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Title: Matabele land and the Victoria Falls
Author: Frank Oates
Editor: Charles George Oates
Release date: January 28, 2026 [eBook #77803]
Language: English
Original publication: London: C. Kegan Paul & Co, 1881
Credits: Peter Becker, Karin Spence and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MATABELE LAND AND THE VICTORIA FALLS ***
MATABELE LAND
AND
THE VICTORIA FALLS
[Illustration: Frank Oates.]
MATABELE LAND
AND
THE VICTORIA FALLS
A NATURALIST’S WANDERINGS IN THE INTERIOR
OF SOUTH AFRICA
_FROM THE LETTERS & JOURNALS OF THE LATE_
FRANK OATES, F.R.G.S.
EDITED BY C. G. OATES, B.A.
[Illustration]
LONDON
C. KEGAN PAUL & CO., 1 PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1881
_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_.
PREFACE.
In offering to the public the following pages, I feel, as editor, that
I owe a few words of apology and explanation to the reader by way of
preface--apology for the imperfections of the volume; explanation how
such imperfections have arisen. The traveller whose journey to the
Zambesi is here recounted died of fever a few days after he had left
that river on his way homewards, and the book has been compiled from
his note-books, and letters home. The latter were written with no
view of publication; the former were intended only for the writer’s
own subsequent use and as suggestive guides to memory. It is always a
question in such a case how far the surviving friends of the deceased
writer or traveller do well in publishing the unfinished labour of his
pen. What his own wish would have been cannot be known, or even guessed
at, unless specially expressed; and the reflection forcibly presents
itself to the mind that perhaps a certain injustice may be done to the
memory of the dead by publishing, in a form which may fairly challenge
the criticism of the general reader, a few hasty jottings by the
wayside, written under circumstances the least favourable to literary
composition, and a limited number of letters home, meant merely for
the perusal of the writer’s nearest and most indulgent friends. On
the other hand, however, it must be borne in mind that, much as must
inevitably be lost in editing pages such as these for want of the
inspiring touch which the writer himself could alone have finally
given them, there will probably be a directness and freshness of the
expressions which a traveller makes use of on the spot, hampered as
he then is by no oppressive consciousness that he is addressing that
imaginary “public”--consisting after all but of a number of individuals
like himself, all with the same human heart and interests,--which might
be wanting in his more matured work.
Guided, then, by the latter consideration, and by the reflection that
every day the number of our countrymen is increasing who look to South
Africa with a growing interest--whether as a land for colonization,
exploration, or scientific research,--I venture to add another to the
long list of already published books upon that country, hoping that the
reader may find therein matter of some general interest, and that, if
not, he will look leniently on the error of judgment which has led me,
together with those who have here shared my responsibility, to offer
for his perusal pages prepared at first mainly for private friends, but
which it was afterwards thought might possibly prove of interest to a
somewhat wider circle.
Further, with reference to the length of time which has elapsed between
the date of the writer’s death and the publication of this volume,
I can only claim in extenuation of this circumstance the fact that
a considerable period necessarily intervened before the traveller’s
journals and papers reached this country, that they required on their
arrival much care in their disposal, and that the whole of the natural
history collections had to be gone through systematically before being
finally placed in competent hands for arrangement and classification.
The delay, then, has enabled me to include in the volume the papers in
the appendix on the latter subject, contributed by such able hands,
which I believe will add interest to the whole; and that not only in
the case of scientific readers, but of all those who would realize in
a measure what it is which makes up the life and experiences of the
naturalist traveller in his wanderings in distant lands. I may add,
moreover, that the general state and condition of the country of which
these pages treat would appear, from the accounts of those who have
recently visited it, to remain substantially the same, or only changed
in points of minor interest. The abandonment, however, of the Tati
Gold-mine and the establishment of Kama in the Bamangwato sovereignty
perhaps demand attention.
In editing this work it has been my object to preserve, wherever
possible, the writer’s narrative in exactly his own words; and this
plan has been steadily adhered to throughout, those passages only being
omitted which appeared little likely to interest the general reader, or
in which--as several times occurred--old ground was re-traversed. In
such cases the intervening periods have been bridged over by a short
narrative of my own, intended merely to connect the story and weld the
whole together. The maps, it may be added, are all of them the result
of the traveller’s own special observations, recorded as he went along.
Of the illustrations in the body of the work, I may remark that they
are all from original drawings taken on the spot, or from the objects
they purport to represent. Some are from sketches by the late Frank
Oates; the remainder--and these the larger number--from those of his
brother, W. E. Oates, who accompanied him during a portion of his
journey. It may therefore perhaps be fairly claimed for them that,
whatever their artistic merits, these drawings are--what alone they
claim to be--faithful representations of the scenes and objects they
depict. In the “List of Illustrations” it will be found to which of the
two brothers each drawing may be respectively attributed.
And now there only remains to me the pleasing duty of returning my
warmest thanks to the many friends who have helped me with my task. To
those gentlemen who have contributed the valuable papers which form
the appendix to this volume, my thanks are especially due; I refer to
Professors Rolleston, Westwood, and Oliver, Dr. Albert Günther, Mr. R.
Bowdler Sharpe, and Mr. J. G. Baker. And in this connexion I have also
to thank Captain G. E. Shelley, who named the majority of the birds in
my late brother’s collection before they passed into the hands of Mr.
Sharpe, to be permanently deposited in the British Museum. From all of
these, and especially from Mr. Sharpe, I have received, besides, much
friendly help and advice with reference to the general arrangements of
the volume, as I have proceeded with my labours; as well, also, as from
Mr. H. W. Bates, the able Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical
Society, to whose kindness I am deeply indebted for many valuable
suggestions and much practical assistance. The four beautiful plates
which accompany Professor Westwood’s paper have been drawn by his own
hand to illustrate his descriptions of new or remarkable insects.
Of those gentlemen, moreover, who have contributed their professional
assistance, I must also in common gratitude add a word. Mr. Francis
Holl has bestowed much pains on the production of a portrait of my late
brother, from a photograph by Gowland of York, which I believe to be
very successful; Mr. Kaufmann’s chromo-lithographs are the result of
much careful effort on his part to catch the spirit and preserve the
effect of the original water-colour drawings from which they have been
taken; the lithographs in the appendix, drawn respectively by Messrs.
J. G. Keulemans, R. Mintern, W. H. Fitch, and (as already mentioned)
Professor Westwood, have been accurately rendered by the skilful
hands of Messrs. M. and N. Hanhart, and Messrs. Mintern Brothers;
and the wood-engravings have been skilfully and conscientiously
executed by Messrs. G. Pearson, J. D. Cooper, and E. Evans, all of
them with a faithful determination to do the fullest justice to their
respective subjects, and I believe with admirable result. The birds
and animals have been placed on wood chiefly by Mr. Smit, and some by
Mr. Davenport; whilst Mr. Charles Whymper has contributed two original
drawings of the author’s dogs and the designs upon the cover. Mr.
Edward Weller also and his son have spared no pains to make the maps
which accompany the volume as perfect and complete as possible; to
whom, as well as to all the others named, my grateful thanks are due,
and most heartily do I acknowledge what I owe them.
To enumerate more fully the names of those who have further assisted
me, either professionally or as private friends, I must now forbear
from undertaking; suffice it to say there are many, especially of the
latter class, without whose assistance and encouragement I should
probably never have succeeded in bringing my labours to a close. Let
me thank them now for the generous help and sympathy so ungrudgingly
given, and which, alas, it is so impossible for me to recompense.
It may be proper to add, before concluding--what I have failed
elsewhere to mention--that a considerable number of specimens in my
brother’s collection were destroyed at Shoshong in his lifetime by the
unroofing, during a gale, of the hut where they were stored, and that
some of the spirit jars of reptiles and beetles were afterwards left
behind when the collections were conveyed to England; circumstances
which led in all probability to the loss of many valuable specimens.
There are not many who will need to be reminded that to “inspan” and
“outspan,” words of frequent occurrence in the traveller’s journal,
mean, in South African parlance, to “yoke” and “unyoke,” and that
“spoor” means “footprints” or “track.” All other words of Dutch or
native origin introduced into the text are explained, I believe, where
they occur. The accent in the word “Matabele” falls, it may be added,
on the third of its four syllables.
My task is ended--in many respects a very mournful, yet a very pleasing
one; and if there be found but a few readers who derive either pleasure
or profit from a perusal of these pages, I shall feel amply rewarded
for my trouble.
C. G. O.
_May 1881._
MEMOIR.
“To be able to give one’s name to a bird, or a flower,
may seem to many but a poor ambition; and yet, materially
considered, it is quite as likely to be perpetuated as to
give it to a street or town, and is much more likely to
define the tastes and individuality of the giver.”--_Bret
Harte._
The saying has seldom been truer of any one than of the writer of the
succeeding pages, that “the child is father of the man.” His love of
nature generally, and of natural history in all its branches, was one
of Frank Oates’s earliest instincts; and to the study of our English
wild-birds--their ways and haunts, their comings and their goings--he
was especially devoted from boyhood. The pages of Waterton and Buffon,
treating of wider fields of study, supplied his imagination at that
period with richer food; and the plates of Audubon’s Birds, when access
could be had to them, were turned by him with feelings little short
of reverence. From his earliest days he had resolved to visit those
distant, and, to him, still mysterious lands, where the page of nature
was yet to the white man in great part an unread book; and those who,
after his death in the full prime of manhood, witnessed the arrival at
his English home of his large collections of natural history specimens,
brought from the interior of South Africa by the devoted service of a
friend, realized strangely how the boy’s ambition had been fulfilled
in after life, and felt that, though cut off in the very perfection of
his powers, the purpose of his being had not wholly failed. Those even
who knew him best were surprised indeed, when these evidences of his
work abroad arrived, to see how much he had accomplished in the brief
period--a little short of two years--of his absence. As, one after
another, the packing-cases were opened, each in its turn afforded to
the looker-on some fresh illustration of the untiring determination of
the deceased traveller to make the very utmost of his opportunities
whilst abroad. The voice that could alone have told the story of those
collections, the hand that had brought them thus together, were silent
and still in a far distant grave; but an utterance--the more pathetic
because it was inaudible--seemed to go forth, unbidden, from those
speechless records of devoted work and enterprise, and tell the secret
tale of a life in earnest sympathy with nature curtailed,--the hand, as
it were, yet warm from its labours.
There, on the one hand, lay the opened cases of rare and brilliant
bird-skins, each specimen with its separate label, in the collector’s
writing, carefully recording its habitat, and other particulars useful
to the student, accompanied in many instances by examples of nests
and eggs. There, on the other hand, were lesser boxes, filled with
varied specimens of insects, some from those very Victoria Falls
of the Zambesi, the rich and almost untried harvest-ground of the
naturalist, whose attractions had lured the wanderer to his untimely
grave. And there, again, were those large wide-necked bottles, familiar
to the collector, containing, some of them, strange-looking beetles,
others still stranger reptiles; there the packets of botanical drying
paper, each sheet enveloping its floral treasure. Turning again to
other cases, were found in numbers the singular implements of savage
warfare, or industry, and with them many of those rude yet tasteful
attempts at ornamentation suggested by native fancy; evidences--the
whole of them--of that untutored skill and delicate refinement of
workmanship which characterize many of the finer races of unlettered
savages. Whilst further, the mighty tusks of the huge African elephant,
the skins of the lion, the leopard, and the cheetah,--for it was
these beasts of prey that the traveller had especially loved to
hunt,--besides those of many an African antelope, with horns and heads
of equal grace and beauty, told silently of stirring adventures in the
bush. Lastly, but yet not least, were those scientific instruments he
had used in taking observations of his journey with so much faithful
perseverance; the note-books; the letters of friends (some of these
unopened, containing those trifling items of home news, so sweet to
the far-off traveller, which his eyes had never seen, for they had
arrived after his decease); the pencilled outlines of the country’s
scenery; the water-colour drawings of those fatal Falls; how much did
not these records breathe to the silent bystander, how much suggest of
what had been, and still more what _might have been_! Poor fellow!
not there himself to speak to us, those records of an earnest life,
those cared-for and well-worn letters which he _had_ received and
treasured, how far more eloquent they were to us than any words could
have been! They told us all, more than all, than any words which he
could, or at least would, have spoken--so lightly did he ever treat his
own achievements--and seemed to leave the world and ourselves poorer
and yet richer by his death!
But the subject has led me, in my capacity of editor of these pages,
beyond the proper limits of my duties, and I must crave the indulgence
of the reader for this long digression. My object is merely to relate,
as briefly as I can, such simple facts of Frank Oates’s earlier life
as may serve to illustrate the scope and bearing of the ensuing pages,
and bring to view the motives which led him to enter on his life of
travel. What I have said, indeed, may perhaps, it is true, help to
show--what I was anxious early to point out--how very catholic were the
interests of the deceased, how great the hold each separate department
of the world’s life, and history, and daily growth, had laid upon him.
Devoted to the study of natural history, as I have already pointed out,
and especially to that of birds--the pursuit of which might be called
his ruling passion--yet never did he close his eyes to all those varied
interests of other kinds, which were constantly opening round him in
his life of foreign travel. “He was not” indeed, as has lately been
said of the young French naturalist Jacquemont, who, like Frank Oates
himself, died early and in harness,--“He was not at all one of those
specialists who shut themselves up in a narrow speciality, and become
blind and deaf to the great interests of human life.”[1] Rather may it
be said of him, that his interests were perhaps too wide, and that he
overtaxed his strength and powers in following the promptings of his
nature. Speaking indeed in homely phraseology, whilst out in Africa, he
admitted himself that he had “too many irons in the fire,” and some of
the difficulties and vexations which beset him upon his journey must
be attributed to the delays which were occasioned by his desire of
embracing every opportunity which presented itself, not only of adding
a new specimen to his collection, but also of noting any fresh fact
with regard to the country and its inhabitants which came before his
notice. For, in addition to his natural history pursuits, he was, as
above intimated, engaged on this journey in taking observations of the
country which he passed through, and laying down his route, and also,
wherever possible, in seeking intercourse with the natives, and gaining
knowledge of their character.
This same tendency of his--to attempt too much--had once before also
served him in evil stead when at the University in earlier life.
Born on the 6th of April 1840, a son of the late Mr. Edward Oates,
of Meanwoodside, near Leeds--himself a lover of nature, and a man of
literary tastes--Frank Oates entered at Christ Church, Oxford, at the
close of 1860. And here his love of nature and her teachings soon
displayed itself by his choice of reading for a class in the Natural
Science Schools. His work, however, in this direction did not keep him
from study in many other departments of knowledge; and, besides his
studies, all out-door pursuits had each their respective fascination
for him. Of these, riding held with him, as it had always done, the
foremost place; and when the time of year or incidental circumstances
kept him from an occasional gallop with the hounds, he would have a
long day’s ride into the country instead, drinking in, the while, deep
draughts of enjoyment from the scenes he passed through. One such ride,
still showing him faithful to his love of birds, he describes himself
in a letter to one of his brothers on May Day, 1864, as follows:--
“I had a jolly ride,” he writes, “to Wychwood Forest a few days ago,
with S---- of Wadham. We both enjoyed it, as we both entered into the
loveliness of the scene. Unfortunately the day was cold, and few birds
were seen, though we did hear the nightingale once, and the cuckoo
once or twice. We were riding about the forest in the dark, with some
prospect of being lost, and did not get back to Oxford till eleven
o’clock, having ridden about thirty-six miles.”
The exhilaration of these long rides was almost a necessity to him,
counteracting, as they did in a measure, the strain of mental work.
He also loved bathing, swimming, and sailing, the first two of which
Oxford supplied him with in liberal measure, whilst even the last-named
he found occasional opportunity of indulging his taste for on the Isis.
Then there were cricket and rowing, to both of which he gave a share
of his attention, with rifle-shooting at the butts, and fencing at the
gymnasium.
This is a tolerable list of occupations, in addition to which
Oxford had also its social attractions for him; for, besides the
undergraduates of his own standing whom he knew, he was further
privileged with the acquaintance of a few such men as the present Dean
of Westminster--then Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the
University--the present distinguished Master of Balliol, the late Sir
Benjamin Brodie, and Professor Henry Smith; whilst the nature of his
studies brought him into frequent pleasant intercourse with Professor
Rolleston and others at the museum. The second year of his residence
he sustained a loss, which he long felt, in the death of his young
tutor, Mr. G. R. Luke, Senior Student of Christ Church, to whom he had
formed no slight attachment. Of this event, rendered doubly sad by the
circumstances under which it occurred, he wrote to a friend the day
afterwards (March 4, 1862) as follows:--
“Oxford,” he says, “has just lost one of its brightest lights, and I
a valuable friend, whom, I fear, I did not sufficiently appreciate in
his lifetime--poor Luke! It would be too much to say that there was not
so good, but I can confidently assert that I do not think there was a
better, man in Oxford. He was such a genuine, worthy, and conscientious
fellow as is rarely met with; and his kindness was equalled by his
noble spirit--his modesty by his high learning and abilities. And
this valuable life, difficult as it is to realize it, has been cut
short;--Luke was drowned in the river yesterday, having gone alone,
quite contrary to his custom, in a whiff. It seems that he was near
half an hour in the water, and dead when taken out. This sad accident,
coming so suddenly, must throw a damp over the feelings of many; and if
there is any gratitude amongst men, there must have been many a sigh
for him last night. I heard the news before six o’clock, and it had
reached Christ Church some time before, the accident having happened
about four. You may imagine my horror when, on entering my rooms to put
on my cap and gown for hall, I was met by my scout, and asked if I had
heard that Mr. Luke was drowned. In an hour or two I should have been
reading with him.”
And now enough may have perhaps been said to give some insight into
Frank Oates’s life at Oxford, and with one more quotation from his
letters, this period of his history shall be closed. His first year
at college an attack upon his chest in early spring had prevented his
residence during the summer term at the University, and led to his
spending as much of the succeeding winter as the Oxford terms admitted
of in Italy, where he gathered many pleasant reminiscences. The
following spring, too, he was late in coming up, owing to a return of
his ailment during the Easter vacation, when he was again a prisoner
to his room at home. Writing on April 23d (1862), during this period
of confinement, he says, “I see the tree-tops tipped with green, and
hear the thrush’s voice, telling me of old times, and asking me why
I keep house, and I’ve no doubt spring is here. So I want to be out
again, and to greet her as an old friend.” And presently he was out
again, revelling in the spring sunshine with his friends, the birds.
But this is not the intended quotation. Sufficiently recovered from
this illness for the journey back to Oxford, he returned there on May
9th to find the place “shaded with its great green trees, and with
its gray old walls looking almost joyous.” It was not, however, till
two evenings later that he “came in for the full benefit of the May
aspect of things,” as he describes it, when he took a long ramble
into the country to Wytham, and first saw the rich pastoral country
which surrounds Oxford in its summer dress. His account of this walk,
written (again to the same friend) on May 12th, tells forcibly of his
appreciation of all country sights and sounds.
“... Your letter arrived yesterday morning,” he says, “and of course my
evening was at once laid out for me, and now I come to what I ought to
have begun with--my ramble of last night. You perhaps thought, as it
grew dusk, that I was still lingering about the scene you describe;
and so I was. It was with really joyous feelings that I set out at six
o’clock, and trudged along the Sevenbridge Road. It was Sunday evening,
and the road was crowded with Oxford folks and the militia. The floods
which surrounded the road seemed an object of interest to them, but
I pushed on, bestowing a hurried glance now and then at the tufted
willows, and islands, and shores of long grass, which dotted over and
surrounded the lake-like fields, with the dappled sky reflected on
their watery surface. Botley reached, I inquired the way to Wytham. A
shady green lane was pointed out to me, and I was soon away in thought,
all alone in that quiet place; and so on I strolled, through the
fields, past the wood, through the village, and, as night closed in,
back again. If I were a word-painter I might describe my walk; but not
being one, should any attempt of mine thereat be intelligible to you,
it will only be because you know what I would describe, and can realize
my feelings.
“There had been some little rain, and it was still rather dull and
damp when I set out; but I should have gone if it had been worse, and
really the evening ended almost brightly. I enjoyed the freshness
of everything, and the wild-birds seemed to enjoy it; they did not
appreciate it as I did, but they enjoyed it more. The notes of many
a songster rang out from the thick cover of the wood on my left, and
amongst the well-known notes some strange music was mixed, now and then
becoming louder and more distinct. These must have been the wonderful
soft strains of the nightingale. The woodpeckers were laughing wildly,
and the rooks returning to the tops of the elms, and talking as is
their wont; the youngsters responding eagerly, and seeming as if they
were chattering and being fed at the same time. The cows were placidly
grouped about the hedges, or wandering leisurely to and fro, favouring
the passerby with a whiff of their scented breath. On the other side,
flooded fields were rich in the most luxuriant vegetation; whilst
continually, and, as it grew later, more continually, the cuckoos
answered one another from many a deep shade. I was glad to think that
you would be thinking me there, and hoped you would not fancy that I
should give up the excursion.”
Nor, passing now from reminiscences of his Oxford life, was his love of
the country and its associations, here sufficiently evinced, confined
to one particular sort of scenery; and the wild moorlands of his native
county attracted him as strongly as the quiet and peaceful beauties of
Oxfordshire, or even more so. During the Easter vacation of 1864 he
had been on a short walking tour into the Yorkshire dales with one of
his brothers and some other friends.
“There is always a sense of freedom,” he writes from near Leeds soon
afterwards, “in getting away to the moors and mountains which surround
us, and lie so near that they seem to invite Leeds men to visit them.
For though the river at Kirkstall is sadly changed from the stream
that leaves Malham Tarn, and the mountain air has lost somewhat of
its freshness when it sweeps over this place, the sight and sound of
railways are a constant reminder that a few minutes’ consignment to
the train, and the payment of a few shillings, are sufficient charm
to place one in the world of nature. May those moors and valleys
long continue desolate, if desolation may be understood to mean no
presence but that of the spirit of nature. I care not what that spirit
may be, but I feel a breathing life and an unsurpassable harmony,
where man has not utterly defiled the face of the country. What I
long for,” he concludes, “is a fishing tour in the neighbourhood of
Kilnsey or Wensleydale. I must be incorrigibly idle, and born to hate
anything that even looks like work; and yet I want to be active, to do
something, to find a field for my energies, such as they are.”
In the last passage the writer did himself some injustice, and what he
seems to have taken for “incorrigible idleness,” was in reality nothing
else than the demand of nature within him for some real rest and
relaxation from his Oxford studies. His scrupulous conscientiousness,
moreover, was already beginning to cause him much anxiety with regard
to his future life, as the time for his leaving Oxford was approaching.
That warning voice of nature, however, unhappily was not attended
to. He would have entered the Schools for his final examination the
succeeding autumn, or at latest the following spring; but in the latter
part of the summer of this year (1864), under the strain of overwork,
his health broke completely down, and for a period of some years he was
obliged to live in a state of enforced, and to him scarcely endurable,
inactivity. A great portion of this time he spent in the retired
parts of Wales, and the English Lake District, and some part of it in
Ireland. On one occasion, during this period, writing to one of his
brothers on his experiences of overwork, he says:--
“Let me advise you earnestly not to try _to do too many things_.
I killed the goose with a vengeance, and got no golden egg. I was
expecting in a few weeks [when taken ill] a degree with honours, and
a good start in life, and ... had to leave Oxford without even an
ordinary degree, which I knew more than enough to have taken the
Easter before, if it would have satisfied me. I should have been
surprised to have been told that season, when I was riding H----’s
little cob in Rotten Row, in the glory of summer and all the hope of
youth, that before the leaves had all left the trees that very horse
would have been H----’s death, and that I should be a hundred times
worse than dead.”[2]
Throughout the whole of this weary time, however, he never
relinquished--so indomitable was his spirit--the hope of a better time
approaching. Once at Liverpool, indeed, for a short stay in 1869, he
writes upon this subject, “I like to be where I can be amused and see
life without having to take part in it, though I would fifty times
rather be at work at something. I wonder,” he adds, “whether I ever
shall be again.” And he _was_ at work again, not quite two years
later, once more restored to health, and busily preparing for a trip
across the Atlantic, which had been recommended to him for the thorough
re-establishment of his health, and which accorded happily with the
early fancies of his boyhood. It was by this time almost too late for
him, even had he now wished it, to have thought seriously of adopting
one of the recognized professions. A few years earlier he had thought
both of the army and the bar; but with the love of adventure and
research so strong within him, it is scarcely probable, had he adopted
either, that he would have endured their trammels long. Once, too, it
had seemed not unlikely that his strong love of painting, which held
with his passion for natural history divided sway over his earlier
years, might have proved the more powerful impulse of the two, and led
him ultimately to the definite pursuit of art. In choosing against
it, however, he probably selected well, as the somewhat sedentary
life thereby involved would not so well have harmonized with his
constitutional need for physical activity.
On this expedition to America he was absent about a year,
a considerable portion of the time being spent in Central
America--chiefly in Guatemala,--and a part of it in California, camping
out amongst the Rocky Mountains. Unlooked for circumstances brought his
journey to a speedier close than he had intended; but if unaccompanied
by other results, he was at least successful in forming a collection of
birds and insects of some interest and value, and contracted several
valuable friendships. “His manliness and irreproachable conduct
and kindliness,” wrote Sir Henry Scholfield, the British Consul at
Guatemala, after his decease, “gained for him, during his short stay
here, a friend in every one he met.” And wherever else in the country
he made any sort of stay, he appeared to have been scarcely less
fortunate in this respect.
Soon after his return from America in 1872 he began to make
arrangements for a more extended journey--the one of which this
volume treats, and on which he started in March 1873. His plan on
this occasion was to reach the Zambesi from Natal, and if possible
visit some of the unexplored country to the north of that river. In
the latter hope he was destined to disappointment, and the number of
obstacles he met with in realizing the former serve to illustrate
some of the ordinary difficulties which may be encountered in African
travel. Of the results, however, such as they were, of this journey,
in which he lost his life, the reader must be left to form his own
judgment from the perusal of the ensuing pages. He had at least
acquired much of that needful experience of rough travel and adventure,
without which little can be accomplished in the way of exploration or
research. It is almost certain that, had he lived, his next journey
would have been of a more ambitious kind, remarkable as he was for that
love of enterprise which characterizes the true explorer; of this he
spoke merely as a “little trip.” His experiences, moreover, in this
two years’ travel, must still further have convinced him, if in a
different manner, of those evil effects of attempting too many things,
which his Oxford career had previously warned him of. The diversity
of his pursuits led him into many delays, each one of which no doubt
contributed its share, together with the obstructiveness of native
tribes, to that long detention on his journey which finally threw his
visit to the Zambesi into the unhealthy season of the year. It must be
granted, however, at the same time, that his love of adventure led him
into places where the field for inquiry was especially inviting, and
offered exceptional advantages; and also that his devotion to natural
history beguiled throughout his journey what might otherwise have
proved many a weary march. It is more than probable--so fully had the
need of this now been brought home to him--that on another journey,
had he been spared to make one, he would have concentrated his chief
energies upon fewer objects. What these might have been must remain,
indeed, matter of conjecture; but whatever else he had abandoned, the
pursuit of ornithology would certainly have held a place second only to
that of exploration.
In character and temperament Frank Oates was admirably fitted for
his work. “I like anything,” he once wrote when at Oxford, “that
seems difficult of attainment,”--the very zest of the pursuit proving
in such cases its own reward to him. So too, in disposition; he
had just the one which recommends itself to strangers. “There was
something singularly winning about him,” wrote a friend, upon his
death; “that peculiar combination of courage and gentleness, which is
one of the finest traits of character.” It was, in fact, this very
association of a genial nature with a remarkable openness and candour
of disposition, that won for him friends, especially amongst his own
countrymen, wherever his lot was cast, and so smoothed his way over
many difficulties. And if, as would sometimes happen, he fell amongst
unfriendly natives, he preserved himself on such occasions by a seeming
show of condescension, and a coolness under danger which commanded
their respect. A faithful and accurate observer, but little was lost
that came before his notice; and if at the time of his death--in
February 1875--he had not realized all that he had hoped from his
expedition, he may at least be said to have justified the choice that
he had made, and had contributed a measure of faithful labour to the
causes of progress and research.
On hearing of his death, the Dean of Christ Church, who had always
particularly regretted the illness which in earlier life had
prematurely closed his University career, wrote of the untimely
termination of his later efforts in a spirit of no less concern. “His
name,” wrote the Dean at this time, “must be added to the list of those
devoted and enterprising Englishmen, who ‘scorn delights and live
laborious days,’ who by their frank love of truth and justice have
made our name respected from one hemisphere to the other. I retain a
dear memory of him,” he concludes, “and grieve to think that so much
manly spirit has so soon been quenched.”
This manly love of truth here noticed, his zeal in action, and energy
for work, had marked Frank Oates conspicuously from a boy. Life was for
him no lounge, merely to be dreamed through, but an active, burning
reality, from which the fruit that the hour yielded was to be plucked
and harvested. From his earliest days, when he watched at springtide
the coming of the swallow, or lurked in autumn by the hedgerow, to note
the flocks of redwings as they passed--from the time when those authors
whom he loved had given him his first glimpses into that distant realm
of nature where his imagination loved to wander, and he hoped one day
to follow them--till the arrival of the period when that desire was
at length destined to be realized, and he had threaded the forests of
tropical America, and roamed through the thorny wastes of Southern
Africa, was he ever adding something to his knowledge of nature,
something to his love of science, or something to his appreciation of
the beautiful. With him, indeed, were no half measures. His interest
once fairly roused in any subject, he gave to it the strength of his
whole soul; a purpose once formed rarely failed in its fulfilment;
and such was the elasticity of his temperament that he would turn from
one subject to another, each as a mere refreshment from the last. To
this was added, in no common measure, a certain freshness and buoyancy
of the spirit, which enabled him in a moment to throw off the spell
which bound him, and join on occasion in the frolic of the hour. A
peculiar brightness characterized his being, and rendered the common
incidents of life attractive to him; and should any be found who regard
as incongruous the lightness of spirit which occasionally manifests
itself even in the ensuing pages, in connexion with more serious
subjects, such ones may read with interest the following extract from
the writings of the late Charles Kingsley, with reference to this
very tendency, as manifested in another posthumous author, whose book
was edited by a friend. “With a reverence for the dead,” he says,
“which will at once be understood and honoured, he [the editor] has
refrained, perhaps here and there too scrupulously, from altering a
single word of the documents as he found them, respecting even certain
scraps of Cambridge and Winchester slang, which may possibly offend
that class of readers who fancy that the sign of magnanimity is to
take everything _au grand sérieux_, and that the world’s work
must needs be done upon stilts; but which will be, perhaps, to the
more thoughtful reader only additional notes of power, of that true
English ‘Lebensglückseligkeit,’ as the German calls it, which makes
a jest of danger and an amusement of toil. Jean Paul makes somewhere
the startling assertion that no man really believes his religious
creed unless he can afford to jest about it. Without going so far as
that, I will say boldly,” adds the writer, “that no man feels himself
master of his work unless he can afford to jest about it; and that
a frolicsome habit of mind is rather a token of deep, genial, and
superabundant vitality, than of a shallow and narrow nature, which can
only be earnest and attentive by conscious and serious efforts.”[3]
There were few circles of society where Frank Oates was not welcome;
and once received in any of them, a place was ever after reserved for
him in their midst. Whatever raciness or originality of character was
to be met with where his lot for the time was cast, he failed not to
find it out; and he eagerly availed himself of every opportunity which
enabled him to see life in its less conventional aspects. A certain
chivalry endeared him to the weak, his fearlessness attached to him
the strong, and no act of kindness was ever lost upon or forgotten by
him. He wandered far afield; but at home or abroad it ever was the same
with him, and he had friends, go where he would: for the intellect, in
his case, never overruled the affections; and perhaps it has fallen to
the lot of few, dying at his comparatively early age, to leave so many
sorrowing hearts behind them.
And now, but one word further. The late Charles Kingsley--again to
quote his writings, still in the same connexion as before, with
reference, that is, to his friend, Charles Mansfield, traveller,
ornithologist, and devotee of science, the posthumous writer above
referred to--has said some touching words, which the editor of these
pages, too partial, it may be, in his estimate of the deceased, would
fain transcribe, and apply to the subject of the present memoir. “He
was one of those rare spirits,” writes Charles Kingsley,[4] “to whom
this life and this world have been, as far as human minds can judge,
little beyond a schoolhouse for some nobler life and world to come. Cut
off at the very climacteric of his years, just as he was beginning to
give the world evidence of his faculties, and just as he had acquired
the power of using them in an orderly and practical method, he has left
little behind but the _disjecta membra philosophi_.... Never have
I met a human being to whom as clearly as to him the thing which seemed
right was a thing to be done forthwith, at all hazards, and at any
sacrifice.... He had gathered round him [ere he died], friends, both
men and women, who looked on him with a love such as might be inspired
by some being from a higher world.... Oh, fairest of souls!” concludes
the writer, “Happy those who knew thee in this life! Happier those who
will know thee in the life to come!”
C. G. O.
[Illustration:
“Nor yet quite deserted, though lonely extended,
For faithful in death, his mute favourite attended.”
--SCOTT.
_See page 265._]
CONTENTS.
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 Page 1
CHAPTER II.
The journey resumed--Halt on the Seruli--Bushmen on the
Gokwe--The Shashe--The Tati Settlement--Adventure with a
lion--W. E. Oates returns to the coast; particulars of his
journey 23
CHAPTER III.
Frank Oates proceeds to the King’s Town--Crosses the
Ramaqueban--Dutch hunters on the Impakwe--The Inkwesi;
picturesque scenery--John Lee’s farm--Manyami’s Kraal--The
Shashani--Fine country--Kumala River 42
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 58
CHAPTER V.
Stay at Gubuleweyo--New Year’s Day--The Great Dance--Cattle
slaughtered--Departure of the King; the royal procession--A
dispute referred to him--Lobengula’s court 92
CHAPTER VI.
Return to Tati--Changed aspect of the country--Constant
delays--The Mashonas--At Manyami’s again--John
Lee’s--Letter home--The Inkwesi--Wild fruit--A hornbill’s
nest--The Impakwe and Ramaqueban Rivers--Graves of
Englishmen--White ants--Bushman remains--The Tati reached 116
CHAPTER VII.
Hunting trip on the Semokwe--A native musician--Gigantic
baobabs--Return to Tati--Journey to Shoshong--The
Bamangwato and Matabele nations--Fighting amongst
the natives--Start back for Tati--Misadventures and
delays--Fresh arrangements 139
CHAPTER VIII.
Again at Tati--Fresh causes of delay--Lions on the
Motloutsi--Threatened by natives--Forthcoming prospects 161
CHAPTER IX.
Fresh start for the Zambesi--The Ramaqueban again--A
lion shot--Singular building--Wild fruit--First Kraal of
the Makalakas--Stopped by the induna--Return to Tati--To
Gubuleweyo and back--Fresh leave obtained--Altered
arrangements for the journey 172
CHAPTER X.
Third start for the Zambesi--Again stopped by
natives--Fresh leave from the King--The journey
resumed--Frank Oates’s companion obliged to leave him--He
goes forward alone--Breakdown of his waggon--Annoyances
from the natives--Help from Tati--Return there--Letters
home--Future plans 192
CHAPTER XI.
Final start from Tati--Bushman remains--A
game-drive--Wild dogs--The Makalakas again--The Matengwe
River--English hunters met with--The Nata River--The
Pantamatenka--Christmas Day--Start on foot for the
Zambesi--The goal at last 229
CHAPTER XII.
Main features of the Falls--The return commenced--Frank
Oates attacked by fever--Course of the illness; improvement
and relapse--His death--Dr. Bradshaw takes his effects to
Bamangwato--His favourite dog--Arrival of W. Oates and Mr.
Gilchrist in Natal--Conclusion 253
APPENDIX.
I. ETHNOLOGY, by George Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S., Linacre
Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the University
of Oxford 273
II. ORNITHOLOGY, by R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.L.S., F.Z.S.,
Senior Assistant, Zoological Department, British
Museum 294
III. HERPETOLOGY, by Albert Gunther, M.A., Ph.D., M.D.,
F.R.S. 329
IV. ENTOMOLOGY, by J. O. Westwood, M.A., F.L.S., etc., Hope
Professor of Zoology, in the University of Oxford 331
V. BOTANY, by D. Oliver, F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor of
Botany in University College, London 366
VI. LIST OF MAKALAKA WORDS AND PHRASES, from one of Mr. F.
Oates’s Note-Books, 1874–5 370
INDEX 371
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PORTRAIT OF MR. FRANK OATES _Frontispiece_
CHROMOLITHOGRAPHS.
HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL. From a water-colour drawing by
W. E. Oates _To face page 8_
TATI SETTLEMENT. From a water-colour drawing by W. E.
Oates _To face page 30_
HUNTERS’ CAMP, SEMOKWE RIVER. From a water-colour
drawing by W. E. Oates _To face page 143_
SHOSHONG, BAMANGWATO. From a water-colour drawing
by W. E. Oates _To face page 155_
DRY BED OF THE INKWESI RIVER. From a water-colour
drawing by W. E. Oates _To face page 208_
VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI (WESTERN EXTREMITY). From
a water-colour drawing by Frank Oates _To face page 258_
WOODCUTS.
HEAD OF PALLAH. Drawn by Charles Whymper _Title-page_
PAGE
“FAITHFUL IN DEATH.” Drawn by Charles Whymper xxxvi
PRETORIA, TRANSVAAL. From a water-colour drawing by
W. E. Oates 7
BOER’S FARM, HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL. From a drawing
by W. E. Oates 9
GAME ON THE HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL. From a drawing
by W. E. Oates _To face page 12_
LIMPOPO OR CROCODILE RIVER. From a water-colour drawing
by W. E. Oates 19
SNUFF-BOXES MADE FROM GOURDS. From a drawing by
W. E. Oates 22
DOUBLE-BANDED SAND-GROUSE (_Pterocles bicinctus_). From
a drawing by W. E. Oates 27
BOERS’ FARMS, CROCODILE RIVER. From a water-colour
drawing by W. E. Oates 38
SOUTH AFRICAN WART HOG (_Phacochærus æthiopicus_).
From a drawing by W. E. Oates 41
MANYAMI. From a sketch by Frank Oates 52
MANYAMI’S ATTENDANT. From a sketch by Frank Oates 52
FEATHER HEAD-DRESS. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 56
HEAD-DRESS OF ZEBRA SKIN AND FEATHERS. From a drawing
by W. E. Oates 57
BIRDS’ NESTS. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 77
THE FIRST ELEPHANT. From a sketch by Frank Oates 84
KNOB-BILLED GOOSE (_Sarkidiornis melanonotus_). From a
drawing by W. E. Oates 91
DANCING-STICK, BOW AND ARROWS, AND KNOB-KERRIES.
From a drawing by W. E. Oates 95
OX-HIDE SHIELD. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 100
ASSEGAI-HEADS AND BATTLE-AXE. From a drawing by W. E.
Oates 102
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 115
NATIVE HUNTING-KNIVES. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 120
AFRICAN GREY HORNBILL (_Tockus nasutus_). From a drawing
by W. E. Oates 132
YELLOW-BILLED HORNBILL (_Tockus flavirostris_). From a
drawing by W. E. Oates 133
GIGANTIC ANT-HILL. From a water-colour drawing by W.
E. Oates 135
WOODEN VESSEL. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 138
SALT PAN, BAMANGWATO. From a water-colour drawing by
W. E. Oates 147
CHURCH AND MISSION STATION, SHOSHONG, BAMANGWATO.
From a water-colour drawing by W. E. Oates 149
“ROCK” AND “RAIL.” Drawn by Charles Whymper 160
WATTLED STARLING (_Dilophus carunculatus_). From a drawing
by W. E. Oates 171
NATIVE BUILDING, SHASHE RIVER. From a water-colour drawing
by Frank Oates 176
KLIPSPRINGER (_Oreotragus saltatrix_). From a sketch by
Frank Oates 195
VERREAUX’S WHYDAH BIRD (_Vidua Verreauxi_), AND THE
SHAFT-TAILED WHYDAH BIRD (_Vidua regia_). From
a drawing by W. E. Oates _To face page 220_
BLUE WILDEBEEST (_Catoblepas taurina_). From a drawing by
W. E. Oates 228
CAMP IN THE VELDT. From a water-colour drawing by Frank
Oates 230
AFRICAN DWARF GOOSE (_Nettapus auritus_). From a drawing
by W. E. Oates 243
WOODEN PILLOW. From a drawing by W. E. Oates 252
VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI (THE OUTLET). From a water-colour
drawing by Frank Oates 256
“RAIL.” From a Photograph 271
COLOURED PLATES.
PLATE.
(APPENDIX.)
A. SAXICOLA SHELLEYI. Drawn by J. G. Keulemans _To face page_ 328
B. BRADYORNIS OATESII. Drawn by J. G. Keulemans „ 328
C. CORONELLA TRITÆNIA. Drawn by R. Mintern „ 330
D. DRYIOPHIS OATESII. Drawn by R. Mintern „ 330
E-H. NEW AND REMARKABLE INSECTS. From drawings
by Professor Westwood „ 364
J. ANTHERICUM OATESII. From drawings by W. H. Fitch „ 368
K. ADIANTUM OATESII. From drawings by W. H. Fitch „ 368
MAPS.
ROUTE FROM SHOSHONG TO TATI _To face page_ 23
ROUTE FROM TATI TO THE UMGWANYA RIVER „ 43
ROUTE FROM TATI TO THE VICTORIA FALLS „ 173
GENERAL MAP OF SOUTH-EASTERN AFRICA _At end._
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.”
[Illustration: PRETORIA, TRANSVAAL.]
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.
[Illustration: HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL.]
[Illustration: BOER’S FARM, HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL.]
“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.
[Illustration: GAME ON THE HIGH VELDT, TRANSVAAL.]
“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.
[Illustration: LIMPOPO OR CROCODILE RIVER.]
“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.
[Illustration: SNUFF-BOXES MADE FROM GOURDS.]
[Illustration: Map of M^R. F. OATES’S ROUTE from SHOSHONG to
TATI
Drawn from his own observations
_London: C. Kegan Paul & Co._]
CHAPTER II.
The journey resumed--Halt on the Seruli--Bushmen on the
Gokwe--The Shashe--The Tati settlement--Adventure with a
lion--W. E. Oates returns to the coast; particulars of his
journey.
Frank Oates left Bamangwato on the 7th of August, and the following
day joined his brother, who had been waiting for him a little way out
of the town. In the evening the Makalapsi River was reached, where
were a number of Dutchmen just returned from hunting on the Motloutsi,
to the north of the Limpopo. They had got a number of rhinoceros,
but no elephant. Continuing their journey the following morning, and
subsequently crossing the Touani and Lotsani Rivers, the brothers
reached the Palatswe River on the 12th. “The scenery here,” writes
Frank Oates, “is very pretty. A row of low kopjes on the right, with
large stones piled on one another, forms a natural terrace to the
eastward, from which you look over a sea of green bush, with a few
kopjes standing out from the midst.” Here goat’s milk was brought in a
large tortoise-shell from a kraal somewhere near, and exchanged for a
small piece of tobacco. Most of the natives carried guns, and game was
scarce and wild.
Starting again the ensuing evening, and continuing their journey during
the following day, they arrived early on the morning of the 15th at
the Seruli River, where a water-pit, sunk in the dry sandy bed of the
river, was found for watering the oxen. Here were a party of natives,
living in the bush, hunting. They were said to be Bushmen. One of
their number, who came to the waggon the following day, looked very
striking--a leopard-skin thrown gracefully over his well-formed person,
and a necklace of large lavender beads round his neck. Four days were
spent by the brothers at the Seruli, whence they proceeded on their
journey on the evening of the 19th, making a halt about midnight. From
this point Frank Oates’s Journal takes up the story for the next few
days--till their arrival at the Shashe on the 24th--as follows:--
“_August 20th._--Have coffee, and hear the monotonous call of
the night-hawk, as we rest and let the cattle feed. W. called my
attention yesterday, at close of day, to another (a clucking) note,
which he says proceeds from the hornbill. We have been living, whilst
at the Seruli, on ostrich eggs. Fried with a little meal is the best
way we have had them, or made into a pudding with maizena. They are
strong, unless nicely cooked. Started again at 2.30 A.M.,
and trekked for three hours. Horned moon and bright morning star in
the east; horizon dark against the sky, already glowing with the pale
orange of approaching morning, fading into the dark violet of the upper
firmament. Notes of birds are heard. What a loss not to be able to
appreciate beautiful things, as must be the case with our men, and how
much less they affect me even than they used to do, when I seemed to
find the world more full of hope and high ends to be attained than it
looks now.
“Inspanned again about 8, and crossed the dry bed of a large stream,
which continued to keep near the road on the right. It was full of
sand, with plenty of bush and trees about it. Francolins abundant,
also hornbills, and many other birds in numbers, so I think there
must be water somewhere in it, or very near. Reached the Gokwe about
noon, having gone nine miles. The trek was a slow one, and part of it
being when the sun was getting high, the oxen were tired. Found good
francolin shooting where we passed the last spur of the range along
the river, and where we outspanned; sand-grouse coming to drink in
the evening at the latter place. There was fresh giraffe spoor where
we crossed the ‘spruit’[10] by the kopjes, and further on fresh lion
spoor.... The people at the Gokwe are a sort of outcast race under the
Basutos, called Bushmen. Men, women, and children came to the waggon.
They have fine pack-oxen. They live in the bush, Hendrik says, having
a sort of temporary abode near the bed of the river to the left of the
road. They were ornamented with beads, and had on necklaces of blue
cut ones and skins. They always ask for tobacco, making signs that
they want snuff. They are hunting here. They brought ostrich eggs,
exchanging them for a cheap knife, mirror, or handkerchief. I had great
difficulty in buying an ostrich feather for about three or four pounds
of lead. They wanted a whole bar, and on no other terms would bring
more feathers.
“_August 21st._--Calm day, after a very windy night.... Started at
7.15 P.M., and went about seven miles, crossing two spruits,
and outspanned for the night about 11.
“_August 22d._--Cool morning. Trekked from 6.30 to 10 A.M., the
road twisting a good deal; say seven miles.... Stopped to rest, and
inspanned again about 4 P.M., the road now winding through stony crags,
and numbers of kopjes appearing to our right, to our left, and in
front. Going a fair pace. Crossed the dry bed of the Seribi, apparently
a very large river. Deep descent, sand very heavy, banks of river
picturesquely wooded. We had seen lots of fresh lion spoor on the road
before crossing the Seribi, and on this side I see more. Delicious
fragrance from a sort of sallow-like blossom. Later, approaching the
Motloutsi, we saw large numbers of sand-grouse flying both towards us
and the opposite way--to and from the water. Finished trekking about
7, but did not outspan till much later, as when we entered the broad
bed of the Motloutsi we stuck in the deep sand, and made many fruitless
efforts to get out before outspanning. There was a little pool of water
at which the oxen drank, and which the grouse resorted to. The sand
around it was covered with feathers of birds.
“Sunset scene very lovely. In the foreground, brown bushes. Two little
violet kopjes appear against the sky, behind one of which the sun has
set. A lovely rose hue, deepest around the position of the sun, is
on the horizon; this fades into violet, and this again into a pale
greenish blue. Some very small, clearly defined, deep violet clouds,
edged with gold, stand out from the sky.
[Illustration: DOUBLE-BANDED SAND-GROUSE.--_Pterocles
bicinctus._]
“_August 23d._--Before daybreak the little sand-grouse were
flying round, and a few settled to drink. I did not disturb them. The
Motloutsi is a large river, with a very sandy bed, and here and there
large rocks, and a twisting course. Hendrik says all these sandy rivers
become dry or nearly so in winter. Both yellow and cream-coloured
acacia blossoms very beautiful and sweet. Pleasant breeze where W.’s
waggon is outspanned, mine being hot in the river-bed. Some people
came here, but had neither eggs nor feathers for sale. As usual they
carry muskets. It is a wonder they find anything to shoot, as they
seem to be spread all over the country. At the Gokwe we were told that
the Bamangwato hunters were hunting about in that district, but could
get nothing. At this time of year the people seem to come out to hunt
from all the kraals, leaving only those unfit for that work at home.
A giraffe was killed near here by some Bushmen, who gave us meat in
exchange for tobacco. When out this morning I saw some kind of melon,
which at first looked like ostrich-eggs, growing by the river-bed--the
kind, I think, which the oxen eat in times of drought.
“_August 24th._--Trekked for three hours, then rested, and
started again at 11 A.M.... Reached the Shashe about two,
and outspanned. We had come extremely slow; sun hot, sand heavy, road
bad, bullocks tired. Ground broken and stony, and falling towards
the Shashe. Many crags crop up around, and in front of us are some
kopjes--Hendrik says where the Tati is. The Shashe is a very broad
river, all deep sand, with water in one place where it has been dug
for, both for cattle and people. We enlarge the hole (hard work under
the heat of the sun), and let the cattle drink.... There is an old
Bushman here, destitute and alone. He says the Mungwato men took his
gun. The other side of the river, he says, is under Lobengula, this
under Sekomi, and Hendrik says the Makalakas are not independent,
all here belonging to the Matabele and Mungwato sovereignties. These
Bushmen are, I suppose, the original inhabitants. Hendrik says they are
slaves to the others. They certainly are outcasts. This man does not
beg, takes what is given him, and lies naked with his head on a stone
by the fire at night. He has no blanket.... Watched the Bushman make
his fire with two sticks. He took off his sandals, placed a stick on
one of them, and holding it firm with his foot, twisted the other stick
rapidly between both hands, working it in a little hollow of the first
stick, till black dust began to form. This soon turned red-hot, and
there was fire like that in a pipe.”
Continuing their journey on the 26th, the brothers reached the Tati
the same evening, where a small English settlement of a few huts has
collected round the gold mines, which are being worked by Sir John
Swinburne. “There is nothing remarkable in the scenery here,” writes
Frank Oates soon after their arrival; “a few kopjes only, with low
scrub and trees. Everything is very much dried up. The river is broad,
with deep sand in its bed. Yesterday Nelson[11] gave me a live fish,
four or five inches long, something like a perch. He says they live in
the sand now. Water is got by digging in the river’s bed.... The veldt
where we are outspanned,” he concludes, “is quite ploughed up with the
spoor of elephants which used to come here five years ago, and have
been found quite near here since.”
At this point Frank Oates and his brother remained a few days before
separating, and on the 29th the former wrote home the following letter,
giving some account of his future plans, and adding some particulars to
his experiences above related:--
“... When we left Bamangwato,” he writes, “whence I last wrote, Buckley
and Gilchrist went on with W. I followed two or three days later,
having been busy seeing people and making arrangements. I soon picked
W. up, who was waiting for me, the others having gone on in advance--of
course, as we thought, to Tati. We, however, met a trader with a note
from Buckley saying they had turned off at the Seruli River.... We have
been here now two or three days, and to-night Buckley and Gilchrist
arrived, having abandoned their new route.
“The road we have come crosses a number of sandy river-beds.
These rivers are large streams in summer, but are now dry, except
occasionally there is a little pool in some, or water may be sometimes
obtained by digging. This tract of country through which we have come
is called by the Dutch the ‘thirst land,’ and is now at its worst. On
our return it will no doubt be easy enough to cross, but now it is hard
work, especially for the oxen. We trek about three hours at a time,
doing perhaps seven or eight miles in a trek. Generally two treks are
enough in the twenty-four hours, one in the morning and one in the
evening, but in going through the ‘thirst’ we have to push on and trek
as much by night as possible.
[Illustration: TATI SETTLEMENT.]
“I was in advance of W. when I reached the Shashe, and, as it happened,
had then only one man, Hendrik, my black servant, with me; for my
driver and his boy had decamped, though they afterwards returned--as
of course they were likely to do--the same evening. They will not have
their wages paid till they return to Maritzburg, and then not unless
they have behaved properly, and they would have had a miserable time
if they had actually deserted me. Hendrik can drive, and knowing, as
I did, the hold I had on the others and the folly of giving way, I
let them go, telling them the sooner they left me the better, and the
result of this treatment proved satisfactory. The difference originated
in the driver asking me for tobacco when I told him to inspan, and
refusing to comply till I had supplied him, which of course I would
not do, as I treat them quite liberally enough, and indeed too well.
Hendrik was a little poorly at the time, but behaved very well, and we
reached the Shashe, where we dug for water.
“Being rather tired, we returned to the waggon after watering the oxen,
without driving them away from the river first, which I know now we
ought to have done on account of lions, but I have never yet thought it
necessary to take such precautions except at night, when we tie them
up and light fires. Soon after reaching the waggon I heard the loud
cries of an ox in distress, and exclaiming to Hendrik that I thought
a lion must be the cause, locked up my medicine chest, from which I
was taking medicine for Hendrik, and seized my gun. Hendrik followed
me, and we both ran to the river. As we peered over the bank, there
we saw the ox, the largest and fattest in my span, lying in the grass
at the bottom of the bank with a lion tearing him. He was only a few
yards below me, and before I could distinguish the lion properly as it
lay upon his prostrate form, the brute leapt off the ox and retreated
across the river. I fired as he ran, and hit him hard, for he rolled
over, and I ought to have given him the second barrel at once, but
thinking him mortally wounded, I hesitated a moment, and in the next
he had disappeared in the dry reeds. I did not like to follow him at
once, and Hendrik would not accompany me, but tried to dissuade me from
following him at all. However, in about half-an-hour I went in search
of the brute, but never found it, and do not know what became of it.[12]
“I have yet been brought very little into contact with wild beasts, and
have had few stirring incidents, but I have been pretty fully employed
one way or another, and continue to persevere in my journey. I found on
reaching here that it was too late to go to the Victoria Falls without
risk of sickness, in which case I had long before decided to travel
in a north-easterly direction to Mosilikatze’s country, the country of
the Matabele, over whom Lobengula, son of Mosilikatze, now reigns. I am
told I shall see some very beautiful scenery on my way there, and I am
now interested in pursuing my journey as far as I can. From here to the
King’s Town they call six days, but it will probably take me more.
“Here I have met two very nice fellows. One of them, Nelson, a Swede,
is managing the mine of the Tati Gold Company. It is on a very small
scale, and there are, I think, only seven white men here altogether.
Brown, the other I refer to, has also some office connected with the
mine, and keeps a store. They are both extremely kind, and willing
to do anything to help one, and I expect to find more friends at the
King’s Town--especially Mr. Thomson, the missionary, for whom I have
a letter from Mr. Mackenzie, and another from Mr. Hepburn. I likewise
carry the mail.
“A flower is almost an unheard-of thing at present, everything
being dried up; but the thorny shrubs (mimosas), with their yellow
sweet-scented blossoms, are an exception, and a sign of approaching
spring. The shrubs they grow on are covered with long sharp thorns,
and there are no leaves on them, but blossoms are appearing. There is
another kind with hooked thorns and whitish sallow-scented blossoms,
which attain the size of a good-sized English fruit-tree. The thorns
which defend nearly every tree here are a great impediment in
travelling through the bush.
“The nights are now cool, though not so sharp as they were a while ago.
The thermometer seldom falls much below 50°. It is coolest just before
sunrise. At mid-day and in the afternoon it gets considerably above 80°
in the shade, in fact I should set the point reached at nearer 90°. As
I sit writing in my tent, I hear the engine working--an odd sound up in
these remote regions.”
Three days later, September 2d, W. E. Oates supplements this letter:--
“I am just adding a line to the above, to leave it before I go. Frank
left the day before yesterday, to go to the King’s Town. The king
(Lobengula) is the great nigger chief here, and behaves very well to
all white men. I am staying with Buckley and Gilchrist, and we are now
going to the Shashani River, about five days’ journey. I think Frank
will be all right. He has a Cape Colony black man with him, who knows
this country well, and speaks excellent English.[13] He was up here
with Sir John Swinburne, who owns the gold-mine, so I am not afraid for
Frank if he takes care of himself....
“The country here is regularly burnt up now, and will continue so till
the rains fall in November. The river is nothing but a dry bed of sand,
with a little pool of water in it about three miles off--the only
water near for miles. You may imagine the luxury of a bath, under such
circumstances, out of the question. There are two men here who have
been very kind, one sending us milk twice a day--and, I can assure you,
milk is exceedingly scarce. The country is most uninteresting; nothing
to see but thick bush, composed chiefly of low thorn-trees with immense
spikes, which hold you fast if you get amongst them.
“The only pleasant part of the day is from sunrise (about half-past
six) to half-past eight. After that, the less you do the better until 5
P.M., when it is moderately cool again. At half-past six it is
dark. The flies are a perfect plague all day, and get into everything.
Towards the end of October there are some heavy thunder showers, and
then summer begins, but the regular rains don’t fall until November.
There are great numbers of hyænas and jackals, which prowl about the
waggons all night. Last night one of Buckley’s oxen was ill, and the
hyænas knowing it attacked him, and this morning we found they had
actually eaten part of him alive. Of course the poor brute had to be
shot. Unfortunately the hyæna escaped, though fired at by Buckley’s
driver. The people are very glad when anybody shoots these animals,
as they are constantly killing goats, and sometimes oxen. They are,
however, so wary, that it is difficult to get them.
“Mr. Nelson, the manager of the mine, lent us some newspapers up to the
24th of May, the latest news we have seen from England. He also sent
me a small bottle of beer, worth about five shillings here. Nelson is
getting the king, Lobengula, some furniture from England, as he told
the latter that a king ought not to sit on the ground. Lobengula’s
country extends from here to the Zambesi, and he is an absolute despot,
having the lives of all his people in his own hands. They say if one of
the Matabele is found stealing from a white man he has him executed.”
Soon after writing the above, W. E. Oates left Tati in company with
Messrs. Gilchrist and Buckley, to hunt on the Semokwe River, where
they had very good sport. Returning thence in due time to the coast,
they took the same route as that by which they had travelled north,
the change of season, however, from winter to summer producing,
as they returned, a remarkable change in the entire aspect of the
country. By the end of October they were back at Bamangwato, and
reached Pietermaritzburg on the 2d of January. A few extracts from W.
E. Oates’s letters, written as they proceeded, may here be read with
interest. He writes first from Bamangwato on November 3d as follows:--
“I arrived here with Buckley and Gilchrist about a week since, and
shall probably make a start for Pretoria to-night. The spring has now
commenced, and the grass is beginning to grow. There have been heavy
thunderstorms, and the lightning is wonderful, never ceasing for a
moment during the storms. The heat also is very great.... There has
just been a row here. The old chief’s eldest son has left the place,
and nearly the whole of Mungwato went with him. The chief himself,
Sekomi, is still here, and often comes down to the waggons begging. He
got quite drunk the other night, and tumbled under my waggon. We had to
see him home. He thinks his son means to kill him. He himself killed
two or three of his own brothers when he came to be chief, but his two
eldest sons are both Christians, and Mackenzie thinks Sekomi is in
no danger from them.... There are some nice flowers of the lily sort
sprung up since the rain began, but very few flowers of other kinds
yet. The rains, however, have only just commenced, and we shall have
all the summer heat going down.”
Again, from Pretoria, he writes on December 5th:--
“I got here on the 2d instant, and great was my delight on
receiving letters from home--the first I have had since leaving
Pietermaritzburg.... It seems quite strange to be in a civilized place
again. It is very pretty here now, just the height of summer. We are
indulging in fruit and vegetables, eggs and milk, to all of which we
have long been strangers. The peaches are hardly ripe yet, but apricots
are to be bought for a shilling a hundred.... In coming from Mungwato
we had to stop a week at the Meriko, as the river was very high with
the rains and we couldn’t cross. I had some thoughts of taking my
waggon in pieces, and floating the things across on rafts, but the
water kept subsiding, and at last we got over, the water only just
taking the oxen off their feet. In dry weather there is hardly any
water, but after the rains the river gets tremendously swollen, and
there are very steep banks. Whilst waiting there Dawnay[14] came up
with two waggons. He has been out two years, and been to the Victoria
Falls. He says it would be worth walking from Durban to see them. He
showed me some little sketches he had made, but said it was almost
impossible to draw on account of the flies. The tsetse-fly, which kills
everything except men, wild beasts, and donkeys, swarms there, and
bites so furiously that your hands and face are puffed up in no time.
He describes the scenery on the Zambesi as lovely.
[Illustration: BOERS’ FARMS, CROCODILE RIVER.]
“The country is much prettier now than it was when we went up. The
grass has sprung up and is quite green, and all the trees are in
leaf. The Transvaal, from the Crocodile River here, is beautiful. All
along the banks of the river are farms, belonging to the Dutch Boers,
surrounded with orange and peach trees. At most of these you can now
get milk, butter, and eggs. We have had heavy thunderstorms, which,
seen at night, are most gorgeous; lightning all round, all colours, and
darting in all directions at the same moment. It is just like a display
of fireworks. It is much cooler now than we have lately had it, the
thermometer seldom being above 90° in the shade, and the last few days
there has been a nice breeze.
“My Kafir driver, who came up with me from Maritzburg, ran away
when we were staying at the Meriko, and Bell and I had to drive the
waggon down here. Fortunately they are very good oxen, so there has
been no difficulty, and I have managed to get another driver here.
Bullock-driving is quite a business in itself, and a very difficult
thing in the bush with refractory beasts. This fellow, Solomon, stole
a horse which we had found straying. It belonged to the old chief at
Mungwato, and when I was going to hand the horse over to a Dutchman,
whom Sekomi had authorised to take charge of the horse if he found him,
Solomon went to the waggon where he was tied up, jumped on him, and
galloped away. He will probably be caught, as the horse is well known.
“A ‘salted,’ or seasoned, horse is worth a great deal, as there is a
sickness in the bush which is generally fatal to horses which are not
‘salted.’ It commences when the rains begin to fall. I much regretted
losing my little horse. I was told, when I got him, he was salted, but
he died after a few hours’ illness. There is no cure known for it. He
was looking beautiful; his coat shone like satin, and he was getting
quite fat with the young grass and some corn which I got for him at
Mungwato. The oxen are thriving tremendously, and, since the grass has
grown, from wretched skeletons they have become regular Tichbornes.
“I shall write to you again from Maritzburg, if there is a ship sailing
before I go, for I expect I shall have to stay a fortnight or three
weeks there, to sell the waggon, oxen, etc.... I mean to trek to-night
when the moon gets up. We get into the high veldt now, where there is
no bush. My waggon looks very seedy, the cover torn in many places by
mimosa bushes, and the paint worn off. It is infested with beetles, and
occasionally a lizard or scorpion is detected. Ants, too, occasionally
pay me visits, to which I greatly object, as they bite uncommonly hard
in this country. At night, if you are outspanned near water and have
a lanthorn in the waggon, the candle is put out by numberless little
beetles which creep in; and the frogs literally yell all night long. It
is very pretty to see the fire-flies.”
On January 2d, as already stated, W. E. Oates reached
Pietermaritzburg, where he found the heat very intense. Three weeks
later he sailed from Durban, accompanied by Mr. Gilchrist, and landed
in England early in the following March.
[Illustration: SOUTH AFRICAN WART
HOG.--_Phacochærus æthiopicus._]
CHAPTER III.
Frank Oates proceeds to the King’s Town--Crosses the
Ramaqueban--Dutch hunters on the Impakwe--The Inkwesi;
picturesque scenery--John Lee’s farm--Manyami’s kraal--The
Shashani--Fine country--Kumala River.
Returning now to follow Frank Oates’s journey to the King’s Town,
Gubuleweyo, we find the greater portion of his route described at some
length in his Journal. Leaving the Tati, as has been mentioned, on
the 31st of August, and advancing slowly, he crossed the Ramaqueban,
Impakwe, and Inkwesi Rivers, and reached John Lee’s farm on September
6th. This John Lee is a noted Dutchman, who farms a large tract of
country under the king. From here proceeding after a night’s rest
on his journey, he was detained four days at Manyami’s kraal, a few
miles further on, till leave had been obtained for him from the king
to complete the distance, Gubuleweyo being reached by the middle of
September. The Journal of this period is as follows:--
[Illustration: Map of M^R. F. OATES’S ROUTE from TATI to the
UMGWANYA RIVER Drawn from his own observations
London: C. Kegan Paul & Co.]
“_August 31st._--... Left Tati in the evening. About midnight,
whilst trekking, Hendrik calls me, saying that the bullocks which are
being driven can’t be got on, but keep going into the bush. ‘Donker’
and ‘Wildeman,’ too (the little red wild ox), are getting tired.
This is miserable work, and I wish I had brought more bullocks from
Mungwato, as I could so well have done, and a far lighter waggon. It
is a mild, pleasant, breezy night, and as we outspan, and ‘Rail’ and
‘Rock’ come up in their couples, I am reminded of our first trekking on
the high veldt, when we were together in force, starting with a good
equipment and high hopes. This is an open space where we outspan, with
long grass.
“_September 1st._--Mild, cloudy morning.... I had been much
discouraged by the oxen being so tired last night, and this morning
was pleased to find ourselves arrive at the Ramaqueban River at least
an hour sooner than I had hoped. Petersen’s waggon was on the opposite
side.[15] However, we stuck in the drift. Poor ‘Weiman,’ with his blind
eye, was in front, and proved awkward, and little ‘Vinal’ lay down.
Petersen, however, sent his driver and two good oxen, and we came out
easily and had breakfast. Here some Dutchmen squatted last season to
hunt, and took the fever--men, women, and children. Petersen says about
half-a-dozen of them died. He thinks it was in January. The trees along
the river’s bed show a faint budding of green, as I have now seen for
some time. The girl who came with us to Tati was travelling on with
Petersen, and her brother had come on with us last night to join her.
The cool breeze to-day was very pleasant. Petersen’s boys had dug for
water. Petersen went on, as he usually makes one short trek during the
day. I followed in the evening, and shortly after midnight crossed the
drift of the Impakwe and outspanned. There seems plenty of water in
the river. Barking of dogs; encampment of Dutch hunters. Petersen had
turned in. Part of this trek was through a somewhat sandy country, but
on the whole we are on a much firmer road than we were before reaching
Tati. Pitched into marmalade; it is wonderful how much one enjoys
such things here, where the coffee is without milk, the bread without
butter, and the meat dry as chips.
“_September 2d._--Pleasant breeze. Petersen called me. I find I
am likely to have great luck. Here lives the Dutchman whose family
suffered so much from fever on the Ramaqueban. He has built a straw
hut, cool, roomy, and snug, with a higher entrance than the Kafir huts,
but shaped like them. His wife and family are with him, his eldest
married daughter, and members of the next generation. He has cattle
and goats, does his own blacksmith’s work, and hunts. They go as soon
as the unhealthy season begins to John Lee’s. They intend, in four
years I think, to return to their farm on the Meriko. Petersen acted
as interpreter, and it is arranged that I wait for the Dutchman, who
intends going to-morrow in my direction to get wood and hunt. He will
lend me some oxen. I believe it is nothing but the brackish water,
especially the Seruli water, that has made such a mess of my oxen. The
Dutchman says there is plenty of game along the road.... Noticed when
out in the afternoon, and we crossed the river-bed, how easily the
water rose, when one of the boys scooped out a hole with his hands;
very different from the dry river-beds the other side Tati.
“_September 3d._--Morning felt very chilly. Breakfast on
‘biltong’[16] and butter; the fresh butter excellent. We branded
and left ‘Rondeberg,’ ‘Engeland,’ and ‘Vinal.’ The Boer put twelve
of his bullocks into my waggon, eight of mine in his, and ‘Donker,’
‘Wildeman,’ and ‘Spot’ were driven.... Trekked about twelve miles, from
the Impakewe to the Inkwesi River, and outspanned about 6 P.M.
“_September 4th._--Cup of coffee, and went out about 8 A.M., I and the
old man riding, his son walking ahead, and two of their men (Makalakas)
accompanying us.... I do not admire the Matabele particularly. They
are independent-looking and well made, but I do not like their
countenances. The day following there were a great many about the
waggons, attracted by the flesh. They eat like dogs, greedily. Beyond
this river, which the Dutchman calls Makobi’s, there was a tribe
of Mungwato people massacred some thirty or forty years ago by the
Matabele; Makobi, the chief, being amongst the slain. They were
killed--men, women, and children--to obtain possession of their land. A
few only escaped.
“The scenery about our camp is picturesque. The kopjes rise abruptly,
and the river has steep craggy banks. There is an approach here to
American scenery. What a wonderful difference is made in one’s feelings
by the constant impression caused by fine scenery! South Africa is
sadly dull and monotonous, and I believe the influence is a bad one,
and the loss of scenery has a depressing effect on the spirits; one’s
imagination is never called into play.... I still admire the scenery,
as we ride along home amongst the kopjes by the river. Here and there
the large fleshy-leaved shrub,[17] standing boldly out amongst the bare
crags, is very striking. There is something here which might remind one
a little of Central America, but somehow the charm is wanting.
“_September 5th._--... Inspanned at 7 P.M., and crossed the river.
Stony and deep descent and ascent, with very deep sand; very hard
work. I feel deeply indebted to the Dutchmen, who not only helped us
through it--the young fellow driving, and the old one helping--but,
having lent us four oxen for the journey, sent for some more, to help
us through this drift, after which they say all is right. Lovely moon
as we trekked, but after all it is South Africa, and one cannot feel
poetical. Picturesque kopjes on either side the road; the scenery,
however, not so striking as it was almost beginning to be at Makobi’s.
