Chapter I

Departure from England--St. Helena--Cape Town--Arrival at
Durban--Pietermaritzburg--Start up country--Pretoria; its
Climate and Vegetation--The High Veldt--Dutch Boers--The
Crocodile River--Bamangwato.

On the 5th of March 1873, Frank Oates and his brother, W. E. Oates, sailed from Southampton for Natal on board the Union Company’s steamship “African.” It was the intention of the former, as already explained in the introduction to this volume, to make a journey to the Zambesi, and, if possible, push on thence to some of the unexplored country northwards. His brother contemplated a shorter trip in the same direction, which was to occupy about a year.

The only land sighted, after leaving England and passing the Needles, were the islands of Porto Santo, Madeira, and Teneriffe, and one of the Canaries, besides Cape Verd on the African coast, until on March 25th the vessel reached St. Helena, where she touched and remained a few hours. The fruit in the island at this time (including figs, bananas, and very fine peaches) was in perfection, whilst scarlet geraniums, fuchsias, and petunias--all growing wild--were in full bloom. Head winds, after leaving St. Helena, considerably delayed the vessel’s progress, and Cape Town was only reached on the 3d of April. Here passengers for Natal were transferred from the “African” to a coasting steamer, the “Zulu,” which sailed five days later, and reached Durban on the 19th of the month. The view here across the bay was pretty enough, with ships lying at anchor inside and out, and the lighthouse, a marked feature on the green headland opposite. The brothers left Durban for Pietermaritzburg to prepare for their expedition into the interior soon after landing, the journey, in a six-horse waggon, occupying about twelve hours. The country passed through was for the most part hilly, with very little timber. Here and there some fields of Indian corn (“mealies”) were seen, and also some pretty bits of mountain scenery with abrupt crags, but the land is chiefly pasture, and the general aspect of the country not unlike that of the American prairie. A number of ox-waggons were met and passed upon the road. Near Maritzburg a few trees were seen; the approach is pretty, and the place has an English air about it.

At Maritzburg the brothers remained about three weeks, making preparations for their journey northwards. Their plan was to go by the usual trade route through the Transvaal, and then on to Shoshong, the town of Sekomi, chief of the Bamangwato, from here either taking the direct route towards the Zambesi by the Tati River, or making a circuit in a north-westerly direction by way of Lake Ngami. They accordingly each purchased a waggon and the requisite number of oxen for the journey, and engaged some native attendants. Before leaving Maritzburg, W. E. Oates wrote home as follows:--

_May 14th, 1873._

... “We only stayed a few days in Durban, and came on here, as this is a much better place for getting an outfit for the interior. It is 54 miles from Durban, and not a particularly interesting place. There are hills all round, without much vegetation, and covered with long coarse grass. It is much cooler than it is at Durban, as it is 2000 feet above the level of the sea. It is winter now, and rather cool at night, but still very hot during the day. We arrived here three weeks ago to-morrow, and to-morrow we intend making a start up country. We have each got a waggon and fourteen oxen, besides five ponies between us, and three Kafirs to each waggon. We are going with a man called Gray, who is going up to Lake Ngami to trade. He is quite a young fellow, and has only been out here four years. He knows the country through which we are going, and says it is extremely healthy, and the native tribes all friendly. He has taken five waggons, and left on the 11th instant, but as his waggons are heavily laden, we expect to overtake him in a week.[5]

“Buckley and Gilchrist started with their waggon yesterday, but Frank is not ready, he has so many things to get.[6]

“We have got some blankets, beads, knives, etc., as there is no good taking money, and everything you want you must pay for in that way. The waggons are very comfortable and hold a great deal, including a mattress which lies on the top of the boxes. We are taking coffee, sugar, tea, flour, oatmeal, pickles, some brandy, and several other things for our own use. The Kafirs are supposed to get nothing but meal, which they boil in a large pot and eat with the help of pieces of stick. They occasionally get a little coffee also.... There is very little here in the way of fruit and vegetables. The only fruit now is oranges, though there are peaches and apricots in the season. Altogether, there seems very little pains taken to cultivate the land, as the niggers are too lazy to work, and white labour is expensive.”

