Christmas day, 1863; on the banks of the Tugela river, Natal; 96 degrees
in the shade, 149 degrees in the sun; 9:30 a.m.; a cloudless sky, with
scarcely a puff of air to relieve the oppressive heat. No greatcoats,
thick gloves, mufflers, or snow-boots are needed on Christmas Day in
these southern climes. The thinnest of thin clothes, and those but few,
can be worn with comfort. I envy the native tribes their freedom from
dress in such weather. But so it must be, I suppose; we are but
children of circumstances, and must abide by the rules of society. Not
always. The celebrated Mr. Fynn went naked among the Kaffirs for years,
as also did Gordon Cumming.
But with all this glorious sunshine, sultry and Oppressive atmosphere,
Christmas is not Christmas as we know it in Old England, where friends
meet friends in all the warmth of overflowing love and hospitality round
the well-filled board, and the social gatherings round the hearth, with
song and dance, and Christmas-tree. We live in its memory when it comes
upon us in this far-away land, hoping against hope that at its next
anniversary we may be united again with those dear to us, and join in
the festivities of merry Christmas in our native land. Father Frost,
with his snow-white mantle, is a welcome guest at this season of the
year; without him we know not what real Christmas is.
In this warm clime we endeavour to realise that Christmas is upon us,
but how can we reconcile the fact with the thermometer at noon standing
106 degrees in the shade, flies, ants, mosquitoes, and countless other
insects buzzing round you, fighting after your food and filling the
dishes, until you can scarcely make out what is in them! Such is
Christmas in a subtropical land.
However, with all these drawbacks, my friends on the farm, who were
colonists of eight years standing, did their best to keep up the old
customs; their two daughters and one son--all born in England--with
myself, and the old people, comprised our little family party.
Plum-pudding, mince pies, venison, and fowls were served up in the old
style, with good English bottled ale, and sundry fruits afterwards. We
managed to pass away Christmas Day with many pledges of good luck and
success to all absent friends in glasses of some real old whisky which I
had in my waggon. Two Zulu girls attended, with a bunch of long ostrich
feathers each, to keep off the flies during meals, otherwise flies as
well as food would have passed into the mouth.
But the day was not to terminate as brightly as it commenced. Soon
after four p.m. dense clouds were rising over the lofty Drakensberg
mountains in heavy massive folds, rising one after the other in quick
succession, spreading out, expanding over the clear sky above,
enveloping the mountain tops, blending together earth and sky, a grand
and beautiful sight, with the quick flashes of lightning and the distant
rumble of the thunder. We watched with intense interest and admiration
its rapid approach until we were warned by the hurricane that preceded
it that the house was the safest place. Having made everything fast
without, we waited its arrival. Those who have never witnessed a
tropical thunderstorm can have but a faint idea of its violence, and in
no place in Africa is it more so than in Natal. They are renowned for
their rapid appearance and destructive effects.
[Fourteen soldiers were struck in one room in Natal, some men and two
officers on parade another time; whole spans of oxen are often struck,
the lightning running along the trek-chain. A woman woke up one
morning, and found that her husband had been struck dead by her side
without her knowing it.]
At half-past five it was at its height; the lightning was incessant and
thunder continuous; the rain falling not in drops but in sheets,
flooding everything. Shortly after six it was passing away to the east,
the rumbling of the thunder growing fainter, until a calm succeeded, and
the sun shone again in all its brightness, and the evening passed away
as serenely and calm as if there were no such things as storms, the only
evidence left being broken branches of trees, and every hollow full of
water. However, this did not prevent our finishing up our Christmas
amusements. I arranged to remain here until after the New Year, and
prepare for my long journey to regions unknown. A driver and two boys
had to be looked up.
On the farm was a middle-aged Hottentot, who had been a driver to a
transport rider. Mr. Talbot told me I could have him if he would go,
being trustworthy as far as blacks can be trusted. When spoken to on
the subject he was all eagerness to be engaged, as driving was his
legitimate work. Consequently John was engaged forthwith, and told to
look out two boys to go with us. He said he knew two good boys in
Ladysmith if I would let him go and get them, which I agreed to, and in
five days he returned with two very likely lads who were used to waggons
and anxious to be engaged--ten shillings a month and food. So far all
was settled. The next step was to get my things from Maritzburg; this
entailed a waggon journey.
Nearly every day we had thunderstorms, coming on in the afternoon,
lasting nearly two hours, but not quite so violent as the one described,
though severe enough, in their passage over, to make us glad when they
had left us, as the lightning is most destructive and dangerous. We had
a very narrow escape on our return journey from Maritzburg. We were
treking past Doornkop, a lofty hill on the left of the road. A
thunderstorm was gathering; consequently, anxious to outspan before it
burst upon us, we were whipping up the oxen to reach an open space, when
a flash descended perpendicularly, striking the road not twenty feet
behind the waggon, where a few seconds before we were passing over. If
our pace had been the slightest slackened, our lives would have been
lost; as it was we felt the effect of the electricity for some days
afterwards. When storms are prevalent, never outspan near trees or
stony koptjies; the latter seem to attract lightning more frequently;
where it strikes on the stones it splits them into several pieces.
