena, she started up, took the child by which she
was lying in her arms, and ran into the living-room.
Finding that she had brought out only one of the
little boys, Brown thought it was best to tell her the
truth, which made her so agitated that she would
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 4 1 5
have gone back quite unprotected to the other bed,
if she had not been prevented by force.
The immediate question now was how the brute
could be disposed of. There was a loaded elephant-
gun hanging up inside the partition, but in the
commotion no one thought of it. Brown took hold
of a kitchen-knife, but afterwards it was remembered
that the Masarwa servant had an old assegai ; the
man was soon sent for; Brown took the spear;
Miss Jacobs held the lantern; Mrs. Jacobs clung to
her daughter, and the servant kept close behind.
At the appearance of the light, the leopard was
more terrified than ever, and the hubbub of voices,
English, Dutch, and Sesarwa, only increased its
alarm. Making a sudden spring it lighted on the
bed, where the child was sleeping. The little fellow
slumbered on peacefully, and knew nothing of what
happened until the next morning.
With such an excited cluster of people at his
elbow, it was not very surprising that Brown made a
bad aim with his assegai ; the point merely grazed
the creature’s skin, and in an instant it flew at
his breast, so that he could feel its claws upon his
neck ; losing his balance he fell over ; the women
came tumbling on him, dragging the old Masarwa
on the top of them all, the commotion putting the
leopard into such a state of bewilderment that it
never used a fang, but bounded forth, first into the
other room, and then through the open portion of
the door.
Thus relieved of their anxiety, and finding no
harm done, they all laughed heartily, and congratu¬
lated each other at the happy issue of an adventure
which might have had a tragical denouement.
4 1 6 Seven Years in South A frica.
Leaving the Tati station on the 10th, we made
our way through wooded hills till we came again to
the sandy Shasha, which receives the Tati and many
other tributaries of a similar character. Close to
where we halted, at the mouth of a dried-up spruit,
there was a small deep pool in the river-bed, con¬
taining crocodiles.
In the course of the next two days we crossed as
many as fourteen spruits that were affluents of the
Shasha, Matliutse, and Seribe rivers, our road all
along being very bad, and obstructed with rocks.
One whole day we halted on the Matliutse, which
now, instead of the Tati, forms part of the
boundary between the Matabele and Bamangwato
territories. Here there was an interesting double
row of hills, some being conical, and some perfectly
hexagonal in shape.
The heat now became extremely oppressive, and
after crossing the Kutse-Khani and Lothlakane
rivers, we halted by the bank of a third, named
the Grokwe, where our animals were encouraged
to drink freely on account of the dearth of water
which we were led to expect during our next
stage. After passing a hilly country we came on
the following afternoon to the Serule, and caught
sight of the chain of the Choppo mountains running
south to south-west, their highest points being at
the two extremities of the ridge.
On the 16th we entered the valley of the Palachwe,
crossing the bed of the Lotsane the same day. It
is my belief that these two rivers unite at the foot of
the Choppo heights, and continue their course below
the northern declivity. The Lotsane ford was one
of the mpst troublesome on the whole way from
The Makalaka and West Matabele Countries. 417
Matabele-land, and some years ago had a bad name
amongst the hunters and ivory-traders, on account
of its being haunted by a large number of lions that
were reputed to be unusually audacious.
The drive of the next day brought us through
some hilly country, where there were a good many
rain-pools, only three of which, however, retained
any water in the winter. The second of the series
was called Lemone Pan, and both here, and at the
next, we found Bamangwato cattle-stations. Much
to Z.’s discomfort, a number of Matabele people had
accompanied our caravan all the way from Tati.
At night we made our camp at the Chakane Pan,
the last of the three rain-pools, where we were told
that Sechele was at war with the Bakhatlas on his
territory. As we were unable to kill any game, and
the provisions that we had brought from Tati were
beginning to run short, we slaughtered one of our
reserve bullocks. After starting again we crossed
the Tawani, and found ourselves in the course of the
night on the bank of the sandy Mahalapsi river.
Early in the morning we were at the foot of the
Bamangwato hills and close to Shoshong.
Being afraid to meet Khame, Z. parted company
with us at this time, and turned towards the Damara
emigrants on the Limpopo.
Hearing that the prolonged drought had scorched
up all the grass, and that the Shoshon springs
yielded hardly enough water to supply the needs of
the population, a good many of our party resolved
to rest where they were, and it was only a few of us
who proceeded up the Francis Joseph Valley to the
town, which was reached after an easy march.
VOL. 11.
e e
418
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTER XV.
FROM SHOSHONG TO THE DIAMOND FIELDS.
Arrival at Shoshong — Z.’s chastisement — News from the colony
— Departure from Shoshong — Conflict between the Bak-
hatlas and Bakuenas — Mochuri — A pair of young lions — A
visit from Eberwald — Medical practice in Linokana —
— Joubert’s Lake — A series of saltpans — Arrival in Kim¬
berley.
ketuiin to the diamond fiedds. gigted upon my becoming
his guest for as long a time as he remained in
From Shoshong io the Diamond Fields. 4 1 9
Slioshong. I am sure that his hospitality, and that
which I subsequently received from Mr. Jensen, did
more than anything else towards re-establishing my
shattered health. I remember that the first time I
again tasted proper bread I felt as happy as a king.
On the very day of my arrival I went with West-
beech to visit Khame. To Westbeech’s surprise the
king immediately began to interrogate him about Z. ;
he had heard that he had been travelling with us,
and we were forced to acknowledge that he had only
left us early that morning. Khame lost no time in
sending out a body of armed men to capture him ;
and when they returned in the evening unsuccessful,
he despatched a troop of horsemen with orders
to search the whole district as far as the Khame
Saltpan.
The men brought in their prisoner in the morning ;
they had been attracted by the glimmer of a fire in
the bushveldt, and alighting from their horses, they
had laid their hands upon Z. before he had time to
make use of his revolver. He professed to be
extremely indignant at his arrest ; but the king
upbraided him severely for his violation of his orders,
and sentenced him to pay a fine of 100£. It was in
vain for Z. to protest, and to assert that he had not
the means to raise such a sum. Khame replied that
he was quite aware that Westbeech had not yet paid
him for the team and the waggon that he had bought
of him, and that he should hand over the money to
bimself instead.
At the same sitting Khame publicly fined two
traders’ agents 10Z. apiece for having been found
tipsy outside their quarters on the outskirts of the
town, telling them that if they were determined to
e e 2
420 Seven Years in South A frica.
drink, they must confine themselves to their own
houses or their own waggons ; he for his part was
quite resolved that they should not make an exhibition
of themselves before his subjects.
The Matabele who had come with us were the
bearers of a letter from Lo Bengula, inviting
Khame to co-operate with the President of the
Transvaal Republic in preventing the advance of the
Damara emigrants.
My late travelling-companions only stayed at
Shoshong two or three days, and then started for the
south, leaving me with Mr. Mackenzie. Before his
departure, Westbeech cleared out the ivory from a
waggon of which he was not in immediate want, and
placed the vehicle at my disposal. On the 25th and
26th I was feeling considerably better, and found
much amusement in inspecting all the collections I
had made. There was a Captain G. staying in the
place, on his way back from a hunting-tour on the
Limpopo, who expressed himself highly delighted
with what I showed him. In the evening I wrote
my journal, except when Mr. Mackenzie kept me in
conversation, and supplied me with additional
particulars about the Bamangwatos. It was a great
satisfaction to me to find that I could now converse
with Khame in Sechuana, without the aid of an
interpreter.
Three weeks passed away without anything
transpiring particularly to record, until the 13th of
May, when the native postman brought the news
that war had broken out in the Transvaal between
the Boers and Sekokuni. During my leisure time
I undertook, at Khame’s request, to prescribe for
some of his people who were ill; Mr. Mackenzie
From Shoshong to the Diamond Fields. 421
kindly provided the drugs that were requisite.
On the 15th I despatched a letter to Lord Derby,
the Foreign Secretary, containing a report of the
slavery in the Marutse empire.
Almost daily at this time we received accounts of
the atrocities that were being committed by the
Bakuenas and Bakhatlas, the two rival tribes that
were at war upon Sechele’s territory. Towards the
end of the month the girls’ boguera was commenced
at Shoshong, but Khame assured me it was for the
last time.
At the beginning of June Mr. Mackenzie began to
prepare for his move to Kuruman, whither he had
been summoned to found a large training-college.
I did what I could to assist him in his packing, but
I was still so weak that I could not be of much
service; indeed, during the hot weather I was so
exhausted by visiting my patients, that I was
obliged to ask the king to allow me the use of
a horse.
We heard here that Matsheng and some other
Bechuana chiefs had settled upon the right bank
of the Limpopo without recognizing the authority
of the Transvaal Republic, so that the Limpopo
could hardly now be said to be the actual
northern boundary of the country; and on the
13th we received the further intelligence that the
Bakhatlas had been worsted in their attack upon
Molopolole, the Bakuena capital, having been
unable to make a stand against their opponents’
breech-loaders.
It was on the 17th that we started from Shoshong
with a caravan of seven waggons. Besides Mr.
Mackenzie and myself, there were Mr. Mackenzie’s
422 Seven Years i?i South Africa.
colleague, Mr. Hepburn, and Mr. Thompson and Mr.
Helm, the two missionaries from Matabele-land, who
were going to attend a conference at Molopolole.
At Khame’s Saltpan we were honoured by a fare¬
well visit from the king himself, who said he could
not resist coming once more to shake hands with Mr.
Mackenzie, the friend to whom he owed so much.
When he arrived he found several waggons belonging
to a trader who asked permission to pass through his
country, but recognizing him as a man who had been
disposing of some brandy to his people about a year
ago, he peremptorily refused to comply with his
request, and sent him back immediately to the south.
The deficiency of water made our journey to the
Limpopo extremely toilsome. Instead of crossing
the Sirorume as usual, we made a circuit to avoid
the arid and sandy woods upon its bank. We halted
at the mouth of the Notuany for three days, and
whilst there I made the acquaintance of Captain
Grandy, the African explorer, then on his way
to Matabele-land. He died some time afterwards
of fever.
The track that we followed up the Limpopo valley
bore every indication of not having been used for
years ; it was painfully bad, being everywhere either
blockaded by stones or covered with deep sand.
On the 1st of July we halted, and stayed the next
day as well, at one of the pools on the Notuany,
that I have elsewhere described as being fed by
springs as well as by the overflow of the river,
and consequently contain water long after the
stream itself is dry. This pool was about 150 yards
long, and about twenty yards wide, and full
of fish.
From Shoshong to the Diamond Fields. 423
One of the wheels of the waggon in which Mr.
Mackenzie was travelling having broken, we had to
wait while Mr. Hepburn went forward to Mochuri,
the next town on our route, belonging to the
western Bakhatlas, to procure a new one from the
traders there. The damage being made good, we all
proceeded to Mochuri, where we learnt the full
particulars of the late engagement — the remnant of
the Bakhatla defeated force having returned there
on the preceding day. They had succeeded so far
as to approach Molopolole unawares. They had
killed sixteen Kalahari herdsmen, and had made
themselves masters of all their cattle. They had
defied all the efforts of the residents to recover their
herds, and it was only at last, when they found
themselves face to face with the breech-loaders
which the Bakuenas had procured from the traders,
that they were obliged to retreat and abandon their
booty. Ten of them had fallen on the spot ; four
of the wounded had made their way home ; but
numbers of them, in spite of Sechele, the Bakuena
king, being a Christian, were overtaken and mas¬
sacred according to the custom of the tribe. They
had, they avowed, been goaded on to make their
attack because the Bakuenas had pillaged their
cattle-stations, and cut off the hands and feet of
many of the women.
