26th July, 1864.--On the banks of the Vaal, north of the river, I
outspanned at a very pretty open piece of ground; not a house, hut, or
living thing to be seen, except geese and ducks in the river, very tame
and easily shot. The banks are very steep and covered with fine timber
and bush. The water might rise forty feet and not overflow its banks.
There are many deep sluits along the banks, where waggons cannot cross,
therefore we have to go a long way round.
After travelling down the river for two days, we came to an old drift on
one of the small rivers which rises in the north, and nearly overturned
the waggon in getting through. There are some beautiful stones mixed in
the gravel on the banks, some of the agates are very perfect. On the
opposite bank was a small Koranna village, consisting of seven huts; the
men came out to stare, the women and children kept hid in their huts;
here my driver John became an important individual, for being of the
same tribe, although calling himself a Hottentot, he could speak the
same language, which was a succession of clicks with guttural sounds in
the throat, quite unique in the world's languages. From these people I
got my bearings, and found I was on the spruit called Scoon Spruit; here
I took my first observation in the Vaal below the upper sources of the
river.
The weather was very cold, sufficiently to wear great-coat. The
Korannas informed me through my John that the grass was scarce lower
down the river. How these poor miserable-looking people existed was a
puzzle to me, a few goats was all they possessed; half-naked, and what
covering they had was nothing but rags and skins.
The third day after my arrival I inspanned, and took a little exploring
expedition to the north of the river, crossing several small streams
where I could find a safe crossing, as there was no water in any of
them, except here and there in pools; the country open and uninviting.
In some places there were bushes and thorn trees, where I made a point
of outspanning for the night to shelter the oxen, and procure wood for
our fires; fortunately there were no cold winds, a perfect calm, and
sometimes the days were warm, but the nights cold. I spent some weeks
in going over the country, but as I proceeded westerly I found great
difficulty in crossing the many spruits and small watercourses, causing
much delay. At one of these where I was outspanned near a Kaffir kraal,
my driver, by accident, had, in making a fire, ignited the grass, the
only portion left from recent fires that had destroyed nearly every
blade in the district, which gave a cheerless and desolate appearance to
the country; but, before it had spread any distance, we managed to
extinguish it. The Kaffirs came running down from their huts, shouting,
but before they arrived the fire was out, otherwise it would have been a
serious matter with me, as it was the only grass they had for their oxen
and cattle; I might have lost all I had. When they came they saw it was
an accident, as it had destroyed several ox-reims that were lying on the
ground. To make all right, a present of tobacco and the purchase of
some brayed skins made us friends; money is not known to them; barter is
the medium of exchange.
[There are dreadful accidents at times from these fires, and, strange to
say, loss of life, although you can pass unscathed through the fire
anywhere, even on horseback, as the horses will face it. But in
attempting to beat out the fire people become asphyxiated, and so fall
and are burnt.]
Again I visit the Vaal, where I follow it down, keeping to good grass
until the spring grass comes, taking long rides over the country with my
rifle, as game was plentiful--blesboks and springboks, wildebeests, and
steenbok, which is a small antelope, with horns six inches in length,
very good eating when baked in an iron pot.
The country I have now treked over leads up to two very fine springs and
large vleis, which I find is the source of the Hart river, where
Lichtenburg now stands. I soon found lions and wolves were numerous; we
could hear them in the evening and at night, but had not seen any. Our
outspan on the Vaal is in a snug nook of the river, with plenty of trees
and bush, below where Bloomhof is now built. Wild ducks and geese were
so plentiful, that of the former I frequently at one shot brought down
six and eight, on the islands, for there are several, covered with trees
and bush, as also are both banks; the river is very pretty.
In the evening, after fishing a short time, I would return to the waggon
with six or seven large barbel, the tails reaching the ground when
carried over the shoulder on a stick; they are fat, with few bones; the
white or yellow fish is better eating but full of bones; much as I like
fish, I do not care for these. The Boers are very fond of them. They
are soft and tasteless; the eels are better. They grow to forty or
fifty pounds.
The river is about 150 yards broad when it is flooded, the water rises
in the narrow parts from thirty and sometimes fifty feet in height,
entirely submerging the tall trees growing on the banks; at these times
the water is composed of one-third mud, but when low, as it is now, it
is very clear; so much so, that I have frequently seen the iguana
walking on its bed at a depth of five feet; some of them grow to a great
size. I found three kinds, the very dark brown, the largest, measuring
from head to end of tail five feet; they are very destructive in the
farm-yards, visiting the fowl-roosts at night. I shot one a few nights
ago, with legs a foot in length. Otters are also plentiful but
difficult to find, their spoor was everywhere to be seen on the banks.
