IN NATAL--PREPARING FOR MY LONG-PROMISED EXPLORATIONS INTO THE FAR
INTERIOR.
As a colonial, previous to 1860, I had long contemplated making an
expedition into the regions north of the Cape Colony and Natal, but not
until that year was I able to see my way clear to accomplish it. At
that time, 1860, the Cape Colony was not so well known as it is now, and
Natal much less; more particularly beyond its northern boundary, over
the Drakensberg mountains, for few besides the Boers had ever penetrated
beyond the Free State and Transvaal; and when on their return journey to
Maritzburg, to sell their skins and other native produce, I had frequent
conversations with them, the result was that nothing was known of the
country beyond their limited journeys. This naturally gave me a greater
desire to visit the native territories, and, being young and full of
energy, wishing for a more active life than farming, although that is
active during some part of the year, I arranged my plans and made up my
mind to visit these unknown regions, and avail myself of such
opportunities as I could spare from time to time to go and explore the
interior, and collect such information as might come within my reach,
not only for self-gratification, but to obtain a general knowledge of
the country that might eventually be of use to others, and so combine
pleasure with profit, to pay the necessary expenses of each journey.
Such were my thoughts at the time, and if I could make what little
knowledge I possessed available in pursuing this course, my journeys
would not be wasted. My plans at first were very vague, but,
eventually, as I proceeded they became more matured, and having a
thorough knowledge of colonial life and what was necessary to be done to
carry out my wishes, I had little difficulty in getting my things in
order. Geology was one of my weaknesses, also natural history, which
were not forgotten in my preparations. The difficulty was, there were
no maps to guide me in the course to take over this wide and unknown
region; I therefore determined to add that work also to my duties, and
make this a book of reference on the Geography of South Central Africa,
and so complete as I went on such parts visited, as time and
opportunities permitted, as also a general description of the country,
the inhabitants, botany, and other subjects, and incidents that took
place on my travels through this interesting and important part of the
African continent, and so cool down a little of the superabundant Scotch
blood that would not let me settle down to a quiet life when there was
anything to be done that required action; for we know perfectly well
before we enter upon these explorations, that we shall not be living in
the lap of luxury, or escape from all the perils that beset a traveller
when first entering upon unknown ground--if any of these troubles should
enter his mind, he had better stay at home. But, at the same time, it
will be necessary to give some idea what an explorer has to undergo in
penetrating these regions, and also the pleasures to be derived
therefrom.
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture by the lonely shore,
There is society where none intrudes
By the deep sea, and music in its roar."
_Byron_.
It is a pleasure to be able to ramble unfettered by worldly ambition
over a wild and new country, far from civilisation, where the postman's
knock is never heard, or shrieking railway-whistles, startling the seven
senses out of your poor bewildered brain, and other so-called civilising
influences, keeping up a perpetual nervous excitement not conducive to
health. A life in the desert is certainly most charming with all its
drawbacks, where the mind can have unlimited action. To travel when you
please, eat and drink when so inclined, bunt, fish, sketch, explore,
read or sleep, as the case may be, without interruption; no laws to curb
your actions, or conventional habits to be studied. This is freedom,
liberty, independence, in the full sense of the word. With these dreamy
thoughts constantly before me, I determined to give such a life a trial;
consequently, without more ado, I set to work to provide myself with the
necessary means. Having heard, when travelling through Natal, that the
country a few miles beyond the Drakensberg mountains was a _terra
incognita_, where game could be counted by the million, and the native
tribes beyond lived in primitive innocence, I was charmed with the
thought of being the first in the field to enjoy Nature in all its
forms, and bring before me, face to face, a people whose habits,
customs, and daily life were the same to-day they were five thousand
years ago. What a lesson for man! With what greed I looked upon my
probable isolation from the outer world; craving for this visit to the
happy hunting-ground.
