We found our motherly old housekeeper awaiting our arrival with
everything fresh and clean throughout the house, and we were glad once
more to be "at home." The ten months of our life in "the camp" had been
full of interest and pleasure, and its sun's rays had given health to
the invalid. But such a desert region of country could have no
attraction for any one but the speculator. After a thoroughly good rest
we turned our thoughts toward the first stage of our return.
Frank had gained so wonderfully in health that we thought a change to
the coast would do no harm. If harm did come, however, we could return,
for we were decided to remain in the country until she had regained her
health. It seems that human beings belong more to the vegetable than to
the animal kingdom. They are like plants that flourish if they are put
in the right soil, and grow in the climate best suited to them. The
damp, heavy air of London, that necessitated exercise and food, was
delightful to Eva and me, whilst Frank pined away under it as if she
were breathing a deadly poison.
At the beginning of the new year we prepared to go by coach the usual
way to Grahamstown, the principal town in the eastern province of the
Cape Colony, and the point of our destination. In a few days our
furniture was disposed of, our housekeeper dismissed, and we took our
places in the coach to leave, and bade good-by to Kimberley and many
kind friends we had made. For seven months it had not rained, but
rumours of heavy rains had reached us a few weeks before our departure,
and we feared we should find impassable the river we should have to
cross on our way to Fauresmith, near which "Jagersfontein" (the new
diamond fields) is situated. The roads we found in no better condition
than those in the colony, and the coach threw us about and jolted us
against one another and the sides in the old familiar way.
On arriving at the bank of the river, we found it was rushing down like
a torrent, and almost level with the top of the precipitous banks, some
sixty feet high. At another time we should have found the river at the
foot of these banks, meandering along in an easily forded stream. The
only contrivance for crossing, provided for such an emergency as the
rising of the river, was a stout wire rope stretched from bank to bank,
upon which was swung a common pine box of fair dimensions, but full of
gaping holes, and looking, in itself, by no means capable of sustaining
the weight of a healthy body. But it was the only possible mode of
transit, so, screwing our courage to the sticking point, we prepared to
cross. The box could only accommodate one individual at a time. So Eva
stepped in to face the danger of the passage alone. One portmanteau was
carried over with each passenger. How the heart beat as the Kafirs on
the other side commenced to haul on the pulley lines attached to the
frail machine.
We watched Eva with breathless interest as she was slowly pulled along
in jerks, now and then coming to a dead standstill and dangling over
that swollen stream, whilst the haulers rested before taking a fresh
grasp of the lines; pulling a few seconds, then resting a few seconds,
leaving the subject to dangle over the torrent with the heart thumping
wildly. The rest of us followed in due course. As the opposite bank
was reached, and we were lifted on to _terra firma_, the hand of that
black man was clutched with as much fervency as we had ever grasped the
hand of our dearest friend.
Having landed, we got into a coach which was waiting, to receive us. By
night we reached Koffyfontein, a small village which had sprung up
around what was supposed to be another diamond mine. Although a good
deal of money had been invested in the neighbourhood, we did not hear of
any fortunes having been made. We travelled all the next day,
traversing a level plain well covered with grass and swarming with game.
We often passed large herds of spring-bok, which started off with their
graceful, springing gallop at sight of the coach. When we arrived at
Fauresmith late in the afternoon we were tired indeed! The town has
become prominent since the diamond mine at Jagersfontein (distant about
four miles) has been opened. It is a long, straggling village with an
unpronounceable Dutch name. Soon after our arrival the town was visited
by a thunderstorm, which broke upon the hills round about us with
terrific force, preceded by that deathly stillness and darkness which is
so very ominous. Africa can deal out wonderful thunder and lightning.
The lightning flashes incessantly, and seems to strike something every
time it descends, the air quivers with electricity, and the atmosphere
constantly changes from purple to gold. For any one who enjoys seeing a
thunderstorm, Africa meets all requirements. The rain fell in torrents,
but in an hour passed away, leaving the early evening cool and
delightful.
We took a stroll to the banks of the river, which had swollen into a
torrent, and was sweeping down over rocks and boulders. A number of
Kafirs, who had been working in the town, stood gazing dismally at it,
whilst their wives and children looked on from across the stream.
Several diggers from Jagersfontein, formerly of Kimberley, were stopping
at the wretched hotel we were obliged to stop at. The mine is in a more
workable condition than that at Kimberley, but not so large, and with
ground not so rich, but the stones found there are said by the miners of
Jagersfontein to be whiter and purer than any others. The mine produces
about 250,000 dollars worth annually. The diggers complain as bitterly
against their foe, the I.D.B., as their Kimberley brothers. The penalty
attached to the crime in the Orange Free State, where the mine is
situated, is greater than in Kimberley, but the detective system is not
as complete. There is less risk of conviction, therefore, but the
diggers have formed a detective system amongst themselves, and woe to
the man who falls into their clutches! It is estimated that from
one-fourth to one-fifth of the diamonds found in the mines never reach
their rightful owners.
At dawn of the next day we continued on our journey, passing through the
village of Phillopolis, once the principal place of the native tribe of
the Griquas. It is a typical Dutch village, ill built, and in every way
insignificant and uninviting. Close by the village is a very large
Kafir kraal. As we passed it many came out to see the coach go by. A
few hours later we crossed one of the bridges which span the Orange
River, and were again in the Cape Colony. We passed through Colesberg,
a village of considerable size, and the centre of a large sheep and
ostrich-farming country. A thriving wool-washing establishment is
situated there. Wool is the most important production of the farming
industry of Cape Colony, but the best farmers in sheep-raising are not
among the native Dutch, but among the English, German, and Scotch
emigrants. I never saw Boer women knitting; the Boer women, in fact,
seem to have little capacity for the kind of work peculiar to women in
other civilised countries. From Colesberg we travelled through an
uninviting country, usually a plain, studded, here and there with
isolated hills, and having very little timber. We reached Grahamstown
in the cool of the evening of the next day, alighting at the Masonic
Hotel.