Outspanned at 10.30 P.M., having gone about six miles. Excellent supper
on wildebeest steak, fried.
“_September 6th._--Dark cloudy morning, with a little rain. Started
at 7 A.M., and trekked six miles. The country where we stopped had
been much burnt, and looked very desolate, with bare ground and bare
trees, but there was a fine cool wind and a cloudy sky. I could fancy
it a sea breeze. They say at the king’s place you get the sea breeze.
Started again at 12.30 P.M. Here one enters on a bit of really fine
rugged country. Out of the level, scantily covered with dry brown grass
and with a thick growth of leafless trees (small for the most part),
rise huge boulders, so piled on one another, with here and there a huge
stone so nicely balanced on the top, that one wonders how they ever got
there. We are in a populous country, strings of people carrying things
on the road. Outspanned at 2.30 P.M. Here the Dutchman, Smith, had
been located, as there is a straw house, and water, the road crossing
a spruit. Here, too, is John Lee’s first kraal. People come round the
waggon to beg meat. One is a warrior, handsomely adorned with black
ostrich feathers and white ox-tails. Went on again at 5 P.M., the
ground rising a little. Then as we descend a range of kopjes appears
in front. In about an hour a pretty white farm is seen to the right,
towards which the road winds, and the wild view makes the farm seem to
welcome one.
“Lee came to meet me, and asked me in. He is a fat, red-faced man; his
wife very young. His house had an air of comfort, and some luxury about
it, owing to some handsome leopard karosses on couch and chairs. There
was a picture, too, by Baines, of Lee shooting three elephants. The
horse here represented, which I think cost him £100, was the making
of him, he tells me. Lee was a Transvaal Boer, but speaks English. He
was about five years hunting. I had supper with him, and a long chat
afterwards. Garland, he says, lost seven unsalted horses, and had to
send for two salted ones. A good salted horse costs £100. Lee described
how his old favourite used to snuff when game was near, and when it
was elephant his manner was unmistakable. He has tried donkeys in the
tsetse-fly country, but the fly has always killed them. He says all
horses, with scarcely an exception, must have the sickness, but he has
known an exception. This, however, does not apply to stock bred of
salted parents, which often live and never have the sickness. This is
better, as the sickness breaks a horse down.
“Lee has just sold twelve red oxen--Africanders, with white faces--for
£100, unwillingly. His other oxen are all in the hunting veldt. He
has, however, let me have Smith’s as far as Manyami’s, with a boy
to bring them back. I think he calls it ten miles to Manyami’s, and
from his (Lee’s) house to the King’s fifty odd miles. He says he saw
some eland to-day, but game is not plentiful just here. However, it
is worse along the road to the King’s, as kraals abound. Lee does not
wish to have kraals near him, and the king does not permit any to be
made in his neighbourhood. Most of the hunters, he says, make a great
deal of money, but spend their money as fast as they get it, saying,
‘There is more ivory where this came from.’ Lee himself was careful.
His place, he says, is very healthy, and it has got so good a name
that in unhealthy times people stay about here, and it has been like
a town, so that he opened a store. He is trying peaches, apricots,
and pomegranates. Potatoes grow well here, and he is seldom without
vegetables. He is trying several wild fruits. He has always water in
the spruit close by, and waters by hand. He showed me a small wild
grape.
“Lee tells me that a lion may often be stopped by throwing your hat at
him, when you may have time to shoot. He says an elephant gun should
never be longer than 27 inches (25 is better), nor weigh over 9 lbs.
He shoots 8 drams of powder, and an 8 to the lb. ball. The recoil is
avoided by the barrel being strong, and nearly as thick at muzzle as at
breech. His clothing in hunting is as light as possible; veldt schoen,
and he says not even a shirt if he could help it. He carries needles
and thread in his hat.
“For trading with the Matabele he recommends white, blue, and, I think,
red beads. Selampore is much liked, or strips of coloured calico.
Beads, he says, seem going out, and printed calico being preferred.
The Matabele country, he says, was formerly under a queen. There were,
I think, other queens before. An old man has told him the traditions,
which he possesses. A famine caused the people to break up; then
Kafirs came and conquered the country. Mosilikatze came next, and
conquered these first Kafirs. Makobi’s were Mungwato people, but the
old inhabitants of the Matabele country were a distinct race with a
distinct language. The Bushmen have nothing to do with either. They
seem an altogether different race, speaking a different language, and
seem, Lee says, to be scattered all over the country of South Africa, a
race apart from the regular inhabitants, and having no connexion with
them.
“Lee has a young sable antelope, which goes with the cattle, about a
year old. It is a rich deep chestnut colour. Lee says they get darker
every year, till they become black. He once had a young elephant for
some days; perhaps nine months old. He describes it as having been a
most sensible and amusing pet. When first taken he made it put its
trunk under his arm, and after smelling him, it was satisfied and
became friendly. It always first smelt at strangers before making
friends, and if once repulsed would not be friendly afterwards. It
would climb in at the back of the waggon, and out at the front by the
wheels, and was accompanying the waggon when it died from diarrhœa,
caused by improper food. It would pick up a pin or a needle, placing it
first with its foot at the right angle for its trunk to grasp, and then
hold it up and examine it with wonderful sagacity. It was excessively
mischievous, and would upset everything. It could not bear to be left
alone for a moment, and would cry like a child in such a case. The
company even of a little child would content it.
“_September 7th._--Breakfast with Lee; dinner also. One of his boys
caught some barbel and a curious-looking fish in the river. Talked
with Lee, and afterwards saw his garden. Inspanned about 8 P.M., and
soon crossed a river with sand and reeds, and a good deal of water
in its bed. It was a fine moonlight night, the road winding through
picturesque kopjes. Went about six miles, and then halted for the night.
“_September 8th._--Started at 7 A.M., and went four miles through flat
land, with but few trees, and hemmed in by craggy, bush-covered kopjes.
Came in sight of cultivated land and natives, and reached Manyami’s
kraal at 9 A.M. The country here is really pretty, and presents a
pleasing variety to the eye. The ground is open mostly, and covered
with long yellow grass; here and there groups of trees, some of a very
fair size, some bare, some brown, and a few green or in blossom. Large
stones crop up from the ground, and everywhere rugged kopjes rise round
us.
[Illustration: MANYAMI.]
[Illustration: MANYAMI’S ATTENDANT.]
“Soon after our arrival Manyami came, attended by another old fellow,
each in a shabby old hat, and vying with each other in squalor and
dirt. He refused firmly to send to the king till to-morrow, saying
the king had not sent for _me_, but I had come of my own accord,
and must not be in a hurry; the oxen could feed and rest. I gave him
a bar of lead. Two messengers were to be sent, and I wrote a note to
Fairbairn for oxen, and the boy was directed to bring them back.[18]
Manyami insisted on their being paid beforehand, and intimated that
they might not carry out their message properly unless I paid them. I
was angry at their exorbitance, one demanding two coils of wire; to the
other I gave half a bar of lead. The old fellow hung about begging.
Women brought mealies and Kafir corn. Milk and beer were also brought,
and I told them to bring Kafir corn meal next day, which they did,
but were very fanciful in their demands, one wanting beads, another
must have brass wire, another a handkerchief, and so on. I find they
don’t care for mirrors; look at themselves, and are highly amused, but
refuse them as payment. Common knives are likewise refused, but gun
caps taken eagerly. They like printed calico better than white, which
they affect to despise. The outcry was for long strips of coloured
stuff, and they preferred the quarter of two handkerchiefs (i.e. half
a handkerchief in quantity), cut lengthwise, to one whole one. Stayed
about waggon all day. Pitched tent, and got things out.
“_September 9th._--The night had been very mild. Old Manyami came
bothering early. In the course of the day he kept on coming, and I gave
him twenty gun caps. Wonder of wonders, he afterwards presented me with
a pumpkin, and I felt less hostile to the old creature. He is really a
miserable-looking, ugly, and filthy creature. Stayed about waggon again
to-day.
“_September 10th._--Early breakfast, and then out with the Kafirs
to shoot. One carried my ten-bore, one led the dogs, which I am taking
out to help to hunt. Went in a north-easterly direction, through very
fine picturesque kopjes, with blue distant ranges; the grass long
and yellow, and the trees grouped prettily; some kopjes with craggy
tops, and partially covered with evergreens, others showing more of
their stony formation. A good many trees are covered with bunches of
cream-coloured blossoms something like ‘May,’ but have no leaves. They
remind me a little of ‘snow-balls.’ Here and there we see a tree whose
leaves are brown or scarlet with decay. In places where the grass has
been burnt, fresh green blades are springing. There are numbers of
little burns here with moist oozy banks, and in many places with water
in them, that I suppose find their way to the Shashani. We had to go
through a burning patch of country. The flames appeared orange-red, and
presented a rather formidable phalanx, writhing in the wind, and with
wreaths of dun-coloured smoke rising from them, which indeed filled
the air with lighter clouds of the same colour, here and there the
wreaths appearing bluish, whilst a dusky haze hung over the horizon.
As the flames devoured the yellow grass, they left a blackened track
behind. The trees, however, seem to escape; some in blossom, some in
autumnal tints, but the greater portion leafless.... One of the boys
who came to the waggon had a charm of bone suspended from his breast.
It consisted of four pieces of bone, carved and strung together. By
them he professes to foretell what luck will befall a hunter or any
one else. They are unstrung and shaken in the hand, and then thrown
on the ground. The person going to hunt must spit on the ground, and
as he throws he must say, ‘My gun! may I shoot something.’ The bones,
as they are hung, appear about the size and shape of a swallow-tail
butterfly. I like the Matabele better than I did. They are good-natured
and jovial, and seem to understand a joke. There were great firings and
noises at the kraal in the evening, in honour, it appears, of a man
returned from the diamond-fields.
“_September 11th._--Fair, pleasant, windy day. Eight oxen and a note
from Fairbairn, who says I have missed a dance at Gubuleweyo. The king
says I am to come and make haste. A letter from Gubuleweyo to forward
to the Tati excites more exorbitant demands for payment. Two boys must
take it, and each have a pannikin of powder. Manyami said he must see
the powder before he would send the boys. Great noises at the kraal
again to-night.
“_September 12th._--Manyami brought a small elephant tusk for sale,
weighing a little over a pound, and asked five coils of wire for it. I
offered him two, which he accepted. He is an extremely ugly little old
man, and simply filthy. Packed the waggon and started at 11 A.M., the
road winding amongst kopjes. We crossed several spruits, and stopped at
the Shashani River about 1 P.M. Beans and guinea-fowl for dinner. Dick
went back to look for screw-jack, and we lost a trek in consequence.
“_September 13th._--Inspanned at 3 A.M.; most villainous jolting.
Really fine country here; kopjes on every side, rising into fine crags,
with huge stones strewed on the ground. In the distance more ranges of
kopjes are to be seen, becoming blue against the horizon; and though
the kopjes themselves are too stony to give growth to many trees, trees
intervene. One could make a picture here. Country a good deal burnt in
places, and fresh grass springing up green. Later in the day, after a
long rest, we went through ordinary flat bush veldt, and then through
an open undulating country, covered with yellow grass; a few trees
and detached kopjes in the distance. Passed several kraals, and went
through mealie stubble-fields, fenced from the waggon-track by branches
rudely stuck in the ground. A crowd of Kafirs, making a fearful noise,
appeared, and accompanied the waggon to where we were going to outspan,
so we went on a little further past the kraal. There was a perfect
Babel. A few men came after us when we had halted--swarthy fellows,
with splendid teeth. One had a fine leopard-skin he was anxious to
sell; others a wooden dish, beans, Kafir corn, tobacco, and beer. The
men’s head-dresses were various and becoming. One man we passed had
on a skull-cap of spotted tiger-cat skin, with feathers sticking out
behind like eagles’ or pauws’. Others wore round masses of feathers
(one was of guinea-fowls’) nearly as big as their heads, and one had a
jackal’s tail sticking straight up over his forehead. They were not at
all an unpleasant-looking or unfriendly set, though noisy and forward.
[Illustration: FEATHER HEAD-DRESS.]
“_September 14th._--Fine bright morning; clear sky. Two hours’ trekking
brought us to Kumala River, now dry, which we crossed, outspanning
a mile or two further on. The country here is open, park-like, and
undulating, extending away in a nearly level plain to the right. After
we had stopped, a number of impudent Kafirs crowded round the waggon.
One made a fearful row, at last coming to entreaties, saying we had set
the veldt on fire.
[Illustration: HEAD-DRESS OF ZEBRA-SKIN AND FEATHERS.]
“Starting again at 4 P.M., we next went over rising ground, the country
getting very clear of timber, and at half-past six stopped at a small
spruit with water in it, having crossed two previously. A long, dry,
treeless plain here stretched before us, with kopjes rising into ranges
against the horizon. It seems the spruit we are now outspanned at is
the head-waters of a river flowing into the Limpopo, and where we were
outspanned this morning is the head-waters of Kumala River, which flows
into the Zambesi.”
The day afterwards a short trek of about three miles brought the
traveller to the King’s Town, as related in the ensuing chapter.
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]
[Illustration: BIRDS’ NESTS.]
“_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.
[Illustration: THE FIRST ELEPHANT.]
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.
[Illustration: KNOB-BILLED GOOSE.--_Sarkidiornis
melanonotus._]
CHAPTER V.
Stay at Gubuleweyo--New Year’s Day--The Great Dance--Cattle
slaughtered--Departure of the king; the royal procession--A
dispute referred to him--Lobengula’s court.
Frank Oates remained at Gubuleweyo or in its immediate neighbourhood
some time--from December 5th 1873 to January 26th 1874. This was
considerably longer than he had originally intended, but he was partly
detained by the weather, which, besides being close and oppressive, was
for a long time very wet and unfavourable for travelling, and partly
that he might see the Great Dance, which took place in the early part
of January. After this some trouble with his servants still further
delayed him, as the case of one of them had to be taken before the
king. He was able, however, meantime to make some additions to his
collections of birds and other objects of natural history, though owing
to the state of the weather he attempted little hunting; indeed, near
the kraal, large game was invariably scarce and wild.
The incidents of the first part of his stay--until the end of
December--were apparently of little interest. After that came the
preparations for the Great Dance, which took place on the 8th of
January. The following day dancing was again continued, though with
much less ceremony, and the 10th was the day appointed for a state
slaughtering of cattle--one of the annual customs gone through at
this season. This over, the king took his departure next day for a
neighbouring abode of royalty. Commencing with the new year, the
entries in the traveller’s Journal, with some particulars of the above
events, stand as follows:--
“_January 1st, 1874._--Intensely hot, as yesterday was, and as they
say it will be till the rain falls. Sent bullocks to fetch wood for
making a scherm, having engaged John Jacobs and two Kafirs by the day.
Rode over to Thomson’s to dinner (two and a half miles) and lost myself
amongst the kopjes. The fine hot day and the luxuriantly green country
and rapidly-growing Indian corn make it seem more like June than New
Year’s Day to me. Petersen, Fairbairn, and Mandy went to Thomson’s in
cart, and we sat down to a most excellent dinner--roast and boiled
mutton, potatoes, cabbages, and turnips, plum-pudding, and mince-pies.
Such dinners as this and my Christmas dinner at Petersen’s are worthy
of notice, considering how few and far between they are. Pleasant
evening just before and after sunset; moon nearly full.
“_January 2d._--Fine hot day; heat, however, by no means so oppressive
as it has been for the last day or two, on account of a pleasant
breeze. Unpacked the front-box of my waggon. King called, and asked
for his bottle of brandy and some large shot. He afterwards sent a boy
for the brandy, whom I accompanied back to the king’s, and having given
the brandy and shot, offered him six muskets I had been hoping all this
time to sell him, and without any trouble got four fine elephants’
teeth for them, about 150 lbs. of ivory altogether.
[Illustration: DANCING-STICK, BOW AND ARROWS, AND
KNOB-KERRIES.]
“_January 3d._--Moonlight night--full moon, I think. Looked out early;
the moon was still gorgeously bright, and surrounded by a halo of
light in a violet sky, studded here and there also with a star. In
the east was the deep red of approaching sunrise. Morning at first
slightly overcast and tolerably cool, but the day soon became very hot,
though tempered somewhat by the wind. Decided to have a new sail made
for the waggon. Myers working at the old framework, patching it up.
Having things out of the waggon, and also out of the tent (as I was
rearranging the latter), I stayed about a good deal, not trusting John.
A lot of cheeky ‘majachas’ (warriors) about. Whilst one of them was
selling me honey, a lot came in, and I saw one abstract a knob-kerry
of rhinoceros horn from under the waggon, and throw it out of the
scherm.[27] He then ran away, seeing himself detected, but did not
go far, and afterwards came and stayed outside the scherm, asking for
a ‘tonso’ (present). However, this must have been mere bravado, as he
was too much on his guard to give me a chance of thrashing him, and
when I removed a bush for him to come in, only came in a foot or two,
and bolted when at length I approached him. I bought guinea-fowls’
eggs, some tobacco, and a dancing-stick. The second of the two sheep
bought for a cotton blanket and a shirt was killed this morning. It is
wonderful what a lump of fat the tail is. A miserable little famished
boy, who, they say, was picked up in the veldt and belongs to the
king, came into the scherm on being invited, and had food. He speaks
by nodding his head. He is a pitiable object, and coughs.... Wind rose
high at night. Mutton and guinea-fowls’ eggs for supper. There are
plenty of ‘majachas’ here now. They are everlastingly dancing. This
seems to be their whole drill.
“_January 4th._--Cool cloudy morning; a little drizzling rain. There
are caterpillars here of many very pretty varieties. Old well-known
forms both of caterpillars and moths are reproduced in this country,
with a change. The king sent me a caterpillar lately--green, with green
moss-like horny tufts; a flesh-coloured stripe on each side; on the
back a row of snow-white spots, circled with rich blue, and white spots
also along the sides. A long string of people came this morning from
Inchlangin for the dance. Macloule called on me soon after his arrival;
and again in the evening, when he asked me for a blanket, saying he had
lost a child through going with me, and had missed the time for burying
it. I sent him away till to-morrow. The day has been cloudy and cool,
but fair and delightful.
“_January 5th._--Hot day, and though there was a good deal of wind
I felt the heat. Gave Macloule a cotton blanket. Myers and Hendrik
working at my waggon sail. Took Hans, and went to king’s. Dance
going on, consisting of the men of two large kraals, forming a
circle, ‘marking time,’ and waving sticks, whilst the king, with
rhinoceros-horn knob-kerry, acted as bandmaster. There was also
singing. Nina[28] requested me to stand up and join, which I did. Every
now and then a man rushes out into the space in the middle, shaking
his shield and brandishing his assegai, enacts his fighting, and shows
how many he has killed, whilst loud shouts are raised on all sides.
The usual dress consists of a head-dress of black feathers, and a
bunch of monkeys’ tails round the loins, with white frills of ox-tails
on the arms, and (in the case of veterans I suppose) a long solitary
feather to top all, and a piece of fur round the head. The king had on
a broad-brimmed black felt hat, a huge bunch of monkeys’ skins round
his middle, and carried an Elcho sword bayonet (my present) and a
rhinoceros-horn knob-kerry. When the dancing and singing was over, the
men defiled past the king in companies, singing a monotonous but not
unmusical chorus, which they accompanied by rapping their shields with
their sticks, producing a dull heavy sound. Strings of girls bore huge
calabashes of beer, under the weight of which some of them staggered,
to the kraal. For the most part they were magnificent specimens of
shapely young Kafir women. A tall handsome girl, who has been sometimes
begging at my waggon, was a looker-on, and presented a fine picture
of a well-developed savage woman. She seemed fully aware of her own
striking appearance. A lot of old Mosilikatze’s wives sat watching.
“There is a good deal of wind to-night, and the moon is obscured by
dark gathering clouds. To-night, after I left the king, I was standing
beside a group of Kafirs cutting up the carcasses of two oxen just
killed, when the king’s dogs made a set at me. Afterwards the boys came
to my waggon asking a tonso for calling them off. I suspect they set
them on on purpose.
“_January 6th._--Intensely hot, and though there are clouds, the rain
still keeps off. Sent John with Wankee to cut a tree for a dissel-boom,
and he says the axe was taken from him on the pretext that they must
not cut wood now, and that the axe would be returned.... I asked if I
could go shooting, and they say no, not till the dance is over.
“_January 7th._--Sky overcast, but the heat is still intense. Crowds of
people about, as yesterday; difficult to keep the scherm clear. Dancing
going on at the kraal. Heat insufferable. The tent was a furnace, but
at sundown there was a little thunder, and it was pleasant and cool. A
beautiful mild-looking rose-tinted sunset.
“_January 8th._--Day of the Great Dance. Very heavy rain fell at
sunrise. As rain fell, girls bathing in rain-holes. Things in tent got
very wet, and it was late before I could come out and begin to dry
them. The heat soon became great, but the sun kept being more or less
obscured by clouds. I learnt it was the day of the Great Dance, and
hurried the drying and locking up of my things, so as to be ready to
go and see it. Some majachas came out, and had a row, and bruised one
another near my waggon.
“As soon as I had finished packing I joined the Thomsons, whose waggon
had drawn up in front of Myers’s store, where the dancing was to be.
Meantime, Thomson says, they had been going through ceremonies at the
kraal, where dancing was still going on, but very shortly they expected
the king and people out. However, Thomson and I went to the kraal to
see, and were well repaid. In the midst of a large circle formed by
warriors, four wives of the king, dressed all alike, and modestly
covered, were dancing, or rather slowly pacing. Each had a checked
print over her shoulders, and a black skirt reaching low down. With
them was a future wife, partially clad in gaily-coloured calicos, but
without skirt. The wives, Thomson says, are very nice women. As I went
with him through the crowd, I could not help seeing what respect is
shown him, and how all make way for him.
[Illustration: OX-HIDE SHIELD.]
“Suddenly the royal sister appeared, and presented a most singular, not
to say magnificent, appearance. It was something like the appearance
of the _prima donna_ at the opera, or the leading spirit in some
gorgeous pantomime. She is very stout, and tremendously _en bon
point_, and her skin is of a coppery hue. She wore no dress, and
the only covering above her waist was a number of gilded chains, some
encircling her, some pendent. Round her arms were massive brazen
bracelets. A blue and white freemason’s apron appeared in front, and
looked strangely anomalous there, though really not unbecoming. From
her waist also there hung down behind a number of brilliantly-coloured
woollen neck-wraps, red being the predominant colour. Under the apron
was a sort of short black skirt, covering the thighs, made of wrought
ox-hide. Her legs and feet were bare, but round her ankles were the
circlets of bells, worn by the women to make a noise when they dance.
Her head-dress was decidedly pretty--a small bouquet of artificial
flowers in front, and amongst the hair, standing in all directions,
feathers of bee-eaters’ tails. A small circular ornament, fashioned out
of red clay, was on the back of her head. She put herself in posture
for the dance, but did not move very much or energetically whilst
keeping time; she suffered too much from adiposity. She held one of the
large oval black and white ox-hide shields, surmounted by a jackal’s
tail, such as are carried by the warriors. The wives held long slender
wands upright in their hands. The men, when they dance, usually carry a
carved stick, with which motions are made, whilst it is generally held
upright. The girls carry very pretty brooms, which they likewise raise
and move about to time; but the girls’ dances were yet to come.
[Illustration: ASSEGAI-HEADS AND BATTLE-AXE.]
“The dress of the soldiers is very striking, and suggestive of savage
warfare. Over the shoulders, and continued into a sort of hood, which
either surmounts the back of the head, or hangs loose behind the neck,
is a large fabric of jet-black ostrich feathers. Around the forehead
is a circlet of tawny fur, and a single long steel-coloured crane’s
feather rises above, giving a most artistic finish to the picture.
Around the loins are a collection of monkey and cat skins, dangling
in long strips, together with a number of tails, some of the latter
nearly large enough for those of leopards, which hang in thick bunches
nearly to the ground. Around each arm is a graceful, wavy tuft of white
ox-tail hair, and sometimes the same around the legs. Very little
limbo is worn, unless a strip or two--usually of blue selampore or
white calico, well worn and defaced--around the waist. The shield and
assegais complete the picture.[29] If all were uniform in appearance
the effect would be much heightened; but unfortunately the dress is
not _de rigueur_. Some omit the fur round the forehead; some both
fur and feather; and some of those in command have even shabby shirts
or hats on, contrasting badly with the fine warrior costume of the
majority. The only military evolution gone through is marching past in
kraals, or what we should call companies, the men singing, dancing,
and making some most unearthly and awe-inspiring noises the while. One
sound is produced gutturally, and resembles the low growl of a wild
animal. Another is made by striking the shields--a sound resembling
distant thunder. Then they have a way of whistling, not unlike the
cat-calls of a London theatre. During their dances a warrior rushes
out into the middle of the circle from time to time, and goes through
the pantomime of his late exploits, brandishing spear and shield, and
rushing wildly about. He denotes, by repeated thrusts, the number of
people he has slain, whilst the surrounding warriors shout loudly.
“Standing about are many pretty girls in most fantastic head-dresses,
worn only on special occasions, and highly prized. Predominant is
the pink bead, appropriated by the royal family. A small group of
waggon-drivers, either those who have come up here with white men,
or who belong to the doctor’s party, whose waggons accompany the
king in all his movements, are dressed to the height of fashion--as
near as they can manage it--in European dress, for which the stores
of the place have been ransacked, and high prices paid, no matter at
what sacrifice. One has a chimney-pot. These fellows are usually the
greatest scamps in the country--idle, vain, insolent, and vicious. The
king is dressed much like his warriors, and looks himself. He is a
fine-looking man, and has an agreeable expression and a ready smile. He
is one of the darkest-complexioned people I have seen belonging to this
nation.
“Now Thomson tells me we must make haste and return to the waggon,
as the soldiers are beginning to march out, and they are all going
outside, accompanied by the king and his court. We return, and the
troops march out and take up position in a huge, dense circle outside
the kraal. There may be three, four, or even five thousand of them, and
perhaps ten thousand people in all.”[30]
“_January 9th._--Hot day; short heavy shower in the afternoon. Dancing
at the kraal--second day (or was Wednesday also a day? If so, this is
the third). Different parties dancing; majachas and girls separately,
though in some cases girls are introduced into the majachas’ dance.
King had waggon taken out by Kafirs. Selous[31] looked at my guns.
Rain came on, and he sat in my tent. He tells me how he was once lost
between Bamangwato and Tati for four days. He had had a cup of coffee,
and gone out hunting. That night he slept in the veldt; it was July,
and the nights were very cold. He had only a shirt and trousers on, and
had no matches. He used his last three cartridges in trying to make a
fire. The second and third days he still wandered. I think it was the
end of the second day that he lost his horse. The evening of the fourth
day he came to Palatswe water, and got milk of a Kafir. He walked
back next day to his waggon at Tchagani pool--he thinks about twenty
miles. It was on the evening of the third day he reached a hill, by
moonlight, whence he saw other hills he knew. Started before daybreak,
and that night got the milk. He thinks he could have gone another day
without food or water. He had nothing whatever, between the coffee,
at starting, and the milk. He carried his gun, perspired profusely,
and suffered much from cold at nights. He experienced a difficulty in
swallowing.
“A letter from Mandy, at Inyati, to-day, states that he saw a crocodile
there the other day, which got hold of his dog, and pursued himself in
his bathing hole. It was ten or twelve feet long, he says.
“Dancing in little parties going on all day; the girls very lively in
their dance. Bought a goat for about three quarters of a pound of beads.
“_January 10th._--Very cloudy day, inclined to rain. Went up to kraal,
where slaughtering was going on. I had heard nothing of it, but the
number of bullocks slaughtered this year must have been next to nothing
compared with former years. I saw a dozen or twenty down, or being
assegaied. The bullocks are driven together, one out of the number
being intended for slaughter. The opportunity is watched for to hurl
the assegai, which sometimes remains in the ox, who runs some distance
before he falls, bleeding at the nostrils, and soon dies. They are
stabbed in the region of the heart and lungs. The first thrust is often
not successful, as it is not easy to hit the victim in the right place
when he is in a state of excitement. I went to see the king, who was
looking very sulky. There is no dancing to-day. It appears the king is
very angry at the fighting of yesterday.
“_January 11th._--Heavy rain very early; a little bright sunshine
about breakfast-time, when I partially dried the things that had got
wet in the tent, causing me considerable discomfort. It soon came on to
rain again, however, and rained more or less during the day. I was to
have taken my things out of Myers’s store and packed the waggon, but
the rain prevented me. In the morning I heard the king was inspanning
to go to some neighbouring abode of royalty, and hurried to take him
his horse. After handing it over to him, and being told to give it in
charge of Petersen, I asked him if he would buy a saddle and bridle, to
which he replied, these were always supposed to go with the horse, the
saddle being part of its back. However, I hope he won’t insist on this
any more, and, indeed, I may go away without seeing him again, unless I
do so voluntarily. Piet, who interpreted for me, told me that the king
is very angry about the disturbance, and will probably kill a number
of the people, and for this they think he is going away in such a
hurry. There were twelve black, or nearly black, bullocks in the royal
waggon, and, when it started, the throne was carried--as it always has
to be done--on a boy’s head. It is a straight-backed, substantial, and
extremely plain, green chair, with red daubs on it. Over the back and
seat is stretched a piece of lion-skin. The dogs rushed off with the
waggon, the second waggon started, in the back of which I could see
a lot of meat and two young lambs or kids trying to keep their pins
amongst the miscellaneous cargo inside; the majachas started, and the
royal procession was on its way. Busy a good deal in Myers’s store.
Unpacked and packed boxes there, and watched the rain. Terrible soaking
wet evening and night. I managed, however, to keep dry in bed.”
From this time for some days the weather continued so persistently
and miserably wet, that it seemed out of all question to think of
commencing the return journey to Tati, which the traveller was now
preparing to undertake. The heat, at the same time, was also so intense
that any exertion was laborious, and even the occupation of writing
was a task. About the 18th, however, there was some improvement, and
two days after this he was ready for a start, when the dispute with
one of his servants above referred to necessitated his seeking a fresh
interview with Lobengula, whom he followed to his present quarters, but
a few miles off, on the evening of the 20th. This dispute arose from
Frank Oates’s dismissal of the Kafir driver Dick, who had come up with
him from Natal; the latter maintaining his right to retain the services
of the young lad Jacob, whom he had originally brought with him for
engagement in Pietermaritzburg, and who still accompanied the party.
The two appeared to bear no relationship to each other, and Frank
Oates would have been glad to keep Jacob in his service, but the latter
seemed afraid to come, and it was agreed to refer the question to the
king. The Journal of this time continues:--
“_January 20th._--Fine, bright, windy morning; a few clouds in the
sky. Finished what was left to be done to the waggon, and was going to
trek early when Jacob came and claimed his wages, and I decided to go
away to the king’s to-night, and thence start on my journey. A Kafir
woman has also claimed Jacob as her son. Though Jacob asked for his
wages and said he did not wish to leave Dick, he half admitted directly
that it was only his fear of Dick that made him say so, and that he
really wished to go with me. After the waggon was loaded, I waited
some time for Jacob’s return, he having gone with his would-be mother
to the king. He did not come back, and I inspanned for the king’s.
After about ten minutes’ delay in getting off--unruly bullocks and bad
trek-gear--started fairly about half-past five, and in about an hour
and forty minutes got to where the king is, meeting Jacob with the
woman going to Gubuleweyo. Jacob turned back with me. The king has said
the woman is not to claim him. It seems she gave Jacob some locusts and
milk when he was hungry, for he and Dick have fared badly of late. She
then professed to see a likeness in him to her lost child, taken in the
war, and he did not deny it, and afterwards she insisted on keeping
him. Jacob still says he wants to go with me, but is afraid of Dick,
and also wishes for his wages, as Dick urges him to get them, though
he knows Dick will appropriate them. He will let it be arranged before
the king, he says. The sun set as I trekked, and the peculiar aloe-like
trees of this country had a fine effect against the glowing sky. I
should say this trek is four and a half or five miles pretty direct.
The last two days have been fine drying days, but still there are some
very soft places in the road. Supped with Fairbairn on some excellent
beef, and had a long chat with him. Cool, starlight night, with heavy
dew.
“_January 22d._--Fine hot day, but with slight clouds, and at night a
heavy shower. Fairbairn had a row in trading with the king, who had
chaffed him a good deal last night. A large quantity of ivory had come
in (Fairbairn was here by the king’s express desire, to trade), and a
small tooth had been put down before him. He had made his offer for
it, which did not satisfy the king. Fairbairn said, ‘It is a small
tooth.’ ‘Did you ever shoot as large a one?’ asked the king. This is
considered a poser. Then a hot argument ensued between Fairbairn and
the king, through John, the king maintaining that Fairbairn would show
unequivocal signs of fear at the sight of an elephant. Fairbairn said
white men were not afraid of them; whereupon the king cited, H----, a
big man, who had not even shot a little calf; W----, ‘Where are the
elephants _he_ shot?’ Many white men had said the same as Fairbairn,
and where were the elephants they had killed? Then Fairbairn referred
to Selous, a small man; he had not been afraid, he said. ‘Would he tell
if he had shown signs of fear, or were you there to see?’ asked the
king. Then the king told Fairbairn that he was getting rich and did
not want his trade. Fairbairn got angry, and the result was that this
morning he had a row. The king sent some large decayed teeth, which
Fairbairn bought, and then some other teeth, which he could not buy,
and which were sent to Gubuleweyo and sold; but in the meantime the
king had offered Fairbairn two small teeth for a double-barrelled gun,
less than cost price, and Fairbairn had left the king in disgust.
“Went to the king’s kraal with John, and greeted the king, who was
lying in his waggon, but as, after greeting us in return, he took no
further notice of us and remained lying, I went away and had a nap in
my waggon. Fairbairn afterwards had tiffin with me, and then we went
together to the king, but he was still in his waggon--if not asleep,
lying invisible; put out, I think, about Fairbairn. We waited long
outside the kraal, and at length, near sundown, an induna came in
white man’s clothing, and with a shield, wearing feathers on his head
hanging under his hat, and accompanied by warriors. He, to call the
king, began shouting out compliments in a loud voice, amongst which
the words ‘Mosilikatze’ and ‘Incose’ (king), were frequently repeated,
and a request made that the king would treat him kindly. This referred
to beer and beef, which of course he would get. At last he finished,
and went away unnoticed by the king, who, however, soon came out, and
Fairbairn, John, and I, went to him, Dick and Jacob following. It was
so late that we did little.
“Had supper on Australian meat in Fairbairn’s waggon. Rain came on, and
I heard showers during the night. When we left the king, he chaffed
John, and said he looked weak, as if he was hungry. Last night John had
asked for meat, and he said he had no beef and his sheep were poor.
He seems really not to be killing oxen at present. Fairbairn has told
Nina that we are eating tinned fish. Fish is held in utter abomination
by these people, and Nina said her brother ought not to let us eat it.
Fairbairn says they used, when they wanted meat, to rig up a dummy
fishing-rod, and march off with it, taking care to pass in sight of the
king, and the moment he suspected fishing, he would send them a large
piece of meat.
“One sees all shades of colour in these people. The Makalakas are much
darker as a rule than the Matabele, who are usually coppery red or
sometimes yellow. The king, however, is black, and, I believe, about
as black as any of his race, and far more so than most. He deserves
his epithet of ‘black king.’ The dogs are a great source of fear at
present. They are constantly attacking people, and lately half, if not
altogether, killed an induna. Fairbairn says the king showed him his
own trousers torn the other day, as proof that even their master was
not exempt.
“_January 23d._--Wretched rainy and gusty morning. Nina in Fairbairn’s
waggon, as she was also a good deal yesterday. She is very fond of him,
as of other white men; and is said to wish to marry a certain white
trader here, who has left for a time--hoping, I believe, that she may
be married when he returns. She can’t marry till the king takes his
wife from whom the future king is to be born. His present wives have
nothing to do with it.
“John Lee’s waggon arrived to-day, to my great pleasure. I had just
returned from visiting the king, whom John and I had found standing at
the entrance of his kraal in a Mackintosh coat. Dick and Jacob joined
us, and the case of Jacob was discussed, Dick also urging the hardship
of his own dismissal, in which the king seems partly to agree, and says
it would be better not to leave him in _his_ country, but where
we can try the case with our own laws. At length the king went to his
hut, saying this case would take a long time, and it was not a day to
discuss it. Certainly the weather was against a law-suit being carried
on in the open air. In the evening I went again to the king. Lee was
sitting on the front-box of his waggon, and went over my case with him,
and thus I got a decision quickly. The king said his decision had been
that I was to take Dick _and_ Jacob, but I had refused to do this,
so now I must pay the wages of the boy, as he considered Jacob, having
been brought by Dick, was under his protection. I sent for them, and
paid the money to the king, who promised to keep it for Jacob as far as
he could, though he said if they left the country he must then give it
up. Supper again with Fairbairn.
“_January 24th._--More promising morning, though cloudy and showery.
Fairbairn, Lee, and I, to the king. Fairbairn does a good trade with
him after the row. Nina and her friends were eating a large dish of
excellent vegetable marrows. The smoke got into my eyes, and Banyai
kindly motioned me across the hut. John Lee killed a lung-sick heifer
of the king’s, and opened her chest with a saw, taking out the liquid
which accumulates in the cavity of the lungs during the sickness. With
this I helped him to drench some young cattle of the king’s. Each has
about a small beakerful. Lee says he never lost one that he drenched in
this way.
“_January 25th._--Lovely morning. Rose and dressed leisurely. The heat
soon became intense, and of that moist character that seems to make
it far worse to bear. Felt quite prostrated by it. The wife of Lee’s
boy, who tried to leave him, and is now undergoing punishment after
being tried before the king, came crying to my waggon. Lee drove her
away. It appears that the boy had to pay Lee £6, which the girl owed
the latter, before he could have her, both being in Lee’s service, as
well as the father-in-law, mother, and sister of the boy. The boy told
Lee he had paid the money to the king. This was a lie, so Lee demanded
the money of the king in the presence of the boy. Thus the offence was
shown to be against the king, and Lee told the king it was for him
to punish it. The two indunas present seized the boy, and he was half
throttled, and much knocked about. They would have killed him there and
then, had it been Lee’s wish. The king said, ‘Is he to be thrown out?’
which means put to death. Lee, however, said he should be satisfied
by the boy being tied up, which was done.... Went with Lee to the
king’s afterwards. More drenching was going on. I saw the boy tied up;
he could neither sit nor stand, but squatted on the ground, his arms
nearly on the full stretch, fastened on either side to one of the poles
that support the large wooden structures on which meat is piled. When
the sun set Lee was told, if he did not give the word to have the boy
taken away, he would rot where he was. The king and the indunas then
chaffed the poor wretch, as, Lee having consented, he was cut down. He
was told that he had been kicking Mosilikatze’s bones.
“The scene, with the king sitting on his front-box, would make a
picture: the setting sun; the dark green trees beyond the kraal, and
the green walls of the newly-erected kraal; the yellow beehive-like
huts; the yellowish trodden grass in the space; the herds of goats
and sheep, with lambs and kids, and pack of dogs, crowding round the
king’s waggon; the group of natives, some all but naked, some adorned
with feathers, some with a single article of European dress, as a hat,
crouching on their haunches, forming the court of the black king; tusks
of ivory lying about. To complete the picture, a white trader or two
should be introduced, not above crouching before his sable majesty, who
sits there in his broad-brimmed black felt hat, pipe in mouth (a small
briar-root, worth perhaps 2d. at home), cotton shirt not over clean,
unbraced baggy trousers, and large clumsy shoes, a benignant smile
generally on his black face.”
The day after this the king took his departure for another place, John
Lee left for Mr. Thomson’s, and Frank Oates started back to Tati.
[Illustration: MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.]
CHAPTER VI.
Return to Tati--Changed aspect of the country--Constant
delays--The Mashonas--At Manyami’s again--John Lee’s--Letter
home--The Inkwesi--Wild fruit--A hornbill’s nest--The
Impakwe and Ramaqueban Rivers--Graves of Englishmen--White
ants--Bushman remains--The Tati reached.
Frank Oates’s plan on leaving Gubuleweyo was to return slowly, by way
of Tati, to Bamangwato, there to prepare himself with a fresh outfit of
goods and other necessaries for a renewed attempt to reach the Zambesi
early in the year; unless on his arrival there he should find letters
which required his return to England. As it was yet too soon to think
of making at once for the Zambesi, he took his time upon the road to
Tati, not arriving there till near the end of February. He stopped to
hunt some time upon the Ramaqueban, and, the whole journey, progress
was inevitably slow, owing to the heavy state of the country from the
recent rains. The waggon was constantly sticking, and delays were
endless. The route taken was the same as that by which he had come to
Gubuleweyo, but the country was now rendered so much more attractive
with the advancing season, that some extracts may be given from the
Journal.
Leaving the neighbourhood of Gubuleweyo, as already mentioned, on
January 26th, he reached Kumala River the following day, and on the
28th again pushed forward towards the Shashani, where he arrived after
many stoppages two days later, John Lee’s farm being reached early on
the morning of the 1st of February. For three days before his arrival
at John Lee’s, the Journal reads as follows, the first extract finding
him at a point in the road still a few miles from the Shashani, where
his waggon had sunk deep the night before, necessitating a halt:--
“_January 29th._--During the night some rain fell; the morning was
cloudy, but fine. Got the waggon clear with some difficulty, and
started about noon, but it stuck again after going a few yards, the
dissel-boom breaking, which was shortened and used again, causing a
long delay.... At length we started fairly about 5.40 P.M. The sun was
getting low, and, as we went through some really beautiful scenery,
he set, and the sunset scene was a lovely one. I can now fancy that
South Africa may have much fine scenery, and I wish I could see the
Zambesi. In the foreground was undulating and broken ground, covered
with long grass, showing in some places a silvery white colour, in
others a yellow, and in others a green one. Beyond, the deep green of
the trees--not uniform in height and growth, but reminding one in their
graceful diversity of hedgerow trees or those of copses at home--rose
distinct against the deep violet kopjes on the horizon and the sunset
sky. The upper part of the sky was blue, with large lilac clouds;
lower down, the blue was streaked with pale yellow, and this again, as
it approached the kopjes, became golden streaked with lilac. We trekked
on well through the changing light, for it never became dark, and, ere
the sunset hues had faded from the sky, the moon was shedding a clear
light over the romantic scene. Fireflies were flitting, and I felt the
morning trek, when we entered Pretoria, come back forcibly to my mind.
That was then to me a wonderful change, from high veldt to bush veldt,
and the time of seeing it--in the weird light of early morning--added
to the charm. The road now, as then, was very rough and steep, over
stones, up hill and down; and at about 8 P.M. we crossed a steep-banked
river. The water was deep, and the bank on which we landed was so
steep, that the oxen, the moment before they scrambled up, were up to
their breasts in water, but we did it in gallant style.
“On we went, and at last were rising a hill, through what in Rocky
Mountain phraseology would be called a ‘park.’ The word is an
appropriate one, and I know no other that would describe this lovely
spot, reminding me of similar scenes in the Rocky Mountains. The ground
was open and park-like, with a fine sward and a few isolated trees,
whilst all around--forming a complete amphitheatre--rose rugged kopjes
in the distance. The moon shed a bright light on the whole. Suddenly,
smash went the dissel-boom, away went the oxen with it, down went John
most ludicrously on to the ground from the front-board, and the waggon
came to a standstill. The great awkward tree, stuck in by Wankee[32]
and John when we first came to grief, had at last become useless, and
now we set about making ourselves comfortable for the night, intending
to cut a fresh dissel-boom in the morning. It was about 8.20 when this
ludicrous breakdown happened, and it is long since I have so thoroughly
enjoyed a laugh as I did then at John’s expense. I was not sorry that
we were stopping here, and, as I drank in the scene with delight,
those parks in the mountains of the Far West were present to my mind,
and I felt happy, scarcely knowing why. The part of the country we
have passed through is called the ‘neck.’ To-night I heard the strange
melancholy baying of wild dogs--an animal I have never seen.
“_January 30th._--My pleasure in the place where we are outspanned
was put an end to this morning by a crowd of noisy forward Matabele
from a kraal a little distance off amongst the kopjes on our right. My
men had sent early, and beer and large quantities of milk were brought.
There were a few slaves here too, quite different in appearance and
bearing from their conquerors. They are quiet and humble in demeanour,
and profusely ornamented, where they can afford it, with brass wire
in rings round the wrists, of what I have been told is Portuguese or
native workmanship, though I think it may be brought up by our own
traders. Blue cut beads, too, and skins are much worn. These original
inhabitants, Mashonas I think, are far more in keeping with the scene,
to my mind, than their supplanters.[33]
[Illustration: NATIVE HUNTING-KNIVES.]
“Wankee cut a dissel-boom, and we inspanned about 2.15 P.M.
First we went up hill, and then began to descend through a tolerably
open grass country, with trees about as far apart as one sees them in
an orchard. The country we passed through is extremely pretty--grass
long, trees graceful and varied, broken crags, with kopjes all round.
Through it we descended to the Shashani, which is in a valley, and we
must have crossed it say about 3 P.M. We then soon crossed
a spruit, and after this in a heavy part of the road, where the ruts
had been worn into deep holes, we stuck. This would be about 3.40
P.M. We made vain efforts to get out, let the oxen feed a
little, and again tried, and tried in vain. The front oxen, and indeed
all the oxen, were very stupid, but I blame the driver, and, though it
was a fine moonlight night, he would try no more till next morning.
“_January 31st._--Fine hot day. Stupidity again in Wankee. He first
tried to pull the waggon back and then forward, and finally raised it
and put stones under it, as ought to have been done last night, for it
was taken out at once when this was tried. Two girls from the kraal
we passed yesterday came to the waggon _en route_ for Manyami’s. They
were overtaken by us on the road afterwards, and went some distance
in the waggon, and again came to the waggon at Manyami’s. Two little
looking-glasses delighted them beyond measure, and each little gift
caused an exclamation of delight and gratitude, ‘O Bossa!’ They were
perfectly unsophisticated; one I thought pretty. They sang, evidently
studying the most fascinating smiles whilst looking into the mirrors.
After we moved I had the oxen unyoked to feed for a short time, and
we started fairly at noon. The country was again extremely pretty and
well wooded, the road winding like a labyrinth amongst the picturesque
kopjes. We crossed several spruits, some of them awkward ones, and at
one had a good deal of trouble, but it had a good bottom, and we pulled
through. We reached Manyami’s and outspanned on high ground under an
abruptly-rising kopje about 3 P.M.
“Here old Manyami came to see me, and presented me with a small pot of
beer, begging a ‘limbo’ for his wife. I gave him a cup of coffee in
return, and about the value of the beer in limbo, as I am not disposed
to be over generous. I bought some calabash pumpkins, which I found
afterwards were like excellent vegetable marrows when boiled; also a
water-melon, the second I have bought within the last day or two. They
are in excellent condition now, and very refreshing. I also bought some
sour milk, which my boys like.
“Vincent came up on his way to Mungwato with a waggon and sixteen oxen,
returning from Gubuleweyo, where he had been with a load. His waggon
went on, and he remained behind to help me. I find him an excellent
driver and a very energetic fellow, and I believe he would be very glad
to go with me, as he is tired of trading under Hogg. However, he must
go on now.
“The sun was getting low as we inspanned. We soon came to a very bad
place--a huge pit in fact--where the road had been, to avoid which we
had to go through a very soft piece of ground, into which the waggon
sank deep, and I thought it was a case of a regular stick, but Vincent
got me out of this well, and showed his great superiority as a driver.
We got over some bad places after this, but at length got into a heavy
rut, the wheels on the off side of the waggon being deep in it, whilst
those on the other side were high on firm ground. It looked like a
serious case, and the sun set on our efforts. The dissel-boom was
pulled out twice, but at length so firmly locked with chains, and the
wheels raised so effectually with stones placed under them, that,
when Vincent left his work, which he had been going at like the fine
energetic fellow he is, and we sat down for a moment to drink a cup
of coffee, the waggon looked like getting off. This it did without
difficulty, and we started again about 10 P.M. We had one more
stick afterwards in a deep rut, but Vincent levelled the ground in a
few minutes, and we were off again, and finally crossed Mangwe drift
without a mishap. This was the greatest feat of all. The river was full
of water, the men were nearly up to their armpits (one crossed clinging
to ‘Blackberg’s’ tail), but we went through it without any delay or
trouble, and I was indeed thankful that our dissel-boom was chained.
After this we trekked a short distance along a good road to John Lee’s.
Here were Dawson’s two waggons sent up by Cruickshank, and Vincent’s
waggon sent by Hogg. Skinner’s waggon was some little way off. Skinner
and Dawson were waiting for the river to go down. We outspanned about
1.30 A.M., and had supper.”
At this point Frank Oates remained a few days, hoping for some
improvement in the weather. Soon after his arrival he wrote home as
follows:--
“MR. JOHN LEE’S, MANGWE,
“MATABELE COUNTRY.
“_February 1st, 1874._
“I take the opportunity of a waggon going to Bamangwato, to send
a few lines to let you know how I am getting on. I wrote last
to you from Mr. Thomson’s at Hope Fountain. Since then I have
been detained at Gubuleweyo, the King’s Town, first by bad
weather, and then, as the time of the grand dance of the year
was approaching, I waited to see it. The people come from all
the neighbouring kraals, and dance and feast for two or three
days. It is the feast of the first-fruits of the season, and
Mr. Thomson advised me to stay for it. After this, fearful rain
again delayed me, and then I had some trouble with my men, and
dismissed two, and had to have the case of a third tried before
the king. At last, last Monday, I got under weigh once more,
with a new waterproof tent on my waggon. The journey here is
about three days under ordinary circumstances, but it took me
six, in the present heavy state of the country and badness of
the river drifts. I had many sticks in the mud and breakages
of my dissel-boom. Last night I arrived here, and to-day is
Sunday. The man to whom I am going to give this letter drove my
waggon for the last eleven miles. He overtook me on the road,
and let his own empty waggon go on. We were about six hours in
accomplishing the distance, including delays, but, thanks to his
timely help, I pulled through. The last river we had to cross,
the Mangwe, was so swollen that the water was up to the men’s
chests, and looked as if it was coming into the waggon. The
men who were not in the waggon had to catch hold of the oxen’s
tails, or struggle through the stream as well as they could. It
would have been very unpleasant, especially with bad helpless
drivers, to have broken my dissel-boom in the middle of the
river, and I felt very glad when safely landed on the bank.
“From here I intend travelling leisurely to Mungwato, where I
hope to find letters. When I get there I shall decide whether or
not to make another attempt on the Victoria Falls. By leaving
Mungwato about April, I should have the fine season before me,
and could probably reach the Falls and return to Mungwato in
the space of three months. The worst of this country, however,
is that movements here are so slow and dependent on the caprice
of natives, and one is too much cut off from the world. Yet I
believe the Zambesi would repay one for much sacrifice of time
and patience. It is impossible, I am now convinced, to get on
with Kafirs and Hottentots without severity. Kindness is thrown
away upon them, and makes them worse than they are. I believe I
shall have to give the latter method up altogether, and resort
to castigation, which is an alternative I don’t like. They are,
almost to a man, dishonest, lazy, and impudent.
“The scenery about here _is_ pretty I admit, especially at this
time of year. Some of my moonlight treks between the King’s and
this place were very delightful, and wakened a little enthusiasm
and thoughts of former days, such as the usual dull uniformity
of South African scenery fails to elicit. The ground is broken
up into rugged crags, piled one upon another in such a manner
that you can’t help wondering how the mischief they ever got
there. The veldt is covered with long grass, like English mowing
grass. The trees are, for the most part, like English woodland
trees, but less in size; in some places forming a thick bush, in
others scattered over the greensward like English park timber.
Occasionally a remarkable tree occurs of unfamiliar aspect, but
this is quite the exception. The kopjes are numerous; some,
merely small piles of huge stones, with trees springing from
the interstices; others, hills of respectable size, built up of
crags, and sometimes shutting in the horizon on every side. Here
and there a stream runs through its deep stony bed in a deep
valley, and then comes the tug of war, and the moonlight scenery
is forgotten, whilst one’s lungs are exerted in yelling to the
oxen, calling each by his uncouth name.
“My dogs always ride with me in my bed. One of them is a most
faithful friend and agreeable companion to me. I should miss
them very much. I had to sell my pony to the king, to keep in
his good books, but was sorry to do it, although he may die now
any time of horse-sickness. If he lives he is a valuable animal,
and henceforth ‘salted.’ Birds are few here, and, for the most
part, not striking in appearance. The same applies to flowers.
“Old John Lee’s voice is droning away about some oxen, and the
family circle surrounds me, as I write this letter. Lee wants
to borrow my waggon for two months to send for some meal, and
to do his best to make me comfortable here in the meantime, but
I have made a mental vow not to let myself be talked into the
arrangement.... I shall be very glad to hear recent news of how
all are at home.
“_P.S._--... I am adding this P.S. in the waggon, but I miss
John Lee’s drone, which I find helps me to write. He discoursed
on locusts to-night. As he says, Kafirs eat them, horses,
sheep, and all sorts of game eat them, lions eat them, wolves
eat them, birds eat them--they _must_ be very nice; only white
men and vultures don’t eat them. I believe but for locusts an
immense number of people would have died of famine last year at
Mungwato.”
It was the 6th of February when Frank Oates left John Lee’s, and
the 9th when he reached the Inkwesi River. The country round Lee’s
farm is of a somewhat striking character, and, though much healthier
than most of the surrounding district, is not wholly free from the
annoyances elsewhere occasioned by the summer rains. “The scenery
here,” writes Frank Oates, “with the swollen current of the river and
huge magnificent boulders, is as fine in its way as any one would wish
to see. The gardens, however, which have suffered terribly from the
drought, are now suffering equally from the wet. They require both
irrigation for the dry, and drainage for the rainy, season.” The way in
which Lee lived with his family round him, and the sort of relationship
existing between them, afforded an odd example of a Dutchman’s life in
the interior. “It reminds one,” says the traveller, “of feudal times:
old Lee, the lord; his brother, a wretched serf; his father-in-law, not
much better; and all his poor relations living about in little huts
round his big house.”
Amongst the waggons stationed at John Lee’s during Frank Oates’s stay
there was that of Smith, the Dutchman, whom he had formerly met on
his way up country, near the Impakwe River. Smith was now starting on
a hunting trip towards the Tati, and the two again agreed to travel
together. Before leaving Frank Oates engaged John Lee’s brother, Karl,
to accompany him as driver to Bamangwato.
The country was still heavy, though somewhat improved by the last few
days of comparatively dry weather. A few miles before reaching the
Inkwesi, the road lay through bush veldt and corn-fields, with kopjes
interspersed at intervals. “The corn-fields are close to the road,”
writes Frank Oates, “and a large fence renders the road so narrow that
it is a difficult matter to drive a waggon. Some of my loose oxen
crossed a corn-field, and of course a row was made. The Hottentot,
Klaas, from Lee’s, had to give a coat, and some lead and powder,
because when he stuck his oxen trampled the corn whilst in the yoke,
the road being altogether hemmed in by the corn-fields. Karl says he
will get the extortionate payment refunded when John Lee knows. This is
the second crop of Indian corn, the former one having been destroyed by
locusts. We passed the Hottentot during this trek; he had had to kill
one of his best oxen, his driver having broken the ox’s leg by throwing
a stone. Here we come,” continues the writer, “to the last kraal, and
outspan, about two miles from the Inkwesi, amongst the kopjes. There
is a fine sugar-loaf-shaped kopje, craggy and tree-covered to the top,
and very steep. I wish I had time to try the ascent; there must be
a glorious view from it. The colours on the stones from lichens are
most beautiful, yellow predominating. The Kafirs were most impudent
and troublesome. The headman, a young fellow in European clothes, is
a good-looking and well-behaved fellow. He sat on my front-box; our
object is to get boys from him. There were five men killed by the king,
at Lee’s, Karl says, for refusing to come to live here; they said it
was only fit for monkeys. Near here was old Makobi’s kraal, where all
were massacred for deceiving the king, after owning allegiance to him.
A large quantity of milk was brought to us for sale. Heavy showers
came on, but the night was fine, clear, and starlight. Where we passed
Klaas an elephant had passed during the night. They followed his spoor,
but lost it. Smith shot a cow-elephant near here a year or two ago,
and they say a surly toothless bull-elephant lives about here now. The
kopje looked very pretty at night when all was quiet, and its dark
sugar-loaf form loomed up close to us against the starry sky.”
Next day (February 9th), on reaching the Inkwesi, Frank Oates chanced
to be alone, Smith having gone on in advance, in company with the
Hottentot above referred to. “After Karl had been to the kraal
about boys,” writes the traveller that day, “we inspanned at 10.30
A.M., and trekked about an hour, when we came to the drift of
the Inkwesi. The induna rode on my front-box. Some of the road was
rough; scenery pretty. Had to chop down part of a tree against which we
were running. We found Smith had crossed, and I sent in boys to try the
depth, and, though it was deep, I resolved to push forward, for fear of
rain and a swollen current. In some places it was over a man’s middle.
We stuck in the river; had many attempts to get out, but without
success. Two small oxen got half drowned, and we outspanned them and
inspanned two large ones. The boy who was leading the front oxen let go
the strap he held them by, and we had a great deal of trouble. At last
we off-loaded a large part of our cargo, sending it over on the boys’
backs. I worked hard; so did Karl. I then undressed and left the waggon
before they tried to get it on again. Old Smith now came up to us, in
the unadorned garb of nature, and mounted the front-box. (He thrashed
a young nigger for laughing at his appearance.) They got the waggon
out this time, but some of the oxen had to swim. Very little water got
inside, and we loaded up again, and at sundown inspanned to go a few
yards to where Smith and Klaas were already encamped. At night we all
had supper together, Smith contributing some excellent ‘stamped corn.’
This is a capital dish. The corn is first crushed, then boiled, and,
when this is over, salt and butter or fat stirred up with it. It is
something like stiff rice-pudding.”
Advancing together the following morning, the three stopped for a
day or two’s hunting a few miles further on, beyond the river. Here
buffalo and blue wildebeest were met with, and the spoor of ostriches
was seen. From a fine rocky plateau in the neighbourhood a good survey
of the surrounding district was obtained. “Looking to the south-west,”
writes the traveller, “we saw the distant conical range of the Tati
hills, between which and ourselves lay a fine green bush-covered plain,
through which flow the Impakwe and Ramaqueban Rivers. This plain
extends far to the west and north, but to the north-east is again
broken by kopjes in the direction of the Mangwe, whilst the fine craggy
hills of the Inkwesi rise nearer in the same direction.” Some delicious
fruits, not unlike greengages, known by the natives as “marula,” were
picked up about here on the march. Between the skin and the large
stone in the centre of each was a sweet liquid with scarcely any pulp.
“We also found,” adds the writer, “a number of berries, of which we
ate a good lot. These grow on low bushes, which have a sweet-scented
yellow flower, with a smell like that of sallow bloom. The fruit is
reddish-brown, about the size of a haw; dry, sweet, and containing a
stone. It is called ‘Kafir plum.’”
Here too a hornbill’s nest was found. “The boys,” says Frank Oates,
“brought me a young hornbill, and I was taken to the nest. A hollow
tree, with a hole in it, high up, was where the bird had come from.
They poked out and pulled the wing-feathers off the old hen when I was
not looking. I kept both birds. Karl says the old hen never leaves
the young, the cock feeding them all, and that she gets quite bare of
feathers. The number of young is two. The natives, he says, are very
fond of them to eat, roasted.”
[Illustration: AFRICAN GREY HORNBILL.--_Tockus
nasutus._]
The party next moved forward (February 12th) to the Impakwe, a further
distance of about six miles. “Here,” writes the traveller, “is some
distinct stone-work forming a circular wall, inside which are remains
of bricks coated with a substance as if smelting had been done here.
No mortar has been used, and the work is rough and I should say of no
great antiquity, the stones being small and loose and easily displaced,
so that I think they would not stand any great length of time. They are
cut in an oblong form and properly placed for building. Karl says it
was made for smelting copper, and used by the people whom Mosilikatze
found here. That it is any older I should much doubt. “Shot here,” he
concludes, “a beautiful sun-bird, whose beauty awoke my slumbering love
of ornithology.” Birds had been scarce of late, but became much more
plentiful at the Ramaqueban, which was reached the following morning.
[Illustration: YELLOW-BILLED HORNBILL.--_Tockus
flavirostris._]
Encamping on this river, they still remained a few days longer in the
neighbourhood before finally separating, usually taking from here
different directions during the day in search of game, and meeting
again at night. The game in the district, however, for the most part
proved scarce and wild, a circumstance afterwards accounted for by
the fact that other parties had been and still were hunting the
neighbourhood at the same time. There was, nevertheless, abundant
evidence of its being a good game country; and, as it was, giraffe,
koodoo, waterbuck, and sable antelope were met with, besides wild pig,
quagga, and sassaybi. The spoor of elephant and rhinoceros was also
seen, none of it, however, very recent.
The Ramaqueban--at this season a fine broad stream, with long grass
and a large undergrowth of rank weeds upon its banks--was crossed in
many of their rambles, and near it on one occasion were seen the graves
of two Englishmen. “Started at nine,” writes Frank Oates on February
16th, “crossed the Ramaqueban, and passed the graves of two Englishmen,
who died here, one of fever, one killed by an elephant. The latter had
come from England to shoot, and was killed by the tusks of the first
elephant he saw. The fever is very bad on this river; the vegetation is
extremely rank, and the water lies very deep over much of the veldt.
The graves,” he concludes, “had been surrounded by stakes to keep off
the wolves, but the river, overflowing its banks, had nearly washed
them away; still the heaps of stones covering the bodies and a few
stakes remain.”
The same evening, wandering far into the bush, Frank Oates slept
out with some of his boys who had accompanied him. “We stopped at 5
P.M.,” he says, “and huts were made. It was a hot night, and
the big fires made it worse. The white ants too kept tumbling over me
all night, and knocking down leaves from the roof.[34] We were perhaps
sixteen miles from the waggon.”
Still, however, though in a less tried district, there seemed but
little game, and what was seen was wild. Returning to the camp next
day, “I stopped in the afternoon,” he writes, “when the boys found a
nest of small bees, full of delicious honey, on which and coffee I
dined sumptuously.”
[Illustration: GIGANTIC ANT-HILL.]
And now discouraged by the wildness and scarcity of the game, the
Dutchman soon after--about the 20th--took his departure, returning
to John Lee’s, the Hottentot having left two days previously for the
Shashe River, whither he had been summoned to join another Dutch
hunter, Piet Jacobs, in search of elephant.
A little before the latter’s departure Frank Oates had chanced to hear
from him that, at a spot not far from their encampment, some miles up
the river, a number of Bushmen had been murdered the previous year,
and he resolved, if possible, to visit the place, that he might obtain
some of their remains. In this search his informant had undertaken
to accompany him, and had even sent to Tati for a reliable guide to
the spot, when suddenly, at the last moment, he changed his mind, and
excused himself from going upon the plea of illness. The circumstances
of his defection and some other incidents of the day are thus related
in the traveller’s Journal:--
“_February 18th._--Fine day; the first day without rain for an age.
Last night Klaas (the Hottentot) told me he was going on to Tati
to-day, being too unwell to accompany me in my excursion in quest of
the bones, but would leave me his two Bushmen--the one he had sent for
from Tati, who knew the place, and the one he has had with him here.
The former was out hunting, when his fourteen companions--men, women,
and children--were killed at their hunting kraal by the Matabele. He
found them all dead on his return. It seems that they were a party of
Mungwato Bushmen, and some of them had taken meat belonging to some
Bushmen from Manyami’s. The latter complained to the king, who said the
Mungwato Bushmen were to be killed. This was last winter. This morning
Klaas went away, leaving the two boys. I now found he was _going away
to hunt_. Jacobs had sent for him to hunt for elephants, said to be on
the Shashe. Presently the two Bushmen took their guns and skins and
walked off. I immediately felt the strongest suspicion, and called
Lee’s attention to them. He questioned them, and they told him they
were going to hunt. I felt very uneasy, and wanted him to stop them,
but he seemed to think it was all right. However, they did not return
at night. We think Klaas had arranged all this.... One of Smith’s boys,
a Matabele, was one of the party who killed the Bushmen, but he says he
thinks he could not find the place, the leaves being now on the trees.
He could find it, he says, going from his own kraal, but not from here.
He evidently, however, does not want, or care, to go. It is somewhere,
a day or a day and a half’s walk off, up the Ramaqueban.”
The two Bushmen, as Frank Oates had anticipated, failing after this
to reappear, the search for the remains had now for the present to
be abandoned, but later in the year, as will presently be seen, he
succeeded in obtaining possession of them.
The Bushmen of this country--such was Karl Lee’s account of
them--appear to be scattered over the whole district north of Mungwato,
keeping principally near the waggon-road, to get hunting jobs and bits
of meat. They are without chiefs, and have no fixed place of abode, and
no crops, building themselves rough temporary huts when they want to
stop anywhere for a time. They are capable of carrying immense loads,
and sometimes help the Matabele with their corn, receiving a little
of the grain in payment when they return into the veldt. They have no
guns, only assegais and dogs, and many of them have wounds of buffalo
upon their persons. They snare buck, and occasionally get big game with
their assegais.
Still lingering a day or two longer on the Ramaqueban after the
departure of his companions, Frank Oates completed the journey to the
Tati on the 23d, whence he did not start for Bamangwato till the 4th of
April.
[Illustration: WOODEN VESSEL.]
CHAPTER VII.
Hunting trip on the Semokwe--A native musician--Gigantic
baobabs--Return to Tati--Journey to Shoshong--The Bamangwato
and Matabele nations--Fighting amongst the natives--Start
back for Tati--Misadventures and delays--Fresh arrangements.
On reaching Tati, Frank Oates found that a hunting party was just about
to start thence for the Semokwe, and being asked to join them, he
arranged to do so before going on to Bamangwato. The following is an
extract from his Journal of this date (February 23d), after his arrival
at the settlement:--
“Tati,” he writes, “presented on our arrival a very pretty and lively
appearance. I like it better than any place I know of, to stand at.
Here are no crowds of rude people to come round the waggon. All is
green, and numerous little well-built houses dot the ground; of course
I mean well-built for the interior of South Africa, but it is rough
work enough nevertheless. There are the three waggons of the Gardens,
two English brothers hunting in the country, and the waggon of Mr.
Thomson, on his way with his wife and children to a missionary meeting
at Kuruman. There is Nelson’s waggon, who is going away for a time,
and possibly will visit England. He leaves to-morrow according to his
present plan, with Mr. Thomson, they carrying the mail. Then there is
Klaas’s waggon, and Jacobs’s waggon; the latter[35] living here with
his wife and daughters until the regular hunting season. He makes
occasional short excursions from here, and is now about to set off for
the Semokwe for a three weeks’ hunt after elephant. A troop of they say
at least 200 elephant came close to Tati lately, but, probably hearing
the engine, turned. One account sets them down at a still larger
number. In the letter I found awaiting me here from Willie, written
when he came out of the hunting veldt, he tells me he has been to the
Semokwe, where he has had good sport. Seventeen elephants, he tells me,
had just been killed on that river; this would be by Fejeune. Captain
Garden and his brother are accompanying Jacobs on his projected hunt,
and I am going to join them too. Klaas and Henry Wall are also going,
and a lot of Bushmen. Jacobs shot a fine lion close to Tati lately;
brought him to bay with dogs early in the morning, and shot him from
horseback. They trapped another; the third, a lioness, escaped. They
had been taking Jacobs’s bullocks.... A lot of people came up to my
waggon when we outspanned, and Mr. Thomson invited me to supper. In the
evening we all met at Brown’s. Brown has given me a piece of bread. I
enjoy it without butter or anything else with it; it is a wonderful
treat.”
The following day the large party here alluded to started on their
hunt. Before leaving, Frank Oates wrote to his brother William, now in
England, as follows:--
“TATI, _February 24th, 1874_.
“It is quite a pleasure to get a letter from you--I mean the one you
left for me here. I shall get no more now for five or six weeks, when
I expect to be in Mungwato. I am sorry that wretched old croaker,
Palmer,[36] put you in a funk about me. He says it would be a good
thing for people travelling to have ‘portable coffins.’ I am thankful
to say my health is excellent. I did not, as doubtless you know by
this time, get to the Zambesi. I believe the king was at the bottom of
it (not of the Zambesi; but excuse grammar). I took my waggon fifty
miles on the way, as far as Inyati, and then put all out for fifteen
carriers to take. It was a fortnight’s walk through ‘the fly’ to the
Falls. After waiting nearly a week, it transpired that no boys were
forthcoming as promised. Partly, I think, they were afraid of fever,
and partly of the natives, with whom they are at war; partly also they
wanted to get back in time to cultivate their gardens. However, I
believe I could have got them myself easily, had I not trusted to the
man given me by the king.
“I then sent back to Lobengula, asking him for hunting veldt. I had
given him your shot gun, and his sister some furniture print of
gorgeous pattern. He gave me a fine veldt between the Gwailo and
Umvungu Rivers, where I was six weeks. I then returned to the royal
residence, and asked the king to let me go back to the same place. He
was very crusty, and asked if I wanted to die. I told him I would take
my chance, for I did not think there was the least danger _then_.
