Arrival at Gubuleweyo--Interview with the King--Start
for the Zambesi--Hope Fountain--Inyati--Difficulty of
obtaining bearers--The Zambesi abandoned--Hunting expedition
on the Umvungu and Gwailo Rivers--Experiences of a
half-caste--Birds’ nests--The indunas’ tree--Hunting--A lunar
eclipse--Return to Gubuleweyo--Wild fruit.
The account of Frank Oates’s present stay at Gubuleweyo, and his first
impressions of the town and its inhabitants, taken from his Journal,
is somewhat scanty. This was one of those more striking episodes in
the journey, which needed no written record to impress their details
upon his mind, and the narrative of which in this, as in other similar
instances, is consequently the most wanting, where the reader would
naturally expect and desire to find it the fullest. The account, such
as it is, of his arrival at the town, and the first two days spent
there, is taken as follows from his Journal:--
“_September 15th._--Another trek of about an hour and a half brought
us, about 9 A.M., to Gubuleweyo. There is not much timber as the
kraal is approached. The scene is picturesque but desolate, the road
winding and steep. Some of the peculiar-looking trees[19] are here of
great size. Strings of women were carrying vessels of water on their
heads as we arrived. It was bitterly cold, and there was both wind and
rain. Fairbairn and a number of others were standing about the kraal.
Petersen was there, and introduced me. They asked me in, and I drew up
my waggon to Fairbairn’s ‘scherm,’[20] and had breakfast with them.
Fairbairn and Petersen took me to the king, whom I called on out of
compliment, telling him that I had not yet unpacked my waggon--a hint
that I should have a present for him. He was very gracious, and placed
meat and plates before me, and inquired what sport I had had coming up,
noticing the dilapidated state of my dress. I was going out of the hut
legs first, when he pulled me back and made me go head first. He sent
me to look at his new house, of which he is very proud. It is being
built of brick by an Englishman.
“In the afternoon Fairbairn and I rode over to see Mr. Thomson, the
missionary. He will act as interpreter if I wish, but does not think
it necessary. As we returned at sundown, we met a party of natives.
They were Umtegan’s troop, returning from an ‘impey,’ or raid, with
cattle taken from the Mashonas, a tribe not altogether subject to the
king, though a part of them are. Umtegan was in European clothes, and
on horseback. They stopped to go through the exercise of certain rites
before entering the town. They had only a few hundred bullocks with
them. Lately some thousands were brought in by an impey of a similar
kind. At supper I had a young lion to pet; it belongs to the king,
and roams about amongst the traders. There is a waggon at Fairbairn’s
made at Beverley, in Yorkshire, which was brought out here in separate
pieces, and fitted together afterwards. Fairbairn says it is a capital
one. The poor man who brought it from England died before landing.
“_September 16th._--Took the king my present--a central fire shot gun
with ammunition. As I approached, with men carrying it, he took me by
the hand and led me to a waggon, and sat on the ‘dissel-boom.’[21] We
all sat on the ground. He was much pleased with the gun, and thanked
me. The men with me would ask for beer, and he sent us to his sister
for it. She was lying on a rug at her hut door, and I was introduced.”
It was now ascertained from those here who knew most about the matter,
that it was not even yet considered too late to reach the Zambesi
that season, by taking a more direct route from this place, to be
accomplished for the most part on foot, instead of proceeding along the
usual trade route by way of Tati, which is available for waggons, but
a good deal further round from the King’s Town. On hearing this, Frank
Oates at once determined to try and reach the river by the shorter road
that season, and the remainder of the time he spent on this occasion
at Gubuleweyo was chiefly occupied in obtaining information for the
expedition, and making the necessary arrangements for it. The early
part of the journey could be accomplished with the waggon and oxen;
after that it would be necessary to go on foot.
On the evening of the 24th of September he accordingly started with
his waggon, remaining the night with Mr. Thomson, the missionary, at
Hope Fountain, a short distance from the kraal. The night was very
close,--the first which had been so,--and on the following evening,
after they had trekked some miles from Mr. Thomson’s in the direction
of Inyati to the north-east, there was heavy rain and wind, accompanied
by thunder and lightning. This rain, the first there had yet been,
was said to be earlier than usual in its commencement by about two
months. The other conditions, however, of the projected journey to the
Zambesi, all of them, still appeared favourable. It was the traveller’s
long-cherished desire at least to reach the Zambesi, and see the Falls,
if he found it inexpedient on the present occasion to cross the river
and penetrate into the less known territory to the northward. But there
were difficulties, not only of climate, but from the obstructiveness
of native character, to be encountered, and endless was the opposition
which he met with from the latter cause. Four distinct attempts did he
make at various times from this date to reach the river, and in each
of the first three was he destined to disappointment. His present
effort, made in September, was the first of these; his fourth and
last attempt was made at the end of the succeeding year, nor was it
till the last day of 1874 that he actually beheld the white spray of
the great cataract breaking through the trees upon the river’s bank.
That effort truly was rewarded with success, yet a success how dearly
purchased--with his life!