Formerly the Bakhatlas had resided in the Trans¬
vaal ; but after the occupation of the Boers, most
of them left, and settled under two separate chiefs
in Sechele’ s territory, becoming known respectively
as the eastern and western Bakhatlas. Sechele had
now demanded the same tribute from them as he
exacted from the Makhosi and the Batlokas, and it
424 Seven Years in South Africa.
was their refusal to pay this that had brought them
into their present contention.
Mochuri struck me as one of the cleanest Be-
chuana towns that I ever saw. It is situated in a de¬
pression between two hills, being surrounded by a high
thorn-fence, and having all the enclosures about its
farmsteads well cemented and neatlypreserved. Until
MISSION HOUSE IN MOLOPOLOLE.
1876 the Bakhatlas were the only central Bechuana
tribe that cultivated tobacco and used it as an
article of commerce. Besides being agriculturists,
they spend a good deal of their time in tanning
leather. Nearly all of them speak Dutch.
Here I had to part with Mr. Mackenzie and the
other missionaries. It was with a heavy heart that
From Shoshong to the Diamond Fields. ' 425
I said good-bye. They had to turn off for about
thirty miles to the east to go to Mololopole ; I
had to continue my way south towards Chwene-
Chwene. As a farewell kindness, Mr. Mackenzie
induced the chief to let me have a couple of young
lions.
After leaving the valley of the Notuany I had to
cross a wide plain, where the soil was salt, and con¬
sequently the growth of grass was very scanty. I
did not stay longer than was absolutely necessary
at Chwene-Chwene, as it was suffering so much
from drought that holes thirty feet deep had to be
dug in the rocky beds of the spruits before any water
could be obtained. While we were halting next
upon the northern slope of the Dwars Mountains,
we incautiously allowed my two little lions to make
their escape. It took us two hours to catch them ;
nor could we put them back into their cage again
without getting our hands scratched and bitten con¬
siderably.
Instead of proceeding south-west from Brackfon-
tein through Buisport, I turned due south across
the bushveldt to Linokana, noticing on the way that
the little Morupa stream quite lost itself in the
shallow depressions of its bed, so that it is only
after heavy rain that it makes its way over the grass
plains to the Great Marico.
Mr. Jensen welcomed me most cordially when I
arrived at Linokana on the 8th. I was also highly
delighted to have a visit from my old friend Eber-
wald, who had come all the way from the Leyden-
burg gold-fields on purpose to see me. He was of
great assistance to me while I remained in the place,
and proceeded with me on my way south. He
426 Seven Years in South Africa.
did his best to acknowledge the hospitality that he
received from Mr. Jensen by working for him in his
garden.
Moilo, the chief, was dead, and had been suc¬
ceeded by his nephew, who came from Moshaneng.
His name was Kopani. He was a Baharutse chief,
subordinate to the Transvaal government. The war
was still going on in the east, the whites decidedly
getting the worst of it. In the Marico district, as
elsewhere, there had been a conscription of men,
cattle, and waggons, much to the dissatisfaction of
the agriculturists.
I had a roomy cage made for my two lions, but
unfortunately just as it was finished the female
died.
Mr. Mackenzie joined me again unexpectedly on
the 5th of August. He was on his way to Kuru-
man, and was accompanied by Mr. Williams, who
had come from Molopoiole to consult me about his
health. Next day I paid my four servants — To,
Narri, Burilli, and Chukuru — their wages, telling
them they might now go back to the Zambesi ; and
in the prospect of again securing their services, I
gave them something more than was really their
due. As two of them were Matongas, I had taken
the opportunity, while they were with me, of turning
my slight knowledge of the Senansa and Sesuto-
Serotse dialects to account, to acquire something of
the Setonga.
Mr. Wehrmann, a missionary who resided amongst
the eastern Bakhatlas, informed me that their town
Melorane was a few miles to the west of the G-reat
Marico. The chief of the western Bakhatlas was a
son of Rhamananis, named Linsh.
From Shoshong to the Diamond Fields. 427
In order to get sufficient money to carry me back
to the diamond fields I had to resort to medical
practice. Amongst my patients was a trader, who
had been thrown out of a waggon through West-
beech’s bad driving, and had been a good deal hurt.
Another patient was the Dutch minister, De Yries,
and by curing him I made a number of friends in
the neighbourhood, where he was much beloved.
About this time I received a very courteous
answer from Lord Derby in reply to the letter which
I had sent him from Shoshong. A few days after¬
wards I took my departure from Linokana ; and
choosing the nearest route to Mamusa, went past
Oisthuizen’s Farm, and along the southern portion
of the west frontier of the Marico district. The
stony condition of the road made the whole journey
very toilsome.
Whilst rambling about in the neighbourhood of
Dornplace Farm on the Molapo, I came to a rocky
lake, named Joubert’s Lake, after the owner of the
farm. It is probably the smallest of all the lakes in
South Africa, and lies in a deep hollow, about a
hundred yards long by fifty yards wide ; less than
twenty yards from the shore it was 800 feet
deep, and the farmer informed me that in the
rainy season the water rose some four or five feet
higher than it was when I saw it; he likewise
expressed his belief that the lake was in communica¬
tion with the Molapo, which flows at no great dis¬
tance, and on a lower level. I formed an opinion
that the lower rocks are of hard grey limestone, and
that at the bottom there are caves and grottoes by
which the lake is fed. The shores, which were both
steep and rocky, were all alive with large bright-
428 Seven Years in South Africa.
brown rock-rabbits, rock-pigeons, and starlings, as
well as with innumerable bees. Mr. J oubert related
to me some interesting hunting-adventures, and
gave graphic descriptions of three very exciting lion-
hunts. In former times lions, especially of the
maneless breed, seem to have been very numerous
on the Molapo. In common with other farmers, Mr.
Joubert expressed great dissatisfaction with the
Transvaal Republic. He held the post of field-cornet,
and tried to induce me to employ any influence
I might have in urging the British Government to
annex the Molapo valley. The complaints of the
way in which justice was administered were very
bitter ; the farmers murmuring, moreover, that after
the Republic had conceded to them the purchase of
farms and land, it was impotent to protect them
from the Barolongs, to whom the territory by ancient
right belonged.
Starting off again on the 30th, I was not
long in reaching Rietvley Farms, where several
families resided, but I made no stay, leaving again
the same afternoon for Poolfontein. This was
formerly a farm, but is now a settlement of Barolongs,
who migrated from the neighbourhood of Potchef-
stroom under their chief Matlabe, and are industrious
agriculturists. Mr. Hansen was here working
very hard on behalf of the Hermannsburg Mission,
but the majority of the population were Wesleyans.
A spring that I saw in the neighbourhood was
issuing from one of the deep cavities in the hard
limestone, and at no great distance from this I
noticed a small rock-pool, on the surface of which
was a little floating island of grass.
Hence to the Harts River, which we crossed about
From Shoshong to the Diamond Fields. 429
a day’s journey from Mamusa, our way led over the
Quagga Flats. The grass was low and the soil dry,
consequently the game, which is generally very
abundant, had retreated to moister and better
concealed districts. I found the underwood very
dense in the shallow valley at the source of the
Maretsane.
Water-birds were plentiful at a saltpan at which I
arrived on the 1st of November, but unfortunately
at this date I had so many indications of a return of
fever, that neither here nor at the Calvert or Helmore
lakes, was I in a condition to enjoy any sport.
Continuing my journey three days later, I paid a
visit to the Harm Saltlake, where some Boers con¬
trive to make a miserable livelihood by hunting and
by selling salt.
The Mackenzie and the Livingstone saltpans lay
in the next day’s route, and after a drive of some
hours over marshy soil, we came to a pond encircled
by tall sedge, in the middle of which there seemed
to be a rock-pool ; as far as I know, it is the only
one of the kind on the plain between the Harts and
Molapo. As we approached we were almost deafened
by the chorus of bird-cries that rose from its banks.
We put up for the night in two deserted huts that
had belonged to some Dutch hunters, who had left
the tokens of their calling behind them in a great
accumulation of the bones of the gnus and antelopes
they had killed. I was sorry that there was no boat at
hand in which I could make an investigation of the
bottom of the pond. Besides the numerous swamp-
birds and water-fowl, there was a great variety of
finches in the sedge ; and before night closed in, it
was a remarkable sight to see the thousands of
430 Seven Years in South Africa.
swallows that came back from their day’s flight across
the boundless plains.
Crossing the Harts River on the 9th, we found it
so swollen by the rain that the transit was some¬
what dangerous, but we arrived safely at Mamusa
on the next day, and at Houmansvley on the day
NIGHT JOURNEY.
after. Mr. Houman, the resident proprietor, gave
me a courteous welcome, and I stayed with him until
the 14th, when I continued my way south, till I
came to Hall water Farm, where there were a good
many Korannas.
The nearer I approached the diamond-fields, the
more disheartened and out of spirits I felt. I had
From Shoshong to the Diamond' Fields. 43 1
not 2 1. in my possession, and I owed Mr. Jensen
1201., a sum considerably more than I could realize
by the sale of my waggon and team, which would
fetch much less here than they would if I could have
sold them in the Transvaal.
While I was in Christiana I was pleased to make
the acquaintance of a trader named Sanders, who
had been travelling in the tropical parts of the
west coast.
On my way down the Yaal valley I had another
attack of fever, which came on so violently, that
when I arrived at Kimberley on the 26th, I was
thoroughly ill.
432
Seven Years in South Africa.
CHAPTEE XVI.
LAST VISIT TO THE DIAMOND FIELDS.
Resuming medical practice — My menagerie at Bultfontein —
Exhibition at Kimberley — Visit to Wessel’s Farm — Bush¬
men's carvings — Hunting hyaenas and earth-pigs — The
native question in South Africa — War in Cape Colony and
Griqualand West — Major Lanyon and Colonel Warren —
Departure for the coast.
When now for
the fourth time
I reached the
diamond fields
I was perfectly
insolvent. It
was impossible
to conceal from
myself the dif¬
ficulty I should
find in re-estab¬
lishing my me¬
dical practice,
as an absence
mngo bot. of a year and
nine months had made me little better than a
stranger in the place; and yet it was upon my
practice alone that I had to rely for obtaining the
means of discharging my obligations. Eeluctant as
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields.
433
I was to leave my designs unaccomplished, I could
not resist the desire that came over me to return
home and recruit my broken health. The question
of means, however, had to be entertained, and the
idea occurred to me that perhaps a public exhibition
of my collection of natural and ethnographical
curiosities might yield me some profit, which I
could apply to the expense of a homeward passage.
My friend Herr Werner came to see me as soon as
he heard of my arrival, and voluntarily advanced
me money enough to make my exhibition scheme
feasible.