The first thing to be done was to apply to an old friend, living a short
distance from Maritzburg on a farm, who had been on several hunting
expeditions, and returned a few weeks before, with his waggon-load of
skins of various animals he had shot with his and his sons' guns, which
he spread out before me--one hundred and five--six lions, four leopards,
seven otters, eight wolves, fourteen tiger-cats; the remainder made up
of gnu, springbok and blesbok, and a variety of other antelopes, all
shot within one hundred miles from the northern and western border of
Natal, over the Drakensberg mountains, besides a heap of ostrich
feathers of various kinds--a goodly bag of a seven months' trip. The
result of my cogitations with him was the procuring of a waggon and
fourteen trek oxen, with the usual gear--a horse, saddle and bridle,
with all sorts of odds and ends for cooking, water-casks, food of all
kinds, flour, biscuits, bread, mealies for the Kaffirs, tea, coffee,
sugar, preserves, and other necessaries needed for the road. A safe
driver and forelooper, and an extra boy to cook and look after the
horse, besides three rifles (not breechloaders, they were not known in
Natal in 1860) and a double-barrel Westley Richards, and any quantity of
ammunition. These three boys were all Zulus, with good characters,
therefore could be depended on, which is a great thing.
Being a "Colonial" I was well up to African life and the Zulu language--
a great advantage in that country. All things provided, I took several
trips round the country in my waggon, up to August 1863, when I started
north.
_Twenty-five years ago!--a quarter of a century_! What changes have
come over South Africa in that time! Natal was little-known and
scarcely heard of in England. The white population did not exceed
one-half its present number of 30,000, and the greater part was overrun
by Kaffirs, who were Zulus, similar to those of Zululand. Game of
various kinds in plenty, lions were common, elephants, buffaloes,
elands, wildebeests, quagga, and other antelopes, were numerous on the
plains and long flats; leopards--here called tigers--wolves, jackals,
and other beasts of prey, were heard nightly in the bush; and in the
open rolling plains, under the Drakensberg range of mountains, that
flank the western and northern boundary of the colony, springbok and
blesbok, quagga and the gnu could be counted in thousands. Where are
they now? Cleared from the face of the earth by the rifle, so that
scarcely one is left, and those preserved that they should not be
entirely exterminated. Beyond that magnificent and grand mountain range
that rises in parts ten thousand feet above the sea-level, and extending
several hundred miles in length, rearing its noble head far up in the
clouds, and looking down as if guarding the beautiful and peaceful Natal
at its feet. The scenery, especially on the western side, taking in the
Giant and Champagne Castle and the lofty peaks to the north, few
landscapes on earth can compare with it. Here the wild Bushmen lived in
all their pristine glory; their home--the caves and kloofs in the gorges
of mountains--far away from any other tribe, living by their poisoned
arrows on game that comes within bowshot, and upon fruits and roots,
which will be more particularly described in another chapter. Where are
they now? Much like the game, exterminated by the rifle. They were
then a great pest to the colonial people who kept stock near the foot of
the mountain, for they would come down, after watching for days, mounted
or on foot, and steal the cattle, killing all they could not carry off.
These Bushmen became such a pest that it was necessary to hunt them
down. Two forces of a dozen men or more each were sent out under
Captains Allison and Giles, and they got on their spoor after they had
stolen a number of fine English-bred cattle and horses, many of which
when they first escaped to the hills were found killed, when unable to
keep up.
They tracked these Bushmen about on the hills in snow for some days, and
at last the two parties met, and just before dark saw the Bushmen's
fires in caves. The parties slept on the ground, and in the morning saw
a Bushman come out with a bridle to catch a horse. Suddenly, like
Robinson Crusoe, he stood aghast seeing their spoor, threw down his
bridle, and bolted to give the alarm. The Bushmen fought with their
poisoned arrows, and as their sexes could not be distinguished in the
bush, as they dress alike, all were killed, except one old woman, shot
through the knee, who rode in as if nothing was wrong with her. She was
cured, carried near to another tribe and turned out. No other Bushmen
were ever seen after that in Natal. Previously one lad was shot through
the shoulder and caught. He was never of any service, not even as an
after-rider, though a splendid horseman, being quite unteachable. He
never attempted to escape to his tribe, though he might easily have done
so; and when taken out to track them, and coming on their caves, he
broke their pots, a sign of displeasure among Kaffirs; and he said all
he wanted was, to catch and kill his mother.
