Chapter IV

Arrival at Gubuleweyo--Interview with the King--Start
for the Zambesi--Hope Fountain--Inyati--Difficulty of
obtaining bearers--The Zambesi abandoned--Hunting expedition
on the Umvungu and Gwailo Rivers--Experiences of a
half-caste--Birds’ nests--The indunas’ tree--Hunting--A lunar
eclipse--Return to Gubuleweyo--Wild fruit.

The account of Frank Oates’s present stay at Gubuleweyo, and his first impressions of the town and its inhabitants, taken from his Journal, is somewhat scanty. This was one of those more striking episodes in the journey, which needed no written record to impress their details upon his mind, and the narrative of which in this, as in other similar instances, is consequently the most wanting, where the reader would naturally expect and desire to find it the fullest. The account, such as it is, of his arrival at the town, and the first two days spent there, is taken as follows from his Journal:--

“_September 15th._--Another trek of about an hour and a half brought us, about 9 A.M., to Gubuleweyo. There is not much timber as the kraal is approached. The scene is picturesque but desolate, the road winding and steep. Some of the peculiar-looking trees[19] are here of great size. Strings of women were carrying vessels of water on their heads as we arrived. It was bitterly cold, and there was both wind and rain. Fairbairn and a number of others were standing about the kraal. Petersen was there, and introduced me. They asked me in, and I drew up my waggon to Fairbairn’s ‘scherm,’[20] and had breakfast with them. Fairbairn and Petersen took me to the king, whom I called on out of compliment, telling him that I had not yet unpacked my waggon--a hint that I should have a present for him. He was very gracious, and placed meat and plates before me, and inquired what sport I had had coming up, noticing the dilapidated state of my dress. I was going out of the hut legs first, when he pulled me back and made me go head first. He sent me to look at his new house, of which he is very proud. It is being built of brick by an Englishman.

“In the afternoon Fairbairn and I rode over to see Mr. Thomson, the missionary. He will act as interpreter if I wish, but does not think it necessary. As we returned at sundown, we met a party of natives. They were Umtegan’s troop, returning from an ‘impey,’ or raid, with cattle taken from the Mashonas, a tribe not altogether subject to the king, though a part of them are. Umtegan was in European clothes, and on horseback. They stopped to go through the exercise of certain rites before entering the town. They had only a few hundred bullocks with them. Lately some thousands were brought in by an impey of a similar kind. At supper I had a young lion to pet; it belongs to the king, and roams about amongst the traders. There is a waggon at Fairbairn’s made at Beverley, in Yorkshire, which was brought out here in separate pieces, and fitted together afterwards. Fairbairn says it is a capital one. The poor man who brought it from England died before landing.

“_September 16th._--Took the king my present--a central fire shot gun with ammunition. As I approached, with men carrying it, he took me by the hand and led me to a waggon, and sat on the ‘dissel-boom.’[21] We all sat on the ground. He was much pleased with the gun, and thanked me. The men with me would ask for beer, and he sent us to his sister for it. She was lying on a rug at her hut door, and I was introduced.”

It was now ascertained from those here who knew most about the matter, that it was not even yet considered too late to reach the Zambesi that season, by taking a more direct route from this place, to be accomplished for the most part on foot, instead of proceeding along the usual trade route by way of Tati, which is available for waggons, but a good deal further round from the King’s Town. On hearing this, Frank Oates at once determined to try and reach the river by the shorter road that season, and the remainder of the time he spent on this occasion at Gubuleweyo was chiefly occupied in obtaining information for the expedition, and making the necessary arrangements for it. The early part of the journey could be accomplished with the waggon and oxen; after that it would be necessary to go on foot.

On the evening of the 24th of September he accordingly started with his waggon, remaining the night with Mr. Thomson, the missionary, at Hope Fountain, a short distance from the kraal. The night was very close,--the first which had been so,--and on the following evening, after they had trekked some miles from Mr. Thomson’s in the direction of Inyati to the north-east, there was heavy rain and wind, accompanied by thunder and lightning. This rain, the first there had yet been, was said to be earlier than usual in its commencement by about two months. The other conditions, however, of the projected journey to the Zambesi, all of them, still appeared favourable. It was the traveller’s long-cherished desire at least to reach the Zambesi, and see the Falls, if he found it inexpedient on the present occasion to cross the river and penetrate into the less known territory to the northward. But there were difficulties, not only of climate, but from the obstructiveness of native character, to be encountered, and endless was the opposition which he met with from the latter cause. Four distinct attempts did he make at various times from this date to reach the river, and in each of the first three was he destined to disappointment. His present effort, made in September, was the first of these; his fourth and last attempt was made at the end of the succeeding year, nor was it till the last day of 1874 that he actually beheld the white spray of the great cataract breaking through the trees upon the river’s bank. That effort truly was rewarded with success, yet a success how dearly purchased--with his life!

