Seven Years in South Africa/Volume 2/Chapter 8
CHAPTER VIII.
TRIP TO THE VICTORIA FALLS.
On my arrival at Panda ma Tenka, I found Westbeech’s enclosure in a state of great animation; several waggons were there, hosts of servants were hurrying about in every direction, and certainly not less than twenty dogs were yelping and running amongst them. Most unfortunately for me the rain during my absence had made its way through the roof of my waggon, and had done so much damage to the leather cases inside that nearly all the dried insects, plants, and seeds that they contained were spoiled. Some of the traders that I had seen here before were seriously ill with fever, and a servant of Khame’s, who had been hired by Africa, the hunter of whom I have already spoken, had been killed by an elephant, a misadventure for which, on his return to Shoshong, Africa found himself obliged to pay a fine of 50l. to the Bamangwato king.
Westbeech and Bauren intended, after their visit to the Victoria Falls, to stay three months at Sesheke; Blockley contemplated at the same time doing some business with the Makalaka princes to the east of the falls, Bradshaw being left meanwhile in charge at Panda ma Tenka to purchase any ivory he could from the Madenassanas and Masarwas. Theunissen at this time had quite enough to occupy him in preparing medicines for the patients laid down with intermittent fever, while I, after having been busy all day in completing my preparations for the Zambesi expedition, spent the hours far into the night in answering my letters and continuing my diary.
It was on the 10th that Westbeech and Francis came back; they each brought about 50 lbs. of ivory, which Sepopo had sent as presents to their wives. On their way they had killed thirty crocodiles and five hippopotamuses. One of the latter had attacked them.
My temporary sojourn was full of anxiety and annoyance. Not only was I harassed by my unsuccessful endeavours to procure bearers, but I was called upon to sustain a disappointment, which I could not do otherwise than feel very keenly. The report was brought to me by one of the traders that Theunissen had made up his mind that he would go no further, but that he should forthwith return to the south. I could not believe it; he had always shown himself so staunch an ally, that I had learnt to confide in him entirely; moreover, I had chosen him out of a number of volunteers as being in every way the most reliable of them all; and now to be told that just at the critical moment when most of all I required a trustworthy associate he was going to forsake me, was a thing that seemed incredible; but on referring to Theunissen himself, I ascertained that the report was only too true.
To add to my difficulties Pit had begun to behave himself in various ways so badly that I had been obliged to get rid of him. Thus it was that on the very eve of what promised to be the fulfilment of my long-cherished plan, my hopes appeared suddenly dashed to the ground. I was utterly at a loss to know where I could apply for bearers; alone and friendless as I was, I was not even in a position to go and search for them in any of the native villages in the woods to the east. My condition was altogether disheartening.
In my dilemma Westbeech and Francis most considerately came to my assistance. Under the condition that I should first accompany them to “the splendid falls,” they guaranteed to find me bearers enough amongst the Manansas or Batokas that we should fall in with on our way. I felt that I had no alternative but to accept their offer. Before starting I engaged a man as my servant in the place of Pit; he was a Masupia, who had come from the Zambesi to seek employment. I gave him the name of “Elephant.”
As the Victoria Falls were fifty miles to the right of the route which I had proposed taking, it was not part of my original scheme to visit them at all; it was only the circumstances in which I found myself that led me to undertake the journey, but I have since congratulated myself very much upon the decision to which I came.
Leaving my waggon in the charge of Westbeech’s people, I started off with my new friends. The party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Westbeech, Mr. and Mrs. Francis, Bauren, Oppenshaw, Walsh, and myself, besides four Cape half-castes, my own Masupia servant, and twenty Makalalas and Matabele, who were engaged as bearers, and carried our provisions, cooking-apparatus, and wraps. We travelled in a couple of waggons as far as the Gashuma Flat, the way thither being attractive and pleasant for travellers. It was about three o’clock in the morning when we reached the first pools on the plain, whence we altered our course, which previously had been north-north-west, to east-north-east towards the falls.
The next portion of our route lay through a district known to be so much infested by the tsetse-fly, that we left our bullocks and waggons, and proceeded in a cart drawn by six donkeys. We did not, however, start until the 15th, waiting till we had put up a thoroughly substantial fence around the waggons, because we had noticed a number of lion-tracks in the neighbourhood. The plain was adorned with some splendid fan-palms and dense palm-thickets. The grass had been nearly all burnt down, but here and there, in patches where it had begun to sprout again, pretty little orbeki-gazelles were lying in twos or fours quite flat on the ground, and would suddenly start up at our approach and bound away, turning round to gaze at us when they were at a safe distance. Oppenshaw and I started off in pursuit of them, and were induced to go a very considerable way from our party; we were obliged to give up the chase as unsuccessful, and were making our way back, when scarcely thirty yards in front of us, a pair of orbekis sprang up. Oppenshaw fired at one of them as it was turning to look at us, and broke its fore leg just above the ankle; it bounded away on three legs; we fired again, but missed; the gazelle continued its flight, and seemed likely to escape altogether, when a third shot from me caught it on its side and brought it down. It died just as we got up to it, and as we had no servants in attendance, we had to carry it in turns for two hours under a burning sun, till we came to the spot where our companions were camping in the wood.