Starting.
Before starting on my memorable expedition, I procured some sail-cloth,
to make a side-tent to my waggon, which formed a very comfortable
retreat for my boys on wet nights. My driver, a fine young Zulu, could
handle an ox-whip and give the professional crack to perfection. If not
able to accomplish this feat, they are not considered efficient drivers.
His name was Panda, after the great Zulu chief, and he was from all
accounts a descendant of that renowned warrior, his father having fled
into Natal some time before. He was now working to collect a sufficient
number of heifers together to buy his first wife, a young Zulu maid
living in a large kraal half a mile from his master's farm. The
forelooper, one who leads the two front oxen in dangerous places, and
looks after the span when in the Veldt feeding and assists in
inspanning, another fine young Zulu about eighteen, a handsome lad, was
named Shilling. The other and third boy, younger, also a Zulu, I named
Jim, as his other name was too long to use or recollect. After seeing
some of my friends and saying good-bye, we make the first afternoon trek
over the Town hill towards Howick, a very steep and stony road, full of
ruts made by the heavy rains, and out on the rising ground beyond; where
a magnificent view is obtained of the surrounding country and distant
hills, of which Table Mountain, some twenty miles on the east of the
city, stands out boldly in the landscape. There are several table
mountains in Natal, so-called from their flat heads. My object when I
commenced this journey was to push on with all speed to the foot of the
Drakensberg Mountains, a distance of over 100 miles, cross the Berg at
Van Reenen's Pass, and make for Harrysmith in the Orange Free State,
then determine where I should commence my journey of exploration. But I
did not reach the foot of the mountain until the 12th of September,
1863, having deviated from the main transport road to visit some farmer
friends, and take up one of the sons of an old "Colonial," who had lived
many years in the country as a stock-farmer, and who offered me his son
as a guide, he being well acquainted with the country and people I
proposed visiting. As he was a good driver and a good shot, as all
colonials are, I was pleased to have his company, and being young, only
seventeen, just the age to enjoy a rough and ready kind of life, it
suited me exactly, so John Talbot was added to my little family. This
detained me six days; as his mother wished to bake some biscuits for the
road, also bread, and get some butter and other good things, I was quite
agreeable to stay and go out with the old man to look up some game also,
to supply my larder. So whilst the mother and her pretty daughter of
true English blood, a year older than her brother John, were busy in the
house, we men were also busy outside with our guns; besides large game,
such as elands, koodoo, blesbok and springbok, we had excellent sport
with the shot-guns, there being plenty of hares, partridges, pheasants,
snipe, and ducks. The farm is situated on the Tugela river, and being
some two miles from the foot of one of the spurs of the mountain, was
out of the way of all traffic, and was as pretty a locality as any one
could desire to live in; there was any quantity of fish, consequently
there was no lack of fish, flesh, or fowl in this beautiful and quiet
retreat.
The second morning of my arrival there, Mr. Talbot and I, after taking
coffee, saddled-up, as the sun was just peeping over the distant
mountain tops in a blaze of gold and crimson light, with an atmosphere
pure and clear, casting a brilliant reflection on all around,--a
glorious sight to behold. This part of the world is famed for the
lovely and varied tints which the sun produces in the sky in rising and
setting, more particularly in the summer, forming celestial landscapes,
marvellous to look upon, and grand in the extreme. On leaving the
farm-house for our ride into the open plains to see if we could discover
some elands, we met a Dutchman on horseback, with the usual companion
rifle. After the morning greeting and shaking hands, he inquired if we
had seen any stray calves about; finding we had not, he suspected the
Bushmen had been down again from the mountains and had carried off two.