Before leaving Hope Fountain, to resume the journey, he wrote home the
following letter to his mother:--
“MR. THOMSON’S, NEAR GUBULEWEYO,
“_September 25th, 1873_.
“You will, no doubt, have more recent news from Willie than from me.
I left him with Buckley and Gilchrist at the Tati, meditating a short
journey in the neighbourhood before leaving, and came on myself to the
King’s Town, Gubuleweyo, the site, or somewhere near the site, of the
place marked in the maps as Mosilikatze’s Town. Mosilikatze was the
father of the present king, and conquered this country. The name of the
nation is the Matabele, which is always shown in the maps. The former
inhabitants of the country were divided into various nations, but it
is all called the Matabele country now from the name of its powerful
owners. The country reaches to the Zambesi, and produces a great deal
of ivory and ostrich feathers. There are a good many white men at
Gubuleweyo, trading. Mr. Fairbairn, a young Scotchman, is my agent
there.
“I cannot give you a detailed account of my stay of nine days at the
King’s Town. It is really to a stranger a most curious place. The king,
Lobengula, lives in royal state. He is absolute monarch, and feared
and obeyed far and wide. The people inhabiting the country we have
passed through in coming here are altogether of an inferior race. At
Bamangwato there is a king, but he is thought nothing of. I called on
‘Bengula, accompanied by Fairbairn, the day I arrived here, and found
him the picture of a savage king, just as one might have imagined, and
coming quite up to the standard. The day I first saw him he was nearly
naked, and lying on a skin inside his hut, to enter which you have
to crawl in on your hands and knees through a little aperture in the
front; in fact it is like a beehive entrance. He took me by the hand,
and placed meat before me, and asked a few questions about my journey.
I told him I should come again next day. Of course I had to make him a
present, and I knew he would expect it next day, after which I should
ask his leave and assistance to go through his country to the Victoria
Falls if possible. I gave him a gun and ammunition, which pleased him
very much, and he has done everything he could for me. It appeared
that I was still in time to reach the Falls by going on foot, after
leaving my waggon at the place marked on the map as Inyati. The king
said it was possible to get to the Falls in ten days, and I suppose at
my rate of travelling it ought to be; done in a fortnight or three
weeks at most, and the king says I have still two months of favourable
weather, but so anxious is he that no white man should come to grief in
his country, that he has been urging on me all possible haste from the
moment the subject was first mentioned. He has given me two excellent
men as guides; these two, having the king’s authority, will carry all
before them.
“I left Gubuleweyo last night, and came on as far as here, the house of
Mr. Thomson the missionary, for my first trek. Mr. Thomson has kindly
interested himself in me, and done all he could to assist me. He has
a nice wife and children, and this morning I have had the luxury of a
civilized breakfast, including tablecloth, bread and butter and eggs,
and milk to one’s coffee--things that I don’t often see now. I am now
availing myself of one of his rooms to write to you in.
“One of the men appointed by the king to guide me--himself a man
of high character and good family, as Mr. Thomson tells me--left
Gubuleweyo with me, and this morning hurried on to get bearers for me
at the kraals ahead. I shall want from twenty to thirty, and as it will
take some time to collect them, and my oxen want rest, I shall follow
slowly, making a three or four days’ journey of what is usually done in
two days. At Inyati, where I am to leave my waggon, are two white men
trading. These are the last outposts of civilization, but up to that
point there is regular communication all the way--that is to say, all
the way my waggon takes me. If I find that I am delayed and cannot
reach the Falls as quickly as I had hoped, I shall very likely turn
back without accomplishing my object, as I am desirous not to run any
foolish risks, and have been at great pains in collecting all possible
information.
“The men who carry my things will be most of them of the conquered
population, and the two guides appointed by the king (one of whom,
as I have mentioned, left me this morning to go on in advance, the
other being now at Inyati) are able to do what they like. No one dare
oppose the king, and the Matabele men he gives me renders any fear of
desertion or disobedience superfluous. Besides, these two men know that
they must carry out the king’s orders to the letter. I have also got
an interpreter, a man who speaks English and Kafir perfectly, my own
servant Hendrik, and my driver and his boy.[22] I shall take my tent if
possible, plenty of ground sheets and bedding, meal, tins of biscuits,
and coffee. For meat we have to rely on the guns carried by the party,
but there seems not the slightest fear of scarcity, in fact the bearers
are expected to live entirely on meat, having guns and ammunition
allowed them for the purpose. No beast of burden or dog can accompany
us, as it is the tsetse-fly country.
“Had it been earlier in the season I should have gone from the Tati,
by which route you can take your waggon to within a few miles of the
Falls, but as I should have had to see the king first, to get his
permission, by the time I could have returned to the Tati it would
have been too late. I have not a map before me now, but suppose it
may be 200 miles or thereabouts from Inyati, my starting-point, to
the Victoria Falls. I shall hurry on to the Zambesi, so as to leave
the river as soon as possible. I can then take my time in returning,
as when I leave the river the worst is over, and I soon get into a
healthy country again, but, as of course every one knows, the Zambesi
at certain seasons of the year is unhealthy. All this I have carefully
studied, and have been guided by what I consider reliable evidence.