Before leaving Hope Fountain, to resume the journey, he wrote home the following letter to his mother:--

“MR. THOMSON’S, NEAR GUBULEWEYO,
“_September 25th, 1873_.

“You will, no doubt, have more recent news from Willie than from me. I left him with Buckley and Gilchrist at the Tati, meditating a short journey in the neighbourhood before leaving, and came on myself to the King’s Town, Gubuleweyo, the site, or somewhere near the site, of the place marked in the maps as Mosilikatze’s Town. Mosilikatze was the father of the present king, and conquered this country. The name of the nation is the Matabele, which is always shown in the maps. The former inhabitants of the country were divided into various nations, but it is all called the Matabele country now from the name of its powerful owners. The country reaches to the Zambesi, and produces a great deal of ivory and ostrich feathers. There are a good many white men at Gubuleweyo, trading. Mr. Fairbairn, a young Scotchman, is my agent there.

“I cannot give you a detailed account of my stay of nine days at the King’s Town. It is really to a stranger a most curious place. The king, Lobengula, lives in royal state. He is absolute monarch, and feared and obeyed far and wide. The people inhabiting the country we have passed through in coming here are altogether of an inferior race. At Bamangwato there is a king, but he is thought nothing of. I called on ‘Bengula, accompanied by Fairbairn, the day I arrived here, and found him the picture of a savage king, just as one might have imagined, and coming quite up to the standard. The day I first saw him he was nearly naked, and lying on a skin inside his hut, to enter which you have to crawl in on your hands and knees through a little aperture in the front; in fact it is like a beehive entrance. He took me by the hand, and placed meat before me, and asked a few questions about my journey. I told him I should come again next day. Of course I had to make him a present, and I knew he would expect it next day, after which I should ask his leave and assistance to go through his country to the Victoria Falls if possible. I gave him a gun and ammunition, which pleased him very much, and he has done everything he could for me. It appeared that I was still in time to reach the Falls by going on foot, after leaving my waggon at the place marked on the map as Inyati. The king said it was possible to get to the Falls in ten days, and I suppose at my rate of travelling it ought to be; done in a fortnight or three weeks at most, and the king says I have still two months of favourable weather, but so anxious is he that no white man should come to grief in his country, that he has been urging on me all possible haste from the moment the subject was first mentioned. He has given me two excellent men as guides; these two, having the king’s authority, will carry all before them.

“I left Gubuleweyo last night, and came on as far as here, the house of Mr. Thomson the missionary, for my first trek. Mr. Thomson has kindly interested himself in me, and done all he could to assist me. He has a nice wife and children, and this morning I have had the luxury of a civilized breakfast, including tablecloth, bread and butter and eggs, and milk to one’s coffee--things that I don’t often see now. I am now availing myself of one of his rooms to write to you in.

“One of the men appointed by the king to guide me--himself a man of high character and good family, as Mr. Thomson tells me--left Gubuleweyo with me, and this morning hurried on to get bearers for me at the kraals ahead. I shall want from twenty to thirty, and as it will take some time to collect them, and my oxen want rest, I shall follow slowly, making a three or four days’ journey of what is usually done in two days. At Inyati, where I am to leave my waggon, are two white men trading. These are the last outposts of civilization, but up to that point there is regular communication all the way--that is to say, all the way my waggon takes me. If I find that I am delayed and cannot reach the Falls as quickly as I had hoped, I shall very likely turn back without accomplishing my object, as I am desirous not to run any foolish risks, and have been at great pains in collecting all possible information.

“The men who carry my things will be most of them of the conquered population, and the two guides appointed by the king (one of whom, as I have mentioned, left me this morning to go on in advance, the other being now at Inyati) are able to do what they like. No one dare oppose the king, and the Matabele men he gives me renders any fear of desertion or disobedience superfluous. Besides, these two men know that they must carry out the king’s orders to the letter. I have also got an interpreter, a man who speaks English and Kafir perfectly, my own servant Hendrik, and my driver and his boy.[22] I shall take my tent if possible, plenty of ground sheets and bedding, meal, tins of biscuits, and coffee. For meat we have to rely on the guns carried by the party, but there seems not the slightest fear of scarcity, in fact the bearers are expected to live entirely on meat, having guns and ammunition allowed them for the purpose. No beast of burden or dog can accompany us, as it is the tsetse-fly country.

“Had it been earlier in the season I should have gone from the Tati, by which route you can take your waggon to within a few miles of the Falls, but as I should have had to see the king first, to get his permission, by the time I could have returned to the Tati it would have been too late. I have not a map before me now, but suppose it may be 200 miles or thereabouts from Inyati, my starting-point, to the Victoria Falls. I shall hurry on to the Zambesi, so as to leave the river as soon as possible. I can then take my time in returning, as when I leave the river the worst is over, and I soon get into a healthy country again, but, as of course every one knows, the Zambesi at certain seasons of the year is unhealthy. All this I have carefully studied, and have been guided by what I consider reliable evidence. I shall be further guided by circumstances that may occur, and shall exercise my judgment as to how far I carry out my original project.”