In the course of the afternoon we went six miles farther, making altogether an advance of thirteen miles in the day. Beyond the Gashuma Flat and a sandy forest, we crossed four shallow valleys, and made our camp for the night in a fifth, that in point of size was more important than the others; all the spruits except the last two were dry and overgrown with grass, the whole of them becoming deeper towards the south-east, the direction which they took to join the Panda ma Tenka. As we crossed the third of these valleys we saw a herd of giraffes, about 600 yards away.
Between the Gashuma Flat and the place where we encamped we came across the following sorts of game, or their traces:—Orbekis, rietbocks, steinbocks, waterbocks, zulu-hartebeests, koodoos, giraffes, buffaloes, elephants, and zebras.
The little river beside which we were staying was  | ||
| VOL. II. | A TROOP OF GIRAFFES SURPRISED. | Page 184. |
Nevertheless since the long grass on the borders of the South African rivers is very frequently the resort of various animals of the feline race, it is always advisable to throw a few stones into the middle of it before venturing to enter; but this precaution taken, it may be approached with security.
The pond that was closest to our encampment was thirty feet long and twelve feet wide, its depth about six feet. It was fed by a tiny thread of water scarcely three inches wide; its outlet in a reedy thicket being somewhat wider. The water was as clear as crystal, so that every object, even to the bottom, was plainly discernible. Half the pond, or nearly so, was occupied by a network of delicate algæ,—here of a light colour, there of a dark green—and everywhere assuming the most fantastic forms. In some places it seemed to lie in strata one above another like semi-transparent clouds in the azure depths; in the part near the outflow it formed a dark labyrinth of grottoes; whilst on the right it might seem to represent a ruined castle, so well defined was the foundation from which rose the square watch-tower with its circular turret, the tender weeds turning themselves into a Gothic doorway, through which small fish kept darting to and fro. On the top of the tower were some projecting growths, that kept up the similitude of broken battlements.
Making a dark green background were the lower stems of the reeds that rustled above the water, and in the open space between the water-weeds and the margin of the pond rose the three spiral stalks of a large flowering nymphœa, two of them throwing out their flat glossy leaves, and the third a beautiful pale blue lily, that lay like a gleaming star upon the surface of a crystal mirror. Besides the alge that I have described, there were others at the bottom of the pool, with their lobulated and dentated leaves, rivalling ferns in the gracefulness of their form.
At first this miniature plant-world appeared to lie in motionless repose, and it was not until the eye grew quite accustomed to the scene that it detected the gentle current that the streamlet made. Once perceived, the effect was very charming; the reed-stems were seen to vibrate and quiver with ever-varying degrees of motion, the fictitious towers of algæ were observed to tremble without any disturbance to their general outline; the very grottoes had the appearance of being impelled forward by some secret force to seek admission to some other pool. From the bottom of the water, plants with bright yellow blossoms and serrated cryptogams, stretched up their heads asif they aspired to share the honours  | ||
| VOL. II. | AQUATIC LIFE IN A STILL POOL BY THE ZAMBESI. | Page 187. |
Equally fascinating was the exhibition of animal life. In the more open spaces where the range of vision was widest lay some dark-striped fish not unlike perch, perfectly motionless except for the slight vibration of the hinder fins; from the dim recesses of the algæ, bearded sheat-fish would emerge, generally in pairs, and sometimes side by side, sometimes one behind the other, would roll themselves in sport from side to side; and far away right across the reeds by the opposite bank stretched itself as though lifeless a yellow-mottled object, that might at first have been mistaken for a snake, but which on further scrutiny turned out to be a water-lizard biding its time to secure its prey.
Nor were the lower orders of creation less fully represented. Water-beetles and water-spiders abounded; the beetles were species of dytiscus and hydrophilus; the spiders were all activity, some towing themselves up, some with glistening air-bubbles letting themselves descend, and hastening to conceal themselves amidst the intricacies and entanglements of the algæ. The larvæ of the beetles as well as of the dragon-flies were clambering over the filaments of the plants and the stems of the lilies like rope-dancers, whilst the pupæ of the shore-flies were slowly emerging from their mummy-like cases.
The variety of the scene was infinite, and made one loth to turn away.
We went on the next morning across a great many small streams, the valleys of which were covered with deep dark soil and generally much overgrown; the streams appeared to flow in various directions, south, south-east, south-west, but the whole of them, I imagine, ultimately found their way into the Panda ma Tenka. The valleys were divided from one another either by rocky hills or sandy woods. We saw traces of koodoos, steinbocks, waterbocks, bushvaarks, and of a great many elephants. In the after part of the day we came to a forest in a somewhat more extensive valley, with side-valleys opening into it on either hand. We made our camp for the night close to a perpetual stream, that received the waters both of the main valley and its branches, and was called the Matopa river by the Manansas who formerly lived there. For three-quarters of its course it is a mountain-torrent not more than twenty feet wide and from three to four feet in depth, but towards its mouth, which is below the Victoria Falls, its width materially increases.
