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SUNSHINE AND STORM IN RHODESIA
[Illustration: _Frontispiece._
MAHOLI
An old servant of the author's who came in with his master and mistress
from Essexvale, on the outbreak of the rebellion, and has been with
them ever since.]
SUNSHINE AND STORM IN RHODESIA
Being a Narrative of Events in Matabeleland
Both Before and During the Recent Native Insurrection
Up to the Date of the Disbandment of
the Bulawayo Field Force
by
FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS
Gold Medallist of the Royal Geographical Society
Author of 'Travel and Adventure,' etc.
With Map and Numerous Illustrations
London
Rowland Ward & Co., Limited
166 Piccadilly, W.
1896
To My Wife
WHO DURING THE LAST FEW MONTHS
HAS AT ONCE BEEN
MY GREATEST ANXIETY AND MY GREATEST COMFORT
I DEDICATE THIS BOOK
PREFACE
It was during the early days of the recent insurrection that I
first thought of utilising my spare time by writing some account
of what was taking place around me, and these rough notes, written
at odd moments during the campaign, I intended to have sent to the
_Field_ for publication in that journal, in the form of a series of
articles dealing entirely with my own personal experiences. After
the disbandment of the Bulawayo Field Force, however, and my own
resignation as an officer in that corps, finding that I had leisure
to do so, I determined to amplify these notes, and give some account
of every skirmish which had taken place between the Colonists and
the natives in Matabeleland up to the date of the disbandment of the
above-mentioned Force. To this I add a short account of my personal
experiences in the country during the months immediately preceding the
outbreak of the insurrection, and finding that I had then sufficient
material to fill the covers of a small book, I abandoned my original
idea of getting what I had written published in weekly numbers, and
determined for the third time to launch a book—always about Africa—on
the long-suffering British public.
What I have written as it were historically regarding the events which
have lately taken place in Matabeleland may, I think, be received as
a simple and unadorned statement of fact, for where I have had to go
outside my own personal experiences, my information has always been
obtained at first hand and checked by the corroborating accounts of
others who were also eye-witnesses of the events described. As to
any conclusions I may have arrived at from given facts, they may be
right or they may be wrong, but at any rate I claim the right to
express my opinions frankly and fearlessly as long as they are my
honest convictions. It may be said that, as I am a friend of Mr. Cecil
Rhodes and of Dr. Jameson, I ought not to have expressed the opinion
that it was the removal of the police force from Matabeleland to the
Transvaal which gave the natives their opportunity to revolt, since
the expression of such an opinion may be held to reflect upon the
administration of the Chartered Company. My reply is, that I have
written a history, which, to have any value, must be truthful, and that
as Dr. Jameson cannot lay claim to infallibility, he was, like other
mortals, liable to err. When he left Matabeleland he never dreamt that
the removal of the police force would have any more effect upon the
Matabele than the disbandment of the police in Mashunaland in 1891 had
had upon the natives in that country. This opinion, moreover, must have
been shared by the great majority of the inhabitants of Matabeleland,
since no remonstrance was made by any public man at the time that the
police left Bulawayo. We now know that the removal of the white police
force was a mistake; but it is easy to criticise after the event,
and as at the time the mistake was made no one in Rhodesia was wise
or prescient enough to foresee the possible effect it might have on
the natives of Matabeleland, it would be the height of meanness and
injustice to hold Dr. Jameson morally responsible for the present
insurrection.
Judging from the knowledge which we now possess of the secret history
of the rebellion, it appears that the leaders of the movement must
long ago have determined to revolt whenever a favourable opportunity
occurred, and a rebellion would therefore in all probability have taken
place sooner or later; so perhaps it is as well to have had it and got
over it at the same time as the rinderpest. The latter plague will have
far more lasting effects than the native rising; but when the railway
from the south reaches Bulawayo, the country will once again be able
to make a fair start, for with the greater knowledge now possessed by
the authorities of the native character, the outcome of which will be
a complete reorganisation of the native administration, no farther
insurrection ought to be possible. For the rest, it is very evident
that the Matabele broke out in rebellion because they disliked their
position as a conquered people, and imagined that they were strong
enough to throw off the yoke of their conquerors. But I fail to see
that the fact that they have rebelled is any more an indictment against
the general principles of the government of the Chartered Company, than
were the numerous rebellions which have taken place from time to time
in the Cape Colony an indictment against the wisdom and justice of the
Imperial Government.
Now that the rebellion has occurred, it will very possibly be said that
it was brought about by systematic brutality to the natives on the
part of the white men in the country. Such an allegation, however,
cannot be supported by facts, for, as the records of the magistrates'
court will prove, the present Government has done all that any other
civilised Government could have done to protect the natives from
ill-treatment at the hands of irresponsible individuals; and as a
native commissioner thoroughly conversant with the Matabele language,
and well in touch with the people, was stationed in each of the
districts into which the country has been divided, it cannot be urged
that the natives had no opportunity of making their grievances known.
Grievances of course they had, the chief of which, doubtless, was the
loss of their independence as a nation, and the fact that they found
themselves treated as a conquered people lately engaged in hostilities,
who had only been permitted to return to the country from which they
had been driven at the time of the first war under certain conditions,
one of which was that the indunas should, through the medium of the
native commissioners, supply miners and farmers with native labour—all
the able-bodied young men in the country being required to work for a
certain number of months per annum at a fixed rate of pay. This rate of
pay was fixed at 10s. a month with food; but as a matter of fact mining
work was almost always paid much more highly, as much as 30s. a month
with food being often given for unskilled labour, whilst the managers
of mines made it their business to see that the boys in their Company's
employ were well treated, and cruel treatment by individuals was, I do
not hesitate to say, the exception to the rule. Owing to the excessive
indolence of the people, however, there can be no doubt that the labour
regulations were most irksome to them. The indunas grew more and more
disinclined to exert their authority in the matter of inducing their
people to work when applications were made to them, with the result
that native policemen were sent to their kraals to insist on the labour
regulations being carried out, and these policemen, I fear, sometimes
exceeded their duties, and used their position to tyrannise over the
people.
