I left Pretoria on July the 17th in a wagon with eight horses,
accompanied by two friends, for an excursion into the Waterburg district
of the Transvaal. On this occasion we travelled about one hundred and
fifty miles north of Pretoria in the course of a fortnight, returning
about the same distance back again. We had a half-breed servant named
Sole with us, who made himself generally useful during our journey. All
this time we camped out day and night, sleeping always in the open
veldt, in true gipsy fashion.
We went by the Van der Vroom Poort, having the Maalieburg range of
mountains on our left.
Our first night was spent at a farm called "Polonia," belonging to a
Russian Missionary who has been for many years in the Transvaal. He
unites the pursuits of spiritual instruction according to the tenets of
the Greek Church, with farming on a large scale. On leaving "Polonia" we
passed the large and picturesque German Mission Station of "Hebron,"
which is situated in the midst of a rich and fertile valley. One night
we outspanned at a spot called the "Salt Pans." While breakfast was
being prepared the next morning, I walked to see those wonderful "Salt
Pans," which were close to our camping ground. I descended by a steep
path some six hundred or seven hundred feet to the bottom. It is an
immense amphitheatre at the base of thickly wooded hills. It is larger
in extent than the vast open excavation formed by the "Kimberley" Mine
at Kimberley. The salt and soda brine is perpetually oosing from the
bottom, and is continually being scraped up with a sort of wooden
scraper into heaps, where, after a time, by the action of the
atmosphere, it becomes crystallised. I picked up and brought away with
me several crystals of pure salt. This is another of the marvels of the
Transvaal, a country which abounds in natural wealth of all kinds,
fitted for the service of man. These Salt Pans are the property of the
Transvaal Government, which derives a considerable income from the tax
imposed for taking away the salt, and soda, from them.
Frequently during our journey we outspanned just outside the Kafir
kraals, and often entered into them; one of my companions speaking the
native, as well as the Dutch languages very fluently. We were always
received by both Boers, and Kafirs, very kindly. Sometimes we were
accompanied by a large number of Kafirs for days. I remember once,
counting as many as forty Kafirs sitting round our camp fire, clothed
and unclothed, and in every variety of costume, from the old British
Artillery tunic to the equally ancient pea coat, the bright-coloured
blue morning jacket, and the cloak of Jackall skins. On this occasion
they remained all night with us, keeping up the fire and indulging in
endless and cheerful talk among themselves. When I wrapped myself in my
kaross and turned into the wagon at night I left them talking. When I
awoke in the early morning I found them talking still.
The country I saw in the Northern part of the Transvaal is very
different, and far more picturesque than it is in the South-West or
South-East, which have a close resemblance to one another, in their
bare, barren, treeless, and dreary character. I saw some parts which
were really beautiful. One day we drove for several miles through quite
lovely scenery. In passing along the road I was forcibly reminded of the
road between Braemar and Mar Lodge, in Aberdeenshire, which it strongly
resembles. The road runs on the side of the hill, sloping down to the
rivulet at the bottom, exactly like the river Dee, and the Rooiburg, or
red tinted, Mountain, exactly resembles the heather on the Scottish
hills. It is altogether a charming spot, and a perfect picture of fine
scenery. There is a large quantity of excellent and valuable timber in
this district, as well as abundant evidence of mineral-bearing quartz. I
believe that, some day, other Johannesburgs are destined to rise in the
Northern part of the Transvaal, rivalling, or perhaps even eclipsing,
the treasures already discovered in the Randt.
At the spot I have described, which is called Hartebeestepoort, not far
from the banks of the Zand River, where there is a good quantity of
excellent and valuable timber, there was quite a romantic scene one
night. We were discussing, as usual, our evening meal round our camp
fire. It was starlight, but otherwise we were in total darkness. In
addition to ourselves, there were nine Kafirs, making a party of a dozen
altogether. It was an intensely interesting and remarkable scene to me,
to find myself surrounded by these wild fellows in perfectly friendly
fashion, in the midst of the vast veldt, the silence and stillness only
broken every now and then by the cry of the jackals howling in the
distance. On leaving here we travelled north towards Grouthoek, which
is situated in the midst of the Rhynoster range of mountains, being
drawn by oxen, our horses following us, in order to give them rest, and
so keep them fresher.
