JOURNEY TO THE DIAMOND-FIELDS.
It was in the beginning of August that I started on my journey from
Port Elizabeth to Fauresmith, _viâ_ Grahamstown, Cradock,
Colesberg, and Philippolis. My vehicle was a two-wheeled cart, drawn by
four small horses, and the distance of eighty-six miles to Grahamstown
was accomplished in eleven hours.
The beauty of the scenery and of the vegetation made the drive very
attractive. The railway that now runs to Grahamstown also passes
through charming country; but, on the whole, I give my preference to
the district which was originally traversed by road. For the greater
part of the way the route lies beneath the brow of the Zuur Mountains,
which, with their wooded clefts and valleys, and their pools enclosed
by sloping pastures, must afford unfailing interest both to the artist
and to the lover of nature.
Occasionally the trees stand in dense clumps, quite detached, a form
of vegetation which is very characteristic of wide districts in the
interior of the continent; but by far the larger portion of this region
is covered by an impenetrable bush-forest, consisting partly of shrubby
undergrowth, and partly of dwarf trees. Many of these appear to be of
immense age, but many others seem to have been attacked by insects, and
have so become liable to premature decay.
Every now and then our road led past slopes, where the stems of the
trees were covered all over with lichen, which gave them a most
peculiar aspect, and it was a pleasant reminiscence of the woods of the
north to see a beard-lichen (_Usnea_) with its thick grey-green
tufts a foot long decorating the forked boughs as with a drapery of
hoar-frost. In other places, the eye rested on declivities covered for
miles with dwarf bushes, of which the most striking were the various
species of red-flowering aloes, and the different euphorbias, some
large as trees, some low, like shrubs, and others mere weeds, but
altogether affording a spectacle at which the heart of a botanist could
not but rejoice.
Numerous varieties, too, of solanum (nightshade) laden with yellow,
white, blue, or violet blossoms, climb in and around the trees, and
in some parts unite the stems with wreaths that intertwine so as to
form almost an impenetrable thicket, where the grasses, the bindweeds,
the heaths, and the ranunculuses in the very multiplicity of their
form and colour fill the beholder with surprise and admiration. Like a
kaleidoscope, the vegetation changes with every variation of scenery;
and each bare or grassy flat, each grove or tract of bushwood, each
swamp or pool, each slope or plain has ever its own rare examples of
_liliaceæ_, _papilionaceæ_, and _mimosæ_ to exhibit.
Here and there, in the midst of its own few acres of cultivated land,
is to be seen a farm, and at no unfrequent intervals by the wayside are
erections of brick or galvanized iron, which, although often consisting
of only a couple of rooms and a store, are nevertheless distinguished
by the name of hotels.
Throughout this district the fauna is as varied as the flora, and
the species of animals are far more numerous and diversified than in
the whole of the next ten degrees further north towards the interior.
As I had opportunity in my three subsequent journeys to examine the
different animal groups in detail, I shall merely refer here to their
names, deferring more minute description for a future page. Ground
squirrels and small rodents abound upon the bare levels where there
is no grass, associating together in common burrows, which have
about twenty holes for ingress and egress, large enough to admit a
man’s fist. In places where there is much long grass are found the
retreats of moles, jackals, African polecats, jerboas, porcupines,
earth-pigs, and short-tailed armadilloes. In the fens there are
otters, rats, and a kind of weasel. On the slopes are numerous herds
of baboons, black-spotted genets, caracals, jumping mice, a peculiar
kind of rabbit, and the rooyebock gazelle; and besides the edentata
already mentioned, duykerbock and steinbock gazelles are met with
in those districts where the trees are in detached clumps. The
tracts of low bushwood, often very extensive, afford shelter to the
striped and spotted hyæna, as well as to the strand-wolf (_Hyæna
brunnea_); and there, too, amongst many other rodentia is found a
gigantic field-mouse; also two other gazelles, one of them being the
lovely little bushbock. The bushes on the slopes and the underwood
are the resort of baboons, monkeys, grey wild-cats, foxes, leopards,
koodoo-antelopes, bushvarks, blackvarks, buffaloes, and elephants, the
elephants being the largest of the three African varieties. A hyrax
that is peculiar to the locality, and lives in the trees, ought not to
be omitted from the catalogue.