I remember well that when Umlugulu[1] visited me for the first time,
after I had taken up my residence on Essexvale,[2] he complained
bitterly of the high-handed manner in which the "Ama Policey Minyama,"
the "Black Police," behaved to him and his people. "I have no
complaints to make," he said, "against the white policemen; but the
black police, wa duba, wa duba sebele—they give me trouble; they really
give me trouble." I myself complained to the acting Administrator, Mr.
Duncan, concerning the inconsiderate manner in which it appeared to
me that the labour regulations were sometimes carried out, and I was
led to believe that the whole question of native administration would
shortly be gone into by the Government, and all grievances remedied.
The cattle question I have dealt with in the course of my story. It
was never sagaciously handled, and its mismanagement probably caused
more discontent against the Chartered Company's rule amongst the
pure-blooded Matabele, or Abenzantsi, than anything else, whilst
the irritation excited by the regulation exacting a certain amount
of paid labour yearly from every able-bodied man produced a feeling
of bitterness and discontent throughout the other classes of the
community, which made them ripe for rebellion when they were called to
arms by the leaders of the insurrection. However, although no impartial
critic can deny that the confiscation of so large a number of their
cattle, and more especially the manner in which that confiscation was
carried out, was impolitic if not ungenerous; whilst the manner in
which the labour regulations were enforced was sometimes calculated
to provoke serious discontent; yet neither of these causes, nor both
combined, would, in my opinion, have been sufficient to induce the
mass of the population to break out in rebellion had there not been
amongst them many men who, having once belonged to the ruling class
in the country, were so dissatisfied at their loss of position and
power under the white man's rule, that they had determined to regain
their independence as a nation, or to attempt to do so, on the first
favourable opportunity which offered. The rebellion was not the
spontaneous act of the mass of the people goaded to desperation by an
insupportable tyranny. It was a drama into which they were surprised,
and in many cases dragged against their better judgment, by a few
leading spirits, who planned and carried out the first murders and
utilised the Makalaka Umlimo,[3] as a prophet.
To show that neither the cattle nor the labour questions were the only
causes of the rebellion, I may mention that on Mr. Arthur Rhodes'
block of farms on the Impembisi river, extending to some 50,000 acres,
there was a considerable native population which had been altogether
exempted from the general labour regulations—although required to
supply Mr. Arthur Rhodes himself with any labour necessary on the farm
for agricultural purposes; whilst there had been distributed amongst
them 1600 head of cattle, which they held, in addition to their own,
on exactly the same terms on which they had been formerly accustomed
to tend cattle for Lo Bengula. Now here was a population living, one
would have thought, in a state of the most absolute contentment—for
they were receiving the full benefit of the milk from a far larger
number of cattle than they had ever had to look after in Lo Bengula's
time; had been allowed to build their kraals wherever they thought fit,
make use of whatever land they desired for cultivation, and in fact
to lead their own life in their own way undisturbed by any one, for
the number of boys who came voluntarily to ask for employment was far
in excess of what was required for agricultural work on the estate.
And yet, when the rebellion broke out, these people to a man (always
excepting Captain Fynn's Delagoa Bay boy) joined the insurgents, and
not only burnt down Mr. Arthur Rhodes' homestead and swept off all
his cattle, but murdered Mr. Edwards the surveyor, who happened to
be working in the neighbourhood; against whom they could have had no
personal animus, as he was a complete stranger to them. Then, again,
if any one had heard the natives living in the villages close round my
homestead on Essexvale singing and dancing as they were wont to do on
every moonlight night, he could not have maintained that they appeared
to be weighed down by a sense of injustice and oppression, or, in fact,
that they were anything but joyous and happy. It is very difficult to
understand the workings of a Kafir's mind, as any one must admit who
has lived long amongst natives, but the fact that the Matabele broke
out into rebellion against the Government of the Chartered Company,
appears to me to be no proof of any special iniquity _per se_ on the
part of that Government, since history has shown us, that wherever a
savage race, entirely unaccustomed to order and restraint, has been
conquered by a highly civilised people, who have forthwith essayed
to govern that savage race as humanely as possible, but after all in
their own interests rather than in the interests of the conquered
people, a rebellion against the more intelligent ruling class has been
the result; for the ways of the civilised man are not the ways of the
savage, who, there can be no doubt, would rather put up with all the
ills from which we consider we have freed him, than be subject to the
restraints of a settled form of Government. Practically, he says "hang
your _Pax Britanica_"; give me the good old times of superstition and
bloodshed; then, even if I did not know the day nor the hour when I
might be "smelt out" as a witch, and forthwith knocked on the head, at
any rate I could have basked in the sun until my time came; and then,
too, when the "impi" went forth, what glorious times I had, and how I
revelled in blood and loot!