My next step was to take my waggon off to
Bultfontein, as I could live for a time in greater
retirement there than in Kimberley. I hired a small
house close to my friend, who, although he was no
longer rich, showed me every kindness during my
illness. My residence was modest enough; it con¬
tained only one apartment, consisting of four bare
clay walls ; the floor was of the same material ; but
worst of all, the roof was of zinc, which made it
insupportably hot in the summer. Such as it was,
however, I made it serve as the temporary store of all
my collections, and took up my quarters there with
Eberwald, who remained in the place, acting as my
assistant in preparing medicines for my patients, the
number of which increased so rapidly that I could not
fail to be cheered and encouraged to look forward to
the future with something like equanimity.
In front of what I called my “ house,” and not
far from it, stood an old erection, now roofless, and
there I placed the great lion-cage that Eberwald and I
had made, and all round I arranged a number of other
cages of many kinds and sizes, containing the rest of
VOL. II. f f
434 Seven Years in South Africa.
the animals and birds that I had brought with me.
Strangers coming to the diamond-fields from the
Colony, the Free State, or the Transvaal, rarely failed
to come and make an inspection of my pets, nearly
all of which were perfectly tame ; and some of the
visitors afterwards sent me several rare zoological
specimens as additions to my stock.
So large did my professional practice grow in the
MY HOUSE IN BULTFONTEIN.
course of the following year, that all Eberwald’s
time was occupied in dispensing my medicines, so
that he had no opportunity of attending to my
menagerie; the consequence was that the charge of
it had to be entrusted to two negroes, who neglected
their duty abominably, and failed to keep the animals
either clean or properly fed. I had taken pains to
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 435
have all the cages made as roomy as possible, but
they rotted through exposure to the weather, and
some few of the animals escaped and were killed,
being probably eaten by the neighbouring blacks ; but
these were nothing in comparison with the number
of those that died from negligence and mismanage¬
ment. By the time I left the place, more than two-
thirds of the whole had disappeared. Round the
cages that contained the smaller birds I planted ivy
and several kinds of creepers, beneath which the
little prisoners hopped about and twittered, well
protected by a bower of natural foliage from the
scorching sun.
I have no space in which to enter upon a detailed
account of all the habits of the occupants of the
various cages. It was a great pleasure to me to
observe them for the best part of two years. My
surviving lion was especially attached to me, and
would always extend his paws to caress me whenever
I approached his cage, and it was only out of regard
to the nervousness of others that I did not venture
occasionally to allow him his liberty. I refused an
offer of 100Z. for him when he was five months old, but
by the time I lost him he had cost me double that
sum. I had occasion to go to the Free State for a
fortnight’s visit, and during my absence his cage
was allowed to remain so dirty, that when I returned
the poor beast was suffering from an illness too
far advanced to be arrested. Throughout its last
days I always went to see it as often as I re¬
turned from my rounds, and it never failed to start
to its feet with an alacrity that startled any visitor
who was standing by, and even when it grew too
weak to stand it would drag itself towards the
f f 2
436 Seven Years in South Africa.
front bars of its den the instant it heard my voice.
Though amongst my pets I had tame jackals that
were constantly running away and coming back again,
and affectionate little jumping-hares that allowed
themselves to be fondled like babies, none of them
could ever console me for the loss of “ Prince,”
my young lion, the pride of my whole collection.
Besides what I have mentioned, my menagerie
contained apes and baboons, hedgehogs, reed-rats,
a caracal, a mangusta, black and white striped
weasels, hyaena - wolves, mountain-hares, ground-
squirrels, striped mice, blind mice, pangolins,
several steinbocks, duykerbocks, springbocks, and
a rock-rabbit ; and amongst the birds I may
enumerate three brown South African eagles, a
crested eagle, two species of kites, red falcons,
various kinds of sparrow-hawks, secretary-birds,
brown and black vultures ( Gyps so^ialis), two kinds
of owls, parrots, black and white crows, grosbeaks
and insectivorous song-birds, a hornbill, a pelican,
a darter, and several varieties of wild geese
and herons.
By the beginning of 1877 I had finished all my
arrangements, and opened my exhibition of curiosities
in the public hall at Kimberley. It proved financially
a failure, and in spite of the co-operation of many
kind friends, I found myself out of pocket by the
transaction. In order, therefore, to meet my
liabilities and to forward my project of returning
for a time to Europe, I had to fall back upon
my medical practice with more assiduity than ever.
'Notwithstanding that the value of diamonds was
still further depreciated, as a consequence of the pro¬
longed drought the price of corn was much higher,
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 4 37
so that the cost of living was largely increased.
It was a great satisfaction to me that I was able
to purchase a horse. I was fortunate in buying
a good sound animal, that did as much work as the
whole three together that I had to keep in 1873.
Largely, however, as my business developed, and
beneficial as it was in replenishing my pocket, the
perpetual exertion told seriously on my health, and I
was obliged to seize an opportunity of taking a holiday
when most of my patients seemed unlikely to require
any immediate attention. I made up my mind to
visit Mr. Wessel at his neighbouring farm in the
Free State, where I was received with the most
liberal hospitality. While I was staying there
I saw a number of those remarkable carvings
on rocks done by the Bushmen, which had recently
been inspected by Stow the geologist, and by
Captain Warren.
Though the Bushman tribe is gradually dying
out, they are still to be found in certain parts
of Cape Colony, but remaining, even to the present
time, as impervious as ever to the influences of
civilization. Formerly they occupied the rocky
caves in the slopes from the heights,- both in the
colony and in the Free State. They are probably
the oldest inhabitants of South Africa; but now
one branch of them seems to have blended with the
Bantu families on the north, whilst another has be¬
come amalgamated with the Hottentots more to the
east. They hunt the game which they spy out from
their elevated resorts with the most primitive bows
and arrows ; but low as is the grade of their intel¬
lectual culture, they have the very wonderful art
of decorating the rocky walls of their dwellings with
43 8 Seven Years in South Africa.
representations of quadrupeds, tortoises, lizards,
snakes, fights, hunts, and the different heavenly-
bodies.
As the game became gradually destroyed by the
European colonists, the Bushmen began to make
raids upon the white men’s cattle, the result of which
was to pave the way for their own annihilation.
The true Bushman, as distinguished from the many
half-breeds, has a passionate love for his rocky
home, and whether he enters service by a voluntary
contract or under compulsion, he will take the first
opportunity of stealing a sheep and making off to his
beloved hills. Instances of periods of stipulated
service being faithfully fulfilled are very rare.
But as I have already intimated, these people are
not altogether of the low grade of humanity that at
first sight they appear to be, and a traveller may
penetrate far into Central Africa before finding
another tribe so skilful in its manipulation of stone,
and in the manufacture of vessels out of wood,
bone, or ostriches’ eggs ; but most remarkable of
all is the way in which, by the aid of the rudest
tools, they have adorned their primitive homes
with carvings that will long survive any produc¬
tions of their contemporaries, the Bantus and
Hottentots.
The drawings that are made inside the caves are
chiefly upon sandstone in ochre of various colours.
Stow, the geologist, has devoted a good deal of
attention to them, and has taken many copies of
the designs ; and if ever it be my good fortune to
recommence my South African researches, I hope to
bring away some larger specimens than my want of
proper tools enabled me now to obtain.
Vol. II.
ROCK INSCRIPTIONS t!Y BUSHMEN.
Page 438.
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields.
439
Besides the carvings that I collected, I succeeded
in getting several of the curious tools, consisting
simply of triangular pieces of flint, with which the
outlines of the engravings are cut ; these are like¬
wise used for several domestic purposes. Another
implement not uncommon among- them was a heavy
stone fastened to the thicker end of a pointed stick,
sometimes 3 feet long, though occasionally not more
than half that length, its use being either to dig up
edible roots, or to make holes in search of water.
Stones, it may be mentioned, are not unfrequently
found on which the engraving had only been partially
made, and where there has been an attempt to ob¬
literate the design by the application of emery and
another stone. In some cases the objects are
indicated only by lines of shading, while in others
they are chiselled entirely out of the rock. These
last are the most striking of all, and I believe that
the eighteen specimens that I brought home with
me from Wessel’s farm are unique in Europe.
Amongst the subjects are the bust of a bushman, a
woman carrying a load, an ostrich with a rider on
its back, an ostrich meeting a rhinoceros, a jackal
chasing a gazelle, but many of them are single
figures of cows, gnus, and antelopes.
In the course of my sojourn at the farm I col¬
lected a large number of insects, birds, bird-skins,
and plants, and before leaving my hospitable quarters
I was invited by the neighbours to join them in some
hunting-excursions. I went out twice, and on each
occasion we were accompanied by a party of horse¬
men, a number of natives on foot, and by a pack of
dogs. The object of the chase was to hunt hyaenas
and animals that live in holes in the earth, but, for
440 Seven Years in South Africa.
myself, I was desirous of obtaining some live porcu¬
pines, jumping-hares, and earth-pigs. The first
expedition was made by day. Those of us whawere
on horseback surrounded a rocky crag, and sent the
natives with the dogs to beat up the hill ; our success,
however, was most indifferent, as we discovered that
the hyaenas had been alarmed in time to make their
escape.
The second excursion was by night over a
district composed of grass plains studded with
bushes and ant-hills, and bordered, especially on the
east, by wooded crags. It was as beautiful a night
as I ever remember, the moonlight being perfectly
unclouded. I had been out inspecting the carvings
for a long time that day, and contemplated taking a
still longer ride on the morrow. I therefore left my
own horse at home, and was mounted on one that my
kind host had lent me, and that was well accustomed
to the locality. The dogs, of which every farmer
had contributed several to make up the pack, were
put upon the scent, and we had hardly been
galloping more than five minutes before we heard
them baying at the foot of a hill a little distance to
our right. We spurred on our steeds, but gave them
their heads, as they could see better than we could
the blocks of stone that lay on the ground among
the bushwood. We soon came up to the struggling
mass in the midst of which was an object that kept
glittering as it rolled over and over in the moonlight.
It proved to be a porcupine which the dogs were
rending to pieces ; in spite of the armament of
quills with which nature has endowed it, the porcu¬
pine has a remarkably fragile skin, so that it is easily
torn by any animal that once makes good its hold
Page 440.
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 441
upon it, and thus, although we dismounted without
loss of time and beat off the hounds, we were too
late to prevent the prey being lacerated, and it was
in a very mangled condition that it fell to the lot of
the fleet-footed Basutos.
Two more porcupines, a jumping-hare, and a
South African skunk, all had a similar fate, and then
the dogs took a circuitous route back again to the
hills, and started an earth-pig ( Orycteropus capensis).
To escape its pursuers, the creature made an effort
to burrow in the earth, and had partially succeeded,
when we came up to it. Our men did their very
best to secure it, but it rolled them over and over
like so many balls, and got clean away.
The earth-pig is undeniably the strongest of all
the edentata. Its body is long and round, and it
has long powerful nails at the end of its claws, of
which the sinews are remarkable for their strength ;
its fleshy wedge-shaped tail acts as a great support
to its body, and though it sometimes uses it as a
means of defence, it seems to be of most service
when the creature is bounding away in flight. The
tail likewise comes into requisition when, squatting
on its hind quarters, it digs away at an ant-hill, for it
is known to be one of the largest ant-eaters in South
Africa. Its skin is tough and bristly, defying the
fangs of the jackal, and it has a pair of long ears
that are keenly alive to sound. The skin is used in
the colony for making certain parts of harness.