Leopards are more dangerous here than in the uninhabited regions of the
interior, where they are less accustomed to the sound of fire-arms, and
so desperate do they become when wounded, that it is generally deemed
more prudent to destroy them by poison or in traps.
The capture of elephants is forbidden by law; consequently several wild
herds, numbering twenty or thirty head, still exist in Cape Colony;
whilst in the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and the Bechuana
country the race has been totally annihilated.
Their immunity from pursuit gives them an overweening assurance that
is in striking contrast with the behaviour of the animals of their kind
in Central and Northern South Africa. There a shot, even if two or
three miles away, is enough to put a herd to speedy flight, and they
seldom pause, until they have placed the best part of twenty miles
between themselves and the cause of their alarm; and although within
the last twenty years 7500 elephants have been killed by Europeans, it
is the very rarest occurrence for one of them to make an unprovoked
attack upon a human being. Here, on the contrary, between Port
Elizabeth and Grahamstown, it is necessary to be on one’s guard against
meeting one of the brutes. Just before I returned to Port Elizabeth on
my homeward journey, a sad accident had happened in the underwood by
the Zondags River, which flows partially through the forest. A black
servant had been sent by his master to look for some cattle that had
strayed; as the man did not return, a search was made for him, but
nothing was found except his mangled corpse. From the marks all around,
it was quite evident that a herd of passing elephants had scented him
out, and diverging from their path, had trampled the poor fellow to
death. It should be mentioned, that although ordinarily living under
protection, these ponderous creatures may be slain by consent of the
Government.
[Illustration: ELEPHANTS ON THE ZONDAGS RIVER.
_Page 28._]
To enumerate all the varieties of birds to be seen hereabouts
would be impossible; an ornithologist might consume months before he
could exhaust the material for his collection; I will only say that a
sportsman may, day after day, easily fill more than his own bag with
different kinds of bustards, guinea-fowl, partridges, sand-grouse,
snipes and plovers, wild ducks and wild geese, divers and other
water-fowl. The wonderful and beautiful productions of the vegetable
kingdom that excite the admiration of the stranger as he makes his
excursions in this district, whether in pursuit of pleasure or of
science, derive a double charm from the numerous graceful birds and
sparkling insects that hover and flit about them. Here are long-tailed
_Nectariniæ_, or sun-birds, now darting for food into the
cup-shaped blossoms of the iris, and now alighting upon the crimson
flower-spike of the aloe; and there, though not the faintest breath of
air is stirring, the branches of a little shrub are all in agitation;
amidst the gleaming dark-green foliage, a flock of tiny green and
yellow songsters, not unlike our golden-crested wren, are all feasting
busily upon the insects that lie hidden beneath the leaves.
On the tops of the waggon-trees, hawks and shrikes, beautiful in
plumage, keep their sharp look-out, each bird presiding over its own
domain; and no sooner does a mouse, a blindworm, or a beetle expose
itself to view, than the bird pounces down upon its prey; its movement
so sudden, that the bough on which it sat rebounds again as though
rejoicing in its freedom from its burden.
The leafy mimosas, too, covered with insects of many hues, attract a
large number of birds. Nor are the reedy districts at all deficient in
their representatives of the feathered race, but reed-warblers, red
and yellow finches, and weaver-birds keep the lank rushes in perpetual
motion, and make the valleys resound with their twittering notes.
As representatives of the reptile world, gigantic lizards are to be
found near every running water; tortoises of many kinds abound on land,
one sort being also met with both in streams and in stagnant pools;
there are a good many poisonous snakes, such as buff-adders, cobras,
horned vipers, besides coral snakes; likewise a species of green
water-snake, which, however, is harmless. Venomous marine serpents also
find their way up the rivers from the sea.