A slight description of my travelling-house may give greater insight
into African travelling. My waggon measured seventeen feet in length
and five feet in width. In front is a waggon-box for holding such
things as are required for immediate use, and also for the driver and
another to sit on. Six feet of the front I reserve for my own special
use; boxes arranged on the bed-plant, full of grocery and other things,
upon which, a thick mattress and bed-clothes. On one side boxes are
arranged to form tables for writing or drawing. Around the sides of the
tent are side-pockets for holding all kinds of useful articles--
powder-flasks, shot, caps, brushes, books, tools, and other things
required at a moment's notice. On each side of the waggon my rifles,
shot-guns, and revolvers are conveniently slung, that in a moment either
of them can be in the hand, three on each side. The back part of the
waggon is kept for bags of flour, meal, bread, water-casks, and
everything needed for the road. My driver and boys sleep under the
waggon or in the tent, as they may think fit. Such is my
travelling-house. Therefore, when on the trek, I am independent, asking
no favours of any one, and far from civilisation I am at home and want
for nothing, a grand thing for one who is going to explore unknown
regions, on the dark continent of Africa, where the white man's foot has
never trod. What a field is before me!
On the 18th of March, 1864, having everything prepared, I started from
the farm, after many farewells and good wishes for my success. I left
with regret, feeling I had departed from true and valued friends, who
had, to their utmost ability, helped me in my undertaking.
My oxen well rested, and horse fat and saucy, I had nothing to wish for
but health and fair weather. The first part of my journey was back to
Ladysmith, then on to Newcastle, crossing the Biggarsberg range of
hills, going over the same ground I had recently travelled, and I
arrived there on the 28th. My object was to make for the upper source
of the Vaal river and commence my work at that point, but I found so
much opposition with the Boers against my taking drawings on this second
trip, that I changed my plans and settled to proceed to the westward and
commence my surveys beyond their boundary, and finish the upper portion
of the Vaal at some future time. Therefore I retraced my steps back
from the upper Vaal by the road. I took the former route to Harrysmith;
from thence treked across the Free State, a most desolate and
uninteresting country, and reached the Vaal river, which I crossed below
Potchefstroom, where I began my work, arriving on its banks on the 25th
of July 1864. I have therefore omitted any reference to the country
through the Orange Free State because I have nothing to relate, except
that a more bleak, cheerless region could not be found; always excepting
Walwich Bay, Angra Pequina, and the back of them. Every day's trek like
the other, shooting game, inspanning and outspanning; most monotonous to
one wanting to arrive at the unknown region.
At the Boer farms I came to the people were very civil, and supplied me
with milk, eggs, and butter _if they had any_; but few made any; if they
did, it was only sufficient for a meal, the churn being an ordinary
glass bottle, which is bumped on the thigh until the butter comes.
At one Boer farm in Natal, very early in the morning, the old man was
turning out of bed when he opened the door which led into their
principal sitting-room; the family, sons and daughters, were still what
may be termed in bed, if sleeping on skins on the floor with old
blankets and skins covering them, and in thin day dresses, can be called
so, except the boys minus their coats, and the girls their frocks,
without shoes or stockings, because they never wear them, except they go
a-visiting. The old man asked me in and to take a seat. After the
usual questions put and answered, a tall, well-grown Zulu girl brought
in a wooden bowl with some water, and placed it on the table, with a
small rag beside it. The old Boer got up from his chair, went to the
bowl, and began to rub his hands, then his face, wiping them with this
rag, which I afterwards found out was called a feod-hook. After the
Boer, his three sons went through the same operation, and then I was
invited to do the same, from which I politely excused myself, stating I
had washed at the waggon. The four girls and the rugs had disappeared
into the inner room. I was then about going to my waggon, when the old
man told me to "sit," coffee was coming, and presently the same Zulu
girl brought in a cup of coffee for each. She was as black as she well
could be, and without a particle of covering of any sort. The Zulu
girls, as a general rule, wear some little bit of rag at their kraals,
but this one had nothing. I found the Boers do this on purpose to show
them they are an inferior race, and to keep them under. At many of the
Boer houses I found their female servants were in the same way, as they
have a wonderful prejudice against the black races, and treat them as
dogs; and I found out afterwards that all Boers' servants were slaves,
and received no pay, their food being mealie, Indian corn, and milk.
And as the boys and girls grew old enough to marry, any number of
children would be seen on a farm.
On the whole, the Boers are kind to the Kaffirs, and are liked by them,
because, though strict and sometimes cruel, they treat them more
familiarly than we do. There is not such a gulf fixed between them as
with us. Then, as to slavery, the work is light, and they have enough
food, all they care about. In short, it is very much the same as in
America formerly; there are good and bad masters, and the Kaffirs who
work are really happier than those who are idle. Slavery is really
extinct in Natal and the Cape, and rapidly becoming so in the Boer
States.