I shall be further guided by circumstances that may occur, and shall
exercise my judgment as to how far I carry out my original project.”
Leaving Hope Fountain after writing the above, on the 25th of
September, the traveller went a short distance that night, and
continued his journey early on the following morning. Here the Journal
for the next two days resumes the story:--
“_September 26th._--Cool, cloudy morning; the wind in our faces.
Started about 7.30 A.M., and went six miles. The country we passed
through was bush veldt; trees small, and in most places thinly
scattered; grass very dry. One of the boys was running wildly about
to keep himself warm--a hint for me to give him a shirt. The wind was
high, and where we outspanned the boys made a fire in the hollow bed
of a spruit. Starting again at 1 P.M., the country assumed rather a
fresh aspect, with a green verdure like that of a young corn-field,
where the grass had been burnt. The trees here were not close, and some
were a good size, with young foliage of a vivid green. Passing next
between two kopjes, we descended into a fine, bushy, undulating tract,
misty-looking in the distance under a lowering sky. Outspanned at 3.40
P.M. at the Cokhé River, and had tea. Here they told me there was a
kraal close by, presided over by ‘Bengula’s brother, Bolinlila; and as
some of the oxen were tired, I sent over to see if I could leave them
here. The reply being favourable, and a present requested, I sent the
oxen--five in number--with a small strip of coloured calico.
“The boy sent me by the king, who was running about so vigorously this
morning, now showed me a small scratch on his heel, and asked to be
doctored. I put on some glycerine, but believe it was a ruse, as he
afterwards got on the sacks at the back of the waggon, and rode instead
of walking. The other man who was sent me by the king is the thinnest
mortal I think I ever saw, his legs literally like those of spiders.
It was dreadfully cold, and I gave all the poor wretches some hot tea.
Towards evening we advanced again four miles further. It was like a
cold trek on the high veldt--front sail drawn down, candle lighted,
myself in the blankets. Outspanned at 7.40 P.M. Windy and
rainy night.
“_September 27th._--Dark windy morning; Scotch mist. Hendrik woke me
soon after six, to say they were inspanned. We made two treks--about
twelve miles in all--and stopped about 3 P.M. at the Bembesi River,
where some boys herding cattle brought us sour milk curdled for
sale, which was very good. During the morning we passed some very
striking-looking trees, leafless, but covered with large clusters
of bright scarlet flowers on straight, brittle, thorny stalks. At a
distance they looked like naked trees covered with scarlet berries,
such as one sees in winter at home. Before night we went on four miles
further, and stopped one trek they say from our destination.”
At ten o’clock the following morning the Inquinquesi, a larger river
than the Bembesi, with plenty of water in it and a sandy bed, was
crossed, and a halt made upon its banks. Here was Inchlangin, the
kraal where the traders were, Inyati itself being a short way off.
Thither a messenger was at once despatched to ascertain what success
the king’s man, who had gone on in advance, had had in obtaining
bearers. Soon afterwards this man presented himself at the waggon,
saying that the boys required for the journey would be forthcoming the
following morning. When the day arrived, however, they were not brought
in sufficient numbers to be of any service, and the start had to be
postponed a day or two longer, pending the results of further efforts.
The following is the day’s entry in the Journal:--
“_September 29th._--Fine warm day; heavy rain in the evening. The
king’s man came again; this time accompanied by the induna of the kraal
(I suppose only the acting induna, as the real one is the man I met
at the King’s). He brought with him two other chief men, given me as
well as himself by the king, and to all three I gave some limbo. The
induna said he would rather have a shirt, and I told him I would give
it him when he had got me the boys. He only brought three to-day. Two
volunteers, whom I told to wait, also presented themselves from another
distant kraal.
“After this, as no more could be done, I went out shooting with
Mandy (one of the traders here) in the afternoon, and got some
birds. We had a pleasant walk, and saw the wild cotton growing. We
also saw a beautiful tree with delicate green leaves and wreaths of
violet-coloured laburnum-like blossoms; also a very sweetly-scented
flower, white and star-shaped, growing in small clusters upon a tree
of some size. Mandy says there are crocodiles here, but the king does
not allow them to be killed, as it is thought that any one possessing
the body can work spells. It is death to a native to kill one. A white
man on one occasion shot one here eighteen feet long, which had been
destroying calves and goats, and the king sent to have it buried, and
had men to watch the place.
“It seems that lately, during a ceremony previous to the king’s
marriage (circumcision), it was thought inauspicious for any guns to be
fired in the neighbourhood. They say a Kafir who fired one somewhere
in the veldt at the time was impaled for it.”