We reached Grahamstown late at night on the same day that we left Port
Elizabeth, and started off again early the following morning. During
the next two days we had some pleasant travelling in a comfortable
American _calèche_, and arrived at Cradock, a distance of 125
miles. At first the country was full of woods and defiles similar
to those we had passed after leaving Port Elizabeth, but afterwards
it changed to a high table-land marked by numerous detached hills,
some flat and some pointed, and bounded on the extreme north-east and
north-west by mountain chains and ridges. The isolated hills rise from
200 to 500 feet above the surrounding plain, and are mostly covered
with low bushes, consisting chiefly of the soil-exhausting lard-tree.
The valleys display a great profusion of acacias, hedge-thorns and
other kinds of mimosa, but the general type of vegetation which is
conspicuous hereabouts disappears beyond Cradock, and is not seen again
in any distinctness until near the Vaal River, or even farther north.
On our way to Cradock I had my first sight of those vast plains that
stretch as far as the eye can reach, and which during the rainy season
present an illimitable surface of dark green or light, according as
they are covered with bush or grass, but which, throughout all the dry
period of the year, are merely an expanse of dull red desert. They
abound in the west of Cape Colony, in the Free State, in the Transvaal,
and in the Batlapin countries, and are the habitations of the lesser
bustard, the springbock, the blessbock, and the black gnu. Where they
are not much hunted all these animals literally swarm; but on my route
I saw only the springbock, which is found in diminished numbers on the
plains to the north. I did not observe one at all beyond the Salt Lake
basin in Central South Africa; along the west coast, however, as far as
the Portuguese settlements, they are very abundant.
The springbock (_Antilope Euchore_) is undeniably one of the
handsomest of the whole antelope tribe. Besides all the ordinary
characteristics of its genus, it possesses a remarkable strength and
elasticity of muscle; and its shapely head is adorned with so fine a
pair of lyrate horns that it must rank _facile princeps_ amongst
the medium-sized species of its kind. The gracefulness of its movements
when it is at play, or when startled into flight, is not adequately to
be described, and it might almost seem as if the agile creature were
seeking to divert the evil purposes of a pursuer by the very coquetry
of its antics. Unfortunately, however, sportsmen are proof against any
charms of this sort; and under the ruthless hands of the Dutch farmers,
and the unsparing attacks of the natives, it is an animal that is every
day becoming more and more rare.
The bounds of the springbock may, perhaps, be best compared to the
jerks of a machine set in motion by watch-spring. It will allow any dog
except a greyhound to approach it within quite a moderate distance; it
will gaze, as if entirely unconcerned, while the dog yelps and howls,
apparently waiting for the scene to come to an end, when all at once
it will spring with a spasmodic leap into the air, and, alighting for
a moment on the ground six feet away, will leap up again, repeating
the movement like an indiarubber ball bounding and rebounding from the
earth. Coming to a standstill, it will wait awhile for the dog to come
close again; but ere long it recommences its springing bounds, and
extricates itself once more from the presence of danger. And so, in
alternate periods of repose and activity, the chase goes on, till the
antelope, wearied out as it were by the sport, makes off completely,
and becomes a mere speck on the distant plain.
[Illustration: SPRINGBOCK HUNTING.
_Page 33._]
But the agility of the nimble creature cannot save it from
destruction. Since the discovery of the diamond-fields thousands
of them, as well as of the allied species, the blessbock and the
black gnu, have been slain. The Dutch farmers, who are owners of the
districts where the antelopes abound, are excellent shots and their
worst enemies. On their periodical visits to the diamond-fields they
always carry with them a rich spoil; and whilst I was there, in
the winter months, from May to September, I saw whole waggon-loads
of gazelles brought to the market. Nevertheless, in spite of the
slaughter, it is a kind of game that as yet has by no means become
scarce, and it is sold in the daily markets at Kimberley and Dutoitspan
at prices varying from three to seven shillings a head.