Other enemies to ants are the short-tailed pan¬
golins, the hysena-wolf, the mangusta, and the
plover.
After our last failure we gave up our chase, and
rode slowly home; but my friends were unwilling
44 2 Seven Years in South A frica.
that I should be disappointed in my wish to carry
away with me some of their live birds and animals,
and subsequently assisted me in procuring a nice
collection, amongst them some weaver-birds, which,
however, did not live long.
During one of my rambles about the farm, I
caught sight of a cobra, five feet long, in a weaver-
bird’s nest. I was fortunate in killing it at my first
shot, and found that it had destroyed several old
birds and devoured a number of eggs.
The time of this last visit of mine to the diamond-
fields was a period of vast importance to South
Africa. Events were then taking place which, as
far as my judgment goes, could not have otherwise
than a wide influence upon the country generally,
especially with regard to the solution of the native
question ; I allude to the conflicts between the
colony and the tribes on the east, and those between
G-riqualand West and the tribes farther still in that
direction, all which minor conflicts were the fore¬
runners of a great Zulu war. Another disturbing
element was the annexation of the Transvaal by the
British Government.
My views upon this subject generally were stated
in a pamphlet which I put into circulation at the
time ; and as a great deal of what I then said has
actually come to pass, I hope I may be excused if I
here refer to that little publication, which was issued
not simply at my own option, but by the desire of
several influential men in South Africa, to weigh the
comparative merits of the several aspects of this
subject. “ Recent events,” I wrote, “ clearly show
that in South Africa, as in North America, England
has taken greater hold upon the continent than any
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields.
443
other colonized nation. Her mode of action has
been in many respects the same in either case, but
the native element here differs so much from that in
America that it was impossible for the same treat¬
ment to have a like effect. The European colonists
were ruled by two very opposite prejudices ; one
party, overlooking the fact that the natives had been
accustomed time out of mind to their burdens,
regarded them as wrongfully oppressed ; the other
party deeming all negroes as of so inferior a race
as to be scarcely human at all. Practical men who
by long residence in the country had gained some
insight into the native character, and who conse¬
quently took a more moderate view of the case, were
in so great a minority, both with respect to numbers
and position, that they were unable to exercise any
influence.”
When I wrote my pamphlet in 1875 I did not
know to how great an extent my ideas corresponded
with those of many experienced colonists, but ulti¬
mately these ideas seemed to gain such ground that
they became the basis of public questions.
There are certain tribes of South Africa who in
their intellectual development and adult powers of
comprehension seem to me to be about equal to
children of our own of six years of age ; and there
are tribes that, according to their varying degrees
of culture, possess separate tribal characteristics
just in the same way as may be noticed amongst
the individual members of a civilized family.
One tribe, for instance, will be remarkable for its
good-nature, one for its industry, and another for
its thievish propensities. Ho doubt these various
traits, as far as they are independent of association,
444 Seven Years in South Africa.
may be accounted for in a great degree by tbe larger
or smaller size of tbe brain.
Tbe Hottentots, Griquas, and Korannas may per¬
haps not inaptly be compared to children that allow
themselves to be attracted by anything that amuses
them, and clutch at whatever takes their fancy.
For this reason alone, in spite of anything they
may acquire of the mechanical arts of reading and
writing, they must be unfit to be admitted as yet
to the privileges of a civilized race. It seems to me
indispensable that before they can be held entitled
to the ordinary rights of citizenship they must be
cultivated to receive correct views about labour,
capital, and wages, to appreciate better methods of
husbandry and architecture, to take more pains
about the cleanliness of their persons, and espe¬
cially to recognize the moral principle that should
guide their transactions alike amongst themselves
and with the white men.
Hitherto the worst obstacle to civilization has
been superstition ; nor can I believe that much will
be accomplished towards the elevation of the natives
until they are brought to understand that the sup¬
ply of the necessaries of life is not dependent upon
the influence of magicians, fetishes, and rain-
doctors.
I ventured to point out to the Government that a
different future awaited the South African negroes
from that of the North American Indians, and that
accordingly we ought to protect them from some of
the abuses by which the latter were decimated.
For one thing, there ought to be restrictions put
upon the sale of brandy to the black population
in the colony; but more than this, there should
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 445
be an absolute prohibition of its introduction into
any of the adjacent native independencies. The
rulers of a few tribes are already rendering con¬
siderable assistance in this way by preventing the
sale of alcohol in any form upon their territory;
and I am glad to testify that in at least a part of
Africa the measure has been beneficial both to white
men and blacks. Beyond this, I pointed out that it
was necessary, alike for the Government and for
private individuals, to pay particular attention to
the separate characters of the tribes and of the
chiefs with whom they were holding intercourse;
and I went so far as to point out that the applica¬
tion of several native rulers to be incorporated with
the English colonies ought to be entertained with
the utmost caution.
The cases of Mankuruane, the Batlapin ruler, of
Sechele, the Bakuena king, and still more recently
that of the Damara people, and that of Khame,
the sovereign of the Bamangwatos, have proved
much of what I stated in my pamphlet ; and I am
now more than ever satisfied that the portrayal I
made of the Zulu character was in every respect
accurate. Whatever opinion I may once have held,
I have long ceased to think that after once quelling
the Zulu power it is desirable for Great Britain to
extend her colonial possessions in South Africa. I
am convinced, on the other hand, that it would work
far better for the interests of trade and for the
ultimate opening up of the continent, if one or more
commissioners, duly authorized, were maintained
permanently at the separate independent native
courts — arms and ammunition being, of course, ex¬
cluded as articles of traffic.
446 Seven Years in South Africa.
There has hitherto been an erroneous impression
in Europe that the English are greedy to devour all
the land in South Africa on which they can lay their
hands ; but the opponents and critics of their colo¬
nial policy do not seem to understand that in well
nigh every case the cession of the territory has been
made by voluntary surrender on the part of the
native rulers. Before I undertook my third journey
I entertained a very sanguine hope that there would
be a highway of commerce opened into Central
Africa, but my expectation all centred on the idea
that this was impossible until the entire district
between the Vaal and the Zambesi should be sub¬
jected to British rule. I see things now very
differently, and am consequently gratified to know
that in several instances Great Britain has declined
to annex native territories, even although they have
been ready to submit to her authority.
Just at the time when my pamphlet was written,
several of the native princes were, it was said, on
the point of making their spontaneous cession ; and
it was my desire to warn the Government to act
with caution in every transaction of the kind. I
said : “ Here is Mankuruane, the Batlapin king, with
one tribe, and here is Montsua, the Barolong king,
with another. They tell us that they want to be
numbered among our subjects, but before their re¬
quest is complied with they should be made to
declare whether it is by their own wish or by that
of their people that they seek to be reckoned as
British subjects ; they should be forced to confess
whether it was their friendship to the English or
their fear and hatred of other white men that
prompted them to make the proposal ; they should
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields.
447
be bound to declare whether it was not simply
because they were threatened by some neighbouring
chief that they sought English protection ; or,
again, they should be obliged to disclose the truth
as to whether there was a rival chief in the terri¬
tory whom it was sought to paralyze. Two years
after they had been annexed the Damaras acknow¬
ledged that they had had no other motive in seek¬
ing incorporation under the British sceptre, except
this last of getting rid of a rival chief. Further
than this, I beg to suggest the necessity, even after
the true origin of the proposal has been ascertained,
of making strict investigation into the character of
the chief and the grade of culture of the tribe,
before any treaty of affiliation is concluded.”
As I have already said the war with the colonial
Kaffirs broke out during my last stay in the Diamond-
fields, and Griqualand West became the scene of a
like misfortune. In both wars the right cause had
the victory. That the little colony of Griqualand
West, with its insignificant number of white men,
should have brought the conflict to so speedy and
satisfactory a termination with such slight expense
and trifling loss of life, was owing to two causes,
first, that the governor was an experienced soldier,
and secondly, that the Diamond-fields were occupied
by a brave and true-hearted population. The history
of the province during the last three years gives
ample proof of this, and I refer especially to the war
which it has had to maintain with the Griquas,
Masarwas, and Batlapins, under their chiefs Mora,
Donker-Maglas and others. These natives, who
have hitherto turned a deaf ear to the beneficial
precepts of the white man, being strengthened by the
448 Seven Years in South Africa.
addition of many foul elements, sucli as fugitive rebels
from the colony, and runaway thieves and other
criminals from the west, from Kuruman, and from
the farther side of the Lange-Bergen, had suddenly
fallen upon the neighbouring settlers, and after
massacring them, had ransacked their houses. These
crimes led to another war. The negro-robbers had
taken into account that Griqualand West could
receive no assistance from the colony, which was
already occupied with the Kaffir war, and they had
likewise reckoned that the thousands of natives who
were employed in the Diamond-fields would mutiny
at the same time, burn down the buildings, annihilate
the population, and carry off the booty ; whilst they,
the originators of the war, would meanwhile be
plundering the roadside hotels and stores, as well as
laying waste the farms.
I was myself a witness of the position of the whites
at that critical time. Fortunately the purifying
process that had been going on at the Diamond-fields
by the withdrawal of adventurers, had left few but
true-hearted men behind, and Major Lanyon, who
then represented the government, thoroughly under¬
stood the state of affairs. In Colonel Warren, who
has since succeeded as governor, he had an associate
who never shunned danger, and was always prepared
for emergencies. Thus by what seemed almost like
supernatural energy, Griqualand West was defended,
women and children were saved from destruction,
and the Europeans gained for themselves the respect
without which it is impossible to live at peace and in
harmony with the natives.
Major Lanyon issued an appeal in which he called
upon all the residents in the central diggings to
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 449
combine to protect their new home from destruction;
the result of this was that in a few days more than
six hundred men had come forward, all capable of
bearing arms, and ready to shed their blood for
their people. About two hundred of these were
volunteers, the rest were young men and diamond-
COLONEL WARREN.
diggers, who expressed a wish to be enrolled in the
civilian corps. Horses were purchased without
delay, and the men were drilled by day and by night,
the military instruction being given by diggers,
merchants, or any others who had been them¬
selves trained. The corps was further reinforced
by 400 Basutos. Setting out against the foe, they
VOL. ti. g g
450 Seven Years in South Africa .
surprised the natives in the midst of one of their
marauding forays, and drove them back to the hills.
What ensued was a sort of guerilla war. No
sooner forced to surrender one of their stone barri¬
cades, than seeking another from which they were
driven out as quickly, the natives at length had to
yield ; Colonel Warren had demonstrated that he had
all the talents of a general, and the men enlisted
from the diggings had proved that they well under¬
stood how to do their duty.
So successful had I been in my practice, that I
began to indulge the hope that I could start for
Europe in December, 1877 ; but when I came to
reckon up the actual cost of conveying my nume¬
rous large packages and my cases of live-stock, I
found it impossible to carry out my intention so
soon. The carriage of all the collection that I
had made on my two previous journeys had
already been generously defrayed by Herr Napr-
stek, of Prague, and the same kind friend now
again sent me 20 1, and the Vienna Geographical
Society remitted me 40 1., but this would be
barely enough to convey a waggon and my animals
as far as the coast. Under the circumstances I
came to the conclusion that I would postpone my
departure for another year, by which time I did not
doubt that I should have saved enough to cover all
the expenses of my passage, and to leave me a small
reserve fund in addition ; by carrying out this plan
I should also be travelling through the Orange Free
State and the east province of Cape Colony, at a
season when the best pasturage could be secured for
the bullocks.