It is when the rains cease and the rank vegetation rots beneath the sun
that it is so bad, and that is not till March in most parts, I believe,
though earlier on the Zambesi. However, he said, if I wanted to die,
why could I not die somewhere else, and not in his country, and made so
many difficulties I had to give it up. I then had so many delays--bad
weather, and one thing or another--that I waited till the big dance was
over, which is quite a thing to see when one is here.
“After this I had difficulties with my men, and had to part with
Hendrik, Dick, and Jacob, all of whom you will remember. About
Dick’s dismissal I had to wait a week or more, as the case had to
be tried before the king, and Jacob was finally handed over to the
tender mercies of Dick. Hendrik I dismissed for refusing to cut some
bushes, to make a fence round my waggon to keep the niggers out. This
he considered ‘slavish work,’ and preferred dismissal to demeaning
himself. Then the king would insist on buying my little horse, still
well when I left in January, and got the saddle and bridle for nothing.
[Illustration: HUNTERS’ CAMP ON THE SEMOKWE RIVER.]
“Since then I have been coming slowly from the King’s. I have been
hunting, and have Lee’s brother to drive for me now, and take me to
Mungwato. Here I have fallen in with Captain Garden and his brother,
and am joining them and some others for about three weeks’ hunting
in the veldt. I am spinning out the time, so that if I find all
things favourable on reaching Mungwato, I can start in April or May
for the Zambesi.... I have seen Vincent, the driver, who is death on
Solomon.[37] He said he wanted to kill him, but did not like to do it
without your leave, which he asked, but you said it would be rather
inconvenient to you just then to have him put out of the way.”
On the 24th, as already stated, the hunters left the Tati, and crossing
the Ramaqueban and Inkwesi Rivers, struck thence eastwards, and crossed
the Sakasusi or Dry River on the 26th, a crowd of Bushmen, with their
wives and children, accompanying the waggons. The following day they
reached the Semokwe, a fine river surrounded by a sea of green bush
stretching in all directions, and here they formed their camp.[38] “In
the evening,” writes Frank Oates in his Journal after their arrival at
this point, “a boy, who comes from the Zambesi, and knows the Falls,
which he calls ‘Metse-a-tunya’ (water-sounding), came and sang, playing
on the string of a bow to which a gourd was attached. He sang the ‘Song
of the Elephants Feeding,’ now and then pausing and imitating the
looking round for danger, then recommencing the feeding, or imitating
the running of the elephants. The words were very distinct, with no
clicking. The following occurred over and over again, the song sounding
very monotonous, but not at all harsh or unpleasant:--
“‘Wānga marank,
Swot ma ben a marank,
Wātem ba marank,
Obeza marank,
Wāmba marank.’
One of the boys from Mungwato, whose language this man knows a little,
explains that he speaks of the game feeding by the river--‘all the
game.’ The minstrel was delighted with some tobacco. He is a fine,
well-made, powerful-looking, and nice-featured young fellow, with a
pleasant childish expression.”
Next day a large troop of buffalo was encountered near the river, out
of which were obtained a cow and three-year-old bull, which supplied
the camp with meat. “Went after supper,” writes Frank Oates that
evening, “to see the Bushmen and their wives dance. They do this when
full of meat, making a great noise. The women stand in line, shuffling
their feet and clapping their hands, whilst the men come and perform
antics in front of them--one now and then stepping out from the ranks
and approaching near to the women with dancing and gestures. Now and
then one excited will rush away half mad into the veldt, and return
again when tired. They must work very hard in this dancing.”
On March 2d, leaving the waggons by the river, the party started for a
few days’ hunting in the bush, taking with them a couple of pack-oxen.
After following the river for some distance nearly south, they entered
some very pretty country, characteristic of the best South African
scenery--rugged kopjes and thick bush, the kopjes rising round on every
side, and stretching far into the distance. Here, crossing the river,
they encamped their first night, advancing the following morning in
an easterly direction several miles. In the course of this afternoon
(March 3d), some trees of unusual size were noticed by some of the
party whilst riding in pursuit of eland. “The first which arrested my
attention,” writes Frank Oates, who was one of this number, “was so
striking that I let the others go on following the spoor, and reined in
my horse. The tree was perfectly gigantic in girth, thickening as it
got higher, though of no great height. It was swollen and bloated in
a most extraordinary manner, and is of the same kind as the ‘Indunas’
tree’--a baobab. Though still flourishing, it is a mere shell, and,
looking in at a hole in the side, I saw that it was open to the sky at
the top. Inside was a good-sized chamber, strewed with minute bones of
rats or some small mammalia. No doubt generations of owls have long had
their abode here; one flew out on our approach. We saw another tree
afterwards, probably as large, but I did not ride up to it.”
After this the same general direction was again pursued till evening,
when temporary huts were constructed for the night, which, however,
unfortunately proved a wholly ineffectual shelter from the heavy
rain which fell early the following morning, thoroughly saturating
everything inside. The day itself was fine and hot, but was again
succeeded by heavy rain at night, which induced the party on March 5th
to retrace their steps to the waggons, recrossing the Semokwe in their
march, which was now swollen with the recent heavy rains. One of the
Bushmen was carried off his legs in crossing the river, but, seizing
hold of another of the party, regained his footing, and reached the
opposite bank in safety. The big rifle he was carrying escaped with
a severe wetting. After this the party moved slowly back towards the
Tati, halting a short time on the banks of the Sakasusi, and elsewhere
upon the way; and reaching the settlement on March 17th. The game
met with during their absence had been much the same as that Frank
Oates had found in his former journeyings further to the north, and
included--besides buffalo, quagga, pallah, and sassaybi, all of which
were obtained early in the hunt--giraffe, rhinoceros, wildebeest, and
koodoo.
Still remaining at Tati a few days after their return there, Frank
Oates, as already mentioned, started thence for Bamangwato on April
4th, accompanied by a hunter and two traders, also on their way south.
By the middle of March the weather seemed to have become quite settled,
and the days were almost universally fine and hot, with only an
occasional slight shower or a little drizzling rain. This absence of
wet had greatly changed the aspect of the country, and that in a short
time, for, the day after leaving Tati for Bamangwato and crossing the
Shashe River, the veldt presented to the travellers a dry, parched
appearance, very different from anything which had now for a long time
been witnessed. The grass was yellow, and many of the trees already
bare. A week’s trekking brought the party to Bamangwato, which was
reached on April 11th, after an uneventful journey.[39]
[Illustration: SALT PAN, BAMANGWATO.]
Here Frank Oates found letters awaiting him--the first he had received
from England since leaving Pietermaritzburg nearly twelve months
before--and, all seeming favourable, at once determined on prosecuting
his journey to the Zambesi. There appeared now every reason to
anticipate a prosperous and successful expedition, and he began at
once to make his preparations for it, laying in fresh supplies at the
stores, and otherwise completing his equipment.
Very little worthy of note occurred during the time he was detained at
Bamangwato. One evening, however, a great noise and shouting at the
kraal, kept up till late, announced the return from the veldt of a
number of boys who had been out for circumcision. The following day,
according to custom, the same boys went forth again, and Frank Oates
saw them starting. “Party, say of two hundred boys, went out,” he
writes, “into the veldt. They are those who returned yesterday from
circumcision, and I am told will have to go to the veldt every day for
a week and look after the king’s cattle. They presented a striking and
uniform appearance. Each had a knob-kerry and a wand, and round the
middle a bit of skin. All these and their entire bodies were rubbed
with red ochre, their heads shaved except the crown, on which the hair
was quite short, crisp, and bead-like. All the crown and the part
around it was brilliantly metallic, of a dark steel blue, produced by
some preparation of a kind of lead got here.”
[Illustration: CHURCH AND MISSION STATION, SHOSHONG,
BAMANGWATO.]
The evening after this occurrence (April 24th), the traveller’s
preparations were completed, and a fresh start made up country, but
before proceeding further with the narrative, it will be proper here
to give quotations from some of the letters written during his present
stay at Bamangwato. Five days after his arrival he writes to one of his
brothers:--
“BAMANGWATO, _April 16th, 1874_.
“At last I have your and the Mater’s letters, dated September 22d,
and containing the first news I have had from home since I left
Pietermaritzburg. When I arrived here and found no letters I did not
know what to think. Mr. Mackenzie, the missionary, and his assistant,
Mr. Hepburn, were both absent, having gone--as well as Mr. Thomson, the
Matabele missionary--to a meeting at Kuruman. I had asked Mackenzie to
keep letters for me at his own house, and requested Hathorn to forward
all letters to him from Maritzburg; so when I arrived here and found
none I could not make it out. To-day, however, a note arrived, the
monthly mail coming in. This note was from Hepburn, telling me that a
letter and newspapers were at his house for me, and directing me to
apply to a converted native, who is studying for the church, and who,
with others like him, forms a college adjoining the missionary houses.
I was not long in going up, and found the things as he had said,
amongst his books....
“I left Tati for this place on the 4th of April, and reached here in a
week. I had to come here for supplies. It is about 150 miles; but the
journey is no trifle. I generally trekked during the night, and slept
comfortably, the ground being soft sand for the most part, and the
waggon going slowly and without jolts. We usually made two treks of
perhaps three hours each, say from 3 to 6, and from 8 to 11 P.M., and
set off again about 2 A.M. and trekked till sunrise, which was about 6
A.M., making a trek of about four hours. Call our rate of travelling
two miles an hour in heavy ground, this gives about twenty miles a day,
roughly, and this is good trekking, and could not be kept up for long.
Now, however, there is still plenty of grass and water, though winter
is setting in and the rains nearly over. Two waggons accompanied me,
with two traders and a hunter in them. The latter is quite a young
fellow, who left England three years ago. He was educated at Rugby. One
of the two traders was Fairbairn, who supplied me with goods at the
town of the Matabele king; and the other, a man named Dawson.
“On my birthday I thought of you all, and old times--and had a good
wash.[40]... I hope not to be more than a week or so here in all,
before returning to Tati, _en route_ for the Falls. Selous, the
hunting youth above mentioned, set off to-day. His partner, George
Wood, a Yorkshireman, is waiting for him at Tati. They are both
professional ivory hunters, and have a good deal of roughing it to do.
Selous was once lost for four days and three nights in the veldt. The
morning of the first day, when he left the waggons, he had nothing but
a cup of coffee, and had neither a drop of water nor a morsel of food
of any description till the evening of the fourth day, when he found
his way back, and got some milk of a native. He thinks he could have
held out another day.
“The brothers Garden are going to the Zambesi also, the same way. There
is another way of reaching the Falls from here, shorter than the Tati
road, but at certain seasons deficient in water. It is to the left of
the Tati road. I should have preferred it, but wanted to leave some
things at Tati, and was not sure of finding water, going by it. It
appears, however, it would have been all right, had I decided on that
route. They tell me here two English tourists, one of them called
Bond, have just left here, trekking slowly to the Falls. This year and
last the Falls have been in great request apparently, as Garland and
Dawnay visited them last year, and now the Gardens, Bond, and myself,
are all bound there, this. Selous too is very anxious to see them, and
will probably manage it. We are still in lots of time, in fact the
great fear now is of going there too soon, but I shall go slowly, and
remain where it is healthy till it is the same at the Zambesi.
“The boys, as one’s Kafir satellites are called, whatever their age,
are far more liable to fever of course than their ‘bosses.’ Lying
out naked, or with only a skin or blanket and a fire, to keep the
cold away at the unhealthy season, is not likely to prevent an attack
of fever. Three or four of my boys have had it. I have given them
quinine, and there is only one of them ill now. This is a little
fellow I call ‘Quilp.’ He is perhaps eighteen, and a perfect dwarf.
The race he belongs to, the Bushmen of this country, are usually tall.
These Bushmen are a curious race, who probably had their homes in
the veldt long before the Mungwato and Matabele people came here and
conquered it, and before the races they conquered came. The Mungwato
people are an utterly different nation from the Matabele. The latter
have two other nations, the Makalaka and Mashona, living in bondage
under them, who are far more ingenious and versed in the arts than
their conquerors, having mined and worked in metals and woven stuffs
for ages. They are not all conquered yet; but the Matabele king is
constantly sending out parties of warriors, who steal their cattle,
kill the old people, and carry the children into slavery. The little
slaves grow up in the families of the Matabele, and when they are old
enough to marry, become free and are incorporated into the nation, in
which way Lobengula increases his people and his power. The slaves call
those of their conquerors to whom they are allotted, their ‘fathers,’
and they have to work for them, though more like adopted children than
anything else. Many of the conquered people, however, are not made part
of the nation, but suffered to live on with a Matabele headman placed
over them. It is usually slave boys that one gets as servants. They
have to look after the cattle and make themselves generally useful,
carrying one’s arms, blankets, or anything else required, when one goes
for a day or two into the veldt. I have now six boys, all young, which
I always prefer, besides my driver, a stupid creature, who requires
constant blowing up and the use of unpleasantly strong remarks.[41]
When these fail altogether, I shall have to try the argument of
knocking him down, which may be slightly beneficial. This is supposed
to attach a boy to you. The worst of it is none of my boys are much
afraid of me.
“I think I shall be very well supplied for my coming trip. I shall
have meal, coffee, and brandy, which I have got here. Sugar is not to
be had at present, but may possibly turn up before I leave. However,
that doesn’t matter much. Coffee is of the first importance, then comes
tobacco. To be without these two is a thing I have never yet come to.
Meal too is a nice thing to have, though not indispensable, as you can
buy Kafir corn, which, when cooked, keeps you going. Brandy, likewise,
I am very glad to have got.
“There are, besides the parties I have enumerated, a lot of Boer
hunters going to the Zambesi, with their wives and families. Those
who go by Tati will leave it about the middle of May, I think, and I
suppose the Falls can be reached and seen, and you can be returning in
August if you wish to leave so soon. I look forward to the time when I
shall be _en route_ for home. When I came here and got Willie’s
letter, and saw the place where our waggons had stood together, I
could not help feeling a sort of yearning for home, and to-day when
I got your and the Mater’s letters, it seemed as if it would be so
jolly to be with you all again soon, but then I comfort myself with
thinking that it will only make a few months’ difference, going to the
Zambesi, and I did not like the idea of leaving the country without
accomplishing my object. I hope all will continue to go on well at
home.
[Illustration: SHOSHONG, BAMANGWATO.]
“There has been some fighting going on here of late amongst the
natives. It took place just before I arrived. You may be aware that
Kama left here, and old Sekomi, his father, remained behind with
Kamani, Kama’s younger brother. Kama, however, it is supposed, will
return and rout Kamani. Sekomi is looked upon as nobody. Kamani is a
gentlemanly well-dressed darkie enough, and the other day he and his
men gave Matchin a warm reception. Matchin is his uncle, or something
of the sort, and once for a short time supplanted Sekomi. He thought
the dispute of the brothers a favourable opportunity for retaking
Mungwato, but failed. His people had to climb the steep mountain which
flanks the town, turning to fire as they fled, whilst Kamani’s men shot
at them from the plain. A great deal of ammunition was expended, but
comparatively few natives slain. There were a dozen or so lying about
on the slope of the mountain when I arrived, but the hyænas and crows
had had a ‘high old time,’ and little was left of them but the skulls.
A lot of huts were destroyed during the fight; and one of the traders
here seized the opportunity to burn down the empty huts all round the
store where he lives, and it certainly improves his view.[42]
“It seems next to impossible to convert the natives here to
Christianity, though a good many of them profess it. The worst of it is
that when they get so far converted as to wear ‘continuations,’ they
become incorrigible thieves and drunkards. I always infinitely prefer
the raw unconverted heathen for my own use, and every one else that
I know does the same. I like extremely the three missionaries that I
know, and believe them to be most excellent conscientious men. They
believe the chief result of their labours is yet to come, and I hope
they may be right.”
By the 24th of April, as already mentioned, all was ready for a
start, and, leaving Bamangwato after sundown, a trek of two hours was
accomplished that night. The following morning a like distance had been
traversed, when the waggon was suddenly brought to a stand by one of
the wheels giving way. It was fortunate, as it happened, they had not
got further from the reach of help, and the broken wheel was at once
taken back to Bamangwato. It was a tedious business, however, getting
it repaired,--so slow are people’s movements in this country,--but at
last it was ready, and, some fresh oxen being purchased to strengthen
the span, the journey was resumed early on the morning of May 5th.
Before starting a couple of waggons arrived from Lake Ngami with two
traders, both looking dreadfully ill from the effects of fever; indeed
they seemed to have had a very narrow escape. They had buried one man,
and reported the death of another at the Lake,--Henry Gray, the trader
who, the year before, had accompanied Frank and William Oates a good
part of the way up country when they first left Pietermaritzburg.
Before resuming his journey Frank Oates wrote home a few lines to his
brother William, as follows:--
“BAMANGWATO, _May 4th, 1874_.
“I wrote to Charley a few days ago, telling him I was just setting off
for the Zambesi. As bad luck would have it, one of my hind wheels came
to grief in jolting over that vile piece of road you must remember,
about ten miles from here, and there I was, laid on my back. However, I
put the wheel on a sledge of branches, and brought it with six oxen to
be mended here, and once again am off. I am going to ride to the waggon
to-night by moonlight, and hope to be at the Makalapsi River before the
sun is very high....
“We have reckoned up about thirty waggons going Zambesi way this year;
some are hunters, some traders, and some tourists. I expect most of
them will stand at the same place, beyond Daka, and one must walk from
there to the Falls. I suppose twelve white men at least will be at
the Falls this year, so I shall not be alone, and one will be in the
way of help in case of emergency arising, which is not likely. I am
sparing no pains to get a good outfit. I have now twenty-six oxen, and
am determined to be as well provided in every way as possible for the
journey.”
After writing the above Frank Oates rode out, as he intended, to his
waggon, and by 3 A.M. on the 5th of May was once more upon
the road. Again all went favourably for something like three hours
after starting, and a further distance of five or six miles had been
accomplished when, to the traveller’s unspeakable vexation, a fresh
catastrophe of a like kind occurred, this time the tire of the same
wheel breaking, and necessitating another halt. He now rode back into
Bamangwato to see what could be done, the upshot of which was that he
there bought two new waggons, and yet more oxen, so as to divide his
load and lessen the risk of future accidents of this vexatious kind. He
also secured the services of a Dutchman named Van Roozen, and his son,
the former of whom would act as driver to one of the waggons, and make
himself generally useful.
Whilst still completing these arrangements he added a short
supplementary letter to the last, from which the following are
extracts:--
“_May 9th, 1874._
“Since writing the letter of May 4th, which will reach you at the same
time this does, I have broken down again. After finishing my letter
to you I rode out to the waggon, inspanned, and trekked. I had gone
perhaps five or six miles, when the wheel came to grief again, the tire
breaking, and I had to return here. It has ended in my buying two new
waggons, and selling the old one.... The great difference in my plans,
however, is, that I have found a Dutchman and his little boy, who have
agreed to accompany me. The former wanted to go hunting with some one,
and I engaged him to go with me as driver and general overseer, but
have stipulated that he shall only hunt when and where I think fit, as,
for instance, when I leave the waggon standing to visit the Zambesi.
Of course if he gets any ivory or feathers he gives me half, as is
always done in these cases, and there may be enough to pay his wages
as driver. His boy is a handy little fellow, and can take charge of a
waggon.”
It was the 13th of May, when again, for the third time, Frank Oates
started north, but the further tracing of his fortunes must be left
to the succeeding chapter. Before, however, concluding the present
period of his wanderings, the following brief extract may be given from
another of his letters, written about this time, with reference to his
dogs. He says:--
“I have the nicest dog now I ever had. He is a pointer, and a most
sensible creature. Dogs are indispensable here, if only to guard the
waggon. My pointers are both well; I had four originally, but sold two
here when I went further into the interior. One poor thing is dead,
and the other far from flourishing. It was August when I left them,
having a difficulty in feeding so many dogs; and now when I return in
April, poor ‘Flirt’ knows me, and won’t let me out of her sight for
a moment. She had only known me three months, but had formed a very
strong attachment to me. She follows me like my shadow. They accuse
her of stealing soap, and say she has a _penchant_ for departed
negroes. The fact is she is not overfed. I wish that I had kept her. I
have besides two puppies. One is five, the other three months old, and
I have had them from their tenderest infancy.”
The pointer referred to at the commencement of this paragraph was the
traveller’s favourite, “Rail,” the attached and devoted companion of
all his wanderings, his friend in solitude, and faithful to him even
after death.
[Illustration: “ROCK” AND “RAIL.”]
CHAPTER VIII.
Again at Tati--Fresh causes of delay--Lions on the
Motloutsi--Threatened by natives--Forthcoming prospects.
By the 21st of May Frank Oates was again back at Tati from Bamangwato,
this time completing the journey without further mishap. Little worthy
of note occurred upon the road. The weather was now settled; the rains
had ceased, and the days were usually bright and fine. The general
aspect of the country was bare and brown, though, where water was met
with, there was still for the most part a corresponding freshness in
the landscape, as was the case at “Tchakani Vlei,” a beautiful pond,
surrounded by wood and covered with water-lilies, which was reached the
second day of the journey. Again at the Palatswe River, further on,
was water and abundance of fresh grass, the latter supplying excellent
pasture for the oxen. But some days forced marches were required, to
get from one watering-place to another, these in the winter season
being few in number.
This scarcity of water sufficiently accounted for the general absence
of game upon the route, only a few small antelope occasionally showing
themselves the whole time. In crossing the Motloutsi two lions were
observed quite close to the waggons, and Frank Oates gave them chase,
but, as related below in a letter referring to the events of this
period, was thrown off the scent by the wiles of the Dutchman, Van
Roozen, who sought to avoid an encounter. The signs of animal life were
rather more numerous on the Shashe River, where some fine water-holes
were found in the sand, into one of which a crocodile had recently
crawled, leaving the track of his tail behind him at the water’s edge.
Here pallah and other game spoor was abundant, and three or four large
monkeys were observed crossing the river-bed. Birds too were numerous,
including herons, kingfishers, and bustards. In the course of the
journey one or two curious snakes were met with, one of which was of a
fine silvery hue upon the back, and salmon-coloured beneath. Another,
quite black, and of a very deadly kind, evinced a remarkable facility
for swelling out its head to an enormous size when alarmed or angry.
This snake had a habit, it was said, of hanging down from the trees
like one of their branches and attacking such creatures as might pass
beneath.
On approaching Tati the traveller was struck with the fine autumnal
tints of the trees, and observed ahead of him the picturesque range of
hills towards the Ramaqueban. At Tati itself the grass was parched and
yellow, and everything had already assumed its autumnal or winter garb.
Here he was met on his arrival by Mr. Fairbairn from Gubuleweyo, from
whom he learnt with pleasure that the king had sent leave for him to
go to the Zambesi, a fresh permission having been required. The other
travellers for the Zambesi, mentioned above in one of Frank Oates’s
letters, had most of them already started northwards, but for one
reason or another he was himself yet detained some days longer at the
settlement.
The only incident of much novelty which occurred during this time was
an angry scene with some Kafirs at the mine, arising out of a second
attempt he had made, when last at Tati, to get possession of the
Bushman remains he had failed to secure when hunting on the Ramaqueban
in February. The story of his encounter with these men and other
circumstances of the time are related by him at some length in the
following letter home:--
“TATI, _May 29th, 1874_.
“I have been here just a week to-day en route for the Zambesi. I have
been delayed, in the first instance, by the illness of Brown, who is
managing Sir John Swinburne’s mine here in the absence of Nelson, who
has gone to the colony; and since, by having something done to my
waggon wheels. I have been able to be of a little use to Brown, and
did not like to leave him as he was, but he is now better. It does not
much matter losing a few days, as I always thought the 1st of June
would be early enough to leave here, in order to reach the Zambesi as
soon as the healthy season there has fairly set in. I may now wait two
or three days longer, as there seems a possibility of my getting my
waggon wheels shortened. I shall be glad if I can get this done, as
wood in this country shrinks so much that the tire often becomes loose,
and then a blacksmith is wanted to shorten the tire unless the wheel is
wedged.
“I am fortunate in having secured the services of the Dutchman and
his little boy, whose engagement I informed you of in my letter from
Bamangwato. These people are very useful to have about a waggon. There
are a thousand shifts, which any one who understands the subject can
have recourse to. A Kafir is scarcely ever the slightest good, even if
he has been working about waggons all his life. I have now, moreover,
far more comfort in the waggon I appropriate to my own use, as it is no
longer crammed to overflowing, half my cargo being stowed away in my
second waggon, which the Boer occupies. My oxen too are, on the whole,
in a very satisfactory state, and I have all the necessary stores. I
don’t suppose I need be more than a month in reaching the place where
my waggons must stand, and then it is two or three days on foot to the
Victoria Falls; but of course I shall go slower than this, and may not
be back here till November, or even later. I feel now as if all was
going well.
“I was eight days in coming here from the place where I last broke
down, and had few incidents on the road. Van Roozen, the Dutchman,
however, got a fright one morning from a couple of lions, and showed
himself to be rather a coward. We were entering the dry bed of the
Motloutsi River about two hours before sunrise, and I was asleep in the
waggon. It appears that Van Roozen had gone across the river in front
of the waggons to ascertain the nature of the opposite bank, which he
had just climbed when the roar of a lion resounded in his ears, and he
asserts that he was chased by a couple of them, and ‘ran like a horse.’
The latter part of his statement, no doubt, is perfectly correct, and
also it was true that there had been two lions within a yard or two of
him at one time, as we saw by the spoor at sunrise. I found the remains
of a pallah they had killed in the bed of the river, and the spoor
of the lions going away into the bush, and set off to follow it with
the dogs and the Dutchman. The latter was in a great fright. I should
have thought nothing of it if he had candidly admitted as much, but
he thought to put me off by making believe to follow the spoor, and
then conveniently losing it. The Kafirs too are most terribly afraid
of lions, and will always lose the spoor; indeed it is almost useless
to attempt to follow it with them, but I had thought better things of
a Dutchman calling himself a ‘hunter.’ The fact is, for one man to go
alone, or only accompanied by Kafirs, may be dangerous, but for two
white men with double-barrelled rifles the danger is very slight; as,
in the remote contingency of an attack, one could help the other, but
really Dutchmen are only a degree better than Kafirs. Still they are
wonderfully useful about a waggon, and my having this one with me takes
a great deal of bother off my hands, and may save me no end of trouble
and delay. My grand mistake was not taking a good man with me from
Natal in the first instance at £8 or £10 a month.
“I have had a row with some rascally Kafirs here in this wise. Last
year a party of unfortunate Bushmen--men, women, and children--were
killed by a party of Matabele. The Bushmen were supposed to have
been hunting where they had no right, or committing some other
offence--probably an imaginary one. Hearing of this, I thought if I
could find the place I could take a sack and fill it with bones, and
I instituted inquiries accordingly as to the locality, offering a
blanket to any Kafir who would take me to the spot. A Dutchman, who
lives here, when he is not away with his wife and daughters in his
waggon on a hunting expedition, offered to act as my guide, and it was
settled that I should give him £5 for doing so. He, however, changed
his mind about going, but told me he had got one of the Matabele who
killed the Bushmen to go with me in his stead. This fellow was working
here at the mine, but when he was brought to me he also refused to
go, evidently thinking I had some ulterior object in wanting to go to
the place--perhaps to get him punished. These people, too, are very
superstitious about going to places where others have been killed.
“This occurred when I was last here, but on my return I was waited
on by another coloured gentleman, who said he too had helped to kill
the Bushmen (and a ferocious beast he looked)--What business was
it of _mine_ to visit the bones? All this, of course, arose
from the Dutchman having made it known that I wanted the bones. The
ferocious-looking Kafir further went on to say that he should complain
of my conduct to the king, the only way to avoid which catastrophe
being to give him something out of my waggon, to bribe his silence.
Moreover, he hinted that if I did not comply, he should not stick at
helping himself, and went through a pantomime with his knob-kerry (a
stick with a round knob at one end, with which Kafirs knock their
enemies on the head), illustrating what he would do to _me_. All
this was bounce, though no doubt he would have liked to do it had he
dared, and he thought to frighten me. My pusillanimous Dutchman at
once begged me to give the fellow something. This I stoutly refused,
not only as a disgraceful proceeding on my part, but as an act of bad
policy. I knew better than to show him I was afraid of him, and I knew
the king was not likely to go against me, even if the worst came to
the worst. There were two other Kafirs with this one, also from the
mine, to back him up. Finding the Dutchman disposed to be friendly with
them, the spokesman asked him for a cigar, seeing us smoking, and the
Dutchman wanted me to comply, as a preliminary to talking the matter
over. All I said, however, to the Kafir was a word or two of his own
language, meaning ‘Go away, you scoundrel.’
“It was Sunday, and at this moment a white man who works at the
mine came up, and I told him the case. He knew the Kafirs, and at
once ordered them off, giving one of them a good slap on the side of
the head, which upset him. Then they all jumped to their feet and
brandished their knob-kerries. I threw off my coat, and my ally and
I stood ready and waited for the first blow to be struck, whilst Van
Roozen stood afar off. This attitude decided the Kafirs not to risk a
fight, and they said they would go with me to Brown and talk the matter
over. We went accordingly, and Brown told them if they wanted to do
so to take the case before the king, and they soon subsided and slunk
away. I might have had the greatest possible annoyance if it had not
been for the plucky conduct of Dobie from the mine.
“Fairbairn’s waggon was stopped when he came here by some Matabele,
and he gave them some goods, but vowed he would complain to the king
and get them into trouble. I suppose these three Kafirs thought they
too could get something. The king, I believe, would kill them if he
knew. There are, of course, no prisons; and when any of his subjects go
too far they get put to death, and thrown out to the hyænas. He is an
excellent friend to the white men here, and his people live in fear and
trembling of their lives. Since I was at the royal residence, I am told
he has killed some dozen of the leading men of the country for making
suggestions to him. ‘I must show them,’ said he, ‘who is king,’--and he
showed them.
“Winter has now fairly set in; it is extremely cold at night, and not
hot even during the day--at least not hot for Africa. The rivers are
dry and the bush withered, and all is yellow and autumnal looking, and
will remain so till the rains fall in October, and the fresh vegetation
springs up. Then the trees will soon be all green, and many of them
blossoming, and there will be many wild flowers. Now things are bleak
and barren looking enough.
“Before I leave here I shall write a few lines more.... I hope every
one is well, and shall live in hope, for what else can I do? I can’t
expect to get any more letters till my return from the Zambesi. It may
be some little time before you hear from me again, as I don’t know
that any waggons will return till November, though there are no end
of them gone to the Zambesi. Should any precede me back I can send a
letter by them. If, however, you don’t hear, you must take for granted
all is going well with me. Humanly speaking, there seems no reason for
uneasiness.”
On the 8th of June, his waggon at last ready, Frank Oates added a
few lines to this letter, announcing his intended departure on the
following day, and on the 9th he started for the Zambesi. There seemed
now no reasonable probability of anything occurring to interfere with
the successful issue of his journey, yet in reality, as things turned
out, this was only the first of three separate attempts he made to
reach the Zambesi from this point the present season. By the shorter
route now to be adopted--for he was not going by Gubuleweyo--he would
proceed pretty direct northwards, passing through the country of the
Makalakas, who are subject to the Matabele, and hold the key to the
Zambesi country by this approach. Before crossing the boundaries of
these people, it is necessary for travellers to have first obtained
permission from the king to proceed, and such a permission Frank Oates
distinctly had; yet, in spite of all remonstrances on his part, the
Makalakas refused to let him pass, thinking, perhaps, to reap some
profit from his discomfiture, or, it may be, that Lobengula would in
reality be no worse pleased if he were stopped. Indeed the traveller
did not himself entirely exonerate the king from blame, but suspected
at one time he was playing a double game--on the one hand giving
him leave to proceed to the Zambesi, whilst on the other purposely
neglecting to send the needful instructions to his subjects to let him
pass. The king was anxious to encourage a certain number of traders in
his country, but may have looked with suspicion on one whose objects
were less intelligible to him.
At all events, be this as it may, it is perfectly certain that these
Makalakas threw every possible obstacle in the way of his advance--and
not once only, but each time he reached their boundaries--whilst
several traders, going and coming, were permitted to proceed upon their
journey, and the final fatal issue of his expedition to the Zambesi
was practically the result of the behaviour of these people. It is
true that other circumstances, irrespective of their proceedings,
combined to hinder and delay him, again throwing his journey into the
unhealthy season of the year; but these alone would not have been of
the same vital consequence, and the period of his misfortunes dates
from the time when the Makalakas--the king’s permission already plainly
granted--first turned him back, as related in the succeeding chapter,
and forced him to seek a fresh interview with Lobengula. In such a
country, with but a brief healthy season, delays like this were little
short of fatal.
[Illustration: WATTLED STARLING.--_Dilophus
carunculatus._]
But it is time to follow him in the first of these ill-starred
journeys.
CHAPTER IX.
Fresh start for the Zambesi--The Ramaqueban again--A
lion shot--Singular building--Wild fruit--First kraal of
the Makalakas--Stopped by the induna--Return to Tati--To
Gubuleweyo and back--Fresh leave obtained--Altered
arrangements for the journey.
On first leaving the Tati, on June 9th, the old ground, as though he
had been making for Gubuleweyo, was retraced as far as the Ramaqueban
River, where, on June 10th, the traveller halted a short time to
hunt. Giraffe, quagga, and blue wildebeest were now abundant in this
district, and ostriches were also met with. Van Roozen too, the day
before they left, succeeded in shooting a lion which had threatened to
attack his horse--a great feat for this intrepid sportsman. An account
of this adventure, along with some other matter, is given in the
traveller’s Journal of this date, as follows:--
[Illustration: Map of M^R F. OATES’S ROUTE from TATI to the
VICTORIA FALLS Drawn from his own observations]
“_June 12th._--Mild, cloudy day, after a very mild night.... Just
before sundown Van Roozen returned from hunting, having shot a lion. It
seems he had been following a sable antelope bull, and was about two
or three miles from the waggon, down the Ramaqueban, when a lion
approached his horse quite close. He yelled, and turned his horse.
The lion retreated, but soon stopped and seemed inclined to renew
the attack. He dismounted and shot the lion at, he says, about 30
yards. He then saw another lion creeping towards him--both ‘mannetjes’
(males)--and he (Van Roozen) made off. After his return he and I rode
back together to the dead lion, which we found, and proceeded to skin.
He was a yellow-maned one; Van Roozen says the black-maned one is
quite distinct. In this the mane was short, the teeth very large and
discoloured, but perfect, and the lion apparently in his prime, though
he must have been hungry, as he was in poor condition. Van Roozen was
alone when it happened, and he probably wanted to get the horse.
“Van Roozen tells me of an Englishman, named Brown, who was killed by
a lion on the Crocodile River. One day this man and his son had found
and taken three cubs, and the old lion came up to them. The son wanted
to fire, but the father forbade him, and threw one cub down, which
the old one took away, and they took the others to the waggon. The
day following the old man took his gun, and said he was going after
ostriches. He had one young Kafir boy with him. It seems he had gone
to the place where the lions were, and had met the old one, which he
fired at, but did not kill upon the spot--though I believe it was
found dead afterwards. It had torn the flesh off one of his arms and
both his legs, but he had taken his gun, gone to a hole where buffalo
wallow, used his pannikin to wash his hands and face, and gone on to
the waggon-road (the son followed the blood spoor). He had put his gun
in a tree, and hung up his powder-flask, and gone on the road a hundred
yards when he had dropped and died.”
The day after Van Roozen’s encounter with the lion, Frank Oates, whilst
out hunting, again visited the carcass, and, kindling a fire, cooked
some of the meat. On this the boys who were with him, and both his
pointers, had a feast, and he tasted some of it himself, which he found
to be coarse in the grain, and not unlike quagga meat.
Resuming his journey to the Zambesi later the same afternoon, he now
broke fresh ground, keeping for a day or two in a northerly direction
close to the Ramaqueban, a really magnificent river when viewed from
the ground above, its broad sandy bed stretching far away into the
distance through the veldt. The dry beds of a number of spruits,
all rising quite near the river, and suddenly becoming large before
falling into it, were crossed as he proceeded. It is no wonder that
South African rivers, thus fed by so many tributaries along their
entire course, fill with such amazing rapidity directly the rains fall,
and swell into large streams almost at their source. Next turning
towards the north-west, he presently struck across back towards the
Tati River, and joined the more direct road from the settlement to
the Zambesi, which here for some distance kept up the river’s bank,
the country now assuming that broken rugged appearance--here with
rough craggy kopjes, there with small open park-like glades--which
makes at irregular intervals so pleasing a change in this otherwise
little-varying landscape, and compensates, where it occurs, for much
that is uninteresting.
The Tati, itself one of those rivers which become large so near their
source, was again itself shortly left behind, the waggons trekking
forward in a direction nearly north. On June 17th, a few miles further
on, another river was crossed, and the following entry made in the
traveller’s Journal:--
“_June 17th._--Fine morning, after a mild starry night; warm day.
Inspanned at 6.20 A.M. I rode across the veldt to the right; grass
very wet. Saw a small buck and three sassaybi, but they got my scent.
Going in a direction generally north, I struck a deep sandy river,
with plenty of water-holes in it, and banks steep and rocky in places;
crossed it, and kept down it till I found the waggons, which had
crossed it and outspanned perhaps a mile and a half further down. Just
before reaching the waggons (8.20 A.M.), I came to a most singular
building, built on a little isolated kopje in the midst of the level
tree-studded veldt, but with other kopjes near. There has been an
excellently-built wall running round the sides of the kopje, and a
regular entrance into it. The boys say it was built in old times by
the ancestors of the present race of Makalakas, and was the king’s
residence. No white man, they say, helped to build it. It is not seen
from the waggon-road.
[Illustration: NATIVE BUILDING, SHASHE RIVER.]
“The river, which we outspanned at, and which (as before stated)
contains plenty of water, flows away towards the south-west, as shown
by the bent reeds in its now dry sandy bed.[43]
“Started again at 1.20 P.M. and went about eight miles; first through
‘mopani veldt,’ with fine fruit-trees in it, and a little before
outspanning passed through a range of low kopjes. This ‘mopani’ is
usually very heavy land, so called from the mopani trees (not unlike
alders) which grow upon it. Of the fruit-trees referred to, one was my
old glutinous friend of the Gwailo hunting veldt--plentiful, but not
yet ripe. It is very woody, but when chewed exudes a fine glutinous
gum. Another has a small fruit like a little rosy-cheeked apple,
containing seeds, and something of the crab nature, but not at all
acid. Another, which I should say was also of the apple kind, and like
the last in taste and texture, was as large as a plum and of the same
colour, and grew on a thick low bushy large-leaved tree.
“In the evening, where we were outspanned, I found a large colony of
birds established in three large nests (half-built, I think) in the
branch of a tall tree. This is the noisy familiar bird I first met with
at Tati.”[44]
Proceeding forward on the following morning, still through the
veldt of large mopani trees, and passing amongst numerous fine
rocky kopjes--rising up on every side in bold craggy heaps from the
level veldt, tree-covered like the latter wherever trees could find
root--Frank Oates next crossed two or three small spruits, now dry, of
which the largest was about five yards wide. At this there was a delay
of about half an hour, caused by one of the waggons sticking in its
sandy bed, and when he had crossed it he outspanned upon its bank. And
here, as he rested--the Tati now well behind him, and his imagination
full of hope in the future and interest in the present--it is likely
enough he may have congratulated himself on the successful progress
of his journey, but scarcely probable he should have reflected on the
possibility that here, not many hundred yards from this very spot, he
might but a few months hence, when returning from the Falls, find his
last lonely resting-place; yet so he did.
Again, after a brief rest, renewing the journey about mid-day, he still
advanced a short distance further in the same direction before coming
to another halt; and here the Journal once more takes up the story:--
“_June 18th._--... Inspanned again about noon, and crossed another
spruit with a sharp turn in it. Soon saw corn-fields, then the bright
green of tobacco-fields and a kraal,[45] and outspanned at 1 P.M. I was
pleased with the appearance of this little kraal, surrounded by its
green fields of tobacco, and emerging suddenly to view from amidst the
mopani trees; but I little thought of the disappointment in store for
me here. Though we had trekked so short a time, and made our previous
trek so short as to be scarcely worth mentioning, I almost decided to
outspan here before I found that it was absolutely necessary I must.
The people told us that there was a message from the king, which the
induna would convey to me, but he was away at another kraal and must
be sent for. Sent a boy with the oxen to water, which is some distance
off, employing a man from the kraal as guide. Meantime I made it known
that I wanted goats and corn, and ere long was hard at work dispensing
beads, handkerchiefs, and snuff-boxes. The main run was on the large
lavender beads, next came the small lavender ones, and a few wanted
blue cut ones. Mealies were brought in large quantities, but sold
principally in small basketfuls. There was plenty of Kafir corn too,
but not so much as of the Indian corn. Tobacco also was brought, and
the sweet kind of beans that are like nuts’ kernels.
“The women crowded round to sell. They were many of them recently
smeared on their heads with something black like pitch, babies and
all. Many of the girls have the hair matted thickly together in lumps.
One hanging over the forehead, the end of the lock having brass rings
fastened to it, droops down to the nose, and one to each ear. The hair
is all drawn out in matted locks. A profusion of brass rings are worn
on the arms, and heavy bead necklaces round the neck. Many of them
are pretty. There are distinctly perceptible the dark and the light
skinned; some nearly black, some copper-coloured. The men are much
given to wearing carved charms and other ornaments and curiosities.
A lion’s claw or a vulture’s beak are favourites amongst the latter
division. They wear skins--karosses with the hair worn inside. John
says there are both Masahras (Bushmen) and Makalakas here. I was
surprised to hear from him that there are many Bushmen living in kraals
and not wandering in the bush, as I had an idea they were exclusively
a gipsy race, but it appears by no means so universally. The induna is
an old Makalaka, who does not talk the Matabele language, but as it was
not till the day after our arrival that I saw him, I will leave him for
the present.
“Presently an individual arrived in white men’s clothes, who spoke a
little Dutch. Without ceremony he jumped up on my waggon-box, and I
concluded he was the induna from his free and easy style. I begged him
to excuse me, as I was very busy buying corn, after he had asked John
a question or two, as, ‘Was I going to the Zambesi?’ I never thought I
was to be stopped, and went on buying corn, and he seemed glad to let
me do so, till at last he came to his final interview--for much of the
time he had been with Van Roozen. He then told me that the king had
sent to stop all waggons from coming on, on account of the sickness,
but the induna himself would be here the following morning. My feelings
this evening were ones of intense disappointment, but still I hoped
something from my interview with the induna the next day.
“_June 19th._--Very cloudy day, after a mild night; inclined to rain.
The induna and a large crowd here early. I took down the substance
of the induna’s words. They were thoroughly confirmatory of my worst
fears. He said though they here would not stop me by main force, the
kraals ahead would do so. _They_ spoke as my friends. If I persisted
in going on, they would send to inform the king, who would despatch a
party of Matabele to seize my waggons and take possession of my goods.
I thought it best to take down the substance of what the induna said to
me, in order to report it to the king. Umganulo, an induna, he stated,
brought the following news from the king four days ago, and went back
immediately:--All white men going to the Zambesi to be stopped, and
their boys killed if they attempt going on with them; waggons to be
taken to the king if orders are disobeyed. The king too has stopped
people going by all other roads to the Zambesi, and messengers also
passed here the day before yesterday, going on to the Zambesi, to tell
all white men who are already there not to return till the rains fall,
as they may bring sickness. The king has also said that no one may go
across the veldt to him from here, but all must go by way of Tati.
“_June 21st_.--Rather cloudy, but fine. Got up about 5 A.M.... Girls
here very early with corn; also some goats brought for sale, of which I
bought two for a cotton blanket, also a little more corn, some leather
bags, and a calabash. A tall lad, formerly a driver for Palmer, and a
most free and easy individual, having relapsed into the national dress,
offered his services to me as a hunter, if I should return this way.
I ask John his character. John says he once took a knob-kerry to Mr.
Palmer, when the latter wanted to thrash him. But he was not to blame
for that, says John; a notion of John’s which I had to let him see did
not meet my approval.
“Some of the girls who came to-day were very profusely ornamented with
beads. The thickly-matted hair, plastered together with black wax-like
cement, is disposed of (as I noted before) in three principal locks;
one falling over the forehead to between the eyes, and one in front of
each ear, surmounted with brass rings. The ears are pierced with small
rings. Round the neck hang massive chains of beads, tastefully arranged
and blended. A leather kaross, or dressed skin, is worn as a robe, and
this is hung with long strings of beads. Long strings of beads too hang
round the hips, and in front are long strips of leather. Round the
waist are numerous brass rings and bead rings also. The girls are by no
means shy.
“To-day poor Mozanga told me of some trouble he was in, and I thought
he complained of a beating, but it seemed he had heard of the death of
the induna of the kraal where I engaged him, a young man, who they say
died in the Zambesi hunting veldt. He must have gone there at a very
unhealthy time. Mozanga wept bitterly; he is a very kind-hearted boy.
“I went with Umfanimboozi to shoot some birds, whilst the oxen, which
had got loose, were being fetched, and went through some tobacco
‘gardens.’ The pink blossoms and green leaves are very pretty....”
This same afternoon (June 21st) the traveller reluctantly commenced
his journey back to Tati, resolved to revisit the king, and ascertain
from his own lips the real truth of the induna’s statement. The fine
clear nights, during a part of which he now made a point of trekking,
were brilliant as he returned with glittering stars and constellations,
the Southern Cross at this time conspicuous amongst the latter a
little after sunset. Four days after starting he was back at the Tati
settlement, and on the 30th of June started on horseback to the King’s
Town, with eight boys to take his baggage.
On reaching the King’s, Lobengula tried to laugh the matter off, and
this time, as an assurance of good faith, appointed one of his own
people, a son of the headman, Manyami, to see him safe through the
country of the Makalakas. Frank Oates was again back at Tati on the
15th of July, and here, before starting once more for the Zambesi, he
made some fresh plans and arrangements for the journey. What these
arrangements were may best be learned from the ensuing letter, written
at this time from Tati, and containing, besides, some particulars of
his recent journey to Gubuleweyo. This letter is as follows:--
“TATI, _July 21st, 1874_.
“I am, you see, at Tati once more.... I left here for the Zambesi
on the 9th of June, and on the 18th--travelling very slowly, as I
had lots of time before me--reached the first Makalaka kraal on the
Zambesi road. Here I was stopped, being told that the king had sent a
special order to turn all waggons back which might come that way. They
also said that all waggons coming from the Zambesi were to be turned
back, and not allowed to leave till the rains fell, which begin about
October. It was in vain I pleaded that I had special leave from the
king. They said their orders were peremptory--all waggons to be turned
back, and if the people with them refused to obey, the waggons were to
be seized, and all the boys who persisted in accompanying them killed.
This of course frightened my Kafirs, and all I could do was to turn
back, and go to the king in person.
“On the 25th of June I was once more at Tati, and decided to ride to
the King’s Town, but a fresh difficulty arose in getting boys to go
with me, as my own boys say the white men are the cause of all this
trouble, for they bring the sickness, and they are afraid the king will
kill them for accompanying white men. At last, however, this difficulty
was surmounted, and I set off on the 30th of June with my two horses,
and eight boys carrying my baggage. Gordon, a Mungwato trader,
arrived at Tati _en route_ for the King’s whilst I was making my
preparations, but says there were no letters there for me when he left.
He could not go on even to the King’s without special leave, as the
king has heard of ‘red-water,’ the Natal cattle disease, and is in a
great fright about it. Indeed, if it got amongst his cattle, his nation
would suffer terribly. It seems, too, from recent reports, that it is
contagious, though we never used to think so.
“Dorehill’s waggon and the waggons of another trader had been stopped
on their way to the King’s Town at the Inkwesi River, where the first
Matabele kraal is, and were there when I came up.[46] I got on very
well up to the time of my reaching these waggons, and stayed a couple
of days at them with Dorehill, who was awaiting further news from the
King’s. On leaving the waggons I met the messenger he had sent to the
king returning with a message from the latter to Dorehill that he was
to ride on and see him. I went on, but had great difficulty in keeping
my boys from turning back. However, I explained to them that if they
kept with me there was no likelihood of their being hurt, as no white
man’s servants ever were interfered with, whereas, if they turned back,
they might be killed. They would of course have liked me to turn back
with them; but seeing I was determined to go on, they thought it was
their best chance to remain in my company. I of course knew there was
not much fear of anything being done to them as long as they were with
me, as the king holds everything belonging to white men sacred, and his
people dare not commit any violence on Kafirs protected by a white man.
The fact is my boys were principally Makalakas, who are slaves to the
Matabele, and whose lives are considered worthless.
“One night I was very angry with them, for I had been riding on in
advance, and kept on riding after sundown, as the country for miles
round was on fire, and I wanted to get past the fire before we encamped
for the night. I lay down with my head on a log, to await their
arrival, and fell asleep. By and by I woke up, and found it was colder
than agreeable, and at once guessed that they had stopped behind.
I had to ride back a good way before I came to their fire, when I
pitched into them. They had been afraid to come on after sundown, as
the Matabele don’t allow their subjects to travel by night, though of
course a white man can do what he likes.
“The next day Dorehill overtook me. He had set off the day after me,
but without food or blankets, and was very glad to share mine. The
following day we rode on to Gubuleweyo, the King’s Town. The king
seemed surprised to see me, but did not speak to me the first day I
saw him, except to greet me, and send me to his sister to drink beer.
The next day, when I told him what had occurred, he seemed rather
amused than otherwise, and told me the Makalakas had been trying to
frighten me, and that he had never sent them any order to stop waggons.
I believe, however, he is the one to blame, and had probably neglected
to send word to the Makalakas to let me pass. I had written to him from
Tati for leave to go to the Zambesi, and he had given it, but could
never have sent word about me to the Makalakas, who are his subjects,
and very much given to stopping waggons that have not a special permit
from him. He now gave me a Matabele boy, at my request, to accompany
me.
“The little horse I sold him for £23 when last at his town had got over
the sickness, as I fully expected he would, and was ‘salted,’ and must
be now worth from £80 to £100. I should never have parted with him, had
not Mr. Thomson advised me to do so, in order to ensure his goodwill
in case I wanted to go to the Zambesi. It seems, however, that he did
not do for me what he might have done, and it has been suggested to
me that this was because I refused to sell him my gun also! I think I
told you that I gave him a gun when first I saw him, but he wanted very
much another I had, offering me £60 or £70 worth of ivory for it, but I
persisted in refusing to let him have it, and then it was he asked for
the horse, and would not let the subject drop till he got the animal,
and got him at his own price. I am afraid he is very little better than
the generality of Kafirs, and certainly I have experienced anything
but generous treatment at his hands--indeed scarcely fair play. Yet
there is no doubt that he is very much afraid of anything befalling
white men in his country, either from sickness or any other cause; and
now, when he told me to go to the Zambesi, he added, ‘Unless I was
afraid of the sickness.’ This idea of sickness, and the new fear of a
contagious cattle disease, brought by white men, are causing a good
deal of trouble. Dorehill, however, got leave to take his waggon on,
and intends to go to the Zambesi when he leaves the King’s. I rode back
with Dorehill as far as his waggon, and there I met Mr. Thomson and
his wife once more, returning to the Matabele after being absent at a
missionary meeting at Kuruman.[47]
“On reaching Tati I had some more trouble, which has ended in my
making fresh arrangements altogether. John, my Kafir driver, refused
point-blank to go with me to the Zambesi, and though I could have
compelled him to do so, I thought it best to be rid of such an
unwilling servant. Brown’s waggons are starting for Potchefstroom
to-morrow, and by them this letter is to be taken, which I hope will
reach you by the end of September. John’s only chance of leaving
is to get away with these waggons, and of course if I say the word
Brown will not let him go near them, and he cannot possibly go alone.
However, I told John I should not stop him, because I did not think him
worth keeping, and he will leave with the waggons to-morrow. Then the
Dutchman in two instances had acted very badly whilst I was travelling
with him, and when I was obliged to return to Tati I secretly intended
to get rid of him, though I did not tell him so.
“It was the 15th of July when I got back here from the King’s, and the
very same day a trader arrived from the Zambesi, coming to get a fresh
stock of goods. He had had to drive his own waggon, having lost his
driver and other boys through being at the Zambesi in the unhealthy
season. Indeed, he went there at what is supposed to be an extremely
unhealthy time. I think it was February when he left here, and April
and May are, I believe, the very worst months on the Zambesi. I left,
as I have told you, early in June, intending to be back again before
the end of the year, which every one says is the proper thing to do.
Both Garland and Dawnay succeeded in seeing the Falls last year by
doing so, and this year there are others who have probably seen them by
this time. Now it is not too late to go there this season still, though
the time one can spend there is shortened by not leaving earlier, for
it takes about a month to reach the place where the waggons stand,
and allowing another month for visiting the Falls, and a month for
returning here, there is no doubt the Falls could be comfortably
visited during a three months’ absence from Tati, and there would be
nothing remarkable in doing it all in two months with good oxen and
good servants. So I can still go there, and be back again as soon as I
ever intended to be.
“I am now coming to my new arrangement, which I think is in many
respects a very promising one, for a final attempt to reach the Falls.
The trader I speak of (‘Stoffel Kennedy,’ or some such name), has
actually been at the Falls. He was there with Garland last year, and
knows the country well. He knows where the poison-plant is, and where
the tsetse-fly. He knows the people of the country, and all its ins
and outs. He is I think partly of Dutch or German origin, but is to all
intents and purposes an Englishman, and is very much liked. He offered
to postpone his own trading trip, and turn back at once with me to the
Zambesi, guaranteeing to take me to the Falls if I would make it worth
his while. He would then, he said, take me there and bring me back,
not going as my servant, but undertaking the whole management of the
expedition for me. Now I knew I should have one waggon and span of oxen
to sell when I came from the Zambesi, and he was willing to take these
now at a fair price, deducting the sum which he wanted as a reward for
his services. I was a little time before I could make up my mind, but
it seemed such a chance for me as I might not soon have again. As for
the Dutchman, I had even gone so far at one time as to vow that, rather
than set off again with him, I would give up the trip; and though I
modified this resolve afterwards, yet I knew he was not so likely to
get me to the Falls as this man who knows all the difficulties. Then
I thought, after all the time I have spent in order to get to the
Zambesi, and being still bent on going there, the best thing would be
to embrace this opportunity. I should not even have had the Kafir,
John, in the other case, but only the Dutchman and his son, who cannot
speak the language, and with the former of whom I had had a most
unpleasant row more than once.
“It ended in my entrusting my fortunes to the new man. Brown, I may
add, thinks I have done well, and I have every confidence in his
judgment. He is a man of whom I have the very highest opinion, and,
indeed, the more I know of him, the more I like and admire him.
Personally, I have experienced the greatest kindness from him at all
times, and know how to appreciate it.
“Stoffel is going to take his own waggon and the ten oxen he bought of
me, leaving the new waggon here.... Brown has just refused £110 for
a little ‘horse’--of course you know ‘horse’ means ‘pony’ every time
I use it--which he bought for £80. A good horse is worth anything to
one here, and I cannot wonder at the price given for ‘salted’ horses.
Suppose, for instance, I had had to go to the King’s on foot, and got
foot-sore, where should I have been? The question is one not easily
answered; but I suppose at any rate I should not have got on as well as
I did. The absurdity is, that for a small insignificant-looking pony
you have to pay the same price as for a good English hunter. A day or
two ago we had some races here. We could only muster four horses, but
by varying the riders and riding disputed races over again, we managed
to get five races, in all of which I rode, and got the reputation of
being a good jockey, as out of the five I rode in I won four.”
Favourable as the above arrangements seemed for a renewed attempt to
reach the Falls, the traveller’s hopes, as will soon be seen, were
again doomed to disappointment; and this in a most unlooked-for manner.
CHAPTER X.
Third start for the Zambesi--Again stopped by natives--Fresh
leave from the king--The journey resumed--Frank Oates’s
companion obliged to leave him--He goes forward
alone--Breakdown of his waggon--Annoyances from the
natives--Help from Tati--Return there--Letters home--Future
plans.
Leaving Tati on the evening of the 25th of July, on his third attempt
to reach the Zambesi, Frank Oates halted for the night a few miles
beyond the settlement, completing the distance to the Ramaqueban the
following morning. Here, whilst waiting a couple of days in search
of game and for other purposes, he was again unexpectedly stopped by
natives, professedly armed with authority from Lobengula to stop all
waggons from advancing northwards. The story of this encounter, with
its immediate consequences, is thus related in the Journal:--
“_July 27th_.--Fine and oppressively hot, after a cold night. The
days are now very hot, though the nights continue cold and frosty. I
was going to ride over to the Inkwesi to-day, with a letter from Brown
to Greit, and to see if Greit could let me have one of his drivers.
However, before I set off, a Matabele came down the Zambesi road,
bearing a shield, and accompanied by a Makalaka bearing another. A
second Makalaka appeared later, but the moment the Matabele arrived,
he came up to the waggons, and began interrogating us. On hearing that
we were going to the Zambesi, he began to leap and dance about like
a madman, brandishing a battle-axe. I thought it a case of temporary
insanity, brought on by smoking ‘dacha,’[48] but it appeared from his
statement he had been sent from the king to the Makalakas, with a fresh
order to stop waggons, and was now going on to Tati, to tell white men
there the same tale.
“I had difficulty in keeping the dogs from attacking him, and once
he brought his battle-axe within a few inches of Stoffel’s skull.
He became quiet, however, when Makabo (Manyami’s son)[49] told him
the facts of the case, and said I could go on, but my boys, who were
subjects of the king, would be killed, and if I went on I had better
pay them off here. I therefore decided on sending to the king,--first,
to ask for further security for my boys, second, for leave to take
Stoffel with me; and decided to send off Manyami’s son, with two
others, with a letter to the king and another to Thomson.
“At night there was a tremendous conflagration raging close to us. It
was a splendid sight, but made me a little nervous. However, it was
principally on the other side of the road, and died before it came
quite close. The effect of the burning trees and long line of fire was
very fine. One tree in particular, showing all its twigs red-hot or in
flame, reminded me of some part of a display of fireworks.”
The following morning Makabo was duly despatched with two
boys--Umfanimboozi and Umfan--to the King’s, and Frank Oates remained
hunting on the Ramaqueban, till their return a few days afterwards,
with a favourable answer to his message. On the 10th of August he was
once more moving northwards the same way as he had gone before, halting
again on the 11th for a couple of days’ hunting higher up the river,
at a point where game seemed more than usually abundant. This was the
place where the road branches off from the Ramaqueban across the veldt
again towards the Tati.
“I now feel,” he writes at this point, on August 13th, “to be realizing
almost for the first time some of my old visions of South African
sport. To-day, soon after starting, I ascended a kopje near the
waggons, and saw a large herd of quagga. Counting roughly, I made out
a hundred. It was a beautiful sight. All around was the sea of bush,
with here and there bare patches, and here and there kopjes--some of
the latter far distant. The winding spruits, too, lay as in a map. The
quaggas were quietly moving on, or standing and playing, or brushing
away the flies. It was a scene such as I used to fancy must be common,
and which probably was so when the accounts I have read were written,
and may occur often still in more remote districts.”
The day previous the traveller had shot koodoo, hartebeest, and pallah,
and seen an immense herd of quagga and blue wildebeest, numbering not
far from a hundred of each sort. Amongst the lesser antelopes, the
graceful klipspringer, found only in the hills, was met with in this
district.
[Illustration: KLIPSPRINGER.--_Oreotragus saltatrix._
(Height about 20 inches.)]
Resuming his journey to the north-west on the 15th, and travelling
through mopani veldt, he again struck the Tati River in the afternoon
at the same point where the pleasing character of the scenery had been
first observed by him when he was here two months before. A spring or
“fountain” of fresh water welled up at the foot of a picturesque kopje,
and a mile or two up the river was abundance of water in the river-bed.
“The river here,” writes the traveller at the latter point, “flows to
the south through a deep sandy bed, kopjes hemming it in on either
side. The scenery is remarkably pretty for South Africa, and the long
reach of river flowing away to the southward is an object to attract
the eye. The water actually runs in the bed here, though there is far
more sand than water, and big stones than either. Stoffel says there
used to be plenty of elephants here. This was the place where they
passed through the kopjes on their way south, and last year he and
Garland saw fresh spoor here. Out with rifle down river; pretty little
grassy parks amongst the kopjes, and on the kopjes themselves very
thick bush. The river where we have struck it--the ‘poort’ as Stoffel
calls it--would be a pretty subject for a sketch.”
Again pushing forward the following and two next succeeding days, still
by the same route already traversed, Frank Oates once more reached--on
August 18th--the first kraal of the Makalakas, the former scene of so
much trouble and vexation to him. A few days previously it had chanced
that Stoffel had slightly hurt his finger, and here, as it began to
give him pain, they waited a week before proceeding further from all
reach of help, to see what course the injury would take. Supplies of
corn had here to be obtained, and the interval of waiting was occupied,
partly in striking bargains with the natives, and partly in rearranging
the contents of the waggons, to receive the grain; neither of them
the most agreeable of occupations, as the following extract from the
Journal shows:--
“_August 20th._--Windy day; rather cloudy. The wind rose very much
towards night.... I am now lying in my waggon, glad to rest, wearied
out principally with worry, and the dissatisfaction of finding time
so miserably wasted as to-day has been; packing, unpacking, stooping,
watching lest things are stolen, and having one’s patience tried in
buying of the natives, putting up with their disagreeable presence and
impudence, to say nothing of the annoyances one is subjected to by
one’s own servants. I had to knock the disgusting servant of Makabo
off the dissel-boom before he would go. He was bothering me for a
snuff-box, and would not go away for civil speaking. I am not patient
or industrious enough for waggon life. To-day has been one of nothing
but unpleasantness to me.”
At length, on the 23d, it became evident that Stoffel must return and
seek advice from Mr. Thomson, the missionary, who had some skill in
surgery. This change of plan involved a corresponding change in all the
arrangements of the journey, and such of Frank Oates’s goods as had
hitherto been carried in the trader’s waggon had now to be taken in his
own, already sufficiently loaded when they left the settlement. On the
24th Stoffel took his departure southwards, and two days later Frank
Oates went on alone towards the Zambesi. It was a lovely moonlight
night when he resumed the journey, the waggon running heavy through
thick mopani veldt. The prospect of success in his present enterprise
now seemed nearing its fulfilment, yet in reality he was but on the
eve of a fresh misfortune. “We passed a kraal,” he writes in his
Journal, “on the left side of the road, perhaps two miles from where
we started, and had gone perhaps one mile more, when, in crossing a
small ‘sloot,’[50] one of the wheels gave way and came down, broken to
pieces. So much,” he concludes, “for the new waggon, and for my hopes
and expectations!”
The day after this catastrophe, which appeared in its results fatal to
all hope of his reaching the Zambesi that season, late as it had now
become, he arranged to send his driver--a Kafir named Klaas, whom he
had engaged from a Mr. Horn upon the Ramaqueban--and three boys, with
the broken wheel to Tati, and also with a note to Mr. Brown, asking for
assistance. The annoyances he suffered, during their absence of about
a fortnight, from the natives of the neighbouring kraals are described
at length in some of his letters, largely quoted from below. It is
therefore sufficient here to say that he was wilfully subjected by them
to every possible inconvenience, was in constant peril of being robbed,
and at one time even appeared to be in some danger of his life. The
whole of this time he could not leave his waggon, lest he should return
to find it plundered, and even his own boys were not all to be depended
on.
At last, on the 8th of September, the needful help arrived, and he was
released from his state of bondage. He had just had a most threatening
visit from a noisy crowd of natives, when the messengers he had sent
returned from Tati with all that he had asked for. After relating
in his Journal the incidents of this unpleasant interview, he thus
concludes the story:--
“They left me,” he says, “the noisy crew; and still, though I felt
relieved, a gloom hovered over my feelings, and I lay down to rest. It
was then with delight indeed that Maclinwon’s announcement, ‘incolo’
(waggon), broke on my ears, and that, rushing out, I beheld Klaas
driving a waggon to my scherm. True enough, Brown had managed to
procure an old waggon to help me out, sending me also a wheel of the
Scotch cart and four oxen, to ensure my having sufficient. There was
a long letter from him, and four newspapers sent for me from England,
with news of letters from home awaiting me at Tati.”
This was indeed a welcome release to the traveller from his present
troubles; but, with such information as he now possessed regarding the
period and duration of the healthy season for visiting the Zambesi, he
felt that by this time it was too late for him to attempt to reach the
river, and that, for the present at all events, he must abandon the
idea of getting there.
On the 10th of September, therefore, he once more unwillingly started
back on the return journey to Tati, where he arrived on the 18th,
to find, with delight, a large packet of letters awaiting him from
England. After the harass and annoyance of his recent experiences, he
was glad to rest here for a while, and was comfortably quartered the
chief part of his stay in the house usually occupied by Piet Jacobs,
the Dutchman, who was now absent in the hunting veldt. This house was
cool and airy, with a thatched roof extending far on every side, so as
to form a verandah.
The following entries in his Journal, soon after his arrival, relating
mostly to natural history subjects, may here be read with interest. He
writes:--
“_September 20th._--Rather windy, but pleasant day, after a cold night.
I liked my new quarters.... To-night, as last night, sat at Brown’s
talking. We discuss some questions in natural history....
“Wild dogs have been discussed. Dobie has seen them in packs, he says,
variegated in colour, with white patches here and there, differently
placed in different animals. Brown has seen them, and says they are
like what he imagines a European wolf to be--and I think he has a good
idea what the latter is like. Johnson says that, when coming here,
he saw a hare run against the waggon wheel when they were outspanned
at the Shashe, and kill herself; and by the light of the fire he saw
distinctly, standing twenty or thirty yards off, a wild dog. He says
it was a good deal like a European wolf--an animal he knows--with a
fine coat and bushy tail, upright ears, I think, and a long nose. Brown
says they often run pallah into the station here, when the natives,
hearing the cry of the pallah, rush out from the different white
men’s establishments to assegai it, and the dogs are usually found to
have torn at the place where such creatures generally commence their
attacks, and even dragged out a portion of the entrails. They must hunt
the pallah, he says, for hours with dogged perseverance and fairly
weary him out. I know myself what a fleet creature the pallah is, and
have no doubt for miles he would far outstrip a pack of dogs.
“Brown says a fine dog in a wild state once hung about here for some
time, stealing meat at night, and playing with the tame dogs. He was
very cunning, and was off at the slightest indication of danger. If he
was heard outside the house and the least noise made inside, he was
off. Many shots were fired at him, and he escaped for a long time, but
at length was shot when on one of his visits. He lived in the veldt,
and always rushed into the bush, just like a hyæna, which he resembled
closely in his habits. This was no doubt some white man’s dog that had
run wild and acquired the habits of a wild animal to a certain extent.
“_September 23d._--Pleasant breeze. Did not do much, or feel up
to much. Another chat at Brown’s in the evening. Brown tells me that
once four young guinea-fowls were brought him, which became extremely
tame. One only, a hen, survived. She became wonderfully tame, and would
follow the Tati people about. When a Tati waggon was sent out for
wood, or for any other purpose, she would go and return with it, not
following strange waggons. She would follow Nelson when he rode to the
‘Blue Jacket,’[51] wait for him, and return home with him. Latterly
she got into the habit of going with the oxen when they went into the
veldt, would start with them, remain all day, and return at night with
them, marching in front. She would even join wild guinea-fowl, if she
came across them in the veldt, and would leave them as soon as she
found she was getting too far from the waggon or person she was with at
the time. She is supposed to have been killed at last by a nigger by
mistake. Brown had had her eight or ten months.”
With these extracts the present period of the traveller’s wanderings,
so far as his Journal is concerned, may be allowed to terminate. The
weather, which had up to this time continued cool at night, began
towards the end of September to be intensely hot and oppressive, though
still liable to considerable variation; so much so indeed that one day
about the middle of October the extreme cold brought the swallows into
the houses for shelter and protection.
The Zambesi now abandoned, Frank Oates, on the 8th of October, sent
two boys with a message to the king, asking for leave to hunt a few
weeks on the Shashani, which was readily accorded him; but he did
not start immediately--his waggon required some repairs, and he was
not feeling well. Whilst thus waiting a while longer, to recruit his
health and complete his preparations, two gentlemen--Messrs. Bond and
Robertson--arrived on their return from the Zambesi, having gone there
early in the year. They had shot elephants near the river, and the
former had made some pretty sketches of the Falls. Other parties also
now came in from the Zambesi.
At length, on the 3d of November, Frank Oates once more set off into
the veldt--not to the Shashani, however, as he had intended, but again
in a northerly direction, for reasons shortly to be stated. Before
starting on this occasion, he wrote home some letters of considerable
length, reviewing his experiences of the past three months, since the
date of his last departure from Tati on the 25th of July, which may
here be given almost as they stand, entire. The first of these, written
to his mother, is as follows:--
“TATI, _October 1st, 1874_.
“When you see the above date, you will perhaps think that I have
returned from the Zambesi; but the fates seem to have conspired against
my reaching that river. After last writing home I left here on the
25th of July in company with Stoffel, the trader I told you of, and
with every prospect of a most successful trip. The series of mishaps
which led to my final (for this season at any rate) return here on
the 18th of September, I will presently relate. I say, ‘this season
at any rate,’ but I think I shall now give up the Zambesi altogether,
consoling myself with the adage--‘Tis not in mortals to _command_
success.’ I read somewhere of some one replying to this--‘But they can
_deserve_ it;’ and a third party, who I think showed his wisdom,
suggested, as an amendment, that they could ‘_do without_ it.’
