Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 4
CHAPTER IV.
FROM THE NATASPRUIT TO TAMASETZE.
After my night on the tree, I was not so tired as to prevent my starting next morning on an excursion to examine the formation of the banks of the Nata. We soon noticed two fine storks (Mycteria Senegalensis) wheeling in circles over the stream, on the look-out for some of the fishes that hid themselves under the stones in the shallow salt-pools. I stooped down so as not to startle them, and had the good luck to secure both the birds for my collection.
In the afternoon I took a much longer walk, crossing the plain to the south, curious both to see the quarters of the Matabele people and to inspect the place where they obtained their salt. About three-quarters of a mile from the waggons, we startled a herd of zebras, of the dark species; so impetuous was their flight that I quite expected to see them all dash headlong over the steep bank, but they suddenly stayed their course and turned off short into a narrow rain-channel; they raised a great cloud of dust as they scampered down into the river-bed, whence they clambered up again on the other side where the bank was less steep. On account of the great size of their head and neck they look much larger at a distance than they really are; the peculiar noise they make, “ouag-ga, ouag-ga,” the last syllable very much prolonged, has caused both the Masarwas and the Makalaharis to call them quaggas.
When we got near the quarters of the Matabele gang, I thought it needful to take care that we should be unobserved. In the open plain of course there was nothing to cover our approach, and I turned into the bed of a side-stream that I reckoned would take us in the right direction. I supposed this to be a branch of the Nata leading to the Soa, along which I proposed to go for a mile or so, and then turn off, but we had not proceeded very far before we found the camp of which we had come in search right before us. It was now deserted.
Standing in the middle of the river-bed, I could see a considerable number of pools all full of a salt fluid, the colour of which was a deep red; the soil around was covered with a salt deposit, and fragments of salt beautifully crystallized and resting on a stratum of clay an inch or more thick, were scattered about. Close to these were lying the poles and stakes with which the salt had been broken out of the pools. The departure of the Matabele troop allowed us to examine everything without fear of molestation.
In winter, when the water is low, the pools vary from twelve to eighteen inches in depth; the breadth and length range very widely from thirty to 900 feet. The. deposit is sometimes as much as three inches in thickness, extending from bank to bank about six or eight inches under the surface of the water like a stout layer of ice, which when broken discloses the real bottom of the pool nearly another foot below. To walk into the pools is like treading upon needle-crystals, and the feet are soon perceptibly covered with a deposit. Where they are very salt, they are never resorted to either by birds or quadrupeds. Anything thrown into them quickly becomes incrusted, but the beautiful red crystals unfortunately evaporate on being exposed to the air, and it was to little purpose that I carried a number of specimens away with me.
I sent Pit again next day to get a supply of salt for our use. This had first to be boiled to free it from the particles of lime, and afterwards to be crumbled up. We wanted it to preserve the flesh of the game we killed.
The bed in which these pans are situated is really an arm of the Nata, having branched off from it to rejoin it again. As I followed it on my way back to the waggon, I came across the last herds of springbocks that we were to see so far to the north; I likewise saw several herds of striped gnus, that here took the place of black gnus, none of which had appeared this side of Shoshong.
A capital shot was made by Theunissen on the following day; he brought down a steinbock at the distance of nearly 300 yards. Being anxious to procure some jackals’ skins, I laid out several bits of meat covered with strychnine over night, and in the morning, I found no less than four of the beasts lying poisoned beside them; the flesh of one of these was afterwards devoured by some of its own kind, and they too all died in consequence, and were discovered in the bush close by. Palm-bushes and baobabs, that flourish in salt soil just as well as in mould, grow very freely about the lower part of the Nata.
So large had my collection now become, that I made up my mind to send a good portion of it to Mr. Mackenzie at Shoshong by the first ivory-traders whom I should meet and could trust to take charge of it. We did not, however, just at this time fall in with any parties returning to the south.