On May 15th the waggons of the two brothers started, with W. E. Oates’s servant, Thomas Bell, who had accompanied him from England, and made their first halt about four miles from Maritzburg.

Frank Oates, still at Maritzburg, writes thence the following day, May 16th:--

“Our waggons left yesterday, and we went with them on horseback, Willie remaining to sleep with them, and I returning here for the night. W. has ridden in here this morning, and we shall both go on again to the waggons, which travel very slowly. I think we have been fortunate in getting good oxen for them. We have also a young horse, a very pretty bay, which had only begun to be broken a fortnight when we got him, but which is four years old, and likely to turn out very well. We have also another bay horse, which W. rides. These two are about 14½ hands high. We have three smallish ponies--one a very pretty brown one, and two little rough black ones. Of course we are taking dogs also. We bought four pointers, and have likewise had a rough dog given us, and another promised, and shall try to pick up as many as we can as we go along, for they are invaluable to have about the camp.... We go with Gray as far as Bamangwato, and shall then either go on with him to Lake Ngami, or visit the Victoria Falls direct, or we may go first to the Lake, and make little explorations to the north and north-west, and in the May following go on to the Victoria Falls, and thence return here.... Gray is on excellent terms with the King Lecheletebe, a good native, who would assist us in every way in his power. If we go to the Falls we pass through the country of Lobengula, the son of Mosilikatze, whose name you will see in maps. Lobengula is reported to be a ‘decent chap’ by a friend of ours, a doctor here, from Dewsbury, whose Christian name is Oates. We go by Mooi River, Colenso, Ladysmith, Newcastle, Pretoria, Crocodile River, and Bamangwato.... This country is not to be compared with America. The most of it about here is hilly, the hills in places becoming mountains, and all covered with coarse dry grass, and scarcely a stick of timber. There is nothing to compare with the lovely tropical scenery of Central America, or the magnificent mountains, prairies, lakes, and rivers of the United States. I never expect to admire any country so much as I do the western world. Perhaps one reason that the North American Indians were for savages a superior race was their fine scenery.”

Again, from the Umgeni River, a few miles upon the journey, he writes, May 17th:--

“We are now fairly on our way. Last night was my first night in the waggon, and W.’s second. We are 13 miles on our way. Our waggons are most comfortable. We have a wooden framework in each waggon, surmounted by a substantial mattress and lots of blankets. We have tin wash-hand basins, cups, and plates, and fare luxuriously. Bell is now cooking some chops. I am reminded of some very pleasant days in the wilds of America.”

Ladysmith was reached on the 24th of May and Newcastle on the 31st, a halt of two or three days being made at each place. On the 23d of June the party arrived at Pretoria, and Frank Oates writes from that place, June 27th:--

“We have now been ‘trekking’ (_i.e._ travelling in waggons) for six weeks from yesterday. We have, however, gone slowly, and have been delayed once or twice. We stayed a few days at Ladysmith and Newcastle, two towns, as they are called here (we should call them small villages); we then got into the Transvaal Republic, and had a very bad tract of country to cross, the high veldt. This country is very high, about 5000 feet above the sea, and as it was dead of winter when we crossed it the cold at night was rather severe. One of the coldest nights I think we had, was that of the 8th of June, when the thermometer showed 8 degrees of frost Fahrenheit. This may not seem very much, but the days being hot you feel the cold a good deal, and are glad of a good lot of blankets. In this respect I had taken care that we should be all right. The morning after the night I speak of my hand was numb with the cold, and I dropped and smashed my only thermometer.[7] My aneroid barometer, which tells me the height above the sea really very accurately as far as I can judge, is still all right, but my sextant suffered so much on board the ‘Zulu’ that I have some difficulty, being a novice, in making use of it.