Leaving Hope Fountain after writing the above, on the 25th of September, the traveller went a short distance that night, and continued his journey early on the following morning. Here the Journal for the next two days resumes the story:--

“_September 26th._--Cool, cloudy morning; the wind in our faces. Started about 7.30 A.M., and went six miles. The country we passed through was bush veldt; trees small, and in most places thinly scattered; grass very dry. One of the boys was running wildly about to keep himself warm--a hint for me to give him a shirt. The wind was high, and where we outspanned the boys made a fire in the hollow bed of a spruit. Starting again at 1 P.M., the country assumed rather a fresh aspect, with a green verdure like that of a young corn-field, where the grass had been burnt. The trees here were not close, and some were a good size, with young foliage of a vivid green. Passing next between two kopjes, we descended into a fine, bushy, undulating tract, misty-looking in the distance under a lowering sky. Outspanned at 3.40 P.M. at the Cokhé River, and had tea. Here they told me there was a kraal close by, presided over by ‘Bengula’s brother, Bolinlila; and as some of the oxen were tired, I sent over to see if I could leave them here. The reply being favourable, and a present requested, I sent the oxen--five in number--with a small strip of coloured calico.

“The boy sent me by the king, who was running about so vigorously this morning, now showed me a small scratch on his heel, and asked to be doctored. I put on some glycerine, but believe it was a ruse, as he afterwards got on the sacks at the back of the waggon, and rode instead of walking. The other man who was sent me by the king is the thinnest mortal I think I ever saw, his legs literally like those of spiders. It was dreadfully cold, and I gave all the poor wretches some hot tea. Towards evening we advanced again four miles further. It was like a cold trek on the high veldt--front sail drawn down, candle lighted, myself in the blankets. Outspanned at 7.40 P.M. Windy and rainy night.

“_September 27th._--Dark windy morning; Scotch mist. Hendrik woke me soon after six, to say they were inspanned. We made two treks--about twelve miles in all--and stopped about 3 P.M. at the Bembesi River, where some boys herding cattle brought us sour milk curdled for sale, which was very good. During the morning we passed some very striking-looking trees, leafless, but covered with large clusters of bright scarlet flowers on straight, brittle, thorny stalks. At a distance they looked like naked trees covered with scarlet berries, such as one sees in winter at home. Before night we went on four miles further, and stopped one trek they say from our destination.”

At ten o’clock the following morning the Inquinquesi, a larger river than the Bembesi, with plenty of water in it and a sandy bed, was crossed, and a halt made upon its banks. Here was Inchlangin, the kraal where the traders were, Inyati itself being a short way off. Thither a messenger was at once despatched to ascertain what success the king’s man, who had gone on in advance, had had in obtaining bearers. Soon afterwards this man presented himself at the waggon, saying that the boys required for the journey would be forthcoming the following morning. When the day arrived, however, they were not brought in sufficient numbers to be of any service, and the start had to be postponed a day or two longer, pending the results of further efforts. The following is the day’s entry in the Journal:--

“_September 29th._--Fine warm day; heavy rain in the evening. The king’s man came again; this time accompanied by the induna of the kraal (I suppose only the acting induna, as the real one is the man I met at the King’s). He brought with him two other chief men, given me as well as himself by the king, and to all three I gave some limbo. The induna said he would rather have a shirt, and I told him I would give it him when he had got me the boys. He only brought three to-day. Two volunteers, whom I told to wait, also presented themselves from another distant kraal.

“After this, as no more could be done, I went out shooting with Mandy (one of the traders here) in the afternoon, and got some birds. We had a pleasant walk, and saw the wild cotton growing. We also saw a beautiful tree with delicate green leaves and wreaths of violet-coloured laburnum-like blossoms; also a very sweetly-scented flower, white and star-shaped, growing in small clusters upon a tree of some size. Mandy says there are crocodiles here, but the king does not allow them to be killed, as it is thought that any one possessing the body can work spells. It is death to a native to kill one. A white man on one occasion shot one here eighteen feet long, which had been destroying calves and goats, and the king sent to have it buried, and had men to watch the place.

“It seems that lately, during a ceremony previous to the king’s marriage (circumcision), it was thought inauspicious for any guns to be fired in the neighbourhood. They say a Kafir who fired one somewhere in the veldt at the time was impaled for it.”