Although we knew that our encampment was liable to attacks from lions, we found it in many other respects so agreeable that we quitted it with regret, and on the 3rd of July started up the left bank of the Nata, along a deep sandy road on the edge of the eastern plain. On our way we saw a herd of zebras grazing about 500 yards off. Theunissen was again anxious to try his skill as a marksman, and creeping on some fifty yards or more, fired from the long grass; he had taken a good aim and one of the zebras fell, but it sprang up and ran for a dozen yards further, when it fell for the second time. We hurried up, and Pit incautiously seized the animal by the head, and narrowly escaped being severely wounded, for the creature with its last gasp made a desperate plunge and tried to bite. As soon as it was dead, we set to work to skin it, carrying away with us all the flesh, except the neck and breast, to make into beltong. About two miles further on, we came to a good halting-place in the wood, where we could finish the process of preparing the skin. Meriko, with his gun, kept watch over our bullock-team, and whilst Pit helped Theunissen to cut up the meat ready for hanging up, I worked away at the skin, and afterwards at the skull.
The same afternoon I took a short stroll round about, and found that although the bushes were thick, the trees generally were scanty; there were, however, some very fine baobabs here and there. Several beautifully wooded islands in the spruit had steep high banks, and there was a pool some hundred yards long that apparently abounded in tortoises and fish. Our time, however, did not allow us to make any complete examination of the spot; it was desirable for us to hurry on with all speed, and to get across the Zambesi, if we could, before the middle of the month, so that we might stay until December in the more healthy highlands on the watershed.
We looked about for lion-tracks, but could see none; and being unaware that lions are accustomed very often to wander away from their usual haunts for a day or more, we thought it would be quite sufficient to put up a low fence; but as the night set in cold and dark with a piercing S.S.W. wind that made us all press closely round the fire, we could only regret our mistake and own that we ought to have made it higher. By eight o’clock the darkness was complete, and the wind, still howling, threatened a singularly uncomfortable night; but we consoled ourselves by recollecting that the zebra-skin would be sufficiently dry in the early morning, when we might move off.
Suddenly, so suddenly that we one and all started to our feet, the oxen began to bellow piteously, and to scamper about the enclosure, breaking down the slight fence that bounded it. Niger commenced barking furiously; the other dog whined in miserable fear underneath the waggon, and the bullocks that did not try to make off, crouched together in a corner and lowed feebly. We could not do otherwise than conclude that we were attacked by lions. It happened that Theunissen had only just left us to shorten the tether of the bullocks, and, jumping on to the box of the waggon, I tried to see where he was. I seized my breech-loader; Pit and Meriko in an instant each held up a firebrand, which threw a gleam of light some distance around. But I could not discover Theunissen. I called louder and louder, and hardly know whether I was more relieved or terrified, when, from amongst the struggling cattle, I heard his voice crying, “Help, help!” We hurried out, and quickly ascertained the cause of his alarm. While he was tightening the bullocks’ tethers, the roar of a lion, apparently close at hand, had put the animals into such a state of commotion, that two of them had got loose from the enclosure; and two others had so entangled Theunissen in the ropes, that he and they had all fallen together. It was undoubtedly due to Niger’s vigilance that the lion had retreated.
STARTLED BY LIONS.
Theunissen was fortunately unhurt; and, while we were releasing him from his critical position, the two bullocks that had escaped came back of their own accord. After seeing the whole of the oxen securely fastened to the waggon, I had five large fires lighted, and, late as it was, felled several mapani-trees, with which to raise the height of the fence.
In spite of the heavy rain, we proceeded as soon as we could upon our journey. The downpour, however, had the effect of making the travelling less toilsome, by binding the sand together; though it was not without much difficulty that the bullocks pulled through the deep sand-drifts at the ford where we crossed the spruit. On the farther side we found a deserted encampment, containing the remnants of a broken-down Boer waggon. We saw comparatively little game—only two gnus, a few zebras, and an occasional guinea-fowl or two, or which I brought down one.
During the after-part of the day we were quite out of the woods, and upon a plain where the mapanis stood only singly or in detached clumps with the mimosas. Though reluctant to do so, we were obliged to unfasten the bullocks and allow them to graze awhile in the evening; but we took every precaution to make them safe, so that there should be no repetition of the lion panic. They had hardly been freed from the yokes, when they were startled by an animal dashing wildly at no great distance across the plain. It was a hyæna, which Pit and Theunissen, with my good Niger’s aid, managed to knock over; but it was far from being a single specimen of its kind, as all night long our sleep was interrupted by the incessant music of a regular hyæna-chorus.