Now, I think, to a certain extent, I deserved it for my persistent
efforts to attain it, and may hope to march out with the honours of
war, and ‘do without it.’
“I can scarcely express the pleasure it gave me to receive, on
returning here, a large packet of letters bearing dates from the
4th of August 1873, to the 25th of April 1874; some to Willie and
some to myself, and some which Willie had written to me on his way
home. I suppose he had read, and sent on for my perusal, those of
the letters which are addressed to him. The letters seem to form a
connected series, and I doubt whether any have failed to reach me.
After hastily looking over a few of them I proceeded to arrange them
according to date, and then to read them through in order. I scarcely
hoped that there would be no bad news.... Skelton’s death must be a
terrible blow to his family, who, when I saw them last, were looking
forward to a visit from him. It seems only the other day he was at
Oxford distinguishing himself in the athletic sports, in which he was
generally a successful competitor. I believe every one liked him, and
that he was worthy of their high opinion.[52]
“To-day waggons have arrived from Bamangwato, and, to my great joy,
another letter was fished up for me from the bag. Hathorn writes from
Maritzburg on the 4th of August, enclosing a letter from Willie, dated
June 2d, and a line from Charley, dated June 4th. It is very delightful
to be brought in contact with you all once more after so long an
interruption to communication. I don’t believe anything can make one
appreciate home and friends like a long absence from them. Indeed,
things we think nothing of at home are often dwelt upon in memory when
one is in the midst of the wilderness. The packet of letters, which
I have referred to as awaiting me when I came here, arrived at Tati
before the end of August, and the latest written of them bears date
April 25th; so that, in both instances, about four months have elapsed
between the time the letters were posted in England and that of their
delivery here. It is the fact of one’s moving about that makes the
communication with home so desultory.[53]
“To-day the rains may be said to have begun, but there will probably
not be much rain for some time yet. However, this morning was dark and
gloomy enough, though there are now signs of an improvement in the
weather. I have been here a fortnight, and am waiting till certain
necessary repairs are made in my waggon, my idea being to spend a few
weeks in this neighbourhood before finally leaving for Maritzburg....
In the meantime I mean to give you a little account of my doings
since my last letter to you, encouraged by Charley’s assurance that
my descriptions of the country and the account of my wanderings are
read with some little interest, though I fear I can only thank the
friendliness of my critics for anything interesting being found in
them. As, however, I receive the flattering assurance that they do
afford a little amusement I will proceed without further apology. A
mail is leaving here very shortly, as traders are now here on their
way to Mungwato, and will take letters. By the way, I am writing with
some of the desiccated ink I brought with me. I had a grand brew of
it yesterday, and it is an undoubted success. My table is formed by a
packing-case, and my chair is a box of gunpowder--but I am not smoking.
I am inhabiting a deserted house made by one of the former gold-diggers
here, and appropriated by a Dutch family, who, however, are from home.
The paterfamilias has gone to hunt for ivory in the Zambesi direction,
and taken his ‘vrouw,’ family, and furniture with him in his waggon.”
The narrative, here broken off, was again resumed, some days later:--
“_October 20th._
“I again take up my pen to continue the letter I began on the 1st of
this month, and which I hoped would have been a long way south of
Bamangwato by this time. The delay has been occasioned by the drought,
rendering the journey full of risk for the oxen. I promised you a short
_résumé_ of my doings and sufferings since I last wrote to you.
By sufferings, I don’t of course mean bodily ones, but what I have
suffered from rascally Kafirs, and which are only entitled to be called
annoyances.
“After last writing to you, I left here on the 25th of July in company
with the trader I told you of. Some delay ensued when we were one day
from here, occasioned by reports of the road being stopped by the king.
I had with me the man given me by his Majesty to see me safely through
the Makalakas on my way to the Zambesi, and a precious rascal he was.
Some people came up to the waggons with great demonstrations, one of
them rushing about and flourishing a battle-axe. I adopted my usual
course, in such cases, of lighting a pipe and sitting on the front-box
of my waggon, watching the performance, varying my tactics by turning
my back on him. He professed to have authority from the king to stop
all waggons going to the Zambesi, and lugged in poor old Mosilikatze’s
name, as is usual in grand orations, and made my boys shake in their
shoes, metaphorically speaking, by informing them that the order was
that any of the king’s subjects accompanying white men to the Zambesi
were to be killed.
“The son of Manyami, the man given me expressly to shut up this sort
of bounce, suggested that this might be some new order from the
king. I therefore lost no time in sending him off with a letter to
headquarters, requesting full instructions, as Manyami’s son had not
seen the king at all about the affair, but I had simply taken him, as
the king told me, from his father’s kraal on my way from Gubuleweyo to
Tati. Old Manyami is the man who used to stop all waggons coming into
the country till the king had given leave for them to proceed, and he
stopped me when I first came myself, as I dare say I told you at the
time. This is done, however, at a different kraal now--the first one
passed by any waggons going from here to Gubuleweyo, about forty miles
north-east of Tati. In the meantime I remained on the Ramaqueban, my
ally riding over to Tati once or twice.
“Whilst I was here a trader of the name of Horn passed, and had to wait
when he was a few miles on the road to ask leave to proceed, as all
waggons from Natal are now stopped for fear of the disease, and Horn
had to explain who he was and where he came from. Horn, I think, is the
man who opened the Zambesi trade, but is at present trading with the
Matabele. A lion killed one of his oxen on the Inkwesi one night whilst
he was waiting here, and a dozen of them took fright and ran away. I
assisted in looking for them, and followed up the spoor next day till
late in the afternoon, and must have been close to the oxen, but there
was a Scotch mist, and it was a wretched evening, so, leaving three
Kafirs to follow and sleep on the spoor, I returned to the waggons.
Next day the Kafirs returned without the oxen, and thus much time was
lost. The day after this Horn’s partner followed the spoor to the
water, but from the water followed up, by mistake, some fresh buffalo
spoor, and slept on it, to come the following morning on to a herd of
buffalo, which rather astonished him. At last Stoffel set off with
him, about four or five days after the oxen had strayed, and they
succeeded in recovering them.
[Illustration: DRY BED OF THE INKWESI RIVER.]
“Whilst Stoffel was away the dogs began to bark late one night, and a
man appeared at the fire in a miserable plight. He was a rebellious
induna, or headman, whom the king had ordered to be killed. There are
a certain number of indunas, who have certain districts given them
to rule over under the king, and if they presume too much on their
authority they are put to death without much trial. Some of them would
be insufferable in their conduct to white men if the king did not keep
them in order. This particular man, I believe, the king had given fair
warning to, and told him to take a horse and fly the country, but
instead of taking one he took two, and he was brought before the king,
who thought it best to make an end of the matter. They took him outside
the town, and hacked him with their axes, leaving him for dead. What
must have been intended for the _coup de grâce_ was a cut in the
back of the head, which had chipped a large piece out of the skull, and
must have been meant to cut the spinal cord where it joins the brain.
It had, however, been made a little higher than this, but had left
such a wound as I should have thought no one could have survived. It
is wonderful, however, how hard Kafirs are. When I held the lanthorn
to investigate the wound I started back in amazement to see a hole at
the base of the skull, perhaps two inches long and an inch and a half
wide, and I will not venture to say how deep, but the depth too must
have been an affair of inches. Of course this hole penetrated into the
substance of the brain, and probably for some distance. I dare say a
mouse could have sat in it.
“His voice was weak, but he evidently enjoyed his supper and the
warmth of the fire. My boys said he was a ‘wolf’--the term applied to
outlaws--and that he ought to be killed or driven away. He told me that
it was five days since he had been set upon; and that, after he had
been left for dead, he got up and ran away on coming to himself. He
wanted to go under my protection to the Zambesi, an honour, however,
which I declined, but I gave him a blanket and some things to buy food
with, and told him he must go next morning, and advised him to make
for Mungwato. He asked for a pipe, and for a drink of brandy, which
reminded me of Old King Cole; and if he had been given to amusing
himself by listening to the violin, I have no doubt he would have asked
for a tune, as he seemed disposed to take things very philosophically.
I poured some arnica and water into the hole, and when he lifted up his
head a perfect stream of it ran down his back. He said if he was not
killed he should see me at Mungwato when I returned. I believe he did
reach Mungwato alive, but I don’t know whether he remained there.[54]
“A perfectly favourable communication having been received from the
king, I was all ready to continue my journey towards the Zambesi,
which I fondly hoped to see in a few weeks. On the 10th of August I
was again _en route_, and on the 18th I reached the first Makalaka
kraal, travelling slowly. This was the same point I reached before,
when I started with the Boer and his boy. Here we decided to stay, to
lay in our store of corn,--enough to keep our Kafirs when game could
not be got, our dogs, and, above all, our horses. At the place where
the waggons stand where they are left by people going to the Zambesi,
the journey having to be completed on foot, no corn is to be bought,
nor any on the road, as there are no corn-growing people between these
Makalakas and the Zambesi. Therefore enough must be taken at this point
to last till one is amongst the Makalakas again on one’s way back.
“Here my companion was laid up with a bad finger. He had run the head
of a needle into it whilst sewing, and not feeling much at the time
had taken very little notice of it till it began to give him pain, and
then he suffered terribly. The end of the finger appeared dead, and I
was so much afraid of mortification setting in that I advised him to
lose no time in trying to reach Thomson, the missionary, in order that
he might have the first joint of the finger amputated if necessary. I
should have gone back with him, but he begged me not to do so, assuring
me that I should be of no use to him, which indeed seemed likely to be
the case. I therefore determined to push on.
“Unfortunately my waggon was quite sufficiently loaded at starting,
as I had never contemplated having to travel with only one waggon, in
which case I should have left everything I could spare at Tati. As it
was, I not only had to add to my own load the things belonging to me
which were in Stoffel’s waggon, but to take besides a large supply of
corn and meal, which we had arranged at starting should be taken in
his waggon also. The result was, that my waggon was overloaded; and I
had not gone more than two or three miles when one of the hind wheels
broke, and the weight coming down on it, it was flattened under the
waggon, with every spoke smashed. I felt instinctively that it was a
hopeless case; and, as I stood looking at it, came to the conclusion
that my Zambesi trip was at an end. Now that the season was so late,
I was sure no help could arrive in time for me to proceed to the
Zambesi, and therefore I saw the best thing was to take the mishap
philosophically. It was one of the waggons I had bought in Bamangwato,
the wood of which proved rotten. My only wish after this was to get
back to Tati as quickly as possible.
“The man that the king had given me to see me safe through the
Makalakas now refused to stay any longer, though I did not tell him I
should not attempt to proceed. I therefore paid him as the king had
directed me, giving him more, in fact, than the latter had said. He
was extremely insolent, and demanded double what I gave him. However,
I knew he must submit, as the king had sent him with me, and he dared
not go against his orders. He left me in dudgeon, and I was glad to be
rid of him. I had a very slight attack of fever at the time, and his
noise and insolence were very annoying.
“After this I sent off my driver with a span of oxen, to take the
broken wheel on a sledge of boughs to Tati, and wrote to Brown asking
him to send me a waggon, if possible, to bring me out, and a spare
wheel also for my own waggon; or, if not, to get the wheel I sent him
mended for me. The oxen that I still had left had to go many miles for
water every day. The mare and the goats had nothing but filthy water
to drink from holes dug in the ground. For my own use I got water
from the pits, where the people dig for it, for I was in the midst of
the Makalakas. I myself was a prisoner in my own kraal, for I dared
not leave the waggon. I had with me three of my Matabele slave-boys
and one Bushman. We got on pretty well for a few days, but soon the
people began to drive my boys from the water, which they claimed the
right to, having made the pits. This was the water for my own use,
and it appeared also that the water at which their own goats drank
was denied to mine, and they and my mare driven away from it. I sent
for the induna, an old Makalaka, with whom I had hitherto refused to
speak in consequence of his having stopped me the first time I tried
to go through. I gave him a present of ammunition on condition of his
allowing my boys to get water; and, after promising to see that all
was right, he asked for more presents, which I refused, and the boys
were driven away just as much as they had been before. All I could do
was to buy water for my own use of the women, who brought it every
morning, and to hope that the animals managed to get a little now and
then. I had also had a disagreement with the people about some goats
which I had bought for a gun. The day after I bought them the gun had
been brought back and the goats demanded, which I refused to give up,
threatening to shoot any one who touched them. However, as soon as they
went out to feed, the goats were seized, as I fully expected they would
be, but the gun had been left. After this I refused to trade any more,
and drove all the people away except those who brought water.
“Now, whether it was Manyami’s son, or whether it was the Makalakas, or
whether it was a mere chance, a party of Matabele heard that my waggon
was broken, and determined to make capital out of my misfortunes. It
was the 7th of September. The weather was extremely sultry, and I lay
nearly all my time in the waggon, reading. This evening, however, a
heavy shower of rain, with thunder and lightning, cooled the air--the
first rain of the season. I had been a short walk, keeping near the
waggon, and looking for a pheasant or partridge. Immediately after my
return I was disgusted beyond measure to see a party of Matabele, some
twenty in number, filing past with shields and assegais, and sitting
down in front of the waggon, after which the oration began. However,
the sun set and the rain descended very opportunely, and they left,
saying they would return in the morning. They told my boys that I
must pay for the road to the Zambesi, and that if I did not do so they
would break into my waggon and help themselves. My boys, having seen no
disposition on my part to give way, were in a great fright, and said if
I did not give the Matabele what they wanted they would run away and
leave me. In my situation this would have been worse than anything, so
I resolved to conciliate my persecutors, and next day gave them what
they wanted, amounting in value to a mere trifle, £5 perhaps, and not
a quarter of what I had made up my mind to give them rather than have
a row. I should have felt much more humiliated had I first refused and
finally had to give way, but it was bad enough as it was. I afterwards
informed the king of the whole affair, and perhaps a number of similar
complaints may at last bring punishment on the offenders, who are
known. I believe it was my firm demeanour of the night before that
stood me in such good stead next day, as, when I voluntarily conversed
with them, and asked them what they wanted, they thought it best to be
civil, and said I must bring out something and they would see if it
was enough. After some consultation they accepted what I gave for the
induna of their kraal, and then asked for presents for themselves. I
therefore added something; and when they saw I had given all I meant
they went away, leaving me much relieved in mind.
“Soon afterwards, to my great joy, I heard the boys say that a waggon
was coming; and, sure enough, my driver appeared, bringing a waggon
borrowed for me by Brown, and an extra wheel for my own waggon. Brown
sent me a note informing me that he had letters for me from home, and
sending me an instalment of four papers, two others remaining for me in
his hands with the letters. I divided my load between the two waggons,
and breathed again freely when I was fairly past the Makalaka kraals
on my way back. I felt like a prisoner who had regained his freedom.
Before reaching Tati, however, I had another little adventure, which I
must yet add to this already overgrown letter.
“I had one day left the waggon on horseback with a number of my Kafirs
to shoot, as we were rather hard up for food, and had been galloping
after some eland. It was late in the afternoon, and when I pulled up I
saw nothing of my boys, and turned the horse’s head in the direction I
had come from, expecting to meet them. However, they had lagged, and
I began to think I might not be going quite in the right direction.
The mare strengthened this fancy, and kept working round, and wanted,
I thought, to take a short cut to the waggon. I trusted implicitly
to her, and let her have her head, thinking I would leave the Kafirs
to go back by themselves. She, however, went in the same direction I
had been galloping in just before, which puzzled me. Still she kept
on in a straight, undeviating course, as I could see by the sun, and
I thought if it were wrong I could easily return as I had come, when
I had let her go on her own way long enough. So I gave her a fair
chance and on she went. The sun set, and she still kept on as before,
the stars now showing me the direction. I began to suspect something
wrong, but decided to see what she really would do, as I knew I must
sleep in the veldt. At last we came to a broad river without water in
it, and, without pausing to look for any, she crossed it, and kept on
as before. I thought it must be the Ramaqueban, which is near where I
started from, and therefore, after going on some time longer, I turned
her and went back to the river, hoping to find water by scraping a hole
in the sand, in which I failed. I then tied the mare to a tree, and,
making a big fire, had a good night. Next day I was moving at sunrise,
and kept down the river, still thinking it the Ramaqueban, when, to my
surprise, I suddenly came on the drift where the waggon-road crosses
it, and found it to be the Impakwe, the next river that you cross
beyond the Ramaqueban in going to the King’s. It was now nine or ten
o’clock in the morning, and getting very hot. My waggon was thirty
miles away, and the mare and myself tired and hungry. I let her feed
and drink, for there was plenty of good water. By the time I had gone
ten miles towards the waggon she wanted another rest, being much too
small for my weight. I therefore gave her a good rest on reaching the
Ramaqueban, and it was late in the afternoon when I started off again.
By good fortune I met some Boers returning from hunting in the Zambesi
direction, and came in for some meat which a Kafir was cooking in the
ashes. I never enjoyed anything more. I got back to the waggon late
that night, and soon afterwards reached Tati, where I have been ever
since. Incidents are rather scarce, and I have therefore made the most
of the foregoing insignificant ones.
“I have now a new driver, my old one having refused to go with me after
my first repulse by the Makalakas. My present man is a huge creature,
civil enough, but too fond of brandy. He one evening made a raid when
I was absent, and broke open some of my boxes, not leaving a single
bottle of brandy in my possession, but how many bottles I had I have no
idea. He shared the spoils with his friends, and they were at it all
night. Next day I cross-examined him closely, and got a confession out
of him. I then fined him £5, and reduced his wages from £4 a month to
£3. He got off cheap, as it is common in such cases to tie the offender
up and whip him. The whole race of waggon-drivers, with scarcely an
exception, are worthless wretches--dissipated, lazy, impudent, and
dishonest. It really seems that civilization has no other effect upon
Kafirs than to make them worse than they naturally are.
“I must now wind up this terrible letter. I know it is far too long,
but it is too late now to obviate that defect.”
Another of Frank Oates’s letters, written home to one of his brothers
about this time, adds yet some further particulars of his late
experiences. He says:--
“TATI, _October 16th, 1874_.
“The mail is in, and with it a letter from you, appreciated as usual,
which I need not say is not a little. It is dated July 3d. I am sorry
you seem to doubt my getting your letters. In my letter to the Mater
I mention the hoard of letters, containing a complete and connected
history of home affairs, which met my delighted eyes when I returned
here from my third attempt to reach the Zambesi, of which I have given
her an account. The road between here and Bamangwato is all but closed
from the drought now, as it is the end of the dry season. The waggons
that brought this mail in were delayed, and suffered considerably.
Several of the oxen died, and one waggon is still in the veldt at the
Gokwe River, where there is a little water, and which is the half-way
house between Mungwato and here. In distance it is more than half way,
but it is always a stopping-place, on either side of which stretches a
parched-up country. On the first day of this month I began a letter to
the Mater, expecting it would be taken on in a day or two. However, the
waggons that were to take it did not set off, preferring to wait for
rain, so the letter has been lying unfinished. Now, however, another
arrives from you, and sets me off into the writing vein. Moreover, I
am expecting very shortly to start into the veldt for a month or two,
which means two months, of course, before I fairly set off home. I
have in the meantime been collecting birds here, and reflecting on the
vanity of human ambition. It may surprise you that I don’t hurry home,
now that the Zambesi affair is over. It is certainly not that I don’t
long to see all the familiar faces once more, and feast my eyes with
English scenery....[55]
“The weather is now fairly broken, and it has begun to rain again this
evening, with gusts of wind, which flutter my papers from time to time.
It has been dreadfully hot the last few days. After the heavy rain
at the beginning of the month we have been having a spell of really
warm weather, the thermometer often reaching several degrees above 100
in the shade. I have been busy having my waggon patched up and made
weather-tight. It was finished to-day, and to-day the old Boer returned
to his happy home and found me in possession. I said I would pack up
at once, to enable him to establish himself in his house this evening,
but I found I could not be ready, so he and his family are encamped
outside, inhabiting their waggons. However, I held out hopes to him of
vacating the place to-morrow, which seemed to satisfy him. In fact the
Boers are just as much at home at their waggons as in a house. They
have little primitive camp-stools, on which they sit round the fire,
and the women go about their household duties, and the children play
about, and they seem quite at home. Of course when it rains they sit
in the waggons like rats in holes--as I have already done myself, and
shall now begin to do again. You have no idea how much a home a waggon
becomes. I have my books and all my _et ceteras_ within reach;
and, though it is a little cramping, the pleasure of stretching the
limbs when you do get out repays you to a certain extent.
[Illustration: VERREAUX’S WHYDAH BIRD.--_Vidua
Verreauxi._
SHAFT-TAILED WHYDAH BIRD.--_Vidua regia._]
“I expect in a day or two a reply from the king, giving me permission
to hunt in his veldt. I only wish to go a short distance from here, to
the Ramaqueban, and Shashani, and thereabouts--a tract of country that
I know pretty well, and for which I have a real affection, so often
have I roamed through its wilds. Rivers that I know well I look upon as
friends. I wish, indeed, I could be set down now where I was last year,
when I was sent by the king into his favourite veldt on failing to
reach the Zambesi, but it is too far, and I should have to traverse the
thickly-populated part of the country to reach it. The loathing with
which I regard this people is in itself sufficient to deter me. The
king himself is well enough, and rules the Kafirs with a rod of iron,
but the Kafirs, as a nation, I abominate, and not without good reason.
The amount of pride you must pocket when sojourning amongst these
scantily-dressed gentlemen is something not to be forgotten. I don’t
know whether their condescensions or aggressions are the more difficult
to bear with patience. Without patience it is hopeless to think of
getting on at all. A long string of them filed past my abode lately,
and making for Brown’s store requested to be fed. This of course
Brown complied with, as the land here is only held on sufferance, and
these Matabele were supposed to be out on particular business--to
murder a lot of poor Bushmen, as we were told afterwards. The latter
are constantly being killed, and their life is one long struggle for
existence. A gun is almost useless to them, as the brutal conquerors of
the country are pretty sure to bag it, and ten to one knock the owner
of it on the head into the bargain.
“The Bushmen are the real wild men of the country, living in temporary
huts, and subsisting entirely on what the veldt produces. They are
wonderful runners, and possess certain mysterious instincts, raising
them in that respect nearly to the level of some of the noblest
animals. The Matabele, on the other hand, think themselves the lords
of creation, and speak of the slaves (Makalakas) as ‘dogs;’ and the
Bushmen are only looked upon as game. I have one remarkably small
creature of the Bushman race with me, who is working for a gun. He
always takes to his heels and hides when he sees any Matabele, unless
he is with his master and at the waggon. A kraal of these people was
lately driven from the Shashe, and is now encamped close to the
settlement here. I rode through their camp the other day, and felt
that I was amongst the true children of the forest, resembling more
the North American Indians than the usual Kafir races of this country.
Their huts are made of poles, converging together at the top, these
laid over with branches, and finally rudely thatched with long grass. I
should say there were between fifty and a hundred of them in the camp.”
To this letter, here cut short, he adds the following, four days
later:--
“_October 20th._
“Last night my two Kafirs, whom I had sent to the king, to ask leave
for me to hunt a little on the Shashani, returned with a favourable
answer. I gave the king a shot gun on first entering his country, much
to his satisfaction, and I believe it is now his favourite gun out of
the armoury he possesses. I had two cases of 200 cartridges each, and
gave him one with the gun, and shall now leave the other, together with
the rest of his present, with Brown, to be forwarded to him when a
waggon goes up. It is everything here to have the king on one’s side,
as without it one would have a miserable chance of getting on. Even
the king does not care to have too many white men in his country, but
likes a few, to enable him to trade. He has a great objection to the
Boers, who come only to hunt for skins, thus wasting all the meat, but
he knows with me it is a different case, and he does not care where
I go, as long as I keep him in good humour by giving him presents.
He never objects to people who are in the country hunting for meat.
However, he is down on you if he sees any ostrich egg-shells lying on
the breakfast-table, and asks how you can expect to get feathers if you
eat the eggs. He is also very sensible in his denunciation of killing
cow and young elephants, the ivory of which is scarcely worth taking.
The Boers, wherever they go, shoot everything, big or little, on the
principle that all’s fish that comes to the net.
“We have just had a heavy shower, and there was one last night; in fact
the rainy season is setting in. Rain is very much wanted, and all the
livestock requires fresh grass.”
Amongst the letters, twice alluded to above, which Frank Oates had
found awaiting him at Tati, was one from his brother William, who was
just about to start at the time he wrote (in the June previous) on
a three months’ yachting trip to Spitzbergen; after his return from
which he contemplated again coming out to Natal, early in the following
year, there to rejoin his brother on his way back from the Zambesi,
and accompany him--if he cared to go--on a short hunting expedition in
Zululand, or, going north as far as Zanzibar, strike inland with him
thence instead. To this proposal Frank Oates replied as follows:--
“TATI, _October 27th, 1874_.
“I have been delighted to get your letters, and to find there is a
chance of our uniting our forces once more. When you wrote of coming
out to me I was both pleased and sorry--sorry, because I thought it
would be best for me to return home when I reached the coast, and
yet, if you had actually met me there, I could not have resisted the
temptation of setting off again with you.
“I have often wished I had you with me, and remember, when I got to
Mungwato last April, to outfit, as I drove up to Gray’s store, I
thought if I could have a wish it would be to see your waggon coming in
from the opposite direction. I did not even know that you were yourself
thinking the same thing about the same time. The same idea occurred
to me the last time my waggon broke down on the Zambesi road, and I
was left to the mercy of the natives of that part of the country. I
thought, if your waggon suddenly appeared, how I could turn the tables
on my persecutors, and how we could go on together to the Zambesi. Of
course, I felt certain such a thing would not occur, but somehow it got
into my head....
“You will be glad to hear that I endorse your theory that trying to
trade, when on a sporting tour or exploring, is an utter failure,
and that, had we brought up light waggons, we should have been
wiser--knowing all I know now. I have been allied with Dutch Boers
since parting from you, and the more I see _of_ them, the more
I see _through_ them. I have still some of my old Maritzburg
bullocks left, a rare good sort, but from time to time upon the journey
have bought and broken young ones. I have now a good span of fourteen
and a couple of supernumeraries, and have likewise bought a heifer, to
give me milk. She is of the peculiar small breed, less than Alderneys,
bred by the Mashonas. My dogs are invaluable to me. ‘Rail’ and ‘Rock’
require the greatest care, and get it.
“I shall wonder how you get on amongst the Spitzbergen game. If as
successful as you must have been here, you can claim to count amongst
the Nimrods. I don’t know what to say to your letter of June 2d. Of
course, if you should come out as you propose, it will be very pleasant
to meet, and we might spend a month or two together in the Zulu country
before I leave Africa, or, returning _viâ_ Zanzibar, spend a month
or two there, as you suggest. I should not care to be very much longer
than this, and if, after all, you should not come now, we must do
something else again together in the course of time.”
The whole of these letters, above quoted from, were despatched to
England about the end of October. To one of them a postscript was
added on the 28th, to the effect that the trader, Stoffel Kennedy,
whose finger, it appears, had had to be amputated on returning from
the veldt, had just arrived at Tati, and that he and Dorehill, the
young trader of that name, already mentioned in these pages, were
intending to start immediately with two waggons for the Zambesi, and
wanted Frank Oates to accompany them. “I hardly think, however, that
I shall do so,” he writes, “as the season is so far advanced. I am
principally afraid for my boys, who are far more likely to suffer than
a white man is, who has a snug dry bed to lie on, and other comforts;
and I distrust my old waggon, which has played me false once already.”
On further discussing the subject with Stoffel and his companion, he
found, moreover, that he had somewhat misunderstood their plan, which
was only to be travelling towards the Zambesi now, and wait about upon
the road till April or May, when they would go forward to the river.
It was too late, they considered, to attempt to reach the Zambesi the
present season. Though strongly tempted on some accounts to fall in
with their proposal and accompany them, upon reflection he decided not
to do so. It was the result, however, of what had passed with them upon
the subject that led him to abandon, as intimated above, his projected
trip to the Shashani, and accompany the trading party instead, as far
upon the road towards the Zambesi as they meant to travel before coming
to a stand. This would give him an opportunity of seeing an entirely
fresh part of the country beyond the Makalakas, and he could return
when it suited him. It is probable, too, that he still--if hardly
acknowledging it to himself--may have entertained an ill-defined hope
that by travelling in the direction of the Zambesi he might even yet,
through some unlooked-for turn of circumstances, find himself enabled
to reach that river before the commencement of another year. That hope,
assuming its existence, was one destined to be realized, little likely
as it appeared to be so at the time he left the settlement. It was the
3d of November when the united party started on their journey, and for
the fourth time Frank Oates turned his face towards the Zambesi.
[Illustration: BLUE WILDEBEEST.--_Catoblepas taurina._]
CHAPTER XI.
Final start from Tati--Bushman remains--A game-drive--Wild
dogs--The Makalakas again--The Matengwe River--English
hunters met with--The Nata River--The Pantamatenka--Christmas
Day--Start on foot for the Zambesi--The goal at last.
The country first passed through on leaving Tati was now fresh and
green, with abundance of water along the road. Their first evening the
party halted at “Mopani Pan,” a small pond full of reeds and surrounded
by tall mopani trees, a few miles from Tati. This pond is a favourite
halting-place for travellers between the Tati and Ramaqueban Rivers,
but soon becomes dry in the winter season. Here the party remained four
days, hunting; troops of quagga, blue wildebeest, and waterbuck being
met with. The veldt about here, though stony and for the most part very
bare of vegetation, produced some fine white lilies, now in bloom.
[Illustration: CAMP IN THE VELDT.]
Advancing again, on November 7th, to the Ramaqueban, they proceeded
slowly up that river, and halted again for a short time four days
afterwards, at the point where Frank Oates had stopped to hunt when
here the previous August,--the point at which the road for the Zambesi
turns off from the Ramaqueban again towards the Tati. Here the latter
had now a hut of branches made by the boys for himself to lie in, as
the heat in the waggon was insufferable. This was some relief from
the usual state of things experienced about this time. “The flies,”
he writes one day at this encampment, “are perfectly maddening. One
wakes early, when it is comparatively cool, looking forward without
much pleasure to the coming day of heat and discomfort--no comfortable
spot to retire to from the heat, and every place dirty and crowded.
How different,” he concludes, “from the luxuries experienced in some
hot countries!” Here, on one occasion, his boys brought him some fine
barbel, taken in the river, which proved delicious eating when rolled
in meal and fried in fat and oil.
On the 13th, whilst still at the same point, Frank Oates’s old ally,
Van Roozen, arrived with Piet Jacobs, the Dutchman, from the direction
of the Makalakas, the former of whom tried, it appears, to dissuade
his late employer from attempting the Zambesi at the present season, a
notion he was evidently by this time seriously entertaining.
Both these Dutchmen, as it chanced, were acquainted with the spot near
the Ramaqueban River where the Bushmen, whose remains Frank Oates had
already made more than one fruitless endeavour to obtain, had been
massacred the year before. Still anxious, if possible, to secure some
of them, and finding he was now within easy access of the spot, he
entered into an arrangement with Jacobs to conduct him there; but
again, as on former occasions, when the time arrived for setting off,
his guide was not forthcoming. Jacobs, however, before leaving, had
fortunately on this occasion found a substitute in the person of Van
Roozen, through whose guidance the traveller was at last successful in
his search, as thus related in his Journal:--
“_November 15th._--Cloudy day. Old Piet left, having deputed Van
Roozen to take me to the bones, but wanting to go shares in the profit.
He left a boy with a sack; but Van Roozen seemed so lukewarm, I let
him send away the boy, and was nearly letting him go too, but Dorehill
joined us, and at last we made a plan, persuading Van Roozen to take
us to the place, whilst the waggons trekked to the big branch of the
Tati, where Stoffel was to outspan. Van Roozen seemed a bit nervous;
and, indeed, was rather perplexed to find the place, which, however,
at last he did. It was a pretty spot. Some large trees, laden with
yellow blossoms, growing in rich masses like laburnums, but in spikes,
scented the air. Behind these rose a pretty rugged kopje, and in front
of them were the old huts of the unfortunate Bushmen, and the screens
from the sun which they erect. Heaps of ashes and game bones, broken
pots, and other remains lay around, amongst which the skulls of the
Bushmen appeared conspicuously. We found three here, and three more lay
in the grass at some little distance. We offsaddled and collected some
bones, which I tied up, in order to carry on my saddle in front of me,
and we again set off, but the sky was clouded over, and we were not
sure of our road. However, we came out all right in the waggon-road.
Van Roozen deposited his charge, and we rode forward to the waggons.
Van Roozen shot a quagga just before we crossed the big spruit, and
we soon arrived at the big branch of the Tati, where the waggons were
outspanned, Van Roozen having decided to pass the night there with
us.”[56]
The following morning, early, Van Roozen took his departure, trekking
south, whilst the rest of the party crossed over to the Tati, where,
outspanning at the “poort” (the pretty spot already noticed in the
preceding chapter), they again stopped for two or three days to hunt,
at which point the Journal thus continues:--
“_November 17th._--Heavy shower early; pleasant cloudy day. Out
with two boys, shooting.... During the ride I saw a big game-drive,
made by the Makalakas, consisting of a long broad alley, the sides
composed of large tree branches, forming a strong hedge. At the end
were three pits side by side, walled round with stakes. On the top were
placed light stakes, and long grass was laid over all. My boys say the
Makalakas kill lots of quagga and other game in these traps.
“_November 18th._--Cloudy morning; hot afternoon. Out to the
right, amongst the kopjes; game very scarce.... Rested, whilst out,
under a large tree, with leaves something the shape and appearance of
a poplar; the trunk smooth, thick, and of crooked growth. The fruit of
this tree is small and green, and, when fresh dropped, useless; but the
ground was strewn with last year’s fruit, which contains, under a very
hard shell, some kernel, not unlike walnut, but softer, and very nice,
the only difficulty being the getting at it. Two goats of mine, which I
had bought of Piet Jacobs, and had since been lost, turned up to-day,
having been absent since Sunday afternoon (the 15th). They had come on
alone, one having given birth to two kids.”
The travellers on the 20th again moved slowly forward, and reached the
first kraal of the Makalakas (Wankee’s) on the 22d, where they laid in
a fresh supply of corn, the natives this time making but a very feeble
show of attempting to stop their progress. The day before this Stoffel
had fallen in with a large pack of wild dogs, a circumstance thus
narrated in Frank Oates’s Journal:--
“_November 21st._--Cloudy morning, after a cold night; cool day....
Stoffel rode when we trekked, and shot a quagga. He describes a pack
of wild dogs he saw. Two pallah rushed past him pursued by dogs, which
stopped when they saw him, and began to bark. They were all black,
spotted with white, with thick bushy tails, and dog-like but upright
ears. They were the size of his dog ‘Bob,’ larger than a pointer
considerably--_i.e._ the males; the females, he says, were less. They
kept running and then stopping at near range, but he did not get any.
He says he has seen a pack once beyond the King’s, and once one at
Gasuma, near the Zambesi, like these. A pack he once saw in the Free
State were of a different colour (reddish or gray). That he saw to-day
contained about fifty.”
Leaving the kraal again upon the 24th, the Journal once more
continues:--
“_November 24th._--Hot, with a breeze. Started at 9.30 A.M., and
trekked till noon. Passed the kraal just beyond which my waggon broke
before at a small spruit. We ride through mopani veldt, and soon come
to another kraal. Pass lots of cultivated land, and then more kraals.
The latter are small, and generally placed under a kopje, on which
often grows one of the few striking and picturesque trees of the
country. We crossed two other spruits during the trek, larger than the
first mentioned, but not large.
“A rabbit got up close to the waggon directly after we outspanned, and
the dogs set off. Dorehill lost one of his, and I lost ‘Rock.’ Our
boys found the spoor, and as it turned out the dogs had been stolen by
Makalakas. Stoffel, Dorehill, and I, with Jacob, rode with our guns
and a lot of boys to two or three kraals, threatening them all with
punishment, unless the dogs were given up. At night they were brought
back by one of Stoffel’s and one of Dorehill’s boys, who had been to a
kraal and demanded them. We decided to inspan and ride with the moon.
Trekked through trees, thickly placed (mopani mostly), crossed several
spruits, and outspanned at the Matengwe River; say three hours.
“_November 25th._--Cloudy; heavy rain at night. Here we met a party
of Griquas, who have been in Stoffel’s employ before as hunters, and
they are now willing to turn back their waggon and return with him.
They tell sad tales of the Zambesi fever, of which many of them have
died. They say it is comparatively healthy at Tamasancha, and they
are willing to stand there till April or May, and then go on to the
Zambesi. The old man tells me that a man gets a pain in his head and
lies down, and next morning, if he is alive, he is ‘salted.’ Stoffel
busy making arrangements with these people. Trekked through beautiful
green veldt, road winding amongst a great number of kopjes; mopani,
and other trees. Several large and rather bad spruits crossed. We kept
coming near the Matengwe during this trek, and part of the time the
road keeps along its bank. It is an extremely pretty river, and has
a fine running stream in its sandy bed. I saw a plant quite new to
me, with fine fan-shaped drooping leaves. Some pretty white lilies,
delicately striped with lilac, grew close to the river’s bank. I
enjoyed the scene very much. Few kraals. Where we outspanned, I had a
bathe in the river. People came to sell things.
“_November 26th._--Cloudy day, but hot; shower at night. Went
through mopani veldt, till we came to a big tree, where we stopped.
My mare, who I noticed refused her corn, lay down, and on looking at
her we found her panting, and that there was a running at her nose.
When made to get up, she soon lay down again. Stoffel says it is
horse-sickness. I ordered her to be driven slowly on behind us when we
trekked. Went past Menon’s kraal. Menon and some of his people came
out. He was very civil, and appointed to come to us ahead, which he
did, when we each gave him a present.
“_November 27th._--Cloudy, threatening morning; a few drops of
rain. Rain, thunder, and lightning in the evening. Started before
daylight, and made a short trek through very heavy mopani to the drift
of the Matengwe, where we outspanned. Some yellow matter was running
from the mare’s mouth and nose, but small in quantity. She pants and
coughs, but still eats a little. Stoffel, Dorehill, and Jacob rode
to shoot, and Jacob shot a giraffe. I went on again a short distance
with the waggons, through heavy mopani veldt, finally stopping on a
‘sandbelt’[57] near a pan of water. Went out on foot in the evening,
and saw some pallah, steinbok, and quagga, but they were too wild for
me to get a shot.
“_November 28th._--Cloudy morning. Heavy shower came on immediately
after my return from an unsuccessful hunt on ‘Bob.’... Busy buying
corn. The water lay deep all round my waggon. The mare lying down,
every now and then getting up, but breathing very heavily, and, when
last I saw her, making a ‘roaring’ sound. Nothing was running from her
nose, but I found inside it a little bright yellow and black matter. I
don’t know that she ate anything to-day. She lay most of the time with
her nose on the dirty ground. The skin of her back is all peeling off.
“_November 29th._--Slightly cloudy day; very pleasant. Mare dead; froth
like white sea foam on her nostrils, and inside clear yellow liquid, a
lot of which had run out. She was not perfectly cold when I saw her.
All of them say it is horse-sickness. Dorehill afterwards opened her,
and one of his boys found a great number of large fat grubs in her
stomach, holding on to the inside. They seemed to have eaten the lining
away, and indeed in places to have eaten through the walls of the
stomach itself. This might account for the state of her back, and the
fact of her slavering when she ate her corn, but I don’t think they can
have been the proximate cause of death.... Out shooting to-day, but the
game here is very wild.
“_November 30th._--Cloudy morning; close, hot afternoon.... On
returning from the veldt in the evening, found every one who had been
left at the waggons nearly drunk; the Griquas rushing about with loaded
guns and fighting. Inspanned, to restore order, and went about four
miles.”
The following morning, some five miles further again brought the party
to the Matengwe River, where a halt was made. At this point two English
hunters, whom Frank Oates had met before during his wanderings--Messrs.
Wood and Selous--came up on their way to Tati from the Zambesi. It was
the result of this meeting which apparently determined Frank Oates’s
future plans; for, almost from the first day he left the Tati, the
idea seems to have been present to his mind that he might yet make the
Zambesi the present season, without waiting for the cessation of the
rains. His own inclination was strongly in favour of this attempt, as
saving him from the dilemma, otherwise presented, of either leaving
the country with the river unvisited, or remaining there another
season for the purpose; and the opinion and experience of the two
hunters mentioned above, coincided, as it happened, with his own wish
and inclination. They both believed, and perhaps rightly, that the
present was a safer time for the Zambesi than the month of April,
when the rains would only just be over and the moisture not all dried
up. Indeed Stoffel, who adhered to his present plan and waited to go
on till April, himself took the fever when he reached the river, and
died from its effects. The fact is that neither one plan nor the other
was a good one, and between the two it was but a choice of evils. So
anxious, however, was Frank Oates to reach the river that season,
that, gladly catching at the moderate degree of encouragement he now
chanced to receive from these two gentlemen, he resolved forthwith
to push forward there at once, without intending, however, to make a
lengthened stay, or do more on this occasion than merely see the Falls,
and obtain a few specimens of natural history. And thus resolved, he
again resumed his journey on December 3d, and with no serious delay or
hindrance succeeded in reaching the Zambesi. Before starting, however,
he wrote home the following short letter, which Messrs. Wood and Selous
undertook to convey as far as Tati:--
“MATENGWE RIVER, _December 2d, 1874_.
“Again I report progress. I am past the obnoxious Makalakas, and am
actually going to start for a hurried run to the Victoria Falls. I left
Tati with the people I told you of, who were going on to a place about
three days ahead of here on the Zambesi road, intending to wait there
till April and then go on to the Zambesi. I intended to accompany them
and turn back, as I did not wish to wait for another season, and did
not think it advisable to make a hurried run to the Zambesi and back
again now. Indeed, you would infer from my letters that it was not my
intention to do so. However, things have so turned out that I think I
am choosing the best course in going on now.
“In the first place, I have here met waggons coming from the Zambesi,
those of Wood and Selous, two Englishmen, who hunt and know the country
well. They both advise me to go on at once. They say they would rather
go on now than stand all the time, and then go on in April. In fact
it seems that April is too early; and all agree that it is infinitely
better to go now that the rains are falling than it is to go too soon
after they have ceased to fall. They say the risk of fever is not so
great as long as the rains fall, and the really bad time is when they
have ceased to fall. The traders, however, must wait, in order to avoid
the really bad time, as they could not go there and trade and come back
again; whereas in my case I have only to spend a fortnight in getting
to the standing-place where the waggons are left, and say ten days or a
fortnight in going from there to the Falls and back (it _can_ be
walked in three days, I am told, easily), whilst another fortnight will
bring me back in the waggons. So you may say six weeks will do it all,
and it would not only be possible to be back in Tati before the end of
January, but this would allow a lot of extra time. It is only three
weeks from Tati to Daka, the standing-place, and I am now a week’s
journey on the way.
“A man who knows the Falls and this road well has undertaken to conduct
me to the Falls and back.[58] He is a coloured individual certainly,
but appears a very intelligent and capable fellow. He has been hunting
for Wood and Selous, and it is thought he will prove very efficient.
He has insisted on large relays of medicine and food, and I have been
able to get nearly everything I wanted here. There were in fact eight
waggons in all here yesterday. The trader, who lost his finger when
coming on with me before, with his two waggons, and a partner of his
with one waggon, went on last night. Another trader is turning back now
with Wood and Selous, who are going back; and another waggon, belonging
to a party of Griquas, has gone on with the traders.
“I expect to be back in Bamangwato in February, _en route_
for home.... I can scarcely fancy myself returning so soon from a
successful visit to the Falls, having so often failed; but I think you
will agree with me that I was not wrong in determining to make another
attempt, as things turned out, and acting, as I am, on what I consider
to be very competent advice. It is now the beginning of the rainy
season, but very little rain has yet fallen; only a few heavy showers,
with intervals of very hot weather between them.”
The day after writing this letter--on the 3d of December--Frank Oates
started off again, as above mentioned, towards the Zambesi, and soon
came up with Stoffel, who had left upon the 1st, in company with
another trader who had joined him on the Matengwe. Dorehill had
turned back with Wood and Selous. From this point to Tamasancha, a
watering-place on the road to the Zambesi, where Stoffel and his
companion intended standing till April, the road lay chiefly through
heavy sand, and was traversed in about a week. Soon after starting, the
Matengwe River, which had now been kept near for some time, was left
flowing towards the westward, and shortly afterwards the Nata River was
crossed. From here to the Daka, a small river not far from the Zambesi,
water can only be obtained along the road at the various “pans,” or
small ponds, which occur at intervals throughout this portion of the
country, no other rivers intervening.
At Tamasancha, which was reached on December 10th, Frank Oates, after
a short rest, parted from his companions, proceeding forward on the
14th alone towards the Zambesi. The country, from this point, is only
varied from sand and thick bush by the occasional occurrence of these
“pans” or “vleis,” the favourite haunts of wading-birds and wildfowl.
Soon after leaving Tamasancha one was passed (Flamakinyani) closely
encircled by large trees, and a little later was another (Geruah),
about the size of a duck-pond and extremely pretty, surrounded with the
greenest of grass, whilst all around it extended the barren and sandy
veldt. About here giraffe and other game was met with, including sable
antelope, eland, and wild pig. Fresh elephant spoor was seen north of
Tamasetsie, but the time now allowed of no delays for hunting. The
“poison-plant,” growing low, and bearing a yellow plum-like fruit, was
gathered on one occasion near the waggon-track.
[Illustration: AFRICAN DWARF GOOSE.--_Nettapus auritus._
(Length about 11 inches.)]
The Daka River was reached upon the 21st, and the day after, some miles
further on, two other small streams were reached and crossed, and then
a third into which apparently the first two flowed. This last was a
small river called the Pantamatenka, just beyond which is the place
where waggons stand for travellers going to the Zambesi. These streams,
it was evident, must all be very small, except during the rains. They
were small indeed even now, though overflowing their banks and running
quickly. Almost immediately after crossing the last-named, Frank
Oates’s waggon stuck in a very soft muddy place, but Mr. Blockley, who
was in charge of the trading-station here, came with a span of oxen
to help him out, and the following morning his waggon was taken up to
where the store was built, on a little stony kopje above the watery
flats. Mr. Blockley was here in the capacity of agent for another
trader, then absent--Mr. Westbeach--and with him was a Dr. Bradshaw,
who had been some time in the country. On the succeeding day, December
24th, the waggons of two other traders, Messrs. Trescott and Wilmore,
arrived from the Zambesi, the former of whom had lately been ill with
fever, and was still very deaf and weak, and scarcely able to eat
anything. He described their recent sufferings from fatigue, hunger,
sickness, and the impossibility of keeping dry, as something truly
wretched.
Christmas Day was celebrated at the store by the cooking and eating
of a large plum-pudding worthy of the occasion, and the day following
Frank Oates busied himself with preparing for his walk to the Falls.
This he intended to accomplish in company with Dr. Bradshaw, who had
been there before, and volunteered to go with him. The 27th was the day
fixed for the start, and before leaving he wrote home in high spirits
the following letter to his mother, which Messrs. Trescott and Wilmore
were to take with them when they returned to Tati. It was the last he
wrote:--
“PANTAMATENKA, _December 27th, 1874_.
“I am just about to set off, to walk to the Victoria Falls, which are
only three days from here. This place is somewhere about fifteen miles
to the north-westward of Daka, a place you will probably see in any
recent map. Neither place is a town of any sort, but each is merely a
river flowing to the Zambesi. At both rivers waggons stand, as they are
both out of ‘the fly.’ The place where I now am is quite civilized, as
it is a trading-station, and the man in charge here has a snug little
house, well thatched, to keep out the rain. He has lived here three
years, and is in the employ of Westbeach, who is at present at the
residence of Sepopo, the Zambesi chief, some distance up the river. His
man, Blockley, undertakes the charge of my effects whilst I proceed to
the Falls.
“You will be delighted to hear that there is a _doctor_ here,
who is going to accompany me in my walk, and is a great stickler
for comforts. He was, I think, doctor on a steamer, and at last got
to the Diamond Fields, and thence came here with Westbeach, and has
been here now two years. He spends a good portion of his time in
collecting beetles, and is apparently very good-natured. He never
loses an opportunity of telling you that a thing is very unwholesome,
the next thing being its rapid disappearance into his own interior.
There was a grand plum-pudding made here on Christmas Day. Besides
Blockley and the doctor there are two traders, who arrived here after
I did, on their way from the Zambesi. One has been ill and the doctor
prohibited him plum-pudding, so there were four of us in all. We ate
nothing but pudding on Christmas Day and the day following, with
scarcely an exception. The men had another pudding. My man turns out
to have been originally a cook, and when he likes can cook well. The
doctor was found to be five pounds heavier after dinner than before it
on Christmas Day. He strongly urged upon all of us the desirability
of moderation, but no one seemed to pay much attention to him, and he
certainly did not practise what he preached. He has been to the Falls
before, and in the rainy season too, so he knows what he is undertaking
in going with me. I expect he will make very slow marches, but so much
the better. I am going to take with me the identical tent I had with
me in America, and which proved so effectual a shelter from the snows
of the Rocky Mountains. There was a grand idea in the doctor’s mind of
taking a lot of cold plum-pudding with us on our walk, but the last
morsel disappeared last night. However, we shall not be badly off for
supplies.
“From Tamasancha, where I last wrote to you,[59] and where the
traders were waiting till April, I was nine days in getting here. The
waggon-road all the way goes through thick bush and heavy sand. There
are no rivers, but abundance of pools in the rainy season. We have
not had very much rain, but of course enough to fill the pools, and
enough to make the road, where it goes through turf, as it does before
reaching this place, extremely heavy. My waggon stuck the night of
my arrival, but Blockley brought his oxen and helped me out; which,
however, he failed to accomplish that night, though succeeding the
morning following. He then brought my waggon up here on to the top of a
little hill where his house is, close to which it is now drawn up.
“This must be a comparatively healthy spot, even in the most unhealthy
time, as it overlooks the flat wet country around it, and the water
will run from it. There appeared to me to be much more watery land, and
more pools of water, about Daka than here. It is where so much land
lies under water that, about the end of the rainy season, the fever
is so bad. People may get it almost any time, but February, March,
and April seem to be the worst months. I think Baines is said to have
stated that he would rather be on the Zambesi in January, the height of
the rainy season, than in May, a lovely month, but when the moisture is
perhaps not all dried up. When it is dried up, it is then all right.
Another thing seems to be, that people moving about are better off than
those who have to remain stationary in one place.
“One of my goats was reported to have been killed by a leopard on
Christmas Eve. We all went with our guns, and I took my dogs. We
found the unfortunate goat lying dead, a live companion standing over
it; and, also standing over it, and facing the live goat, an animal
I thought was a dog. They told me it was the leopard, but I would
not fire, still thinking it a dog. At last, however, I saw what it
was, and we shot it. Two others ran away, and my dogs killed both of
them gallantly, and in next to no time. They were cheetahs, a sort of
leopard, very lanky, and a good deal like greyhounds in appearance.
They were very thin, and probably very hungry when they killed the
goat; but the other goat must have kept them from eating it, as it had
been killed a considerable time when we got to it.
“I must now get up and make ready to start. I am writing in the tent,
having had a cup of coffee as usual, but not got up yet. I intended
to have written this letter last night, and, having failed to do so,
thought it best to make sure of its being written before I began
anything else.
“I hope you are all spending a pleasant Christmas and New Year’s time
at home, or wherever you are; and wish every one a very happy New Year.”
Starting upon their journey late that evening, the Journal resumes the
narrative:--
“_December 27th._--Fine hot day, with a north-easterly breeze.
Wrote letter home early, and made final preparations for the walk.
As my own boys had all requested to accompany me, wishing to see
‘Metse-a-tunya,’ I took all (eight in number) except the Bushman, whom,
with two Makalakas engaged for me at Pantamatenka by the doctor, I
left with Klaas. The doctor had also got me another Makalaka, whom he
handed over to me, as well as allowing me to pack one of his own three
boys; so I had the benefit of ten, the doctor had two, and John had
three boys. We were a party, in all, of two white men, one colonial
boy (John Mackenna), and fifteen Kafirs, and left the Pantamatenka a
little before sundown; walked three miles up the river, and, crossing
it, encamped for the night. During the walk I saw a fine tall palm--the
first tall one I have seen. The leaves were fan-like and the tree
extremely graceful.
“_December 28th._--Beautiful day. Had coffee, and started soon
after sunrise. Kept up the river, say five miles, then recrossed and
left it, and went ten miles more, crossing a ‘sandbelt,’ I with two
boys finding water in an open grassy space, or ‘lichter.’ The others
missed the water, and I rejoined them in the long sandbelt, which
extended beyond where we halted. Then went three miles more, passing
some water, of which we were very glad, and at last reached a fine
lichter, with a stream in it, running away to the east, into the
Pantamatenka. On our left was a ridge, some two or three miles off,
with palm on it, which the doctor says he passed on his right, when
he went to the Falls last. Rose to opposite side of lichter, to high
ground, and camped.
“_December 29th._--Fine morning, but rather cloudy; a few drops of
rain in the afternoon. Had coffee, and again started early. Immediately
after starting crossed another stream, also running, they say, into the
Pantamatenka. Giraffe and quagga spoor seen. We only went six miles
to-day, as one of the boys had to be sent back for an axe, and we
waited for him. Maclinwon, who had gone on alone, presently returned,
having shot two rhinoceros, and we all went to the place and camped
there.
“_December 30th._--Cloudy; a shower in the afternoon. Walked ten
miles to-day, crossing at least two sandbelts, the last of which was
stony, and with a very thin stratum of soil on it; the trees few and
sparsely scattered. Some dry stony spruits here, and a fine view of the
opposite sandbelt. Slept at a spruit in the hollow beneath us, where
we had stopped to make tea in the afternoon, but where it looked so
threatening we had pitched the tent. However, the rain was trifling.
Some of Tibakai’s Bushmen were seen and talked to. Whilst the boys
were making the huts, they pointed out the cloud on the horizon to the
northward from Metse-a-tunya. It keeps rising in a white puff, and
passing away in little fleecy clouds. The others heard the Falls; I am
not sure I did.
“_December 31st._--Rather cloudy; heavy rain about sundown. Fine
night. Went, roughly, say three miles further north across turf, to
the river where I thought Tibakai was encamped, but found we were
too much to the left, so after crossing the river kept down it about
three-quarters of a mile to his camp. John was in front, hurrying on
with one of his boys, but when he came near the huts, stopped and hid
behind a bush, from which he was peering when we joined him. Here he
wanted to stay and send for Tibakai to talk, our object being to get
two Bushmen from him to go with us to the Zambesi, for corn. I ordered
him and the boys to march on to the huts, and not stop at a distance
now that they knew we were there. John was in a great funk, but found,
with Tibakai, a hunter whom he knew. I left the boys and traps under
a tree amongst the huts, and went with the doctor and John to have an
interview with Tibakai. He is a Mungwato headman, with one or two of
his own people, but all the rest are Bushmen, hunting for him, and
staying with him with their families. Tibakai said we could not go
to the Falls--he was captain here. Hearing, however, we did not come
to hunt, he said we might go but must make our scherm here, and stay
till to-morrow, when we might visit the Falls and return. He then
conceded that we might have two Bushmen, whom he would give us to-night
when they returned from hunting, but said we _must_ sleep here
to-night. I said we must go, and he could do as he pleased about the
Bushmen. After this he again said we must stay to-night. This I flatly
refused to do, and had already told him we should shoot elephants if we
saw them. John wanted me to stay, and refused to come away. I ordered
the boys to start, they having already told me they were willing, and
again for the third time called John. We then started, all but him,
and there was a great stir in the place; caps snapping, and one fellow
running out with his gun. We moved on, I on the flank ready to fire;
but it was not necessary. John remained behind, but, seeing us get
away, joined us, and, when I upbraided him, said he was only waiting to
see what they would do.”
And now a walk of some twelve or fifteen miles brought them to the
goal. The latter part--five miles or so--of this was over rolling
ground, and here, as they advanced, they soon began to see more
clearly the distant clouds of vapour from the Falls, and hear them more
distinctly. The trees, before thinly scattered, were now fine and close
together, and for a time obscured the view. Then shortly, through an
opening in their midst, the columns of spray again were visible, now
quite near, and the party pressed quickly on. The sun was about to set,
and clouds were gathering, as if for an approaching storm. Stopping to
shelter from a heavy shower just above the river, the first sight of
Metse-a-tunya was here caught through the trees, and a halt was ordered
for the night.
[Illustration: WOODEN PILLOW.]
Thus, the last day of 1874, the sun set on the fulfilment--after many
hindrances--of the traveller’s great desire!
CHAPTER XII.
Main features of the Falls--The return commenced--Frank
Oates attacked by fever--Course of the illness; improvement
and relapse--His death--Dr. Bradshaw takes his effects to
Bamangwato--His favourite dog--Arrival of W. Oates and Mr.
Gilchrist in Natal--Conclusion.
It is to be regretted that, from the time of his reaching the Zambesi
till the date of his death five weeks afterwards, the entries in
Frank Oates’s Journal are of the scantiest description. Indeed, the
whole time that he was actually at the Falls he made no entries in it
whatever. This may have been partly owing to the depressing condition
of the atmosphere near the river at that time, which would make any
exertion--even that of writing--burthensome; and partly from his
relying on his memory for a faithful recollection of a scene at once
so novel and so impressive. “After breakfast,” he writes on New Year’s
Day, 1875, “I visited the Falls--a day never to be forgotten.” This is
the sole entry in his Journal till the 14th of the month, when he was
again back at the Pantamatenka.
And what gives especial cause for regret at the absence of any further
entries in his Journal of this period is the fact that all the accounts
of the Falls yet published have been given by those who visited the
river in the dry season of the year. Of this number Edward Mohr may
have suffered least from this disadvantage, for he was there in June
1870. Baines and Chapman were there together during parts of the months
of July and August 1862; Livingstone was there, his first visit, in
November 1855, his second in August 1860; and Baldwin, at the time of
Livingstone’s second visit. On both occasions when Livingstone was at
the Falls, the river, he remarks, was very low; and Chapman mentions
that, when he and Baines were there, the water had recently fallen as
much as seven feet. It remained for Frank Oates to visit the river at
its fullest; at the very height, in fact, of the rainy season; but,
unhappily, we are left without any results of his experience, except
in the shape of a few pencil and two water-colour drawings he made
upon the spot. The two latter have been selected for representation in
this volume--one of them coloured, the other in the form of a woodcut.
Before offering any explanation regarding these, it may be well to
recall to the memory of the reader the main features of the Falls, as
described by previous writers.
The river for some distance--at least two miles--above the Falls is of
great width, and, flowing between hills some three or four hundred feet
in height, presents to the eye a smooth open surface, dotted over by
a number of picturesque, tree-covered islands. Where the Falls occur
the river is upwards of a mile in width, and the Falls extend the whole
of this distance, their line broken at intervals by dark projecting
buttresses of rock, forming, some of them, small islands with trees
upon their tops; whilst others, of much less size, present merely a
bare and jagged surface. The Falls are occasioned by what appears to
have been a rift in the original bed of the river--a rending asunder
of the rock in the river-bed, over the edge of which the whole waters
of the Zambesi are poured down into a deep, narrow gorge below, its
width varying from something like eighty to a hundred yards. The water
escapes from this deep abyss, where it boils and foams tumultuously
after its descent, by a still narrower channel of from twenty to thirty
yards in width, and apparently about the same depth as the fissure into
which the water falls, the waters of the river being thus suddenly
compressed into this narrow limit immediately after flowing through a
bed upwards of a mile in breadth just above the Falls. The river after
this proceeds by a zigzag course from east to west for about five
miles, through a continuation of this narrow cutting, before it finally
flows away in a more direct line eastwards. This outlet, Livingstone
informs us,[60] is about 1170 yards from the western and 600 from the
eastern end of the abyss, the river at the Falls flowing nearly due
north and south, whilst the fissure which receives the water lies
nearly east and west. At this point the rushing waters from either side
unite after they have fallen. “The stream ...,” writes Chapman, in
his account of the Falls, referring to this portion of the river,[61]
“which here slackens its speed before the entrance, steals slowly
round, at the solemn pace of a funeral procession, before it escapes
from its confinement between the massive columns of rock.” The water
here is of “that sombre green,” says Baines in his description,[62]
“which indicates great depth; the moderate rapid formed in the narrow
turn below the entrance rolling in that smooth, glassy swell, almost
destitute of foam, which seems so gentle and proves so overpowering
when one tries to stem it.”
[Illustration: VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI (THE OUTLET).]
It is the view from this point--“one of the prettiest and most
comprehensive” that can be obtained of the Falls, says Chapman--that
is represented in the preceding woodcut; in the foreground are seen the
gliding waters flowing through the escape-channel, the spray of the
falling cataract rising up beyond; whilst on the horizon, above that
section of the Falls which is visible from here, extends the distant
outline of one of the river’s banks. “This point,” writes Baines, “is
the only spot, with the exception of the west end in calm weather, that
is free enough from spray to allow the use of water-colours.”
And this brings us to our second illustration of the Falls, the
coloured one, which is taken from the other point here mentioned--the
west end of the cataract. In this picture is represented the first
portion of the Falls, at the western extremity of the abyss, where
the flow of the water over the edge is more broken than it is in many
places further on (in at least one of which it continues, says Chapman,
with “very little interruption” for a distance of a quarter of a mile
or more), and apparently before the water in the bottom of the channel
has commenced that tumultuous course which it afterwards pursues as
it gathers volume further eastward. In the foreground and on the high
land to the right is seen some of that brilliant tropical vegetation,
the absence of which, except the evergreen part of it, was so regretted
by Chapman at the time of his visit. “We see the scenery,” he wrote in
July 1862, “at a great disadvantage just now, as this is the time of
the ‘sere and yellow leaf.’” In January, when Frank Oates was there,
the vegetation of course was at its best. The trees on the right in
this picture, though looking little larger than bushes when viewed from
this side, rise in reality--again to quote the authority of Chapman,
who penetrated their shade--to a majestic height of from eighty to
ninety feet, and constitute a dense forest, always moistened by the
spray from the Falls.
The remaining most characteristic feature of the Falls represented
in this drawing is that of the double rainbow spanning the abyss.
The marvellous colouring of these rainbows, which are frequently
visible here, has struck all who have beheld them; their “tints,” says
Baines, “more beautiful than in England’s clouded climate one can
ever dream of.” Whenever the sun falls upon the clouds of spray these
rainbows are always present, sometimes two, sometimes three in number,
and the brilliancy of their colouring can scarcely be exaggerated.
“Rainbows,” writes Chapman in his description of the Falls, the first
day he saw them, “so bright, so vivid, are never seen in the skies.
The lower one in particular [on this occasion], probably from the
contrast with the black-looking rocks below, was _too_ vivid,
nay, almost blinding, to look upon, defying imitation by the most
skilful artist and all the colours at his command, yet imparting its
heavenly tints to every object over which it successively passed.”
So marked a characteristic of the spot are these rainbows that it
appears, according to Livingstone, the early native name of the Falls
was “Chongwe,” signifying the Rainbow, or the Place of the Rainbow; a
name, however, which has since given place to others. Frank Oates’s
boys spoke of the Falls as Metse-a-tunya, a compound word, signifying
“water-sounding;” whilst the name which Livingstone received for
them, as used by the Makalolo at the time of both his visits, was
not dissimilar, viz., Mosi-oa-tunya, or “smoke-sounding,” from the
smoke-like appearance of the columns of spray which rise above the
cataract.
[Illustration: VICTORIA FALLS, ZAMBESI.
(WESTERN EXTREMITY.)]
With regard to the other general features of the Falls not referred to
above but little remains to be added. Their actual height, as estimated
by Livingstone, is about 360 feet from the top of the precipice to
the surface of the water in the abyss; the columns of spray, which
are driven upwards by the rush of air from the channel as the water
descends into this narrow space, ascending to a height variously
estimated by those who have seen them--and no doubt varying with
the state of the atmosphere and the volume of water in the river at
different times--at from six to eight hundred feet, or something over.
It is these vapour clouds which, visible at a distance of upwards of
twenty miles, as distinctly observed by Livingstone, mark the position
of the Falls long before the traveller approaches them. Frank Oates,
as seen in the preceding chapter, distinguished them at a distance of
about eighteen miles, and his followers heard the roaring of the water
at that distance, though he was not sure of doing so himself. Chapman,
after he had left the Falls, heard them, he relates, “at a distance of
fifteen miles on an elevated region in the south.”
Comparing the Falls with those of Niagara, Livingstone points out
that they are twice the height of the latter; whilst, “in the amount
of water, Niagara,” he says, “probably excels, though not during the
months when the Zambesi is in flood.” It is unfortunate that no general
view of the Falls, except a bird’s-eye one from the high ground some
miles distant, can be obtained, owing to the vegetation on the south
side of the fissure and the dense clouds of spray rising from the
chasm. “But for this,” says Chapman, “the Victoria Falls, presenting
one unobstructed view, would not alone have been the most magnificent,
but the most stupendous, sight of the kind on the face of the globe.”
* * * * *
And now, resuming our story, the remaining incidents are soon related,
the material for its completion being somewhat scanty. From the
time of his arrival at the Falls till the date of his return to the
Pantamatenka, Frank Oates made, as has been stated, no entries in his
Journal. Again at the Pantamatenka, however, on the 13th, he made a
few brief notes, remaining there till the 19th of the month, when
Mr. Westbeach, now back from the Zambesi, also started southwards,
accompanied by Dr. Bradshaw. Two of Frank Oates’s native servants were
already by this time ill with fever, taken, no doubt, on the Zambesi,
but the rest of the party so far continued well.
On the 25th, however, at the “pan” called Geruah, the beauty of which
had struck him on his journey north, Frank Oates himself complained to
his companions--for his own waggon and that of Mr. Westbeach were never
far apart as they advanced--of slight headache, the usual precursor
and accompaniment of African fever. In a couple of days, however, he
was better again, so that he even went out hunting. But this apparent
improvement unhappily proved delusive, and it soon became evident that
he was suffering from an attack of fever. And now he continued for some
days, with slight fluctuations, better and worse till the 29th, when
his condition became alarming. Throughout his entire journey up country
from the Makalakas as far as the Pantamatenka he had been engaged in
taking careful observations of the country, and noting the various
watering-places along the road, and this he continued to do on his way
back, to check his former notes. His regular Journal had been again
discontinued on the 22d, but he still made some brief jottings of the
route until the 31st of the month, when, such was his condition, even
these had also to be abandoned, and he continued very ill till the
morning of the 5th of February, when there was a decided change in him
for the better.
During the whole of this time Dr. Bradshaw had remained with or near
him, and Mr. Westbeach had kindly lent him the services of one of
his own boys, who could speak a little English. There was now every
reason, so far as the traveller was himself concerned--and had been
ever since he first showed signs of illness--for the party to make all
speed upon their journey south. Once at Tati he would be in a place
of comparative civilization, affording greater comfort for an invalid,
and in a far better climate. Travelling is also usually found to be
beneficial in most stages of this fever. They were, therefore, all now
pushing forward to the Tati with the least possible delay.
On the morning of the 5th of February, as just stated, Frank
Oates’s condition was much more favourable, and there may still
presumably have been hope of his recovery, when, unfortunately, a
point being reached during the day where some of his boys had to be
paid off and discharged, the annoyance and excitement contingent on
this circumstance--for at such times the boys always manage to be
troublesome--brought on a relapse, and towards the afternoon of that
day he again got worse. The party, as it chanced, were then in a
part of the country where there was no water for the oxen, and were
travelling with all haste to reach a place where they could get some;
yet so alarming were Frank Oates’s symptoms, that towards evening Dr.
Bradshaw, who was with his waggon, was obliged to order a halt. This
occurred at a certain point in the journey, a little north of the same
Makalaka kraal at which the traveller had already experienced so much
trouble. He was now much exhausted, and Dr. Bradshaw got him to take
some soup and a little brandy, and then left him for a few minutes to
go to the other waggon. He had not been gone, however, many minutes,
when Mr. Westbeach’s English-speaking boy, who had been left in charge,
hurried after him, begging him to return at once, as a sudden change
appeared to be taking place. This Dr. Bradshaw did--but only in time to
find his companion sinking. Frank Oates tried to speak, but in so low a
whisper that the other unhappily failed to catch his meaning, and a few
minutes afterwards--about a quarter of an hour before sunset--the brave
spirit sank peacefully to rest.
At this point in the journey it so happened that the ground was very
hard and stony, and, even had it been otherwise, there was no spade
or other implement at either of the waggons with which a grave could
have been made; so, hearing that Piet Jacobs, the Dutchman, was near at
hand, having been at a neighbouring kraal that morning buying corn, Dr.
Bradshaw sent to him for assistance. Several others of the party were
by this time ill with fever, and the man who took this message--John
Mackenna--was so reduced that he was scarcely able to sit the horse he
rode upon.