On the following morning (September 7th) we left our encampment betimes, in order to reach the falls the same day. All day long and throughout the remainder of the trip, I had to get along in great discomfort. In making provision for my longer journey I had reserved all my good boots, and for immediate use had bought a pair of shoes from a trader at Panda ma Tenka, but after two days wear they fell to pieces, and I was obliged to fasten the fragments together by straps bound round my feet, while, as if to make the difficulty more trying, the road became extremely rough and thorny, and the rocks were heated by the glowing sun.
Arriving at a point where the Matopa valley took a sudden turn to the east, I became conscious of a dull heavy noise, as it might be the rumbling of distant thunder. I was considerably in advance of the others, as the condition of my feet induced me to get a good way forward every now and then, so that I might have the benefit of a rest. Being alone I had no one to explain the cause of the noise, but I was not long in satisfying myself that it must be the roar of the famous cataract. Several times, and in places where the passage was difficult, the Matopa had to be crossed, but in spite of my suffering I kept pushing on ahead, buoyed up by the prospect of a long rest afterwards. I noticed some zebras running on the declivity of the left hand shore in the direction of the cloud of vapour which I could now distinctly see, and I came to the conclusion that it would be well to follow them; they made for a wooded glen leading to the valley, and though of course I could not overtake them I kept to their track. The farther I went the more painful my feet became, until at last I took off the soles of my shoes altogether and made my way barefoot. All day long I had taken no food, and at four o’clock, after forcing my way through a dense thicket, I began to feel very faint. By another effort I mounted a hill, and scrambled through another thicket, when all at once I found myself on the brink of the abyss, into which the seething waters were rolling with a tremendous plunge. The impression of that scene can never be effaced!
But glorious as was the spectacle, bodily exhaustion made me retire from contemplating it.
Crawling rather than walking, clinging to bush after bush to save myself from falling, I made my way along the river-bank in search of some wild fruit to sustain me. I had not gone far before I spied out a fruit hanging down from a half-withered stem. I threw up some stones and brought it down, and sure that its thin yellow shell covered a sweet fleshy pulp, I greedily swallowed it, when all at once it occurred to me that the seeds bore a great resemblance to nux vomica; my fear was only too well founded, in a very few minutes I was seized with a most violent sickness, and sunk powerless and prostrate to the ground. It was some time before I could rouse myself sufficiently to creep to the bank of the Zambesi, where I took a large draught of the clear water, which revived me very considerably. To attract the attention of my friends I fired off several shots, but receiving no response had to resign myself to wait awhile.
After about half an hour I felt so far recovered that I ventured to make a move, and had hardly proceeded more than fifty yards when I saw one of our party coming in my direction. We returned together, and before night set in we had chosen our position beneath three wide-spreading trees, rather more than a quarter of a mile from the river, and about half a mile from the falls, and proceeded to erect our “skerms.”
Skerms is the name given to the screens that are put up every night for protection against wild beasts. In districts infested by buffaloes, elephants, or lions, travellers erect one or more of them according to their numbers; they are semi-circular in form, and are made of stakes six feet long driven firmly into the ground, after which branches are twisted in amongst them; along the outer side a line of fires is lighted, and the servants are made to sit up in turn and keep them from going out. In our case we had four skerms, one enclosing a couple of huts for the married folks, another for the four bachelors, a third for the half-castes, whose dignity would not allow them to lie down with Zulus and Makalakas, who consequently required a fourth for themselves.
The spot upon which we had fixed for our encampment was almost in the centre of the real Zambesi valley, between the river and a sandy wooded elevation of the ground, the slope of a high plateau and mountain-system that runs more or less parallel to the stream from the mouth of the Chobe. Along the river-side was a thicket of saro-palms, and between these and the rising ground lay the valley proper, overgrown with long grass, bushes, and trees, amidst which majestic fan-palms and huge baobabs rose predominant.
In spite of the suffering which I continued to endure from the state of my feet, I look upon the three days which I spent in the vicinity of the falls as the most satisfying and enjoyable part of my sojourn in South Africa. To my mind the Victoria Falls of the Zambesi are one of the most imposing phenomena of the world. At many cataracts, particularly at Niagara, our wonder is excited by the stupendous volume of the plunging water; at others, by the altitude of the perpendicular rocks over which the torrent is precipitated; but here our amazement is aroused by the number of cascades and jets into which the down-rushing stream is divided, as well as by the narrowness of the deep ravine into which the raging waters are compressed. The width of the current below the falls is but a thirteenth part of what it is above.
After flowing from west to east, the Zambesi here makes a sudden bend to the south, so that the side on which we were stationed had become the western shore. As the river below does not cover the full breadth of the valley, it is quite practicable for a spectator to take his stand almost anywhere at no great distance below the level of the shore above, and so to view the cataract with his face turned to the north. Unfortunately the constant dash of the spray renders the soil too slippery to allow any one to approach the actual branch of the abyss into which the waters are hurled, but many an effective point of view is to be found within a few hundred yards of the cataract.