The greater part of the following day (September 30th) was spent in
packing and arranging things for the walk to the Falls, and it was
not till the day after this that the induna reappeared, now stating
that he could not get bearers. The natives, it is likely enough, were
afraid of fever on the Zambesi at this season, and did not want to
go, but it afterwards appeared that the induna of the kraal and the
headman sent by the king had made no proper efforts to obtain the staff
required for the journey. The upshot of the matter was that the Zambesi
had to be abandoned, and the traveller obtained instead permission
from the king to go for a few weeks’ hunting into the country to the
north-east, where good sport was likely to be had. Before starting on
this expedition he wrote home from Inyati, on October 5th, as follows:--
“You will not be much surprised to hear that I have had to give up the
Zambesi. I got here just in time to do it, if the carriers had been
forthcoming, but the people in authority threw so many difficulties in
my way, that I had to send back to the king, and so much valuable time
has been lost that I have given up the expedition. I am, however, going
a little way into the country with my waggon, and shall probably be a
month or two before I am back again here.
“There are three Englishmen living here, trading. Two of them, in whose
house I am now writing, are very obliging to me. This is a mission
station, but there is no missionary here now. It is the last post of
white men in this part of the world. When you reach the Zambesi you
come to the outposts of the Portuguese traders from the east coast, but
between these points are no Europeans settled. The rain is beginning,
though the regular rains have not set in yet. It is after the first
heavy rains that fever begins to annoy people on the Zambesi, but
I believe, generally, even then only slightly, but after the next
downfall--when there is much rain and the rain is beginning to dry up,
about January, February, and March--the really bad season sets in.
However, I am now avoiding even the former risk, and where I am going
I shall be so near here all the time that I can return almost when I
choose. I don’t exactly know where I am going, but it will be somewhere
in a north or north-easterly direction from here.
“I hear that Cruickshank, my agent at Bamangwato, is now at the King’s
Town, but I am three days’ journey from there, and he will shortly
be returning to Bamangwato. Fairbairn, his agent at the King’s Town,
will, however, in all probability, be there when I return, and here I
am in good hands too, so that I have friends all along the road, and
letters always come and go as surely, if more slowly, than where there
is a regular post, for waggons are constantly coming and going, and
everybody helps everybody else in this part of the world. I have been
pressed into the service as postman myself before now. Only delays
must be expected, and are often very vexatious.”
On the 7th of October Frank Oates started on his projected expedition
in the north-east, on which he was absent from Inyati in all about
seven weeks. The district traversed during his absence was that watered
by the Gwailo and Umvungu Rivers, the furthest point reached being the
Umgwanya. The circumstances of the first few days of these wanderings
may be recounted in his own words as follows, taken from his Journal:--
“_October 7th._--Sultry, oppressive day; very cloudy. Packed waggon,
and left Inyati about 4 P.M. We passed through bush country, with
fine open level spaces, which would be excellent riding ground; some
fine old baobab trees in the distance exactly like oaks, with gnarled
crooked arms. These trees have dark green foliage, and here and there
stand almost isolated. Close; a very disagreeable smell frequent,
Hendrik says of black ants. Now and then sweet perfumes from flowering
shrubs.... As it got dark we outspanned about 7 P.M., having water for
our own use in our casks. A large group of men round the fire. We had
come perhaps nine miles.
“_October 8th._--Mild, cloudy, breezy morning. Crossed the dry beds
of two small rivers (branches of the Lelongwe), with a kraal placed
between them; the ground level so far. Men bring ostrich eggs; women
bring Indian and Kafir corn and beans. Bought the upper mandible of
an eagle from the neck of a man, hanging by a thin leather strap.
Hendrik says these eagles kill goats. Also bought ostrich feathers
and eggs, milk and corn. We had outspanned. Presently resuming the
journey, we crossed the third arm of the Lelongwe, and then the reedy
bed of a spruit, where we dug in the sand, and found plenty of nice
mineral-tasted water, which the men and dogs drank. Reached the site
of an old kraal, Intembin, about noon. Hendrik calls these people
‘Maholies.’ They are far easier to deal with than the Matabele, take
what you give them and are satisfied. They asked for red, but took
blue, beads, and were delighted with red with white stripe. Stopped
to rest at 1.15, and made another trek before night, finally stopping
about 6 P.M. near a rather large river, with heavy sand in its bed.
“_October 9th._--Overcast, delicious day. Started at 7 A.M., and about
9 crossed the Tchangani--the largest river we have yet seen since
leaving Inyati--and outspanned, continuing the journey in the afternoon
for about three hours. This last trek was a very pleasant one, over
falling ground. As we outspanned (about 4 P.M.), John told me that a
‘honey’s (bees’) nest’ had been found by Hendrik. The boys went off,
and it was found in the hollow trunk of a large tree, into which the
bees went by a hole in the side of the tree. They put fire into the
hole, having kindled a small one close to the tree, and then with an
axe cut open the trunk. The bees seemed on the whole pretty quiet, and
I don’t think their sting can be bad, as the men seemed tolerably
indifferent. The cells, when taken out, proved full of grubs.... One of
the boys was carrying two squirrels killed by a dog; another had found
roots. I tried the latter, and found them slightly bitter and at the
same time sweet. They are chewed and the juice swallowed. The only leaf
visible is contained in a small green shoot, apparently just coming
out of the ground, but the roots are very large and long. Another boy
brought a pretty duiker, which he had killed with an assegai.