Ant-bears and spring-hares which resemble very much the kangaroo.
Meercats abound all over the Veldt; they are grey, some have very bushy
tails, others long and smooth, but along the river-banks they are red
with black tails. The armadillo is also found covered with large
scales, and when disturbed curls up similar to our hedgehogs. Snakes
are not visible yet, the weather is too cold. I have shot three
varieties of kingfishers, one very large and of a light grey colour.
There are many beautiful birds along the river-banks, also Guinea-fowl,
partridges and pheasants, consequently I vary my dishes. And with such
a variety of small game, such as jackals and tiger-cats, we find plenty
of sport.
_October 21st_.--I made a move down the river in the afternoon. A
thunderstorm came on in evening, and we had to outspan near a large
Koranna station, the nights closing in so quickly, and the road being
unsafe to travel in the dark. We made everything right before the storm
broke over us. We were close on the high banks of the river, thick with
trees and bush all round, not a safe place in a storm, but well
protected from the wind. The night was fearfully dark and rough, and I
had little sleep; the oxen breaking loose from the trektow, I had to
wake the boys to secure them. Soon after breakfast the whole Koranna
kraal turned out to come and stare at the white man; men, women, and
children, about seventy in all, as motley a group as could well be
found; some of a dark dirty drab, light-yellow, and blackish-brown, many
of the younger ones almost white and with rather pleasing countenances;
all of them in a half-nude state, the children entirely so. The
grown-up females had old and dirty Kaffir sheets thrown over their
shoulders and held in front; the men wear parts of what once were
trousers, but are now in rags, made of skin. I began to think I had
fallen into about as fine a nest of unwashed and half-starved rascals as
I could meet with in my travels; my driver, John, knowing their
language, could talk to them. My waggon was soon surrounded, each one
begging for a piece of machuku (tobacco), the women and children forming
a half-circle in front of the waggon, sitting down two and three deep,
all asking for tobacco. I gave some to the men, who commenced smoking
through bone pipes made out of the leg-bone of blesbok, about four
inches in length, in which they put the weed at one end and drew from
the other. One old shrivelled-up woman was persistent in her demand,
and got quite cross because I took no notice, and abused me in her
tongue, which I knew from her manner; I therefore would not give her
any. Sitting on my waggon-box in front, I looked at her, and putting my
thumb to my nose and extending my fingers in her direction, called forth
a yell from all the women and young ones; every one imitating my action
returned the compliment to me. Their action looked so ludicrous, I
could not resist bursting out into a hearty laugh; this exasperated them
the more; taking no notice of all this noise, they began to see it was
no use, therefore one by one came holding out her hand asking quietly
for a piece. I told John to tell them I would not give them any because
they abused me; they then came and wanted to kiss my hand. Finding they
could not do that, they kissed my coat, boots, anything they could touch
of my clothes; at last, to get rid of them, each had a piece given them;
then I was _everything_ that was good, and blessings came tumbling down
upon me wholesale. A large circle of the women was soon formed round
the fire in a sitting position, smoking away, about thirty, old and
young, the old Kaffir rags thrown on one side careless of results,
modesty being unknown. The men standing round or sitting beyond the
circle completed a group worthy a better artist than I am to give it
full effect, and in the evening the bright glare of a large fire,
bringing prominently into view the figures against the background
beyond, and many of the large stems of the trees and branches showing
out brightly, completed the picture. But the charm was broken by the
din and noise of the people, all talking, laughing, singing, and some
dancing. A happy people! no cares for the present or the future. This
sort of amusement went on until ten o'clock, then I gave my John orders
to clear them all off, for I wanted to sleep; any that remained behind
were to have no tobacco to-morrow; this had a magical effect, they
cleared at once, and silence reigned supreme, and the night passed away
in peace.
I outspanned at a sharp bend of the Vaal, on the fifth day from the
Koranna station, where there is a stony drift crossing the river to the
missionary station at Pniel, where Bloom and his people lived. In 1869,
extensive diamond-diggings were worked here, and many thousand people
were employed at Pniel and Klip Drift; both were very extensive camps,
the latter being the headquarters of the Provisional Government,
previous to the annexation of Griqualand West, when it received the name
of Barkly, and continued to be the headquarters up to 1875, when all the
departments were transferred to Kimberley.