As to any general charges of systematic injustice and cruelty towards
the natives, which may and will now be made by the personal enemies of
Mr. Rhodes, against the Chartered Company, with the object of providing
a justification for the brutal murders of European women and children
which have been committed during the present rebellion, I would point
out that such charges come rather late in the day, for the natives
of Matabeleland had lived for over two years in an apparently fairly
contented condition under the Government of the Company before the
rebellion broke out, and during the whole of that time there were four
missionaries belonging to the London Missionary Society, besides some
people called "seventh-day adventists"—whatever that may mean, for I
have not the least idea myself—all of whom were working amongst, and
avowedly for the benefit of, the natives. Now, if systematic cruelty,
injustice, and oppression of the Matabele by the Government of the
Chartered Company had been going on constantly for over two years, it
must have been very well known to all these men, and it was their duty
not only to have protested against such gross misgovernment to the
Company's Administrator in Bulawayo, but also to have reported such
abuses to their Directors in England. No such allegations, however,
were ever made prior to the rebellion, and should any be now brought
forward they ought to be received with the very gravest suspicion. The
fact, too, remains that although individual acts of brutality have
occurred in Matabeleland—as they have done in every other country in
the world—during the last two years, and although mistakes have been
made, especially in dealing with the cattle and labour questions, yet,
on the whole, the conditions under which the natives in that territory
were living, were such that no one resident in the country, whether
missionary or miner, imagined before the rebellion broke out that there
could be any deep-seated discontent amongst them. That the government
of the natives has been all that was desirable from their point of view
I do not say, as it is my opinion that, when a black man's country has
been conquered by Europeans, the laws by which that country will be
subsequently governed will be made in the interests of the whites, and
some of them will be very unpalatable to the conquered race, however
just and equitable they may seem to their rulers. We Europeans make
the mistake of thinking that, when we free a tribe of savages from
what we consider a most oppressive and tyrannical form of government,
substituting in its place an orderly rule, under which every man's life
and property is protected and witch-doctors are not recognised, we
ought to earn their gratitude; but the fact is we invariably fail to
do so, as the present insurrection, as well as all the many rebellions
by the natives of the Cape Colony against the rule of the Imperial
Government has shown. Yet, as in the Cape Colony, so also will it be in
Matabeleland. The savages will discover the uselessness of rebelling
against the white man, and as time goes on will become more reconciled
to the ways of their conquerors; that is, if their grievances are
inquired into and as far as possible remedied, as I have every hope and
belief that they will be as soon as the present rebellion has come to
an end; for not until mutual confidence has again been restored between
the whites and the blacks can Rhodesia prosper. From the black man's
point of view the white man is probably not necessary as a factor in
the prosperity of the country. He could get along very well without
him. Unfortunately we cannot manage without the black man; he is
absolutely necessary for the development of the country on the white
man's lines. But a sulky, rebellious black man, only held in subjection
by fear, is both a useless and dangerous personality, and, therefore,
the dictates of policy will be at one with the promptings of humanity,
in demanding that the natives of Matabeleland shall be governed both
kindly and justly as well as firmly.
One word more. In the following pages I have given descriptions of
many barbarous deeds which have lately been committed in Matabeleland.
I have hidden nothing, but have told the naked truth, and related not
only how white men, women, and children were lately murdered, and
their senseless bodies afterwards cruelly mutilated by black men, but
also how, subsequently, black men were shot down pitilessly by the
whites, no mercy being shown or quarter given them by the outraged
colonists. By those who seek it, matter will doubtless be found in
some of my stories on which to found imputations against the colonists
of Rhodesia, who will be held up to execration for the "slaughter" of
"poor natives"; the insinuation being that the "poor natives" were
ruthlessly killed, with little or no provocation, in order to gratify
the lust for blood, which certain people in England appear to think
takes possession of their countrymen whenever they set foot on African
soil. But by the great mass of the English-speaking race I feel sure
that the conduct of their kith and kin in Matabeleland during the late
rebellion will not be too harshly judged. It will be remembered that
they were the avengers of the women and children of their own colour,
who had but lately been so mercilessly slain, and that, fighting as
they were against hordes of savages eager to spill the life-blood of
every white man in Rhodesia, savages in whose vocabulary no such words
as pity or mercy are to be found, nothing else could be expected than
that in the hour of victory no quarter should be given to the murderous
foe. It is as unfair as it is ridiculous to talk of the "slaughter" of
natives who, having come with arms in their hands, not only to kill
you, but your wife and child also, find they have reckoned without
their host, and are themselves discomfited and shot down by their
would-be victims. Now, possibly, there might be found in England a
philanthropist so meek and good that, were he suddenly confronted by a
burglar who told him plainly that he meant to kill him and walk into
his house, he would reply, although he carried a loaded revolver in
his hand, "Kill me and walk on, for it would be against my creed and
conscience to sully my hands with the slaughter of so fine a specimen
of the human race as yourself." I do not say that so noble a character
really exists within the four seas of Britain, but if he does, I
suppose he ought to be looked for amongst the ranks of those who have
been loudest in their condemnation of the British settlers in Rhodesia,
and who thereby arrogate to themselves the possession of a nobility of
nature to which ordinary mortals cannot hope to attain. For the sake
of example, therefore, let us say that such a man does exist, and that
he is none other than the editor of _Truth_, Mr. Henry Labouchere.
Well, granted then that Mr. Labouchere—the man whom, for the sake of
example, I have endowed with such a noble nature—would be prompted to
sacrifice his own life rather than sully his soul with the killing of
a burglar, would he go yet farther and still spare the robber's life
if he knew that, after he himself had been killed, his wife and child
would also be put to death? I cannot believe that he would, but imagine
rather that he would shoot as straight as possible to prevent such a
catastrophe, and I for one would wish that in such a special case his
practice might be better than his usual preaching.