“_October 10th._--We seem on a sort of plateau, with lower ground in
front. Beyond is high land, blue in the distance. Starting a little
before 7 A.M., we reached the Umvungu about 9, a big reedy river with
water in its bed. When we arrived one of the boys was calling out, and
we found he had shot a sable antelope. Many flowers are now springing
up in the veldt, and the tints of the trees are very lovely, reminding
one of an English spring, or, in some respects, of autumn; different
shades of green and yellow. In the course of the afternoon we entered
very thick bush, the thickest I have yet met with in South Africa,
and more like English wood in general appearance than what we have
hitherto seen, the trees budding with delicate tints of fresh green,
brown, and yellow. Soon after entering the bush fresh elephant spoor
was announced--the first I have yet heard of--and a few minutes later
we came on a broken tree lying across the road, and more fresh elephant
spoor. Emerged from the thick bush about 5.20 P.M., and soon afterwards
outspanned at a spruit.”
The following day (October 11) the party reached the Gwailo River,
which was crossed without difficulty. A half-caste Cape man, who was
hunting here, named Nelson, rode up and gave a very bad report. He had
shot fourteen elephants in two months, and a few ostriches. He said the
Mashonas, hunting the elephants with their assegais, and shouting, had
driven them away. His plan now was to go to Damaraland, _viâ_ Lake
Ngami, where he had been before and found elephants abundant.
Resuming his journey in the afternoon, Frank Oates now struck across
the veldt to the south-east, and crossed the Umgwanya River the
following morning, proceeding afterwards a few miles up its banks. At
this point he had intended to encamp for a few days; but hearing from
two natives who came to the waggon that there were still elephants in
the thick bush which had been passed through the day before, he felt
tempted to return there; and on the 13th, recrossing the Umgwanya and
Gwailo Rivers, in a more direct line than he had taken coming, went
back in the direction of the Umvungu. “A boa-constrictor,” he here
writes, “six feet six inches long, and as thick as my wrist, lay its
length upon the ground, and was skilfully transfixed by one of my boys’
assegais, and pinned to the ground. The lads were evidently afraid of
his bite, but the men say that it is harmless.... The Mashonas use
these snakes as an article of food.”
Next day the spruit which they had outspanned at on the 10th, near
the thick elephant bush they were making for, was reached, and here,
a short way off the waggon-track, under some remarkably picturesque
kopjes, the landscape all budding with the green of spring, a camp was
formed, where the party remained about a fortnight hunting. The boys
made themselves some snug huts of branches and dry grass to sleep in.
Here the Journal again takes up the story:--
“_October 14th._--... Nelson came up to the waggon when we were
outspanned. He had not left, but had stopped about near the place where
we had outspanned when we first came through the thick bush. He had
come on a herd of many (he says forty) elephants, driven six out of
the herd, and shot four, but lost two of them--one a large bull. He
had killed two bulls. This occurred the day before yesterday. I walked
away with him in the evening towards his waggon. We found some nests
of amadavats--the little pink ones, I fancy. Some were in course of
construction, some finished; all hanging like fruit from a tree. One
I took contained two eggs, white speckled with red. Macloule[23] gave
me this evening two goatsucker’s eggs he had found, partly sat on. The
nest is very slight, and placed on the ground.[24]
[Illustration: BIRDS’ NESTS.]
“_October 15th._--Soon after 7 A.M. started with boys to hunt....
Maqueban found the carcass of an elephant killed a few days ago. The
two teeth--one broken, but as heavy as the other--weighed together 20
lbs., as I found afterwards. The boys rushed to the carcass, and were
soon at work dismembering it. It may be one of Nelson’s, but my boys
think it died before Sunday (the day Nelson killed his). A great many
kites flew sweeping round. It was a regular scene, such as one sees in
pictures, the Kafirs at work cutting off trunk and feet and strips of
flesh. It was a cow elephant, and vultures and other creatures had got
the end of the trunk and what they could without breaking the skin.
Fires were lighted and meat cooked and devoured, whilst large pieces
were put aside for removal. When the filth was extracted from one of
the tusks, ‘Sassaybi’[25] threw back his head and held it up first to
one then to the other nostril. This is supposed to be a good thing for
any one troubled with nose-bleeding on hot days. Sassaybi likewise
scraped some stuff like cobbler’s wax from where the tusk is inserted
in the skin. He said it was to be used as a charm.... As we travel
through the bush Indian file, returning to the waggon, Echle (the chief
hunter I have with me), meeting a small tortoise, picks it up, spits on
it, and puts it to his forehead. He says this is lucky when you want
to get elephants, and he says, however large the tortoise is, this is
done. He is then allowed to walk off.
“_October 16th._--Shots heard near the waggon early, and Nelson
arrives, having shot a fine bull eland quite near to my waggon. He says
he was looking for elephant spoor when he found the eland, and drove
him seven miles. He is a mighty brute, bigger than an average bullock.