The greater part of the following day (September 30th) was spent in packing and arranging things for the walk to the Falls, and it was not till the day after this that the induna reappeared, now stating that he could not get bearers. The natives, it is likely enough, were afraid of fever on the Zambesi at this season, and did not want to go, but it afterwards appeared that the induna of the kraal and the headman sent by the king had made no proper efforts to obtain the staff required for the journey. The upshot of the matter was that the Zambesi had to be abandoned, and the traveller obtained instead permission from the king to go for a few weeks’ hunting into the country to the north-east, where good sport was likely to be had. Before starting on this expedition he wrote home from Inyati, on October 5th, as follows:--

“You will not be much surprised to hear that I have had to give up the Zambesi. I got here just in time to do it, if the carriers had been forthcoming, but the people in authority threw so many difficulties in my way, that I had to send back to the king, and so much valuable time has been lost that I have given up the expedition. I am, however, going a little way into the country with my waggon, and shall probably be a month or two before I am back again here.

“There are three Englishmen living here, trading. Two of them, in whose house I am now writing, are very obliging to me. This is a mission station, but there is no missionary here now. It is the last post of white men in this part of the world. When you reach the Zambesi you come to the outposts of the Portuguese traders from the east coast, but between these points are no Europeans settled. The rain is beginning, though the regular rains have not set in yet. It is after the first heavy rains that fever begins to annoy people on the Zambesi, but I believe, generally, even then only slightly, but after the next downfall--when there is much rain and the rain is beginning to dry up, about January, February, and March--the really bad season sets in. However, I am now avoiding even the former risk, and where I am going I shall be so near here all the time that I can return almost when I choose. I don’t exactly know where I am going, but it will be somewhere in a north or north-easterly direction from here.

“I hear that Cruickshank, my agent at Bamangwato, is now at the King’s Town, but I am three days’ journey from there, and he will shortly be returning to Bamangwato. Fairbairn, his agent at the King’s Town, will, however, in all probability, be there when I return, and here I am in good hands too, so that I have friends all along the road, and letters always come and go as surely, if more slowly, than where there is a regular post, for waggons are constantly coming and going, and everybody helps everybody else in this part of the world. I have been pressed into the service as postman myself before now. Only delays must be expected, and are often very vexatious.”

On the 7th of October Frank Oates started on his projected expedition in the north-east, on which he was absent from Inyati in all about seven weeks. The district traversed during his absence was that watered by the Gwailo and Umvungu Rivers, the furthest point reached being the Umgwanya. The circumstances of the first few days of these wanderings may be recounted in his own words as follows, taken from his Journal:--

“_October 7th._--Sultry, oppressive day; very cloudy. Packed waggon, and left Inyati about 4 P.M. We passed through bush country, with fine open level spaces, which would be excellent riding ground; some fine old baobab trees in the distance exactly like oaks, with gnarled crooked arms. These trees have dark green foliage, and here and there stand almost isolated. Close; a very disagreeable smell frequent, Hendrik says of black ants. Now and then sweet perfumes from flowering shrubs.... As it got dark we outspanned about 7 P.M., having water for our own use in our casks. A large group of men round the fire. We had come perhaps nine miles.

“_October 8th._--Mild, cloudy, breezy morning. Crossed the dry beds of two small rivers (branches of the Lelongwe), with a kraal placed between them; the ground level so far. Men bring ostrich eggs; women bring Indian and Kafir corn and beans. Bought the upper mandible of an eagle from the neck of a man, hanging by a thin leather strap. Hendrik says these eagles kill goats. Also bought ostrich feathers and eggs, milk and corn. We had outspanned. Presently resuming the journey, we crossed the third arm of the Lelongwe, and then the reedy bed of a spruit, where we dug in the sand, and found plenty of nice mineral-tasted water, which the men and dogs drank. Reached the site of an old kraal, Intembin, about noon. Hendrik calls these people ‘Maholies.’ They are far easier to deal with than the Matabele, take what you give them and are satisfied. They asked for red, but took blue, beads, and were delighted with red with white stripe. Stopped to rest at 1.15, and made another trek before night, finally stopping about 6 P.M. near a rather large river, with heavy sand in its bed.

“_October 9th._--Overcast, delicious day. Started at 7 A.M., and about 9 crossed the Tchangani--the largest river we have yet seen since leaving Inyati--and outspanned, continuing the journey in the afternoon for about three hours. This last trek was a very pleasant one, over falling ground. As we outspanned (about 4 P.M.), John told me that a ‘honey’s (bees’) nest’ had been found by Hendrik. The boys went off, and it was found in the hollow trunk of a large tree, into which the bees went by a hole in the side of the tree. They put fire into the hole, having kindled a small one close to the tree, and then with an axe cut open the trunk. The bees seemed on the whole pretty quiet, and I don’t think their sting can be bad, as the men seemed tolerably indifferent. The cells, when taken out, proved full of grubs.... One of the boys was carrying two squirrels killed by a dog; another had found roots. I tried the latter, and found them slightly bitter and at the same time sweet. They are chewed and the juice swallowed. The only leaf visible is contained in a small green shoot, apparently just coming out of the ground, but the roots are very large and long. Another boy brought a pretty duiker, which he had killed with an assegai.