Now the settlers in Rhodesia, on those occasions when they have been
accused of slaughtering the natives, have only taken the same course
as I think would have been adopted by the great-souled philanthropist,
whom I hope I am not wronging by imagining that he would steel his
heart to take the life of a burglar, if for no other reason than to
save the lives of those dear to him; and therefore I would ask my
readers not to judge too harshly of the deeds of the colonists which I
have recounted in the following pages, but to remember, when judging
of their actions, the terrible provocation which they had received. It
may be that I have here and there shown a very strong racial feeling
against the black man; but it must be remembered that my story has been
written in the midst of all the horrors of a native rebellion, that I
have seen many gruesome sights, and have with my own hands collected
together the broken skulls of murdered women and children—Dutch and
English—in order to give them Christian burial. Thus I have sometimes
written under the influence of strong emotions, making too little
allowance possibly for the black man smarting under what he perhaps
had some reason to consider the arrogance and injustice of his white
conquerors. However, my opinions after all are of little value, being
those of a single individual; but I trust that whoever may take the
trouble to read my narrative will accept my facts, and believe that
the account I have written of events which have lately occurred in
Matabeleland is a true and unvarnished one.
THE AUTHOR.
BULAWAYO, _21st August 1896_.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
I return to Matabeleland—Game plentiful near the Sewhoi-whoi river—An
adventure with a leopard—Bulawayo reached—Prosperous outlook—We
leave for Essexvale—Cattle-confiscation question—Its final
settlement Pages 1-9
CHAPTER II
Our life at Essexvale—Tree-planting and farming—Friendly disposition
of the natives—Umlugulu visits us—His anxiety to know the truth about
Jameson's surrender—Rumours of coming disaster—The Umlimo's
prophecy—Appearance of the rinderpest in Matabeleland—Mr. Jackson's
distrust of the native police—Superstitions regarding the Umlimo—I am
appointed cattle inspector—Spread of the rinderpest—Apprehensions of
famine—Rumours of a disturbance with the natives—Murder of a native
policeman by the Matabele 10-18
CHAPTER III
First overt act of rebellion—Natives borrow axes from Mrs.
Selous—Where are the white police?—Native woman gives information of
the murder of whites—Natives run off with the cattle—Murder of three
miners—Inscrutability of the Kafir mind—Matabele raid on cattle 19-26
CHAPTER IV
Precautions against native attack—Conference with the neighbouring
headmen—I take my wife into Bulawayo—Insurrection reported
general—Armed forces sent to disturbed districts—Return to Essexvale
with small mounted force—Short supply of horses and rifles—My views
of the Kafir rising—The progress of the insurrection at Essexvale
and the neighbourhood—Wholesale murders 27-32
CHAPTER V
Massacre of the whites near Edkins' store—Evidence of a
survivor—Mutilation and attempt to destroy identity—Murder of the
Cunningham family—Herbert Pomeroy Fynn's sworn statement—Murder of
Mr. Maddocks—Laager formed at Cumming's store—Hon. Maurice Gifford
proceeds to the relief of the whites at Cumming's store—Derelict
waggon—Murder of Dr. and Mrs. Langford—Relief of laager at
Cumming's store—Repulse of Matabele attack—Retreat to Bulawayo—Hon.
Maurice Gifford's letters 33-42
CHAPTER VI
Difficulties of the colonists much underrated—The Matabele campaign
of 1893—Military spirit scotched, not killed—Estimated native
losses—Disarmament of Matabele incomplete—Natives well supplied
with arms and ammunition—Defections amongst the native police 43-50
CHAPTER VII
Effect of removing the police force—Witch-doctors'
influence—Originators of the insurrection—Gambo detained at
Bulawayo—The Imbezu regiment—Unpreparedness of the Colonists
at the outbreak—The Rhodesia Horse—Horses in possession of
the Government—Rifles, guns, and ammunition in Government
stores—Want of community of action of the Matabele—The Umlimo's
mistake—Critical position at Bulawayo—Neglect of the Matabele to
block the roads—Force in Bulawayo at the outbreak—The Africander
Corps 51-60
CHAPTER VIII
Cattle stolen by Matabele—I recover the cattle and burn down
Matabele kraal—Start in pursuit of cattle-thieves—Surprise a
raiding party and recover two bands of cattle—Reflections on the
situation 61-67
CHAPTER IX
Return to Essexvale—Cattle left at Essexvale in charge of the
natives—Essexvale burnt down by Matabele and all the cattle carried
off—Start for Jackson's station—Desertion of the native police—The
Makalaka—False rumours—Start for Spiro's stores—Colonial Boys
report the district quiet—Decide to return to Bulawayo through the
Matopo Hills 68-73
CHAPTER X
Through the Matopo Hills—Skirmish with the rebels—A narrow
escape—Capture a band of cattle—Retire with wounded—Fidelity of
Mazhlabanyan—Reach Dawson's store—Arrive at Bulawayo 74-79
CHAPTER XI
O'Connor's wonderful escape—The importance of the Native question
in Rhodesia 80-89
CHAPTER XII
Laager formed at Bulawayo—Matabele scare—Colonel Spreckley's
valuable services—Meet Mr. Jackson—Disarmament of native
police—Account of the insurrection—Mr. Grey's narrow escape—Returns
to Bulawayo to give warning of the rising—Fortunate escape of a
hunting party—Wholesale murders—Grey's Scouts 90-97
CHAPTER XIII
Captain Grey's timely arrival at Tekwe store—Colonel Napier's
column arrives at Tekwe—Murder of Wood—Salisbury coach chased
by Kafirs—Forty-three persons rescued by patrols—Account of
Captain Pittendrigh's rescue party—Severe fighting—Massacre
of whites at Inyati—Escape of Madden—Defence of Campbell's
store—Relief of Captain Pittendrigh's party—Fight their way back to
Bulawayo—Courage and skill of the Africander Corps—Gallant conduct
of Henderson in bringing in a wounded comrade 98-108
CHAPTER XIV
Mr. Dawson's patrol—The last coach on the Tuli road—I take a
patrol down the Mangwe road—Interview at "Fig Tree" with Makalaka
Induna—Proceed to Shashani—Meet a shooting party—Death of Captain
Lumsden—I ride on by myself to Mangwe—Hearty reception—Ravages of
the rinderpest—Extraordinary absence of vultures 109-115
CHAPTER XV
Escort a convoy of waggons to Bulawayo—Murder of a Greek trader—Mr.