Let the reader then imagine himself to have taken his position upon a spot facing a rugged dark brown rocky wall about 200 yards away, rising 400 feet above its base, which is out of sight. Over the top of this are dashing the waters of the Zambesi. About 100 yards from the western bank he sees several islands adorned with tropical vegetation in rich abundance; further on towards the eastern shore and close to the edge of the abyss his eye will light upon nearly thirty bare brown crags that divide the rushing stream into as many different channels. To the left again, between the bright green islands and the western shore, he will observe that the great wall of rock is considerably lower, allowing a ponderous volume of water to rush impetuously as it were into a corner, whence it is precipitated in a broad sheet into the gulf below; beyond this and the next cascade he will see another portion of the surface of the rock, and as he carries his eye along he will be struck with admiration at the jutting peaks that stand out in vivid contrast to the angry foam that seethes between them. The countless jets and streams assume all colours and all forms; some are bright and gleaming, some dark and sombre; some are wide and some are narrow; but as they plunge impetuously into the depth below they make up a spectacle that cannot fail to excite a sensation of mingled astonishment and delight.
Of the jets of water some are so thin that they are dispersed before they reach the lower flood, and bound up again in vapour; others are from ten to fifteen feet in breadth; these dash down with tremendous fury, their edges curled up and broken into angry foam and spray; the largest streams, especially those that pour along from the eastern shore, are caught by the jagged peaks and torn asunder, ending their career by rolling over and over in cascades. In the diversity of the forms the water takes, I believe that the beauty of the Victoria Falls is quite unparalleled.
Nor does the magnificence of the view end with the prospect of the giant waterfall itself. Let us raise our eyes towards the blue horizon; another glorious spectacle awaits us. Stretching far away in the distance are the numerous islands with which the river-bed is studded, the gorgeous verdure of their fan-palms and’ saro-palms standing out in striking contrast to the subdued azure of the hills behind. All around them, furnishing a deep blue bordering, lies the expanse of the mighty stream that moves so placidly and silently that at first it might seem to be without movement at all; but oradually as it proceeds it acquires a sensible increase in velocity, till checked by the rocky ridge that impedes its flow, it gathers up its force to take its mighty plunge into the deep abyss. Especially beautiful are the islands immediately at the edge of the falls; they are overgrown with palms, aloes, and creepers, and surrounded on three sides by the surging water. As Livingstone had bestowed the name of “Victoria” on the falls in honour of his sovereign, I ventured to call the adjacent hill-district by that of “the Albert Country,” and to designate the various islands after the royal princes and princesses of England.
Not less striking is the effect when we turn towards the chasm or rocky trough that receives the rolling flood. The rock on which we stand is rich with varied vegetation; gigantic sycamores and mimosas on the verge of the declivity, taller than the loftiest poplars, afford a welcome shade, their wondrous crowns of foliage springing from the topmost section of the stem and spreading wide their grateful canopy. Creepers as thick as one’s arm, sometimes straight, sometimes spiral, clamber up to the elevated tree-tops, and make a playground where the apes can sport and exhibit their antics to the spectators concealed from them below. Palm-bushes and ferns contribute to the charm of the scene; the soil is an elastic carpet of moss, adorned at intervals with tiny flowers, or, where the naked rock reveals itself near the brink, interspersed with  | ||
| VOL. II. | THE VICTORIA FALLS. | Page 194. |
In a large measure this peculiar vegetation owes its existence to the perpetual fall of spray from the cataract; from every separate cascade clouds of vapour incessantly ascend to such a height that they may be seen for fifty miles away; at one moment they are so dense that they completely block out the view of anything beyond; another moment and a gust of wind will waft them all aside, and leave nothing more than a thin transparent veil; as the density of this creases or diminishes, the islands that he upon the farther side will seem alternately to recede or advance like visions in a fairy scene.
The effects at sunrise and at sunset are incomparably fine. Arched rainbows play over and amidst the vapoury wreaths, and display the brightness of their hues. The movement of the spray is attended by a suppressed hissing, which, however, is only audible when the wind carries off the deafening roar that rises from the bottom of the abyss. I do not know that it would be absolutely impossible to make one’s way through the bushy thickets to the very edge of the precipice and so to look down to the base of the cataract, but certainly it is not visible from any of the best standpoints for viewing the general scene. The incessant roar that rises from the mighty trough below fills the air for miles around with a rolling as of thunder; to hear it and not see from whence it comes never ceases to be bewildering; the seething waters before us crash against the crags; we find the ground beneath our feet tremble as though there were some convulsion in a subterranean cave beneath; we become every moment more conscious of a desire to witness the origin of the strange commotion; it is hard to suppress the sense of nervousness; no infernal crater in which the elements were all at strife could produce a more thrilling throb of nature! Truly it is a scene in which a man may well become aware of his own insignificance!
There is still another direction in which it remains for us to look. We have yet to make our wondering inspection of the great ravine into which the water in its massive volume is precipitated. That huge ravine is a long zigzag. At first it proceeds for 800 yards due south; it then makes an angle and runs for 1000 yards to the west-south-west; again it turns for 1100 yards to the south-east, and thus it continues to vary its direction. Except where deep chines break in, too precipitous to be crossed, it is not difficult to walk along the edge and to see how perpetually the rugged walls of rock present some fresh diversity of form; at one time they are absolutely perpendicular as though they had been hewn by a mason’s hand, at the next turn they slope like the glacis of a gloomy rampart, and then suddenly they assume the aspect of a huge garden-wall dotted over with clusters of green and crimson in striking contrast with the dull brown ground. Every here and there particles of earth containing the seeds of aloes have been carried into the clefts of the rock, and, nourished by the fertilizing matter already there, have germinated and thriven admirably, as their fine trusses of bloom are present to testify; meanwhile their own seeds are ripening, destined to be conveyed on the bosom of the stream to districts far away, where they may flourish on an unaccustomed soil.