He informed us that a neighbour of his, another Dutch farmer, a week or
so before had lost some sheep, and he had traced them up into a deep
kloof of the mountain, and came upon a family of Bushmen in the act of
driving three of his sheep towards the hills, where he shot the two men
and took a woman and two children, and brought them to his farm, making
them drive the sheep back with them, and they were at his farm now.
Wishing to see them, we rode over, a distance of some seven miles, where
we found them confined in an outhouse, squatting on the floor, looking
anything but amiable; they were poor specimens of humanity. We had them
brought out for a closer inspection. The woman was not old or young, of
a yellowish-white colour, a few little tufts of wool on the head; eyes
she had, but the lids were so closed they were not to be seen, although
she could see between them perfectly; no nose, only two orifices,
through which she breathed, with thin projecting lips, and sharp chin,
with broad cheek-bones, her spine curved in the most extraordinary
manner, consequently the stomach protruded in the same proportion, with
thin, calfless legs, and with that wonderful formation peculiar to this
Bushmen tribe, and slightly developed in the Hottentot and Korannas.
The two little girls--the eldest did not seem more than ten or twelve--
were of the same type, the woman measured four feet one inch in height.
The old Boer wanted to shoot them, but his vrow wished to keep and make
servants of them. Their language was a succession of clicks with no
guttural sound in the throat, like that of the Hottentot and Koranna
tribes, but both languages assimilated so closely that it is clear the
Hottentot and Koranna have partly descended from this pure breed, for a
pure breed they are, and may be the remnants of almost a distinct race
that lived on the face of this earth in prehistoric ages.
The quarter of the globe in which they are found, at the extreme end of
a large continent, in a rugged and mountainous country, a locality well
adapted to preserve them from utter extinction, may be the cause of
their preservation; at any rate, there are no other people in the world
like them, and their having a language almost without words except
clicks, is a most peculiar feature in connection with this entirely
distinct race, and for anthropological science, these people should be
preserved, that is the pure breed, unmixed by Hottentot or Koranna
blood.
Leaving the Boer farm, after the usual cup of coffee, we skirted the
hills which ran out in grand and lofty spurs, broken here and there by
perpendicular cliffs, many hundred feet deep, clothed with subtropical
plants and shrubs, with beautiful creepers climbing among the projecting
rocks, and hanging in festoons, with crimson and yellow pods,
contrasting so beautifully with the rich green around.
We reached the head of one of the Tugela branches, one of the most
picturesque and lovely landscapes I have ever seen in Africa. The lofty
mountain range, 10,000 feet in altitude, forming the background, with
their peaked and rugged summits, fading away in the distance to a pale
bluish pink tint, with the nearer mountains, and a glimpse of a pretty
waterfall, with the richly-wooded foreground and placid stream at our
feet, completed a picture seldom to be seen. My friend and host, Mr.
Talbot, proposed a halt at this spot, therefore, selecting a fine clump
of trees to be in the shade, for although early in the spring, the sun
shining down upon us from a cloudless sky was unusually warm; we were
therefore glad to seek the shelter of the trees, off-saddle and
knee-halter the horses to feed, whilst we stretched ourselves on the
soft young grass to view the scene around and take our lunch.
As it was early in the day, we gave the horses a good rest, and then
saddled-up for our return journey. There were many small herds of
various kinds of antelopes, but too far away to follow. Springboks we
could shoot, but being so many miles from the farm, we waited until we
got within a reasonable distance to carry them on the horses, which as
we approached home we had plenty of opportunities of doing, and secured
three, two of which I made into biltong for the road. On arriving at
the farm, my boy Panda showed me a large snake, one of those cobra de
capello whose bite is very dangerous, sometimes causing death; it
measured five feet in length, and was killed in the house, which was
built with poles and reeds, called in the country a hartebeest house,
with several outbuildings on the same plan. They are made very
comfortable and snug within, but will not keep out snakes; most of the
cooking is done out of doors, where a fire is constantly burning: early
coffee about six, breakfast at eight, dinner at one, and supper at
sundown. This is the general custom on the farms. After an outing of
nearly twenty miles, we enjoyed our dinner of baked venison of eland,
with stewed peaches to follow, and good home-baked bread. As lions were
very plentiful, as also wolves and leopards, the farmers had to make
secure kraals for their cattle, sheep, and goats; the horses were kept
in sheds; and with these precautions it not unfrequently occurred that a
leopard, which out here is called a tiger, leaped the enclosure and
carried off a goat or sheep. A few weeks before my arrival here, some
wolves and hyenas broke into the sheep-kraal, killing seven, carrying
three half a mile away, where their remains were found next morning.