“In crossing the high veldt the cattle suffer not only from the cold nights but the poverty of the grass, which will get worse and worse till the rainy season, which will be about September.[8] The disease called ‘red water,’ which is so bad on the coast, and which has caused so many oxen to die and the price to rise so much, does not seem to extend beyond Natal. Out of twenty-eight oxen we lost only three, which is considered a very small percentage. A few of our oxen got into low condition, and we have got seven new ones coming along the road. We shall try to leave the poor ones at some farm, or exchange them for fat ones.

“We arrived here (at Pretoria) on the morning of the 23d of June. It is very different from what it was in crossing the Drakensberg. There is scarcely ever ice here, and now (the coldest season) the temperature is perfection--neither hot during the day nor cold at night. There are orange-trees with fruit on them in the gardens, and high hedges of monthly roses in flower; there are also a few large trees (blue gums), something like poplars in mode of growth, but with dark foliage. These are planted here, for the country does not seem to bear much timber naturally. There is plenty of scrub on the slopes of the high land as you descend, and I believe there is a large extent of bush country round here, and when we get into the regular bush, plenty of timber, I imagine, such as it is; but this part of Africa is no timber country. On the high veldt there is nothing but parched grass, in many places burnt for a whole day’s trek, as fires are of everyday occurrence. On one occasion we had £5 to pay a man in front of whose house our men had set fire to the veldt whilst lighting our camp fire. The farms are few and far between in that desolate region; they grow Indian corn and a few peaches, and have a few cattle and sheep. The Boers are rather good sort of people, and though trying to get every penny they can in a bargain, honest, I should say, on the whole, and hospitable. I cannot speak any Dutch yet, so communication is limited, having to be carried on through an interpreter.

“Here in Pretoria are a great many English. The English keep stores; the Dutch Boers stick to farming. The latter come in with their waggons of grain, wood, and other produce, which is sold by auction at 8 A.M. in the market-place. ‘Mealies’ (unground Indian corn) fetch fifteen shillings a muid, which is about 200 lbs. This the Englishmen buy, get ground for two-and-sixpence a muid, and ask twenty-two and sixpence, or even twenty-five shillings for, and make a good thing of the numbers of people passing through here to the Marabastadt and Leydenburg gold-fields. The latter fields were newly discovered and much talked about when we were at Durban and Pietermaritzburg, but do not seem as good as the Marabastadt. No one thinks much of the Tati or Baines’s gold-fields in Mosilikatze’s country.

“I fear the English who are here are a bad lot, with few exceptions. One man who cheated me I asked if he had a conscience. He replied that no one here had them.

“Though here and there you see a garden with a few trees in it, and, as I mentioned, orange-trees and rose-bushes, do not imagine a scene of the least beauty. The town itself, the seat of the government, does not contain a single good building. It is like some little frontier town in America. There is not even a book-shop in it. The country immediately around is flat and devoid of trees, though in the distance are some ranges of hills. The day we reached Pretoria, the mail, a fortnightly one, arrived from Pietermaritzburg with a paper containing English news, very bare items though, up to May 15th. It seems dreadful that we were nearly six weeks in coming here, and the mail came in six days. The mail brings passengers also, but they are allowed hardly any baggage. It goes out again to-day to Pietermaritzburg, so I am writing this letter by the light of my lantern as I recline in my waggon. I think it is now about 6 A.M., but the sun does not rise till after 7.

“Gray, the trader, left us at Newcastle, and had left here before we arrived for Bamangwato, _en route_ for Lake Ngami, where our programme was to accompany him.[9] We are not certain whether we shall follow him or alter our plans. I will write again, letting you know what we have decided. If I leave a second letter here, it will go to Pietermaritzburg a fortnight hence, so you will get it in England soon after you get this.”

