Page:Seven Years in South Africa v1.djvu/156

CHAPTER V.

FROM LIKATLONG TO WONDERFONTEIN.

 

Batlapin life—Weaver-birds and their nests—A_ Batlapin farmstead—Ant-hills—Travelling Batlapins—An alarming accident—Springbockfontein—Gassibone and his residence—An untempting dish—On the bank of the Vaal—Iguanas—Christiana—Bloemhof—Stormy night—Pastures by the Vaal—Cranes—Dutch hunters—A sportsman’s Eldorado—Surprised by black gnus—Guinea-fowl—Klerksdorp—Potschefstroom—The Mooi River valley—Geological notes—Wonderfontein and its grottoes—Otters, birds, and snakes.

 

Likatlong, the residence of the chief Yantje, is the capital of the most southerly of the Batlapin tribes. The name signifies “union,” probably in reference to the junction of the two rivers. The town consisted of three groups of farmsteads, each farmstead containing from two to four huts, generally six feet high, enclosed by hedges made of dry branches. The huts in the central groups exhibited the greatest appearance of life and industry, and extended as far as the river. In the middle of them was an open space, marked by the ruins of a mission-house that had been burned down some years previously.

A short distance from the mission-house stood the church, a long but insignificant-looking edifice, built