Jacobs, in reply, sent back word for the others to come on further,
where the ground was less stony, and that he would meantime find
a place suitable for the grave. With this suggestion Dr. Bradshaw
willingly complied, and, travelling in the night, met Jacobs early the
following morning about an hour’s journey at the other side of the
kraal. Here the Dutchman, who was familiar with the country, had by
this time found a spot well suited for the purpose. This was a disused
game-trap, some eight feet in depth, at no great distance from the
waggon-road so often traversed by the deceased, and placed by the side
of a small stream or river flowing south. And here, in the deep repose
of this silent spot, the traveller’s remains were laid in their last
resting-place. His was a burial which well became in its simplicity a
true lover, like himself, of Nature and her wilds.
This ended, it now devolved on Dr. Bradshaw to convey the waggon
and effects of the deceased to Bamangwato, where he left them in
charge of the Rev. John Mackenzie, himself returning soon afterwards
to the Zambesi district. His attentions to the deceased during
the last days of his illness must have materially added to the
latter’s comfort, whose friends have reason to be thankful that he
chanced thus accidentally to have been thrown into the company of
a fellow-countryman at the close of his two years’ wanderings. His
interesting collections, moreover, of natural history, a part of which
he now had with him, might readily have been dispersed, and his goods
plundered, had his death occurred amongst unfriendly natives, with no
one at hand to be responsible for their custody; whilst, as it was,
all these, with his waggon and outfit, and personal effects, were
faithfully delivered by Dr. Bradshaw into the charge of Mr. Mackenzie
at Bamangwato, there to await instructions from his relatives in
England.[63]
One incident of Dr. Bradshaw’s journey should not be here omitted. It
appears that many miles after they had left the grave, one of Frank
Oates’s pointers--his favourite “Rail”--was found to be missing,
and boys were sent back in search of him. These men sought long and
wandered far in vain, till at length in their pursuit they got back
even to the grave, and there, patiently watching, they found the
devoted creature laid. A little longer, and he must inevitably have
fallen a prey to lions or other wild beasts, but now he was taken
down with his companion to Bamangwato, whence they were subsequently
conveyed to England. And thus it happened that, whilst Frank Oates’s
friends at home were rejoicing at the speedy prospect of his return,
and wholly unsuspicious of the truth, this faithful dog was watching,
the sole mourner, by his grave.[64]
The very day of Frank Oates’s death his brother William--returned from
his yachting trip to Spitzbergen--sailed from England for South Africa,
to join him, accompanied by Mr. Gilchrist, the gentleman already
mentioned in these pages, whom the brothers had met when they first
reached Durban two years previously, and had afterwards travelled with
in the interior, William Oates having returned with him to England.
The day these two sailed from England--about an hour before the vessel
left--letters were brought to them on board from Frank Oates, which
had only just reached the country, giving a full account of all his
plans, and of his wanderings up to the end of the October previous.
The two friends reached Durban on the 15th of March, and at once
commenced preparations for proceeding up country to meet the returning
traveller. Mr. Selous, who had met Frank Oates at Tamasancha, as
mentioned in the previous chapter, had now come down from the interior,
and reported having seen him early in December, then on his way to the
Zambesi and in perfect health. There was indeed just at this time, as
it happened, a report at Pietermaritzburg that the traveller had died
of fever in the interior, but--as subsequently proved by a comparison
of dates--this report had certainly no foundation in the actual fact,
and was found on enquiry at the time to be unsupported by any reliable
evidence. The preparations already in progress for a speedy start
into the interior, to meet him on his way back, were therefore still
proceeded with, and waggons, oxen, and all the necessary outfit got
ready for the purpose.
Another week and William Oates and his friend would have started on
their way northwards, when--on the 1st of April, a fortnight only after
their arrival--authentic intelligence reached them of Frank Oates’s
death in the interior. The object of proceeding on the journey was now
therefore completely changed, and, to enable William Oates to return at
once to England and there offer to his bereaved mother such comfort
as he might be able, his friend Mr. Gilchrist, in no common spirit
of self-sacrifice, himself insisted on taking the sad journey alone
into the interior--to bring down thence and convey to England all
the deceased’s effects; to hear such particulars as he could of his
death, for the satisfaction of his friends at home; and if possible--a
service attended with especial difficulties--to visit the grave, and
place over it, to mark the spot, a stone prepared for this purpose in
Pietermaritzburg.
Gratefully availing himself of this generous offer, William Oates
sailed for England on April 22d, having first seen Mr. Gilchrist
leave Pietermaritzburg with two waggons, on his way up country; a
sort of departure very different from that which either of them had
anticipated. The journey undertaken by Mr. Gilchrist--under any
circumstances a laborious and trying one enough--was rendered doubly
so by the sad object with which he started; nor did he return till
every purpose of the journey had been fulfilled. For not only did he
bring safely to the coast--and subsequently to England--the large
collections of natural history specimens and curiosities, and the notes
and journals of his travels which Frank Oates had made, as well as his
two pointers, “Rail” and “Rock,” but, in spite of the obstacles opposed
to his progress at the Tati, he even proceeded to the spot where the
traveller’s remains had been laid, and on his way back succeeded in
obtaining an interview on the Ramaqueban River with Dr. Bradshaw, from
whom he learnt the few additional particulars of his death which
could be supplied, and which have been embodied in the preceding
narrative.[65]
For this twofold purpose--of reaching the grave and seeing Dr.
Bradshaw--Mr. Gilchrist, on reaching Bamangwato, had gone on thence
with both his waggons as far as the Tati settlement, where he arrived
on the 18th of July. There he found the same difficulty of proceeding
further which Frank Oates himself had often previously encountered, a
great fear still prevailing amongst the natives of “red water”--the
Natal cattle disease--being brought into their country, and Lobengula
having recently sent strict orders to the kraals on the outskirts of
his territory to keep all waggons from Natal from attempting to cross
their boundaries. Fortunately, however, it happened that the Dutchman,
Piet Jacobs, was now at Tati, who had not only selected the spot for
the late traveller’s grave, but was also intimately acquainted with
the whole of the surrounding district, and who had, besides, a general
permission from the king to enter his country when, and as often as,
he pleased; for keeping, as he did, his oxen standing at Tati, when
he was not out with them in the veldt himself, there was little fear
of his introducing the dreaded disease into the country. With him
therefore, as guide, Mr. Gilchrist was speedily enabled to make a start
northwards; and, on the afternoon of the fifth day from the date of
their leaving Tati, came to the point in the waggon-road where they
had to leave it, in order to go down to the river’s side to reach the
grave. Mr. Gilchrist found it placed about six hundred yards to the
left of the road, in a situation of much natural beauty, surrounded
by low picturesque hills, and with trees of varied growth and foliage
scattered at intervals over the grassy sward. The grave itself, over
which a number of large stones had been placed when it was first made,
was found quite undisturbed, and amongst these Mr. Gilchrist now
inserted at its foot the small white stone, neatly cut, which he had
brought from Pietermaritzburg for the purpose, bearing this simple
inscription--“Frank Oates, F.R.G.S., of Meanwoodside, Leeds, England;
died 5th February 1875, aged 34 years.” Then, the task of friendship
faithfully performed, he returned without delay to England.
Nor had this journey, painful in its objects and associations,
been entirely free, on Mr. Gilchrist’s part, from privations and
anxieties of a graver kind. Water upon the road had many times been
scarce (on one occasion he was without any for his oxen--twenty-nine
in number--for as much as seventy hours); the season was one of
exceptional heat and drought, and the time occupied on the journey was
unavoidably considerable.
And here, before concluding, it may be mentioned that at Tati,
Bamangwato, or wherever he met those who had become acquainted with
Frank Oates in this country, Mr. Gilchrist found but one opinion
expressed concerning him. Many were the kindnesses treasured in
men’s minds and now related, which he had rendered to those he had
encountered in his travels; whilst, on the other hand, he had himself
apparently been no less fortunate in the kindly services he had
received from others. Friends had arisen where he least expected
them, beyond the pale of European civilization, from each of whom he
parted in turn with a consciousness of mutual regret. Such was the
way in which he drew all hearts towards him; and after his death, the
good offices of those who loved or esteemed him in his lifetime were
generously placed at the service of his family. Conspicuous amongst
this number stood the Rev. John Mackenzie, of Bamangwato, and Mr. F.
A. Hathorn, of the Standard Bank, Pietermaritzburg, the former of whom
undertook the duties of executor for the arrangement of his affairs in
the interior, whilst a like responsibility was accepted by the latter
for the settlement of matters in Natal. Nor was it only what these
two gentlemen did, but even more the manner of their doing it, which
placed the traveller’s relatives under a lasting sense of obligation to
them, and served not a little to soothe the first bitterness of their
affliction.
And now this brief history of the efforts and too early extinction of a
devoted life, otherwise it may be conjectured destined to have rendered
no mean service in the extension of scientific knowledge and research,
may be concluded with a few words, written soon after his death by
Mr. Mackenzie to one of his brothers with reference to the position of
his grave. “Lonely the spot, no doubt,” he writes, “is, in a certain
sense; but, in another, your brother’s grave is surrounded by all the
activities of the great Creator and Father of all. Flowers will blossom
around it, though not planted by mortal hand; birds will sing over it,
and never weary in repeating the sweet notes which Nature has taught
them. I have not been there myself, but I have no doubt the naturalist
would not think your brother’s grave a lonely spot; whilst to the
Christian such a spot is the quiet resting-place to which the body sank
when the spirit was called away by God the Father.”
[Illustration: “RAIL.”]
APPENDIX.
I.
ETHNOLOGY.
By GEORGE ROLLESTON, M.D., F.R.S.
Linacre Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the
University of Oxford.
The following human bones--viz. four skulls, six lower jaws, four
cervical vertebræ, one large and one small sized scapula, two small
sized and fragmentary humeri, a fragment of a very slight but adult
ulna, four cervical vertebræ, and five more or less fragmentary
ribs--have been put into my hands by Mr. C. G. Oates, with information
to the effect that they had belonged probably to a Bushman horde
massacred somewhere between the Tati and Ramaqueban rivers, in S. lat.
20° 54′, and long. 27° 42′. With these human bones came some bones of
_Equus_ (_caballus_ or _zebra?_); also of one large ruminant (_Bos
taurus_ or _Bos caffer_), and one smaller; and part of the skull of an
ostrich (_Struthio camelus_); and, later, the feet-bones of an elephant
(_Elephas africanus_). All these bones had been collected by my former
pupil, Mr. Frank Oates, of Christ Church, Oxford. The four skulls had
not their lower jaws assigned to them; but to three of them jaws were
assignable, which in all probability had really belonged to them, being
very exactly coadaptable, to say nothing of their having been sent in
company with them and with certain cervical vertebræ. These six lower
jaws are by far the most important bones as regards the question of the
nationality of the entire “find.” If, indeed, these half dozen lower
jaws had been brought to me with no other accompaniments and with no
other information than that they had been all brought from one spot in
Africa, I think I should have been justified in saying that they had
belonged to no other known African race than the Khoi-Khoin, or its
Central African representative, the Akka. For they all six alike show
the following distinctive and eminently significant peculiarities--viz.
lowness of coronoid process, smallness of absolute size, and all but
complete obsolescence of chin. Upon this I have already commented
in _British Barrows_, pp. 706, note 1, 707, 716, _ibique citata_,
comparing these lower jaws with the jaws of certain other confessedly
“priscan” races, which differ from them in little but in being larger
in size. It is, or should be, a commonplace among craniographers that,
whilst the lower jaw is a more important bone for their purposes than
any other single bone of the skeleton, and even than the pelvis itself,
it is often more distinctive, if not more valuable, than at least the
entire _calvaria_. Certainly this is the case with African skulls;
for though it is possible enough, as was long ago pointed out by
Professor Owen (see _Osteological Catalogue, Royal College of Surgeons
of England_, 5385, p. 838, 1853, and for a contradictory statement
Retzius, _Ethnol. Schriften_, 1864, p. 149), and as has recently been
reaffirmed by Dr. Hamy in Paris, to find brachycephalic skulls among
those of undoubted Negro races, and though, as I can aver from my
knowledge of the collections in the Oxford University Museum, it is
by no means always possible to distinguish either such brachycephalic
Negro skulls, or certain other Negro skulls of the dolichocephalic type
more usual amongst such skulls, from Bushman skulls of the respective
proportions, both of which are represented in this latter series, it
is within my knowledge always possible to do this if the skulls under
comparison are in possession of the lower jaws belonging to them.
The Negro’s lower jaw may or may not have the poorly-developed chin
so constant in the lower jaws of the Bushman, and but rarely seen in
the lower jaws of higher races; it may or may not have its anterior
teeth sloping forwards in correlation with a prognathic upper jaw; it
may or may not, I apprehend, though I have not met with such cases,
be as a whole as small and feeble as the jaws of the Bushman have,
with my knowledge, invariably been; but it never has shown, so far
as I know, the low coronoid process, the shallow signoid notch, and
the wide ramus so very commonly, or indeed all but invariably, found
amongst not only the Bushman but the Eskimo race. The existence of
this peculiarity not only in these two races so widely separated in
space, though so nearly on a level in certain linguistic as well
as certain other points of degradation, but also in so many of the
lower jaws of the earliest representatives of our species, gives it
a great morphological importance; and this morphological importance
is not a little enhanced when we consider a second fact, drawn from
a wholly alien line of contemplation, that, namely, which shows us
that teleological adaptation to special needs, or necessities rather,
as to dealing with food, has nothing to do with it. The fact of six
lower jaws all alike exhibiting this striking peculiarity, which may
be shortly described by saying that it resembles the conformation
seen in the Gibbon, whilst the larger anthropoid apes show the
coronoid developed into a prominence which comes much more nearly
into resemblance with that usual in our own species, is to my mind
very strong evidence to the effect that we have here six Bushman jaws
before us. In all of these lower jaws we find the angle roughened and
projecting outwards in correspondence with the insertion of fibres of
the masseter, and thereby giving a greater width to the lower portion
of the face; whilst, internally, the surface below the inferior dental
foramen is remarkably concave, owing in some cases to a general though
slight inversion of the lower portion of the ramus, and in others to a
thinning of the bone in the region between the alveolar process, in
the region of the last molar, and the angle thickened at once by the
insertions of the masseter and of the pterygoid. Of the four skulls
one only fails to find a lower jaw which will in any way admit of
coadaptation to it, and this skull being exaggeratedly dolichocephalous
as well as of much larger size and proportions than the other three,
may very well be supposed to have belonged to one of the attacking and
not to one of the attacked tribe; for I apprehend that in massacres,
at least of Bushmen, the killing is not usually all on one side. The
“reports,” indeed, both of their enemies and of their friends, assure
us that a Bushman at bay is a foe by no means to be despised, and that,
though little, he is fierce. And I can say for those three crania that
their _tout ensemble_, as compared with that of Abantu skulls placed
alongside of them, impresses me with the same kind of feeling which,
after detailed measurements, I have felt in comparing the crania of
Lapps with those of races such as the Finns living close to them. They
appear to me, in fact, to indicate that their owners were of a smaller
race than the owners of the skulls beside them, though the Bushman is
not always a mere dwarf, as is sometimes stated. The feebleness of the
two humeri, and even more notably of the fragment of ulna, and the
small size of the cervical vertebræ, and of one of the two scapulæ
accompanying these bones, tells in the same direction, but does not
prove feebleness of mind.
For purposes of comparison with these three presumably Bushman crania,
I have had three other crania at hand from the University Museum, of
the genuineness of which there can be little doubt. One of these was
presented to the University Museum by the late and much-lamented Dr.
W. H. J. Bleek, to whose labours[66] in elucidating the language and
rescuing the folklore of the Bushman tribe from perishing we owe so
much. This skull, which was brought to England by Mr. Alfred Hughes of
St. Asaph, bears a label, “Eland’s Bun, nr. Schintpriten,[67] Bushman’s
skull,” and was handed over to me by that gentleman at the desire of
Dr. Bleek. A second skull came into my hands through the kindness of
W. G. Marshall, Esq. of Colney Hatch, having been entrusted to him by
George Dunsterville, Esq., of Port Elizabeth, Algoa Bay, S. Africa,
who was for some years surgeon to the hospital at Port Elizabeth.
This skull, which, like the preceding, belonged to an exceedingly old
man, carries the following labels:--“From the Transvaal, S. African
Republic;” “Of an original Bosjesman, a tribe of small Hottentots, now
nearly extinct; over age; height, 4 ft. 4 in.” The evidence for the
authenticity of the third Bushman cranium which was in the University
Museum previously to the arrival of Mr. Oates’s consignment, is even
more irrefragable. This cranium was procured for the University through
the kindness of H. N. Moseley, Esq., F.R.S., from Mr. Fairclough of
Cape Town, and with the cranium came a knife, a poison-pot, a quiver,
a poisoned arrow, and an ivory wrist-protector which had belonged to
the owner of the skull. This skull belonged to a man past the middle
period of life, and is remarkable for its absolute height, no less
than 5·⅖ in.; which, however, falls short of its absolute width, which
is no less than 5·6 in., by which inferiority the tapeinocephalic or
platycephalic character which Mr. Busk (_Journal Ethn. Soc._, London,
Jan. 1871) insisted upon as existing in Bushman crania, is preserved in
it as well as in the two other crania just specified.
Retzius, in a paper first published in Swedish in 1856, subsequently
in German in Müller’s _Archiv._ for 1858, and fully republished in the
posthumously issued (1864) _Ethnologische Schriften_, p. 149, after
saying that he had before him only a single skull of a Hottentot,
and the figures which Blumenbach and Sandifort had published of
Hottentot and Bushman crania, declares himself unable to detect any
essential difference between such skulls and those of true Negroes. His
great authority, therefore, should not be quoted to the disfavour of
craniological evidence in this or any other similar question, inasmuch
as he only speaks, and avowedly, from very scanty materials.
If we begin our comparison of these two sets of crania by a reference
to the great distinction pointed out by Retzius himself, of
brachycephalic from dolichocephalic crania, we have in the first place
to demur to the statement, “In Afrika, fehlt, so viel man bisher weiss,
jede Spur brachycephalischer Bevölkerung.” Against it have to be set
in the first place Professor Owen’s words in the old _Osteological
Catalogue_ 1853, p. 838, 5385, already referred to, and in the second,
Professor Flower’s measurements (as recorded in the new _Catalogue of
the Specimens illustrating the Osteology and Dentition of Vertebrated
Animals_, pt. i. 1879, p. 232, 1238), of the “articulated skeleton of
a Negress, born in the United States of North America, and about 16
years of age,” who was said, presumably by the donor, Professor L. J.
Sanford of Yale College, “to have presented all the external characters
indicating purity of race,” the cephalic or latitudinal index of the
crania belonging to this skeleton being no less than ·811. But though
this be so, there is no doubt, firstly, that the immense majority of
Negro, and of Caffre and Abantu crania are dolichocephalic, and some
such, for example as the Mozambique skull, casts of which were given
by the late J. South, Esq., F.R.S., to many museums, exaggeratedly so;
and secondly that the cephalic index of the Bushman is considerably
higher on the average than that of the Negro. One of my six Bushman
crania (that named No. 1, Mr. F. Oates, 788e), has a cephalic index
of ·81, being equal to that of the Negro girl just mentioned in the
College of Surgeons’ Museum; and though one of the six has but ·70 for
its cephalic index, still the average of the six is as much as ·75,
and Professor Flower’s six give us an average of ·768 as against one
of ·731 for the circumambient “Zulus and Kaffirs,” and against one of
·736 for “African Negroes of various tribes.”
The altitudinal index is as significant as, if not more significant
than, the latitudinal; and the tapeinocephalic or platycephalic
character of the Bushman as compared with the two other assemblages
of Africans just mentioned, is expressed by the figures ·716, as
against altitudinal indices for them of ·741 and ·735 respectively. The
average of the altitudinal indices of my six Bushman crania is ·72, the
height exceeding the breadth in two cases only, and in each of them by
one-tenth of an inch only.
As important a question to ask about a skull as either of the two
relating to the two indices just mentioned, is, to my thinking, the
question, does the cranium when resting, in the absence of its lower
jaw, with the grinding surfaces of its teeth on a flat surface, touch
that surface posteriorly with its occipital condyles, or with its
inferior occipital squamæ? Accordingly as the former or the latter
portions of the occipital bone give support posteriorly to a skull
so placed, is the cranial curvature lesser or greater, and with it
the antero-posterior arc described by the brain it contains. Tried by
this test, first suggested by Prof. Ecker (_Archiv. für Anthrop._,
iv. 1870, p. 288), the six Bushman crania in the museum whence I
write, have four of their number resting on the occipital squamæ, as
opposed to two which show the lesser curvature. I incline to think
that this is a higher average than West Coast Negro crania would show,
but Abantu skulls are very frequently so well developed as to have a
considerable interval left between their occipital condyles and a flat
surface, touching anteriorly the grinding surface of their teeth, and
posteriorly their _conceptacula cerebelli_.
Another important point given us in that most instructive of _normæ_,
the _norma lateralis_, is that of the junction or non-junction of
the squamous to the frontal. This question is easily answered, as in
no single one of my six Bushman crania does the squamous approximate
itself at all more closely to the frontal than it would do in an equal
number of European crania. Indeed, in all but one of these crania
the alisphenoid is wide from before backwards, as though to furnish
adequate lodgment for the temporo-sphenoidal lobe of the cerebrum,
which, we know, alike from Gratiolet (_Mémoire sur les Plis Cérébraux_,
p. 97), and Professor John Marshall (_Phil. Trans._, MDCCCLXIV, p.
510), to take a large development in the Bushman race.[68]
I have in the next place to draw attention to a striking qualitative
or morphological peculiarity observable in no less than three out of
my six Bushman crania; this being the presence either of a perfect,
or of a rudimentary division of the malar bone into two distinct
parts. The skull presented by Dr. Bleek presents us with a perfect
rectangular suture, bilaterally symmetrical, as is usually the case
with this suture both when it is and when it is, as here, not,
rudimentary. In the two skulls, 788_e_ and 788_g_, collected
by Mr. Frank Oates, the suture is rudimentary, being represented in
each skull by a bilaterally symmetrical fissure running horizontally
forwards from the zygomatico-malar articulation.[69] When I add to
these observations the fact that similar sutures have not within
my knowledge and research been observed in other African crania of
any of the varieties living on that continent, it will be seen that
the presence of them in these skulls goes a considerable way, when
coupled with other considerations, towards making it pretty certain
that they were of Bushman nationality. Further investigation of the
distribution and non-distribution of this most significant suture
amongst the several typical races of men, lends some additional force
to this argument, and is besides not a little suggestive as to other
views. In the Oxford University collection of crania I have not found
any traces of it amongst 47 Australian, nor amongst our five Tasmanian
crania, nor amongst our Stone age crania, a series well represented
here. The only other race of indisputably pristine and very pristine
habits, in which I have observed it to exist, is the Eskimo, and out of
a large number of such skulls I have only noted it once, in the form
of bilaterally symmetrical fissure. The other skulls which this museum
contains possessing this suture either well or rudimentarily developed,
are six in number. Four are presumably either of the Malay or of the
Chinese race, as two were collected by Captain Elmhirst of the 9th
Regiment, from the sea-shore of an island in the Chinese Seas, out of
a great quantity which were lying about unburied, and were supposed to
have belonged to Chinese pirates, and were finally presented to the
University museum by the Rev. H. Hansell, Fellow of Magdalen College;
as a third was the skull of a female Moro, collected in the mountains
of Sulu, and presented by Captain Chimmo, R.N.; whilst the fourth was
purchased from Mr. Cutter, the dealer in Natural History specimens,
as being a Borneo pirate. The other two are from Ceylon, one being a
Tamil from Central Ceylon, presented by Mr. B. F. Hartshorne, who was
himself for a considerable time resident in the island, and has written
upon its ethnology; the other being a “Malabar.” As the absence of
this suture from the Zulu and Negro series gives additional importance
to its presence in the Bushman, so its absence, which I have noted in
a considerable number of Præaryan skulls, such as those of the Coles
and Moosahurs, procured for me by William Duthoit, Esq., D.C.L., gives
additional importance to its presence in “Malabars,” “Tamils,” Malays,
and Chinese. Of course further research may discover this suture in
other races of mankind; as the matter stands at present I am tempted
to think that there is possibly some significance in its having been
noticed in the Eskimo, the Bushman, in certain races of the Eastern
Archipelago, and in Tamil skulls, as well as in the fact of its having
been found to be absent in certain other skulls also of ancient races,
such as the Kolarian and the Australian.[70]
The main sutures I think have perhaps something peculiar about them,
this consisting in their being made of denticulations which are complex
but shallow, contrasting thus with the complex but deep denticulations
of well developed European, and the coarse but shallow ones of
Australian, crania.
The verticality of the forehead observable in so many Bushman, and,
indeed, in so many other African crania, is correlated with the
comparative feebleness, and consequent lightness, of their lower jaws,
which renders it unnecessary[71] that the brain and brain case should
be rotated backwards to counterbalance the facial skeleton and to
maintain the visual axis in a horizontal or semihorizontal plane.
I have appended to this paper the measurements given by Professor
Flower, in his recently issued (1879) _Catalogue_, of the six
Bushman crania in the College of Surgeons’ Museum, pp. 246, 247, and
also the same measurements, as taken by myself, of the six Bushman
crania in the Oxford University Museum. The very close correspondence
of the two sets of measurements will strike any one who will compare
the columns which give the averages of the two sets. The fact may be
expressed in technical language by saying that both lists coincide
pretty nearly in showing that, as Professor Flower has phrased it
at p. 255, _l.c._, the Bushman cranium is “mesaticephalic,”
“orthognathous” (or, at least, mesognathous, my average being 98,
which is “mesognathous,” as against Professor Flower’s 97·8, which is
just below the limits of mesognathy), “platyrrhine,” “microseme,” and
“microcephalic.”
By a comparison of my measurements, not with those of Professor
Flower, but with my own records of the history of each skull, an
even more surprising and more important fact, in the way, however,
not of coincidence but of the reverse, is brought to light. The most
aberrant of the six in the matter of measurements is the very skull
about the authenticity of which there is the most perfect certainty.
This is the skull presented by Mr. Fairclough, with which were sent
the articles specified above, as the characteristic of the Bushman
race. But the skull itself is, in almost every important particular,
different from the five other crania here measured with it. Its
circumference and cubical capacity, its length, breadth, and height,
and their indices, its orbital and nasal indices, are all alike
aberrant from the average. It certainly would not have entered into
the head of any craniographer to refer this skull to the Bushman
variety of our species, unless he had been informed of the character
of its accompaniments. A morphological point which might have served
to indicate the character of its owner--I mean the feebleness of the
nasal spine, a shortcoming more or less evident in all, or nearly all,
Bushman crania--does not help us here; for we observe in this skull
that the line of symphysis of the two halves of the upper jaw rises
here anteriorly, as it does sometimes in European jaws, into a raised
double ridge, which, though it slopes gradually into the plane of the
alveolar border, and does not rise into a sharply-defined angular
spine, and so far falls short of the typical “anterior nasal spine,” is
yet a very different thing from the very feebly-developed bifid process
of ordinary Bushmen, and many other African and other savage jaws.
The question arises, how are we to interpret these facts? We may
explain them by saying that the elasticity and plasticity of the
type is such as to admit of the escape of an exceedingly aberrant
individual, and its homogeneity and plasticity, nevertheless, also
such as to allow of its walls joining again, and restoring the perfect
circumscription which is implied in our speaking of the race as
possessing well-defined limits. Or lovers of logical consistency, who
may not be extensively acquainted with the width over which variability
may extend itself, may prefer to suggest that some kind of error may
attach or have been attached to the identification of this particular
cranium. It is possible, I suppose, that a runaway Caffre, or even an
outcast white man, may have betaken himself to some horde of Bushmen,
and identified himself with their manners and customs, and adopted
their dress and equipment. Such voluntary degradations are known
to have taken place, with the consequence of the refugee becoming
not merely “half a savage,” but rather, as shown by the place and
precedence given to him, “a savage and a half;” or, finally, the owner
of this skull may really have been a cross between a white man and a
female of the Bushman stock. To this last explanation I myself incline.
As regards the condition of the teeth, the skull presented by Mr.
Fairclough, though referred by me to a man in the middle period of
life, has only some seven or eight teeth, comparatively little worn,
left _in situ;_ the rest have been lost, and traces of two or three
large alveolar abscesses, and great absorption elsewhere of the
alveolar processes are very evident. Alveolar abscesses have similarly
left their traces in the skull presented by Dr. Bleek, in which,
however, the teeth have been very much worn down, though only one or
two have been lost during life. The skull presented by Mr. Dunsterville
had lost all its teeth, save the two central incisors, during life, and
the alveolar processes have suffered a very large amount of absorption
in this senile skull.
Of the entire series, as the figures giving the length of the
circumference and the cubic capacity show most plainly, we can
predicate smallness; the average of the latter measurement being but
1285 as against 1485 cub. cent. obtained by Professor Flower for the
cubage of seven Caffres and Zulus, and, indeed, as against 1330 from
his measurement of his available Bushman crania.
With this small capacity is combined, which is by no means always
the case in crania of races low in the scale of human life, a
short basi-cranial axis, with an average length of no more than 93
millimetres.
In none of these six skulls is the patency of the frontal suture,
which corresponds very usually to a wide receptacle for the frontal
lobes of the brain, observable. On the other hand, the zygomata do
not come into view, when the skull is held out so as to present its
norma verticalis at arm’s length to one eye of the observer, with the
invariability which might have been expected. In two only of these
six skulls are both zygomata seen at the same time when the skull is
held in this position; in three the zygoma of the left side only is
seen; and in one neither zygoma comes into view. But these skulls,
as is often the case in skulls of flesh-eating savage races, are of
considerable density, and a greater thickness of walls as well as a
greater development of the contents of a skull may prevent it from
being phœnozygous. One other condition indeed, that of considerable
development of the malar arch, which produces phœnozygy, is present in
Bushmen, as in the skulls of other races exposed to the sun and glare,
and other irritants of the eyes; but its working is countervailed
by that of thickness of the cranial walls. All the Bushman skulls
examined by Dr. Fritsch were broad in the sphenoparietal diameter (see
his _Die Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika’s_, 1872, p. 413). With two
exceptions, those constituted by the skull procured by Mr. Fairclough
and that presented by Dr. Bleek, the supraciliary ridges and glabellæ
are comparatively feebly developed.
The parietal tubera, or the spots on the external surface of the
cranium corresponding to them, are placed far back in all these
crania, and what I have elsewhere spoken of at some length[72] as the
antero-posterior index, is consequently high. The same remark, however,
may be made of Zulu and other Abantu crania.
It has often been stated that the ears in Bushmen are huge, misshapen,
and outstanding. According, however, to trustworthy accounts of
Professors Marshall and Flower, and Dr. Murie and Professor Wyman
_(Proc. Boston Nat. History Soc._, ix. 1862, p. 56), the small
size of the lobule appears to be the only constant character of this
organ which is distinctive. (See Fritsch, _l.c._, p. 410.) Much
that has been written on the peculiarity known as “steatopyga” in our
own species might have been spared if what the great naturalist Pallas
had written on the similar development called by the same name in one
of the most widely spread varieties of the sheep, had been studied in
the wonderful eleventh Fascicle of his _Spicilegia Zoologia_,
from p. 63 to p. 69. I will quote only a few of the sentences of
Pallas’s account, p. 64:--“In his quidem generalioribus, præsertim
deformatione caudæ et auribus pendulis greges omnes conveniunt quas
Nomades diversarum gentium Asiæ possident. Sed varias a temperie
cœli, pascuis, aliisque causis vel cultura apud varias hasce gentes
mutationes passæ sunt et ad Russos translatæ patiuntur. In Tatariæ
Magnæ desertis occidentalibus, a Volga usque ad Irtin et Altaicum
jugum, pascua maximam partem sunt aridissima, abundant vernalibus
plantis acribus et liliaceis; postea æstate in elatis locis quæ maxime
lanigerum pecus amat præter siccissima gramina, stipas similiaque,
nil nisi artemisias amaras aromaticas, camphorosmam et salsolas succo
et salibus abundantes servant. Ubique simul abundant lacunæ natroso,
culinari, glauberianoque sale efflorescentes, et aquæ in desertis
iisdem raræ plerumque iisdem salibus fœtæ sunt. Quæ quidem omnia ovium
corpulentiæ maxime convenire pastores Europæi quoque norunt. Accedit
vitæ genus et cultura.”...
Page 67.--“Sequitur ex istis deforme istud pulvinar sive uropygia
quod in locum caudæ apud hanc varietatem ovium successit maximeque
constantem ejus characterem prœbet superfluæ generatione pinguedinis
ortum debere atque in campis salsuginosis Tatariæ occidentalioris
primam patriam habuisse. In genere videmus certas corporis partes,
illas puto præsertim, in quibus lentior sanguinis circulus obtinet,
collectioni pinguedinis in textu cellulose maxime favere.”
Page 68.--“Orta ilia semel circa caudam collectio pinguedinis, veluti
genialis morbus per generationes sensim adauctus fuit.”
As regards the distinctiveness of steatopyga, or, in other words, as
regards the reason which by polygenist writers it was supposed to
furnish for considering the Hottentot and Bushman races as specifically
distinct from other human beings, there is no need to refer to the
analogy which the steatopygous sheep suggests. For as Hartmann (_Die
Nigritier_, p. 489, 1876) states, it is found also among Berber and
Negro tribes, such as the Maqwa the Denqa, and the Bonqo, and, it may
be added, that it may be seen figured in the English translation of
Schweinfurth’s _Heart of Africa_, by Ellen E. Frewer, vol. ii. p.
121.
As against the ethnological significance of the hypertrophy of the
nymphæ, which constitutes the “viel besprochene Hottentotten-Schurze,”
the case is still stronger. For not only may this peculiarity be found
amongst other African races, such as the Berber, Egyptian, and Negro
(according to Hartmann, _l.c._ p. 489), and the Abantu and Sudan
natives (according to Fritsch, _Die Eingeborenen_, pp. 282, 283),
where its presence might be reasonably explained by reference to
peculiarities of diet or climate, but it may, according to Hartmann, be
paralleled by observation carried on in the very different surroundings
of North Europe. The words of the last-named authority, whose intimate
acquaintance at once with Africa and Prussia will not be questioned,
are to the following effect: “Die viel besprochene Hottentotten-Schurze
ist für Jemanden welcher fleissig die geburtshülfliche Station oder
den Secirsaal einer grösseren Universität, z. B. Berlin besucht, auch
Berber, Aegypter, und Nigritierfrauen ganz nackt gesehen hat, kein
auszeichnendes Rassenmerkmal mehr.”[73]
The old view which ascribed a Mongolian origin to the Khoi-Khoin races
is now pretty generally given up. A more important subject would, if I
had space, be furnished me for discussion in the recent discoveries in
Central Africa,[74] which appears to point to the existence of kinship
between the pigmy Akka and Obongo tribes and the Bushman.
The main points which appeared to former writers to indicate Mongolian
affinities are the yellow as opposed to the black colour of the skin,
the prominence of the cheek bones, and the supposed obliquity of the
opening of the eyelids. This last peculiarity, as Fritsch (_Die
Eingeborenen Süd-Afrika’s_, p. 286) has shown, is due simply to the
disagreeable necessity of keeping the eyelids constantly half-closed,
owing to the glare and, as others have pointed out, the sandflies, to
which these homeless savages are self-exposed. The Swiss Professor,
Schiess-Gemuscus, of Basle, has similarly explained the causation of
snow-blindness (see _Archiv. für Ophthalmologie_, xxv. 3, p. 173),
by reference to the blepharospasmus and conjunctivitis, produced by
the dryness and the glare of the upland snowfield; and I apprehend
that the osseous structures underlying the organs protecting the eye
may be reasonably supposed to undergo some modification in correlation
with the increased demand for work, which “blepharospasmus” expresses
as being thrown upon the muscular structures which they support. Thus
the prominent malar arch and the forwardly projecting outer segments
of the orbit, as seen alike in the Mongolian of the treeless steppe,
in the Eskimo of the snow-desert, and the Bushman of the sun-burnt
South African uplands, may receive a physiological as opposed to a
morphological explanation. But, when we come further to consider the
structure and composition of the various segments of the orbital ring
in these races, we find combined with this physiologically explicable
similarity a very considerable morphological difference. This is
constituted by the conformation of the nasals, which in the Bushman
form invariably an all but level plane between the nasal processes of
the maxillaries, and contribute, being narrow, but a small factor to
the interocular space, which, when the soft parts are _in situ_,
appears disproportionately wide as compared with the same area in other
races. In Mongols, Eskimos, and Australians the nasals very ordinarily
form a more or less elevated arch, and they are not by any means so
narrow as they are almost always in the Bushman race. In this latter
these bones not rarely lose not only their characteristic arch-shape
but also their individuality, and anchylose with each other mesially.
It is, however, right to add that nasals of the Bushman type are not
rarely, though by no means invariably, to be found in Negro and Caffre
crania.
As regards the yellow hue of the skin, the likeness to the Mongolian
races proper is perhaps less disputable, but with the skin we are
bound to consider the hair, the peculiarities of which, as seen in the
Bushman, are as different from those seen in the Mongolian variety of
mankind as it is possible for two varieties of human hair from the same
area to be. “The thinnest and flattest hair is that of the Bosjesmans,
Papuans, and Negroes; the most cylindrical being that of Polynesians,
Malays, Siamese, Japanese, and Americans. Europeans are between the
two.” Such are the microscopic characters of the hair in the several
great divisions of our species, according to Topinard (“Anthropology;”
translated in _Library of Contemporary Science_ by Dr. Bartley),
and it is needless to contrast the spirally contorted and tufted dark
hair of the Hottentot or Bushman with the coarse wire-drawn straight
black hair of the Mongolian or Eskimo. It is curious, however, if
indeed not otherwise significant, that the Central African “Bushmen,”
if so we may call them, of Ashango, occasionally bury their dead in a
temporarily diverted stream-course, much as was done in the case of
Attila, and, according to Mr. Wood, _l.c._, “in various parts of
the world from the earliest known time.”
The Bushman race, as is well known, have strong proclivities in the
direction of musical performances. The same, however, may be said of
other priscan races as well as of them and the Mongolian and Kalmuck
tribes,[75] and we cannot therefore lay any weight upon this point of
similarity.
The custom, however explained, which the Khoi-Khoin races have of
cutting off one or more joints of the little and ring fingers might,
but with no great amount of probability, be taken to point to the
existence of an affinity to races as far dislocated in space as the
inhabitants of certain islands in Oceania, both Papuan and Malay. The
Papuans, according to Sir John Lubbock (_Prehistoric Times_, 1869,
p. 445), cut off the end both of the little toe and the little finger
as a sign of mourning. The Friendly Islanders (Cook’s _Voyages_,
vol. i. 222; Williams’s _Missionary Enterprise_, 547, 548) cut
off one or two joints of their little fingers, and the inhabitants of
Tracy Island, which was colonized from Samoa, do the like, according
to the Rev. S. J. Whitwell (Petermann’s _Mittheilungen_ for
1871, p. 203). One form of the solemnization of matrimony amongst the
Australians consists in the biting off by a woman of a bit of the
little finger of the left hand. I do not know that the fact, deposed
to by F. Müller in his contribution to the _Memoirs on the Voyage of
the Novara_, p. 6, to the effect that Caffre women, when a child
is sick, or when they themselves become widows, have a piece of their
little fingers cut off, need be taken as indicating anything more than
the exceeding contagiousness of bad and foolish customs, of which the
old anthropologist and zoologist Zimmermann (_cit._ “Address to
Biological Section of British Association Meeting at Liverpool,” see
_Report_ for year 1871) spoke so caustically. Several instances
of such adoption and borrowing, on the part of the Abantu tribes, from
the conquered and persecuted Khoi-Khoin, might be adduced, and might be
paralleled, at some distance, by the fact embodied in the two lines of
Horace--
“Græcia captu ferum victorem cepit, et artes
Intulit agresti Latio.”
MEASUREMENTS OF SIX BUSHMAN CRANIA, AS GIVEN BY PROFESSOR
FLOWER, F.R.S., IN CATALOGUE OF SPECIMENS ILLUSTRATING
OSTEOLOGY AND DENTITION, ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF
ENGLAND, 1879, p. 246.
Part 1 of Table.
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| NAME OF SKULL. | C. | L.| B.|BI.| H.|HI.|BN.|BA.|AI.|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|1300--O.C. 5357}| | | | | | | | | |
|Adult Male. }| 500 |175|134|766|128|731| 91|...|...|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|1301. }| | | | | | | | | |
|Young Female. }| 486 |171|134|784|124|725| 91| 90|989|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|1302. }| | | | | | | | | |
|Young Female. }| 477 |170|130|765|125|735| 90| 87|967|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|1303. }| | | | | | | | | |
|Male Bushman, }| | | | | | | | | |
|aged. }| 522 |185|140|757|134|724|103|...|...|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|1304. }| | | | | | | | | |
|Young Female. }| 503 |180|137|761|125|694| 92| 90|978|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|1305 ... | 480 |171|132|772|119|696|...|...|...|
| |[19·2]| | | | | | | | |
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|Averages... ... | 494 |175|134|767|125|717| 93| 89|978|
+----------------+------+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
Part 2 of Table.
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
| NAME OF SKULL. |NH.|NW.|NI.|OW.|OH.|OI.| CA.|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|1300--O.C. 5357}| | | | | | | |
|Adult Male. }| 46| 29|630| 38| 29|763|1260|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|1301. }| | | | | | | |
|Young Female. }| 44| 24|545| 37| 32|865|1250|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|1302. }| | | | | | | |
|Young Female. }| 44| 27|604| 38| 31|816|1170|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|1303. }| | | | | | | |
|Male Bushman, }| | | | | | | |
|aged. }| 48| 29|604| 40| 30|750|1400|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|1304. }| | | | | | | |
|Young Female. }| 43| 25|581| 34| 30|882|1360|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|1305 ... |...|...|...|...|...|...|1075|
| | | | | | | | |
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
|Averages... ... | 45| 26|594| 37| 25|815|1252|
+----------------+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
MEASUREMENTS OF SIX BUSHMAN CRANIA IN OXFORD UNIVERSITY MUSEUM.
Part 1 of Table.
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| NAME OF SKULL. | C. | L. | B. | BI. | H. | HI. | BN. |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| 788 _d._ }| | | | | | | |
|Mr. F. Oates, No. 1, }| 18·8| 6·5| 5·3| ·81| 4·9| ·75| 3·6|
|Male, c^{a. } 25 æt. }|(475)|(165)|(135)| |(125)| | (93)|
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| 788 _e._ }| | | | | | | |
|Mr. F. Oates, No. 2, }| 19·2| 6·9| 4·9| ·70| 5·05| ·71| 3·9|
|Male, middle life }|(485)|(175)|(124)| |(128)| | (94)|
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|788 _f._ Mr. F. Gates, }| | | | | | | |
|No. 3. Probably }| 18·6| 6·5| 5· | ·73| 5·1| ·78| 3·95|
|female. 25–30 æt. }|(475)|(165)|(125)| |(130)| |(100)|
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|788 _a._ Dr. Bleek’s }| | | | | | | |
|gift. Aged }| 18·9| 6·6| 5·2| ·77| 4·7| ·70| 3·4|
|Male. }|(480)|(169)|(131)| |(120)| | (86)|
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|788 _b._ Mr. Dunster-}| | | | | | | |
|villa’s gift. Aged }| 19·4| 6·8| 5·2| ·75| 4·2| ·65| 3·85|
|Male. }|(490)|(173)|(131)| |(113)| | (98)|
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|788 _c._ Mr. Fair- }| | | | | | | |
|dough’s gift. Male, }| 20·3| 7·1| 5·6| ·78| 5·4| ·76| 3·5|
|middle age. }|(515)|(180)|(142)| |(137)| | (89)|
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|Averages | 486 | 171 | 131 | ·75| 125| ·72| 93 |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+
Part 2 of Table.
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
| NAME OF SKULL. | BA. | AI. | NH. | NW. | NI. | OW. | OH. | OI. | CA. |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
| 788 _d._ }| | | | | | | | | |
|Mr. F. Oates, No. 1, }| 3·6| 100 | 1·6| 1· | ·62 | 1·7 | 1·3 | 76 |1142·5|
|Male, c^{a. } 25 æt. }| (93)| | (41)| (25)| |(43) | (33)| | |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
| 788 _e._ }| | | | | | | | | |
|Mr. F. Oates, No. 2, }| 3·8| 97 | 1·8 | 1·5 | ·60 | 1·5 | 1·5 | 100 |1179·8|
|Male, middle life }| (96)| |(46) | (38)| |(38) |(38) | | |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
|788 _f._ Mr. F. Gates,}| | | | | | | | | |
|No. 3. Probably }| 3·9| 100| 1·6| 1· | ·62 | 1·45| 1·2 | 82 |1142·5|
|female. 25–30 æt. }| (99)| | (41) (25)| | (37)| (30)| | |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
|788 _a._ Dr. Bleek’s }| | | | | | | | | |
|gift. 788 a. Aged }| 3·3| 97| 1·6| 1·0| ·62| 1·5| 1·3| 80 |1106·0|
|Male. }| (83)| | (40)| (24)| | (36)| (33)| | |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
|788 _b._ Mr. Dunster-}| | | | | | | | | |
|villa’s gift. Aged }| 3·6| 93 | 1·55| 1·1| ·70| 1·7| 1·25| ·73|1179·8|
|Male. }| (91)| | (39) (28)| | (43)| (32)| | |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
|788 _c._ Mr. Fair }| | | | | | | | | |
|dough’s gift. Male, }| 3·6| 102| 1·9| 1·0| ·52| 1·5| 1·4| 91 |1419·5|
|middle age. }| (91)| | (48)| (25)| | (38)| (36)| |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
|Averages | 92 | 98 | 42 | 27 | ·61 | 39 | 33 | 83 | 1285 |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+
II.
ORNITHOLOGY.
By R. BOWDLER SHARPE, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Etc.
Senior Assistant, Zoological Department, British Museum.
(PLATES A, B.)
The Collection of Birds made by the late Mr. Frank Oates was formed by
that gentleman with the greatest care, and it is seldom that it falls
to the lot of the naturalist to examine a series of birds in which the
particulars of capture are so carefully noted on each specimen as in
the present instance. For this reason alone, therefore, the collection
is of great importance; but, besides this, it represents without doubt
a very fair idea of the avifauna of the parts of the Transvaal and
Matabele countries through which Mr. Oates travelled. Of the birds of
the former province Mr. Ayres has published several accounts in recent
volumes of the “Ibis,” and in the same journal for 1874, Mr. T. E.
Buckley gave a list of the birds met with by him on his journey through
the Matabele country, where he travelled for some part of the time with
Mr. Oates: but as Mr. Buckley did not get beyond Tati, it has been left
for Mr. Oates to give us the first account of the birds which are to
be met with between that place and the Zambesi. His untimely death was
a great loss to science, for, after his long journey to that river,
he had at last reached a _terra fere incognita_ to the ornithologist,
where there is little doubt that further researches would have crowned
his efforts with the discovery of many new and important facts. The
avifauna of the Zambesi region is almost unknown, Dr. Kirk being the
only naturalist who has written upon the birds, and the species which
he has recorded are sufficiently interesting to arouse our interest in
the further exploration of the locality. As far as one can judge from
the materials at present existing in museums, the birds of the Zambesi
region would appear to have their nearest affinities in those of
South-western Africa, that is, the provinces of Benguela, Mossamedes,
and the Ovampo country to the north of Damara Land. Thus it is that
_Accipiter ovampensis_ of Gurney, discovered in Ovampo Land, is now
known from the Zambesi (_Mus. Brit._), and, on the other hand, the
Zambesi Kestrel (_Cerchneis Dickinsoni_) occurs also in South-western
Africa. Instances of this kind might be multiplied to a greater extent,
but an exact comparison cannot be made until the two regions have been
more thoroughly explored. The Victoria Falls, up to the present time,
constituted the only locality whence the peculiar Babbling-Thrush
(_Pinarornis plumosus_) and Shelley’s Wheatear (_Saxicola Shelleyi_)
have yet been found, but one of these has now been discovered by Mr.
Oates in the Matabele country. Future research may increase the known
range of the other Zambesi birds in a southerly direction, and it seems
unlikely that the Zambesi region possesses a peculiar bird-fauna.
On its arrival in England Mr. Oates’s collection was placed in the
hands of my friend Captain G. E. Shelley for determination, and the
species were in nearly every case identified by him. My task has
therefore been a very light one. All the field-notes in the following
pages are taken from Mr. Oates’s labels, and I am responsible only
for the remarks placed between brackets “[].” A reference is given
to my new edition of Layard’s _Birds of South Africa_ as far as
published, to the first edition of that work, to my _Catalogue of
African Birds_, and to standard works, such as Finsch and Hartlaub’s
_Vögel Ost-Afrika’s_, Gurney’s edition of Andersson’s _Birds of
Damara Land_, etc.
The following LIST of LOCALITIES, alluded to in the ensuing
pages, where specimens were obtained by Mr. Oates, will enable
the reader, by a reference to the general map in this volume, to
determine the position of each locality indicated:--
Lat. Long.
Bamangwato 23.1 S. 26.45 E.
Bisschop’s Farm, Transvaal 26.7 S. 29.12 E.
Blauw Krans River, Natal 28.55 S. 29.48 E.
Branslow’s Farm, Transvaal 26.4 S. 29.9 E.
Crocodile River 25.34 S. 28.28 E.
Daka River 18.45 S. 25.57 E.
Dry River (Sakasusi) 21.9 S. 28.10 E.
Durban 29.51 S. 31.0 E.
Eland’s River 25.19 S. 28.3 E.
First Makalaka kraal on Zambesi road,
(Wankee’s Kraal) 20.33 S. 27.26 E.
Geruah 19.19 S. 26.30 E.
Gokwe River 22.8 S. 27.36 E.
Gubuleweyo 20.23 S. 28.50 E.
Gwailo River 19.14 S. 29.49 E.
Hendrik’s Vlei 18.57 S. 26.26 E.
Hex River 25.20 S. 28.4 E.
High Veldt, Transvaal 26.35 S. 29.40 E.
Holfontein 24.26 S. 27.46 E.
Hope Fountain 20.22 S. 28.51 E.
Impakwe River 21.4 S. 27.54 E.
Inchlangin 19.42 S. 29.14 E.
Inkwesi River 20.55 S. 28.0 E.
Inquinquesi River 19.42 S. 29.13 E.
Inyati 19.41 S. 29.15 E.
John Scott’s Farm, Transvaal 26.11 S. 29.23 E.
Kaar Kloof Heights, Pietermaritzburg 29.19 S. 30.2 E.
Ladysmith 28.37 S. 29.38 E.
Lion Camp, Crocodile River 24.18 S. 27.48 E.
Makalapsi River 22.58 S. 26.54 E.
Matengwe River 20.24 S. 27.28 E.
Meriko River 24.10 S. 27.30 E.
Metli River 22.55 S. 26.56 E.
Mopani Pan 21.18 S. 27.50 E.
Motloutsi River 21.52 S. 27.41 E.
Nata River 19.53 S. 27.4 E.
Newcastle 27.47 S. 29.50 E.
Palatswe River 22.38 S. 27.16 E.
Pantamatenka River 18.39 S. 25.41 E.
Pietermaritzburg 29.34 S. 30.24 E.
Pilandsberg 25.12 S. 27.35 E.
Pinetown 29.50 S. 30.50 E.
Pretoria 25.42 S. 28.50 E.
Ramaqueban River 21.11 S. 27.52 E.
Retief’s Drift, Vaal River 26.50 S. 29.58 E.
Sand Spruit, Transvaal 27.11 S. 30.18 E.
Second Makalaka kraal on Zambesi road
20.31 S. 27.26 E.
Semokwe River 21.7 S. 28.17 E.
Seruli River 22.32 S. 27.29 E.
Shashe River 21.34 S. 27.44 E.
Sibanani 19.45 S. 26.58 E.
Sunday’s River, Transvaal 28.21 S. 29.49 E.
Tamasancha 19.32 S. 26.40 E.
Tamasetsie 19.10 S. 26.28 E.
Tati 21.28 S. 27.45 E.
Tchakani Vlei 22.48 S. 27.5 E.
Tibakai’s Pan 18.52 S. 26.18 E.
Touani River 22.52 S. 26.59 E.
Umvungu River 19.21 S. 29.41 E.
Victoria Falls, Zambesi 17.57 S. 25.48 E.
Witfontein 24.28 S. 27.46 E.
Order ACCIPITRES.
Sub-order FALCONES.
Family VULTURIDÆ.
1. OTOGYPS AURICULARIS (Daud.): Sharpe, ed. Layard’s_Birds of
South Africa_, p. 4. Eared Vulture.
_a_. Shot at dead elephant, near Umvungu River, about the middle
of November 1873. Iris dark hazel; bill pale horn-colour, bluish grey
at base; head and neck livid and red (scabby); legs and feet pale
bluish grey; claws black.
2. NEOPHRON PILEATUS (Burch.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 7. Hooded
Vulture.
_a_. Ramaqueban River, August 6, 1874. Iris dark; bill neutral
tint; head and neck pale dirty blue, tinged with pink on the cheeks;
legs pale dirty blue; claws black. A female, I am nearly sure.
3. CIRCUS RANIVORUS (Daud.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 14. South
African Marsh-Harrier.
_a_. ♂ Near Pretoria, June 22, 1873. Iris bright chrome; legs pale
yellow. Ball of hair in stomach; mouse or rat skin in crop.
4. MELIERAX CANORUS (Rislach): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 17. Chanting
Goshawk.
_a._ ♂ Bush veldt, between Pretoria and Bamangwato, July 1873.
Iris bright raw sienna; base of beak orange (?); legs red. Crop and
stomach very full, containing large ants, rat, lizard, etc.
5. MELIERAX GABAR (Daud.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 19. Red-faced
Goshawk.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Lion Camp, Crocodile River, July 1873.
_b._ (juv.) Second Makalaka kraal on Zambesi road, September 3,
1874. Iris deep orange, approaching burnt sienna; bill black, orange
all round the nostril and base; skin round eye pale blue; legs fine
reddish, clouded and spotted with dusky black; claws black.
6. ASTUR POLYZONOIDES (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 22.
Many-banded Goshawk.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) First Makalaka kraal on Zambesi road, August 22,
1874. Iris rich deep orange; bill black, pale bluish at base; skin
round base yellow (pale); skin round eye pale bluish, inclining to
yellow; claws black. Lizard in stomach.
_b._ ♂ Hendrik’s Vlei, December 18, 1874. Iris crimson; bill
black, becoming pale blue just under nostril; cere and gape and skin
round eye yellow; legs orange-yellow; claws black. In stomach large
insects and lizard (?).
[This pretty little Goshawk is rare in South Africa, but appears to
increase in numbers towards the Zambesi, whence I have recently seen a
series collected by Dr. Bradshaw.]
7. BUTEO JACKAL (Daud.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 26. Jackal Buzzard.
_a._ ♂ Newcastle, June 4, 1873. Iris pale golden hazel.
8. MILVUS ÆGYPTIUS (G.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 49. Yellow-billed
Kite.
_a._ ♂ (testes well developed.) Ramaqueban River, September 17,
1874. Iris bright hazel; bill golden yellow, inclining to horn-colour
on upper and lower mandibles, but bright at the base and nostrils; legs
golden yellow, somewhat dusky; claws black. Lizards in stomach; very
fat.
_b._ ♂ Tati, October 1874.
9. ELANUS CÆRULEUS (Desf.); Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 52.
Black-shouldered Kite.
_a._ ♂ (?) (imm.) Hex River, July 1873. Iris bright raw sienna.
Mouse or rat in stomach.
_b._ (adult.) Not labelled.
10. FALCO MINOR, Bp.: Sharpe, _t. c._, p. 57. South African
Peregrine Falcon.
_a._ (adult.) Not labelled.
11. FALCO BIARMICUS (Temm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 58, pl. ii.
South African Lanner.
_a._ ♂ Newcastle, June 3, 1873. Iris very dark. Remains of mouse
or rat, and a great many grasshoppers’ heads, in the stomach.
12. CERCHNEIS RUPICOLA (Daud.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 62. South
African Kestrel.
_a._ ♂ Newcastle, June 3, 1873. Iris very dark.
_b._ ♀ Newcastle, June 3, 1873.
_c._ Not labelled.
13. CERCHNEIS TINNUNCULOIDES (Temm.) _Cerchneis naumanni_,
Sharpe, _t. c._, p. 64. Lesser Kestrel.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Holfontein, November 25, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
14. CERCHNEIS AMURENSIS (Radde): Sharpe, _t.
c._ p. 66. Eastern Red-footed Kestrel.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Between Sibanani and Tamasancha, December 9, 1874.
Iris hazel; skin round eye yellow; skin at base of bill orange; bill
dark greyish blue, pale yellow at base, the yellow colour predominating
over the blue on the lower mandible; legs and feet orange; claws pale
dusky orange. In stomach flying ants, which it was catching in the air,
amongst many other birds, when shot. The male, I think, is less, and
more distinctly marked.
[Dr. Kirk was the first to discover this Kestrel in the Zambesi region,
and there were specimens in Dr. Bradshaw’s collection.]
Sub-order STRIGES.
Family BUBONIDÆ.
15. BUBO LACTEUS (Temm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 71. Verreaux’s
Eagle Owl.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Inkwesi River, August 5, 1874. Iris dark (? dark
blue), but much sunk in when I got it; bill very pale blue; claws dusky
black.
16. BUBO MACULOSUS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 73. Spotted
Eagle Owl.
_a._ Not labelled.
17. SCOPS LEUCOTIS (Temm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 74. White-faced
Scops Owl.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Near Umvungu River, November 3, 1873. Native name,
“Secova.” Iris deep orange. Ova size of mustard seed. Remains of small
rat in stomach. Sitting on nest, made, I think, in an old one, as there
were many similar ones, as of a colony of birds, in the trees about.
Three well-grown young ones in nest, very fierce, as was the old one.
18. GLAUCIDIUM PERLATUM (Vieill.): Sharpe, _Cat. B._ ii. p.
209. _Carine perlata_, Sharpe, ed. Layard, p. 77. African
Pearl-spotted Owlet.
_a._ ♀ Tati, August 29, 1873. Iris chrome yellow.
_b._ ♂ Tati, October 10, 1874. Iris bright yellow; bill whitish.
_c._ Not labelled.
19. ASIO CAPENSIS (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 78. African
Short-eared Owl.
_a._ Pietermaritzburg, about the beginning of May 1873. Iris dark
brown.
_b._ ♂ Marsh near Newcastle, June 1, 1873. Iris deep orange. I
saw several of these Owls whilst snipe-shooting. Another shot was much
softer in plumage, like a young bird.
Family STRIGIDÆ.
20. STRIX CAPENSIS, (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 81. South
African Grass-owl.
_a._ Sand Spruit, Transvaal, June 8, 1873. Iris very dark.
21. STRIX FLAMMEA, L.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 82. Barn Owl.
_a._ ♀ (old bird probably). Tati, September 18, 1874. Iris very
dark hazel; bill pale flesh-colour.
_b._ ♀ (?. Tati, September 18, 1874. Very fat. Iris very dark
hazel; bill pale flesh-colour; feet whitish; claws black.
_c._ ♂ (?) (undeveloped). Tati, October 3, 1874. Remains of rat in
stomach.
Order PICARIÆ.
Family CAPRIMULGIDÆ.
22. CAPRIMULGUS EUROPÆUS, L.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 83. European
Nightjar.
_a._ Not labelled.
23. CAPRIMULGUS RUFIGENIS, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 85.
Rusous-cheeked Nightjar.
_a._ ♀ Semokwe River, September 24, 1873.
_b._ ♂ Semokwe River, October 1873. Iris hazel.
_c._ ♀ Tati, March 21, 1874.
_d_. ♀ Tati, October 1, 1874. Iris hazel; legs pale brown.
_e_. ♀ Tati, October 1874.
24. CAPRIMULGUS MOSSAMBICUS, Peters: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 88.
Mozambique Nightjar.
_a._ ♀ Tati, March 21, 1874. Iris dark hazel. Stomach very full of
beetles, moths, and other insects.
_b._ Not labelled.
25. COSMETORNIS VEXILLARIUS (Gould): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 89.
Standard-winged Nightjar.
_a._ ♂ (juv.) Victoria Falls, Zambesi, January 2, 1875. Iris dark
hazel; upper mandible and tip of lower one dusky, the base of the
latter flesh-colour; legs dirty flesh-colour. Large winged ants and
large beetle in stomach.
Family CYPSELIDÆ.
26. CYPSELUS APUS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 90. Common Swift.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Between Sibanani and Tamasancha, December 9, 1874.
Iris hazel; bill black; legs and feet dirty flesh-colour, dusky towards
the tips and on the claws. Flying ants in stomach.
Family MEROPIDÆ.
27. MEROPS APIASTER, L.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 96. European
Bee-eater.
_a._ ♂ Crocodile River, November 15, 1873. Iris crimson.
_b._ ♀ (juv.) Inchlangin, about the beginning of December 1873.
Iris pale crimson.
_c_. ♀ (?) Hendrik’s Vlei, December 18, 1874. Iris crimson; bill
black; legs brown; claws whitish.
28. MEROPS SUPERCILIOSUS, L.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 97.
Blue-cheeked Bee-eater.
_a._ ♂, _b._ ♀ Hendrik’s Vlei, December 18, 1874. Iris crimson; bill
black; legs brown; claws whitish. In stomach large flying insects (?
dragon-flies).
29. MEROPS NUBICOIDES, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 99, pl. iv.
fig. 2. Carmine-throated Bee-eater.
_a._ Daka River, January 20, 1875. Iris dark hazel; bill black;
legs neutral tint, marked with greyish white; claws dusky. Beetles,
etc., in stomach.
_b._ ♂ Geruah, January 24, 1875. Iris dark hazel; bill black;
feet, legs, and claws, dark neutral tint; legs and feet covered with
whitish scales. Beetles, wasps, etc., in stomach.
30. MEROPS BULLOCKOIDES, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 99, pl. iv.
fig. 1. White-fronted Bee-eater.
_a._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♂ Crocodile River, November 9, 1873. Iris hazel.
31. MEROPS PUSILLUS, P. L. S. Müll.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 100.
Little Bee-eater.
_a._ Tati, March 24, 1874. Iris crimson; bill, legs, and claws
black. Stomach not at all muscular, containing remains of insects like
beetles.
_b._ Tati, March 24, 1874. Soft parts as above. Stomach contained
winged insects.
_c_. Tati, March 24, 1874.
_d_. ♂ (?) Tati, March 26, 1874. Iris crimson. Stomach contained
remains of insects--winged, I think.
32. DICROCERCUS HIRUNDINACEUS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 101.
Swallow-tailed Bee-eater.
_a._ ♂ Near the Pantamatenka River, January 12, 1875. Iris
crimson; bill black; legs dark neutral tint; claws black. Flying
insects in stomach.
Family CORACIIDÆ.
33. CORACIAS GARRULA, L.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 102. European
Roller.
_a._ ♀ (adult.) Tati, March 26, 1874. Extremely fat. Iris hazel,
darker round pupil, then light.
_b._ Tati, March 28, 1874. Sex undeterminable, the bird being
apparently young. Very fat, as was the hen bird skinned before. Stomach
full of huge grasshoppers.
34. CORACIAS NÆVIA, Daud.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 103. White-naped
Roller.
_a._ ♀ (I believe.) First Makalaka kraal on Zambesi road, August
24, 1874. Iris pale hazel (a dark ring round the pupil?); legs dull
orange, inclining to olive; bill and claws black. Grasshoppers or
locusts in stomach.
_b._ ♂ Second Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, September 9, 1874.
Iris hazel, dark round pupil, then pale; legs pale greenish orange.
Stomach contained remains of beetles.
35. CORACIAS CAUDATA, Vieill.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 104.
Lilac-breasted Roller.
_a._ ♂ Holfontein, November 25, 1873. Iris light hazel.
_b._ ♂ First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 18, 1874. Iris
deep hazel round the pupil, outside this very pale; legs olive; claws
and bill black. Stomach very large, but not muscular, containing a
snake about a foot long, and remains of grasshoppers. Head very large
for size of bird.
_c._ ♂ First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 24, 1874. Iris
hazel; bill and claws black; legs pale dirty orange with an olive
tinge. Lizard and grasshoppers or locusts in stomach.
_d._ ♀ Between the Pantamatenka River and Zambesi, January 11,
1875. Iris hazel; bill black; legs pale greenish orange; claws black.
In stomach centipedes (?).
_e._ ♀ Geruah, January 24, 1875. Iris hazel; bill black; legs
yellowish blue; claws blue. Soft ants in stomach.
_f._ Not labelled.
36. EURYSTOMUS AFER (Lath.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 106. Cinnamon
Roller.
_a._ ♂ Near Umvungu River, November 3, 1873. Native name
“Tchegala.” Iris hazel, not dark; bill bright yellow. Stomach muscular,
containing remains of beetles.
Family ALCEDINIDÆ.
37. CORYTHORNIS CYANOSTIGMA (Rüpp.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 108.
Malachite-crested Kingfisher.
_a._ Sibanani, December 11, 1874. Iris hazel; bill and legs
vermilion.
38. CERYLE RUDIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 110. Pied Kingfisher.
_a._ ♂ Meriko River, November 17, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_b._ ♂ High Veldt, Transvaal, December 7, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
39. CERYLE MAXIMA (Pall.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 111. Great African
Kingfisher.
_a._ ♀ Matengwe River, December 2, 1874. Iris hazel; bill dark
slate-colour; legs slate-colour.
40. HALCYON SEMICÆRULEA (Forsk.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 114.
African White-headed Kingfisher.
_a._ ♀ (?) Geruah, December 15, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill
orange-red, black at tip and base; legs and feet dark purplish-brown,
orange at back of legs and on soles.
41. HALCYON ALBIVENTRIS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 115. Brown
hooded Kingfisher.
_a._ ♂ (?) Crocodile River, July 1873. Beetles and grasshoppers in
stomach.
42. HALCYON CHELICUTENSIS (Stanl.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 117.
Striped Kingfisher.
_a._ ♂ Crocodile River, July 1873. Stomach contained grasshoppers.
_b._ ♀ Crocodile River, July 1873. Beetles and grasshoppers in
stomach.
43. HALCYON CYANOLEUCA (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 120. Angola
Kingfisher.
_a._ ♀ Crocodile River, November 15, 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♂ Nata River, December 5, 1874. Makalaka name “Gogoda.” Iris
hazel; upper mandible deep carnation, black at tip and gape; under
mandible black; legs black. Stomach empty, but for a few remains of
insects. This species has a twittering cry; they say it stays in the
mopani.
_c_. ♂ Nata River, December 6, 1874. Iris hazel; upper mandible
deep carnation, black at tip and gape; lower mandible and legs black.
_d_. ♂ Nata River, December 6, 1874. Iris hazel.
Family BUCEROTIDÆ.
44. TOCKUS FLAVIROSTRIS (Rüpp.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 130.
Yellow-billed Hornbill.
_a._ ♂, _b._ _c._ ♀ Near Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris very pale
ochre. Flying ants in stomach.
_d._ ♀ (juv.) Motloutsi River, August 24, 1873. Iris ochreous.
45. TOCKUS NASUTUS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 133. African Grey
Hornbill.
_a._ Not labelled.
Family UPUPIDÆ.
46. UPUPA AFRICANA, Bechst.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 134. South
African Hoopoe.
_a._ ♀ Between Pretoria and Bamangwato, July 1873. Iris hazel (?).
In stomach, a tick and seeds.
47. IRRISOR ERYTHRORHYNCHUS (Lath.) Red-billed Wood-Hoopoe.
_a._ ♂, _b._ ♀ Crocodile River, November 1873. Iris hazel.
_c_. ♀ (?) Tati, June 26, 1874. Shot out of three by Cornelis,
who saw them hopping about oddly on the road. Iris dark hazel; bill
and legs bright orange-red; claws black. Stomach containing large
chrysalides and a grasshopper.
_d_. ♀ First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 30, 1874.
Iris dark hazel; bill and legs vermilion, the latter less bright and
inclining to orange; claws black. Stomach small and not muscular,
containing remains of small insects and large grubs. This bird has a
peculiar chattering note, often repeated. There were three or four of
them when this was shot, climbing about on tree trunks like Creepers.
48. RHINOPOMASTES CYANOMELAS (Vieill.) Scimitar-billed
Wood-Hoopoe.
_a._ ♂ Near Metli River, August 10, 1873. Iris hazel. Stomach large,
containing flying ants and large insects.
_b._ ♂ Seruli River, October 18, 1873. Iris hazel.
_c._ ♂ Palatswe River, October 20, 1873. Iris hazel.
_d._ ♂ Tati, October 1874.
_e._ Not labelled.
Family MUSOPHAGIDÆ.
49. SCHIZŒRHIS CONCOLOR, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 144. Grey
Plantain-eater.
_a._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris deep grey.
_b._ ♂ Transvaal, December 1873. Iris hazel.
Family COLIIDÆ.
50. COLIUS STRIATUS, Lath.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 12. South
African Coly.
_a._ Not labelled.
51. COLIUS ERYTHROMELON, Vieill.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 12.
Quiriva Coly.