There are places in which the cliffs take the formation of horizontal ledges of bare rock alternating with belts of thriving vegetation; in other parts, notably upon the western shore, may be observed a luxuriant growth of foliage that extends half-way down the surface or occasionally right to the edge of the stream, covering also the sides of the numerous chines that pierce the rocky mass, and afford an outlet for the accumulated rain.
But while I thus describe the general character of the scenery along the entire course of the zigzag, I would not have it overlooked that its peculiar attractiveness arises from the great diversity of conformation which it perpetually presents. This I hope may be better appreciated if I depict one or two of the reaches of the ravine more in detail.
The first short reach on the right or western shore, below the falls and close to them, is hemmed in at first by a perpendicular wall of rock, which, after receding so as almost to form a creek, suddenly juts out into a promontory against which the full torrent of the gathered waters breaks with all its vehemence. The opposite shore upon the eastern side is a range of rocky heights connected with the mainland beyond; upward from its base for about a third of its height it is naked and precipitous, but all above are terraces richly clad with tropical vegetation; its ragged peaks are very striking, and as often as I contemplated it I could not help associating it with the idea I had formed of the hanging gardens of Semiramis.
Between the second and third longer reaches is a short arm, midway in which there rises a huge projection, steep as any of the rocks around, but consisting of enormous blocks piled one above another; on the north, on the south, and on the east it is lashed by the torrent of the stream; on the west it stands detached from the mainland by a deep dry gully. Upon this isolated eminence, rearing itself to an altitude of 300 feet, not a leaf is to be seen; Flora and all her progeny have been utterly banished from its inhospitable soil, but it bids defiance to the flood: for thousands of years the elements have wreaked their fury on its mass; lightnings have burst upon its summit; Æolus and all his crew have spent their efforts upon its sides; floods of water, that deadliest foe to all the strongholds of earth, have done their utmost to sap its foundations; but yet it stands immovable; it holds its dry valley inviolate, and imperiously bids the rushing stream to seek another channel.
Nor can the waters of the torrent itself fail to arrest our attention as they tear along, with the speed of an arrow, through the deep ravine. The channel along which they flow gradually narrows to about a third of its origial width, and the very compression gives intensity to the current, which strikes against one impediment only to gather fresh impetus for dashing against another. The billows roll over the boulders that project above the suface of the flood, or they part asunder as they come in contact with some jutting promontory that impedes their course; but though centuries elapse, they avail not to displace the rocky walls by which they are confined, nor to wear down the barriers by which they are opposed.
It was a subject of much regret to me that our stay could not be prolonged beyond three days. Adequately to explore all the features of the cataract, to visit the islands, and to investigate the character of the opposite shore would be the work of weeks, if not of months; and I am quite resolved that if ever I return to the Victoria Falls my visit shall not be hurried, and I hope that no such drawback as arose from the painful condition of my feet will again interfere to mar my enjoyment of the magnificent scene.
On one of the days that we stayed, I and my servant had a rencontre with a herd of baboons. We caught sight of them in one of the glens or chines which I have mentioned, and to which I afterwards assigned the name of “the baboon glen.” They were on the farther side, and being anxious to obtain a specimen of their skulls, I fired and killed one baboon; but, unfortunately for me, the creature fell into the river. At my second shot I wounded two more. This induced the right wing of the herd to retreat; but the main body kept their ground, and the left flank, moreover, assumed the aggressive, and commenced pelting us so vigorously with stones, that, remembering that I had only one cartridge left, I considered it far more prudent to withdraw than to run the risk of a hand-to-hand encounter. Accordingly we retired, most ignominiously defeated.
Some of the Batokas who resided upon the farther shore, under the dominion of their chief Mochuri, came over to us in their canoes, bringing goats, kaffir-corn beer, and beans for sale. I afterwards met one of them again at Sesheke; he was a subchieftain, and a relation of Mochuri’s. Sepopo, supposing that I had never seen a Batoka before, introduced him to me; I recognized the man at once, but he took care not to show that he knew me, as he was conscious of having bought guns of us in direct contravention of the king’s commands, an offence for which he was liable to the sentence of death.
Whilst I was engaged in completing my cartographical survey of the falls, I came across several herds of grazing pallahs. The Cape servants succeeded in shooting one of the graceful creatures, which are the most common of all the antelopes of the Zambesi.
On the evening before our departure we had an adventure with a lion, which terminated in a way that was somewhat amusing. I had returned from an expedition to the falls, and was followed by Walsh, who was coming back from one of his bird-hunts; he came in rather excited, declaring that in crossing a meadow on his way towards the river, he had seen a lion. The spot which he described was only about three-quarters of a mile away, and it did not require a very long consultation before we resolved forthwith to commence a lion-hunt. I confess I was not a little concerned when I heard that the ladies proposed to accompany us; but my objections were soon overruled, Mrs. Francis urging that she had already seen several lions killed, and Mrs. Westbeech, the bride of a few months, insisting that her husband should not go without her.