_October 30th_.--I went down early in the morning to the drift, with my
span of oxen, to help a Boer, whose waggon had stuck in the middle of
the river, and his small and poor span could not move it. Fortunately
the water was very low, otherwise the great boulders that blocked the
wheels could not have been removed. His vrow and kinder (children) were
sitting in the waggon with their faces wrapped up, only their eyes
visible, a common practice with them when on the road. They are always
getting what they call sinkings (neuralgia). Having hooked on my
trektow with my span of fourteen, the waggon was brought out and up the
steep bank in safety, and outspanned a short distance from my camp. He
informed me he had come from the Free State, and was on his way
up-country for skins from the Kaffirs. The vrow was handed out of the
waggon, a camp-stool put for her, a fire made, the kettle put on for
coffee, and things made comfortable. We had some difficulty in landing
the vrow, she being rather stout and short, quite a genteel figure,
measuring, as correctly as my eye could judge, about five feet round her
waist; rather "off-coloured" complexion. Her principal occupation
seemed to be sitting on her camp-stool; she was not fit for active work.
The whole family was suffering from inflamed eyes, a common complaint
caused by dirt. So far as I have seen of the Boers, there is scarcely a
family without one of its members being so afflicted. This is purely
from never washing themselves; they have a natural horror of water
touching their persons.
There are many Hottentot, Koranna, and Bushmen living along the
river-banks; they have so intermixed by marriage that there is little
difference between them. Some are of opinion that the Koranna is the
true Hottentot, but the people, as a general rule, are taller and of a
lighter colour than the real Cape Hottentot, but as I have stated, from
their intermarriages it is difficult to draw the line. The Bushmen of
the north are much more distinct from those in the south. There are
also many of the Bechuana tribe living in small detached kraals, and
Bastards, so-called from being born of Dutch fathers and Hottentot women
in the early occupation of the Cape colony, and from the great increase
in their number they have become an important tribe, and are found in
all parts of South Africa. They do not differ from the Boers in habits
and customs, and when able build their houses similar to those of the
Boer. In fact there is but a slight difference between them,
particularly those who are living in the Transvaal. It is interesting
to study how the blood of a tribe or different nationality will show
itself after many generations; as an instance, in one family I am well
acquainted with, the grandfather is an old Boer, whose mother was a
bushwoman; his son married a Boer girl, and their daughter married a
German; the eldest son of this marriage was a half black; the second son
very fair, with light hair and blue eyes; the eldest daughter very dark,
black hair and eyes, quite half black; the second daughter very fair,
light flaxen hair and light blue eyes; the third daughter and third son
were both half black, black eyes and crisp black hair; the fourth son
again was fair. This family was the fourth generation from the black
and white marriage. I know of several other similar cases, and most of
the Transvaal Boers are of this breed.
_November 10th_.--I returned from a five days' trek down the river,
where the junction of the Hart river falls into the Vaal, and close to a
large Kaffir kraal, under the chief Jantze of the Bechuana tribe, and
found the old Boer outspanned at the same place; he was afraid to
proceed, having heard the Boers of the Transvaal were still fighting
amongst themselves, which had been going on for a long time, and which
was the reason of my leaving the country last October, causing me to
alter my plans, and on the 29th of November, 1864, I left the Vaal at
high drift for the north. Two days' trek over a stony road, between low
hills covered with vaal bush, which is in full bloom at this season of
the year, giving out a pleasant perfume, the leaves also being strongly
scented, and when boiled in water are sometimes used for tea.
Towards the Hart river the veldt is level, with several isolated ranges
of hills. At the west end of one there is a conical hill, formed
entirely of limestone and fossil bones, so blended together that it is
impossible to separate them--teeth, jawbones, and other parts of
animals, large and small, are found. The surrounding hills are of
sandstone formation, with large boulders of a bluish colour that overlap
them. I think there can be no doubt as to the origin of the formation
of this chalk hill, viz. by the action of the water when submerged in
the ocean. The bones and chalk, the latter being held in solution,
would be brought together and deposited in comparative still water by
the eddy formed by the current rounding the end of the adjacent hill,
but from whence the immense mass of bones comes is a question not so
easily solved; being of the same specific gravity they may have been
deposited in the eddy. I visited the hill several times in passing, and
spent many hours on its side and summit with my hammer breaking off
pieces to ascertain if any human remains could be found, but not being
an anatomist my labour was partly in vain. Of every piece of rock I
detached from the hill nearly one-half was composed of bones, all
perfectly white, the same as the limestone, and exceedingly hard. In
many other localities I have found masses of bones imbedded in
limestone; the former have been white, the latter of a dark greyish
colour, forming extensive caves, from which beautiful springs of
delicious water flow, showing that animal life existed prior to the
general configuration of the present earth's surface.