Throughout the next morning the journey was very similar to that of the previous day; but in the afternoon we passed along an extensive glade, surrounded with underwood and full of game. A heavy shower provided us with the drinking-water which the soil failed to supply. We saw some ostriches, duykerbocks, and striped genus on the plain, and, in the distance, some lions on the look-out for zebras. Coming to a wood that seemed a suitable resting-place, I determined to spend the night there.
Before the following evening we arrived at a great forest, stretching nearly 100 miles to the north, and forming a part of the sandy-pool plateau. With the exception of a few glades containing water, the soil is entirely of sand, and is the western portion of the district to which Mohr has given the name of “the land of a thousand pools.” I only apply the term to the region without any appreciable slope, where the rain can have no downfall to the rivers. The pools are almost all fed solely by the rain, and are generally small and overgrown with grass; they retain their supply of water very differently, sometimes for eight months in the year, sometimes only for two. A comparatively small number are fed by springs, and such of them as are perennial have special names given to them by the Madenassanas who live in the underwood; whilst others, full only a part of the year, have been named on various occasions by Dutch or English hunters and ivory-traders. The boundaries of this pool plateau are the Nata and Soa salt-lake on the south, the Zambesi on the north, the Mababi veldt on the west, and the Nata and Uguay rivers on the east. It is the district of Central South Africa where the larger mammalia, such as elephants, rhinoceroses, and giraffes begin to be more abundant; thence extending eastwards and westwards, as well as northwards beyond the Zambesi. In the winter, owing to the deficiency of water, it is always difficult to cross it, and even in the beginning of summer the transit is always a matter of some anxiety, as a poisonous plant which sprouts up amongst the grass from October to December is very injurious to cattle; the evil is so great as very often to induce the traders on their way to do business with the tribes on the Zambesi, to choose the eastern route through the Matabele and Makalaka district; but this proceeding has the disadvantage of exposing them to the dishonesty and untrustworthiness of the natives.
While we were crossing the last glade before entering the forest, Meriko, who was walking on in front with the bullocks, pointed suddenly to the left, and called out something that I did not understand; he was evidently rather excited, and both I and Theunissen, who was sitting with me on the box, were curious to know what had disturbed him. He soon managed to make us comprehend that he had caught sight of two ostriches about 250 yards from the road, and, on looking again, I saw one of them standing near a high bush. Although I was quite aware that, as matter of right, they really belonged to the king of the Bamangwatos, my sportsman’s instinct was far too keen to permit me to go my way without having a chase; accordingly, a very few minutes elapsed before I was stalking them in the grass. Almost directly I discovered the second ostrich, which I had not seen before, squatting on the ground and peeping at me; it did not wait long before it took to running off, but an intervening bush prevented my getting a proper aim at it. I followed on to the more open plain, and just as the two birds together were entering the underwood about 400 yards in front of me, I fired; but my bullet struck a tree, quite close to them, without touching them. Meriko had the laugh of me; he could not refrain from expressing his satisfaction that the property of his liege lord had been uninjured, and pledged himself to report the circumstance to the king on his return to Shoshong.
The bullocks had not a drop of water all day long. It was consequently of the most urgent importance that we should get on to the next spring, and we agreed that there was no alternative but to travel on all night, if néed be, in defiance of the difficulties we might encounter. Niger, unbidden, took the lead, followed by Pit carrying a breech-loader; Meriko led the foremost oxen by the bridle, which he held in his left hand, whilst he held up a flaming torch in the other; Theunissen took the reins, and I sat on the box with one loaded gun in my hand, and another behind me ready to be used in any emergency. By eleven o’clock, however, we reached some springs; they proved to be the most southerly of those known to the neighbouring Madenassanas as the Klamaklenyana springs, and here we came across several elephant-hunters whom I had seen before, some of them a few weeks previously, and others at the Soa lake. They were all full of complaints at the bad luck they had experienced.
As implied by their name “four, one behind another,” the Klamaklenyana springs consist of four separate marshy pieces of water, between which, on either hand, are numerous rain-pools, full at various periods of the year. Close to the spring by which we were halting there was a waggon-track, made by the Dutch hunters, which branched off towards the Mababi-veldt.