Springbock hunting is rather interesting, and is generally done on
horseback. The horses, which have been reared on these grassy plains,
are well accustomed to the burrow-holes and ant-hills with which they
abound, so that they give their rider no concern, and allow him to
concentrate all his attention upon his sport. A gallop of about two
miles will usually bring the huntsman within a distance of 200 yards
of a herd of flying antelopes. A slight pressure of the knees suffices
to bring the horse to a standstill, when its rider dismounts and takes
a deliberate aim at the victim. Amongst the Dutch Boers the most
wonderful feats of skill are performed in this way; and I have known
an expert marksman bring down two running antelopes by a single shot
from his breech-loader. Other instances I have witnessed, when, both
shots having missed, or the second having been fired too late, the
herd has scampered off to a distance of 700 yards or more and come to
a stand, when a good shot has made a selection of a special victim for
his unerring aim. Well do I recollect one of these experts pointing to
a particular antelope in one of these fugitive herds, and exclaiming,
“Det rechte kantsche bock, Mynheer!” He brought the creature down as he
spoke.
There is another method of hunting these springbocks, by digging holes
two or three feet deep and three feet wide, in proximity to ponds or
pools in half-dried-up river-beds; in these holes the hunter crouches
out of sight, and shoots down the animals as they come to drink. This
kind of chase, or rather _battue_, is very common in the dry
season, when there are not many places in which the antelopes can
quench their thirst, and is especially popular with the most southerly
of the Bechuanas, the Batlapins, and the Baralongs, who are, as a rule,
by no means skilful as shots.
On the plains between the Harts River and the Molapo a different plan
is often followed. Several men lie down flat on the ground, either
behind ant-hills or in some long grass at intervals of from 50 to
200 yards, and at a considerable distance--ordinarily about half a
mile--from the herd. A large number of men then form themselves into
a sort of semicircle, and, having encompassed the herd, begin to
close in so as to drive them within range of the guns of the men who
are lying in ambush. As the weapons are only of the commonest kind,
often little better than blunderbusses, the success of the movement of
course depends entirely on the first shot. When the party is small,
they not unfrequently spend a whole day waiting most patiently for the
springbocks to be driven sufficiently within range. I have myself on
one occasion seen a party of six of these skirmishers, after watching
with the sublimest patience for many hours, take their aim at an animal
that had been driven within the desired limits; the old muskets went
off with a roar that made the very ground tremble; the volume of smoke
was immense; six dusky faces of the Bechuanas rose from the grass;
every eye was full of expectation; but as the cloud rolled off, it
revealed the springbock bounding away merrily in the distance. The six
shots had all missed.
I feel bound, however, to confess to a performance of my own, about
equally brilliant. After watching one day for several hours, I observed
a few springbocks scarcely more than twenty yards away from me. I felt
quite ashamed at the thought of doing any injury to the creatures, they
were so graceful, but we were really in want of food, and it was only
the remembrance of this that made me overcome my scruples. I could not
help regarding myself almost as a murderer; but if I wanted to secure
our dinner, there was no time to lose. My trembling hand touched the
trigger; the mere movement startled the springbocks, and before I could
prepare myself to fire, they were far away, totally uninjured.
The snare called the hopo-trap, described by Livingstone in his
account of gazelle-hunting amongst the Bechuanas, I never saw anywhere
in use. It would probably be now of no avail, as the game is much
wilder and less abundant than it was in his time.
[Illustration: ANTELOPE TRAP.]
A still different mode of chasing springbocks has been introduced by
the English, who hunt with greyhounds, not using fire-arms at all.
Mounted on horses, that in spite of being unaccustomed to the ground,
do their work admirably, the pursuers follow on until the gazelles are
fairly brought down by the dogs; although it not unfrequently happens
that the dogs get so weary and exhausted by the run, that the chase has
to be abandoned.
[Illustration: THE COUNTRY NEAR CRADOCK.]
We only remained in Cradock one day. The town is situated on the left
bank of Fish River, a stream often dried up for months together, so as
to become merely a number of detached pools; but a few hours of heavy
rain suffice to overfill the channel with angry waters, that carry ruin
and destruction far and wide. The great bridge that spanned the river
at the town was in 1874 swept right away by the violence of the flood,
the solid ironwork being washed off the piles, which were themselves
upheaved. The new bridge was erected at a securer altitude, being about
six feet higher.
On the second day after leaving Cradock we reached the town of
Colesberg. Our travelling was so rapid that I had scarcely time
properly to take in the character of the scenery; but seven years
later, on my return in a bullock-waggon, and when progress was
especially slow on account of the drought, I had a fairer opportunity
of examining, at least partially, the geological structure of the
district, and of gaining some interesting information about the
adjoining country.