They make these attacks mostly on dark and stormy nights, when it is
difficult to hear any noise when shut in the house.
The next day my host, his son John, and myself, after breakfast
saddled-up, and with our rifles, started for the native location, which
is an extensive tract of country under the foot of the Berg, occupied by
the Zulus, who have large kraals and plenty of cattle, in order to buy
some young bullocks to break in for trek oxen. Visiting some on our
way, at one of which we off-saddled to rest, the Kaffirs coming out to
stare as usual, the young intombes (Kaffir maids), like their white
sisters, curious to see the strangers, came to look also. John and his
father being well known to them, we were asked in to have some Kaffir
beer. Some of the girls were very pretty, and we told them so, which
they took as a matter of course, and came forward that we might have a
better look at them, and seemed pleased to be admired.
Beautifully formed, with expressive countenances, tall, and carrying
themselves as well as if they had been drilled under a professional;
their constant habit of carrying heavy Kaffir pots of water, which can
only be done by walking erect, has produced this effect. One young
Kaffir was very busy making a hut for himself, as he was going to be
married. The care and attention he displayed on its erection, and the
ingenuity with which he interweaved each green stick, which was tied
with thin slips of skin, was most interesting, and he seemed quite proud
when praised for his good workmanship. One of the girls was pointed out
to us as his wife that was to be, a fine good-looking girl about
seventeen, ornamented with plenty of brass bracelets and beads, the
present of her _fiance_. They are not encumbered with much clothing,
being in a state of nature with the exception of an apology for an
apron, or frequently only a string of beads, two or three inches long.
Their huts and enclosures are kept clean and neat, and in every respect
as far as order and quietness are concerned, the Zulus may set an
example to many white towns. After purchasing a few Kaffir sheep, we
returned to the farm.
The 3rd of September, a lovely bright morning, two beautiful
secretary-birds came walking close past the farm,--they are preserved
for the good they do in killing snakes, therefore a heavy fine is set
upon any one shooting them; they are similar in shape to the crane, but
much larger, with long and powerful legs. It is strange to see them
kill a snake; one would think that with their strong horny legs and
beaks, they need only tread on and kill him with their beaks, but they
are evidently afraid to do this. They dart into the air and pound down
violently upon him with their feet until he is dead.
Shortly after breakfast, a Zulu girl came for work; she had run away
from her father's kraal, to escape being married to an old Zulu Induna,
living on the Bushman river, and had walked nearly forty miles across
the country to Mrs. Talbot's to escape the match. She told, when
pressed, that her father wanted to sell her for twenty heifers to the
old man, and she did not like it, as she liked a young Zulu, therefore
she fled from the kraal the previous day, and had walked that distance
without food, avoiding other kraals, fearing the people, if they saw
her, would send her back, and she begged the "misses" would let her stop
and work for her. She was a very fine young girl, apparently about
seventeen, tall, and well-made, and very good-looking, without ornaments
or anything on her in the way of clothes. The "misses" soon found an
old garment to cover her nakedness. Poor girl, she is not devoid of
affection, as this action of hers shows. I fear there are many
similarly situated, both white and black. So Mrs. Talbot had compassion
and employed her, and she turned out a very good and useful help. The
Zulu war was caused by a similar occurrence, two girls having taken
refuge in Natal, whence they were fetched out and killed by the Zulus,
who refused to give up the murderers.