At this place, too, I fell in with one of Anderson’s servants, named Saul; he was travelling with a Makalahari who had four children, whom he had met at the Nataspruit and invited to join him; he told me he was sure that his master would not disapprove of what he had done, as the man would be very serviceable to him in helping to hunt ostriches.
Hunt ostriches!” I exclaimed; “how can such a bad shot as you hunt ostriches?”
“Ah, sir,” he answered, “I manage to get at them well enough.”
“How so?” I inquired.
“Well, I always take a man with me, and we look about till we discover a nest, and then we dig a hole pretty close to it in which I hide myself. The birds come to sit, and it doesn’t want a very good shot to knock over an ostrich when it is just at hand. Well, having made sure of one bird, we stick up its skin on a pole near the nest, and except we are seen, and so scare the birds away, a second ostrich is soon decoyed, and I get another chance. In this way I succeed very well; besides, I get lots of eggs.”
Whilst at the springs I learnt the meaning of some of the Masarwa and Bamangwato appellations. I might give numerous examples, but one or two will suffice. I found, for instance, that Khori, the district on the side arm of the Shaneng, means “a bustard,” and that Mokhotsi means “a strong current.”
On leaving our encampment on the 10th we had to travel for two hours through the sandy underwood to the next of the Klamaklenyana springs. Here I met an elephant-hunter named Mayer and a Dutchman, Mynheer Herbst, and only a little further on at another watering-place I fell in with a second Dutchman called Jakobs, and Mr. Kurtin, an ivory-trader. Mr. Kurtin told me that on previous expeditions into this neighbourhood he had lost no fewer than sixty-six oxen through the poisonous plant that I have mentioned. Jakobs entertained us with the accounts of his hunting-expeditions, and particularly with some adventures of the famous Pit Jacobs. Mayer and Herbst were in partnership, and had recently had the satisfaction of shooting a fine female elephant; they had just engaged the services of some Makalakas, who a few days previously had offered themselves to me, but so bad was my opinion of all that branch of the Bantus, and so evil was the appearance of the men themselves, that not only would I have nothing to do with them, but recommended their new employers to get rid of them at once. To their cost, however, they acted without regard to my advice. When I met Mayer some seven months later, he told me that they had robbed him freely and had then run away.
It was about this time that I made my first acquaintance with the Madenassanas, the serfs of the Bamangwatos. They are a fine race, tall and strongly built, especially the men, but with a repulsive cast of countenance, so that it was somewhat surprising to find from time to time some nice-looking faces among the women. Their skin is almost black, and they have stiff woolly hair which hangs down for more than an inch over their forehead and temples, whilst it is quite short all over the skull.
Whenever a Bamangwato makes his expedition to the pool plateau, his first proceeding is to look up some Madenassanas whom he may compel to go hunting with him and assist him in procuring ivory, whether for himself or for the king; but their residences are generally in such secluded and remote places, that it is often very difficult to find them, unless conducted by some of the Madenassanas themselves. The eldest inhabitant in each little settlement is regarded as a sort of inferior chief, so that it is best for any white man, in want of Madenassana help, to make direct application to him. If hired only for a short period, they are sufficiently paid by three or four pounds of beads, or by a few articles of woollen clothing; but if the engagement should extend to anything like six months the remuneration generally expected would be a musket.
Unlike many of the Bantu races, the Madenassanas respect the law of marriage, which is performed with very simple rites; conjugal fidelity is held in the highest esteem, but jealousy, I was told, which rarely shows itself very prominently amongst other tribes, often impels them to serious crimes. They were uniformly spoken of as a very contented people, and certainly they make far better servants than either the Masarwas or Makalaharis. Dwelling as they do, in the north-west corner of the kingdom, far away from Shoshong, their relations with the Bamangwatos are much less servile than those of the Masarwas, who are found all over the country. They have guns of their own, and are visited only once a year by officials sent by the king to collect their tribute, and to appoint them their share of hunting-work.
The Makalakas (of whom I had so low an opinion) were moving about in large numbers between the Nata and Zambesi in 1875 and 1876; they were chiefly fugitives from Shoshong, having been expelled thence by the inhabitants, who were infuriated by their treachery.