_a._ ♂ (?) Makalapsi River, August 8, 1873. Iris dark; bill black;
base and skin round eyes madder; claws madder.
Family CUCULIDÆ.
52. CUCULUS CLAMOSUS, Cuv.: Sharpe, ed. Layard, p. 150. Black
Cuckoo.
_a._ ♀ Crocodile River, November 9, 1873. Iris light hazel.
53. CUCULUS CUPREUS, Boddaert. _Chrysococcyx cupreus_, Sharpe,
_t. c._ p. 153. Golden Cuckoo.
_a._ ♂ Crocodile River, November 8, 1873. Iris scarlet.
_b._ ♀ Crocodile River, November 9, 1873. Iris light brown.
54. COCCYSTES CAFER (Licht.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 158. Le
Vaillant’s Cuckoo.
_a._ Crocodile River, November 14, 1873. Iris light hazel.
_b._ ♀ (?) Tati, October 17, 1874. Iris hazel; bill and legs black.
55. CENTROPUS SENEGALENSIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 162.
Lark-heeled Cuckoo.
_a._ ♀ Tati, August 28, 1873. Iris crimson.
_b._ ♂ Ramaqueban River, September 4, 1873.
56. CENTROPUS SUPERCILIOSUS (H. and E.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 163.
White-eyebrowed Lark-heeled Cuckoo.
_a._ ♀ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris crimson.
Family INDICATORIDÆ.
57. INDICATOR SPARMANNI (Steph.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 166.
White-eared Honey-guide.
_a._ ♀ Holfontein, July 1873. Iris light brownish hazel.
_b, c._ Not labelled.
Family CAPITONIDÆ.
58. POGONORHYNCHUS LEUCOMELAS (Bodd.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 173.
Pied Barbet.
_a._ ♀ Pretoria, July 24, 1873. Iris very dark. Stomach large, thin,
and full of fruit; a good deal of flesh about the head.
_b._ ♀ Pretoria, July 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_c._ Tati, October 6, 1874. Bill and legs black.
59. TRACHYPHONUS CAFER (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 178. Le
Vaillant’s Barbet.
_a._ ♀ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris red.
_b._ ♀ Crocodile River, November 15, 1873. Iris crimson.
_c._ ♂ Crocodile River, November 30, 1873. Iris crimson.
_d._ Not labelled.
Family PICIDÆ.
60. CAMPETHERA BENNETTI, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 181.
Bennett’s Woodpecker.
_a._ Second Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, September 7, 1874. Iris
lake; bill blackish slate-colour; legs and claws slate-colour, inclined
to olive.
61. CAMPETHERA ABINGTONI, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 182.
Golden-tailed Woodpecker.
_a._ Not labelled.
62. CAMPETHERA SMITHII, Malh.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 184. Smith’s
Woodpecker.
_a._ Tati, October 6, 1874. Bill dusky slate-colour; legs pale
whitish olive.
_b, c._ Not labelled.
63. DENDROPICUS NAMAQUUS (Licht.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 188.
Bearded Woodpecker.
_a._ ♂ Motloutsi River, August 23, 1873. Iris crimson lake.
_b._ ♀ Ramaqueban River, July 30, 1874. Iris lake; bill slate-colour;
legs dark greenish slate-colour; claws dark. Stomach containing large
caterpillars.
_c._ ♂ Ramaqueban River, August 2, 1874. Iris lake; bill slate-colour;
legs dark greenish slate-colour; claws black. Stomach containing large
caterpillars.
64. DENDROPICUS CARDINALIS (Gm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 190.
Cardinal Woodpecker.
_a._ ♂ Between Pretoria and Bamangwato, July 1873. Iris deep
crimson.
_b._ ♂ Ramaqueban River, September 4, 1873. Iris crimson.
_c._ ♀ Tati, October 7, 1874. Iris red (?); bill and legs dark
slate-colour (?).
65. IYNX PECTORALIS (Vigors): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 191.
Red-breasted Wryneck.
_a._ Blauw Krans River, Natal, May 22, 1873. Iris red-brown; legs
pale greenish grey.
Family PSITTACIDÆ.
66. PSITTACUS ROBUSTUS, Gm.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 194. Le
Vaillant’s Parrot.
_a._ Not labelled.
67. PSITTACUS MEYERI (Rüpp.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 195. Meyer’s
Parrot.
_a._ Witfontein, July 1873.
_b._ ♂ Holfontein, July 1873. Iris very light hazel. (Another ♂
shot, brighter in plumage, had the iris hazel round pupil, then burnt
sienna.)
_c._ ♀ Second Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, September 4, 1874.
Iris hazel round pupil, then orange; bill blackish slate-colour; legs
and claws dusky black.
_d._ ♂ Tati, October 7, 1874. Bill and legs dark slate-colour.
_e._ ♀ Tati, October 9, 1874. Bill and legs dark slate-colour.
Seeds in stomach.
Order PASSERIFORMES.
Family TURDIDÆ.
68. TURDUS LITSITSIRUPA, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 198, South
African Thrush.
_a._ ♂, _b._ ♀ Pair of thrushes shot together near Eland’s River, July
1873. Iris hazel.
_c._ ♀ (Ovary very rudimentary). Tati, March 19, 1874. Iris dark hazel;
upper mandible dusky black, under one orange; legs flesh-colour.
_d._ ♂ Tati, October 1874.
69. MYRMECOCICHLA FORMICIVORA (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 231.
Southern Ant-eating Wheatear.
_a_, _b._ ♂ Near Newcastle, May 30, 1873. Iris hazel. Stomach very
muscular, containing seeds and beetles. Found perching on ant-hills,
from which it rises with a hovering flight, something like a Skylark.
70. SAXICOLA GALTONI (Strickl. and Sclater): Sharpe, _t. c._ p.
234. Familiar Chat.
_a._ ♂ (?) Ladysmith, May 25, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_b._ ♂ Inyati, October 2, 1873. Iris rich hazel-brown. Native name
“Envachli.”
71. SAXICOLA PILEATA (Gm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 238. Capped
Wheatear.
_a._ Pietermaritzburg, about the beginning of May 1873.
_b._ ♂, _c._ ♀ John Scott’s Farm, Transvaal, June 19, 1873. Iris dark
hazel.
72. SAXICOLA SHELLEYI: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 246. Shelley’s
Wheatear. (Plate A.)
_a._ Ramaqueban River, a few miles above the drift, on the way
to Gubuleweyo, June 24, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill, legs, and claws
black. Gravel and beetles in stomach. This bird seems to have a habit
of climbing about in trees.
_b._ (♀ probably, on account of the very bare breast.) Near
Sibanani, December 8, 1874. Iris hazel; bill and legs black.
[This fine species was hitherto known from a pair of birds only, which
were purchased a few years back from a dealer by the British Museum,
and were stated to have come from the Victoria Falls. Mr. Oates has now
established the Zambesi region to be the habitat of the species, and
has also procured it 300 miles off the place whence the first specimens
were obtained. The occurrence of Shelley’s Wheatear so far south as the
Ramaqueban River is very interesting, as we may now expect that it will
be found still farther to the southwards.]
73. SAXICOLA LEUCOMELÆNA, Burchell: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 247.
Burchell’s Wheatear.
_a._ Desolate part of High Veldt; found on walls round corn and
peach fields, June 15, 1873. Iris hazel. Beetles in stomach.
74. MONTICOLA EXPLORATOR (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 220.
Sentinel Rock-Thrush.
_a._ Kaar Kloof Heights, near Pietermaritzburg, May 19, 1873. Iris
hazel.
Family TIMELIIDÆ.
Sub-family PYCNONOTINÆ.
75. PHYLLOSTROPHUS CAPENSIS, Sw.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 203. Cape
Bristle-necked Thrush.
_a._ Not labelled.
76. PYCNONOTUS LAYARDI Gurney: _Ibis_, 1879, p. 390. Layard’s
Bulbul.
_a._ Durban, April 23, 1873. Iris bright hazel.
_b._ ♀ (probably.) Between Pretoria and Bamangwato, July 1873.
Iris hazel. Fruit and seeds in stomach.
77. PYCNONOTUS NIGRICANS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p.
23. Le Vaillant’s Bulbul.
_a._ ♀ Crocodile, July 1873. Iris deep crimson; skin round eye
orange. Large seeds in stomach.
Sub-family TIMELIINÆ.
78. CRATEROPUS BICOLOR, Jard.: Sharpe, ed. Layard, p. 210. Pied
Babbling Thrush.
_a._ ♂ Tati, October 2, 1874. Iris bright orange; bill and legs
black.
_b._ ♀ Tati, October 7, 1874. Iris bright orange; bill and legs
black.
_c._ ♂ (?) Tati, October 1874.
79. CRATEROPUS JARDINII, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 212.
Jardine’s Babbling Thrush.
_a._ ♀ Inkwesi River, October 8, 1873. Iris orange, with crimson
rim.
_b._ ♀ Meriko River, November 18, 1873. Iris orange, with crimson
rim.
_c._ ♀ Tati, October 3, 1874. Iris orange, with outer ring of
crimson.
_d._ ♂ Tati, October 9, 1874. Iris orange, surrounded by crimson ring;
bill black; legs dark slate-colour. Stomach muscular, containing
insects.
80. COSSYPHA NATALENSIS (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 223. Natal
Chat-Thrush.
_a._ Durban, April 23, 1873. Iris bright hazel (?).
81. AEDON LEUCOPHRYS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 252.
White-eyebrowed Warbler.
_a._ ♂ Transvaal, November 1873. Iris hazel.
82. CISTICOLA CURVIROSTRIS (Sund.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 263.
Brown Fantail Warbler.
_a._ Tibakai’s Pan, January 21, 1875. Iris pale red-brown; upper
mandible of bill dusky, lower one bluish white; legs flesh-colour;
claws dusky.
83. CISTICOLA TINNIENS (Licht.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 265. Le
Vaillant’s Fantail Warbler.
_a._ Marsh near Newcastle, June 1, 1873. Common in marsh.
84. CISTICOLA CHINIANA (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 268. Larger
Grey-backed Fantail Warbler.
_a._ ♂ (?) Tati, March 23, 1874. Native name, “Ynete.” Iris pale
hazel-brown; upper mandible dusky, under one and legs flesh-colour.
_b._ ♀ (slightly developed). Tati, March 23, 1874. Iris (I think)
tawny red; upper mandible dusky black, under one dusky orange; legs
yellowish flesh-colour; thighs very fleshy--these, as well as the
belly, very bare of feathers. Stomach containing grubs and other
insects.
_c._ ♂ (well developed). Tati, March 24, 1874. Iris pale
red-brown; upper mandible dusky black, under one dusky orange; legs
yellowish flesh-colour; thighs very fleshy. Stomach somewhat muscular,
containing remains of insects.
_d._ Between Sibanani and Tamasancha, December 9, 1874. Iris pale
reddish brown; upper mandible dusky, under one dirty flesh-colour; legs
brownish flesh-colour.
85. CISTICOLA ABERRANS (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 271. Smith’s
Fantail Warbler.
_a._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris lake.
86. CISTICOLA CURSITANS (Frankl.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 275.
Common Fantail Warbler.
_a._ Near Newcastle (?) about the end of May 1873. Iris very pale.
Stomach of this and the reed species contained remains of beetles.
87. BRADYPTERUS GRACILIROSTRIS, Sund.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 287.
White-breasted Reed-Warbler.
_a._ Not labelled.
88. SYLVIETTA RUFESCENS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 303.
Short-tailed Bush-Warbler.
_a._ ♂ (?) Tati, October 13, 1874. Iris pale burnt sienna; bill
dusky, dirty flesh-colour at base (?); legs pale red-brown. Stomach
rather muscular, containing large grubs.
Family NECTARINIIDÆ.
89. NECTARINIA FAMOSA (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 306. Malachite
Sun-bird.
_a._ Natal, 1873.
90. CINNYRIS GUTTURALIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 311.
Scarlet-chested Sun-bird.
_a._ Semokwe River, September 1873.
_b._ ♂ Impakwe River, February 12, 1874. Native name, “Bola-la-maholi.”
Iris dark hazel. Stomach very thin, containing remains of good-sized
insects, some spiders amongst them. Shot creeping amongst tall-stalked
flowers.
_c._ (Sex doubtful.) Tati, March 21, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill,
legs, and claws black. Stomach not at all muscular, containing remains
of soft insects.
_d._ Not labelled.
91. CINNYRIS AFER (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 313. Greater
Double-collared Sun-bird.
_a._ ♂ (?) Mossel Bay, Cape Colony, April 11, 1873. Iris dark
hazel. Stomach very small, not muscular, apparently containing insects;
no gravel.
92. CINNYRIS MARIQUENSIS (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 319.
Southern Bifasciated Sun-bird.
_a._ Makalapsi River, August 7, 1873. Iris dark brown.
_b._ Inkwesi River, October 1873.
_c, d, e, f._ Not labelled.
Family PARIDÆ.
93. PARUS AFER, Gm.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 329. South African
Titmouse.
_a._ ♂ Inyati, September 27, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_b._ ♂ Semokwe River, October 1873. Iris burnt sienna.
94. PARUS NIGER, Vieill.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 331. Southern
Black-and-white Titmouse.
_a._ ♂ Ramaqueban River, September 4, 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♀ (?) Ramaqueban River, June 12, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill,
legs, and claws black. Stomach containing sand and insects.
_c._ ♂ (?) Tati, October 13, 1874. Iris hazel; bill and legs black.
Family MUSCICAPIDÆ.
95. PRATINCOLA TORQUATA (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 250. South
African Stone-chat.
_a._ ♂ Durban, April 23, 1873.
_b._ ♂ Pietermaritzburg, May 2, 1873.
_c._ ♀ Near Newcastle, May 31, 1873. Iris very dark hazel.
_d._ ♂ (well developed). Tati, October 15, 1874. Iris hazel.
_e._ ♀ Tati, October 15, 1874. Iris hazel.
_f._ ♀ (?) (young bird in pen). Tati, October 15, 1874. Iris
hazel. Don’t remember to have seen this species here before. Is it just
arrived, or merely passing as a bird of passage from the south?
96. PARISOMA SUBCÆRULEUM (Gm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 332.
Red-crested Fly-catcher.
_a._ ♂ (?) Ladysmith, May 25, 1873. Iris pale grey, nearly white.
_b._ ♀ (?) Tati, September 24, 1874. Iris very pale straw-colour; bill
and legs black.
_c._ ♂ Tati, October 3, 1874. Iris pale straw-colour. Singing a
short sweet note, and moving about amongst the bushes after the manner
of a Willow-wren, looking for insects.
97. BATIS MOLITOR (Hahn and Küst.): Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iv. p.
137. Eastern Yellow-eyed Fly-catcher.
_a._ ♂ Dry River, October 1873. Iris golden yellow.
_b._ Mopani Pan, near Ramaqueban River, June 25, 1874. Iris bright
yellow; legs and claws black.
_c._ ♀ Tati, October 16, 1874. Iris yellow; bill and legs
black. Stomach muscular, containing remains of large insects like
grasshoppers; also green shoots (?).
_d._ Not labelled.
98. TERPSIPHONE PERSPICILLATA (Sw.): Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iv. p.
357. South African Paradise Fly-catcher.
_a._ ♂ (highly developed). Tati, October 4, 1874. Bill dark
cobalt. Insects in stomach.
Family HIRUNDINIDÆ.
99. HIRUNDO PUELLA, Temm.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 47.
Smaller Striped-breasted Swallow.
_a._ Tati, October 4, 1874. Iris hazel. Sex indistinguishable,
but Thomson had similar specimens, which were females and
well-developed males. A similar one shot by me was a male, and well
developed.
_b._ Tati, October 5, 1874. Iris hazel.
100. HIRUNDO CUCULLATA, Bodd.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 46.
Large Striped-breasted Swallow.
_a._ ♂ Tati, October 4, 1874. Iris hazel.
101. HIRUNDO RUSTICA, L.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 45. Common
Swallow.
_a, b, c._ ♂ Tati, October 17, 1874. Cold, wet day, after very hot
weather. These birds came into the houses and were easily caught. The
other species seem to have gone away; these have been here about a week.
102. HIRUNDO SEMIRUFA, Sund.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 45.
Red-breasted Swallow.
_a._ Inchlangin, about the beginning of December 1873. Iris dark hazel.
Many small beetles in stomach. Another I shot was either a young one or
in moult.
_b._ ♀ Tati, October 4, 1874. Iris hazel.
Family LANIIDÆ.
103. DRYOSCOPUS BOULBOUL (Lath.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 48.
South African Puff-backed Bush-Shrike.
_a._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris hazel.
104. DRYOSCOPUS CUBLA (Lath.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 48.
Pied Puff-backed Bush-Shrike.
_a._ ♂ Tati, August 28, 1873. Iris crimson.
_b, c._ Not labelled.
105. LANIARIUS BAKBAKIRI (Vieill): Layard’s _B. S. Afr._, p.
161. Bakbakiri Bush-Shrike.
_a, b._ ♂ Mossel Bay, Cape Colony, April 11, 1873. Iris dark grey.
Remains of beetles and seeds in stomach.
_c._ ♂ Ladysmith, May 25, 1873. Iris dark grey.
106. LANIARIUS SULPHUREIPECTUS (Less.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._
p. 49. Yellow-breasted Bush-Shrike.
_a._ ♂ Motloutsi River, October 15, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
107. LANIARIUS ATROCOCCINEUS (Burch.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._,
p. 49. Crimson-breasted Bush-Shrike.
_a._ ♂ (?) Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris, outside violet, inside
crimson.
_b, c._ ♂ Near Eland’s River, July 1873. Iris, outside violet,
inside crimson. Insects, beetles, and grasshoppers in stomach.
_d._ Makalapsi River, August 8, 1873. Iris violet and crimson.
_e._ ♂ Tati, September 2, 1873. Iris neutral tint.
_f._ ♂ Tati, October 2, 1874. Iris slate-colour; bill and legs black.
Insects (principally beetles) in stomach.
_g._ ♂ Tati, October 21, 1874. Iris slate-colour; bill and legs black.
108. LANIARIUS SENEGALUS (L.): Red-winged Bush-Shrike.
_a._ Second Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, September 3, 1874. Iris
hazel; bill black, base of upper and a good deal of base of under
mandible bright slate-colour; legs pale slate-colour; claws rather
darker.
_b._ ♀ Pantamatenka River, January 18, 1875. Iris dark hazel; bill
black; legs pale slaty blue; claws dusky.
109. LANIARIUS TRIVIRGATUS (Smith): Gurney in Anderss. _B. Dam.
Ld._, p. 151. Three-streaked Bush-Shrike.
_a._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♀ Near Metli River, August 10, 1873. Iris dusky hazel.
_c._ Not labelled.
110. LANIUS MINOR, Gm.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 51. Lesser
Grey Shrike.
_a, b._ ♂ Tati River, where Makalaka road leaves it, going north,
November 19, 1874. Iris hazel; bill lilac, tinged on top of upper and
end of lower mandible with black; legs dark brown. Beetles in stomach.
111. LANIUS COLLARIS, Gm.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 51.
Collared Shrike.
_a._ ♂ Durban, April 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♀ Pietermaritzburg, May 2, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_c._ ♀ (?) Mossel Bay, Cape Colony, April 11, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
Stomach full of remains of beetles; no gravel.
112. LANIUS COLLURIO, L.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 50.
Red-backed Shrike.
_a._ ♀ Meriko River, November 18, 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♂ (slightly developed). Tati, March 21, 1874. Iris dark
hazel; bill deep violet, pale at base; legs black.
_c._ ♀ (?) Tati, March 21, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill dusky
lilac; legs and claws black.
_d._ ♂ (?) Sibanani, December 11, 1874. Iris hazel; bill dark
slate-colour, violet at base; legs blackish slate-colour.
_e, f._ Not labelled.
113. UROLESTES MELANOLEUCUS (Jard.): Gurney in Anderss. _B. Dam.
Ld._, p. 130. Black-and-white Long-tailed Shrike.
_a, b._ ♂ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris hazel (?). Large ants
in stomach.
_c._ ♀ [brown variety]. Near Hex River, July 1873. Iris ochreous
hazel. Shot by Bell, who says the note is different from that of the
black one, which is plentiful. This is the only brown one seen. He says
it whistles. Large gnats and other insects in stomach.
_d._ ♂ Tati, October 13, 1873. Iris dark brown.
_e._ Tati, March 25, 1874. Iris dark hazel. Stomach slightly muscular,
full of remains of large insects.
_f._ ♂ First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 20, 1874. Iris
hazel; bill, legs, and claws black. Ants in stomach.
Family PRIONOPIDÆ.
114. EUROCEPHALUS ANGUITIMENS, Smith: Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iii. p.
279. Smith’s Wood-Shrike.
_a._ ♂, b. ♀ Tati, March 23, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill and legs
black. Stomach muscular, containing a number of large hard seeds and
one or two beetles.
115. PRIONOPS TALACOMA, Smith: Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iii. p. 321.
South African Helmet-Shrike.
_a._ ♂ Near Metli River, August 10, 1873. Iris gamboge; skin round
eye dentated, orange-yellow; legs pale vermilion.
_b._ ♀ Holfontein, November 25, 1873. Iris chrome yellow.
_c._ ♂ First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, June 21, 1874. Iris
chrome yellow; skin round eye bright orange; legs and feet orange-red;
claws dusky black. Stomach pretty fleshy, and containing remains of
grasshoppers and beetles.
_d, e._ ♂ (?) First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, June 21, 1874.
Iris chrome yellow; skin round eye light bright orange; legs and feet
orange-red; claws dusky black.
116. BRADYORNIS OATESII, sp. n. Oates’s Wood-Shrike. (Plate B.)
_a._ ♂ (adult.) First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 20,
1874. Iris dark hazel. Stomach full of ants.
_b._ (juv.) Geruah, January 25, 1875. Iris hazel; bill and legs
black.
_c._ (adult.) Not labelled.
[Similis _B. pallido_ sed cineraceus; gulâ conspicue albâ: pectore
et corporis lateribus pallide cinerascentibus: subcaudalibus albis.
_Adult male._--General colour above ashy; the head slightly
browner, with indistinct brown shaft-streaks; least and median
wing-coverts like the back; the median and greater coverts brown,
edged with ashy brown, a little reddish on some of the outer greater
coverts; quills brown, externally ashy or fulvous brown, the primaries
and some of the innermost secondaries edged with pale whity brown;
tail-feathers ashy brown, the feathers edged with paler brown; lores
and a small patch above and below the eye dull white; in front of the
eye a dusky spot; ear-coverts brown, slightly washed with fawn-colour,
and contrasting with the ashy grey head; cheeks ashy grey, like the
sides of the neck; entire throat white, strongly defined; remainder of
under surface pale ashy brown; whitish on the lower abdomen, vent, and
under tail-coverts; under wing-coverts and axillaries pale ashy like
the breast, the lower coverts slightly tinged with fawn-colour; quills
dusky brown below, pale ashy fulvous along the inner web. Total length
7·5 inches, culmen 0·55, wing 3·85, tail 3·1, tarsus 0·85.
After a careful comparison of specimens I have come to the conclusion
that the present bird is new to science. At first I thought it would
be _B. murinus_, Finsch and Hartl., but the ear-coverts in that
species are described as being like the sides of the neck and crop,
whereas here the ear-coverts are in strong contrast; the under wing
coverts also are not fawn-colour in Mr. Oates’s specimens. Having
compared it with all the other species of _Bradyornis_ represented
in the British Museum, I modify the “Key to the species,” given in my
_Catalogue of Birds_, vol. iii., p. 308, as follows:--
_a._ Upper surface ashy or clear brown, not black.
_a′._ Above light reddish brown, uniform; throat white, like the rest
of the under surface; under wing-coverts white.--_mariquensis._
_b′._ Above ashy; throat white, contrasting with the ashy under
surface; under wing-coverts like the breast.--_Oatesii._
_c′._ Above light brown, uniform; throat white, contrasting with
the fawn-buff breast; under wing-coverts fawn-colour.--_pallidus_,
_modestus_, etc. etc.
The fawn-coloured under wing-coverts of _B. pallidus_, the
ashy brown throat and chest of _B. chocolatinus_, the reddish
brown upper surface, and entirely white under surface of _B.
mariquensis_, successively prevent _B. Oatesii_ from being
considered synonymous. A bird, determined as _B. murinus_, F. and
H., from the Congo (Sharpe and Bouv., _Bull. Soc. Zool. France_,
1877), would appear to be the same as _B. Oatesii_, but is in worn
plumage.]
Family DICRURIDÆ.
117. BUCHANGA ASSIMILIS (Bechst.): Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iii. p.
247. African Drongo.
_a._ ♀ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris crimson. Beetles and
grasshoppers in stomach.
_b._ ♀ Tati, October 11, 1873. Iris crimson.
_c._ Ramaqueban River, August 2, 1874. Iris deep red; bill, legs,
and claws black.
Family ORIOLIDÆ.
118. ORIOLUS GALBULA, L.: Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iii. p. 191. Golden
Oriole.
_a._ ♀ Meriko River, November 16, 1873. Iris crimson.
Family CORVIDÆ.
119. CORVUS SCAPULATUS, Daud.: Sharpe, _Cat. B._, iii. p. 22.
White-backed Crow.
_a._ Ladysmith, May 27, 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ Seruli River, October 17, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
Family STURNIDÆ.
120. BUPHAGA AFRICANA, L.: Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 57.
African Beef-eater.
_a, b._ ♀ Semokwe River, September 1873. Iris orange.
121. DILOPHUS CARUNCULATUS (Gm.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 56.
Wattled Starling.
_a._ ♂ Ramaqueban River, September 4, 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♂ Second Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, September 1, 1874. Iris
hazel; bare skin about the eye yellowish; bill dirty flesh-colour, base
and tip dusky; legs, feet, and claws dusky brown. Stomach not very
muscular, containing beetles and sand.
_c._ ♂ (fully developed). Tati River, where Makalaka road leaves
it, going north, November 18, 1874. Iris hazel; bill white, tinged with
lilac; legs dark brownish flesh-colour; bare skin of head deep black
in front, bright yellow behind; round the eyes a small bluish patch.
Stomach muscular, containing beetles and grasshoppers.
122. AMYDRUS BICOLOR (Gm.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 55. Brown
Starling.
_a._ Mossel Bay, Cape Colony, April 11, 1873. Iris pale grey with
orange rim. Contents of stomach miscellaneous.
123. AMYDRUS MORIO (Daud.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 54. Cape
Starling.
_a._ Not labelled.
124. PHOLIDAUGES VERREAUXI, Bocage: Sharpe, t. c. p. 54.
Verreaux’s Glossy Thrush.
_a._ ♂ Near Umvungu River, October 31, 1873. Iris hazel round pupil,
and bright yellow round the hazel. Stomach containing remains of
insects, and a number of large white berries, and sticky yellow matter
with the berries; the latter said to be used for bird-lime, the berries
said to grow on trees.
_b._ ♂ (?) Near Umvungu River, November 12, 1873. Iris deep olive
round pupil, and round the olive a bright yellow ring. Stomach not
muscular, containing a few remains of small insects, but principally a
quantity of vegetable matter like fine grass.
125. LAMPROTORNIS AUSTRALIS, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 56.
Smith’s Glossy Thrush.
_a._ ♂ Crocodile River, December 1, 1873. Iris hazel.
126. LAMPROTORNIS MEVESI, Wahlb.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 56. Meves’s
Glossy Thrush.
_a._ ♂ Nata River, December 5, 1874. Iris hazel; bill and legs black.
Stomach containing ants.
127. LAMPROCOLIUS PHŒNICOPTERUS (Sw.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 55.
Red-shouldered Glossy Thrush.
_a._ Blauw Krans River, Natal, May 22, 1873. Iris bright orange.
_b._ ♂ Tati, October 11, 1873. Iris orange.
_c._ ♀ Crocodile River, November 8, 1873. Iris orange.
_d._ ♂ Meriko River, November 18, 1873. Iris orange.
Family MOTACILLIDÆ.
128. MOTACILLA AGUIMP, Temm.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 73. African
Pied Wagtail.
_a._ Durban, April 23, 1873.
_b._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris hazel. Insects in stomach.
_c._ Not labelled.
129. MOTACILLA CAPENSIS, L.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 73. Cape Wagtail.
_a._ Durban, April 23, 1873.
_b._ ♂ Pietermaritzburg, April 30, 1873.
_c._ Inyati, October 3, 1873. Iris dark hazel. Native name “Umvemve.”
130. ANTHUS PYRRHONOTUS, Vieill.: Gurney in Anderss. _B. Dam.
Ld._, p. 113. Cinnamon-backed Pipit.
_a._ Kaar Kloof Heights, near Pietermaritzburg, May 19, 1873. Iris
hazel.
_b._ Not labelled.
131. ANTHUS CAFFER, Sund.: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 72. South African
Pipit.
_a._ Pietermaritzburg, about the beginning of May 1873.
132. MACRONYX CAPENSIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 73. Cape
Long-claw.
_a, b._ ♀ (?) Between Ladysmith and Newcastle, about the end of May
1873. Iris hazel.
_c._ ♂ Pretoria, December 7, 1873. Iris hazel.
Family ALAUDIDÆ.
133. CERTHILAUDA SEMITORQUATA, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 71.
Grey-collared Lark.
_a._ ♂ Transvaal, December 18, 1873. Iris hazel.
134. MIRAFRA AFRICANA (Smith): Sharpe, _P. Z. S._, 1874, p. 642.
South-African Lark.
_a._ ♂ Tibakai’s Pan, December 19, 1874. Iris pale reddish hazel; bill
dirty flesh-colour; top of upper mandible dusky; legs flesh-colour.
Insects and seeds in stomach.
135. MIRAFRA SABOTA (Smith): Sharpe, _P. Z. S._, 1874, p. 645.
Sabota Lark.
_a._ ♂ Tati, October 25, 1874. Iris bright light brown; upper mandible
dusky, under one dirty flesh-colour; legs pale brown. Stomach muscular,
containing large hard seeds.
_b._ Not labelled.
136. TEPHROCORYS CINEREA (Gm.): Sharpe, _P. Z. S._, 1874, p.
633. South African Rufous-capped Lark.
_a._ ♂ Pietermaritzburg, May 2, 1873.
Family PLOCEIDÆ.
137. SYCOBROTUS BICOLOR (Vieill.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p.
60. Natal Black-and-yellow Weaver-bird.
_a._ Not labelled.
138. TEXTOR ERYTHRORHYNCHUS, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 58.
Red-billed Black Weaver-bird.
_a._ Tati, March 25, 1874. Iris dark greyish hazel; bill and legs dusky
orange. Stomach very muscular, containing seeds and insects. Noisy tame
bird. Shot in company with the black Long-tails (_Chera_); had been
moulting, as feathers were loose.
_b._ ♀ Tati, October 25, 1874. Iris dark; bill dusky orange; legs
dusky, with an orange tinge.
_c._ ♀ Near first Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, June 17, 1874. Iris
dark hazel; bill and legs dusky orange. Stomach containing many seeds,
and a few insect remains and gravel. Three nests in a high tree full of
these birds.
_d._ ♂ Tati, September 30, 1874. Iris hazel; bill coral-red; legs
salmon-colour; claws dusky. Shot by Thomson out of a flock of similar
birds, and a black-winged white species.
139. HYPHANTORNIS CAPENSIS (Gm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 59. Cape
Yellow Weaver-bird.
_a._ ♂ Transvaal, December 16, 1873. Iris straw-colour.
140. HYPHANTORNIS OLIVACEUS (Hahn): Gray, _Handl. B._, ii. p.
41, No. 6575. Olive-and-yellow Weaver-bird.
_a._ ♀ Transvaal, December 16, 1873. Iris raw sienna.
141. HYPHANTORNIS OCULARIS (Smith). Smith’s Weaver-bird.
_a._ ♂, _b._ ♀ Pinetown, near Durban, April 1873. Iris buff; bill
black; legs grey.
_c._ ♂ Pietermaritzburg, April 30, 1873. Iris light hazel or
golden.
142. HYPHANTORNIS MARIQUENSIS (Smith): Layard, _B. S. Afr._, p.
182. Mariqua Weaver-bird.
_a._ ♂ Seruli River, October 18, 1873. Iris bronze.
143. HYPHANTORNIS NIGRIFRONS, Cab.: Layard, _t. c._ p. 180.
Black-fronted Weaver-bird.
_a._ ♀ Inyati, October 3, 1873. Iris pale reddish hazel; bill and
legs pinkish; upper mandible tinged with dusky. This bird, and another
shot the same time, were in moult. The other one is much duller; not
so yellow on head, rump, and tail; throat and breast tinged with pale
yellow; belly white.
_b._ ♂ Ishokwani, near Semokwe River, October 14, 1873. Iris yellowish
white.
_c._ ♂ Tati, October 21, 1874. Iris straw-colour; lower mandible
flesh-colour, upper one dusky; legs slate-colour. Insects in stomach.
144. SPOROPIPES SQUAMIFRONS (Smith): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p.
61. Scutellated Finch.
_a._ ♀ Semokwe River, September 30, 1873. Iris burnt sienna.
145. VIDUA VERREAUXI, Cass.: Finsch and Hartl., _Vög. Ost-afr._,
p. 426. Verreaux’s Widow-bird.
_a._ ♂ (very fully developed). Tati, March 30, 1874. Iris dark
hazel. Stomach containing seeds, a little grit, and remains of a beetle.
146. VIDUA REGIA (L.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 63.
Shaft-tailed Widow-bird.
_a, b, c, d._ ♂ Tati, March 20, 21, 22, 24, 1874. Iris dark hazel;
bill, legs, and claws, coral-red. Small seeds in stomach.
147. VIDUA PRINCIPALIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 63. Common
Widow-bird.
_a._ ♂ Transvaal, December 1, 1873. Iris hazel.
_b._ ♂ Hope Fountain, near Gubuleweyo; shot in Mr. Thomson’s
garden, about the beginning of December 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_c._ ♀ (?) Tati, March 31, 1874. Iris dark; bill and legs
coral-red. I think this may be an immature male. In one or two examined
afterwards, undoubted females, the bill was pale and the legs more
dusky.
_d._ Not labelled.
148. CHERA PROGNE (Bodd.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 63. Great
Widow-bird.
_a._ ♀ Pietermaritzburg, April 30, 1873.
_b, c._ John Scott’s Farm, Transvaal, June 19, 1873. Iris hazel.
_d, e._ ♂ Transvaal, December 18, 1873.
_f, g, h, i._ Not labelled.
149. PENTHETRIA ALBINOTATA (Cass.): Finsch and Hartl., _Vög.
Ost-afr._, p. 420. White-spotted Widow-bird.
_a._ ♂ (undeveloped). Tamasetsie, December 16, 1874. Iris hazel; bill
bluish; legs black.
_b._ ♂ Between the Pantamatenka River and Zambesi, January 11, 1875.
Iris hazel; bill pale bluish violet; legs black. Seeds in stomach.
150. PENTHETRIA ARDENS (Bodd.): Sharpe, _Cat. Afr. B._, p. 63.
Orange-throated Widow-bird.
_a._ Natal, 1873.
151. EUPLECTES CAPENSIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 62. Cape
Black-and-yellow Widow-bird.
_a._ Kaar Kloof Heights, near Pietermaritzburg, May 19, 1873. Iris
hazel.
_b._ Inyati, September 29, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_c._ Semokwe River, October 1873. Iris hazel.
_d._ Hope Fountain, near Gubuleweyo, about the beginning of
December 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_e._ Not labelled.
152. EUPLECTES ORYX (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 62. Red Bishop-bird.
_a, b._ ♂ Transvaal, 1873.
_c._ Hope Fountain, near Gubuleweyo, about the beginning of December
1873. Iris dark hazel.
Family FRINGILLIDÆ.
153. AMADINA ERYTHROCEPHALA (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 65.
Red-headed Wax-bill.
_a._ ♀ Tati, October 1874. Iris pale hazel; skin round eye red; bill
dusky blue; legs dirty flesh-colour.
154. PYTELIA MELBA (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 66. Southern
Red-faced Finch.
_a._ ♂ Tati, September 1, 1873. Iris burnt sienna.
_b._ ♂ Tati, September 1873.
_c._ ♂ (?) d. Tati, October 28, 1874. Iris scarlet; bill coral-red;
legs pale brown.
155. ESTRELDA ASTRILD (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 65. Wax-bill
Finch.
_a._ ♂, _b._ Tati, October 9, 1874. Iris hazel (?); bill vermilion;
legs and claws black.
_c._ Not labelled.
156. ESTRELDA ERYTHRONOTA (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 64.
Black-cheeked Finch.
_a._ ♀, _b._ Tati, October 3, 1874. Iris deep crimson; bill dark
slate-colour.
157. ESTRELDA GRANATINA (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 65. Grenadier
Wax-bill.
_a._ Semokwe River, September 1873.
_b._ ♂ Tati, September 30, 1874. Iris red; bill and skin round eye
scarlet-lake; legs dark brown.
158. ESTRELDA CYANOGASTRA (Daud.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 65.
Southern Bengali Finch.
_a._ ♂ Tati, March 21, 1874. Iris claret-colour; bill violet, lilac at
base; legs pale flesh-colour. Small seeds in stomach.
_b._ Tati, October 3, 1874. Iris claret-colour.
_c._ ♂ Tati, October 21, 1874. Iris claret-colour; bill violet; legs
pale brown (?).
_d._ ♀ Tati, October 1874.
159. LAGONOSTICTA MINIMA (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 66.
Amadavat Finch.
_a._ ♂ (?) Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris very pale hazel.
_b._ Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris lake.
160. ORTYGOSPIZA POLYZONA (Temm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 66. Little
Barred-breasted Finch.
_a._ Desolate country near Newcastle, June 5, 1873. Iris
pheasant-colour. Two shot out of a flock.
161. PASSER MOTITENSIS, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 69. Greater
South African Sparrow.
_a._ ♀ Palatswe River, August 13, 1873. Iris dark greyish hazel.
Stomach very muscular, containing grit; seeds in throat.
_b._ ♀ (probably). Tati, September 24, 1874. Iris palish hazel; bill
black; legs brown; claws darker.
_c._ ♂ Tati, October 19, 1873. Iris brown.
_d._ Tati, October 6, 1874. Bill black; legs brown.
162. PASSER DIFFUSUS, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 69. Southern
Grey-headed Sparrow.
_a._ Crocodile River; in cultivated fields, July 1873. Iris greenish
hazel.
163. PLOCEPASSER MAHALI, Smith: Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 61.
White-browed Weaver-bird.
_a._ ♂ Palatswe River, August 13, 1873. Iris dark burnt sienna.
Stomach muscular, containing remains of insects. Song not unlike that
of a Chaffinch, but much shorter and quieter. I think I have seen these
birds since the Lion Camp on the Crocodile River. They go in small
parties.
_b._ Not labelled.
164. POLIOSPIZA GULARIS (Smith): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 68.
Striped-headed Grosbeak.
_a._ Between Pretoria and Bamangwato, July 1873. Iris pale
claret-tinted hazel.
165. CRITHAGRA CHRYSOPYGA (Sw.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 67.
Golden-rumped Grosbeak.
_a._ ♀ Tati, October 9, 1874. Iris hazel; bill dirty violet or
flesh-colour; legs brown.
166. CRITHAGRA ANGOLENSIS (Gm.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 67. Angola
Grosbeak.
_a._ ♂ (?) First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 20, 1874.
Iris hazel. Shot out of flock.
167. FRINGILLARIA FLAVIVENTRIS (Vieill.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 70.
Golden-breasted Bunting.
_a._ ♂ Between the Gokwe and Seruli Rivers, October 17, 1873. Iris
hazel.
_b._ ♂ Semokwe River, October 1873. Iris hazel.
_c._ (young bird). Inchlangin, beginning of December 1873. Iris
hazel.
_d._ First Makalaka kraal, Zambesi road, August 19, 1874. Iris
dark hazel. Another I examined like this in plumage was a male. I have
seen them much duller in colour, and the black stripes on the head
replaced by brown.
_e._ ♂ Tati, October 10, 1874. Iris hazel; bill flesh-colour; legs
pale brown.
168. FRINGILLARIA CAPENSIS (L.): Sharpe, _t. c._ p. 70. Cape
Bunting.
_a._ ♂ Mossel Bay, Cape Colony, April 11, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
Seeds and fly in stomach.
Order COLUMBÆ.
169. TURTUR CAPICOLA, Sund.: Finsch and Hartl., _Vög. Ost-afr._,
p. 548. Cape Turtle Dove.
_a._ ♂ Mossel Bay, Cape Colony, April 11, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
Seeds in stomach.
_b._ ♂ Pietermaritzburg, beginning of May 1873. Iris slate-colour
(?); legs flesh-colour.
_c._ ♀ (?) Between Pretoria and Bamangwato. Iris hazel.
170. CHALCOPELIA AFRA (L.): Finsch and Hartl., _t. c._ p. 554.
Emerald-spotted Dove.
_a._ Blauw Krans River, Natal, May 22, 1873. Iris chestnut.
171. ŒNA CAPENSIS (L.): Finsch and Hartl., _t. c._ p. 557.
Long-tailed African Dove.
_a._ ♀ Between Pretoria and Bamangwato, July 1873. Iris dark hazel.
_b._ ♂ Near Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris hazel.
_c._ ♂ Tati, September 29, 1874. Iris and bill orange; legs lake.
Small black seeds in stomach.
Order GALLINÆ.
Family PTEROCLIDÆ.
172. PTEROCLES GUTTURALIS, Smith: Layard, _B. S. Afr._, p. 279.
Yellow-throated Sand-Grouse.
_a, b._ ♂, _c._ ♀ Shashe River, where Zambesi road crosses
it, north of Tati; coming to the water night and morning, August 17,
1874. Iris hazel; bill and legs dark bluish grey; claws dusky black. A
small species of bean and gravel in stomach, which is very muscular.
173. PTEROCLES BICINCTUS, Temm.: Layard, _t. c._ p. 278.
Double-banded Sand-Grouse.
_a._ ♂ Makalapsi River, August 6, 1873. Iris hazel; skin round eye
yellow; bill very dark; corners of mouth and base of lower mandible
yellow; legs and feet dusky yellow; claws dark dusky brownish lake.
_b._ ♂ Makalapsi River, August 8, 1873. Iris hazel; skin round eye
bright yellow; upper mandible deep lake, under one orange; legs and
feet dull yellow; claws dusky lake. Crop very full of small pebbles; a
few seeds in it.
_c._ ♂, _d._ ♀ Motloutsi River, August 1873. Iris hazel.
Family PERDICIDÆ.
174. TURNIX LEPURANA, Smith: Layard, _t. c._ p. 275. Kurrichaine
Hemipode.
_a._ Not labelled.
175. FRANCOLINUS AFER, Temm.: Layard, _t. c._ p. 270.
Grey-winged Francolin.
_a, b._ ♂ Retief’s Drift, Vaal River, June 11, 1873. Iris hazel.
176. FRANCOLINUS NATALENSIS, Smith: Layard, _t. c._ p. 273.
Natal Francolin.
_a._ ♀ Makalapsi River, August 7, 1873. Iris hazel; bill dusky;
tip and lower mandible pale orange; legs, feet, and claws palish orange.
177. FRANCOLINUS PILEATUS, Smith: Layard, _t. c._ p. 272.
Pileated Francolin.
_a._ ♂, _b._ ♀ Lion Camp, Crocodile River, July 1873. Iris
hazel; legs red.
_c._ ♂ Gokwe River, October 16, 1873. Iris dark hazel.
178. COTURNIX DACTYLISONANS, Temm.: Layard, _t. c._ p. 274.
Common Quail.
_a._ ♂ High Veldt, Transvaal, December 1873. Iris hazel.
179. COTURNIX DELEGORGUEI, Delegorgue: _C. histrionica_, Hartl.:
Layard, _t. c._ p. 275. Harlequin Quail.
_a._ Gubuleweyo, December 26, 1873. Native name “Seguatha.” Iris
rich brown; bill black; legs pale flesh-colour. Does not lie well to a
dog, but runs rapidly, and at last rises.
_b._ ♂, _c._ ♀ Gubuleweyo, January 3, 1874. Iris rich brown;
bill black; legs and feet salmon-colour.
Order GRALLÆ.
Family RALLIDÆ.
180. PARRA CAPENSIS, Smith: Gurney in Anderss. _B. Dam. Ld._, p.
330. Lesser African Jacana.
_a._ Not labelled.
181. PORPHYRIS ALLENI, Thoms.: Gurney, _t. c._ p. 327. Allen’s
Blue Water-hen.
_a._ Not labelled.
182. FULICA CRISTATA (Gm.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 327.
Rufous-knobbed Coot.
_a._ Transvaal, 1873.
183. GALLINULA ANGULATA, Sund.: Gurney, _t. c._ p. 321. South
African Moor-hen.
_a._ ♂ Dry River; killed by the boys with sticks, February 27,
1874. Iris crimson; a narrow circle of tawny yellow within the iris,
near the outside; bill crimson and yellow; legs greenish yellow.
Vegetable matter in stomach.
_b._ ♀ Tibakai’s Vlei, December 19, 1874. Iris pale crimson; bill
yellow, scarlet stripe on top of upper mandible, under one tipped with
scarlet; legs pale yellowish brown; thighs pale yellow, tinged with
brown. Gravel and vegetable matter in stomach.
184. ORTYGOMETRA EGREGIA (Peters): Finsch and Hartl., _Vög.
Ost-Afr._, p. 778. Peters’s Crake.
_a._ Gubuleweyo; shot in marsh by spruit, December 26, 1873. Iris
crimson-lake; skin round iris vermilion; lower part of base of upper
mandible and whole of base of lower mandible magenta, of a lilac tinge;
upper part of upper mandible dark slate-colour, lower part of it near
tip lighter slate-colour, tip of lower mandible whitish; legs dusky
flesh-colour.
185. CREX PRATENSIS, Bechstein. _Ortygometra crex_ (Gm.):
Layard, _B. S. Afr._, p. 338. Corn-crake.
_a._ ♂ (testes slightly developed). Tati; shot in long grass,
March 22, 1874. Iris red-brown; skin round eye brick-red; bill violet;
legs pale flesh-colour. Stomach muscular, containing stones and remains
of large insects.
Family SCOLOPACIDÆ.
186. Philomachus pugnax (L.): Gurney in Anderss. B. Dam. Ld., p.
304. Ruff.
_a._ ♀ Mopani Pan, near Ramaqueban River, November 4, 1874. Iris
hazel; bill dusky black, brownish at base; legs dirty orange; claws
black.
187. ACTITIS HYPOLEUCUS (L.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 303. Common
Sandpiper.
_a._ ♀ Inyati, October 2, 1873. Iris dark hazel; bill dusky, base
of lower mandible pale neutral tint; legs pale violet; feet and claws
dusky.
_b._ ♀ Sibanani, December 7, 1874. Iris hazel; legs pale dirty
slate-colour; base of lower mandible slate-colour; rest of bill dusky
black.
188. TOTANUS CANESCENS (Gm.): Sharpe and Dresser, _B. Eur._, pl.
xlii. Greenshanks.
_a._ ♂ Inquinquesi River, September 29, 1873. Native name
“Tabi-tabi.” Iris dark hazel; legs dull olive.
189. TOTANUS GLAREOLA (L.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 302. Wood
Sandpiper.
_a._ Inyati, September 28, 1873. Iris dark hazel; legs dull olive
green.
Family GLAREOLIDÆ.
190. GLAREOLA MELANOPTERA (Nordm.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 264.
Black-winged Pratincole.
_a._ ♂, _b._ ♀ Branslow’s Farm, Transvaal, December 8, 1873.
Iris dark hazel.
Family CHARADRIIDÆ.
191. HOPLOPTERUS SPECIOSUS (Licht.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 267.
Blacksmith Plover.
_a._ ♀ Branslow’s Farm, Transvaal, December 8, 1873. Iris dark
crimson.
_b._ ♀ Shashe River, October 16, 1874. Iris crimson; bill and legs
black. Beetles in stomach.
_c._ Not labelled.
192. CHETTUSIA CORONATA (Gm.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 268. Wreathed
Plover.
_a._ ♀ Bisschop’s Farm, Transvaal, June 20, 1873. Iris bright
yellow, with hazel ring round pupil. Stomach containing beetles and
grasshoppers.
_b._ ♂ (testes very rudimentary). Tati, March 26, 1874. Iris hazel
round pupil, then yellow; bill magenta, tip black; legs and skin round
eye magenta; claws black.
193. ÆGIALITIS ATRICOLLARIS (Vieill.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 274.
Treble-collared Plover.
_a._ Durban, April 23, 1873.
Family OTIDIDÆ.
194. OTIS KORI, Burchell. _Eupodotis cristata_, Layard, _t. c._
p. 283. Kori Bustard.
_a._ (Sex doubtful; perhaps a young hen.) Near Palatswe River,
May 16, 1874. Iris hazel, dark round the pupil, but becoming very pale
towards the outside; upper mandible black; under one greenish white,
tipped with black; legs and feet pale greenish white; claws dusky.
195. EUPODOTIS CÆRULESCENS (Vieill.): Layard, _t. c._ p. 285.
Blue Bustard.
_a._ ♂ Near Sunday’s River, May 28, 1873. Iris hazel.
196. ŒDICNEMUS CAPENSIS, Licht.: Gurney in Anderss. _B. Dam.
Ld._, p. 266. Spotted Thick-knee.
_a._ Near Pilandsberg, Transvaal, July 1873. Iris golden yellow;
eye large.
_b._ Not labelled.
Family ARDEIDÆ.
197. ARDEA MELANOCEPHALA, Vig. and Childr.: Gurney, _t. c._ p.
284. Black-throated Heron.
_a._ ♂ Marsh near Pretoria, June 21, 1873. Iris yellow.
198. ARDEA PURPUREA, L.: Gurney, _t. c._ p. 286. Purple Heron.
_a._ Not labelled.
199. HERODIAS INTERMEDIA (Wagl.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 289.
Short-billed Egret.
_a._ Not labelled.
200. BUTORIDES ATRICAPILLUS (Afzel): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 292.
Black-headed Dwarf Heron.
_a, b._ Not labelled.
201. BUTORIDES STURMII (Wagl.), _Ardeiralla Sturmii_ (Wagl.):
Gurney, _t. c._ p. 291. Sturm’s Heron.
_a._ Not labelled.
202. BUTORIDES RUFIVENTRIS (Sund.), _Ardea rufiventris_ (Sund.):
Ayres, _Ibis_, 1871, pl. ix. Red-bellied Heron.
_a._ ♂ Hendrik’s Vlei, December 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill black;
legs slate-colour.
203. BUBULCUS IBIS (Hasselq.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 288.
Buff-backed Heron.
_a._ ♀ Tati, September 26, 1874. Iris bright yellow, inclining to
orange; skin round eye chrome yellow; bill yellow; legs orange-yellow,
somewhat dusky; claws blackish. Lizards, grasshoppers, and beetles in
stomach. This bird not so fat as some shot at Bamangwato in May.
Family CICONIIDÆ.
204. CICONIA ALBA (L.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 280. White Stork.
_a._ ♂ Ramaqueban River, where the Zambesi road leaves it,
going north, November 15, 1874. Iris dark hazel; bill and legs
orange-vermilion; skin about eye the same, but with a dark patch on it
near the eye, and also near the under mandible.
205. SPHENORHYNCHUS ABDIMII (Licht.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 280.
White-bellied Stork.
_a._ ♂ Sibanani, December 11, 1874. Iris white, inclining to
greenish ochreous; bill olive, tipped with vermilion; a flesh-coloured
knob at the base.
206. SCOPUS UMBRETTA (Gm.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 294. Tufted Umbre.
_a._ ♂ Makalapsi River, August 7, 1873. Iris dark; bill, legs, and
claws black. Frogs in stomach.
Order NATATORES.
Family ANATIDÆ.
207. SARKIDIORNIS MELANONOTUS (Penn.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 335.
Knob-billed Goose.
_a._ ♀ Mopani Pan, near Ramaqueban River, March 16, 1874. Iris
dark hazel; bill and legs black. Shot in a tree. The dogs caught a
young one in the pan, where I suppose this Goose had its brood.
208. NETTAPUS AURITUS (Bodd.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 336. African
Dwarf Goose.
_a._ ♂, _b._ [♀]. Not labelled.
209. ANAS XANTHORHYNCHA, Forst.: Gurney, _t. c._ p. 342.
Yellow-billed Duck.
_a._ ♀ Near Pretoria, June 18, 1873. Iris bright brown. Grit and
vegetable matter in stomach.
210. PÆCILONETTA ERYTHRORHYNCHA (Smith): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 339.
Red-billed Teal.
_a._ ♀ Mopani Pan, near Ramaqueban River, March 16, 1874. Iris
dark hazel; bill (I think) brown on top, dull orange on sides; legs
black. Caught by dog. They say this is the common small duck here.
_b._ ♂ Mopani Pan, near Ramaqueban River, November 5, 1874. Iris
bright brown; bill pink with a lilac tinge, a dark lilac stroke on
the top; legs slate-colour, inclining to lilac. Out of four shot, I
think three were males and one a female, but the plumage differed very
little. The boy found a curious swelling in the windpipe of two, which
he says were males. He said the female had not got it.
Family PELECANIDÆ.
211. GRACULUS AFRICANUS (Gm.): Gurney, _t. c._ p. 370.
Long-tailed Cormorant.
_a._ Not labelled.
212. PLOTUS LEVAILLANTII, Licht.: Gurney, _t. c._ p. 367. Le
Vaillant’s Darter.
_a._ Meriko River, November 1873.
Family PODICIPIDÆ.
213. PODICEPS MINOR, L.: Gurney, _t. c._ p. 347. Little Grebe.
_a._ Tchakani Vlei, May 15, 1874. Iris yellowish hazel, or rather
deep raw sienna or amber; upper mandible dusky black; base and lower
mandible orange; legs and feet black.
_b._ ♀ Tamasancha, December 10, 1874. Bill black, tipped with
white, and spotted at base with white; legs black, fringed on webs with
white. Beetles in stomach.
[Illustration:
App.Pl.A.
J.G.Keulemans lith. Hanhart imp.
SAXICOLA SHELLEYI.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.B.
J.G.Keulemans lith. Hanhart imp.
BRADYORNIS OATESII.]
III.
HERPETOLOGY.
BY ALBERT GÜNTHER, M.A., Ph.D., M.D., F.R.S.
(PLATES C, D.)
_DESCRIPTIONS OF TWO NEW SPECIES OF SNAKES FROM SOUTH-EASTERN
AFRICA._
Family COLUBRIDÆ.
CORONELLA TRITÆNIA, sp. n. (Plate C.)
Vertical shield elongate, twice as long as broad, longer than the two
frontals together, or than the occipital which is rounded behind.
Rostral shield extending on the upper surface of the head; loreal
square; anteocular large, extending to the upper surface of the head,
but not reaching the vertical; two post-oculars. Eight upper labials,
the fourth and fifth entering the orbit, the last small. Two large
anterior temporals which are in contact with both post-oculars; the
outer temporals scale-like. Scales in seventeen rows, with a single
apical groove. Ventrals 168; anal bifid; sub-caudals 61. Posterior
maxillary tooth grooved. Ground colour light olive, with three well
defined brown longitudinal bands; the median one commences behind the
occipital and is lost in the middle of the tail; it occupies the median
series of scales, and has a fine yellow line running along its middle;
the lateral band commences underneath the canthus rostralis, and is
continued to the end of the tail; it occupies the third and fourth
outer series of scales and the adjoining halves of the neighbouring
series; it has narrow black edges; the outermost series of scales is
white like the abdomen, but with a faint brownish line. Lower parts
pure white.
Total length 19 inches; the cleft of the mouth measuring six lines, and
the tail 3½ inches.
Family DRYIOPHIDÆ.
DRYIOPHIS OATESII, sp. n. (Plate D.)
Allied to _Dryiophis Kirtlandii_, but the rostral shield is not
reverted to the upper surface of the head; the præocular reaches to
the upper surface only, remaining far distant from the vertical. Two
post-oculars: temporals 1 + 2 + 2, the anterior being the smallest, and
in contact with the upper post-ocular.
Head with very peculiar colouration; the upper surface is ornamented
by a pink T-shaped figure, the horizontal bar stretching from eye
to eye, and the vertical part occupying the middle of the occipital
shields. This figure is finely mottled with black. An irregular,
oblique, blackish line from the eye to the penultimate upper labial,
the pink temporal scales margined with black. Body coloured as in _D.
Kirtlandii_.
Total length 47 inches; the tail measuring 19 inches; length of the
cleft of the mouth 14 lines.
[Illustration:
App.Pl.C.
R.Mintern lith. Mintern Bros. imp.
CORONELLA TRITÆNIA.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.D.
R. Mintern lith. Mintern Bros. imp.
DRYIOPHIS OATESII.]
IV.
ENTOMOLOGY.
By J. O. WESTWOOD, M.A., F.L.S., Etc.
Hope Professor of Zoology in the University of Oxford.
(PLATES E-H.)
The Collection of Insects formed by Mr. F. Oates, now in the
Entomological Museum of the University of Oxford, although not of
considerable extent, fortunately comprises examples of many of the very
peculiar groups and genera characteristic of the greater part of the
African continent.
The geographical distribution of animals has, during the last few
years, attracted so much attention among naturalists, that a few
preliminary observations on the subject will not be considered out of
place.
M. Lacordaire, in the chapter on the geographical distribution of
insects, in his “_Introduction à l’Entomologie_,” divided the
African continent into numerous regions, as follows:--1. Upper Egypt,
Nubia, and Abyssinia; 2. The country south of the Atlas Range, as far
as the Great Desert, and including Morocco; 3. Senegambia; 4. The coast
of Guinea; 5. Congo; 6. The Cape of Good Hope; 7. Madagascar; 8. The
islands of Mauritius and Bourbon.
In the still more recent works of Mr. Wallace on the geographical
distribution of animals, we find that (with the exception of the
whole of North Africa--including the northern half of Egypt and of
Arabia--which are united with the Mediterranean sub-region and regarded
as a portion of the primary Polar Arctic region) the remainder of
Africa, south of the tropic of Cancer, is constituted into a primary
region, to which the name of “Ethiopian” has been applied, and in which
the zoological productions are of a remarkably homogeneous character.
Of this Ethiopian region the portion which extends on the western side
of the continent, between the rivers Gambia and Congo, and consequently
embracing Guinea and the Gold Coast, and reaching as far as 25° East
long., is of a distinct character, being occupied by dense forests.
To this sub-region the name of “West African” has been applied.
Another sub-region, the “South African,” is formed of that part of the
continent south of the tropic of Capricorn, but extending northwards
along the east coast as far as Mozambique.
The remainder of Africa, from the tropic of Cancer to the river Gambia
on the west coast, and including Senegambia, Timbuctoo, South Egypt,
Abyssinia, the eastern half of Africa (including the great lakes,
and Zanzibar), and reaching from Mozambique on the east to Angola,
Benguela, and Damara Land on the west coast, is considered as forming
a third sub-region, to which the inappropriate name of “East Africa”
has been applied. It is in the south-eastern portion of this third
sub-region that the collection of insects formed by Mr. F. Oates was
obtained.
The surface of all this sub-region is described by Mr. A. R. Wallace
as “generally open, covered with a vegetation of high grasses or
thorny shrubs, with scattered trees and isolated patches of forest
in favourable situations. The only parts where continuous forests
occur are on the eastern and western slopes of the great Abyssinian
plateau, and on the Mozambique coast from Zanzibar to Sofala. The whole
of this great district has one general zoological character. Many
species range from Senegal to Abyssinia; others from Abyssinia to the
Zambesi; and a few, as _Mungos fasciatus_ and _Phacochærus æthiopicus_
(to which great numbers of species of insects may be added), range
over the entire sub-region.” Various species of quadrupeds and birds
are mentioned, which are found in Gambia, Abyssinia, and South-east
Africa, but not in the West African sub-region; and yet Mr. Wallace
adds, “Although this sub-region is so extensive and so generally
uniform in physical features, it is by far the least peculiar part
of Africa. It possesses, of course, all those wide-spread Ethiopian
types which inhabit every part of the region; but it has hardly any
special features of its own. The few genera which are peculiar to it
have generally a limited range, and for the most part belong either to
the isolated mountain-plateau of Abyssinia, which is almost as much
Polar-Arctic as Ethiopian, or to the woody districts of Mozambique,
where the fauna has more of a West or South African character.” Surely
these circumstances, if correctly stated, together with the fact
connected with the existence of the Great Sahara desert, extending
many hundred miles wide across Africa, lead to the conclusion that the
division of Africa south of the tropic of Cancer into three principal
areas is unnatural, and that, with the exception of the necessary
consequence of greater life-action within the tropics, there is so much
uniformity in the animal productions of Africa as to render it (with
our present knowledge at least) undesirable to cut up the continent
into these sub-regions.
Order LEPIDOPTERA.
The Lepidopterous insects (butterflies and moths) especially attracted
much of the attention of Mr. Oates; and of the day-flying species
(Rhopalocera) he collected seventy-three different kinds, of which
nineteen appear to be previously undescribed. As they form the most
important part of his collection, I have given a complete catalogue of
them in the following pages. These insects abound in certain districts,
and in Mr. Trimen’s work on South African butterflies, as many as 226
different species are recorded.
Species of the families Danaidæ, Satyridæ, Acræidæ, Nymphalidæ,
Lycænidæ, Pieridæ, Papilionidæ, and Hesperiidæ occur in each of the
three divisions into which Mr. Wallace has divided the continent south
of the Great Desert; but of the families Elymniidæ, Libytheidæ, and
Nemeobiidæ no species have been found in the South African sub-region,
which, however, possesses seven genera peculiar to itself,--two
belonging to the Satyridæ, one to the Acræidæ, three to the Lycænidæ,
and one to the Hesperiidæ. The beautiful species of Zeritis are also
peculiar to this sub-region; one additional species only inhabiting
West Africa.
Of the Danaidæ (including the greater part of the Heliconian
butterflies), species occur in each of the four Ethiopian sub-regions.
Of the Satyridæ, which also occur in all the four sub-regions,
Gnophodes, Leptoneura, and a few other small genera are exclusively
African. Of the Elymniidæ, which are peculiar to the Malayan and
Moluccan districts, one species also occurs in Ashanti. The Morphidæ,
Brassolidæ, and typical Heliconiidæ do not occur in Africa; the
Acræidæ, on the contrary, have their metropolis in this continent,
which produces more than two-thirds of all the known species. Of the
Nymphalidæ, which is the largest and most universally distributed
family of butterflies, species occur in all the sub-regions of Africa.
There are fourteen genera of these butterflies exclusively African,
including Lachnoptera, Amphidema, Catuna, Euryphene, Romaleosoma,
Aterica, and Harma. Libythea (constituting the family Libytheidæ) is
widely distributed, and occurs in Western Africa and Madagascar, but
not in Central, Eastern, and Southern Africa. Such is also the case
with the family Nemeobiidæ. No representative of the family Erycinidæ
(proper) occurs in the old world or Australia. The Lycænidæ, on the
other hand, are found in all the sub-regions of the globe, the genera
Pentila, Liptena, D’Urbania, Axiocerces, Capys, Phytala, Epitola,
Hewitsonia, and Deloneura, being peculiar to Africa. Of the family
Pieridæ, Teracolus and Pseudopontia are the only genera exclusively
African; but the species of other genera are very numerous, especially
in the group of white butterflies with orange tips to their fore wings.
The family Papilionidæ are very widely distributed over all the warmer
regions of the globe; and although no peculiar genus belonging to the
family is found in Africa, there are several very interesting groups of
species, such as _Pap. Nireus_ and its allies, with black wings
spotted or banded with green. The Merope group, with its cream-coloured
males, spotted with black and furnished with tails, is remarkable for
having tailless females in South Africa, so much unlike their partners
as to have been described as several distinct species; whereas in
Madagascar the females of this group can scarcely be distinguished
either in form or colours from the males. Lastly, of the Hesperiidæ,
distributed all over the globe, thirteen of the genera contain species
which are natives of Africa, three of them being peculiar to that
region--namely Abantis, from Mozambique, Ceratrichia, Butler, from
Western Africa, and Caprona, Wallengren, from Southern Africa.
_LEPIDOPTERA RHOPALOCERA._
Family PAPILIONIDÆ.
Genus PAPILIO, Auct.
1. (1) PAPILIO DEMOLEUS, _Linnæus_.
_Papilio Demodocus_, Esper.
Ranges from Western Tropical Africa to the Cape of Good Hope.
Genus CALLIDRYAS, Boisduval; E. Doubleday, Gen. D. Lep. p. 66.
_Catopsilia_, W. F. Kirby, Syn. Cat. p. 481.[76]
2. (1) CALLIDRYAS SWAINSONII, Westw.
_Colias Pyrene_, Swainson, Zool. Ill. vol. i. pl. 51. (Not of
Linnæus, which is an Indian species, belonging to the genus
_Thestias_, Boisduval.)
_Callidryas Pyrene_, Butler, Lep. Exot. pl. 16, f. 8–10.
_Callidryas Florella_, Boisduval; Trimen, Rhopal. Afr. Austr. p.
68; but not of Fabricius nor Donovan, Nat. Repos. III. pl. 90.
Many individuals of this species were taken at the Motloutsi River,
varying in having the black spot of the disc of the fore wings, and
the orange spots on the under side of the hind wings. A specimen from
Guinea, received by Mr. Hope from Mr. Westermann of Copenhagen as the
_Florella_, Fabr., is identical with the South African specimens
of Swainson’s species. The type specimen described by Fabricius,
drawn by Jones (Icones, v. 2, Dan. Cand. pl. 5, f. 3, 4), copied by
Donovan, is from Sierra Leone, and was, and still is, in the Banksian
Collection. _C. Swainsonii_ is very widely dispersed.
3. (2) CALLIDRYAS RHADIA, Boisduval; Trimen, p. 69.
_Callidryas Castalia_, E. Doubleday, Gen. D. Lep. p. 68 (not of
Fabricius).
Two specimens captured at Tati. The Rev. H. Rowley sent it from the
Zambesi to the Oxford Museum.
Genus TERACOLUS, Swainson.
4. (1) TERACOLUS SUBFASCIATUS, Swainson, Zool. Ill. 2 ser. Ins.
pl. 115[77]; Boisduval; Trimen.
_Ptychopteryx Bohemanni_, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 18.
Originally described from the Burchell Collection now at Oxford. Six
specimens from Tati. The species appears to be very rare, as Mr. Trimen
had not seen an individual. The female has the extremity of the fore
wings brilliant orange-red, instead of pale orange-yellow, as figured
by Swainson.
5. (2) TERACOLUS AGOYE, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 15; Trimen,
p. 325.
_Anthocharis Eosphorus_, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1863, p. 523.
One specimen. Locality not noted.
Genus PIERIS, Auct.
6. (1) PIERIS MESENTINA, Cramer, pl. 270, f. A, B; Godart;
Boisduval; Trimen, p. 35.
_Papilio Aurota_, Fabricius, Ent. Syst. III. i. 197.
Many specimens taken at Bamangwato, the Motloutsi River, Tati,
Gubuleweyo, Inyati (November 30, 1873), the Gwailo River, and at or
near the Victoria Falls.
7. (2) PIERIS SEVERINA, Cramer, pl. 338, f. G, H; Godart;
Boisduval; Trimen, p. 32.
Two specimens, of unrecorded locality.
Genus IDMAIS, Boisduval.
8. (1) IDMAIS ERIS, Klug, Symbol. Phys. t. 6, f. 15, 16;
Boisduval; Reiche in Ferret and Galinier, Voy. Abyss. pl. 31, f.
1–3; Trimen, p. 59.
Var. _Idmais Fatma_, Felder, Reise Novara, pl. 25, f. 3.
Tati; and the Ramaqueban River, July 29, 1874.
9. (2) IDMAIS VESTA? Reiche in Ferret and Galinier’s Voy.
Abyss. pl. 31, f. 7, 8. (Not of Trimen, p. 62, which = _Idmais
Chrysonome_, E. Doubleday, Gen. D. Lep. pl. 7, fig. 5; nor of
Klug nor Boisduval = _Idmais Hewitsoni_, Kirby, Syn. Cat. p.
498.)
The specimens collected by Mr. Oates have the base of all the wings on
the upper side broadly white, the remainder ochreous buff, with a large
dark brown spot at the extremity of the discoidal cell of the fore
wings, a dark brown, very irregular bisinuated fascia running across
the fore wings beyond the middle, and extending across the middle of
the hind wings, nearly reaching the anal angle; the outer margin of
the fore wings is dark brown, with two rows of ochreous buff spots,
the outer ones small; the outer margin of the hind wings is brown,
inwardly dentated, with a marginal row of ochre spots. Beneath, the
fore wings are bright orange-yellow at the base, yellow in the middle,
with the apex and the entire hind wings brownish ochre, the markings
of the fore wings ill defined, and with three obscure bands across the
hind wings. In the female the ground colour of the upper surface of
the wings is uniformly pale yellowish buff. The fascia across the hind
wings separates this species from _Chrysonome_ Dbd., _Vesta_
of Trimen. M. Reiche’s figure apparently represents a larger and more
suffused insect, the under side especially being more variegated, and
the ground colour of the hind wings bright yellow.