Four days later W. E. Oates writes, also from Pretoria, “We have now been here a week, and are going to start off again to-day for Bamangwato. Buckley and his friend Gilchrist came up on Saturday, and we have decided to keep together. Gray, the trader we talked about, left here for Bamangwato about a fortnight since.... I fear we are now too late to get to the Victoria Falls, as the country is not healthy after September. We have been rather more than six weeks in getting from Maritzburg here, and a more wretched country can hardly be conceived--not a tree to be seen, and half the country burnt black, as, if the grass is set on fire, it burns for weeks. The days are intensely hot (not a drop of rain since we left Maritzburg); the nights very cold, with sharp frosts. Countless herds of antelopes are to be seen every day; wildebeest (gnu), blesbok, springbok, and many others called by Dutch names. There are also hyænas, jackals, crows, and vultures.

“The Dutch Boers have farms at intervals. They seem miserably poor; no milk, eggs, meat. I don’t know how they live. It is much warmer here, and after to-morrow we get into what is called the bush veldt, where there are lots of trees, and then it begins to get hot. The country we have passed over is from 4000 to 6000 feet above the level of the sea, and on the high veldt there is scarcely any water; the road in many places very bad and strewn with the bones and skeletons of oxen, wildebeest, and other animals, which have been picked clean by the vultures. How people can pass their lives in such dreary solitudes it is difficult to conceive.... We, however, are very comfortable and well. We have large supplies with us, more than necessary, I think; but we can sell at Bamangwato what we do not want for nearly double what we gave for it at Maritzburg. This is the last place where there is a regular mail, though traders go from Bamangwato, and will take letters. The waggons make snug dwelling-houses. The mattress goes at the top of the things, and you have the canvas all round. You get in at the front, and let a canvas curtain down. There are canvas pockets at the sides, where you put what you want handy.

“We have been exceedingly lucky with our oxen, as many people have lost nearly all they had from the epidemic which is raging in Natal. One man lost his whole span of eighteen. We have only lost three; partly, I think, because we haven’t hurried them. They have got poor, owing to the wretched grass on the high flats. They say, however, they fatten immediately they get into the bush veldt.

“Pretoria is a miserable little place, though the capital of the Transvaal. The store-keepers are English, or Africanders (as the native whites are called).... The niggers are idle and insolent. It is said the only way to treat them is to thrash them well, and though we have never resorted to this, I have often felt inclined to do so. We have five with us--three Hottentots and two Kafirs. The Kafirs who are total savages are much better to get on with.... It seems odd that I have such a little to tell you about after so long an absence, but one day here is almost exactly like another, and the country hitherto the same day by day.”

The travellers left Pretoria for Bamangwato on the 30th of June, and after three days’ trekking to the north-west, crossed the Crocodile River, keeping for some time afterwards at no great distance from its banks. “On leaving the waggon, to shoot,” writes Frank Oates on the 5th of July, “I rode up to the river, which is far the most beautiful thing I have yet seen in South Africa. Trees of various kinds--some resembling willows and oaks, the former in leaf, the latter bare--fringed the river’s banks, which are steep. Long grass and bush grew in the country round, and where we outspanned at breakfast there was some very fine grass, tall and drooping, with a tassel. Here too,” he concludes, “we got amongst plenty of birds, and to-day is the first that I have felt the country cease to be disappointing.”

The following day the road again continued in close proximity to the river. The country was level and covered with trees like those in a fine park, none of them, however, very large. The Hex and Eland’s Rivers, tributaries to the Crocodile, were crossed near together the day after, and on the 12th a halt of twenty-four hours was made at Holfontein, a good watering-place upon the road, where many birds were met with, including parrots, doves, and hoopoes. Two days later the Crocodile, which had now for some time been lost sight of, again came in view--a grand stream--and a fine blue distant mountain range stretched to the right and right rear. A halt of two or three days was made by the river’s bank, to give the oxen time to rest. Here buffalo, blue wildebeest, springbok, and other game was found, including wild pigs and pallah; and a little further north eland was met with, and many of the lesser antelopes. About this time the dews, which had hitherto been heavy, ceased altogether; possibly, in part, owing to the change of locality. The road now for some time again continued near the left bank of the Crocodile, until the 24th, when, soon after crossing the Notuani, another of its tributaries, the course of the river was finally abandoned, and on the 27th the blue tops of the Bamangwato “kopjes” (low hills) came in sight. The place itself was reached two days later.

