The great annual "trek" of springbucks began, and Namies fell into a
state of ferment. For about a week small droves of bucks had been seen
passing to the westward. One morning clouds of dust were noticed
arising into a windless sky about ten miles away to the south. By this
it was known that the "trek" had really begun, and that the drove of
game was passing unusually far to the northward. Within an hour after
sunrise the Wagons were emptied of their contents, whilst every male of
European descent above the age of ten was furbishing up a gun.
All sorts and conditions of firearms were to be seen, from the
flint-lock of three-quarters of a century ago to the modern Martini and
Express.
Breakfast over, the wagons, drawn by teams of oxen which had been
standing in the yoke since early morning, moved off towards different
points on the trek-line. No horses were taken; a waterless country was
now to be entered, and a horse becomes useless in hot weather after a
day and a half without water. On the other hand, an ox can endure
thirst for a week without becoming incapable of work.
Each wagon carried a couple of small kegs of water, a pillow-case full
of Boer biscuits, a small bag of ground coffee, and a kettle. The more
luxuriously inclined among the hunters took with them karosses, made of
the skins of fat-tailed sheep, to lie under at night. The majority,
however, took nothing whatever in the way of bedding.
As the wagons cleared the circle of low kopjes it could be seen that the
trek was an unusually large one. As far as the eye could range from
north-east to south-west the horizon was obscured by rising clouds of
dust. Here and there in the immense vista, a particularly dense cloud
could be seen ascending slowly. This indicated a locality where a mob
of more than average compactness was pressing westward, impelled by the
strange trek instinct.
Old Schalk was a keen sportsman--as that term is understood among the
Trek-Boers. In fact the "trek-bokken" were the only things he ever got
very excited about. Sitting in his chair--which had been tied in the
wagon--and accompanied by a youth whom he had provided with an old gun
and some ammunition, and who had agreed to give up half of what he shot
in payment, he was drawn towards the trek as fast as a fresh span of
oxen could go with the almost empty wagon. Besides his gun Old Schalk
took two large "slacht eizers," or iron traps--cruel things with toothed
iron jaws that would smash the leg of a horse.
As the wagons approached the immense drove the dust began to die down,
for the tired bucks had paused for their regular rest during the heat of
the day. Far away could be seen dense white masses, between which
light-coloured dots were thickly sprinkled.
The springbuck is pure white on the belly and flanks, and has a mane of
long, white, hair extending from the root of the tail to the shoulders.
This mane is usually concealed to a great extent by the fawn-coloured
ridges of hair between which it lies. It can, however, be erected at
will to about five inches in height, and extended to about six inches in
breadth. The sides of the animal are a light fawn colour, upon which
lies a horizontal stripe of dark brown about two and a half inches in
width and extending from the shoulder to the flank. The horns, shaped
like the classic lyre, are about eight inches in length, and are ringed
to within a couples of inches of the tip. The animal stands about two
feet nine inches in height at the shoulder, and weighs about ninety
pounds when fully grown.
Seen at a distance, or when the sun is shining against them, the
springbucks appear to be white all over. It is in the early morning, or
when running away from or in circles around a bewildered dog--deceived
into the idea that it is about to succeed in catching the lissom
quarry--that the springbucks are seen at their best, and in their most
characteristic attitudes and movements. Then the spine becomes arched
until the nose almost touches the ground, the mane of long, stiff, white
hair expands laterally, whilst every fibre stands erect and apart. As
the animal careers along with the appearance of a bounding disc, its
feet are drawn together and it sways, like a skater, first to one side
and then to the other--some times to an angle of thirty degrees from the
vertical.
There is something inexpressibly sad about the fate of these hapless
creatures. Beautiful as anything that breathes, destructive as locusts,
they are preyed upon by man and brute in the illimitable wilderness--
even as the great shoals of fish are preyed upon by their enemies in the
illimitable ocean. The unbounded Desert spaces, apparently meant for
their inheritance, hold for them no sanctuary; the hyaena and the jackal
hang and batten on the skirts of their helpless host; the vultures wheel
above its rear and tear the eyes out of the less vigorous which lag
behind. Sportsman and pot-hunter, Boer, half-breed and Bushman, beast
of the burrow and bird of the air, slaughter their myriads; but still
the mighty mass assembles every year and surges across the Desert like a
tempest in its travail of torture. Why should all this loveliness and
symmetry have been created in such lavish prodigality only to be
extinguished by a slow process of agony and violent death?
For if there be any design anywhere in Nature's so-called "Plan," the
Desert was meant to be the inheritance of these animals. They were
developed under its conditions, its sparse and tardy products are for
them all-sufficing; they were in harmony with their ungracious
environment until man came to disturb the balance. The semi-civilised
human beings who are superseding the springbucks are, physically, and,
_pari passu_ mentally, deteriorating under the conditions subject to
which the latter flourished.
Within a measurable time the lyre-shaped horns strewn thickly over the
veld will be the sole remaining sign of a vanished race, for the
springbuck will inevitably become extinct in Bushmanland, as the bison
has become extinct in the North American prairies.
The "trek" is due to the instinct which impels the does to drop their
young somewhere upon the eastern fringe of the Desert, which extends,
north and south, for several hundred miles. This fringe is the limit of
the western rains. These fall between April and September, when the
Desert is at its driest, and bring out the green herbage necessary for
the new-born fawns.