Gordon saved by native police—Mr. Reed warned of danger by
Makalakas—Patrols sent to Gwanda and Shiloh districts—Proceedings
of the Gwanda patrol—Scenes of pillage and desolation—Lieutenant
Webb's narrative—Six hours' severe fighting—Narrow escape of
patrol from annihilation—Captain Van Niekerk's cool judgment and
bravery—Gallant conduct of the patrol 116-126
CHAPTER XVI
Gifford's fight in the Shiloh Hills—Strength of the patrol—First
skirmish with the Matabele—Form a laager—March resumed—Second
skirmish—Patrol reach Fonseca's farm—Fight at Fonseca's
farm—Death of a witch-doctor—Colonel Gifford wounded—Messengers
sent to Bulawayo for assistance—Laager strengthened—Fighting
renewed—Captain Lumsden wounded—Matabele retire—Relief column
arrives—Return to Bulawayo—Death of Captain Lumsden—Colonel
Gifford's arm amputated 127-134
CHAPTER XVII
Despatch from Captain Laing—Laager formed at Belingwe—Strange
conduct of a native policeman—Three Matabele caught looting and
hanged—"Young Tradesman's" letter to the _Daily Graphic_—Matabele
capture a herd of cattle and murder some Zambesi Kafirs near
Bulawayo—Determination to build forts between Bulawayo and Mangwe—I
am sent to establish forts and take command of all troops on the
road—Fort Molyneux—I return to Bulawayo to report my views—Curious
position of affairs in Matabeleland 135-143
CHAPTER XVIII
Matabele advance on Bulawayo—Small force sent out to
reconnoitre—Skirmish with the Matabele—I receive instructions
to build a fort between Bulawayo and Fig Tree—The question
of provisioning the forts—Three men of the Africander Corps
killed—Attack by Matabele on Colonel Napier's farm—Captain
Macfarlane sent with relief party—I ride out to see what was going
on—I join relief party—Overtake Matabele near Colenbrander's
farm—Fighting commences—I take command of a few Africanders—Our
skirmish—Maxim jams at a critical time—Bad shooting of the
Matabele—Their want of combination 144-154
CHAPTER XIX
A force under command of Colonel Napier sent against the rebels at
the Umguza—Force retire without fighting—I obtain leave to join a
patrol sent out to the Umguza under Captain Bisset—Matabele dispute
our advance—I attack Kafirs' centre with Colonial Boys—Matabele
centre driven back—John Grootboom's escape—Matabele in flight—A
good chance lost—I receive orders to retire—I dismount to get a
shot—My horse bolts and leaves me—Nearly caught by Matabele—Windley
comes to my rescue—Windley's horse refuses to carry double—Reach
the Colonial Boys and am saved by Captain Windley's courage and
self-denial—Baxter's gallant action—Gallantry and devotion to
one another of Captain Grey's officers and men—Patrol retires to
Bulawayo Pages 155-166
CHAPTER XX
Telegraph wire to Fig Tree Fort cut—Patrol sent out to escort
coach—I join Captain Mainwaring's patrol—Repair telegraph wire—I
rejoin my troop at Dawe's store—Two murdered white men found near
Bulawayo—Fort Marquand—Lieutenant Grenfell's account of the fight
at Umguza 167-175
CHAPTER XXI
Hand over the command of Fort Marquand to Lieutenant
Grenfell—Proceed towards Bulawayo—Fort at Wilson's farm—Umguza
fight the first Matabele defeat—Murder of eight coolies on the
outskirts of Bulawayo—Arrival of Earl Grey at Bulawayo—Matabele
threaten Fort Dawson—Captain Molyneux's farm destroyed—I am sent to
Khami river to build a fort—Meet Cornelius Van Rooyen—Marzwe orders
his people to come to Fort Mabukitwani for protection—Marzwe's
kraal attacked, and all his people reported murdered—I start with
my men to visit Marzwe's kraal—Rebels defeated by Marzwe's people,
and prisoners and cattle recaptured—We return to the fort—I am
ordered to collect a force, and march to Bulawayo—Changes in the
command of the forts—Reach Bulawayo with my force 176-185
CHAPTER XXII
Large column commanded by Colonel Napier despatched for the
Tchangani to meet Salisbury relief force—Matabele impi reported
near Tekwe river—Matabele reported to be at Thaba Induna—I am
ordered to the front—Matabele retire—Column in laager near Graham's
store—Captain Grey's patrol has a skirmish with the Kafirs—Pursuit
of Kafirs—No quarter—Reflections—Several kraals burnt, coin and
cattle captured—Cold weather and storms—March with provision convoy
and laager at Dr. Jameson's old camp—Desolation along the line of
march—Burnham reports scouting party from Salisbury contingent had
been met with—We reach Pongo store—Bury the bodies of murdered
white men 186-196
CHAPTER XXIII
Meet Salisbury relief force, with Mr. Cecil Rhodes, Sir Charles
Metcalfe, and others—Column under Colonel Spreckley sent to the
south—Several kraals burnt—Scouting party sent out under Captain
Van Niekerk—Band of cattle captured—Large body of Kafirs met with—A
running fight; Burnham and Blick nearly captured—Patrol return to
laager—Capture a woman—Discover a body of Matabele, and send for
reinforcement of men on foot—We hear heavy firing in front—Mr.