I took an opportunity of sending on twenty-one
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 451
of my chests by a transport-waggon that went to
Port Elizabeth, where the Austrian Vice-Consul,
Herr Allenberg, stored them in his warehouses until
my arrival ; but it did not suit my purpose to travel
by such a conveyance myself, because I wished on
my way to stop wherever I pleased to make geo¬
logical and palaeontological observations, which
could not be done if I were to be hampered by the
proceedings of a driver who was not under my
own control.
Matters, however, turned out better for me
than I had anticipated. An unexpected and muni¬
ficent gift of 1000 florins from the Emperor of
Austria, 60£. from the Bohemian National Society,
200 florins from the cc Svatabor Club,” and a loan of
1000 florins from a kind lady patroness placed me in
a position to start as soon as I was disposed, and I
proceeded to quit the Diamond-fields six months
before the date I had fixed.
A series of mischances that befell me on my way
to Port Elizabeth made such unlooked-for inroads
upon my resources, that I again found it necessary
to stop, and betook myself once more to medical
practice at Cradock. The success that attended me
was so satisfactory that in August I was enabled to
resume my journey. To drive my waggon I hired a
man who had formerly been servant to a merchant
whom I knew at Kimberley.
My party was now increased by the addition
of three children, who were to accompany me to the
south. Amongst my numerous patients and ac¬
quaintances none had shown me greater attention
than my next-door neighbour at Bultfontein, and as
an acknowledgment of his good offices, I agreed to
G g 2
452
Seven Years in South Africa.
take one of his sons with me to look after my birds
and other pets, and to be instructed as soon as
possible in more important work. I promised that if
the boy turned out well, I would try and take him on
with me to be educated in Europe. In order that he
should not occupy too much of my time, and interrupt
me in my studies, a young Bechuana maid-servant
was sent to take charge of him. The third of these
young people was Philip Schneeman, about thirteen
years of age, the son of a Dutchman whose family I
had attended professionally for many weeks. Schnee¬
man had already shown his gratitude to me by
assisting me at every opportunity he could, and he
now entrusted me with his eldest son upon the
condition that in return for his services I should
make him an educated man. The father was one of
those unfortunate characters only too commonly to
be met with in the Diamond-fields, who having come
out with visions of wealth had met with nothing but
trouble and disappointment ; he considered he was
doing the best for his boy in engaging him to me,
but poor Philip, before he reached Cradock, had
begun to pine so painfully for his home that I had
no alternative but to send him back to his parents,
who meanwhile had settled in the Biirgensdorf
district. The other boy turned out so careless and
mischievous that I was only too glad to send him
away at the same time.
In concluding the narrative of my stay in the
Diamond-fields I cannot help expressing my gra¬
titude for the general courtesy of my patients,
and returning my best thanks to many other
residents for their kind advice, sympathy, and
numerous acts of friendship. I would not omit
Last Visit to the Diamond Fields. 453
to acknowledge the favours I received from the
editors of various newspapers, and I beg to thank
Miss Matilda Proksch, of Leydenburg, for the
revision of my articles inserted in the South
African English journals.
454
Seven Years in South Arfica.
CHAPTER XVII.
THROUGH THE COLONY TO THE COAST.
Departure from Bultfontein — Philippolis— Ostrich-breeding — My
first lecture — Fossils — A perilous crossing — The Zulu war —
Mode of dealing with natives — Grahamstown — Arrival at
Port Elizabeth — My baggage in danger — Last days in Cape
Town — Summary of my collections — Return to Europe.
Besides being de¬
layed in Cradock,
I was compelled
by various circum¬
stances to spend a
considerable time
in Port Eliza¬
beth, so that alto¬
gether my home¬
ward journey was
somewhat pro¬
longed.
Shortly after
leaving Bultfon¬
tein I had to
cross the Modder River, the passage being attended
with much difficulty. The river-bed is full of deep
holes containing numerous fish, and the entire valley
is really a channel worn by the rain in the soft soil.
Through the Colony to the Coast.
455
the steep slopes on either side being clothed with
trees and bushes that are the habitat of countless
birds. The prettiest part of the stream is at its
junction with the Riet River. As implied by its
name (Modder or Mud River) many places on its
bank are extremely miry, and so trying are these
spots to bullocks, wearied by their long journeys,
that not unfrequently they sink down and are unable
to rise again.
I just touched at Jacobsdal, which I found much
increased since my visit in 1872, and then went on
towards the little town of Philippolis. On my way
I passed the Riet River hotel. The old iron and
canvas erection had been replaced by a substantial
stone building, and I was quite astonished when the
landlord recollected me, asking me whether I had
not been there six years before with Mr. Michaelis
and Mr. Rabinowitz.
While staying at Kalke Farm I found a good many
oolitic fossils, which increased in number as I
went southwards. The bare, monotonous aspect of
the country made me aware that the district I was
approaching had been suffering from prolonged
drought ; it might literally be said to be scorched
up, not a single green blade of grass was to be seen,
and one uniform shade of brown overspread the soil
and rocks alike.
Through the courtesy of many of the residents,
my stay in Philippolis was extremely pleasant. I
made several excursions in company with Dr.
Knobel and Dr. Igel, and obtained some additions
to my collection. Amongst other things I secured
some live birds, and a full-grown springbock doe.
Mr. Schultze, a merchant, made me a present of a
456 Seven Years in South Africa.
beautiful quartz druse, which. I had noticed in his
drawing-room in 1872, but had not then the means
of purchasing. The postmaster, Mr. Forsterlein,
also gave me a very interesting object, a talisman
that had been given him by a Basuto doctor in ac¬
knowledgment of some service ; it was a tablet of
black wood about an inch and a half long, half as
wide, and about a third of an inch thick, in which
was set a piece of rock crystal. Some Basutos to
whom Mr. Forsterlein had happened to show it were
anxious to buy it, one of them offering two cows in
exchange.
After leaving Philippolis, I was for a few days
Mr. Schultze’s guest at his farm at Ottersport, where
for the first time I had an opportunity of seeing
tame ostriches* Now that the feather trade is on
the decline, it is less expensive to keep the birds in
this way than to hunt them wild ; and. they are bred
in such numbers in South Africa, particularly in
Cape Colony and the Free State, that in 1879 there
were at least 100,000 of them. Directly it is out of
the shell an ostrich chick is worth 5 1., a half-grown
bird varies from 20Z. to 50 1., and as much as 150Z.
has been paid for brooding-hens. Ostriches are
generally bred in the localities where sheep and
cattle-breeding has proved unremunerative.
The greatest difficulty that the ostrich farmer has
to contend with is the parasite plague. From five
to twenty-five per cent, of the birds each year die
from being infested by tape-worms, which swarm
in thousands and eat their way into the body ; a
great number of them are likewise attacked by pali¬
sade worms, occasionally a yard long, that gnaw
into the muscles of the heart. Not unfrequently the
Through the Colony to the Coast. 457
parasites take possession of the eggs before the shell
is formed ; and from an English newspaper that I
recently received from the Cape I learnt that some
ostriches’ eggs had been found quite full of worms.
Having crossed the river at Mr. Ross’s ford, I
arrived at Colesberg. Here I had so hospitable a
reception, that I did not like to refuse the request
made by a number of my friends that I would
deliver a lecture. It was the first that I had ever
attempted, but the result was so satisfactory that I
ventured to plead in this way for the opening up of
Central Africa from the south in some of the other
towns of the colony.
In company with Mr. Knobel I paid a visit to the
Colesberg hill. It is equally interesting to the
botanist, the geologist, and the zoologist. The
number of mountain-hares, rock-rabbits, birds of
prey, starlings, pigeons, snakes, lizards, spiders, and
other insects that I saw more than repaid the
exertion of the clamber.
Hence my next stage was towards Cradock, not
however by the shortest route, because of the parched
state of the district, but via Middleburg, so as
to find better fodder for the bullocks. The first
destination on the route was Kuilfontein, Mr.
Murray’s farm, where Mr. Knobel told me he had
seen some fossilized animal remains in a wall. I
obtained permission of the owner to take as much of
the wall down as I wanted, and found some fine
pieces of the skeletons of saurians embedded in
hard sandstone ; they belonged principally to the
dicynodon and to the lacertan and crocodilian
species ; besides these I discovered a fossil plant in
the grey sandstone overlying the dicynodon strata
45 8 Seven Years in South Africa.
that are common in the eastern province of the
colony. I stayed over a week at the farm, and so
pleasant was my entertainment, and so full of interest
my fossil investigations that I should have been
delighted to avail myself of the hospitable invitation
to remain longer, but I knew that in consequence of
the drought Mr. Murray was at a great expense in
buying food for part of his cattle, and in sending the
other part off to a distance where some grass sur¬
vived, and I would not permit myself to encroach
upon his kindness longer than I could help. My
host, during the time I was with him, took me for
several excursions around Kuilfontein, and I found
strata of clay-slate containing small mollusks, as well
as traces of huge lizards, probably dicynodons. The
only game that I saw was springbocks, bustards,
grunters, partridges, wild pigeons, and wild ducks.
On the farm itself I secured three of the herons that
are nearly tame, and build every year on the pastures
beside the springs.
The continuation of the extreme drought made
the latter stages of my journey to Cradock very
arduous. At Newport Farm I found some pretty
fossils, including some impressions of lizards. Here,
again, I had a hearty welcome, and was sorry not
to be able to accept an invitation to join a party
that was being arranged for gazelle-hunting and
fishing. The Newport Farm scenery is the best in
the Middleburg district, and I look forward to
making good use of a photographic apparatus on a
future visit.
My intention had originally been to stay only a
few days in Cradock to recruit my bullocks, all
of which were now very weary, a few of them
459
Through the Colony to the Coast.
haying succumbed to insufficient food. But, as I
have said, I found myself detained by a different
cause, and I had to apply myself to my old profes¬
sion to recover various losses that I had sustained.
I have a most grateful remembrance of the kindness
I received from many of the resident families, and
their cordiality did much to alleviate the temporary
difficulties by which I was harassed.
Before I finally made up my mind to settle for a
few months in the town, I remained quartered in
my waggon about half a mile further up the opposite
bank of the Fish River. I soon had about twenty
patients, and had to ride into Cradock several times
a day. My horse Mosco did me good service,
although on one occasion he very nearly came to
grief.
There were two rain-channels that had to be
crossed before arriving at the bridge; these were
more than three feet deep, and I was told that
after a very few hours’ rain they were filled with
the water that rushed down from the slopes
of the hills, amid a cluster of which the town is
situated. After fourteen months’ drought, when
I had been in my retreat about six weeks, there
came a succession of wet days ; the consequence
was that both channels were quickly filled with
muddy water, in one stream nearly red, in the
other nearly yellow. One morning at this time
I was summoned to the town, but patients
in such numbers had come to consult me at my
waggon that I could not set out until the afternoon.