“_October 10th._--We seem on a sort of plateau, with lower ground in front. Beyond is high land, blue in the distance. Starting a little before 7 A.M., we reached the Umvungu about 9, a big reedy river with water in its bed. When we arrived one of the boys was calling out, and we found he had shot a sable antelope. Many flowers are now springing up in the veldt, and the tints of the trees are very lovely, reminding one of an English spring, or, in some respects, of autumn; different shades of green and yellow. In the course of the afternoon we entered very thick bush, the thickest I have yet met with in South Africa, and more like English wood in general appearance than what we have hitherto seen, the trees budding with delicate tints of fresh green, brown, and yellow. Soon after entering the bush fresh elephant spoor was announced--the first I have yet heard of--and a few minutes later we came on a broken tree lying across the road, and more fresh elephant spoor. Emerged from the thick bush about 5.20 P.M., and soon afterwards outspanned at a spruit.”

The following day (October 11) the party reached the Gwailo River, which was crossed without difficulty. A half-caste Cape man, who was hunting here, named Nelson, rode up and gave a very bad report. He had shot fourteen elephants in two months, and a few ostriches. He said the Mashonas, hunting the elephants with their assegais, and shouting, had driven them away. His plan now was to go to Damaraland, _viâ_ Lake Ngami, where he had been before and found elephants abundant.

Resuming his journey in the afternoon, Frank Oates now struck across the veldt to the south-east, and crossed the Umgwanya River the following morning, proceeding afterwards a few miles up its banks. At this point he had intended to encamp for a few days; but hearing from two natives who came to the waggon that there were still elephants in the thick bush which had been passed through the day before, he felt tempted to return there; and on the 13th, recrossing the Umgwanya and Gwailo Rivers, in a more direct line than he had taken coming, went back in the direction of the Umvungu. “A boa-constrictor,” he here writes, “six feet six inches long, and as thick as my wrist, lay its length upon the ground, and was skilfully transfixed by one of my boys’ assegais, and pinned to the ground. The lads were evidently afraid of his bite, but the men say that it is harmless.... The Mashonas use these snakes as an article of food.”

Next day the spruit which they had outspanned at on the 10th, near the thick elephant bush they were making for, was reached, and here, a short way off the waggon-track, under some remarkably picturesque kopjes, the landscape all budding with the green of spring, a camp was formed, where the party remained about a fortnight hunting. The boys made themselves some snug huts of branches and dry grass to sleep in. Here the Journal again takes up the story:--

“_October 14th._--... Nelson came up to the waggon when we were outspanned. He had not left, but had stopped about near the place where we had outspanned when we first came through the thick bush. He had come on a herd of many (he says forty) elephants, driven six out of the herd, and shot four, but lost two of them--one a large bull. He had killed two bulls. This occurred the day before yesterday. I walked away with him in the evening towards his waggon. We found some nests of amadavats--the little pink ones, I fancy. Some were in course of construction, some finished; all hanging like fruit from a tree. One I took contained two eggs, white speckled with red. Macloule[23] gave me this evening two goatsucker’s eggs he had found, partly sat on. The nest is very slight, and placed on the ground.[24]

“_October 15th._--Soon after 7 A.M. started with boys to hunt.... Maqueban found the carcass of an elephant killed a few days ago. The two teeth--one broken, but as heavy as the other--weighed together 20 lbs., as I found afterwards. The boys rushed to the carcass, and were soon at work dismembering it. It may be one of Nelson’s, but my boys think it died before Sunday (the day Nelson killed his). A great many kites flew sweeping round. It was a regular scene, such as one sees in pictures, the Kafirs at work cutting off trunk and feet and strips of flesh. It was a cow elephant, and vultures and other creatures had got the end of the trunk and what they could without breaking the skin. Fires were lighted and meat cooked and devoured, whilst large pieces were put aside for removal. When the filth was extracted from one of the tusks, ‘Sassaybi’[25] threw back his head and held it up first to one then to the other nostril. This is supposed to be a good thing for any one troubled with nose-bleeding on hot days. Sassaybi likewise scraped some stuff like cobbler’s wax from where the tusk is inserted in the skin. He said it was to be used as a charm.... As we travel through the bush Indian file, returning to the waggon, Echle (the chief hunter I have with me), meeting a small tortoise, picks it up, spits on it, and puts it to his forehead. He says this is lucky when you want to get elephants, and he says, however large the tortoise is, this is done. He is then allowed to walk off.