Towards Colesberg the isolated, flattened eminences gradually
decrease both in number and in magnitude, the country becoming a high
table-land. One of the prettiest parts is Newport, a pass in which
is seen the watershed between the southerly-flowing streams, and the
affluents of the Orange River. The heights in the district are haunted
by herds of baboons, by several of the smaller kinds of antelopes,
and by some of the lesser beasts of prey of the cat kind, principally
leopards. On the table-land itself are to be counted upwards of fifty
quaggas, belonging to the true species, the only one I believe to be
met with in South Africa. I was delighted to find that latterly they
had been spared by the farmers; ten years previously their number had
been diminished to a total of about fifteen heads.
The town is distinguished by a hill, which has the same name as itself,
and which exhibits the stratification of the various rocks of which
the district is composed. Colesberg itself is somewhat smaller than
Cradock, and is situated in a confined rocky vale. The contiguous
heights are for the most part covered with grass and bushwood, of so
low a growth that from a distance they have the appearance of being
almost destitute of vegetation. In summer-time the radiation of heat
from the rocks is so intense that the town becomes like an oven, and is
by no means a pleasant place of residence.
Proceeding northwards, a journey of a couple of hours brought us to
the Orange River, the boundary between the Orange Free State and Cape
Colony. Two hours later we reached Philippolis. The aspect of this
place was most melancholy. The winter drought had parched up all the
grass, alike in the valley and on the surrounding hills, leaving the
environs everywhere brown and bare. Equally dreary-looking were the
square flat-roofed houses, about sixty in number, and nearly all quite
unenclosed, that constituted the town; whilst the faded foliage of a
few trees near some stagnant pools in the channel of a dried-up brook,
did nothing to enliven the depressing scene. The majority of the houses
being unoccupied, scarcely a living being was to be seen, so that the
barrenness of the spot was only equalled by its stillness.
[Illustration: ON THE WAY TO THE DIAMOND-FIELDS.]
Hence, for the rest of the way to Fauresmith, we had to travel in a
mail-cart, a two-wheeled vehicle of most primitive construction. A
drive of three hours in such a conveyance over the best paved highway,
and in the most genial weather, could hardly have been a matter of any
enjoyment; but in the teeth of a piercing cold wind, and along a road
covered with huge blocks of stone, and intersected by the deep ruts
made by the streams from the highlands, and over which, in order to
exhibit the mettle of his horses, our driver persisted in dashing at a
break-neck pace, the journey was little better than martyrdom. The seat
on which three of us had to balance ourselves was scarcely a yard long
and half a yard wide, and in our efforts to preserve the equilibrium
of ourselves and our luggage, our hands became perfectly benumbed with
cold; and, to crown our discomfort, snow, which is of rare occurrence
in these regions, began to fall.
We held out till man and beast were well-nigh exhausted, and had
accomplished about three-quarters of the distance, when the barking of
a dog, the sure symptom of the proximity of a dwelling-house, fell like
music on our ears. The most miserable of Kaffir huts would have been a
welcome sight; my friend declared himself ready to give a sovereign for
a night’s lodging in a dog-kennel; but we were agreeably surprised at
finding ourselves arrive at a comfortable-looking farmhouse, where the
lights seemed to beam forth a welcome from the windows. We were most
hospitably received, and sitting round the farmer’s bountiful board,
soon forgot the troubles of the way.
After the meal was over we went to the door to ascertain the state
of the weather. The snow had ceased almost before our horses were
unharnessed, and, except in the south-east, the direction of the
departing storm, the sky was comparatively clear, and there was a
faint glimmer of moonlight. As I stood listening, I caught again the
screeching note of a bird which already I had heard while sitting
at the table. My host informed me that it proceeded from “det grote
springhan vogl,” and I thought I should like to take my chance at a
shot. The bird was really the South African grey crane, to which the
residents have given the name of “the great locust bird,” on account of
the great service it performs in the destruction of locusts. It is so
designated in distinction to the small locust bird, which migrates with
the locust-swarms. The great cranes (_C. Stanleyi_) never leave
their accustomed quarters.