The hide is very thick. We had breakfast on eland steak fried in fat,
and enjoyed it very much. Nelson says, when in Damaraland, he got a
young elephant, but it died from neglect coming through seventy miles
of the ‘thirst land.’ He says they are easy to keep, and so are young
ostriches. The latter can be driven with the bullocks. He says there
are plenty of crocodiles in the river beyond the Gwailo.
“Nelson showed me, when we were out together in the veldt the day
before yesterday, some remains of Mashona huts destroyed by the
Matabele. He says they are to be found all over the veldt, and bones
amongst many of them. Some of the Mashonas are subject to the Matabele.
Those that refuse allegiance are mercilessly hunted down. They are all
formed of independent little tribes, and when war is made against one
the others don’t assist them. Therefore they fall an easy prey. The
impeys sent out against them for their cattle are what I heard of at
Gubuleweyo. Nelson says lately in an impey a kraal was taken, the young
men killed (they throw away their scanty dress and run and are killed
‘like springbok’), and the old men and women burnt to death. The young
women and children were made slaves of, and the cattle taken. Nelson’s
Matabele boys wanted him lately to drive off some cattle, saying the
king might give him fifty of them, but he refused. The cattle and all
the animals are kept in the same place as the Mashonas themselves live
in (the same house, Nelson calls it). They are thus easily surrounded
by the Matabele. The Matabele despise those who own allegiance to their
chief, and call them slaves. One of the latter in Nelson’s employ blew
his face off with some gunpowder, doing something for his master on one
occasion. ‘Never mind,’ said Nelson’s Matabele, ‘it is nothing, he is a
dog’ (the usual epithet). The man’s father came to Nelson and asked to
be paid, and was quite satisfied with a few coils of brass wire. Once,
when Nelson killed a rhinoceros, a number of Mashona came for the meat
and began fighting. They would cry, ‘This is mine,’ ‘This is mine,’ and
two were killed. Nelson went away, feeling, he says, quite frightened
at the scene. An assegai was thrust into one man’s heart by another who
was quarrelling with him before Nelson’s eyes.
“In Damaraland, he says, the Bushmen are much better to get on with
than the Matabele are here. They work for you like slaves for a little
meat. They are under independent petty chiefs, and bring magnificent
ostrich feathers for a small strip of limbo or other very trifling
payment. From what Nelson says, it must be a capital place for the
hunter, ivory being large, white, and plentiful, and easily got, and
the natives most willing to assist.
“_October 17th._--Sleepless night; dogs barking at hyænas. I was kept
to the waggon yesterday with a sore heel, and to-day did not go far.
Nelson came to the waggon in the afternoon. He tells me that, on the
opposite side of the road, about ten miles away, is a ‘fountain,’[26]
with one or two waters intervening, and plenty of game. He does not
know whether the king allows any one to go into this veldt; but it is a
good country for a waggon to travel in.... I went out with him a little
in the evening. He says he has seen two elephants’ tusks from near
the Zambesi of 70 lbs. each--the largest he ever saw. He has seen an
elephant with four tusks, and a Boer he speaks of shot one with eight;
one of 70 lbs., the others of about 2 lbs. each.
“When Nelson was a young boy, his father, he tells me, trading near
Sechele’s, being at feud with the missionary there, who had surrounded
his waggon with forty Kafirs, and incited them to seize his goods, he
determined to blow them up; but, in applying the light to the inside
of the waggon, where was a lot of gunpowder, he was not quite quick
enough, and was himself blown up with the missionary (a German) and the
Kafirs. Nelson himself lay many hours on the ground insensible, much
scorched. He had been standing close to the front wheel; his father was
on the front-box. Nelson must have escaped thus lightly almost by a
miracle. When he came to himself, he saw the wreck, his father and the
Kafirs lying dead, and was pursued and fired at by Kafirs. The bullets
passed close to him, and the Kafirs pursued, but could not catch him.
He has still scars on his legs, made in passing through the thorns, and
one on his face, caused by the explosion. He spent three days wandering
in the veldt without food, but, it being the rainy season, he had
water, and on the fourth day he came to a waggon.
“There was a scene to-day when Nelson’s two boys, who claim the ivory
we got the other day, came to the waggon. Nelson told me not to give
it to them, but did not want them to know he had given me this hint.
The ivory, it seems, would not be his anyhow, as the king’s man who
is with him hunts on his own account and would claim it. My boys were
resolute to keep it, and we let them fight it out by themselves, which
they did very noisily, finally saying it should be referred to the
king. It seems to me that, picked up in the veldt, it belongs to the
finder, unless the shooter has followed it up himself. This Nelson
says his men did not attempt--though he advised it--saying it would be
useless.”
From this time till the 27th of the month, the party remained in the
same camp, making frequent excursions thence in search of game, first
in one direction, then in another. Here they met with more quagga and
sable antelope than any other game, but there were also eland, koodoo,
and sassaybi, besides some of the lesser antelopes and wild pigs in
abundance. “Near the spruit on which we stand,” writes Frank Oates at
this point, “is the most really picturesque bit of craggy and sylvan
scenery I have yet seen. Our present camp indeed is far the best in
that respect we have ever yet had. It is now spring, moreover; the
first rains have fallen, and refreshed nature is beginning to resume
her long-lost garb of green.”