When we reached the third spring we found that Jakobs and Kurtin had already settled there before us. Another trader, whom I may distinguish as X., arrived after us on the same day; he had visited Sepopo, the king of the Marutseland, whither I was directing my course, and he gave me an introduction to a friend of his, whom I should be sure to meet further north on the Panda ma Tenka. I asked him to convey two of my cases of curiosities to Shoshong, but although he promised to deliver them, I am sorry to record that I never heard any more about them. In exchange for 800 lbs. of ivory, Mr. Kurtin sold him two cream-coloured horses, one of which I had myself cured of an illness in Shoshong; the ivory that X. was conveying in two waggons did not weigh less than 7000 lbs., of which 5000 lbs. had been obtained from Sepopo, the rest having been procured by his own people during their excursions on the southern shore of the Zambesi, between the Victoria Falls and the mouth of the Chobe. He warned me that there was great risk of getting fever on the Zambesi, and that in the district ahead of us there was great scarcity of water. In return for some medicines with which I supplied him, he very courteously sent me a good portion of a cow that he had just killed.
After starting in the afternoon west by north towards the most northerly of the Klamaklenyana springs, we had to pass through a part of the forest, where we saw some fine camel-thorn acacias and mimosas; also some trees like maples, some mochononos, and bushes of fan-palms. The scenery remained very much of the same character all through the next morning’s march, until we reached the spring in time for our midday halt. Between the first and the last of the four springs, I counted twenty-five depressions in the ground that are all full of water after heavy rain.
As we came along, I made several little détours into the woods, and saw buffaloes, striped gnus, Zulu-hartebeests and zebras, and noticed that lion-tracks were by no means wanting. At a point near the spring, where a trader’s road brings them out from the western Matabele, I met three hunters, named Barber, Frank, and Wilkinson. Barber’s skill as a hunter was notorious; he had a mother who was not only a keen observer of animal life, but was so gifted with artistic power of delineating what she saw, that she had published several little works on the subject. Barber likewise showed me his own sketch-book, in which he had made some very clever illustrations of his hunting-adventures.
We went a few miles further before we stopped for the night. Some of the trees that we passed next morning were of remarkably well-developed growth, several of the trunks being sixty feet in height; they belonged to a species called wild syringa by the Dutch, and “motsha” by the Bamangwatos; there is another sort quite as common, which they call “monati.” Near the groves I observed a great many orchids with red blossoms.
About noon we came to a slight hollow, containing a pond known as Yoruah, where we again fell in with our hunting acquaintances. X. had advised them to make it their headquarters for a time, because he had himself been extremely fortunate in killing elephants there during his own stay. There were traces from which it was clear that a herd had passed along quite recently, and it was hoped that they might soon return again. Not wishing that my dogs should cause the hunting-party any annoyance, I pushed on at once without stopping, and reached the Tamafopa, or Skeleton-springs, in good time next day.
Here I made up my mind to stay for a few days, and taking the waggon about half a mile into the forest, fixed upon a station close to some rain-pools that were generally more or less full of water throughout the year; one of my principal objects for this rest was that I might try and get a skin of the sword-antelope, the finest of all the South African species.
Taking a stroll westwards I saw some steinbocks, and observing countless tracks of animals of all sorts, I could not doubt but that the whole district was teeming with life, and accordingly I came to the conclusion that I would spend another night of observation in the open air; even if I failed to accomplish my end with regard to the skin of which I was in quest, I might at least reckon upon being entertained. Instead of going alone as I did before, I resolved this time to take Pit with me, and in reply to my question whether he thought he would be able to keep awake, he told me he had not the least doubt on that point.
About an hour or two before sunset I saw that a thoroughly good enclosure was made round the waggon, and Theunissen undertook to keep a good look-out against lions. I and Pit then made our way towards the spot which I had already selected in a forest glade about 500 yards in circumference, partially overgrown with grass, and about ten feet above the level of the woods; in the centre was a small rain-pool that had been full of water some months back, but was now much covered with weeds, and nearly empty. Near the edge of the glade stood a fine hardekool-tree, and about fifteen yards from this was an Acacia detinens thirty feet high, of which the branches drooped nearly to the ground, and partly sheltered and partly supported a great ant-hill at its side. Altogether the place seemed well adapted for my purpose.