In the prosecution of my design I crept slowly along, but very soon
became aware that the birds were not wanting in vigilance. The first
rustle made the whole flock screech aloud and mount into the air. I
did not want to fire promiscuously among them all, and so abandoned my
purpose, and came back again. I afterwards observed that these cranes,
together with the crowned cranes (_Balearia regulorum_), and the
herons, as well as several kinds of storks, are accustomed to pass the
night in stagnant waters in order that they may rest secure from the
attacks of hyænas, jackals, foxes, hyæna-dogs (_Canis pictus_),
and any animals of the cat tribe. As soon as darkness sets in the birds
may be observed standing in long rows right in the midst of the pools,
and until the break of day they never quit their place of refuge.
But not even the security of their position seems to throw them off
their guard. I observed during my many hunting excursions, both in the
neighbourhood of the salt-water and of the fresh-water lakes, that a
certain number of sentinel birds were always kept upon the watch, and
that at intervals of about half an hour there was a short chatter, as
if the sentries were relieving guard. A similar habit has been noticed
both amongst the black storks in the Transvaal, and amongst the various
herons in the Molapo river, and in the valleys of the Limpopo and the
Zambesi.
The time came only too soon for us to leave our hospitable quarters. We
set out afresh, and after a miserable jolt of several hours’ duration,
we reached our destination at Fauresmith.
In its general aspect, Fauresmith is very like the other towns in the
Free State. Although consisting of not more than eighty houses, it
nevertheless covered a considerable area, and the clean white-washed
residences, flat-roofed as elsewhere, peeping out from the gardens,
looked altogether pleasant enough. The town is the residence of a
kind of high sheriff, and must certainly be ranked as one of the most
considerable in the republic. The district of the same name, of which
it is the only town, is undoubtedly the wealthiest in the Free State,
and deserves special notice, both on account of its horse-breeding and
of its diamond-field at Jagersfontein.
Like various other towns in South Africa, Fauresmith is enlivened
four times a year by a concourse of Dutch farmers, who meet together
for the combined purpose of celebrating their religious rites and
making their periodical purchases. At these times the town presents
a marked contrast to its normal condition of silence and stagnation;
large numbers of the cumbrous South African waggons make their way
through the streets, and form a sort of encampment, partially within
and partially on the outskirts of the place, the farmers’ sons and
the contingent of black servants following in the train. Many of the
wealthier farmers have houses of their own in the town, sometimes
(where water is to be readily procured) adorned with gardens; but such
as have inferior means content themselves with a hired room or two,
whilst the poorest make shift for the time with the accommodation
afforded by their own waggons. These recurring visits of the farmers
are regarded as important events by the towns-people, and are looked
for with much interest; in many respects they are like the fairs held
in European cities. Especially are they busy seasons to the medical
men, as, except for urgent cases, all consultations are reserved for
these occasions and the majority of ordinary ailments that befall the
rural population abide these opportunities to be submitted to advice.
Here in Fauresmith, just as in similar places with limited population,
the sheriff, the minister, the merchant, the notary, and the doctor,
form the cream of the society.
Nothing could exceed the hopefulness of the temper in which I had
started for this town. Not only had I satisfied myself that I should be
so much farther inland than I was at Port Elizabeth, and consequently
that my advantages would be great in ascertaining what outfit would
be really requisite for my progress into the interior, but I had been
sanguine enough to anticipate that I should be in a position to earn
the means that would enable me to carry out my design. So favourably
had the prospect been represented to me, that I had accepted the
proposition of the Fauresmith merchant in all confidence; perhaps my
helplessness and complete want of resources had made me too trusting; I
was, perchance, the drowning man catching at a straw.
A very few days of actual experience were enough to dispel any bright
anticipation in which I had indulged. I could not conceal from myself
that I was a burden upon the very man who had offered to befriend me,
and induced me to come; his good offices in my behalf necessarily
placed him in a false position with an older friend, a physician
already resident in the town, and to whom he was now introducing a
rival; it was only to be expected that his long-established friendship
with him should prevail over his recent goodwill towards myself; he
saw his mistake, and soon took an opportunity of telling me that if I
proceeded to the diamond-fields I should find myself the right man in
the right place.