The greater part of the Zambesi valley is thickly wooded, but as I have described, there are occa | ||
| VOL. II. | THE LION EXPECTED. | Page 201. |
We lost little time in making our arrangements; we divided into four detachments, the first including Westbeech, Francis, Walsh, and myself; the second, Oppenshaw, Bauren, and two of the Cape servants; the third, two more Cape servants, and two Matabele with guns; whilst the fourth was made up of the rest of the servants, who were armed with assegais, kiris, and sticks. The three former detachments were to march upon the thicket from opposite directions; the fourth was to remain at a distance outside to give warning of any movement they should see.
Hardly had we gone ten yards towards the assault, when the ladies’ voices brought us to a stand; they had come to the conclusion that they were unsafe beneath the tree, and requested their husbands to help them on to the top of the ant-hill.
Again we started, proceeding very slowly and with much caution. Just as we got within a few feet of the palm-bushes we were startled by a tremendous roar, sonorous enough to try the nerves of the most experienced hunter, and to make him realize the essential difference between a felis leo and a felis domestica. The hero of the forest was so close to Francis, that it might easily have pounced upon him before we could render any assistance. We stood still and gazed upon the bush, but no lion could be seen. Some one suggested it might be prudent to retire a little, and everybody seemed ready enough to act upon the suggestion; accordingly, with our guns cocked and our eyes fixed upon the spot from which the roar had proceeded, we stepped gradually backwards; still no signs of the lion; we resolved to fire, but we fired in vain; we determined to set ight to the bush, but all to no purpose; the lion had escaped.
On turning round to look for the other detachments, we discovered that the sound of the roaring had thrown them into a state of dismay; some of them had disappeared entirely; the whole of the fourth company had climbed up into the trees.
Just at this moment our attention was arrested by another cry from the ladies; the wind had fanned the flames of the bushes to which we had set light, and the smoke was driving so densely towards them that they were in danger of being choked; we soon rescued them from their unpleasant situation, and were all but agreed to give up the chase, and to go back again to our camp.
Westbeech, however, made the proposition that the hunt should be continued higher up the river; he was an experienced and daring hunter, and perhaps was a little anxious to exhibit his capabilities to his young wife. In order to carry out the proposal, it would be necessary to cross the meadow over which Walsh had been passing when he first saw the lion. After some hesitation it was settled that the party should undertake a second chase, with the exception of Mrs. Westbeech, who was left in charge of some of the Matabele servants, who were quite content to undertake so pleasant a part of the enterprise.
But although we crossed the meadow, we did not arrive at the bushes; startled by a cry of distress we looked back, but no trace of Mrs. Westbeech could be seen. Our amazement was great; Westbeech himself was the first to recover his composure, and started back with all speed to ascertain what had happened; we followed after, but what was our surprise, when all at once we found that he too had disappeared! We did not notice that the Matabele were in fits of laughter, nor for a while could we understand what Francis, who had run on some way in front, could mean when he turned round and threw his gun upon the grass before our feet, and bade us stop. In another moment Westbeech emerged from under ground, and directly afterwards Mrs. Westbeech reappeared after the same fashion. The explanation of the mystery was not hard to find. The natives had dug pitfall after pitfall to catch game; having no guns, they make great holes in the ground, sometimes ten or twelve feet long and nearly as many deep, so much narrower at the top than at the bottom, that it is impossible for any animals to get out when once in. Into one of these Mrs. Westbeech had had the mischance to fall, and Mr. Westbeech, in his eagerness, had run into another.
Beyond a few scratches, the lady happily had sustained no injury, but the contretemps naturally had the effect of making us abandon all further thought of the chase.
As for the lion, we were informed by some Batokas who came to visit us as usual in the evening, that it was quite true that one was lurking in the neighbourhood; but it was so accustomed to human beings that it gave no cause for anxiety, and the natives were not afraid to pass it, even at night.
Before quitting the vicinity of the Victoria Falls, I may say a few words about the Manansas, the native tribe that is to be found in various parts of what I call the Albert country, and who formerly possessed a kingdom of their own.
The Manansas occupy the hill-country south of the falls, a district that although it may belong by right to the Bamangwatos is always claimed by the Matabele rulers, the inhabitants themselves being invariably the greatest sufferers by the contention. The Bamangwatos ordinarily call them Masarwas, although the two tribes have really nothing in common. They cultivate sheltered spots in the valleys, or pass their lives in hunting without any settled place of residence. When oppressed by the Bamangwatos they take refuge with the Matabele, and when persecuted by the Matabele, they seek protection under the Bamangwatos; or if, as sometimes happens, there seems no way of escape, they submit themselves in the most abject and servile manner to their conquerors. Thus it comes to pass that the Albert country is a sort of debateable land, and it follows that the Bamangwatos are perpetually claiming the Manansas for their vassals, although the Manansas do not actually render them any vassal-service.