Some few days after, we were all sitting under the shade of the trees
close to the house, taking coffee, when four young Zulu girls came, each
carrying a bowl on her head, full of maize, to exchange for beads and
brass wire to make bracelets, as all outlying farmers keep such things
for payment. Their ages might be about fifteen. One of them had her
woolly hair in long ringlets all over her head, and seemed to be a born
flirt, her manner was so coquettish; all of them were very good-looking,
as most of them are when young.
I told them if they would give us a dance, I would present each with a
kerchief. This gave much satisfaction, and they commenced their Zulu
dances, singing, laughing, and playing tricks, in their native way.
When it was over the kerchiefs were given, which they fastened turban
fashion round their heads, then marched up and down, much pleased with
their appearance, showing they are not devoid of vanity. Savage or
civilised, woman is woman all over the world. Most of the Kaffirs
living in Natal belong to the Amalimga Zulus, those in Zululand to the
Amazulu family. Sixty years ago there were cannibals in Natal, in the
mountains. I was shown the spot and tree, by an old Zulu, where the
last man was cooked and eaten. At that time the country was infested
with hordes of wild Bushmen, of the type before described, who had their
stronghold in those grand old mountains that skirt the northern and
western boundary of this fair and beautiful little colony--the cannibals
were not Bushmen; and also with wandering tribes of the Amagalekas,
Amabaces, Amapondas, many of them travelling west, and who settled on
the Unzimvobo river, and along the coast in Tambookie and other
districts, and remained in a wild and savage state up to within thirty
years of the present time; then it was a howling wilderness, swarming
with lions, leopards, wolves, and other beasts of prey; only a few years
ago lions were very numerous. The landlord of the Royal Hotel at Durban
told me a lion came into his yard in the daytime, leaped into an open
window and seized upon a fine hot sirloin of beef that was on the table
with other good things prepared for a dinner-party, and quietly walked
off with it. At the present time (1860) up in these parts they are to
be seen daily, and great care is required to preserve the oxen and other
animals from falling a prey to their nightly visits. Only three weeks
back a farmer on the Tugela had one of his horses killed and partly
eaten before morning. The horse was made fast in a shed, a short
distance from the house; it appears there were several lions from the
number of footprints to be seen in the morning. The Kaffirs forgot to
fasten the door at night. Almost every evening we hear them.
A Lion in a Dog-cart.
As an instance of their boldness at times, for, generally speaking, they
are cowardly, the following was related by Mr. Botha, a respectable,
educated Boer farmer, and is quite true. It happened to his uncle.
"_Journal_.--Apes river, between Pretoria and Waterborg. Arrived at the
Outspan, remained until next night at twelve, then started the waggon
off on the springbok flats (twenty miles without water). The party
consisted of L. Botha, P. Venter, and the servants, one waggon with
span of sixteen oxen, one cart and two horses. Venter and Botha
remained at the Outspan place with the cart and horses and a bastard
Hottentot boy called Mark, twelve years old.