I took the counsel into my best consideration, and quickly came to
the conclusion that nothing else was to be done. Accordingly, I made
arrangements to start.
But my difficulties were great. I had hardly any clothes to my back,
my boots were in holes, and I had no money to replace either. I had
no alternative but to get what I required upon credit. I succeeded in
this, and set out forthwith, my pride not permitting me to remind my
Port Elizabeth friend of the kind offer of assistance which he had made
me.
Herr Michaelis once again rendered me the kindest of service; after
advancing me money to forward me on my way, he undertook to convey me
as his guest to the diamond-fields, which he had himself made up his
mind to visit. We were joined by a third traveller, Herr Rabinsvitz,
the chief rabbi for South Africa, from whom I received marked courtesy
and consideration.
Although for the time I was disappointed, I could not feel otherwise
than grateful for the hospitality shown me during my short residence in
Fauresmith, by the worthy merchant. I acknowledge my obligation to him
by this record, and rejoice to remember how I quitted the place with no
ill-will for the past, but with the fullest confidence for the future.
Very monotonous in its character is the district between Fauresmith
and the diamond-fields, the only scenery at all attractive being
alongside the Riet River and in the valley of the Modder, which we had
to cross. At this spot there seemed to be a chance of getting some
sport, and I employed the few minutes during a halt after dinner in
exploring the locality. The Riet River, like a fine thread, flowed
north-westwards in a deep clear channel to its junction with the
Modder, and, as is the case with most of the South African streams in
the dry winter season, there were large pools, nine or ten feet deep
and full of fish, extending right across the river-bed.
The whole valley is thickly covered with weeping willows (_Salix
Babylonica_), and amongst these I found some very interesting
birds. Pushing my way through the brushwood, with the design of making
a closer inspection of one of the pools, I was startled by a great
rustling, and by a chorus of notes just over my head. I stepped back,
and a whole flock of birds rose into the air and settled in a thorn
at no great distance. They were the pretty long-tailed _Colius
leucotis_. I afterwards saw two other varieties of the same species.
One of the flock that I had disturbed perched itself upon a bough
almost close at hand, as if resolved to make a deliberate survey of
the strangers who had intruded on its retirement, but all the rest
had taken refuge in the bush, and were completely hidden from my
view. They are lively little creatures, but very difficult to keep in
confinement; the only caged specimens I ever saw were in Grahamstown,
in the possession of a bird-fancier, who kept them with several kinds
of finches, and fed them with oranges.
The most common birds in the Riet River valley are doves, and
those almost exclusively of two sorts, the South African blue-grey
turtle-dove, and the laughing-dove; of these the latter is found
even beyond the Zambesi; it is a most attractive little creature,
that cannot fail to win the affection of every lover of birds. I had
a couple of them, which I had succeeded in catching after slightly
wounding them. I kept them for years, and they afforded me much
amusement. As early as three o’clock in the morning the male was
accustomed to greet his brooding mate with his silvery laughing
coo, and she would reply in low and tender notes that were soft
and melodious as distant music. I eventually lost them through the
negligence of one of my black servants.
On the plains on either side of the river I found the white-eared
bustard, the commonest kind of wild-fowl in all South Africa; its
cry, from the first day of my journey through the Orange Free State
and the Transvaal to the last, rarely ceased to be heard. It affords
a good meal, and may easily be brought down by the most inexperienced
marksman. As soon as it becomes aware of the approach of a pursuer, it
turns its head with an inquiring look in all directions, and suddenly
dives down; just as suddenly it rises again, shrieking harshly, and
after an awkward flight of about a couple of hundred yards, sinks
slowly to the earth with drooping wings and down-stretched legs. Its
upper plumage is of a mixed brown; its head, with the exception of a
white streak across the cheeks, is black, as are also the throat and
chest; its legs are yellow. Its habitat does not extend beyond the
more northerly and wooded districts of South Africa, and, like other
birds to which I have referred, it is extremely difficult to keep in
confinement.