Until the year 1838 they had their own independent kingdom that extended as far south as the western Makalakas, and a long way up the Uguay and Kwebu rivers. The kingdom was governed by “a great chief,” who made every sacrifice he could to come to reasonable terms with the encroaching Matabele. But the time came when the bloodthirsty Moselikatze, a very tiger amongst men, having ruined the Makalaka empire and half devoured the Mashonas, proceeded to annihilate the Manansas also. No credence had he to give to the conciliating proposals of the good honest chief; as a Matabele he was quite incapable of putting faith in any promise, or appreciating any right feeling; he was sure that some ulterior motive lurked behind the proposals that were made, and that the chief was only temporizing while his forces were collecting; and so he overpowered him in his own courtyard, pierced him with assegais, tore out his heart, pressed it to the still quivering lips, and shrieked aloud, “You had two hearts; one was false, and you shall eat it!”
Practically this victory and deed of Moselikatze put an end to the Manansas as a nation. Most of the boys were carried off to be trained as Matabele warriors, while of the men who escaped some took refuge with Sepopo, some with the Batoka chief Mochuri to the north, and others with Wankie, the ruler of the north-eastern Makalakas.
While I was in daily intercourse with them, I made repeated inquiries as to whether they had now any recognized chief, but I had great difficulty in getting a definite reply. They always appeared to suspect me; and any one of whom I asked the question seemed to fear that I wanted to put his name down in my “lungalo” (book) in order to betray him to the Matabele king. At length, however, they acknowledged that they all, wherever they might be, owned allegiance to the son of their basely-murdered chief, who had been permitted with a small number of their tribe to settle on a piece of land in the eastern quarter of Wankie’s territory. On my expressing my wonder that they did not all go and join him instead of staying where they were to be worried like dogs, they replied that this was their own country; and I learnt that like the Bushmen of the south they regarded with affection and reverence the wooded heights and pleasant valleys where they first saw the light of day.
In many of their customs the Manansas differ from other South African tribes. Like the Marutse, they treat their women in a way that offers a very favourable contrast to either the Bechuanas or the Matabele. They have a somewhat peculiar mode of wooing; when a young man has been captivated by a maiden of his tribe and has ascertained that he has secured her affection in return—an assurance for which neither Betchuana nor Zulu thinks it necessary to wait—he sends an aged woman to carry the proposal that she should become his wife; this agent is commissioned to portray the young man in glowing colours, to extol the excellence of his temper, to praise his skill in procuring “nyama” (game), to describe the productiveness of his garden, and to enumerate the skins with which he has made his bed soft and comfortable. Hereupon a family council is held; the father, other, and daughter all have a voice, and if no objection is alleged, the old woman is sent away with the message that the suitor may be admitted. When he enters the hut he must never fail to bring a present; until quite recently this was nearly always a valuable skin of a rare monkey, but since the introduction of beads into the country they have been used as a substitute, and a handful of small blue beads is now the usual offering; when this has been accepted, the girl is at liberty to speak to the man, and is held to have pledged herself to him as his wife. There is an entire absence of those hideous orgies which characterize both the betrothal and marriage ceremonies among other South African tribes, and nothing transpires beyond this simple form before the marriage is deemed to be settled. The next step is for the parents every night to vacate their own hut and retire to another in the courtyard, leaving their usual abode for a week or two at the service of the newly-wedded pair. Every morning the bridegroom goes out to his work, and the parents reoccupy their proper dwelling for the day. Meanwhile the young man continues to acknowledge every favour by repeated gifts of beads; even the ablutions of the morning are recompensed in this way; but at the end of a fortmight or thereabouts, the son-in-law brings the father-in-law either four couples of goats, or eight rows (about 2 lbs.) of beads, whereupon they set to work to build a hut—or two if there were not one already in the possession of the bridegroom—which henceforward he makes his home.
Any breach of conjugal fidelity was, I understood, extremely rare; on the part of the husband indeed it was quite unheard of; the Manansas in this respect being superior to the more cultivated Marutse, amongst whom the demoralizing system of “mulekow” drives the wives into unfaithfulness even against their will.
When any woman is near her confinement a host of the old women in the neighbourhood come to her house. Their first business is to remoye the husband’s gun or assegai into his other hut, or if it should happen, which is rarely the case, that he has not a second, into the hut of one of his neighbours; he is then prohibited from entering the sick chamber for a period of eight days; at the end of that time he is conducted by the bevy of old nurses back to the hut, where he finds his wife and infant, washed in warm water, ready to receive him. The visit, however, which he is thus allowed to make is only temporary; he is not permitted to take up his quarters in his home permanently for another month. Altogether the cleanliness that prevails throughout is a great contrast to the filthiness and impurity of the Hottentots and Makalakas.
When any one dies, his burial takes place in the evening near his own enclosure, the grave, if the soil permits it, being dug to the depth of five feet. An adult is wrapped in his mantle of skins and his assegai is buried with him. The interment is conducted in silence that is broken only by the sobs of the women. Should the deceased be the master of a household all his effects are collected on the day after the funeral, and in the presence of the entire population the eldest son comes forward to take formal possession. If there be a failure of legitimate heirs, some near relative or close friend is appointed, who takes the property and the name of the deceased.
As a general rule it may be said that the Manansas are of middle height and slightly built, but it is somewhat difficult for a traveller to distinguish them, as since the dismemberment of their country they have become very much crossed with the fugitive Matongas and Masupias, and with the tribes north of the Zambesi. Their complexion is dark brown; their heads are small, and they have mild-looking eyes and thick lips.