As the area over which the bucks range becomes more and more
circumscribed, the trek, although the number of bucks is rapidly
diminishing, becomes more and more destructive, owing to its greater
concentration. The fawning season over, the herd melts slowly and flows
gradually westward, until some night distant flashes of lightning on the
cloudless horizon indicate where--perhaps hundreds of miles away--the
first thunderstorm of the season is labouring down from where its bolts
were forged in the far, tropical north. Next morning not a single buck
will be visible--all will have vanished like ghosts, making for the
distant track of the rain.
The wagons were drawn for some little distance into the course of the
drove, and halted a few miles apart. Then the oxen were unyoked and
driven back towards Namies.
Immediately there began a great and ruthless slaughter. Whilst trekking
the bucks are very easy to shoot; in fact, if the trek be a large one
there is no sport involved in killing them, for they press blindly on,
only sheering off slightly to avoid an enemy. They become bewildered in
strange surroundings; their only impulse is to surge forward in a
flood-tide of destruction and beauty.
From right and left could be heard the dropping shots--some far away and
some near--each the death-knell of one of the loveliest of created
things. The Boers had crept out for some distance from the wagons, and
each had taken up what he considered a favourable position. Here he
cleared a circular space about ten feet in diameter by pulling the
karoo-bushes, roots and all, out of the sand. The bushes were then
piled around the space cleared until a low, inconspicuous fence, about
nine inches in height, was formed, the root-ends of the bushes lying
inwards.
Behind this fence the hunter lay prone, peering over it now and then to
mark the approach of the game, which wandered aimlessly about, singly or
in small groups. Whenever a buck approached to within a few yards of
the scherm, the occupant, with unerring aim, would send a bullet through
some vital part, and the animal would fall, its companions scattering,
often only to get within range of another scherm. The karoo-bushes grow
to a height of about a foot; consequently the dead bucks were usually
concealed from view. If one lay unduly revealed, the hunter would creep
out and strew a few bushes over it, thus hiding it effectually.
At evening the Hottentot servants drove in the oxen, inspanned them to
the wagons, and drove out to the various scherms for the purpose of
bringing back the game to the different camping-places. The carcases
were then split down in front and laid open in the cool night air.
Old Schalk, on account of his weak legs, was conveyed by wagon right to
the spot where he decided to establish his scherm; then the wagon moved
back for a couple of miles and the oxen were outspanned. He laid
himself down comfortably in his scherm, where he kept a Hottentot boy to
attend him. Under his large body was a sheepskin kaross, for he
believed in doing his shooting, like everything else, comfortably. The
two terrible traps were brought into requisition. By means of the
united exertions of Old Schalk and the Hottentot the springs were forced
back and the frightful jaws laid open. Then the traps were carried out
and carefully set, one on each side, and half buried in the loose sand.
They were placed each about a hundred yards away from the scherm, and a
troop of bucks would sometimes pass over one or other of the intervening
spaces. Under ordinary circumstances no buck would tread upon so
unusual looking an object. At a shot, however, the frightened creatures
would spring into the air in different directions, and in the confusion
one would perhaps alight on the engine. Then the horrible jaws would
snap, and the poor animal, held by the sinews of a shattered limb, would
roll over and over on the sand, bellowing in agony.
At nightfall the herd suddenly began to move on once more, in obedience
to some mysteriously communicated impulse. All night long the muffled
thunder of their hoofs could be heard, whilst clouds of dust hung
motionless in the dew-damp air. Now and then the faint shock of a
distant gun discharge could be distinguished above the sound of the
trampling. In their mad career some of the larger and more consolidated
troops would rush to within a few yards of a wagon before they became
aware of its presence. Then the mass would open out slightly and flow
onwards in a divided stream, which, however, would reunite a few yards
farther on. On occasions such as this the Boers or their Hottentot
servants would shoot into the dense multitude, sometimes killing or
wounding three or four bucks at one shot.
Old Schalk now set a trap at each side of the wagon, and the Hottentots
had to get up several times in the night to cut the throats of the
captured animals and reset the engines.
Early in the morning the wagons were sent back to Namies loaded with the
slaughtered game. Late in the afternoon they returned empty, to go back
again on the following morning with a fresh load.
For three days and nights the trek was at its height; then no more dense
troops were to be seen. For a week or more, however, plenty of
profitable shooting could be had at the stragglers.
At Namies the Boer women and children were busy cutting up the carcases
and converting the meat into "bultong." From each haunch the bone was
removed, whilst the meat which lay thick along the back where the ribs
join the spine was cut out in long strips. All the meat was then
slightly sprinkled with salt and left to lie in heaps for twenty-four
hours. After this it was hung for a few days upon lines slung between
the ribs of the mat-houses and the laths of the wagon-tents. Then, if
the sun did not shine too fiercely, it would be hung out in the open.
After a few weeks of such treatment the "bultong" is fit for use, and if
stored in a dry place may be kept for an indefinite time. This
substance forms the staple animal food of the Trek-Boer for the greater
part of the year.
The skins were pegged out on the ground to dry; then they were stowed
away in heaps, afterwards to be "brayed" soft, sewn into mats, and
bartered to the Jew hawkers.