The first thing I made Pit do was to collect some of the branches of the trees, to make a sort of breastwork about two feet high; we reserved an open space of eight feet or more of bare plain between ourselves and the tall grass; and then we carefully examined our guns and put them in perfect readiness for use. The sun was now sinking, and all the birds had gone to roost except a few glossy starlings that kept twittering around the nests which they occupy all through the year. Pit offered a piece of advice which I thought it advisable to follow, and we left our retreat before it was absolutely dark to fetch some branches of acacia to throw over the enclosure as a light covering, and while we were doing this the howling of the jackals at no great distance made us aware that the hour was at hand when the deer would be on the move to drink, and when the beasts of prey would set forth for their nightly prowl.
Taking his usual posture, Pit half lay down, while I, for my part, preferred a squatting position as being the least uncomfortable for a long period of watching. For a little while we kept up a conversation in an undertone, but soon afterwards I suggested that it might be better if we were quite quiet. Half an hour or more might have elapsed when I heard a peculiar sound that induced me to rise cautiously and listen; for a moment or two I was puzzled, but hardly knew whether to be more amused or disgusted to find that the noise had no other origin than the open countenance of my slumbering servant. The poke that I gave him was not particularly gentle. At first he seemed inclined to be aggrieved, but immediately recollected himself, and apologizing for falling asleep, promised now to keep wide awake. I knew his propensity too well to have much confidence in his vigilant intentions, but I really was surprised to find after how brief an interval he had begun to snore again as loud as ever.
Shortly before ten o’clock the moon had risen so high that the whole glade was illuminated by the beams. I was getting somewhat weary of Pit’s music, when my ear caught a distant sound like the trotting of a number of horses. I could see to a considerable distance, and after about a quarter of an hour I found, as I conjectured might be the case, that the noise proceeded from a herd of zebras advancing towards the glade. Looking through the opening between the mimosa and the ant-hill I could make out all their movements. They came on with the utmost caution. They pricked up their ears and stopped at almost every second step, standing awhile as motionless as if carved in stone. Two of the herd were in front; the rest followed at a little distance. I hardly knew whether to fire at once, or to wake up Pit to help me if necessary, but while I was debating in my mind the fellow gave such a tremendous snore that he woke himself; hearing me call, he started up so suddenly that he pulled down the whole of our canopy of acacia boughs, and made such a commotion that the whole of the zebras scampered off without my getting another fair chance of a shot.
My incorrigible man was not long in falling asleep for the third time. Midnight had now passed without any further signs of sport, and it was past one when I fancied that I could hear, although a long way off, the lowing of buffaloes. The sound appeared to come gradually nearer, but after coming almost close it receded again, making me suppose that the herd had got scent of us and had altered their course. It was hardly worth the trouble I took to tell Pit about their movements, as he only groaned in reply and rolled himself over on to his other side.
After this I confess I began to feel somewhat drowsy myself. Yielding to fatigue I fell into a doze, from which I was aroused by what struck me as the rustling of a coming storm. I listened for quite twenty minutes, making out nothing beyond the fact that the noise came from one of the neighbouring pools; after a while, however, I found out that the shrill trumpet-like splash and roar proceeded from a herd of elephants that were enjoying themselves in the water. To rouse Pit was now indispensable. It was no easy matter to make him aware of his position; he muttered something about my wrapping myself up because the wind was blowing and it was cold. This time, however, I was not to be put off, and by giving him a good shaking I brought him to his feet.
My own desire was to leave our shelter and go and set light to two patches of dry grass that I recollected were close at hand. It was a proceeding that I imagined would have the effect of putting the brutes into a high state of alarm, and would bring about a romantic scene such as is rarely witnessed even in the heart of Africa. Pit, however, could not be induced to view the proposal with any favour; he insisted upon what indeed was quite true, that to accomplish what we intended, we should have to cross a great number of the lion-tracks that we knew were there, and that every step would leave us liable to attack before we could be aware of it. As no representations on my part could stir him, and as the moon had set, and it was very dark, I came to the conclusion that perhaps after all discretion was the better part of valour, and yielded my own wish to his. We both of us watched for a long time, but experiencing nothing to keep our interest alive, we at length, one after the other, began to doze again.