In their more palmy days their ornaments had probably been more elaborate; but I noticed that the lower classes wore bracelets and ankle-rings of gnu or giraffe-hide, and sometimes of iron wire. Their earrings, always simple in form, were mostly made of some better material. For clothing the men usually had nothing more than a bit of calico about the size of one’s hand, and only rarely was a skin of some small animal fastened round their loins; the women wore a short petticoat of tanned leather.
As servants the Manansas are to be preferred to any other of the South African tribes. I found them remarkably skilful in tracking game, their quiet, cautious method of proceeding often proving more effectual than greater dash and daring. As far also as my experience went, I must say that they are civil and beyond the average for honesty and fidelity. By the more powerful tribes they are regarded with great contempt, and laughed at as “the simpletons of the north,” but nothing worse seems to be alleged against them than their habitual courtesy and good-nature—qualities which, since the Matabele rule has spread from the Limpopo to the Zambesi—have become synonymous with hypocrisy and cowardice. Not content with murder and rapine, the savagery of the Matabele Zulus has gone far to stifle every noble impulse, and to cast mistrust over every friendly word.
Whenever the Manansas are being pursued, and find themselves cut off from every prospect of escape, they will stop, turn round, and advance towards their adversaries with the points of their assegais lowered, and as soon as they come near their conquerors they will lay down their weapons, squat upon the ground, and wait until the enemy has done his worst. During the time when Moshesh was the Bamangwato king, they could generally manage to appease him and stay his acts of oppression by gifts of ivory; but Moselikatze carried off their boys and a great number of their women, while the present Matabele despot commissioned his hordes to plunder everything upon which they could lay their hands. It is only when they have been put in charge of some white man whom the missionaries have introduced as a person of importance to be protected as far as the falls, that orders are given to refrain from robbery or violence. Such, for instance, was the case when Major S. was escorted through the district in 1875; the object of the king in such cases being that the traveller should have no tales of cruelty to tell “the great white queen” of England on his return.
I used to talk to a Manansa who was hired every year by one of the traders, and appeared to be above the level of his fellow-tribesmen in intelligence. Happening to say something about the cowardice imputed to his race, I saw him shake his head and smile. “No,” he replied, “we are not timid pallahs, nor ever have been; but we love our village life and our hunting; we catch our game in pits and not by arms; we give up our elephants’ tusks to the remorseless Matabele; we show them where to hunt the elephants; let them hunt as they will; we want not the blood of the beasts, much less do we thirst for the blood of men!”
It had been a Manansa custom, after the death of a king, for the men to meet together and conduct the heir to the royal residence; then they brought a handful of sand and small stones from the Zambesi, and a hammer; these they gave him as tokens of his sovereignty over the land and over water and iron, symbolizing industry and labour. At the same time they reminded him of the obligation that rested upon him that from the day of his accession to the throne he was to eat the flesh neither of the rhinoceros nor the hippopotamus, as these being “mischievous” animals, would be likely to impart their own evil qualities to him.
Even regarded as unassociated with the magnificence of the Victoria Falls, the Albert country, with its wooded rocks and grassy valleys, is undoubtedly one of the most attractive districts in the whole of South Africa. Intersected by the Zambesi, it is bounded by the sandy pool plateau on the south, and extends as far as the mouth of the Chobe on the west. Geologist, botanist, mineralogist, all alike must find it full of interest. Except the springbock, blessbock, and black gnu, all the larger kinds of mammalia are to be seen that Southern and Central Africa can show. Reptiles are numerous, and crocodiles haunt the banks and troubled waters of the remotest mountain streams. Insects of various sorts abound, the lepidoptera especially exhibiting new species. Let proper means be taken to exterminate the tsetse-fly, and to guard against the prevalence of summer fever, and the rich soil and mild climate of the valleys would be found amply to repay a liberal cultivation, and would yield a profitable return of tropical produce.
It was by a slightly different route that we made our way back to Panda ma Tenka. On the Matopa river our servants shot a wild pig; and a little further up the valley some of our people discovered a dead elephant. Their attention was caught by a disgusting smell, which they thought they recognized; and pushing into the bushes they found the carcase of a huge male elephant, dead from gun-shot wounds. The adjacent flesh had been gnawed by lions, and one of the blacks declared that he saw a lion making off as we approached. Westbeech and Francis took possession of the ivory, leaving the carcase to the servants who had smelt it out. They cut off the feet, intending to carry them off as a dainty for their next meal, but the stench of them was so intolerable that we soon made them throw their tit-bit away. When cooked fresh the fleshy substance enclosed beneath the tough skin of the elephant’s foot is accounted as choice a morsel as a bear’s paw, but it is the only fragment of the brute that is in any way suited for human food.
So sore did my feet continue that it was with the greatest difficulty that I dragged myself along. The ladies, as they had done on the way out, walked the greater part of the distance between the falls and the Gashuma Flat; and apart from my own trouble, the whole of us were in perfect health when, on the 24th of September, we reached Panda ma Tenka. There I found two Matongas and a Manansa on the look-out for employment. I engaged them at once, and Westbeech and Francis did their best to assist me in procuring what was requisite for my start again to the Leshumo valley.
ENCOUNTER WITH A TIGER.