“_October 16th._--Shots heard near the waggon early, and Nelson arrives, having shot a fine bull eland quite near to my waggon. He says he was looking for elephant spoor when he found the eland, and drove him seven miles. He is a mighty brute, bigger than an average bullock. The hide is very thick. We had breakfast on eland steak fried in fat, and enjoyed it very much. Nelson says, when in Damaraland, he got a young elephant, but it died from neglect coming through seventy miles of the ‘thirst land.’ He says they are easy to keep, and so are young ostriches. The latter can be driven with the bullocks. He says there are plenty of crocodiles in the river beyond the Gwailo.

“Nelson showed me, when we were out together in the veldt the day before yesterday, some remains of Mashona huts destroyed by the Matabele. He says they are to be found all over the veldt, and bones amongst many of them. Some of the Mashonas are subject to the Matabele. Those that refuse allegiance are mercilessly hunted down. They are all formed of independent little tribes, and when war is made against one the others don’t assist them. Therefore they fall an easy prey. The impeys sent out against them for their cattle are what I heard of at Gubuleweyo. Nelson says lately in an impey a kraal was taken, the young men killed (they throw away their scanty dress and run and are killed ‘like springbok’), and the old men and women burnt to death. The young women and children were made slaves of, and the cattle taken. Nelson’s Matabele boys wanted him lately to drive off some cattle, saying the king might give him fifty of them, but he refused. The cattle and all the animals are kept in the same place as the Mashonas themselves live in (the same house, Nelson calls it). They are thus easily surrounded by the Matabele. The Matabele despise those who own allegiance to their chief, and call them slaves. One of the latter in Nelson’s employ blew his face off with some gunpowder, doing something for his master on one occasion. ‘Never mind,’ said Nelson’s Matabele, ‘it is nothing, he is a dog’ (the usual epithet). The man’s father came to Nelson and asked to be paid, and was quite satisfied with a few coils of brass wire. Once, when Nelson killed a rhinoceros, a number of Mashona came for the meat and began fighting. They would cry, ‘This is mine,’ ‘This is mine,’ and two were killed. Nelson went away, feeling, he says, quite frightened at the scene. An assegai was thrust into one man’s heart by another who was quarrelling with him before Nelson’s eyes.

“In Damaraland, he says, the Bushmen are much better to get on with than the Matabele are here. They work for you like slaves for a little meat. They are under independent petty chiefs, and bring magnificent ostrich feathers for a small strip of limbo or other very trifling payment. From what Nelson says, it must be a capital place for the hunter, ivory being large, white, and plentiful, and easily got, and the natives most willing to assist.

“_October 17th._--Sleepless night; dogs barking at hyænas. I was kept to the waggon yesterday with a sore heel, and to-day did not go far. Nelson came to the waggon in the afternoon. He tells me that, on the opposite side of the road, about ten miles away, is a ‘fountain,’[26] with one or two waters intervening, and plenty of game. He does not know whether the king allows any one to go into this veldt; but it is a good country for a waggon to travel in.... I went out with him a little in the evening. He says he has seen two elephants’ tusks from near the Zambesi of 70 lbs. each--the largest he ever saw. He has seen an elephant with four tusks, and a Boer he speaks of shot one with eight; one of 70 lbs., the others of about 2 lbs. each.

“When Nelson was a young boy, his father, he tells me, trading near Sechele’s, being at feud with the missionary there, who had surrounded his waggon with forty Kafirs, and incited them to seize his goods, he determined to blow them up; but, in applying the light to the inside of the waggon, where was a lot of gunpowder, he was not quite quick enough, and was himself blown up with the missionary (a German) and the Kafirs. Nelson himself lay many hours on the ground insensible, much scorched. He had been standing close to the front wheel; his father was on the front-box. Nelson must have escaped thus lightly almost by a miracle. When he came to himself, he saw the wreck, his father and the Kafirs lying dead, and was pursued and fired at by Kafirs. The bullets passed close to him, and the Kafirs pursued, but could not catch him. He has still scars on his legs, made in passing through the thorns, and one on his face, caused by the explosion. He spent three days wandering in the veldt without food, but, it being the rainy season, he had water, and on the fourth day he came to a waggon.

“There was a scene to-day when Nelson’s two boys, who claim the ivory we got the other day, came to the waggon. Nelson told me not to give it to them, but did not want them to know he had given me this hint. The ivory, it seems, would not be his anyhow, as the king’s man who is with him hunts on his own account and would claim it. My boys were resolute to keep it, and we let them fight it out by themselves, which they did very noisily, finally saying it should be referred to the king. It seems to me that, picked up in the veldt, it belongs to the finder, unless the shooter has followed it up himself. This Nelson says his men did not attempt--though he advised it--saying it would be useless.”

From this time till the 27th of the month, the party remained in the same camp, making frequent excursions thence in search of game, first in one direction, then in another. Here they met with more quagga and sable antelope than any other game, but there were also eland, koodoo, and sassaybi, besides some of the lesser antelopes and wild pigs in abundance. “Near the spruit on which we stand,” writes Frank Oates at this point, “is the most really picturesque bit of craggy and sylvan scenery I have yet seen. Our present camp indeed is far the best in that respect we have ever yet had. It is now spring, moreover; the first rains have fallen, and refreshed nature is beginning to resume her long-lost garb of green.”