Cecil Rhodes joins us with Colonial Boys—Advance and take part in
the fight—Enemy's fire silenced—We retire 197-207
CHAPTER XXIV
Position of laager shifted—Massacre of the Ross and Fourie
families—Remains of some of the Fourie's found—Advance on Matabele
scherms and find them deserted—Visit the scene of yesterday's
fight—Burn kraals and return to camp—Bury two men killed in
yesterday's fight and the remains of the Fourie family—Find the
remains of the Ross family—March down the Insiza valley—Burn a
large number of kraals—Colonel Spreckley's column captures cattle
and donkeys—Remains of several murdered Europeans found—The
murder of Dr. and Mrs. Langford—Column sent to the Filibusi
district—Return to Bulawayo—I visit Essexvale—A scene of desolation
208-216
CHAPTER XXV
Sir Frederick Carrington takes over the command of all forces
in Matabeleland—Account of Colonel Plumer's successful
engagement—General Carrington sends out three patrols to clear the
country of rebels to the west, north, and north-east—No enemy met
with, but much grain taken and destroyed—A large impi reported
camped on the Umguza—Force under Colonel Spreckley proceeds to
attack it—Kafirs charged by mounted men and bolt—Heavy Matabele
losses—How this impi was deceived by a witch-doctor—Incorrect
statements in _Truth_ 217-227
CHAPTER XXVI
I proceed with the column under Colonel Spreckley's command for
Shiloh—A bad time for the horses—I find the bodies of three Zambesi
boys at Stuart's mining camp—Account of the murders—A fort built
on the site of the old police camp—March for the Queen's Mine—Part
of the column sent on to Inyati—Bodies of six murdered men
found—Narrow escape of Mr. Rees and his family—Church and mission
houses at Inyati burnt down by the Matabele—Column move to Fynn's
farm—Patrol fall in with a large body of Kafirs—Council of war
decides to endeavour to drive rebels from their position—Kafirs
decamp during the night—A faithful servant—Kafirs disheartened
but afraid to surrender—Large amount of grain captured—Return to
Bulawayo—News of the rising in Mashunaland—A force sent to Eastern
Rhodesia—The prophetess "Salugazana"—Umlimos responsible for the
outbreak in Mashunaland—Loot the object of the Mashunas—Captain
Laing arrives at Bulawayo—His successful engagements with
the rebels—Matibi's valuable assistance—Loyalty of Chibi and
Chilimanzi—The Bulawayo Field Force disbanded—Lord Grey's address
to the members of the Bulawayo Field Force 228-240
SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER
Containing a few thoughts and opinions upon matters Rhodesian and
South African 241-259
APPENDICES 263
INDEX 285
ILLUSTRATIONS
MAHOLI _Frontispiece_
PAGE
ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD _To face_ 2
THE AUTHOR'S HOMESTEAD ON ESSEXVALE, MATABELELAND " 11
AN ANT-HEAP IN MATABELELAND " 18
HON. MAURICE GIFFORD, C.M.G. 39
VIEW IN THE MATOPO HILLS _To face_ 74
O'CONNOR'S ARRIVAL AT THE STORE " 86
LAAGER IN MARKET SQUARE, BULAWAYO 90
COLONEL J. A. SPRECKLEY 92
GREY'S SCOUTS _To face_ 94
HIS LAST OX " 114
CAPTAIN VAN NIEKERK 120
FORT MARQUAND, WITH A PORTION OF H TROOP OF THE
BULAWAYO FIELD FORCE IN THE FOREGROUND _To face_ 168
CAPTAIN R. MACFARLANE 171
COLONEL WILLIAM NAPIER 190
CAPTAIN TYRIE LAING 237
COMMANDANT VAN RENSBERG 243
MAP _To face_ 290
CHAPTER I
I return to Matabeleland—Game plentiful near the Sewhoi-whoi
river—An adventure with a leopard—Bulawayo reached—Prosperous
outlook—We leave for Essexvale—Cattle-confiscation question—Its
final settlement.
When, in the end of December 1893, immediately after the close of
the first Matabele War, I rode away from Bulawayo and set out on my
journey to England, I thought it more than probable that I should
never again revisit the land over which Lo Bengula had so lately held
sway. Destiny, however, willed it otherwise. Perhaps I found that
the definition of "enough" as "a little more than you've got," when
applied to income, was a true one; or perhaps I thought the ways of
civilisation somewhat irksome, and at times pined for "a breath of the
veld" and one more look at the wild game in the wild country where I
had already passed so many years of my life. At any rate, when I was
asked by my old friend, Mr. Maurice Heany, to go out once more to
Matabeleland to assist him in the management of a land and gold-mining
company which he had recently floated, I gave the proposal my very
serious consideration, and when I found that my wife was quite willing
to face all the troubles and difficulties incidental to a life in a new
country, I agreed to undertake the duties required of me for a period
of two years.