The Fish River roared at my side, but I kept on my
way, and crossed the first of the little affluents in
safety ; but on arriving at the second I found a
460 Seven Years in South A frica.
group of nearly thirty people brought to a stand¬
still on its bank. They were for the most part
laundresses, who had gone out in the morning as
usual to the sulphurous springs, a mile or two
NARROW ESCAPE NEAR CRADOCK.
further up the river, but on their return had found
their progress arrested by the sudden rising of
the flood. I was greatly tempted to turn my horse’s
head round, and if I could have believed that the
case was of trifling importance, I should unhesi-
Through the Colony to the Coast. 461
tatingly have gone back ; but the account of the
symptoms that the messenger had brought inclined
me to suspect that the case was serious, and I felt
that I ought to persevere if possible. The torrent
seethed in front of me ; the red turbid stream
was certainly thirty feet wide, and its depth had
increased to quite four feet. Not far below was
a hollow, some ten feet in depth, and into this
the waters plunged in an angry cataract. I relied,
however, with all confidence upon my horse, and
urged him into the stream. Very few steps had he
taken before I felt him tremble, but at a word of
encouragement from me he went forwards again.
In order to avoid the cataract, I thought it best to
guide him a little to the right, but unfortunately the
stream proved to be violent beyond all expectation.
Mosco stumbled, but happily his head and mine
remained above water ; by a vigorous effort he re¬
covered himself, and after a fatiguing struggle
was nearing the opposite side, when again he missed
his footing, and came down upon his knees. I
momentarily expected to be rolled into the torrent,
but had the presence of mind to give my horse his
head ; one dash, and he fixed his forefeet into the soft
clay of the shore ; an instant’s pause, and with a
desperate bound he carried me safe to terra firmd.
It was during the time of my residence in Cradock
that the Zulu war, the most important event that
has occurred in South Africa for the last quarter of
a century, was going on. For the advancement of
civilization that war was a necessity, and it must
not be supposed either that it was a mere arbitrary
proceeding on the part of Sir Bartle Frere, or that
the British Government had no valid reason for
462 Seven Years in South Africa.
taking up arms. It was, I am convinced, the wisest
step that Sir Bartle Frere, as a statesman, could
have taken ; he foresaw the danger that threatened
the colony from Zululand ; he was perfectly aware
of Cetewayo’s warlike preparations ; and he knew,
moreover, that all the force that had been collected
was eager for a conflict with the whites. The
colonists in Natal, and the residents in the south¬
east of the Transvaal, had been perpetually com¬
plaining of the encroachments which the Zulus
made, whilst for the last ten years numbers of the
Zulus themselves had been taking refuge in both
these districts from the cruelty and oppression of
the king and the indunas.
If the English Government had not taken the
initiative, the whole horde of Zulus, bloodthirsty as
hounds, would have overrun Natal, and probably
20,000 lives or more would have been sacrificed.
Cetewayo had long made up his mind what he would
do ; his scheme might cost him many lives, but
hundreds and thousands of lives were of little
account to him considering the numerical strength
of his tribe as compared with all others ; it sufficed
for him to rely on the courage and daring of his
warriors, and thus he was encouraged to indulge
his one great vision of becoming master of Natal.
Had his venture proved successful, the first ter¬
rible result of the victory achieved by him would
have been a general rising of the adjacent tribes in
revolt against the white men.
I know indeed that there are many men both in
South Africa and in England who regard the Zulu
war as a great act of injustice, but I can only express
my conviction that the opinion they form is founded
Through the Colony to the Coast. 463
upon a complete misunderstanding of tlie character
of the natives as a whole, and of the Zulus in par¬
ticular ; I can only believe of them that they have
never been in contact with natives, so as to become
aware of the bare-faced line of action they pursue ;
and generally I should presume of them that in the
view they take they are blinded by the prejudice
that every negro is a poor oppressed creature, ever
ill-used, abused, and trampled on.
In England, after my return, I had several oppor¬
tunities of talking over this matter with various
influential people, and found that whenever I ex¬
pressed my belief that there was a happy future in
store for the natives of South Africa, my antici¬
pations were uniformly regarded with extreme
surprise. The general impression seemed to be
that the black man was becoming extinct as the
result of oppression, and that the outbreak of
the Zulu war was only an additional proof of
this. That there has hitherto been a failure in
the relations between white men and coloured
in so many places is, I conceive, attributable to
the entire misapprehension of the character and
position of the native ; either he has been treated
as a being scarcely endued with human quali¬
ties at all, or, by the opposite extreme, he has
been encouraged to regard himself as in every
respect the equal of his master. To give a negro
the rights of civilization, and to entitle him to
enjoy its privileges before training him to use
them aright, is only like treating a child as
though he were a full-grown man, and the result
has been to make him presume upon his alleged
equality to take up arms against his superiors.
464 Seven Years in South Africa.
Other things that have been very fatal to the
establishment of a proper relationship are the
introduction of alcoholic liquors, the spread of
contagious diseases, and the want of integrity on
.the part of those commissioned by the government
to open traffic with the natives, and who have
only too often consulted their own selfish interests
without the least regard to the welfare of those with
whom they were sent to deal. On this latter point,
however, as far as South Africa is concerned, there
is not much to be said ; the veracity of the reports
made by the commissioners can be easily put to the
test, and the slightest abuse of power is quickly
visited by chastisement. In the previous chapter
I have attempted to show that the authorities
are now in a fair way of understanding the best
mode of dealing with the natives. With respect
to the sale of spirits, we find, incredible as we
might have imagined it, that it has been prohibited
by several native princes, and that some of the
colonial governments have, if not forbidden, at
least limited the traffic with the independent
tribes.
With so warlike a people as the Zulus, a settle¬
ment of the question of their relations with the
colonists could not possibly be arrived at without an
appeal to arms ; and it has to be remembered that
it was a question as important to South Africa as
“ the Eastern Question ” to many of the European
powers. My long residence amongst many of the
tribes, and especially my peculiar sphere of work,
gave me repeated opportunities of seeing them in
different aspects, and of considering their relations
not only with each other, but with the English and
Through the Colony to the Coast. 465
Dutch colonists, and it was mainly on this account
that I ventured to publish my pamphlet and other
articles.
I am quite aware that this is hardly the place to
enter into any full details concerning the Zulu
war, of which the general history is universally
known, but I cannot forbear making one or two
observations.
The disaster that befell the British force at the
commencement of the campaign was, I think, to be
attributed first, to the mistake of supposing that
the Zulu method of attack would be the same as
that of the Kaffirs ; secondly, to the circumstance
that the numbers of the Zulu warriors had been so
much underrated that an insufficient English force
was brought into the field against them ; not that
Sir Bartle Erere was in any way responsible for
this, as he had already asked for reinforcements ;
and thirdly, that there had not been diligence enough
exercised in reconnoitring the country. But if the
defeat brought its indignity, it was soon obliterated
by the victory that ensued, when general, officers,
and men, regained their laurels in contending with
the most martial of African people upon the most
unfavourable of soils. It was the victory of Ulundi,
not any achievements of Sir Garnet Wolseley, that
was the crowning-point of the campaign, and I can¬
not but consider that it was premature on the part
of the English Government to supersede Sir Bartle
Frere, and to recall Lord Chelmsford, before the war
was actually at an end. The consequence has been
that the treaty made with the Zulus has not been
of a character to ensure a permanent peace with the
native element in South Africa.
h h
VOL. 11.
466 Seven Years in South A frica.
The truth of my convictions seems to me to be
borne out by the recent rising of the Basutos against
the Cape Government with respect to disarmament.
Had peace been concluded with the Zulus in strict
accordance with the general feeling that rules in the
colonies, the Basutos would never have ventured
upon rebellion; but the leniency of the policy
pursued by the Government towards the Zulu chiefs
was regarded by the other native tribes not in any
way as a generous forbearance, but as an indication
of weakness.
The object of disarmament, which undoubtedly in
some instances has answered very well, is twofold ;
its first design is to bring about peace in South
Africa ; its second to secure a permanent satisfactory
solution of the entire native question. By pur¬
chasing fire-arms of the people and refusing to sell
them any, it is thought that tribes warlike by here¬
ditary character, and tribes that have been rendered
warlike by the acquisition of guns, may be converted
into peaceful husbandmen and cattle-breeders ; the
process should be gradual, but the main object
being once attained, it might then be safe for
the Government to issue gun-licences to any indi¬
viduals who should require them for hunting
purposes.
On my way back to Europe I happened to fall in
with Lord Chelmsford and his staff; at my first
interview with him he thanked me for the candour
with which I had expressed my opinions during the
war. He was accompanied by Sir Evelyn Wood,
whose personal bravery has won for him a high
renown in the British army. This distinguished
officer was not a little surprised when I showed him
Through the Colony to the Coast. 467
some telegrams demonstrating that I had been in
direct communication with Natal all throughout
the campaign ; one of these contained the an¬
nouncement of his own victory over the Zulus at
Kambula.
I can safely say that since my return to Europe
my regard for South Africa has in no degree
diminished, in spite of the calumnies published in
one of the South African newspapers by Westbeech
and Anderson, although they, as well as the news¬
paper itself, applauded all that I said while I was
out there. It was gratifying to find that the most
influential of the papers had ,all reviewed my pro¬
ceedings with strict impartiality. I shall always
take a deep interest in the progress of the colony,
and cannot do otherwise than entertain a pleasant
recollection of the kindness I received from both
English and Dutch colonists. •
Before the war was over I had earned the means
I required for continuing my journey, and accord¬
ingly I proceeded towards Port Elizabeth. On
reaching Grahamstown I took up my quarters in a
house in Bathurst Street, where there was a yard
large enough to allow my horse and most of my
live-stock to run about. My brief visit was rendered
very enjoyable by the courtesy of many of the
principal residents. I obtained some interesting
natural curiosities, including a live lynx from Dean
Williams, and some trilobites from Mr. Glanville,
the curator of the museum. I also made several
additions to my collection of minerals, and procured
a number of exotics from the Botanical Gardens.
Of the live birds that I secured, three-fourths
died on the day that I went on to Port Elizabeth :
h h 2
468 ' Seven Years i?i South A frica.
an icy rain began to fall, and as we bad some miles
to- travel by road to the nearest1 station many of
my animals, in spite of my care, succumbed to the
inclement weather.
I arrived at Port Elizabeth in the evening of the
same day that I left Grahamstown. It was a great
pleasure to me to see the sea again, and throughout
MAIN STREET IN PORT ELIZABETH.
the six weeks that I stayed there I rarely allowed a
day to pass without riding out to Cape Pecif, or to
the mouth of the Zwartkop river or even farther, to
make collections upon the shore. I gave several
lectures in the town, for one of which I received 60/.
from the Chamber of Commerce. Much kindness
1 The railway is now open as far as Grahamstown.
469
Through the Colony to the Coast.
was shown me by the editors of the Eastern Telegraph
and the Eastern Herald, and several residents
took a warm interest in my scientific pursuits.
Mr. Holland pointed out to me, at several places
on the coast, piles of bones and shells, the
remains of the meals of the ancient inhabitants ;
but as my attention was only drawn to them shortly
before my departure, I had not time to ascertain
whether they had been accumulated by the Bush¬
men ; if not, I should be inclined to suppose they
must be the relics of some extinct tribe.
The twenty-one packages that I had sent on to
Port Elizabeth a year ago were all in good condition.
Those that I had now brought with me raised the
number to forty-seven ; and two more, subsequently
added at Cape Town, made a total of forty-nine to
be conveyed to Europe.