The following quotation from the Journal of the 18th gives a pleasant glimpse into one of their longer rambles from this camp:--“Started about 7.30 A.M., and walked nearly three hours, first through the thin, then through the thick, bush, striking a path during the walk which we followed to the south-west, and which brought us out under a huge spreading baobab, the largest tree I have yet seen since leaving Pietermaritzburg. They call it the ‘Indunas’ tree,’ for here the indunas from the neighbouring kraals are wont to sit and drink beer when anything particular is on hand. The huge trunk is blackened all round with fire, but the tree seems uninjured, and spreads its huge canopy from a framework of crooked boughs, like a gigantic oak. Stretching my arms round the tree at the height at which I stand from the ground, it took me four times, all but about a foot, to encircle it--say about twenty-three feet for its girth here, but below this it is much more, as it increases towards the roots. Other trees of the same kind stand about, but they are less. A splendid view, such as recalls Wharfedale to the mind, here suddenly bursts in sight. The Umvungu River flows in the valley; at our backs is the thick bush, through which we have come; but before us stretches the green vista of woods far away, till it becomes blue in the distance. We waited here about two hours, and returned as we had come.”

In this way the whole surrounding district was gradually traversed. The weather during the stay at the present camp was already beginning to be wet, and there was no improvement in this respect, but the reverse, from that date. On the 27th, moving their position, they again encamped a few miles further to the westward, where they remained till the middle of November, hunting the district, and at times leaving the waggon for some days together. Elephant and giraffe were met with on this occasion, the rest of the game being mostly the same as that found near the previous encampment. The chief trophy of the chase here obtained was a fine bull elephant, its tusks weighing together 108 lbs.

An eclipse of the moon occurring during this period, an opportunity was afforded of observing the effect of this phenomenon on the minds of some of the party. “Soon after sunset,” writes Frank Oates on November 3d, “the moon rising, I think, a little before, I noticed the upper part of the moon, indeed all but a small crescent nearest the horizon, covered with a dingy, smoky shadow. It was an eclipse. I asked John what it was. He said, ‘Smoke.’ The moment it was shown to Macloule he uttered a cry of conjuration, as it were, and rushing out with a brand, threw it in the direction of the moon. His explanation is that we shall hear something; all the hunters out in the veldt will now return home to hear the news. People are looking at it in Gubuleweyo, England, everywhere. It is a custom, it seems, at all the kraals, when an eclipse is seen, for the people to rush out and throw brands, shouting at the same time. When I suggested a shadow on the moon, he dismissed the suggestion summarily, and when asked to explain the appearance by any other cause, said the moon was changing colour. As the eclipse progressed, I pointed out to him that the shadow kept rising, and more and more of the moon becoming visible, but he only said, ‘It looks bad now.’ I looked through the telescope, as it was nearly over, to note the exact time of the shadow passing away. Echle took a hasty glance through it, and turned away quickly, saying he did not like to see it.”

By the middle of November, when they left their second camp, so much rain was already falling that hunting became difficult, and a return to Gubuleweyo was decided on. Starting back, therefore, on the return journey on November 16th, they reached Inyati, travelling slowly, on the 23d. Here Frank Oates was detained about a week, having much trouble and annoyance in paying off the boys he had engaged there for the hunt early in October, and it was the 2d of December before he once more found himself at Hope Fountain, near Gubuleweyo, the residence of Mr. Thomson, whence he wrote home the following letter:--

“Rev. J. B. THOMSON’s,
HOPE FOUNTAIN, MATABELE LAND,
“_December 4th, 1873_.

“I find there is a good opportunity of writing a line home,
as a trader is going with a waggon straight to Hope Town, and
starts to-morrow. He has only been a fortnight coming here from
Bamangwato, so he travels pretty quickly. You will, no doubt,
before you get this, have received the last letter I sent you,
in which I think I told you that my visit to the Victoria Falls
had been abandoned. I was within 150 to 200 miles of them, and
had made every preparation for the journey, having got the
king’s leave to proceed, escorted by one of his chief men, and
was already packing the things for the bearers to carry (twenty
was the number I required, though I should have been content
with fifteen), when all at once the unforeseen difficulty of
getting a sufficient number of them presented itself. The king
had told me there would be no difficulty, but I was then fifty
miles from him, having taken my waggon to be left at Inyati,
whence I was starting on my walk to the Falls. I see now
clearly enough that I was deceived by the man who was given to
assist me, or by the headman of Inyati, who had made no attempt
to get the men for me, but lulled me with fair promises, whilst
in reality doing all he could to prevent my obtaining them. The
fact was my guide did not wish me to go to the Zambesi; partly,
no doubt, because they would have had to hurry more than might
have been agreeable, but principally from fear of the fever, of
which they have a great dread. The king, however, knew what he
was doing when he assured me that for two months to come there
was no danger whatever, and this was far more time than enough
to accomplish my much-desired object.