Genus TACHYRIS, Wallengren.
10. (1) TACHYRIS AGATHINA, Cramer, pl. 237, f. D, E; Godart;
Boisduval; Trimen, p. 28; Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. t.
21, f. 11, 12.
_Pieris Thysa_, Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. t. 21, f.
7–10.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
Genus CALLOSUNE, E. Doubleday, Gen. D. Lep. p. 57.
11. (1) CALLOSUNE EUPOMPE, Klug, Symb. Phys. t. 6, f. 11–14;
Boisduval; Trimen, p. 45.
_Papilio Evippe_, Cramer, pl. 91, f. D, E. (nec Linn.).
_Pontia Acaste_, Klug, Symb. Phys. pl. 7, f. 16, 17.
_Pieris Polycaste_, Boisduval.
_Anthopsyche Theopompe_, Felder, Reise Novara, ii. p. 183. no.
175.
Motloutsi River, August 1873.
12. (2) CALLOSUNE DANAË, Fabricius; Donovan, Ins. India, t. 26,
f. 2; Boisduval; E. Doubleday, Gen. D. Lep. pl. 7, f. 2; Trimen,
p. 44.
_Papilio Eborea_, Cramer, pl. 352, f. C-F.
This handsome species inhabits Natal, Damara Land, Ceylon, Bengal,
Madras. Male, Inyati (November 30, 1873); females, near the Gwailo
River (October 19, 1873), and Impakwe River (February 12, 1874).
13. (3) CALLOSUNE EVIPPE, Linnæus; Clerck, Icones, pl. 40, f. 5;
Cramer, pl. 91, f. F, G; Godart; Boisduval; Lucas, Exot. Lep.
pl. 37, f. 1.
Tati; and between Inyati and Gubuleweyo, December 1, 1873.
14. (4) CALLOSUNE OMPHALE, Godart; Boisduval; Trimen, p. 50.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
15. (5) CALLOSUNE ANTIGONE, Boisduval, Sp. Gén. p. 572; Trimen,
p. 52.
Both sexes, Ramaqueban River, February 14, 1874; also females at the
Gwailo River in October. These females have no orange on the upper side
of the fore wings.
16. (6) CALLOSUNE CASTA, Gerstaecker in Decken’s Reisen in
Ost-Afrika, pl. 15, f. 1, 1 a.
Taken at Tati.
17. (7) CALLOSUNE KEISKAMMA, Trimen, p. 56, pl. 2, f. 3, 4.
Var. _Anthopsyche Topha_, Wallengren, Wien. ent. Mon. iv. p. 34.
Ramaqueban River, July 28, 1874. Kirby cites Klug’s _Pontia
Evarne_, Symb. Phys. t. 6, f. 1–4, as identical with this species,
but the rounded fore wings of the male, with the black exterior margin,
and the submarginal row of black spots on the hind wings, at once
separate these two insects. See the observations of Mr. Weale on this
subject (Trans. Ent. Soc. 1877, p. 273).
18. (8) CALLOSUNE INORNATA, Westw.
Alis supra albis, basi nigro parum pulverosis, anticis macula
trigona distincta apicali aurantia: alis anticis infra albis
apice albido-lutescenti, intus magis brunnea; alis posticis
lutescenti-albidis, linea recta longitudinali media paullo obscuriori.
Expans. alar. antic. lin. 19.
The locality of this very simply coloured species is not recorded.
19. (9) CALLOSUNE IONE, Godart; Boisduval; Lucas, Exot. Lep. t.
37, f. 4; Reiche in Ferr. and Gal. Voy. Abyss. t. 30, f. 1–8;
Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. t. 21, f. 1–6; Trimen, p. 43.
_Anthopsyche speciosa_, Wallengren, p. 16.
_Anthocharis Erone_, Angas, Kafirs Ill. pl. 30, f. 3.
Two males, taken at Tati.
The species of this genus, in which the males have the extremity of
the fore wings marked with a brilliant blue or pale purple patch, are
so closely allied together as to suggest the possibility of their
being geographical sub-species; they appear indeed to be constant in
their characteristic markings, and the females are even more distinct
than the males, which they are generally so unlike that their sexual
relations might readily be suspected.
In the male specimens of _C. Ione_, captured by Mr. Oates at Tati,
the fore wings have the faintest trace of a very minute black discoidal
dot, a brilliant silky purple subapical patch, the apex itself black,
and the inner edge margined with black, which is slightly scalloped.
The hind wings are pure white, with delicate black veins, without
any discoidal spot. On the under side the fore wings have the minute
discoidal dot, and the apical patch is replaced by pale greyish buff,
with a slightly defined darker inner margin; the veins of the hind
wings are not black, the basal half of the costa is orange, with a
short brownish transverse dash, near the middle of the costa, extending
only to the first branch of the subcostal vein; the remainder of the
wing white. One of the specimens taken by Mr. Oates at Tati is very
small (1⅔ inch in the expanse of the fore wings), with the black veins
excessively slender.
20. (10) CALLOSUNE REGINA, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1863, p.
520. (Plate E, figs. 9, 10.)
The males have the veins of the fore wings, beyond the middle, very
slender and black, and with a very minute discoidal dot. The female of
this species, here for the first time represented (Pl. E, figs. 9, 10),
has the wings on the upper side white, with the veins concolorous; a
large black round spot at the extremity of the discoidal cell, and a
large purple-red subapical spot, down the middle of which is a richer
shade of purple, edged internally with blackish brown, the apex and
apical margin being of the latter colour; the base of the wings is
slightly powdered with grayish scales, and there are two minute dusky
dots towards the inner angle of the fore wings. On the under side
the purple patch of the fore wings is replaced by dirty pale buff,
having an oblique row of five pale black spots, and the hind wings are
slightly fleshy buff coloured, finely freckled all over with pale brown
irrorations, with a discoidal spot, and a curved row of oblong spots
beyond the middle of the wing, of pale brown; the costal margin is
slightly fulvous at its base. The expansion of the fore wings is 2⁵⁄₁₂
inches. Taken at Tati.
A male, in the Hopeian collection, from the Zambesi, has the hind wings
marked along the outer margin with black dots at the extremity of the
longitudinal veins.
21. (11) CALLOSUNE THEOGONE, Boisduval; Trimen, p. 51.
One specimen. Locality not recorded.
22. (12) CALLOSUNE BUXTONI. (Plate E, figs. 7, 8.)
_Callosune Buxtoni_, Butler, MS. in British Museum.
The female (or rather the reputed female) of this species here figured
differs from the male in having a large orange patch at the extremity
of the fore wings, which are white with a slight yellowish tinge; a
minute discoidal black dot and a curved row of brown spots within the
orange mark, those towards the costa being most indistinct; the inner
margin of the orange mark is also brownish, as is the apex itself and
the apical margin, the brownish margin terminating near the hinder
angle in a brownish spot; the hind wings are uniformly white, with the
extremity of the veins towards the outer angle more or less dusky. On
the under side the orange spot of the fore wings wants both the inner
and apical dark edging, and bears a curved row of brown spots; the hind
wings are very pale fleshy buff, and very delicately freckled, with
a bar of darker brown extending from the middle of the costa to the
median vein, where it is curved backwards; there is also a brown dot
on a small whitish spot near the extremity of the discoidal cell. The
female varies from 1¾ to 2¼ inches in the expansion of the fore wings.
Taken at Tati.
23. (13) CALLOSUNE EVENINA, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 12;
Trimen, p. 322, and in Trans. Ent. Soc. 1870, t. 6, f. 11.
One specimen (locality not noted), with the black markings on the upper
surface of the wings much less diffused than in the figure given by
Mr. Trimen; possibly a male. Another specimen in Burchell’s African
collection, in the Hopeian Museum, has the large dark spot on the fore
wings extending over the discoidal cell, but the hind wings are almost
unspotted.
24. (14) CALLOSUNE EIONE, Boisduval, p. 578.
One broken specimen, without locality, is very closely allied to the
insects noticed above, as _C. Antigone_.
25. (15) CALLOSUNE PSEUDETRIDA, Westw.
Alis supra pallide flavescentibus, apice fusco cum serie subapicali
macularum 6 aurantiacarum, puncto minuto nigro discoidali, nubilaque
parva fusca ante angulum posticum; alis posticis serie marginali
macularum conoidearum fuscis (versus angulum analem interdum obsoletis)
nubila parva pone medium costæ, fasciaque valde abbreviata pone medium
disci versus angulum externum, pallide fuscis: alis anticis infra
pallide flavescentibus, apice alisque posticis luteo-albidis; anticis
striga obsoleta et obliqua fuscescenti versus apicem, posticis punctis
duobus fuscescentibus pone medium disci versus angulum externum.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1, lin 5.
Affinis _C. Deuræ_, Klug, et præsertim _C. Etridæ_ (Indiæ orientalis
incolæ).
Habitat prope Tati.
_Obs._ The orange subapical spots in the male are dilated into a
broader yellow fascia in the female.
26. (16) CALLOSUNE WALLENGRENII. (Plate E, figs. 3, 4.)
_Callosune Wallengrenii_, Butler, MS. in British Museum.
Alis supra albis; anticarum apice late aurantiaco; puncto discoidali,
striga angulata guttarum fuscarum pone medium apiceque fusco, intus ad
venas angulatim producto; alis posticis pone medium fascia abbreviata
e maculis fuscis formata, margineque postico fusco-maculato. Expans.
alar. antic. unc. 1⁵⁄₁₂.
Habitat ad ripas Touani fluv.; mense Augusto capta.
The wings on the upper side are white, with a slight yellow tinge, the
apical half being of a fine orange-red colour; the base is suffused
with brown scales; a round black dot is placed at the extremity of the
discoidal cell, in front of which the costa is dusky; half way between
the cell and the apex is an oblique row of four brown spots, succeeded
by a larger one, extending more towards the base of the wing, which is
followed by a double spot towards the middle of the hind margin; the
apical margin is brown, which colour extends upwards along the veins,
forming a row of brown teeth, the largest of which is at the end of the
first branch of the median vein; the hind wings are powdered with brown
scales at the base; beyond the middle of the wing is a curved row of
brown spots, extending from the costa to the middle, and with a row of
brown spots along the outer margin. On the under side the fore wings
are suffused with orange, preceding the row of subapical spots, the
apical portion being buff, which is also the colour of the hind wings,
which have a white spot in the centre surrounded by a brown ring, and
followed by a curved row of pale brown spots, rather more dilated and
somewhat ocellated in the middle of the row; the apical margin of all
the wings is destitute of the brown markings of the upper side.
27. (17) CALLOSUNE RAMAQUEBANA, Westw. (Plate E, figs. 5, 6.)
Parvus alis supra albis, albo-ciliatis anticis plaga maxima fusca
marginis postici, puncto nigro discoidali, apiceque late fusco,
serie macularum fulvarum inclusa; alis posticis basi fuscis, margine
postico late fusco, serie macularum albarum plus minusve confluentium,
præsertim versus angulum analem, inclusa: alis subtus flavido-tinctis,
posticis puncto minuto discoidali nigro, flavo supra tincto. Fœm. supra
absque colore fulvo. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1⅓.
Habitat prope Ramaqueban fluv.; mense Februario capta.
This pretty little species appears to be undescribed. It is nearly
allied to _C. Etrida_ and _Eione_, but differs in its characteristic
markings. On the upper side the wings of the male are white, with a
very slight yellowish tinge; the anterior have a large brown patch
occupying the greater portion of the posterior margin, and extending
over the greater part of the discoidal cell, at the extremity of which
is a small round black spot; the extremity of the wing is very broadly
brown, the dark colour commencing on the costal margin in front of
the discoidal spot, and extending nearly to the posterior angle of
the wing, where it is much narrowed, especially in the spaces between
the anal vein and the first and second branches of the median vein,
extending considerably more forward between the second and third
branches of the latter, so as nearly to unite with the truncated
extremity of the large brown patch; the brown apex of the wing bears a
row of five fulvous oval spots, the hind one of which is ill defined
and less strongly coloured: the hind wings are brown at the base, and
beyond the middle they are marked with a curved irregular brown bar,
which is partially connected with the brown spotted hind margin of the
wing, having a row of white spots between them, which become larger and
more or less confluent, especially towards the anal angle. On the under
side the fore wings are tinged with yellow, especially towards the
tips, the large brown markings of the upper side being nearly obsolete:
the hind wings are also yellowish, with a faint dusky fascia beyond the
middle, with a black discoidal spot surmounted with yellow scales; the
costa at the base is bright yellow, and the fringe of all the wings
is white. The female is slightly larger, with the brown markings more
suffused, the orange spots of the fore wings obsolete, and replaced
by brown, and the white submarginal spots of the hind wings almost
obliterated and replaced with brown.
Genus TERIAS, Swainson.
_Eurema_, Kirby, Syn. Cat. (haud recte).
28. (1) TERIAS RAHEL, Fabricius; Godart; Boisduval; Trimen, p.
76.
Ramaqueban River, February; near the Victoria Falls in January; and
near the Dry River, beginning of March.
29. (2) TERIAS ZOË, Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. pl. 23,
f. 10; female.
Mas. Alis supra minus saturate atomosis, posticis limbo nigro omnino
carentibus et unicoloribus.
Near the Ramaqueban River, in February.
30. (3) TERIAS SERULI, Westw.
Alis supra pallide flavis, anticis apice macula trigona fusca intus
parum curvata integra, ante angulum posticum desinente; angulo extremo
apicali pallescenti; alis posticis immaculatis: alis anticis subtus
flavis, costa, apice, alisque posticis carneo-lutescentibus, omnibus
immaculatis. Expans. alar. antic. fere 1½ unc.
Habitat ad ripas Seruli fluv.; mense Augusto capta.
Family ACRÆIDÆ.
Genus ACRÆA, Fabricius.
31. (1) ACRÆA ATERGATIS, Westw. (Plate F, figs. 1, 2.)
Alis supra rufo-aurantiis, nigro-maculatis, anticis apice nigro et
sub apicem nigro-lineatis margine apicali omnium nigro. Expansio alar.
antic. unc. 2¹⁄₁₂.
Habitat prope “Victoria Falls;” mense Januario capta.
The upper side of the wings is of a rich orange-red colour, the base
of all the wings slightly powdered with black atoms; a black spot
is placed in the middle of the cell of the fore wings, followed by
a smaller transverse one at the extremity of the cell; at a little
distance beyond the cell is a short black, rather oblique fascia,
formed of five more or less confluent spots, the innermost being
incurved and placed between the 2d and 3d branches of the median
vein; this last spot is succeeded by two other spots, the three being
parallel with the apical margin of the wing; there is also a minute
round dot towards the base of the wing behind the basal part of the
median vein, and two small dots near the inner angle; the veins are
black in the apical part of the wing, with the interstices between
the veins marked with thin black lines, the margin itself as well as
the apex of the wing being also black; the hind wings are marked with
twelve round black spots; the six outer ones arranged in a very waved
line; the margin is also black. On the under side the fore wings are
of a more rosy tint, except towards the apex, where they are more
orange; the spots of the upper side are here reproduced: the hind wings
on this side are more variegated; the black spots are more numerous,
being about 18 in number, several close to the base of the wing being
visible, which are not seen on the upper side; the spots are placed on
pale greyish buff spaces, which gives them an ocellated appearance;
and the outer margin of the wing is pale greyish buff with a very thin
black marginal line, preceded by very thin black lunules, the veins
rather thickened and black along the margin, the spaces between the
veins being rosy red in the part of the wing between the terminal row
of spots and the lunules. Antennæ black; palpi fulvous, with the last
joint black; body black, spotted with white and rose-colour; legs
fulvous, tarsi black; abdomen, above black with thin yellowish edges to
the segments, each of which has two fulvous spots, beneath fulvous with
two rows of black specks.
Another specimen, which I cannot distinguish specifically from the
preceding, was also taken at the Victoria Falls in January 1875, and
has the upper surface of the wings rather brighter orange-red, with
two minute additional black dots within the discoidal cell, at about
half its length from the base, and with the abdomen orange-fulvous, the
three basal segments on the upper side being alone black, varied with
orange. The apical margin of the fore wings in this specimen is not so
rounded as in the other with the spotted abdomen, which is evidently a
female, the probability being that the male has the wings rather less
rounded and the abdomen not spotted.
32. (2) ACRÆA ATOLMIS, Westw. (Plate F, figs. 3, 4.)
Alis supra aurantiacis basi nigricantibus, maculis nigris minutis
notatis, anticarum apice venis nigris margineque tenuissimo nigro
maculaque postica prope angulum posticum posita. Expans. alar. antic.
unc. 1¹¹⁄₁₂.
Habitat prope “Victoria Falls;” mense Januario capta.
This species is smaller than the preceding, with the various black
markings very small, the interspaces of the apical portion of the
fore wings not striolated with black, and the posterior spot of the
fore wings placed just between the preceding spot and the hind angle
of the wing. The upper surface of the wings is uniformly orange, with
the basal half rather redder, the base itself being suffused with
black scales; within the discoidal cell is a small kidney-shaped black
spot, followed by a narrow oblique one at the extremity of the cell;
behind this (between the 1st and 2d branches of the median vein) is
another spot, and between the latter and the posterior angle of the
wing is a third, the three forming nearly a straight row; beyond the
discoidal cell is a short oblique row of small black dots, between
which and the apical margin of the wing the veins are black: the hind
wings have a small black dot within the discoidal cell, and a curved
row of six small black dots across the wing close to the extremity of
the cell; the hind margin is very slenderly black, and the veins also
have their apical portions black. The wings beneath are of an uniform
rosy buff-colour, with the black spots more numerous and distinct than
above, the hind wings having about 18 small but distinct ones, those at
the base and near the anal margin not visible above; the apical margin
of all the wings is very slenderly black, the hind wings having no
trace of the lunular markings of the preceding and following species.
Body black, sides of thorax with yellowish buff spots; abdomen buff,
with the basal segments dusky above.
_Note_.--In the engraving the apical margin of the fore wings is
represented rather too much rounded.
33. (3) ACRÆA AXINA, Westw. (Plate F, figs. 5, 6.)
Alis supra luteo-fulvis, nigro-maculatis, posticis magis aurantiacis;
anticarum apice, lineolisque abbreviatis apicalibus (inter venas)
nigricantibus; alis posticis maculis minoribus, exterioribus lineam
irregularem multo pone medium alæ formantibus, margine externo nigro.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1⅚.
Habitat prope Tati et Gwailo fluv.; mense Octobre capta.
This small species has the upper side of the fore wings rather dirty
luteo-fulvous, that of the hind wings being brighter coloured. The
extremity of the fore wings and the narrow apical margin are black, and
the interspaces between the veins near the apex of the wings are marked
with slender abbreviated black lines, leaving a narrow paler space
beyond the fascia; the five spots between the base and the middle of
the wings are strongly marked, and the abbreviated oblique black fascia
beyond the cell is more continuous: the hind wings have the black spots
also well marked, the outer ones forming an irregular row considerably
beyond the middle of the wing, the central spot especially being not
far from the black marginal border. On the under side the fore wings
are slightly rosy, the apical portion being more buff with the spaces
between the veins orange; the black spots on this side are not so
strongly marked as above: the hind wings are more pale buff, with the
spaces between the veins strongly marked with rose-colour, the black
spots resting on pale spaces, giving them an ocellated appearance; the
very narrow black outer margin of these wings is preceded by a series
of small black arches, including a row of pale yellow spots. The palpi,
head, and sides of the body are coloured as in the preceding species;
the abdomen in one of our specimens is broken off, but in the other it
is pale buff, with the upper side of the basal segments black, with two
pale dots, indicating (as well as the shape of the fore wings) this
individual (represented in our figures) to be of the male sex.
_Note_.--The orange and rosy tints described above are almost
obliterated in one of the two specimens, most probably from
longer exposure in the winged state.
34. (4) ACRÆA ACONTIAS, Westw. (Plate F, figs. 7, 8.)
Alis supra obscure fusco-rufis, nigro-maculatis, maculis 4 in medio
alarum anticarum, fascia abbreviata maculari, margine apicali late
venisque apicalibus nigris; alis posticis basi maculisque submediis
lineam irregularem formantibus, margineque postico cum venis nigris.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1⅚.
Habitat prope “Victoria Falls;” mense Januario capta.
The dull brownish red colouring of the upper side of the wings
distinguishes this species. The fore wings are marked near the base,
behind the middle of the cell, with a small black dot, followed by four
rather large spots of the same colour, placed so as to form an oblique
triangle; beyond the cell is the ordinary abbreviated fascia, formed
of four black spots, which is succeeded by a narrow paler buff space,
the apex being traversed by black veins, the extremity of the anterior
margin and the whole of the apical margin being also black: the hind
wings have a suffused black spot near the base, the middle of the wing
being crossed by zigzag rows of small but nearly uniform black spots;
the outer margin is black, as are the veins beyond the middle of the
wing. On the under side the fore wings are more rosy coloured from the
base to the abbreviated fascia, beyond which they are paler buff, with
orange stripes between the veins: the hind wings have the black dots
smaller but more numerous than on the upper side, there being about
20 on each wing, the ground colour of which is buff, with the spaces
between the veins in the basal portion rosy, but beyond the cell they
are marked with longitudinal orange stripes between the veins; the
outer margin is very narrowly black, preceded by a very narrow black
line parallel with the margin. The body is black, much spotted at the
sides below the wings with buff and rosy; the abdomen is orange, marked
above with black fasciæ, forming more or less incomplete lateral
circular spots; the ventral surface yellow, with two rows of black
spots. The apical margin of the fore wings is but slightly convex, but
the spotting of the abdomen indicates the specimen to be a female.
35. (5) ACRÆA AGLAONICE, Westw. (Plate F, figs. 9, 10.)
Alis supra rufo-puniceis, anticis apicem versus magis aurantiacis,
macula fenestrata bipartita subapicali notatis, nigro-maculatis, venis
apicalibus nigris; posticis maculis minutis margineque latiori apicali
nigris. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2¹⁄₁₂.
Habitat prope Tati.
This species has the upper surface of the wings more richly
coloured than any of the others captured by Mr. Oates, being of an
orange-carmine colour, especially in the hind wings. The fore wings
are marked half-way between the end of the discoidal cell and the tip
of the wings with a square vitreous spot, through which runs a veinlet
dividing it into two parts; the base of the wings, especially in the
hind parts, is irrorated with black scales; the discoidal cell has a
rather large oval black spot beyond its middle, followed by a smaller
lunate one at the extremity of the cell; beyond which is an oblique
row of five conjoined black dots; another round black spot is placed
towards the base of the wing behind the median vein, and two other
circular ones behind the extremity of the cell placed transversely; the
veins at the extremity of the wings are slenderly black: the hind wings
are marked with about 10 minute black dots (varying, however, in size),
and the hind margin of the wing is rather broadly edged with black. On
the under side the fore wings are rosy coloured, with the spots of the
upper side, including the vitreous spot, reproduced: the hind wings are
greyish buff, with the spaces between the veins varied with rosy at the
base and along the anal margin, and with rich orange between the middle
of the wing and the row of submarginal black lunules, which latter rest
upon a narrow yellowish buff margin; the spots on this side, about 17
in number, are distinct, appearing partially ocellated. Body black,
with rosy spots behind the eyes and on the sides of the chest, which is
also spotted with pale buff; palpi orange, terminal joint black; legs
orange, tarsi black; abdomen broken off.
The unique specimen of this species collected by Mr. Oates has the
abdomen mutilated, but the structure of the fore legs and the shape of
the fore wings prove that it is a male individual.
36. (6) ACRÆA ACRONYCTA, Westw. (Plate F, figs. 11, 12.)
Alis supra luteo-aurantiacis; anticis triente basali fusco; macula ad
apicem cellulæ, pone medium alæ fascia abbreviata maculari, maculisque
duabus posticis (margine postico parallelis) nigris; alis posticis
magis albidis, ante medium nigro-maculatis, margineque postico latiori
nigro: subtus maculis magis distinctis margineque albido-maculato.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1¾.
Habitat ----?
The upper surface of the wings (especially the hind pair) of this
species is whitish orange, the base being strongly suffused with dark
brown scales hiding the spots in that part; one of these, near the
extremity of the discoidal cell, is visible, and the cell itself is
closed by a semicircular spot, followed at a short distance by an
oblique abbreviated black fascia formed of conjoined spots, of which
the hinder one is smallest and most distinct; two other spots appear on
the disc of the wing behind the extremity of the cell, and are placed
nearly parallel with the apical margin, which is very narrowly black
and slightly concave: the hind wings have a somewhat more suffused
whitish hue than the anterior; they are brown at the base, and are
marked before the middle with an irregular series of black dots,
followed by two minute ones beyond the middle; the posterior margin is
widely black. On the under side the fore wings have five black spots
in the middle, followed by the abbreviated macular fascia: the hind
wings are more tinged with rose-colour than the anterior ones, and are
marked with about twelve black dots of different sizes; the posterior
margin is pale yellowish white, surmounted by a row of black arches,
resting upon a very narrow black edging. The head and body are black,
spotted with pale buff, the sides of the thorax beneath the wings with
a reddish spot; the abdomen is nearly white, the basal segments on the
upper side black, with a pair of round white dots.
37. (7) ACRÆA AMPHIMALLA, Westw. (Plate E, figs. 1, 2.)
Alis supra fulvo vel puniceo luteis nigro-guttatis, anticarum apice
late nigro triangulariter terminata, posticarum margine apicali e
lunulis nigris, maculis concoloribus inclusis, notato. Expans. alar.
antic. unc. 1¾–2¹⁄₁₂.
(An _Acræa Caldarene_ alicujus?)
Habitat prope Tati, et marg. fluv. Motloutsi; mense Maio capta.
This very distinct species has the wings on the upper side of a buff
colour, varying from dull orange to reddish; the black spots are of
small size, and the fore wings have the apex broadly and triangularly
black, whilst the hind wings have the slender apical outer black margin
preceded by a series of slender depressed black arches enclosing
spots of the ground colour of the wing; the ordinary black spot in
the middle of the discoidal cell is sometimes preceded by a smaller,
more or less slightly marked, dot, behind which is another small one;
the cell is partially closed by a small oblique black spot, followed
at some distance by a row of four small spots placed obliquely, and
there are two other small spots between the middle of the wing and
the posterior angle, the outer one being occasionally duplicated; in
the hind wings the black spots, about twelve in number, are of nearly
uniform small size. On the under side the black apex of the upper side
is replaced by the ground colour of the rest of the wing, the spaces
between the veins being more strongly marked with orange stripes: the
hind wings are buff-coloured, with the spaces between the veins in the
basal portion marked with red, having the black dots (about twenty in
number) surrounded with buff, whilst in the apical half of the wing
the intervening spaces are more orange; the black arcade preceding the
slender outer black edging is marked more distinctly than on the upper
side. The head and body are spotted as in the preceding species.
38. (8) ACRÆA NATALICA, Boisduval in Delegorgue’s Voy. Afr.
Austr. ii. p. 590; Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. pl. 23,
figs. 12, 13.
_Acræa Bellua_, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 22.
_Acræa Hypatia_, var. B, Trimen, p. 98.
A series of small specimens, measuring only 2 inches in expanse of the
fore wings, were taken at Tati. A large specimen (2¾ inches expanse)
was taken near the Dry River in the beginning of March, and one (2½
inches expanse) was taken near the Motloutsi River in August.
39. (9) ACRÆA ANEMOSA, Hewitson, Ex. Butt. t. 3, Acr. 3, f. 14,
15.
Near the Umvungu River, end of October; and near the Victoria Falls in
January.
40. (10) ACRÆA NEOBULE, E. Doubleday and Hewitson, Gen. D. Lep.
pl. 19, f. 3; Reiche in Ferr. and Gal. Voy. Abyss. pl. 33, f. 3,
4.
An var. _Acræa Mahela_, Boisduval, Faune Madag. pl. 6, f. 1?
Ramaqueban River, February 14, 1874.
41. (11) ACRÆA RAHIRA, Boisduval, Faune Madag. pl. 5, f. 4, 5;
Trimen, p. 103.
Taken on the Zambesi road, end of November.
42. (12) ACRÆA DIRCÆA, Westw.
Alis supra fulvis, puniceo interdum tinctis; anticarum apice late
nigris maculisque 9 parvis nigris, 4 in lineam obliquam pone medium
positis; alis posticis maculis circiter 14 parvis nigris discoidalibus,
margine tenui nigro fulvo-maculato: alis subtus pallidioribus, apice
anticarum lutescenti, fulvo-strigoso; maculis nigris parum majoribus
præsertim in alis posticis, interstitiis rubro-maculatis. Expans. alar.
antic. unc. 2.
_Acr. Oncææ_ affinis sed apice lato nigro alarum anticarum optime
distincta.
Numerous specimens taken at Tati and the Motloutsi River in May.
Family NYMPHALIDÆ.
Genus CHARAXES, Ochsenheimer.
43. (1) CHARAXES PELIAS, Cramer, pl. 3, f. C, D; Godart; Trimen,
p. 175; Butler, Lep. Exot. pl. 10, f. 5.
Near the Seruli River, August 19, 1873; and near the Victoria Falls in
January.
Genus CYNTHIA, Fabricius.
44. (1) CYNTHIA CARDUI, Linnæus.
Taken at the Indunas’ Tree, near the Umvungu River, end of November.
Genus JUNONIA, Hübner.
45. (1) JUNONIA CLELIA, Cramer, pl. 21, f. E, F; Trimen, p. 128.
Bamangwato, Ramaqueban River, Gubuleweyo, and near Tati.
46. (2) JUNONIA ŒNONE, Linnæus: Cramer, pl. 35, f. A, C; Trimen,
p. 125.
Tati, Ramaqueban River, and about the Matengwe River.
47. (3) JUNONIA ORITHYA, Linnæus: Cramer, pl. 19, f. C, D, pl.
32, f. E, F, and pl. 290, f. A, B. Common in India, etc.
This species, not included in Trimen’s work, was taken near the
Victoria Falls in the month of January. The Hopeian collection also has
it from Sierra Leone.
48. (4) JUNONIA OCTAVIA, Cramer, pl. 135, f. B, C; Trimen, p.
130.
Near the Victoria Falls in January.
49. (5) JUNONIA NATALICA, Felder, Wien. ent. Mon. iv. p. 106.
_Junonia Hecate_, Trimen, p. 140.
Near the Victoria Falls in January.
50. (6) JUNONIA CLOANTHA, Cramer, pl. 338, f. A, B; Trimen, p.
137.
Near the Dry River, middle of March.
Genus DIADEMA, Boisduval.
51. (1) DIADEMA MISIPPUS, Linnæus.
Fœm. var. _Papilio Inaria_, Cramer, pl. 214, f. A, B.
Near the Victoria Falls; also from Sierra Leone, the Zambesi, and
Mauritius, in the Hopeian collection.
Genus ATERICA, Boisduval.
52. (1) ATERICA MELEAGRIS, Cramer, pl. 66, f. A, B; Drury, Ill.
Exot. Ent. vol. iii. pl. 17, f. 3, 4; Trimen, p. 157.
Indunas’ Tree, near the Umvungu River, in November.
Genus DANAIS, Latreille.
53. (1) DANAIS CHRYSIPPUS, Linnæus; Cramer, pl. 118, f. B, C.
Indunas’ Tree, near the Umvungu River; and near Gubuleweyo in December.
Genus HYPANIS, Boisduval.
54. (1) HYPANIS ILITHYIA, Drury, Ill. Exot. Ent. vol. ii. pl.
17, f. 1, 2; Cramer, pl. 214, f. C, D; Trimen, p. 214.
Tati, Ramaqueban River, Inkwesi River (March 1874), Dry River; and
Indunas’ Tree, near the Umvungu River.
Family SATYRIDÆ.
Genus CYLLO, Boisduval.
55. (1) CYLLO LEDA, Linnæus et auct.
An extremely variable species. The specimen from the Nata River
(beginning of December 1874) has an obscure fulvous subapical patch
bearing two black spots in the fore wings; beneath, pale brown, with
dark brown fasciæ, and scarcely any trace of ocelli on the hind wings.
Specimens from Ashanti are pale brown beneath, strongly freckled all
over with brown, and with large ocelli on the hind wings.
Genus EREBIA, Dalman.
56. (1) EREBIA NARYCIA, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 32; Trimen,
p. 198.
Ramaqueban River, middle of March.
Genus YPTHIMA, Hübner.
57. (1) YPTHIMA NAREDA, Kollar in Hügel’s Kaschmir, vol. iv. pl.
2, p. 451; Hewitson, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1865, pl. 17, f. 6, 7.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
Genus MYCALESIS, Hübner.
58. (1) MYCALESIS VICTORINA, Westw.
Sordide fusca, alis anticis pone medium nonnihil pallidioribus; ocellis
duobus nigris ochreo anguste cinctis, singulo punctum album includente
subapicali multo minori; posticis concoloribus lineis duabus tenuibus
submarginalibus pallidioribus serieque ocellorum ut in anticis: alis
subtus pallidioribus magis lutescentibus, fascia angusta recta communi
pone medium, anticis 2-posticis 7-ocellatis, ocellis valde inæqualibus,
in posticis lineis pallidis valde sinuatis inclusis. Expans. alar.
antic. unc. 1¾.
Affinis _M. Eusiro_, Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. pl. 25, f. 3–6.
Near the Victoria Falls.
Family LYCÆNIDÆ.
Genus AMBLYPODIA, Horsfield.
59. (1) AMBLYPODIA NATALENSIS, D. W. and H., Gen. D. Lep. pl.
75, f. 4; Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. p. 399; Trimen, p.
227.
_Spindasis Masilikazi_, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 45.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
60. (2) AMBLYPODIA? LEROMA, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 42;
Trimen, p. 231.
Near Tati.
Genus ZERITIS, Boisduval.
61. (1) ZERITIS PERION, Cramer, pl. 379, f. B, C.; Trimen, p.
267; Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. pl. 26, f. 1–3.
Gubuleweyo, beginning of December.
62. (2) ZERITIS AMANGA, Westw.
Fœm. Alis supra læte rufo-aurantiacis; anticis macula magna basali
nigra, costa pone medium margineque apicali nigris; alis posticis,
rufo-aurantiacis basi nigricantibus: alis subtus purpureo-rufis,
anticarum costa ad basim guttisque duabus parvis prope basim tertia
parum majori submedia, alteraque subapicali, argenteis; posticis guttis
perpaucis argenteis vix notatis. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1⅓.
Near the Gwailo River. The red basal half of the costa of the fore
wings, the outwardly angulated apical margin, the shorter hind wings,
with both the anal and outer margin emarginate near the tails, and the
splendid silvery base of the costa of the fore wings beneath, separate
this insect from _Z. Perion_.
Mas. (Zambesi, Rowley. In Mus. Hopeiano Oxoniæ). Alis anticis supra
fuscis, costa ad basim maculaque late trigona versus angulum externum
marginis postici rufis; alis posticis rufis, basi venisque versus
angulum externum nigricantibus: alis infra castaneo-rufis, costa
anticarum basi, guttisque tribus argenteis ut in fœmina, squamis
perpaucis argenteis in lineas transversas dispositis; alis posticis
strigis tribus undulatis gracilibus obscurioribus guttisque nonnullis
argenteis prope caudam. Margo externus alarum anticarum in medio
angulatus, inter medium et angulum posticum emarginatus.
Genus POLYOMMATUS, Latreille.
63. (1) POLYOMMATUS TELICANUS, Hübner, Eur. Schm. Pap. f. 371–2,
553–4; Godart; Boisduval; Trimen, p. 238.
Tati, the Gwailo River, and near the Victoria Falls.
64. (2) POLYOMMATUS OTACILIA, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1868, p.
90.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
65. (3) POLYOMMATUS SYBARIS, Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb.
pl. 26, f. 6–8; Trimen, p. 242.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
Genus LYCÆNA, Fabricius.
66. (1) LYCÆNA PARSIMON, Fabricius; Godart; Boisduval.
_Papilio Celæus_, Cramer, pl. 379, f. K, K; Trimen, p. 247.
_Lycæna Asteris_, Godart; Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 40.
Var. _Lycæna Methymna_, Trimen, Trans. Ent. Soc. 1862, p. 280.
Male, Ramaqueban River, in February; female, Bamangwato, Tati.
67. (2) LYCÆNA JESOUS, Guérin in Lefebvre’s Voy. Abyss. pl. 11,
f. 3, 4; Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 39; Trimen, p. 350.
Near the Gwailo River, October 12, 1873.
68. (3) LYCÆNA ASOPUS, Hopffer in Peters’s Reise Mossamb. pl.
26, f. 13–15; Trimen, p. 249.
69. (4) LYCÆNA LOCHIAS? MSS.?
Alis supra fuscis purpureo parum squamosis, posticis maculis duabus
inequalibus nigris pallidius cinctis, submarginalibus, ciliis albis:
alis subtus pallide fuscis albidoque alternatim fasciatis; posticis
macula nigra intus aurantiaco, extus argenteo, notata, alteraque simili
sed multo minori ad angulum analem, cauda nulla. Expans. alar. antic.
lin. 10.
Locality not indicated.
Genus CHRYSOPHANUS, Hübner.
70. (1) CHRYSOPHANUS LARA, Linnæus; Fabricius; Trimen, p. 260.
_Papilio Jolaus_, Cramer, pl. 270, fig. F, G.
_Papilio Gorgias_, Stoll, pl. 33, f. 5, 5d.
Family HESPERIIDÆ.
Genus ISMENE, Swainson.
71. (1) ISMENE PISISTRATUS, Fabricius; Jones, Icones, vol. vi.
pl. 26, f. 1 (Typus in Mus. Britann.)
_Note._--The black mark extending from near the anal margin on
the under side of the hind wings, was more divided than usual in
Drury’s specimen, figured by Jones, so as to have led Fabricius
to describe the hind wings as four-spotted.
_Rhopalocampta Valmaran_, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 48.
Var. Fascia alba latitudine æquali absque maculis nigris.
_Papilio Forestan_, Cramer, pl. 391, f. E, F; Godart; Boisduval;
Trimen, p. 318.
Holfontein, July 13, 1873.
Genus LEUCOCHITONEA, Wallengren.
72. (1) LEUCOCHITONEA LEVUBU, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 52;
Trimen, p. 306.
Near the Dry River, beginning of March.
Genus CAPRONA, Wallengren.
73. (1) CAPRONA PILLAANA, Wallengren, Lep. Caffr. p. 51; Trimen,
p. 308.
Near Tati or Gwailo.
Genus PAMPHILA, Fabricius.
74. (1) PAMPHILA RANOHA, Westw.
Alis supra nigrofuscis, costa prope basim fulvo-irrorata, fascia fulva
e basi marginis interni per medium alæ extensa, sensim dilatata et ante
apicem alæ desinente, maculam ovalem inter cellulam et apicem nigram
gerente, ciliis fulvis; alis posticis fascia lata irregulari pone
medium fulva: alis subtus fulvis, anticis linea prope basim, macula
discoidali ovata strigaque subapicali ad angulum analem sensim dilatata
nigrofuscis; alis posticis fulvis nigro-guttatis, guttis novem in
lineas duas margine postico parallelas dispositis. Expans. alar. antic.
unc. 1⅙.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
75. (2) PAMPHILA HARONA, Westw.
Magnitudo _P. Lineæ_, Linnæus. Alis supra fulvis, anticarum costa
(ad basim valde angusta) margineque apicali nigris; macula basali
marginis interni, striga recta in cellula discoidali et macula conica
ad apicem cellulæ nigris; alis posticis fulvis costa late nigra,
ultra medium ad angulum externum angusta: alis infra fulvis, posticis
pallidioribus; anticis macula magna baseos costam non attingente,
altera parva transversa ad apicem cellulæ, tertiaque parva conica
marginis apicalis versus angulum internum; alis posticis immaculatis;
striola longitudinali magis brunnea, margine anali parallela. Expans.
alar. antic. unc. 1⅙.
Near the Victoria Falls, in January.
_LEPIDOPTERA HETEROCERA._
Moths of various sizes and hawk-moths appear to be very numerous
in Southern Africa. A large number of species of the former were
collected by Mr. Oates, chiefly of small size, the majority of which,
unfortunately, were ill preserved.
Family SPHINGIDÆ.
The SPHINGIDÆ are not especially remarkable. The death’s-head
moth, _Acherontia Atropos_, occurs throughout South Africa, and
was found between Gubuleweyo and the Gwailo River. _Chœrocampa
capensis_, with its bright pink under wings, extends from the Cape
to Natal and Zulu Land. A new species, closely allied to this last
insect, was captured by Mr. Oates, which may be thus described:--
CHŒROCAMPA VIRGO, Westw. (Plate E, fig. 11.)
Alba albido vix tincta, alis posticis plaga fere basali ovali punicea;
omnibus subtus omnino concoloribus. Expans. alar. antic. fere unc. 3.
Habitat prope Gubuleweyo vel Gwailo fluv.
The Genus _Nephele_, Hübner (_Zonilia_, Boisduval), contains several
South African species, _e.g._ _Sphinx Peneus_, Cramer; _fumosa_,
Boisduval; _comma_, Gerstaecker; _viridescens_, Walker, and the
beautiful _argentifera_, Walker. Several species of the silver-striped
hawk-moths occur in South Africa, as _Chœrocampa Charis_, Boisduval;
_Schenkii_, Moschler; _Thyelia_, Linn. (_Eson_, Cramer), etc.
The lovely _Smerinthus Dumolinii_, Boisduval, is from Natal. The
clear-winged _Sesia Hylas_, Linnæus, was captured at Gubuleweyo.
And lastly, it may be mentioned that the Rev. H. Rowley sent the
_Macroglossa hirundo_, Gerstaecker in Decken’s Reisen in Ost-Afrika,
pl. 15, fig. 7, from the Zambesi.
It may also be mentioned as a remarkable circumstance in entomological
geography that the grand _Urania_ (_Chrysiridia_) _Rhipheus_, supposed
until quite recently to be confined to Madagascar, and to be the only
old world representative of the splendid new world _Uraniæ_, has been
found on the east coast of Africa, near Zanzibar. Gerstaecker has
figured the continental individual as a distinct species, but specimens
which I have examined appear not to differ specifically from the
Madagascar ones.
Family ZYGÆNIDÆ.
In this family a beautiful species of _Zygæna_, closely allied to the
very striking _Z. ochroptera_, Felder, was taken at Tati, which may be
thus characterised:--
ZYGÆNA TRICOLORATA, Westw.
Chalybea, humeris alisque anticis aurantiacis, harum margine apicali
nigro; alis posticis sanguineis limbo nigro ante angulum analem
desinente. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1, lin. 5.
Obs. _Z. ochroptera_, Felder, differt colore alarum limboque nigro
multo angustiori.
Another species from Gubuleweyo is allied to Felder’s _Euctenia
Zygænoides_ (pl. 82, f. 21), but has the sanguineous portion of the
hind wings divided by a transverse black band. On the under side the
white spots at the base and middle of the fore wings are sanguineous.
The beautiful South African species, _Z. caffra_, Linn., _ampla_,
Walker, _concinna_, Walker (Delagoa Bay), and especially _Z. negamica_,
from Damara Land and Lake Nyassa, require careful examination as to
their generic position. Several species of _Procris_ and _Syntomis_
were also taken by Mr. Oates.
Family AGARISTIDÆ.
This family is represented in Mr. Oates’s collection by a beautiful
undescribed species of _Eusemia_, allied to _E. Euphemia_, Cramer, pl.
345, fig. A, _E. longipennis_, Walker, Butler, Exot. Lep. Brit. Mus.
pl. 5, fig. 5; _E. pallida_, Butler, l. c. fig. 3; and _E. contigua_,
Butler, l. c. pl. 4, f. 8:--
EUSEMIA ADULATRIX, Westw. (Plate G, fig. 1, and Plate H, figs. 3, 3_a_,
3_b_.)
Alis anticis nigris, maculis duabus parvis subbasalibus, fascia obliqua
integra submedia, alteraque magna late ovali inter medium et apicem,
interstitiis argenteo-irroratis; striga minuta marginis interni pone
medium punctoque rotundato intus angulum posticum flavo-albidis; alis
posticis sanguineis, limbo nigro; abdomine luteo, nigro-annulato.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2¼.
Habitat prope Tati et Gwailo fluv.
I take this opportunity of describing several other African allied
species of this beautiful genus:--
EUSEMIA NIVEOSPARSA, Westw.
Corpore tenui, abdomine nigro, fulvo-annulato; alis anticis nigris
maculis 7 parvis niveis,--1ma. parva in medio cellulæ; 2da. obliqua
cellulam terminante; 3tia. ovali inter cellulam et apicem alæ; 4ta.
elongata ante medium marginis interni; 5ta. pone maculam 2am; 6ta.
bipartita inter 3am et 7am prope angulum posticum; alis posticis
sanguineis, limbo nigro. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 3.
Habitat in Montibus Cameroons, Afr. occid. In Mus. Hopeiano.
EUSEMIA ÆMULATRIX, Westw.
Mediocriter angusta, alis anticis angustis, nigris,
albido-maculatis,--macula parva rotunda in medio cellulæ; 2da. majori
ad apicem cellulæ; 3tia. fasciæformi in partes quinque venis nigris
divisa, angusta et in medio extus angulata; 4ta. elongata e basi ad
medium marginis interni extensa; 5ta. irregulari-ovata pone 2am.; 6ta.
minuta intus angulum posticum; alis posticis sanguineis, limbo nigro;
abdomine fulvo, ano nigro-barbato. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2⅓.
Habitat ----? In Mus. Hopeiano.
EUSEMIA PARDALINA, Walker, Trans. N. Hist. Soc. Glasgow, vol. i. (1873).
The type of this species, from Congo, is in the Hopeian collection,
together with a second individual brought from Angola by Monteiro. It
differs from _E. Euphemia_ in its smaller size, and in having
the ground colour of the hind wings rich orange fulvous instead of
sanguineous.
EUSEMIA MERETRIX, Westw.
Alis anticis nigris, maculis 5 fulvis,--1ma. obliqua subbasali
marginem anticum et posticum non attingenti; 2da. ovali ad apicem
cellulæ; 3tia. duplo majori oblongo-ovali et obliqua inter cellulam et
apicem alæ; 4ta. fere rotundata pone 2am; 5ta. parva angulo postico
proxima; costa basi albo-guttata, margine postico immaculato; alis
posticis rufis, limbo nigro. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2¾.
Habitat in Africa merid. (D. Buxton). In Mus. Hopeiano.
EUSEMIA NUGATRIX, Westw.
Alis anticis nigris, costa ad basim biguttata, maculis 6
luteo-albidis,--1ma. subtrigona ante medium cellulæ; 2da. subquadrata
parum obliqua ante apicem cellulæ; 3tia. magna subovali obliqua inter
medium et apicem alæ, intus vena 3tia mediana in dentem nigrum incisa;
4ta. oblonga marginis postici, medium marginis fere attingente; 5ta.
pone 2am; 6ta. fere ad angulum posticum alæ; interstitiis argenteo
parum squamosis; alis posticis rufo-aurantiacis, limbo simplici nigro.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2⅔–3¼.
Habitat apud promontorium, “Cape Palmas,” Afr. occid. (Savage). In Mus.
Hopeiano.
EUSEMIA GLOSSATRIX, Westw.
Alis supra nigris, purpureo-nitidis, præsertim in alis posticis;
anticis fascia media parum curvata tripartita straminea, alteraque
inter medium et apicem alæ e punctis 4 albis formata, interstitiis
squamis argenteis perpaucis ornatis; alis posticis margine postico
albo, intus dentato; abdomine supra nigro, subtus fulvo; collare et
pedibus subtus fulvis. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2¼.
Habitat in Afric. orient-merid. In Mus. Hopeiano.
Family SATURNIIDÆ.
This splendid family is well represented in Africa, particularly in
the south-eastern portion, where a number of beautiful species have
been found, especially in Natal. A monograph of these insects, so far
as then known, was published by myself in the “Proceedings of the
Zoological Society,” in 1849 (with four coloured plates containing
thirty-three species), of which half were previously undescribed. Of
these, perhaps the most striking is the long-tailed species _Actias
mimosæ_, with pale green wings, which lives upon the Mimosa, on the
banks of the river Tugela, the boundary of the kingdom of Amazulu,
between Delagoa Bay and Natal, the cocoons of which are used by the
natives for tobacco boxes. Another fine species is _Saturnia Alcinoë_,
Cramer, pl. 322, fig. A, (= _S. Caffraria_, Stoll, pl. 31, f. 2, _S.
caffra_, Boisduval in Delegorgue’s Voy. Afr. Austr. ii. p. 601). A
specimen of this species, measuring seven inches in the expansion of
the fore wings, was taken by Mr. Oates, but the precise locality was
not recorded. Another species, which appears to be undescribed, was
also taken by Mr. Oates, which may be thus characterized:--
SATURNIA CERVINA, Westw.
Tota roseo-cervina, alis anticis spatio minuto transverso squamis
destituta ad apicem cellulæ, striolaque paullo obscuriori paullo
curvata et vix distincta inter cellulam et marginem posticum; alis
posticis macula parva trigona ad apicem cellulæ; abdomine magis fulvo;
alis anticis apice subrotundatis. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 4⅔.
Habitat prope Tati.
A beautiful species, nearly allied to the European emperor moth, was
taken by Mr. Oates, which appears to be undescribed, although it
has been named by Mr. Butler, in manuscript, in the British Museum
collection:--
SATURNIA FLAVIDA.
_S. Apolloniæ_, Cramer, pl. 250, fig. A, persimilis; differt colore
fusco-griseo alarum flavido-tincto, fascia fusca pone ocellum, absque
maculis duabus nigricantibus subapicalibus, colore fusco subapicali
omnium alarum intus flavido latius marginato. Expans. alar. antic. unc.
3⅓.
Habitat prope Gubuleweyo.
I take this opportunity of describing two additional species of
_Saturnia_, closely allied to _S. flavida_, in the Hopeian
collection, together with a remarkable species collected by Mr.
Buxton:--
SATURNIA TERPSICHORINA, Westw.
_S. Apolloniæ_ similis at multo minor et pallidior, ocello alarum
anticarum ovali, fascia tenui extus connexa, hac prope apicem alæ
absque maculis duabus nigris; alis posticis basi albis absque fascia
indistincta subbasali, ocello ovali extus cum fascia tenui fusca
conjuncta, fascia 2da submarginali ut in _S. Apollonia_; thoracis
dorso macula livido-fusca; incisuris abdominis livido-marginatis.
Expans. alar. antic. unc. 2¾.
Habitat in Africa merid.-orient. In Mus. Hopeiano.
SATURNIA DYOPS, Maassen and Weymer, Beitr., fig. 21.
This species is also closely allied to _S. Apollonia_, but
wants the ocellus in the hind wings. Maassen obtained it from Natal.
Specimens from South Eastern Africa, and from Angola (Monteiro), are in
the Hopeian collection at Oxford.
SATURNIA HYPERBIUS, Westw.
Alis anticis ferruginosis, puncto minimo vitreo ad apicem cellulæ;
striga recta obliqua pone medium alæ cinerea, area pone strigam
magis aurantiaca, margine apicali plumbeo-tincto, ciliis rufis; alis
posticis fulvis ocello mediocri medio cinereo (medio albido) circulo
nigro; striga angusta cinerea inter ocellum et marginem posticum
plumbescentem, ciliis rufis: alis subtus saturatioribus, venis flavis,
anticis macula rotunda nigra, medio vitrea; cellula in posticis fere
obliterata, strigaque pone medium angustiori et minus distincta;
corpore rufo, abdomine magis fulvo. Expans. alar. antic. fere unc. 5.
Habitat in Africa merid. (D. Buxton.) In Mus. Hopeiano.
Family BOMBYCIDÆ.
The family BOMBYCIDÆ appears to be rich in species of the sub-family
LIMACODIDES, the caterpillars of which are clothed with short erect
bristles, which are capable of inflicting poisonous wounds; their
cocoons are very solid and egg-shaped. Notwithstanding their defensive
appendages they are subject to the attacks of parasites, and in the
“Transactions of the Entomological Society,” 1876, pl. 10, I have given
the history of a curious dipterous insect, _Systropus crudelis_, which
destroys individuals of one of the species of this group. Mr. Oates
obtained a number of species, the majority of which are, however, in
a very mutilated condition. Of one, which is a very showy insect and
appears to be undescribed, I give the description below:--
LIMACODES ARGENTIFERA, Westw.
Læte pallido-viridis, alis anticis basi macula media fasciaque
subapicali valde curvata e guttis argenteis, singulis guttis annulo
brunneo cinctis, fascia externa e medio marginis postici versus apicem
extensa at guttis sensim decrescentibus; alis posticis abdomineque
fulvis. Expans. alar. antic. unc. 1¼.
_Pantoctæniæ Gemmanti_, Felder, Reise Novara, pl. 82, fig. 16,
proxima.
Habitat prope Gubuleweyo.
A large species of this family, _Jana Mariana_, was collected by Mr.
Oates at Tati, and is figured in Plate G, fig. 6. The type specimen
is in the British Museum from Congo. It belongs to the modern Genus
_Jana_, of Boisduval, but was described by the late Adam White under
the name of _Bombyx Mariana_ (Ann. Nat. Hist. xii. 264). It is
fawn-coloured, the fore wings with four slender oblique undulating
brown bands. In the hind wings the bands are rather broader and more
distinct, and there is a large purplish black spot at the base of the
latter. The fore wings measure from 4 inches to 4⅔ inches in expanse.
The species of the remaining Lepidopterous families captured by Mr.
Oates did not comprise any remarkable new species, and were for the
most part in a much broken condition, rendering their determination
very difficult.
Order COLEOPTERA.
Family _Cicindelidæ_.
Of the carnivorous ground beetles five genera of CICINDELIDÆ
_Manticora_, _Platychile_, and _Dromica_, with _Ophryodera_ and
_Bostrichophorus_, are peculiar to the central and eastern sub-regions
of Africa. Of the first-named genera, Mr. Oates collected specimens of
the gigantic _Manticora latipennis_, Waterhouse, together with a fine
new species of _Dromica_ characterized below:--
DROMICA (MYRMECOPTERA) OATESII, Westw. (Plate G, fig. 5, and Plate H,
figs. 1, 1_a_, 1_b_.)
Nigra, capite rugose striolato, labro lævi, in medio fulvo; pronoto
subopaco transverse striolato, linea media dorsali albo-hirta, elytris
obovalibus granulatis, singulis 5-costatis, costis longe ante apicem
desinentibus; costa suturæ proxima e tuberculis oblongis formata; costa
2da ad basim straminea, nigro-punctata; margine externo inter medium
et apicem linea gracili albida notato; antennis pone articulum 4tum
dilatatis, compressis, articulis sensim ad apicem decrescentibus. Fœm.
Long. corp. unc. 1, lat. med. elytr. lin. 3½.
Family CARABIDÆ.
Of this family there are 17 peculiarly South African Genera, including
_Crepidogaster_, _Hystrichopus_, _Arsinoë_, and _Piezia_. The genera
_Eunostus_, _Glyphodactyla_, and _Megalonychus_, occur in Madagascar as
well as in South Africa. The greater portion of the gigantic species
of _Anthia_ are African, and of these a number were collected by
Mr. Oates, including _A. maxillosa_, Fabricius, _Mellyi_, De Breme,
_cinctipennis_, Dupont, _guttata_, Melly, MS. in Brit. Mus., and an
apparently undescribed species. Of the allied Genus _Cypholoba_,
specimens were captured of _C. alveolata_, De Breme, and 7-_guttata_,
Fabricius. Of _Polyhirma_ two species, _P. macilenta_, Olivier, and
_amabilis_, Boheman (?), and two species of _Graphipterus_, _G.
cordiger_, Dejean, and _Westwoodii_, De Breme (?). _Drypta jucunda_ and
_Orthogonius caffer_, complete the list of CARABIDÆ.
Family SCARABÆIDÆ.
Of the sacred beetles, SCARABÆIDÆ, eminently characteristic of Africa,
and especially of the southern region, specimens of the gigantic
_Pachylomera femoralis_, Kirby, and a _Heliocantharus_, the largest
species of the genus, were taken by Mr. Oates, together with _H.
transversus_, Laporte (_operosus_, Dejean), and _H. intricatus_.
_Circellium Bacchus_, _Chalconotus cupreus_ (varietas minor et
brevior); three charming species of _Gymnopleurus_, _G. Olivierii_,
_fulgidus_, and _speciosus_; _Sisyphus_, one small species; _Copris_,
eight species, including _C. Jachus_, _Œdipus_, _Nemestrinus_, and
_cœlatus_; six small obscure species of _Onthophagus_; _Onitis inuus_
and _ciliatus_:--the preceding, of all of which specimens were taken,
together with several small obscure species of _Aphodius_, all being
coprophagous in their habits, sufficiently testify to the existence of
numbers of large mammalia in the regions where they occur.
Family MELOLONTHIDÆ.
Of this family a number of small obscure-coloured species were also
collected, with two species of _Trox_; but of the very characteristic
genera _Anisonyx_, _Peritrichia_, _Lepitrix_, _Pachycnema_, _Dichelus_,
_Monochelus_, and _Gymnoloma_, all very numerous in species, and
peculiar to South Africa, no specimens were captured by Mr. Oates.
Family DYNASTIDÆ.
_Oryctes Boas_, Fabricius, and a small _Syrichthus_, allied to _S.
gagates_, were the only DYNASTIDÆ captured; the former in large numbers.
Family CETONIIDÆ.
Of the family of the Rose Chafers (CETONIIDÆ), containing about 1000
described species, twelve genera are peculiar to Western Africa,
fourteen to South Africa, and twenty-one to Madagascar. Of the gigantic
species of Goliath beetles, _Goliathus albo-signatus_, Boheman
(_Kirkii_, G. R. Gray), inhabits the Zambesi country. _Ceratorhina
splendens_, Bertoloni (_Petersiana_, Klug), one of the loveliest and
most remarkable of beetles, inhabits the Tati district and Mozambique,
but none of these singular insects were found by Mr. Oates. Six species
of CETONIIDÆ were taken by Mr. Oates, including _Pachnoda obsoleta_,
Schaum; _Spilophorus plagosus_; _Phoxomela umbrosa_, Gory and
Perchéron; and _Oxythyrea discicollis_, Reiche, and _hæmorrhoidalis_,
Fabricius.
Family LUCANIDÆ.
Of this family there are ten genera in South Africa, seven of which
are peculiar, and two of these are confined to the Island of Bourbon;
two genera are peculiar to Western tropical Africa and three to South
Africa; whilst the otherwise widely-ranging genera _Lucanus_ and
_Dorcus_ are absent from Africa. No species of this family was taken by
Mr. Oates.
Family BUPRESTIDÆ.
This family is very extensive, containing at least 2700 species, many
of which are splendidly coloured insects, of gigantic size, amongst
which is a group essentially African, remarkable for the numerous
pencils of short erect hairs dotted over their whole upper surface
(Genus _Julodis_, Eschscholtz). The species of _Steraspis_ and
_Sternocera_ are also of large size and great brilliancy. Twenty-seven
genera of these insects occur in South Africa, of which six are
peculiar, but Mr. Oates only collected four small and obscure species.
The singular Genus _Polybothris_, with widely dilated elytra, is
peculiar to Madagascar, no species of the genus having been found on
the African continent.
Family ELATERIDÆ.
This family is also of great extent, consisting of not fewer than
2700 described species, many of which are exclusively natives
of South-Eastern Africa and Madagascar, the finest group being
_Tetralobus_, and its immediate allies, having flabellate antennæ,
which are almost restricted to Africa, a few only occurring in
New Holland. Of this group Mr. Oates collected a very interesting
species, which I have figured in Plate G, fig. 4, and which appears
to be identical with _Tetralobus bifoveolatus_ of Boheman (although
apparently differing in certain points).
Family PAUSSIDÆ.
Africa possesses a number of species of this singular family, found in
Natal by Herr Guienzius in ants’ nests. Mr. Oates, however, collected
only one species, _Pleuropterus alternans_, Westw., Thesaurus Ent.
p. 74, pl. 16, f. 2.
Family HISTERIDÆ.
These insects, which are generally found in excrement, appear to be
numerous in individuals, although only about eight species were taken,
one of large size.
Family SILPHIDÆ.
Of the carrion beetles one alone, _Silpha_ (_micans_, Fabricius), was
captured.
Family BOSTRICHIDÆ.
Of the numerous family of wood-boring beetles, five species were found
in considerable numbers, including _Apate_ (_monacha_ and _cornutus_,
Fabricius).
Family TENEBRIONIDÆ.
This extensive family, belonging to the HETEROMEROUS SECTION of the
Order, in its widest extent, as catalogued by Gemminger and Von Harold,
comprises more than 4500 described species, many of the largest and
finest of which are peculiarly African, such as _Chiroscelis_ and
its allies (of which I published an illustrated monograph in the
“Transactions of the Zoological Society,” vol. iii. 1849), and the
gigantic species of _Moluris_, such as _M. Bertolonii_, Guérin, from
Mozambique; _M. Rowleiana_, Westw., from the Zambesi; _M. gravida,_
Damara Land; and _M. Procrustes_, Delagoa Bay, illustrated in my
paper in “Trans. Ent. Soc.” 1875, pl. 6. Many of these insects, which
are especially natives of large sandy districts, were captured by
Mr. Oates, including _Moluris Perretii_, _M. gibbosa_, _M. albipes_,
etc., _Dichtha inflata_, Gerstaecker, _Anomalipus lineatus_ and
_intermedius_, _Hypomeles rugosus_, Fabricius, etc. Numerous smaller
species of MELASOMATOUS HETEROMERA, and HELOPIDÆ, were also taken, as
well as ten species of MYLABRIDÆ.
Family HELOPIDÆ.
Amongst the HELOPIDÆ, apparently allied to _Centronipus_ and
_Stenochia_, is an insect captured by Mr. Oates, which must be referred
to a new Genus,
Genus DEROSPHÆRIUS, Westw.
Corpus oblongum, subcylindricum; capite parvo, conico, ante oculos
utrinque rotundato-elevato, antennis longitudine dimidii corporis,
articulis æqualibus, externis paullo brevioribus at non crassioribus;
mandibulis capitis longitudine æqualibus curvatis, supra prope basim
cornu erecto, apice inciso, armatis; labro subrotundato, antice
emarginato; palpis maxillaribus elongatis, articulo ultimo vix
securiformi; mentum transversum antice angustatum; palpis labialibus
parvis, subcylindricis; prothorax rotundatus, subglobosus; pedes satis
graciles; tarsis heteromeris, simplicibus, unguibus simplicibus.
DEROSPHÆRIUS ANTHRACINUS, Westw. (Plate G, fig. 3, and Plate H, figs.
2, 2_a_, 2_b_, 2_c_.)
Niger nitidus, capite inter antennas biimpresso, pronoto subtiliter
punctatissimo; elytris punctato-striatis. Long. corp. fere lin. 6.
Family CURCULIONIDÆ.
Of the still more extensive family of the Weevils (Genus _Curculio_,
Linnæus), of which, including the SCOLYTIDÆ, BRENTHIDÆ, and ANTHRIBIDÆ,
not fewer than 1200 species have been described, large numbers are
peculiarly African, especially the great Genera _Brachycerus_,
_Episus_, _Microcerus_, _Platycopes_, _Sciobius_, and many others,
the species of most of which are distinguished by their dull colours
and sluggish movements, fitting them for their existence in wide arid
sandy districts, where they emulate the _Pimeliæ_ and _Molurides_. Of
this great tribe only nine species were captured, including numbers of
individuals of the gigantic _Brachycerus apterus_, remarkable for the
red spots on its black body, _B. congestus_, etc.
Family CERAMBYCIDÆ.
Of the great family of Longicorn beetles (_Cerambyx_, Linnæus),
consisting of not less than 8000 already described species, there are
in South Africa 262 genera, of which no less than 67 are peculiar,
namely 5 of PRIONIDÆ, 25 of CERAMBYCIDÆ, and 37 of LAMIIDÆ. The
most conspicuous of these genera are _Sternotomis_, _Zographus_,
_Alphitopola_, _Tragocephalus_, _Phryneta_, _Ceroplesis_. The giant
_Prionides_ are evidently very rare, but the remarkable genera may
be mentioned, _Cacoscelis_, _Cantharoctenus_, and _Cantharoplatys_,
Westw. (Thes. Ent.). Of this great group only 23 species were
collected by Mr. Oates, including _Ceroplesis hottentotta_, _C.
cruentata_, and two other species, _Phrissoma giganteum_, _Callichroma
latipes_, _Hamaticherus sericeus_ and _denticornis_, and _Amphidesmus
analis_, Olivier.
Family CHRYSOMELIDÆ.
The Phytophagous or plant-eating beetles (_Chrysomela_, Linn.), as
may be inferred from their habits, are exceedingly numerous, both in
species and individuals, in all parts of the world, more than 10,200
species having been described. Some few groups are especially African,
such as _Pæcilomorpha_, Hope, belonging to the _Megalopides_, numerous
species of _Sagra_, _Antipa_, _Melitonoma_, _Acolastus_, _Eurytus_,
_Pausiris_, _Pallena_, _Cyno_, _Macrocoma_, etc. Only twenty-three
species of these insects were taken by Mr. Oates, including _Sagra
festiva_, Gerst., _Diamphidia femoralis_, Gerst., _Clythra tettensis_,
and various species of _Eumolpus_, _Cassida_, _Hispa_, _Colaspis_, etc.
The other orders of insects received but little attention, and but few
are contained in Mr. Oates’s collection.
Order ORTHOPTERA.
In this order several large and beautiful species of locusts were
taken, including _Acridium leprosum_ and _scabrosum_, and _Petasia
cruentata_, _Pamphagus haploscelis_, and the curious wingless
grasshopper, _Eugaster loricatus_ of Gerstaecker. Two or three
different kinds of Crickets and four species of BLATTIDÆ were also
taken.
Order NEUROPTERA.
In this order a large species of _Myrmeleon_, marked like _M.
Libelluloides_, and the lovely _Palpares citrinus_, were collected.
Order HYMENOPTERA.
In this order two large species of sand wasps with steel blue wings
were taken.
Order HEMIPTERA.
Of HEMIPTERA twelve species of CIMICIDÆ were taken.
Order DIPTERA.
In this order various species injurious to cattle and horses, including
six species of TABANIDÆ, one being the beautiful _Tabanus africanus_
of Gray (Griff. Anim. Kingd. Ins. pl. 114, fig. 5), were taken; also
two species of _Hippobosca_, and various specimens of the terrible
TSETSE (_Glossina morsitans_, Westw., Proc. Zool. Soc., 10th December
1850), of which I have thought it would be desirable to give a fresh
figure (Plate G, fig. 2). The figure which I gave of this insect,
accompanying my original description, was afterwards copied upon the
titlepage of Dr. Livingstone’s Travels (without acknowledgment), and in
my memoir I ventured to suggest not only that the Tsetse was identical
with the Zimb of Bruce, but also possibly with the Tsaltsalya; and
further, that “the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers
of Egypt,” described by the prophet Isaiah (ch. vii. 18, 19), and
considered as the cause of one of the plagues of Egypt, may also have
been no other than the Tsetse. Two notes recently published on this
insect, with suggestions of remedying or preventing its attacks, may be
added:--
Lewis Hornor, in the “Times,” 25th February 1879, writes, “Having
hunted in the African fly country and seen many horses and oxen die of
the bite, against which no external application is, I firmly believe,
any safeguard, I venture to call attention to the precautions adopted
by the Boer elephant hunters in the interior. The Tsetse inhabits
narrow and clearly defined strips of country, familiar to all natives,
and readily evident to strangers. On approaching one of these ‘fly
belts’ (so called) a halt is made, and inspanning again at sundown the
Boer treks through at night in safety. I only remember one case of
mishap, when, in crossing a belt near the confluence of the Chobé and
Zambesi, two or three oxen out of nearly forty were bitten, and that,
if my memory serves me, on a bright moonlight night.”
The African traveller Hildebrandt recommends strongly, in the
“Korrespondenzblatt der afrik. Gesellschaft,” the use of petroleum
for those travelling in the tropics, as a protection against insects.
Occasional applications to the face and hands ensured entire freedom
from mosquitoes, and the same method sufficed to preserve horses and
cattle against the deadly attacks of the Dondorobo gadfly, which so
often cripples the movements of the explorer. Petroleum likewise
protected the Natural History Collections of the traveller from ants,
moths, etc.
[The description of Plates E-H is given on p. 365.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.E.
[symbol]. del. Mintern Bros. lith.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.F.
[symbol]. del. Mintern Bros. lith.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.G.
[symbol]. del. Mintern Bros. lith.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.H.
[symbol]. del. Mintern Bros. lith.]
DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES.
PLATE E.
Fig. 1, 2. _Acræa amphimalla_.
„ 3, 4. _Callosune Wallengrenii_.
„ 5, 6. _Callosune ramaquebana_.
„ 7, 8. _Callosune Buxtoni_, female.
„ 9, 10. _Callosune regina_, female.
„ 11. _Chœrocampa virgo_.
PLATE F.
Fig. 1, 2. _Acræa Atergatis_.
„ 3, 4. _Acræa Atolmis_.
„ 5, 6. _Acræa Axina_.
„ 7, 8. _Acræa Acontias_.