During my two days' journey from the Vaal river large herds of game were
seen in all directions, keeping me in the saddle all day to provide food
for the road. Lions, wolves, and jackals were heard nightly, and came
prowling round our camp at no great distance, but never came
sufficiently close to be seen. A few miles beyond the bone hill, if I
may so call it, we crossed the Harts river, a bad and muddy drift, where
there were many Kaffir huts. Ascending the hill beyond, I came to
"Great Boetsass," where the chief would not allow me to outspan, as he
said I had come for no good, being sent by the Boers of the Transvaal to
take down on paper all the watering-places; therefore I was detained
whilst he and his head-men held a kind of "raad" over me, to decide what
they should do. Finally they decided to send me out of the country in
the direction of Mahura's kraal at Taungs, the head chief of the
Bechuanas, with a guard of six men to see me clear, and put me in the
road, following me up for several miles; they then left me in the middle
of the veldt, without a road or anything to guide me. The chief would
not believe my statement. To have resisted would have been folly, as I
could do very little against a hundred Kaffirs. All the women and
children kept to their huts, the men assembled quite in a nude state,
except a small cloth in front, and were armed with assagais and
knobkerries. When I was leaving, they came demanding some tobacco; I
told them they should have none; if they had behaved well, I would have
given them plenty.
Finding these Kaffirs had been so badly used by the Boers, and not
knowing the English, they insulted every white man that came into their
country; and having heard very bad accounts of the people at Taung and
the villages around from the same cause, I determined, when the guard
left me, to strike across the country and give them a wide berth,
otherwise I might be detained again. Two years after, when visiting
this kraal, the chief, when he found out who I was, told me he was very
sorry he had turned me away.
After proceeding several miles we came to a single hut where a Bushman
lived, looking after a few goats, who directed me what course to take.
Giving him a little tobacco I proceeded a few miles to a thick forest of
trees, close to a pan of water, where I outspanned for the night. At
many of these pans, and when travelling over the country, I would pick
up flint implements that were lying exposed on the surface. On some of
the large rocks in out-of-the-way places, carvings of a variety of
animals, snakes, and men are occasionally stumbled upon in the stone
"koptjies," quite artistic in execution. The instrument must have been
of good steel to make any impression on the hard stone. I do not think
they are the work of Bushmen, as some suppose, but those who once
occupied this country in search of gold many hundred years ago, as there
is such extensive evidence in this country, in the old pits remaining,
of former workings.
_December 4th_.--Shot a fine hartebeest early in the morning from the
saddle, and after breakfast started with waggon, following a track
partly overgrown with bush, over an undulating country, sometimes
through a thorn country and Kameel-doorn trees, where thousands of game
were literally covering the open plains in every direction as far as the
eye could see. Blue wildebeest, blesbok and springbok, quaggas and many
other kinds; there was one drove of quaggas, at least a thousand,
crossing the path I was travelling, only a few hundred yards in front,
going at full speed, a beautiful sight.
Outspanning in the evening near a large pond, we disturbed, as we
approached, several hundred ducks, which kept us employed until dark in
adding to our larder. In the morning the Namaqua partridge in coveys of
twenty to a hundred came to water. They are the size of a dove; the
time to shoot them is when they are settling at the edge of the water
and when they rise; in two shots I killed fifty-four; they are called
also sand-grouse.
The next day I passed through a pretty country, well-wooded and low
hills, noted as the lion veldt; therefore I treked on to get clear of
the bush before night, and came to a very large brak pan, at least four
miles in circumference, called Great Chue Pan. On the bank was a small
spring of good water, and an open country, where we remained the night.
The oxen were let loose, and the horse knee-haltered to feed, before
making them fast for the night to the trektow, my invariable custom, to
prevent their straying; the loss of your oxen is almost death to the
traveller. They were feeding some distance from my camp, when they were
seen in full gallop coming to the waggon, and did not stop until close
home; we knew they were frightened by lions. At night, soon after dark,
we heard the roar of several, in the direction where the oxen had been
feeding. We made them fast round the waggon, and close in front
collected wood for fires, which we kept up all night; and all of us on
the watch with rifles, for they never ceased their roar, sometimes very
near, but being very dark and cloudy I could not see them.
As a book of reference, describing the physical geography of South
Central Africa, it is necessary in the first instance to give the
several river systems or basins comprised within this region; and,
secondly, to give the results of my explorations, not in consecutive
journeys, but in a detailed description of each separate region visited
from time to time, as I had frequent occasion to travel over the same
ground for the purpose of completing my labours, so that no portion of
any region should be left unexplored. For when such an immense area of
nearly 2,000,000 square miles has to be visited, to survey the whole
necessitates frequent visits to the same district, to be able to reach
those parts beyond. Consequently I have passed through all this region
many times.