“I have now spent two months in the neighbourhood of Inyati,
sometimes leaving the waggon for days, and sleeping in the
veldt. This was always satisfactorily managed even on a pouring
wet night, as the Kafirs in a few minutes build you a hut of
branches, perfectly water-tight, with a bed of dry grass upon
which to place your bedding. Two Englishmen, tourists, have
visited the Falls this season, and I hear that one of them said
they were so fine he would rather walk barefoot from Durban
to see them than leave them unseen. (Mrs. Thomson, finding me
writing in the dark, has just sent Mr. T. to me with a candle,
which I hope will improve the style of my letter, for I fear it
wants it.) The old guide, who was given me by the king, and
whom I suspect of doing me out of the Zambesi, was very anxious
for me to go to the king to-day, as he has to deliver me back
to him in person, and never lets me go out of his sight for a
moment if he can help it. This opportunity of writing home,
however, is keeping me this evening.

“My old man is the cousin of the king and nephew of Mosilikatze,
and the king sent him with me as a special mark of favour. If
any harm had befallen me he would have been held responsible,
and with most fearful zeal did he fulfil his office. He would
never let me sleep without a hut, or do anything he deemed
imprudent or unhealthy, carrying his care of me to such a pitch
that it was often a very great bore. I am told that if I go away
again into the veldt either now or years hence, I shall have to
go with this same man, Macloule, or, should he not be living,
with one of his sons. I would have forgiven him everything if he
had taken me to the Victoria Falls.

* * * * *

“A puppy has been added to my establishment. It was one of a
family born in the veldt, on the banks of the Gwailo River,
and, with its brothers and sisters, carried over its master’s
shoulders in a small bark cage when we were on the move. I had
several narrow escapes of being bitten by the mamma, who hated
me, though I always did my utmost for the comfort of the family.

“I have still two of my original four dogs with me, one of
which is a great favourite of mine, and one pony. The time
is approaching when horses that have not yet had it, get the
horse-sickness, which it is a great chance they get over. A good
‘salted’ horse, or rather pony (that is one that has had the
sickness and recovered from it), is worth £50 to £100, instead
of £20. The king has been telling people to ask me to sell him
my pony, and he also wants a gun of mine, for which he has put
aside two huge tusks of ivory, double its value. He has been
inquiring very much for me, and is anxious to see me back. Tea
is nearly ready, so I will now say good-bye. I am anxiously
looking forward to getting letters in two or three months at
latest. My letters are all to be forwarded to me and await me at
Bamangwato.”

The day after writing this letter Frank Oates took his waggon on to Gubuleweyo, and once more drew it up in front of Mr. Fairbairn’s scherm. The recent rains had wonderfully freshened the country since the outward journey, and the last trek, made through a green meadow-like district, recalled to the traveller’s mind the aspect of the country round Oxford in early summer.

The vegetation had of late been frequently remarkable for its beauty, and a number of flowering shrubs, many of them sweetly scented, had been observed from time to time. Flowers of other kinds were also becoming plentiful, and many varieties of wild fruit were met with.

Some of the latter Frank Oates describes at the Umvungu in his Journal:--“There is a kind of fruit growing in trees here,” he says, “which the boys get very eagerly. It is really excellent. It is about the size of a large walnut, with a hard case cleft in four, inside which are glutinous woody fibre and seeds. The seeds are thrown away, and the fibre chewed. The latter contains a large quantity of sweet glutinous matter, the part rejected looking just like wood. There is also another excellent fruit,” he continues, “not uncommon, which grows on a small tree, and is larger than a very fine orange. In shape it is spherical, and the outer case, which is hard, is easily broken, and the contents laid bare. The pulp that surrounds the seeds is the part eaten. This is brown in colour, and deliciously acid in flavour, reminding one a little of roasted apple. The pulp of one of these fruits forms quite a refreshing little repast. I believe they are common near Pretoria,--so John tells me,--and no doubt are found all over the veldt. The boys always make a great rush to get them. When quite mature the outer rind is yellow, and they seem to fall to the ground as soon as they are thoroughly ripe.”

The description of the first of these fruits corresponds closely, it may be remarked, with that of a fruit named “manéko,” which was met with by Livingstone near the Zambesi, in the centre of the continent. The last-named is of frequent occurrence in Zululand, where it is called “inhlala” (famine), from its value to the natives in times of scarcity.

Besides these, other fruits were also met with in the district, including a sort of wild grape, acceptable enough on hot days, but somewhat deficient in juiciness and flavour.

No great amount of game was seen upon the journey.