My intention was to take all my collection from
Port Elizabeth to Cape Town by the Union Steam¬
ship Company’s “ Arab,” and after staying at Cape
Town for a fortnight to proceed homewards in the
“ German.” Accordingly, after seeing all my bag¬
gage carefully stowed on board the little cutter
that acted as tender to the “ Arab ” — that lay at
anchor about half a mile out — I went back into the
town to pay some farewell visits. My consternation
may in a measure be imagined when returning a
few hours afterwards, I found all my cases piled up
promiscuously on the beach. The rope by which
the tender was being towed through the surf had
broken, and the vessel had been washed back to the
shore, but not until she had begun to fill with water.
The great wonder was that the craft had not
been dashed against the wooden landing-stage ; I
470
Seven Years in South Africa.
could not be too thankful that the collision had been
averted ; it would have brought all my labours of
the last four years to a deplorable end. I had pro¬
posed bringing my good horse Mosco with me, and
was much disappointed that circumstances prevented
me from including him with my general baggage.
As the “ Arab ” was bound to leave that day, and
it was too late for me to get my property conveyed
on board, I consented to go without it, leaving it in
charge of Herr von Mosenthal, the newly-appointed
Austrian Consul, who most kindly undertook to
have it forwarded to Cape Town.
The same cordial reception awaited me at Cape
Town as I had found at Port Elizabeth, and I
delivered several lectures, one of them before the
Philosophical Society, which, a year before, had
elected me one of their corresponding members. It
was here that I had the honour of an introduction
to Sir Bartle Erere and several of the members of
his staff ; I also made the acquaintance of many of
the most distinguished members of both houses of
the Cape Parliament, and of the leading scientific
men and newspaper editors of the place. All alike
entered warmly into my plans for the exploration of
Central South Africa, and for the opening up of the
great continent from the south. The very day that
I left Cape Town Mr. Brown did me the honour of
bringing forward a motion (which, at the desire of
the Government, was only withdrawn on account of
my departure) that my services should be secured for
making an investigation of the district between the
Yaal and the Zambesi.
I passed most of my time on the sea-shore, still
adding to my collection of fishes and sponges. Algoa
Through the Colony to the Coast . 471
Bay supplied me with numbers of cephalopods,
mollusks, sea-snails, aphrodites, and algae ; the
surrounding neighbourhood with a considerable
variety of plants and fossils.
Before finally quitting Cape Town I received a gift
of 40Z., which was very acceptable, as I had again
been compelled to spend part of the money that
I had reserved for my passage.
It was on the 5th of August, 1879, that I em¬
barked on board the “ German.” After an absence
of seven years, I had been drawn homewards by an
irresistible desire to see my kindred and friends.
Green Point and the summit of Table Mountain
faded from my view, and I was again upon the
bosom of the ocean that on my outward voyage
had so nearly cost me my life, but which now lay
calm and placid till I set my foot safely once more
on the soil of Europe.
1 would not omit to express my obligation to the
Directors of the Union Steamship Company, who
franked my baggage all the way from Cape Town
to Southampton, nor would I fail to acknowledge
the kindness of the Hon. Mr. Littleton, the son of
Lord Hatherton, who placed 100L at my disposal,
which materially assisted me in forwarding my
collection to Yienna.
My ethnological specimens collected from about
thirty 2 tribes of South Africa, and those of my natu-
2 These tribes include Bushmen, Hottentots, Fingos, Gaikas,
Galekas, Pondos, the southern Zulus, the northern Zulus (Matabele),
Basutos, the various Bechuana tribes (Batlapins, Barolongs, Ban-
quaketse, Makhosi, Manupi, Baharutse, Bakhatlas, Bakuenas,
Bamangwatos), the northern and southern Makalakas, Mashonas,
Manansas, Matongas, Masupias, Marutse-Mabundas, and Mankoe.
472 Seven Years in South Africa.
ral history collections amounted to more than
30,000 ; of these a selection of nearly 12,500 3 was
made, and by the permission of the Board of Trade
was exhibited in the Pavilion des Amateurs in Vienna.
The exhibition was open from May to October, 1880.
Of the live animals that I brought with me, I gave
the caracal, the two brown eagles, and a secretary-
bird to the London Zoological Society, and the rest
I took to Austria. I have already mentioned that
the Crown Prince Rudolph did me the honour to
accept the two royal cranes. My baboon, which
was remarkably tame, and a grey South African
crane I sent to the town council of Prague for the
public park, and I presented the dark-brown vulture,
and one of the long-armed Zanzibar monkeys to the
Physiocratical Society of that city.
I stayed several weeks in London, and contributed
a paper to the Royal Geographical Society. Many
kindnesses were shown me by various English
families, and I very gratefully acknowledge the
assistance I received in the transmission of my large
collection to my home.
3 Besides about 40 skulls, 134 pairs of antlers, and 70 ana¬
tomical or pathological curiosities, the exhibition contained 400
bird-skins, a fine group of 57 ostrich feathers, nearly 300 rep¬
tiles, 2056 insects (out of 18,000 collected and purchased), 782
mollusks, 933 of the lower orders of marine animals, 3328 dried
plants, 1138 fossils, and 720 minerals. The number of small
animals would have been larger, but many were spoilt by the bad
quality of the spirits of wine. The insects for the most part were
pinned out and arranged by Dr. Nickerle, of Prague. Except sixty -
four, which were given me, I collected the 3328 plants myself ;
I also found the 1138 fossils, except about sixty, which were
given to me by Dr. Reed in Colesberg, Mr. Murray in Kuilfonteiu,
Mr. Kidger in Cradock, and Mr. Cook in Port Elizabeth. There
were 365 sponges from Table and Algoa Bays.
Through the Colony to the Coast.
4 73
If my life and health be preserved, I have it
in my heart to return as soon as may be to the
scene of my researches. In the first place, I am
anxious to make a more accurate survey of the
places that I have already visited ; but more than
all, I am longing to extend to Central Africa those
investigations for which “ seven years in South
Africa ” have given me so much experience.
,
■
INDEX.
Acacias, i. 78.
Accidents, i. 3, 116, 129, 208 ; ii.
274.
Albert Country, ii. 194, 211.
Algoa Bay, i. 11.
Algae, ii. 185, 195.
Aloes, i. 410.
Alumba tribe, ii. 173.
Amulets, i. 332; ii. 327.
Anthills, i. 127, 313. __
Assegai-traps, i. 35 ; ii. 51.
Assegais, ii. 338.
Baboons, i. 74, 82, 85, 244; ii. 199.
Baharutse, ii. 22.
Bakuenas, i. 310, 316, 321 ; ii. 103.
Sale aria regulorum, i. 148.
Bamangwato district, i. 364.
Bamangwatos, i. 370 ; their history,
i. 376, seqq.
Banquaketse district, i. 304.
Baohab, ii, 53, 97.
Barolongs, i. 246, 269, 282, 294.
Barotse Valley, ii. 145.
Barwas, i. 345.
Basutos, i. 83, 214 ; ii. 143.
Batlapins, i. 119, 125 ; ii. 11.
Batlokas, i. 411.
Batokas, ii. 199.
Beads, ii. 351.
Bechuanas, i. 102, 315, 327, 392;
ii. 15.
Bee-hunt, i. 22.
Beetles, i. 161, 278; ii. 261, 360.
Beltong, i. 188.
Birds, varieties of, i. 105, 190; ii.
98.
Blessbocks, i. 146, 156 ; ii. 10.
Blignaut’s Pont, ii. 4.
Bloemhof, i. 143.
Bluewilde heest, i. 107.
Boers, i. 33, 43, 59 ; ii. 48.
Bogueras, i. 398 ; ii. 420.
Buffaloes, ii. 89, 246, 361, 364, 367.
Buisport, i. 413 ; ii. 25.
Bultfontein, i. 64; ii. 3, 431.
Bushbocks, i. 27.
Bushmen, ii. 435.
Bustards, i. 48, 267.
Canoes, ii. 119, 125.
Cape Town, i. 4, 7, 9 ; ii. 465.
Celestial phenomenon, ii. 363.
Cetewayo, i. 9 ; ii. 458.
Chelmsford (Lord), ii. 461, 462.
Chenalopex, i. 137, 275.
Chobe River, ii. 108, 121, 358.
Christiana, i. 141, 202 ; ii. 5, 428.
Chuai Jungmann, i. 276.
Chukuru, i. 417.
Chwene-Chwene, i. 411 ; ii. 423.
Cobras, i. 113, 234; ii. 440.
Coffeefontein, i. 49.
Colesberg, i. 38 ; ii. 453.
Conflagration, i. 223; ii. 155.
Cradock, i. 30 ; ii. 455.
Crane (S. African grey), i. 42, 183 ;
ii. 9 ; (royal or crowned) i. 148 ;
ii. 10.
Crocodiles, i. 408 ; ii. 32, 234.
Cucumber, i. 364.
Damara Emigrants, i. 25, 33.
Dances, reed, i. 295 ; kishi, ii. 168 ;
prophetic, ii. 170, 229; lion, ii.
476
Index.
254 ; boat, ii. 260 ; nuptial, ii.
262 ; Matabele war-dance, ii. 405.
Darters, i. 180 ; ii. 125, 245.
Deykah River, ii. 99.
Diamond fields, i. 50, 58, 65, 426 ;
ii. 430.
Dolos, i. 330, 350.
Dornveldt, i. 409.
Doves, i. 47.
Drought, i. 135, 222; ii. 44, 64, 97.
Drums, ii. 123, 171.
Dutch hunters, i, 389 ; ii. 96.
Dutoitspan, i. 51, 63, 209, 420.
Duykerbocks, i. 99.
Dwars Mountains, i. 412 ; ii. 25.
Eaeth-pigs, ii. 439.
Elands, ii. 49.
Elephants, i. 27 ; ii. 90, 92, 97, 107,
212.
Elephant-hunt, ii. 241.
Elephant-hunters, ii. 20, 82, 85, 123.
Euphorbias, i. 17.
Executioner (Mashoku), ii. 148, 226,
320.
Fan-palms, ii. 50.
Fauresmith, i. 43.
Fig-marigolds, i. 16.
Fish, i. 317, 405 ; ii. 30, 139.
Fishing, ii. 224, 288.
Fish River, i. 37 : ii. 456.
Fossils, i. 19 ; ii. 454.
Francis Joseph Valley, i. 365 ; ii.
416.
Francolin (S. African), i. 402.
Frere (Sir Bartle), i. 6, 9 ; ii. 457,
465. .
F unnel chasms, i. 169.
Gashuma Flat, ii. 105, 178, 183,
216, 373.
Gassibone, i. 132.
Giraffes, i. 343, 356.
Gnus, i. 107, 157, 188, 200, 271.
Gold-diggings, ii. 399.
Gong Gong, i. 108.
Gourd-shells, ii. 117, 335.
Grahamstown, i. 30 ; ii. 463.
Graves, ii. 6, 118, 218, 237, 315.
Griqualand West, ii. 445.
Griquas, i. 96.
Grottoes, i. 173 ; ii. 45.
Guinea-fowl, i. 159; ii. 30.
Hall water Farm, i. 192; ii. 5,
428.
Hartebeest, i. 227 ; ii. 63.