We—my wife and I—left England for South Africa on 30th March 1895,
but we did not reach Bulawayo until the end of the following August;
as, after landing at Cape Town, we spent two months in the Cape Colony
and the Orange Free State, and then taking ship round the coast to
Beira, proceeded by river steamer to Fontesvilla, and thence by rail
to Chimoio. Here my waggon was awaiting us, and in it we travelled
slowly and comfortably for two months, keeping the main transport
road—which I had myself laid out four years before—to Salisbury, but
from there going across country to my old hunting camp on the Hanyani
river; thence to Hartley Hills on the Umfuli, and from there along the
old hunters' road to Bulawayo. On this portion of our route I found
game very plentiful, especially sable antelopes, large herds of which
beautiful animals I saw almost daily. Near the river Sewhoi-whoi I
was able to take my wife quite close up to the largest herd of these
antelopes that I have ever seen. As they cantered past us within a
hundred yards I counted them roughly and made their number between
seventy-five and eighty. Having plenty of meat at the waggon I had no
need to shoot; so we just sat on our horses and admired them, though
there was one cow with a beautiful curved pair of horns that tempted
me sorely. On several occasions we saw the fresh spoor of lions, but
we never either got a sight of the animals themselves or even heard
one roar. At the Sebakwe river I saw the tracks of a herd of elephants
that had passed only a few days before; and on this same day I met
with rather a curious experience, which, although I am not writing an
article on shooting incidents, I will take the liberty to relate.
[Illustration: ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD.
"It was close to me before I could even swing my rifle over the horse's
neck."]
Early on the morning of the day in question I had left the waggon and
ridden down to the river—the Sebakwe—intending to follow its course
to the point at which the road crossed it. Having plenty of meat, I
took no native attendants with me, and resolved not to shoot at
anything but a small antelope, a wild pig, or some animal the greater
part of which I could have carried behind my saddle. However, I saw no
game at all, large or small, with the exception of one reed buck ram
bounding through the long grass, and was approaching the ford across
the river without having fired a shot, when I noticed what I took to
be a jackal sitting on its haunches in the grass about a hundred and
fifty yards to my right. The grass being rather long I could not make
out very well what it was even from my horse's back, and when I had
dismounted I could barely see that there was anything there at all.
However, aiming rather low in the grass, I fired, and distinctly heard
the bullet strike something with a loud thud. Remounting my horse, and
marking by a small bush the spot near which the now invisible animal
had been before I fired, I rode leisurely up to see what I had shot. I
was carrying my rifle across the saddle in front of me, without having
reloaded it, and on nearing the bush I had marked pulled up my horse
and was looking about for a jackal lying dead on the ground. However
I could not see one, and was wondering how such a small animal could
have moved away after being hit by an expanding bullet, when a loud
grunting noise made me look up, and I saw a leopard rushing towards me
through the grass. As it only charged from a distance of fifteen yards,
it was close to me before I could even swing my rifle over the horse's
neck, and I made sure that it would spring upon him and bite and claw
him badly before I could load and shoot. However, strange to say, it
simply galloped past, almost, if not quite, brushing against my horse's
fore-leg, and passing beneath my right stirrup. After going about
thirty yards it stopped and sat down on its haunches. By this time I
had another cartridge in my rifle; so I hastily dismounted and gave
the leopard a shot behind the shoulder, killing it instantly. It proved
to be a large female in good condition, with a beautifully-marked
skin. The first bullet had struck it in the middle of the body, and
going right through, had made a large hole on the further side, out
of which a portion of the liver was protruding. This was of course
sufficient to account for the animal's display of bad temper; but why
it simply rushed past me without springing on to the horse, I don't
quite know. Had my horse turned, possibly it would have done so; but
being an animal of a very imperturbable temper he never moved, and
his immobility may have disconcerted the leopard, and caused it not
to act quite up to its original intention. After disembowelling it, I
lifted it on to my horse, and carried it behind the saddle to the ford
across the Sebakwe, where I found my waggon outspanned. This very mild
adventure is the only incident of interest which I have to record as
having occurred on our journey to Bulawayo, which we finally reached on
20th August.
When just twenty months previously I had left Matabeleland, there was
no other Bulawayo save a ruined kraal, but lately wrecked and destroyed
by the order of the unhappy Lo Bengula, who in despair at the defeat of
his bravest regiments, had blown up his European house, burnt his chief
town to ashes, and abandoning the land won by his father's assegais
to the victorious troopers of the Chartered Company, fled away to die
heart-broken in the forests to the north. Just across the stream which
runs below the kraal stood the camp of the white invaders, a rough,
hardy lot of men, whom some have called heroes and others filibusters;
a confusion of titles equally applicable, I fancy, to the followers of
Drake or Clive or any other body of men who have helped to make the
British Empire what it is. The site of the new township had indeed
been marked out, but not a house of any kind stood upon it. In the
short interval, however, a European town had sprung up, containing
many good, substantial buildings, whilst the bustle and movement in
the dusty streets gave an air of life and vigour to the new Bulawayo,
which is very commonly absent from the frontier towns of South Africa.
In short, at this time—the autumn of 1895—everything was apparently
_couleur de rose_ in Matabeleland. Properties, whether farm lands,
building sites in town, or mining claims, went up to very high values,
whilst almost every one believed that within a year Bulawayo would
contain a population of 5000 souls, and that the town itself would
receive a plentiful supply of water from the reservoirs already in
course of construction, and be lighted by the electric light. In fact,
all was mirth and joy and hope in the future; for what was to hinder
the ever-increasing prosperity of the country? Much good work had
already been done on many of the reefs, and on the whole the promise
was distinctly good. Then again, after a probation of eighteen months,
the country had been pronounced favourably upon by Dutch and Colonial
farmers, especially for cattle-ranching, whilst many predicted that
much of the high veld would carry sheep.