The following quotation from the Journal of the 18th gives a pleasant
glimpse into one of their longer rambles from this camp:--“Started
about 7.30 A.M., and walked nearly three hours, first through
the thin, then through the thick, bush, striking a path during the
walk which we followed to the south-west, and which brought us out
under a huge spreading baobab, the largest tree I have yet seen since
leaving Pietermaritzburg. They call it the ‘Indunas’ tree,’ for here
the indunas from the neighbouring kraals are wont to sit and drink
beer when anything particular is on hand. The huge trunk is blackened
all round with fire, but the tree seems uninjured, and spreads its
huge canopy from a framework of crooked boughs, like a gigantic oak.
Stretching my arms round the tree at the height at which I stand from
the ground, it took me four times, all but about a foot, to encircle
it--say about twenty-three feet for its girth here, but below this it
is much more, as it increases towards the roots. Other trees of the
same kind stand about, but they are less. A splendid view, such as
recalls Wharfedale to the mind, here suddenly bursts in sight. The
Umvungu River flows in the valley; at our backs is the thick bush,
through which we have come; but before us stretches the green vista of
woods far away, till it becomes blue in the distance. We waited here
about two hours, and returned as we had come.”
In this way the whole surrounding district was gradually traversed.
The weather during the stay at the present camp was already beginning
to be wet, and there was no improvement in this respect, but the
reverse, from that date. On the 27th, moving their position, they
again encamped a few miles further to the westward, where they remained
till the middle of November, hunting the district, and at times leaving
the waggon for some days together. Elephant and giraffe were met with
on this occasion, the rest of the game being mostly the same as that
found near the previous encampment. The chief trophy of the chase here
obtained was a fine bull elephant, its tusks weighing together 108 lbs.
[Illustration: THE FIRST ELEPHANT.]
An eclipse of the moon occurring during this period, an opportunity was
afforded of observing the effect of this phenomenon on the minds of
some of the party. “Soon after sunset,” writes Frank Oates on November
3d, “the moon rising, I think, a little before, I noticed the upper
part of the moon, indeed all but a small crescent nearest the horizon,
covered with a dingy, smoky shadow. It was an eclipse. I asked John
what it was. He said, ‘Smoke.’ The moment it was shown to Macloule he
uttered a cry of conjuration, as it were, and rushing out with a brand,
threw it in the direction of the moon. His explanation is that we shall
hear something; all the hunters out in the veldt will now return home
to hear the news. People are looking at it in Gubuleweyo, England,
everywhere. It is a custom, it seems, at all the kraals, when an
eclipse is seen, for the people to rush out and throw brands, shouting
at the same time. When I suggested a shadow on the moon, he dismissed
the suggestion summarily, and when asked to explain the appearance by
any other cause, said the moon was changing colour. As the eclipse
progressed, I pointed out to him that the shadow kept rising, and more
and more of the moon becoming visible, but he only said, ‘It looks bad
now.’ I looked through the telescope, as it was nearly over, to note
the exact time of the shadow passing away. Echle took a hasty glance
through it, and turned away quickly, saying he did not like to see it.”
By the middle of November, when they left their second camp, so much
rain was already falling that hunting became difficult, and a return
to Gubuleweyo was decided on. Starting back, therefore, on the return
journey on November 16th, they reached Inyati, travelling slowly, on
the 23d. Here Frank Oates was detained about a week, having much
trouble and annoyance in paying off the boys he had engaged there for
the hunt early in October, and it was the 2d of December before he once
more found himself at Hope Fountain, near Gubuleweyo, the residence of
Mr. Thomson, whence he wrote home the following letter:--
“Rev. J. B. THOMSON’s,
HOPE FOUNTAIN, MATABELE LAND,
“_December 4th, 1873_.
“I find there is a good opportunity of writing a line home,
as a trader is going with a waggon straight to Hope Town, and
starts to-morrow. He has only been a fortnight coming here from
Bamangwato, so he travels pretty quickly. You will, no doubt,
before you get this, have received the last letter I sent you,
in which I think I told you that my visit to the Victoria Falls
had been abandoned. I was within 150 to 200 miles of them, and
had made every preparation for the journey, having got the
king’s leave to proceed, escorted by one of his chief men, and
was already packing the things for the bearers to carry (twenty
was the number I required, though I should have been content
with fifteen), when all at once the unforeseen difficulty of
getting a sufficient number of them presented itself. The king
had told me there would be no difficulty, but I was then fifty
miles from him, having taken my waggon to be left at Inyati,
whence I was starting on my walk to the Falls. I see now
clearly enough that I was deceived by the man who was given to
assist me, or by the headman of Inyati, who had made no attempt
to get the men for me, but lulled me with fair promises, whilst
in reality doing all he could to prevent my obtaining them. The
fact was my guide did not wish me to go to the Zambesi; partly,
no doubt, because they would have had to hurry more than might
have been agreeable, but principally from fear of the fever, of
which they have a great dread. The king, however, knew what he
was doing when he assured me that for two months to come there
was no danger whatever, and this was far more time than enough
to accomplish my much-desired object.