Harts River, i. 110; ii. 6, 428.
Heaths, i. 18.
Hebron, i. 62, 94, 125, 205.
Henry’s Pan, ii. 96.
Hippopotamus, ii. 128, 219.
Honey, i. 363 ; ii. 107.
Hooge veldt, i. 421.
Horse whims, i. 68.
Huts, Koranna, i. 97, 102; Gassi-
hone’s, i. 134; Barolong, i. 294;
Bakuena, i. 316 ; Masarwa, i. 347 ;
Bamangwato, i. 391 ; Masupia, ii.
121 ; Marutse, ii. 163.
Hysena-dogs, i. 302.
Hyaenas, i. 145, 255 ; ii. 29, 77.
Iguanas, i. 139.
Illness, i. 3, 357, 410 ; ii. 190, 270,
278 seqq., 285, 358.
Impalera, ii. 109, 121, 124, 358.
Ivory-traders, ii. 43, 84, 99, 177,
376.
Jackals, ii. 67, 73, 382.
Jacobsdal, i. 50 ; ii. 451.
Joubert’s Lake, ii. 425.
Kapella, ii. 138, 148, 238, 365, 373.
Karri-Karri Saltpan, ii. 55.
Kashteja River, ii. 133, 257.
Khamane, i. 385.
Khame, king of Bamangwatos, i.
335, 369, 377 ; ii. 35 ; his prohibi¬
tion of sale of brandy, ii. 42, 374,
376, 418; farewell visit from, ii.
421.
Khame’s Saltpan, i. 403; ii. 44, 421.
Khari, i. 377.
Khatsisive, king of Banquaketse, i.
291, 305.
Kimberley, i. 60, 67,
King-finch (Vidua Capensis)\. 178.
Kiri, i. 109 ; ii. 341.
Klamaklenyana springs, ii. 80,
Klerksdorp, i. 162.
Klipdrift, i. 10L
Index.
477
Kobuque Pass, i. 311.
Konana, i. 261.
Koodoo antelopes, ii. 68.
Kopjes, i. 64.
Korannas, i. 84, 96 ; ii. 5.
Kotlas, i. 318, 374, 394.
Lanyon (Major) ii. 446.
Leopard, ii. 413.
Leshumo Valley, ii. 178, 216, 353.
Letshwe antelopes, ii. 128, 244.
Libanani, ii. 380.
Libeko, ii. 140.
Likatlong, i. 118.
Limpopo River, i. 408 ; ii. 31, 421.
Linokana, i. 416 ; ii. 22, 424.
Linyakas, 330, 395.
Lions, i. 192, 262 ; ii. 27, 65, 69, 76,
90, 100, 179, 200, 249, 367, 407,
423, 433.
Litta or Lytta, i. 285 ; ii. 261.
Livingstone (Dr.), i. 314 ; ii. 103,
135.
Lizards, i. 392.
Lo Bengula, ii. 410.
Locusts, i. 75, 134, 199, 252.
London Geographical Society, ii.
468.
Lycaon f ictus, i. 301.
Lydenburg, i. 423.
Lynx, i. 309.
Madenassanas, ii. 82.
Mahura’s Town (Taung) i. 120.
Makalakas, ii. 31, 41, 44 ; Menon’s,
ii. 145, 383, 389.
Makalahari, i. 258, 364 ; ii. 11.
Makalolos, i. 379; ii. 143.
Makumba, ii. 107, 123.
Malau’s Heights, i. 286.
Malays, i. 7.
Malmani River, ii. 19.
Mambari, ii. 150, 293.
Manansas, ii. 106, 204.
Mankoe, ii. 237.
Mapani-tree, ii. 48.
Maquassie River, i. 150; hills, i.
192.
Maque plain, ii. 47.
Maritsana River, ii. 11.
Markets, i. 72 ; ii. 22.
Marutse-Mabundas, history, ii. 143-
146 ; culture, ii. 158 ; cleanliness,
ii. 233 ; character, ii. 294 ; religion,
ii. 300 ; manners and customs, ii.
302 seqq.-, industry and handi¬
craft, 332, seqq.
Masarwas, i. 345.
Mashukulumbe, ii. 258.
Masupa, i. 304.
Masupias, ii. 112.
Matabele Zulus, i. 380; ii. 59, 115,
205, 400.
Matebe River, ii. 24.
Matliutse River, ii, 396.
Matonga, i. 270.
Matsheng, i. 380; ii. 420.
Maytengue River, ii. 383.
Medical practice, i. 13, 45, 53, 92,
210, 424 ; ii. 425, 431.
Menagerie, ii. 431, 434.
Meliera Canorus, i. 239.
Menon, ii. 385.
Mimosas, i. 277, 288, 404.
Missionaries: Brown, i. 238; Webb,
i. 280, ii. 13 ; Price, i. 315 ; Wil¬
liams, i. 315 ; Hephrun, i. 373 ;
Mackenzie, i. 373, ii. 41, 417, 423,
424; Jensen, i. 417, ii. 22, 424.
Modder River, i. 46 ; ii. 451.
Moffat’s Salt Lake, ii. 11.
Moilo, i. 417 ; ii. 424.
Molapo River, i. 278 ; ii. 18.
Molema, i. 279 ; ii. 13.
Molema’s Town, i. 279 ; ii. 12.
Moloi, i. 334.
Molopolole, i. 310, 313.
Monkeys, i. 138 ; ii. 32.
Monomotapa, i. 196.
Montsua, i. 280, 291 ; ii. 12. 17.
Mooi River, i. 165.
Moquai, Sepopo’s daughter, ii. 144,
159, 219, 261, 281.
Morula-trees, ii. 391.
Moselikatze, i. 380; ii. 205, 392,
401.
Moshaneng, i. 294.
Moshungulu-tree, ii. Ill, 270.
Mosquitoes, ii. 286, 359.
Mountain groups, i. 293.
Mulekow, ii. 114, 207, 298.
Musemanyana, i. 251.
Mutshila Aumsinga rapids, ii. 273.
Myrimhas, ii. 137.
Kata River, ii. 64, 382.
Native question, views on, ii. 440.
Nautilus, i. 15.
Nectarinise (sun-birds), i. 29.
478
Index.
New Year’s Day, i. 354.
Night watch, ii. 26, 65, 86.
Notuany River, i. 408; ii. 24, 39,
431.
Oates, Frank, ii. 396.
Orange Free State, i. 59.
Orange River, i. 39.
Orbeki gazelles, ii. 105, 183.
Ostriches, ii. 49, 79, 81, 375, 453.
Otters, i. 177 ; ii. 120.
Pallah Antelopes, i. 409 ; ii. 200.
Panda ma Tenka, ii. 99, 180, 374.
Parrots, i. 286.
Philippolis, i. 39 ; ii. 452.
Plat Berg, i. 205 ; ii. 3.
Pniel, i. 94.
Port Elizabeth, i. 12 ; ii. 464.
Potchefstroom, i. 164, 422.
Puff-adder ( Viper a arietans) i. 406 ;
ii. 40, 94.
Puku antelopes, ii. 128.
Qttagga Flats, i. 251, 254; ii. 8,
427.
Quaggas, ii. 71.
Races of South Africa, i. 213.
Rain doctors, i. 330; their cere¬
monies, i. 337.
Rapids, ii. 272.
Reed-rats, i. 187.
Rhamakoban River, ii. 398.
Rhyzcena, i. 76, 143 ; ii. 67.
Rietbocks, i. 177.
Riet River, i. 46 ; hotel on, i. 49;
ii. 452.
Rock-rabbits, i. 305.
Rohlf’s Pass, i. 412.
Ruins, ii. 397, 406.
Salt, i. 198.
Saltpans, i. 76, 197, 276, 403 ; ii. 53,
72.
Sandy pool plateau, ii. 78.
Schneemann’s Pan, ii. 106, 372.
Schweinfurth’s Pass, i. 412; ii. 25.
Scopus umhretta, i. 112.
Sechele, king of Bakuenas ; history,
i. 314; visit to, i. 319; policy, i.
382, ii. 30; war with Bakh atlas,
ii. 422.
Sekeletu, ii. 143.
Sekhomo, late king of Bamang-
watos, i. 335, 368, 376, 389 ; ii.
42.
Sepopo, king of Marutse-Mabundas ;
change of residence, ii. 134; ap¬
pearance, ii. 137 ; supper with, ii.
141 ; dominions, ii. 147 ; pilfer¬
ing propensities, ii.149 ; interviews
with, ii. 150, 174; mode of chas¬
tisement, ii. 157, 245 ; revenue,
ii. 160 ; residence, ii. 165 ; labora¬
tory, ii. 167. ; band, ii. 137, 168 ;
wives, ii. 221, 231, 268 ; cruelty,
ii. 225, 329; officials, ii. 238;
council, ii. 240 ; magic, ii. 241 ;
unpopularity, ii. 284, 370 ; meals,
ii. 287 ; illness, ii. 291 ; medicine-
hut, ii. 328.
Sesheke, ii. 133, 140, 154, 282.
Sesuto language, ii. 147, 216.
Shaneng River, ii. 56.
Shasha Rivers, ii. 397.
Sheat-fish, ii. 30, 231.
Shoshon River, i. 364, 367.
Shoshong, i. 367 ; ii. 42.
Sirorume River, i. 405.
Skerms, ii. 190.
Skins, i. 152 ; ii. 342.
Snakes, i. 20, 79, 113, 234, 356, 406 ;
ii. 94, 440.
Soa Saltpan, ii. 57.
Springhockfontein, i. 130.
Springbocks, i. 31, 254; ii. 11.
Spitzkopf, i: 126.
Steinbocks, i. 99; ii. 67.
Storks, ii. 70.
Storm, i. 272 ; ii. 367.
Sugar-cane, i. 127.
Swallows, i. 164.
Table Mountain, i. 2.
Tamafopa Springs, ii. 86.
Tamasanka, ii. 380.
Tamasetze, ii. 93, 376.
Tati River, ii. 399.
Taung, i. 120, 235.
Tortoises, i. 105.
Transvaal, ii. 419, 426.
Tsetse fly, ii. 105, 183, 374.
Tsitane Saltpan, ii. 53.
Index.
479
Usnea, i. 25.
Vaal River, i. 61, 94, 219.
Yaalstone, i. 62, 205.
Vegetation on Ohobe River, ii. 111.
Victoria Falls, ii. 191, seqq.
Vlakvarks, ii. 375.
Wana Wena, ii. 319.
Warren (Colonel), ii. 446.
Waterbock, ii. 31.
Weaver-birds, i. 78, 122, 284.
Weltufrede Farm, ii. 20.
Wild dog, i. 301.
Wild goose, i. 137, 275.
Wood (Sir Evelyn), ii. 462.
YocHOMS„i. 258.
Yoruah Pool, ii. 86, 379.
Zambesi River, ii. 99, 108, 121,
125, 266.
Zebras, ii. 71, 74, 88.
Zeerust, i. 420 ; ii. 22.
Zizka saddle, ii. 19.
Zooga River, ii. 58.
Zoological Society of London, ii.
376.
Zulus (Matabele), i. 380 ; ii. 59, 205.
Zulu War, ii. 457.
Zuur Mountains, i. 24.
Zwartkop River, i. 14 ; ii. 464.
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