Apparently no difficulties with the natives were to be apprehended,
and certainly were not foreseen, as no one could have recognised
the identity in the quiet submissive native carrying nothing but a
stick, to the arrogant savage of old times who was seldom seen without
his shield and assegais, and who was usually insolent and brutal
in his manner to the white man. No one dreamt that within a very
few months the country would be well-nigh overwhelmed in calamity;
that that terrible scourge the rinderpest, which has swept like a
destroying angel from Masailand through Central and Eastern Africa,
almost annihilating in its course all bovine animals as well as all
the various and beautiful species of antelopes, was creeping ever
nearer to the Zambesi river, and was destined ere long to cross that
boundary, and travelling ever southwards destroy tens of thousands of
cattle in Matabeleland, thereby paralysing its transport service, and
rendering the cost of living almost prohibitive in a country separated
by 600 miles of wilderness from the nearest railway station. Still
less, looking at the submissive behaviour of the natives, did any one
picture to himself in the furthest recesses of his mind, the vision of
homesteads burned to ashes throughout Matabeleland, and around them the
corpses of their owners, among them many women and tender children, all
brutally murdered, lying unburied in their blood. Yet were these dire
disasters, with partial drought and plague of locusts superadded, soon
to crush all joy out of Matabeleland.
In spite of its air of prosperity and the light-heartedness of its
inhabitants, Bulawayo with its constant dust-storms, scarcity of water,
and general burnt-up appearance, had but few attractions either for
my wife or myself, and we made our arrangements to get away to our
Company's property of Essexvale as soon as possible. On this property a
rough two-roomed house of poles, plastered with mud and thatched with
grass, had been got ready for us temporarily, pending the arrival of
a wire-wove bungalow that had been sent out from England in sections,
and which was to be erected on a site chosen by myself. On our way to
Essexvale we spent a night with my old friends the missionaries at
Hope Fountain, and I had a long talk over old times, and the present
condition of the natives in Matabeleland. Mr. Helm told me that
although doubtless the members of the royal family, and the men of
position under the old regime, regretted the downfall of their king and
the conquest of the country by the white man, yet the great mass of
the people acknowledged that they were better off under the rule of the
Chartered Company than they had been in Lo Bengula's time; for although
individual white men were sometimes guilty of injustice and brutality
towards individual natives, yet, speaking generally, the lives and
property of the latter were now secure, and whatever they earned was
their own, all of which blessings were unknown to them before the
conquest of Matabeleland by the white man.
There was, however, one matter, Mr. Helm informed me, that was causing
a great deal of discontent throughout the country. This was the
periodical taking away of the cattle in small numbers by the Chartered
Company, subsequent to the first confiscation immediately after the
war. Probably if, after the subjugation of the country, the Chartered
Company had at once taken all the cattle they ever intended to take,
and given the natives the balance for their very own to do with as
they liked, there never would have been any heart-burning over the
cattle question at all. However, after the first confiscation, all
the remaining cattle in the country—about 90,000—were branded with
the Company's brand and left with the natives to look after. They
were told that the Company would take more from time to time as they
required them, but at the same time they were given to understand
that only cattle which had belonged to the king would be confiscated,
and none belonging to private owners interfered with. This promise
was made under the belief that nearly all the cattle in Matabeleland
had belonged to the king, and that the private owners had been but
few in number. That this was a mistake I think there can be little
doubt, as almost every man of any standing in Matabeleland had been
a cattle-owner, some of the chief Indunas possessing large herds of
private cattle. But when a native commissioner received an order from
the Government to send to Bulawayo without delay a certain number of
cattle from his district, he never could have done so had he listened
to all the claims made to private ownership previous to the war, some
of which were true, but others false; and he therefore had to use his
own discretion in selecting the cattle necessary to make up the total
required. In this way certain natives suffered wrong, more especially
owners of perhaps only three or four cows, who in some cases lost
their all, both in cattle and faith in the honesty and justice of the
Government of the Chartered Company, which they deemed had broken the
promise given to them, as indeed was the case, though the mistake was
made inadvertently and through not considering the investigation of the
whole question of sufficient importance to take any great trouble about.
"If," said Mr. Helm, "the Company would take, once for all, all the
cattle they intend taking, and give the natives the remainder, it would
restore their confidence, as they now believe that the cattle will be
constantly taken away from them in small lots until there are none left
to them. However," he continued, "the Company can do what it likes with
them, and treat them generously or otherwise as it pleases, for they
acknowledge themselves to be a conquered people, and will submit to any
terms imposed upon them." This remark was made by a man who had lived
in close intimacy with the natives of Matabeleland for twenty years,
but as subsequent events show, it was far from the truth. Shortly after
this conversation, the Government of the Chartered Company, acting on
the advice I believe of the chief native commissioner, Mr. Herbert
Taylor, decided to finally settle the cattle question. There were at
this time about 70,000 head of cattle in the hands of the natives, and
of this number the Government determined to take two-fifths, leaving
the remaining three-fifths as the absolute property of the Matabele.
A meeting was called at Bulawayo, at which all the chief Indunas in
the country were present, and when the proposition was laid before
them, they expressed themselves as thoroughly satisfied, and assured
Mr. Taylor that their people would also be satisfied; and from my own
subsequent observation, I believe that this final distribution of the
cattle caused a general feeling of relief throughout the country, and,
in the district in which I was living at any rate, the people seemed
well contented with this settlement of the question, which left them
for the most part fairly well off.