Here a short halt was again made for a few days, to engage fresh Kafirs and prepare for the continuation of the journey northwards. Owing to the want of water in the country between here and Lake Ngami, the part of the proposed expedition which included a visit to the lake had to be abandoned, Frank Oates resolving to proceed, if possible, direct to the Zambesi, the rest of the party accompanying him north as far as the Tati river in search of sport, to return thence by the same route as they had come. Mr. Gray, the trader, had arrived at Bamangwato a few days earlier, and decided to wait there till the rains should come before proceeding on his journey to the lake. The following extracts from letters, sent home about this time by Frank Oates and his brother from Bamangwato, give some further details of the journey up to this point, and of the future plans and arrangements of the party. W. E. Oates writes as follows on July 30th:--

“We got here yesterday afternoon all right, though for the last four days there has been scarcely any water on the road. When we left the Crocodile River (on the 25th) we filled our water-casks, and the next night got to some brackish water, which the oxen drank. We trekked all the following day and half through the night, when we reached some water-pits made by the Kafirs, from which the water had to be ladled out in buckets for the oxen. We had then about 25 miles to go without water to get here, which took us two days, all through heavy sand, through which the oxen go about two miles an hour. This is a wretched place; an immense number of Kafir huts, and a few stores belonging to white men. The name of the place is Shoshong, and the king, Sekomi, lives here. He is a hideous old nigger, and this morning came down to our waggons, to beg coffee and sugar. He had about a dozen dirty old wretches with him, who carried jackals’ tails, and attend him whenever he goes in state. He jumped up on Frank’s waggon, and refused to depart until he had had some coffee given him, which Frank gave him to get rid of him. I offered him a bright green scarf I had, but after examining it carefully he returned it to me....

“This is a most uninteresting country--all thorns and sand. The whole way from Pretoria here it is thick bush, composed mostly of stunted thorn trees, whose thorns are white and about four inches long. We stayed four days on the Crocodile River, as our oxen wanted rest. The lions were roaring round the waggons at night, in hopes of getting at the oxen. We have the latter carefully tied up to the waggons at night, and two or three immense fires lighted, to keep them off.

“It is impossible, we find, to get to Lake Ngami now, as there are a hundred miles to go through heavy sand without water to get there. Frank still thinks of going to the Victoria Falls, through Mosilikatze’s country, by way of the Tati River, and I intend to go as far as the Tati.... Every morning here lots of women go out to collect locusts, which swarm a short distance off, and are the only food the natives get now, as their crop of corn has failed, and they are half starving. They have a few little goats, but there is hardly any grass, and only one very small stream of water about two miles off.”

Frank Oates also writes the same day as follows:--

“You have, I hope, got our letters written from Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal. Since then we have not come more than 250 miles, if as much, and have been about a month in doing it. Buckley and Gilchrist have accompanied us, making, with our waggons, three waggons in all, and I think we shall probably go on together for some time at any rate. The present idea is for us all to go together to the Tati, a river marked in the recent maps, where gold is being found. From here I may go on to Mosilikatze’s Town, the residence of the King of the Matabele, in the north-east, and thence be able to get on to the Zambesi and Victoria Falls, though I hardly hope it now, on account of the lateness of the season.