“I have now spent two months in the neighbourhood of Inyati,
sometimes leaving the waggon for days, and sleeping in the
veldt. This was always satisfactorily managed even on a pouring
wet night, as the Kafirs in a few minutes build you a hut of
branches, perfectly water-tight, with a bed of dry grass upon
which to place your bedding. Two Englishmen, tourists, have
visited the Falls this season, and I hear that one of them said
they were so fine he would rather walk barefoot from Durban
to see them than leave them unseen. (Mrs. Thomson, finding me
writing in the dark, has just sent Mr. T. to me with a candle,
which I hope will improve the style of my letter, for I fear it
wants it.) The old guide, who was given me by the king, and
whom I suspect of doing me out of the Zambesi, was very anxious
for me to go to the king to-day, as he has to deliver me back
to him in person, and never lets me go out of his sight for a
moment if he can help it. This opportunity of writing home,
however, is keeping me this evening.
“My old man is the cousin of the king and nephew of Mosilikatze,
and the king sent him with me as a special mark of favour. If
any harm had befallen me he would have been held responsible,
and with most fearful zeal did he fulfil his office. He would
never let me sleep without a hut, or do anything he deemed
imprudent or unhealthy, carrying his care of me to such a pitch
that it was often a very great bore. I am told that if I go away
again into the veldt either now or years hence, I shall have to
go with this same man, Macloule, or, should he not be living,
with one of his sons. I would have forgiven him everything if he
had taken me to the Victoria Falls.
* * * * *
“A puppy has been added to my establishment. It was one of a
family born in the veldt, on the banks of the Gwailo River,
and, with its brothers and sisters, carried over its master’s
shoulders in a small bark cage when we were on the move. I had
several narrow escapes of being bitten by the mamma, who hated
me, though I always did my utmost for the comfort of the family.
“I have still two of my original four dogs with me, one of
which is a great favourite of mine, and one pony. The time
is approaching when horses that have not yet had it, get the
horse-sickness, which it is a great chance they get over. A good
‘salted’ horse, or rather pony (that is one that has had the
sickness and recovered from it), is worth £50 to £100, instead
of £20. The king has been telling people to ask me to sell him
my pony, and he also wants a gun of mine, for which he has put
aside two huge tusks of ivory, double its value. He has been
inquiring very much for me, and is anxious to see me back. Tea
is nearly ready, so I will now say good-bye. I am anxiously
looking forward to getting letters in two or three months at
latest. My letters are all to be forwarded to me and await me at
Bamangwato.”
The day after writing this letter Frank Oates took his waggon on to
Gubuleweyo, and once more drew it up in front of Mr. Fairbairn’s
scherm. The recent rains had wonderfully freshened the country
since the outward journey, and the last trek, made through a green
meadow-like district, recalled to the traveller’s mind the aspect of
the country round Oxford in early summer.
The vegetation had of late been frequently remarkable for its beauty,
and a number of flowering shrubs, many of them sweetly scented, had
been observed from time to time. Flowers of other kinds were also
becoming plentiful, and many varieties of wild fruit were met with.
Some of the latter Frank Oates describes at the Umvungu in his
Journal:--“There is a kind of fruit growing in trees here,” he says,
“which the boys get very eagerly. It is really excellent. It is about
the size of a large walnut, with a hard case cleft in four, inside
which are glutinous woody fibre and seeds. The seeds are thrown away,
and the fibre chewed. The latter contains a large quantity of sweet
glutinous matter, the part rejected looking just like wood. There is
also another excellent fruit,” he continues, “not uncommon, which grows
on a small tree, and is larger than a very fine orange. In shape it
is spherical, and the outer case, which is hard, is easily broken,
and the contents laid bare. The pulp that surrounds the seeds is the
part eaten. This is brown in colour, and deliciously acid in flavour,
reminding one a little of roasted apple. The pulp of one of these
fruits forms quite a refreshing little repast. I believe they are
common near Pretoria,--so John tells me,--and no doubt are found all
over the veldt. The boys always make a great rush to get them. When
quite mature the outer rind is yellow, and they seem to fall to the
ground as soon as they are thoroughly ripe.”
The description of the first of these fruits corresponds closely, it
may be remarked, with that of a fruit named “manéko,” which was met
with by Livingstone near the Zambesi, in the centre of the continent.
The last-named is of frequent occurrence in Zululand, where it is
called “inhlala” (famine), from its value to the natives in times of
scarcity.
Besides these, other fruits were also met with in the district,
including a sort of wild grape, acceptable enough on hot days, but
somewhat deficient in juiciness and flavour.
No great amount of game was seen upon the journey.
[Illustration: KNOB-BILLED GOOSE.--_Sarkidiornis
melanonotus._]