To start for the hunting-field at seven in the morning in a carriage and
six, smacks of royalty and sounds luxurious, but in South Africa there
are drawbacks connected therewith.
Hobson's farm is, as I have said, on the Karroo--those vast plains which
at some seasons resemble a sandy desert, and at others are covered with
rich verdure and gorgeous flowers. They are named after the small,
succulent, Karroo-bush, which represents the grass of other plains, and
is excellent food for cattle, sheep, and ostriches.
These plains embrace a considerable portion of the territory of the
Cape. The Karroo is pre-eminently lumpy. Its roads in most places are
merely the result of traffic. They, also, are lumpy. Our carriage was
a native "cart," by which is meant a plain and powerful machine with
springs that are too strong readily to yield. Five of our team were
mules, the sixth was a pony.
Our party at starting numbered five, but grew as we progressed. We took
with us provisions and fodder for two days. The driving was undertaken
by Hobson's nephew, assisted by his eldest son--"Six-foot Johnny."
There was a double necessity for two drivers. To hold the reins of five
kicking mules and a prancing pony required both hands as well as all the
strength of the cousin, though he was a powerful fellow, and the
management of the whip claimed both arms, and all the strength, as well
as the undivided attention of his assistant. The whip was a salmon-rod
in appearance, without exaggeration. It had a bamboo handle somewhere
between twelve and fourteen feet long, with a proportionate lash. The
operator sometimes found it convenient to stand when he made a cast with
his fishing-rod weapon. He was an adept with it; capable, it seemed to
me, of picking a fly off one of the leader's ears.
There was some trouble in keeping our team quiet while rifles,
ammunition, provisions, etcetera, were being stowed in the cart.
At last the cousin gave the word. Six-foot Johnny made a cast. The
lash grazed the leader's flank with a crack that might have shamed a
small revolver. The mules presented first their noses, then their heels
to the sky; the cart leaped from the ground, and we were off--bumping,
rattling, crashing, swinging, over the wild Karroo, followed by some
half-dozen horses led by two mounted Hottentot attendants.
My friend Hobson, greatly to our grief, did not accompany us, owing to
inflamed eyes, but I shared the back seat of the cart with his brother
Jonathan, a tall strapping man of middle age and modest mien, who seemed
to me the perfect type of a colonial hero.
In an hour or so we came to the solitary farm of a Mr Green, who
regaled us with a sumptuous breakfast, and lent me a spur. I had the
liberal offer of two spurs, but as, in hunting with the rifle, it is
sometimes advisable to sit on one's right heel, and memory during the
excitement of the chase is apt to prove faithless, I contented myself
with one spur,--feeling pretty confident that if I persuaded the left
side of my horse to go, the right side could not well remain behind.
Mr Green joined us. Thereafter we came to the residence of a Mr
Priest, who also joined us with his son, and thus we sped on over the
flat sandy plains, inhaling the sweet scent of mimosa blossom, glowing
in the fervid sunshine, and picking up comrades here and there, until
about noon we reached the scene of our intended operations.
This was a vast, almost level plain named the Plaat River Flats. It lay
between two rivers, was eight or ten miles wide and upwards of twenty
miles in length--a mighty ocean, as it were, of short, compact Karroo,
with a boundless horizon like the sea in all directions save one, where
a great South African mountain range intercepted the view. Here and
there a few clumps of mimosa bushes rose like islets, and lent
additional interest to the scene.
We "outspanned", that is, we unyoked, and "off-saddled" here for
luncheon, and found shelter from the sun under a mimosa, which was large
enough to merit being styled a tree. Its thorns were from four to six
inches in length.
The party had now swelled to fourteen--all stout hardy descendants of
the English, Scotch, or Dutch settlers, who had originally peopled the
land; good rifle shots, and splendid horsemen. One of them was
conspicuous by his brawny arms, which were burnt to a deep brown in
consequence of his preferring to hunt and work at all times with shirt
sleeves rolled up above the elbows. Another struck me as having the
broadest pair of shoulders I ever saw in a man of his size.
"Capital water here," said Green to me, on alighting beside the
mimosa-thorn.
"Indeed," said I, thirsting for some, "where is it?"
"Here! come; I'll show you."
He led me to a spot among the bushes where lay a small pond of thin mud
the colour of weak tea with milk.
"There you are," said Green.