“The country we have passed through so far may be divided into two distinct regions--the high veldt and the bush veldt. The former I described in my last letter. At Pretoria we entered the second, and are still in it. The former is high land, covered with grass, and with scarcely a bush on it. The country since then has been covered with bush, and contains many fine rivers. The Crocodile (or Limpopo) is a really beautiful river, its banks covered with fine trees. The ‘bush,’ as it is called, consists for the most part of smallish trees, most of which are thorny, with park-like glades here and there. In other places there is a great deal of thorny bush, through which you can hardly force your way. The great want here is water, the smaller streams being now dry, and in travelling it is often necessary to go many miles before reaching water. Still, the road is so well known that one can calculate almost to a certainty where and when to get water, and make a push when necessary, taking one’s time both before and after it. Water for our own use can be carried easily in our casks, and it is for the animals we have to travel quickly on such occasions. Meat is rather scarce, but we generally manage to get enough, and, with bread and porridge, coffee and sugar, make out very well. We shall be glad to get away from here, as it is difficult to get anything in the shape of food except what we have with us, and what Gray gives us. There has been a scarcity of corn this year, and the people are very hard pressed, living principally on locusts, which are brought in every day in immense sacks carried on people’s heads. We buy water of the women, which has to be brought some distance.

“This is a large town of Kafir huts. The people are of the Basuto branch. The king, Sekomi, visited me this morning, and seating himself on the front-box of my waggon, commenced a conversation, which one of our drivers interpreted, the end of which was that he wanted some coffee and sugar. I gave him five pounds of gunpowder, worth fifteen shillings. He accepted it, and then returned it, asking for coffee instead. I then gave him two or three pounds of coffee, worth perhaps five shillings, which afforded him great satisfaction, and after thanking me he walked off in a stately manner, followed by his train, his right-hand man carrying the coffee in his robe of skin. During the interview the latter produced a huge sort of bodkin from a sheath, and extracted a thorn from Sekomi’s finger with the utmost gravity. There are a good many white men living here to trade, and also a missionary, on whom I intend to call.

“I cannot more fully describe the country at present, or our journey. It has not the charm for me that the western world has, but I think further north there must be far more attractive scenery than anything we have yet encountered. The days are hot, though there is often a refreshing breeze. The thermometer is about 82° in the shade during the hottest part of the day, and one hot day in the sun it rose to 100°. The nights are cold, and we have yet had no insect pests, but our animals are infested by ticks.... It is very annoying never to be able to get letters from home. Mr. Hathorn, of the Standard Bank at Pietermaritzburg, has promised to forward all letters sent to his care for us, and to assist us in every way he can. We found him most kind and obliging in every way in Pietermaritzburg.”

On August 4th, the writer, still at Bamangwato, adds:--“Willie, Buckley, and Gilchrist have gone on. They started yesterday, and I intend to start to-morrow, and shall overtake them. I believe the prospects of the journey are very satisfactory. I have had a long talk to-day with Mr. Mackenzie, one of the missionaries here. He is a very nice fellow, and knows all the country well, and has written out for me a long list of the various watering-places on the road to the Tati and on to Mosilikatze’s. He is the author of a book called _Ten Years North of the Orange River_, and is now instructing some natives for missionary work--some six or eight, I think, living in a sort of college. The other missionary is a Mr. Hepburn, who gave a little service in his house yesterday. I am certain they will both do anything they can to help us.”

Three years later, one of these missionaries, the Rev. John Mackenzie, left Shoshong for Kuruman, where suitable buildings had been erected by the London Missionary Society for the embryo theological institution he was at the time of the events now narrated conducting at the former place. His loss must have been felt by many, both travellers and others, to whom he was ever ready to lend a helping hand. On the present occasion, Frank Oates felt strongly sensible of what he owed him for his friendly aid and counsel, and some time later, after the traveller’s decease in 1875, it was again this gentleman’s good services and sympathetic words that first softened the sorrow of his friends at home when they received the unexpected intelligence of his death in the interior.

Drawn from his own observations

_London: C. Kegan Paul & Co._]