"The waggon had been gone half-an-hour when they heard the rattling of
wheels in a manner which made them think that the oxen must have had a
`scrick' (scare) from a lion, as that place is full of them. Mark, who
was sleeping alongside the fire, was called up to bring the horses. The
lazy fellows there won't do anything themselves, not even when there is
a `scrick' from a lion. They were soon going to render assistance to
the waggon, going at a jog trot (even then they did not hurry), when
Mark, who was on the front seat, called out, `Baas, de esel byt de
paarde' (`The donkey bites the horse'), and immediately the cart
stopped, and a lion was seen clasped round the fore-quarters of the
favourite horse. Before the gun was taken up, down went the horse;
meanwhile the gun was levelled at the lion, but the cap missed. Another
was searched for, but it would not fit, as it was small and the nipple a
large military one (so like a Boer!). The lion now was making his meal
off the horse, lying at his ease alongside the splash-board, eating the
hind-quarter, Botha trying to split a cap to make it fit in vain; so
Venter took the gun, and Botha made up powder with spittle to make it
stick, and Venter was to take aim and Botha to do the firing with a
match. Just as it ignited, the lion sprang right into the cart between
them, and gave Venter a wound on the head and scratched his hand with
his claw, and bit off a piece of the railing, sending the gun and Mark
spinning out of the cart, and with that force that the lion fell down
behind the cart. He then came round, as fast as he could, on to the
dead horse, and continued his feed; but, not in the same cool manner,
but making a growling, like a cat with meat when a dog is near, and now
and then giving an awful roar, which made the cart, men, and all shake
again. The other horse, which is a miracle, stood quite still, never
attempting to budge an inch. After the lion had fed he went away, and
Botha got out, intending to unharness the remaining horse, but no sooner
was he on the ground than he heard the lion coming on again at full
speed. He threw himself into the cart, and the lion stopped in front of
the living horse, which tried to escape but was held fast by the
pole-chain after breaking the swingle-trees. The lion gave one jump on
to the horse, and with one bite behind the ears killed him. Botha was
lying on the front seat, with his legs hanging down alongside the
splash-board, when the lion came and licked the sweat of his horse off
his trousers, but did not bite, Botha remaining quite still, which was
the only chance, in the dog-cart from ten o'clock, when first attacked,
until near daybreak, when the lion left; you may imagine what Botha felt
as he looked at his two valuable hunters. Soon a waggon came along and
took on the cart, when their driver told them that, soon after he left,
suddenly the oxen bolted for some distance, but luckily in the track, by
the driver cracking his whip on both sides of them, which, no doubt,
kept off the lion also, who was galloping alongside." This is a most
remarkable case of boldness in a lion, when not wounded.
The South African lions are not nearly so fierce and plucky as the
Syrian, and they are often very cowardly. A Hottentot relates that he
once came on a lion asleep, and put his elephant "roer" at his ear, when
before he fired, he heard klop! klop! and the bullet, which had been
secured only by a loose paper wad, rolled down and dropped into the
lion's ear, who jumped up and bolted!
There are a few herds of buffaloes in the Bush, but they are very wild
and dangerous to approach, having been so much hunted. I have seen them
tamed and inspanned with oxen. Elephants are seen no more in Natal.
The Berea, near Durban, which is an extensive Bush country, was a
favourite resort for them, and the hippopotamus is becoming extinct in
the rivers. There are five preserved in the Umgeni river near Durban,
off a sugar estate; one had disappeared for some time, and then came
back with a calf. This "Hero" must have swum 100 miles by sea into the
Zulu country after her Leander. There are also a few in the Upper
Umgeni, near Maritzburg. I have been told by many Zulus that they have
seen them leave a river, go out to sea and follow the coast down until
they arrive at another river and enter it, and some of the old settlers
have confirmed it.
The coast is much more tropical than the up-country. Fruits, such as
guava, citron, lime, tamarind, loquat, lemon, orange, banana, pineapple,
figs, grow to perfection. Also peaches, and apples, and every kind of
European vegetable. The coast is favourable for sugar, tea, coffee,
tobacco, indigo, arrowroot, ginger, all kinds of spices, and the
cotton-plant has just been introduced on the coast, but it failed, owing
to the aphis fly; the castor-oil plant and the aloe grow to a great
size. There is also some very fine timber, particularly in the kloofs
amongst the hills. Coal, in seams eleven feet thick, exists in the
Newcastle district, as the name denotes. Iron abounds all over the
colony. Altogether, Natal is a very pleasant colony to settle in; the
climate is everything that can be wished. The two principal drawbacks
are the annual grass-fires, destroying everything as they sweep over the
country, killing all young forest trees, and making the grass of a
coarser texture; and there are sometimes many months of drought. But
these are not confined to Natal; the same drawbacks pervade every part
of South Africa, even up to the Zambese, and the long drought that lasts
for months is more common towards the western portion of the continent
than it is on the east coast. The summer being the rainy season makes
it pleasant, though the lightning is terrible, and dangerous to a degree
which, perhaps, does not exist anywhere else. The most dangerous are
the dry storms.