„ 9, 10. _Acræa Aglaonice_.
„ 11, 12. _Acræa Acronycta_.
PLATE G.
Fig. 1. _Eusemia adulatrix_.
„ 2. _Glossina morsitans_.
„ 3. _Derosphærius anthracinus_.
„ 4. _Tetralobus bifoveolatus_.
„ 5. _Dromica Oatesii_.
„ 6. _Jana Mariana_.
PLATE H.
Fig. 1. Upper lip and mandibles of _Dromica Oatesii_; 1a, maxilla
of do.; 1_b_, lower lip and palpi of do.
Fig. 2. Upper lip of _Derosphærius anthracinus_; 2_a_, mandible; 2_b_,
maxilla; 2_c_, lower lip of do.
Fig. 3. Head, antenna and spiral tongue of _Eusemia adulatrix_;
3_a_, chief veins of the fore wing of do.; 3_b_, extremity of
the body of the male of do., seen sideways.
Fig. 4. Head of _Jana Mariana_; 4_a_, do., seen sideways; 4_b_, chief
veins of the fore wings of do.
Fig. 5. Head of the Tsetse, seen sideways, with the parts of the
sucker separated from each other; 5_a_, antenna; 5_b_, pad
of the feet of do.
V.
BOTANY.[78]
By D. OLIVER, F.R.S., F.L.S., Professor of Botany in
University College, London.
(PLATES J, K.)
Order RANUNCULACEÆ.
* RANUNCULUS PINNATUS, Poir.
Order POLYGALACEÆ.
* POLYGALA VIRGATA, Thunb.
Order TILIACEÆ.
TRIUMFETTA WELWITSCHII, Masters.
Order MALPIGHIACEÆ.
ACRIDOCARPUS PRURIENS, A. Juss.
Order ZYGOPHYLLACEÆ.
* ZYGOPHYLLUM DREGEANUM, Presl?
Order AMPELIDEÆ.
VITIS, sp.
Order LEGUMINOSÆ.
* SUTHERLANDIA FRUTESCENS, R. Br.
ERYTHRINA, sp.
ERIOSEMA, sp.
BAUHINIA FASSOGLENSIS, Kotschy.
CASSIA TETTENSIS, Bolle?
* ACACIA, sp.
Order ROSACEÆ.
* CLIFFORTIA LINEARIFOLIA, E. and Z.?
Order SAXIFRAGACEÆ.
VAHLIA CAPENSIS, Berg.
Order COMBRETACEÆ.
COMBRETUM, sp.
COMBRETUM ZEYHERI, Sond.?
Order TURNERACEÆ.
WORMSKIOLDIA LONGEPEDUNCULATA, Masters.
Order UMBELLIFERÆ.
PEUCEDANUM CAPENSE, Dietr.?
Order RUBIACEÆ.
FADOGIA ZEYHERI, Sond.?
Order COMPOSITÆ.
* GEIGERIA ZEYHERI, Harv.
* ARTEMISIA AFRA, Jacq.
* DENEKIA CAPENSIS, D. C.
NIDORELLA AURICULATA, D. C.
* GERBERA NATALENSIS, Schultz Bip.
Order CAMPANULACEÆ.
WAHLENBERGIA BANKSIANA, A. D. C.
LOBELIA DECIPIENS, Sond.?
Order ERICACEÆ.
* ERICA, near COCCINEA, Berg.
Order OLEACEÆ.
JASMINUM, sp.
Order APOCYNACEÆ.
CARISSA, near TOMENTOSA, A. Rich.
Order CONVOLVULACEÆ.
EVOLVULUS ALSINOIDES, Linn., var.
Order BORAGINACEÆ.
TRICHODESMA PHYSALOIDES, A. D. C.
Order SOLANACEÆ.
SOLANUM SUBEXARMATUM, Dunal?
Order GENTIANACEÆ.
CHIRONIA, sp.
Order SCROPHULARIACEÆ.
LYPERIA BURKEANA, Benth.
* LIMOSELLA TENUIFOLIA, Nutt.
* DICLIS REPTANS, Benth.
Order ACANTHACEÆ.
* HYPOESTES FORSKAHLII, R. Br.?
* HYPOESTES VERTICILLARIS, R. Br.?
Order SELAGINACEÆ.
* HEBENSTREITIA, near DENTATA, Thunb.
Order VERBENACEÆ.
LIPPIA ASPERIFOLIA, Rich.
LANTANA or LIPPIA, sp.
Order LABIATÆ.
* LEONOTIS LEONURUS, R. Br.
OCYMUM, or ORTHOSIPHON, sp.
Order AMARANTHACEÆ.
ACHYRANTHES ASPERA, L.?
Order EUPHORBIACEÆ.
EUPHORBIA, sp.
Order ORCHIDACEÆ.
LISSOCHILUS, 2 sp.
Order IRIDACEÆ.
GLADIOLUS BREVIFOLIUS, Jacq.
GLADIOLUS, near QUARTINIANUS, A. Rich.
Order AMARYLLIDACEÆ.
HÆMANTHUS, near MULTIFLORUS, Martyn.
Order HYPOXIDACEÆ.
HYPOXIS VILLOSA, L.
Order LILIACEÆ.
ANTHERICUM (TRACHYANDRA) OATESII, Baker in Trimen’s _Journal of
Botany_, 1878, p. 324. (Plate J.)
Rootstock not seen complete; outer tunics produced as a membrane round
its neck. Produced leaves 5–6, contemporary with the flowers, terete
above the sheathing base, ½ foot long, ½ line in diameter, clothed
with fine soft deflexed white hairs as long as the diameter of the
leaf. Scape as long as the leaves, pilose in the lower part glabrous
upwards. Raceme lax, simple, ½ a foot long, 1–1¼ inch in diameter;
bracts minute, deltoid; pedicels erecto-patent, the lower ones ½–¾ inch
long. Perianth white, fugacious; segments ¼ inch long, lanceolate, with
a distinct 1-nerved or obscurely 3-nerved brown keel. Stamens falling
a little short of the perianth-segments; filaments muricate; anthers
oblong, very minute. Style declinate, just overtopping the anthers.
Near the Abyssinian _A. Saltii_, and Cape _A. pubescens_.
ALOE, sp.
ASPARAGUS, sp.
* ANDROCYMBIUM MELANTHIOIDES, Willd.
[Illustration:
App.Pl.J.
W. H. Fitch del. Mintern Bros. imp.
ANTHERICUM OATESII.]
[Illustration:
App.Pl.K.
W. H. Fitch del. Mintern Bros. imp.
ADIANTUM OATESII.]
Order GRAMINEÆ.
* PANICUM (TRICHOLÆNA) ROSEUM (Nees.)
* ANDROPOGON, sp.
* ANDROPOGON (CYMBOPOGON) HIRTUS, L.
Order FILICES.
* PELLÆA CONSOBRINA, Hook.
ADIANTUM ÆTHIOPICUM, L.
ADIANTUM OATESII, Baker. (Plate K.)
Stipe slender, brown, glabrous. Lamina pedate, with 6–7 pinnate
divisions, the largest 6–8 inches long, 1¼–1½ inch broad; end segment
cuneate, ½–1 inch broad; side segments dimidiate, shortly petioled,
all, except the lowest, rather ascending, imbricating over the rachis
at the inner anterior corner, the largest ¾–⅞ inch broad, ½ inch long,
straight and truncate on the lower and inner borders, cut into deep
rounded lobes on the upper and outer borders; lower segments gradually
dwindling down in size; rachis quite glabrous and scale-less, bright
brown; texture thin, membranous; both surfaces bright green and
glabrous. Sori not seen. Veins close, fine, distinct, flabellate, free.
Closely allied to the American and Asiatic _A. pedatum_, Linn., from
which it differs by the fewer divisions of the frond, the outer ones
not falcately curved, and its shortly-petioled ultimate segments, which
are fewer, broader, and imbricated over the rachis.
ADIANTUM LUNULATUM, Burm.
CHEILANTHES FARINOSA, Kaulf.
NEPHRODIUM MOLLE, Desv.
NEPHRODIUM (LASTREA), sp.
NEPHROLEPIS EXALTATA, Schott.
NEPHROLEPIS CORDIFOLIA, Presl.
MOHRIA CAFFRORUM, Desv.
VI.
LIST OF MAKALAKA WORDS AND PHRASES,
From one of Mr. F. OATES’S Note-Books, 1874–5.
Y-sloga, _axe_.
Sewon[:c]ha, fold, _enclosure_.
Inslogo, _head_.
Lusa, _herd_.
Mutwalla, _package_.
Le-[:c]hebe, _pan_ (_of water_).
Bushlune, _powder_.
Mouti, _tree_, _medicine_.
A-acho, _our_.
A-aka, _his_.
Hlula, _to go by_.
T̈heula, _to be lame_.
Pesa, _to leave off_.
Amanga, _to lie_.
Ponsa, _to shoot_.
Hclanza, _to be sick_; also, _to wash_.
T̈hkinga, _to spy out_.
Londalosa, _to take care of_.
Incolo-ga Stoffel, _Stoffel’s waggon_.
Gagwasasan, _early this morning_.
Ea gahte, _a long time ago_.
Eo vouta, _it’s cooking_.
Ya chesa, _it is hot_.
Ngeswēle, _I heard_.
Ongeswanga, _I have not heard_.
Oeswēle? _did you hear_?
Gangbonanga, _I have not seen_.
Angetanga, _I don’t like_.
Una manga, _you lie_.
Gane na manga, _I don’t lie_.
Gang aze, _I don’t know_.
Asea aze, _we don’t know_.
Gneponsele, _I shot_.
Ngeza gon shia, _I’ll hit you_.
Wale shia lipe? _where is he_?
Bangape ba fana? _where are the boys_?
Y gu bane? _whom does it belong to_?
E haubele nane? _when did it go_?
Koulape? _where are you lame_?
Mouti moone? _what tree is that_?
Hamba tata zinto zato, _go get our things_.
Ouguchen gesa inglella eang Gubuleweyo, _show me the road to
Gubuleweyo_.
INDEX.
Abantu Skulls, 276, 278, 279, 286
Abantu tribes, adoption of customs by, from the Khoi-Khoin races,
291
_Acacia_, sp., 366
_Acherontia Atropos_, 353
_Achyranthes aspera_, 368
_Acræa Acontias_, 345
_Acronycta_, 346
_Aglaonice_, 246
_amphimalla_, 347
_Anemosa_, 348
_Atergatis_, 342
_Atolmis_, 343
_Axina_, 344
_Bellua_, 348
_Caldarene_, 347
_Dircæa_, 348
_Hypatia_, 348
_natalica_, 348
_Neobule_, 348
_Rahira_, 348
_Acræidæ_, 342
_Acridium leprosum_, 363
_scabrosum_, 363
_Acridocarpus pruriens_, 366
_Actitis hypoleucus_, 325
_Adiantum æthiopicum_, 369
_lunulatum_, 369
_Oatesii_, 369
_Aëdon leucophrys_, 309
_Ægialitis atricollaris_, 326
_Ægithalus_, or Penduline Titmouse, nest of, 76, _note_
_Agaristidæ_, 355
_Alaudidæ_, 317
_Alcedinidæ_, 303
_Aloe_, sp., 369
Amadavats, nests of, 76
_Amadina erythrocephala_, 320
_Amblypodia natalensis_, 351
_Leroma_, 351
_Amphidesmus analis_, 363
_Amydrus bicolor_, 316
_morio_, 316
_Anas xanthorhyncha_, 327
_Anatidæ_, 327
_Androcymbium melanthioides_, 369
_Andropogon_, sp., 369
(_Cymbopogon_) _hirtus_, 369
_Anomalipus intermedius_, 361
_lineatus_, 361
_Anthericum_ (_Trachyandra_) _Oatesii_, 368
_Anthia cinctipennis_, 359
_guttata_, 359
_maxillosa_, 359
_Mellyi_, 359
_Anthocharis Eosphorus_, 336
_Erone_, 338
_Anthopsyche speciosa_, 338
_Theopompe_, 337
_Anthus caffer_, 317
_pyrrhonotus_, 317
Ant-eating Wheatear, Southern, 307
Ants, 40, 72. _See also_ White ants.
_Apate cornutus_, 361
_monacha_, 361
Apricots, 4, 37, 49
_Ardea melanocephala_, 326
_purpurea_, 326
_rufiventris_, 327
_Ardeidæ_, 326
_Ardeiralla Sturmii_, 326
_Artemisia afra_, 367
_Asio capensis_, 300
_Asparagus_, sp., 369
Assegais, different varieties of, 101, _note_
_Astur polyzonoides_, 298
_Aterica Meleagris_, 349
Australian skulls, 281
Ayres, Mr. Thomas, reference to, 294
Babbling Thrush, Jardine’s, 309
Pied, 308
Baines, Thomas, reference to, 247, 254, 256–8
Baker, Mr. J. G., F.R.S., descriptions of two new species of plants
obtained by Mr. Oates, by, 368
Bamangwato, 15–22, 36, 147–159
fighting at, 155
(or Mungwato), the usual name for Shoshong, 11, _note_
Baobab trees, 72, 83, 145
Barbel, 51, 230
Barbet, Le Vaillant’s, 306
Pied, 305
_Batis molitor_, 311
_Bauhinia fassoglensis_, 366
Bee-eater, Blue-cheeked, 301
Carmine-throated, 301
European, 301
Little, 301
Swallow-tailed, 302
White-fronted, 301
Bees’ nests, 73, 135
Beef-eater, African, 316
Beetles, annoyance from, 40
Bell, Thomas, 4
Bembesi River, 68
Bengali Finch, Southern, 321
Biltong, meat dried in the sun, 45
Birds’ nests collected by Mr. Oates, 76
Bishop-bird, Red, 320
Bleek, Dr. W. H. J., researches of, 276
Blockley, Mr., 244, 245, 247
Blue gum trees, 8
Blumenbach, J. F., reference to, 277
Boa-constrictor, 75
Boer hunters, 154, 217
their indiscriminate slaughter of game, 223
Boers and their waggons, 220
character of, 10, 225
farms of, in the Transvaal, 9, 10, 12, 39
their apparent poverty, 12
Bolinlila, Lobengula’s brother, 67
_Bombycidæ_, 358
_Bombyx Mariana_, 358
Bond, Mr., 203
_Bostrichidæ_, 361
Botany, by Professor Oliver, F.R.S., F.L.S., 366–369
_Brachycerus apterus_, 362
_congestus_, 362
Bradshaw, Dr., joins Mr. Oates, 244–251
with him at his death, 260–264
_Bradyornis Oatesii_, 314
_Bradypterus gracilirostris_, 310
Brass wire, 119, 120, _note_
Bristle-necked Thrush, Cape, 308
Broca, P., reference to, 280, _note_
Brown, Mr., 173
Brown, Mr. A., of Tati, 33, 35, 140, 163, 168, 188, 190, 198, 199,
200–202, 213, 216, 222
_Bubo lacteus_, 299
_maculosus_, 299
_Bubonidæ_, 299
_Bubulcus ibis_, 327
_Bucerotidæ_, 304
_Buchanga assimilis_, 315
Buckley, Mr. T. E., 3–36, 294
Building, singular native, 175
Bulbul, Layard’s, 308
Le Vaillant’s, 308
Bullocks, State slaughter of, 105
Bunting, Cape, 322
Golden-breasted, 322
_Buphaga africana_, 316
_Buprestidæ_, 360
Bushman crania, 273 _et seq._
measurements of, 292, 293
race, Mongolian origin ascribed to, 288–290
indications of kinship with the Akka and Obongo tribes, 288
remains, failure to obtain, 136, 166
finally obtained, 231
Bushmen, 24, 25, 28, 50, 80, 137, 144, 152, 180
looked upon as game by the Matabele, 222
mysterious instincts of, 222
Bush-shrike, Bakbakiri, 312
Crimson-breasted, 312
Pied Puff-backed, 312
Red-winged, 313
Short-tailed, 310
South African Puff-backed, 312
Three-streaked, 313
Yellow-breasted, 312
Bush-warbler, Short-tailed, 310
Busk, Mr. G., reference to, 277
Bustard, Blue, 326
Kori, 326
_Buteo jackal_, 298
_Butorides atricapillus_, 326
_rufiventris_, 327
_Sturmii_, 326
Butterflies, distribution of, in Africa, 333–335
Buzzard, Jackal, 298
Caffre skulls, 278, 285. _See also_ Kafir
Calabash pumpkins, 112
_Callichroma latipes_, 363
_Callidryas Castalia_, 336
_Florella_, 335
_Pyrene_, 335
_Rhadia_, 336
_Swainsonii_, 335
_Callosune Antigone_, 338
_Buxtoni_, 340
_Casta_, 338
_Danaë_, 337
_Eione_, 340
_Eupompe_, 337
_Evenina_, 340
_Evippe_, 338
_inornata_, 338
_Ione_, 338
_Keiskamma_, 338
_Omphale_, 338
_pseudetrida_, 340
_Ramaquebana_, 341
_regina_, 339
_Theogone_, 339
_Wallengrenii_, 341
_Campethera Abingtoni_, 306
_Bennetti_, 306
_Smithii_, 306
_Capitonidæ_, 305
_Caprimulgidæ_, 300
_Caprimulgus europæus_, 300
_mossambicus_, 300
_rufigenis_, 300
_Caprona Pillaana_, 353
_Carabidæ_, 359
_Carissa_, sp., 367
Carrion beetles, 361
_Cassia tettensis_, 366
Caterpillars, 96
Cattle disease, heavy losses from, in Natal, 8, 13
Cattle, Mashona breed of, 226
_Centropus senegalensis_, 305
_superciliosus_, 305
_Cerambycidæ_, 362
_Cerchneis amurensis_, 299
_naumanni_, 299
_rupicola_, 299
_tinnunculoides_, 299
_Ceroplesis cruentata_, 363
_hottentotta_, 363
_Certhilauda semitorquata_, 317
_Ceryle maxima_, 303
_Ceryle rudis_, 303
_Cetoniidæ_, 360
Ceylon, skulls from, 281
_Chalconotus cupreus_, 359
_Chalcopelia afra_, 322
Chapman, Jas., reference to, 254–260
_Charadriidæ_, 325
_Charaxes Pelias_, 349
Charm, a hunter’s, 54
Chat, Familiar, 307
Chat-thrush, Natal, 309
Cheetahs, goat killed by, 247
_Cheilanthes farinosa_, 369
_Chera progne_, 220, _note_; 319
_Chettusia coronata_, 325
Chinese, skulls of, 281
_Chironia_, sp., 367
_Chœrocampa capensis_, 354
_virgo_, 354
Christmas Day at the Pantamatenka, 244–246
_Chrysococcyx cupreus_, 305
_Chrysomelidæ_, 363
_Chrysophanus Lara_, 352
_Cicindelidæ_, 358
_Ciconia alba_, 327
_Ciconiidæ_, 327
_Cinnyris afer_, 310
_gutturalis_, 310
_mariquensis_, 310
_Circellium Bacchus_, 359
_Circus ranivorus_, 297
_Cisticola aberrans_, 309
_chiniana_, 309
_cursitans_, 310
_curvirostris_, 309
_tinniens_, 309
Cleland, Prof. J., reference to, 283, _note_
_Cliffortia linearifolia_, 366
_Clythra tettensis_, 363
_Coccystes cafer_, 305
Cokhé River, 67
_Colias Pyrene_, 335
_Coliidæ_, 305
_Colius erythromelon_, 305
_striatus_, 305
_Colubridæ_, 329
_Columbæ_, 322
Coly, Quiriva, 305
South African, 305
_Combretum_, sp., 367
_Zeyheri_, 367
Cook, Captain, reference to, 291
Coot, Rufous-knobbed, 324
_Copris cœlatus_, 359
_Jachus_, 359
_Nemestrinus_, 359
_Œdipus_, 359
_Coracias caudata_, 302
_garrula_, 302
_nævia_, 302
_Coraciidæ_, 302
Cormorant, Long-tailed, 328
Corn-crake, 324
_Coronella tritænia_, 329
_Corvus scapulatus_, 316
_Corythornis cyanostigma_, 303
_Cosmetornis vexillarius_, 301
_Cossypha natalensis_, 309
Cotton, wild, 69
_Coturnix dactylisonans_, 324
_Delegorguei_, 324
_histrionica_, 324
Crake, Peters’s, 324
_Crateropus bicolor_, 308
_Jardinii_, 309
_Crex pratensis_, 324
Crickets, 363
_Crithagra angolensis_, 322
_chrysopyga_, 322
Crocodile River, 14–18, 57
farms on the, 39
Crocodiles, 69, 79, 105, 162
Crow, White-backed, 316
_Cuculidæ_, 305
_Cuculus clamosus_, 305
_cupreus_, 305
Cuckoo, Black, 305
Golden, 305
Lark-heeled, 305
Le Vaillant’s, 305
White-eyebrowed Lark-heeled, 305
_Curculionidæ_, 362
_Cyllo Leda_, 350
_Cynthia Cardui_, 349
_Cypholoba alveolata_, 359
_7-guttata_, 359
_Cypselidæ_, 301
_Cypselus apus_, 301
Dacha, hemp used for smoking, 193
Daka River, 240, 242, 243, 245, 247
Damaraland, elephants in, 75, 80
_Danais Chrysippus_, 350
Dance, the Great, 98–104
preparations for, 96–98
Darter, Le Vaillant’s, 328
Dawnay, the Hon. G. C., 38
_Dendropicus cardinalis_, 306
_namaquus_, 306
_Denekia capensis_, 367
_Derosphærius anthracinus_, 362
_Diadema Misippus_, 349
_Diamphidia femoralis_, 363
_Dichtha inflata_, 361
Dick (Kafir driver), 31, 107–113, 142
_Diclis reptans_, 368
_Dicrocercus hirundinaceus_, 302
_Dicruridæ_, 315
_Dilophus carunculatus_, 316
Dobie, Mr., 168, 176, _note_
Dog, tame, run wild, story of, 201
Dogs, Lobengula’s, 107, 114
ferocity of, 98, 111
Dorehill, Mr., 184–187, 226–242
Dove, Cape Turtle, 322
Emerald-spotted, 322
Long-tailed African, 322
_Dromica Oatesii_, 359
Drongo, African, 315
_Dryiophidæ_, 329
_Dryiophis Oatesii_, 329, 330
_Dryoscopus boulboul_, 312
_cubla_, 312
_Drypta jucunda_, 359
Du Chaillu, M. Paul B., reference to, 288, _note_
Duck, Yellow-billed, 327
Dwarf Goose, African, 327
Dwarf Heron, Black-headed, 326
_Dynastidæ_, 360
Eagle Owl, Spotted, 299
Verreaux’s, 299
Echle, native hunter, 78, 85
Ecker, Professor A., reference to, 279
Egret, Short-billed, 326
Eland’s River, 14
_Elanus cæruleus_, 298
_Elateridæ_, 361
Elephant guns, Lee’s views upon, 49
Elephants, 30, 50, 75, 76, 77, 84, 129, 140, 196, 203
large tusks of, 81
Entomology, by Professor J. O. Westwood, M.A., F.L.S., etc., 330
_et seq._
_Erebia Narycia_, 350
_Erica_, sp., 367
_Eriosema_, sp., 366
_Erythrina_, sp., 366
Eskimo skulls, 275, 281
_Estrelda astrild_, 320
_cyanogastra_, 321
_erythronota_, 320
_granatina_, 321
Ethnology, by Professor Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S., 274 _et seq._
_Eugaster loricatus_, 363
_Euphorbia_, sp., 368
Euphorbias, 46, _note_; 58, _note_
_Euplectes capensis_, 330
_oryx_, 320
_Eupodotis cærulescens_, 326
_cristata_, 326
_Eurocephalus anguitimens_, 314
_Eurystomus afer_, 302
_Eusemia adulatrix_, 355
_æmulatrix_, 355
_glossatrix_, 356
_meretrix_, 355
_niveosparsa_, 355
_nugatrix_, 356
_pardalina_, 355
_Evolvulus alsinoides_, 367
_Fadogia Zeyheri_, 367
Fairbairn, Mr. J., 52, 59, 62, 93, 109–113, 150, 162, 168
_Falco biarmicus_, 298
_minor_, 299
Fantail Warbler, Brown, 309
Common, 310
Larger Grey-backed, 309
Le Vaillant’s, 309
Smith’s, 309
Finch, Amadavat, 321
Black-cheeked, 320
Little Barred-breasted, 321
Scutellated, 319
Wax-bill, 320
Fires in the veldt, 54, 193
Fish held in abomination, 111
in the sand at Tati, 29
Flamakinyani, 342
Flies, annoyance from, 35, 38, 230
Flirt, one of Mr. Oates’s pointers, 159
Flower, Professor, measurements of Bushman crania by, 292
reference to, 278, 283, 285, 286
Fly-catcher, Eastern Yellow-eyed, 311
Red-crested, 311
South African Paradise, 311
Francolin, Grey-winged, 323
Natal, 323
Pileated, 323
_Francolinus afer_, 323
_natalensis_, 323
_pileatus_, 333
_Fringillaria capensis_, 322
_flaviventris_, 322
_Fringillidæ_, 320
Fritsch, Dr. Gustav, reference to, 286, 288, 289
Frogs, noise from, at night, 40
_Fulica cristata_, 324
_Gallinula angulata_, 324
Game-drive, Makalaka, 233
Garden, Captain and Mr., 140
_Geigeria Zeyheri_, 367
_Gerbera natalensis_, 367
Geruah, 242, 260
Gilchrist, Mr., journey to Tati and return to England, 3–41
second journey to South Africa, 265–270
visits Mr. Oates’s grave, 269
brings his effects to England, 267
_Gladiolus_, sp., 368
_brevifolius_, 368
_Glareola melanoptera_, 325
_Glareolidæ_, 325
_Glaucidium perlatum_, 300
_Glossina morsitans_, 363
Glossy Thrush, Meves’s, 317
Red-shouldered, 317
Smith’s, 316
Verreaux’s, 316
Goatsucker, nest of, 76
Gokwe River, 25, 28, 219
Goose, Knob-billed, 327
Goshawk, Chanting, 298
Many-banded, 298
Red-faced, 298
_Graculus africanus_, 328
Grapes, wild, 49, 91
_Graphipterus cordiger_, 359
_Westwoodii_, 359
Grass-owl, South African, 300
Grasshoppers, 363
Gratiolet, M. P., reference to, 280
Gray, Mr. Henry, 3–19
death of, at Lake Ngami, 157
Grebe, Little, 328
Greenshanks, 325
Griquas, party of, 235
Grosbeak, Angola, 322
Golden-rumped, 322
Striped-headed, 322
Ground beetles, carnivorous, 358
Gruber, Prof. W., reference to, 280, _note_
Gubuleweyo, 58–62, 89, 92–108, 183–188
Guinea-fowl, tame, story of, 201
Günther, Albert, M.A., Ph.D., M.D., F.R.S., descriptions of two new
species of snakes obtained by Mr. Oates, by, 329
Gwailo River, 72, 75
_Gymnopleurus fulgidus_, 359
_Olivierii_, 359
_speciosus_, 309
_Hæmanthus_, sp., 368
_Halcyon albiventris_, 303
_chelicutensis_, 303
_cyanoleuca_, 303
_semicærulea_, 303
_Hamaticherus denticornis_, 363
_sericeus_, 363
Hamy, Dr. E. T., reference to, 274
Hartmann, Dr. R., quoted, 288
reference to, 287
Hathorn, Mr. F. A., 20, 149, 204
undertakes the duties of executor after Mr. Oates’s death, 270
Hawk-moth, Death’s-head, 353
Hawk-moths, Silver-striped, 354
Head-dresses, native, variety of, 56
_Hebenstreitia_, sp., 368
Helmet-shrike, South African, 314
_Helopidæ_, 362
_Heliocantharus intricatus_, 359
_operosus_, 359
_transversus_, 359
Hemipode, Kurrichaine, 323
Hendrik, native servant, 31, 34, 142
Hepburn, Mr., 21, 149
Heron, Black-headed Dwarf, 326
Black-throated, 326
Buff-backed, 327
Purple, 326
Red-bellied, 327
Sturm’s, 326
_Herodius intermedia_, 326
Herpetology, by Albert Günther, M.A., Ph.D., M.D., F.R.S., 329
_Hesperiidæ_, 352
Hex River, 14
High Veldt, the, 7–9, 12, 40
_Hirundinidæ_, 311
_Hirundo cucullata_, 312
_puella_, 311
_Hirundo rustica_, 312
_semirufa_, 312
_Histeridæ_, 361
Holfontein, 14
Honey-guide, White-eared, 305
Hoopoe, South African, 304
Hope Fountain, 61, 62, 66, 86
_Hoplopterus speciosus_, 325
Horn, Mr., 208
Hornbill, African Grey, 304
nest of a, 131
note of the, 24
Yellow-billed, 304
Horse-sickness, 40, 48, 236–238
Horses, “salted,” value of, 40, 48, 89, 187, 191
Hottentot skulls, 277, 280, _note_
“Hottentotten-Schurze,” the, not confined to African races, 288
Hyænas, ox attacked by, 35
_Hypanis Ilithyia_, 350
_Hyphantornis capensis_, 318
_mariquensis_, 319
_nigrifrons_, 319
_ocularis_, 318
_olivaceus_, 318
_Hypoestes Forskahlii_, 368
_verticillaris_, 368
_Hypomeles rugosus_, 362
_Hypoxis villosa_, 368
_Idmais Eris_, 337
_Vesta_, 337
Impakwe River, 44, 45, 131, 132, 217
Inchlangin, 68
_Indicator Sparmanni_, 305
_Indicatoridæ_, 305
Induna, a rebellious, 209
Indunas’ Tree, the, 83
Inhlala, wild fruit, 90
Inkwesi River, 45, 129–131, 143, 185, 208
Inquinquesi River, 68
Intembin, 73
Inyati, 64, 68, 70, 72, 85
_Irrisor erythrorhynchus_, 304
_Ismene Pisistratus_, 352
_Iynx pectoralis_, 306
Jacana, Lesser African, 324
Jacob, 107–113, 142
Jacobs, Piet, 136, 140, 231, 263–268
his house at Tati, 200
_Jana Mariana_, 358
_Jasminum_, sp., 367
John, native interpreter, 65, 118, 153, 181, 188
_Junonia Clelia_, 349
_Cloantha_, 349
_Hecate_, 349
_natalica_, 349
_Octavia_, 349
_Œnone_, 349
_Orithya_, 349
Kafir Plum, 131
Kafirs, Mr. Oates threatened by, 166
various traits of, 13, 125, 156, 164, 165, 218, 221
Kalmuck music, 290, _note_
Kama, 155
Kamani, 155
Kennedy, Stoffel, 188–197, 207–211, 226–242
Kestrel, Eastern Red-footed, 299
Lesser, 299
South African, 299
Khoi-Khoin race, Mongolian origin ascribed to, 288
possible argument for their affinity with Papuans and Malays, 291
Kingfisher, African White-headed, 303
Angola, 303
Brown-hooded, 303
Great African, 303
Malachite-crested, 303
Pied, 303
Striped, 303
Kirk, Dr., reference to, 295
Kite, Black-shouldered, 298
Yellow-billed, 298
Klaas, Hottentot hunter, 128–137
Klaas, waggon-driver, 198, 199, 218
Klipspringers, 195
Knob-kerries, 94, _note_
Kumala River, 97, 117
Lacordaire, M. J. Theod., reference to, 331
_Lagonosticta minima_, 321
_Lamprocolius phœnicopterus_, 316
_Lamprotornis australis_, 316
_Mevesi_, 316
_Laniarius atrococcineus_, 312
_bakbakiri_, 312
_senegalus_, 313
_sulphureipectus_, 312
_trivirgatus_, 313
_Laniidæ_, 312
_Lanius collaris_, 313
_collurio_, 313
_minor_, 313
Lanner, South African, 299
_Lantana_ (or _Lippia_), sp., 368
Lark, Grey-collared, 317
Sabota, 318
South African, 317
South African Rufous-capped, 318
Lark-heeled Cuckoo, 305
White-eyebrowed, 305
Laurillard, C. L., quoted, 282, _note_
Lee, John, 42, 47–51, 112–115, 126, 127
his farm, 47–49, 127
fine scenery near, 125
Lee, Karl, 128, 137, 153, _note_
Lelongwe River, 72, 73
_Leonotis Leonurus_, 368
_Leucochitonea Levebu_, 353
Leydenburg gold-fields, 10
_Limacodes argentifera_, 358
_Limosella tenuifolia_, 368
Lions, 17, 31, 60, 140, 164, 172, 208
flesh of, 174
_Lippia asperifolia_, 368
_Lissochilus_, sp., 368
Livingstone, Dr., reference to, 254–260
_Lobelia decipiens_, 367
Lobengula, 59–65, 94–115, 141, 183–187
despotic power of, 36, 63
equivocal conduct of, 170, 186
his dress and appearance, 103, 111, 115
his objection to Boer hunters, 223
his sister, 60, 99
his wives, 99, 112
punishment of his subjects, 69, 113, 129, 168
Locusts, 363
value of, as food, 17, 19, 127
Long-claw, Cape, 317
Longicorn beetles, 362
Lotsani River, 23
Lubbock, Sir John, reference to, 291
_Lycæna Asopus_, 352
_Asteris_, 352
_Jesous_, 352
_Lochias_, 352
_Parsimon_, 352
_Lycænidæ_, 351
_Lyperia Burkeana_, 368
Mackenna, John, 241, 248–251, 263
Mackenzie, Rev. John, 21, 37, 149, 264
extract from a letter of, 271
undertakes the duties of executor after Mr. Oates’s death, 270
Macloule, Mosilikatze’s nephew, 76, 85, 88, 96
_Macronyx capensis_, 317
Maholies, natives near the Lelongwe, 73
Makabo, Matabele guide, 183, 186, 193, 194, 207, 212
Makalaka words and phrases, list of, 370
Makalakas, the, 178–182, 196–199, 211–216
their state of subjection, 152, 185, 222
obstructive conduct of, 170, 180
Makobi, Bamangwato chief, 45
Makobi’s kraal, 129
Malabars, skulls of, 281
Malays, skulls of, 281
Mandy, Mr., of Inchlangin, 69, 93, 105
Manéko, wild fruit, 90
Mangwe River, 123
_Manticora latipennis_, 359
Manyami, 51–53, 55, 121, 207
Marabastadt gold-fields, the, 10
Marsh-harrier, South African, 297
Marshall, Professor John, reference to, 280
Marula, wild fruit, 131
Mashonas, their dress and demeanour, 119
their gradual absorption by the Matabele, 152
Matabele raids against, 59, 79
Matabele, the, 45, 49, 54, 79, 111
best articles for trade with, 45, 53
kingdom, extent and products of, 36, 62
their ruthless treatment of Bushmen, 222
the Mashonas and Makalakas in bondage under them, 79, 152
warriors, Mr. Oates threatened by, 192, 214
Matchin, Bamangwato attacked by, 155
Matengwe River, 235, 236, 238, 242
_Melierax canorus_, 298
_gabar_, 298
_Melolonthidæ_, 360
Menon, Makalaka headman, 235
Meriko River, 37
_Meropidæ_, 301
_Merops apiaster_, 301
_bullockoides_, 301
_nubicoides_, 301
_pusillus_, 301
_superciliosus_, 301
Metse-a-tunya, 143, 248, 250, 259.
_See also_ Victoria Falls.
Mimosas, 33
_Milvus ægyptius_, 298
_Mirafra africana_, 317
_sabota_, 318
Mohr, Edward, reference to, 254
_Mohrib caffrorum_, 369
_Moluris albipes_, 361
_gibbosa_, 361
_Perretii_, 361
_Monticola explorator_, 308
Moon, eclipse of, 84
Moor-hen, South African, 324
Mopani Pan, 229
veldt, 176
Mosilikatze, 49, 62
his wives, at the Great Dance, 98
_Motacilla aguimp_, 317
_capensis_, 317
_Motacillidæ_, 317
Motloutsi River, 26–28, 162
Mozanga, native servant, grief of, 182
Müller, F., reference to, 291
Murie, Dr. James, reference to, 286, 288, _note_
_Muscicapidæ_, 311
Musician, native, at the Semokwe, 143
_Musophagidæ_, 304
_Mycalesis Victorina_, 350
_Myrmecocichla formicivora_, 307
_Myrmeleon Libelluloides_, 363
Nata River, 242
_Nectarina famosa_, 310
_Nectariniidæ_, 310
Negro skulls, 274, 275, 278, 279, 281
Nelson, Mr., experiences of, 75–82
Nelson, Mr., of Tati, 29, 33, 35, 139
_Neophron pileatus_, 297
_Nephrodium molle_, 369
(_Lastrea_), sp., 369
_Nephrolepis cordifolia_, 369
_exaltata_, 369
_Nettapus auritus_, 327
New Year’s Day at Hope Fountain, 93
Newcastle, 6, 7
Ngami, Lake, fever at, 157
_Nidorella auriculata_, 367
Night-hawk, call of the, 24
Nightjar, European, 300
Mozambique, 300
Rufous-cheeked, 300
Standard-winged, 301
Nina, sister of Lobengula, 97, 111–113
Nose-bleeding, native cure for, 78
Notuani River, 15
_Nymphalidæ_, 349
Oates, Mr. F., arrival at the Tati settlement, 29
journeys towards the Zambesi, 42–138, 169–191, 192–226
arrival at the Victoria Falls, 252
attacked by fever, 261
his death, 263
Oates, Mr. W. E., accompanies his brother to the Tati, and returns
to England, 1–41
second journey to South Africa, 265–267
_Ocymum_ (or _Orthosiphon_), sp., 368
_Œdicnemus capensis_, 326
_Œna capensis_, 322
Oliver, Professor, F.R.S., F.Z.S., on the plants collected by Mr.
Oates, 366–369
_Onitis ciliatus_, 359
_inuus_, 359
Oranges, 4, 8, 39, 49
Oriole, Golden, 315
_Oriolidæ_, 315
_Oriolus galbula_, 315
Ornithology, by Mr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc., 294
_et seq_.
_Orthogonius caffer_, 359
_Ortygometra crex_, 324
_egregia_, 324
_Ortygospiza polyzona_, 321
_Oryctes Boas_, 360
_Os_ (_Malare_) _bipartitum_, literature of, 282, _note_
Ostrich eggs, best mode of cooking, 24
Ostriches, young, 79
_Otididæ_, 326
_Otis kori_, 326
_Otogyps auricularis_, 297
Owen, Professor R., reference to, 274, 278
Owl, African Short-eared, 300
Owl, Barn, 300
Spotted Eagle, 299
Verreaux’s Eagle, 299
White-faced Scops, 299
Owlet, African Pearl-spotted, 300
_Oxythyrea discicollis_, 360
_hæmorrhoidalis_, 360
_Pachnoda obsoleta_, 360
_Pachylomera femoralis_, 359
Palatswe River, 23, 161
Pallas, P. S., quoted, 286, 290, _note_
_Palpares citrinus_, 363
_Pamphagus haploscelis_, 363
_Pamphila Harona_, 333
_Ranoha_, 353
_Panicum_ (_Tricholæna_) _roseum_, 369
Pantamatenka, the, 243, 245, 249, 260
_Papilio Aurota_, 336
_Celæus_, 352
_Demodocus_, 335
_Demoleus_, 335
_Eborea_, 337
_Evippe_, 337
_Gorgias_, 352
_Jolaus_, 352
_Papilionidæ_, 335
_Paridæ_, 310
_Parisoma subcæruleum_, 311
_Parra capensis_, 324
Parrot, Le Vaillant’s, 306
Meyer’s, 307
_Parus afer_, 310
_niger_, 311
_Passer diffusus_, 321
_motitensis_, 321
_Paussidæ_, 361
Peaches, 4, 10, 39, 49
_Pelecanidæ_, 328
_Pellæa consobrina_, 369
Petersen, Mr., 43, 44, 59, 93
_Penthetria albinotata_, 319
_ardens_, 320
_Perdicidæ_, 323
Peregrine Falcon, South African, 298
_Petasia cruentata_, 363
Petroleum, useful against insects, 364
_Peucedanum capense_, 367
_Philomachus pugnax_, 325
_Pholidauges Verreauxi_, 316
_Phoxomela umbrosa_, 360
_Phrissoma giganteum_, 363
_Phyllostrophus capensis_, 308
Phytophagus (or plant-eating) beetles, 363
_Picidæ_, 306
_Pieris Mesentina_, 336
_Polycaste_, 337
_Severina_, 336
_Thysa_, 337
Pietermaritzburg, 2–6, 41
Pipit, Cinnamon-backed, 317
South African, 317
Plantain-eater, Grey, 304
_Pleuropterus alternans_, 361
_Ploceidæ_, 318
_Plocepasser mahali_, 321
_Plotus Levaillantii_, 328
Plover, Blacksmith, 325
Treble-collared, 326
Wreathed, 325
_Podiceps minor_, 328
_Podicipidæ_, 328
_Pæcilonetta erythrorhyncha_, 328
_Pogonorhynchus leucomelas_, 305
Poison-plant, 243
_Poliospiza gularis_, 322
_Polygala virgata_, 366
_Polyhirma amabilis_, 359
_macilenta_, 359
_Polyommatus Otacilia_, 351
_Sybaris_, 352
_Telicanus_, 351
Pomegranates, 49
_Pontia Acaste_, 337
_Evarne_, 338
“Poort,” the, Tati River, 196, 233
_Porphyris Alleni_, 324
Potatoes, 49
Præaryan skulls, 281
_Pratincola torquata_, 311
Pratincole, Black-winged, 325
Pretoria, 6–14, 37
_Prionopidæ_, 314
_Prionops talacoma_, 314
_Psittacidæ_, 306
_Psittacus Meyeri_, 306
_robustus_, 307
_Pterocles bicinctus_, 323
_gutturalis_, 323
_Pteroclidæ_, 323
_Ptychopteryx Bohemani_, 336
_Pycnonotinæ_, 308
_Pycnonotus Layardi_, 308
_nigricans_, 308
_Pytelia melba_, 320
Quagga, large herd of, 194
Quail, Common, 324
Harlequin, 324
“Quilp,” Bushman servant, 152
Rail, Mr. Oates’s favourite pointer, 43, 89, 159, 160, 226, 267,
268, _note_
return of, to the grave, after his master’s death, 265
Rains, commencement of the, 37, 61, 71, 205, 220, 224, 241
_Rallidæ_, 324
Ramaqueban River, 43, 131, 133–138, 143, 172–174, 192–195, 208–211,
217, 229–231
graves of Englishmen at the, 134
_Ranunculus pinnatus_, 366
Red-faced Finch, Southern, 320
Reed-warbler, White-breasted, 310
Retzius, Professor A., reference to, 274, 277, 278
_Rhinopomastes cyanomelas_, 304
_Rhopalocampta Valmaran_, 352
Rock, one of Mr. Oates’s pointers, 43, 89, 226, 235, 267, 268,
_note_
Rock-thrush, Sentinel, 308
Roller, Cinnamon, 302
European, 302
Lilac-breasted, 302
White-naped, 302
Rolleston, Professor, M.D., F.R.S., on Bushman and other bones
obtained by Mr. Oates, 274–293
Rose chafers, 360
Roses, monthly, 8
Ruff, 325
Sable antelope, young, 50
_Sagra festiva_, 363
Sakasusi, or Dry River, 143, 146
Salt lakes, in winter, 147, _note_
Sand-grouse, Double-banded, 323
Yellow-throated, 323
Sand wasps, 363
Sandifort, E., reference to, 277
Sandpiper, Common, 325
Wood, 325
_Sarkidiornis melanonotus_, 327
_Saturnia Alcinoë_, 356
_caffra_, 356
_Caffraria_, 356
_cervina_, 357
_Dyops_, 357
_flavida_, 357
_Hyperbius_, 357
_Terpsichorina_, 357
_Saturniidæ_, 356
_Satyridæ_, 350
_Saxicola Galtoni_, 307
_leucomelæna_, 308
_pileata_, 307
_Shelleyi_, 295, 307
_Scarabæidæ_, 359
Schiess-Gemuscus, Professor, reference to, 289
_Schizœrhris concolor_, 304
Schlocker, H., reference to, 280, _note_
Schweinfurth, Dr. Georg, reference to, 288, and _note_
_Scolopacidæ_, 325
_Scops leucotis_, 299
Scops Owl, White-faced, 299
_Scopus umbretta_, 327
Sekomi, 16, 19, 37, 39, 155
Selous, Mr. F. C., 104, 151, 238–242, 266
Semokwe River, 36, 140, 143–146
Seribi River, 26
Seruli River, 24
_Sesia Hylas_, 354
Sharpe, Mr. R. Bowdler, F.L.S., F.Z.S., etc., on the birds
collected by Mr. Oates, 294 _et seq._
Shashani River, 54, 55, 117, 120
fine scenery near the, 117–119
Shashe River, 28, 31, 147, 162
course of the, 176, _note_
Short-eared Owl, African, 300
Shoshong, 16. _See also_ Bamangwato.
Shrike, Black-and-white Long-tailed, 313
Collared, 313
Lesser Grey, 313
Red-backed, 313
_Silpha micans_, 361
_Silphidæ_, 361
Skelton, Mr. H., the late, 204
Smelting furnace, native, 132
Smith, Mr. W., Dutch hunter, 44–47, 128–136
Snakes, 162
_Solanum subexarmatum_, 367
Solomon, native waggon-driver, 39, 143
Sparrow, Greater South African, 321
Southern Grey-headed, 321
_Sphingidæ_, 333
_Sphenorhynchus Abdimii_, 327
_Spilophorus plagosus_, 360
_Spindacis Massilicatzi_, 351
_Sporopipes squamifrons_, 319
“Stamped” corn, 130
Starling, Brown, 316
Cape, 316
Wattled, 316
Stone Age crania, 281
Stone-chat, South African, 311
Stork, White, 327
White-bellied, 327
_Strigidæ_, 300
_Strix capensis_, 300
_flammea_, 300
_Sturnidæ_, 316
Sun-bird, Greater Double-collared, 310
Malachite, 310
Scarlet-chested, 310
Southern Bifasciated, 310
Sunsets, fine, 27, 117
_Sutherlandia frutescens_, 366
Swallow, Common, 312
Large Striped-breasted, 312
Red-breasted, 312
Smaller Striped-breasted, 311
Swinburne, Sir John, 29, 34
Swift, Common, 301
_Sycrobrotus bicolor_, 318
_Sylvietta rufescens_, 310
_Tabanidæ_, 363
_Tabanus Africanus_, 363
_Tachyris Agathina_, 337
Tamasancha, 235, 242, 246
Tamasetsie, 242
Tamils, skulls of, 281
Tasmanian skulls, 281
Tati gold-fields, 10
River, 174, 175, 195, 196, 233
settlement, 29–36, 139–141, 146, 161–169, 183–192, 199–268
Tchakani Vlei, 161
Tchangani River, 73
Teal, Red-billed, 328
_Tenebrionidæ_, 36
_Tephrocorys cinerea_, 318
_Teracolus Agoye_, 336
_subfasciatus_, 336
_Terias Rahel_, 342
_Seruli_, 342
_Zoë_, 342
_Terpsiphone perspicillata_, 311
_Tetralobus bifoveolatus_, 361
_Textor erythrorhynchus_, 318
nests of, 117
Thick-knee, Spotted, 326
“Thirst Land,” the, 30
Thomson, Rev. J. B., 59, 61, 64, 86, 93, 99, 139, 140, 149, 187,
188, _note_, 197
Thorns, annoyance from, in travelling, 33, 35
Thrush, Cape Bristle-necked, 308
South African, 307
Tibakai, Bamangwato headman, 250
_Timeliidæ_, 308
_Timeliinæ_, 308
Titmouse, South African, 310
Southern Black-and-white, 311
Tobacco-gardens, 178, 182
_Tockus flavirostris_, 304
_nasutus_, 304
Topinard, Dr. P., reference to, 290
Tortoises, superstition regarding, 78
_Totanus canescens_, 325
_glareola_, 325
Touani River, 23
_Trachyphonus cafer_, 306
Transvaal, the, 6–15, 37–39
Trees, flowering, 53, 68, 69
Trescott, Mr., 244
_Trichodesma physaloides_, 367
Trimen, Mr. Roland, reference to, 333
_Triumfetta Welwitschii_, 366
Tsetse-fly, the, 38, 48, 363–365
precautions against, 364
_Turdidæ_, 307
_Turdus litsitsirupa_, 307
_Turnix lepurana_, 323
Turtle-dove, Cape, 322
_Turtur capicola_, 322
Umbre, Tufted, 327
Umgeni River, 6
Umgwanya River, 72, 75
Umtegan, Matabele headman, 59
Umvungu River, 72, 74, 83, 141
_Upupa africana_, 304
_Upupidæ_, 304
_Urolestes melanoleucus_, 313
_Vahlia Capensis_, 367
Van Roozen, 158, 159, 164–168, 172–174, 188, 231, 232
Victoria Falls, approach to, 250–252
description of, 254–260
_Vidua principalis_, 319
_regia_, 319
_Verreauxi_, 319
Vincent, Mr., 122–124, 143
_Vitis_, sp., 366
Vulture, Eared, 297
Hooded, 297
_Vulturidæ_, 297
Waggon-drivers, 103, 218
Wagtail, African Pied, 317
Cape, 317
_Wahlenbergia Banksiana_, 367
Waitz, Th., reference to, 288, _note_
Wallace, Mr. A. R., reference to, 331
Wankee, native waggon-driver, 98, 119–121
Wankee’s kraal, 178, 196, 234
Warbler, Brown Fantail, 309
Common Fantail, 310
Larger Grey-backed Fantail, 309
Le Vaillant’s Fantail, 309
Smith’s Fantail, 309
White-eyebrowed, 309
Water, scarcity of, 16, 18, 34, 151, _note_, 219
Water-hen, Allen’s Blue, 324
Wax-bill, Grenadier, 321
Red-headed, 320
Weaver-bird, Black-fronted, 319
Cape Yellow, 318
Mariqua, 319
Natal Black-and-yellow, 318
Olive-and-yellow, 318
Red-billed Black, 318
nest of, 177
Smith’s, 318
White-browed, 321
Weevils, 362
Westbeach, Mr., 244, 245, 260, 261
Westwood, Professor J. O., M.A., F.L.S., etc., on the insects
collected by Mr. Oates, 330 _et seq._
Wheatear, Burchell’s, 308
Capped, 307
Shelley’s, 295, 307
Southern Ant-eating, 307
White ants, 134
Whitwell, Rev. J. S., reference to, 291
Whydah-finches, 220, _note_
Widow-bird, Cape Black-and-yellow, 320
Common, 319
Great, 319
Orange-throated, 320
Shaft-tailed, 319
Verreaux’s, 319
White-spotted, 319
Wild dogs, 119, 200, 234
fruit, 49, 89–91, 177, 233
pigs, 15, 82, 134, 242
Williams, Rev. J., reference to, 291
Williamson, Dr., reference to, 280, _note_
Wood, Mr. George, 151, 238–242
Wood, Rev. J. G., reference to, 288, _note_, 290
Wood-boring beetles, 361
Wood-hoopoe, Red-billed, 304
Scimitar-billed, 304
Woodpecker, Bearded, 306
Bennett’s, 306
Cardinal, 306
Golden-tailed, 306
Woodpecker, Smith’s, 306
Wood-shrike, Oates’s, 314
Smith’s, 314
_Wormskioldia longepedunculata_, 367
Wryneck, Red-breasted, 306
Wyman, Prof. Jeffries, reference to, 286
_Ypthima Nareda_, 350
Zambesi, the, fever at, 188, 235, 239, 244, 260
worst months for, 189, 238–240, 247
_Zeritis Amanga_, 351
_Perion_, 351
Zimmermann, reference to, 291
_Zygæna tricolorata_, 354
_Zygænidæ_, 354
_Zygophyllum Dregeanum_, 366
Zulu skulls, 278, 281, 285, 286
THE END.
[Illustration: MAP OF SOUTH EASTERN AFRICA showing the
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Mr. P. G. Hamerton, _Lives of Modern Frenchmen_, p. 95.
[2] His friend here referred to was killed by a fall from his horse
late that autumn.
[3] _Fraser’s Magazine_, November 1856.
[4] _Paraguay, Brazil, and the Plate._ By C. B. Mansfield, M.A.
With a Sketch of the Author’s Life by the Rev. C. Kingsley, pp. xi.-xvi.
[5] Mr. Gray died of fever at the above Lake a few months afterwards.
[6] Mr. T. E. Buckley, the gentleman here alluded to, had come out from
England in the same ship as Frank Oates and his brother, on a shooting
expedition, and had been joined at Maritzburg by Mr. Gilchrist, of
Ospisdale, Sutherlandshire, who had already been out upwards of two
years, travelling and hunting in South Africa. These gentlemen both
accompanied the brothers as far north as the Tati River, whence Frank
Oates went on alone towards the Zambesi.
[7] This instrument was afterwards kindly replaced by Mr. Lys of
Pretoria.
[8] The accompanying illustration of the high veldt is from a sketch
taken early in December, when the grass has grown after the summer
rains, the country then presenting a very different appearance from its
dried and parched aspect in winter.
[9] Strictly speaking, Bamangwato is the name applied to the district
north of the Transvaal inhabited by that branch of the Basuto race,
and Shoshong the name of the king’s town or residence; but the latter
also is more frequently spoken of, in common parlance, as Bamangwato or
Mungwato.
[10] Small stream.
[11] Mr. Nelson of the mine.
[12] The body of the dead lion was found soon afterwards by some
natives--for the shot had proved fatal--and the skin taken by them to
the Tati settlement. The ox had sustained so severe an injury that he
had to be shot the following morning.
[13] This refers to Hendrik, the man of that name above alluded to.
[14] The Hon. G. C. Dawnay, on his way home from the Zambesi.
[15] Mr. Petersen was a trader whom Frank Oates had met at Tati.
[16] Meat dried in the sun.
[17] Doubtless a species of Euphorbia, many varieties of which ar met
with in South Africa.
[18] Mr. Fairbairn was agent at the King’s Town for a Mr. Cruickshank,
with whom Frank Oates had had business dealings at Bamangwato.
[19] Probably the Euphorbia above referred to (_vide_ p. 46),
which frequently attains the size of a small tree.
[20] The term applied to the small fold or enclosure made round a hut
or waggon, for shelter and protection, by means of branches rudely
placed in the ground.
[21] _i.e._ The pole of the waggon.
[22] The interpreter here spoken of was a native from Graham’s Town,
who remained with Frank Oates till July the following year.
[23] The guide.
[24] Frank Oates collected, during his wanderings, a considerable
variety of birds’ eggs and nests, some of the latter very remarkable in
their construction. Two of these are represented in the accompanying
woodcut, the first of which--probably that of an Ægithalus or Penduline
Titmouse--is of the consistency and texture of fine blanket, and nearly
white in colour. It appears to be made from white cotton, or some
similar vegetable substance. The second is ingeniously composed of the
finer portions of reeds, in the manner of close basket-work, and is
found in great numbers along the banks of rivers, and in marshy places,
affixed to the rushes.
[25] One of the boys.
[26] Spring.
[27] These knob-kerries, which answer the purpose of a life-preserver,
are made of various kinds of wood or of rhinoceros horn, and carved
according to the fancy of the maker. They are sometimes adorned with
beads (see one of those in the woodcut), but the more ordinary form is
that of a short stick with a single rounded knob at the end, to give
it weight. The natives can throw them a great distance with marvellous
accuracy, being often able to bring down a bird on the wing with one of
them.
[28] A sister of the king’s.
[29] The woodcut on the succeeding page illustrates a variety of
different assegais. The heads of these weapons are wrought by the
natives themselves, and fastened to the shafts by strips of raw hide,
which shrink in the drying, and become as hard as a band of iron. The
length of the shaft is usually from three to four feet.
[30] Here the day’s entry ends abruptly, with only a few brief notes
intended for the writer’s future guidance, and unavailable for
another’s use.
[31] This gentleman, Mr. F. C. Selous, had already been out some time
hunting in South Africa, and was subsequently again met with by Frank
Oates near the Victoria Falls.
[32] A native temporarily engaged at Gubuleweyo.
[33] Brass wire is considerably used by the natives of South Africa for
purposes of ornamentation. Above are represented two hunting-knives,
the upper one of which has the sheath and handle (which are of wood)
handsomely adorned with fine twisted brass wire. The sheath of the
lower knife is of raw hide strongly sewn together.
[34] “These ‘white ants’ (Termites),” writes W. Oates, “are the curse
of all African settlers and travellers, devouring everything except
iron or tin, whilst in time even houses succumb to their ravages. They
form, however, an article of food in many places amongst the natives,
by whom they are much esteemed on account of their slightly acid
flavour. The enormous structures they erect are frequently carried up
the trunk of a high tree, or may sometimes be seen standing alone at
a height of 18 feet, as in the accompanying sketch, which was taken
between Tati and Shoshong. The Dutch Boers and others make use of these
ant-hills for cooking purposes, hollowing out the lower portion of the
heap, and filling the hollow thus formed with wood, which is lighted,
and, when consumed, renders the receptacle an admirable oven, retaining
its heat for a great length of time.”
[35] Piet Jacobs, the Dutch hunter, referred to in the previous Chapter.
[36] A trader of that name at Tati.
[37] The latter was W. Oates’s Kafir driver, who, it may be remembered,
had turned out a consummate rascal.
[38] In the coloured illustration opposite, taken on this river by W.
Oates, when there the previous year, the dry sandy bed of the Semokwe
is distinguished towards the horizon, with tall rushes upon its bank.
The large trees, still in leaf, to the left hand of the picture, are
mimosas, near one of which, still further to the left, is seen a large
ant-hill, used as an oven, in the manner described above (_vide_
p. 135).
[39] The accompanying woodcut, from a drawing taken a little south
of Shoshong (Bamangwato), represents one of the salt lakes of this
district as seen in winter. The water in these lakes is then all dried
up, and their beds, composed of salt and sand, present a dazzling white
appearance.
[40] A rare luxury at the present time, only to be indulged in on great
or special occasions, owing to the increasing scarcity of water with
the cessation of the rains. “I am miserable,” he writes one day about
this time, “for want of water to wash myself in, ever so superficially.”
[41] This refers to John, the man whom Frank Oates had engaged as
interpreter at Gubuleweyo some months before, and whom he had since
retained in the capacity of general servant. He had recently acted as
driver in the place of Karl Lee, who had returned from Tati to his
brother’s farm, instead of coming forward, as intended, to Bamangwato.
[42] The coloured drawing opposite illustrates the position of the
town of Shoshong (Bamangwato). In front stretches a dry sandy plain,
the native huts collected under the shelter of the mountains, which
afford an easy refuge in times of warfare. The huts and stores of a few
English traders, built of wood or clay, are seen grouped together at
one extremity of the town--to the left hand. The only water in the dry
season, as mentioned in a previous chapter, is got from a small stream
up the gorge behind the town, some distance off, whence it is taken
to the town in small vessels upon people’s heads. In this gorge stand
the church and mission station of the London Missionary Society, from
which are seen a short way off the beehive-like huts of Shoshong on the
plain; see the woodcut at page 149.
[43] This river, represented in most of the recent maps as taking
its rise but a few miles from here, and flowing away directly to the
westward towards the salt lakes, is in reality--so the traveller
afterwards learnt from at least three distinct witnesses--a part of the
Shashe River, the same river which is crossed on the Bamangwato and
Tati road, a few miles before reaching Tati, coming north. One of these
witnesses, Mr. Dobie of the mine, had, moreover, struck the river, he
said, about thirty miles northward of the drift on which the waggons
were now outspanned, and had found it a big river even there, where,
according to the maps, it is not even in existence. The slate formation
in which the gold is found runs, it seems, to a narrow point as far as
this river-drift, and there ceases altogether.
[44] The Red-billed Black Weaver-bird, _Textor erythrorhynchus_.
[45] This kraal, the first outpost of the Makalakas, is described as
“Wankee’s” in the traveller’s later Journals, and is so marked upon the
map.
[46] Mr. Dorehill had been met by Frank Oates previously at Bamangwato,
and subsequently accompanied him part of the way on his final journey
to the Zambesi.
[47] This was the last occasion on which Frank Oates encountered
Mr. Thomson, who, some time after the events here narrated--in
1877--returned to England, to convey thence, under the auspices of the
London Missionary Society, a party of missionaries to Lake Tanganyika.
He accomplished the journey successfully, but unhappily was attacked
by sunstroke soon after his arrival, and died from its effects in
September 1878.
[48] A kind of hemp, much used for smoking by the natives.
[49] The man appointed by the king.
[50] _i.e._, stream or ditch.
[51] A mine near Tati.
[52] This refers to the late Mr. Henry Skelton, formerly of Wadham
College, Oxford, who died in Borneo, in the service of the late Rajah
Brooke, soon after his appointment as Resident of Saráwak.
[53] The time occupied in the transmission of letters has, since the
above was written, been much curtailed, owing to the establishment,
through missionary enterprise, of direct postal communication between
Bamangwato and the Cape.
[54] In June the following year, this man was seen by Mr.
Gilchrist--whose journey into the interior is related in the concluding
chapter of this narrative--living near Rustenberg, in the Transvaal,
apparently in perfect health.
[55] The woodcut opposite illustrates two of the whydah-finches, which
the traveller collected during his present stay at Tati. The general
colour of the upper bird is black, with a collar of ruddy brown, fading
into buff beneath; that of the lower one black and pale yellow, the
bill and legs coral-red. In the winter season these birds lose their
long tail feathers, and their plumage becomes a mottled brown; a great
contrast to their striking summer dress. There are many varieties of
these finches, one species of which (_Chera progne_), a native of
the Transvaal, suffers serious inconvenience from these adornments in
a high wind. The long tail feathers are much used by the natives for
ornaments and head-dresses.
[56] The skulls and other remains here obtained were brought to
England, with the rest of the traveller’s collections, after his
decease, and form the subject of the interesting paper kindly
contributed to the Appendix of this volume by Professor Rolleston, for
whom they were collected.
[57] An arid ridge or zone of sand, of frequent occurrence in this
district, extending sometimes a distance of many miles.
[58] This was a native from the Cape, named John Mackenna, who, as well
as Klaas the driver, remained with Frank Oates till his death.
[59] This letter was not received in England.
[60] _Narrative of an Expedition to the Zambesi_, p. 254.
[61] _Travels in the Interior of South Africa_, vol. ii., p. 130.
[62] _Explorations in South-West Africa_, p. 499.
[63] Dr. Bradshaw, since the above was written, has been down from
the interior to the Cape, with considerable collections of birds and
insects formed during his travels. Some of the former of these have
reached the British Museum, and are alluded to by Mr. Sharpe in the
Appendix to this volume.
[64] Mr. Gilchrist, whose subsequent journey into the interior is
related below, and who brought the particulars of this and other
incidents connected with the narrative to England, understood the dog
to have gone back to his master’s grave the whole way from the Tati
settlement--a distance of nearly eighty miles.
[65] By a singular coincidence, Frank Oates’s devoted favourite,
“Rail”--for four years after reaching England the valued companion of
his late master’s relatives--died on the 5th of February 1880, the
fifth anniversary of his master’s death, followed but three weeks later
by his companion, “Rock.”
[66] See his two Reports concerning his Researches into the Bushman
Language and Customs and Folklore, presented to both Houses of
Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, by command of his Excellency the
Governor, 1873 and 1875, and _Journal Anthrop. Inst._ 1871.
[67] Perhaps intended for Eland’s Been, near Schietfontein, in the
District of Carnarvon, Cape Colony.--Ed.
[68] For the relation of the alisphenoid, squamous, and frontal,
see Broca, _Instructions Craniologiques_, pp. 26, 27, 1875;
and Gruber, _Ueber die Verbindung der Schläfenbeinschuppe mit
dem Stirnbein. Mém. de l’Académie Impériale des Sciences de St.
Pétersbourg_, tom. xxi. No. 5, 1874. Hermann Schlocker, _Ueber die
Anomalieen des Pterion;_ Inaugural Dissertation Zum. Univ. Dorpat.
1879.
It is right, however, to add that the skull of the Bushwoman whose
brain Professor Marshall has described, _l.c._, had the squamous
of the left side joined to the frontal, and that with obliteration
of the suture; and that though Dr. Williamson has not recorded the
presence of this junction in any of the three Bushman crania described
by him in his _Catalogue of the Army Medical Museum_, 1867, he
has noted it in two out of the seven skulls of the closely affined
Hottentot race.
[69] Similarly rudimentary sutures are observable in several of the
Bushman crania in the Royal College of Surgeons of London.
[70] It may be well here to give the literature of “Os (Malare)
bipartitum.”
1779. E. Sandifort, _Observat. Anat. Path._, Lib. iii. 113; Tab.
viii. fig. 7.
1837. _Leçons d’Anatomie Comparée_, par Georges Cuvier et M.
Duméril. Seconde édition, par F. G. Cuvier et Laurillard. Tome ii.
1837, p. 381.
1844. Breschet, _Ann. Sciences Nat., 3 ser., Zoologie._ Tome i. p.
30.
1852. Schultz in _Bemerkungen über den Bau der normalen Menschen
Schädel_, p. 57, Tab. ii.
1867. Canestrini, _Annuario della Soc. del Naturalisti in Modena_,
1867, p. 83. _Gazzetta della Cliniche_, Torino, 1871. G.
Delorenzie’s _Tre nuove case d’anomalia dell’ osso Malare_,
Torino, 1872. E. Marselli, _Sopra una rara anomalia dell’ osso
Malare_, Modena, 1872.
1873. Gruber, _Monographie des zweigetheilten Jochbeines bei Menschen
und Säugethieren_, _Archiv. Anat. und Physiologie_, p. 337.
1874. Gruber, _Ann. Sci. Nat., 3 ser., Zoologie_, Tome i. p. 30.
1878. _Human Osteology_, Holden and Doran, p. 99.
Laurillard’s words from Cuvier’s _Anatomie Compareé_, vol. ii. pp.
381, 2, are specially worthy of being quoted, as they were published so
long ago as 1837. They are as follows:--
“Au bord inférieur du jugal nous avons trouvé sur deux sujets un os
particulier, alongé et aplati, étendu tout le long du bord inférieur
du jugal, et d’articulant en avant avec l’extremité très saillante
de l’apophyse malaire du maxillaire et en arrière avec l’apophyse
zygomatique du temporal, laquelle se trouve ainsi présenter deux
sutures, l’une verticale avec le jugal proprement dit, l’autre
horizontale avec ce second jugal et faisant un angle presque droit avec
la précédente. Dans les sujets ou nous l’avons rencontré, la forme de
ce nouvel os, des connexions avec les os voisins, sa proportion avec
l’os malaire proprement dit, étaient les mêmes et comme nous l’avons
trouvé, ainsi que nous le dirons plus loin, dans certaines espèces de
singes une subdivision parfaitement semblable, nous sommes portés à la
considérer autrement que comme une disposition purement accidentelle.”
[71] See Cleland, _Phil. Trans._ 1870, p. 163.
[72] _British Barrows_, pp. 563 and 677.
[73] Many references to the older literature treating of the two
peculiarities mentioned will be found in Waltz’s _Anthropologie_,
Th. i. pp. 120–122, 1859. An important note regarding the latter of
the two is given by a man of science residing at the Cape of Good Hope
in Professor Flower and Dr. Murie’s “Account of the Dissection of a
Bushwoman,” _Journal of Anatomy and Physiology_, No. II. May 1867,
p. 208.
[74] For this see Hartmann, _Die Nigritier_, 1876, p. 492, who
cites Schweinfurth, _Heart of Africa_, Eng. tran., vol. ii. chap.
xvi., Du Chaillu, and the Rev. J. G. Wood, _Natural History of
Man_. Africa, p. 538, 1868.
[75] The point of similarity is not, I apprehend, in the character of
the music so much as in the fact that the compared peoples admire it
such as it is. Of the Kalmuck music Pallas writes (and, as the work
is little accessible, I quote) as follows, _Sammlungen Historischer
Nachrichten über die Mongolischen Völkerschaften_, i. p. 152--“Die
Melodie der Kalmücken, besonders ihre zärtliche und verliebte Musik,
hat solche langgezerte klagliche Töne und solche Dissonanzen, dass
sie ein gutgewohntes Ohr mit noch fast mehr Widerwillen als alte
Französische Musik, anhört!”
[76] Mr. W. F. Kirby has injudiciously sunk Boisduval’s generic name
for this group, containing 33 species, and adopted in its stead one of
Hübner’s four sub-generic names (into which he had divided them), which
only comprised four of the species.
[77] The name of this species is accidentally omitted in the classified
index of the second series of Swainson’s “Illustrations;” and Mr.
Trimen complains that the plate is not in the copy of the work in the
Public Library at Cape Town, having been probably omitted by the binder
from not appearing in the classified index.
[78] The plants collected by Mr. Oates in South-East Africa have been
named at Kew under the direction of Professor Oliver; the two novelties
having been described by Mr. J. G. Baker, F.R.S. Those plants which are
distinguished by an asterisk * were obtained between Pietermaritzburg
and the Crocodile River; the rest all in Matabele Land.--Ed.
Transcriber’s Notes:
1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.
2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have
been retained as in the original.
3. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.
4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.
5. Bold print is shown as =xxx=.
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