I am certain that I had been asleep for a very short time when I was brought to consciousness by a sound that ever makes one oblivious of any other; the roar of a lion was distinctly followed by the low growl of a lioness, both unquestionably within thirty yards of where I was lounging. My hands were benumbed with cold; it was darker than it had been all night, but I rose and dropped upon my knee prepared to fire, having a most uncomfortable consciousness that in all likelihood the animals had been watching us for some time.
“PIT, ARE YOU ASLEEP?”
It did not now require much effort on my part to wake my servant. At the first recognition of the lion’s roar Pit was on his feet in a second. Standing bolt upright, he laid his hands upon the drooping boughs of the mimosa; his hint was worth taking; to escape the spring of the beasts of prey which were only too probably close upon us, we should not lose an instant in climbing up into the tree; the difficulty was how to get there. I had a flat Scotch cap on my head, a pair of long boots, and an overcoat that reached my knees. To pull off my coat and make it a protection for my face was the work of an instant. Pit pushed me up from behind; then he handed me my gun. In my turn I lent him a helping hand up, and as if by magic we found ourselves elevated in the tree, and at least temporarily safe. Our height from the ground was not more than ten feet, but the night continued so dark, and the grass was so high that it was impossible to make out where it would be of any avail to fire. Until it was nearly morning the lions continued to prowl round about, but when dawn appeared they had made off in the same direction as the buffaloes. We afterwards went to examine the pool; there were no longer any signs either of buffaloes or elephants, except the footprints that plainly showed that at least thirty elephants with their cubs had been there during the night. From Theunissen I learnt that a lion and lioness, no doubt the same, had been heard growling within a stone’s throw of the waggon.
After breakfast next day I set out with Pit to follow up the elephants; finding, however, from the condition of the tracks, that they must have had several miles start, I considered that it would be of no use to persevere in the pursuit. The fact, however, of my having been so close to the elephants the previous night stirred up my eagerness, and although I had quite intended to leave Tamafopa that day, I made up my mind to lie in wait a night by myself as near as I could to the pool in which I had heard them disporting themselves. After a good examination of the place I chose a fine hardekool-tree, nearly fifty feet high, from which to keep my look-out, but the lowest branch of it was so much above the ground, that Pit and Meriko had to hoist me up with some strips of oxhide. Once mounted, I was quite satisfied with the position, as it commanded a complete view of the pond. The night was clear and bright, but decidedly wintry, and after a time I felt the cold very severely. It was verging towards midnight, when my hopes were raised by the sound of the tramp which made me sure that a herd of elephants was approaching; my best anticipations, however, had hardly been excited before they were doomed to disappointment, for the noise of the elephants was followed immediately by the crack of a huge African bullock-whip. The waggon of the hunters came nearer, but the herd had turned off into the bushes, and was before long quite out of hearing. I afterwards heard that it was Kurtin, on his way to meet his brother in the Panda ma Tenka valley, who had thus unwittingly spoiled my night’s entertainment.
My sport on the 17th consisted chiefly in an attempt to dig out an ant-eater. On the night of the 18th we killed a couple of jackals. After passing laboriously over great tracts of sand we arrived at the pools at Tamasetze, where we stayed for a night; a very keen wind was blowing down the glade in which the pools were situated, but I fancied I might get the chance I wanted to secure a sword-antelope. I had the waggon removed to the most sheltered place we could find. We were awakened shortly after midnight by a loud cry from Meriko, who had discovered a snake nestling against his legs; the reptile tried to escape, but he mutilated it so terribly that its skin was useless for my collection.
After my recent exertions and nights without sleep, I was not feeling at all well, and was very glad to get as close as I could to the fire. I was occupying myself with my diary when Theunissen, speaking very gently, told me to look behind me; on turning round, I found that I had been sitting with a puff-adder close to my feet, probably enjoying the warmth of the fire as much as myself. This time we were much more cautious in our proceedings, and I was very pleased to be able to enrich my collection with a singularly fine specimen.