I was disappointed at the small quantity of game we found on our
journey. We occasionally shot a springbok, and I thus had an opportunity
of making myself acquainted with the delicious flavour of the South
African venison. But the days of the enormous herds which once abounded
in these regions are gone. They have been either exterminated by the
Boers, or been driven far northward, into the interior of Africa,
together with the lions and elephants, over whose former habitation I
was travelling. There are still a good many koodoos, and hartebeestes in
this neighbourhood, but I was not fortunate enough to come across them.
Our commissariat was occasionally supplemented by a delicious bird,
about the size of a pheasant, called the kooran, as well as by a few
pheasants, partridges, and guinea fowls.
One afternoon we were exposed to a thrilling adventure, which, but for
the merciful interposition of Providence, might have terminated in a
most disastrous way. Suddenly, as we were driving along the road,
through a dense wood, we discovered to the right of us the light of an
immense bush fire. It was careering wildly along, fiercely burning, and
sweeping everything before it. We saw it was coming swiftly towards the
road we were travelling. We pulled up the horses, and taking out lucifer
matches, jumped off the wagon, and tried to set alight to the grass,
which was about five or six feet high, and very dry, close by us, in
order to secure a clear open space around us. But it was too late. The
fierce fire, to the height of several feet, was rushing and crashing
through the wood furiously towards us. Another moment, and we should
have been within its terrible grasp, and wagon, horses, and ourselves
infallibly burnt. It was in truth an awful crisis. We jumped back into
the wagon and pushed frantically forward. Showers of sparks were already
in the road. But, fortunately, the fire, which for a full half mile was
burning behind us, was only a short distance in front of us, and, thank
God, we happily escaped.
One of the great advantages I have derived from my tour is, that I have
had many opportunities of communicating personally with so many men of
different races, and all classes--British, Dutch, and natives.
During my present journey I had a most interesting conversation one
morning with a transport driver, who was travelling by the northern
part of the Transvaal, with three hundred lean cattle from the Cape
Colony into Bechuanaland. He gave me some very valuable and important
information with regard to Colonial feeling in the country districts of
the Cape Colony. He was Colonial born, and a fine, handsome man of about
forty--a descendant of the Scotch farmers, who emigrated to the Cape in
1820. His conversation impressed me much. He told me that the Colonists
generally are loyal to the Queen to the backbone; but not to the British
Government, which they consider has not represented their feelings and
opinions, and has sacrificed their interests. They dislike the Colonial
Government, and are not favourable to responsible Government, as they
see it.
They would prefer being under the British Government direct, in spite of
all its terrible mistakes and mishaps, from which they have so cruelly
suffered. My informant's opinion was, that the present policy of the
administration in Bechuanaland is not conducive to encourage emigration,
as it puts artificial impediments in the way of farmers with small means
settling there, which, he thought, they would do in crowds from the
Colony, if they were allowed to do so on paying a quit rent, say of £10
or £15 per annum, instead of the high terms of £40 demanded at present.
He had a very high opinion of Bechuanaland as a cattle-grazing country.
The Waterburg warm sulphur baths--to which I paid a visit, taking a hot
bath myself, which was certainly much too hot for me, but which was
otherwise refreshing, after nearly a fortnight's residence on the veldt,
where there is a decided scarcity of water, both for drinking and
washing purposes--are situated about seventy miles north of Pretoria.
They are extensively patronised by the Boers, and are said to be most
efficacious in every variety of rheumatic and gouty complaints. They are
strongly impregnated with sulphur, and might be made very attractive in
the hands of anyone of enterprise, who would construct a suitable
establishment of baths, fit for patients who would be quite ready to pay
handsomely for them, instead of the miserably primitive and wretched
receptacles, called baths, into which the highly excellent natural
sulphur water is conveyed, and used by the motley crowd of invalids I
saw there.
From the Waterburg warm baths our route lay to the southward, across the
Springbok Flats, to the Nylstroom road, along which, in two days more,
we accomplished the intervening distance of about seventy miles back to
Pretoria, thus concluding a most interesting and instructive journey
into the northern part of the Transvaal. During all this time, with the
exception of the first night, I lived entirely in our wagon, sleeping in
it every night, and having every meal (which consisted principally of
the game we shot on the way), cooked at the various camp fires kindled
on the veldt, and drinking nothing but tea. I saw much, of course, of
the Kafirs in their kraals, as well as of the Boers in their tents and
wagons, in my trek through this wilderness.
[Illustration: Decorative]
[Illustration: Decorative]