Our road through the valley led us past Coffeefontein, the second
diamond-field in the Free State, where the brilliants, though small,
are of a fine white quality. Late in the evening we crossed the river
by the ford, spending the night in an hotel on the opposite bank.
[Illustration: HOTEL ON THE RIET RIVER.]
It is just as well for me to disabuse the reader’s mind of any idea
he might form, that the building designated by the name of an hotel
had any pretensions answering to the title it claimed. A couple of
wooden huts, covered with canvas, and serving alike for dwelling-rooms
and business-offices, with a few sheepskins and goatskins laid upon
the ground for sleeping accommodation, may be said to be a fair
representation of the average arrangements, external and internal, of
such establishments. A violent draught penetrating every cranny kept
some tattered curtains--so old, that it was impossible to say what
their original texture had been--in continual motion; and so intense
was the cold, that I was sorely tempted to drag down the ragged
drapery, stop its fluttering, and wrap it round me for a covering.
In such quarters, anything like refreshing sleep was not to be
expected, and we were glad enough next morning, after an untempting
breakfast, to turn our backs upon the place. In the afternoon we
arrived at Jacobsdal, another comfortless looking place, consisting
of about five-and-twenty houses, scattered over a scorched-up
plain. A long drive on the following morning was to bring us to the
central diamond-fields. The nearer we approached, the more dreary
did the landscape become; the bushes dwindled gradually, and finally
disappeared, so that a few patches of dry grass were alone left as the
representatives of vegetation.
The first day on which I set my eyes upon the diamond-fields, I must
confess, will ever be engraven on my memory. As our vehicle, drawn by
four horses, made its rapid descent from the heights near Scholze’s
Farm, and when my companion, pointing me to the bare plains just ahead,
told me that there lay my future home, my heart sank within me. A dull,
dense fog was all I could distinguish. A bitter wind rushing from the
hills, and howling around us in the exposure of our open waggon, seemed
to mock at the protection of our outside coats, and resolved to make us
know how ungenial the temperature of winter in South Africa could be;
and the grey clouds that obscured the sky shadowed the entire landscape
with an aspect of the deepest melancholy.
Yes; here I was approaching the Eldorado of the thousands of all
nations, attracted hither by the hope of rich reward; but the nearer I
came, the more my spirit failed me, and I was conscious of a sickening
depression.
Immediate contact with the fog that had been observed from the distant
heights, at once revealed its true origin and character. It proved
to be dense clouds of dust, first raised by the west wind from the
orange-coloured sand on the plains, and then mingled with the loose
particles of calciferous earth piled up in heaps amidst the huts on
the diggings. So completely did it fill the atmosphere, that it could
require little stretch of imagination to fancy that it was a sandstorm
of the Sahara. As we entered the encampment the blinding mist was so
thick that we could only see a few yards before us; we were obliged to
proceed very cautiously; and before we reached the office of my friend
the Fauresmith merchant, another mile or so farther on, our faces and
our clothes were literally encrusted. We only shared the fate of all
new-comers, in feeling much distressed and really ill; the very horses
snorted and sneezed, and showed that the condition of things was no
less painful to them than to their masters.
Both at Bultfontein and Dutoitspan these accumulations of the
commingled ferruginous and calciferous sand fill the atmosphere to a
height of a hundred feet, and involve everything in dim obscurity. Here
and there, on both sides, right and left, wherever the gloom would
permit me to see, I noticed round and oblong tents, and huts intended
for shops, but now closed, built of corrugated iron. Under the fury of
the wind, the tent-poles bent, and the ropes were subject to so great
a strain that the erections threatened every moment to collapse. Many
and many a sheet of the galvanized iron got loose from the roofs or
sides of the huts, and creaking in melancholy discord, contributed,
as it were, to the gloominess of the surroundings. In many places,
too, the pegs that had fastened the tents to the ground had yielded
to the pressure, and sheets of canvas were flapping in the air like
flags of distress; whilst the only indication of human life was a few
dim figures in the background, which on closer inspection proved to be
some natives, resting their half-naked bodies after their toil in the
diggings.
Truly it was a dreary scene--and I sighed at my dreary prospect.